{{Short description|American politician (1828–1898)}} {{for|the 16th century Welsh pirate|John Callis (pirate)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = John B. Callis | image = John Benton Callis older.png | caption = Callis portrait in ''Soldiers and Citizens' Album of Biographical Record'' (1890) | state = Alabama | district = {{ushr|AL|5|5th}} | term_start = July 21, 1868 | term_end = March 3, 1869 | predecessor = ''District inactive'' | successor = Peter Myndert Dox | state1 = Wisconsin | state_assembly1 = Wisconsin | district1 = Grant 2nd | term_start1 = January 5, 1874 | term_end1 = January 4, 1875 | predecessor1 = William H. Clise | successor1 = Lafayette Caskey | party = {{unbulleted list | Republican | Liberal Republican (1874) | Whig (before 1854) }} | birth_date = {{Birth date|1828|01|03}} | birth_place = Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1898|09|24|1828|01|03}} | death_place = Lancaster, Wisconsin, U.S. | resting_place = Hillside Cemetery, Lancaster | spouse = {{marriage|Martha Barnett|1855|1898}} | children = {{unbulleted list | Frank B. Callis | {{sup|(b. 1857; died 1953)}} | Jeannette Elizabeth (Meyer) | {{sup|(b. 1859; died 1923)}} | Jessie B. (McCoy) | {{sup|(b. 1862; died 1943)}} | Bessie (McCoy) | {{sup|(b. 1864; died 1936)}} | John Benton Callis Jr. | {{sup|(b. 1870; died 1944)}} }} | alma_mater = | profession = | allegiance = United States | branch = United States Volunteers<br />Union Army<br />United States Army | rank = {{unbulleted list | Lt. Colonel, USV | Brevet Brig. General, USV | Captain, USA }} | service_years = {{unbulleted list | 1861–1863 (USV) | 1864–1865 (VRC) | 1865–1868 (USA) }} | unit = {{unbulleted list | 7th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry | 45th Reg. U.S. Infantry }} | battles = American Civil War }}
'''John Benton Callis Sr.''' (January 3, 1828{{spaced ndash}}September 24, 1898) was an American businessman, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served as a Union Army officer during the American Civil War and was then elected to the {{nowrap|40th U.S. Congress (1868–1869)}} as a reconstruction-era U.S. representative from Alabama. As a member of Congress, he was the author of the first Ku Klux Klan Act, but his version was defeated in the {{nowrap|U.S. Senate.}}
He later served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly (1874), representing Grant County, Wisconsin. Politically, Callis spent most of his political career as a member of the Republican Party, but his stint in the Wisconsin State Assembly occurred while he was affiliated with the short-lived Liberal Republican Party, part of Wisconsin's Democratic-backed Reform coalition.
His nephew George Barnett became the 12th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps (1914–1920).
== Early life == John Benton Callis was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1828. As a child, he moved with his parents to Carroll County, Tennessee, where they settled from 1834 to 1840. In 1840, they continued west to the Wisconsin Territory, and settled a homestead in the vicinity of what is now Lancaster, Wisconsin. He attended the common schools around Lancaster, though they were quite primitive in this era.<ref name="brown">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/soldierscitizens01brow/ |title= Soldiers and Citizens' Album of Biographical Record of Wisconsin |editor-last1= Brown |editor-first1= M. A. W. |editor-last2= Brown |editor-first2= Hiram O. |publisher= Grand Army Publishing Company |year= 1890 |page= [https://archive.org/details/soldierscitizens01brow/page/391/ 391–394] |accessdate= November 27, 2022 }}</ref>
As a young man, he studied medicine under {{nowrap|Dr. J. H. Higgins}} of Lancaster, but ultimately chose not to pursue that profession. In 1848, he went to Minnesota for work and was employed on the construction of Fort Ripley. After that, he joined the California gold rush in 1851 and engaged in mining and mercantile business. He abandoned the effort in 1853 and returned to Wisconsin by way of Central America. Upon returning to Lancaster, he resumed his mercantile pursuits.<ref name="brown"/>
==Civil War service== thumb|upright|left|Callis in uniform At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Callis helped organize a company of volunteers from the Lancaster area, known as the "Lancaster Union Guards". He was initially elected lieutenant of his company, but when it was organized as {{nowrap|Company K}} of the 7th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, Callis was commissioned as captain of the company.
The 7th Wisconsin Infantry was mustered into federal service on September 2, 1861, and assigned to the brigade of General Rufus King. The 7th Wisconsin was the last to join the brigade in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., joining the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, the 6th Wisconsin Infantry, and the 19th Indiana Infantry. Their brigade would soon earn fame as the "Iron Brigade of the West" (or the "Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac") due to their stoic endurance in their first major battle at Gainesville on August 28, 1862.
Due to the high number of casualties among the regiment's officers from Gainesville, Callis led the {{nowrap|7th Wisconsin Infantry}} through the battles of the subsequent Maryland campaign, including the Battle of South Mountain and the Battle of Antietam.<ref name="quiner">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo00quin/ |title= The Military History of Wisconsin |year= 1866 |publisher= Clarke & Co. |last= Quiner |first= Edwin B. |chapter= The Iron Brigade of the West |pages= 443–472 |accessdate= November 27, 2022 }}</ref>{{rp|447}} He was promoted to major on January 5, 1863.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Iron Brigade was one of the first units to engage the Confederates on the first day of battle, July 1, 1863. Callis was shot in the chest during that bloody morning of fighting before the Iron Brigade withdrew along with other Union forces to the hills south of the village. Callis laid wounded in the field for three days until the Confederate forces were defeated and forced to withdraw. After a long medical recuperation, he was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to serve as a military superintendent of the War Department at Washington, D.C. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel February 11, 1865, and was subsequently granted a double brevet to brigadier general of volunteers.<ref name="brown"/>
== In Alabama == thumb|upright|left|Callis as a congressman After the war, he was granted a commission as a captain in the regular United States Army and assigned to the 45th U.S. Infantry Regiment. With his regiment, he was assigned to work on reconstruction affairs in Huntsville, Alabama. During his service, he was called to a property where the landowner continued to hold people as slaves and treat them as if slavery were still legal. When Callis saw the man preparing to whip a girl, he stabbed him through the chest. For his act, several citizens of Huntsville presented him with gold watch with an inscribed case, depicting scenes of his act.<ref name="brown"/>
He resigned his commission on February 4, 1868, but remained in Alabama. Upon Alabama's readmission to the United States, Callis was elected to the 40th U.S. Congress, representing Alabama's 5th congressional district as a Republican. He served from July 21, 1868, to March 3, 1869, and did not seek re-election. During his brief time in Congress, he was the author of the first Ku Klux Klan Act, which passed the House but was defeated in the {{nowrap|United States Senate}}.<ref name="brown"/>
== Return to Wisconsin == He returned to Lancaster and engaged in the real-estate business.
He was elected to a single one-year term in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1874 as part of the short-lived Liberal Reform Party.
He retired from active pursuits, and died in Lancaster on September 24, 1898.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gen. John B. Callis|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10645473/john_benton_callis_18281898/|newspaper=The New North|date=October 6, 1898|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 30, 2017 }} {{Open access}}</ref> He was interred in Hillside Cemetery.
==Personal life and family== John Benton Callis was the eldest child of Henry Callis and his wife Christina (''{{nee}}'' Benton) Callis. Callis had two younger sisters. His nephew, George Barnett, was a career United States Marine Corps officer and became the 12th Commandant of the Marine Corps during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.<ref name="brown"/>
John Benton Callis married Martha "Mattie" Barnett of Brookville, Pennsylvania. They had five children together.<ref name="brown"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}} {{CongBio|C000057}} Retrieved on 2008-02-14
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-wi-hs}} {{s-bef|before = William H. Clise }} {{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Grant 2nd district}} |years= January 5, 1874{{spaced ndash}}January 4, 1875 }} {{s-aft|after = Lafayette Caskey }} {{s-par|us-hs}} |- {{s-non|reason = District inactive }} {{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the U.S. House of Representatives}} {{nowrap|from Alabama's 5th congressional district}} |years= July 21, 1868{{spaced ndash}}March 3, 1869 }} {{s-aft|after = Peter Myndert Dox }} {{s-end}} {{authority control}} {{Bioguide}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callis, John Benton}} Category:1828 births Category:1898 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Wisconsin Category:Iron Brigade Category:Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Category:Politicians from Fayetteville, North Carolina Category:People from Lancaster, Wisconsin Category:Politicians from Grant County, Wisconsin Category:People of North Carolina in the American Civil War Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Alabama Category:Union army officers Category:Wisconsin Reformers (19th century) Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Category:19th-century United States representatives