Marsh Giddings

{{Short description|American politician (1816–1875)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Marsh Giddings | image = Marsh-Giddings-1871.jpg | caption = Governor Giddings | order = 8th | office = Governor of New Mexico Territory | lieutenant = | term_start = 1871 | term_end = 1875 | predecessor = [[William Anderson Pile]] | successor = [[William G. Ritch]] (acting) | party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | birth_name = | birth_date = 19 November 1816 | birth_place = [[Sherman, Connecticut]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1875|6|3|1816|11|19|df=y}} | death_place = [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]] | occupation = politician | footnotes = }} '''Marsh Giddings''' (19 November 1816 – 3 June 1875) was a politician from the U.S. state of [[Michigan]], who was appointed as U.S. consul-general to India and later served as the [[governor of New Mexico Territory]] from 1871 to 1875.

==Early life== Giddings was born in [[Sherman, Connecticut]], to William and Jane (Ely) Giddings, who moved to [[Kalamazoo County, Michigan]] when he was 13. In 1834, he entered Western Reserve college (which later became part of [[Case Western Reserve University]]), at [[Hudson, Ohio]], but did not finish. When he was 21 he was elected as a [[Justice of the Peace#United States|Justice of the Peace]] for [[Richland Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan]]. In 1836, he married Louisa Mills.

==Michigan politics== Giddings was elected as a member of the [[Michigan State House of Representatives]] from Kalamazoo County in 1849. He served as a probate judge in Michigan, 1860–68; a [[United States Electoral College|Presidential Elector]] for Michigan, 1864; a member of the Republican National Committee from Michigan, 1866–70; a delegate to Michigan state constitutional convention, 1867; and a delegate to Republican National Convention from Michigan in 1868.<ref>[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/giddey-gilberson.html#RMP0TPM2T "Giddings, Marsh (1816-1875)" ''The Political Graveyard'']</ref>

==National politics== U.S. President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] nominated Giddings to be consul-general of the United States at Calcutta, India, 1870,<ref> [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llej&fileName=019/llej019.db&recNum=512&itemLink=r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(ej019106)):%230190513&linkText=1 ''Journal of the executive proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, 1869-1871'' Friday, July 8, 1870, page 513]</ref><ref> [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(ej02034)) ''Journal of the executive proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, 1871-1873'' Monday, May 22, 1871, page 98]</ref> as part of his patronage based ''[[spoils system]]''. Giddings was paid, but never left Michigan. <ref>Jauhri, R.C. (1970) ''American Diplomacy and Independence for India'' Vora, Bombay, {{ISBN|0-8426-0223-2}}</ref> Some biographical sketches indicate that Giddings declined to go to India due to concerns about his health.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbum:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbum5298ddiv211)) "Marsh Giddings" ''Historical collections. Volume 11. Collections and researches made by the Michigan pioneer and historical society'' pp. 300-303]</ref><ref>{{Citation | last =Bingham | first =Stephen D. | title =Early History of Michigan | place=Lansing | publisher =Thorp & Godfrey | year =1888 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=st4iAAAAMAAJ&q=Marsh+Giddings&pg=PA288}} p. 288 </ref> Grant then nominated Giddings as Governor of New Mexico Territory, after [[Willard Warner]] had declined that post.<ref> [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(ej02040)): ''Journal of the executive proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, 1871-1873'' Wednesday, December 6, 1871, page 116] </ref> Giddings took up his duties at the end of August 1871, although he was not confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] until later that December.

==New Mexico== Giddings was appalled by the violence and lawlessness in the territory. His first day in office he was confronted by a riot in [[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]]. When he requested troops to put down lawlessness in [[Cimarron, New Mexico|Cimarron]], he was told that troops could be used in civil affairs only by a request from a U.S. Marshall or by orders from the president.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.santafetrailresearch.com/fort-union-nm/fu-oliva-7a.html |title="Note 112" "Chapter Seven: The Third Fort Union: Construction and Military Operations, Part Two (1869-1891)" ''Fort Union: Historic Resource Study'' Letter: Devin to AAG Dept. of the Missouri, Feb. 25, 1875, TS, DNM, USAC, RG 393; and Williams to Devin, Feb. 25, 1875, TR, DNM, USAC, RG 393 |access-date=2008-05-09 |archive-date=2011-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716005249/http://www.santafetrailresearch.com/fort-union-nm/fu-oliva-7a.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Lincoln County War]]s started during his tenure, but he didn’t have the resources to suppress the lawlessness in southern New Mexico either. In January 1874 the best he could do was to offer a reward of $500 for the arrest of those cowboys who had shot up a Hispanic dance in [[Lincoln, New Mexico|Lincoln]] murdering four men, the seminal event starting the wars.<ref>[http://www.westernoutlaw.com/stories/files/Texas_Ranger_NO_Reynolds.pdf Parsons, Chuck (2005) "Texas Ranger N.O. Reynolds: From the Horrells to Sam Bass" ''WOLA Journal'' pp. 15-19, p. 16] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070124113926/http://www.westernoutlaw.com/stories/files/Texas_Ranger_NO_Reynolds.pdf |date=2007-01-24 }}</ref>

Giddings died in office, and Territorial Secretary [[William G. Ritch]] acted as governor for about two months until the inauguration of [[Samuel Beach Axtell]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=o93x7aq3GW4C&pg=PA199 Prince, L. Bradford (1912) ''A Concise History of New Mexico'' Torch Press, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, p. 199] [http://worldcat.org/oclc/8570421 OCLC 8570421]</ref> Giddings was a Congregationalist,<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051129004639/http://www.adherents.com/largecom/fam_cong_politicians.html "U.S. Congregationalist Politicians" ''Famous Adherents'']}}</ref> and even though he died in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]] his body was shipped back to Michigan and he was buried at the Mountain Home Cemetery in Kalamazoo.

==References==  {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Giddings&GScid=1170&GRid=9579501& "Marsh Giddings" ''Find-A-Grave listing''] {{Governors of New Mexico}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giddings, Marsh}} [[Category:1816 births]] [[Category:1875 deaths]] [[Category:Case Western Reserve University alumni]] [[Category:Governors of New Mexico Territory]] [[Category:Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives]] [[Category:Politicians from Kalamazoo, Michigan]] [[Category:American Congregationalists]] [[Category:New Mexico Republicans]] [[Category:19th-century Michigan state court judges]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Michigan Legislature]]