John A. Bolles

John Augustus Bolles (April 16, 1809 – May 25, 1878) was an American politician who, from 1843–1844, served as the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. He also served as a staff officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was brevetted to Brigadier General.[2] Bolles was the son of an abolitionist preacher and the brother in law of General John Adams Dix. He was also an accomplished legal scholar prior to the war and advised the War Department on the legality of upholding the conviction of Clement Vallandigham. Bolles had conducted the first broad study of the Dorr Rebellion as well as Chief Justice Taney's opinion in Luther v. Borden and concluded that the federal judiciary could not take jurisdiction over Vallandigham's appeals. The judiciary sided with Bolles on this matter.[3]

John Augustus Bolles[1]
8th Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth[1]
In office
1843–1844
GovernorMarcus Morton
Preceded byJohn P. Bigelow
Succeeded byJohn G. Palfrey
Personal details
BornApril 16, 1809[1]
Ashford, Connecticut[1]
DiedMay 25, 1878 (1878-05-26) (aged 69)
Washington, D.C.
Resting placeForest Hills Cemetery Jamaica Plain Massachusetts
Political partyWhig
Spouse(s)Catherine Hartwell Dix, m. November 11, 1834.[1]
Alma materBrown University, 1829, M.A. 1832[1]
ProfessionLawyer[1]
Military service
AllegianceUnited States of America
Union
Branch/serviceUnion Army
Years of serviceJanuary 30, 1862[1]-July 17, 1865[2]
Rank Major[1]
Bvt. Brigadier General
UnitVII Corps[1]
CommandsAide de Camp to John Adams Dix,[1] and Judge Advocate[1]
Battles/warsBattle of South Mountain,[2] American Civil War

He was a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee, an organization that assisted fugitive slaves.[4]

Death

Bolles died on May 25, 1878 in Washington, D.C., he was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.[2]

References
  1. Bolles, John Augustus (1865), Genealogy of the Bolles Family in America., Boston, MA: Henry W. Dutton & Son, p. 28.
  2. Eicher, John (2002), Civil War High Commands, Redwood City, California: Stanford University Press, p. 136.
  3. Joshua E. Kastenberg, Law in War, Law as War: Brigadier General Joseph Holt and the Judge Advocate General’s Department in the Civil War and Early Reconstruction, 1861-1865 (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2011), 136
  4. Bearse, Austin (1880). Reminiscences of Fugitive-Slave Law Days in Boston. Boston: Warren Richardson. p. 3.
Political offices
Preceded by
John P. Bigelow		 8th Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
1843–1844		 Succeeded by
John G. Palfrey


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