John Eaton (general)

For other people named John Eaton, see John Eaton (disambiguation).

John Eaton
United States Commissioner of Education
In office
March 16, 1870  August 5, 1886
President Ulysses Grant
Rutherford Hayes
James Garfield
Chester Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Preceded by Henry Barnard
Succeeded by Nathaniel Dawson
Personal details
Born (1829-12-05)December 5, 1829
Sutton, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died February 9, 1906(1906-02-09) (aged 76)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater Dartmouth College
Andover Theological Seminary
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Military service
Allegiance  United States
  Union
Service/branch Union Army
Rank Colonel
Bvt. Brigadier General
Unit 27th Ohio Infantry
Commands 63rd U.S. Colored Infantry
Battles/wars American Civil War

John Eaton, Jr. (December 5, 1829 February 9, 1906) was a U.S. Commissioner of Education and a brevet brigadier general during the American Civil War.

Early life

Eaton was born in Sutton, New Hampshire,[1] and attended Thetford Academy in Vermont. He was the eldest of nine children and his father was a farmer. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1854, studied at Andover Theological Seminary, and was ordained in 1862 to the Presbyterian ministry. He had to teach all four years he was in college in order to pay his board and tuition. He received degrees of A.M. and later an L.L.D. from Rutgers.[2][3]

He then taught school in Cleveland, OH and was the acting superintendent of schools in Toledo from 1856-1859.

Civil War

After being ordained in 1862, Eaton entered the American Civil War as a chaplain of the 27th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In November of that year, after Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant appointed him superintendent of freedmen and was later given supervision of all military posts from Cairo to Natchez and Fort Smith. In November 1863, Grant appointed him as the Superintendent of Negro Affairs for the Department of the Tennessee; there Eaton supervised the establishment of 74 schools. In 1863, Eaton was made colonel of the 63rd United States Colored Infantry, and, in March 1865, he was advanced to brevet brigadier general.[3]

Postbellum career

General Eaton left the military and eventually returned to his career in education. He remained with the freedman bureau until he was mustered out and then became editor of the Memphis Daily Post in 1866. From 1867-1869 he was the state superintendent of schools of Tennessee.[3] He was then appointed United States Commissioner of Education in 1870 and served with great efficiency in the Bureau of Education where he, among other things, organized Washington, D.C.'s Board of Education and reorganized the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

In 18861891, Eaton was president of Marietta College, and, in 1895, he was appointed president of Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska. In 1898, he became inspector of education in Puerto Rico and played a role in the centralization of its educational system. At the same time, he was the president of Westminster College in Salt Lake City. He also served as Councillor of the American Public Health Association, Vice President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and president of the Association of Social Science. He was a representative of the Interior Department at the centennial exposition and the organizer of the educational exhibit at New Orleans. He was president of the national congress of education and of the American Society of Religious Education.[3]

Eaton wrote a history of Thetford Academy, "Mormons of Today", "The Freedmen in the War", "Schools of Tennessee" and several reports, addresses and magazine articles.[3]

After several years of failing health, he took ill and died one day later in his apartment in the Concord Flats in Washington, D.C.. Four years later, John Eaton Elementary School was named for him.[2][3]

See also

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "article name needed". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. 

Notes

  1. Eicher, p. 222.
  2. 1 2 "In Speech and Song: Celebrating the Opening of John Eaton School" (PDF). The Evening Star. 23 November 1910. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Death of Gen. Eaton" (PDF). The Evening Star. 9 February 1906. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
Political offices
Preceded by
Henry Barnard
United States Commissioner of Education
1870–1886
Succeeded by
Nathaniel Dawson
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