A history of Massachusetts in the Civil War Volume 1, pt.1
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
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William Schouler was an American editor and historian, politician. He also was Adjutant General of Massachusetts during the American Civil War.
Background
William was born on December 31, 1814 at Kilbarchan, near Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, his parents being James and Margaret (Clark) Schouler. The family name was often spelled Scouler in Scotland and was pronounced "Skooler. " The senior Schouler, a calico printer, came to the United States in 1816 and after brief residence on Staten Island, New York, went to Taunton and Lynn, Massachussets, and in 1832 engaged in textile manufacture at West Cambridge, Massachussets, a district later set off as part of the town of Arlington.
Education
After a common school education, Schouler learned his father's trade, but his primary interest was in politics, not calico.
Career
Schouler became a practical cloth printer. Later, in 1841, with William Stevens Robinson as assistant editor, he undertook to publish and edit the Lowell Courier, which had undergone vicissitudes but in their hands became an influential daily newspaper, later known as the Lowell Courier-Citizen. In the 1840's it supported the Whig party.
After serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1844, 1845, and 1847, Schouler in 1847 sold his interest at Lowell and became editor-in-chief of the Boston Daily Atlas.
He again served in the Massachusetts legislature as representative from Boston, 1849-53. Although he had been a stanch supporter of Daniel Webster, he indignantly repudiated his political leadership after the famous speech of March 7, 1850. This change of policy caused so many New England Whigs to brand Schouler as a traitor that he gave up his Boston editorship and in 1853 bought a part ownership in the Cincinnati Gazette. This he sold three years later and soon became editor of the Ohio State Journal at Columbus.
He was a delegate in 1856 to the first Republican National Convention. His political contacts presently brought him an appointment as adjutant-general of Ohio, but in 1858 an offer of the editorship of the Boston Atlas and Daily Bee led him to return to Massachusetts.
In 1860 he was appointed adjutant-general of the commonwealth, an office he held until at the end of 1866, when Gov. Alexander Bullock removed him.
His A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War (2 vols. , 1868 - 71) contains enough that is autobiographical to place its author among the dynamic figures of his era. His annual report of December 31, 1860, included a warning of impending war that stirred Massachusetts toward preparation.
In 1868 he once more served in the Massachusetts legislature. In 1872 he was of the Republicans who bolted Grant, and at his death was a candidate for presidential elector on the Greeley ticket. Schouler died on October 24, 1872.