Background
Thomas Ogden Osborn was born on August 11, 1832, in Jersey, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Hannah (Meeker) Osborn.
Thomas Ogden Osborn was born on August 11, 1832, in Jersey, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Hannah (Meeker) Osborn.
Thomas Osborn graduated in 1854 from Ohio University at Athens and after reading law for two years in the office of Gen. Lew Wallace at Crawfordsville, Indiana, was admitted to the bar.
Thomas Osborn began the practice of law in Chicago in 1858. With the opening of the Civil War, however, he threw all his energies into recruiting a regiment of volunteers, the 39th Illinois Infantry, christened the Yates Phalanx in honor of the governor of the state. He was elected lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac, and was shortly promoted to colonel. He was wounded in the attack on Fort Wagner and later more seriously in the battle of Drewry's Bluff, when a bullet shattered his right elbow. For gallantry in action he was brevetted brigadier-general. After more than four months he was discharged from Chesapeake Hospital, but, too weak to return to the field, was given a furlough. He spent his period of convalescence delivering a vigorous series of speeches in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana in Lincoln's second presidential campaign. Returning to active service in December 1864, he remained with his command on the north side of Richmond all winter, and on April 2, 1865, in a dangerous and gallant charge captured Fort Gregg. This resulted in the fall of Petersburg and Richmond. Osborn was made full brigadier-general of volunteers, and the Yates Phalanx was presented with a brazen eagle by the Secretary of War.
After the war Osborn returned to his law practice in Chicago. He was treasurer of Cook County, Illinois, in the years 1867-69; served on the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; and on January 7, 1873, was appointed a member of the Commission to Inquire into the Depredations Committed on the Texas Frontier, and spent the winter investigating conditions in the Rio Grande Valley. On February 10, 1874, President Grant appointed him minister resident in the Argentine Republic. Never content to fill a passive role, he was not only careful to protect American interests, but tried to make himself a valued counselor and trusted friend of the Argentines. On July 6, 1880, his good offices were effective in terminating the civil war between the national government and the province of Buenos Aires.
For many years the relations between Argentina and Chile had been disturbed by a misunderstanding over the Patagonian boundary between the two countries. Osborn and his colleague, Thomas Andrew Osborn, American minister to Chile, took the initiative in bringing about a settlement. The snowy Andes blocked travel between the two capitals, but a treaty was successfully negotiated and ratified (Oct. 22, 1881) by telegraph. Osborn commented that it might well be called "the Wire Treaty. " Others suggested "the Osborn Treaty" as an appropriate name. Osborn was publicly thanked by the Argentine government and commended by his own. The Argentine Republic afterward presented him with a shield, "very handsome, artistic, and costly, " bearing figures representing Chile and Argentina with hands joined, and the United States extending an olive branch. This shield, said to be the last finished work of Gustave Dore, was hung in the Art Institute of Chicago.
Osborn resigned in 1885 but remained in South America, engaging in railway projects. One link of the Pan-American Railway, from Asuncion, Paraguay, to Sucre, Bolivia, was known as the Osborn Concession. He returned to Chicago in 1890 and retired from active business. He died suddenly in Washington, D. C. , in 1904, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Thomas Ogden was a member of the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (1867-69) and of the Commission to Inquire into the Depredations Committed on the Texas Frontier (1873).
Thomas Osborn never married.
