RUSSELL ALEXANDER ALGER, a Senator from Michigan; born in a log cabin in Lafayette Township, Medina County, Ohio on February 27, 1836.  He worked on a farm and attended Richfield Academy in Summit County, Ohio.  Later, Alger taught country school and studied law in Akron, Ohio.  He  was admitted to the bar in March 1859.  In 1859 Alger moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan where he engaged in the lumber business, then later moved to moved to Detroit. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Alger entered the volunteer service as Captain of Company C, 2nd Michigan Cavalry when it organized in the summer of 1861. He subsequently became Major of the 2nd Michigan.  Alger received promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and transferred to the 6th Michigan Cavalry, then received another promotion to Colonel and assumed command of the 5th Michigan Cavalry. Alger resigned from the service on September 20, 1864 whereupon he was brevetted Brigadier General, then Major General of the United States Volunteers for gallant and meritorious services on many battlefields, and especially at Gettysburg and in the Shenandoah Valley during the war. 

Following his military service, Alger returned to Detroit, where he resided the rest of his life.  He engaged for a number of years in the lumber business in Detroit, where he amassed a large fortune, became a leading lumberman.  He became active in politics and in 1884 was sent to the Republican National Convention as the delegate from Michigan, 1884.  That year, Alger was elected Governor of Michigan, serving from 1885 to 1887.  Alger declined a second nomination in 1886. More than once has the name and record of the soldier-statesman of Michigan was seriously considered by the Republican party when casting about for an available candidate for President of the United States.  He was the Republican nomination for President in 1888. He was appointed Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President William McKinley on March 5, 1897 but he proved to be a timid and inexperienced leader.  Sadly, “Algerism” became a synonym for incompetence and he resigned August 1, 1899.

Alger was appointed and subsequently elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy resulting from the death of James McMillan, and served from September 27, 1902, until his death in Washington, D.C., January 24, 1907.  During his seat in the Senate, Alger served as Chairman for the Committee on Coast Defenses (Fifty-ninth Congress), and was on the Committee on the Pacific Railroads (Fifty-ninth Congress). He is entombed in a mausoleum in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.

Sources:  Dictionary of American Biography; Bell, Rodney E. “A Life of Russell Alexander Alger.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1975; U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses for Russell Alexander Alger. 59th Congress, 2nd session, 1907. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907.