Feature Article on Ben Lefevre.
Topic: POLITICS & PEOPLE
Written by Rich Wallace in
November, 1994
SHELBY COUNTY PRODUCED A NOTED POLITICIAN |
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| In the fall of each year, talk turns to politics
on the local, state and national level. Political advertisements dominate the airwaves
with what some would call annoying frequency. All of this brings to mind Shelby County's
most famous and accomplished legislator, General Ben Lefevre. This is his story. Ben was born in Salem Township as part of a large family on October 8, 1838. He first learned to read by the light of a burning rope knot which he would hang in his room. Upon completion of his schooling, both in the township log cabin and later in Sidney, Lefevre studied at Miami University in Oxford. Even though he had a college degree, the patriotic fervor of the Civil War took hold of Lefevre and he volunteered to serve under General Fremont with the Benton Cadets in Missouri. After that group was disbanded, he signed on as a regimental officer in the 99th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in July of 1862. Many of his friends from Shelby County, including Thomas Honnell from Port Jefferson, also enlisted. Lefevre received a battlefield promotion to major at the battle of Stones River, Major Lefevre also led his troops at the battle of Chicamauga, one of the most terrible of the war. It was there that Thomas Honnell, his boyhood friend, was severely wounded. He served with the regiment throughout all of its campaigns in the western theater of the war. After being discharged in 1865, Lefevre returned home and immediately immersed himself in politics. He was elected by the Democrats as a representative to the Ohio General Assembly. While serving in the 65th and 66th General Assemblies, he was the youngest member of those bodies. |
This woodcut of General Lefevre shows him at the time he was a member of Congress. [Back] [Next] [Up] [New Search] |
