William L. Stoughton

Who was William L. Stoughton?

William Lewis Stoughton was a politician and soldier from U.S. state of Michigan who served in the United States Congress, as well as serving as a general and brigade commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Stoughton was born in Bangor, New York. He attended Kirtland, Painesville, and Madison Academies in Lake County, Ohio. He studied law in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan from 1849 to 1851 when he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Sturgis, Michigan.

Stoughton was a prosecuting attorney of St. Joseph County from 1855 to 1859 and a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention. He was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as United States District Attorney for the District of Michigan in March 1861, but resigned a few months later to enter the Union Army following the outbreak of the Civil War.

He served as colonel of the 11th Michigan Infantry and then was a brigadier general. Stoughton commanded the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the XIV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chattanooga. He later was promoted to the rank of major general by brevet. He resigned in August 1864 because of ill health and resumed the practice of his profession in Sturgis, Michigan, in 1865.