”Members of the House of Representatives on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington” (detail), engraving after Valerian Gribayedoff, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1894, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

COGSWELL, William, a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Bradford, Mass., August 23, 1838; attended Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.; was graduated from the Dane Law School, Harvard University, in 1860; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Salem; was commissioned a captain in the Second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, May 11, 1861; lieutenant colonel October 23, 1862; colonel June 25, 1863; brevetted brigadier general of Volunteers December 15, 1864; mustered out July 24, 1865; resumed the practice of his profession; mayor of Salem 1867-1869, 1873, and 1874; member of the State house of representatives 1870, 1871, and 1881-1883; served in the State senate in 1885 and 1886; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1892; elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1887, until his death in Washington, D.C., May 22, 1895; interment in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass.