State Historical Society of Missouri

POLK, Trusten, a Senator from Missouri; born near Bridgeville, Sussex County, Del., May 29, 1811; attended the common schools and a private academy; graduated from Yale College in 1831; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1835 and commenced practice in St. Louis, Mo.; city counselor of St. Louis 1843; delegate to the Missouri State constitutional convention in 1845; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1848; inaugurated as Governor of Missouri in January 1857 but soon afterward resigned, having been elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate; served from March 4, 1857, to January 10, 1862, when he was expelled for support of the rebellion; during the Civil War served as colonel in the Confederate Army; judge in the military courts of the department of Mississippi in 1864 and 1865, until taken prisoner; resumed the practice of law in St. Louis, Mo., and died there April 16, 1876; interment in Bellefontaine Cemetery.