# Charles Eugene Flandrau *American lawyer, judge and militia officer in the Minnesota Territory and State (1828–1903)* Charles Eugene Flandrau (July 15, 1828 – September 9, 1903) was a lawyer who moved from New York City to the [[Minnesota Territory]] in 1853. He became a figure of influence there and in the later state of [[Minnesota]].[^1] In the 1850s he sat on the Minnesota Territorial Council and in the Minnesota Constitutional Convention. He also served as a justice of the territorial supreme court and then as an associate justice of the [[Minnesota Supreme Court]].[^1] In 1862, during the [[Dakota]] War, he entered the Union Army with a captain's commission and raised a force to defend the settlers of New Ulm. After that defense, the governor named him a colonel and placed him in command of the defense of southwestern Minnesota.[^1] In 1867 he was the Democratic candidate for governor and lost. In 1869 he ran for chief justice and also lost. In 1870 he settled in St. Paul, where he practiced law in a three-man partnership until he died in 1903.[^1] ## Early life Flandrau was born in New York City in 1828. His father, Thomas Hunt Flandrau of New Rochelle, New York, was a lawyer who had practiced in partnership with Aaron Burr.[^1] His mother, Elizabeth Maria Macomb, was the daughter of Alexander Macomb, a wealthy New York merchant. Her half-brother, also named Alexander Macomb (1782–1841), was a career Army officer and a general in the War of 1812 who later headed the United States Army.[^1] The family traced its descent to Jacques Flandreau, a French Huguenot who settled at New Rochelle in the 1690s. The changes in the spelling of the surname reflected the region's successive Dutch and English settlement.[^1] He attended school in Georgetown, at that time a community separate from the rest of the District of Columbia. At 13 he tried to join the Navy. He was too young for an appointment, so he spent three years as an ordinary seaman in other services.[^1] From 1844 he worked for three years in New York City's mahogany trade. He then returned to his family, who were living in Whitesboro, New York, and studied law as an apprentice in his father's office. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and became a partner in his father's firm.[^1] ## Career Flandrau moved to Traverse des Sioux, Minnesota, in 1853 to open a law practice. During the following decade he held seats on the Territorial Council and in the Constitutional Convention, and he served on both the territorial and state supreme courts.[^1] In 1856 he received an appointment as U.S. Agent for the Sioux, who in that region were Dakota people.[^1] The cached article describes Flandrau as a vocal opponent when the American Civil War broke out. It states that he would not enlist in the Union Army for any aggressive purpose against the Confederates, and that this further damaged his credibility.[^1] In August 1862 he learned of the Dakota uprising in the state's southwestern corner. He then enlisted in the Union Army as a captain, gathered an armed force, and moved to defend the settlers at New Ulm.[^1] Governor [[Alexander Ramsey]] put him in charge of defending the state's southwestern frontier. Flandrau held that command as a colonel for two years while he remained on the Minnesota Supreme Court.[^1] Because his defense of New Ulm succeeded, Flandrau State Park and the town of Flandreau, South Dakota, bear his name.[^1] He gave up both the judgeship and the military command in 1864 and went to Nevada to practice law. Within a year he had returned to [[Minneapolis]], where he practiced in partnership with [[Isaac Atwater]].[^1] In 1867 he ran as the Democratic nominee for [[Governor of Minnesota]] and lost to [[William Rainey Marshall]].[^1] According to the cached article, in mid-September 1867 he gave a campaign speech that used racial slurs. The article states that the speech drew national attention for its open opposition to protections for African-Americans and its support for racial violence.[^1] The article also records that Secretary of State William H. Seward urged Minnesota voters not to support him.[^1] In 1869 he sought the office of chief justice in Minnesota. The cached text breaks off at that point. The lead describes his campaigns for office in this period as unsuccessful.[^1] He moved to St. Paul in 1870 and practiced there with two partners until his death in 1903.[^1] ## Personal life Flandrau married twice. On August 10, 1859, he married Isabella Dinsmore of Kentucky, his first cousin and the daughter of James Dinsmore and Martha Macomb.[^1] They had two daughters, Martha Macomb Flandrau and Sarah Gibson Flandrau. Isabella died in 1867.[^1] Martha became the wife of Tilden Russell Selmes. Their daughter, Isabella Selmes, later known as Isabella Greenway, is described in the cached article as the first woman Arizona elected to congress.[^1] His second wife was Rebecca B. Riddle, a widow whose father was Judge William McClure of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The couple had two sons.[^1] The elder, Charles Macomb Flandrau, became a writer known for a novel and stories about college life. He also published short fiction in major magazines of the period, among them *The Saturday Evening Post*.[^1] The younger son, William Blair McClure Flandrau, ran a coffee plantation in Mexico in the early 1900s. He married Grace Hodgson, who began writing with his brother Charles as her mentor.[^1] Grace Flandrau became a widely read author and earned substantial income from her work. Her will left bequests to several institutions, including the University of Arizona, whose Flandrau Science Center is named for her.[^1] ## Publications - *The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier* (1900). The pack lists a LibriVox audio edition.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Charles Eugene Flandrau* (revision 1378217928, retrieved 2026-10-26) — biographical summary of Flandrau's life, offices, campaigns, family and publications; CC BY-SA 4.0; the only source in the pack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eugene_Flandrau