Gen. John B. S. Todd (USA), US Congress Territory

John Blair Smith Todd (April 4, 1814 – January 5, 1872) was a Delegate  from Dakota Territory to the United States House of Representatives and a  general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

He was the son of to John and Elizabeth (Smith) Todd, His first cousin was Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln. Thus he was cousin-in-law with the President. Another cousin-in-law was Confederate General Benjamin Hardin Helm. Helm's father was Kentucky Governor John Helm; Helm's mother was a first cousin, three times removed of Colonel John Hardin, who was related to three Kentucky Congressmen. By marriage he was connected with Abraham Lincoln and John C. Breckinridge.

JOHN B. S., born April 4, 1814, in Lexington, Kentucky, came with his parents to Springfield in 1827, and July 1, 1833, entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated there July 1, 1837. He was assigned to duty as second lieutenant in the 6th U. S. Inf., promoted to first lieutenant, Dec. 25, 1837, and promoted to captain in 1843.

After more than eighteen years active service, during which time he was in almost every frontier fort, and served through the Mexican war,

He served with his regiment in the Florida war from 1837 to 1840; was on recruiting service in 1841; again took part in the Florida war until 1842;
was promoted to Captain in 1843 and performed frontier duty in the Indian Territory and Arkansas, 1843-46.
He served in the Mexican-American War in 1847, taking part in the Siege of Veracruz and the battles of Cerro Gordo and Amazoque., and was thereafter was on duty at various garrisons and frontier posts till 1855,
He had built a fort in Minnesota before being sent with his company to join William Harney's campaign against the Sioux,
In 1855 he engaged or shared in the action of Blue Water against the Sioux Indians.
He fought at the Battle of ash Hollow and survived the incredibly harsh winter of 1855 at fort Pierre. While on campaign, her kept a journal and recorded the complexities of everyday life.

Captain Todd after resigning his commission Sept. 16, 1856, and entered into mercantile business; becoming an Indian trader at Fort Randall, , Dakota Territory

He was admitted to the bar in 1861 and commenced the practice of law in Yankton.

In the summer of 1861 he was elected the first Delegate of Dakota in the United States Congress.

He was commissioned September 19, 1861, by President Lincoln, Brigadier General of Volunteers, and in 1862 commanded the 6th Division of the Army of the Tennessee from September 1861 to Jul 1862 and was in command of the North Missouri district from October 1 to December 1, 1861. He resigned from the Army on July 17, 1862.
He was re-elected Delegate to Congress to the 37th and 38th United States Congress, when the Dakota Territory was formed serving from 1863 until March 4, 1865.

Todd was elected as a Democrat to the House, serving from December 9, 1861, to March 3, 1863. He was reelected to serve from June 17, 1864, to March 3, 1865. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1864, and returned to Yankton.

He was elected in 1867 to the Territorial Legislature of Dakota, and was Speaker of the House at the session of 1867 and 1868.

He was once again unsuccessful in running for the nomination for a Congressional seat in 1868

In 1869-71 was Governor of the territory.

General Todd was a founder of the city of Yankton and one of the leading citizens of Dakota in his time.

General J. B. S. Todd, then a Captain in the United States army, was married March 25, 1845, at Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Catharine S. Hoffman, a daughter of Colonel William Hoffman, of the United States army. 

They had nine children. The second and third both died in infancy. Of the other seven,

• KATE H., born in 1845, at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, married March, 1869, at Yankton, Dakota to Edward F. Higbee. They have one child, JOHN TODD, and live in Yankton.
• FANNIE A., born in 1852, at Fort Ripley, Minnesota, was married June, 1873, to J. B. Van Velsor, at Yankton, Dakota, where they now reside.
• JOHN, born in 1854, at Fort Ripley, Minnesota, married August, 1875, to Mary F. Hughes, at Yankton, Dakota, where they now reside.
• DANA, born in 1857, at Springfield, Illinois. MARY H., born in 1859,
• MATILDA C., born in 1861,
• SOPHIA J., born in 1864, the three latter at Fort Randall, Dakota.

General J. B. S. Todd died Jan. 5, 1872, at Yankton, Dakota and is interred in Yankton Cemetery. Todd County, South Dakota and Todd County, Minnesota are named after him.

His widow and four minor children reside at Yankton, Dakota .

sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Blair_Smith_Todd
• The Union Army, vol. 8