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ROSS, Edmund Gibson (1826-1907)
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Senate Years of Service: 1866-1871

ROSS, EDMUND GIBSON, A Senator from Kansas; born in Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio, December 7, 1826; apprenticed as a printer in Sandusky, Ohio; moved to Milwaukee, Wis., in 1849 and was connected with the Milwaukee Sentinel; moved to Topeka, Kans., in 1856, to lead the 'free state' movement; published the Topeka Tribune 1856-1858, and established the Kansas State Record 1859; member of the State constitutional convention 1859-1861; promoter and director of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway; during the Civil War entered the Union Army as a private in 1862 and was mustered out as major in 1865; editor of the Kansas Tribune 1865-1866; appointed and subsequently elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James H. Lane and served from July 19, 1866, to March 3, 1871; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Enrolled Bills (Fortieth Congress), Committee on Engrossed Bills (Forty-first Congress); his vote against conviction in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 was considered one of the essential votes for the President's acquittal; affiliated with the Democratic party after 1872; publisher of several newspapers 1871-1893; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor in 1880; moved to Albuquerque, N.Mex., in 1882; appointed Governor of the Territory of New Mexico by President Grover Cleveland in 1885 and served four years; died in Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, N.Mex., May 8, 1907; interment in Fairview Cemetery.

American Antiquarian Society
Worcester, MA
Papers: 1848-1849. 1 volume. Account book of Mills, Ross, and Mackay Company of Sandusky City, Ohio, a printing business of which Ross was a partner.
Brigham Young University
Special Collections
Provo, UT
Papers: 1887. 2 items. Valencia County, NM, grand jury indictment and extradition request.
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka, KS
Papers: 1856-1907. 1 box. Correspondence and miscellaneous papers relating to activities in the Senate during the Civil War and as territorial governor of New Mexico; photographs; and portraits.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers: 1862-1902. 10 items.
New Mexico State Records Center
Santa Fe, NM
Papers: 7 feet. Personal papers and territorial governorship records (2 feet). Official New Mexico documents are on 2 microfilm reels. Also photographs.

  • Berwanger, Eugene H. "Ross and the Impeachment: A New Look at a Critical Vote.'' Kansas History 1 (Winter 1978): 235-42.
  • Bumgardner, Edward. The Life of Edmund G. Ross, the Man Whose Vote Saved a President. Kansas City, MO: Fielding-Turner Press, 1949.
  • Jellison, Charles A. "The Ross Impeachment Vote: A Need for Reappraisal.'' Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 41 (September 1960): 150-55.
  • Kennedy, John F. "Edmund G. Ross.'' In Profiles in Courage, pp. 126-51. 1956. Reprint. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1961.
  • Kubicek, Earl C. "Pioneer, Soldier and Statesman: The Story of Edmund Gibson Ross.'' Lincoln Herald 84 (Fall 1982) 147-54.
  • Plummer, Mark A. "Governor Crawford's Appointment of Edmund G. Ross to the United States Senate.'' Kansas Historical Quarterly 28 (Summer 1962): 145-53.
  • ___. "Profile in Courage? Edmund G. Ross and the Impeachment Trial.'' Midwest Quarterly 27 (Autumn 1985): 30-48.
  • Robbins, Richard W. "The Life of Sen. Edmund G. Ross of Kansas.'' Kansas Historical Quarterly 33 (Spring 1967): 90-116.
  • Roske, Ralph J. "The Seven Martyrs?'' American Historical Review 64 (January 1959): 323-30.
  • Ross, Edmund G. History of the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by the House of Representatives, and His Trial by the Senate for High Crimes and Misdemeanors in Office, 1868. 1896. Reprint. New York: B. Franklin, 1965.
  • ___. "A Previous Era of Popular Madness and Its Lessons.'' Forum 5 (July 1895): 595-605.
  • ___. A Reminiscence of the Kansas Conflict. Albuquerque: Albright & Anderson, 1898.
  • Ruddy, Richard A. Edmund G. Ross: Soldier, Senator, Abolitionist. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013.