William Peters Hepburn

William Peters Hepburn (November 4, 1833 – February 7, 1916) was an American Civil War officer and an eleven-term Republican congressman from Iowa's now-obsolete 8th congressional district, serving from 1881 to 1887, and from 1893 to 1909. According to historian Edmund Morris, "Hepburn was the House's best debater, admired for his strength of character and legal acumen." As chair of one of the most powerful committees in Congress, he guided or sponsored many statutes regulating businesses, including most notably the Hepburn Act of 1906. The Hepburn Act authorized the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission to require railroads to charge "just and reasonable" rates. Background Hepburn was born in Wellsville, Ohio and raised from the age of seven in Iowa City, Iowa. His schooling was limited to a few months in an Iowa City academy. The great-grandson of Revolutionary War officer, printer, and congressman Matthew Lyon, and the great-great-grandson of Thomas Chittenden, the first Governor of Vermont, he was first engaged as an apprentice printer, before studying law. He became prosecuting attorney of Marshall County in 1856 as well as serving as district attorney for the eleventh judicial district from 1856 to 1861. He was also the clerk to the Iowa House of Representatives. In May 1860, Hepburn was one of two delegates representing counties in the eleventh judicial district at the 1860 Republican National Convention, where Abraham Lincoln was nominated. The following March, when serving a brief term as a lobbyist for those counties in Washington D.C., Hepburn attended Lincoln's presidential inauguration. Civil War service During the Civil War, he served as an officer in the 2nd Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. He was promoted from captain of Company B to major of the First Battalion on September 13, 1861, then to lieutenant colonel in 1862. He participated in the final stage of the Battle of Island Number Ten near New Madrid, Missouri, and saw combat during the Siege of Corinth, the Battle of Iuka in northeastern Mississippi, and the Battle of Collierville, Tennessee. From time to time he was also assigned as an inspector of cavalry for the Army of the Cumberland and, due to his legal experience, served as an acting inspector general and court martial president or judge advocate for troops in the lower Mississippi River theater.