Harvey Wallis Salmon

Salmon was born on January 26, 1839, in Greenville County, South Carolina, the son of farmer Ezekial J. Salmon.^[1] In 1859, he moved to Morgan County, Missouri, where he worked in general stores. During the American Civil War, he served in the Missouri State Guard and fought in the Battle of Carthage, Missouri; the Battle of Wilson's Creek; the Battle of Dry Wood Creek; and the First Battle of Lexington. In November 1861, he left active service and continued as a recruiter. He spent ten months imprisoned by the Union Army, and after being released, worked under Mosby Monroe Parsons.^[2] He was ranked Major.^[3] He maintained the Lost Cause of the Confederacy viewpoint after the war.^[1]

Following the war, Salmon relocated to Clinton, Missouri, where he and his brother engaged in real estate and banking. A Democrat, he was elected State Treasurer of Missouri, serving from 1873 to 1875, which he was paid $3,000 per year for. He lowered public debt by more than $1,000,000. Following his term, he persisted in politics, heading the Democratic Party's executive committee for electoral campaigns in 1892 and 1896;^[2] he was also a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1902.^[4]

Salmon married Mary Katherine Kimbrough on November 16, 1871; they had four children together.^[1] In his later life, he lived in St. Louis,^[5] dying there on April 27, 1927, aged 88, at the Missouri Baptist Medical Center. He had fallen and broken his arm prior to being admitted to the hospital.^[4] He is buried in the Englewood Cemetery, in Clinton.^[2][3]