Person

Robert Cumming Schenck (U.S. Army general, attorney, politician, and diplomat)

b. 1809-10-04 d. 1890-03-23

Dayton, Ohio, attorney, politician, diplomat, and soldier. Franklin, Ohio, native. Son of William Cortenus Schenck. Married Rennelke Smith Schenck at Missequoque, Long Island, New York, on August 21, 1834. Father of Elizabeth R. Schenck, Julia C. Schenck, and Sallie S. Schenck. Graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts in 1827. Read law with Thomas Corwin. Professor at Miami University from 1827 to 1829. Admitted to the Ohio bar in January 1833. Member of Ohio House of Representatives from 1839 to 1843. Successful Whig candidate to the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1851. Attorney in Dayton, Ohio, in 1850. U.S. envoy and minister to Brazil from March 12, 1851, to October 8, 1853. Attorney in Dayton, Ohio, in 1860. Served as brigadier general of Volunteers (U.S.A.) from May 17, 1861, to August 30, 1862. Major general from August 30, 1862, to December 5, 1863. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1863, to January 5, 1871.

Details

Sex
Male
Race
White

Bibliography

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Ohio, Montgomery County, Dayton, 2nd Ward, p. 156A
Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Ohio, Montgomery County, Dayton, 2nd Ward, p. 236
Ninth Manuscript Census of the United States (1870), Population Schedules, Ohio, Montgomery County, Dayton, 3rd Ward, p. 170A.
Fred B. Joyner, “Robert Cumming Schenck, First Citizen and Statesman of The Miami Valley,” _Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 58 (July 1949): 286-8.
“Ill But Five Days: Gen. Robert C. Schenck Dies of Pneumonia—His Career as Congressman, Soldier, and Diplomat was a Remarkable One,” Belmont Chronicle (St. Clairsville, Ohio), March 27, 1890.
Andrew, R. Dodge, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005: the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005, Inclusive (Washington, DC: US Gov. Print. Off., 2005), 1871.
“Robert Cumming Schenck,” U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/schenck-robert-cumming. Accessed April 4, 2018.
Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army: From Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903, vol. 1 (Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1903), 864.

Citation

Schenck, Robert Cumming. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, https://discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/S32208022 (November 12, 2026).

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