Samuel Woodard Cosand Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1419-1420 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	SAMUEL WOODARD COSAND, a representative citizen of Potter county, 
was born on a farm in Boone county, Indiana, on the 27th of June, 1843, 
being a son of Samuel and Mary Cosand. The father was born in North 
Carolina. The original progenitor of the Cosand family in America was 
the great-grandfather of the subject. who was born and reared in France 
and who was one of the valiant soldiers who accompanied General 
Lafayette when he came to this country to assist the struggling 
colonists in their war for independence. He continued to serve under the 
noble general mentioned until victory had crowned the colonial arms, and 
then located in North Carolina, where a grateful government presented 
him with a large grant of land. The father of our subject was reared to 
manhood in his native state, where he continued to make his home until 
1820, when he came west to Indiana, making the trip with a team and 
small wagon and thus conveying all of his worldly effects. He was one of 
the pioneers of Boone county, where he reclaimed a farm in the midst of 
the sylvan wilderness. and there he and his devoted wife passed the 
remainder of their lives, the father passing away on June 6, 1863, and 
the mother on April 16, 1876. The eldest son, Robert, served as a 
soldier in an Indiana regiment during the war of the Rebellion. and is 
now living in Indiana. 

	The subject of this sketch was reared on the pioneer homestead in 
Indiana, early becoming inured to hard work, while his educational 
advantages in his youth were necessarily somewhat limited. Alert in his 
mentality and appreciative of the value of knowledge, this deprivation 
did not constitute a serious handicap, and through strenuous personal 
effort and application he rounded out in due time what may well be 
designated as a liberal education. On the 16th of July, 1862, at the age 
of nineteen years, Mr. Cosand signalized his intrinsic loyalty and 
patriotism by enlisting as a private in Company D, Seventy-second 
Indiana Mounted Infantry, commanded by Colonel A. O. Miller. He was 
mustered in at Indianapolis and thence proceeded with his regiment to 
Louisville, Kentucky, where they were assigned to Wilder's brigade, in 
the Army of the Cumberland. They were sent to Tennessee and soon led the 
advance against General Bragg, through Hoover's Gap, where they had a 
severe engagement, being attacked, just after passing through the gap, 
by Hardy's entire corps. This was the first occasion during the war that 
the new Spencer rifles were brought into active service, and they proved 
disastrous to the enemy, the four regiments holding their position until 
the regular infantry came up to reinforce them, the same night, and each 
man had fired three hundred rounds in the engagement. The regiment 
continued to serve under General Thomas until after the battle of 
Jonesburg, having taken part in the battle of Chickamauga, where has 
recently been created a handsome monument in memory of the brigade of 
which the subject was a member. After the battle of Nashville they were 
organized into a cavalry corps and placed in the command of General 
Wilson, under whom they served in Georgia, having a number of spirited 
engagements. With the others of his regiment, Mr. Cosand was honorably 
discharged, on the 6th of July, 1865. He then returned to Indiana, where 
he remained a brief interval, after which he went to Iowa, where he 
engaged in teaching school, and also in farming and dealing in live 
stock. In 1870 he returned to Indiana, having in the meanwhile made a 
careful and comprehensive study of the law, and he was admitted to the 
bar of his native state, after which he located in Warsaw, Indiana, 
where he was engaged in the practice of his profession until 1879, when 
he located in Burlington Junction, Missouri, where he was engaged in 
practice for two years, after which he returned to Indiana, where he 
remained until 1883, when he came to Potter county, South Dakota, which 
was organized in that year, and took up a tree claim of one hundred and 
sixty acres, and also filed on another claim of one hundred and sixty 
acres. In 1885 he was elected state's attorney of the county, being the 
first incumbent of the office in the county, and holding the position 
two years, after which he returned to his ranch, four miles south of 
Gettysburg, where he continued to devote his attention to farming and 
stock raising until March, 1894. In 1898 he served again as state's 
attorney, filling out the unexpired term of Mr. Medbury, who died while 
in office. In 1890 Mr. Cosand was a candidate for attorney general of 
the state, on an independent ticket, but met defeat with the rest of the 
ticket. In 1900 he was again elected to the office of state's attorney, 
serving two years, since which time he has devoted himself to the 
practice of his profession in Gettysburg and to the supervision of his 
fine ranch. His farm, which is the original tree claim, is well improved 
and under a high state of cultivation, while he is also the owner of 
valuable realty in, Gettysburg, where he has maintained his home since 
1894. In politics he is an independent and fraternally is identified 
with Meade Post, No. 32, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. 

	On the 15th of November, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Cosand to Miss Mary T. Dormire, who was born and reared in Union county, 
Indiana. She died on the 8th of August, 1882, and is survived by two 
children, Carl, who is residing in Gettysburg, and Nellie, who is now 
the wife of Grant M. Lambert, who is farming six miles south of 
Gettysburg. On the 15th of November, 1883, the subject consummated a 
second marriage, being then united to Miss Elizabeth Cisco, who was born 
in Shelby county, Ohio, being a daughter of William and Percilla 
(Bowersox) Cisco. This marriage was the first one solemnized in Potter 
county.