In the fall of 1859, he traveled south, and spent a year in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.
In 1860, he entered a select school in candor to finish his education, but the next year went to fight in the American Civil War instead.
He was severely wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg, and resigned his commission in November 1864.
Looking for a place to practice law, he engaged instead in the black walnut lumber business in Missouri and Illinois; then grew oranges in Florida; then was a merchant in the Red River Valley; and finally became a lumberman on the shores of Lake Superior.
In 1876, he returned home and purchased the Candor Woolen Mills where he manufactured horse blankets.