[6] Four years later, he supported the Republican candidate, former Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln, in the 1860 presidential race, marching in processions of the Wide Awakes and other pro-Lincoln groups, and attending as many rallies as he could.

Foraker noted in his memoirs that while his time as auditor's clerk greatly improved his penmanship, it also brought him into contact with many county officials, teaching him how government worked.

His uncle gave reluctant consent, and on July 14, 1862, Foraker was mustered in Company "A", 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry; in late August, after training, he became second sergeant.

"[10] The 89th remained at Donelson only a few days before being sent to join the Army of the Cumberland under the command of Major General William Rosecrans near Carthage; there, Foraker was promoted to second lieutenant.

In November he returned to Chattanooga, where the 89th was now part of the Army of the Tennessee under Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman, in time to fight in the Battle of Missionary Ridge.

In April, as Sherman's army moved slowly northward, word came of the surrender of Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his forces at Appomattox, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

In early May, Sherman's Army of Georgia journeyed north towards Washington, passing in review on May 23 before President Andrew Johnson, sworn in after Lincoln's assassination the previous month.

The following year, Foraker attended the 1876 Republican National Convention as a spectator, and listened spellbound as Robert Ingersoll dramatically nominated Maine Senator James G. Blaine for president, calling him a "plumed knight".

Other candidates for the presidential nomination included President Chester A. Arthur (who had succeeded the assassinated James A. Garfield) and John A. Logan, but the convention was dominated by the Blaine forces.

In his inaugural address, he urged election reform, creation of a liquor licensing bureau, the abolition of laws that discriminated against blacks, and the establishment of a state board of health.

When the governor visited Philadelphia later that year for the centennial of the Constitution, he rode at the head of a regiment of Ohio militia past the reviewing stand on which Cleveland stood.

Later that day, Foraker led a troop of Grand Army of the Republic veterans past Cleveland's reviewing stand in another parade, bearing an array of captured battle flags.

"[54] According to Horner, "the split between Foraker and Hanna had a profound impact on the subsequent behavior of both men, their careers in politics, and the Republican Party in Ohio, which was fractured by the dispute.

Bushnell and Foraker resisted for a month once the pending appointment of Sherman became known in January 1897, during which time the governor offered the seat to Congressman Theodore E. Burton, who declined.

As McKinley's original vice president, Garret Hobart, had died in 1899, he required a new running mate for the 1900 campaign, and the convention chose the popular Spanish–American War hero, New York governor Theodore Roosevelt.

[100] In February 1904, Hanna died of typhoid fever, and his Senate seat and factional leadership were won by Charles Dick, a four-term congressman who had received favorable publicity due to his Spanish–American War service.

[102] Foraker was impatient with McKinley's policy towards Spain, decrying the President's State of the Union communication to Congress in December 1897 and his so-called "war message", which some deemed insufficiently bellicose, in April 1898.

The following year, Foraker also broke with the administration on the question of statehood for Arizona and New Mexico, feeling that the two territories should not be combined into one state unless a merger was approved in referendums.

Various military items, including discharged rifle shells, were presented by the local mayor as evidence that troops of the 25th Infantry Battalion, stationed outside of town and consisting of blacks, were responsible.

By late January 1907, after further investigation, Roosevelt had rescinded the part of the order barring the soldiers from federal employment, and had stated that he would reconsider the case of anyone who could present proof of his innocence.

"[123][124] Foraker stated that Sergeant Sanders had been dishonorably discharged even though "he was as innocent of any offense against the law of any kind whatever as the President himself"—and, he charged, Roosevelt was fully aware the soldiers had been wronged.

[125] He denied that he was after votes with his position, "I was seeking to provide for those men an opportunity to be heard in their own defense, to give them a chance to confront their accusers and cross-examine their witnesses, and establish the real facts in the case.

[129] Author John Weaver, in his 1997 book on the Brownsville case, takes note of "Foraker's masterful presentation of fact and law", including his cross-examination of witnesses who sought to convince the committee of the soldiers' guilt.

[134] The seeming rapprochement was shattered when publisher William Randolph Hearst, giving a speech in Columbus, read from letters to Foraker by Standard Oil Company vice president John D. Archbold.

His rivals were Burton and the President-elect's brother, former congressman Charles Phelps Taft, though near the end of the contest, former lieutenant governor Warren G. Harding asked for his name to be considered.

[145][146] Although he expressed bitterness upon leaving office, wishing he had never left the farm in Highland County, he soon resumed his involvement in politics, speaking for the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor, Harding, in 1910.

[149] Buoyed by positive reviews of his participation in the 1912 campaign, and wishing to avenge his defeat for re-election, Foraker entered the 1914 Republican primary against Senator Burton and former congressman Ralph D. Cole.

[158] Nevins noted the aggressive nature of Foraker's political style, and commented, "How much of his failure to reach high office was attributable to ill fortune and how much to some of his traits, readers ... may judge for themselves.

Historian Louis L. Gould, who wrote a study of the McKinley administration, stated that Foraker "may well have been too close to some large corporations, but he also retained some vestiges of the commitment of the Civil War generation in the North to the idea of human equality ...

[163] Walter Rucker and James Upton, in their Encyclopedia of American Race Riots, write: Senator Foraker is acknowledged as the key person in Congress to keep the issue of the Brownsville soldiers alive.