He served with the 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War and was mustered out as a lieutenant.
In 1857, he moved west to Sterling, Illinois, where he was admitted as a partner to the Patterson, Witmer & Co. law firm.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he joined Company B of the 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was soon named Orderly Sergeant.
He left in 1866, entering a partnership the next year with the Rogers, Patterson & Co. banking house.
He died there on January 26, 1914,[2] and was buried in Forest Hill Calvary Cemetery in Kansas City.