Robert Graham (July 24, 1827 – December 14, 1892) was an American educator who served as the 12th Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin.
[3] In 1864, near the climax of the American Civil War, Graham responded to President Lincoln's call for Hundred Days Men to surge personnel into the Union Army ranks in an effort to end the war in 100 days.
They lost over 30 men to disease, but only saw combat on August 21, 1864, when a detachment of cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest attempted a raid into Memphis in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Union commanders stationed there.
He was appointed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents in 1868, where he played a consequential role in shaping state schools.
In 1881, however, he was nominated by consensus of the Republican, Democratic, and Prohibition parties, winning an overwhelming majority.