Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens
Revised, Home and School Edition by Brigham Johnson.
2 Vols. Des Moines,
IA: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1918.
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Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Tamara Jorstad.
John Willock Noble, Lawyer -- Soldier -- Cabinet Officer
Born in Lancaster, Ohio, October 26, 1831, educated in Miami and Yale,
admitted to the bar in 1855, an attorney in St. Louis for a single year, in 1856
a law partner of Ralph P. Lowe, of Keokuk -- this, in outline, was the career of
John W. Noble before the war. He was one of the men who came to the defense of
the Iowa border in the battle of Athens. Enlisting in the Third Iowa Cavalry, he
was soon appointed adjutant. He rose from the rank of lieutenant to colonel, and
on March 13 was brevetted a brigadier-general. While in the service he became
judge-advocate of the Army of the Southwest, and later of the Department of
Missouri. He took part in the battle of Pea Ridge and in the siege of Vicksburg.
He served under Gen. A. J. Smith against Forrest, and under Gen. J. H. Wilson in
Alabama and Georgia.
Mustered out at Atlanta in August, 1865, General Noble resumed the practice
of law in St. Louis. He served as United States district attorney from 1867 to
1870. In 1889 he entered President Harrison's cabinet as secretary of the
interior. On retiring from the cabinet he returned to his chosen profession, in
which he had won fame. General Noble was prominent in several military
organizations. To the last he retained close relations with his Iowa comrades.
He died in 1912.
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