Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Woodford, Stewart Lyndon
WOODFORD, Stewart Lyndon, lawyer, b. in New York city, 3 Sept., 1835. He studied at Yale and at Columbia, where he was graduated in 1854, and in 1857 began the practice of law in his native city. In 1860 he was chosen messenger of the electoral college of his state to convey to Washington its vote in favor of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. In 1861 he was appointed U. S. assistant district attorney for the southern district of New York, holding this office about eighteen months. In 1862 he entered the National army as a volunteer, serving until 1865, during which time he became in succession chief-of-staff to Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore in the Department of the South, and military commandant of Charleston and Savannah, and attained by brevet the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers. From 1866 till 1868 he was lieutenant-governor of New York, having been chosen as a Republican, but he was defeated as candidate for the governorship in 1870. In 1872 he was elected to congress, and was also chosen as a presidential elector. From 1877 until 1883 he filled the office of U. S. attorney for the southern district of New York. Since that time he has been engaged in the practice of law. He is the author of numerous public addresses, including a eulogy on Gen. George H. Thomas.