Logan H. Roots

Logan H. Roots (March 26, 1841-May 30, 1893) was a Union officer, plantation owner, cotton-seed manufacturer, lumberman, and Republican Representative to the U.S. Congress.

Roots helped recruit the 81st Illinois Volunteers during the American Civil War, and as a colonel in the Union Army rode with General Sherman on his famous "March to the Sea" in Georgia. He was assigned duties in Arkansas during the Reconstruction phase following the war, and became a cotton plantation owner. During his tenure as a U.S. Representative from 1867 to 1871 Roots introduced legislation to create a Southern transcontinental railroad, known as the Texas & Pacific Railway.

Roots served as president of the Arkansas Loan & Trust Company, president of Little Rock's First National Bank, president of the Arkansas Lumberman's Association, president of the Arkansas State Bureau of Immigration, president of the Arkansas State Sunday-School Association, executive committee member of the Arkansas branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, and treasurer of the Arkansas Diocese of the Episcopal Church. He was a Grand Master of the Freemasons, a Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of the Grand Council, and Grand Commander of the Arkansas Knights Templar.

Roots was born on March 26, 1841, to Professor B. G. Roots of rural Perry County, Illinois. He was an 1862 graduate of the Illinois State Normal University.

Fort Logan H. Roots bears his namesake. The military complex is now home to the Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center of the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. Roots is buried at Oakland Cemetery.

References

• Goodspeed's History of Pulaski County, Arkansas (1889).

External links

• Logan Holt Roots entry in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress