After Francis E. Warren made his fortune, he went on to get involved in the politics of early Wyoming. He served twice in the Wyoming Territorial Senate and once as senate president. He was a member of the Cheyenne City Council (1873-1874), treasurer of the state on several occasions, and Mayor of Cheyenne in 1885.
In February 1885, he was appointed Governor of Wyoming Territory by President Chester A. Arthur, but was removed by Democrat President Grover Cleveland in 1886. He was reappointed by President Benjamin Harrison in April 1889 and served until 1890, when he was elected as the State of Wyoming's first governor.
In November 1890, he resigned as governor, having been elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican and served until March 4, 1893, when he resumed his business affairs However, two years later, he returned to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1895 to his death on November 24, 1929.
With all his seniority in the Senate, he served on and chaired many committees including Irrigation, Claims, Military Affairs, Agriculture and Forestry and Appropriations. The man clearly had a lot of power.
(Of course, I have to wonder what all this power might have affected the military career of John Pershing and why he received that Medal of Honor so long after the war.)
I have read that he was really good at pork barrel politics and patronage and built a political machine that was virtually unbeatable.
When he died in 1929, he was the last Civil War veteran to serve in the U.S. Senate and the longest-serving senator at the time.
Way to Accumulate Power. --Old Secesh
