James Baird Weaver was born on June 12, 1833, in Dayton, Ohio. His family soon moved to Iowa, and Weaver attended country schools while growing up. At age twenty, he journeyed to California during the great gold rush years, but he returned without success. Weaver entered and graduated from Cincinnati Law School in a single year; then he opened a law practice in Bloomfield, Iowa, in 1856.

Weaver became involved in local politics as a Republican opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories. During the Civil War, he volunteered as an officer and participated in the bloody battles at Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth, where he assumed field command when his superior officers were mortally wounded. He was soon promoted to major. By the time he returned to lowa in 1864, he was a breveted (honorary) brigadier general and was known subsequently as "General" Weaver.

Weaver...