Flemingsburg native Willis Arnold Gorman was another Kentuckian who made his mark in the Mexican War and went on to distinguished himself in the War Between the States.

At age 19, Gorman and his family left Kentucky for Bloomington, Ind., where he studied law and entered politics. He served as a U.S. Army major in the Mexican War with the third Indiana Volunteers and recruited the fourth Indiana Volunteers.

Seriously wounded in the Mexican War, Gorman went on to become a Democratic congressman and was appointed governor of Minnesota Territory by President Franklin Pierce, serving in those capacities from 1853-57.

He continued to be active in politics until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was commissioned a Union colonel in the first Minnesota Infantry and fought in the first Battle of Bull Run in 1861.

He was promoted to brigadier general later that year and fought at Ball’s Bluff and participated in the Seven Day’s Battles and at Sharpsburg. Gorman was transferred to command the District of Eastern Arkansas in late 1862 and was a minor participant in the Vicksburg campaign.

The general was mustered out of service in 1864 and returned to his law practice in St. Paul, where he served as city attorney from 1869 until his death in 1876.

Gorman died at age 60 and is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul.