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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
Copyright 2008, all rights reserved.

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Source: Atlas Map of Fulton County, Illinois, 
Andreas, Lyter, and Co., Davenport, Iowa. 1871
(page 35)

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Gen. Leonard F. Ross, the subject of this sketch, was born July 18th, 1823, at Lewistown, Fulton county, Illinois. He is the son of Ossian M. Ross, who was one of the early settlers of this county. The General received most of his early education at Canton; he also attended, for a short time, the college at Jacksonville. On arriving at the age of twenty-one he commenced reading law with the firm of Davidson & Kellog, at Canton. After receiving his license, and before entering on the practice of his profession, war was declared between the United States and Mexico. On the 13th of November, 1845, at the age of twenty-two, he married Miss Catherine, daughter of the late R. C. Simms; and in 1846, about six months after his marriage, he laid aside his law books and enlisted as a private soldier in the fourth regiment Illinois volunteers, commanded by the late General Baker. After serving three months he was promoted to a first lieutenantcy, and during the year of service he commanded the company about four or five months. The only general engagements his regiment was in were at the capture of Vera Cruz and the battle of Cerro Gordo. 
    
Before his return home he was proposed by his friends, and on his return was nominated and elected by the democratic party to the office of probate justice for Fulton county, in which position he gave universal satisfaction. He subsequently served four years as county clerk. Up to the breaking out of the late war he was principally engaged in merchandising and farming, when not otherwise employed in attending to his public duties. 
    
In May, 1861, he volunteered, and was elected colonel, of the seventeenth Illinois volunteers, and in March of 1862 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He continued in the service until after the surrender of Vicksburg, when he left the army for the purpose of attending to his own private and family matters. His wife died in March of 1862, while he was in the army. He was again married in January of 1865, to Mary E. Warner, of Monroeville, Ohio. In the spring of 1866 he moved to his farm, near Avon, where he now resides, surrounded by a happy and intelligent family. The General, by his virtuous and honorable life, has made many true and warm friends; and at his pleasant home he is always happy in entertaining his friends. 
    
When the time came for him, as a democrat, to take sides in the great civil war, he did not hesitate, but bravely drew from its scabbard the sword that, defended our glorious flag in the Mexican war, and wielded it with patriotic bravery on the side of the Union. Mr. Ross is ostensibly a self-made man. Since returning from the army he served a term of two years as internal revenue collector for the ninth Illinois district. In 1868 he was a candidate for congress on the republican ticket, and of course was beaten in this the ninth (democratic) district. He is now largely engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising.