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Manning Ferguson Force, soldier, jurist, author, was born in Washington, D.C., on December 17, 1824, to Peter and Hannah Force. Peter Force was a printer, historian, archivist, and the mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1836 to 1840.

Manning Force attended Benjamin Hallowell’s boarding school in Alexandria, Virginia, and then went on to Harvard University, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in 1845 and his law degree in 1848. Following his admission to the bar, Force moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced law in the firm of Walker, Kebler & Force. It was there, in 1850, that Force joined the Literary Club of Cincinnati, where he began a long, close friendship with Rutherford B. Hayes (LaFantasie, 2012).

Force practiced law in Cincinnati until the Civil War began, when he entered volunteer service in May 1861 as a major in the 20th Ohio Regiment. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in September 1861 and Colonel in May 1862. He took part in the capture of Fort Donelson; the battle of Pittsburg Landing; and General Grant’s 1862-1863 campaign in southwest Tennessee and northern Mississippi. He was with General Sherman during the siege of Vicksburg and in August 1863 he was appointed Brigadier-General. He suffered a near-fatal wound in July 1864 during the Battle of Atlanta, when he was hit in the face by a minié ball. He recovered at his family’s home in Washington, and was brevetted Major General for his wounds. Force resumed his command in October 1864, going on to lead a brigade in General Sherman’s March to the Sea as well as a division through the Carolinas.

Following the war, Force served as the military commander of the District of Mississippi until he was discharged in January 1866. Eschewing the rank of colonel and further military service, Force returned to Cincinnati, where he served as the elected judge of the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court from 1866 to 1877 (Force, 1999). In 1876, he won the support of the Republican Party for a bid at a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but was defeated in the election. Force was elected to the Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1877 and remained in that position until retiring in 1888. He also taught equity and criminal law at the Cincinnati Law School from 1878 to 1888.

On May 13, 1874, Force married Frances Dabney Horton of Pomeroy, Ohio. Their son Horton Caumont Force was born on December 20, 1878. Force served as the Commandant of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home in Sandusky, Ohio, until his death on May 8, 1899.

Force was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1892 for his military service and valor during the Battle of Atlanta. Force wrote many papers and books on subjects including prehistoric Native Americans, legal work, and the Civil War. From his father, Peter Force, Force gained a strong interest in historical and archaeological studies. He was the author of Pre-Historic Man, Darwinism and the Mound Builders (1873); From Fort Henry to Corinth (1881); and pamphlets on the history of American Indians, the Civil War, and Amerigo Vespucci. In addition to these works, he edited the eighth edition of Introduction to Criminal Law and the third edition of Introduction to American Law. At the time of his death, he was at work on General Sherman, which was published in 1899.

Force’s father, Peter Force, sold his personal library of American newspapers, manuscripts, maps, and other documents to the Library of Congress in 1867, thus greatly expanding that organization's collection of early American legal and cultural artifacts. William Q. Force, Peter’s son and Manning’s older brother, donated his personal papers to the Library of Congress in 1875.

LaFantasie, G. W. (2012). The Hero of Atlanta. MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, 22-25.

Marszalek, John F. (1999). Force, Manning Ferguson. In American National Biography. (Vol. 8, pp. 216- 217). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.