Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Brown attended the common schools and Greenfield Academy, He was graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1854.
He went south and, while serving as tutor at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, studied law.
He was admitted to the bar in 1859 and commenced practice in Chillicothe, Ohio.
He served as prosecuting attorney of Ross County in 1859 and 1860.
In the first year of the American Civil War, Brown enlisted as a private in Company B, Sixty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteers, September 2, 1861. He was promptly commissioned as a captain on October 23, 1861.
Brown lost his left leg on July 22, 1864, in the Atlanta Campaign.[1]
He was promoted through the ranks to colonel June 6, 1865.
Brown was mustered out of the volunteers on July 8, 1865.[2] In recognition of Brown's service and sacrifice in the Atlanta Campaign, on January 13, 1866, PresidentAndrew Johnson nominated him for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.[2][3]
After the Civil War, Brown resumed the practice of law in Chillicothe, Ohio.
He served as postmaster of Chillicothe, 1866–1872.
He was commissioned pension agent at Cincinnati in 1872, and held this position until PresidentHayes' administration began in 1877.
Brown was elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth U.S. Congresses (March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1889).
He was not a candidate for renomination in 1888 and resumed the practice of law.
He served as member of the State senate in 1900 and 1901.
