John M. Bloss

John McKnight Bloss (June 21, 1839 – May 26, 1905)^[1] served as President of Oregon Agricultural College from 1892 until 1896. He was born in New Philadelphia, Indiana in 1839.^[2]

Education

Bloss attended Hanover College in Indiana from 1854 and received an A.B. degree with honors in 1860. After his military service in the Civil War, he studied medicine at Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio.^[3]

American Civil War

Bloss served in the American Civil War. He was a member of the 27th Indiana Infantry Regiment. He was one of the soldiers who helped recover Special Order 191 "Lee's Lost Dispatch" before the Battle of Antietam. This helped lead the Union victory in the battle.^[4] Bloss fought and was wounded in several battles, including Antietam, before he resigned in 1864.^[5]

Career

His career in education included serving as a teacher; a principal; superintendent of the Indiana city schools of Evansville (1875–80) and Muncie (1883–86) and of Topeka, Kansas (1886–92); and the State Superintendent for Public Instruction for Indiana (1880–82).^[6] In April 1892 Bloss was selected as the third president of Oregon Agricultural College^[7] and retired in 1896 due to his health.

Personal Life

Bloss married Emma L. McPheeters in 1865, and they had two children, Nannie and William (Will). Emma later died of typhoid in Topeka, Kansas. Bloss did not remarry until 1893 when he met Mary A. Woods while serving as OAC president. Bloss later died in 1905. He is buried in Muncie, Indiana.^[8]

Notes

References

• McPherson, James M. Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam, The Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-513521-0.
• Sears, Stephen W. Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0-89919-172-X.