Gen. John A. Halderman, a Leavenworth lawyer and a Kentnckian by birth, made an honorable reputation in the public and military affairs of Kansas, as well as in the diplomatic service of the Far East. In the spring of 1854, at the age of twenty-one, and soon after his graduation from the University of Louisville, he came to Kansas and began the practice of law at Leavenworth. He served as private secretary to Andrew H. Reeder, the first territorial governor, and in 1855 was secretary of the first Territorial Council. He was appointed the first probate judge of Leavenworth County; was major of the First Kansas Regiment in the Civil war, and majorgeneral of the state militia. As to his public honors at home. General Halderman served two terms as mayor of Leavenworth; was a regent of the university; a member of the State House of Representatives; and in 1870 was sent to the State Senate. In 1872-73 he traveled abroad. In 1880 he was appointed consul at Bangkok and was soon promoted to the consul-generalship by President Garfield. In 1883 he was the first United States minister to Siam, where the king honored him with the decoration of Knight Commander of the Order of the White Elephant, and later the French government gazetted him Commander of the Royal Order of Cambodia. He resigned his position in 1885 and returned to Leavenworth. For some years General Halderman resided in Washington, District of Columbia, and at the outbreak of the Spanish-Ameriean war promptly tendered his services to the secretary of war. He was a member of the Kansas Historical Society and a frequent contributor to its publications. He died in Washington, Distriet of Columbia, in October, 1908, and was buried in the Government Cemetory at Arlington.
