SPENCER, George Eliphaz, senator, born in Jefferson county, New York, 1 November, 1836. He was educated in Montreal, Canada, and after studying law was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1856. Two years later he was secretary of the Iowa senate, and in October, 1862, he entered the National army as assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of captain. In the autumn of 1863 he recruited the 1st Alabama cavalry, of which he became colonel, and during General William T. Sherman's march to the sea he commanded a brigade of cavalry under General Judson Kilpatrick in the Army of the Tennessee. He received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865, and resigned from the army on 4 July of that year. In May, 1867, he was appointed register in bankruptcy for the 4th district of Alabama, and he was also chosen United States senator from that state as a Republican, serving with re-election from 25 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1879. After he had left the senate he was active in the prosecution that led to the exposure of the star-route frauds, and in furthering the legislation that reduced letter postage to two cents. In 1881 he was appointed commissioner of the Union Pacific railroad, and he has since engaged in ranching and mining business in Nevada.--His first wife, Belle Zilfa, born in London, England, 1 March, 1840 ; died in Tuscaloosa, Ale., 1 August, 1867, came to this country in infancy, and married General Spencer in 1862. She published "Ore, the Lost Wife" (Philadelphia, 1864) ; "Tried and True, a Story of the Rebellion" (Springfield, 1866); and "Surface and Depth" (1867).--His second wife, William Loring, born in St. Augustine, Florida, is a niece of General William W. Boring, and daughter of Albert A. Nunez. She is called "Major," perhaps because of her masculine name. She married General Spencer in 1877. She has published " Salt-Lake Fruit " (Boston, 1883); "Story of Mary" (New York, 1884; republished as "Dennis Day, Carpet-Bagger," 1887) ; " A Plucky One" (1887) ; and "Calamity Jane" (1887).