PROFILE of CRAFT JAMES WRIGHT
8th MO Infantry (US) Company ??
	Women carrying 8th Missouri banner in downtown St. Louis Veterans Day parade

Craft James Wright, son of noted jurist John C. Wright, was born in Troy, New York, 13 July, 1808; he died in Chicago, Illinois, 23 July, 1883.   He was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1828, but resigned on 8 November, 1828, studied law, was admitted to the bar of Ohio, and practised law with his father.
 
In 1840 he became assistant editor of the Cincinnati "Gazette", and from 1847 till 1854 he was president of the "Gazette " company, after which he again practised law.   He aided in organizing the first telegraph company in the West, and became one of its directors.
 
At the beginning of the Civil War Craft James Wright entered the National army as colonel of the 8th Missouri Infantry, but afterward he raised and disciplined the 13th Missouri.
 
He served in the Tennessee campaign of 1862, and for his services received the thanks of the governor of Missouri.   In March, 1862, he was in command of Clarksville.   He was afterward ordered to Pittsburg Landing, where he was senior colonel, and given command of a brigade; he was also engaged in the Mississippi campaign and in the siege of Corinth, where he remained in for many weeks until he resigned his commission on 16 September, 1862.   For his services at Shiloh, President Lincoln nominated him for the post of brigadier-general, but he resigned before he could be confirmed by the Senate.
 
Subsequently Craft James Wright engaged in farming in Glendale, Ohio, but afterward lived in Chicago, where in 1876 he was made steward of the marine hospital.
 
His wife, MARGARET, was active during the war in visiting hospitals and battlefields, and was identified with many benevolent works.   She was at one time the only woman on the boat that carried disabled soldiers to the North, and acted as nurse to them under the direction of the senior surgeon.