John Adams Dix

John Adams Dix (born July 24, 1798, Boscawen, N.H., U.S.—died April 21, 1879, New York City) was a political leader and U.S. Army officer who, as secretary of the treasury of the United States (1861), issued to a treasury officer in New Orleans the famous order: “If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.”

He entered the U.S. Army at the age of 14 and served in the War of 1812 and the U.S. Civil War (1861–65). Following a period of law practice (1828–30) in Cooperstown, N.Y., he was appointed adjutant general of New York (1830) and became a member of the Albany Regency, a politically powerful group of New York Democrats. Rising rapidly in politics, he was secretary of state and superintendent of public schools (1833–39), a member of the State Assembly (1841), and a U.S. senator from New York (1845–49). He served as postmaster of New York City (1860), was U.S. minister to France (1866–69), and, in 1872, was elected governor of New York.