William W. Grout

William Wallace Grout (May 24, 1836 – October 7, 1902) was an American politician and lawyer. He served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont.

Biography

Grout was born in Compton, Province of Quebec, the son of Josiah and Sophronia (Ayer) Grout. His parents, native Vermonters, returned to that state when he was thirteen. Grout pursued an academic course, he attended St. Johnsbury Academy and graduated from the State and National Law School in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1857. He was admitted to the bar in December of the same year and began the practice of law in Barton, Vermont.

In 1862 Grout was nominated as State's Attorney of Orleans County but declined, deciding instead to enter the army. In July 1862 he received his commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry, in the Union Army during the Civil War. He later attained the rank of Brigadier General as commander of one of three brigades organized for border defense by the Vermont State Legislature following the St. Albans Raid.