He went to California in 1849 and soon became the editor and publisher of the "Alta Californian" and later of "The Times."

In 1860 he was elector at large from California and brought the vote of that State for Lincoln to Washington, D. C. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln Minister Resident to Paraguay. He was there during the war between that country and Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine Republic. The lives of Mr. Washburn and his family being in peril, the United States sent the transport "Wasp" to take them away.

After his return to the United States he wrote a very full history of Paraguay. He also wrote two novels, Philip Thaxter and Gomery of Montgomery, and a treatise on Political Evolution, besides contributing to the current literature of the day. [Genealogical Notes of the Washburn Family]

He was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1845, studied law with his father and with his cousin, Gov. ¤Israel Washburn, Jr., at Orono, Maine, was admitted to the bar in Oxford County, 1847, and went to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he settled and made a home.

He served in the Senate of Wisconsin, 1859 and 1860. He was County Judge, 1861-1864, and Judge of the Circuit Court from 1864 to 1879, when he resigned.

Member from IL of U.S. House of Representatives (1853-69); Friend of POTUS U.S. Grant, who named him U.S. secretary of state (1869); He resigned his appointment to State within a few days to accept a position as U.S. minister to France (1869-77).

To Mr. Washburne and Mr. Seward alone was confided the secret of the train by which Mr. Lincoln would reach Washington for his first inaugural, the telegraph wire being cut when he left Philadelphia that the event might not be communicated to the enemy then in arms. Mr. Seward failed in keeping the appointment, and Mr. Washburne met Mr. Lincoln alone at the Baltimore & Ohio depot. [Genealogical Notes of the Washburn Family]