Lincoln as president after Lincoln's death, of complicity in President Lincoln's assassination. Ashley also attempted to persuade the House Committee on the Judiciary of this. He described Johnson as being a," loathing incubus which has blotted our country's history." He also criticized Johnson for attempting to veto extensions of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Civil Rights Bill and the Reconstruction Acts. He suspected Johnson's ties with southern oligarchs. Ashley was among the first to explore impeaching Johnson as president, beginning to desire Johnson's impeachment in late 1866. His exploration led to his authoring of a January 7, 1867 resolution which launched the first impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson, thus the Ashley iniated the first official impeachment proceedings against Johnson. This inquiry led to a defeated resolution to impeach Johnson which the House voted against on December 7, 1867. However, the following February, the House voted to impeach Johnson. Johnson was ultimately acquitted in his impeachment trial. Territorial Governor of Montana Ashley's radical views, particularly on race, as well as his support for educational qualifications, did not endear him to voters. Democrat Truman Hoag defeated him by less than 1,000 votes in the 1868 election, which nearly bankrupted Ashley. However, President Grant appointed Ashley territorial governor of Democratic-leaning Montana Territory, where he served fifteen months until 1870, when he was removed by President Grant. His political appointments, and support for public education, including of Chinese immigrants, proved unpopular in the Democratic-leaning territory. Railroad career Ashley then returned to Toledo and became involved in the railroad business, linking that city with northern Michigan as well as the Ann Arbor/Detroit area. Ashley helped build the Ann Arbor Railroad and served as its president from 1877 (when he moved to Ann Arbor while two of his sons were enrolled at the University of Michigan Law School) until 1890, when his sons took over. The railroad went bankrupt in the financial crisis of 1893, but soldiered on and continues to operate today. Later unsuccessful campaigns for Congress He also ran unsuccessfully in Ohio for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1890 and 1892. Death and legacy Ashley suffered from diabetes since at least 1863. He died of heart failure after a fishing trip on September 16, 1896 in Alma, Michigan, and was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery (Toledo, Ohio). A eulogy at the Unitarian Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, mentioned his large size, "intellectually,