Named for Algernon Sidney, an English politician admired for his republican principles, considered a "Whig patriot and martyr," and highly influential among America's Founding Fathers (U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both admired him),[REF] Badger was born to John Baton Badger and the former Sarah Payne Sprague.
Badger volunteered for service in the Civil War with the Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, later the 26th Infantry and was dispatched to New Orleans as an infantry lieutenant.