THE LIBRARY OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
HISTORY OF CONGRESS
THE
FORTIETH CONGRESS
OF THE
UNITED STATES.
1867-1869.
VOLUME II.
BY WILLIAM HOEATIO BARNES, A.M.,
WITH PORTRAITS ON STEEL,
NEW YORK: W. H. BARJSTES & CO., PUBLISHERS,
SI PARK ROW. 1871.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by WILLIAM H. BARNES,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
'326/1
mi .
LIST OF POETEAITS. VOLUME n.
ALLISON, WILLIAM B., 491
ASHLEY, DELOS R., 537
BANKS, NATHANIEL P., .'. 463
BEATTY, JOHN, 453
ELAINE, JAMES G., 327
BLAIR, AUSTIN • 315
BOUTWELL, GEORGE S., 445
BOYER, BENJAMIN M., 337
BROOKS, JAMES, 309
BROOMALL, JOHN M., ' • ... 473
BUTLER, BENJAMIN F., % ... , 429
CARY,' SAMUEL F., 415
CHANLER, JOHN W 483
COOK, BURTON C., 545
CORNELL, THOMAS, 341
DELANO, COLUMBUS, - 513
DODGE, GRENVILLE M., 441
DONNELLY, IGNATIUS 411
ECKLEY, EPHRALM R. 553
EGGLESTON, BENJAMIN, 521
FERRY, THOMAS W., 419
GARFIELD, JAMES A., 295
GRISWOLD, JOHN A ... ... -435
HIGBY, WILLIAM, ... 547
HOLMAN, WILLIAM S., ... ..'. .... 529
HOOPER, SAMUEL, 381
INGERSOLL, EBON C., 471
JENCKES, THOMAS A., 423
JOHNSON, JAMES A 475
JUDD, NORMAN B., 399
JULIAN, GEORGE W., ' 345
KELLEY, WILLIAM D., 351
449712
LIST OF POETRAITS.
KITCHEN, BETHUEL M., 549
LAWRENCE, GEORGE V 479
LAWRENCE, WILLIAM, 387
LOGAN, JOHN A., 467
MARSHALL, SAMUEL S., 509
MAYNARD, HORACE, 303
McCLURG, JOSEPH W., 495
MILLER, GEORGE P., 489
MORRISSEY, JOHN, 533
MUNGEN, WILLIAM, .. 461
NEWCOMB, CARMAN A., • 481
NICHOLSON, JOHN A., ... ... ... ... ... ... 487
PAINE, HALBERT E 449
PERHAM, SIDNEY, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 527
PHELPS, CHARLES E. 331
.PIKE, FREDERICK A., 869
POLAND, LUKE P.," 457
ROBINSON, WILLIAM E., 393
ROSS, LEWIS W., .... 499
SAWYER, PHILETUS, 525
SCHENCK, ROBERT C., 357
SHANKS, JOHN P. C., , 631
SPALDING, RUFUS P. 375
STARKWEATHER, HENRY H., 641
STEVENS, THADDEUS 283
THOMAS, FRANCIS, 501
VAN HORN, ROBERT T., 517
WILSON, JAMES F., 363
WOOD, FERNANDO '. 321
WOODWARD, GEORGE W 405
TT3ADDEU C STEVEN 3 ,
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THADDEUS STEVENS.
IE picturesque mountainous region known as Caledonia County, in the State of Vermont, was the birth-place of Thaddeus Stevens. His father was Joshua Stevens, and his mother's maiden name was Sarah Morrill. " My father," said Thaddeus Stevens, near the close of his life, " was not a well-to-do man, and the support and education of the family depended on my mother. She worked night and day to educate me. I was feeble and lame in my youth ; and as I couldn't work on the farm, she concluded to give me an education. I tried to repay her afterward, but the debt of a child to his mother is one of the debts we can never pay. The greatest gratification of my life resulted from my ability to give my mother a farm of two hundred and fifty acres and a dairy of fourteen cows, and an occasional bright gold piece, which she loved to deposit in the contribution box of the Baptist church which she attended. This always gave her much pleasure and me much satis- faction. My mother was a very extraordinary woman, and I have met very few women like her. Poor woman ! the very thing I did to grat- ify her most, hastened her death. She was very proud of her dairy and fond of her cows, and one night, going out to look after them, she fell and injured herself so that she died soon after."
Thaddeus Stevens ever cherished not only an affectionate memory of his mother, but a warm attachment to the place of his nativity. Late in life, he called his immense iron works in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Caledonia, after the name of his native county.
In seeking an education, he first went as a student to the Univer- sity of Vermont, at Burlington. Upon the occupation of the town by
o THADDEUS STEVENS
the British in the war of 1812, the institution was sjspended, and young Stevens went to Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1814. He immediately removed to Pennsylvania, and first made his residence in the borough of York. Here he taught school for a live- lihood, and read law carefully and steadily through the intervals of the day and night. The bar of Tork County then numbered among its members some lawyers of uncommon ability and distinction. They very strangely formed a plan to thwart the designs of the young school-teacher by the passage of a resolution providing that no person should be recognized as a lawyer among them who followed any other vocation while preparing himself for admission to the bar. The young student paid no attention to this resolution, but pursued the even tenor of his way until he mastered his studies, and then quietly repaired to one of the adjoining counties of Maryland, where he passed a creditable examination. He then returned to York, pre- sented his credentials, and was regularly, though reluctantly, ad- mitted.
In 1816, Mr. Stevens removed to the adjoining County of Adams, and settled in the now historical town of Gettysburg. Here he soon rose to the head of a profession which he ardently loved, and prac- ticed with signal success through, a long and laborious career.
Soon obtaining a reputation as one of the most acute lawyers and able reasoners in the State, he was employed in many of the most im- portant cases tried in the courts of the commonwealth. He was especially pleased to be retained in causes where some injustice or op- pression was to be opposed, or where the weak were to be protected against the machinations of the strong. In such cases he embarked with characteristic zeal, and no epithet was too forcible or too wither- ing for him to employ in denouncing the evil-doer, and no metaphor was too bold for him to use in depicting the just punishment of wrong-doing. While still a very young man, he heard of a free woman who was held in the jail at Frederick, Maryland, as a slave. He instantly volunteered to become her counsel, and saved her from the decree that wanted only the color of an excuse to condemn
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TIIADDEUS STEVENS. 3
her. to servitude. Some years afterward, while on the way from Gettysburg to Baltimore, he was appealed to by the same woman to save her husband from being sold South by his owner, who was his own father. Mr. Stevens complied with the wishes of the poor woman by paying the full value of the slave to the unnatural father. As a lawyer, Mr. Stevens was the enemy of the oppressor and the champion of the poor and the down-trodden. Injustice and wrong, when perpe- trated by the powerful and great, aroused his indignation and called forth terrible outbursts of denunciation. The same spirit was mani- fested in later years, when he denounced Chief-Justice Taney by saying that the Dred Scott decision had " damned its author to ever- lasting infamy, and, he feared, to everlasting flame."
Fierce as was the denunciation of Mr. Stevens against those whom he regarded as wrong-doers, he never had aught but words of kind- ness and encouragement for the poor and unoffending. In the prac- tice of his profession at Gettysburg, Mr. Stevens was brought into the closest and most confidential relations with the people. They sought and followed his friendly advice in delicate and important matters, which in no way pertained to the laws or the courts. He was not only the legal adviser, but the personal friend of the entire community. The aged inhabitants of Adams County still remember his unaffected benevolence, and unobtrusive charities. ~No command- ing benevolence, no useful public enterprise, nothing calculated to improve his fellow-men in the region where he lived, was projected or completed without his efficient and generous contribution. Penn- sylvania College, in Gettysburg, has a noble hall bearing his name, which stands as a monument of his services in behalf of education.
Mr. Stevens' public political career began in 1833, when he was elected a Eepresentative in the State Legislature. Possessed of the most practical common sense, and the most formidable power of de- bate, he soon became a leader. He was always foremost in every movement that contemplated the improvement of the people. He began his legislative career by proposing and advocating a law to estaVish a free-school system in Pennsylvania. So great was the
285
. THADDEUS STEVENS.
ignorance at that time prevalent in Pennsylvania, that one-fourth of the adult population of the State were unable to write their names. The consequence was, that when Mr. Stevens proposed a system for taxing the people for the education of their children, a storm of obloquy and opposition arose against him. His own constituents of the county of Adams refused to second his educational movements. Again and again they instructed him to change his course. He an- swered with renewed efforts in the cause, and a more defiant dis- obedience of their mandates, until at last, overcome by his earnest eloquence and unfailing perseverance, they rallied to his support and enthusiastically re-elected him.
The school law was just going into operation with the sanction of all benevolent men, when a strength of opposition was combined against it which promised to effect its immediate abrogation. The miserly, and ignorant wealthy, used their money and their influence to bring it into disrepute, and procured the election by an over- whelming majority of a Legislature pledged to repeal the law. The members of the Legislature were on the eve of obeying instructions to expunge the school law from the statute book, when Thaddeus Stevens rose in his seat and pronounced a most powerful speech in opposition to the movement for repeal. The effect of that " sur- passing effort " is thus described by one who witnessed the scene :
" All the barriers of prejudice broke down before it. It reached men's hearts like the voice of inspiration. Those who were almost ready to take the life of Thaddeus Stevens a few weeks before, were instantly converted into his admirers and friends. During its delivery in the hall of the House at Harrisburg, the scene was one of dramatic interest and intensity. Thaddeus Stevens was then forty-three years of age, and in the prime of life ; and his classic countenance, noble voice, and cultivated style, added to the fact that he was speaking the holiest truths and for the noblest of all human causes, created such a feeling among his fellow-members that, for once at least, our State legislators rose above all selfish feelings, and responded to the instincts of a higher nature. The motion to repeal the law failed, and a
286
THADDEUS STEVENS. 5
number of votes pledged to sustain it were changed upon the spot, and what seemed to be an inevitable defeat was transformed into a crowning victory for the friends of common schools."
Immediately after the conclusion of this great effort, Mr. Stevens re- ceived a congratulatory message from Governor Wolf, his determined political opponent, but a firm friend of popular education. When Mr. Stevens, soon after, entered the executive chamber, Governor Wolf threw his arms about his neck, and with tearful eye and broken voice, thanked him for the great service he had rendered to humanity. The millions who now inhabit Pennsylvania, or who having been born and educated there have gone forth to people other States, have reason to honor the intrepid statesman, who, anticipating the future, grappled with the prejudices of the time, and achieved a victory for the benefit of all coming generations.
This same zeal in behalf of education for the humblest and poor- est was cherished by Mr. Stevens to his latest years. When the ladies of Lancaster called upon him for a subscription to their orphans' school, he declined the request on the ground that they refused admission to colored children. " I never will," said he, " Heaven helping me, encourage a system which denies education to any one of God Almighty's household."
The year 1835 was one of intense political excitement in Penn- sylvania. Anti-Masonry had just blazed up with a lurid glare, which caused men to take alarm without knowing how or whence it came. Ever on the alert against whatever seemed dangerous to freedom, Mr. Stevens was out-spoken in his denunciation of secret societies. George Wolf, a Mason, was then Governor, and a candidate for re-election ; but Joseph Eitner, the Anti-Mason candidate, was elected. Party rancor was very bitter, and personal animosities sometimes broke out in violence. Mr. Stevens was challenged to fight a duel by Mr. McElwee, a member of the House, but instead of going to the field, lie retorted in a bitter speech, full of caustic wit and withering sar- casm. That was a memorable period in the political history of Penn- sylvania, when, in the partisan language of the day, " Joe Kitner was
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6 THADDEUS STEVENS.
Governor, and Thad. Stevens his oracle, and the keeper of his con- science." Canals and railroads were then originated, which tended to develop the material resources, as free-schools tended to promote the intellectual resources of Pennsylvania.
In 1836, Mr. Stevens was elected a member of the Convention to amend the Constitution of Pennsylvania, an instrument framed as early as 1776. The Convention was composed of many of the ablest lawyers and most distinguished orators in the State. Of the one hundred and thirty-three members of the Convention, none took a more active part than Mr. Stevens. He labored with great energy and ability to have the word " white," as applied to citizens, stricken from the Constitution. The majority were unable or unwilling to surmount their prejudices and reject the obnoxious word. So great was the disgust of Mr. Stevens with the work of the Convention, that he refused to attach his name to the amended Constitution.
In 1838, the political animosities of Pennsylvania culminated in the " Buckshot War," one of the most remarkable episodes in the his- tory of this country. The trouble originated in alleged election frauds in Philadelphia County at the general election of 1838. The friends of Governor Ritner, who had been a candidate for re-election, maintained that he had been defeated by perjury and fraud. An address was issued soon after the election by the Chairman of the State Committee, advising the friends of Governor Ritner, until an investigation had been made, to regard the result aa favorable to them. It seemed that Mr. Porter, the governor elect, would not be inaugurated, and that certain Democrats elected to the Legislature from Philadelphia would not be admitted to seats. On the day ap- pointed for the assembling of the Legislature,' three hundred men from Philadelpha appeared in Harrisburg with the avowed purpose of overawing the Senate and House, and compelling them to receive certain election returns which the Whigs regarded as fraudulent. At a certain point in the proceedings of the Senate, the mob rushed down from the galleries and took possession of the floor. The Speaker of the Senate, together with Mr. Stevens and some othere, escaped
THADDEUS STEVENS. 7
through a window from the violence of the mob. While the mob held possession of the Senate-chamber and the town, the House was the scene of equal- confusion ; the members splitting into several bodies under speakers of their own election, each claiming to be the legitimate Assembly. The Governor was perplexed and alarmed. He issued a proclamation calling out the militia of the State, and applied to the General Government for troops to suppress the out- break which seemed imminent. The greater part of the militia forces of the State at once responded to the call, but the troops asked from the General Government were refused. At length an under- standing was arrived at by which the Whigs yielded, a Democratic organization of the Legislature was effected, and Mr. Porter was inaugurated as Governor.
The Democrats having gained the upper hand, singled out Mr. Stevens as the victim of their vengeance. A committee was ap- pointed " to inquire whether Thaddeus Stevens, a member elect from the county of Adams, has not forfeited his right to a seat in the House. The offense charged was contempt of the House in calling it an illegal body — the offspring of a mob. Mr. Stevens declined to attend the meetings of the Committee, and wrote a declaration set- ting forth the illegality of the inquiry. Mr. Stevens was ejected from the Legislature, although thirty-eight Democratic members protested against the action of the majority. Sent back to his constituents, he issued a stirring address to the people of Adams County, and he was triumphantly re-elected.. An escort to the State Capitol was offered him by his enthusiastic constituents, but he declined the honor in a letter, in which occur the following remarkable, and almost prophetic, words : " Victories, even over rebels in civil wars, should be treated with solemn thanksgiving, rather than with songs of mirth." An- other term of service, to which Mr. Stevens was elected in 1841, closed his career in the State Legislature.
. In 1842, at fifty years of age, Mr. Stevens found his private busi- ness in a state of confusion, as a consequence of his unremitting atten- tion to public and political affairs. He found himself insolvent, with
8 THADDEUS STEVENS.
debts of over two hundred thousand dollars, principally through mis- management by a partner in the Caledonia Iron Works. Kesolved to liquidate this immense debt, he looked about for some more remu- nerative field for professional practice than the Gettysburg bar offered, and he removed to Lancaster. There he devoted himself with great energy and success to his profession, and in a few years fully retrieved his fortune.
In 1848, Mr. Stevens was elected to represent the Lancaster Dis- trict in the Thirty-first Congress, and was re-elected to the succeeding Congress. He carried to the National Capitol a large legislative experience acquired in another field, and immediately took a prominent position in Congress. The subjects, however, which were acted upon by the Congress of that day were not such as called into conspicuous view the peculiar legislative abilities of Mr. Stevens.
After an interval of six years, when elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress, he entered upon that distinguished public career which has given his name a prominent place in American History.
He held the important position of Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means during three successive Congressional terms. In the Thirty-ninth Congress he was Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. In this and in the Fortieth Congress he was Chair- man of the Committee on Reconstruction. These positions gave him a very prominent place in Congress and before the country.
The first measure of Mr. Stevens, which attracted great attention, was introduced by him on the 8th of December, 1862, to indemnify the President and other persons for suspending the privilege of the habeas corpus. This act assisted much to promote the successful issue of the war. It placed a power in the hands of the great and good Executive of the nation, which was absolutely essential to the suppression of the rebellion.
It was ever an object dear to the heart of Mr. Stevens to raise up and disenthrall the down-trodden colored population of the South. Foreseeing that this would 'be accomplished as a result of the war, he became the originator and earnest advocate of many measures de-
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signed to effect this end. As early as the first disaster of Bull Bun he publicly favored the employment of negroes as soldiers, to aid in putting down the rebellion of their masters. In the summer of 1862, a bill was passed, granting to negroes the privilege of constructing fortifications and performing camp services. This fell far below the mission of the colored race in the war, as conceived in the mind of Mr. Stevens. On the 27th of January, 1863, he offered a bill in the House for the enlistment of the negro as a soldier. The bill passed the House, but was reported upon adversely by the Military Com- mittee of the Senate. That body could only bring themselves to the point of agreeing to the enlistment of the negro as a cook ! That which Mr. Stevens was unable to bring about by Congressional enactment, he had the pleasure, ere long, of seeing effected by force of the necessities of war.
With "hope deferred," Mr. Stevens impatiently awaited that great act of justice and necessity, the President's Proclamation of Emancipation. After this great Executive act was done, Mr. Stevens was not content until its perpetuity was secured by constitutional guarantees. Accordingly, on the 24th of March following, he offered in the House a joint resolution proposing an article in the Constitu- tion abolishing slavery. A joint resolution of similar import had been previously offered in the Senate by Mr. Trumbull, and agreed to by that body, but it was rejected in the House. After consideration, the resolution of Mr. Stevens was laid over, and the joint resolution of Mr. Trumbull was again taken up on a motion to reconsider, and was finally adopted, January 31, 1865.
The biography of Mr. Stevens, written in detail, would be a com- plete history of the legislation of the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Con- gresses, down to the day of his death. At his instance, the Joint Committee on Eeconstruction was created, and he occupied the posi- tion of Chairman on the part of the House. He strenuously advo- cated the Freedmen's Bureau Bill and the Civil Eights Bill. He had the honor of proposing in the House the great measure, now a part of the Constitution, known as the Fourteenth Amendment. As Chair-
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10 THADDEUS STEVENS.
man of the Committee on Eeconstruction, Mr. Stevens reported to the House the Military Reconstruction Bill, under which all the States save Tennessee, which had previously been reconstructed, were destined to be restored to their former relation to the Federal
Union.
Mr. Stevens had no patience nor forbearance with Andrew John- son, whom he contemptuously described as " the man at the other end of the Avenue." He regarded him as a bad man, guilty of « high crimes and misdemeanors." The annals of Congressional ora- tory contain nothing more impressive than Mr. Stevens' scathing and withering denunciations of the character and usurpation of the Presi- dent. Cato was not more earnest and sincere in the utterance of his formula for the safety of Rome— Carthago delenda, e*t— than was Mr. Stevens in his demands that the President should be removed from office. Though in an extreme condition of physical feebleness, Mr. Stevens consented to act as one of the Managers of the Impeach- ment on the part of the House. He proposed the Eleventh Article, which was regarded as the strongest against the President, and was selected as that upon which the first vote was taken. He pronounced one of the ablest arguments delivered before the " High Court of Im- peachment," though unable to deliver more than the opening para- graphs in person.
So feeble was he at this time, and for some months before, that he had to be borne to and from his seat in the House, seated in a chair which was carried by two stalwart young men. As they were lifting him in his chair one day, he said : " How shall I get to the House, when you two die ? " This playful expression not only illustrates his humor, but his resolute determination to do duty to the last.
For two years Mr. Stevens' health was gradually failing. Month after, month he grew weaker and more shadow-like. It seemed, at last, that he was kept alive by force of an indomitable will and an intense desire to see the country safely through the dangers of recon- struction.
On the adjournment of Congress, July 28, Mr. Stevens was too fee-
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ble to endure the journey to his home at Lancaster. He rapidly grew worse, until he expired at midnight on the llth of August. The an- nouncement of his death created profound sensation in all parts of the country. His remains, as they lay in state in the rotunda of the Capitol, were looked upon by thousands, but by none with so much affectionate interest as by multitudes of the colored race, for whose freedom, enfranchisement, and protection he had devoted so much thought and labor. His body was finally conveyed to its last resting place in Lancaster, amid demonstrations of sincere respect such as are manifested only at the obsequies of public benefactors.
At his death Mr. Stevens held but a small proportion of the property which he had accumulated during a long and laborious life. Three times he lost all he had. His latest failure was occasioned by the destruction of his Caledonia Iron Works by the rebels in their raid on Chambersburg. His friends immediately raised $100,000, which they tendered him, but he would accept the gift only on con- dition that it should be turned over to the poor of Lancaster County. Another incident illustrates his kindness of heart towards the poor and the distressed : A few weeks before his death, while on his way to the Capitol, he met a poor woman in great trouble. She. told him that she had just lost seventy :five cents, her little market money, and that she had nothing to buy food for her children, " What a lucky woman you are," said Mr. Stevens ; " I have just found what you have lost ! " putting his hand into his pocket and giving her a five-dollar bill.
Mr. Stevens, as he appeared in the House near the end of his life, is thus described by one looking down from the galleries :
"And now the members crowd around a central desk. The con fusion of tongues, which amazes a spectator in the galleries, is hushed for a brief space. The crowds in the balconies bend eager ears. A gaunt, weird, tall old man has risen in his seat — the man who is often called the Leader of the House. Deep eyes, hidden under a cliif of brow, the strong nose of a pioneer of thought, shut, thin lips, a fac'3 pale with the frost of the grave, long, bony, emphatic limbs — these
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. cover the uneasy ghost which men call Thaddeus Stevens. The great days of his power are past, Perseus has slain his dragon, and now he would unchain the fair Andromeda for whom he fought, binding her brows with the stars. The new version is sadder than the old, for he will not live, to see the glory for which he has wrought. He is wonderful even in his decline. Day after day he comes, compelling his poor body, by the might of the strong soul that is in him, to serve him yet longer. He looks so weary of this confusion which we call life, and yet so resolute to command it still. Erratic, domineering, hard, subtle, Stevens is yet so heroic, he wears such a crown of noble years upon him, that one's enthusiasm, and one's reverence, cling to him."
Thaddeus Stevens was the ablest political and parliamentary leader of his time. Tall in stature, deliberate in utterance and in gesticula- tion, with a massive head, and features of a classic mould, he seemed an orator of the old Eoman type. As a speaker in his later years, he was never declamatory. " Those stilettoes of pitiless wit which made his caustic tongue so dreaded were ever uttered from the softest tones of his voice." He was seldom eloquent, yet every one gave him breathless attention. He possessed a personal influence and a mag- netic power never separated from strong intellect and unbending de- termination, by which he was fitted to be a leader of men. He was unaffected in his manners, and impressive in conversation. He lived both in Lancaster and Washington in a simplicity of style befitting the leading Kepublican of his day.
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H E triumph of «ajp
. Beventeentli year
I
JAMES A. GAEFIELD.
H E triumph of energy and talent over poverty and adver- sity is illustrated in the lives of nearly all whose names are conspicuous in the Congress of the United States. In no case has this triumph been more signally achieved than in that of James Abraham Garfield, of Ohio. He was born in the township of Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. Abraham Garfield, the father, who had emigrated from New York, died in 1833, leaving a family of four children, of whom James was the youngest, dependent upon the exertions of a widowed mother.
James was permitted to attend. the district school a few months of each year, and at intervals aided in supporting the family by working at the carpenter's trade. This not proving very remunerative, in his seventeenth year he secured employment as driver on the tow-path of the Ohio Canal, and soon rose to be a boatman. The dream of his ambition was to become a sailor on the lakes. The hardship and exposure incident to his life on the Canal brought on the fever and ague in the fall of 1848. When the young boatman had recovered from a three months' illness, it was too late to carry out his purpose of shipping on the lakes. He was . persuaded to defer this step until the following fall, and meanwhile to spend a few months in attending a high-school in an adjoining county.
Early in March, 1849, young Garfield entered "Geauga Acad- emy." Being too poor to pay the ordinary bills for board, he carried with him a few cooking utensils, rented a room in an old unpainted farm-house near the academy, and boarded himself. His mother
had saved a small sum of money, which she gave him with her bless-
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ing at his departure. After that he never had a dollar which he did not earn. • He soon found employment with the carpenters of the village; and working mornings, evenings, and Saturdays, earned enough to pay his way. The summer vacation gave him a longer interval for work, and when the fall term opened he had money enough laid up to pay his tuition and give him a start again. The close of this fall term found him competent to teach a district school for the winter, the avails of which were sufficient to pay his expenses for the spring and fall terms at the academy. He continued for several years, teaching a term each winter, and attending the academy through spring and fall, keeping up with his class during his absence by private study.
By the summer of 1854, young Garfield, now twenty -three years old, prosecuted his studies as far as the academies of his native re- gion could carry him. He resolved to go to college, calculating that he could complete the ordinary course of study in two years. From his school-teaching and carpenter work he had saved about half enough to pay his expenses. To obtain the rest of the money, he procured a life insurance policy, which he assigned to a gentleman who loaned him what funds he needed, knowing that if he lived he would pay it, and if he died the policy would secure it.
In the fall of 1854, young Garfield was admitted to the junior class of Williams College, in Massachusetts. He at once took high rank as a student, and at the end of his two years' course bore off the metaphysical honor of his class.
On his return to his Western home, Mr. Garfield was made teacher of Latin and Greek in the Hiram Eclectic Institute. So high a position did he take, and so popular did he become, that the next year he was made President of the Institute. His position at the head of a popular seminary, together with his talents as a speaker, caused him to be called upon for frequent public addresses, both from platform and pulpit. The Christian denomination to which he be- longed had no superstitious regard for the prerogatives ot the clergy, to prevent them from receiving moral and religious instruction on
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JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3
the Sabbath from a layman of such unblemished character and glow- ing eloquence as Mr. Garfield.
It was not Mr. Garfield's purpose, however, to enter the ministry ; and while President of Hiram Institute he studied law, and took some public part in political affairs.
In 1859 he was elected to represent Portage and Summit Counties in the Senate of Ohio. Being well informed on the subjects of legis- lation, and effective in debate, he at once took high rank in the Legislature. His genial temper and cordial address made him popu- lar with political friends and opponents.
The legislature of Ohio took a bold and patriotic stand in support of the General Government against the Eebellion which was just be- ginning to show its front. Under the leadership of Mr. Garfield a bill was passed declaring any resident of the State who gave aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States guilty of treason against the State, to be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for life.
When the first regiments of Ohio troops were raised, the State was wholly unprepared to arm them, and Mr. Garfield was dis- patched to Illinois to procure arms. He succeeded in procuring five thousand muskets, which were immediately shipped to Columbus.
On his return Mr. Garfield was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-Second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. Soon after the organization of the regiment, he was, without his own solicitation, made its Colonel.
In December, 1861, Colonel Garfield, with his regiment, was ordered to Kentucky, where he reported to General Buell. He was immediately assigned to the command of the Eighteenth Brigade, and was ordered by General Buell to drive the Eebel forces under Humphrey Marshall out of the Sandy Yalley in Eastern Kentucky. As Humphrey Marshall threatened the flank of General Buell's force, it was necessary that he should be dislodged before a movement could successfully be made by the main army upon the Rebel posi- tion at Bowling Green.
4 JAMES A. GARFIELD.
A citizen soldier, who had never been in battle, was thus placed, in command of four regiments of infantry and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the duty of leading them against an officer who had led the famous charge of the Kentucky Volunteers at Buena Yista. Marshall had under his command nearly five thousand men stationed at Paintville, sixty miles up the Sandy Valley. He was expected to advance to Lexington, and establish the authority of the Provisional Government at the State Capital.
Colonel Garfield took command of his brigade at the mouth of the Big Sandy, and moved with it directly up the valley. Marshall heard of the advance, and fell back to Prestonburg, leaving a small force of cavalry near his old position to act as an outpost and to pro- tect his trains. This cavalry fled before the advance of Colonel Garfield's force. He pushed the pursuit with his cavalry till Mar- shall's infantry outposts were reached, and then, drawing back, he encamped with his whole force at Paintville.
On the morning of the 9th of January, Garfield advanced with twenty-four hundred men, leaving about one thousand waiting for the arrival of supplies at Paintville. Before nightfall he had driven in the enemy's pickets. The men slept on their arms under a soak- ing rain, and by four o'clock in the morning were again in motion. Marshall's force occupied the heights of Middle Creek, two miles west of Prestonburg. Garfield advanced cautiously, and after some hours came suddenly in front of Marshall's position between the forks of the creek. Two columns were moved forward, one on^ither side of the creek, and the rebels immediately opened upon them with musketry and artillery. Garfield reinforced both his columns, but the action soon developed itself mainly on the left, where Marshall concentrated his whole force. Garfield's reserve was under fire from the enemy's artillery. He was entirely without artillery to reply, but from behind trees and rocks the men kept up a brisk fusilade.
About four o'clock in the afternoon reinforcements from Paintville arrived. Unwonted enthusiasm was aroused, and the approaching
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column was received with prolonged cheering. Garfield promptly formed his whole reserve for 'attacking the enemy's right and carry- ing his guns. Without awaiting the assault, Marshall hastily aban- doned his position, fired his camp equipage, and began a retreat which was not ended till he reached Abingdon, Virginia.
Now occurred another trial of Garfield's energy. His troops were almost out of rations, in a rough mountainous country incapable of furnishing supplies. Excessive rains had swollen the Sandy to such a hight that steamboat men declared it impossible to ascend the river with supplies. Colonel Garfield went down 'the river in a skiff to its mouth, and ordered the Sandy Valley, a small steamer -which had been in the quartermaster's service, to take a load of -supplies and startup. The captain declared it impossible, but Colonel Garfield ordered the crew on board. He stationed a competent army officer on board to see that the captain did his duty, and himself took the wheel. The little vessel trembled in every fiber as she breasted the raging flood, which swept among the tree-tops along the banks. The perilous trip occupied two days and nights, during which time Colonel Garfleld was only eight hours absent from the wheel. The men in camp greeted with tumultuous cheering the arrival of the boat, with their gallant commander as pilot.
At the pass across the mountain known as Pound Gap, Humphrey Marshall kept up a post of observation, held by a force of five hun- dred men. On the 14th of March, Garfield started with five hun- dred infantry and two hundred cavalry to dislodge this detachment. On the evening of the second day's march he reached the foot of the mountain two miles north of the Gap. Next morning he sent the cavalry along the main road leading to the enemy's position, while he led the infantry by an unfrequented route up the side of the moun- tain. While the enemy watched the cavalry, Garfield led the in- fantry undiscovered to the very border of their camp. The enemy were taken by surprise, and a few volleys dispersed them. They re- treated in confusion down the eastern slope of the mountain, pursued
for several miles into Virginia by the cavalry. The troops rested
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for the night in the comfortable huts which the enemy had built, and the next morning burnt them down, together with everyth the enemy which they could not carry away..
These operations, though on a small scale compared wit magnificent movements of a later period in the war, yet had a very considerable importance. They were the first of a brilliant s successes which re-assured the despondent in the spring of ]
They displayed a military capacity in the civilian Colonel, and a bravery- in the raw recruits which augured well for the success of the volunteer army. Colohel Garfield received high praise from Gen- eral Buell and the War Department. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, his commission bearing the date of the battle of Middle Creek.
Six days after the capture of Pound Gap, General Garfield re- ceived orders to transfer the larger part of his command to Louisville. On his arrival there, he found that the Army of the Ohio was already beyond Nashville on its march to the aid of Grant at Pittsburg Landing. He made haste to join General Buell, who placed him in command of the Twentieth Brigade. He reached the field of Pittsburg Landing at one o'clock on the second day of the battle, and bore a part in its closing scenes. His brigade bore its full share in the tedious siege operations before Corinth, and was among the foremost to enter the abandoned town after its evacuation by 'the enemy. He soon after marched eastward with his brigade, and re- built all the bridges on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad be- tween Corinth and Decatur, and took post at Huntsville, Alabama.
General Garfield was soon after put at the head of the court- martial for the trial of General Turchin. He manifested a capacity for such work which led to his subsequent detail for similar service.
About the 1st of August, his health having been seriously impaired, he went home on sick leave. As soon as he recovered, he was ordered to report in person at Washington. He was made a member of the court-martial for the trial of Fitz-John Porter. Most of the autumn was occupied with the duties of this detail.
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In January, 1863, General Garfield was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army of the Cumberland, which was commanded by General Rosecrans. He became the intimate friend and confidential advisor of his chief, and bore a prominent part in all the military operations in Middle Tennessee during the spring and summer of 1863.
•The final military service of General Garfield was in the bat- tle of Chickamauga. Every order issued that day, with one excep- tion, was written by him. He wrote the orders on the suggestion of his own judgment, afterwards submitting them to General Rosecrans for approval or change. The only order not written by him was that fatal one to General Wood, which lost the battle. The words did not correctly convey the meaning of the commanding general. General Wood, the division commander, so interpreted them as to destroy the right wing.
The services of General Garfield were appropriately recognized by the War Department in his promotion to the rank of Major-Gen- eral of Volunteers, " for gallant and meritorious conduct in the bat- tle of Chickamauga."
About a year before, while absent in the field, General Garfield had been elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress from the old Giddings district of Ohio. He accordingly resigned his commission on the 5th of December, 1863, after a service of nearly three years.
General Garfield immediately took high rank in Congress. He was made a member of the Committee on Military Affairs, of which in the Fortieth Congress he became chairman. In this committee his industry and his familiarity with the wants of the army enabled him to do signal service for the country. He soon became known as a powerful speaker, remarkably ready and effective in debate.
General Garfield was re-nominated for the Thirty-ninth Congress by acclamation, and was re-elected by a majority of nearly twelve thousand. He was made a member of the Committee of Ways and
Means, in which he soon acquired great influence. He studied finan-
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cial questions with untiring assiduity, and was spoken of by the Secretary of the Treasury as one of the best informed men on such subjects then in public life.
In 1866, General Garneld was re-elected to the Fortieth Con- gress, in which he was made chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. At a time when everything seemed drifting towards green- backs and repudiation, he took a bold financial position. As his views were opposed to those of many leading men of his party, ancj to the declarations of the Eepublican State Convention of Ohio, he seemed to hazard his re-nomination, but he did not hesitate firmly and fully to avow his convictions. His financial doctrines were at length adopted by the entire party, and fully indorsed in the Chicago Re- publican Platform. On the 24th of June, 1868, he was renominated and in October following was elected to the Forty-first Congress.
General Garfield is one of the most popular men now in public life. He is generous, warm-hearted, and genial. He is one of the most accomplished scholars in the country, and by laborious study of all subjects which require his attention, he is constantly adding to his breadth of intellect.
In person he is about six feet in hight. He has a large head and a German cast of countenance, which a friend has aptly called a " mirror of good nature."
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MONG the early settlers in New England, were Sir John Maynard and Kev. John Cotton. They emigrated from England with other prominent Puritans, to escape the trouble with the Stuarts, and landed about 1635, in Boston, where Mr. Cotton was the first minister. Horace Maynard is a lineal de- scendant, in the seventh generation, on the father's side, from the for- mer, and on the mother's side from the latter.
Horace Maynard was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, August 30, 1814. He received his academical education at Millbury, and his collegiate education at Amherst, where he graduated with the highest honors of his class. Immediately after his graduation, he was called to the East Tennessee University, at Knoxville, where he remained five and a half years, first as Tutor and Instructor in Modern Lan- guages, and then as Professor of Mathematics. Meanwhile, having studied law, he was admitted to the bar, March 1, 1844, and soon entered upon a large and lucrative practice.
Mr. Maynard's political life commenced in 1852. He was a mem- ber of .the Whig National Convention, which assembled in Baltimore in June of that year. Though he urged the nomination of Mr. Fill- more, he acquiesced in that of Gen. Scott; and as the electoral .can- didate for his Congressional District, supported him with great zeal during a protracted, arduous, and successful canvass.
The next year he was nominated by the "Whigs a candidate for Congress, against the popular sitting member. The disaffection at the nomination of Gen. Scott took the form of serious opposition to Mr. Maynard, among the Whigs, and after one of the most spirited
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contests ever conducted in the State, he was defeated, but without los- ing either the sympathy of his friends, or the respect of his opponents.
During the re-organization of parties which followed the with- drawal of the Whigs from the political arena, the ephemeral organi- zation of the Know-Nothing order, and the formation of the great Kepublican party, together with the sectional controversy which took shape in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he was occupied in his professional labors, and was an inactive, though not an unobserv- ant spectator.
In the Presidential canvass of 1856, the contest in Tennessee was between Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Buchanan, and the issue the same that subsequently was settled by appeal to arms, though at that time less rugged and clearly defined. " Our rights in the Union, or our rights out of the Union," was already the cry. In response to earnest solic- itation, coming from not a few former opponents, Mr. Maynard con- sented to accept a place upon the Fillmore electoral ticket for the State at large, which involved a three months' public discussi6n of all questions which entered into the election. In company with the late William H. Polk, brother of the President, and Buchanan elector, he traversed the State from the extreme east to the Mississippi, making a series of appeals for the Union, vividly remembered to this day. By a small majority the State was carried for Buchanan.
The next year, he was a second time candidate for Congress, in the same district which, four years before, had defeated him. Running some five hundred votes ahead of the party ticket, he was elected, and took his seat in the Thirty-fifth Congress. Here he found, in a some- what modified form, the same controversy which had given him so much anxiety in Tennessee. All his efforts, his votes and speeches, both in and out of Congress, were intended to avert the catastrophe which he saw clearly was impending. *
In 1859, he was elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress, with but little opposition. The political character of the State had so far changed, that seven of the ten members constituting the delegation were elect- ed as Unionists. In the preceding Congress there were but three.
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The quadrilateral Presidential contest of 1860 followed, stirring the political channels to their profoundest depths. The avowals and com- mittals, on the question -of slavery, by the Northern and the Southern opponents of the Democratic party, had been such, that a union of the two was manifestly impracticable, indeed not desirable. Mr. Maynard took an active part in organizing the latter, upon the simple platform once suggested by Mr. Clay, of the Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws, with Bell and Everett as their can didates. The disunion purposes of the Southern Democracy were now apparent. " When Abraham Lincoln is President of the United States, I am a Rebel," was an outspoken declaration. Mj*. Maynard denounced the traitorous purpose with unsparing severity, in and out of Tennessee. The electoral vote of the State was given for the Union cause.
When returning to Washington, at the meeting of Congress, in December, 1860, he fell in company with Mr. Douglas, then return- ing from his famous Presidential campaign ; and remained with him one day in Lynchburg, Virginia. While there, he suggested to that gentleman a plan of pacification by a special committee in the House, of one from each State, to digest a policy for defeating the evident schemes of the Southern leaders. Mr. Boteler of Virginia was agreed upon as the member to bring it forward. Accordingly, on the sec- ond day of the session the Committee was raised upon his motion. While the measure was not successful in, suppressing the movements of the Secessionists, it did much to thwart and delay them, and was one of the early obstacles in their path. It was of the utmost im- portance to gain time.
When Mr. Maynard returned home after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, he found the Unionists exulting and confident. They had just carried the State by an apparent majority of nearly 70,000. Beneath the surface, however, he saw enough to excite lively appre- hensions. ISTot a few Union leaders had openly declared for the cause of disunion, and the others had nearly all coupled their allegi- ance to the Union with so many conditions, and provisos, that it
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had little force left. He lost no time in calling the attention of hid confidential friends to this aspect of affairs. Associated with John- son, Brownlow, Nelson, and other active leaders, he at once entered upon a vigorous canvass against aggressions of the secessionists. The people of East Tennessee, where he resides, had taken position by their Government, and were not to be moved. All they desired was to have their cause vindicated and made respectable by a proper advocacy. It is hardly a paradox to say that the leaders followed the people.
The biennial election for State officers and members of Congress occurred on the 1st of August, 1861. Mr. Maynard was a candidate for re-election, technically without opposition, his real opponent be- ing a candidate for the Richmond Congress, and the real issue sub- mitted to the people, whether they should be represented at Wash- ington or at Richmond. This was the case in the other two Con- gressional Districts of East Tennessee. He was re-elected by an overwhelming majority in a largely increased vote. In anticipation of this event, he had made full arrangements, and passed at once beyond the rebel lines, and never re-entered them. The special ses- sion of Congress, called for the 4th of July, 1861, was too near its close to admit of his reaching Washington in time to take a seat in it. The interval between it and the regular session in December, was a time of ceaseless activity. Simultaneously wjth himself, had crossed into Kentucky a great 'number of young men, resolved to enter the military service for»the suppression of the rebellion. Utterly without supplies themselves, and witli no provision for receiving them or knowledge of their coming, they were in a truly precarious situation. Mr. Maynard procured for them temporary supplies, ven- turing in the name of the Government to promise payment — a prom- ise, it is needless to say, promptly fulfilled. He then hurried on to Washington to confer with the authorities there, and, if possible, to have Kentucky placed under the command of Major Robert Ander- son, a Kentuckian, and then in high renown for his defense of Fort Sumter. At Washington, he found Mr. Johnson, then a Senator from Tennessee, conspicuous for his devotion to the Federal cause,
HORACE MAYNARD. 5
and in the full confidence of the Administration. Recognizing him as the proper head of the Union party, not only of Tennessee, but of the South, he co-operated with him earnestly and in the best faith, until after his accession to the Presidency. The organization of the Tennessee troops occupied a good deal of attention. This did not prevent him from visiting various portions of the North, and, by public speech and private effort, rallying the people to increased zeal for the national cause. Scarcely a Northern State which, sometime during the war, he did not visit for this purpose.
At the regular session in December, he took his seat in the Thirty- seventh Congress. Uniformly and on all occasions he sustained Mr. Lincoln, whom from the first he regarded as belonging to a very high order of men. His labors in Congress, however, were prin- cipally directed to the condition of the Southern Union men. His constant aim was to secure their recognition as an element in the great conflict, and especially to secure for them representation in Congress by Congressional legislation. A bill introduced by him passed the House, and was defeated in the Senate, at the last moment of the session, by the factious opposition of a Senator from Kentucky. Had it become a law, the whole business of reconstruction would have assumed quite another character.
By the failure of this bill, and the absence of any State legislation for the election of members of Congress, Tennessee was deprived of representation in the Thirty-eighth Congress.
Another measure which originated with him 'in this Congress, was the new official oath, commonly known as the " test oath." He was always persuaded that the Confiscation Act would be practically futile, and he introduced a substitute which failed as. such ; but its fifth section became a law, and is the now famous " iron-clad " oath.
At the clo&e of the Thirty-seventh Congress, Mr. Maynard accepted from Mr. Johnson, then Military Governor of Tennessee, the office of Attorney General of the State, which he held until the close of the Governor's term and the restoration of the State government.
In 1864, he was a member-of the Republican National Convention
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in Baltimore, and with great zeal and effect urged the nomination of Mr. Johnson as the candidate for Yice-President, and subsequently took an active part in the canvass.
January, 1865, saw the Union men of Tennessee assembled in Con- vention at Nashville, for the important purpose of restoring their State government, destroyed by the rebellion. Mr. Maynard parti- cipated, and saw the effort successful, over doubt/timidity, and disguis- ed opposition, an4 the government of Tennessee planted squarely upon the simple doctrine of the equality of all men before- the law, and in the hands of -loyal men.
After Mr. Johnson succeeded to the Presidency, orf the death of Mr. Lincoln, offer was made to Mr. Maynard of the office of District Attorney of the District of Columbia, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, or Commissioner of Patents. He was also offered the mis-inn to Mexico, to Peru, to Chili, or to Denmark, each and all of which he declined; preferring to accept a nomination for re-election to Con- gress, as. affording him a better opportunity to sustain the restored government of his State, and to procure its recognition by Federal authority. After a canvass of nine days, giving barely time to pub- ' lish his name as candidate through the thirteen counties composing the district, he was elected by a large majority over five competitors of worth and deserved popularity.
At the meeting of the Thirty-ninth Congress, he was selected by the delegation to present their credentials and to demand recognition of the new government bf Tennessee, by admitting her chosen members to their seats. He was met with an emphatic refusal, and opposition somewhat personally offensive. All tliis he endured with patience and even temper, until, finally, the opposition dwindled to barely a dozen votes, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the restored govern- ment of his State recognized, and himself and his colleagues, in the Senate and House, admitted to their seats. This was his great work in the Thirty-ninth Congress.
He was nominated, and with but little opposition re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
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JAMES BEOOKS.
-AMES BKOOKS was born in Portland, Maine, Novem- ber 10, 1810. His father was captain and principal owner a brig in the merchant service. His sea-faring life kept him almost constantly from home, hence his son was left to the sole care of a mother, who from her energy and excellence of character was' well fitted for the responsible duty. While James was yet a child, the vessel which his father commanded was lost at sea with all on board. By this calamity Mrs. Brooks was made a widow and left penniless, for all the property of her husband was invested in the
The widow, now left as the sole support of herself and three orphan children, exerted herself with great energy to maintain her family.
James was sent to the public school, where he studied eagerly, and exhibited remarkable thirst for knowledge.
When eleven years old, a situation was obtained for him in a store at Lewiston, then a frontier village on the Androscoggin. By con- tract with his employer he was to remain in his service until he was twenty-one, when he should receive a hogshead of New England rum.
The store in which young Brooks was employed was a favorite resort of the village politicians of both parties, who came in the evening to hear the young clerk read the news. He gave them politics quite impartially, reading Whig doctrines from the Portla/nd Advertiser, and throwing in a fair proportion of Democracy from the Argus. The town library was kept in the store in which young Brooks was employed, and this afforded him a free and wide range
of attractive reading.
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The employer of Brooks took a great interest in his young clerk. He gave him opportunities of trading a little on his own account, and encouraged him to save his money. Having discovered that James was desirous of obtaining an education, he kindly proposed to release him from all obligations of further service, and give him such assistance as he needed.. Young Brooks gratefully ac- cepted the offer, and in a few days made arrangements to enter an academy at Monmouth, Maine. He had saved money enough to pay the moderate price of one dollar per week for board. Blessed with good health, and devoted to hard study, he soon accomplished his purpose of fitting himself for teaching school. He then returned to Lewiston, and taught a school for the winter at a salary of ten dollars per month and his board. The following spring he found himself rich enough to enter.Waterville College. Since even a few shillings were important to him then, in going to Waterville he carried his own trunk,- which was neither large nor heavy.
After pursuing his college studies for a year, he found it necessary to teach school in order to obtain money with which to continue his course. While teaching school, by hard study, he kept up his coll cm- studies ; and on his return, after a rigid examination, he was admitted to an advanced class.
After two years more of study, young Brooks graduated, and left college as he had come, three years before, carrying his trunk. He returned to his. mother's house in Portland with just ninety cents in his-pocket. Without giving himself so much as a day of respite or recreation, he at once began to search for employment. Learning that a Latin school, for some time established in Portland, was about to change its teacher, Brooks applied for the situation, and, unknown, without influential friends, obtained it as the result of a rigid examin- ation. From this time Brooks made a home with his mother and her two younger children, protecting and caring for them with filial and almost paternal devotion.
Scarcely had Mr. Brooks become established in his school when he commenced the study of law with John iSTeal, a celebrated lawyer-of
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Portland, and well known as an author. This gentleman manifested great interest in his student, who no doubt obtained quite as much literary knowledge from the author as legal instruction from the lawyer.
Mr. Brooks soon after began to write anonymous letters for the Portland Advertiser -, a daily Whig paper published by John Ed- wards. These articles were so popular that Mr. Edwards found out their author, and made him an offer of f 500 per annum to write constantly for his journal. This work Mr. Brooks continued for a whole year, keeping school and studying law at the same time.
At length it could no longer be concealed that he was in part editor of a leading partisan newspaper, and had taken sides against General Jackson. This rendered it impossible for him to perform the duties of a teacher to his own satisfaction, and from that time he devoted himself wholly to the Advertiser, entering heart and soul into political life.
At this time, though only twenty years old, Mr. Brooks began to attract attention as a political speaker, and soon became one of the most popular orators known to either party.
The year he was twenty-one, Mr. Brooks was elected to the Legis- lature of Maine. In addition to his legislative duties he wrote for the Portland Advertiser.
The next year he went to Washington, and commenced a series of letters from the national capital, thus inaugurating " Washington Correspondence," which has become a feature in the American press. These letters, being a novelty and full of spirited description, were extensively copied both in this country and in Europe.
When Congress adjourned, Mr. Brooks traveled through the South, and wrote a series of interesting letters descriptive of Southern life. This was in the days of South Carolina's nullification, against which these letters were trenchant and severe. The writer dealt with slavery also, taking strong grounds against the " institution." This fact was brought up and made a subject of sharp remark by Mr. Price, of Iowa, in the Thirty-eighth Congress. Mr. Brooks replied that he
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saw no reason to change his opinions, though so many years had elapsed since the letters were written.
The success of Mr. Brooks's letters from Washington and the South induced him to form the novel plan of traveling over Europe on foot, and sending to the Advertiser descriptions of what he saw. Mr. Brooks sailed from New York for England in one of the fine packet ships of the time. With a knapsack on his back, and letters of introduction from the first men of America in his pocket, he trav- eled over England and made himself familiar with its people. One day he dined with some nobleman, and the next walked thirty miles and slept in the thatched cottage of a peasant. He wandered over the hills of Scotland, and" among the green fields of Ireland, seeing everything, and describing with vivacity all he saw. He became acquainted with most of the great statesmen and authors of England. His description of his visit to the poet Wordsworth so interested the public that a splendid copy of his poems was forwarded to Mr. Brooks from the publishers, after his return home, as an acknowledgement of the fidelity and truthfulness of the letters.
From England Mr. Brooks went to France. He crossed the Alps on foot, and made himself familiar with Switzerland, Italy, and por- tions of Germany. The letters written during tjiese travels attracted great attention to the paper for which they were written. They were extensively copied in this country, and were translated and re-copied abroad.
When Mr. Brooks returned to America, he remained some weeks in New York, and there offers were made him to establish a daily paper to be called the New York Express. Parties there proposed to furnish the capital for the paper, which was to offset the labor and talent which Brooks should supply as editor.
The people of Portland, being reluctant to part with a young man of so much promise, offered to nominate him' for Congress if he would return to them. He accordingly returned to Portland, and became a candidate against F. O. J. Smith, a. very popular man on the Democratic side, and a third candidate, whose name was Dunn.
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The district had for years been a Democratic stronghold, but it was only on a third trial, Dunn having been persuaded to withdraw, that Smith was elected by a bare majority.
Mr. Brooks soon after returned to his incomplete enterprise in New York, and that year established the New York Express, a daily journal, of which he is principal owner at the present time. Disap- p6intment met him at the outset. Persons who had promised to supply the funds for the new enterprise failed to meet their engage- ments, and it was by the most intense labor and personal privation that he struggled under the load of debt laid on him from the first. But he had health and strength, and that indomitable energy which "nothing .daunts or dismays. He 'wrote leaders, acted as reporter, watched night after night for the arrival of ship news, and kept his journal up with an energy which the public soon began to recog- nize.
After a year or two the New York Daily Advertiser, published by AVilliam B. Townsend, was connected with the Express. .Gradually but surely the journal advanced in popularity under the editorial management of Mr. Brooks, who had reached great political influ- ence, and was one of the most popular speakers in the Whig party.
During .the memorable political campaign of 1840, Mr. Brooks went to Indiana and stumped that State for Harrison. He became a great favorite and devoted friend of Harrison, and was one of the few friends admitted to his room 'during his fatal illness.
In the summer of 1841 Mr. Brooks was married to Mrs. Mary Randolph, a widow lady of Richmond, Virginia. Such was his dis.- like of slavery that he insisted that the emancipation of three or four household slaves belonging to her should precede the marriage cere- mony.
In 184T Mr. Brooks was elected to the State Legislature, and two years later was elected a Representative in Congress from New York. He served through the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Con- gresses, in which he distinguished himself by his eloquence of speech
and effectiveness in debate. He was the associate and friend of
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Webster, Clay, and other leading spirits in Congress at that time, and kept pace with them in the stirring legislative movements of that period. Clay's efforts in the great compromise measures of the time met with his efficient support in the House, where all the varied knowledge which he had acquired in his travels and in his editorial life became available in his career of statesmanship.
About this time Mr. Brooks purchased Mr. Townsend's interest in the IZvpress, and took his younger brother into partnership in the establishment.
Soon after the close of the Thirty-second Congress Mr. Brooks made another tour on the continent, and subsequently went a third time across the ocean, extending his travels to Egypt and the Holy Land.
During these travels Mr. Brooks availed himself of the opportun- ities presented in each country of studying its language on the spot. He thus acquired the German, Spanish, and Italian, and perfected his knowledge of the French.
Thus alternating his editorial duties with extensive travels, Mr. Brooks passed several years until the excitements and issues of the civil war induced him to enter political life again. In the canvass for the election of a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, ^j-. Brooks started as an independent candidate, but in the end the Democratic nominee retired, and Mr. Brooks was elected by a large majority. He took his seat as a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress ; but, after •serving nearly through the long session, his seat was successfully con- tested by William E. Dodge. Surrendering his seat some time in April, Mr. Brooks was unanimously nominated for the Fortieth Congress, and was elected by a majority of six thousand votes.
During the autumn of 1867 Mr. Brooks was a member of the State Constitutional Convention.
In the Fortieth Congress Mr. Brooks is a member of the Recon- struction Committee and of the Committee of Ways and 'Means. Able in argument, eloquent in speech, and plausible in address, he is a leading spirit on the side of the minority.
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AUSTUST BLAIR
MONG the loyal and faithful Governors who cordially co- operated with President Lincoln in putting down the Rebel- lion, none deserve more honorable mention than Austin Blair, of Michigan. He was born February 8, 1818, in the town of Caroline, Tompkins County, New York. His ancestors were from Scotland, emigrating to America in the time of George I. The fam- ily, from generation to generation, seems to have pursued the business of farming. The subject of this sketch was the first who interfered with this arrangement, to become a professional man. The education of his boyhood was at the common school, until, at seventeen, he was sent to the Seminary at Cazenovia, New York, where he remained a year and a half. He then entered Hamilton College, at Clinton, New York, becoming a member of the Sophomore class. Here he pursued his studies to the middle of his Junior year, when he entered Union College, Schenectady, being attracted thither by the great reputation of President Nott. Here he was graduated in 1839, and never re-visited his Alma Mater, until, in 1868, he delivered the an- nual address before the literary societies of that institution.
After leaving college, Mr. Blair read law for two years, in the office of Sweet & Davis, at Owego, N. Y. At the end of this time he was admitted to the bar. . He immediately emigrated to Michigan, and commenced practice at Jackson, the place of his present resi- dence. In a short time he removed to Eaton Rapids ; and after re- maining there two years, he returned to Jackson, and engaged actively in the practice of his profession. While at Eaton Rapids, he was, in 184:2, elected to the office of County Clerk, which was his first office.
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2 AUSTIN BLAIR.
At this time Mr. Blair was a Whig in politics, and in 1844 joined in the canvass for Henry Clay with great zeal ; and, two years later he was sent to the lower house of the State Legislature. In 1848, he refused any longer to support the Whig ticket, and for two reasons : first, because of his great partiality for Mr. Clay, whom the nomina- ting convention passed by in favor of General Taylor ; and, secondly and principally, because of his decided anti-slavery sentiments.
After the nomination of General Taylor, Mr. Blair attended the convention at Buffalo which put in nomination Yan Buren and Adams. This ticket he supported with all his might, not that he cherished any hope of success, but that he thought it was time for a beginning to be made in the right direction.
In 1852 he was elected Prosecuting- Attorney of Jackson County, holding that office during two years. In 1854, Mr. Blair actively participated in the proceedings at the convention at Jackson, which resulted in the foundation of the Republican party in Michigan. This convention brought together the anti-slavery men of the Whig and Free-Soil parties in that State, and resulted in a complete tri- umph over the Democracy at the Fall election. He was, at this tune, chosen a Senator in the State Legislature. In 1856, he was an ear- nest supporter of Fremont and Dayton. At the November election of 1860, Mr. Blair was chosen Governor of Michigan, and Jie entered upon his executive duties in the following January. Fully aware of the perilous position in which the country had been placed by the spirit of rebellion which then pervaded the Southern States, and foreseeing the inevitable collision, he commenced his official career with a full appreciation of the responsibilities of his office. His ju- dicious and prompt administration of military affairs in the State, soon distinguished him as possessing great executive ability, ardent love of country and true devotion to the interests and honor or' his State. These characteristics soon secured for him the confidence of the people of both political parties, which he retained during his en- tire four years' administration.
The inaugural of Governor Blair, which was a profound and philo- 318
AUSTIN BLAIR. 3
sopliical discussion of the true nature of our form of government, and of the real signification of the existing and impending issues, closed with these emphatic words :
" It is a question of war that the seceding States have to look in the face. They who think that this powerful Government can be disrupted peacefully, have read history to no purpose. The sons of the men who carried arms in the Seven Years' War with the most pow- erful nation in the world, to establish this Government, will not hesi- tate to make equal sacrifices to maintain it. Most deeply must we deplore the unnatural contest. On the heads of the traitors who provoke it, must rest the responsibility. In such a contest the God of battles has no attribute that can take sides with the revolutionists of the Slave States.
" I recommend you at an early day to make manifest to the gentle- men who represent this State in the two Houses of Congress, and to the country, that Michigan is loyal to the Union, the Constitution, and the Laws, and will defend them to the uttermost ; and to proffer to the President of the United States the whole military power of the State for that purpose. Oh, for the firm, steady hand of a Wash- ington, or a Jackson, to guide the ship of State in this perilous storm. Let us hope that we shall find him on the 4th of March. Meantime, let us abide in the faith of our fathers — ' Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and for ever.' "
Marshaled by such a leader, the Legislature was neither timid nor slow in declaring the loyalty of Michigan to the Union. In joint resolution, offered February 2, 1861, it declared its adherence to the Government of the United States, tendered it all the military power and material resources of the State, and declared that concession and compromise were not to be offered to traitors. Still, nothing defi- nite was done ; no actual defensive or aggressive military steps were taken, until rebel foolhardiness precipitated the struggle that had be- come inevitable, by converging upon Fort Sumter the fire of the en- circling batteries of Charleston Harbor. On April 12, 1861, the news was received at Detroit that the rebels at Charleston had ac-
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4 AUSTIN BLAIR.
tually inaugurated civil war by firing upon Fort Sumter. This in- telligence created much excitement, and in view of the uncertainty of coming events, the people commenced looking around to estimate how united they would be in the cause of the Union. On the following day, a meeting of the Detroit Bar, presided over by the venerable Judge Koss Wilkins, was held, and resolutions were adopted pledging that community to " stand by the Government to the last," and re- pudiating the treason of the South. By the following Monday, April 15, when the surrender of the South Carolina fortress was known throughout the land, and the call of the President for 75,000 volun- teers had been received, the entire State was alive to the emergencies and the duties of the hour, and the uprising of the people was uni- versal. Public meetings were held in all the cities and most of the towns, pledges of assistance to the nation in its hour of peril made, and volunteering briskly commenced.
On Tuesday, April 16, Governor Blair arrived in Detroit, and during the day he issued a proclamation calling for a regiment of volunteers, and ordering the Adjutant-General to accept the first ten companies that should offer, and making it the duty of that oificer to issue all the necessary orders and instructions in detail. The move- ment thus inaugurated did not slacken in impetus nor lessen in ardor. The State responded to the call of its authorities most promptly. The patriotism of the people was in a blaze, war meetings were held in every town, and the tender of troops from all points in the State far exceeded the requisition.
The first call made by the President upon Michigan for troops to aid in the suppression of the rebellion, was, as before stated, for one regiment only, which was promptly met by the muster into ser- vice of the First regiment, and that was soon followed by the second. At the same time several other regiments were persistently pressing for service, and some were authorized to organize without provision of law, while many companies found service in other States. In the meantime the organization of the Third and Fourth regiments had been commenced on the responsibility of the Governor alone, and
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AUSTIN BLAIR. 5
while that was in progress, he received instructions from the War Department to discontinue the raising of more troops, and that it was important to reduce, rather than enlarge the number.
The Governor, foreseeing an immediate necessity for preparation to meet coming emergencies and future calls, assumed the responsibility of establishing a camp of instruction at Fort Wayne, near Detroit, for the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh regiments ; and on the 21st of May, companies were assigned to those regiments, and their officers were ordered to assemble at Fort Wayne on the 19th of June.
A course of instruction followed, with much success, until August 1, when the camp was broken up and the force sent to various localities to recruit their men and organize the regiments. . This was accom- plished with astonishing promptness, the Sixth being mustered in August 20th ; the Seventh, August 22d ; and the .Fifth, August 28th. All had left for the field prior to the 12th of September.
The establishment of the Camp of Instruction attracted much at- tention in other States, and most favorable comments from public jour- nals. It has always been considered in Michigan as a most judicious and eminently successful effort, its value becoming more and more apparent as the war progressed, not only in the efficiency of these particular regiments, but in many others having the benefit of offi- cers who had received the instruction of the camp.
The law of Congress of August 3d, had authorized the President to receive into service 500,000 volunteers. The proportion of Michigan was understood at the time to be 19,500. In response to this requi- sition, the State continued recruiting, sending regiment after regiment to the field ; and up to the end of December, had sent to the front three regiments of cavalry, one of engineers and mechanics, twelve of infantry, two companies of cavalry for the " Merrill Horse," two companies for 1st and 2d regiments U. S. Sharp-shooters, and five batteries.
In response to the call of the President of October 17, 1863, for 300,000 more, Governor Blair issued his proclamation for the Michi-
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gan quota of 11,298, in which he makes use of the following stirring language.
" This call is for soldiers to fill the ranks of the regiments in the fieldj — those regiments which by long and gallant service have wasted their numbers in the same proportion that they have made a distin- guished name, both for themselves and the State. The people of Michigan will recognize this as a duty already too long delayed. Our young men, I trust, will hasten to stand beside the heroes of An- tietam, Gettysburg, Yicksburg, Stone Biver, and Chicamauga."
The Governor's stirring proclamation, and the patriotic response of the people of Michigan, immediately followed each successive call of the President for volunteers.
During his four years' administration, Governor Blair devoted his entire time, talents, and energies to the duties of his office. When he left the Executive chair, he had sent into the field eighty-three thousand three hundred and forty-seven soldiers. In his message de- livered to the Legislature, January 4, 1865, he greeted them most affec- tionately from the Capitol of the State, on vacating the chair which lie had so well filled and so highly honored during the years of the war that had passed.
July 4, 1867, Gov. Blair delivered an oration at the laying of the corner-stone of the Michigan Soldiers' Monument. It comprised an able and faithful resume of the principal conflicts of the war, re- viewing in considerable detail the prominent part taken in those bloody scenes by the brave and hardy troops of Michigan.
The brief Congressional record of Gov. Blair is what might be ex- pected from the antecedents of the man. He is an earnest Republi- can, a strong friend and supporter of the Reconstruction measures, and a stern enemy to every form of repudiation, and to every tendency in that fatal direction. His speech upon the national finances on the floor of the House, March 21, 1868, is eminently just and convincing, and such as could hardly fail of commending itself to all fair and honest minds.
HON. FERNANDO WOOD.
KEPRE3KNTATIVE FROM NKWYDRK
FERE
WOOD
• i
r
FEKISTAJTOO WOOD
F Quaker ancestry, Fernando Wood was born in Philadel- phia, June 14, 1812. His father was a merchant of good standing of that city. His original ancestor in this country was Henry Wood, who emigrated early in the seventeenth century, settling in Khode Island ; but, being a Quaker, he was driven out of that settlement by the persecutions of the Puritans. From there he went, in 1656, to the Delaware River, and became a farmer in the vicinity of Philadelphia, on that which is now the New Jersey side of the river. For over two hundred years the family have resided in that neighborhood. The original family burial-ground is yet existing on the banks of the river a short distance north of Camden.
The father of Mr. Wood removed to New York in 1820, where the latter has resided ever since. He commenced his busy life as a clerk in 1826, but subsequently made cigars, skill in the manufacture of which he had picked up as an amateur and merely from observation. This employment he pursued but a short time.
He commenced business on his own account in 1832, but the cholera prevailing to a frightful extent in that year in New York, he was unsuccessful, and was obliged to return once more to the voca- tion of a clerk. In 1836 he again commenced business in a small way as a merchant. He met with fair success, but, imbibing an early taste for political affairs, he devoted much time to those more con- genial pursuits.
In 1838 he was made chairman of the Young Men's General Com- mittee of Tammany Hall ; and in November, 1840, was nominated and elected a member of the Twenty-seventh Congress. This was
2 FEKNANDO WOOD.
the memorable presidential campaign resulting in the defeat of Martin Yan Bnren, and the election of General Harrison. Mr. Wood took his seat in Congress at the called session in May, 1841. He was quite a young man, but nevertheless participated in the debates with much success. To do this in a Congress which comprised statesmen of great ability, was no easy thing. In the Senate were Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Silas Wright, Thomas H. Benton, Levi Woodbury, James Buchanan, and others almost equally distinguished. In the House were Millard Fillmore, John Quincy Adams, Caleb Gushing, Kobert C. Winthrop, Henry A. "Wise, K. M. T. Hunter, and others as prominent. This Congress was not only distinguished for the ability of its members, but also for the great questions which were discussed and passed upon. Henry Clay's Fiscal Bank Scheme, the Tariff, the Distribution of the Proceeds of the Public Lands, and other measures of magnitude and importance, called out the ablest intellect of the times. Mr. Wood spoke on most of these questions, his bearing and mode of handling his subject winning the commenda- tion of even those who differed with him.
His maiden speech was delivered in May, 1842, on Mr. Clay's Fiscal Bank Scheme. He spoke an hour, principally against the practicability of the measure, and explanatory of its effects upon the commercial interests of the country. On this occasion, ex-President Adams, then fast declining to the grave, approached him with totter- ing steps and congratulated him on his speech.
The chief effort of his service in that Congress was devoted to the success of the application to give the aid of the Government in show- ing the practicability of the transmission of intelligence by magnetic telegraph. Until the year 1842 no such proposition had been made ; indeed, the inventor himself had not until then reached that degree of confidence in its feasibility as to venture upon an extensive applica- tion of it for useful purposes. Professor Morse made his application to this Congress for an appropriation sufficient to lay wires along the sleepers of the railroad track between Washington City and Balti- more. He was confident of its success, but not so with members of
FERNANDO WOOD. 3
Congress and the public generally. Mr. Wood took an active part in making converts. At his instance Professor Morse placed a mag- netic battery in the Committee Eoom of Naval Affairs, of which Mr. Wood was a member, and connecting it by wires with another battery in the Committee Room of Naval Affairs in the Senate, showed, by the transmission of communications from one to the other, that the plan was sufficiently feasible to warrant an appropriation, if only as an experiment. It was with much difficulty, however, that the pre- judice against it was overcome.
Morse himself was poor. He became almost discouraged ; but by the youthful energy and enthusiasm of Wood, aided by his colleague, Mr. Charles G. Ferris, then a member from New York, the bill was finally carried through, the money appropriated, and Morse made the superintendent for its construction and management at a salary of $2,500 per year. It was soon ascertained that the jar of the running trains prevented the free transmission of the fluid along the wrires when connected with the tracks. Poles, as now used, were substi- tuted, which have been improved upon since in various respects.
Professor Morse has never ceased to recognize the great obligations which he and the world at large are under to Mr. Wood for his early appreciation and active support of the origin of the magnetic tele- graph.
Mr. Wood retired for a time from public life at the end of the Twenty-seventh Congress, March 4, 1843. Being poor, and with the responsibility and care of a young family, he saw that he could not afford to pursue his taste for politics. He resumed business as a mer- chant, commencing in South Street, New York, as a ship chandler and ship furnisher. He eschewed politics altogether, devoting him- self entirely to his business. His efforts were crowned with success. He soon became the owner of several vessels, engaged in a profitable trade with the British West India Islands.
In 1848 he fitted out the first sailing vessel that left New York for California after the discovery of gold there. In this expedition he met with unexpected success, realizing a little fortune by the result.
4. PEBUANDO WOOD.
The same year he invested a part of these returns in suburban New York property. At that time the city did not extend above Thirtieth Street. Mr. Wood purchased the ground upon which he now resides, lying along Broadway from Seventy-sixth to Seventy-eighth Street, for a few thousand dollars, for which he was offered, in 1868, $400,000. On the 1st of January, 1850, he retired from business, returning to an active participation in the politics of the times. He was the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York in November, 1850, but was defeated by A. C. Kingsland, Esq., the Whig candidate. Not discouraged by this result, he continued in politics, determined, sooner or later, to rule over a city for which he had so much affec- tion, and where he saw much room for municipal improvement.
He was the Democratic candidate again in 1854, and was elected. During his administration of the duties of that office, he reformed nearly all of the great abuses which then existed. He was the chief promoter in establishing the Central Park, and had charge of and carried out the original plan for its ornamentation and arrangement. By his invitation a Board was created for deciding upon the plans, consisting of Washington Irving, George C. Bancroft, William Cullen Bryant, R. C. Winthrop, Edward Everett, and other distinguished men of acknowledged taste and accomplishments. He was the first to place uniforms on the police, and instituted many other improve- ments, which at the time were highly commended, even by political enemies. He was re-elected in 1856 and 1859. During his adinin istration of the duties of that office he evinced much energy, and a far higher appreciation of its powers and responsibilities than its in- cumbents usually do. He made war upon the evil-doers always to be found in a large city, and rendered himself odious to political friends and foes by the positiveness of his actions and the indiscrim- inate course he adopted towards all, irrespective of station or political opinions. The leaders of the party to which he was attached became hostile in consequence ; but in opposition to them he organized the Mozart Hall party, so well known in the politics of the city and State ever since.
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FERNANDO WOOD. 5
He was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, representing the Fifth District of New York. This was during the war. He made several speeches in favor of the appointment of commissioners to pro- cure a cessation of hostilities. He deprecated the continuance of the conflict until every means of procuring an amicable adjustment had been tried and proved futile. He always declared himself against the efforts of the Southern States to break up the Union. But he thought that the South had early seen the error and futility of the Secession movement, and that there would be no difficulty in bringing about an abandonment of the effort and a restoration of peace and good- will.
After the close of the war, the enemies of Mr. Wood aifected to believe that the allegations which had been published against his loy- alty had found a lodgment in the public mind, and that his career in political life was ended.
Not being willing to admit this, he resolved on taking the boldest and most effectual means of testing the matter, by presenting himself as a candidate for Congress on his own record, with no other aid than his personal hold on popular esteem.
Accordingly, in October, 1866, Mr. Wood issued an address to the electors of the Ninth Congressional District, in which he announced himself as an independent candidate for Congress, not the nominee of any party, faction, or convention. " I desire the election," said he, " as a popular rebuke to those who utter the malicious falsehood, that during the war I was a ' rebel sympathizer ' and disunionist ; and also to be placed in an official position where, unrestrained by partisan obligations, I may follow the dictates of my own judgment for the public good."
The result of this bold and independent movement was the election of Mr. Wood to the Fortieth Congress by a majority of nearly two thousand votes.
In the proceedings of the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Wood took a prominent part. He participated in the debate on the Kesolution to impeach the President, on the Freedmen's Bureau, on the release of Americans imprisoned in Ireland, and on the Internal Revenue Bill.
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Q FERNANDO WOOD.
His chief effort, and that in which he felt the most interest, was his proposition to pay the public debts, reduce taxation, and return to specie payments by the development, for Government account, of the mineral resources lying in. the Pacific States and Territories. To this important proposition he had given much thought and investigation. Satisfied of its practicability, he spoke at length in favor of the plan on the 3d of June, 1868, sustaining his position with force and power. He predicted that the supply of the precious metals would soon cease, unless the Government entered the field with large outlay, and using a higher order of scientific talent in revealing and analyzing the ores.
"The mines of California," said he, "have produced $1,100,000,- 000, though worked by feeble efforts, imperfect machinery, and in- sufficient capital. Other territory, even yet more valuable, has been added to the mineral resources of the nation. All the vast space ly- ing between the 34th and 49th degrees north latitude, and the 104th and 124th parallels of longitude, contains an inexhaustible supply. That territory belongs to the Government by conquest and by pur- chase. I am satisfied that a yield from two hundred to three hun- dred millions a year can be readily obtained, after the proper knowl- edge and talent are obtained to prosecute them ; this may be done after the first year, and increased afterwards. Then why should we not avail ourselves of these resources ? Why borrow, and oppress the people by taxation, external and internal, when we have such re- sources at command?"
This important proposition, and the arguments employed to urge its adoption, were received with incredulity. Its author, however, was not discouraged, and predicted the final success of the scheme.
Although Mr. "Wood was elected to the Fortieth Congress un- pledged to any party, he nevertheless generally acted with the Dem- ocrats. Although differing with many of his Democratic friends in some particulars, he acted with them in opposition to the measures which the majority from time to time proposed and passed.
826
JAMES. Gil
AMES GILLESriE
JAMES aiLLESPIE ELAINE.
'AMES GILLESPIE ELAINE was bom m Washington
County, Pennsylvania, in 1830. His ancestors were among the early Scotch-Irish settlers in that State. His great- grandfather, Ephraim Blaine, was honorably distinguished as an offi- cer in the Eevolutionary war. He was originally a Colonel of the Pennsylvania Line ; and for the last four years of the struggle, was Commissary General of the Northern Department. It is related in Appleton's " Cyclopedia " that " during the dark winter at Yalley Forge, the preservation of the American army from starvation was in a great degree owing to the exertions and sacrifices of Colonel Blaine."
The immediate subject of this sketch graduated at "Washington College, Pennsylvania, in 1847. After two or three years spent in teaching, he adopted the editorial profession, and removed to Maine in 1852, where he successively edited the Kennebec Journal and the Portland Advertiser, the two leading Republican papers in the State at that time. In 1858, Mr. Blaine was elected to the State Legisla- ture from the city of Augusta. He served four consecutive years in that body ; the last two, as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1862, Mr. Blaine was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress from the Third Congressional District of Maine, and has been three times re-elected by very large majorities.
During Mr. Blaine's service in Congress, he has been a member of the Post-Office Committee, the Military Committee, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Committee on the Rules. He enjoys the reputation of being an exceedingly industrious committoo man, anc1
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2 JAMES GILLESPIE ELAINE.
he takes at all times a very active and prominent part in the business and in the debates of the House.
During the Thirty-eighth Congress, Mr. Elaine made a speech on the subject of the General Government assuming the "war debts of the loyal States," in the course of which he discussed at some length the ability of the nation to prosecute the war in which we were then so desperately engaged. This feature of Mr. Elaine's speech attracted great attention at the time, and it was made one of the Campaign Documents by the Union Republican party in the Presidential struggle of 1864.
During the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Elaine bore an active and conspicuous part in the legislation on measures of reconstruction. Early in January, 1866, Mr. Elaine introduced a resolution, which was referred to the Reconstruction Committee, and was made the basis of that part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution regulating the matter of Congressional Representation. Before the introduction of Mr. Elaine's resolution, the tendency had been to base representation directly on the voting population ; but this was entirely changed ; and it appears that the first resolution, looking to the modification, was introduced by Mr. Elaine, and supported by a speech which, at the time, attracted much attention.
During the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Elaine's participation in the Reconstruction legislation was promi- nent and influential. The " Elaine Amendment," so well known in the public reports at the time, was moved by Mr. Elaine as a modifi- cation of Mr. Stevens' Military Bill. It was not adopted in pre- cisely the form originally introduced by Mr. Elaine, but the measure since known as the " Howard Amendment," and sometimes as the " Sherman Amendment," as finally moved in the Senate, is substan- tially the same as originally proposed by Mr. Elaine in the House. In the financial discussions of the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Elaine has been specially prominent. At the very opening of the Decem ber session, 1867, Mr. Elaine made an elaborate speech reviewing and opposing the Pendleton theory of the payment of our bonds
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JAMES GILLESPIE ELAINE. 3
in greenbacks. At various times subsequently, he took prominent part in upholding the public credit and the national faith. In Mr. Elaine's first speech he closed with the following declarations, which coincided with singular accuracy with the conclusions since reached and enunciated by the Republican party in its National platform :
" The remedy for our financial troubles, Mr. Chairman, will not be found in a superabundance of depreciated paper currency. It lies in the opposite direction ; and the sooner the nation finds itself on a specie basis, the sooner will the public Treasury be freed from embar- rassment, and private business relieved from discouragement. Instead, therefore, of entering upon a reckless and boundless issue of legal ten- ders, with their consequent depression, if not destruction of value, let us set resolutely to work and make those already in circulation equal to so many gold dollars. When that result shall be accomplished, we can proceed to pay our five-twenties either in coin or paper, for the one would be the equivalent of the other. But to proceed deliber- ately on a scheme of depreciating our legal tenders, and then forcing the holders of Government bonds to accept them in payment, would resemble in point of honor the policy of a merchant who, with abun- dant resources and prosperous business, should devise a plan for throw- ing discredit on his own notes with the view of having them bought up at a discount ruinous to the holders and immensely profitable to his own knavish pocket. This comparison may faintly illustrate the wrongfnlness of the policy, but not its consummate folly ; for in the case of the Government, unlike the merchant, the stern necessity would recur of making good in the end, by the payment of hard coin, all the discount that might be gained by the temporary substitution of paper.
" Discarding all such schemes as at once unworthy and unprofitable, let us direct our policy steadily, but not rashly, toward the resump- tion of specie payment. And when we have attained that end — easily attainable at no distant day if the proper pclicy be pursued— we can all unite on some honorable plan for the redemption of the five-twenty bonds, and the issuing instead thereof a new series of bonds which
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4 JAMES GILLESPIE ELAINE.
can be more favorably placed at a lower rate of interest. When we shall have reached the specie basis, the value of United States securi- ties will be so high in the money markets of the world that .we can command our own terms. "We can then call in our five-twenties ac- cording to the very letter and spirit of the bond, and adjust a new loan that will be eagerly sought for by capitalists, and will be free from those elements of discontent that in some measure surround the existing funded debt of the country."
Mr. Elaine is an indefatigable worker, an accurate statistician, a logical reasoner, and a fluent speaker. He possesses thorough knowl- edge of parliamentary law. His tact in discharging the duties of presiding officer has often been tested by his temporary occupancy of the Speaker's Chair. Whether in the Chair or on the floor of the House, he always maintains his self-possession, dignity, and good humor. A sprightly correspondent of the New York Tribune thus describes his appearance near the close of the Thirty-ninth Congress : " Mr. Elaine, whose amendment excites the opposition of the great Pennsylvanian, is metallic ; you cannot conceive how a shot should pierce him, for there seem no joints to his harness. He is a man who knows what the weather was yesterday morning in Dakota, what the Emperor's policy will be touching Mexico, on what day of the week the 16th of December proximo will fall, who is the chair- man of the school committee in Kennebunk, what is the best way of managing the National Debt, together with all the other interests of to-day, which anybody else would stagger under. How he does it, nobody knows. He is always in his seat. He must absorb details by assimilation at his finger ends. As I said, he is clear metal. His features are made in a mould ; his attitudes are those of a bronze figure; his voice clinks; and, as you know, he has ideas fixed as
brass."
330
HON. CHAS E I-'HETjPS
I-K!'PK^HN7ATr/K FROM MAHYLAKD
OHAELES E. PHELPS.
E of the pioneers in the settlement of the "New Hampshire Grants," was Charles Phelps, who removed thither from Hadley, Mass., in 1764:. He was a descendant in the fourth generation from William Phelps, who came from England to Massa- chusetts in 1630. The former was by profession a lawyer, and held the office of Colonial Judge under appointment of the crown, and after- wards by commission from the Governor of New York, whose claim of jurisdiction over the " Grants " he persistently supported, first against the pretensions of the State of New Hampshire, and afterwards against the independent State Government of Vermont. He and his son, Timothy Phelps, who had likewise a commission from New York as High Sheriff of Cumberland County, carried their opposition to the new State movement so far as to subject them both to proscription and confiscation of property by the Vermont authorities. John Phelps, son of Timothy, was a lawyer of reputation, and served at various times in the Council and State Senate. His son, by a first marriage, John Wolcott Phelps, graduated at West Point, served in the Flor- ida and Mexican wars as an officer of artillery, and was Colonel of the 1st Yermont Yolunteers in the civil war, and afterwards Briga- dier-General of Yolunteers. His son, by a second wife, Mrs. Almira Hart Lincoln, sister of Mrs. Emma Willard, of Troy, N. Y., was Charles E. Phelps, born in Guilford, Vt, May 1, 1833, removed by his parents to Westchester,.Pa., in 183Y, and to Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, in 1841. On the maternal side, Mr. Phelps is descended from Thomas Hooker, known as the " founder of Connecticut Col- ony," and from Samuel Hart, one of the colonial champions of relig-
2 CHARLES E. PHELPS.
Ions liberty in opposition to the intolerant code known as the " Blue Laws." His mother, Mrs. A. H. Lincoln Phelps, is the author of a series of elementary treatises on botany, chemistry, natural philoe- ophy and geology, which have been for many years widely used as school text-books, and is also known through her contributions to lit- erature in other departments, and as a practical and successful edu- cator, first in connection with the Troy Female Seminary, and later as the Principal of the Patapsco Institute in Maryland.
After completing his studies at St. Timothy's Hall, Md., Princeton College, K". J., and at the Law School of Harvard University, Mr. Phelps commenced the practice of law in Baltimore, and in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and was admitted to the bar of the U. S. Supreme Court, in 1859. In politics, he took no active part until the autumn of 1860.
Shortly before the latter date, the disorders which characterized the local rule of the Know-Xothing organization in the city of Balti- more, had compelled citizens of all parties to unite in an effort for municipal reform. A military organization, known as the " Mary- land Guard," of which Mr. Phelps was one of the originators, speed- ily gathered into its ranks several hundred young men, who volun- teered their services to sustain the measures of the State Legislature for the suppression of ruffian control of the ballot-box, by the estab- lishment of a police system analogous to that already introduced in New York, including a subdivision of the wards into election pre- cincts, and other features designed to secure the freedom and purity of elections. Of the regiment thus formed, Mr. Phelps was chosen one of the first captains, and afterwards major.
The nominations of the " Keform Party " were made in disregard of the usual machinery of ward conventions, by a select committee of leading citizens, who assumed the responsibility of appealing to the people at a fair election for the support of their candidates. They were all elected by unprecedented majorities. Mr. Phelps was among those elected to the City Council, where he served as Chairman of the Committee on Police.
832
CHARLES E. PHELPS. 3
The sectional difficulties shortly after culminated in rebellion and civil war, and on the 19th day of April, 1861, a Massachusetts regi- ment was mobbed while passing through the streets of Baltimore on its way to Washington.
In obedience to orders, the Maryland Guard, which still retained its organization, was assembled at its armory, on the" corner of Balti- more and Calvert streets surrounded by an excited multitude. It was at once apparent that a large majority of its members were in sympathy with the prevalent spirit of hostility to the Federal troops. A very few, on the other hand, including Mr. Phelps, still major of the regiment, vainly endeavored to stem the current.
Great anxiety was manifested by all to know what orders would come from the civil authorities ; and when they at length were re- ceived, the orders were applauded by the crowd. Mr. Phelps de- clined to obey, and withdrew, forwarding immediately a formal res- ignation of his commission,' assigning as his reason that he could not conscientiously serve under such orders in view of his construction of the oath which he had taken to support the Constitution of the United States.
In August, 1862, he accepted the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the 7th Regiment of Maryland Volunteers, a new regiment of Infantry raised and commanded by Hon. Edwin H. Webster, then a member of the House of Representatives. In November, 1863, upon the resignation of Colonel Webster consequent upon his re-election to Congress, Colonel Phelps was commissioned and succeeded to the command.
This regiment, with the exception of one company from Baltimore City, was recruited from the border counties of Maryland — Harford, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, and Washington. It was ordered in- to the field on the 12th of September, 1862, and was organized with the 1st, 4th, and 8th Maryland Regiments into a separate brigade, under the command of General John R. Kenly.
The Maryland Brigade was constantly in active service, at first on
the Upper Potomac and in West Virginia, until after the .battle of
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4 CHARLES E. PHELPS.
Gettysburg, when it was assigned to the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under Major-General Meade. On the re- organization of that army by Lieutenant-General Grant, the Mary- land Brigade was assigned to General Eobinsou's (2d) Division of Gen- eral Warren's (5th) Corps, under the command of Colonel K T. Dii- shane, of the 1st Maryland Volunteers, afterwards killed in action; On the second day of the " Wilderness " it was temporarily rein- forced by the 14th New York (Brooklyn) Kegiment. In this action, Colonel Phelps had a horse killed under him while rallying his regiment during a temporary confusion. At Spottsylvania Court House, on the 8th of May, 1864, he succeeded to the command of the brigade after the fall of Colonel Denison, severely wounded.
The fall of General Kobinson, also severely wounded, placed him in command of the division, or its remnant, while in the act of charg- ing a line of breastworks held by a division of Longstreet's corps. The assault was repulsed with heavy loss, and Colonel Phelps, while leading the column, had his horse shot, was wounded, and taken prisoner at the foot of the breastworks. Subsequently, on the recom- mendation of Major-General Warren, approved by General Grant, Colonel Phelps was commissioned Brevet-Brigadier-General for "gallant conduct" in this action.
He twice endeavored to effect his escape, and at last succeeded in eluding his guard while being taken to the van, and lay concealed within the enemy's lines, under shell and musketry from the Union side, in expectation of an advance and re-capture. While in this situation, exhausted from the loss of blood, he was discovered and robbed by Rebel stragglers, who threatened his life, and might have taken it, but for the timely arrival of a Confederate Provost Guard. He was taken to their field-hospital and treated with attention, es- pecially by some who had been his comrades in the Maryland Guard.
The day after being captured, while on the road to Richmond un- der a guard of the enemy's cavalry, with over three hundred Union prisoners, the convoy was overtaken by the advance of Sheridan's
334
CHARLES E. PHELPS. 5
cavalry, and a "brief skirmish resulted in the rescue of the prisoners, and the capture or dispersion of their guard. Those prisoners who were not disabled, armed themselves from an ordnance train cap- tured at the same time, while those who were wounded suffered ex- cessively during the ten days which followed of rapid marching and frequent fighting. It was during this raid that the celebrated Eebel cavalry general, J. E. B. Stuart, was killed at the battle of Yellow Tavern. Here, as well as at the battles of Meadow Bridge, the De- fenses of Kichmond, etc., General Sheridan fought and maneuvered his cavalry with an intrepidity and skill which finally secured the success of his expedition in communicating at Haxall's Landing with the Army of the James.
Colonel Phelps was in Baltimore, an invalid, when that city was in iminent danger of capture after the defeat of General Wallace at Monocacy, in July, 1864. He volunteered his services to Major-Gen- eral Ord, to assist in the defense of the city, and was assigned to his staff as additional Aid-de-camp until the invaders were repelled.
The Third Congressional District of Maryland^ consisting of the thirteen upper Wards of Baltimore city, was represented in the Thirty-eighth Congress by Honorable Henry Winter Davis. His Re- construction Bill, reversing the policy announced by President Lin- coln in his Amnesty Proclamation of December 8, 1863, passed Con- gress in July, 1864, but was prevented by the President from becom- ing a law. Mr. Davis, in connection with Senator Wade, issued a protest, denouncing President Lincoln and his policy. The Con- gressional District Convention of the Union party met shortly after in Baltimore, and at once nominated Colonel Phelps by acclamation as Mr. Davis' successor. He had been honorably discharged the ser- vice on account of disability from his wound, and accepted the nom- ination in a speech defining his position as " radical in war and con- servative in peace."
In the Thirty-ninth Congress, he served on the Committees on Na- val Affairs and on the Militia. He opposed, by speech and vote, the
Kadical measures and policy of reconstruction, and advocated the iin-
335
6 CHARLES E. PHELPS.
mediate restoration of the Southern States without farther condition than the abolition of slavery secured by Constitutional Amendment. He voted, however, under the shape which it finally assumed, for the additional Amendment known as Article XIY.
In 1866, the Democratic party made no nominations in the Third District, but supported those of the Conservatives, by whom Mr. Phelps was nominated to the Fortieth Congress, and elected after a struggle of unprecedented fierceness. The circumstances that at- tended this election, including the trial and removal of the Police Commissioners by Governor Swann ; the arrest and imprisonment of their successors by order of Judge Bond ; the preparations for riot and bloodshed, and the threats of armed intervention by political organizations outside the State, pervaded the entire country with excitement and alarm. Mr. Phelps' election, though secured by a large majority, was formally contested by his Radical opponent, who, after causing a large mass of testimony to be taken, abandoned the contest with an apology. Mr. Phelps declined a re-nomination to the Forty ^first Congress.
In the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Phelps was placed on the Committees on Appropriations, and on Expenditures in the War Departim nt. His course on Reconstruction, Impeachment, and other political questions, identified him with the Democratic minority.
In September, 1864, Mr. Phelps served upon a commission ap- pointed by Gov. Bradford to revise and codify the State Militia laws. He was an invited guest of the New England Society at their Anniversary Banquet in New York in December, 1864, and responded to the sentiment, " Free Maryland."
He attended the Union " Soldiers' and Sailors' " Conservative Con- vention at Cleveland, Ohio, in September, 1866, as a delegate for Maryland. In February, 1867, he declined an executive appoint- ment as a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland. He is a Trustee of the Antietam National Cemetery, a member of the Mary- land Historical Society, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
336
HON BF.NJ/
^KFRKJriSTArr.T. KHCU PXXNSVi^ffiNIA
ENJAMIN M
•
BENJAMIN" M. BOTEE.
M. BOYER was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, January 22, 1823. He was for some time a student of Lafayette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania ; but afterwards graduated at the University of Pennsylvania. He read law at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, under the instruction of the late Judge Eeed, and was admitted to the bar at that place. He began the practice of law, however, in his native county, for which he was Dis- trict-Attorney from 1848 to 1850. Here he successfully pursued his profession, having several times declined judicial stations.
In politics, Mr. Boyer was a Whig until the dissolution of the Whig party, when he associated himself with the Democracy. In 1856, he voted for James Buchanan for President, against John C. Fremont, the Eepublican candidate, and since that date has always acted with the Democratic party.
In 1860, Mr. Boyer was an active supporter of Judge Douglas for the Presidency, and aided in establishing a campaign newspaper called the National Democrat, which was the organ of the Douglas Democ- racy of his county during the Presidential canvass of that year, and of which he was, until after the election, the principal editor.
Mr. Boyer, previously to the breaking out of the Southern rebel- lion, advocated conciliatory measures. But after the war had actually begun, he was an active and earnest advocate of the suppression ol the rebellion by force of arms. In addresses to the people, of all parties, at various public meetings, as well as in communications through the press, he urged the energetic support of the Government, and the prompt enlistment of men.
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2 BENJAMIN M. BOYER.
Twice during the war, when Pennsylvania was invaded by the rebels, he raised a company of volunteers for the emergency, and, as their captain, served with them in the field, by which service he con- tracted an illness which nearly terminated his life.
In 1864, Mr. Boyer was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. He has maintained with zeal and ability the usual Democratic view of the prominent questions which have come before that body.
In the Fortieth Congress, March 13, 1867, a joint resolution being under discussion in the House " for the relief of the destitute in the Southern and Southwestern States," Mr. Boyer said, " I trust that this joint resolution will be adopted ; that it will be passed promptly, and with unanimity. I am not deterred from supporting it by the reasons given by the gentleman from Indiana, based upon the fact that those who are to be recipients of this bounty are the families of rebels, nor by the arguments of the two gentlemen from New YoRk, that this fund is to be distributed through the Freedmen's Bureau. * * The time I trust will come at some future day when the people of this country, of all sections, shall again dwell together in peace and harmony. The time I hope will come, if not in this gene- ration, at least in the next, when the foundations of bur Government will again rest, as of old, in the affections and confidence of the whole people. That is the wisest legislation which hastens the consummation of this end so devoutly to be wished. That is the noblest as well as the wisest legislation which exhibits this great Government as a beneficent agent, clothed with mercy and magna- nimity as well as with resistless power, able to enforce the authority of its laws against all opposers, but willing also to forgive, to pro- tect, and to save."
In the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress Mr. Boyer was a member of the committee on the New Orleans riots, and made the minority report on that subject. In the Fortieth Congress he was more prominent as a defender of the President than any other member of the minority. His speeches in defense of the President were extensively
BENJAMIN M. BOYER. 3
circulated by his party. The first was delivered December 17, 1867, and was published under the title of " The President and Congress — The Impeachers Impeached." " What public man," he asked on •this occasion, "exercising the office of President of the United States at so critical a period, could have undergone a scrutiny like that to which Andrew Johnson has been subjected, and emerged from the or- deal more scatheless than he ? During more than eight months a se- cret inquisition assiduously labored to convict him of something, no matter what, so it would injure him in the estimation of mankind. His persecutors- were able men, armed with the power of the 'nation, and suspected by no man of any disposition to spare the accused. The secret history of his public acts was explored, his most private relations invaded, his personal correspondence ransacked, the revela- tion of his most confidential conversations in his most unguarded mo- ments required of his friends, his domestic life investigated, his pecu- niary transactions overhauled, and even his private bank accounts ex- amined. To get evidence against him the felon's cell was visited by honorable members of Congress, and testimony solicited at the hands of convicted perjurers. Spies and detectives were employed, traps set, money expended — but all in vain. Andrew Johnson, as man and President, stands higher this day in the estimation of his countrymen than when this investigation began. I would rather take his chance for honorable and enduring fame hereafter than that of the proudest and loftiest among all his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers.
" He was not the President of my choice. I did not vote for him. But I recognize in him a fearless defender of the Constitution, and as such I honor and defend him. As such, too, he will be remem- bered and honored by his countrymen when the political strife of these days shall be over, and when his administration of public affairs shall have passed into history."
Mr. Boyer made a speech in defense of the President at the ban- quet of the 8th of January, at the Metropolitan Hotel in Washington, in response to one of the regular toasts — "The President of the United States." On the 22d of February, Mr. Boyer made a legal
£ BENJAMIN M. BOYER.
argument defending the President against the charges preferred in the Articles of Impeachment. Two of his later speeches in the House of Eepresentatives were extensively circulated by his party as campaign documents, viz., that on " The Admission of Alabama," delivered March 17, 1868, and that of June 30, 1868, on " The Pub- lic Expenditures." From the first we make the following extracts :
" It is only by gradual descent through many downward steps that so low a depth of legislative depravity could possibly be reached. That the government of a negro minority should; without the consent and against the protest of the people, be inflicted by an American Congress upon a State in the American Union, is a spectacle too mon- strous to be endured. * * Is this the Union which this Repub- lican Congress promised to restore when they summoned the nation to arms for the suppression of the rebellion ? Did Congress not then proclaim, and was it not the rallying cry of the Northern hosts, and the hope of all patriots, that the Union should be restored with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired ? If such conditions of inferiority as are prescribed by the pending bill can be imposed by Congress upon a State in one particular, where is the limit to the absolute power of Congress to impose every other ? But why should we be surprised ? Is not one-third of the nation in chains, and has not this same Congress abolished the government of the people in ten States? * * * *
" For this nation there is but one way of salvation open. Abstract principles of law, justice, and morality are of little avail ; and against the inexorable tyranny of party discipline it has been our sad experi- ence to see the judgments and consciences of the more moderate men of the dominant party oppose but a feeble resistance. It is the peo- ple only who can arrest the usurpations which threaten to overwhelm and subvert the institutions of our country. And when we of the minority, who are so powerless in this Hall, are permitted to speak, we have no other resort than to appeal as best we can to that mighty audience outside the walls of this Capitol, who can, if they will, still save the Republic."
340
ON THOMAS C XKPKE::;F,NTATIVE FP.OU j
TU< ;
and private r it appears that the of COESKLL have de-
THOMAS OOENELL.
[ROM a careful investigation of public and private records, recently made by Hon. Ezra Cornell, it appears that the numerous families that bear the name of CORNELL have de- scended from different parental stocks which emigrated from Europe in the early part of the seventeenth century.
The subject of this sketch is descended from that particular family to which, in July, 1646, Mr. Wm. Kieft, then " Director General and Council for the Prince of Orange," delivered a grant of land in West- chester County, at a point on the East River afterwards known as " Cornell's Neck."
Thomas Cornell was born at White Plains, "Westchester County, New York, January 23, 1814. Having enjoyed the limited advantage of a common school-education, he was first employed as a clerk in the city of New York. In 1843 he removed to Ulster County, where, with a very small capital, he began on his own account the forward- ing business between Eddyville and New York. Six years later he engaged in the new and growing traffic which followed the comple- tion of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, a traffic which under his skillful management made rapid progress, till at length it has attained the mammoth proportions which we witness to-day.
"With the sudden increase in the products of labor which naturally sought a market in the metropolis, there arose the necessity of increas- ed facilities for the transportation .of freight and passengers on the waters of the Hudson, .and to this latter work, in 1848, Mr. Cornell began to devote his energies. In this enterprise his untiring indus- try and careful business management have for twenty years been at-
841
2 THOMAS CORNELL.
tended with uniform and signal success, so that he is to-day the sole proprietor of twenty-three steamboats, some of them first-class in size, cost, and speed, and constituting one of the largest and most valuable steam fleets in the country.
It is but natural that the capacity, energy, and industry which at- tained such results, should have opened up to them still other depart- ments of successful enterprise. Hence we find Mr. Cornell becoming in turn the founder and president of the First National Bank of Rondout, of the Rondout Savings Bank, the originator and presi- dent of the Rondout and Oswego Railroad, now in process of con- struction, and also of the Horse Railroad which connects Rondout with Kingston, all of which positions he still holds. He seems gifted with that rare and peculiar adaptation to business which almost in- stantly and instinctively discovers the elements of success or failure in every business transaction, with that self-reliance and energy which prompt him to go forward directly and confidently to the object be- fore him, and with that keen, penetrating, and comprehensive knowl- edge of human nature which is so essential in the choice of men to carry out his plans.
As a citizen he is noted for his continued efforts to secure the gen- eral good of the community in which he resides. He is always ready to aid in any measures which tend to augment its wealth or add to its attractiveness. His gifts for the building of houses of worship and the support of the Gospel among the various denominations, are frequent and liberal.
' Though never a politician, either by choice or inclination, Mr. Cor- nell has always been known for his zealous and faithful' adherence to the principles of the Republican party. Upon the leading questions of political economy, he has thought deeply, and clearly compre- hends the fundamental principles upon which 'our Republic rests, as well as the elements which are best fitted to secure the stability and permanence of its institutions ; while his appreciation of the bless- ings which flow from a well-ordered government is ardent and strong. A man of the people, he is in the closest sympathy with them, irre-
842
THOMAS CORNELL. 3
spective of nationality, creed, or complexion. His friends, therefore, have long regarded him as endowed in a peculiar manner with the more solid and sterling qualities of the efficient legislator, but not till recently have they been able to prevail upon him to accept any public trust at their hands. His consent, when finally obtained, was given with the utmost reluctance and at great personal sacrifice. In his district, which has been uniformly and largely Democratic, he was elected to the Fortieth Congress by a handsome majority. His public service has more than met the expectation of his friends. He has discharged the duties of member of the Committee on Educa- tion and also of that on Roads and Canals ; his faithful and efficient guardianship of the interests of his constituents securing for him the increased confidence and esteem of both parties.
The source of Mr. Cornell's great popularity is to be found, not, as is too often the case, in the shrewd and skillful maneuvers of the mere politician, but rather in the general public conviction of the pu- rity of his moral and Christian character, his superior business quali- fications, his great tact in the selection of right men and measures, his stern devotion to the principles of truth and justice, and possibly more than all, in his unbounded liberality. This last is of all others his predominant characteristic. Upon needy and meritorious public institutions his gifts have been bestowed, tens of thousands of dol- lars at a time, and in such rapid succession as to astonish even his most intimate friends. These free-will offerings, in many instances unsolicited, so far from being restricted to his own individual rela~ tionships or preferences, have been extended to the widest range of Christian and philanthropic benevolence. In giving, however, as in everything else, he is never reckless or indiscriminate, but shrewd and well advised, always taking into account the worthiness of the object, and the amount of good which is likely to be attained. His princely liberality was particularly manifest during the recent Ee- . bellion, as well in raising and sending men to the field, as in pro- viding for the maintenance of their families during, their absence. Many a soldier's taxes were paid while he was serving his country,
4 THOMAS CORNELL.
and many a soldier's widow and children were relieved by his ready hands.
Mr. Cornell's method of thinking is peculiar to himself. He gen- eralizes with great rapidity, often deciding upon the merits of the most intricate proposition the instant it is fairly stated, but never without taking into account its minutest details. Hence the prompt- ness and punctuality with which he dispatches business, and the num- ber and magnitude of his business transactions. He is emphatically a man of deeds, not words ; yet when the occasion requires, he speaks with much eifectiveness, is self-possessed, and has a ready command of language. There is, moreover, a subdued earnestness in his man- ner, and a pathos in the tones of his voice, which never fail to at- tract attention and produce a favorable impression. In manners he is quiet, modest, and even retiring, never obtruding his opinion where it is not desired, but easy, graceful, and attractive in conver- sation. In his external demeanor there is not, to the ordinary ob- server, the slightest indication of his high position or great success; and yet in many respects, Thomas Cornell is one of the most re- markable men in the Fortieth Congress.
344
HON. GEOR&E W. JULIAN,
•REPRESENTATIVE FROM ;wnAN/
HE •
name
a part of some
ne a mem
•
GEORGE W. JULIAN.
HE Julian family is of French origin. The first of the name came to America sometime in the last century, and settled on the -eastern shore of Maryland. Their descend ants, however, soon scattered in various directions. One of the family is mentioned in Irving's " Life of Washington," as living near Winchester, Virginia, soon after Braddock's defeat. The next notice we have of the family, is in North Carolina, where Isaac Julian, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared among the .Quakers, who gave that State a character for loyalty and anti-slavery sentiment, found nowhere else in the South. Early in the present' century, he removed to Indiana, where he was one of the earliest of the pioneer settlers. He was a man of sound judgment and practical ability. He took a part of some prominence in the affairs of the young £Ttate, and was at one time a member of the State Legislature.
^His son, George W. Julian, was born near Centreville, Indiana, Ma^ 5, 1817, in a log house, which is still standing in a good state of pres- ervation. When George was six years old, his father died, leaving to the excellent mother and six children an inheritance of poverty and hardship.
George was a boy of very industrious habits, exhibiting at an early age those sterling qualities of character which have since distinguished him. He was particularly remarkable for his close application to study, and his unconquerable resolution. When not engaged in labor necessary for the support of himself and other members of the fam- ily, he was constantly poring over books, which he had managed to
borrow from kind neighbors. His principal opportunities of study
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2 GEORGE W. JULIAN.
were by fire-light, and after the other members of the family had re« tired to rest. Thus he soon prepared himself for teaching ; and long before he came of age, he was engaged during the winter months at the head of a district school.
In the twenty-second year of his age, and while engaged in teach- ing in Illinois, he commenced, without a preceptor, the study of law ; and so diligent and successful was he in his law studies, that, in the following year (1840), he was admitted to the bar. He began the •practice of his profession in Greenfield, Indiana; and after two years he returned to Centreville, where, with little interruption, he contin- ued the practice of law for more than twenty years.
In 1845, Mr. Julian was elected to the State legislature, to repre- sent the county of Wayne. He took a prominent part in advo- cating the abolition of capital punishment, and in support of what- was then known as the " Butler Bill," by the passage of which one- half of the State debt was cancelled, and the State probably saved from repudiation.
Mr. Julian, though a strong Whig, yet possessed that fearless and independent spirit which could rise above party ties whenever its principles were likely to be perverted by designing leaders. No party could ever be made strong enough to hold him in its ranks for a moment after he believed it had once deserted the great principles of justice and humanity. It was doubtless this stern conviction of right that ultimately separated him from the Whig party. From his earliest connection with the politics of the country, he abhorred slavery, and regarded with contempt those who would cringe to its power. For years he seems to have foreseen the terrible crisis through which the country has recently passed, and warned the peo- ple to resist the encroachments of the slave power, as the only means of averting a great national calamity.
• Actuated by such sentiments, Mr. Julian, in 1848, aided in the nomination of Yan Buren and Adams, the Free-Soil candidates for President and Vice-President. He returned from the Buifalo Con- vention overflowing with enthusiasm in the cause of freedom. He was
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GEORGE W. JULIAN. 3
appointed elector for his District for Yan Buren and Adams, and en- gaged with, heart and strength in the unequal contest. In this' new and great career on which he had entered, he endured the disruption of social ties, and received the hisses and execrations, the abuse and calumnies of many of his former political associates, but courageously confronted his ablest opponents, and lashed the adversaries of free- dom until they cowered before him, and confessed the strength of his cause. All parties were astonished at his power and success, which was so great that in 1849 he was elected to Congress over the late Hon. Samuel W. Parker, a prominent Whig politician, and one of the best speakers of the West.
Though' elected principally by Democratic votes, Mr. Julian faith- fully sustained, against all temptations, and during his entire term in Congress, the principles upon which he was elected. His speeches on the slavery question, and his uncompromising course 'in opposition to that system, tended still further to widen the breach between him and his former associates. He was one of the fathers of the Home- stead Law. Grace Greenwood thus wrote of his speech on the sub- ject of the public lands, delivered during his first term in Congress :
" This was a strong, fearless, and eloquent expression of a liberty- loving and philanthropic spirit. It is lying before me now, and I have just been reading some of its finest passages ; and, brief and unstudied as it is, it does not seem to me a speech for one day, or for one Congressional session. It seems moved with the strength of a great purpose, veined with a vital truth, a moral life-blood beating through it warm and generous. It is something that must live and work yet many days."
In 1851, Mr. Julian was again a candidate for Congress in opposi- tion to Mr. Parker, but was this time defeated. In 1852, he was, by the Free-Soil Convention at Pittsburg, placed upon the ticket with Hon. John P. Hale, as candidate for Yice-President. This served to increase his reputation among the more liberal thinkers of the coun- try, and made his name less than ever the property of his own State.
1854 was the year of Know-lSTothingism — a new and strange order, 347
4 GEORGE W. JULIAN.
which failed not to find in Mr. Julian a most formidable and uncompro- mising opponent. He continued to wage an incessant warfare against it, until it ceased to exist as an organization. His anti-Know-Noth- ing speech, delivered at Indianapolis in 1855, is esteemed by many as the ablest argument which this remarkable movement called forth.
In February, 1856, occurred at Pittsburg the great National Con- vention of all who were opposed to the Democratic party. It was at this convention that measures were taken for the organization of the National Eepublican party. Of this important convention, Mr. Ju- lian was one of the Yice-Presidents, and Chairman of the Committee on Organization, through whose report of a plan of action the party first took life.
In 1860, Mr. Julian received the Republican nomination for Con- gress in the Fifth District of Indiana, and in spite of much and va- ried opposition, was elected by an overwhelming majority. He has since been four times re-elected, in the last instance largely by a new constituency, the State having recently been re-districted for Congressional purposes.
At the organization of the Thirty-seventh Congress, Mr. Julian was placed upon the Committee on Public Lands, and also on the important Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. On the election of Mr. Colfax as Speaker of the Thirty-eighth Congress, ho appointed Mr. Julian Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. He was continued on the Committee on the Conduct of the War so long as this committee continued to exist. .
Mr. Julian has been an exceedingly active and efficient member of the National Legislature. Among the important measures introduced by him during his ten years' service in Congress, may be men- tioned the bill repealing the Fugitive Slave law of 1850 and 1793 ; a bill abolishing the coast- wise slave trade ; a bill providing homesteads for soldiers and seamen on the forfeited lands of rebels ; a bill provid- ing for the sale of the mineral lands of the Government ; a bill fixing eight hours as a day's work for all Government employees (laborers and mechanics) ; a bill extending the homestead law over the public
GEORGE W. JULIAN. 5
lands of the Southern States, in restricted allotments to white and col- ored, with a prohibition of further sales in that region ; a bill equaliz- ing bounties among our soldiers and sailors on the basis of eight and one-third dollars per month in lieu of bounties in land ; a bill prevent- ing the further issue of Agricultural College scrip to the rebellious States ; a bill establishing the right of suffrage in the District of Col- umbia, without regard to race or color ; a bill establishing the same principle in all the Territories of the United States, being the first introduced in either House on the subject ; the bill declaring forfeited the lands granted to Southern railroads in 1856 ; a bill making the public domain free to honorably discharged soldiers and seamen ; and a bill withdrawing the public lands from further sale except under, the pre-emption and homestead laws.
W. H. Goddard, Esq., in a brief sketch of the life and services of Mr. Julian, published two years ago, thus enumerates his most im- portant speeches :
" The speeches of Mr. Julian during the war, both in Congress and before the people, have been among the very ablest of the crisis. That delivered in the House on the 14th day of January, 1862, 'on the ' Cause and Cure of our ISTational Troubles,' is one of which his friends may well be proud, and to day reads like a prophecy fulfilled. His speech on ' Confiscation and Liberation,' delivered in May fol- lowing, is similar in character. That delivered in February, 1863, on the ' Mistakes of the Past ; the duty of the Present,' is a merciless review of ' Democratic Policy,' as seen in, the facts and figures which had been supplied by the investigations of the Committee on the Conduct of the War. In the winter of 1863-4: he delivered a very thorough and forcible speech on his bill providing homesteads for sol- diers on the lands of rebels, which was followed by another on the same subject, involving a controversy with Mr. Mallory, of Kentucky, who met with a most humiliating discomfiture. During the session of 1864-5, Mr. Julian delivered an able speech on the sale of mineral lands, and another on ' Radicalism and Conservatism,' closing with
a handsome and eloquent tribute to the anti-slavery pioneers. His
349
Q GEORGE W. JULIAN.
speech on 'Reconstruction and Suffrage,' delivered last fall before the Legislature of Indiana, is reckoned among the most thorough and effective he has yet made ; whilst his speeches at the present session of the Thirty-ninth Congress on ' Suffrage in the District of Columbia,' and on c Amending the Constitution,' add still further to his reputation as a thinker, and a perfectly independent man who knows how to say what he thinks. All his speeches breathe the spirit of freedom, and have the merit of careful thought, methodical arrangement, and a re- markably clear and forcible diction."
In addition to the speeches enumerated above, should be named those he has since delivered on "Radicalism, 'the Nation's Hope," " The Punishment of Rebel Leaders," " Regeneration before Recon- struction," " Forfeiture of the Southern Land Grants," " The True Policy of Land Bounties," and finally his speech of March 6, 1868, on " Our Land Policy, its Evils and their Remedy." The latter, made in support of his great measure now pending, forbidding the further sale of our public lands except to actual settlers, is perhaps the ablest and most thoroughly practical of all his speeches.
In 1860, Mr. Julian lost his excellent wife, and was soon after still further bereaved by the death of two promising sons. In December, 1863, he was married to Miss Laura Giddings, the talented and ac- complished daughter of the late Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio.
Mr. Julian is tall in stature, possessing much physical as well as intellectual vigor. His expansive brow indicates clearness and strength of thought? His face bespeaks a man of firmness, con- scientiousness, and benevolence. While deficient in many of the arts by which the politician wins popularity, he possesses the superior ability by which the statesman earns enduring fame.
350
RON. WILLIAM D KELLER REPRESENTATIVE FROM PENHSrLVANLA
•
WILLIAM D. KELLEY.
HE subject of this sketch, William Darrah Kelley, was born in Philadelphia, April 12, 1814. His grandfather, Major John Kelley, was an officer of the Revolutionary war. His father followed the business of .watchmaker and jeweler in Philadelphia. During the financial troubles accompanying the close of the war of 1812, Mr. Kelley fell into pecuniary difficulties ; his 'business was ruined, and he was stripped of all his possessions. He soon afterwards died, leaving his family in very straitened circum- stances, when William, who was the youngest, was but two years old. His mother, thus left with a dependent family of three daughters and a son, succeeded in maintaining herself and her children respect- ably. William was sent to a neighboring school until eleven years of age, when he left it finally with only the rudiments of an ordinary English education, while any further progressive study must depend upon his own exertions. He served for some time as an errand boy in a book store, and afterwards entered the office of the Pennsylvania Enquirer as a proof-reader, and remained there until his fourteenth year. He then apprenticed himself to a jeweler until twenty years of age — leaving his mother's roof and taking up his residence with his employer, where he continued during the term of his apprentice- . ship.
Young Kelley keenly realized the deficiencies of his early educa- tion, and applied himself diligently to remedy it by reading. Books, however, being difficult of access, he united with a number of his companions to found the " Youth's Library," afterwards called the
" Pennsylvania Literary Institute." A library of about two thousand
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2 WILLIAM D. KELLEY.
volumes was soon accumulated, and the association sustained for several years an annual course of lectures. The original members and officers were nearly all apprentice boys, and the influence thus exerted upon them was of a highly salutary character. The society continued to exist until its early members had become scattered, or too deeply involved in active business to give it their attention as formerly.
Young Kelley's indenture expired in the spring of 1834 — the period of pecuniary embarrassment which followed the struggle between the United States Bank and the Government. In Philadelphia, the seat of the operation of the bank, the consequent excitement and panic were intense, and with the many painful scenes that transpired around him, Mr. Kelley became familiar. Nurtured from childhood in the Democratic faith, and loving its course with all the intensity of an ardent and impulsive nature, he could not but be excited to a strong protest and resistance. He labored earnestly to strengthen the spirits of his Democratic associates against what he considered the tyranny of those who favored the interests of the bank, and it is thought that much of his intense energy of purpose and power of vehement decla- mation were developed by these exciting times.
Thus, when William Kelley attained his freedom, it was a season of extreme depression, which all the forms of fancy business like that which he had spent his youth in learning, were the first to feel and the last from which to recover. Xor had his course been such as to secure the favor of such employers as were of opposite politics. Hence, failing to obtain employment at his trade in Philadelphia, he pro- ceeded to Boston, where, for four years, he pursued his calling with unremitted industry. His peculiar branch of the trade was enamel- ing, in which he seems to have excelled, and which he is said to have pursued with the enthusiasm of an artist as well as the skill of a cun- ning workman.
During his residence in Boston, Mr. Kelley was not careless of mental improvement, although he pursued his business with steady industry. He read perseveringly, and gathered around him such a
^352
WILLIAM D. KELLEY 3
choice collection of standard literature as is seldom seen in the humble apartment of a mechanic. His reading was well selected, while an unusually retentive memory enabled him to profit by it in a greater degree than most others. Kor did his political fervor abate. His enthusiastic attachment to the great distinctive principles of Demo- cracy never grew cold for a moment. Much of his leisure time was devoted to political and historical reading and the details of party organization. It was now that his peculiar talent as a public speaker was first recognized. His style may have been crude and juvenile, but was fresh, vigorous, and impetuous ; and he soon became a favor- ite with the masses of the party. In the Democratic papers of that day his name occurs frequently in association with those of Bancroft, Brownson, and A. H. Everett. He also commenced the cultivation of a written style, with enviable success; and, even while in the workshop, his name appears in more than one programme of lectures with those of Channing and Emerson.
The following testimonial of Mr. Kelley, while in Boston,, from the pen of the assistant editor of Burritfs Christian Citizen, will be in place here :
" It was our good fortune, when an apprentice-boy in Boston, to enjoy the intimate companionship of this now eminent jurist and philanthropist, who was then a journeyman mechanic, devoting his days to hard manual toil, and his nights to the acquisition of knowl- edge. We were made a wiser and a better boy through the influence of his instruction and example ; and scores of young men, who were then our companions, but who are now scattered all over the country, from Maine to Oregon, can say the same. And we rejoice, as no doubt they do, that our early friend now occupies a position which enables him to impress the influence of his noble nature upon a whole community, and carry forward his plans for the benefit of his fellow- men, with the co-operation of the wise and good, in the common- wealth which shows its appreciation of his worth by elevating him to one of its most important and responsible trusts."
Being persuaded by his numerous friends, as well as by his own 35C
4 WILLIAM D. KELLEY.
inclination, Mr. Kelley finally resolved to abandon his calling for the study of the law, and with that view returned to Philadelphia. Here he pursued his studies with characteristic industry and perseverance, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1841. Entering upon the practice of his profession, he at once acquired a considerable busi- ness. Meanwhile, his political labors, and his connection with nu- merous literary and philanthropic associations, gave him a very ex- tensive acquaintance. Very few men, 'certainly, were acquainted with so many of his fellow-citizens, while all knew him in some con- nection creditable to himself and calculated to inspire confidence in his manliness, integrity, and intelligence.
Even before his admission to the bar, Mr. Kelley took a warm and active part in the politics of his native State. Popular as a speaker, his influence grew stronger every day. Possessing unusual gifts as a popular 'orator, the warmth and -energy of his speeches roused and attracted his auditors, so that his appearance on the stand was always loudly called for and enthusiastically cheered. He enjoyed, in fact, at this period, a popularity and influence seldom attained by one of his age ; and when one of the newspapers of the day, in referring to his efforts to allay the public excitement consequent upon the suspen- sion of specie payments in 1842, spoke of him as the "tribune of -the people," certainly no other man in Philadelphia deserved the compH- ment as well.
Mr. Kelley rendered efficient aid in the canvass which resulted in the election of Mr. Polk to the presidency ; also in the gubernatorial contest jrhich preceded in Pennsylvania. During this campaign he traversed the State in company with Mr. Shunk, the Democratic can- didate for Governor, addressing meetings in various places. Where- ever he was heard, his practical good sense, his genuine republican- ism, and his enthusiasm in the cause for which he was battling, were thought to have excited a decided influence upon the ensuing elec tion, which made Mr. Shunk Governor of the State.
In 1845, Mr. Kelley was deputed, in conjunction with an associate, to conduct the prosecutions in the courts of the city and county of
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WILLIAM D. KELLEY. 5
Philadelphia. To a young lawyer, hardly initiated into practice, this was a commission of special honor as well as responsibility; nor was the latter diminished by the important State trials arising from the riots of 1845. On the part of Mr.' Kelley, as well as his colleague, these prosecutions were conducted with skill, fearlessness, and energy, while it is thought to be not too much to say that the firm and cap- able administration of justice to which Mr. Kelley's exertions so much contributed, averted a threatened civil war.
Among the last acts of Governor Shunk's administration was the appointment of Mr. Kelley to a seat on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia. In the important trust thus im- posed upon him, he united to the industry and capacity that always characterized him a sound appreciation of the moral wants of the community, and an untiring energy and boldness in the exercise of his judicial functions. His decisions were said to be stamped not only by clearness of perception and vigor of reasoning, but by a general and profound, acquaintance with the literature of his pro- fession, for which even his friends had scarcely given him credit.
Judge Kelley's elevation to the bench, while it removed him, of course, from participation in party politics, did not, however,- deprive him of his interest in public movements of a general character. In whatever concerned the elevation of the laboring community and the development of the rich resources of his native State, his interest re- mained deep and abiding. His eloquent and successful appeals in behalf of the Central Pennsylvania Railroad, and his exertions for the establishment of public night-schools in Philadelphia, for those whose daily employment would have otherwise cut them off from all means of instruction — these and other nobler efforts during his judgeship are not forgotten.
As a writer, Judge Kelley has evinced no mean abilities, %nd is capable of wielding the eloquence of the pen as well as that of the lips. His style is clear, terse, and compressed, and his thoughts eminently rational and practical.
For our sketch of Judge Kelley, as thus far presented, we are in- 355
Q WILLIAM D. KELLEY.
debted substantially to an article in the " United States Magazine and Democratic Review " for June, 1851, from the pen of Dr. Henry S. Patterson. Not far from the time when this article appeared, Judge Kelley united in a decision in a contested election case by which a Democrat, who had secured a fraudulent return of votes, was ousted from a district-attorneyship, and the Whig candidate was placed in the office to which he had been elected. The judiciary of Pennsyl- vania having become elective, and the Democratic Nominating Con- vention refusing his name for re-nomination, the people took him up spontaneously, and re-elected him to the bench by a majority of about 10,000. He continued, however, to vote the Democratic ticket until that party repealed the Missouri Compromise.
In 1856 Judge Kelley resigned his judgeship and accepted a Re- publican nomination for Congress. He made a vigorous and able canvass, but failed of an election. He then resumed the practice of his profession, and with distinguished success. In 1860 he was a member of the Chicago Convention, and was the Pennsylvania mem- ber of- the Committee of one from each State to inform Mr. Lincoln of his nomination. In October ensuing he was elected a Represen- tative to Congress, which office, by successive elections, he has held to the present time.
In the spring of 1867 Mr. Kelley made a tour in the .South, and delivered addresses in the principal cities. While speaking to a large assemblage in Mobile, Alabama, he was assailed by a mob, and nar- rowly escaped with his life.
As a public speaker Judge Kelley has singular ability. His voice is remarkable for its deep, full, sonorous tone ; his manner is deliber- ate and graceful, and his enunciation most distinct. He speaks as one deeply impressed with the truth and importance of what he says, and never fails to command profound attention.
356
ROBERT C. SCHENCK,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM OHIO.
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EOBEET 0. SOHENOK.
'OBEKT GUMMING SCHENCK was born in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, October 4, 1809. His father, General William C. Schenck, was one of the early settlers in the Miami Valley, and served in the Northwestern Army under General Harrison. He died at the capital of Ohio while a member of the General Assembly.
At fifteen years of age young Schenck entered the Sophomore Class in the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in 1827. He remained at Oxford as a tutor of Latin and French until he received his Master's degree in 1830. He then commenced the study of law in Lebanon, with the celebrated Thomas Corwin. Having completed his course of legal studies, he removed to Dayton, where he entered upon the practice of law. Here his legal acquire- ments and ability as an advocate gave him rapid advancement in his profession, and secured him a large and lucrative practice. In 1838 he was first a candidate for public office. He ran on the Whig ticket for the legislature, and failed by a few votes to be elected. He entered with zeal into the presidential canvass of 1840, and obtained a reputa- tion as a popular speaker second to none in Ohio, save that of Corwin. In 1841 he was elected to the legislature of Ohio, and was recogniz- ed as a leading spirit among the Whigs in that body. At the extra session of the legislature in the summer of 1842, he defeated the scheme of the Democrats to pass an apportionment bill arranging the districts in such a way as to promote the interests of the Democratic party. Through his influence the Whig members of both branches
of the legislature resigned. The remainder, being less than a quo-
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2 ROBEET C. SCHENCK
mm, were unable to carry out their plan of " Gerrymandering " the State. At the following session an apportionment bill, not so odious as the first, was passed in time for the Congressional election.
Mr. Schenck was re-elected to the legislature by an increased ma- jority. He distinguished himself by laboring to secure economy in the finances, advocating internal improvements, and assisting to ef- fect a revision of the school law.
Mr. Schenck rose so rapidly in the estimation of his party, that he was, in 1843, nominated for Congress, and was elected by a large majority, in a district which was usually very close. He served in Congress with great efficiency during four successive terms. He was a member of several important committees, and in the Thirtieth Con- gress was Chairman of the Committee of Roads and Canals. He was recognized as one of the Whig leaders of the House. He took a prominent part in discussions, and was regarded as a very formida- ble competitor in debate.
In 1850, Mr. Schenck refused a re-nomination for Congress, and was the following year appointed, by President Fillmore, Minister to Brazil. His powers were subsequently extended by a commission to treat with the authorities of Uruguay and Paraguay. He negotiated several important treaties, by one* of which the navigation of the River La Plata and its tributaries was made " free to the merchant flags of all nations."
' After Mr. Schenck's return to the United States in 1854, for a number of years he took no active part in politics. In addition to oc- casional practice at the bar, he was engaged in the management of a line of railroad from Fort "Wayne, Indiana, to the Mississippi River.
At the election of a successor to Mr. Chase as United States Sen- ator, Mr. Schenck received the vote of the opposition to the Demo- cracy, but the preponderance of this party secured the election of its candidate, Mr. Pugh.
Immediately after the attack on Fort Sumter, Mr. Schenck ten- dered his services to President Lincoln, who commissioned him a Brigadier-General of Volunteers on the 17th of May, 1861.
ROBERT C. SCHENCK. 3
On the 17th of June, 1861, General Schenck was ordered to take possession of the Loudon and Hampshire railroad as far as Yienna. Under instructions from General Scott, the road had been re- connoitered the day before, and no enemy discovered. General Schenck was ordered to place a regiment of his brigade in cars, and establish guards at certain points designated along the road. As the train was approaching Yienna, with but two companies on board, it was fired upon by a masked battery. Three cars were disabled, ten men were killed and two wounded. The locomotive being in the rear, the engineer treacherously uncoupled, and returned to Alexan- dria, leaving the little band in the midst of a. largely superior force, supported by artillery and cavalry. The rebels numbered eight hun- dred men, mainly South Carolinians, under command of General Gregg. General Schenck with great coolness rallied his men. So much courage was displayed that the rebels withdrew, impressed with the belief that a heavy force must be in reserve..
At the battle of Bull Kun, July 21, 1861, General Schenck com- manded a brigade embracing the First and Second Ohio, the Second New York, and a battery of six-pounders. His position was on the "Warrenton Koad, near the stone bridge. About four o'clock in the . afternoon General Schenck received 'orders to retreat, and forming his brigade brought off his men in such an orderly manner as to dis- tinguish them from the frightened mob which comprised the frag- ments of the disintegrated army. But for this orderly movement the day's disaster would have been far greater, for General Beauregard gave it as one reason why pursuit was not made that he was satisfied large re-inforcements held the Warrenton Koad.
General Schenck was next assigned to the command of a brigade in "West Yirginia, and was actively engaged in the campaigns on the Kenawha and New Eivers. On the death of General Lander, he was ordered to Cumberland, Maryland, where he found everything in a state of confusion. Here he found scope for the exercise of his adminis- trative abilities, and soon succeeded in restoring order and enforcing
discipline.
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4 ROBERT C. SCHENCK.
General Schenck was next ordered to move up the south branch of the Potomac. In obedience to this order, he successively occu- pied and held Moorfield, Petersburg, Franklin, and other important points. He was then ordered to push on to the relief of General Milroy, who was at McDowell with a force of about four thousand men. When within twenty-two miles of McDowell, a dispatch was received from General Milroy, stating that the enemy was at least fourteen thousand strong, and would undoubtedly attack the next morning. General Schenck pushed onward with about fifteen hun- dred infantry, one battalion of cavalry, and a battery of artillery. The march. was continued all night, and a conjunction of the forces was effected early in the morning. On consultation, General Schenck and General Milroy agreed that they could not hold the place against such a force as the enemy possessed. Instead of awaiting an attack or commencing a retreat, a feint of strength was made, and hard fighting continued until dark. Meanwhile baggage was sent off in wagon trams, and, after the close of the day's demonstration, the en- tire army was brought off with slight loss, considering the immense odds against it. The commander of the department pronounced the march to the relief of Milroy, the battle, and the subsequent retreat, one of the most brilliant achievements that had thus far marked the campaigns of that region.
At the battle of Cross Keys General Schenck occupied the right of the line. The rebels in heavy force attempted to flank his position. They were promptly repulsed, and fell back under a well-directed artillery fire. Until three o'clock in -the afternoon, the right con- tinued to press the enemy, and in no instance lost any part of the" field they had gained. When the left gave way, General Fremont ordered General Schenck to fall back to the strong position occupied in the morning. General Fremont, when relieved of his command, turned it over to General Schenck, who, in the absence of General Sigel, had command of the First Corps of the Army of Virginia.
General Schenck, with his division, took an active part in the second battle of Bull Run. His orders were given with great prompt-
ROBERT C. SCHENCK. 5
ness and judgment, and he displayed much, coolness and bravery on the field. On the second day of the battle, in the thickest of the fight, he was severely wounded. A ball struck his right arm, by which his sword was thrown some distance from. him. As the position was much exposed, his staff desired to carry him instantly off the field, but he persistently and repeatedly refused to go until his sword should be found. He was conveyed to Washington, and the day fol- lowing his arrival the President and other distinguished persons visited him and gave him most cordial expressions of sympathy and praise. He was shortly afterwards promoted to the rank of Major- General. Secretary Stanton stated in a letter accompanying the commission, that no official act of his was ever performed with greater pleasure than the forwarding of this appointment.
General Schenck recovered slowly, and six months elapsed before he was again fit for field duty. Before he had entirely recovered from his wound, on the llth of December, 1862, he was assigned by the President to the command of the Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, with headquarters at Baltimore. This was one of the most difficult posts of duty in the entire service, and his fitness for it was inferred from his great reputation and experience in civil affairs.
General Schenck's administration fully met public expectation. He displayed great executive ability, firmness, and determination. He arrested and promptly punished many who to " declarations of sympathy with treason " added " acts of complicity."
As the rebels of Maryland attempted to fight the battles of the " Confederacy " at the ballot-box, it became a part of General Schenck's duty to provide that Union men should be protected at the polls, and that voters should take a suitable oath of alle- giance. To effect these objects, General Schenck issued " General Order Fifty-three," celebrated among the official documents of the war, and especially odious to all secession sympathizers. Winter Davis and other Union leaders of Maryland were accustomed to speak of him as the savior of the State.
On the 5th of December, 1863, General Schenck resigned his
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6 EGBERT C. SCHENCK.
commission to take a seat in Congress as a Representative from the Third Ohio District. He was immediately appointed to the respon- sible position of Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, which he held during the Thirty-eighth and Thirty -ninth Congresses. In this position he had to do with questions of the utmost importance affecting the immense army then engaged in suppressing the rebel- lion. He projected many important features in the military measures which tended to promote the efficiency and success of the army. He was the firm friend of the volunteer as against the encroachments and assumptions of the regulars. He was a vigorous advocate of the draft, the enemy of deserters, and the champion of private soldiers.
On taking his seat by re-election in the Fortieth Congress, General Schenck was appointed to the most important and responsible posi- tion in the House — the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ways and Means. His sound views on financial questions and his great in- dustry well fitted him for the important and laborious duties pertain- ing to this committee. His force of character, his strength of will, his readiness in debate, and his general abilities as a statesman, make him practically as well as technically " Leader of the House."
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JAMES F WILSON
REPRESENTATIVE FROM 1OVZA.
JAMES F.
•is born i< October 19,
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JAMES F. WILSON.
&AMES F. WILSON was born in Newark, Ohio, October 19, 1828. With no early advantages for education, he, like many Americans who have attained distinguished positions, was dependent upon his own resources for that measure of culture which fitted him for those public stations which he was to occupy. Origin- ally he learned a mechanical trade, which, however, he early aban- doned for the study of the law.
In 1853, he removed to Fairneld, Iowa, where he entered upon the practice of his profession. For a considerable period he edited with much ability the local newspaper of his party, which brought his tal- ents into public recognition.
In 1856, he was elected a member of the Convention to revise the State Constitution. His services in this body gave him a reputation through the State as a wise and judicious legislator, and a young man of great promise. In 1857, he was appointed, by the Governor of Iowa, Assistant Commissioner of the Des Moines River Improvement, then the chief work of internal improvement in the State. During the same year, he was first elected to the Legislature of the State, as a member of the House of Representatives. In 1859, he was elected a member of the State Senate, of which body he was chosen Presi- dent in 1861. During that year, Hon. Samuel R. Curtis, Represen- tative in Congress for the district in which he resided, having resigned his seat to engage in the war for the Union, Mr. Wilson was elected to serve for the unexpired portion of his term. He was subsequently elected, without opposition in any of the nominating conventions, to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. Before the
2 JAMES F. WILSON:
commencement of the canvass for members of the Forty-first Congress, Mr. Wilson published a letter to his constituents announcing his de- termination not to be a candidate for re-election.
In politics, Mr. Wilson was originally an Anti-Slavery Whig. He joined the Anti-Nebraska party, which served as a temporary orga- nization for the opponents of slavery during the political confusion which followed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Soon after, he assisted in the organization of the Republican party in his State, and became at once one of its most distinguished members, as he still remains one of its most sincere and consistent adherents. In all politi- cal conflicts in his own State, as in the more extended sphere of his public life, he has been, from the commencement of his career, an unswerving friend of equal rights, without regard to race, color, or creed. He was an original advocate of the proposition to strike the word " white " from the State Constitution — a measure which finally triumphed in the canvass of 1868.
At the commencement of the Thirty-eighth Congress, Mr. Wilson was appointed Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House. The progress of events connected with the war rendered that Com- mittee of far greater importance than it had ever before been. So many important, intricate, and novel questions touching the public interest in its most vital parts, were necessarily submitted to it, that its decisions wrere watched with anxiety, and subjected to the most searching criticism. For the credit of Mr. Wilson in that capacity, it is sufficient to state that throughout the long and terrible turmoil of the war, with the great exactions that it devolved upon the chair- man of that committee, he remained uninterruptedly at its head, with the common consent and applause of the House, and that he did not fail to carry in that body a single important measure which he re- ported from it.
On the first day of the session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, De- cember 7, 1863, Mr. Wilson- gave notice of his intention to introduce a joint resolution for an amendment of the Constitution abolishing
Slavery. This was one of the first resolutions looking to that end, if
364
JAMES F. WILSON. 3
not actually the first. Not long after, he reported the resolution from the Judiciary Committee ; and on the nineteenth of March he made a speech in its support, which is, perhaps, the ablest and most effec- tive speech that he ever made in the House. Notwithstanding it seems in the retrospect that at that advanced period of the war the final and legal extirpation of slavery, which was its originating cause, would have been an easy cause to champion, it was nevertheless met by a thousand objections of prudence, interest, timidity, and preju- dice, and was finally carried only after the most intense parliamen- tary struggle that occurred during the pendency of the war. The brevity of these sketches forbids lengthy quotations from Congres- sional speeches, but we will introduce here the closing paragraph of the speech of Mr. "Wilson upon that great subject, regretting that space forbids us further quotations or a summary of the argument by which he enforced his proposition. Mr. Wilson said :
" The Committee on the Judiciary have authorized me to report to the House the proposed amendment of the Constitution of the United States, with a recommendation that it be passed by this body, and submitted to the legislatures of the several States for their acceptance. A concurrence in this recommendation is the plain road over "which we may escape from the difficulties which now beset us. A submis- sion of this proposition to the several States will at once remove from Congress the question of slavery. No further agitation of this vexa- tious question need disturb our relations if we concur in this recom- mendation, and we shall be far advanced towards a lasting, ever-endur- ing peace. Send this proposition to the States, trust it to the people, fix it as a center around which public opinion may gather its potent agencies, and we shall have accomplished more for the future tran- quillity of the Republic than ever was effected by Congress before. The people are now convinced of the incompatibility of slavery with free government. Let us impart to them an opportunity to give effect to their conviction. If we refuse, our successors will be more obedient : for the people have decreed that slavery shall die, and that its death shall be recorded by the Constitution. "We are to construct
4 JAMES F. WILSON.
the machinery that shall execute the decree, or give place to those who will perform the bidding of the people. "We cannot evade the responsibility which rests upon us by declaring that we ' accept the abolition of slavery as a fact accomplished.' The nation knows that this enunciation is a mere lachrymose, diplomatic intrigue employed by slavery to arrest the grand volcanic action that is upheaving the great moral ideas which underlie the Republic. The nation demands more ; its faith embraces more ; its acute appreciation of the true nature of the disease which preys upon its heart-strings, assures it that the work of death cannot be arrested until the fact of slavery's disso- lution is accomplished ; and that this may not be until, by an amend- ment of the Constitution, we assert the ultimate triumph of liberty over slavery, democracy over aristocracy, free government over abso- lutism."
In this Congress, too, Mr. Wilson advocated the employment of negro troops. In order to dispose him to accept the services of black men to aid in the salvation of the Republic, he never had any preju- dices to conquer. The repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, with the removal of all the odious relics of the institution of slavery, found him at all times a prompt and indefatigable supporter.
Soon after the organization of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Wil- son reported from the Judiciary Committee a joint resolution propos- ing an amendment of the Constitution to prohibit for ever the pay- ment of any portion of the rebel debt. This interest was so great, and so complicated with partisan intrigues, that the danger seemed imminent that some proportion or the whole of it might be assumed, and its perpetual inhibition became a matter of great public impor- tance. The resolution was passed by the House. It was not acted upon by the Senate, but the substance of it was included in the four- teenth constitutional amendment as finally adopted.
On the 18th of the same month, he reported from the Judiciary Committee the bill introduced by Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, estab- lishing impartial suffrage in the District of Columbia, and opened the discussion in its favor in a very pointed and able speech, support-
JAMES F. WILSON. 5
ing the measure energetically in all its stages through the House, until its final passage over the Executive veto.
At the same session, on the 1st of March, 1866, he reported, with some amendments, the Civil Eights Bill, which had passed the Senate, and engineered it skillfully through the House. On a motion to re- commit the bill, he made an argument on its legal aspects and general character.
At the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, the subject of Impeachment of the President was referred to the Judiciary Committee, and was continued as a subject of their consideration in the Fortieth Congress. After a protracted examination of the evi- dence submitted, and of the law in the case, the committee made divided reports. Mr. Wilson made a report, in behalf of a minority, against impeachment. After an energetic debate, his proposition was adopted by the House. Mr. Wilson went to the examination of this case with the prevailing ideas with regard to the law and the practice in cases of impeachment — that the power to impeach is a vast, vague, almost illimitable prerogative, resting substantially alone in the judg- ment of the Senate as to the character of the offensive acts and the exigencies of the public welfare. The known deeds of the Executive led him to anticipate the necessity of reporting in favor of impeach- ment, and he was not inclined to suspect the legal power to meet the admitted acts by the extreme remedy of the Constitution. But the careful study of the law and history of impeachments which the occasion imposed upon him, forced him to the conclusion that, at least under our Constitution, no Federal officer could be impeached for any offense which was not named in the Constitution, or which was not a criminal offense under the laws of Congress. No such offense was shown. In support of his views he comprised in his report a care- ful but succinct review of every important case of impeachment in the British Parliament, and of every case brought before the Senate of the United States, with an elucidation of the law and practice under both governments, which forms an interesting and valuable treatise
for the jurist and the historian. The report comprised, also, a sum-
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Q JAMES F. WILSON.
mary of all the evidence bearing upon every charge made against the President, and a consideration of the character of each specific charge.
When the subject came a second time before the House, on new charges, Mr. Wilson was one of the most prompt and decided of those who demanded the impeachment of the President. In this instance, in his judgment, there was no doubt about the power and duty of Congress. In his view, a penal enactment of Congress had been violated, clearly, knowingly, intentionally, defiantly. He was made one of the Managers appointed by the House to carry the articles of impeachment that were found against the President before the Senate, and to prosecute them there. He gave to that prosecution his best and most active efforts, and the failure of the undertaking affected him more painfully than any public event with which he had ever been connected.
In the Thirty-ninth Congress Mr. Wilson was also Chairman of the Committee on Unfinished Business, and was also a member of the Committee on the Air-Line Railroad to New York. He has taken much interest in the subject of free comimmication between the Cap- ital of the country and the North, and in the removal of the obstruc- tions of the railroad monopolies on that line and elsewhere. Among other measures which elicited his sympathies in the Fortieth Con- gress, was the bill to protect the rights of American citizens.
Since the close of the rebellion he has been an active promoter of measures for the re-organization of the rebel States. He has been careful to provide, so far as any effort of his own was concerned, that they should not be restored except under such auspices and conditions as gave the country the surest attainable guarantees for the future, and yet none have hailed more readily and with greater satisfaction their restoration clothed in the garments of loyalty and law.
868
HON. FREDERICK A.PIKE. REPRESENTATIVE: FHOM: MAINE.
ORTY jet
•
FREDEEIOK A. PIKE.
[ORTY" years ago, Calais, Maine, was a new settlement on a strip of land just cleared of forest. Situated at the head of the navigable waters of the river St. Croix, it was accessi- ble to sailing vessels eight or nine months in the year, and was con- nected with the Western towns by a single road, over which a weekly mail came without regularity, bringing Boston papers six or eight days old. The chief employment of its enterprising pioneer popula- tion was lumbering, a pursuit calculated to give strong and marked development to both body and mind. The exposure to the intense cold in short winter days and long winter nights, the long journeys through trackless forests and over ice-bound lakes, the danger of get- ting lost in the woods, and the expedients necessary to be devised in order to keep alive under such circumstances, all tended to give to the lumbermen of that day a vigor of body and mind which charac- terizes their children to this day. It gave fortitude and contempt for danger such as carried the Sixth Regiment Maine Volunteers, raised in this region, through their bloody charges at St. Mary's Heights and Rappahannock Station.
In this then remote settlement of Calais, Frederick A. Pike was born in 1817. When he was quite young, it was his misfortune to lose his father by accidental death. The care and support of the family thus devolved upon the widowed mother, a lady whose devo- tion, energy, and good sense are shown in the eminent success of her sons. The eldest of these i» the well-known " J. S. P." late Minister to the Hague, whose racy epigrammatic articles in the Tribime and other leading journals have given him a wide reputation. The second
2 FREDERICK A. PIKE.
son, Charles E. Pike, Esq., recently Solicitor of the Internal .Revenue in Washington, now in active practice at the Boston bar, has long been highly appreciated and eminently successful in his profession.
Frederick A. Pike, as a boy, was educated at public schools, taught three summer months by a woman, and three winter months by a man. He subsequently spent a short time at the County Academy, and entered Bowdoin College in the Class of 1839. In those days boating had not become so common and popular among collegians as at present, yet Mr. Pike made a voyage in an open boat from New Brunswick, Maine, to Boston, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, across a stormy and unsheltered sea, at so much personal risk as to attract the notice of the newspapers of the day. Leaving college without graduation, Mr. Pike employed himself for some years as a teacher of public schools, and as a mercantile clerk. Meanwhile he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841.
As a lawyer, he early took high rank as an advocate and manager of causes on trial. He completely identified himself with the feelings of his client, and exhibited an unyielding determination to take care of his interests. Skillful in the examination of witnesses, quick to see and take advantage of the mistakes of his opponent, and ready on all the points of law and practice, he attained to a high degree of professional success.
He served for several years as Prosecuting Attorney for the County. He was for some time editor of the local newspaper, and has ever since retained, with greater or less intimacy, his connection with the press.
In politics, Mr. Pike was originally a Whig, and was an avowed Abolitionist when the name was odious, Since the formation of the Republican party, he has been an earnest and consistent supporter of its principles.
In 1856, Mr. Pike's friends made a strenuous effort to send him to Congress, but failed to secure his nomination. In this year he was elected to the State Legislature, and was returned for the two succeed- ing years, during the last of which he was Speaker of the House.
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In the Legislature lie held a prominent position. He made many noteworthy speeches, particularly one upon a railroad controversy of general interest, which is regarded as the happiest forensic effort of his life.
In 1860, Mr. Pike was elected, by the Kepublicans, a Kepresentative in the Thirty-seventh Congress, and has subsequently served in the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. He most cheer- fully performed the augmented duties devolved upon his office by the emergencies of the war. He was assiduous in his efforts to comply with the numerous requests of his correspondents. In addition to his regular duties as a member of Congress, he was occupied in visit- ing hospitals, looking after the interests of soldiers, and in transact- ing business for his constituents with the various departments of the Government.
During the war, Mr. Pike was one of the most fearless and em- phatic supporters of the Government in the halls of Congress. Every measure for the raising of men and money had his earnest support and advocacy. Representing a maritime community, he was, on entering Congress, very properly placed on the Committee of Naval Affairs, of which he was. a member during his entire term of service, and its Chairman in the Fortieth Congress. He was prompt and regular in his attention to duty on this committee, and deeply interested in measures emanating from it, advocating them upon the floor with earnestness and force. He has manifested more interest in measures affecting the trade of the country than in those more purely political. Subjects of finance, of tariff, or revenue, coming up for the action of Congress, received his close attention, and frequently called him into discussions. He has been particularly vigilant in his attention to subjects of especial concern to his constituents — the ship- ping, the lumbering, and the fishing interests. He was an early op- ponent of the Reciprocity Treaty with Great Britain, and labored with success for its repeal, believing that it operated unfavorably to the United States, and especially to the State of Maine.
When Congress became involved in the controversy with the Presi- 371
4 FREDERICK A. PIKE.
dent, Mr. Pike was among those 'who insisted most firmly upon the rights, privileges, and power of the legislative department of the Gov- ernment. When the House presented Articles of Impeachment against President Johnson, he gave them his earnest and active support.
Mr. Pike's first speech in Congress was made in February, 1862. It was upon the Legal-Tender Bill ; and in connection with that mea- sure, criticized Gen. McClellan's policy, and commended that of Secre- tary Stanton, who had just issued his famous " Mill Spring " address to the army. The speech closed as follows :
" The next sixty days are to be the opportunity for the nation to re-assert itself. In them, past blunders can be remedied, and the memory of inefiiciency be lost in the brilliancy of triumph. I have all faith in the war, when it shall move to the tones of our new Secretary. It has already done much to enlighten our people as to the destiny of the Republic. Civilians in high station and officers of leading rank have been converted by it to sound doctrines of political action. It is the measure of our civilization and Christianity. In its grand march in the future, it shall carry with it, like a torrent, the sophisms and theories of vicious political organizations ; and pres- ently clearing itself of all entanglements, it will make plain to the world that this is a contest of ideas. It will try aspirants for the leadership ; and when one fails, another shall supply his place ; until, in God's own time, the appointed Joshua shall be found who shall lead us into the promised land of peace and liberty.
" Our duty to-day is to tax and fight — twin brothers of great power ; to them, in good time, shall be added a third ; whether he shall be of executive parentage or generated in Congress, or spring, like Minerva, full-grown from the head of our army, I care not. Come he will, and his name shall be Emancipation. And these three — tax, fight, emancipate — shall be the trinity of our salvation. In this sign we shall conquer."
This was the first announcement in Congress of the necessity of Emancipation to the success of the war. Gurowski says in his
" Diary " that it was the key-note of the Thirty-seventh Congress.
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FREDERICK A. PIKE. 5
Mr. Pike voted with the ultra anti-slavery men on all occasions ; and when the great anti-slavery amendment to the Constitution was pending, in January, 1865, he said :
"When, something more than a quarter of a century ago, just commencing active life, I made myself conspicuous in a limited sphere by attacking Slavery, I had no expectation of taking part here and now in the grand consummation of its utter demolition."
After arguing the constitutional points, he closed : " Let the amend- ment be adopted, and slavery be destroyed, and hereafter the only contest upon the subject will be, Who did the most to bring about this consummation so devoutly wished for by all good men. The earlier anti-slavery men shall have their full meed of praise. They did well. They brought the wrongs inherent in the institution to the attention of the people of the country. They would not be put down at the bidding of the imperious advocates of the system. But slavery nourished under their attacks. It grew rich and strong. It waxed fat. How long; it would have lived, God only knows, if it had not injured itself. But it was not content. It destroyed itself. Our Davids were not powerful enough to inflict a mortal blow upon this modern Goliah, and Heaven would have it that the giant wrong of the age should commit suicide.
" And when the genius of history shall write its epitaph on the walls of the great Hereafter, specifying the date of its death, short stay will it make in describing its virtues ; but after cataloguing a por- tion of the great crimes it has committed against mankind, it will add, ' Dead ! dead ! not of Lloyd Garrison or Wendell Phillips, but dead of Jefferson Davis and the Montgomery Constitution.'
" God speed the day of its burial, for with it, as creator, ends this war of its creation, and liberty and peace shall come hand in hand, and bless the continent with their presence."
Mr. Pike is happy in his domestic life, having married, in 1846, Miss Mary H. Green, a lady of rare endowments of heart and mind. After the experience of a winter in the South, she wrote " Ida May,"
and some other novels, which were received by the public with great
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Q FREDERICK A. PIKE.
favor. Her mental activity and acquirements have been chiefly displayed, however, in a rare conversational talent, which makes her the charm of the social circle.
In person, Mr. Pike is of medium height, of dark complexion, with black hair and eyes. He is lively and entertaining in conver- sation, ardent in his friendships, and decided in his dislikes. Proud, sensitive, honorable, and truthful, he possesses all the elements of an original and independent character.
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. <2
HON. KUFUS P. SPALDING,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM OHIO
EUFUS P. SPALDIJTO.
MONGr the older members of the Fortieth Congress, and one who retains the physical and intellectual vigor of middle age, is Rufus Paine Spalding. of Cleveland, Ohio, who has, for six consecutive years, represented the Eighteenth Con- gressional District of that State.
He was born on the 3d day of May, 1798, at West Tisbury, on the Island of Martha's Yineyard, in the State of Massachusetts, where his father, Dr. Rufus Spalding, resided and practiced medicine for twenty years. He traces back his ancestry two hundred and twenty- eight years in a direct line to Edward Spalding, who was " made a Freeman " at Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1640. Benjamin Spalding, the son of Edward, migrated to Connecticut about the year 1665, and settled in the town of Plainfield, in the County of Windham. Dr. Rufus Spalding, the father of the subject of this sketch, was the great grandson of Benjamin Spalding, who thus settled in Con- necticut.
In the spring of the year 1812, Dr. Spalding returned with his family to Connecticut, and took up his abode in the city of Norwich. After the usual preparatory studies, his son Rufus P. Spalding en- tered Yale College ; and in the autumn of 1817, received from that institution the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Among the members of his class in college were Rt. Rev. "Wm. H. De Lancy, Bishop of Western New York ; Dr. Nathan R. Smith, of Baltimore ; Prof. Lyman Coleman, of Easton, Pa. ; Hon. Charles J. McCurdy, at one time Minister to Austria, and now a Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut ; Hon. Thomas B. Osborne, and Hon. Thomas T.
Whittlesey, ex-members of Congress from Connecticut ; Sam'l H. Per-
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kins and Joel Jones, Esquires, eminent lawyers of Philadelphia ; J. Prescott Hall, Esq., U. S. District Attorney for New York, and others who also became distinguished for usefulness in life.
Immediately on leaving college, Mr. Spalding commenced the study of the law with Hon. Zephaniah Swift, the learned author of the " Digest," who was then Chief-Justice of Connecticut.
After reading the usual time, and receiving from his instructor the most flattering testimonials of his qualifications, he, like very many of the energetic young men of New England, made his way to the West ; and after encountering various -fortunes incident to a frontier settlement, he found himself, in December, 1819, at the old " Post of Arkansas," and shortly afterwards at " Little Kock," in the practice of law, in co-partnership with Samuel Dinsmoor, Esq., since Governor of New Hampshire.
He remained in this new Territory until June, 1821, when he retraced his steps eastward, and was finally induced to throw out his sign as an "Attorney at Law " in the pleasant village of Warren, the shire town of Trumbull County, Ohio.
In October, 1822, he was married to Lucretia A. Swift, the eldest daughter of the gentleman with whom he had studied his profession. Seven children, three sons and four daughters, were the offspring of this marriage, only three of whom now survive. They are Col. Zeph. S. Spalding, now United States Consul at Honolulu, Bt. Captain George S. Spalding, First Lieutenant 33d U. S. Infantry, and Mrs. Lucretia Mcllrath, the wife of Charles Mcllrath, Esq., of St. Paul, Minnesota. In January, 1859, Judge Spalding was married to his present wife,, the eldest daughter of Dr.. Wm. S. Pierson, of Windsor, Conn.
After a residence of more than sixteen years in Warren, Mr. Spalding removed to Ravenna, in the County of Portage. Th the fall of 1839, he was chosen by a majority of one vote over his op- ponent, to represent the people of Portage County in the General Assembly of Ohio. The Legislature, mainly through the active exertions of Mr. Spalding, passed an act at this session, erecting the
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RUFUS P. SPALDING. 3
new County of Summit, of which he soon became an inhabitant by transferring his residence to Akron, the county seat.
In 1841-2, he was again a member of the Legislature, as a repre- sentative from the new county. At this time he was chosen Speaker of the House, and became justly popular as an able and successful presiding officer. In conjunction with the late Governor John Brought, then Auditor of State, he took strong ground against the effort, then being made, to repudiate the public debt of Ohio, and, by his personal influence, did much to prevent the disastrous con- sequences which must always attach to such pernicious legislation.
In the winter of 1848-9, Mr. Spakling was elected, by joint vote of the two Houses of the General Assembly, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, for the constitutional term of seven years, of which he served, however, but three years, as the new Constitution, then adopted, re-organized the Judiciary, and Judge Spalding declined being a candidate in the popular canvass that followed.
The following extract from a letter written to the author, by Hon. William Lawrence, M. C., who was" the Reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Ohio during all the time Judge Spalding was upon the Bench, will serve to show his qualifications for that high trust :
" The judicial services of Judge Spalding commenced March 7, 1849, and ended February 1, 1852. He brought to the exalted position the force of a vigorous and cultivated intellect, imbued with a profound knowledge of the law, and enriched with classical attainments of no ordinary character. His opinions will be found in volumes 18, 19, and 20 of the Ohio Reports ; and it is, at least, no dis- paragement to others to say, that Judge Spalding has never had a superior on the Bench of the State. His opinions are remarkable specimens of judicial literature, distinguished for the force of their logic, their terse, clear, emphatic style, and a precision of expression unsurpassed even by the learned English judges whose decisions are found in the celebrated Reports of Durnford and East.
" The generous nature and urbane deportment of Judge Spalding 377
4 RUFUS P. SPALDING.
was such that he enjoyed the profound respect a:,d esteem of the Bar, and all with whom he was associated, as the writer of this has abundant means of knowing."
On retiring from the Bench, Judge Spalding removed to the city of Cleveland, where he at once entered upon a lucrative business in the practice of his profession. As an advocate and counselor he main- tained the highest rank in his State.
In politics, the Judge was an active and devoted member of the Democratic party, from the days of Andrew Jackson until the passage of the. Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, when he threw all his energy and influence into the ranks of the " Free-Soil " or " Anti- Slavery " party.
He was a member of the Convention at Pittsburg, in February, 1852 ; and it was on his motion that John P. Hale was nominated for the Presidency. He was again a member of the Pittsburg Conven- tion of 1856, which originated the Republican party ; and he was, the same year, one of the delegates at large from the State of Ohio, to the National Convention in Philadelphia, which nominated John C. Fremont. In May, 1868, he was a delegate to the Convention in Chicago, which nominated General IT. S. Grant for President.
In October, 1862, Judge Spalding was chosen to represent the Eighteenth Congressional District, made up of the Counties of Cuya- hoga, Lake, and Summit, in the Congress of the United States. He was re-elected in October, 1864, and again in October, 1866, so that he served in the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. In the spring of 1868, he addressed a letter to his" con- stituents, declining to be again a candidate.
In the Thirty-eighth Congress he was a member of the Standing Committee on Naval Affairs, the Committee on Revolutionary Pen- sions, and served as Chairman on the Select Committee on the Bank- rupt Law.
In the Thirty-ninth Congress he was made a member of the Stand- ing Committee on Appropriations, and continued to serve on the Com- mittee on Bankruptcy, of which Mr. Jenckes was then Chairman
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RUFUS P. SPALDING. 5
Soon after the opening of the first session of this Congress, Mr. Spalding made a speech in which he indicated the measures which he regarded as necessary to be adopted in order to reconstruct the rebel States. The suggestions then made were for the most part afterwards adopted by Congress. The military features of the Reconstruction Acts originated in an amendment offered by Mr. Spalding to Mr. Stevens' first bill.
In the Fortieth Congress he was placed on the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the United States, and upon the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress. He took an important part in the investigation and dis- cussion of the financial questions which enlisted the attention of this Congress. In May, 1868, he delivered in the House of Representa- tives a speech on " The Political and -Financial Condition of the Country," from which we make an extract from his able argument, showing the unconstitutionally of Legal Tenders :
"It is my purpose to show that this cherished plan of paying off the interest-bearing bonds of the Government with the United States ' legal-tender' notes has no warrant in the Constitution of the United States, in the act of Congress of February 25, 1862, which first authorized their issue : neither is it justified by the plainest principles of political economy, or the soundest precepts of common sense.
" In the first place, I meet the whole question ' without gloves,' and afiirm that there exists no constitutional power in the Congress of the United States to make paper money a ' legal tender' in payment of debts. I admit that under the pressure of extreme necessity, and in order to save the life of the nation, Congress did, in the darkest hours of the rebellion, assume the right to impress on a limited amount of Treasury notes the quality of a ' legal tender.' And I admit that this extreme measure was justified by the extraordinary circumstances under which it was adopted, and that, under like circumstances, I should not hesitate to repeat the experiment ; but I can yield nothing further. A measure of national defence under the weighty pressure of war that 'brings a strain -upon the Constitution of the country, is
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fi BUFUS P. SPAL'DING.
not to be continued, much less extended, as a principle of financial policy in times of peace, without seriously endangering the whole framework of our Government.
" The wise men who, in 1787, constructed the great charter of our national rights, had experimental knowledge of the pernicious ten- dencies of an irredeemable paper currency ; for in the year 1780, paper money issued to carry on the war of the Revolution had depreciat ed to such an extent that in the city of Philadelphia it was sold a hundred dollars in paper for one in silver. Hence it will be found that in framing the Constitution, they sought in every possible way to guard against the evils incident to a circulating medium made up of ' paper promises.' "
After citing the debates in the Convention which formed the Con- stitution, and the authority of its ablest expounders,- Mr. Spalding remarked :
" It was reserved for the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States to assert and exert a power, so obviously opposed to the wishes of the tramers of the Constitution, to the letter and spirit of the instru- ment itself, and to its practical construction for three-fourths of a century. But it was exerted in the darkest hour of the nation's conflict with treason and rebellion. It was exerted ex necessitate, to save the life of our glorious Republic. * * *
" Mr Chairman, I now solemnly aver that if I had been a member of the Thirty-seventh Congress, I would have voted under the pressure of circumstances for the passage of the act entitled " An act to au- thorize the issue of -United States notes, and for the redemption or funding thereof, and for the funding of the floating debt of the United States," approved F.ebruary 25, 1862. And I affirm just as solemnly, that at no time since the surrender of Lee's army would I have felt justified in repeating that vote."
Mr. Spalding's career in Congress has been that of a wise and patriotic legislator, eminently useful to the country, and highly honorable to himself. His name is associated with all the important legislation relative to the war of the rebellion and its results,
380
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SAMUEL HOOPER
[ AMUEL HOOPEK was born on the 3d of February, 1808, at Marblehead, a seaport town in Massachusetts, about fifteen miles from Boston. The people of Marblehead at the time of Mr. Hooper's birth and early life there, were bold and hardy fishermen, largely engaged in the cod-fisheries on the banks of New- foundland, and having considerable business .relations and inter- course with the West Indies, Russia, and Spain. They sent their fish to the "West Indies for sale, and bought sugars with the proceeds, which they carried thence in their ships to Russia, bringing home in return iron, hemp, and other products of that country. They also shipped large quantities of fish to Spain, and sold them there for doubloons, which they brought back to this country. Mr. Hooper's father was largely engaged in the European and West Indian trade ; and, as his agent, Mr. Hooper in early life visited more than once Russia and .the West Indies, and passed a whole season in Spain.
In 1833, he became a junior partner in the firm of Bryant, Stur- gis & Co., at that time one of the leading houses in Boston, con- ducting extensive enterprises on the Western coast of this Continent and in China, sending their vessels to California (it was nearly twenty years before the gold discoveries there) for hides, which were then the great export of that cattle-grazing region, to the North- west coast for furs, and to China for teas and silks. In this firm Mr. Hooper continued for about ten years, and until its senior mem- bers, whose names it had long borne, and who had grown gray in honorable mercantile pursuits, wished to retire from active business. He then became a member of another large house engaged in the China trade, and remained in that business for many years.
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2 SAMUEL HOOPER.
During the period of his active business life, however-, foreign commerce did not alone engage or absorb his interests or his ener- gies. He became early interested in the development pf our domes- tic resources, and embarked both time and capital in the iron busi- ness, to the understanding of which and of the true interests of this branch of industry in -this country, he gave much attention. The subject of currency and finance early interested him, both as a theo- retical question, and as a practical matter affecting the real pros- perity anol substantial growth of the country. In the House of Kep- resentatives of the State of Massachusetts, in the years 1851, '52 and '53, and subsequently in the State Senate of that State in 1858, he distinguished himself by the interest he took in the subject of bank- ing and finance,, by the knowledge he displayed upon it, and by the judicious and thoughtful measures which he introduced to check the evils of our unstable currency, and to establish on an impregnable basis the banks then existing in Massachusetts under State charters. During this period he wrote and published two pamphlets on cur- rency or money and bank notes, which are full of sound thought and clear statement, and are remarkable for their broad, thorough, and comprehensive views of the whole subject.
In the summer of 1861, he was elected from Boston to the Thirty- seventh Congress, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. William Appleton. Possessing at this time a commercial experience and knowledge, the result of extensive transactions in foreign com- merce for more than a quarter of a century with all parts of the globe, and of active, if less extensive, operations at home, and a very clear and thorough understanding of that great mystery of finance and money as applied both to publieand private affairs, the fruit of much study, reading, and sagacious and patient observation for an equally long period, and being thoroughly in sympathy with the Administra tion, and earnest in devising the best means for enabling the Govern ment to obtain the funds necessary for the prosecution of the war, on the one hand, and the people to bear the heavy burden it entailed on the other, Mr. Hooper became at once a trusted adviser of tbe
SAMUEL HOOPER. 3
Treasury Department, and a most useful and indefatigable member of the Committee of "Ways and Means of the House of Kepresen- tatives.
An extract from a letter of Mr. Chief- Justice Chase to the author, will serve to show his appreciation of Mr. Hooper's patriotism an4 public services during- the critical period when Mr. Chase was Secre- tary of the Treasury :
" WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 1869.
"My impressions of Mr. Hooper, until April, 1861, were derived almost wholly from the opinions of others. These gave me great confidence in his sagacity, integrity, and patriotism.
"I do not now recollect where our personal acquaintance com- menced ; but it was, I think, not long before the 6th of April, 1861. I then advertised for proposals for a loan of $14,901,000 in money (coin) in exchange for Treasury notes. The proposals were to be opened five days afterward, on the llth.
" This was at a time of great anxiety and depression. Before the day for opening the proposals arrived, the expeditions for the rein- forcement of Pickens and the provisionment of Sumter had already sailed; and on that day, the correspondence between Beauregard, commanding the rebels, and Anderson, commanding the Fort, was going on, in reference to the surrender of Sumter. The next day the nebel batteries opened fire.
" No time could be more unpropitious to the negotiation of a loan. Yet the advertisement could not be withdrawn without serious injury to the public credit ; and a failure to obtain the amount advertised for, would have had, perhaps, at that particular juncture, a still worse effect .
" Mr. Hooper happened to be in Washington, and was a subscriber for $100,000. On opening the proposals I found that the offers fell short of the amount required, by about a million of dollars. I sent for Mr. Hooper, then personally almost a stranger to me, and asked him to take that sum, in addition to what he had before subscribed, assuring him he should be protected from loss in the event of hia
4 SAMUEL HOOPER.
being unable to distribute the amount in Boston. He complied with my request without hesitation, and disposed of the whole amount without any aid from the Treasury. His readiness to come to the aid of the Government at the critical moment, and the personal con- fidence he shared in me, made an impression on my mind which cannot be obliterated. The sum does not now seem large, but it was large then, and the responsibility was assumed when most men would have shrunk from it.
" On another and even more important occasion, my obligations to Mr. Hooper for support and co-operation, were still greater.
" Yery few months had passed, after I took charge of the Depart- ment, before I became fully satisfied that the best interests of the people, future as well as immediate, in peace as well as in war, de- manded a complete revolution in currency by the substitution of notes, uniform in form and in credit-value, issued under the authority of the nation, for notes varying in both respects issued under State authority, and I suggested to different financial gentlemen the plau of a National Banking System. The suggestion was not received with favor, or anything like favor.
" But my conviction of the necessity of some such measure, both to the successful management of the finances during the war, and to the prevention of disastrous convulsions on the return of peace, was so strong, that I determined to bring the subject to the attention of
" In my report on the finances submitted on the 9th of December, 1861, 1 therefore recommended the adoption of a National Banking System, upon principles and under restrictions explained partly in the report, and more fully in the Bill drawn -up under my direction, and either sent to the Committee of Ways and Means, or handed to one of its members — perhaps to Mr. Hooper himself. However the bill may have gone to the Committee, I am not mistaken, I think, in saying that Mr. Hooper was the only member who gave it any sup- port. I am pretty sure that the only favor shown it by the. Com- mittee was a permission to Mr. Hooper to report it without recom-
884
SAMUEL HOOPER. 5
mendation, on his own responsibility. He took that responsibility, and the Bill was reported and printed.
" No action was asked upon it at that session. If action had been asked, it is not improbable that it would have been rejected with very few dissenting votes — so powerful then was the influence of the State Banks, so reluctant were they to accept the new measure, and so strong was the general sentiment of the Members of Congress against it.
" Before the next session, a strong public opinion, in favor of a uniform currency for the whole country, and of the National Bank- ing System as a means of accomplishing that object, had developed itself; and Mr. Hooper found himself able to carry the measure through the House of Representatives. It still encountered a for- midable opposition in the Senate, and I well remember the personal appeals I was obliged to make to Senators, as I had already to Rep- resentatives, in order to overcome their objections.
" The Bill found a powerful and judicious friend in Mr. Sherman, and at length passed by a clear vote. It was approved by Mr. Lin- coln, who had steadily supported it from the beginning, on the 25th of February, 1863.
"I think I cannot err in ascribing the success of the measure in the House to the sound judgment, persevering exertions, and disinter- ested patriotism of Mr. Hooper. The results of the measure during the war fulfilled, and since the war have justified the expectations I formed. It received valuable amendments in both Houses of Congress before its enactment, and has since been further amended ; and is, I think, still capable of beneficial modification in points of much im- portance to the public interests.
" But this is not the place nor the occasion for a discussion of this matter ; all that you desire is my estimate of the services of Mr. Hooper. I have mentioned only the two principal occasions on which I was specially indebted to him; but they were by no means the only occasions in which he aided me, or rather the Department of the Government of which I then had charge, both by personal counsel and by Congressional support.
385
6 ' SAMUEL HOOPER.
"During the whole time I was at the head of the Treasury, I con- stantly felt the great benefit of his wise and energetic co-operation. It would be unjust, saying this of Mr. Hooper, not to say that there were others in and out of Congress, to whom in other financial rela- tions the Treasury Department and the country were very greatly indebted ; but it is simple duty to add that the timely aid which he rendered at the crisis of the loan of April, 1861, and in promoting the enactment of the National Banking Law, placed me, charged as I was with a most responsible and difficult task, under special obliga- tions which I can never forget, and shall always take pleasure in acknowledging.
" With great respect, yours very truly,
"S. P. CHASE."
In accepting a re-nomination for the third time in the autumn of 1866, Mr. Hooper announced to his constituents his intention of retiring from Congress at the end of that term ; and in the spring of 1868, he re-affirmed the same intention in a formal and decided letter to the people of his district, in which he thanked them most cordially for their continued support of him; but his constituents would take no refusal. They insisted upon his reconsidering the matter. He was unanimously nominated, and for the fifth time was elected to Congress after a sharp contest in a very close dis- trict, by a majority of nearly three thousand votes.
More accustomed to writing than to public speaking, Mr. Cooper has not been in Congress a frequent or lengthy speaker ; but when- ever he has spoken, he has commanded the attention of the House. His speeches have all been distinguished by a thorough understand- ing of the subject matter, by vigorous and comprehensive thought, exact logic, and clear and forcible statements. They have been mostly on financial questions, and have attracted the attention and received the approval of the sound thinkers and of the public pres2i both in this country and in Europe.
H01T. WILLIAM LAWRENCE. ENTATIVE FROM CHlO
- -i • Historical :n their first landing
^trr. AJ . ..*• i, 1H5S, br Thoma*
n-'/rk
•
WILLIAM LAWKESTCE.
the Congressional Library at "Washington is a " Historical Genealogy of the Lawrence family, from their first landing in this country, A.D. 1635, to July 4, 1858, by Thomas Lawrence, of Providence, Rhode Island." The author of this work says : " The patronymic of our family is of great antiquity, hav- ing originated with the Latins. Several members of the family of Lawrence have held, and still hold, responsible and distinguished stations, as well in the church and civil service as in the army and navy of the British Empire ; and many branches, also, have inter- married with the clergy and nobility. Sir Robert Lawrence accom- panied Richard Coeur-de-Lion in his famous expedition to Palestine, where he signalized himself in the memorable siege of St. Jean d'Acre in 1119, by being the first to plant the banner of the cross 011 'the battlements of that town, for which he received the honors of knighthood from King Richard, and also a coat of arms." In 1635, two brothers, and in 1636, another brother pf these English Lawrences, came to this country and settled on Long Island. These are the an- cestors of the Lawrences of the United States.
Some of the descendants of these at an early day purchased a tract of land on the Delaware River, near Philadelphia. Embarking in commercial transactions, they lost their landed estate. One of these married a French lady, and had a nurnerous offspring, among whom was David Lawrence, who died near Philadelphia, in .1805, leaving several children with no estate. One of these was Joseph Lawrence, who, after Earning the trade of a blacksmith, enlisted in the Philadelphia Guards, and served during the war of 1812. On the restoration of
88T
2 ' WILLIAM LAWRENCE.
peace he removed to Ohio, where he married Temperance Gilchrist, a native of Virginia, a lady of exemplary piety and many virtues.
Of these parents, the only surviving son is William Lawrence, who was born at Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio, June 26, 1820. William was permitted to spend a portion of his early years in atten- dance on the country school ; but the intervals, which were' numerous and prolonged, were occupied in assisting his father, who was pursu- ing the double avocation of farmer and mechanic.
In the autumn of 1833, he was placed under the instruction of Rev. John C. Tidball, who had recently opened a classical seminary near Steubenville, Ohio. Under this gentleman, who was an accomplished scholar, he made rapid proficiency, and laid the foundation of a fine classical education.
He remained a student in the Seminary until the spring of 1819, when his father procured for him the position of a merchant's clerk. In this pursuit he acquired business habits which have contributed largely to his success.
Young Lawrence did not long remain a clerk in the village store. A brilliant display of forensic eloquence, which it was his good fortune to hear, turned his attention toward another profession, and he re- solved to become a lawyer. With difficulty the consent of his father was obtained to this change of plans. That he might lay a founda- " tion sufficiently broad and deep for a superstructure of professional emi- nence, young Lawrence resylved to prosecute further his classical and literary education. He accordingly enrolled himself as a student in Franklin College, at New Athens, Ohio, in the autumn of 1836. He accomplished the collegiate course in a very short time, and was grad- uated in the fall of 1838, with the highest honors of the institution.
Mr. Lawrence immediately proceeded to Morgan County, Ohio, where he commenced 'the study of law under James L. Gage, Esq., then the oldest and ablest member of the McConnellsville bar. Dur- ing the following winter and the succeeding summer, he taught a dis- trict school. At the same time he pursued his study of the law, and acquired considerable local fame by the success with which he con-
388
WILLIAM LAWRENCE. 3
ducted cases before " the dignitaries who presided on the township bench." -
In the autumn of 1839, Mr. Lawrence became a student of law in the Law Department of the Cincinnati College, where he enjoyed the instruction of Hon. Timothy Walker, author of the " Introduc- tion- to American Law." He applied himself with great intensity to his duties, devoting no less than sixteen hours each day to study, and the exercises of the lecture-room. He graduated with the de- gree of L.B. in March, 1840; but not yet having reached ma- jority, he was compelled to defer making application for admission to the bar.
In the memorable political campaign of 1840, he engaged with ardor in advocating the election of Harrison to the Presidency. He spent the winter of 1840-41 at Columbus, in attendance on the Ohio Legislature, occupied in reporting its proceedings for the Ohio State Journal. By strict attention to the rules and proceedings of that body, he acquired an accurate knowledge of the details of legislation, which has made him a skillful parliamentary tactician.
In the summer of 1841, Mr. Lawrence located in Belief ontaine, Ohio, where he formed a professional partnership with/jjon. Ben- jamin Stan ton.} He soon acquired reputation for great skill in the details of professional business, promptness in the discharge of his duties, and accuracy in his knowledge of the principles of law.
In 1842, he was appointed Commissioner of Bankrupts for Logan County. In 1845, he 'was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Logan County, which office he resigned in 1846, on being nominated as a candidate for representative in the legislature. He was proprietor of the Logan Gazette from March, 1845, to September, 1847, and was for several months editor of that paper.
In 1846, he was elected a member of the legislature, and was re- elected in the following year. In 1849, he was elected a member of the .Ohio Senate for the term ending in 1851. At the close of his Senatorial term he was elected, by the legislature, Eeporter for the Supreme Court, and reported the twentieth volume of Ohio Keports.
4- WILLIAM LAWRENCE.
In 1852, he was on the Whig electoral ticket advocating the elec- tion of General Scott to the Presidency. In 1854 and 1855, he was again a member of the Senate of Ohio. As a member of the legis- lature in both its branches, Mr. Lawrence did great service to the State. He took a leading part in legislation as Chairman of the Ju- diciary Committee, of the Committee on Railroads and Turnpikes, on the Penitentiary and on Public Printing. At the session of 1846-7, he introduced a bill to quiet land titles, which was contested at every session until it was adopted in 1849. It was of vast impor- tance to the real-estate interests of Ohio, and is familiarly known as " Lawrence's Law." At the session of 1847-8, he took the lead, as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, against legislative divorces, in a lengthy argument, report, and protest against their constitution- ality. The Supreme Court afterwards recognized this view ; and the Constitution of Ohio, adopted in 1851, prohibits the granting of di- vorces by the legislature.
At the session of 1850-51, he made a Report in favor of a Reform School for the correction of juvenile offenders — a measure which was finally adopted. He is the author of the Ohio Free-Banking Law, framed at the same session— the best system of State banking ever devised, embodying many of the features of the existing Banking Law of Congress.
In 1856, he was elected Judge of ^the Court of Common Pleas for the Third Judicial District, for the term of five years. He was re- elected in 1861, and held the office until his resignation in 1864. The decisions of Judge Lawrence, published in the " Boston Law Reporter," the " Cleveland Western Law Monthly," of which he was one of the editors, the " Cincinnati Weekly Law Gazette," and the " Pittsburg Legal Journal," would, if collected, make a large volume of Reports.
In 1862, he was appointed, by Governor Todd, Colonel of the Eighty-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, mustered into the service for three months, and served with his regiment mainly under General B. F. Kelley at Cumberland and New Creek.
800
WILLIAM LAWRENCE. 5
Subsequently to his retirement from the bench, Judge Lawrence has occupied himself, in the intervals of business, in the preparation of a work on the Ohio Civil Code, and an elementary treatise on the Law of Interest and Usury.
In 1863, President Lincoln gave him, unsolicited, the appointment of Judge of the United States- District Court for Florida, which he declined to accept. In October, 1864, he was elected a Kepresenta- tive in the Thirty-ninth Congress, from the Fourth District of Ohio. In 1866 and in 1868 he was re-elected.
No member of Congress has more earnestly advocated the home- stead policy, and the duty of the Government to actual settlers on the public lands, than Judge Lawrence. A practice had grown up by which the President and Senate, by treaties with the Indian tribes, had disposed of large bodies of public lands to corporations and spec- ulators. In June, 1868, a treaty was concluded with the Osage In- dians, by which 8,000,000 acres were about to be sold at twenty cents an acre. Judge Lawrence was the first in Congress, or else- where, to denounce these treaties as unconstitutional and impolitic, as he did in his speech of March 21, 1868. His views were subse- quently sustained by the House of Eepresentatives, June 3, 1868, by the passage of a joint resolution declaring that no patents should issue for lands so sold ; June 18, 1868, by the passage of a resolution unani- mously affirming that sales of public lands " are not within the treaty-making power ; " and June 26, 1868, by a joint resolution re- quiring all public lands to be disposed of in pursuance of law.
For several years prior to 1868, Congress had been making large grants of public lands in aid of railways and other public improve- ments, without any provision securing the land to actual settlers. On the 20th of January, 1868, Judge Lawrence introduced in Con- gress a bill providing that all land thereafter granted to aid public work, whether under existing laws or those afterwards enacted, should be sold only to actual settlers at a limited price, the object being to event a monopoly, and secure the settlement of the lands. The platform of the National Convention of the two great political
891
6 WILLIAM LAWKENCE.
parties of the country in this year, substantially indorsed this policy. During the first session of the Fortieth Congress, Judge Lawrence made several speeches on national affairs. One of his principal works was the preparation of a brief, embracing all the authorities upon the law of impeachable crimes and misdemeanors. He has given the following definition of an impeachable high crime and misde- meanor, which will hereafter have the authority of law in American practice :
" An impeachable high crime or misdemeanor is one in its nature or consequences subversive of some fundamental or essential principle of government, or highly prejudicial to the public interest, and this may consist of a violation of the Constitution, of law, of an official oath, or of duty, by an act committed or omjtted, or, without viola- ting a positive law, by the abuse of discretionary power from improper motives or for an improper purpose.
" It should be understood, however, that while this is a proper def- inition, yet it by no means follows that the power of impeachment is limited to technical crimes or misdemeanors only. It may reach offi- cers who, from incapacity or other cause, are absolutely unfit for the performance of their duties, when no other remedy exists, and where the public interests imperatively demand it. '
" When no other remedy can protect them, the interests of millions of people may not be imperiled from tender regard to official tenure, which can only be held for their ruin."
General Butler, one of the Managers on the pa,rt of the Ho'use in the impeachment of President Johnson, adopted it, and in -his open- ing argument referred to it in the following complimentary terms :
" I pray leave to lay before you, at . the close of my argument, a brief of all the precedents and authorities upon this subject, in both countries, for which I am indebted to the exhaustive and learned la- bors of my friend, the Hon. William Lawrence, of Ohio, member of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, in which
I fully concur, and which I adopt."
892
HON. "WILLIAM E ROBINSON.
FROli N2WYORK
WILLIAM E. EOBIN"SOE".
[HE people of the United States are either emigrants or the descendants of emigrants from the Old World. Probably one-fifth of them were born in Europe, though seldom more than five or six of these hold seats in Congress. There are always some of them, however, and they are nowise inferior as a class, either in capacity, intelligence, or patriotism.
William Erigena Robinson was born in Unagh, near Cookstown, Tyrone County, Ireland, on the 6th of May, 1814. His father (Thomas — married to Mary Sloss) was a merchant in Cookstown, rent- ing a small farm in Unagh, where he died in 1863.
William worked on his father's farm, and attended school, while a boy, entering at length, in 1832, the Royal Academy at Belfast ; but a severe attack of typhus fever soon arrested his studies, and, on recovering, he resolved to seek his fortune in the New World. Em- barking at Liverpool, he had a stormy voyage of eight weeks to New York, where he landed in September, 1836. His emotions on first approaching the shores of his adopted country, found expression as
follows :
Hail ! brightest banner that floats on the gale 1 Flag of the country of Washington, hail ! Red are thy stripes, as the blood of the brave, Bright are thy*stars as the sun on the wave ; Wrapt in thy folds are the hopes of the free, Banner of Washington, blessings on thee !
Mountain-tops mingle the sky with their snow; Prairies lie smiling in sunshine below ; Rivers, as broad as the sea in their pride, Border thine Empires, but do not divide; Niagara's voice far out-anthems the sea ; Land of sublimity, blessings on thee !
2 WILLIAM E. ROBINSON.
Hope of the World ! on thy mission sublime, When thou didst burst on the pathway ot Time, Millions from darkness and bondage awoke ; Music was born when Liberty spoke ; Millions to come yet shall join in the glee ; Land of the Pilgrim's hope ! blessings on thee I
Empires shall perish and monarchies fail ; Kingdoms and thrones in thy glory grow pale ! Thou shalt.live on, and thy people shall own Loyalty's sweet, where each heart is thy throne. UNIOK and FREEDOM thine heritage be, . . Country of Washington, blessings on thee !
Though fully of age, and wholly dependent on his own exertions, young Robinson soon entered the classical school of Rev. John J. Owen, where he completed his preparation for college, entering Yale as a Freshman in the autumn of 1837. While in college, he began to write for the journals, especially the New Haven Herald. He graduated in 1841, and his valedictory oration before the Brothers in Unity was published by the Society. He now entered the New Ha- ven Law School, but still found time* for writing, and for lecturing on Ireland, in response to invitations from different cities. In 1844, he became a writer for the New York Tribune, with which he was for several years connected, either as correspondent (" Richelieu ") or as- sistant editor ; but he wrote also for the Richmond Whig, Boston Atla$, and other journals, especially while acting as correspondent at Washington. In the autumn of 1846, he edited for a time the Buf- falo Express. In 1848, he was proposed as a Whig candidate for Congress from New York City, in a district where a nomination was then equivalent to an election ; but another was. preferred to him by a majority of one. In 1849, he started in that city, in connection with the late Thomas Devin Reilly, an Irish paper entitled The People ; but this proving a losing speculation, was stopped at the close of its first half-year, and Mr. Robinson accepted the post of Measurer in the New York Custom House, and held it till the Whig party waa ousted from power by the election of Pierce as President. General Scott was the Whig candidate in 1852, and he had no more zealous nor efficient supporter than Mr. Robinson.
394
WILLIAM E. ROBINSON. 3
The dissolution of the Whig party was one consequence (if not rather a cause) of General Scott's overwhelming discomfiture, and Mr. Robinson thenceforth eschewed politics. He was married in January, 1853, to Miss Helen A. Dougherty, of Newark, New Jersey, and de- voted himself assiduously to the practice of law in New York for the ten years ensuing. Though avoiding activity or prominence in politics, his affiliations during this period were mostly with the independent or anti-Tammany Democrats, by whom he was once run for a Dis- trict Judge ; but though he ran ahead of his Democratic rival on the regular ticket, the split insured the defeat of both. Mean- time he made a visit, in 1859, to his native land, accompanied by his wife, and had the pleasure of greeting once more his aged father not long before his decease. He made a hasty trip on the Continent, but returned without crossing the Alps. A public dinner was given to him by the Mayor, Recorder, and other citizens of New York, on his departure, and a similar honor was bestowed upon him at the Giant's Causeway by his old friends and neighbors on his arrival in Ireland.
Having removed to Brooklyn, and the war of secession having con- strained him to take an active part in defense of the Union, Presi- dent Lincoln, in 1862, appointed him Assessor of Internal Revenue in the Third District, and he held that trust until March 4, 1867, when he resigned it, having been elected to Congress from that Dis- trict, as a Democrat, at the preceding November election, by 12,634 votes to 10,803 for Simeon B. Chittendon, Republican. The District ' chose a Republican at the preceding election.
Mr. Robinson's prior knowledge of Congress as a correspondent was extensive and familiar. Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, and John M. Clayton, were members in his day, and he was on friendly terms with all the great men of the Whig party. James Iv. Polk, Millard Fillmore, James Bu- chanan, and Franklin Pierce, with Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, Thomas H. Benton, John Slidell, and William L. Yancey, were under his eye for years as he watched the proceedings from the reporters' gallery of either House. Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham
4 WILLIAM E. ROBINSON.
Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson, were members of that House whereof Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, was Speaker, and of whose doings Mr. Robinson was a watchful and deeply interested observer. Twen- ty years elapsed before he was called to a seat, and in those years most of them had passed from earth. Andrew Johnson, Simon Cameron, and Robert C. Schenck, are perhaps all who remain in public life of those whom Mr. Robinson saw occupying seats in Congress in 1846-Y.
Elected as a Democrat, Mr. Robinson has been faithful to the con- victions of his party, but not a blind partisan. He voted for Schuy- ler Colfax for Speaker. As a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, he has devoted his attention mainly to the securing of full protection for the rights of adopted citizens against the claims of European Governments to require of them military service, or to call them to account for acts done or words spoken in this country. If this question shall ultimately be settled to the satisfaction of the large class more especially interested, the credit will be largely due to Mr. Robinson's ardent and indefatigable efforts. He closed one of his speeches on the subject with these impressive words :
" I have done what I could to excite the attention of this people, and to call that of this House to the subject, and I can only say that when this thing is accomplished, when the true doctrine which we announce here to-day, and will hereafter insist upon, shall become in- corporated in international law, and its vitality shall be recognized , throughout the world, though I may have departed before that time, my memory may live among those who have advocated it. And in that hour of triumph for American ideas, and maybe the hour of Ireland's independence, although
" ' I, too, shall be gone-; yet my name shall be spoken When Erin awakes, and her fetters are broken.' "
Mr. Robinson, while discharging his duties as an American citizen, has always been devoted to the cause of his native land. The subject of protecting American citizens in foreign lands, and guaranteeing the right of expatriation, was urged by him on the attention of Con
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WILLIAM E. ROBINSON. 5
gress in 1842, through Henry Clay ; and since then he has kept it be- fore the public in lectures, speeches, and editorials. In 1843, he was a prominent actor in the Irish Repeal movement in this country. In 1847, when the famine broke out in Ireland, he was the principal ac- tor in the movement to send from this country that substantial relief which the Macedonian and other vessels carried to Ireland. It was at his request that his friends, John J. Crittenden and Washington Hunt, urged the Half-Million Bill on the Senate (which passed it) and the House (where it failed), and carried through the Resolution to send the frigate Macedonian with provisions. The national meet- ing in Washington, at which Yice-President Dallas presided, and Calhoun, Clayton, Cass, and others (one from each State), acted as vice-presidents — with Webster, Crittenden, and others, as speakers, was due mainly to his exertions. It was at his personal solicitation that every officer and speaker attended. In 1848, he threw his whole soul into the movement for Irisn independence ; and the chief actors therein sought, found, and acknowledged Mr. Robinson's efficient and disinterested friendship on their arrival in this country. In 1856-7, he was Secretary (James T. Brady, President) of the Society of " The Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty," which held up the tolera-nt views of Washington in opposition to those of the then formidable Know-Nothing party ; and he was chosen by that Society, at their last grand annual banquet on Washington's birth-day, 1857, as speaker to the principal toast, in place of Judge Douglas of Illinois, who had been chosen for that duty, but was unable to attend.
Many of Mr. Robinson's lectures, speeches, and orations, and some of his poetry, have been published, and extensively quoted and criti- cized on both sides of the Atlantic — particularly his orations before the Psi Upsilon Society, convened from different colleges, at Hamilton College, in 1851, in which he combated the then prevalent idea that this country is Anglo-Saxon, arguing that the Irish was the strongest, and the Anglo-Saxon the weakest element in the United States. The distant mutterings of disunion were heard even then, and, at the close of the oration, Mr. Robinson thus referred to it :
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6 WILLIAM E. ROBINSON.
" This Union shall not fail. ' It shall stand : for the prayers, and hopes, and sympathies of a world are gathering around it. * * *
" There are four millions of citizen soldiers whose every heart is a citadel, whose every body is a shield around and over it ; and around the citadel of liberty shall rise ramparts of bodies, and shall flow a deluge of blood, before its safety is periled or its throne shaken. From the exiles from one country alone, whose sons, flying 'from op- pression there, found shelter here, we could raise an army of 100,000 fighting men, as brave, as irresistible, as their countrymen who fought at Cremona or Fontenoy. * * * There should be * no such word as fail ' in the Lexicon of this Kepublic. Washington's wisdom, Montgomery's blood, the blessings of the past, the promise of the fu- ture, the hopes of the world, are mingling with the folds of its flag, and dancing in its stars. * * *
" Those who talk of disunion have little faith in man's wisdom, and less in God's providence. They have but a faint idea of our bright destiny. The light of that flag shall burst like a sun upon the falling ruins of oppression throughout the world. Many an eye, sick and sunken, shall revive to gaze upon the increasing constellation of its stars. There shall be no Gibeon on which the sun of its glory shall stand stilly no valley of Ajalon over which the moon of its beauty shall be stayed. For him who shall attempt to fire the temple of American Liberty, who would pale a star, or blot a stripe from its glo- rious flag, time shall be too short for repentance, Heaven too indig- nant for forgiveness, and the woe of the doomed too merciful for the punishment of his crime. He shall perish from among men ; his name shall not blister on the page of history ; he,
1 Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from which he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.' "
898
RON NORMAN B. JUDD,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
-
•
B. JUDD.
1ORMAN B. JUDD was born at Eome, N. Y., January 10, 1815. He descended from New England ancestors, combined with the Dutch stock to which the region adja- cent to the Hudson owes so much of its thrift.
Young Judd received the rudiments of education at the common schools, and subsequently attended Grovernor's High School at Rome. Upon his graduation from the school, he was qualified to enter col- lege ; but being unwilling to burden his parents with the expenses of his education, he determined to enter at once upon business pursuits. He was employed for a short time as a merchant's clerk ; but finding this an uncongenial pursuit, he entered upon the study of law in his native town, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1836, hav- ing just attained his majority.
One of Mr. Judd's schoolmates and friend, at Grovernor's, after- wards distinguished as Chief-Justice Caton, had removed 4o the West, and settled in Chicago, where he had laid the foundation of a lucrative law practice.
He wrote to Mr. Judd, requesting him to come to the new city, which had already commenced to attract attention. The letter from his friend, and the advantages which the West then held out to young men, induced him to comply with the request. He arrived in Chi- cago in November,. 1836, and at once entered into a partnership with Mr. Caton. His abilities as a lawyer immediately gave him prom- inent position at the bar, and secured for him an election as the first City Attorney, during the mayoralty of Hon. William B. Ogden, in the year 1887, a position which he filled successfully for two years.
2 NORMAN B. JUDD.
In 1838, Judge Caton removed to Plainfield, 111., and the partner- ship between him and Mr. Judd was dissolved. Immediately there- after, he entered into partnership .with Hon. J. Y. Scammon, and they remained together in the successful practice of the law for nine years.
Mr. Judd held many city offices during the time, and had become known as one of the leading lawyers of the State. He became largely engaged in railroad business, which he managed with so much ability and satisfaction to the companies, that he was permanently retained as the attorney for the Michigan Southern, the Chicago and Rock Island, the Mississippi and Missouri, and the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne railroads. He also held the office of president of the Peoria and Bureau Valley Railroad, president of the Railroad Bridge Company at Rock Island, a director of the Chicago and Rock Island railroad, and a director of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad. He has been engaged in nearly all the railroad enterprises that centered at Chicago, manifesting rare abilities for organizing that vast system which is now a source of wealth to the State, and of growth to the city.
His active political life commenced in 1844, when he was elected to the State Senate, on the Democratic ticket, from the district of Cook and Lake Counties, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resigna- tion of Hon. Samuel Hoard. He was re-elected to the same position in 1846, and (the new constitution cutting oft half his term) again in 1848. His career in the Senate was so satisfactory in the ad- vancement of the best interests of Chicago, that he was re-elected in 1852, and again in 1856. During the sixteen years that he was State Senator, he gave his best energies and abilities to securing the material growth and prosperity of Chicago. He also did much to place the impaired credit of the State on a healthy basis, and, aided by his close knowledge of the law and his position as an attorney, he helped largely to mould, by legislation, the character of the courts of Chicago.
"We come now to an important era in Mr. Judd's political life, the 400
NORMAN B. JUDD. 3
events of which brought him more prominently than ever before the people of the State. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was agitating the entire country at the election in the autumn of 1853, and was the entering- wedge that was to divide parties. The Legis- lature of Illinois, elected that year, was made up of three parties : Democrats, "Whigs, and Anti-Nebraska Democrats. The General Assembly, in joint session, was composed of one hundred members. Of these the Whigs and Anti-Nebraska Democrats numbered fifty- one, and the Democrats forty-nine. Mr. Judd belonged to the Anti- Nebraska Democrats, and was a zealous and unflinching advocate of their doctrines, although the party seemed to be in a hopeless minor- ity. On the meeting of the General Assembly, the full strength of the party was eight, three Senators and five Representatives. Before the election for Senator came on, that small minority was still further reduced by the loss of three of its members. Honorable James Shields, who had voted to repeal the Missouri Compromise, was a candidate for re-election. Mr. Lincoln was the candidate of the Whigs, who had forty-six votes'. Judge Trumbull was the can- didate of the Anti-Nebraska Democrats, who could muster five votes. After several ballots, the Democrats dropped General Shields, and cast their votes for Governor Joel A. Mattison. On the nineteenth ballot, the friends of Mr. Lincoln, at his request, dropped his name, and joining the Anti-Nebraska Democrats, elected Judge Trumbull as Senator.
The action of the small minority in this election caused an intense excitement among the Whig politicians throughout the State ; and afterwards, in 1860, when Mr. Judd was a candidate for nomination by the Republican party to the office of "Governor, his opponents charged him with treachery and bad faith toward Mr. Lincoln.
A letter was addressed to Mr. Lincoln, inquiring into the truth of these charges. He replied with characteristic candor, fully justify- ing " the wisdom, politically, of Mr. Judd's course," and testifying to " his honesty, honor, and integrity."
In 1856, Mr. Judd was a member of the famous Bloomington Con-
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4 NORMAN B. JUDD.
vention, that organized the Republican party in Illinois. He was one of the prime movers of that Convention, and brought to bear upon it that executive ability which has always marked lus career in the organization of conventions, the management of canvasses, and the direction of great political movements. His prominence in the Convention, both as a counselor and projector, placed him on the Committee on Eesolutions, and secured for him the appointment of Chairman of the State Central Committee — a position which he held during the canvass of 1856, the Lincoln and Douglas Senatorial campaign of 1858, and the canvass of 1860, which resulted in the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. During that period, his practical experience and cool judgment did much to place the party in the majority ; and he managed all its canvasses with remarkable suc- CQSS. His forte was not so much on the stump — although he was always a clear, able, and forcible speaker — as in planning the battle, choosing the ground, distributing the forces, and governing their movements. In this direction he brought a rare generalship to bear upon campaigns.
The next important event in Mr. Judd's political life, was the Philadelphia Convention, that nominated John C. Fremont for the Presidency, to which Mr. Judd was a delegate from Illinois, and chairman of the delegation. He was selected by the delegation as a member of the National Republican Committee. By his efforts in that Committee, he secured Chicago as the locality for the Republi- can Convention of 1860.
In 1858, after a consultation with Mr. Judd, Mr. Lincoln con- cluded to ask for a joint discussion with Judge Douglas on the great issues of the day. Upon Mr. Judd devolved the duty of making the preliminary arrangements, and managing the executive part of a discussion which must ever be regarded as one of the most memorable events in the political history of the country.
The next political movement in which Mr. Judd was' prominently engaged was the Convention that nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency, held in Chicago, in 1860, in which he was chairman of '
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NORMAN B. JUDD. 5
the Illinois delegation. The contest in the Convention was between the friends of Mr. Seward, under the leadership of the New York del- egation, and the friends of Mr. Lincoln, under the leadership of the Illinois delegation. Mr. Seward was placed in nomination, in behalf of the New York delegation, by Hon. William M. Evarts ; and Mr. Lincoln, in behalf of the Illinois delegation, by Mr. Judd. The con- test throughout was one of the most animated ever known in the his- tory of political conventions. Mr. Seward's interests were in the hands of some of the most astute and influential politicians of the East, and some of the prominent party-leaders of the West. At the outset Mr. Seward's chances seemed the most favorable ; but the ground had been carefully reviewed, and the preliminaries had been skillfully planned by the friends of Mr. Lincoln. Although the struggle was a long and severe one, Mr. Judd's generalship was suc- cessful, and Mr. Lincoln received the unanimous nomination of the Convention to be the standard-bearer of the Republican party.
Mr. Judd was one of the party that accompanied Mr. Lincoln when he went to Washington to assume the duties of the Presidency. When the party arrived in Cincinnati, Mr. Judd received a letter from Mr. Allen Pinkerton, a detective officer in Baltimore, informing him that there was a plot on foot to assassinate Mr. Lincoln on his passage through that city. Additional evidence communicated at Buffalo, New York, and Philadelphia, convinced Mr. Judd that the murderous and treasonable conspiracy was a reality. He kept the matter a pro- found secret from Mr. Lincoln and his company until they reached Philadelphia, and then, in the Continental Hotel, laid all the proofs of the conspiracy before them. The evidence was so conclusive that Mr. Lincoln was fully convinced of a plot to assassinate him, and acquiesced in Mr. Judd's arrangement, by which he returned from Harrisburg, and leavjng Philadelphia by the night train, proceeded immediately to Washington, where he arrived a day earlier than was expected. He thus eluded his enemies, and deferred the fatal blow of assassination which fell upon him and appalled the world a little more than four years later.
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6 NORMAN B. JUDD.
On Mr. Lincoln's accession to the Presidency, March 4, 1861, the first appointment that he made after nominating the members of his Cabinet, was that of Mr. Judd to be Minister to Berlin. He imme- diately sailed for his new field of duty, where he remained during Mr. Lincoln's administration r one of the most energetic, faithful, and ac- complished of our Representatives in foreign countries. Honored by Mr. Lincoln in -being made the recipient of his first appointment, Mr. Judd was also distinguished by Mr. Johnson as the first victim in the series of removals by which he marked his departure from the party that elected him to office.
Mr. Judd came home from Berlin in October, 1865. He was at once spoken of by prominent Republicans in Chicago as the suitable man to receive their nomination for Representative in Congress.
Hon. John Wentworth, a gentleman of great ability and political influence, was his opponent before the Convention. They had been rivals for twenty years in the Democratic and Republican parties. The contest for the nomination was very spirited, but l^Tr. Judd triumphed over his rival, and received the nomination. He was elected by a majority of nearly eleven thousand votes. • In the deliberations and discussions of the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Judd took a prominent and influential part. By his devotion to the interests of his enterprising constituency, and his patriotic regard for the good of the country, he merited the testimonial which was given in his re-election in November, 1868.
404
REPRESENTATIVE FBOM PENNSYLVANIA.
\JRI>.
o.-^iu] . blii life in :irs for the first time . l>er of -the Fortieth
•
.
icW anon Ins
GEOKGE W. WOODWAED.
FTER a distinguished career and a successful public life in another field, Judge Woodward appears for the first time among national legislators ,as a member of -the Fortieth He was born in Bethany, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1809. His family had settled in Pennsylvania before the Revolution. His two grandfathers formed part of a colony from Connecticut, which had occupied in 1774 the valley of the Wallenpaupack. After the massacre of Wyoming in July, 1778, the colonists were driven from their homes by the Tories and Indians. The women and children took refuge in the counties of Orange and Dutchess, in the State of New York, while most of the men of the colony enlisted in the Revo- lutionary army. Jacob Kimble, the maternal grandfather of Judge Woodward, commanded a company in the Connecticut line through- out the war. After the close of the war, in 1783, the survivors of the settlers returned to the valley of the Wallenpaupack, a region then remote and obscure, where they labored to re-establish their homes and retrieve their fortunes.
The father of Judge Woodward was an industrious fanner, who struggled for years against poverty and adversity to maintain a large family. Before the birth of George, who was the youngest son, an event occurred which changed the entire fortunes of the family. As the father was returning from his work one evening, he fell upon his scythe and severed his hand from his body. By this accident Mr. Woodward was prevented from following his former pursuits, and was confined for several months while recovering from his wound. He occupied the time in reading, and improving his mind. On his
405
2 GEORGE W. WOODWARD.
recovery, lie engaged in teaching school ; and having the confidence of his neighbors and fellow-citizens, he was soon chosen to public office. At the birth of his son George, he was Sheriff of the county of Wayne, and subsequently became Associate Judge, an office which he held until his death in 1829.
In his childhood, young "Woodward attended such schools as could be afforded in a community of struggling and straitened settlers. He subsequently enjoyed the instructions of an elder brother, who was for the time an accomplished mathematician, and gave has pupil the foundation of a thorough mathematical education.
As soon as he attained a suitable age, he was placed at Geneva, New York, in the institution now known as Hobart College. Here he was the classmate of Horatio Seymour, and other young men who have since become distinguished in public life. From Geneva he was transferred to the Wilkesbarre Academy, in the «ounty of Luzerne, in Pennsylvania — an institution which offered to its pupils rare ad- vantages for acquiring thorough classical, mathematical, and scien- tific knowledge.
Ending his academical pursuits in 1829, young Woodward entered the office of the Hon. Garrick Mallery, as a student-at-law. In 1831, Mr. Mallery having been appointed Judge of a Judicial District, Mr. Woodward, who had been admitted to the bar in the preceding year, occupied his office, and succeeded to his business. His success at the bar was very rapid and very great. Within a very short time he was in full practice in the counties of Luzerne, Wayne, Pike, Munroe, and Susquehanna, and in the Supreme Court of the State.
In politics, Mr. Woodward was a member of the Democratic party. In 1836, he was elected a delegate to the -Convention called to reform the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Its numbers included the most prominent leaders at the bar, judges who have been long upon the bench, and gentlemen who had held high positions in the State and National Governments. Mr. Woodward was one of the youngest members of the Convention, yet he took a prominent and influential
part in the debates. He advocated a limitation of the tenure of
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GEORGE W. WOODWARD. 3
office in the Judges of the State, who had been appointed for life. He favored a modification of the Constitution, by which the right of suffrage was limited to the white inhabitants of Pennsylvania.
At the close of the Constitutional Convention, Mr. "Woodward resumed the practice of his profession. In April, 1841, he was ap- pointed by the Governor to the office of President Judge of the Fourth Judicial District. He discharged the duties of his office with great energy and ability for a term of ten years.
In 1844, a vacancy occurring in the United States Senate, by the appointment of Mr. Buchanan to a place in the Cabinet of President Polk, Judge Woodward received the nomination of the caucus of Democratic members who composed a majority of the legislature. By the rules regulating the action of political parties, Judge Wood- ward was entitled to an election, but a sufficient number of Demo- crats deserted their nominee to secure the election of Simon Cameron.
In March, 1845, a vacancy occurring in the Supreme Court for the Circuit composed of the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, President Polk nominated Judge Woodward to fill the vacancy. The fact that this nomination had been made without consultation with Mr. Buchanan, Secretary of State, in connection with* the hostility of Mr. Cameron, led to the defeat of Judge "Woodward in the Senate.
On the expiration of his term of office as President Judge of the Fourth Judicial District, in April, 1851, he resumed the practice of law in his former office at Wilkesbarre. In May, 1852, he was appointed, by Governor Bigler, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. By a constitutional amendment adopted in 1850, this office had be- come elective, and the appointment therefore extended only to the first of December, 1852. He was nominated as the Democratic can- didate, by the convention of the party, by acclamation. He now, for the first time, was able to submit his merits and his claims to the de- cision of the people of the State. It was found in his case that the man who is the last choice of the political managers, is the first choice of the mass of the voters. In the county of Luzeme, where
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4 GEORGE W. WOODWARD.
he had spent his life, and in several adjacent counties, where he was intimately known, he received a larger vote than had ever been cast for a candidate in a contested election. He was elected by a majority in the State, which attested most emphatically his professional emi- nence, and his integrity of character.
Few men in the country have occupied the Bench for a longer period than Judge Woodward. As a Judge, he soon readied a repu- tation deservedly high. He possessed unusual powers of concentra- tion, and great capacity for labor. His style of discussing legal questions is singularly forcible, distinct, and clear. Avoiding all affectation of fine writing, he says of a case just that which it is necessary to say in English that is always simple, accurate, and ele- gant. There are no opinions in the Pennsylvania Keports more in- telligible to plain and unlearned men than those of Judge Wpod- ward, and there are none more able, thorough, and exhaustive.
In 1863, Judge Woodward received the unsolicited nomination of the Democrats of Pennsylvania as their candidate for Governor. Restrained by his judicial commission from taking an active part in the canvass, -he encountered all the opposition the national adminis- tration could make, which at that stage of the war was considerable. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, he received 254,171 votes, the largest number which up to that time had ever been polled for < any gubernatorial candidate. Many well-informed politicians believed then, and still believe, that this was' a majority of the votes cast; but a majority of 15,335 was certified to his competitor, Governor Curtin, and no scrutiny was ever instituted to test this return.
As Mr. Woodward's term of office as Judge of the Supreme Court would expire in December, 1867, he gave notice as early as the pre- ceding January, that he should decline a re-election. In June, 1867, he went to Europe, and was absent several months. Soon after his departure, the death of Mr. Denison occurred, who.had been elected to represent the Twelfth District of Pennsylvania in the Fortieth Congress. Judge Woodward was nominated to fill the vacancy, and was elected before his return from Europe.
408
GEORGE W. WOODWARD. 5
Taking his seat with the minority in the Fortieth Congress, in November, 1867, Judge Woodward at once took a high position as a clear, calm, and logical defender of the principles and policy of the Democratic party.
His speeches in Congress have received . marked attention from men of all parties. We have space for only a brief extract, which forms the conclusion of an impromptu speech delivered by Judge Woodward in the House of Representatives, March 27, 1868, on the President's veto of the bill withdrawing the McCardle case from the Supreme Court :
" Here is an American citizen with the vested right to the judg- ment of that court, about, according to common rumor, to obtain favorable judgment, when the legislative department rushes in and takes the case out of the hands of the judicial department. It de- cides the case against the citizen. * * * This law prostrates all distinction between the coordinate branches into which the political power of this country was divided. It is no longer true that judicial power belongs exclusively to the judicial department. It is hence- forth true that the Legislature may invade the courts and stop the exercise of judicial power in proper judicial cases. In other words, Sir, the first principles of the Government under which we live are trampled under foot by this law. The Constitution, which we have sworn to support, is utterly disregarded by this law. Every man must judge for himself how that oath is to be performed, but I lay the Constitution across the path the majority are pursuing, and I re- mind them of their oaths.
" ' If reason hath not fled from man to brutish beasts,' I wonld like to see these positions either confessed or answered. Powers are distributed ; the judicial power (all of it) belongs to the courts ; jurisdiction in McCardle's case had attached ; the court were advising on the judgment to render ; the Legislature claims to take the case out of court, and thus in effect to decide it against McCardle.
" Mr. Speaker, this is not the only liberty we have taken with the
Supreme Court of the United States: At this session we passed a
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Q GEORGE W. WOODWARD.
law which requires two- thirds of the judges of that court to unite in declaring any act of Congress unconstitutional. The Senate has not passed that bill, and I trust it never will. I took the liberty to ex- press my repugnance to it when it passed the House. I am glad the Senate has refrained from passing it. Why ? Because it is a legis- lative interference with judicial functions. That is my great objec- tion to that law, as it is to this one.
" I look upon any interference on the part of Congress with the proper judicial tribunals not only as a great indelicacy, but a most dangerous precedent. We have found it so in stripping the Execu- tive of his proper constitutional duties. The Tenure-of-Office act and several other laws, which place the Executive in the power of his sub- ordinates, have virtually destroyed the executive power of this Gov- ernment. The legislation to which I have referred, and this bill, are acts directed at the judicial department, and what do they portend ? What are the people of the country to understand from such legisla- tion ? Just this : that the legislative department of the country is determined to consolidate all the powers of the Government into its own hands ; determined to consolidate this Government into a grand legislative oligarchy, the country to be governed by the Legislature, and the Legislature to be governed by a caucus, and the caucus to be governed by — the Lord knows who ; for I do not know who will suc- ceed my venerable friend from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] as ruler of this House when he shall depart. I hope he will be a man as wise and good as he is.
" Sir, if this legislation means anything, it means just this : that the President shall not exercise the constitutional functions of his office, the judges shall not exercise the constitutional powers vested in them, but the legislative will shall be supreme ; which I say is a repeal of the Constitution of the United States, and a consolidation of all the political power of this Government into the hands of a legislative oligarchy to be wielded I know not by whom."
Spontaneously re-nominated in the fall of 1868, Judge Woodward was elected by an increased majority to the Forty-first Congress.
410
HON IGNATIUS DONNELY.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MINNESOTA
IGNATIUS DOJ^ELLY.
fATIUS DOls^ELLY was boru in Philadelphia, Govern •I education, grad- 3 native city.. In •vith the Hon. Benjamin
•
•
eratic party, with which he
•
IGNATIUS
'GNATIUS DONNELLY was born in Philadelphia, Novem ber 3, 1831. He received an academical education, grad- uating at the Central High School of his native city. In 1849, he commenced the study of law with the Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, who in a recently published letter describes his former pupil as " a man of uncommon energy, skill, and strict integ- rity." Having completed his law studies, in 1853, Mr. Donnelly devoted much time and attention to furthering the interests of the Union Land and Homestead Association, of which he was Secretary. Upon Mr. Donnelly's removal from Philadelphia, a card was pub- lished in the daily papers by order of the Association attributing its success to his exertions, and expressing the best wishes of the mem- bers for his prosperity.
In 1857, Mr. Donnelly emigrated to Minnesota. Just before his removal to the West he left the Democratic party, with which he had been identified, and became a Eepublican. As the State of Minnesota was at that time Democratic, and the County where he went to reside was two to one Democratic, his change of party seemed unfavorable to any political aspirations he might have possessed. The result, however, proved more fortunate than the most sanguine hope could have anticipated. So favorable an impression did he make, that in 1859, two years after his arrival in the State, he was elected Lieu- tenant-Governor of Minnesota. In 1861, he was re-elected .to the same office. In 1862, he was elected a Representative in the Thirty- eighth Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. In 1868, Mr. Donnelly was nominated for re-election to the Forty-first Congress; but another Republican candidate entering
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2 IGNATIUS DONNELLY
the field, both were beaten by a Democrat. The indepeudant Re- publican candidate gave as one reason for opposing the re-election of Mr. Donnelly that he was " a candidate for the United States Senate, and surely had no good demand on the party to elect him to the House of Representatives merely as a stepping stone to the Senate, and to enable him the better to control votes in the contest."
Mr. Donnelly has been an active and able member of the House, and his acts and speeches evince not only ability and energy, but are strongly marked by patriotic and philanthropic views. Among other speeches of his delivered in the Thirty-eighth Congress, was one on the "Reform in the Indian System," from which we present one or two brief selections :
" Let it not be said that the nation shall advance in its career of greatness regardless of the destruction of the red man. There is room enough in the world, thank God, for all the races he has created to inhabit it. Thirty million white people can certainly find space somewhere on this broad continent for a third of a million of those who originally possessed the whole of it. While we are inviting to our shores the oppressed races of mankind, let us at least deal justly by those whose rights ante-date our own by countless centuries. It is the destiny of the white man to overrun this world ; but it is as plainly his destiny to cany in his train the great forces which con- stitute his superiority, civilization, and Christianity. We are exhibit- ing, to-day, the unequaled spectacle of a superior race sharing its noblest privileges with the humblest of mankind, and lifting up to the condition of freedom and happiness those who, from the date of time,- have been either barbarians or slaves.
"How shall the Indian — a nomad, a hunter, a barbarian — compete on the same soil, and under the same circumstances, in the great struggle for life with the civilized white man? Civilization means energy, industry, acuteness, skill, perseverance. Barbarism means in- dolence, torpidity, ignorance, and irresolution. How can the two be brought together, and the inferior not fall at once a sacrifice to the
rapacity of the superior ? This is the problem before us.
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IGNATIUS DONNELLY. 3
" The Government must interpose its merciful protection between weakness and power. It is doing so in the case of the black man ; let it deal as fairly by the red man. Without action by this Govern- ment, a thousand years would have left the slave of the South still a slave. Under wise and just laws he will swell at once the power of the nation,. increase its resources, and adorn it, in time, with great •names and honored services. We cannot afford to be unjust to any portion of mankind."
On the 7th of May, 1868, Mr. Donnelly made a speech in favor of a bill to prevent the further sale of public lands, except as provided for in the pre-emption and homestead laws. From this speech we make the following extracts :
" The first settler is the comer-stone of all future development ; the entire structure of society and government must rest upon the foundation of his labors. His work shall last till doomsday. He first unites the industry of man to the capabilities of the fertile earth. The tide of which he is the forerunning breaker, shall never recede — ' Ne'er feel returning ebb, but keep due on ' — until the wil- derness is densely populated ; until every foot of land, however in- tractable, is subdued ; until the factories cluster thickly in great knots upon every falling stream ; until cities, towns, and villages dot the whole land ; until science, art, education, morality, and religion bear the world forward to a development far beyond the furthest ken of the imagination, into that unknown future of the human race which we cannot prefigure even in our dreams.
" How many beautiful traits gather around these homes snatched from the wilderness ? How many fair women and noble men have seen the first light of heaven through the chinks of the log-house ? How many heroes worthy to be embalmed in perpetual history have grown up in sturdy independence of the forest and prairie ? By the side of such men the denizens of your cities are a dwarfed race. It needs pure air, pure sunshine, pure food, and the great stormy winds of heaven to produce the highest types of the human family,
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4 IGNATIUS DONNELLY.
and to give to them that inflexible grain which is the first constituent of great characters.
" Consider for one instant the part performed by the people of -the "West in the suppression of the rebellion. Their share of the great work was well done. Wherever they advanced, they overcame the rebellion as they overcame the wilderness ; they hewed it. down, they out-worked it, they chopped it to pieces, they overwhelmed it with energy and industry, they bridged it, they corduroyed it, they blazed and burned it out of existence. The men whom nature in all its hard and stubborn moods could not resist, made easy victory over their misguided fellow-citizens fighting for slavery and against lib- erty and law.
" They were types of thousands and tens of thousands of men through all the regions from which they came — the great West : quiet, unpretending men, steadfast and earnest, patiently fulfilling the appointed work which God has given them to do.
" This nation needs more of such men. 'We must cherish the insti- tutions which have produced them. Their price is richer than ru- bies. They are the salt of a nation. Some one said to Croesus when he showed him his treasures : " But if one should come along with more iron, he would take all this gold." The prosperity of a people rests upon its manhood ; the gold can only repose upon the iron. Without this a nation is but a conglomerate of sordidness and sensuality — a mixture of clay and brass, which must fall to pieces the moment a strong hand is laid upon it.
" Now, what is the root of all this ? It is the pioneer driving his plow for the first time into the surface of the wilderness. The whole structure rests upon the occupancy and ownership of the land by the individual. Hence follow independence, self-respect, and all the in- centives to labor ; hence industry, intelligence, schools, society, de- velopment— not the hot-house development of the towns, but sturdy, healthy development, which has its roots in the earth, which expands in the family circle, and which brings strength and power to the best traits of human nature."
414
'ln>5 * by Geo E Ptenn*
HON. SAMUEL F. GARY,
BF-FPESF/NTATIVK FHOK OHIO
SAJtf
ketch is a
:
SAMUEL F. OAKY.
E subject of this sketch is a lineal descendant of John Gary, of the Plymouth Colony. His father, William Gary, emi- grated from New Hampshire to the Northwest Territory before Ohio became a State. His mother, Kebecca Fenton, was a native of the State of New York, and was a sister of Governor Teuton's father.
Samuel Fenton Gary was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 18, 1814. In the same year his father removed to a farm in the wilder- ness, six miles from Cincinnati. The place is now known as College Hill, and is the seat of Fanners' College, founded by Freeman G. Cary, and the Ohio Female College, established by Samuel F. Gary, two brothers who, with rare taste and public spirit, expended their patrimony in rearing these noble institutions as monuments on the paternal estate.
Young Cary was graduated at Miami University, in ' the class of 1835. Shortly after his graduation he entered the Cincinnati Law School, and received its honors in 1837. • He was immediately admit- ted to practice, and at once took rank with the first young members of the Cincinnati bar. His practice rapidly increased, and when he relinquished the profession in 1845, no man of his age in the State of Ohio had a larger business, or more enviable reputation as an advocate.
Obeying his philanthropic impulses, Mr. Gary abandoned the bar, in spite of the remonstrances of his numerous admirers, and began to devote all his energies to the cause of Temperance. In behalf of this great reform, he has made more public addresses, has been heard by a greater number of persons, and has made larger contribu- tions of time and money than any other man in the United States.
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2 SAMUEL F. CART.
He has been repeatedly heard in all the principal cities and towns in twenty-six States, and all the British Provinces in North America. 'No less than 400,000 have been induced by him to sign the pledge of total abstinence, and a multitude that no man can number bless his name.
Mr. Gary early became a Son of Temperance, and in 1848 was chosen the head of the Order in North America. During the two years of his official term, he visited twenty-two States and Provinces, and the Order was more than doubled in the number of its member- ship. For twenty years he was the gratuitous editor of Temperance papers of large circulation, and has written several valuable tracts that have been widely distributed and read.
As early as 1840, Mr. Gary acquired a great reputation as a politi- cal speaker, and took a prominent and active part in the Harrison campaign. In every Presidential campaign since that time his ser- vices have been Bought and appreciated. There is probably not a man in the United States who is his superior on the stump. During the late civil war he was indefatigable and very successful in his efforts to fill up the ranks of the Union Army.
His style of speaking is peculiarly his own. A distinguished writer has said of him that " he speaks like a Greek, with the ease, the grace, the naturalness of the ancient orators." His speeches are the happiest combination of logic, argument, wit, sarcasm, pathos, apt illustrations, and felicitous anecdotes. He plays upon the pas- sions and feelings of an audience with consummate skill. His per- sonale gives force to his utterances. He is five feet eleven inches in height, weighs two hundred pounds, has dark complexion, a large head, with an unusual amount of hair, large black and speaking eyes, with a full, clear, and well-modulated voice. He never becomes hoarse, never tires, and often speaks three or four hours in the open air for successive days and weeks. He uses no notes or manuscripts, and weaves in every passing incident with most happy effect. '
It had with many been a matter of surprise that with the eminent
talents and ability of Mr. Gary, Ohio had for so long a time failed to
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SAMUEL F. GARY. 3
avail herself of his services in the national councils. Two reasons for this have been given ; first, that his ambition did not take that direction ; and secondly, that his prominence as an advocate of a great moral reform has led political managers to imagine that he would not be an available candidate.
In the summer of 1867, the Eepublicans of the Second Ohio District very generally expressed a desire to have Mr. Gary as their candidate for Congress. Distrust in his availability, however, in- duced some of the leaders of the party to take ground against him, and the Republican Congressional Convention gave the nomina- tion to Eichard Smith, Esq., editor of the Cincinnati Gazette. Mr. Gary was induced to go before the people as an independent candidate. The city of Cincinnati was greatly excited by the contest which ensued. Mr. Gary made numerous public ad- dresses. He avowed himself the champion of the working-men. He advocated making eight hours a legal day's work, and issuing greenbacks to replace the interest-bearing bonds of the Government. Mr. Gary receiving the votes of most of the Democrats of the Dis- trict, and some of the Republicans, was elected by 959 majority.
In October, 1868, Mr. Gary was a candidate for re-election to the Forty-first Congress. Taking no part in Presidential politics, but running as the champion of the working-men, without regard to party, in a District giving 3,600 majority for Grant, he was defeated by less than 500 .votes, gaining largely upon his former vote. In the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Gary took a prominent part. He opposed the impeach- ment of the President. In a speech of five minutes he presented his views of this subject as follows :
" If I comprehend the question, it is not whether President Johnson is a traitor to the party which placed him in power, nor whether he has prevented the reconstruction of the Southern States, responsible for the New Orleans riots, and for the assassinations of loyal men, nor whether he is a bad man generally and unfit to be trusted. We do not arraign him before the high court of impeachment
on the common counts, but for an unlawful effort to rid himself of a
417
4 SAMUEL F. GARY.
Cabinet Minister, or, to state the case strongly, for an open and deliberate violation of the Tenure-of-Office law. The Cabinet of the President constitute his constitutional advisers, and should obviously consist of men with whom the President can have unreserved and confidential intercourse. To force upon the President a Cabinet Minister who is openly and avowedly an enemy of his administration, and one with whom the President can have no intercourse, is mani- festly so unfair and improper that no fair-minded men, not influenced by a malignant partisan zeal, can or will justify it.
" I must not be understood as impeaching the ability, integrity, and patriotism of Secretary Stan ton. All these are fully established. As a War Minister, history will accord to him the first place. I doubt whether his equal has lived in any age. Deeply as we may regret a rupture between the President and his Minister of War, it did occur, and it is not our present duty to inquire who was in fault. The Senate restored Mr. Stanton to the ofiice from which he had been removed by the President, and I do not arraign that body for their action. If, at that juncture, when Mr. Stanton was vindicated by the Senate, he had gracefully bowed himself out of the President's household, he would have had the sympathy and confidence of the people, and would have added magnanimity to his list of patriotic rirtues. Either upon his own motion, or acting by the advice of others (most probably the latter), he chose to remain unbidden as a confi- dential adviser of the President. There has been such a manifest want of courtesy, such a persistent and dogged determination to badger and bully the President, that the people will condemn Stanton, and sympathize with, if they do not justify, the President, however much they may despise him.
" In the present aspect of the case, my desire is that the Supreme Court, our highest judicial tribunal, shall be invoked to decide the rights of the President under the Constitution, and the constitutionality of the Civil-Tenure bill.
418
HON. THOMAS W. Y' '•
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MICH
"-^j--;.. s^r.-'
'
THOMAS W. FEKKY.
ICHIGAN is eminent among her sister States for the enterprise and intelligence of her people. Her enviable position is partly due to the energetic character of the emigrants from New England who formed many of the early settle- ments.
In 1822 Rev. William M. Ferry emigrated from Massachusetts to Michigan, and established the Mackinaw Mission, which was very suc- cessful under his management, until it was terminated by the removal of the Indians further west.
Thomas W. Terry , son of the pioneer missionary, was born at Mackinaw, June 1st, 1827.
The father, on the termination of his mission at Mackinaw, made an extended tour of observation to determine where he should make his future home. He visited Chicago, then only a military outpost, and many other places, and finally determined to locate at Grand Haven, Michigan. He established his family in the first frame-house built in that now large and prosperous city.
' Possessed of great physical power, energy of mind, and strength ot will, the pioneer preacher turned his attention to developing the ma- terial resources of the region. He immediately began operations in the lumber business, which before his death reached great propor- tions. With the aid of his four sons, he erected a number of mills, built vessels for transportation, and made Grand Haven an important source of the lumber trade for Chicago and vicinity.
A business partnership with a father so energetic, successful, and thorough, had a tendency to develop noble traits of character in his
sons.
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2 THOMAS W. FERRY.
"When the war broke out two of them entered the army, one of whom, Major N. H. Ferry of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, fell at Get- tysburg shot through the head while bravely leading his command.
Thomas "W. Ferry's first political associations were with the Whigs, by whom he was elected to the Legislature of Michigan in 1857. . After the disintegration of the Whig party he became a Republi- can, and as such was elected to the State Senate in 185T, serving two years. He soon became an active and influential member of the Re- publican party. For a period of eight years he served on the • Re- publican State Central Committee of Michigan. In 1860 he was a member and one of the Yice-Presidents of the National Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency.
In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. In this Congress he was appointed upon three Committees : Post Offices and Post Roads, Militia, and the War Debts of the Loyal States. During the Thirty-Ninth Congress he was successful in originating and securing the passage of impor- tant measures for developing the resources and promoting the com- merce of his State.
Mr. Ferry was re-elected to Congress for his second term by a ma- jority of more than seven thousand votes. In the Fortieth Congress Mr. Ferry was re-appointed to the Post-Office Committee, and was placed on the important committee of Naval Affairs.
A Washington correspondent says: "Mr. Ferry is the hardest worker in the Post-Office Committee. The Department places him next to Colfax in connection with our mail system."
He has done a great deal to increase mail facilities for the region which he represents. When he entered Congress, in 1864, there was only a weekly mail from Grand Haven to Traverse City. Now there is a daily lake-shore mail, a daily mail by steamer, and a tri-weekly interior mail from Grand Rapids via Newaygo to Traverse City ; a daily mail to Milwaukee and Chicago, and tri-weekly to St. Joseph.
Mr. Ferry was chairman of a sub-committee to visit New York to examine the old Post-Office, and report upon the necessity of a new
THOMAS W. FERRY. 3
one. Speaking of the result of this investigation as laid before the House by Mr. Ferry, the New York Herald said : " The report is an interesting and instructive document. Mr. Ferry takes a broad and statesmanlike view of the wonderful progress and future grandeur of this metropolis, and urges the erection of an edifice which in point of architecture and completeness will do honor to the Republic and to her greatest city."
Mr. Ferry was influential in defeating the passage of a bill estab- lishing low rates of tariff on lumber coming from Canada. In a speech on this measure, Mr. Ferry said : " Are we under any obli- gation to pursue so generous a policy as is proposed by the committee toward Canada? What has she done to merit 'this liberal treatment ? What has been the experience of the past years of our sanguinary war ? Did she lend the aid of her sympathy and good will, most cheaply given, which would have been gladly received ? No, sir ; she preferred to offer her soil as an asylum for plotters, conspirators, and traitors against the life of this Government. The treatment we had given Canada deserved her encouragement in the hour of our peril. Her press and voices should have been raised to conciliate England, to remind her that in the veins of this great people, battling for life and liberty, there ran the blood of her own sons, and that her hand should be stayed against a contest so righteous as putting down a re- bellion founded on human slavery. We fought alone, under the sneers and jeers of both England and Canada, and crowned our victory with universal liberty, and vindicated the rights of humanity."
When the tax-bill was under consideration Mr. Ferry made a suc- cessful argument in favor of exempting breadstuff's and lumber from the tax. " It harmonizes," said he, " with the theory of that legislation .which generously grants a free homestead to the poor settler who, for want of means, would otherwise roam homeless and a wanderer throughout the land. Freeing lumber from taxation lessens its cost and cheapens the shelter of the homestead. Releasing breadstuff's from taxation reduces the cost of tjie primal food of the primal pover- ty-stricken settler. With a free home, a free shelter, and free food,
421
4 THOMAS W. FERRY.
the staple and necessary conditions of livelihood are protected, and the poorer classes of the community befriended by a considerate Gov- ernment. With such protection and such a start in life, failure to rise above the misfortunes which hover around the more dependent classes of citizenship must be chargeable to personal inefficiency rather than to legislative authority."
Mr. Ferry is ready and sometimes even eloquent in speech. He never consumes time with displays of prepared oratory, but in extem- porary speeches makes his point, and generally produces the desired effect.
Ever active in the service of his constituents, by voice and vote and private labor, he enjoys a high degree of popularity among them. They have lately given new evidence of their appreciation of their Representative by re-nominating and electing him to the Forty-first Congress by a large majority.
// MASAJF.K
:;TA"ivi; FPOM BHODF. ISIANL
to the of the Coin-
THOMAS A. JE1STOKES.
[HOMAS A. JENCKES was born in Providence, Khode Island, in 1818. Having graduated at Brown University in 1838, he studied law, and by his ability and industry soon rose to eminence in his profession. His practice was not merely of a local character, but the nature of the litigations of which he had charge, which were mostly in the courts of the United States, carried him frequently into other States and to Washington.
He first entered into public life in 1840, as Clerk of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and held the office five years. During the Dorr Rebellion, he was Private Secretary to Governor King. From 1845 to 1855, he served as Adjutant-General of the State Militia. From 1854 to 1859, he was in the State Legislature- four years in the House, and one year in the Senate.
In 1863, he was elected a Representative from Rhode Island to the Thirty-eighth Congress. He was appointed Chairman of the Com- mittee on Patents, and of the Special Committee on the Bankrupt Law. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, in which he was continued at the head of the Committee on Patents, and was appointed Chairman of a Select Committee on the Civil Service.
His services in Congress have been of great value, and are such as entitled him to high rank among the legislators of the country. Among these services may be mentioned first his agency in the passage of the bill to establish a uniform system of Bankruptcy throughout the United States. He was the author and principal advocate of this bill, which is considered as by far the best act of the kind ever passed. In his speech upon this bill, June 1, 1864, we have the following beautiful introduction :
423
o THOMAS A. JENCKES.
" ME. SPEAKER : I take pleasure in introducing into this House a subject for its action which is entirely unconnected with political or partisan questions. It relates solely and entirely to th6 business and .men of business of the nation. Its consideration at the present time is demanded by every active business interest. It is a subject which we can discuss without acrimony, and differ upon without anger. If a division is had upon it, the lines will not be those of party. It is a green spot amid the arid wastes of party strife, and one to which the fiery scourge of civil war has not yet extended. It presents unusual claims upon us at the present time, when all the business interests of the country are in a state of constant agitation. The life of the nation is in the prosperity and energy of its active men. While they are encouraged, and their rights and interests protected by just legislation, their efforts will continue, and the nation will endure."
Mr. Jenckes then proceeds to specify the general purpose of the bill :
" What is now proposed is the enactment of a law with a different purpose from the ephemeral laws which have preceded it, and which shall form the basis of a permanent and uniform system of legisla- tion and jurisprudence on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the country. We desire that henceforth there shall be no longer upon this subject one law in Maine, and another law in Wisconsin, a third in California, and a fourth in Kentucky, and so on throughout all the States ; but one law for all ; which the citizens of the United States, inhabiting each and all the States, may acknowledge, live un- der, and enjoy, and feel it to be as stable as the Constitution upon which it stands."
Mr. Jenckes states the points aimed to be secured by the bill to be, first, the discharge of the honest debtor upon the surrender of hia property ; and, second, the protection of the creditor against the fraudulent practices and reckless conduct of his debtor.
Further on, lie thus depicts the former condition of an honest bankrupt : " If he possesses integrity and ability, those very quali ties are a disadvantage in any attempt to procure a discharge. The
424
THOMAS A. .TENCKES. 3
creditor says to him, l Some day you will recover yourself, or your friends will set you up in business, and then I can secure my debt.' The qualifications for success are thus made to increase the penalties and sufferings of misfortune. * *
"The laws formerly in force by which the creditor could keep his debtor in prison for an indefinite period, without relief, have been abolished in all Christian countries. But there may be a pun- ishment of death without the knife, and an imprisonment without the bolts- and bars of the jail. When in this' country one enters the gates of hopeless insolvency, all his life must be passed within the imprisonment of mercantile dishonor, the pain of uncanceled obli- gations, the surveillance of creditors, and there is no release except by death. Who enters here may hereafter write over such habita- tion as he may have during the remnant of his life, the motto that the poet found inscribed over the gates of hell :
' Who enters here abandons hope.' To him thenceforth —
'Hope never comes,that comes to all.'
"Whatever may be his talents, whatever his skill the result of long business experience, whatever his opportunity, whatever his integrity and character, so long as creditors stand unwilling to release him, his life is one continuous thralldom, without the power of relief by his own exertions, and beyond the aid of his friends. Why should this be, and for what good? To what end ? Do the public gain by it ? Do the creditors ? No one can answer in the affirmative."
The speech of Mr. Jenckes before the House, Jan. 17, 1868, in favor of " Supplementary Reconstruction," though brief, was one of the very best on that side of this great question. By the precedent of President Tyler's administration bearing upon the difficulties in Rhode Island in 1842, in connection with the " Charter government," and the " People's government," as well as by the decision of the Supreme Court in that case, Mr. Jenckes clearly demonstrated that the authority and power to decide what is, and what is not, the con- stitutional government of a State, is with Congress, in distinction
4 THOMAS A. JENCKES.
from either of the other departments of the General Government. He then presented the whole existing case and condition of affairs as follows :
" Now, in the light of this precedent, what is the true ground for the action now proposed ? We all agree with the opinion of the present President, in the spring of 1865, when he issued his procla- mation of the reorganization of the State of North Carolina, that there was no civil government there ; that all civil government there had been utterly destroyed by the rebellion. During the period immediately preceding the meeting of the last Congress, he undertook to do what his predecessor, Mr. Tyler, under similar circumstances, said he had no power to do — to raise and construct State governments. It is true, he said all the time, that the action of the people of these States, and the executive department in that region, would be subject to the approval and ratification of Congress when it assembled.
" Now, when Congress did assemble, the acts of the President and those under his authority were not satisfactory to that tribunal. It was a long time before the Thirty-ninth Congress could obtain official information of what had been done. Congress met on the first Monday in December, and the message of the President, transmitting the information to Congress, was not received until the month of March' following.
" In the mean time, evidence of hostility to the Government of the United States, which was unmistakable in its 'character, had been received from every quarter of the South. The Executive did not con- ceal his disappointment at the coolness with which his efforts at reconstruction had been received. by the people. Congress undertook to settle the difficulty by proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, establishing a due proportion between the repre- sentation and the voting constituency. Instead of the acceptance of that amendment either by these pretended .State governments or by the Executive, it was opposed by the latter, and rejected by the States most interested in it. * * *
" What was to be done ? Was Congress to allow a new rebellion to
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THOMAS A. JENCKES 5
be instigated, to be fostered into life by the Executive? or were they to undertake other means for keeping peace throughout the nation ? They decided that it was their duty to undertake other means, and those means are these Eeconstruction Acts."
But perhaps the most important Congressional service yet rendered by Mr. Jenckes, remains to be sketched. We refer to a bill of which he is the author, and which he lately introduced in the House, en- titled " a bill to regulate the civil service of the United States, and to promote the efficiency thereof."
The first section of this bill will sufficiently explain its. purpose and drift. It provides, " That hereafter all appointments of civil officers in the several departments of the service of the United States, except postmasters and such officers as are by law required to be appointed by the President, by and with the*advice and consent of the Senate, shall be made from those persons who shall have been found best qualified for the performance of the duties of the offices to which such appointments are to be made, in an open and competitive examina- tion, to be conducted as herein prescribed."
An admirable and very able speech from Mr. Jenckes, accompanied the presentation of this important measure, of which we have space for merely the outlines.
He began by submitting that what the bill proposes was substanti- ally the same principle as has always been applied to the Military and Naval service, illustrating the statement by reference to Military and Naval schools, and the examinations there required. Then, after glancing at certain reasons why the same principle has not been applied to the Civil service, he expatiates upon the necessity of a thorough reformation in the mode of appointment to office, and the duties of Heads of Departments and Members of Congress with regard to appointments to office. He also dwells upon the tendency of the present system of appointments toward centralization ; and in stating the conclusion of the Committee upon this point, he makes the following startling announcement :
" It is safe to assert that the number of offices may be diminished
427
G THOMAS A. JENCKES.
one-third, and the efficiency of the whole force of the civil service increased one-half, with a corresponding reduction of salaries for discontinued offices, if a healthy system of appointment and discipline be established for its government."
Mr. Jenckes then comes to the remedy — the measure he is advo- cating— and the mode of applying it. For the latter he proposes, first, open admission to these offices to all ; in other words, a free competition ; at the same time, suggesting that the requirement of a proper examination into qualifications, and scrutiny into character, will greatly diminish the number of applicants. He proposes, second, that the most worthy candidates receive appointments ; and he ex- plains, third, how the best attainable talent can be secured.
In the remainder of this important speech, Mr. Jenckes descants upon the grand effect of the proposed system, and incidental topics, and concludes with the following summary :
" Thus, while this proposed system will stimulate education and bring the best attainable talent into the public service, it will place that service above all consideration of locality, favoritism, patronage, or party, and will give it permanence and the character of nation- ality as distinct from its present qualities of insecurity and of cen- tralized power. A career will be opened to all who wish to serve the Republic ; and although its range is limited, yet success in it will be an admitted qualification for that higher and more laborious and uncertain competition before the people, if any one should be tempted to enter upon it. The nation will be better served ; the Government will be more stable and better administered ; property will be more secure ; personal rights more sacred ; and the Republic more respected and powerful. The great experiment of self-govern- ment, which our fathers initiated, will have another of its alien elements of discord removed from it, and in. its administration, in peace as well as in war, will have become a grand success."
HON BENJ. F 3UTLEF
,m.vSv-.irrATr.-E FECM WASSACHL'SETTS.
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father :ain, died at one of th
childhood v.
iler some deliberation it was decided •rdlle Co':- ine. He v. time
F. BUTLER
EISTJAM1N F. BUTLER was born in Deerfield, New Hamp- shire, November 5, 1818. Five months afterwards, his father, a sea-captain, died at one of the West India Islands. Thus he grew up a fatherless boy, and in early childhood was slender and sickly. Yet he early evinced a fondness for reading, and eagerly availed himself of whatever books came within his reach. His memory from childhood was extraordinary, and he was fond of pleas- ing his mother by committing and reciting to her long passages— once, indeed, the entire Gospel of Matthew. This extraordinary gift of memory he is said to retain in full force to the present day.
At ten years of age his mother removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, that she might find better privileges for schooling her children. Benjamin improved well his opportunity ; graduating duly into the High School, and thence into Exeter Academy, where he completed his preparation for college. After some deliberation it was decided to send him to Waterville College, Maine. He was at this time sixteen years of age, and is represented as being a youth of small stature, infirm health, and fair complexion, while as to his mental qualities he was "of keen view — fiery, inquisitive, fearless," with ardent curiosity to know, and a perfect memory to retain. In col- lege he excelled in those departments of the course in which he took a more especial interest, as for example the several branches of natural science, giving only ordinary attention to the rest. Meantime he read extensively, devouring books by the multitude.
At graduating he was but a weak, attenuated young man, weigh- ing short of a hundred pounds. At the same time he was entirely dependent upon himself, and obliged to carve out his own fortune. To improve his health he accompanied an uncle on a fishing excur-
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2 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.
sion to the coasts of Labrador, when, after a few weeks, he returned strong and well.
He now commenced vigorously his life-work. Entering a law office at Lowell he pursued the study of the law with all his might, teaching school a portion of the time to aid in defraying his expenses ; and such was his diligence at this period that he was accustomed to work eighteen out of the twenty-four hours. Meanwhile he indulged in no recreation save military exercises, for which he betrayed an early predilection, and served in the State militia in every grade, from that of the private up to brigadier-general.
Mr. Butler was admitted to the bar in 1840, at twenty-two years of age. As a lawyer " he won his way rapidly to a lucrative prac- tice, and with sufficient rapidity to an important leading and con- spicuous position." As an opponent, he was bold, diligent, vehement, and inexhaustible. It was his well-settled theory, that his business was simply and solely to serve the interests of his client. " In some important particulars," says his biographer, " General Butler sur- passed all his contemporaries at the New England bar. His memory was such that he could retain the whole of the very longest trial without taking a note. His power of labor seemed unlimited. In fertility of expedient, and in the lightning quickness of his devices to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, his equal has seldom lived." " A verdict of guilty," says another, " is nothing to him ; it is only the beginning of the case. He has fifty exceptions ; a hundred motions in arrest of judgment ; and, after that, the habeas corpus and personal replevin." Hence, his professional success was extraordinary ; and, when he left his practice to go to the war, he is said to have had a larger business than any other lawyer in the State. After ten years of practice at Lowell he opened an office in Boston also, and went thither and back punctually every day ; and so lucrative had his bus- iness become at the beginning of the war, that it was worth, at a moderate estimate, $18,000 annually.
Yet General Butler was among the first, if not the very first of Northern men, to discern the coming of war, and to sound the note of preparation to meet it, and to leave behind his business, large and
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BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 3
profitable as it was, and fly to the rescue. From the beginning of his career he had been one of the most determined and earnest of Democrats. He had been a leader of his party in Massachusetts, although a leader of a " forlorn hope." Yet when the great crisis came on he seemed at once to rise above party and party politics, and to think of nothing but crushing the rebellion, and crushing it, too, with speedy and heavy blows. Ascertaining, on a visit to Wash- ington, the designs of the Southern leaders, he warned them that those designs would lead to war ; that the North would resist them to the death ; and notified them that he himself would be among the first to draw the sword against the attempt to break up the Union. Returning home, he immediately conferred with Governor Andrew, assuring him that war was imminent, and that no time should be lost in the great matter of preparation, and that the militia of Massachusetts should be ready to move at a day's notice. The Gov- ernor acquiesced, and through the winter months, daily, except Sun- days, military drilling was the order of the day, and other necessary preparations of war were diligently prosecuted. Thus when, in the succeeding spring, the first and fatal blow fell, Massachusetts was ready, and at the call of the Government several full regiments were in a few hours on their way to Washington, under the command of General Butler. Then in quick succession we hear of the murder- ous attack on one of the regiments as it passed through Baltimore, of the landing of the 8th Massachusetts at Annapolis, of the march thence to Washington, of the quiet occupation by General Butler of the city of Baltimore and the consequent distress of poor old General Scott, of the approval of President Lincoln of Butler's promotion to the major-generalship, and of his assuming command of Fortress Mon- roe. During his brief command at this important post he exerted himself strenuously to bring order out of confusion. He extended his lines several miles inland, and was eager for a strong demonstra- tion upon "Virginia from this point as a base of operations, but his views failed of acquiescence by the Government. It was while in this command that General Butler originated the shrewd device of pro- nouncing as contrabands the slaves that escaped into his lines from
4 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.
the neighboring country. The epithet was at once seen to be appro- priate as it was skillful, as by the enemy the blacks were esteemed as property ; and as such property was used for aiding the rebellion, General Butler rationally concluded that it might be more properly employed in helping to crush it. Hence, this new species of contra- band property, instead of being returned to its alleged owners, was retained and set to work for the Government.
On his recall from the command of Fortress Monroe, General Butler requested and obtained leave to recruit six regiments in the several New England States. With these new forces he was com- missioned, in conjunction with the naval squadron under command of Captain Farragut, to capture the city of New Orleans. The com- bined military and naval forces were at the mouths of the Missis- sippi in April of 1862. Between them and New Orleans was 105 miles ; and 30 miles up the river, one on each bank, and nearly opposite each other, were the two impregnable forts, Jackson and St. Philip, together with a huge chain cable, supported by anchored hulks, stretched sheer across the river. Added to these obstructions was, just above the fort, a fleet of armed steam vessels, ready to aid in disputing every inch of the terrible passage. After several days of severe bombarding, however, with but small impression upon either fort, having succeeded in sundering the cable, the fleet, under cover of night, yet with a raking fire from the forts and an engage- ment with the rebel squadron, passed the terrible batteries with com- paratively small loss, and proceeded triumphantly up to the city. The transport steamers, still at the river mouths, were then put in motion, and by a back passage General Butler landed the troops in the rear of the two forts, which with but little further resistance were surrendered, and their garrisons parolled. Then presently the General, having manned the forts with loyal troops, followed the fleet to the city, of which he took immediate possession, the rebel troops stationed there having retired precipitately.
In New Orleans, General Butler was the right man in the right place. His government may not have been faultless ; yet, if bring- ing order out of confusion, if providing for forty thousand starving
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 5
poor, if the averting of pestilence by cleaning the filthy streets and squares and canals of the city, if giving the loyal citizens freedom of election, such as they never had before, and causing justice to be im- partially administered, if restoring to freedom slaves subjected to the most horrible oppression, if imparting salutary lessons on morals and manners to traitorous officials and ministers, and rebellious and impu- dent women — if these and a hundred other kindred measures were commendable and good, then was General Butler's career at New Orleans praiseworthy and eminently beneficial. Nor is it any mean confirmation of such statement that on being recalled by the Govern- ment, no word or hint was ever given him why such recall was ordered.
During a few months which followed, General Butler, though with- out a command, was not idle, but ably supported the Government by public speeches in various places. His executive ability was soon called into requisition in the military command of New York, which was lately the scene of the terrible " draft riots." • In the spring of 1864 he was assigned to the command of the Army of the James. He was expected to pave the way for the cap- ture of Petersburg and Richmond by the capture of the intermediate position of Bermuda Hundred, which he speedily accomplished. In the assault on Petersburg General Butler and General Kautz gal- lantry carried out their parts of the plan, but the enterprise was un- successful, from the fact that General Gilmore failed to co-operate with the force at his command. We find General Butler patiently and labo- riously striving to effect the fall of Richmond, whether by hard work at Dutch Gap or successful fighting at Deep Bottom and Straw- berry Plains. We next see him commanding the land forces to co- operate with a naval squadron under Admiral Porter in an expedition against Wilmington. Arriving before Fort Fisher December 24, the squadron opened a terrific fire. The day following the land forces were disembarked, and a joint assault was ordered by sea and land. Upon moving forward to the attack, however, General Weitzel, tfho accompanied the column, came to the conclusion, from a careful reconnoisance of the fort, that " it would be butchery to order an as-
6 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.
sanlt." General Butler, having formed the same opinion from other information, re-embarked his troops and sailed for Hampton Roads. CTpon his return to the James River he was relieved from the com- mand of the Army of the James, and ordered to report to Lowell, Massachusetts, his residence.
Returning to civil life, General Butler was triumphantly elected Representative from Massachusetts to the Fortieth Congress, and re- elected to the Forty-first Congress. In the House of Representa- tives he has distinguished himself for activity and industry, and for skill and readiness in debate. .He was prominent as a Radical, and assumed a leading position against the views and policy of President Johnson. In the impeachment of that functionary he was desig- nated as one of the managers for the people, and performed his part in that grave transaction with signal ability.
In conclusion, while we do not contemplate General Butler as among the most faultless and prudent of men, we cannot at the same time refrain from assigning him an elevated rank among the heroic and distinguished spirits of his generation. He is emphatically a " man of mark," a man whose perceptions are keen and quick to an extraordinary degree, faithful and ready in expedients, sprightly and active beyond most men — of strong and determined purpose — ambi- tious, but true as steel in his patriotism — a man to have enemies, but friends also equally numerous and equally strong — a man like few others, yet just such a one as is needed under peculiar and extraordinary circumstances — a man bold, fearless, prompt, ingen- ious, talented, able, persistent, and efficient.
434
HON. JOHN A.GRISWOLD,
.BEPHESENTATIVE FROM NEWYORK
•NT A. i
•
.
.
JOECN" A. GEISWOLD.
5OHN~ A. GKISWOLD was born at Nassau, Keiisselaer County, New York, in 1822. His grandfathers fought in the war for Independence, and one of them was confined in the " Jersey Prison Ship." The subject of this sketch is described as in youth kind and generous, despising falsehood and deceit, devel- oping strength of body by much out-of-door activity, and at the same time cultivating his mind by diligent attention to study.
His tastes tending to commercial pursuits, when seventeen years of age he went to Troy, and entered the iron and hardware house of Hart, Lesley & Warren. ' At the expiration of a year he accepted the position of book-keeper in the cotton manufacturing and commis- sion house of C. H. & I. J. Merritt. During this period of his life, he lived in the family of his uncle, Major-General Wool, thus enjoy- ing the influence of a refined and cultivated society in developing his social, moral, and intellectual character. *
In a few years, Mr. Griswold embarked in business for himself, in a wholesale and retail drug establishment. He subsequently became interested in the manufacture of iron, as a partner in the Rensselaer Iron Company. He soon reached a leading position among the busi- ness men of the country as a manufacturer of iron. Owing to the exertions of Mr. Griswold and others engaged in similar pursuits, the city of Troy has gradually grown to be one of the most important iron centers of the United States. The introduction into the United States by Mr. Griswold and his associates of the process of iron manufacture known as the Bessemer steel process, promises within a few years to substitute the steel rail for the iron rail on the railroads of this country.
2 JOHN A. GRISWOLD.
Although immersed in business, Mr. Griswold deemed it his duty as a citizen to give attention to public affairs. In 1855, he was elected Mayor of the city of Troy. During his term of office, he gave careful attention to the affairs of the city, and as the presiding officer in the common council, gave acknowledged satisfaction by his urbanity and impartial administration of parliamentary laws.
At the breaking out of the rebellion, Mr. Griswold at once arrayed himself among the supporters of the Government. On the 15th of April, 1861, the day after the arrival of the news of the fall of Fort Sumter, he presided at a mass meeting held in Troy for the purpose of raising men to protect the United States against rebels, and means to support the families of those who should enter the service. On this occasion, at the organization of the meeting, he in a few words disclaimed any -partisan action in his own conduct, deplored the dis- tracted state of the country, declared that any man who should be influenced by political considerations in such a crisis, ought to receive universal public execration, and expressed the hope that the citizens would respond with alacrity to the call of the President for men. The Second Eegiment of New York State Yolunteers was the result of the efforts which followed .this and similar meetings. Mr. Gris- wold also aided in raising the 30th, 125th, and 169th regiments of New York Yolunteers, as well as the Black-Horse Cavalry and the 21st New York, or " Griswold Light Cavalry."
In August, 1861, Congress made an appropriation for the construc- tion of iron-clad steamships, or floating steam batteries. A few weeks later, C. S. Bushnell of New Haven, John F. Winslow of Troy, and Mr. Griswold, were at Washington engaged in closing a contract with the Government for clothing a wooden vessel with iron. This business having been concluded, these gentlemen called the attention of the Naval Board to a model of an iron-clad vessel made by John Ericsson, which they had brought with them, and suggested the propriety of building a vessel after his plans. These gentlemen subsequently had interviews with President Lincoln, who manifested great interest in the ideas presented. Taking up the model, he exam- 436
JOHN A. GRISWOLD. 3
ined it closely and critically, commented in his shrewd and homely way upon the principles involved in the construction of a vessel on such a model, spoke favorably of the design, and proposed that they should meet him, with the model, at the Navy Department. This meeting,' suggested by Mr. Lincoln himself, was held, he being present.
In their report, which was made soon after this meeting, the Naval Board, Commodores Joseph Smith and H. Paulding, and Captain C. H. Davis, recommended that an experiment be made with one- bat- tery of the description presented by Captain Ericsson, with a guar- antee and forfeiture in case of failure in any of the properties and 'points of the vessel as proposed. The contract as made, stipulated for the completion of the battery within one hundred days from the signing o'f the contract, which was on October 5, 1861 ; and the extraordinary provision was introduced, that the test of the battery, upon which its acceptance by the United States Government de- pended, should be its withstanding the fire of the enemy's batteries at the shortest ranges, the United States agreeing to fit out the vessel with men and guns.'
The contract price for building the battery was $275,000. The work was begun in October, 1861, at the Continental Works, Green- point, Long Island, by Mr. J. F. Rowland, under the direct super- vision of Captain Ericsson. The plating of the vessel, and portions of her machinery and other iron work, were manufactured at the Rensselaer Iron Works and the Albany Iron Works. On January 30, 1862, which was the one hundred and first working day from the time the contract was entered into, the Monitor was launched at Greenpoint, and was delivered to the Government March 5, 1862.
Her subsequent history is well known. Formidable in appear- ance, and invulnerable in structure, she appeared at Fortress Monroe at ten o'clock on the evening of Friday, March 8, 1862. On the following day, in conflict with the rebel iron-clad Merrimac in Hampton Roads, she not only compelled her antagonist to retire in a disabled condition, but saved Fortress Monroe from capture,
487
4: JOHN A. GRISWOLD.
preserved millions of shipping and public property, and thousands of lives, put an end to all the plans and expectations of the rebel authorities based upon their experimental vessel, and gave us pres- tige abroad, the worth of which to us as a nation was inestimable. Speaking of the views that obtained concerning this vessel before and after that celebrated sea-fight of March 9, 1862, one. writer has well said, " Never was a greater hope placed upon apparently more insignificant means, but never was a great hope more triumphantly fulfilled." The thanks of Congress were officially returned to Cap- tain Ericsson, the designer of the Monitor; and President Lincoln and his Cabinet personally awarded to the contractors the position of public benefactors.
In the following October, Mr. Griswold was nominated by the Democratic party of the Fifteenth Congressional District, as a can- didate for Representative in the Thirty-eighth Congress. His nomi- nation was received with great cordiality. Although nominally a Democrat, his course for months past had shown that he could not allow party attachments or considerations to rise superior to his patriotism. Ever liberal and magnanimous in his political actions and views, he had signally displayed these noble characteristics in his efforts to sustain the Government in crushing the rebellion.
In the election that followed, and in a district strongly Republican, he was chosen as Representative in Congress by a majority of 1,287 votes, while in the same district the Republican State ticket received a majority of 817 votes. •
Mr. Griswold's course in the Congress to which he was then elected, was such as to distinguish him as a firm and decided friend of the Government. . He refused to affiliate with those members of the Demo- cratic party who were doing their utmost to embarrass the Government, and obstruct the war. As questions of administrative policy, and those of a still more important character — involving the very life of the Republic — arose, he voted promptly and unhesitatingly to provide the nation with everything necessary for its welfare, and his guiding
principle was that " the Republic should receive no harm." He
438
JOHN A. GRISWOLD. 5
favored all measures having for their end a more vigorous prosecu- tion of the war ; and on all questions of furnishing supplies, on all matters of financial policy, and upon every declaration of the duty of crushing the rebellion and preserving the Government, he constantly and uniformly gave his vote with the Union men in Congress.
As a member of the Naval Committee, he labored indefatigably and effectively to strengthen and promote the efficiency of the navy. Acting ever from principle, the agency of former party friendships was exerted in vain to impose upon him a course of conduct that in- volved the spirit of disloyalty. Unflinching patriotism, such as was his, stood unshaken by the dictation of caucus, or the persuasion of earlier political ties. With such a record he returned home at the close of the session of 1864. As one man, the Union men of his dis- trict resolved to return him to the seat in Congress which he had filled with such distinguished honor. On the 14th of September, 1864, a Union nominating convention for the Fifteenth Congressional District met at Salem, in Washington County, and, without a ballot, selected him by acclamation as their candidate for Representative in the Thirty-ninth Congress. On this occasion the Hon. A. D. Wait, a member of the convention, said of Mr. Griswold : " He has a record that the best man in the land may be proud of. He has passed through the furnace of party influence seven times heated, and escaped without so much as a smell of fire upon his garments."
Against the most determined efforts of the Democratic party Mr. Griswold was again elected to Congress for the term commencing March 4, 1865. During his second term in Congress, his course was distinguished by the same devotion to the principles of patriotism and liberty that marked his conduct there during his first two years. With men of vacillating natures, disloyal views, vindictive dispositions, or of characters in which ambition and discontent were the main ingre- dients, he had no sympathy. The object at which he aimed was to put down the rebellion by force of arms ; and the means by which he sought to effect this end, were the support of the Government to which this labor was especially intrusted. All his sympathies and opinions
i '
C JOHN A. GRISWOLD.
were in unison with the grand design of preserving the Republic, and all his energies were bent toward the fulfillment of that work. In common with the noble army of patriots in Congress which posterity will delight to honor, his later, like his earlier votes, were in consonance with the Union sentiments of the North.
The Republicans of the Fifteenth Congressional District indicated their approval of this patriotic course, by nominating Mr. Griswold for re-election to the Fortieth Congress. At the election which followed, he received a majority of 5,316 votes, the largest ever given to any Representative from his district. On returning to Washington for the third term, he was placed on the Committee ot Ways and Means, in which position he labored with zeal and industry, bringing to the discharge of his duties the results of his previous legislative experience, an extensive knowledge of the manufacturing interests of the country, a comprehension of the differences existing between the labor of the United States and the labor of Great Britain, and sagacity in reaching- ends beneficial to the nation by the most acceptable means.
In July, 1868, Mr. Griswold was nominated by the Republican State Convention for the office of Governor of New York. During the laborious and exciting canvass that ensued, Mr. Griswold steadily grew in favor with the people. Neither he nor his friends had sanguine hopes of overcoming the majority of 48,000 by which the Democrats had carried the State in 1867. Official returns of the election gave Mr. Hoffman a majority of 27,946. Subsequent investi- gations made by a Congressional Committee disclosed the fact, that more than 30,000 fraudulent votes were cast for the Democratic candidates in the city of New York.
440
G.VT DODGE,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM IOWA
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home
drive out the rebel i»f rebels
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GKEKYILLE. M. DODGE.
'EENVILLE M. DODGE was born at Danvers, Massachu- setts, April 12, 1831, and was educated at the Military Uni- versity, Norwich, Vermont. He emigrated to the west in 1851, and was employed as a civil engineer on various Illinois rail- roads until 1853, when he was appointed Assistant Engineer of the Mississippi and Missouri Eailroad, and made the preliminary surveys of that road across the State of Iowa. In the fall of 1854 he located at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and engaged 'in mercantile and banking oper- ations. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he promptly tendered his services to the Governor of Iowa, and was sent to Washington to make arrangements for securing arms and equipments for the troops of that State. Having succeeded in his mission, he returned home and raised the 4th regiment of Iowa Infantry and the 2d Iowa (Dodge's) Battery, and was commissioned Colonel of the former.
In the month of July, 1861, with such force as he had then in hand, he marched into North-west Missouri to drive out the rebel leader, Poindexter, who with a large force of rebels was threatening the southern border of Iowa, and the destruction of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Eailroad. Having accomplished the object of this expedi- tion he marched back to Council Bluffs, where he completed the or- ganization of his regiment and battery, and reported with them to General Fremont, at St. Louis, in the month of August.
He was soon after ordered to Eolla, Missouri, and commanded that post until the "Army of the South-west " was organized under Gen. Curtis, when he was assigned to command the 4th Division of that army, and led its advance in the capture of Springfield, Missouri. He- commanded the right wing at the battle of Pea Eidge, where he had three horses killed under him, and was dangerously wounded. For his gallant conduct in this battle he was made a Brigadier-Gen-
.441
2 GRENVILLE M. DODGE.
eral, and as soon as lie recovered from his wounds was assigned to command the district of Columbus, Kentucky. He defeated General Villipigue on the Hatchie river, captured General Faulkner and his command near Island Number Ten, and attacked Yan Dorn's column at Tuscumbia, Tennessee, capturing many prisoners. In the spring of 1863 he brilliantly opened the campaign with the defeat of the forces of Forrest, Roddy and Ferguson in several severe engagements. In July he was assigned to command the left wing of the 16th Army Corps, with headquarters at Corinth, and made the famous raid on Grenada which resulted in the capture of fifty-five locomotives and one thousand cars. He rebuilt railroads, organized, armed and equip- ped many thousands of colored troops, and fought many battles which would require a volume to describe.
In the spring of 1864, with his command, he joined General Sher- man at Chattanooga, and was given the advance of the Army of the Tennessee, in its celebrated movement at the opening of the Atlanta campaign. He defeated the rebels in many hotly contested engage- ments, and saw his splendid services recognized by the Government in his promotion to the rank of Major-General.
He was on the extreme left of the army in the .bloody battle of July 22d in front of Atlanta (in which McPherson fell), and for a long time with 'his corps he bore the brunt of the battle, and, by stubborn resistance and heroic bravery, hurled back the advancing columns of an enemy confident of success and outnumbering him three to one, and, doubtless, saved the army from a serious disaster, turning a threatened defeat into a substantial victory. In front of his eleven regiments that held the left, he took prisoners from forty- nine regiments representing two corps of the enemy. Against this great odds he not only held his ground, drove the enemy with terri- ble slaughter, capturing a large number of prisoners, but also de- tached an entire brigade to assist the 15th Corps (General Logan's) to retake and hold its works, from which the enemy had driven a portion of it.
On the 19th of August, while superintending an advance of his front line, then' besieging the city of Atlanta, he fell, dangerously
443
GRENVILLE M. DODGE. 3
wounded, by a gun shot in his head, and as soon as able to. move was sent North, where he remained until he had recovered from his wound, when he reported for duty to General Sherman, but not being considered physically able to take part in the " march to the Sea," he was ordered to take command of the district of Yicksburg. While en route for this command he was assigned by the President to take command of the Department of Missouri, relieving General Rosecrans. When he assumed command of this difficult department, the " grave of generals," the troops were in bad condition, and the State was overrun with guerillas and rebel marauders. General Dodge went to work with great energy, and soon succeeded in bring- ing order to the scene of anarchy and confusion. The Departments of Kansas and Utah were soon after merged in his command, bring- ing additional trouble and .responsibilities. The Indians of the plains had combined in hostilities, from the British Provinces to the Red River on the south.
General Dodge grasped the numberless and perplexing difficulties of his department with a master hand. Although it was mid- winter, he promptly concentrated and put in motion troops who invaded the country of the hostile Indians, chastised them and compelled them to sue for peace. The guerillas were so vigorously hunted down that those who were not killed either fled or surrendered. The rebel general Jeif. Thompson, with about 8,000 officers and men, surren- dered to General Dodge in Arkansas, while about 4,000 men of Kirby Smith's army surrendered to him in Missouri. At the close of the war General Dodge turned over the department of Missouri to General Pope. He subsequently held a general command, em- bracing Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Western Dakota, Montana, and Utah. In June, 1866, at his urgent solicitation, he was relieved of his command and his resignation was accepted.
He immediately entered actively upon his duties as Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad, to which position he had been previ- ously appointed. As early as 1853 his attention had been attracted to the Pacific Railroad enterprise. During that year he surveyed the present route west from the Missouri River, and made a report to
443
I
4 , GRENVILLE M. DODGE.
Messrs. Farnham and Durant. The primary object then was to fix upon the most feasible route for the Pacific road, and to accommo- date the terminus of the Mississippi and Missouri road thereto, in order to make a connection.
In 1859 Mr. Lincoln visited Council Bluffs and consulted with Mr. Dodge relative to the. Pacific Railroad, at which time all its impor- tant features were discussed. In 1863, pending the passage of the Pacific Railroad bill, President Lincoln telegraphed to General Dodge, then commanding at Corinth, Mississippi, to repair to "Wash- ington, which he did, and in the interview then had Mr. Lincoln decided to fix the initial point of the road at the western boundary of Iowa, between the towns of Council Bluffs and Omaha, and the bill was so perfected.
In July, 1866, the Republicans of the Fifth Congressional District of Iowa, proud of his brilliant war record, and grateful for his ser- vices, nominated General Dodge for Congress. The honor was en- tirely unsought and reluctantly accepted, as he was at the time at the head of his engineer corps, tracing the route of that grand thor- oughfare, the Union Pacific Railroad, over the plains. Though he made no canvass whatever, being all the while away upon the plains, General Dodge was elected over a popular competitor by 4,398 ma- jority, nearly 2.000 more than the district had ever before given.
In the Fortieth Congress Mr. Dodge never occupied the time of the House in speaking, and yet was among the most able and effi- cient members. As a member of the Committee on Military Affairs he rendered the country valuable service, especially in the measure for the re-organization of the Army. To his services Iowa is largely indebted for the passage of bills to reimburse the expenses incurred by the State in raising and equipping volunteers and defending its borders. He positively declined a re-nomination, and shortly after the close of the Fortieth Congress he returned to the plains to push for- ward the construction of the Pacific Railroad. He has just enjoyed the proud satisfaction of witnessing the completion of that grand enterprise, to which the best energies of his life have been given, to the success of which no living man has contributed more.
444
HON.GEO. SBOUTWELL .
REPRESENTATIVE FHOM MASSACHUSETTS.
GEORGE S, XL.
BOFTWELL
setts, January 2C-
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GEORGE S. BOUTWELL.
'EOKGE S. BOUTWELL was born in Brookline, Massachu- setts, January 28th, 1818. He learned to read at his mother's knee while she read the large family Bible. Be- ing a farmer's son, his assistance was required at home during the greater part of the year, so that his training in the schools was lim- ited to a few weeks of the winter. Whether in school or out, he prosecuted his studies most diligently, and when seventeen years of age he taught school in Shirley, Massachusetts.
In March, 1835, he went to Groton and commenced business as clerk in a store. In the second story of the store there was kept an old but well-selected library. This was more fortunate for young Boutwell than the discovery of a mine of gold. In the absence of customers, and in the intervals of business, he read during the day. At nine o'clock, when the store was closed, he would repair to the library and read till overcome by drowsiness, when he would arouse himself by physical exercise, or plunging his head in a pail of water at hand for that purpose. He pursued the study of Latin and French, and made proficiency in other branches, such as gave him rank in scholastic attainments equal to that attained by college graduates. At the age of eighteen he entered his name in an attorney's office for the study of law, which he pursued with diligence in the intervals of business, for many years.
At nineteen he made his first public appearance in a lecture before the Groton Lyceum. In 1840 he entered with youthful ardor into politics, advocating the election of Mr. Van Buren. At the age of twenty-one he was elected a member of the School Committee of Groton, a large town of more than usual wealth and culture. In the
same year he was the candidate of the Democratic party for the Leg-
445
. 9 GEORGE S BOUTWELL.
islature, but failed to be elected. He was again nominated, however, and in 1842 was elected to the Legislature, in which he served for seven years. He soon became a leading member, surpassing all in thorough mastery of the subjects discussed, and in readiness and ability as a debater. He ably and successfully advocated the question of retrench- ment of expenses, enlargement of the school fund, and Harvard Col- lege reform.
During his service in the Legislature Mr. Bout well was also Rail- way Commissioner, Bank Commissioner, and three times a Demo- cratic candidate for Congress. He also delivered numerous lyceum lectures and political addresses.
In 1851 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held the office two terms. He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- ' tion of 1853, in which he was a recognized leader. Rufus Choate was his leading opponent. Early in the session, the subject of " Town Representation " being under consideration, Mr. Choate made one of his most characteristically eloquent speeches, which completely carried away the Convention. Mr. Boutwell rose to reply, surpris- ing many with his apparent temerity in attempting to meet the most brilliant orator of the Whigs. But all apprehension of a damaging comparison or a failure soon passed away. He enchained the atten- tion of the Convention, and maintained his cause with signal ability. He drafted and reported the Constitution, which was submitted to the people and adopted.
The same year Mr. Boutwell became a member of the State Board of Education, in which he remained ten years. For five years he was Secretary of the Board, meanwhile preparing its Annual Re- ports, and publishing a " Manual of the School System and School Laws of Massachusetts," and a volume on " Educational Topics and Institutions." In 1856 his literary and scientific attainments were recognized in his election as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 1851 to 1860 he was a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College.
In 1853 Mr. Boutwell cast his last vote with the Democratic party, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in 1854, completely sunder- 446
GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 3
ing his old political ties. He was a leader in the organization of the Republican party in Massachusetts.
In 1861, having been elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa of Cambridge, he delivered the Commencement oration. With obvious propriety, political subjects are usually avoided on such occasions ; but such was the absorbing interest in national aifairs, that the officers of the college and of the society requested him to discuss freely the state of the country. In the oration whioh followed, he showed that Slavery was the cause of the war, and demonstrated the justice and necessity of emancipation. It was so far in advance of the times as to receive severe censure, not only from Democrats, but from many Republicans. Published entire in many journals, and circulated throughout the country, it did much to hasten the great revolution in public sentiment which was essential to the suppression of the Rebel- lion.
The first time that Mr. Boutwell appeared in a public capacity outside of Massachsetts, was as a member of the celebrated Peace Congress, held in 1861, which failed to arrest the rebellion of the South. He was first Commissioner of Internal Revenue, from July, 1862 to March, 1863. During his incumbency of this office he or- ganized the vast Revenue System of the United States.
Having been elected a Representative in Congress, he took his seat as a member of the House in March, 1863. He was appointed a member of the Judiciary Committee — an evidence of the high estimate in which his legal talent and attainments were held.
In the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses he was continued on this committee, and was a member of the Joint Committee on Re- construction.
Making his first appearance in the national councils when the country was in the midst of a war of unexampled magnitude, he found a wide field opened before him for the exercise of his abilities. The Emancipation Proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, and all the war meas- ures of the Administration, received his hearty support. When the enlistment of negroes was first resolved upon, he was among the foremost to encourage the policy, making several speeches in support
447
4: GEORGE S. BOUTWELL.
of what he regarded as a movement essential to a successful prose- ;ution of the war. After the Rebellion had been suppressed, he was me of the earliest advocates of negro suffrage.
No one was more impatient with President Johnson's defection !'rom the principles of the party by whom he had been elected ; no 3ne was more firmly convinced that he was guilty of crimes and misdemeanors deserving impeachment. As a Manager of the Im- peachment Trial before the Senate, his sincerity, honesty, eloquence and erudition attracted the attention of the entire country.
Elected for the fourth time as a Representative from Massachusetts, Mr. Boutwell had just taken .his seat in the Forty-first Congress when hS was called by President Grant to a seat in the Cabinet, as Secretary of the Treasury. This appointment was recognized by the country as eminently wise and proper.
The new Secretary at once addressed himself to the work of regu- lating the complex and much disordered machinery of his Depart- ment. He began at the very opening of his administration of the Treasury to diminish the public debt. Notwithstanding the difficulties incident to entering upon a new financial policy, during his first three months in office he reduced the national indebtedness more than twenty millions of dollars.
Mr. Boutwell is a man of great force of character, power of mind and strength of will. With indomitable perseverance and rare sagacity, he has risen to a position of commanding influence. He is an impressive speaker, with distinct articulation and earnest manner. He is a vigorous thinker, convincing by the force of logio, rather than captivating with the charms of rhetoric. Whether as State executive, national legislator or cabinet officer, he is the same honest, popular and efficient statesman.
448
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HALBEET E. PAOTE.
^ALBERT E. PAINE was born in Chardon, Ohio, February 4, 1826. lie graduated at the Western Eeserve College in 1845, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He engaged in the practice of his profession in Cleveland until 1857,' when he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
On the breaking out of the civil war he entered the military ser- vice, and was commissioned Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Wis- consin "Volunteer Infantry. Receiving orders to join the Eastern Department, the regiment left the State July 15, 1861, and proceed- ed to Harrisburg, Pa., and thence to Baltimore, where they were furnished with arms. Headquarters were established at the Relay House, and for several months the men were employed in guarding railroads and constructing forts. In November the regiment joined an expedition under Gen. Lockwood against the rebels on the " East- ern Shore." On the successful issue of this expedition Col. Paine led his regiment back to Baltimore, where they remained until Febru- ary, 1862, when they were ordered to join Gen. Butler's New Or- leans expedition. Embarking at Fortress Monroe, they made a successful voyage, and, having delayed at the mouth of the Missis- sippi until the capture of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, they reach- ed New Orleans about the 1st of May. The Fourth Wisconsin and the Thirty-first Massachusetts regiments were the first Union troops landed at Ne^ Orleans. With colors flying and baud playing, they marched to the Custom House and took forcible possession.
Colonel Paine performed provost guard duty in New Orleans until May 8th, and then proceeding up the Mississippi, took possession of Baton Rouge. On the 5th of June General Williams issued an order directing commanders to turn fugitive slaves from their camps, and
449
2 HALBERT E. PAINE.
keep them out. Colonel Paine refused to execute the order, and was placed under arrest. The Act of Congress of March 15th, 1862, pro- vided that no officer should employ the troops under his command in '' returning fugitives from service or labor "to their masters. The order of Gen. Williams directed that they should be turned out of camp and sent beyond the lines. Col. Paine considered this to mean practically the same thing as returning the fugitives, and disobeyed the order, declaring, in a letter to the General, that his regiment would not with his consent be employed . in the violation of the law for the purpose of returning fugitives to rebels. The correspondence on the subject was read, at dress parade, before the regiment. His men unanimously sustained their Colonel, and were highly indignant on account of his arrest.
On the 17th of June the regiment again embarked and started on an expedition to Vicksburg. The order with regard to Colonel Paine was so modified that when the troops landed for action he was to assume command, and the arrest was to be renewed immediately on re-embarkation. They reached the mouth of Bayoji Black, near Grand Gulf, the 23d, and having dispersed a rebel battery, they went up the Bayou to the Grand Gulf and Port Gibson Railroad. Return- ing, Colonel Paine took the 4th Wisconsin, the 9th Connecticut, and a section of Artillery, and marched thirteen miles in the excessive heat to the rear of Grand Gulf where they engaged and defeated the enemy, capturing prisoners and camp.
On the 31st of July Colonel Paine, in obedience to orders, started for New Orleans to report in arrest to General Butler. A few days after, in a battle with the rebels under Breckinridge, General Wil- liams was killed, and General Butler ordered Colonel Paine to pro- ceed at once to Baton Rouge and take command. He was ordered to burn the city to the ground, except the State library, paintings, statuary, and charitable institutions. This course was decided on, inasmuch as the city would furnish quarters for a large rebel army if, as was expected, it should be abandoned by the Federal forces.
On reaching Baton Rouge, Colonel Paine found that the rebels had retreated, and the Federal troops, having changed their position,
450
HALBERT E. PAINE. 3
were awaiting another attack. The next day Colonel Paine ordered the removal of the statue of Washington, which was sent to the Patent Office in Washington. Several days were spent in forti- fying the city in expectation of an attack from General Brecken- ridge. On the 18th of August a considerable force approached the works, but were easily repulsed with the aid of the gunboats. Meanwhile Colonel Paine sent a messenger to General Butler with an earnest request that the order for the burning of Baton Eouge might be rescinded, as " he felt, sure the rebels could not com- pel an evacuation, and believed that the town would be useful to our army in future military operations." While awaiting a reply, Col. Paine ordered notices printed requiring all the residents to leave the town the following day, and directed that they be posted up in the streets at daylight on the 20th, if the order to burn the town should not be revoked before that time. At this critical juncture, a little before daylight on the 20th, a message was received from Gen. Butler countermanding his order for the burning of the city.
During several months which followed, Colonel Paine was engaged in various successful operations on the lower Mississippi. In March, 1863, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. On the 7th of April he met a considerable rebel force, which was defeated after a spirited engagement. On the 25th he marched to Opelousas, where he met a large number of mounted rebels who fled, and could not be overtaken by infantry, whereupon the 4th Wisconsin was or- dered to seize horses and transform themselves into cavalry. In two days this work was accomplished. During most of the month of May they were occupied night and day in traversing the Red-River country, in pursuit of the enemy.. On the 19th the expedition started for the Mississippi, and by rapid marching reached it ten miles above Port Hudson on the 25th, having been engaged in almost daily skir- mishing with Taylor's cavalry, which hovered about their rear.
General Paine having ' received orders from General Banks to hasten forward to Port Hudson, reached the rear of that town on the 26th of May. In the first attack upon that rebel stronghold, made on the 27th, General Paine commanded a part of the right of
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4 HALBERT E. PAINE.
the assaulting line. The 4th Wisconsin lost, in this attack, five officers and fifty-five men, killed and wounded. They pushed on until they reached the ditch surrounding the enemy's fortifications. The final and successful assault was made on the 4th of. June. General Paine's division held the center, and advanced within fif- teen rods of the rebel works. Having gone to the extreme front to encourage his men, General Paine fell, severely wounded, soon after daylight. A part of the division had entered the works, but the loss of their leader, and the lack of support, prevented the possibility of success. General Paine lay upon the field in the broiling sun all day. As often as he attempted to move, a furious fire opened upon him. Several soldiers, attempting to reach him with a stretcher, to bear him away, were shot and fell near him. Patrick H. Cohen, a wounded private of the 133d New York, was lying near, and deny- ing himself water, tossed to his suffering commander a canteen cut from the body of a dead soldier, and thus saved his life. In the evening he was rescued by a party under Colonel Kimball, of the 53d Massachusetts.
General Paine was taken to New Orleans, where his leg was am- putated on the 23d of June. In less than a month he started for Milwaukee, and on the 1st of September set out for "Washington, to do duty as a member of a military commission. In an emergency he commanded a force for the protection of the capital against an attack by General Early. In March, 1865, he was brevetted Major- General, but resigned his commission soon after to enter upon the duties of Representative from Wisconsin to the Thirty-ninth Con- gress, to which he had been elected. He was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, serving on the Committee on Reconstruction and as Chairman of the Committee on the Militia.
by O E Fen"*
HON. JOHN BEATTY.
RKPRESENTATIVE FROM OHIO
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ky City, Ohio, 1 /ood English o« •ig atCardiiigton,
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JOHN BEATTY.
BEATTY was born in Sandusky City, Ohio, Decem- ber 16, 1828. Having obtained a good English educa- tion, he engaged in the business of banking at Cardington, in his native State. Meanwhile he was not neglectful of politics, and in 1860 he was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket. Partak- ing of the almost universal feeling of patriotic indignation that aroused the entire North at the fall of Fort Sumter, early in April, 1861, he vol- unteered as a private in a company raised in his own town. Of this company he was immediately and unanimously elected Captain, and on the 19th of the month he reported with his men for duty to the Adju- tant-General of Ohio. Eight days later he was elected Lieutenant Colo- nel of the 3d Ohio Infantry, of which his company was a part. This was originally a three months' regiment, but on the 12th of June it re-organized for three years' service, the field officers remain- ing the same.
On the 23rd of June the regiment was sent to Western Virginia. During the summer and fall campaign in that mountainous region, at Middle Fork, Rich Mountain, Cheat Mountain, and Elkwater, it manifested its own valor and the excellence of its officers.
Transferred to Kentucky in November, the regiment was assigned to the old Third Division of the Army of the Ohio, commanded by General O. M. Mitchell. Soon after Lieutenant Colonel Beatty was promoted to the Colonelcy of his regiment. He accompanied Gen- eral Mitchell in his campaign through Southern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, and Northern Alabama. In the battle of Bridgeport, and in the operations about Decatur, Colonel Beatty took a conspicuous and efficient part. Having been appointed Provost Marshal of
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2 JOHN BEATTY.
Huntsville, he performed the duties of that office with fidelity and tact.
Returning to Louisville with General Buell, in September, 1862, he joined in the pursuit of Bragg through Kentucky. On the 8th of October he fought at the head of his regiment in the battle of Perrysville. Holding the extreme right of General Rousseau's divi- sion, his regiment was assailed in both front and flank by an over- whelming force ; and though in an hour's time one-third of his men were killed and wounded, Colonel Beatty held his ground until re- lieved by Colonel Pope with the 15th Kentucky.
In December, 1862, Colonel Beatty assumed command of the old Seventeenth Brigade, which had been commanded previously by such men as Lytle and Dumont. In the Battle of Stone River, on "Wednesday, the 31st of December, this brigade, forming part of Rousseau's division, assisted in checking the assault of Hardee. Colonel Beatty had two horses shot under him, but he carne out un- injured.
On Saturday night, January 3, 1863, he was ordered to attack the enemy's works lying near the Murfreesboro turnpike. Placing him- self at the head of his brigade, he charged over the rebel works, and carried them at the point of the bayonet.
On the 12th of March, 1863, he was commissioned Brigadier Gen- eral of Volunteers, to rank from the 29th of November, 1862. As- signed to the First Brigade of Negley's Division, he participated in the Tullahoma campaign. After the rebels had been driven out of that stronghold, he led the column which pursued them, skirmishing successfully with their rear guard until he gained the lofty plateau • of the Cumberland.
In the Chattanooga campaign Gen. Beatty had the honor of being the first to lead his command to the summit of Lookout Mountain. The rebels, after a feeble resistance at Johnson's Crook, retired rapidly before him. In the masterly retreat from Dug Gap, which elicited warm commendation from both General Rosecrans and General Thomas, General Beatty was assigned by General Negley to the responsible and difficult duty of protecting and bringing away a large
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JOHN BEATTY. 3
wagon-train in the face of an immense force of Rebels. Not a single wagon fell into the enemy's hands.
In the battle of Chickamauga, General Beatty commenced the fighting, both on the 19th and 20th of September ; the first day upon the extreme right, and the second upon the extreme left of the line. Assailed early on the morning of the 19th, he had scarcely repulsed the enemy after a fight of three hours' duration, and held his ground, when he was ordered to the centre of the line late in the afternoon. On Sunday morning he reported to General Thomas with his command, and was placed on the extreme left, along the Lafayette road, with orders to hold it at all hazards. Hour after hour, with his compara- tively feeble force, he maintained his position against the masses of the foe which surged around him. He was reinforced at last by Colonel T. R. Stanley with his brigade, and, in conjunction, they charged and drove the Rebels half a mile, capturing a large part of General Adams's Louisiana brigade, with its leader at its head. Later in the day, General Beatty was among the heroes who held the last position against the combined efforts of the Rebel army. Again, on the 21st, while in position near Rossville, a heavy recon- noitering column attacked his brigade, but it was driven back with considerable loss.
In the re-organi/ation of the army, General Beatty was assigned to the Second Brigade of Davis's division, and during the operations which resulted in the expulsion of the Rebels from Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain, his command held the left of the line. Though not actively engaged at that time, he joined with great vigor in pursuit of the retreating foe. On the 20th of November, General Beatty, in conjunction with Colonel Daniel McCook, over- took the Rebel General Maury at Graysville, and after a short con- flict entirely defeated him.
On the 1st of December General Davis's division commenced its march toward Knoxville, for the relief of General Burnside, not re- turning to its camp at Chattanooga until the 18th of the same month. General Beatty participated in this march, sharing fully the fatigues and hardships of the humblest soldier in the command.
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4 JOHN BEATTT.
On the 13th of January, 1864, he resigned his commission,, and re- turned to the pursuits of a civilian.
Hon. C. S. Hamilton, member of the Fortieth Congress from the Eighth Ohio District, having been killed by an insane son near the commencement of his term, General Beatty was elected to fill the vacancy. This election, being the first held after the defection of President Johnson from the Republican party, was regarded with much interest by the entire country. The election of General Beatty in a doubtful district, over his Democratic competitor, was the first triumph of Congress over President Johnson before the people.
General Beatty took an active part in the campaign which result- ed in the elevation of General Grant to the Presidency, and was himself at the same time re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
456
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LUKE P. POLAND.
<UKE P. POLAND was born iii Westford, Vermont, Nov- ember 1, 1815. He attended such district schools as the region afforded during his early boyhood. When twelve years old he went for about two years as errand-boy, hostler, and clerk, to live with an excellent man who kept a store in the village. There he learned to write a good hand, to keep accounts, to cast interest, and acquired some knowledge of the common modes of business. Then for four years he lived at home, helping his father carry on a small farm, run a saw-mill on the village brook, and do service in his trade as a house-carpenter. When seventeen years old he went to an acad- emy for a term of five months, and this "finished" him in the schools. He manifested an unusual fondness for reading, and de- voured with eagerness the few books which that remote and rustic neighborhood contained. When fifteen years of age he told his father he thought he could do better for himself than to be a car- penter. His father being unable to do more for him, told him he was free to go forth and take his chances for making headway in the world. So, with his spare shirt and stockings tied up in a handkerchief, he went to the neighboring village of Morristown, and taught a district school during the winter, and in the spring he began the study of the law. He was admitted to'the bar in 1836, and continued in practice until 1848, when he was elected one of the Judges of the Supreme Court. For several years he had come to be recognized as one of the ablest lawyers in the Circuit consisting of Lamoille, Orleans, and Washington Counties, and in these counties he was probably engag- ed in the trial of more causes than any other single lawyer during the same period. Judge Charles Davis had for two years held the office to which Judge Poland was elected in 1848. In Yermont the
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2 LUKE P. POLAND.
Judges of the Supreme Court are elected annually by the joint vote of the Senate and House of ^Representatives. Judge Davis had always been a Whig, and Judge Poland a Democrat.
That he was elected over such a competitor as Judge Davis, by a legislature composed in large majority of Whigs, at so early an age, is of itself ample proof of the public estimate of his ability as a lawyer and character as a citizen. That he received eighteen suc- cessive elections, all but the first by viva voce vote, is decisive proof that he adequately sustained himself in that high position.
The mental qualities and the traits of character, the exercise and development of which had raised their possessor so rapidly to his high standing as a lawyer, marked and distinguished him as a Judge. With a mind of great native strength, quick in its perceptions, rapid in its operations, given to reasoning by a practical, direct, and forcible logic, he easily and with a kind of spontaneous gracefulness addressed himself to judicial duties in a manner which showed that in mak- ing him Judge the State had put " the right man in the right place." None have held that position in Yermont who more effectively, up- rightly, and acceptably have ministered in the dispensing of justice according to the principles and forms of law. With a self-possessed placidity and deliberateness of manner that never failed him, with a fortitude and firmness that were strangers to fear or wavering, he was at the same time courteous, complaisant, and kind, so that while the most service-hardened, confident, and captious members of the bar yielded in differential subordination to the power above them, the most inexperienced and diffident -were inspired with courage and con- fidence in their efforts to do professional service in the courts over which Judge Poland presided. •
Hon. Janles Barrett, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Yermont, and for many years one of Judge Poland's associates at the bar, says in a communication to the author : " In thirty years' conversancy with the bench and bar of Yermont, it has not been my fortune to know any other instance in which the presiding Judge in his nisiprirus Circuit has been so uniformly and by the spontane- ous acquiescence of the bar so emphatically ' the end of the law ' in
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LUKE P. POLAND. 3
all things appertaining to the business of these courts. As Judge in the Supreme Court sitting in bank, his adaptedness to the place was equally manifest. His mastery of the principles of the law, his dis- criminating apprehension of the principles involved in the specific case in hand, his facility in developing 'by logical processes and practi- cal illustrations the proper applications and results of those principles, are very strikingly evinced in the judicial opinions drawn up by him contained in the Vermont Reports. His memory of cases in which particular points have been decided, is extraordinary ; and this memory is accompanied by a very full and accurate apprehension of the very points, and grounds, and reasons of the judgment. Some of the cases, in which he drew the opinion of the Court, stand forth as leading cases, and his treatment of the subjects involved ranks with the best specimens of judicial disquisition."
Since leaving the bench Judge Poland has engaged somewhat in the practice of the law, appearing in important cases in the State and United States Courts, both at home and in Washington. He has, however, devoted himself more especially to politics. At the outset of his professional career he developed a taste for politics, and soon became an influential member and a local leader of the Demo- cratic party. He was always an anti-slavery Democrat, having be- come so before his party adopted the maintaining of slavery as a dogma of its faith. When the Free-Soil wing of the Democracy took open ground in 1848, he was its candidate for Lieutenant-G-ov- ernor of the State. On being elected Judge he withdrew from active participation in party politics ; yet throughout the whole progress of . the " irrepressible conflict " he has been true and firm as the cham- pion of free soil and free men ; and from the organization of the Re- publican party he has been one of the most sincere and unwavering of its members.
His great ability, manifested at the bar and on the bench, the soundness of his political views, his eminently practical judgment in regard to policy and measures, his fearlessness in maintaining his con- victions of the right, his faculty of making his views and the reasons for them clear and forcible, his courteous bearing and imposing per-'
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4 LUKE P. POLAND.
sonal presence rendered him eminently fit to occupy the seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the death of the lamented Coll am er.
He took his seat in the Senate in December, 1865, for the remain- der of Judge Collamer's term, which expired March 4, 1867. At the latter date he took his seat as a Representative from Vermont to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
While in the Senate, though for so brief a period, he made upon his fellow-Senators an abiding impression of his eminent ability and fitness for that position. He at once assumed his full share of legis- lative work, and as a member of the Judiciary Committee he was en- trusted with the care and management of the Bankrupt Bill that had been passed by the House. The Judiciary Committee were almost equally divided in their views respecting it, and so also were the mem- bers of the Senate. Seldom has so important a measure successfully passed so perilous an ordeal. Mr. Poland's judicious management ot the measure, with the favor that his personal influence secured for it, saved the bill from defeat, and secured its passage into the present Bankrupt Law of the United States.
As a member of the House he has secured the same consideration that was accorded him in the Senate. He was appointed Chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the Laws, a position calling into use the professional ability for which as a lawyer and a judge he had long been distinguished.
In 1858 the University of Vermont testified its appreciation of Judge Poland by conferring on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts, and in 1861 the degree of Doctor of Laws.
In private life Mr. Poland is very popular, his conversation spark- ling with wit and genial humor. A marked trait is his fearless inde- pendence, which leads him to shun the pursuit of even woithy ends by unworthy means. Says a distinguished jurist of Vermont : " The State, so far as her interests depend upon the character of hor courts, and their administration of the law, has suffered irreparable injury by the transfer of Judge Poland from the chiefship of her Judiciary to a seat in Congress."
460
HON. WILLIAM M UN GEN.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM OHIO
WILLIAM MTTNGE2L
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WILLIAM MIHTOE:N-.
rILLIAM MUNGEN was born May 12th, 1821, in the city of Baltimore, whither his parents had emigrated, two years before, from Ireland. In 1822 his father removed to Phil- adelphia, where he remained until 1830, when he took his family to the west, and settled in what is now Carroll County, Ohio.
William was taught the rudiments of learning by his mother, who was a woman of remarkable mental qualities and good education. Being a Presbyterian, she required him to commit to memory the Westminster Catechism, and when five years old to read two chapters daily in the Bible.
At nine years of age he was put to work on the farm, but continu- ed to spend his leisure moments in reading and study. From the time he was fourteen until he was nineteen years old he went to school only fifty-five days, but meanwhile, by diligent night study at home, made excellent attainments in English grammar, mathe- matics, and the physical sciences.
Subsequently he spent several years teaching school during the winter months and farming in the summer.; occasionally contributing articles to the newspapers. In the fall of 1845 he was appointed Deputy Treasurer of Hancock County, and removed to Findlay, the county-seat. In February, 1845, he commenced editing and publish- ing the " Hancock Farmer," a Democratic weekly newspaper. Six months later he bought the rival newspaper of the place, and united the two under the name of " Democratic Courier," a paper which he continued to edit and publish for ten years. In the fall of 1846 he was elected Auditor of Hancock County, and was re-elected in 1848.
In 1850 the contest arose in Ohio as to the adoption of a new State constitution. On the stump, and with the pen, Mr. Mungen
461
2 WILLIAM MUNGEN.
supported the new constitution, which was adopted at the popular election.
In the fall of 1851 he was elected to the State Senate from the -dis- trict composed of the counties of Hancock, Putnam, Wood, Henry, Fulton and Lucas. He declined a re-nomination in 1853. In the meantime he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession in 1853.
In 1858 he was nominated by the Democracy of the Fifth District as a candidate for Congress. He was beaten in the election by Hon. J. M. Ashley, but ran six hundred votes ahead of his party ticket.
He continued in the practice of law until 1861. When the war broke out he assisted in raising the 21st Kegiment of Ohio Yolun- teer Infantry, in April, but on account of cases pending in court he could not himself go into the three months' service. He soon after enlisted men to form a battery of light artillery, but as the guns could not be furnished at the time by the Government, the company was disbanded. He then received authority from the Governor to raise a regiment of infantry. In about six weeks the regiment was full, and was organized as the 57th Ohio, Colonel Mungen command- ing.
The regiment was assigned to duty under General W. T. Sherman, in the West. It participated in all the important battles of the Southwest, including Shiloh, Corinth, Chickasaw, Yicksburg, Ray- mond, Champion Hills, Messenger's Ford, and Arkansas Post. At the latter place Colonel Mungen led the 4th Brigade, 1st Division, 15th Army Corps in the charge against the enemy's works. Ill health compelled him to resign at Yicksburg, but his regiment went through to the sea with Sherman.
After recruiting his health for a year, he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1866 he was a Democratic candidate for Congress, and was elected by 2,778 majority. He served on the Committee on In- dian Affairs, and Special 'Committees on the Niagara Ship Canal, and on the treatment of Union Prisoners. He was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress by a majority of 4,846, .and was placed on the Committees on Indian Affairs and on Printing.
HGN NATHANIEL P. BANKS.
-•EFhhSENTATr/E FROM MASSACHUSETTS
, Maeeachu-
v 30, 1819. With i "ly cducat! >
.he was placed,
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NATHANIEL P. BANKS.
^ATHANIEL P. BANKS was born in "Waltham, Massachu-
setts, January 30, 1819. With no other early education than that afforded by the common schools, he was placed, as soon as he could be of service, at work in a cotton factory of which his father was the overseer. He afterward learned the trade of a ma- chinist. Joining a dramatic company which was formed among his associates, he played the prominent parts with so much success, that he had inducements offered him to adopt the profession of an actor. Bat preferring another stage, he lectured before political meetings, lyceums, and temperance societies, and afterward became editor of a newspaper in his native place. He was in request as a speaker in the political meetings of the Democratic party, and for his services received an office under Folk's administration in the Boston Custom House. In 1849 he was elected to the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, and in 1851 he was chosen Speaker.
In the summer of 1853 he was President of the Convention called to revise the Constitution of the State, and in the same year he took his seat as a Representative in the Thirty-third Congress from Massa- chusetts. He signified his withdrawal from the Democratic party by voting against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which was the absorbing political topic of the time. In 1854 he was re-elected to Congress, and was selected by the Republicans as their candidate for Speaker of the House. He was elected after a contest of two months, and more than one hundred ballots. He performed the difficult duties of the Speakership with unequalled ability, and no one of his deci- sions was ever overruled by the House. He continued a Representa- tive in Congress until 1857, when he was elected Governor of Massa- chusetts, to which office he was twice re-elected.
2 NATHANIEL P. BANKS.
At the breaking out of the rebellion, he entered the military service of the country. He was commissioned a Major-Genera^, May 30, 1861, and was soon after assigned to command the Department of Annapolis, with headquarters at Baltimore. The spirit of rebellion possessed the people and the municipal government of that city, requiring for its successful treatment great executive ability and vigorous policy. The measures adopted by General Banks were such as the emergency demanded. The Government re-asserted its authority, and rebellion in Maryland was repressed by the prompti- tude and decision of General Banks in arresting George P. Kane, Marshal of the Baltimore Police, and suspending the powers of the Police Commissioners.
Soon after the disaster of Bull Run General Banks was ordered to relieve General Patterson. He was subsequently assigned to com- mand the Fifth Army Corps which defeated Stonewall Jackson in the battle of Winchester, and broke the "quiet" which long had a depressing effect on the country.
The spring of 1862 found General Banks in the valley of the Shenandoah with a force of about eighteen thousand men, ready to move upon Staunton and capture that important military position. He was already within twenty-eight miles of that place, and saw the prize within his grasp, when an order was issued from the War Department, directing him to send Shields' Division of 12,000 men to reinforce McDowell. Banks obeyed the order, though it was the death-blow of his hopes, and placed him at the mercy of Stonewall Jackson, who, flushed with a recent success, was ready to fall upon him with an overwhelming force. Resolved not to surrender his little army, he began his masterly retreat l>y way of Winchester to the Potomac. A series of battles was fought, by which the enemy was held in check until Banks' army and trains were placed across the Potomac with little loss. The nec-e^ity for this retreat was created in Washington, where it naturally and justly created great panic among the officials. Scarcely any movement of the war was managed with more consummate generalship than this retreat in the Yalley of the Shenandoah.
464
NATHANIEL P. BANKS. 3
His Corps having been placed in the Army of Virginia, under command of Pope, General Banks fought the Battle of Cedar Moun- tain. He subsequently, for a short time, was in command of the defences of Washington.
He was, December 15, 1862, assigned to command the Department of the Gulf. Never was a more difficult task assigned to an officer than the accomplishment of the various political, diplomatic, and military ends which the Government had in view in this Depart- ment. The reconstruction of Louisiana, the presentation of a for- midable front to the French in Mexico, and the cutting in two of the eastern and western armies of the Confederacy — these were some of the multifarious objects aimed" at in sending General Banks to New Orleans.
His administration of civil affairs in New Orleans, though different in manner from that of General Butler, was similar in its object and effect — the suppression of rebellion and the fostering of the loyal element.
In his military movements, General Banks was successful in the capture of Fort Hudson on the Mississippi. A movement against Sabine Pass, under General Franklin, disastrously failed, although the fort was defended by less than fifty men. Other operations on the coast and on the Rio Grande were attended with success.
After the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, it was the advice of General Grant and General Banks that a movement should be made on Mobile, and that the rebel army 'west of the Mississippi, isolated as it was, should be left unemployed and useless to the Confederacy. There were, however, in Washington, influential parties who desired that an expedition should be made up the Red River which would bring into market the cotton of that region. Against his own judgment General Banks entered upon the Red River expedition with an inadequate force, which was not wholly under his control, since Smith, and Steele, and Porter with the gun-boat fleet, each held inde- pendent commands — an arrangement fatal to the success of the expe- dition. The Union army had made its way to a point about fifty miles south of Shreveport on the Red River, when its progress was
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4 -NATHANIEL P. BANKS.
checked by the disastrous battle of Sabine Cross Roads. Banks fell back a few miles with his army and made a stand at Pleasant Hill, where he gained a decisive victory. The expedition, however, pro- ceeded no further, since the low stage of water prevented the further progress of the fleet. General Banks was soon after relieved by General Canby, who had been assigned to command the Depart- ment of the Gulf.
In his military career General Banks was by no means as success- ful as in political life. Without military experience, he was appointed a Major-Gen eral at so early a day as to outrank many experienced officers. This had a tendency to produce insubordination, and to fan the jealousy which existed among regulars against volunteer officers. He lacked the firm military grasp of one " born to command," by which a general causes subordinate officers and men promptly to execute his purposes. He was wanting in the faculty of looking after his own interests and reputation. He had no relatives nor partners engaged in profiting by the misfortunes of the country, and engaged in no private speculations of his own, yet he was unwill- ingly made the agent of cotton speculators in the Red River expe- dition ; and when their schemes were unsuccessful, they contrived to lay on General Banks the odium which justly belonged to themselves. No officer of the army gave more honest and patriotic service to the country, no general personally profited by it so little.
Resigning his commission in the army, he was elected a Repre- sentative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, serving as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
466
OK
KON JOHN A LOGAN.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
JOHK" A.
A. LOGAN was born in Jackson County, Illinois, February 9, 1826. His father, Dr. John Logan, came from Ireland to Illinois in 1823 ; his mother, Elizabeth Jenkins, was a Tennesseean. He was indebted for his early education to his father, and to such teachers as chanced to remain for brief periods in the new settlement.
At the commencement of the Mexican war young Logan volun- teered, and was chosen Lieutenant in a company of the First Illinois Infantry. He did good service as a soldier, and was for some time adjutant of his regiment. On his return home, in the fall of 1848, he commenced the study of law in the office of his uncle, Alexander M. Jenkins, Esq., formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois. In No- vember, 1849, he was elected Clerk of Jackson County. He at- tended a course of law lectures in Louisville, and having received his diploma in 1857, he commenced the practice of his profession with his uncle. By his popular manners and rare abilities he soon won his way to a high place in public esteem, and was, in 1852, elected Prosecuting- Attorney of the Third Judicial District. In the autumn of the same year he was elected to the State Legislature, and was three times re-elected. In 1856 he was a presidential elector. In 1858 he was elected by the Democrats as a Kepresentative in Con- gress, and was re-elected in 1860. In the Presidential campaign of this year he ardently advocated the election of Mr. Douglas ; never- theless, on the first intimation of coming trouble from the South, Mr. Logan did not hesitate to declare that in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election he would " shoulder his musket to have him in- augurated."
When in Washington, in attendance on the called session of Con- 467
2 JOHN A. LOGAN.
gress, in July, 1861, Mr. Logan joined the troops that were marching to meet the enemy. He fought in the. ranks at the disastrous battle of Bull Run, and was among the last to leave the field. Returning to his home, he announced to his constituents the determination to enter the service of the country, for the defence of the "old blood- stained flag."
His stirring and patriotic eloquence rallied multitudes of volun- teers ; and on the 13th of September, 1861, the Thirty-first Regiment of Illinois Infantry was organized and ready to take the field, under command of Colonel Logan. The regiment was attached to Gen- eral McClernand's Brigade. Its first experience in battle was at Belmont, where Colonel Logan had his horse shot under him. And here he assisted materially in preventing the capture of a part of General McClernand's command by leading his men in a bayonet charge, breaking the enemy's line, and opening the way for the force that was being surrounded. He led his regiment in the attack upon Fort Henry. While gallantly leading his men in the assault on Fort Donelson, he received a severe wound, which disabled him for some time from active service. Reporting again for duty to Gen- eral Grant, at Pittsburg Landing, he was, in March, 1862, made a Brigadier-General of Volunteers. He took an important part in the movement against Corinth ; and subsequently was given command at Jackson, Tennessee, with instructions to guard the railroad com- munications.
His numerous friends and old constituents urged him to become a candidate for re-election to Congress in 1862, as representative for the State at large ; but he replied to their importunities with these glowing words of patriotism :
"In reply I would most respectfully remind you that a compliance with your request on my part would be a departure from the settled resolution with which I resumed my sword in defence and for the perpetuity of a Government the like and blessings of which no other nation or age shall enjoy, if once suffered to be weakened or de- stroyed. In making this reply, I feel that it is unnecessary to en-
JOHN A. LOGAN. 3
large upon what were, or are, or may hereafter be, my political views, but would simply state that politics, of every grade and char-, acter whatsoever, are now ignored by me, since I am convinced that the Constitution and life of the Republic — which I shall never cease to adore — are in danger. I express all my views and politics when I assert my attachment for the Union. I have no other politics now, and consequently no aspirations for civil place and power.
" No ! I am to-day a soldier of this Republic, so to remain, changeless and immutable, until her last and weakest enemy shall have expired and passed away.
" Ambitious men, who have not a true love for their country at heart, may bring forth crude and bootless questions to agitate the pulse of our troubled nation, and thwart the preservation of this Union, but for none of such am. I. I have entered the field to die, if need be, for this Government, and never expect to return to peace- ful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a fact established.
" Whatever means it may be necessary to adopt, whatever local interests it may affect or destroy, is no longer an affair of mine. If any locality or section suffers or is wronged in the prosecution of the war, I am sorry for it, but I say it must not be heeded now, for we are at war for the preservation of the Union. Let the evil be recti- fied when the present breach has been cemented for ever.
" If the South by her malignant treachery has imperilled all that made her great and wealthy, and it was^ to be lost, I would not stretch forth my hand to save her from destruction, if she will not be saved by a restoration of tjie Union. Since the die of her wretchedness has been cast by her own hands, let the coin of her misery circulate alone in her own dominions until the peace of Union ameliorates her forlorn condition."
In Grant's Northern Mississippi campaign, General Logan com- manded .the third division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, under General McPherson, exhibiting a skill and bravery which led to his promotion as Major-General of Volunteers, dating from November
4 JOHN A. LOGAN.
26, 1862. He took an active part in the movement on Vicksburg; the seven steamboats which ran the batteries there with supplies were manned exclusively by men from his command of his own selection. "We subsequently see him contributing to the victory at Port Gibson, saving the day by his personal valor at the battle of Kaymond, participating in the defeat of the rebels at Jackson, and taking a prominent part in the battle at Champion Hill.
General Grant, in his report of the last mentioned battle, uses the following language : " Logan rode up at this time, and told me that if Hovey could make another dash at the enemy, he could come up from where he then was and capture the greater part of their force." "Which suggestions were acted upon and fully realized.
In the siege of Vicksburg he commanded McPherson's centre, and on the 25th of June made the assault after the explosion of the mine. His column was the first to enter the surrendered city, and he was made its Military Governor. The Seventeenth Army Corps honored him by the presentation of a gold medal inscribed with the names of the nine battles in which his heroism and generalship had been distinguished.
He succeeded General Sherman in the command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, in November, 1863, and during the following winter had his head-quarters at Huntsville, Alabama. In May, 1864, he joined the Grand Army, which, under General Sherman, was prepar- ing for its march into Georgia. He led the advance of the Army of the Tennessee in the movement at Resaca, and participated in the battle which ensued, with "Wood's Division, charging and capturing the enemy's lines of works between the fort and the river. At Dallas, on the 23d of May, he met and repulsed Hardee's veterans. The next day, while pointing out to Generals Sherman and McPher- pon the position of the enemy, he was again wounded by a shot through the left arm ; nevertheless he continued in the field, carrying his arm in a sling. At Kenesaw Mountain he drove the enemy from his line of works, and on the 27th of June made a desperate assault against the impregnable face of Little Keuesaw.
470
JOHN A. LOGAN. 5
At the battle of Atlanta, on the 22d of July, in the hottest of the fight, Logan was informed of the fall of his beloved commander, General McPherson, in another part of the field. Assuming com- mand, General Logan dashed impetuously along the lines, shouting, "McPherson and revenge." The effect was electrical, and thou- sands of rebels slain on that sanguinary field attested the love of the Union soldiers for their dead commander, and their enthusiastic imitation of the valor of his successor.
General Sherman, in his report, speaking of the death of General McPherson, says : " General Logan succeeded him and commanded the Army of the Tennessee through this desperate battle, with the same success and ability that had characterized him in the command of a corps or division." And in his letter of August 16th, to General Halleck, General Sherman said : " General Logan fought that battle out as required, unaided save by a small brigade sent by my orders." On the 28th of July he fought the battle of Ezra Chapel, where, in the language of General Sherman, " He commanded in person, and that corps, as heretofore reported, repulsed the rebel army com- pletely." He was efficient in the remaining battles until after the fall of Atlanta, when his troops being ordered into camp for a season of respite, he went North and spent a few months in stumping the Western States during the Presidential campaign of 1864. His troops forming a part of Sherman's Grand Army in its march to the sea, General Logan rejoined them at Savannah, Georgia.
From Savannah he marched with his corps through the Carolinas, actively participating in the battle of Benton's Cross Eoads or Mill Creek. After Johnson's surrender, he marched with his veterans to Washington, and took part in the great review of the victorious Union armies on the 23d of May. On the same day he was appointed to the command of the Army of the Tennessee. As soon as active duty in the field was over, he at once tendered his resigna- tion, stating he did not desire to draw pay when not in active service.
He was offered the position of Minister to Mexico in 1865, but
JOHN A. LOGAN.
declined the honor. He was elected a Kepresentative to the For-' tieth Congress from the State at large, receiving 203,045 votes against 147,058 given for his Democratic opponent. He was re- elected to the Forty-first Congress, and was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. He was one of the managers in the Impeachment Trial of President Johnson.
General Logan's military career was remarkably brilliant. From his impetuous personal bravery on the field of battle he was st}Tled " the Murat of the Union Army." In Congress his career has been scarcely less distinguished. His jet-black hair and strongly-marked features render him conspicuous among the members of the House. His impetuous and eloquent oratory never fails to produce a marked effect.
HON. EBON C. INGERSOLL.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
N C. J OLL.
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"BON CLARK INGERSOLL was born in Oneida County, New York, December 12, 1831. In 1843, he removed with his father to Illinois. Having finished his education at Pa- ducah, Kentucky, he entered upon the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1854, and located himself at Peoria, Illinois, for the prac- tice of his profession.
In 1856, Mr. Ingersoll was elected to the Illinois legislature. He served, for a time, as Colonel of a Regiment of Illinois Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion. In 18.64, he was elected a representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress for the unexpired term of Hon. Owen Lovejoy ; and has been re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congress.
In the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Ingersoll held the responsible po- sition of Chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia. He has shown himself an active and able Representative in Con- gress. His speeches give evidence of earnestness, joined with a sound and discriminating judgment. In his speech on the government of the insurrectionary States, delivered on "the 7th of February, 1867, he thus advanced his views tou hing the status of these States as affected by their rebellion :
" I hold that the rebel States, by rebellion, destroyed all civil govern- ment within their boundaries, and destroyed their political organiza- tions known to the Constitution of the United States, and, conse- quently, they ceased to be States of this "Union ; and by the -operation ' of the act of secession, culminating in armed rebellion, they became the territory of the United States, when we, by our successes on the battle-field, made a conquest of their armies."
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2 EBON C. INGERSOLL.
We present an extract from another speech by Mr. Ingersoll, which is interesting, not only as a specimen of extemporaneous oratory, but as an illustration of opinions of the President entertained in Con- gress, pending the great contest between him and the Legislative branch of the Government :
" Sir, Andrew Johnson has made no sacrifices worthy of any men- tion, and if he has, an appreciative and grateful people would re- member them without his thrusting them in their faces on every oc- casion. What has he suffered ? He has not suffered so much as the humblest private that fought in our armies during the rebellion. The humblest private that fought at Gettysburg or in the Wilderness is entitled to more credit than is Andrew Johnson for what he has done. Has Andrew Johnson ever fought the enemy in battle? No, sir. Has he ever made an effort to find the enemy on the tented field ? Never. Has he ever even smelled gunpowder ? Has he ever camped on the frozen ground ? Has he ever stood guard in the stormy and dreary nights numbed with the frosts of winter ? Has he ever suffered any of the privations common to the soldier, or endured any of the hardships of campaign life ? No, never ; not even an hour !
" What has Andrew Johnson suffered ? He suffered being United States Senator in 1861 ; he has suffered being military governor of Tennessee, snugly ensconced in a mansion at Nashville, with a briga- dier-general's straps on his shoulders, and feasted and toasted, with sentinels pacing before his door while he was securely and quietly sleeping through the watches of the night,. while others braved the dangers he never met !
"And will the American people allow him to impose his infa- mous policy of " restoration " upon them because he claims to have suffered so much ? No, sir, not even if his pretended sufferings were real. Andrew Johnson has suffered nothing worthy of remark, un- less it be that he has suffered the pangs of an uneasy conscience f6r his perfidy to the principles of the Union party. That kind of suffering would be good for him, and I hope he may have plenty of it There is certainly plenty of cause, and I trust it may have a good effect."
472
HON. J O HN M. BR.OOMAL.L ,
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M. BEOOMALL.
iHE ancestors of the subject of this sketch were Quakers, who emigrated from England among the early settlers of Pennsylvania. John M. Broom all was born in Upper Chichester, Delaware County, Pa., January 19, 1816. He received a classical and mathematical education in the select schools of the Society of Friends.
Mr. Broomall studied law, and practiced in his native county with success for twenty years. In politics he was in early life a. Whig, and cast his first presidential vote, in 1840, for General Harrison.
Embracing the anti-slavery principles of the Society in which he was born, he opposed at the polls, in 1838, the adoption of the new constitution of Pennsylvania, which disfranchised the blacks. His subsequent votes, whether as a citizen or a Kepresentative, have all been consistent with the one given on that occasion.
In. 1851 and 1852, he served as a Eepresentative in the Legisla- ture of Pennsylvania, and was a member of the State Revenue Board in 1854. Two years later he attached himself to the Republi- can party. In 1860, he was a delegate to the Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was chosen a Presidential Elector in the election which followed.
In 1862, he was elected a Representative in Corgress from the Seventh Pennsylvania District. In 1864, and in 1866, he was re- elected. In 1868, he declined to be again a candidate, on account of the state of his health, and the condition of his private affairs.
He served on the Committees of Accounts and Public Expendi- tures, of the first of which he was Chairman during the Fortieth . 473
2 JOHN M. BROOMALL.
Congress. During his entire Congressional service, Mr. Broom all has been counted among the extreme Radicals. Upon financial questions he always opposed the expansion of the currency, and ad- vocated contraction as a means to the resumption of specie payments.
During Mr. Broomall's service in Congress he made a number of able and important speeches. On the 18th of March, 1868, he ad- dressed the House on " The power and duty of the United States to guarantee to every State a republican form of government." In the course of this speech, he remarked :
" If the majority may lawfully disfranchise the minority on ac- count of race or lineage, then may the citizens of l&uth Carolina of African descent limit the elective franchise to themselves, to the exclusion of their white fellow-citizens. If in the form of govern- ment now being constituted there, such a limitation should be ptaced, who in* this Hall or in the country would maintain that the Govern- ment is republican ? Not a single vote could be obtained in either House of Congress for the admission of a State with such a constitu- tion. Now, if it is not republican in South Carolina, where black men are in the majority, to limit the suffrage to black men, with what consistency shall, we maintain that it is republican in Ohio, where white men are, in the majority, to limit the suffrage to white men ? Let us beware how we advocate the doctrine that the minority may be lawfully disfranchised on account of lineage, lest that doctrine be turned against ourselves, and lest for very shame we be obliged to submit."
474
j
HON. JAMES A.JOHNSON,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM CAUFORNI/V-
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JAMES A. JOHNSON.
'AMES A. JOHNSON was bom at Spartanburg, South Carolina, May 16, 1829. He received a common-school edu- cation, and studied medicine and law. From 1850 to 1853 he was employed as a writer 'and correspondent for various news- papers. In 1853 he went to California, and engaged in mining and mercantile business. *In the fall of 1859 he left these pursuits for the practice of law, in which he has ever since been engaged. He served two terms in the Legislature of California. In 1867" he was elected to the Fortieth Congress as a Democrat. The Legislature of California having meanwhile changed the time of holding Congressional elections from the odd to the even years, he was in 1868 re-elected a Represen- tative in the Forty-first Congress. In the Fortieth Congress he was appointed to positions on the Committee on Post-Offices and Post- Roads, and the Committee on Agriculture. Mr. Johnson has made several speeches on the Public Lands, Railroads, and other subjects of special importance to his State. On the 30th of June, 1868, he made a speech in favor of the bill making an appropriation for the purchase of Alaska. He gave interesting facts and figures relating to the extent and resources of the Territory, and showed the import- ance of the acquisition to the whole country, and especially to his own State. We make the following extract :
" California is a young State, but is mature in all that constitutes the elements of a rising and prosperous commonwealth. Minerva-like, she sprung out fully developed from the fertile brains of her own statesmen. As a commercial, agricultural, mechanical, and wealth- producing State, despite disasters from floods and fires, she has at-
475
JAMES A. JOHNSON.
tained a greatness which makes the records of her prosperity appear almost fabulous. Experience has developed her channels of prosperity, and she stands to-day the most notable example in the world of the energy, enterprise, and industry of a people. Scarce nineteen years ago, her hills and plains were settled by the best young bloods of our country, when she commenced an existence with all the elements to make her an excelsior State.
" With her first life she was possessed of all the advantages of the improvements of the age, and did not have to grow into their use by overcoming the prejudices of the past. We are of the present time, and availing ourselves of the advantages of the day ; and as each pro- gressive benefit for the community is developed, we have incorpor- ated it with our daily life, thus lending vitality ever to our young blood and venturesome spirits. Too much honor can never be done the young men of California. Among us are settled young men from every country in Europe. With the liberal spirit of the age and our own institutions, we have adopted all that is good to the , community from each. Such valuable traits, methods, and means of future benefit as were consonant with our institutions, we have wove into the fabric of our social as well as business life, and have thus become more liberal and expansive in our views, more progressive in our exertions. We differ essentially in our manners and customs from other communities, which are trammeled by old-fashioned rou- tine and by old traditions, and worse, by old prejudices. We are daring and venturesome. Old fogies would call us daring, extrava- gant, and perhaps reckless, but our course is controlled by rules of progress and commerce which Accord with the spirit of the age, and so we make our paths of industry broader, brighter, and more invit- ing than can be found elsewhere. The wants of the community, and the natural impulse of enlarging the sphere of commercial interests — an interest which binds together the States of this Union — rational- izes our progress.
" We need no better example to illustrate this than the recent change into our hands of the trade of China, via California, which
476
JAMES A. JOHKSON.
will eventually make San Francisco the center of the commercial world, and place in the lap of her queenly and capacious robes the wealth of Asia, however this may be to the disadvantage of England. This is one of the revolutions resulting from our progress ; and does it not reflect equal credit on the commercial enterprise of the great marts of the Atlantic, whose interests are so closely interwoven with our own as to be almost identical ? Any benefit accruing to California, is a benefit to them in a commercial point of view. We are rais- ing up in our youths, as it were, a new nationality, educated on a scale unknown elsewhere in the Union. The blessings of a free education are not confined to the channels of English knowledge alone ; but the German, French, and Spanish classics are taught in our public schools, as also are the fine arts, the law, medicine, me- chanics, metallurgy, music and painting, while theology is not neg- lected. We intend that our posterity shall possess the same vigor mentally, that a beneficent God has given them physically ; for we are blessed with'a climate beyond compare, and a soil teeming with richness, bearing with an astonishing prolificacy all the cereals and fruits of the most temperate as well as tropical climates."
On the 8th of February, Mr. Johnson addressed the House on the subject of Eeconstruction, in which he denounced "the tyranny which loads the people with unbearable taxation, and enthralls the white citizens of ten States."
On the 24th of February, 1868, the House having under considera- tion the Kesolution reported from the Committee on Keconstruction to impeach the President, Mr. Johnson remarked :
" Is it wise, is it desirable, is it necessary to impeach the President of the United States ? Is there an uprising of the people demanding the impeachment of this high officer ? One word answers all these questions : No. There is not a man in the United States, outside of Congress, who desires the impeachment of the President, except those who desire it on political grounds, and those speculators and agita- tors who hope to make capital out of their country's misfortunes, and hope that by possible convulsions they may be shaken to the
47T
4 JAMES A. JOHNSON.
surface, and may profit by the general ruin. No possible advantage, not attainable other ways, will be gained by this impeachment ; and untold misfortunes may result from it. Whatever tends to weaken the respect of the people for high official station, for our courts and laws, weakens the force of the Constitution. This proceeding has such tendency. Whatever tends to make uncertain our laws and institu- tions, certainly should be regarded as against good policy. What- ever tends to render uncertain and above the courts any tenure, whether of constitutional and lawful place, of property, or of life, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty, and as leading to chaos and anarchy on the one side, or a despotism on the other. The un- restrained bad passions of hot and hasty politicians involved us in a fearful civil war seven years ago, the horrors of which can never be written. By it ten States of this Union have been reduced from happy, prosperous, and rich commonwealths, to a state bordering upon starvation, to misery, despondency, and the most terrible con- dition of poverty, with their governments turned oveV to the keeping of ignorant and lawless bands of degraded negroes. Desolation and ruin have swept over that portion of our common country. Where the torch and the. sword passed by, and left a little green, fertile spot, with its happy cultivator undisturbed, the speculator has since gone ; the happy tiller of the soil has been turned out penni less and homeless ; and the little green spot, by a convenient mode of confiscation, has become the property of some political thief who Brayed for a civil war in his own country, his own land."
478
lON GKCKGt: V LAWREN
aT.'E KPCM FslN3.'^YL'>
GEORGE V. LAWEE^OE.
LHE father of the subject of this sketch was himself a Mem- ber of Congress. Hon. Joseph Lawrence was a Represen- tative in Congress from Pennsylvania, from 1825 to 1829, and again from 1841 to the time of his death, which occurred in Washington, April 17, 1842.
His son, George V. Lawrence, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Nov. 13, 1818. He was a student at the Washington College for a time, but through loss of his health failed to graduate. He afterwards labored for ten years at farming. In 1844, he was elected to the State Legislature from his native county, and re-elected in 1847. He was also a member of the State Senate for six years, in which, during his last term in that body, he was chosen Speaker. In 1864, he was elected to Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.
Mr. Lawrence represents a District of extensive agricultural re- sources, with immense capacity for stock-raisjng and wool-growing, in both of which his constituents are largely engaged. In these pur- suits, their representative is also deeply concerned, and has a thor- ough knowledge of all the relations of a protective tariff to the manufacturing interests and the revenues of the country. He also possesses the ability requisite to present this subject before the country for intelligent legislation.
In presenting his views in a speech on this general subject, he gave the following interesting statistics relating to sheep and wool- growing :
" From 1840 to 1860 there was little increase in the production of wool, or number of sheep — really no substantial advancement in twenty years — and this during a period when other interests were,
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2 GEORGE V. LAWRENCE.
the most of them, in a flourishing condition ; indeed, wool is almost the only product that did not increase largely. Our population in- creased over eight millions between 1850 and 1860. The increase of stockj except sheep, in the Western States in these years was one hundred and forty-three and a half per cent., but of sheep only two and seven-tenths per cent., and wool seventeen per cent. All the agricultural products except this increased in the last decade one hundred and twenty-five per cent. In 1850 the number of sheep re- turned was 21,723,220, and the amount of wool at 25,516,954 pounds. \ The number of sheep in 1860 was 24,823,556, and the amount of ^ wool 60,511,543 pounds.
"In Pennsylvania during the ten years preceding the rebellion, the number of sheep had decreased twelve per cent. ; in Illinois, fourteen per cent. After the war had been waged for four years, and we had been thrown more upon our own resources, and less wool was imported on account of the danger to which foreign commerce was exposed, and also because of the slight protection under the tariff ofl 1861, the increase in Pennsylvania in the production of wool was seventy-six per cent., and in a greater ratio in some of the Wester™ States. Illinois, for example, had during ten years preceding de- creased fourteen per cent. ; but during the first two years of the wan the number increased from 769,135 to 1,206,195. This shows how this interest increased when we had control of the home market, off even partially so. I doubt not many wool-growers will be utterly astonished when I present figures showing the importations of for- eign wool into the United States, and when they see how their in- • terests come in competition and are put in jeopardy by. products of* cheap land and cheaper labor in foreign countries sold an their own market."
480
H
HON. CARMAN A/NEWCCMB.
REfW ,3".HXArr/E FROM 1CS30UPJ.
W . M.
OAEMAJST A. NEWCOMB.
(ABMAN A. KEWCOMB was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, July 1, 1830. After receiving an academical education, he commenced the study of law, at the age of eighteen, with Hon. "W. M. Stevenson. He removed to Freeport, Illinois, where he resumed the reading of law, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Illinois. He soon after emigrated to Iowa, and located at West Union, Fayette County. Here he was elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney, which he held two years. He was then elected and served as Judge for two years.
Early in 1861, he- raised one of the first companies that entered the three years' service, for the suppression of the Rebellion. He was mustered into the service on the 16th of May, 1861, as Captain of Company F, Third Eegiment of Iowa Volunteers. In the fall of the same year, he removed his family to Missouri, where he has since resided. After serving a year and a half in the army, he resigned because of ill-health.
In 1864, he was elected a member of the lower House of the General Assembly of Missouri, and took a leading part in all the important questions which came before that body. He was especially active in opposition to a change in the Constitution which imposed disabili- ties on rebels. He was appointed, by Governor Fletcher, Attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Missouri, which he declined, as he did the Judgeship of the same Circuit, which was subsequently offered him.
In 1866, Mr. Newcomb was elected a member of the Fortieth Congress to represent the Second District of Missouri, composed of the Counties of Jefferson, Crawford, Phelps, Franklin, Maries, Gas-
481
2 CARMAN A. NEWCOMB.
conade, and Osage, together with four wards of the city of St. Louis In the deliberations of the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Newcomb took an active part. In a speech favoring the impeachment of the President, he said :
" The impeachment and removal of Andrew Johnson will be looked upon all over the world, as the grand crowning triumph of freedom and republicanism, and do more to overthrow arbitrary power and oppression, and establish the universal Republic, than any other act of this Government up to the present time. The war of 1812, the war with Mexico, and the late civil contest with rebellion, demonstrated the power of the Republic to repel invasion, to prosecute foreign war, and defend itself against the machinations of internal foes. The impeachment and removal of Andrew Johnson will prove the power of the people, under the forms of law, to remove a ruler of their own selection whenever he proves false to the ideas that underlie the institutions of our country, or his elevation to power. The contests of arms resulted in victories of force over force, 'while the successful impeachment of a criminal Executive will prove the grandest of the many grand victories of liberty and peace, more noble and enduring in its influence upon the future of the nation, than ten thousand victories won upon the field of carnage and strife.
In a speech on the Suffrage question, Mr. Newcomb thus sums up : " The colored man has ever yielded a faithful allegiance to the Government, paid taxes, and faithfully discharged the duties of citizenship in time of peace. He has rendered gallant service in all the wars of our nation, winning the highest commendation oi Wash- ington, Jackson, and Grant. His deeds of heroism and valor are most honorable. They are for ever treasured up in the history of our country. They are immortalized by the speech of the orator and the poet's song ; and, sir, I do insist that while we require and accept his service in support and defense of the Government, it is an act of injustice and cowardice to withhold from him his rights of citizen- ship that will some day call down upon this nation the scorn and reproach of mankind."
4S2
HON. JOHN W CHANLER
REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEWYORK
JOKN" WINTHEOP CHANLEK.
'OHN WINTHROP CHANLER was born in "the city of New York in 1826. Having graduated in Columbia Col- lege, New York, in 1847, he studied law, and practiced the profession until 1859, when he entered political life as a member of the New York State Assembly. In 1860 he was nominated for the State Senate, and declined. In the same year he was a candidate for Representative for the Sixth District of New York, but was de- feated. Two years later, he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress, from the Seventh New York District, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. In the Thirty- eighth Congress he served on the Committee on Patents; in the Thirty -ninth on the Committee on Patents, and the Bankrupt Law ; and in the Fortieth Congress on the Committee on Patents, Elections, and Southern Railroads.
Mr. Chanler has been prominent among the Democrats of Con- gress, advocating with zeal and eloquence the views of the minority on the important subjects of recent legislation. On the 10th of De- cember, 1867, Mr. Chanler delivered a speech in the House of Repre- sentatives, in reply to Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, on his Southern Confis- cation Bill, from which we make the following extract :
" Confiscation is a method by which a conqueror robs his foes and rewards his friends. Two distinct acts are done by it, and two dis- tinct motives actuate it. One result is sought by it, namely, security to the State established by the conqueror. All confiscation is rob- . bery ; it is the tool of the tyrant and the oppressor, who, under the law of might, creates his title to that which was another's. History
483
, " JOHN W. CHANLER.
is filled with examples of confiscation. Founded in violence, sus- tained by fraud, and sanctioned by necessity, it lias become one of the established methods by which States are overthrown and maintained. Revolutions, civil wars, conspiracies, assassinations, work the decay of dynasties', parties, and States ; but by confiscation the victor seizes the spoils, and holds , possession by the right of arms. Confiscation and proscription have moved hand in hand through all the changes and fluctuations of empire, and have come down to us heavy with crimes of past ages, and stained with the blood, and burdened with the wrongs of uncounted thousands whom man's inhumanity to man has made to mourn. The Eoman triumvirs divided the empire and doomed their dearest friends to assassination in the same breath. The genius and eloquence of Cicero could not save him from the doom which partisan hate decreed against him. The empire of Augustus was cemented with blood and enriched by the wealth of obnoxious men, proscribed by his partisans in a spirit of revenge and avarice. Eoman liberty lost her last great advocate in the death of Cicero. Roman empire began when the spirit of liberty was silenced by the edict of proscription and confiscation. All along the highway of his- tory are strewn magnificent monuments reared to commemorate this mighty wrong by the successful tyrant of the era. No reader of the inscriptions which they bear, can leave their perusal without cherish- ing a hope that in his day no ruthless tyrant shall rob him of his patrimony, his freedom, or his life. Confiscation is one of the hid- eous monsters chained to Ijje car of grim-visaged war, and never should be let loose to raven for its prey. It legitimately is only an instru- ment of terror, and should not be let loose to destroy. In time of peace it should be nowhere seen or heard ; savage, cruel, destroying, it has no place among civilized, humane, and law-abiding men in times like these."
Having spoken of the general character of confiscation laws, and the punishments usual among civilized nations, Mr. Chanler said of this particular measure :
" It is a legal, lineal offspring of that body of laws which sent the
484
JOHN W. CHANLER. 3
• commissioners of Herod to every household to fetch him the young
child whom he feared. It is of the same kind as those memorable laws of Spain which drove the Moors from their homes in Andalusia ; and of that edict of France which sent Protestant Huguenots to this land, and everywhere out of their native land, in search of a home.
" It is the same kind of laws, in a written form, as the crude laws of conquest issued by the commissioners of the King of Dahomey, of Congo, or any barbaric absolute monarchs of Central Africa, which strips every prisoner of every right to live, save at the option of the conqueror. The object is the same, the effect the same — revenge ! revenge ! revenge — and all in the name of justice under the cover of law — cruel, bad law — terrible, dire vengeance, carrying desola- tion and ruin in its course — blear-eyed justice, seeing only the ave- nues of wrong and cruelty.
" It was one of a long series of indictments which, as the great dragon 'swinges the horrors of his' twisted tail,' was to close in upon the wlu'te race of the Southern States, and to strangle them into a torpor worse than death1— the torpor of political subordination to the negro. This is the tail of this horrid monster of political atrocity ; it carries the sting which was to rob the white race of all political vitality in the future. Its fiery breath was to light up the flames of another civil war of races — the prize to the conquering race to be the public lands in the Southern States. That the negro might be stronger and more irresistible for evil in this conflict,'the Secretary of "War is, by this bill, made monarch of the black kingdom of Dixie — supreme and migjhty lord, serene invincible sovereign and com- mander-in-chief of the black armies which were and may hereafter be enrolled into our services, armed and equipped, without law of Congress, but on the mere general order of the "War Secretary. That money might be had for this black horde without additional tax, the lands confiscated by this bill are to be sold — always, however, under the commission of this sovereign Secretary of "War, who shall make a trust fund of a large part of the proceeds of the sale, to keep the families of his black warriors in hog and hominy, while the throats
485
4 JOHN W. CHANLER.
•
of white citizens are being heroically cut, or their starved bodies stuck with black bayonets."
On the 6th of February, 1868, Mr. Chanler delivered an able speech in the House of Representatives on the Bights of American citizens abroad, from which we make the following brief extract :
" It does not properly belong, perhaps, to this branch of the Gov- ernment, to mar the harmony which may exist between the Secretary of State and our foreign relations. But if the Representatives of a free and brave nation do not use every means in their power to redress the wrongs done by the oppressor of American citizens at home or abroad, the curse of that nation will justly rest upon their memory. The brand of sloth and neglect will be stamped on our names in history, when the inevitable consequence of the long list of griev- ances under which the naturalized citizen has lived in this country since the Revolution, shall culminate in universal Fenianism, involv- ing this Government in a labyrinth of discords, complicated by dis- grace.
" The destinies and rights of many million emigrants from Europe to this country, are in our hands. A new epoch has been made in the law of nations by the power of steam. The lateen-sails which wooed the breeze to waft the Asiatic races along the shores of In- dian and Chinese seas, now flap idly on their reedy masts, as the swift steamer rides the deep, laden with the adventurous freight of human beings departing from Asia, to seek labor in the Western World, or coming from Europe to seek their fortunes in Australasia. The barriers built by Confucius are battered do\\;n by progress and Christian civilization. The Chinese wall of exclusiveness and despotism is crumbling at the sound of the steam-whistle, more ter- rible to barbarians than an army with banners." * * *
j fine G/E Peru*.
/^
HON. JOHN A NICHOLSON.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM DF.LAWAKK
*%&<•
•
it:
JOHN" A. NICHOLSON.
A. NICHOLSON was born in Laurel, Sussex County, Delaware, November 17, 1827. " His father and grand- father were natives of Delaware, and his mother a native of Virginia. He was educated, in part, at an academy in Nelson County, Yirginia, where his parents were residing at the time. Li 1843 he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but left at the end of two years, without graduating.
In 1847, Mr. Nicholson entered on the study of law, with Hon. Martin Bates, of Dover, Delaware, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He selected Dover as his place of residence, having previ- ously married Miss Angelica K. Eeed, of the same town.
In 1850, he was appointed, by Governor Ross, Superintendent of the free schools of that county. After practicing law a few years, he devoted his time principally to general literature, leading a very quiet and secluded life, and repeatedly refusing to be a candidate for any office.
Yielding at length to the solicitations of friends, Mr. Nicholson was elected in 1864 to the Thirty-jiinth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving in the former on the Committee on Election's, and in the latter on the Committee on Appropriations.
In politics, Mr. Nicholson has always been Democratic, and was a member of the National Democratic Committee, appointed in 1864.
The style of Mr. Nicholson, as a speaker and writer,' is chaste and forcible ; but by reason of his retired habits he is inclined to shrink from an active participation in debate.
Pending the resolution to impeach the President, Mr. Nicholson 487
2 JOHN A. NICHOLSON.
made a speech against a measure which he characterized as " a foul wrong," and " the climax of those revolutionary acts which have marked the existence of the Republican party." After contending that the President could " only be impeached for a knowing and willful violation of the Constitution or a law in pursuance there- of," he argued that the Tenure-of-Office Act was not such a law. " For the first time," said he, " in the history of the country has the Congress of the United States stooped from its high position to legislate directly for the interests of their party. With the powers of Congress they combine the spirit and ethics of a party convention. Their course to this end has been systematic since the surrender of Lee gave us hope of peace and union again. It was this instinct which first prompted them to refuse to restore the South to her place in the Union, knowing, as they did, that the vote of those States would be given against the Radical candidate for President ; and they had not the hardihood, at that time, to hint even at the disfranchise- ment of whites and the enfranchisement of negroes to accomplish their purpose. Now their purpose is changed. Despairing of carry- ing more than half-a-dozen of the Northern States at the next elec- tion, they have turned to the South, and by the most arbitrary, cruel, and barbarous legislation that ever disgraced a civilized government, they have made of her a moral monster fit for their embrace. Every- thing that endangers the success of their scheme excites them to frenzy. They have now, Cortez-like, burned their ships, and their struggle is becoming desperate.
" If the policy which is called the President's policy, but which is also the policy which common sense, justice, honor, and self-interest would have dictated, had . been carried out in 1865, every scar made by the war would now have been healed, trade and commerce would .now ha,ve been flourishing, the South would have been pour- ing her millions into the national Treasury, taxation would have been so diffused as scarcely to be felt ; but the blessing of a Radical President could not be conferred upon us in that condition of things."
488
HON. G-EO. F.. MIL,]
B£PR E S E N TA.T1VE F ROM F EMT SYI JVANT/«
GEOEGE F. MILLER
'EORGE F. MILLER was born May 9, 1809. His birth-place was Chilisquaque, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He was at an early age thrown upon his own resources, and by his personal exertions and industiy succeeded in obtaining an academic education. He then commenced the study of law under James F. Linn, Esq., of Lewisburg ; and after admission to the bar, commenced his profession in the same town, and succeeded in secur- ing an extensive practice.
* Mr. Miller was from the first actively interested in politics. He was an " Old Line Whig," a great admirer of Henry Clay, and a strong protectionist in favor of American industry. When the Republican party was formed, he, with a large majority of the old Whig party, joined it, and has ever since been an active member. He applied himself, however, closely to his profession, and refused to become a candidate for any office until nominated for Congress.
Mr. Miller took an active part in founding the university at Lewis- burg, Pennsylvania — a literary institution which has become one of the leading colleges »f the country. In June, 1848, he was elected sec- retary of the Board of Trustees of this institution, and served in that capacity for sixteen years.
In 1864, Mr. Miller received the Republican nomination for Con- gress in the Fourteenth District. He was elected by a majority of five hundred and seventeen votes over his Democratic opponent, who was a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress. He was re-elected in 1866 by a majority of nearly three times that of his former election.
In the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Miller was a member of the 489
2 GEORGE F. MILLER.
Committee on Roads and Canals, as also of the Committee on Expenditures of the War. In the Fortieth Congress, he was a mem- ber of the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions and that of the War of 1812.
Mr. Miller is not an inactive member of the House, but gives evi- dence of keeping a watchful eye upon its proceedings. His speeches are, in general, brief, and marked by patriotism and good sense. We subjoin a specimen selected from his speech on Reconstruction, deliv- ered on the floor of the House, February 13, 1867.
After noticing briefly the main provisions of the Reconstruction bill, Mr. Miller remarked that " the main arguments urged against the passage of this bill is that the proposed law is unconstitutional— r that the said ten late rebellious States have organized governments, and, therefore, no power exists in Congress to extend over them mar- tial law to take the place of the civil law. I admit, Mr. Speaker, that this extraordinary power should only be exercised in extreme cases. It is, however, a universal rule among all civilized nations, that whdh the civil law is not strong enough to afford ample protection, the more powerful — to wit, martial law — must be resorted to ; and it is evident that these ten States present a case demanding such extreme mea- sures. The civil governments of which we hear so much were not es- tablished by the action of Congress, but under the auspices of Andrew Johnson, without any authority delegated to him for that purple." Then, after showing that the Constitution and laws of the United States are the supreme laws of the land, Mr. Miller proceeds to ask, " Who, then, can make the laws ? Not the exejutive^, as he possesses only the power to give or withhold his assent when bill* ;uv ]nv>. -ntrd to him. It rests with Congress to pass laws ; and if the executive interpose the veto power, such bills can, notwithstanding such veto, become laws if the same shall be passed by a two-third vote in each house — thus showing clearly that the executive alone had no power under the Constitution to undertake to reconstruct these ten rebel States by establishing civil governments therein, and his acts in that matter were usurpation."
490
WILLIAM B ALLISON.
JILLV
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'
WILLIAM B. ALLISON.
rILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Perry, Wayne County, Ohio, March 2, 1829. Most of his boyhood was spent upon a farm. He was educated at Alleghany College, Penn- sylvania, and at Western Reserve College, Ohio. He then entered on the study of law, and was admitted to practice in 1851. He con- tinued the practice of law in Ohio until 1857", when he removed to Dubuque, Iowa. He was a delegate in the Chicago Convention of 1860 ; and, in 1861, he was a member of the Governor's staff, render- ing essential service in raising troops for the war.
In 1862, Mr. Allison was elected from Iowa a Representative to the Thirty-eight Congress, and re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses. He has served on the Committee on Public Lands, Roads and Canals, also on Ways and Means, Mines and Mining, and Expenses in the Interior Department.
The Congressional records show Mr. Allison to be vigilant and faithful in his duties in the House. His speeches evince sobriety and'care, at the same time that they display ability and fearlessness in the advocacy of his views.
Mr. Allison's speech, June 4, 1868, on the " Internal Tax Bill," while it evinces much ability, presents facts and statements of special interest to the country at large. The following extracts are selected in illustration : *
" Mr. Chairman, I fear we must resort to something more perfect if we would check the frauds on the revenue which exist in this coun- try to-day. I beg leave to differ with gentlemen on this side of the House as to the cause of these great frauds. I do not attribute their
491
2 WILLIAM B. ALLISON.
commission to the division of responsibility. The Commissioner of In- ternal Revenue is a bureau officer under the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury is to-day the responsible head of the Department, charged with the collection of the revenue of the country. It is no defense for him to say that he does not kjiow of the existence of these frauds. Is it not enough for him to know that there are produced in this country at least seventy-five million gallons of distilled spirits, and that but seven million gallons pay the tax dur- ing the fiscal year about to close ? Is it to be said that the respon- sible head of the revenue department — the Secretary of the Treasury — does not know that the reason why this revenue is not collected is because of frauds in his Department, and that he must wait for his subordinate officer to bring those frauds to his knowledge ?
" I say the responsibility rests to-day upon the Secretary of the Treasury, unless he can shift that responsibility upon the President of the United States, where I believe it legitimately and properly be- longs. While I give the Secretary of the Treasury credit for integ- rity of purpose and purity of 'character, he is unfortunately too much of a partisan, or is not willing to assume the responsibility which is within his power and control. Many of these revenue agents be- long to what my colleagues on the Committee of Ways and Means and others here donominate "the whisky ring." They are constantly roaming over the country and forming leagues, by which the Govern- ment is defrauded. * * *
" These men are not removed from office. I have been told that the Secretary of the Treasury makes representations to the President of the United States ; but I have yet to learn that a single man who has been engaged in these fraudulent practices has been removed by the President of the United States. Hence, Mr. Chairman, I think the chief reason for these frauds is inherent in our present political situa- tion, and that we never can get rid of them except in one way, that is by having harmony in the administration, and harmony in legisla- tion, and administration and legislation on the side of the Govern- ment."
422
WILLIAM* B. ALLISON. 3
On the 29th of February, 1868, the House having under considera- tion the Articles of Impeachment, as reported from the Committee, Mr. Allison sustained them in a speech of which the following is an extract :
" The President by the Constitution is especially enjoined to fake care that the laws be faithfully executed, and he is therefore not only bound, as is every other citizen of the Republic, to observe the laws that may be passed from time to time, but has the higher duty im- posed upon him of seeing to it that every citizen obeys the laws ; and if he can set at defiance this law, he may with equal propriety disre- gard any law that may be found upon the statute-books, and set up in defense that he regards the law as unconstitutional. The very nature of the executive office requires him to obey the law, as it is involved in the executive authority conferred upon him by the Con- stitution, and as such executive officer he is bound to execute the laws, whatever may be his individual opinion as a citizen with refer- ence to their constitutionality ; and a failure on his part to execute any law not declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, is to violate his oath of office, which compels him to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
" When laws are duly made and promulgated, they only remain to be execute\l. No discretion is submitted to the executive officer. It is not for him to deliberate and decide upon the wisdom, expediency, or constitutionality of the law ; that power he has exhausted when he returns a bill, with his objections, to the House in which it origin- ated. What has been once declared to be law under all the cautious forms of deliberation prescribed by the Constitution, ought to receive a prompt obedience ; and a failure to obey in the President should be regarded as a high misdemeanor in office."
After having referred particularly to the President's violation of the Tenure-of-Office Act, Mr. Allison concluded as follows :
" But, Mr. Chairman, this is but one link in a long chain of usur- pations on the part of the President. It is but a chapter (I hope the
last) in the history of a great conspiracy, begun by the President in
493
4 WILLIAM B. ALLISON.
December, 1865, and continued in perseveringly to the present mo- ment, to turn over the Government of at least ten States, if not of the whole country, to the enemies of the Republic.
" It is possible the first act by which he has brought himself within the provisions of a criminal statute, but only one of many instances in which he has used the powers of his high office to thwart the will and judgment of the people. He has attempted to usurp to himself the absolute control of the rebel States, and has sought by every means possible to thwart the execution of the humane laws passed for their restoration to the Union. Under his guidance, life, liberty, and property in those States have been put in jeopardy ; and the spirit of rebellion, though dormant, is as str6ng as during the war, all be- cause this spirit has in him an advocate. Shielded and protected and powerful, because he happens to hold the Presidential office, he has tried in various ways to secure the Army to sustain him ; and foiled in every way, under the forms of law he now seeks to wrest it by force, thereby seeking to place the "War Department and the Army under the control of a weak, irresolute old man, who will do his bid- ding. In the meantime every material interest of the country is suf- fering, because this man persists in retaining in office men who are utterly unworthy of place. The country wants peace, and peace it cannot have while this criminal remains in office. If we" allow this last act or acts of usurpation to pass without applying the peaceful constitutional remedy, we may naturally expect that these usurpations will continue, until republican government itself will be destroyed, . and upon its ruins a dictatorship established in the interest of the worst enemies of liberty and law."
494
RON JOSEPH W MC CLURG.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM MISSOURI
OSEI
'
, Louis Couu*
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u^^Braot to Texas, where
• .^jjjjm of a Circuit Court.
1 1866.
••t.>r, re- •
JOSEPH W. McCLUBGL
'OSEPH W. McCLUKG- was born in St. Louis County, Mis- souri, February 22, 1818. He was educated at the Miami University, Ohio, and subsequently spent two years in teach- ing in Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1841, he went to Texas, where lie was admitted to the bar, and became Clerk of a Circuit Court. In 1844, he settled as a merchant in Missouri. At the outbreak of the civil war, he suffered severe losses at the hands of the rebels, and abandoning his business, served in the army for a time as Colonel of Cavalry. He was 'a member of the Missouri State Convention of 1862, and was in that year elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864, and 1866.
In the summer of 1868, Mr. McClurg having been nominated by the Republicans of Missouri as their candidate for Governor, re- signed his seat in the Fortieth Congress. After an active and exciting canvass, Mr. McClurg was elected Governor of Missouri, a position which his ability and honesty eminently fitted him.
On the 28th of January, 1868, the subject of " Southern Land Grants " was before the House, comprised in the bill declaring for- feited to the United States certain lands granted to aid in the con- struction of railroads in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
In the debate on this subject, Mr. McClurg showed very conclusively from the testimony of competent witnesses, that nearly all the officers and stock-holders of those railroads were disloyal during the war ; that the roads were voluntarily relinquished to the rebels for military purposes, and, therefore, the forfeiture to the United States of the lands that had been previously granted for building and sus- taining them, was but a matter of right and justice.
495
2 JOSEPH W. McCLURG.
In the course of his speech on the question, Mr. Clurg remarked: " The principle upon which I presume the House will act, will not be changed by any information that may be obtained. As I under- stand it, the principle grows out of the fact that the former States named in the bill declared themselves separated from the Government which made such munificent grants, and arrayed themselves in armed hostility to the Government.
" On this point the House needs no other testimony than the letters of blood written on every page of our country's history during the four years of desolating war. These former States erected for them- selves a government and confederated together for rebellion, thus forfeiting all claim to the kind consideration of the parent Govern- ment which they in their madness attempted to destroy."
To a member expressing himself as not in favor of punishing a whole people without trial or jury, Mr. McClurg responded : " I am as desirous as any gentleman can be whose friends have in- vested capital in corporations controlled by rebels, knowing them to be such, and prepared, of course, to take the responsibility — I am as desirous as they can be to see the prosperity of the South return, as well as that of all portions of our common country. It is that very desire, I would say to the gentleman from Wisconsin and to others, that our common prosperity may never again be interrupted by those who attacked the life of the Union and stagnated its channels of com merce. I almost feel willing that God shall visit, as I have no doubt He will, that land with desolation, as He visited in times of old those who knew him not, until they shall return to their duty to humanity, and come out from the tombs of corruption where they have so long dwelled. And that is my answer to the gentleman from Wisconsin. When they shall have done that, and shown unmistakable signs of returned reason, sitting in their proper places by their own voluntary action, clothed in garments of loyalty, then I shall, in any legislation, be willing to treat them as loyal States ; but not till then. Northern capital did not prevent them from throwing off their loyal garments,
and we have no assurance it will aid in putting them on."
496
JOSEPH \V. McCLURG. 3
In the Thirty-ninth Congress Mr. McClurg was appointed Chair- man of the Select Committee on the Southern Railroads, and held the same position in the Fortieth Congress. In the prosecution of the arduous duties imposed upon this Committee, a large amount of important testimony was taken. On the 7th of February, 1868, Mr. McClurg made to the House an able and elaborate report setting forth the relations which the Southern Eailroads sustained to the Government, and recommending that measures be taken to prevent, so far as possible, the injury which would result from the act of the executive in returning Eailroads to their rebel owners without " au- thority in law." From this report we make the following extract :
" While the committee have much respect for the high officials who advised restoration, they are constrained to express the opinion that, in the exercise of their magnanimous liberality in the disposal of property not their own, they lost sight of justice, and were misled by too high an estimate of the character of the enemy that had delib- erately assailed the Government. It should have been borne in mind that the war of rebellion was waged to perpetuate human oppression by those who, with their ancestors, had for many years gratified that disposition to oppress that destroys all the noble sentiments and feel- ings of the soul. This seems to have been forgotten.
" The high standing socially, and, in time past, politically, of rail- road presidents and directors, and the influence whfch wealth and intelligence ever give, seem to have caused sight to be lost of the enormity of the crime of treason, so much so that while the only horse of a poor, ignorant man, led into the rebellion by this very intelligence, is retained and never returned, these engines of power, this wealth amounting to one hundred and twenty-three mil- lion dollars and over, is returned to the intelligent, wealthy, and influential, whose only magnanimity had been to surrender when they could no longer fight — returned, too, before the basis had been determined upon for their return as citizens under recognized govern- ments of States restored to the Union.
" If desiring to renew rebellion, what more in the premises could
497
4 JOSEPH W. McCLURG.
these former enemies have desired than they have received ? Roads repaired and constructed, equipped, made ready for profitable use, and returned !
" An individual would consider it blind policy to put his enraged antagonist upon his feet and restore to him his deadly weapon. It would be considered madness in a keeper to turn from the cage an untamed beast, with food administered to strengthen him for another effort to take his life.
" Is the life of the nation less precious, or maddened rebel enemies less to be dreaded ? And those who regard oaths of loyalty as safe- guards, would do well to remember that almost yesterday there were in the halls of Congress those who disregarded oaths, and, by con- cocting treason, blackened their souls with perjury.
" The policy in the past had been, with all governments, to im- poverish an enemy. In the cases being considered, it has been to enrich. The policy pursued can only be justified on the ground of magnanimity and charity — charity blinded to justice ; and such magnanimity can only be excused, if at all, under supposition of bewilderment growing out of the magnitude of the war, and the momentous questions connected with it and growing out of recon- struction.
" The desire for peace was laudable ; but that had been conquered. The desire for "general prosperity was praiseworthy, and may have shown goodness of heart ; but justice and the security of after gener- ations forbid rewards for treason. "
498
4r*^l
HON L KIWIS W ROSS
REPRESENTATIVE: FROM ILUNOlt
LEWIS 'JV. B<
York,
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.
.
-
LEWIS W. EOSS.
«EWIS W. EOSS was born in Seneca County, New York, December 8, 1812. In his boyhood he removed with his father to Illinois. He was educated at Illinois College, and adopted the profession of law. In 1840 and 1844 he was elected to the State Legislature, and in 1848 he was a Democratic Presidential Elector, and in 1860 was a delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore Conventions. In 1861 he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and in the following year was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-eighth Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
Mr. Eoss is active and prominent as a member of the National Legislature. As a Democrat he is outspoken and fearless, while hie speeches give evidence of a rnind actuated by warm impulses and strong convictions. His speech on the "Abolition of Slavery," de- livered in the House, June 14, 1864, presents as fairly, perhaps, as any other, the attitude of the Democratic party at that time towards the prosecution of the war, while at the same time it exemplifies some of the more prominent mental characteristics of its author. One or two brief extracts will accordingly be presented. At the time of delivering this speech, Mr. Eoss was favorable to some kind of compro- mise, and for arresting further war.
" We are now passing," he says, " the fiery ordeal of this malignant .disease. The hectic flush mantles the cheek, the pulse beats quick and wiery ; but there are still hopes, by a change of doctors and treat- ment, and careful nursing, the patient may survive. If I had power to reach the mind and touch the heart of the nation, I would beseech my countrymen, everywhere, North and South, to stay their hands and cease this self-destruction before it be for ever too late. Why
499
2 LEWIS W. ROSS.
persist in destroying the best form of government ever devised by the wisdom, virtue, and patriotism of man ? Why blot out the world's last hope of free, constitutional liberty ? The despots of the Old World have no love for our free institutions and Democratic form of govern- ment ; they have watched with a jealous eye our growing greatness and power ; they are pleased with the manner in which we are exe- cuting a job for them which they dare not undertake themselves. If we continue to gratify them by procrastinating our civil war until our armies are destroyed and our finances collapse, they will be ready to grasp the exhausted giant by the throat, and furnish Maximilians to rule over us. I would implore the country to pause and reflect. This question of self-preservation, of maintaining our liberties and free institutions, rises infinitely above all party considerations. Save the country, though political parties crumble into atoms. * * * These suggestions in favor of an amicable adjustment will not be likely to meet the approbation of the Cabinets or -their special ad- herents at Washington or Richmond. The first would peril the na- tion, with its thirty millions of Anglo-Saxons, for the supposed benefit of three or four millions of African slaves. They would extirpate slavery at whatever cost or sacrifice of blood and treasure. They would brush Federal and State constitutions out of their way like cobwebs. They would over-run and subjugate the South and exter- minate the people. They would encourage servile insurrection and arm the slave against his master. They would make war on and starve non-combatants, women and children. They would devastate and desolate the land with fire and sword, and make it a howling wilderness ; confiscate real and personal property ; place the negro, as to civil and political rights, on an equality with the whites ; execute or banish the rebel leaders; exclude all others engaged in the re- bellion from the rights of citizens ; place the free negroes under the control of the Secretary of War, to be worked and managed by Government overseers ; keep the people in subjection by means of a standing army ; and rule and govern the country by civil and mili- tary officers appointed by the President."
500
NCIS THOMAS,
'.IVj-: i'HOW MA^rLATsT
.
FKAlNCIS THOMAS.
[HE Catoctin Valley, in Frederick County, Maryland, was pronounced by Henry Clay, who was accustomed to pass through it by stage on his way to Washington, to be one of the loveliest spots in America. In this beautiful valley Francis Thomas was born, February 3, 1799. His ancestors were among the early and prominent residents of Maryland. His father, Colonel John Thomas, filled many offices of trust and honor in the State.
In his childhood Francis Thomas manifested an unusual taste for reading and study. At the age of twelve he left his father's roof to become- a student in Frederick College, and subsequently prosecuted his studies at St. John's College, Annapolis. Being of a thoughtful, philo- sophic cast of mind, he early perceived and reflected deeply upon the evils of slavery, and in early life conceived that abhorrence for the institution which made him in after years one of its most determined opponents.
Mr. Thomas studied law at Annapolis in the office of Alexander C. Magruder, one of the Judges of the' Court of Appeals of Mary- land. He was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law at Frederick in 1820. Immediately on arriving at the age of twenty-one, he was elected a member of the House of Delegates, re- ceiving every vote that was polled within three miles of his residence. He was re-elected four successive terms, and in 1829 was chosen Speaker of the House.
In 1831, Mr. Thomas was elected a Eepresentative in Congress, and neld this office by re-election for ten successive years. In 1833, he ran for Congress as the regular nominee of the Jackson Democracy. The
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Whigs had made no nomination, and were disposed to support an in- dependent Jackson candidate, whose name was Lewis. On the day of the election, Henry Clay, passing through Maryland by stage on his way to "Washington, stopped for a short time in the village of Middletown. He asked who were the candidates, and on being in- formed, he said, with emphasis: "I would rather vote for Frank Thomas than any other Jackson man in Maryland." The influence of Clay's emphatic indorsement was such that in this village Mr. Thomas received five hundred and fifty votes against fifty for his op- ponent, nearly all the latter having been cast before Mr. Clay's ar- rival.
In 1832, Mr. Thomas was a member of a committee associated with John M. Clayton, John Quincy Adams, Richard M. Johnson, McDuffie, and Cambrelling, to examine into the condition of the United States Bank. They went to Philadelphia, and took rooms at the same hotel, prosecuting their work assiduously for more than a month. The shrewdness of Mr. Thomas availe$ to detect evidences of fraud and corruption in the Bank, which had escaped the notice of his associates.
While in Congress, Mr. Thomas boldly and earnestly opposed the schemes of the Southern nullifiers. At one time, John Quincy Adams having in the House of Kepresentatives presented a petition signed by negro slaves of Fredericksburg, the extreme Southerners became very indignant, and offered a resolution in the House, the sub- stance of which was, that no member who presented a petition from slaves should be regarded as a gentleman or a friend of the Union. The resolution was promptly and decisively voted down. Mr. Thomas was soon after appointed on a Committee to inform Mr. Van Buren of his election to the Presidency of the United States. Having per- formed this duty, on his return to the Hall of Representatives he was surprised to see the seats of the Southern members all vacant, and was informed that the Representatives from the Slave States were holding a consultation in the Committee Room of Claims. Sup- posing there was mischief brewing, Mr. Thomas went immediately to
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FRANCIS THOMAS. 3
the designated room, where he found about seventy Representatives assembled. Asking whether his presence would be considered an in- trusion, he was answered in the negative, since all Representatives from STave States had been invited. Having learned that they were seri- ously considering the question of a summary secession from Congress, Mr. Thomas took the floor, and spoke earnestly and eloquently against the rashness and folly of the movement proposed. He closed with a motion to adjourn, which was carried,, and nothing more was heard of the rash design of the offended slaveholders.
At one time, during the administration of Mr. Van Buren, eight Southern members attempted to control Congress, and were thwarted in their schemes by Mr. Thomas. The Whigs and Democrats in the House were then very nearly equally divided. The position of Pub- lic Printer was very lucrative, and much sought after. Gales & Seaton were supported by the Whigs, and Blair & Rives by the Democrats. Eight Southerners bargained with the latter firm that they should have their votes to secure for 'them the public printing, provided the influence of the firm would be given to throw the votes of the Democratic party for Dixon H. Lewis, one of their number, for the Speakership. Mr. Thomas, however, and ten other Democrats, resolved that this should not be, and, by steadily holding out, prevented the election, which was to be secured by bargain and corruption. At one stage in .the contest, President Yan Buren's son visited Mr. Thomas, and urged him, as a special favor to the President, to yield and vote with the men of the party for Lewis. " Not all the power and patronage of your father," he replied, " could induce me to do a thing which I regard as so dangerous to the country."
During his long service in Congress, Mr. Thomas took rank among the most influential and efficient members. He occupied for a con- siderable time the important position of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He originated a measure, which was adopted by Congress, to settle the controversy between Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan about the southern boundary of the last named State.
In 1841, Mr. Thomas declined a re-election to Congress, desiring to
4 FRANCIS THOMAS.
devote himself to the local affairs of his State, and to the interests of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, of which he had some time before been elected president.
Mr. Thomas devoted himself to the work of bringing about in Maryland a constitutional reform, which in the end amounted really to a revolution. By the old Constitution of Maryland the slaveholding counties were allowed four-fifths of the representation in the Legis- lative Assembly of the State. Baltimore, with a population of two hundred thousand, was allowed but one representative ; and the entire western portion of the State, with a preponderance of wealth and pop- ulation, had so meager a representation as practically to possess no power whatever. The Whigs controlled the slaveholding counties, and the Democrats the western counties.
By the Constitution of the State a College of Electors was chosen by the people, consisting of forty members, whose duty it was to elect a Governor and a Senate for a term of five years. Mr. Thomas being a Democrat in politics, and an ardent hater of slavery, determined to use all the influence he possessed to break up the constitutional oli- garchy which ruled the State.
The fortunate election of a College of Senatorial Electors, consisting of twenty-one Whigs and nineteen Democrats, gave to Mr. Thomas an Opportunity which he had long desired. Since no business could be done without a quorum of three-fifths, three Democrats were necessary for the organization of the body. Mr. Thomas induced the nineteen Democrats to enter into a solemn agreement that they would not take seats in the College of Electors unless they would agree to give to the western counties a fair proportion of the representation, and make the Governor elective by the people. The Democratic electors went in the same boat from Baltimore to Annapolis, accompanied" by Mr. Thomas, who secured quarters for all at the same hotel. They made an organization with a president and secretary, through whom they submitted their terms to the majority, taking care that no three should at any one time go together. The majority not acceding to the pro- position, the democrat1, under the lead of Mr. Thomas, adjourned,
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and left Annapolis. After this revolution — for it was nothing less, the old Constitution being practically annulled — Mr. Thomas issued a call upon the voters to select delegates to a convention for the formation of a new Constitution. As he saw great obstacles in the way of secur- ing this result immediately, the most he expected to accomplish by issuing the call for a convention, was to arouse the Whig majority of the earnest men of the western portion of the State, and induce them to acquiesce in the just demands of that section. "While the call for a Constitutional Convention was pending, and after the Whigs had been at the capital two months, impatiently waiting to effect an organiza- tion, Mr. Thomas induced three Democratic members elect, who lived nearest, to go, and apparently on their own responsibility, propose to form a quorum on condition that demands similar to those first made should be acceded to. The desired result was gained. A more just and equal representation was secured, and the Governor was ever after elected by the people. Mr. Thomas himself was the second Governor elected under the new arrangement. He held the office two terms, and retired from the gubernatorial chair in January, 1845. Two years later-he declined to be a candidate for Congress. In 1856 he was a member of the Maryland State Constitutional Contention.
Being largely interested in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, he had many years before purchased an immense traet of land along the line of the road, in the extreme western end of Maryland. Soon after the close of his public service as Governor, he went into the wilderness on his great estate, and devoted himself for many years to its development and improvement. From his retired yet elevated residence among the Alleghanies, Governor Thomas viewed events that were passing in the country with the profound interest of a patriot and philanthropist.
Mr. Thomas was drawn from his retirement by the danger which he saw gathering against the country in I860.. Being well versed in the ways of politicians, and knowing thoroughly the Southern character, he foresaw the designs of the Democracy in breaking up the Charles- ton Convention in 1860. He saw that the plan of the Breckenridge party was to get as large a vote as possible in Maryland and other
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Border States, trusting that thus they might hope to carry away those States into the treason of secession. That he might do all that was possible in defeating these wicked designs, Mr. Thomas came down from his retirement and made numerous speeches in favor of the Union and against secession.
When President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for seventy- five thousand men to put down the rebellion, Governor Hicks re- sponded that he would send the quota of Maryland with the ex- press understanding that the troops should go no further than "Wash- ington, and be used only in defending the capital. When Mr. Thomas heard of this response, he at once wrote a letter to Governor Hicks protesting against such a narrow construction of the duty of Maryland. He proposed to go into his old Congressional District and enlist two thousand men who would be willing to. go anywhere in the service of the country against its enemies. The Governor of Maryland saw proper to disregard this proposition. Mr. Thomas then wrote to Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, who also gave no attention to the proposition. Not to be foiled in his patriotic purpose, Mr. Thomas next laid his plans before President Lincoln, who immediately directed Secretary Cameron to make out the requisite authority. The immediate result of the first speech made by Mr. Thomas was th* enlistment of five hundred volunteers, and in a short time twenty-five hundred men were enrolled. All this was done with no expense to the Government, since Mr. Thomas would ac- cept no pay for his services, and refused the offer of a brigadier-gen- eral's commission. Though willing to go into the field if necessary, he thought, in view of his years, that he would be more useful in Congress, to which he had just been elected.
In March, 1863, Mr. Thomas proposed to Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet a plan which was designed to rid Maryland of slavery. To effect this it was Tiecessary to secure the election of a Legislature which would order a convention to revise the Constitution of the State. Mr. Thomas expected by his personal influence to carry the western coun- ties for the scheme, and as the Government had a controlling influence
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in Baltimore, the measure could be carried against the solid opposition of the lower or slaveholding counties.
The President and Cabinet at once approved the plan, and, by an arrangement then made, the movement was started under the imme- diate auspices of Mr. Thomas, who addressed a public meeting in the western part of the State in support of resolutions instructing the Legislature to call a Convention to re-form the State Constitution. A full report of the proceedings of this meeting was, by direction of the Government, copied into the Baltimore papers, and thus the move- ment was fully inaugurated. The Legislature was carried in the fall for the measure, and a Convention was called in 1864, which submitted to a vote of the people a Constitution securing the aboli- tion of slavery in Maryland. It received their sanction by a small majority, and thus Maryland was placet beyond the reach of agita- tion in relation to the " vexed question of slavery."
In the Thirty-seventh Congress Mr. Thomas took his seat for his sixth term as a Representative in Congress, and was successively re- elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. He rarely participated in debate, but preserving unimpaired those talents which made him conspicuous among the statesmen of a former generation, he exerted a great influence, and was the object of marked respect.
507
FARNSWORTH.-GLOSSBRENNER. — ARNELL.
F. FARNSWORTH was born in Eaton, Canada, March 27, 1860, but was early removed to the Territory of Michigan. In 1843 he settled in St. Charles, Illinois, and 'entered upon the practice of law. In 1846 he left the Demo- cratic party, with which he had acted, and joined the " Liberty Party." In 1856, and again in 1858, he was elected to Congress from what was then known as the Chicago District. In 1861 he raised the Eighth Illinois Cavalry Regiment, of which he was Colonel until his promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General. In the fall of 1862 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-eighth Congress, arid was re-elected in 1864, 1866 and 1868.
DAM J. GLOSSBRENNER was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, August 31, 1810. After serving an appren- ticeship in the printing business, he journeyed westward, and became foreman in the office of the " Ohio Monitor." In 1829 he returned to Pennsylvania and settled iu York, and there published the " York Gazette." In 1849 he was elected Sergeant-at-arrns of the House of Representatives for the Thirty-first Congress, and held the office through the four following Congresses. In 1861 he was pri- vate Secretary to President Buchanan. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
fAMUEL M. ARNELL was born in Maury County, Tennes- see, May 3, 1833. He was educated at Amherst, Massa- chusetts, and subsequently taught school and studied law. In 1859 he went into the business of manufacturing leather. In 1861 he took an active interest in putting down the rebellion, and was injured by the rebels in his person and property. On the re- organization of Tennessee he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and was soon after elected a Representative from Ten- nessee to the Thirty-ninth Congress as a Republican, and was twice re-elected.
HON. SAMUEL, S.MARS HAL,
FEPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
.
and to
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very
SAMUEL S. MAESHALL.
'AMUEL S. MARSHALL was born in Gallatin County, Illi- nois, in 1821. The educational institutions of the West were at that time of an inferior grade, and although he studied for two years at Cumberland College, Kentucky, he was more indebted for any considerable advance in knowledge to his private studies and to his love of books, than to his educational facilities. After a pretty extensive, but very desultory course of reading, Mr. Marshall commenced the study of law in the office of his cousin, Hon. Henry Eddy of Shawneetown. Mr. Marshall was at that time in very feeble health, with little hope of improvement, and he commenced the study of law more from a desire of extending his range of informa- tion than from a hope of engaging successfully in the practice of the profession. He pursued his studies, nevertheless, with considerable vigor, and was licensed by the Supreme Court to practice in all the courts of the State. He opened a law-office in Hamilton County, Illi- nois, and almost immediately achieved unhoped-for success at the bar. In the fall of 1846, only one year from the time he commenced the practice of the law, he was elected to the lower 'branch of the State legislature. Although the youngest member of the Illinois Legislature, he took an active part in its deliberations and proceed- ings. In March, 1847, he was unanimously elected by that body to the office of State's Attorney for the Third Judicial Circuit, and immediately resigned his seat in the Legislature for the purpose of entering upon the duties of his new office. The Judicial District included fifteen counties, in two of which and in portions of others the people were in open and organized resistance to the authority of the laws. Crimes of every grade were of frequent occurrence, and it had been impossible to get officers or men to enforce the laws. The Legislature that elected Mr. Marshall Prosecuting-Attorney passed a law for the " enlargement of the vicinage," which provided that when the Governor should be notified that in any county, by reason of lawless organizations, the laws were powerless, he was au- thorized by proclamation to organize a district composed of all the
2 SAMUEL S. MARSHALL.
counties in the Judicial Circuit, in some portion of which a court should convene having jurisdiction of all criminal causes within the District. The new district court was immediately organized, and the rioters who did not flee were promptly arrested. They were amazed and alarmed to find themselves arraigned by a fearless pros- ecutor before intelligent and impartial jurors determined to vindi- cate the supremacy of the laws. The new prosecutor won the re- spect and confidence of all by the success with which he pursued a course so vigorously begun. After a few salutary examples were made, the rioters returned to the peaceful avocations of life. Vio- lence ceased, feuds died out, and the lawless counties have ever since been peaceful and prosperous.
After serving his term of two years as State's Attorney with gen- eral approval, Mr. Marshall declined a re-election. He was not per- mitted, however, to remain long in private life, and in March, 1851, he was elected by the people, Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit. In this office, by a faithful, upright, and impartial administration of justice, he won the confidence and respect of the public, without re- gard to party. This office he resigned in the fall of 1854, to accept the position of Representative in Congress from the Ninth Congres- sional District of Illinois. His election was vigorously contested not only by the opposition party, but by a bolting Democratic candidate. A clause in the State Constitution furnished a plausible pretext with which to go before the people. It declared all Judges in the State ineligible to any other office, State or Federal, during the term for which they were elected, and for one year thereafter, and that all votes cast for them for any other office should be void. This clause had always been regarded by the best lawyers of the State as having no validity whatever, as applied to Federal offices, since the qualifications for them should manifestly be fixed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Up to this time, however, there had been no adjudication thereon, and it afforded a plausible pretext for appealing to the masses, who do not readily comprehend these legal distinctions.
With three candidates in the field the contest was conducted with 510
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great activity, but when the ballots were counted it was found that Judge Marshall had led his foremost competitor by nearly six thousand majority. The contest, however, did not end here, but was carried to the House of Kepresentatives on the ground that all the votes cast for Mr. Marshall were void, and that the candidate having the next highest vote was entitled to the seat. This was at the first session of the Thirty-Fourth Congress. The seat of Judge Trumbull, who had been elected to the United States Senate, was contested at the same time and upon the same ground. This decision is entitled to greater weight as a precedent, from the fact that the Senate being then overwhelmingly Democratic, decided the case almost unanimously in favor of Judge Trumbull, a Republi- can ; and the House, being Republican, decided in favor of Judge Marshall, a Democrat.
Mr. Marshall was re-elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress, and declin- ing another re-election, retired at the end of the term to private life. In 1861 he was re-elected to the office of Judge of the Twelfth Judi- cial Circuit, and held this office until 1864, when he resigned and was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress. He has since been twice re-elected by large majorities, and retains the undi- minished confidence of his constituents.
In 1862, he received the votes of the Democratic members of the Illinois Legislature for the United States Senate, and was within three or four votes of an election over Judge Trumbull. In the For- tieth Congress he received the votes of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives for Speaker.
In politics Mr. Marshall has always been a decided Democrat. He was a supporter of the Union cause during the war. While firm and decided in maintaining his views, he is ever courteous towards opponents, and always retains their respect and good will. He seems unambitious of display, and in his bearing is modest even to diffi- dence. He does not often participate in the debates of the House, but when he speaks invariably commands attention. His oratory is calm, deliberate, and logical, as is befitting the able jurist and judi- cious statesman.
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MOOR HE AD. — STEWART. — STONE. — TABER.
!AMES K. MOONHEAD was born in Halifax, Pennsylva- nia, September 7, 1806. He spent his youth on a farm, and as an apprentice to a tanner. He was a contractor for building the Susquehanna branch of the Pennsylvania Canal, on which he originated a passenger packet line. In 1836 he removed to Pittsburg, where he became President of a company for the im- provement of the navigation of the Monongahela. In 1838 he was appointed Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania; In 1859 lie was elected a Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania, as a Re- publican, and was four times re-elected, retiring from service at the close of the Fortieth Congress.
HOMAS E. STEWART was born in New York City, Sep- tember 22, 1824. He studied and practiced law; was Commissioner of Common Schools in 1854 ; was a Republi- can member of the State Assembly of New York in 1864 and 1865. He was nominated by the Conservative Republicans to the Fortieth Congress, and was elected by them and the Democrats.
LEDERICK STONE was born in Charles County, Maryland, February 7, 1820. He was educated at St. John'* Col- lege, Annapolis ; studied and practiced law ; was a member of the State Legislature in 1864 and 1865 ; was elected from Mary- land to the Fortieth Congress as a Democrat, and was re-elected.
'5 @TEPHEN TABER, whose father, Thomas Taber, was a mem- ber of Congress, was born in Dover, Dutchess County, New York. Having received an academical education, he devot- ed himself to agriculture in Queens County, on Long Island. In 1860 and 1861 he was elected to the State Legislature. In 1863 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-ninth Congress, as a Democrat, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
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FROM OHIO
COLUMBUS DELANO.
10LTJMBUS DELANO was born at Shoreham, Vermont, in the year 1809. At eight years of age he removed to Ohio, in the care of immediate relatives, who settled in the county of Knox. His boyhood was passed in the lighter avocations of the farm, joined with persistent devotion to study. He pursued his ele- mentary education at such schools as were then available, learning the Latin language with but little aid from classical teachers. His historical reading at the age of eighteen was extensive. With a se- riousness becoming his disposition, rather than his years, he began thus early to consider how he should make his way in the world, and what pathway was to lead him out of obscurity to a useful position in life. Without the aid of influential friends, but cheered with the encouraging words of those who knew and loved him, he determined to undertake the study of law.
In 1829 he entered the office of Hosmer Curtis, Esq., then a noted special pleader, practicing at Mount Yernon, Ohio. After three years of preparation he was admitted to the bar, in 1832, and com- menced practice at Mount Vernon at the age of twenty-two.
Though no display of talent had been exhibited to justify the ex- pectation that he would triumph suddenly over the formidable obsta- cles in the way of the young attorney, his success was immediate. He had the good fortune to be employed as junior counsel in a local suit, involving important legal questions and considerable estate. Having been left by an accident to the sole management of the case, he was triumphantly successful, and thus gained a reputation, the immediate effect of which was his election as prosecuting-attorney in a county adverse to his politics. After three years' service he was re-elected, but immediately resigned the trust, which interfered with
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his general practice. His constant attention upon the courts for a period of ten years, his uniform success as an advocate, his thorough- ness and integrity as a lawyer, met with ample reward.
In politics he has ever been opposed to Slavery and the Demo cratie policy. Seeking no office while pursuing his profession, he was still the occasional exponent of the Whig party in local contests. Surrounded by a cordon of Democratic counties, there seemed to be little hope for his popular preferment. But being unanimously nominated for Congress by the Whigs of his district, in 1844, he was elected by a majority of twelve over his Democratic competitor, Hon. Caleb J. McNulty, a gentleman of extensive popularity, re- sources and power. The Democratic candidate for Governor received 600 majority in the same district, at the same election. On the 1st of December, 1845, Mr. Delano took his seat in the Twenty-ninth Congress, serving on the Committee on Invalid Pensions. This was an epoch in Congressional history. Contemporaneous with Mr. Folk's administration, it comprised men of great experience and ability. The measures of war and conquest, of Oregon and Mexico, were the vexed questions of that day, the evil shadows of which lengthened into the future. On the Oregon question, Mr. Delano advocated the claims for the largest measure of territory against the settlement which eventually prevailed. On the llth of May, 1846, he voted with John Quincy Adams, and twelve others, against the declaration that " war existed by the act of Mexico," defending his votes and the action of his associates by a speech in the House. Put forward as a leader of the fourteen who voted against the false declaration, he fully answered their expectations, but without the politician's cir- cumspection as to the future. The speech made great contention, and was regarded of so much significance that Mr. Douglas, of Illi nois, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, Mr. Chipman, of Missouri, and Mr. Tibbatt's, of Kentucky, gave themselves serious concern to answer it. His district having been changed by special legislation, Jie was not a candidate for re-election, but retired to close up his business in the courts. His name was brought before the Whig convention of Ohio on the 22d of February, 1848, for nomination as a candidate for
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Governor ; and though he had voted in Congress to reinforce the army, and to supply the army, the rote against the declaration con- tributed to place him in opposition to the war, and he was conse- quently defeated by two votes. Eetiring from his profession, he re- moved to the city of New York, as principal of the banking firm of Delano, Dunlevy & Co., with a branch at Cincinnati, Ohio. After four years he withdrew from a successful business, in 1856, returning to his home in Ohio, to engage in agriculture. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention of 1860, and supported Mr. Lincoln for the nomination. In 1861 he was appointed Commissary-General of Ohio, and administered that department with marked success until the General Government assumed the subsistence of all volunteers. The following year the Republican caucus of the Ohio Legislature brought his name forward for the United States Senate, and he again lacked but two votes of a nomination.
In 1863 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature, serving as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representa- tives. In 1864 he was a member of the National Republican Con- vention at Baltimore, and was Chairman of the Ohio delegation in that body. He was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress in that year, and served as Chairman of the Committee of Claims of the House of Representatives. As an evidence of the integrity of his character, and the confidence reposed in him by the House, it is suffi- cient to state that every bill reported by him was passed into a law. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving as a member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
Immediately upon the close of his Congressional term, he was nominated by President Grant, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, one of the most im- portant and responsible offices in the Government.
515
NIBLACK.— RAUM. — VAN HORN.— VAN AUKEN.
WILLIAM E. NIBLACK was born in Dubois County, In- diana, May 19, 1822. In 1845 he commenced the prac- tice of law, and in 1849 he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature. In the following year he was elected to the State Senate. In January, 1854, he was appointed Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit, to fill a vacancy, and was, in the following fall, elected to the office for the term of six years. In 1857 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-fifth Congress, and was re-elected in 1859. After the close of the Thirty-sixth Congress he served one term in the State Legislature. In 1864 he was again elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses as a Demo- crat.
'REEN B. RAUM was born at Golconda, Illinois, December He received a common school education, and stud- ied and practiced law. He entered the service as Major, and rose to the rank of Brigadier-General in the Union army during the war, and was elected from Illinois to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican.
(URT YAN HORN was born at New Fane, New York, October 28, 1823. He was educated at the Madison Uni- versity, New York, and became a farmer and manufacturer. He was a member of the General Assembly of New York in 1858, 1859 and 1860. He was elected from New York to the Thirty- seventh, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, as a Republican.
M. YAN AUKEN was born in Pennsylvania, January 16, 1826. He graduated at Union College, and became Prosecuting-Attorney for Pike County, Pennsylvania, in 1855. He was elected to the Fortieth Congress from Pennsylvania as a Democrat, and was re-elected.
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'EGBERT T. VAT^" HORN".
[ORE than two hundred years ago the ancestors of Robert T. Yan Horn emigrated from Holland to America, and set- tled in New Jersey,' near New 4rork. His great grand- father, Henry Yan Horn, was a captain in the " Pennsylvania Line " of the Revolutionary war, and died in the service. His son Isaiah,, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a member of his com- pany, and served until the close of the war. The father of Robert T. Yan Horn enlisted as a soldier in the war of 1812, and is still living, at an age of more than four-score years. His mother, Elizabeth Thompson, was born in the parish of Bannaher, County of London- derry, Ireland, and came to this country while a girl — her father, Robert Thompson, settling in the wilderness of Western Pennsyl- vania.
Robert T. Yan Horn was born in East Mahoning, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1824. He was early put to work on his father's farm, collecting stones from the meadows, picking brush, raking hay, going to mill, and performing such other labors as small boys are able to do. He generally attended school three months in the year, studying reading, writing, and arithmetic, but not advancing to grammar, as this branch had not then been introduced into the schools of that region.
When fifteen years of age, he was apprenticed to learn the printing business in the office of the Indiana (Pa.) Register, where he remained four years. From 1843 to 1855, he worked as a journeyman printer, in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and' Indiana, meanwhile varying
his occupation by boating on the Erie Canal a portion of one season,
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teaching school in winter, publishing and editing newspapers occa- sionally, and steamboating two seasons on- the Ohio, Mississippi, Wabash, and other Western rivers. In addition to all the other per- suits of these twelve years, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but practiced only a very short time. He was married in 1848, at Pomeroy, Ohio.
In 1855, he located at Kansas City, Missouri, then a small'village, where he founded the Journal of Commerce, now the leading daily paper of that part of Missouri. Here he was elected Alderman, and was afterwards Postmaster. In 1860, he supported Stephen A. Douglas for the Presidency. Soon after the Presidential election, the question of secession was forced upon the people of Missouri, and in the canvass for members of the Convention, in February, he took a very active part on the Union side.
In April, 1861, he was selected by the Union men of Kansas City, as their candidate for Mayor, and after the most exciting municipal election ever known in the place, was elected to the office. This was the only municipal election that year in Missouri in which the Union issue was openly and fairly made.
In May, 1861, Claiborne F. Jackson, Governor of Missouri, having declared for secession, and there being no one to commission military officers, Mr. Yan Horn applied to Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, command- ing at the St. Louis Arsenal, and obtained authority from him to raise three hundred men. The men raised under this authority were the first troops mustered into the United States service in Missouri, outside of St. Louis.
On the 18th of July, 1861, Major Yan Horn fought an engage- ment with a rebel force under Col. Duncan, near Harrisonville, Mo., and defeated him. This was three days before the battle of Bull Run, and was the first fight in Western Missouri.
In September, 1861, he commanded a force under Col. Mulligan, at Lexington, Missouri, where, on the last day of the siege, he was severely wounded. After the exchange of prisoners — Mulligan's command for the Camp Jackson prisoners — he was appointed Lieu-
518
ROBERT T. VAN HORN. 3
tenant-Colonel of the Twenty-fifth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and was ordered to Tennessee. Colonel Van Horn commanded his regiment at Shiloh, where he had a horse killed under him on the first day of the battle. In the advance upon Corinth, he, for a short time, commanded a brigade. Having remained at Corinth after its evacuation till September 1, he was ordered to Southeast Missouri and Arkansas, under Gen. Davidson, in his movement on Little Kock. The consolidation of Colonel Yan Horn's regiment, near the close of its three years' service, with the First Engineers, terminated his ac- tive military service.
While with his regiment in Mississippi, Colonel Yan Horn was elected to the Missouri Senate. He was one of the members of that body who early organized the opposition to the administration of Governor Gamble, a movement which led to the organization of the Kadical party of Missouri.
At the close of his service in the Senate, Mr. Yan Horn was again, without opposition, elected Mayor of Kansas City, and as such was charged with the organization of the volunteer militia, and the con- struction of defensive works around the city, before its occupation by General Curtis, in his movement against Sterling Price's last invasion of Missouri.
' In 1864, Mr. Yan Horn was a delegate to the Baltimore Conven- tion, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for re-election to the Presidency. He was, the same year, elected a Representative from the Sixth Dis- trict of Missouri to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and has .since been twice re-elected.
519
COBB.— ELDRIDGE.— HOPKINS. — BENTON.
MASA COJBB was born in Crawford County, Illinois, Sep- tember 27, 1823. He emigrated to Wisconsin Territory in 1842, and engaged in lead-mining. He served as private in the Mexican war, and at the close of this service he com menced the practice of law. He served as District-Attorney, State Senator, and Adjutant-General of Wisconsin. He was subsequently a member of the State Legislature, and was chosen Speaker. He was Colonel of the 5th Wisconsin Regiment in the war, and was elected a Representative from Wisconsin to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty- ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
lHARLES A. ELDRIDGE was born at Bridport, Vermont, February 27, 1821. He removed to the State of New York, where he was admitted to the bar in 1846. In 1848 he removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and served in the Senate of that State in 1854 and 1855. In 1862 he waff elected a Representa- tive from Wisconsin to the Thirty-eighth Congress as a Democrat, and was returned to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Con- gresses. _ ^_ ^
F. HOPKINS was born in Washington County, New York, April 22, 1829. He went to Wisconsin, where he served as private Secretary to the Governor in 1856 and 1857. He was a member of the Wisconsin Senate in 1862, and of the State House of Representatives in 1865. He was elected as a Republican from Wisconsin to the Fortietli and Forty-first Con- gresses. _ . _
*ACOB BENTON was born in Waterford, Vermont, August 14, 1819. Having received an academic education, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He located in Lancaster, New Hampshire, and became a member of the State Legislature in 1854, 1855 and 1856. He served in the late war as a Major-General of Volunteers. He was elected a Repre- sentative from New Hampshire to the Fortieth Congress as a Repub- lican, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
520
HON. BENJAMIN EG-GLESTON,
REPRESENTATIVE PROM OHIO
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BENJAMIN" EGGLESTCXN".
(ENJAMIN EGGLESTON", the father of the subject of this sketch, served ten years in the war of 1812, as a Captain, under General Winfield Scott. At the close of the war he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits in Saratoga County, New York, where his son, Benjamin Eggleston, the subject of this sketch, was born, January 3, 1816. In 1831, the family emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Athens County. Remaining there one year, they re- moved to Hocking County, where the elder Eggleston continued to reside, an enterprising farmer, a respected citizen, and a consistent member of the Baptist Church until his death, in 1855.
Soon after settling in the wilds of Hocking County, Mr. Eggleston and his sons took a contract for making rails at thirty-one cents per hundred. When this work was completed, the subject of this sketch, in company witli his brother, walked fifty-four miles to the Ohio Canal, six miles below Chillicothe, and worked on " Arthington's job " at thirteen dollars per month. The next summer, notwithstanding the kind admonition of his father that a " rolling stone gathers no moss," he joined the caravan of Gregory and Co., and was assigned to the duty of driving one of the cages, containing the " White Bear." The caravan traveled over nearly all the State, and arrived in Cleve- land about the first of October. The Menagerie being now destined for Philadelphia for winter quarters, he determined to accompany it no further.
Inclined toward commercial life by what he observed among the boats and shipping in the harbor of Cleveland, he determined to de- vote himself to canal-boating. Whereupon, he hired to Capt. Gear
521
2 BENJAMIN EGGLESTON.
of the canal boat Oneida, with whom he made three trips to Fulton, Stark County, for wheat, when the boat was laid up, and the crew dis- charged. Nothing daunted in his determination to prosecute his new business, he hired to service on the boat Oswego, commanded by Captain Bitter of Chillicothe, and made one trip to Masaillon, and re- turned. The Captain was taken sick, and died at Cleveland, kindly attended by Mr. Eggleston to the last. He then hired to Captain Warren of the canal boat Aurora, and made one trip to Newark, where the boat was laid up, and the crew discharged. Persevering amid all discouragements in his new pursuit, Mr. Eggleston next hired to Capt. Hull of the Miami, on which he continued until it reached New Baltimore, where he left, and reached home the first of December. He had saved about eighty dollars, his father ac- knowledging that his predictions concerning the " rolling stone " had not been verified. In the spring, Mr. Eggleston returned to Cleveland under a previous engagement with Captain Warren, with whom he remained until the following August, when the proprietors of the Ohio Troy and Erie line having noticed his ability, faithful- ness, and industry, promoted him to the command of the boat Mon- ticetto. He continued aboard this boat till the close of the season, and the next year was tendered his choice of all the boats of that line. The next spring, the proprietors made him their general agent to buy produce in Southern Ohio, and to superintend their boats. He continued in their service until 1845, when he bought an interest in one-half the boats of the line, and took them to the new canal for operation under his sole control. He made his residence in Cincin- nati, and established the first successful line of boats from that city to Toledo. After running the boats two years in company with the original proprietors, he purchased their interest, and took his brother as a partner.
In 1851, he sold out his entire interest in the canal line to his brother, and formed partnership with James Wilson, a wealthy commission merchant of Cincinnati, under the style of " Wilson, Eggleston & Co.," one of the largest and most successful business firms in the West,
522
BENJAMIN EGGLESTON. 3
Mr. Eggleston took an early interest in the municipal affairs of the city, and in 1853 was chosen a niember of the City Council. He held the positions of President of the City Council, and Chairman of the Financial Committee. He has taken an active interest in all the public 'improvements of the city. The citizens of Cincinnati highly appreciated and acknowledged his services in devising a plan to save them from an impending calamity caused by the short supply of fuel in 1857.
At the breaking out of the rebellion, large numbers of volunteers had entered the army, leaving their families destitute in Cincinnati. In 1861, Mr. Eggleston introduced in the City Council a resolution pro- viding for the distribution from the city treasury of $90,000 among the needy families of soldiers. He personally superintended the distribu- tion of this fund weekly, to the worthy recipients of the relief.
In 1861, Mr. Eggleston was elected a State Senator for the County of Hamilton. He was a member of the Chicago Convention which nom- inated Mr. Lincoln in 1860, and was one of the Presidential Elec- tors of that year.
In 1864, Mr. Eggleston was elected a Representative from Ohio in the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866 to the For- tieth Congress. In October, 1 868, he was a candidate for re-election. After a canvass of extraordinary excitement, the official returns indi- cated his defeat by a majority of two hundred and eleven votes. Evidences of fraud were so numerous as, in the opinion of his friends, to render it the duty of Mr. Eggleston to contest the seat.
In Congress, Mr. Eggleston has been particularly active in promot- ing the improvement of Western rivers and harbors. He has labored in behalf of those important interests not only by vote and speech on the floor of the House, but by his efforts in the Committee of Com- merce, of which he is a member. He has not limited his Congres- , sional labors for the promotion of measures for the advantage of his own city alone. Chicago, St. Louis, and other Western cities have shared in the benefits of important measures proposed by him.
523
WILLIAMS. — KET CHAM. — WILSON. — HUMPHREY.
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[HOMAS WILLIAMS was born in Greensburg, West- moreland County, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1806. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1825, and studied He was admitted to the bar in 1828 and settled in Pitts- Froin 1838 to 1848 he was a member of the State Senate. In 1860 he was a Representative in the State Legislature.. In 1862 he was elected "a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty- eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth
'OHN H. KETCHAM was born in Dover, New York, De- cember 21, 1831, and devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1856 and 1857 he was a member of the New York House of Representatives, and of the State Senate in 1860 and 1861. He entered the military service in 1862, as Colonel of the 150th New York Regiment, and became a Brigadier-General by bre- vet. He resigned his position in the army in March, 1865, having been elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-ninth Congress, as a Republican. He was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty -first Congresses.
fTEPHEN F. WILSON was born at Columbia, Pennsylva- nia, September 4, 1828. He received his education at Wellsboro' Academy, begame a lawyer, and was in 1863 elected a State Senator. In 1864 he was chosen as a Republican from* Pennsylvania to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
'AMES M. HUMPHREY was born at Holland, New York, September 21, 1819. He studied law, was District- Attorney for Erie County in 1857, 1858 and 18.59, and was a member of the State Senate of New York in 1863, 1864 and 1865. He was elected from New York to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re- elected to the Fortieth Congress as a Democrat.
I
HON. PHILETUS SAWYER,
R FROM WISCONSIN.
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PHILETUS SAWYER.
^HILETUS SAWYER was born in Whiting, Vermont, Sep-
tember 22d, 1816. He was favored with no advantages of education save those of the common schools. At the age
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of seventeen he bought his time from his father, and commenced working by the month as a farm laborer. Having continued in this em- ployment ten years, saving about two thousand dollars, he emigrat- ed to Wisconsin in 1847 and engaged into the lumber business. He first rented and subsequently purchased mills and invested in pine lands, building up a large and prosperous business. He was a member of the Wisconsin Legislature in 1857 and 1861. He was elected Mayor of Oshkosh in 1863 ; was a member of the Eepublican National Con- vention of 1864, and the same year was elected a Eepresentative in the Thirty-ninth Congress. Pie was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, and has done efficient service on the Commit- tee on Manufactures and Commerce. He never makes speeches, but no member of Congress has greater influence on committees or in private consultation. In a letter to the " Green Bay Gazette," Senator Howe thus speaks of him :
" No District in the United States has sent to Washington an hon- ester man, or a more faithful or efficient Representative. I don't know of an interest in the District that he has abused or neglected. At the same time I do not know a man more tolerant of or generous to his po- litical opponents than he is. Mr. Sawyer's early education was limited ; but he was born a gentleman, and he has lived like a gentle- man in all the relations of life. In spite of lack of culture, he is to- day' as wisely and familiarly known to the picked men who represent the States of this great republic, in Congress, and is as universally
respected too, as any man in either house."
525
ORTH. — TAFFE. — NUNN. — PETTI S.
'ODLOVE S. OETH was born near Lebanon, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1817. He was educated at the Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. In 1839 he was admitted to the bar, and removed to Indiana, locating in Lafayette. In 1843 he was elected to the Indiana Senate, and served six years. In 1862 he was elected a Eepresentative from Indiana to the Thirty-eighth Congress, as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses.
OHN TAFFE was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, January 30, 1827. He removed to Nebraska in 1856 ; was chosen- a member, of the lower branch of the State Legislature in 1858 and 1859 ; was elected to the Senate in 1860, and was chosen Pres- ident of that body. He entered the military service in 1862, and served fifteen months as Major of the Second Nebraska Cavalry. He was electefl to the Fortieth Congress from Nebraska, as a Repub- lican, and was re-elected.
\ AYID A. NUNN was born in Hayward County, Tennessee. He received a collegiate education, and studied law. He was a Whig member of the Senate of Tennessee in 1863 ; was a member of the State House of Representatives in 1865. He was elected from Tennessee to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican, and in 1869 was appointed by President Grant, United States Min- ister to Guatamala.
NEWTON PETTIS was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, October 10, 1827. He began the study of the law with Joshua R. Giddings, and was admitted to practice at Mead- ville, Pa. He was appointed in 1861 by President Lincoln an Asso- ciate Justice for the Territory of Colorado, but resigned in 1862. He was elected from Pennsylvania to the Fortieth Congress as a Re- publican, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Darwin A. Finney.
HON. SIDNEY PERHAM,
RF.PRESENTATIVK FROM MAINE
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SIDNEY PEEHAM.
IIDKEY PERHAM was born in Woodstock, Maine, March 27, 1819. He was educated chiefly in the common schools, and until thirty-five years of age, he was a farmer and school teacher. He was a member of the Maine State Board of Agriculture in 1852 and 1853. He was elected a member of the State Legislature in 1854, and was chosen Speaker of the House. He was elected Clerk of Courts for the county of Oxford in 1858, and was re-elected in 1861. He was elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses — receiving in the last election 6,421 majority.
In early life he became- interested in the Temperance reform, and by his example and lectures contributed largely to the success of that cause in the State of Maine.
During the war he was untiring in his attention to the wants of the soldiers — visiting them in the hospital, communicating with their friends, aiding them in obtaining discharges, furloughs, pay, bounty, pensions, etc., and in every way possible ministering to their neces- sities.
He was for six years a member and four years Chairman of the Pension Committee, the duties of which involved a very large amount of labor. He reported and carried through the House most of the provisions of law increasing pensions to invalids in pro- portion to the degree of disability, and giving an additional pension to widows, according to the number of children dependent on them for support. Mr. Perham, as a member of Congress, was always at the post of duty, whether in the committee room or on the floor of the House. He made but few speeches, never claiming the atten- tion of the House unless the interest of his constituents or the business he had in hand required it.
527
O'NEILL. — PLANTS. — POL SLEY. — PETERS.
^HARLES O'NEILL was born in Philadelphia, March 21, 1821. Having graduated at Dickinson College, and studied law, he was admitted to the bar in 1843. He served five years in the House of Representatives and Senate of Pennsylva- nia. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-eighth Congress, as a Republican, and was re-elected to- the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses.
[OBIAS A. PLANTS was bom in Beaver County, Pennsyl- vania, March 17, 1811. After teaching school for sev- eral years, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. Having settled in Ohio, he served in the State Legislature from 1858 to 1861. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-ninth Congress, as a Republican, and was re- elected to the Fortieth. Congress.
JANTEL POLSLEY was born near Fairmount, Virginia, No- vember 28, 1803. He studied law, and practiced until 1845, when he retired to engage in agricultural pursuits. He was a member of the West Virginia (Wheeling) Convention in- 1861, and in the same year was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the loyal State government of Virginia. He was elected Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of West Virginia in 1862, and was elected from West Virginia to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican.
A. PETERS was born at Ellsworth, Maine, October 9, 1822. He graduated at Tale College, and studied law at the Cambridge Law School. He was a member of the Legislature of Maine in 1862, 1863, and 1864, and was elected Attor- ney-General of the State in 1864. He was elected from Maine to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected.
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WILLIAM
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"WILLIAM S. HOLMAN.
JLLIAM S. HOLMAN was born in Yerdstown, Indiana, September 6, 1822. His father was one of the first Judges of the Supreme Court of Indiana, and after giving him a common school education, instructed him in the science and prac- tice of the law. Soon after his admission to the bar, he was elected Judge of the Probate Court, an office which he held from 1843 to 1846. He was Prosecuting- Attorney from 1847 to 1849. A Conven- tion having been called in 1850 to revise the Constitution of Indiana, Judge Holman was elected a member, and took an important part in the deliberations. In the following year he was a member of the lower branch of the State Legislature. In 1852 he was elected . Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a department of the State Ju- diciary which was created by the new Constitution to supersede the Probate Court, with more extended jurisdiction. Judge Holman held this office until 1856, when he resumed the practice of law. In 1858 he was elected a Eepresentative from Indiana to the Thirty- sixth Congress as a Democrat, and was re-elected to the Thirty- seventh, Thirty-eighth, Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
An undeviating Democrat during his entire Congressional service, he resisted secession, and was steadily for the Union, which he desir- ed to serve by compromise until that was rendered impossible by the hot blood of the rebellious South. He was then for war, but war for the Union only. Few men on the side of the minority in Congress have more influence with political friends, or more respect among partisan opponents than Judge Holman. He is a rapid, fluent, and impressive speaker, with all his extensive legal attainments and politi- cal resources effectively at hand in the emergencies of debate. He is prepossessing in appearance, agreeable in manners, and genial in social intercourse.
WARD. — W A SHBURN. — WASH BURN. — RANDALL.
jAMILTON WARD was born in Salisbury, New York, July 3, 1829. -In 1848 he began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. e In 1856 he was elected Dis- trict Attorney for Alleghany County, and was re-elected in 1862. At an early period of the war he was appointed by the Governor a member of the Senatorial Military Committee, and in that capacity aided in raising several regiments of volunteers for the army. In 1864 he was elected as a Republican from New York to the Thirty- ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
[LLIAM B. WASHBURN was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, January 31, 1820. He graduated at Yule College in 1844, and subsequently engaged in manufac- turing. In 1850 he was a Senator, and in 1854 a Representative, in the Legislature of Massachusetts, lie was subsequently President «>!' the Greenfield Bank. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress, as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
ADWALLADER C. WASHBURN was born at
Maine, April 22, 1818. He received an academic educa- tion, and studied and practiced law in Wisconsin. lie was appointed a Major-General in the Union army in the war, and was elected as a Republican from Wisconsin to the Thirty -fourth, Thirty- fifth, Thirty-sixth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses.
'AMUEL J. RANDALL was born in Philadelphia, October 10, 1828. He was for many years engaged in mercantile pursuits. He served four years in the Philadelphia City Council, and one term in the State Senate. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses.
June 17, -It his r.
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P. . O. SHARKS.
fOHN P. C. SHAKES was born in Martinsburg, Virginia, June 17, 1826. But few facilities for education being within his reach, he applied himself to private study, and by in- dustry and perseverance made excellent attainments. He studied law and settled in Indiana, where he practised his profession with success. He was elected to the Indiana Legislature in 1854. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and took his seat July 4, 1861, when Congress was assem- bled by proclamation of President Lincoln to take measures for the prosecution of the war. He visited the field of Bull Run as a spec- tator, but became a participant in the battle. During the subsequent recess of Congress he served in Missouri as a member of General Fre- mont's staff, and doing other military duty. Returning to Washing- ton on the re-assembling of Congress in December, 1861, he entered again upon Ijis legislative duties and served on the Committees on Private Land Claims an-, on Agriculture. At the close of his Con- gressional term he raised the Seventh Regiment of Indiana Volun- teer Cavalry, of which he was commissioned Colonel. He was soon assigned to the command of a Brigade of Cavalry, and was pro- moted to Brigadier-General. For gallant conduct and efficient service he was brevetted Major-General, and served with distinction until the close of the war.
'In 1866 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the For- tieth Congress, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress. He was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Union Prisoners and a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs. He is a popular speaker, an active politician, and an efficient legislator.
531
BEA3IAX. — DA WES.— GRAVELY.— FIELDS.
[ERNANDO C. BEAMAN was born in Chester. Vermont, June 28, 1814, and was removed in boyhood to New York. He studied law in Rochester, and in 1838 he removed to Michigan, and engaged, in the practice of his profession. He served six years as Prosecuting- Attorney for the county of Lenawee, and four years as Judge of Probate. In 1860 he was elected a Repub- lican Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and was successively re-elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
JENRY L. DA WES was born in Cummington, Massachu- setts, October 30, 1816. He graduated at Yale College ill 1839, and engaged successively in school-teaching, edit- ing a newspaper, and practicing law. From 1848 to 1853 he was a member of the Legislature of Massachusetts. In 1853 he was chosen District Attorney for the Western District of the State, and held the office until 1856, when he was elected from Massachusetts to the Thirty-fifth Congress as a Republican, and has been six times suc- cessively re-elected.
'OSEPH J. GRAVELY was born in Virginia, in 1828. He received a common school education and engaged in agri- culture. He was a member of the Virginia Legislature in 1853 and 1854. In the latter year he removed to Missouri, and was elected to the Constitutional Convention of that State in 1800, and subsequently was a member of the State Senate. He served in the war as Colonel of the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, and was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican.
rILLIAM C. FIELDS was born in New York City, Feb- ruary 13, 1804. He removed to Otsego County, and was Justice of the Peace for sixteen yea"rs. He was subse- quently Clerk of Otsego County for three years, and was elected a
Republican Representative from New York to the Fortieth Congress.
532
JOB
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JOHE" MOEEISSET.
MORRISSEY was born in the town of Templeraore, Tipperary County, Ireland, February 12, 1831. He came to 'America when five years of age, and for many years resided in Troy and Lansingburg, New York. He received a common school education, worked some time in a paper-mill, and afterward learned the* trade of a brush-maker. He subsequently worked as a deck-hand on. a Hudson River steamer, and then became a runner for a steamboat company in New York city.
Possessing great strength and a fine physical development, he became an expert pugilist, and in 1852 made his first appearance in California as a professional gladiator. Returning to New York, he fought contests with " Yankee Sullivan " and John C. Heenan, his success giving him wide reputation in the sporting world. Having won the " championship " in 1858 he relinquished the profession.
He attracted the attention of Commodore Cornelius Yanderbilt, who assisted him with means by which he acquired an immense fortune.
His first public appearance in politics was in his election to the Fortieth Congress by the Democrats of the Seventh, Tenth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth wards of New York City. He was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress over two opposing candidates by a majority of nearly ten thousand votes.
His notoriety acquired in other arenas makes him a marked figure in Congress, and attracts the notice of all observers. He never par- ticipates in debate, but invariably votes and acts in strict harmony with his party friends.
533
SITGREAVES.-McCORMICK.-WINDOM.-HOTCHKISS.
|H ARLES SITGREAVES was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1803. He adopted the profession of law, and settled in New Jersey. In 1831 and 1833 lie was a mem- ber of the New Jersey Assembly. In 1834 and 1835 he was a mem- ber and President of the Legislative Council. From 1852 to 1854 he served in the State Senate. He subsequently held the positions of Mayor of Phillipsburg, President of the Belvidere and Delaware Railroad Company, and Trustee of the State Normal School. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New Jersey to the Thirty- ninth Congress as a Democrat, and was re-elected.
*AMES H. McCORMlCK was bom August 1, 1824, in Washington County, Missouri. He studied medicine, and practiced his profession until 1861, when he was elected member of the State Convention of Missouri. In *1862 he was elected to the Senate of the State ; in 1863 he resigned his place in the Senate, and was appointed Brigadier-General of the enrolled Missouri Militia, and Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for the same district. In 1865 he was again elected to the Senate of the State of Missouri, and resigned on being elected to the Fortieth Congress. He was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
[LLIAM WINDOM was bom in Belmont County, Ohio, May 10, 1827. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and was soon after elected Prosecuting Attorney for Knox County, Ohio. In 1853 he removed to Minnesota, and settled in Winona. In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Minnesota to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
'ULIUS HOTCHKISS was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, July 11, 1810. He became^a manufacturer, and was elected Mayor of Waterbury in 1852. He was a member of the
Legislature of Connecticut in 1851 and 1858, and was elected to the
Fortieth Congress from Connecticut as a Democrat.
534
COBURN. — ELIOT.— BROM WELL. — AXTELL.
?OHN COBURN was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, October 27, 1825. He graduated at Wabash College ; studied and practiced law ; was a member of the State Legislature of Indiana in 1850 and 18.51, and was Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas from 1859 to 1861. He served in the Union army as Colonel and Brigadier-General during the war. He was elected Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Indiana in October, 1865, but resigned the following year, and was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Fortieth Congress as a Eepublican, and was re- elected.
SHOMAS D. ELIOT was born in Boston, March 20, 1808. He graduated at Columbia College, Washington, in 1825, and settled as a lawyer in New Bedford. After serving in both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature, he first entered Congress in 1855 to fill a vacancy. In 1858 he was elected a Rep- resentative from Massachusetts as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth Congress, and was four times re-elected, retiring from public life at the close of the Fortieth Congress.
*ENRY P. H. BROMWELL was born in Baltimore, Mary- land, August 26, 182*3. Having spent seven years of his boyhood in Ohio, he went to Illinois in 1836, and came to the bar in 1853. He was subsequently an editor, judge of a county court, and presidential elector. In 1864 he was elected a Repre- sentative from Illinois to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and in 1866 was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
B. AXTELL was born in Franklin County, Ohio, October 14, 1819. He was educated at Western Reserve College, Ohio, and studied law. He emigrated to Cali- fornia in 1857. He was elected a Representative from California to the Fortieth Congress as a Democrat, and "was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
535
MERCUR. — SMITH. — KNOTT. — GETZ.
'LYSSES MERCtTR was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1818. He graduated at Jefferson College in 1842, and was admitted to the bar in the following year. In 1861 he was elected President Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania for a terra of ten years, but resigned in 1864, when he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
rORTHINGTON C. SMITH was born at St. Albans, Ver- • mont, April 23, 1823. He graduated at the University of Vermont, and became largely interested in the manu- facture and sale of iron. He was a member of the State House of Representatives of Vermont in 1863 ; was a member of the State Senate of Vermont in 1864 and 1865, and was its presiding officer pro tern, during the last term. He was elected to the Fortieth Con- gress from Vermont as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Forty- first Congress.
PROCTOR KNOTT was born in Marion County, Kentucky, August 29, 1830. He studied law, and removed to Missouri in 1850. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1858. He was Attorney General in 1860, and a member of the Missouri Convention of 1861. He returned to Kentucky in 1862, from which State he was elected to the Fortieth Congress . as a Democrat, and was re-elected.
LAWRENCE GETZ was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1821. He received an academic educa- tion, studied law, and was for twenty-five years editor of the " Reading Gazette " and " Democrat." He was a member of the State Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1856 and 1857, sen-ing the last year as Speaker of the House. lie was elected to the Fortieth Con- gress as a Democrat, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
530
ON DF'.T.OS !« ASlti.KY.
!Jr:ri'KSF.NTATI-vT-'. V'POI.f NKVAUA
• •
' ^^V-^MKti \vhere
i
•
ASHLEY. — ANDERSON. — LOUGHRIDGE.
JELOS R. ASHLEY was born at the Post, Arkansas February 19, 1828. Having received a liberal education, he stud- ied law at Monroe, Michigan. In 1849 he went to Cali- fornia, and settled at Monterey, where he served as District Attor ney from 1851 to 1853. In 1854 and 1855 he was a Democratic member of the Assembly of California, and was a State Senator in 1856 and 1857. He then retired from politics, and continued the practice of law until the breaking out of the Eebellion in 1861, when he joined the Union party. In the interests of this party he made a canvass of the State and was elected State Treasurer, an office which he held two years. In 1864 he removed to Austin, Nevada, where he. practiced his profession until his election as Kepresentative in the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican. *
W. ANDERSON was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee, May 22, 1832. He graduated at Franklin Col- lege, Tennessee, and having studied law, he went to Mis- souri in 1853. In 1854 he became editor of the " North East Mis- sourian " newspaper. He was a member of the lower house of the Missouri Legislature in 1859 and 1860, and of the State Senate in 1862. He was a presidential elector in 1860. He was colonel of a regiment of the reserve corps from 1862 to 1864, and saw some active service. He was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, as a Republican.
ILLIAM LOUGHRIDGE was born at Toungstown, Ohio, July 11, 1827. He studied law and commenced practice at Mansfield, Ohio. He removed to Iowa in 1852, where he was a member of the State Senate in 1857, 1858, 1859 and 1860. He was elected Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Iowa in 1861, which position he held until January, 1867, when he was elected as a Republican from Iowa to the Fortieth Congress, and was re- elected.
537
KERR. — McKEE.— McCULLOL'GH. — FOX.
MICHAEL C. KERR was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1827. He taught school for some time, and in 1851 graduated in the Law Department of the Univer- sity of Louisville, and soon after located in New Albany, Indiana. In 1856 he was elected to the Legislature of Indiana, and served two terms. In 1862 he was elected reporter of the decisions of the Su- preme Court, and Field the office two years, publishing five volumes of Reports. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-ninth Congress, as a Democrat, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
McKEE was bora in Montgomery County, Ken- tucky, November 4, 1833. In 1858 he graduated at the Miami University, Ohio, and afterwards at the Cincinnati Law School in 1858. He subsequently practiced law in Mount Ster- ling, Kentucky, until 1862, when he entered the Union army as Captain of the Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry. He was thirteen, months a prisoner in Libby Prison. In 1865 he was elected a Rep- resentative from Kentucky to the Thirty-ninth Congress, as a Repub- lican, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
J1RAM McCULLOUGH was born in Cecil County, Mary- land, September 20, 1813, and studied law. He was a member of the State Senate 'of Maryland seven years, and
was appointed one of the codifiers of the laws of Maryland in 1852.
He was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected to
the Fortieth Congress.
°QHN FOX was bora in New York City, June 30, 1835. He received a common school education, and applied him- . self to a mechanical employment. After holding the offices of Alderman and Supervisor in New York, he was elected a Democratic Representative to the Fortieth Congress, receiving 14,003 votes against 3,743 votes for Horace Greeley.
538
UP SON. — TWIT C HELL. — TROWBRIDGE. — TRIMBLE.
was born in Southmgton, Connecticut, March 19, 1821. At the age of sixteen he commenced teaching school, in which he was employed during the win- ters of seven years. He attended the Law School of Yale College, and in 1845 removed to Michigan. In 1848 he was elected County Clerk, and in 1852 Prosecuting Attorney for St. Joseph County. In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate, and in 1860 Attorney-Gen- eral of Michigan. In 1862 he was elected a Eepresentative from Michigan to the Thirty-eighth Congress as a Republican, and was re- elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
TWITCHELL was born at Athol, Massachusetts, August 26, 1811. In 1830 he commenced the business of mail-carrying and stage-driving. He was the first to estab- lish a line of stages between Boston and Brattleborough, Yermont. In 1847 he became an employee of the Boston and Worcester R.R., and became its President in 1857. He was elected to the Fortieth Congress from Massachusetts, as a Republican, and was re-elected.
"OWLAND E. TROWBRIDGE was born in Elmira, New York, June 18, 1821, and when a child removed to Mich- igan with his parents. He graduated at Kenyon College, and engaged in farming. In 1856 and 1858 he was elected a mem- ber of the Michigan Senate. In 1860 he was elected a Representa- tive from Michigan to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
TRIMBLE was born in Roane County, Tennessee, Feb- ruary 7, 1812. He was educated at the Nashville Univer- sity and studied law. He was Attorney-General for the Nashville district in 1836, and was elected to the House of Repre- sentatives from Tennessee in 1843. He was State Senator in 1845, in 1859, and again in 1865. He was elected from Tennessee to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican.
539
SHELL ABARGER. — KOONTZ.— LAFLIN. — PRUYN.
SAMUEL SHELLABARGER was bom in ciark County,
Ohio, December 10, 1817. He graduated at the Miami University in 1841. He studied law, and practiced in the city of Springfield, Ohio. In 1852 and 1853 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-seventh Congress. He was re elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. In 1869 he was appointed United States Minister to Portugal.
[LLIAM H. KOONTZ was born at Somerset, Pennsylva- nia, July 15, 1830. He received a public school educa- tion, studied law, and was District-Attorney of Somerset County in 1854, 1855 and 1856. He was clerk and prothonotary for the courts of Somerset County in 1861, 1862 and 1863. He was elected from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-ninth Congress as a Repub- lican, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
DDISON H. LAFLIN was born in Lee, Massachusetts, October 24, 1823. He graduated at Williams College in 1843, and settled in Herkimer County, New York, where he became engaged extensively in the manufacture of paper. In 1857 he was elected State Senator. In 1864 he was elected a Rep- resentative from New York to the Thirty-ninth Congress as a Re- publicanj and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Con-
>OHN Y. L. PRUYN was bom at Albany, New York, in 1811. He studied law, and came to the bar in 1832. He served as Treasurer of the New York Central Railroad and Master in Chancery. . In 1862 he was made Chancellor of the University of New York, and State Senator. In 1863 he was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress from New York as a Demo- crat, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
540
H ON H H ,S TAii KW fa1. AT H E R ,
HKPPESSKTATT.'E FPOM CONNECTICUT
•
STARKWEATHER. — CAKE.
JENEY H. STAEKWEATHEE was born in Preston, Con- necticut, April 29, 1826. He received his education in the public schools, and was occupied in farming and teaching until twenty-four years of age. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in the city of Norwich. In 1856 he was elected to the Legislature of Connecticut. He was a delegate to the Eepublican National Conventions of 1860 and 1868. During the campaign which ended in the election of President Grant, he rendered efficient service as a member of the Eepublican National Committee.
In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of Norwich by President Lincoln. He was re-appointed by President Johnson, but immedi- ately after the remarkable speech of February 22, 1866, Mr. Stark- weather sent in his resignation.
In 1867 he was elected to the Fortieth Congress from Connecticut, the only Eepublican Eepresentative from that State, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
L. CAKE was born in Northumberland, Pennsyl- vania, October 6, 1827. Having received a common school education, he learned the art of printing, and published the " Pottsville Mining Eecord." At the breaking out of the Eebellion he entered the Union army as a private, and arrived at Washington April 18, 1861, with the first volunteers. He was placed in the Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Eegiment, of which he was unanimously elected Colonel May 1, 1861. At the end of the three months' service he was made Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Pennsylvania Eegi- ment, which he commanded with distinction. After the close of the war he became largely 'engaged in the mining and shipping of an- thracite coal. In 1866 he w^s elected a Eepublican Eepresentative from Pennsylvania to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected to
the Forty-first Congress.
541
BEN JAMIN.-DIXON.- ARCHER. -HUBBARD.
*OHN F. BENJAMIN was born in Cicero, New York, Jan nary 23, 1817. After having spent three years in Texas, he settled in Missouri, in 1848, and engaged in the practice of law. He was a member of the Missouri Legislature in 1851 and 1852, and was a presidential elector in 1856. He entered the Missouri Cavalry as a private in 1861, and by a series of promotions reached the rank of Brigadier-General. He resigned to accept the appointment of Provost Marshal for the Eighth District of Missouri. He was elected as a Republican from Missouri to the Thirty-ninth Con- gress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
ZATHAN F. DIXON, son of a Senator of the same name, was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, May 1, 1812, and graduated at Brown University in 1833. After attending the Law Schools at New Haven and Cambridge, he was admitted to the bar in 1837. From 1840 to 1849 he was a member of the Gen- eral Assembly of Rhode Island, and after serving in the Thirty-first Congress, was again elected to the Legislature. In 1863 he was elected a Republican Representative from Rhode Island to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
fTEVENSON ARCHER was born in Harford County, Mary- land, February 28, 1827. His grandfather and his father were members of Congress from Maryland. He graduated
at Princeton College in 1846, and entered the profession of law.
He was a member of the Legislature of Maryland in 1854, and in
1866 he was elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth Congress, and
was re-elected two years later.
'ICHARD HUBBARD was born at Berlin, Connecticut, September 7, 1818, graduated at Yale College, studied and practiced law, and was elected from Connecticut to the Fortieth Congress as a Democrat.
542
POMEROY.— MULLINS.— LINCOLN. — SEL YE.
M. POMEKOY was born in Cayuga, New York, December 31, 1824. He graduated at Hamilton College, and adopted the profession of law. From 1850 to 1856 he was District Attorney for Cayuga County, and in 185T was a member of the New York Legislature. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-seventh Congress, as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. Near the close of the Fortieth Congress he was elected Speaker to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resig- nation of Schuyler Colfax.
AMES MULLINS was born at the Three Forks of Duck River, Bedford County, Tennessee, September 15, 1807, and adopted the occupations of farmer and millwright. He was Sheriff of Bedford County from 1840 to 1846. He served as a soldier in the war, a part of the time upon the staff of General Rosecrans. In 1865 he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee. In 1867 he was elected to the Fortieth Congress from Tennessee a» a Republican.
rILLIAM. S. LINCOLN was born in Newark Valley, New York, August 13, 1813. He engaged in mercantile -pur- suits, and subsequently in the manufacture of leather. He was postmaster of Newark Yalley from 1838 to 1866. He was elected a Representative from New York to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican.
SELYE was born at Chittenango, New York, July 11, 1808. He engaged in manufactures, and held sev- eral local offices in the City of Rochester. He was elected to the Fortieth Congress from New York as an Independent Repub- lican.
543
AMES. — HUBBARD. — CHURCHILL. — GO LLA DAY.
AKES AMES was born in Eastern, Bristol County, Massa- chusetts, January 10, 1804. Having received a common school education, he engaged with great success in manufac- turing pursuits, and also largely and successfully in railroad enter- prises. In 1860 and 1861 he was a member of the Executive Council of Massachusetts. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-eighth Congress, as a Republican, and has been three times re-elected. He served on the Committees on Manufactures and the Pacific Railroad.
SAHEL W. HUBBARD was born in Haddam, Connecti- cut, January 18, 1819. In 1838 he removed to Indiana, and engaged in school-teaching. He entered upon the pro- fession of law in 1841, and was in 1847 elected to the Indiana Legis- lature, in which he served three terms. He removed to Iowa in 1857, and was soon alter elected .Judge of the Fourth Judicial District o£ that State. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-eighth Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
C. CHURCHILL was born at Mooers, New York, January 17, 1821. He graduated at Middlebury Col- lege, Vermont ; studied and practiced law ; was District- Attorney for Oswego County from 1857 to 1860, and was Judge of Oswego County from 1860 to 1864. He was elected a Representa- tive from .New York to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
S. GOLLADAY was bora in Lebanon, Tennessee, January 19, 1819, removed to Kentucky in 1845, was a member of the State Legislature of Kentucky in 1851 and 1852, and was elected a State Senator in 1853. In August, 1867, he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
544
&>, W#2rf&
HON. BURTON C COOK.
F.F.PRF.SENTKTIVE FROM ILLINOIS
JBi -V(
.
,
COOK.— WILLIAMS. — TRIMBLE.
URTON C. COOK was born in Monroe County, New York, May 11, 1819. He received a collegiate education, adopted the profession of law, and settled in Illinois in 1546. He was elected State- Attorney for the Ninth Circuit, and in 1848 he was re-elected to the same office for a term of four years. From 1852 to 1860 he was a member of the State Senate, and in 1864 was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
In the Thirty-ninth Congress he served on the Judiciary Com- mittee, and in the Fortieth Congress on the Committee on Elections and the Niagara Ship Canal, and as Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals. In the Forty-first Congress he was appointed to the Chairmanship of the Committee on the District of Columbia.
,LIAM WILLIAMS was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, May 11, 1821. After receiving a common school educa- tion, he studied law, and commenced practice in Indiana. He was treasurer of Kosciusko County in 1850, and was a Director of the Northern Indiana State Prison in 1860. He was commissioned by the President an additional paymaster in the United States Army in 1864. He was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Forty- first Congress.
S. TRIMBLE was born in Fleming, Kentucky, August 26, 1825. In 1851 and 1852 he was a member of the Kentucky Legislature. From 1856 to 1860 he was Judge of the Equity and Criminal Court of the First Judicial Dis- trict of the State. He was subsequently for five years President of the New Orleans and Ohio Railroad Company. In 1865 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-ninth Con- gress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses.
545
VAN TRUMP. — VAN WYCK. — PRICE.— LOAN.
,HILADELPH VAN TRUMP, of Lancaster, was born at Lancaster, Ohio, November, 15, 1810. He learned the art of printing, and edited "The Lancaster Gazette and Enquirer." He was a delegate to the National Whig Convention which nominated Scott and Graham in 1852, was a candidate for Elector on the Fillmore ticket for Ohio in 1856, and was Presi- dent of the Bell and Everett State Convention in 1860. He was a Democratic candidate for Supreme Judge of Ohio, and served as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1862 to 1866. He was elected to the Fortieth Congress from Ohio as a Democrat, and was re-elected.
H. VAN WYCK was born at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1824. He graduated at Rutgers College, studied and practiced law, and was District Attorney of Sullivan County from 1850 to 1856. He entered the Union army as Colonel of the Tenth Legion, or 56th New York Volunteers, and commanded it during the war, receiving the rank of Brigadier-Gen- eral. He was elected from New York to the Thirty-sixth, Thirty- seventh and Fortieth Congresses.
jIRAM PRICE was born in Washington County, Pennsyl- vania, January 10, 1814. Removing to Iowa, he settled in the City of Davenport, and was made President of the State Bank of .Iowa. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty- ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
ENJAMIN F. LOAN was born at Hardensburg, Kentucky, October 4th, 1819. He studied and practiced law, and went to Missouri in 1838. He served as Brigadier-General in the war, and was elected as a Republican from Missouri to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. 546
' by G E
HON WILLIAM HKi. F.EPBESENTAnVE FROM CALIFORNIA.
Besses.
*
HIGBY.— HAL SEY. — MOORE. — MARVIN.
rILLIAM HIGBY was bom in Essex County, New York, August 18, 1813. He graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, and practiced law in New York until 1850, when he removed to California. Three years after he was elected District Attorney of Cavaleras County, and held the office until 1859. He was subsequently a member of the State Senate. In 1863 he was elected a Kepresentative from California to the Thirty-eighth Congress as a Republican, and was successively re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
'EORGE A. HALSEY was born an Springfield, New Jersey, December 7th, 1827, and established himself in Newark as a manufacturer in 1844. He was a member of the Legisla- ture of New Jersey in 1861, and from 1862 to 1866 he was Assessor of Internal Eevenue. He was elected a Eepresentative from New Jersey to the Fortieth Congress, as a Republican, and declined the position of Register of the Treasury, offered him in 1869.
[LLIAM MOORE was born in Montgomery County, Penn- sylvania, December 25, 1810. He devoted himself to mercantile pursuits, and was for some time engaged in ship-building and the coasting trade. He was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Atlantic County, N. J., from 1858 to 1868. He was elected from New Jersey to the Fortieth Congress as a Re- publican, and was re-elected.
'AMES M. MARYIN was born in Ballston, New York, Feb- ruary 27th, 1809. In 1846 he was elected to the Legislature of New York, and subsequently held, for three terms, the office of County Supervisor. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
547
WOODBRIDGE. — STEVENS. — BAKER. — TAYLOR.
FREDERICK E. WOODBRIDGE of Yergennes, was bora at Yergennes, Yermont, August 29, 1818, graduated at the University of Yermont in 1840, and studied law. He was elected a member of the Ilouse in the State Legislature in 1849, 1857, and 1858, and was many times chosen Mayor of the city of Yergennes. He was State Auditor in 1850, 1851 and 1852, and was Prosecuting Attorney in 1854, 1855, 1856, 1857, and 1858. He en- gaged in railroad management, and was several }'ears Yice-President and. the active Manager of the Rutland and Washington Railroad. He was elected a member of the State Senate of Yermont in 1860, and was chosen President pro tern, of that body. lie was elected to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, as a Republican.
F. STEYENS was bora at berry, New Hampshire, August 9, 1819. He studied and practiced law. He served in the New Hampshire Legislature four terms, and was County Solicitor from 1856 to 1861, when he entered the Union army in 1861 as Major of the First New Hampshire Yolunteers ; was afterwards Colonel of the Thirteenth New Hampshire Yolunteers ; Commandant of a brigade, and Brigadier-General by brevet. He was elected from New Hampshire to the Fortieth Congress as a Republi- can, and was re-elected.
'EHLT BAKER was bora in Fayette County, Kentucky, No- vember 4, 1822. He received an academic education and entered the profession of law. He was elected a Repre- sentative from Illinois to the Thirty-ninth Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
lALEB N. TAYLOR was born in Bucks County, Pennsylva- nia, July 27, 1813 ; engaged in agricultural pursuits ; and was elected to the Fortieth Congress from Pennsylvania, as a Republican.
548
HON. BETHUEL, M KITCHEN
REPRESENTATIVE FROMW.ST VihGI
. '
4
KITCHEN. — STOVER.— DICKEf.
ETHUEL M. KITCHEN was born in Berkley County, Vir- \WH ginia? March 21, 1812. He received a common school educa- ,42^ tion, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. In 1861 and 1862 he was elected to the Legislature of Virginia. In 1863 he was elected a Representative from Virginia to Congress, but was not admitted to a seat, on account of the rebellious attitude of the State. His farm was repeatedly overrun by rebel marauders, and he was subjected to many personal dangers on account of his loyalty. On the organization of West Virginia he was elected to the State Senate. In 1866 he was elected a Republican Representative to the Fortieth Congress from West Virginia.
)HN H. STOVER was born at Aaronsburg, Pennsylvania, April 24, 1833. He was admitted to the bar in 1857, and served as District Attorney of Centre County. Se entered . the Union army in April, 1861, as a private, and wa& soon after pro- moted to a Captaincy in the Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment. He was subsequently appointed Major in the 106th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served in that capacity two years and a half. He was afterward made Colonel of the 184th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was placed in command of a brigade. In 1865 he settled in Missouri, and was elected to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Governor J. W. McClurg.
^LIVER J. DICKEY was born in Old Brighton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1823. He was educated at Dickinson College, and studied law with Thaddeus Stevens, in Lancaster, where he subsequently practiced his profession. He held the office of District- Attorney for Lancaster County from 1856 to 1859. He was elected to. fill the vacancy in the Fortieth Congress caused by the death of Thaddeus Stevens, and was re-elected to the
Forty-first Congress as a Republican.
549
BALDWIN. — FERRIS. — KEL SET. — HAI GET.
!OHN D. BALDWIN was born in North Stonington, Con- necticut, September 28, 1810. He graduated at Yale College, studied law, and pursued a course of theological study. Devoting himself to literary pursuits, he published a vol- ume of poems, and became connected with the press, first in Hart- ford, and then in Boston, where he was editor of the u Daily Common- wealth." He subsequently became proprietor of the " Worcester Spy." In 1862 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Massachu- setts, and was re-elected in 1864 and 1866. He has recently pub- lished a valuable work on ancient history.
FERRIS was born at Glenns Falls, New York, November 26, 1814. He was educated at the University of Vermont, and adopted the profession of law. He was Surrogate of Warren County from 1841 to 1845, and Vas County Judge from 1851 to 1863. In 1862 he was elected a Republican Representative from New York to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
rlLLLIAM H. KELSEY was born at Smyrna, New York, October 2, 1812, and studied and practiced law. He was appointed Surrogate of Livingston County in February, 1840, and was elected District- Attorney of Livingston County in J850. He was elected to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Con- gresses, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses from New York, as a Republican.
IUARLES HAIGHT was born at Colt's Neck, New Jersey, January 4, 1838 ; graduated at Princeton College in 1857, and studied law. He was a member of the State Legisla- ture of New Jersey in 1861 and 1862, serving the last year as Speaker of the House. He was elected as a Democratic Representative in tho Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected. .
550
BUTLER. — BURR. — BARNUM. — BECK.
RODERICK E. BUTLER was born in Wytheville, Virginia, April 8, 1827. He served an apprenticeship at the tailor- ing business, but after arriving at his majority studied and practiced law. He became a County Judge in 1856, and was elected to the Tennessee Legislature in 1859. He served in the war as Lieu- tenant-Colonel of the Thirteenth Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry. He was elected a State Senator in April, 1865, .and the following June was appointed Circuit Court Judge. In August, 1867", he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the Fortieth Congress, as a Republican.
LBERT G. BURR was born in Illinois in 1829. He studied law, and was a member of the State Legislature from 1861 to 1864. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1862, and was the author of the address to the people, accompanying the Constitution. In 1866 he was elected as Repre- sentative from Illinois to the Fortieth Congress, as a Democrat, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
rILLIAM H. BARIUM was born in Connecticut, Sep- tember 17, 1818. Having received a common school ed- ucation, he engaged in business pursuits, and was for many years engaged in the production of iron from the ore, and the manufacture of car wheels. He was a member of the State Legisla- ture in 1851. In April, 1867, he was elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth Congress over P. T. Barnum. He was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
'AMES B. BECK was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, Feb- ruary 13, 1822. He emigrated to America when sixteen years of age, and graduated at Transylvania University, Kentucky, in 1846. He adopted the profession of law, to which he devoted his entire attention for several years. In 1867 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Fortieth Congress as a Democrat, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress.
551
ADAMS. — HAWKINS.— HILL. — MCCARTHY.
)RGE M. ADAMS was born in Knox County, Kentucky, December 20, 1837. He was educated at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, and studied law. He held the office of Clerk of Knox County from 1859 to 1861. In August of the lat- ter year he raised a company and entered the Union army as Captain in the Seventh Kentucky Volunteers. He was soon after appointed additional Paymaster of Volunteers, and served in that capacity un- til the close of the war. He w,as elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Fortieth Congress, as a Democrat, and was re-elect- ed to the Forty-first Congress'.
5AAC R. HAWKINS was born in Maury County, Tennes- see, May 16, 1818. He received an academic education, practiced law, and served in the Mexican war as a first lieu- tenant of volunteers. He was elected by the Tennessee Legislature as a delegate to the Peace Congress of 1861, and was elected as the Un- ion candidate to the State Convention called to consider the relations of Tennessee with the General Government. He entered the Union army as Lieutenant- Colonel in 1862. He was elected a Representa- tive from Tennessee to .the Thirty -ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, as a Republican.
'OHN HILL was born at Catskill, New York, June 10, 1821. He engaged in mercantile pursuits and went to Boonton, New Jersey, where he held several local offices. He was a mem- ber of the Legislature of New Jersey in 186}, 1862 and 1866, the last year holding the office of Speaker. He was elected as a Repub- lican from New Jersey to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected.
JNNIS McCARTHT was born at Salina, New York, March 19, 1814, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was a member of the General Assembly of New York in 1846 ; was Mayor of Syracuse in 1853 ; and was elected from New York to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses as a Republican.
652
HON. EPHRALM R.ECKLEY;
KROM OHIO
.
ECKLEY.— EL A. — HUNTER. — BAILEY.
PIIEAIM E. ECKLEY was born in Jefferson County, OJiio, December 9, 1812, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. From 1843 to 1853 he served in the Ohio House of Repre- sentatives and in the State Senate. In the civil war he was Colonel of the Twenty-sixth and Eightieth Regiments of Ohio Yolunteers. He fought in several battles, and at Corinth commanded a brigade. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty- eighth Congress as a Republican and was re-elected to the Thirty- ninth and Fortieth Congresses.
ACOB H. ELA was born in Rochester, New Hampshire, July 18, 1820. Having learned the art of printing, he published the " Herald of Freedom," and afterwards the " In- dependent Democrat." He was-a member of the State Legislature in 1857 and 1858, and United States Marshal from July to October, 1861. He was elected as a Republican Representative from New Hampshire to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected to the Forty- first Congress.
0, HUNTER was born at Versailles, Indiana, February 5, 1825. He was educated at the State Univer- sity, Bloomington, and studied law. He commanded a regiment of Indiana Yolunteers in the war, and became a Brigadier- General. He was elected to the Fortieth Congress from Indiana as a Republican.
LEXANDER H. BAILEY was born at Minisink, New York, August 14, 1817. Pie graduated at Princeton College in 1838, and adopted the profession of law. He served for several years as Examiner in Chancery for Greene County, and Justice of the Peace. In 1849 he was a member of the State Assembly, and in 1851 he became County Judge, holding the office four years. In 1861 he entered the State Senate and served four years. He was elected a Representative from New York to the For- tieth Congress as a Republican, and was re-elected.
553
MEMBEKS FROM RECONSTRUCTED STATES.
[HE States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisi- ana, North Carolina, and-South Carolina, were admitted tc representation in Congress in the month of June, 1868. Senators and Representatives from these States took but little part in national legislation until the last session of the Fortieth Con- gress. The following are brief biographical records of such Repre- sentatives :
W. JASPEK BLACKBURN, of Louisiana, was born in Arkansas, and learned the art of printing. He removed to Homer, Louisiana, and established the " Homer Illiad." He twice suffered the destruction of his office and press on account of his Republican principles.
THOMAS BOLES, of Arkansas, was born in Johnson County, Arkansas, July 16, 1837. While serving as Deputy Sheriff and Deputy Clerk of Yell County, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He served as a Captain in the Union army, and at the close of the war he was chosen Judge of the Fourth Judicial District of Arkan-as. He resigned this office April 20, 1868, having been elected to Con- gress.
C. C. BOWEN, of South Carolina, was born in Rhode Island, January 3, 1832. Removing to Georgia in 1850, he studied and practised law. He removed to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, and in 1867 was elected to the Convention to form a State Consti- tution under the reconstruction acts.
NATHANIEL BOYDEN, of North Carolina, was born in Con way, Massachusetts, August 16, 1796. He graduated at Union College, New York, in 1821, and the following year removed to North Caro- ina, where he practised law. He was repeatedly elected to the State Legislature, and was a Representative from North Carolina to the Thirtieth* Congress.
554
MEMBERS FROM RECONSTRUCTED STATES. o
CHAELES W. BUCKLEY, of Alabama, was born in Otsego County, New York, February 18, 1835. After graduating at Beloit College^ and the Union Theological Seminary, New York, he entered thJ Union army as Chaplain. After the war he served as Alabama State Superintendent of Education for the Freedmen's Bureau, and in November, 1867, he was a member of the Alabama Constitutional Convention.
JOHN B. CALLIS, of Alabama, was born in Fayetteville, North Caro- / lina, January 3, 1828. He removed to Wisconsin in 1840. He en- tered the Union army in 1861 as Captain in the 7th Wisconsin Vol- unteers, and was promoted to be Lieutenant-Colonel. He was se- verely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, and was in consequence honorably discharged. He subsequently entered the Yeteran Re- serve Corps, and was breveted Brigadier-General. He was appoint- ed a Captain in the regular army, settled in Alabama in 1865, and resigned his commission February 4, 1868.
JOSEPH W. CLIFT, of Georgia, was born in North Marshfield, Mas- sachusetts, September 1, 1836. He was educated at Phillips Acad- emy, and graduated at the Harvard Medical School in 1862. He entered the army as a Surgeon, and served until the close of the war, when he settled in Savannah for the practice of medicine. He was appointed Registrar of Savannah under the Reconstruction acts.
SIMEON COKLEY, of South Carolina, was born in Lexington County, of that State, February 10, 1823. He learned the tailor's trade, and invented a new system of garment-cutting in 1857. He edited the " South Carolina Temperance Standard " in 1855-'56. He op- posed secession from the first, but was compelled to enter the rebel army in 1863. He was captured by the national troops at Petersburg, Yirginia, April 2, 1865, and gladly took the oath of allegiance. Re- turning home, he advocated the reconstruction policy of Congress, and was elected a member of the South Carolina Constitutional Conven- fion in 1867.
JOHN T. DEWEESE, of North Carolina, was bora in Arkansas, June f 4, 1835. He studied law in Indiana, where he practised his profes- sion until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he entered the army
555
3 MEMBERS FROM RECONSTRUCTED STATES.
as a private, and was promoted to the Colonelcy of the 4th Indiana Cavaliy. At the close of the war Ire was commissioned Lieutenant in the 8th United States Infantry, and stationed in North Carolina. He took part in the North Carolina Republican State Convention of March 27, 1867, and for, this act was arrested and ordered to be tried before a court martial by General Sickles, but was released from arrest by General Grant, and the court martial was dismissed. He was ap- pointed Register in Bankruptcy, and resigned his commission in the army August 14, 1867.
OLIVER H. DOCKERY, of North Carolina, was born in Richmond County, of that State, August 12., 1830. He graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1848, and read law, but pursued the occupation of a farmer. He represented his county in the Legielat ure of 1858, and was an elector on the Bell and Everett ticket in 1860. Yielding to "the social pressure existing at the South," he was a short time in the rebel service, but left it as soon as possible, and ad- vocated the speedy restoration of North Carolina to her original posi- tion in the Union.
JAMES T. ELLIOTT, of Arkansas, was born in Georgia, April 22, 1823. He adopted the profession of law, and was chosen President of the Mississippi, Anachita and Red River Railroad in 1858. He was elected Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Arkansas in 1866, and established the " South Arkansas Journal," a Republican paper, at Camden.
JOHN R. FRENCH, of North Carolina, was born at Silmanton, New Hampshire, May 28, 1819. He adopted the profession of a journal- ist, which he pursued in New Hampshire, Maine and Ohio. lie was a member of the Ohio Legislature in 1858 and 1859, and in 1861 re- ceived an appointment in the Treasury Department at "Washington. In 1864 he was appointed by President Lincoln one of the Board of Direct Tax Commissioners for North Carolina, and in 1867 was a member of the Constitutional Convention of that State. At the close of his term as a Representative in the 40th Congress he was elected Sergeant at-Arms of the Senate.
• JAMES H. Goss, of South Carolina, was born at Union Court
556
MEMBERS FROM RECONSTRUCTED STATES. 4
House, in that State, August 9, 1820. He entered into mercantile pursuits, and was elected a member of the Convention to form a Con- stitution for South Carolina under the Reconstruction acts.
SAMUEL F. GOVE, of Georgia, was born at Weymouth, Massachu- setts, March 9, 1822. He removed to Macon, Georgia, in 1838, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He voted against secession, but Held a commission as paptain in the regular army of the so-called Confed- erate States, and was assessor of taxes for Bibb County, under the same government. He was elected a Republican member of the Con- stitutional Convention of Georgia.
CHARLES M. HAMILTON, of Florida, was born in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, in 1840. He studied law, and entered the Union army as a private in 1861. He participated in numerous battles, and was many times severely wounded. He was appointed a Lieutenant in the Veteran Reserve Corps in October, 1863, was detailed as Judge- Advocate, and served in that capacity until 1865, when he was ap- pointed Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau.
THOMAS HAUGHEY, of Alabama, was born near the cit^ of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1826, and came to Alabama at an early age. He gradu- ated at the New Orleans School of Medicine in 1858, and at the breaking out of the Rebellion he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Elyton, Alabama. Taking an active part against seces- sion he was compelled to abandon his home and family and take refuge in the Union lines. Entering the Union army, as Surgeon, in August, 1862, he served until the close of the war. In 186T he was a member of the Convention which formed a Constitution for Alabama under the Reconstruction acts.
DAVID HEATON, of North Carolina, was born at Hamilton, Ohio, March 10, 1823. He adopted the profession of law, and was in 1855 elected to the Senate of Ohio. In 1857 he removed to Minnesota, and was three times elected to the Senate of that State. In 1863 he was appointed by Secretary Chase as Special Agent of the Treasury Department and United States Depository at Newbern, North Caro- lina, and in 1865 was made President of the National Bank of New- bern. He was the author of the Republican platform adopted at Ra-
557
5 MEMBERS FROM RECONSTRUCTED STATES.
leigli, March 27, 1867, and was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of North Carolina.
ALEXANDER H. JONES, of North Carolina, was born in Buncombe County, of that. State, July 21, 1822. He engaged in mercantile pursuits, and took an uncompromising stand in favor of the Union. In the summer of 1863 he fled into the Union lines, and was com- missioned by General Burnside to raise a regiment of loyal North Carolinians. While "engaged in recruiting he was captured by the rebels and incarcerated in Libby prison. He made his escape in November, 1864, and succeeded in reaching the Union lines. Return- ing home at the close of the war, he was elected to the State Consti- tutional Convention in the summer of 1865.
FRANCIS "W. KELLOGG, of Alabama, was born in "Worthington, Massachusetts. Removing to Michigan he engaged in the lumber trade, and served in the State Legislature in 1856-'57. He was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-sixth, Thirty - seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses. In 1865 he was appointed by President Lincoln Collector of Internal Revenue for the Southern District of Alabama.
ISRAEL G. LASH, of North Carolina, was born at Bethania in that State, August 18, 1810. In 1830 he became a merchant and manu- facturer, and in 1847 a banker.
JOSEPH P. NEWSHAM, of Louisiana, was born in Monroe County, Illinois, in 1839. He was admitted to the bar in 1860, and practised in St. Louis. He served on the staif of General Fremont, and was Adjutant of the Third Missouri Volunteers. Having been severely wounded, he received an honorable discharge in July, 1864. Settling in Louisiana, he became Clerk of the Fourth District Court of the parish of Ascension, and was a member of the Reconstruction Con- vention of Louisiana in 1867 and 1868.
BENJAMIN W. NORRIS, of Alabama, was born in Monmouth, Maine, In 1819, graduated at Waterville College, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was a delegate to the Free-Soil National Convention in 1848, and to the Republican Convention of 1864. He was a Pay- master in the Union army. After the close of the war he settled in
MEMBERS FROM RECONSTRUCTED STATES. 6
Alabama, and was a member of the Convention that framed the present Constitution of the State.
CHARLES H. PRINCE, of Georgia, was born in Buckfield, Maine, May 9, 1837. He engaged in teaching and trade, and was appointed Post-Master at Buckfield by President Lincoln. He served in the late war as Captain in the Twenty-third Maine Regiment, and went to Augusta, Georgia, in 1866, as Cashier of the National Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company. He was a member of the Georgia Constitutional Convention.
LOGAN H. ROOTS, of Arkansas, was born in Illinois, March 26, 1841. He graduated at the Illinois State Normal University in 1862, and immediately took an active part in recruiting the Eighty-first Illinois Volunteers, in which he himself enlisted. He was soon com- missioned, and received an appointment as a staff officer, serving as chief depot commissary for the combined armies under General Sher- man. After the close of the war he settled in Arkansas, and engaged in cotton planting. He took a bold and prominent position in favor of the restoration of Arkansas under the Reconstruction acts of Congress.
MICHAEL VIDAL, of Louisiana, was born in Carcassone, France, and emigrated to the republic of Texas. He was afterwards con- nected with the newspapers in New York, Quebec, and New Orleans. In 1867 he started, in Opelousas, western Louisiana, the "St. Landry Progress." He was appointed by General Sheridan one of the Registers for the city of New Orleans, and was elected a delegate to the Convention that framed the new Constitution for Louisiana.
B. FRANK WHITTEMORE, of South Carolina, was born in Maiden, Massachusetts, May 18, 1824. He engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1859, when he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He entered the army as Chaplain of the Fifty-third Massa- chusetts volunteers, and after the close of the term of service of this regiment, he was commissioned Chaplain of the Thirtieth Massa- chusetts Regiment. He edited the first journal in South Carolina devoted to Reconstruction and Union, called the " New Era." He was
5:9
7 MEMBERS FROM RECONSTRUCTED STATES.
chairman of the Republican Executive State Central Committee until South Carolina was fully restored to the Union, and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. He was Chairman of the South Carolina delegation to the Republican National Convention of 1868, and was the same year elected a State Senator, but resigned when elected a Representative in Congress.
560
THE KND.
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Abbott, Josepa C., biography of, 179.
Adams, George M., biography of, 552.
Alabama Admission of, opposed, 340.
Alaska, Appropriation to purchase, 18.
Allison, William B., biography of, 491.
Amendment, to abolish Slavery, advocated, 364 ; remarks, upon, 373; the 15th, proposed by Congress, 18 ; the 14th, submitted to Con- gress, 145 ; as modified by Mr. Elaine, 328 ; a clause of, proposed, 366.
American System, results of, 46.
America, poetical apostrophe to, 393.
Ames^Oakes, biography of, 544.
Anderson, George W.. biography of, 537.
Anthony, Henry B., biography of, 185.
Anti-Masonry, in Pennsylvania, 287.
Anti-Slavery document, the first, 215.
Anti-Slavery men. tribute to, 257.
Appropriation, for expenses of Reconstruction, 9 ; to purchase Alaska, 18.
Archer, Stevenson, biography of, 542.
Arguments in the Impeachment Trial, 15.
Arkansas, Senators and Representatives of, 17.
Army Officers, incompetency of, 52.
Arnell. Samuel M., biography of, 508.
Ashley, Delos R., biography of, 537.
Ashley, James M., biography of, 255. proposes Impeachment, 8.
Assassination conspirators, trial of, 199.
Atlanta, battle in front of, 442.
Auditor of the Treasury, biography of, 221.
Baker, Jehu, biography of, 548.
Baldwin, John D., biography of, 550.
Ballot, voting by, advocated, 114.
Baltimore, politics in, 333, 335 ; military matters in, 333 ; plot against Mr. Lincoln in, 403.
Bailey, A. II., biography of, 553.
Bankrupt Bill, its introduction, its purpose, 424.
Bankrupt, condition of the, under former laws, 424.
Banks, Nathaniel P., biography of, 463; his ef- forts to reconstruct Louisiana, 144 ; his report on the rights of naturalized citizens, 18.
Banks of Michigan, 140.
Barnes, Deinas, biography of, 239.
Barnum, W. H., biography of, 551.
Barrett, Judge, his estimate of judicial charac- ter, 458.
Barstow, Governor, displaced, 148.
Bashford, Governor, installed by judicial deci- sion, 149.
Baton Rouge, orders for the burning of, 450.
Bayard, James A., biography of, 188.
Beamau, Fernando C., biography of, 532.
Beatty, John, biography of, 453.
Beck, James B., biography of, 551.
Benjamin, John F., biography of, 542.
Bentou, Jacob, biography of, 520.
Berlin, minister to, 404.
Bladensbiirg, Battle of, 119.
Blaine, James G., biography of, 327,
Blair, Austin, biography of, 315 ; his reply, 220.
" Blood-letting Letter," remarks on the, 84.
Blackburn, W. Jasper, biography of, 554.
Bingham, John A., biography of, 199.
Boutwell, George 8., biography of, 445 ; presents a report on Impeachment, 10.
Boles, Thomas, biography of, 554.
Bowen, C. C., biography of, 554.
Boyer, Benjamin M., biography of, 337.
Boydeu.N., biography of, 554.
Brazil, minister to, 358.
Bromwell, II. P. II., biography of 535.
Brooks, James, biography of, 309.
Brooks, Preston S., assaults Senator Sumner, 32; denounced by Mr. Wilson, 135.
Broomall, John M., biography of, 473.
Btickalew, Charles II., biography of, 47.
Bticklancl, Ralph P., biography of 225.
Buckley, C. W., biography of, 555.
Bull Run, the first battle of, 359; 'the sec- ond, 361.
Burr, Albert G., biography of, 551.
Butler, Benjamin P., biography of, 429; extract from speech of, 392 ; financial plan of, 21.
Butler, R. R., biography of, 551.
Cairo made a military point, 105.
Cake, Henry L., biography of, 541.
Calais, Maine, 369.
California, the greatness of, 475.
Callis, J. B., biography of, 555.
Cameron, Simon, biography of, 157.
Cambria Iron Company, 251.
Canada merits nothing from us, 421 ; the rebs.
element in, 93. Canal boating in Ohio, 522. Canal management in New York, 83.
561
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Carrow, Rev. Dr., qnotation from, 46.
Cary, Samuel F., biography of, 415.
Cattell. A. G., biography of, 43. •
Central Park, beginning of, 324.
Chandler, Zachariah. biography of, 81.
Chandler, John W.. biography of, 483.
Chase, Chief Justice, a letter from, 383.
Chicago Convention, the nomination* of, 197.
Chickamauga, battle of, 301, 455.
China Mail Line originated, 101.
C'hoate, Riifus, answered by Mr. Boutwell, 446.
Cholera in New York, 86.
Churchill, J. C., biography of, 644.
Cincinnati, politics in, 417; municipal aflairs in, 523.
Citizens., the rights of, abroad, 18.
Civil Service Bill, the purpose of, 427 ; expected results of, 428.
Clarke, Reader W., biography of, 221.
Clarke, Sidney, biography of, 205.
Clay, Henry, at a Maryland election, 602.
Clift, J. W., biography of, 555.
Cobb, Amasa, biography of, 520
Cobnm, John, biography of, 535.
Cole, Cornelius, biography of, 99.
Colfax, Schnyler, biography of, 198.
Collamer, Senator, hi* successor, 460.
Commissioner of Pension*, the, 218.
Conduct of the War, committee on, 88.
Confiscation, Southern, opposed, 483.
Conkling, Roscoe, biography of, 182.
Conness, John, biography of, 51.
Conscript ion act recommended, 148.
Conspirators held responsible, 66.
Cook, Burton C., biography of, 645.
Corbett, Henry W., biography of, 115.
Corley, Simeon, biography of, 655.
Cornell, Thomas, biography of, 841.
Custom House, New York, investigation of, 134.
Cotton exempt from tax, 20.
Counsel for the President, the, 16.
Covode, John, biography of, 215.
Cragin, Aaron 11., biography of, 61,
Cross Keys, the battle of, *X).
Cullom, Shelby M., biography of, 235.
Cumulative voting Illustrated, 49.
Currency, contraction of, opposed, 241 ; inflation
of, demanded, 419.
Curtis, Col. S. R., on the Muskingnm improve- ment, 153; enters the army, 868.
Davis, Garrett, biography of, 176.
Davis, Henry Winter, 835.
Dawes, Henry I.., biography of. 532.
Delano, Columbus, biography of, 518.
Debts of Uebel States charged upon Congress, 9 ;
repudiated by Congress, 10. Debt, the National, the President's message con
cerning. 21 ; should be paid from our miner*
resources, 826. Debt, the rebel, payment of, prohibited, 366.
Democratic Members, protest of, 7 ; against im- peachment, 14;»against admitting Southern members, 17.
Denver, exciting scene in, 57.
Deweese, J. T., biography of, 555.
Dickey, O. J., biography of, 549.
District of Columbia, schools in, 129
Disunion denounced, 65. '
Dixon, James, biography of, 181.
Dixon, Nathan F., biography of, 512.
Dockrey, O. H., biography of, 556.
Dodge, Grenviile M., biography of, 441.
Donnelly, Ignatius, biography of, 411.
Douglas, Hou. 8. A., retort upon, 27; consulta- tion with, 305; campaign of, with Lincoln, in Illinois, 402.
Drake, Charles D., biography of, 109.
Driggs, 8. F., biography of, 217. '
Eckley, E. R., biography of, 553.
Edmunds, George F., biography of, 179 ; flnan cial proposition of, 21.
Kggleston, B., biography of, 521.
Ki-ht-hmir law. the, 19 ; advocated, 62.
Ela, Jacob H., biography of, 553.
KUlridge, Charles A., biography of, 520.
Klint. Thomas I)., biography of, 635.
Elliott. J. T., biography of, 656.
Emancipation, its necessity first asserted in Con- gress, 878.
Emigration, extent of, 238.
Europe, travels in, 312.
Evarts, W. M., counsel for the President, 15; At- torney-General, 20.
Executive, the powers of, by legislative grant, 265; has no power to construct States, 426.
Famine of 1860, in Kansas, 73.
Farnsworth, John F., biography of, 608.
Ferris, Orange, biography of, 550.
Ferry, Orris S., biography of, 180.
Ferry, Thomas W.. biography o/. 419.
Fessenden, W. P., b'.ogniphy of, 75.
Field-, \V. C., biography of, 632.
Fifteenth Amendment proposed by Congress, 18.
Financial propositions. 21.
Financial affairs, remarks on, by Mr. Lym 1>. v!t i ; by Mr. Cary, 419; history of, 383 ; troubles, the remedy for, 329.
Fort Blakely, capture of, 280.
Fort Donelson, gallant defence of, 223.
Fort Fisher, the movement against, 433.
Fourteenth Amendment, a clause of proposed, 866 ; declared adopted, 18 ; submitted to Con- gress, 146.
Fowler, Joseph S., biography of, 180; quotation from. '.Ml.
Fox, John, biography of. 538.
Freedman's Bureau, legislation concerning, 19; remarks on, 338.
Frelinghuysen, Frederick E., biography of, 176,
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
3
French, J. E., biography of, 556. Fugitive-Slave Act, the author of, denounced,
141 ; resisted in Wisconsin, 150. Fugitives, Gen. Paine refuses to return, 450. Funding Indebtedness, bill for, 156.
Garfleld, James A., biography of, 295.
General of the Army to execute reconstruction acts, 9.
Getz. J. Lawrence, biography of, 536.
Glossbrenner, A. J., biography of, 508.
Golladay, J. S., biography of, 544.
Goss, J. H., biography of, 556.
Gove, S. F., biography of, 557.
Governor of Pennsylvania, riotous inaugura- tion of, 288.
Governors of New York in the United States Senate, 85.
Grant, General, incurs the displeasure of Presi- denfJohnson, 12 ; eulogy of, 54 ; as a citizen of Galena, 203 ; his career in the army, 204.
Gravelly, Joseph J., biography of, 532.
Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1845, 147.
Grimes, James W., biography of, 190.
Griswold, John A., biography of, 435.
Haight, Charles, biography of, 550.
Halsey, George A., biography of, 547.
Hamilton, Charles H., biography of, 557.
Hamilton, Cornelius S., death of, 456.
Hammond, of -South Carolina, reply to, 133.
Harding, Abner C., biography of, 223.
Harlan, James, biography of, 35.
Harris, John S., biography of, 186.
Haughey, Thomas, biography of, 557.
Hawkins, I. K., biography of, 552.'
Ileaton, David, biography of, 557.
Henderson, John B., biography, of, 178.
Hendricks, Thomas A., biography of, 95.
Hicks, Governor, his policy, 506.
Higby, William, biography of, 547.
Hill, John, biography of, 552.
Holman, William S., biography of, 529.
Hooper, Samuel, biography of, 381.
Hopkins, Benjamin F., biography of, 520.
Hotchkiss, Julius, biography of, 534.
House of Kepresentatives, organization of, 8.
Howard, Jacob M., biography of, 139; on the re-assembling of Congress, 8.
Howe, Timothy O., biography of, 147; concern- ing his colleague, 59 ; Mr. Sawyer, 525.
Hubbard, A. W., biography of, 544.
Hubbard, C. D., biography of, 275.
Hubbard, B. D., biography of, 542.
Hudson, transportation on the, 341.
Humphrey, James M., biography of, 524.
Hunter, Morton C., biography of, 55M.
Hunter, of Virginia, speech in reply to, 39.
Illinois declared for the Union, 10*; volunteer- ing in, 105 ; her prompt response to the Pres-
ident, 106; brilliant services of her soldiers, 107 ; the Legislature of, prorogued, 107 ; poli- tics in, 235 ; extraordinary means to suppress lawlessness in, 509.
Jmpeachable crime denned, 392.
^mpeachment of the President proposed, 8 ; re- ports for and against, 10 ; proposed by Mr. Stevens, 12 ; vote on report upon, 13 ; reso- lution for, 13 ; managers of, 14 ; court of, or- ganized, 14; trial of, 15, final vote of the Sen- ate on, 16 ; opinion of Mr. Fessenden on, 79 ; the effect of excitement, 59; the court of, how constituted, 126 : scene at the close of the argument on, 202 ; the damages of, 242 ; the first to move in the, 256 ; Mr. Stevens on the, 292 ; opposed by Mr. Boyer, 339 ; minor- ity report on, 366 ; Mr. Wilson appointed a manager of, 368 ; opposed by Mr. Gary, 417 ; unwise, 477; the triumph of liberty, 482; a party measure, 488 ; reason for, 494.
Indian affairs, legislation concerning, 38.
Indiana, prompt volunteering in, 169, 171 ; the 18th regiment of, 271 ; saved from repudia- tion, 346; politics in, 347.
Indians, legislation relating to, 19 ; war against prevented, 357; the friendly and the hos- tile, 125.
Indian system, reform in the, 412.
Ingersoll,- E. C., biography of, 471.
Iowa, politics in, 363, 364.
Ireland, relief for, 397.
Jenckes, Thomas A., biography of, 423. •
Johnson, Andrew, his impeachment proposed, 8 ; his attitude causes the reassembling of Con- gress, 9 ; his charges against Congress, 10 , summoned to trial, 14^ his acquittal, 16 ; his last message, 20 ; denounced by Senator Sum- ner, 33; suggestion of his usurpation, 144; origin of his troubles, 145 ; his place in his- tory, 265 ; his impeachment urged, 280 ; de- voted to the Federal cause, 306; eulogy of, 339 ; his sacrifices, 472.
Johnson, James A., biography of, 475.
Johnson, Eeverdy, biography of, 119 ; letter to, 113.
Jones, A. H., biography of, 558.
Judd, Norman B., biography of, 399.
Judicial prerogative invaded by the legisla- ture, 409.
Judiciary Committee of the House, chairmanship of, 364.
Julian, George W^, biography of, 345.
Kansas, early emigration to, 71, 72; politics
in, 206.
Kelley, William D., biography of, 351. Kellogg, F. W., biography of, 558. Kellogg, William P., biography of, 168. Kelsey, William H., biography of, 550. Kentucky, Governor Morton's oversight of, 170;
military operations in, 297.
563
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Kerr, Micliael C. , biography of, 538. Ketcham, John H., biography of, 524. Kitchen, B. M., biography of, 549. Koontz, W. H., biography of, 540. Knights of the Golden Circle, 178. Knott, J. Proctor, biography of, 586. .
Laflin, A. H., biography of, 540.
Land laws perfected, 38.
Lands,- public, legislation on. 391.
Lash, J. G., biography of, 558.
Lawrence G. V., biography of, 479.
Lawrence, William, biography of, 387 ; quotation from, 377.
Lawrence, Kansas, the city of, founded, 71.
Lawyen?, a government by, 162.
Lecompton Constitution, opposition to, 78.
Legal tenders unconstitutional, 379.
Liberty Party, attempt to organize a, 69.
Lincoln. Abraham, sources of his power, 130 ; his confidence in McClellan, 143; his withdrawal in favor of Mr. Trambull, 165 ; the murder of, 196; his murder not to be forgotten, 237; how distinguished, 261 ; indemnified by act of Congress, 290; his vindication of Mr. Jndd, 401 ; nomination of, 403 ; plot to assassinate, in Baltimore, 403.
Lincoln, William S., biography of, 543.
Loan, B. F., biography of, 546. •
Logan, John A., biography of, 467.
Loughridge, William, biography of, 537.
Louisiana, plan for reconstructing, 144.
Lynch, John, biography of, 243.
MagofBn, Governor, aiding the rebels, 1C9.
Maine, Lumbermen of, 369.
Mallory, Rufus, biography of, 265.
Managers of the Impeachment, 18.
Marshall, Samuel S., biography of, 509.
Marshall, Humphrey, defeat of, 298.
Marvin, J. M., biography of, 547.
Maryland, guard organized, 333; its disloyalty, 333 ; Schenck's administration in, 301 ; con- stitutional reform in, 604.
Massachusetts, the first regiments of, 431 ; 22d regiment of, organized, 136.
Maynard, Horace, biography of, 803.
McCardle Case, the, 409.
McCarthy, Dennis, biography of, 552.
McClellan, General, censured, 83; Mr Lincoln's opinion of, 143.
McClurg, J. W., biography of, 495.
McCormick, James H., biography of, 534.
McCreery, Thomas C., biography of, 191.
McCullough, Hiram, biography of, 538.
McDonald, A., biography of, 184.
McKee, Samuel, biography of, 538.
McPherson, General, the fall of, 469.
Mercur, Ulysses, biography of, 536.
Mason, Charles, of Iowa, 85.
Mexican War, opposition to the, 514.
Michigan, controversy of, with Ohio, 139: poli tics in, 219, 316; loyal to the Union, 317; promptly furnishes soldiers, 318; gallantry of the soldiers of, 320 ; the eminence of, 419.
Middle Creek,'battle of, 298.
Military Government in the South, 9"<
Military Measures proposed by Senator Wilson, 186, 137.
Military Reconstruction bill described, 49; its benefits to the South, 122 ; Elaine's Amend- ment of, 328,
Miller, George F., biography of, 489.
Milroy, march to the relief of, 360.
Mississippi, blockade of, 105.
Missouri, constitutional convention of, 111, 113; slavery abolished in, 113; troops, operations of, 279; military movements in, 441; the de- partment of, 443 ; the governor of, 495 ; poli- tics in, 618.
Monitor, building of the, 437.
Montana, thr Governor of, 258.
Mojre, William, biography of, 547.
Moorhead, James K., biography of, 512.
Mormons, Mr.Colfax's address to, 196.
Morgan, E. D., biography of, 85.
Morrell, D. J., biography of, 251.
Morrill, Justin S., biography of, 186.
Morrill, Lot M., biography of, 177.
Morrissey, John, biography of, 533.
Morse, Professor, obtains the aid of Congress, 322.
Morton, Oliver P., biography of, 167 ; his finan- cial plan, 21.
Mozart Hall Party organized, 324.
Mullins, James, biography of, 543.
Mnngen, William, biography of, 461.
Myers, Leonard, biography of, 261.
Neal, John, of Portland, 810.
Nebraska Bill, speech against, 77.
Nebraska, first volunteers in, 123
Negroes, arming of, urged, 157 ; the enlistment of, proposed in Congress, 290 ; enlisted in Missouri, 279.
Negro Soldiers, the relatives of, set free, 188.
Negro Suffrage advocated, 482.
Neutrality of a State impossible, 170,
New England, preponderance of in the Senate, 48 Emigrant Aid Society of, organized, 71
New Mexico, the Governor of, 282.
New Orleans, the capture of, 432.
Newshain, J. P., biography of, 668.
Newspaper enterprises, 394.
New York City, acts of the mayor of, 824.
New York, Governors of, in the Senate, 85 ; canal management In, 8S; harbor and coast de- fences of, 89 ; normal schools introduced in- to, 133; Legislation in, 229; regiments rai- •! in, 436; gubernatorial election of to 1868, 440.
Niblack, William E., biography of, 516.
Nicholson, Jbhn A., biography of, 487.
Norria, B. W., biography of, 558.
in
'
564
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Norton, Daniel S., biography of, 184. Nunn. David A., biography of, 526. Nye, James W., biography of, 163.
Ohio, the Black Laws of, opposed, 24 ; the sol- diers of, 260; politics in, 268, 357, 377; mili- tary matters in, 269; first movement of, against the rebellion, 297 ; legislation in, 390.
O'Neill, Charles, biography of, 528.
Oregon, improvements in, 116; the Republican party organized in, 117.
Orth, Godlove S., biography of, 526.
Osborn, Thomas W., biography of, 187.
Pacific Railroad opposed by Indians, 125 ; Gen- eral Dodge engineer of, 443, 444.
Paine, Halbert E., biography of, 449.
Patterson, David T., biography of, 178.
Patterson, James W., biography of, 127.
Pennsylvania, legislation in, 248; free school system of, 285 ; Anti-Masonry in, 287 ; consti- tutional convention of, 288, 400 ; Mr. Shunk governor of, 354 ; the Supreme Court of, 407.
Pensions, Amendment to the laws of, 527.
Perham, Sidney, biography of, 527.
Perrysville, battle of, 454.
Peters, John A., biography of, 528.
Pettis, S. Newton, biography of, 526.
Phelps, Charles E., biography of, 331.
Philadelphia Corn Exchange Association, 44.
Philadelphia, the bench in, 355.
Pierce, President, address to, 70.
Pike, F. A., biography of, 369.
Pile, William A., biography of, 279.
Plants, Tobias A., biography of, 528.
Poland, Luke P., biography of, 457.
Polsley, Daniel, biography of, 528.
Pomeroy, Samuel C., biography of, 69.
Pomeroy, T. M., biography of, 543.
Pool, John, biography of, 187.
Port Hudson, assault on, 451.
Pound Gap, capture of, 299.
President, character of the office of, 79 ; the, re- quired to obey the laws, 493.
Price, H., biography of, 546.
Prince, C. H., biography of, 559.
Protection of American citizens, 237, 396, 486.
Pruyn, J. V. L., biography of, 540.
Public Lands, Mr. Julian's speech on, 347.
Radicalism and Conservatism, 112.
Railroads of the West, 400 ; Southern, officers of, 495, 497.
Ramsey, Alexander, biography of, 191.
Randall, Samuel J., biography of, 530.
Raum, Green B., biography of, 516.
Reconstructed States, members from, 554.
Reconstruction act passed over veto, 8 ; an addi- tional, 9 ; remarks on, 97.
Reconstruction, the laws of, pronounced failures, 20 ; the column of, 98 ; as proposed by Mr. Maynard, 307 ; haste in, to be avoided, 269 ;
committee on, 291; suggestions on, 379 • Mr. Jencks oil, 425 ; in the power of Con- gress, 490.
Red River Expedition, the, 465.
Republican Government defined, 97; should not disfranchise a minority, 474.
Republican Party, eulogy of, 62; built up in In- diana, 167; convention to organize, 348; in Philadelphia, 356 ; might have succeeded in 1856, 154; organized in Oregon, 117; origin- ated in Michigan, 142 ; organized in Wiscdn- sin, 148; what it has done, 197.
Repudiation opposed, 117, 302.
Revenue system organized, 447.
Rice, Benjamin F., biography of, 191.
Richmond Convention, the, 275.
Robertson, Thomas J., biography of, 188.
Robertson, William H., biography of, 229.
Robinson, W. E., biography of, 393.
Roots, L. H., biography of, 559.
Ross, E. G., biography of. 190.
Ross, L. W., biography of, 499.
Rousseau, General, ordered into Kentucky, 170.
Russia, emancipation in, 157.
Sabine Pass, afiair of, 465.
Saulsbury, Willard, biography of, 190.
Sawyer, F. A., biography of, 192.
Sawyer, Philetus, biography of, 525.
Schenck, R. C., biography of, 357.
Schools, free, for New York, advocated, 132; powerful speech for, 286.
Scofield, G. W., biography of, 247.
Secession from Congress attempted, 502 ; senti- ment in Indiana, 168.
Secretary of the Interior, under Mr. Lincoln, 40.
Secretary of the Treasury, under President Lin- coln, 77 ; under President Grant, 445.
Selye, Lewis, biography of, 543.
Settlers, early in the West, eulogy of, 413.
Seward, Secretary, concerning Mr. Wade, 24; response to his circular, 89.-
Shanks, John P. C., biography of, 531.
Shellabarger, S., biography of, 540.
Shenandoah, retreat in the valley of the, 464.
Sherman, John, biography of, 153.
Shiloh, the battle of, 124, 226.
Sitgreaves, Charles, biography of, 534.
Slavery eloquently denounced, 70 ; the cause of the Rebellion. Ill ; bill to abolish, in the Dis- trict of Columbia, 137; campaigns of, in the 27th Congress, 149 ; poem on, 218 ; a woman saved from, 284 ; letters against, 311 ; opposi- tion to, 346 ; the author of its death, 373 ; mode of ils removal from Maryland, 506.
Slavery, amendment of the constitution to abol- ish, reported, 143 ; proposed, 291, 364.
Slaves, defense of, in California, 100; a measure to set free, 166 ; first called contrabands, 431
Smith, W. C., biography of, 536.
South Carolina rebuked, 121.
South, the, favored by the government, 65.
565
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Spalding, Rufna A., biography of, 375.
Speakership of the 86th Congress, contest for the, 155 ; of the 38th Congress, 196.
Specie Payments, the way of return to, 246 ; im- portance of resuming, 329.
Spencer, George E., biography of, 187.
Spottaylvania Court House, battle of, 834.
Sprague, William, biography of, 161.
Stantou, Secretary, the President's reason for suspending, 11 ; sustained by the Senate, 12 ; disobeys the President's order, 13 ; report on his removal, 146.
Starkweather, H. II., biography of, 541.
State rights in Wisconsin, 150.
States not represented, 7 ; the rebel, bill to ad- mit, 17 ; their status, 471.
Stevens, A. P., biography of, 548.
Stevens, Thaddeus, biography of, 233 ; proposes impeachment, 12; speech of, on Impeach- ment, 13.
Stewart, Thomas E., biography of, 512.
Stewart, William M., biography of, 159.
Stokes, William B., biography of, 209.
Stone, Frederick, biography of, 512.
Strong, Judge, opinion of, reversed, 76.
Stover, J. H., biography of, 549.
Suffrage of Negroes opposed, 48 ; Impartial, ad- vocated, 74 ; in the District of Columbia, 366.
Snmner, Charles, biography of, 29; his financial plan, 21.
Taffe, John, biography of, 596.
Taylor, C. N., biography of, 648.
Telegraph, the origin of the, 8*2.
Temperance, labors for, 415.
Tennessee, military movement In, 124 ; politics
in, 804, 805 ; loyal convention In, 808. Tenure of Office Act, 11 ; should be passed upon
. by the Supreme Court, 418. Test Oath, vindication of the, 210. Thayer, John M., biography of, 128. Thomas, Francis, biography of, 501. Thomas, Lorenzo, Secretary of War ad interim, 13. Tipton, Thomas W., biography of, 182. Toorabs, of Georgia, on Mr. Wade, 26. Trimble, John, biography of, 559. Trimble, L. S., biography of, 545. Trowbridge, R. E., biography of, 589. Trumbnll, Lynian, biography of, 165 ; proposes
constitutional amendment, 291 ; the election
of, 401 ; seat of, contested, 611. Twenty-Seventh Congress, leaders in, 822. Twitchell, Ginery, biography of, 689.
Upson, Charles, biography of, 680.
United States, grcatneas of the, 117; perpetuity of the, 130; the bank of, and the govern- ment, 852; committee to examine the bank of the, 502.
Union, the, a necessity, 66 ; necessity of the, 110 ;
not to be peacefully broken, 817; its tally, 398.
Union Party, the, in Tennessee, 305.
Van Aemam, Henry, biography of, 218.
Van Anken, D. M., biography of, 516.
Van Horn, Hurt, biography of, 516.
Van Horn, R. T., biography of, 517.
Van Trump, P., biography of, 646.
Van Winkle, Peter G., biography of, 186.
Van Wyck, C. H., biography of, 546.
Vice President of the United States, the, 198.
Vice President, reasons for abolishing the office
of, 256.
Vickers, George, biography of, 188. Vlcksbnrg, the eiege of, 227. Vldal, M., biography of, 669. ' Vienna, the affair at, 359. Virginia, the convention of 1850 in, 64; should
be true to the Uuiou, 275 ; secession of, 276. Volunteers, mode of securing, in New-York, 92.
Wade, Benjamin F., biography of, 23 ; objection to his sitting in the court of impeachment, 14 ; his right maintained, 126.
Ward, Hamilton, biography of, 530.
Warner, Willard, biography of, 184.
War, the, a means of advancement, 879 ; speech ••gal ust the, 499.
Washlmrn, C. C., biography pf, 680.
Wafthhurnc, K. B., biography of, 203.
Woshburn, Henry D., biography of, 271.
Wartiburn, W. B., biography of, 680.
Washington Correspondence originated, 311.
Ways and Means Committee, chairmanship of, 802.
Welch, A. S., biography of, 183.
Wclker, Martin, biography of, 267.
West Virginia, the proposition of, 277 ; vindica- tion of, 278; operations In, 454.
Whig Party, character of, in 1854, 141. dissolution of, 395.
White, the word, stricken from the constitution of Iowa, 364.
Whittemore, B. F., biography of, 659.
Whlttier, the bearer of an Anti-Slavery peti- tion, 1«4.
Whyte, W. P., biography of, 188.
Willey, W. T., biography of, 68.
Williams, George H., biography of, 189.
William*, Thomas, biography of, 624.
William*, William, biography of, 545.
Wilf-on, Henry, biography of, 188.
Wilson, James P., biography of, 868.
Wilson, John T., biography of, 960.
Wilson, Stephen P., biography of, 694.
Windom, William, biography of, 534.
Wisconsin, remarkable trial in, 147.
Woodbridge, F. E., biography of, 548.
Wood, Fernando, biography of, 321.
Woodward, G. W., biography of, 406.
Wool-growing, statistic* of, 479.
Wyoming, bill to organize the Territory of, 18.
Yates, Richard, biography of, 108. 566
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