.^.-^ -n*.. ^OO^ ,^-^ ^ct o 0^ <>- V*' .OCi, v^-^ .•?-' .■■^■^ ,0 0, *^. ■J. y ,<\ -C. '^A v^^ "^^, c^' St'^ / ■^^ 3 Z / y . 371= S,S<-3- --^r-C*- i;9t.-^'-^r— II OC^^ Y AlA l»- I 1^ sr -^ I RECORD ^^Si'H^im^ LJ ^ \ \ — OF— ^a&oupm ^jOuni"^^ in&is^ '^y cAct^-^ VP^JVi'k^ c^^^. IJ CONTAINING Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens OF THE COUNTY, Together with Biographies of all the v>-^ WASHlH^ ioveriiors of the itate, and of the f resioerifs OI= THE UNITED STHTES. CHICAGO: BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1891. JV^^ IPS' sit:'' ^'^'^"^'^(t'^ ' .-. -J , ^ . ■5'T -is '.L/u^ [F7-11 ?# SI lY" pi\Ep/^?E. ^>S> H-<>-f- i<5<^-» JHK greatest uf Englisli historians, Macaui.ay-, and oneof tbe most brilliant writers of the present century, has said : '^fhe history of a country is best told inarecord of the lives of its people." In conformity with this idea the PoRTHArr and Biographical Rkooki) of tills county has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, our eorj)s of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by their enterprise and industry, brought the county to a rank second to none among tliose comprising this great and noble State, and from their lips have the story of their life struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelli- gent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited advantages for securing an education, iiave become learned men .and women, with an intlnenec extending throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells o/ men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence !is statesmen, and wiiose names have become famous. It tells of those iu every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursueil "the even tenor of their way," content to have it said of them as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy — "they have done what they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of ever}' man and of every woman is a lesson that should not be lost upon those who follow after. Coming generations will ai)preciate this vuhnne and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the fact that it contains so much that would never tiiid its way into public records, and which would otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has been taken iu the compilation of the work and every opportunity possible given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been vvritten, and the publishers flatter them- selves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence. In addition to the biograph- ical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given. The faces of ?o:ue, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this the publishers are not to blame. Not having a [iroper conception of the work, some refused to give the information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasional!}' some member of the family would opixise the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made at their residence or place of business. n r^ . . ,Q,>, CHAPIMAN BROS. Chicaoo, October, l«l»l. He r<' es \»' I ■^ FI/iST PRESIDENT. s-^ tS)irS'tgi'i^(^ta,irVS-..V..'.^.^t!^,^i^^ij^i;i!>ii^i^ig^t^t^«^^ wn Wm « i HE Father of oar Country was ^SLl'orn in ^Vestmorland Co., Va., Fel). 2 2, 1732. His parents were Augustine and Mary (Ball) Washington. The family to which he belonged hns not 'J been satisfactorily traced in England. His great-grand- father, John Washington, em- igrated to Virginia about 1657, and became a prosperous * planter. He had two sons, Lawrence and John. The former married Mildred Warner and had three children, Joh 1. Augustine and Mildred. Augui- line, tlie father of George, first married Jane Butler, who bore him four children, two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, reached maturity. Of si.\ children by his second marriage, George was the eldest, the others being Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and Mildred. Augustine Washington, the father of George, died in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate on the Patomac, afterwards known as Mount Vernon, and to George he left the parental residence. George received only such education as the neighborhood schools afforded, save for a short ti'ne after he left sciiool, when he received private instruction in mathemai'cs. His spellinsi v/as rather defective Remarkable stories are told of his great physica: strength and development at an early age. He was an acknowledged leader among his companions, and was early noted for that nobleness of character, fair- ness and veracity which characterized his whole life. When George was i4years old he had a desire to go to sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, but through the opposition of his mother the idea was abandonad. Two years later he was appointed surveyor to the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business he spent three years in a rough frontier life, gaining experience which afterwards proved very essential to him. In 175 r, though only 19 years of age, he was ap|)ointed adjutant with the rank of major in the Virginia militia, then being trained for active service against the French and Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother Lawrence, who went there to restore his health. They soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter who did not long survive him. On her demise the estate of Mount Vernon was given to George. Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddle, as Lieuten- ant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was reorganized, and the province divided into four mili- tary districts, of which the northern was assigned to Washington as adjutant general. Shortly after this a very perilous mission was assigned him and ac- ceiJted, which others had refused. This was to pro- ceed to the French post near Lake Erie in North.- western Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed was between 500 and 600 miles. A\'inter was at hai-.d, and th.e journey was to be made without mi!it:iry escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The GEORGE WASHINGTON. irip was a perilous one, and several limes he came near losing his life, yet he returned in safety and furnished a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment of 300 men was raised in Virginia and put in com- mand of Col. Joshua Fry, and Major Washington was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Active war was then begun against the French and Indians, in which Washington took a most important part. In the memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as Brad- dock's defeat, Washington was almost the only officer of distinction who escaped from the calamities of the day with life and honor. The other aids of Braddock were disabled early in the action, and Washington alone was left in that capacity on the field. In a letter to his brother he says: "I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt, though death was levelinu my companions on every side." An Indian sharpshooter said he was not born to be killed by a bullet, for he had taken direct aim at him seventeen times, and failed to hit him. After having been five years in the military service, and vainly sought promotion in the royal army, lie took advantage of the fall of Fort Duquesne and the expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio, to resign his commission. Soon after he entered the Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an active and important part. January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha (Dandridgc) Custis, the wealthy widow of John Parke Cu.tis. When the British Parliament had closed the port 'if Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces that "The cause of Boston is the cause of us all." It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a Con- gress of all the colonies was called to meet at Phila- delphia,Sept. 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably if possible. To this Congress Col. Wash- ington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the Congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of England were plainly apparent. The battles of Con- cord and Lexington had been fought. Among the first acts of this Congress was the election of a com- mander-in-chief of tiie colonial forces. Tliis high and responsible office was conferred upon Washington, who was still a member of the Congress. He accepted it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he receive no salary. He would keep an exact account of expenses and expect Congress I0 pay them and nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the fortunes and liberties of the people of this country were so long confided. The war was conducted by him under every possible disadvantage, and while his forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest nation of earth. On Dec. 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the army to to the Continental Congress sitling al Annapolis. He retired immediately to Mount Vernon and resumed his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all connection with public life. In February, 1789, Washington was unanimously elected President. In his presidential career he was subject to the peculiar trials incidental to a new government ; trials from lack of confidence on the part of other governmenls; trials from want of harmony between the different sections of our own country; trials from the impoverished condition of the country, owing to the war and want of credit; trials from the beginnings of party strife. He was no partisan. His clear judgment could discern the golden mean; and while perhaps this alone kept our government from sinking at the very outset, it left him exposed to attacks from both sides, which were often bitter and very annoying. At the expiration of his first term lie was unani- mously re-elected. At the end of this tenn many were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third nomination. On the fourth of March, 1797, at the expiraton of his second term as Presi- dent, he returned to his home, hoping to pass there his few remaining yeais free from the annoyances of public life. Later in the year, however, his reix)se seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France. At the prospect of such a war he was again urged to take command of the armies. He chose his sub- ordinate officers and left to them the charge of mat- ters in the field, which he superintei.dcd from his home. In accepting the command he made the reservation that he was not to be in the field until it was necessary. In the midst of tliese preparations his life was suddenly cut off. December i 2, he took a seveie cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling in his throat, produced inflammation, and terminated fatally on the night of the fourteenth. On the eigh- teenth his body was borne with military honors to its final resting place, and interred in the family vault at Mount Vernon. Of tlie character of Washington it is impossible to speak but in terms of the highest resjiect and ad- miration. The more we see of the operations of our government, and the more deeply we feel the difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest, the more highly we must estimate the force of his tal- ent and character, which have been able to challenge the reverence of all parties, and princii)les, and na- tions, and to win a fame as extended as the limits of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will be as lasting as the existence of man. The person of Washington was unusally ta/i, erect and well proportioned. His muscular strength was great. His features were of a beautiful symmetry. He commanded respect without any appearance ol haughtiness, and ever serious without Wipgdull. vt* t ^ Ji*-* y SECOND PRESIDENT. ■'I _ ,^^a^s.m i.. m I ) » » pJiC*'^'' ' OHN ADAMS, the second President and the first Vice- ' President of the United States, was born in Braintree ( now Quincy ),Mass., and about ten '■*-' miles from Boston, Oct. 19, 1735. His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated from England about 1640, with a family of eight sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of John were John and Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His father was a farmer of limited means, to which he added the bus- iness of shoemaking. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical educa- tion at Harvard College. John graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the school in Worcester, Mass. This he found but a ■'sci-.ool of affliction," from which he endeavored to gain ielief by devoting himself, in addition, to the study of law. For this purpose he placed himself under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He had thought seriously of the clerical profession but seems to have been tvirned from this by what he termed " the frightful engines of ecclesiastical coun- jils, cf diabolical malice, and Calvanistic good nature,'* of the operations of which he had been a witness in his native town. He was well fitted for the legal l^rofession, possessing a clear, sonorous voice, being ready and fluent of speech, and having quick percep- tive powers. He gradually gained practice, and in 1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his marriage, (i7''>5), the attempt of Parliamentary taxa- tion turned him from law to politics. He took initial steps toward holding :i town meeting, and the resolu- '^^TpP^i tions he offered on the subject became very jxjpulai throughout the Province, and were adopted word for word by over forty different towns. He moved to Bos- ton in 1768, and became one of the most courageous and prominent advocatesof the popular cause, and was chosen a member of the General Court (the Leg- lislature) in 1770. Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first delegate.^ from Massachusetts to the first Continental Congrets, which met in 1774. Here he distinguished himselt by his capacity for business and for debate, and ad- vocated the movement for independence against th; majority of the members. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a resolution in Congress that the Colonies should assume the duties of self-government. He was a prominent member of the committee of Jive appointed June 11, to prepare a declaration of inde- pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but on Adams devolved the task of battling it through Congress in a three days debate. On the day after the Declaration of Independence was passed, while his soul was yet warm with tha glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter to his wife which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy. "Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question was decided that ever was debated in America; and greater, perhaps, never was or wil be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, ' that these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- pendent states.' The day is passed. The fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with [X)mp, show% 1 24 JOHN ADAMS. jjames, siiorts, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations fioin one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for ever. You will think me trans[X3rted with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood and treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these States; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means; and that posterity will triumph, although you and I may rue, which 1 hope we shall not." In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a delegate to France and to co-operate with Bemjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money from the French Government. 'I'his was a severe trial to his patriotism, as it separated him from his home, compelled him to cross the ocean in winter, and ex- posed himlo great peril of capture by the British cruis- ers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 1779. In September of the same year he was again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readi- ness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce with Great Britian, as soon as the British Cabinet might be found willing to listen to such proposels. He sailed for France in November, from there he went to Holland, where he negotiated important loans and formed important commercial treaties Finally a treaty of peace with England was signed Jan. 21, 1783. The re-action from the e.xcitement, toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After suffering from a con- tinued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated he was advised to goto England to drink the waters of Bath. While in England, still drooping anddespond- ing, he received dispatches from his own government urging the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health was delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through storm, on sea, on horseback and foot,he made the trip. February 24, 1785, C'ongress appointed Mr. Adams envoy to the Court of St. James. Here he met face to face the King of England, who had so long re- garded him as a traitor. As England did not condescend to appoint a minister to the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accom- plishing but little, he sought permission to return to jiis own country, where he arrived in June, 1788. When Washington was first chosen President, John Adams, rendered illustiious by his signal services at home and abroad, was chosen Vice President, .^gain at the second election of Washington as President, Adams was chosen Vice President. In 1796, Wash- ington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was elected President, though not without much opposition. Serving in this office four vears,he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics. While Mr. Adams was Vice President the great French Revolution shook the continent of Europe, and it was upon this point which he was at issue with the majority of his countiymen led by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people in their struggle, for he had no confidence in their [Xjwer of self-government, and he utterly abhored the classof atheist philosophers who he claimed caused it. On the other hand Jefferson's sympathies were strongly enlisted in beh.ilf of the French people. Hence or- iginated the alienation between these distinguished men, and two powerful parties were thus soon organ- iy.ed, Adams at the head of the one whose sympathies were with England and Jefferson led the other in sym|)athy with France. The world has seldom seen a spectacle of more moral beauty and grandeur, tlian was presented by the old age of Mr. Adams. The violence of party feeling had died away, and he had begun to receive that just appreciation which, to most men, is not accorded till after death. No one could look upon his venerable form, and think of what he had done and suffered, and how he had given up all the prime and strength of his life to the public good, without the deepest emotion of gratitude and respect. It was his peculiar good fortune to witness the complete success of the institution which he had been so active in creating and supporting. In 1824, his cup of happiness was filled to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highest station in the gift of the people. The fourth of July, 1826, which completed the half century since the signing of the Declaration of Inde- l)jndence, arrived, and there were but three of the signers of that immortal instrument left upon the earth to hail its morning light. And, as it is well known, on that day two of these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the morning of the fourth he found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On being requested to name a toast for the customary celebration of the day, he exclaimed " In- dependence FOREVER." When the day was ushered in, by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons, he was asked by one of his attendants if he knew what day it was? He replied, "O yes; it is the glor- ious fourth of July — God bless it — God bless you all." In the course of the day he said, " It is a great and glorious day." The last words he uttered were, "Jefferson survives." But he had, at one o'clock, re- signed his spirit into the hands of his God. The personal apjiearance and manners of Mr. Adams were not particularly prepossessing. His face, as his ]iortrait manifests,was intellectual ard expres- sive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and h'', manners were frequently abrupt and uncourteous. He had neither the lofty dignity of Washington, not the engaging elegance and gracefulness which marked the manners and address of Tefferson. ■^ THIRD PRESIDENT. 27 HOMAS JEFFERSON was ,/J burn Ai)ril 2, 1743, at Shad- :-''uelI, Albermarle county, Va. His parents were Peter and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson, the former a native of Wales, and the latter born in Lon- don. To them were born six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas was the elder. When 14 years of age his father died. He received a most liberal education, hav-. iiig been kept diligently at school from the time he was five years of age. In 1760 he entered William r.nd Mary College. Williamsburg was then the seat of the Colonial Court, and it was the obodeof fasliion a.id splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then 17 years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine horses, and much caressed by gay society, yet lie was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproacha- able in his morals. It is strange, however, up.der such influences,that he was not ruined. In the sec- ond year of his college course, moved by some un- explained inward impulse, he discarded his horses, society, and even his favorite violin, to which he had previously given much time. He often devoted fifteen hours a day to haid study, allowing himself for ex- ercise only a run in the evening twilight of a mile out of the city and back again. He thus attained very higli hnellectnal culture, alike e.xcellence in philoso- phy and the languages. The most difficult Latin and Greek authors he read with facility. A more finished scholar has seldom gone forth from colleLe halls; and there was not to be found, perhaps, in all Virginia, a more pureminded, ujjright, gentlemanly young man. Immediately upon leaving college he began the study of law. Foj th.e short time he continued in the practice of his profession he rose rapidly and distin- guished himself by his energy and accuteness as a lawyer. But the times called for greater action. The policy of England had awakened the spirit of resistance of the American Colonics, and the enlarged views which Jefferson had ever entertained, soon led him into active political life. In 1769 he was choseL a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses In. 1772 he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beauti- ful, wealthy and highly accomplished young widow Upon Mr. Jefferson's large estate at Shadwell, th^rc was a majestic swell of land, caMed Monticello, which commanded a prospect of wonderful extent and beauty. This spot Mr. Jefferson selected for his new home; and here he reared a mansion of modest ye' elegant architecture, which, ne.vt to Mount Vernon became the most distinguished resort in our land. In 1775 he was sent to the Cdonial Congress where, though a silent member, his abilities as a writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he was placed upon a number of important committees, and was chairman of the one appointed for the draw- ing up of a declaration of independence. This com- mittee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was apjiointed to draw up the paper. Franklin and Adams suggested a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Con- gress. On June 28, a/ew slight changes were made in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 4, 1776 What must have been the feelings of that 28 THOMAS JEFFERSON. man — what the emotions that swelled his breast — who was charged with ^he preparation of that Dec- laration, which, while it made known the wrongs of America, was also to publish her to the world, free, i,overign and independent. It is one of tiie most re- markable papers ever written ; and did no other effort of the mind of its author exist, that alone would be sufficient to stamp his name with immortality. In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to Patrick Henry, <.s Governor of Virginia. At one time the British officer, Tarleton, sent a secret expedition to Moniicello, to capture the Governor. Scarcely five minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jef- ferson and his family, ere his mansion was in posses- sion of the British troops. His wife's healtli, never very good, was much injured by this excitement, and in the summer of 1782 she died. Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. Two yeirs later he was appointed Minister Pleni[)0- tentiary to France. Returning to the United States in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned Jan. r, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice Presi- dent, and four years later was elected President over Mr. Adams, with Aaron Burr as Vice President. In 1804 he was re-elected with wonderful unanimity, and George Clinton, Vice President. The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second adminstra- tion was disturbed by an event wiiich threatened the tran(iuility and peace of the Union; this was the con- spiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election to the Vice Presidency, and led on by an \mprincipled ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a military expedition intc the Spanish territories on our southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming tliere a new republic. This has been generally supposed was a mere |)retext ; and although it has not been generally known what his real plans were, there is no doubt that they were of a far more dangerous character. In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he determined to retire from political life. For a period of nearly forty years, he had been continually before the pub- .ic, and all that time had been employed in offices of the greatest trust and responsibility. Having thus de- voted the best part of his life to Ib.e service of his country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his declining years required, and upon the organization of the new administration, in March, 1809, he bid fare- well forever to public life, and retired to Monticello. Mr. Jefferson was profuse in his hospitality. Whole families came in tlieir coaches with their horses, — fathers and mothers, boys and girls, babies and nurses, — and remained three and even six months. Life at Monticello, for years, resembled that at a fashionable watering-place. Toe fourth of July, i8z6, being the fiftieth anniver- ^ sary of the Declaration of American Independence, great preiraralions were made in every part of th'.' Union for its celebration, as llie r.ation's jubilee, and the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemnity ot the occasion, invited Mr. Jefferson, as the framet. and one of the fetv surviving signers of the L'eclara- lioii, to participate in their festivities. But an ill- ness, which had been of several weeks duration, and had been continually increasing, compelled him to decline the invitation. On the second of July, the disease under which he was laboring left him, but in such a reduced state that his medical attendants, entertained nc hope of his recovery. From this time he was perfectly sensil)le that his last hour was at hand. On thene.x*. day, which was Monday, he asked of those around him, the day of the month, and on being told it was the third of July, he expressed the earnest wish tha' he might be permitted lo breathe tie airof the filtietf anniversary. His prayer was heard — that day, whose dawn was hailed with such rapture through our land, burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed for- ever. And what a noble consummation of a noble life! To die on that day, — the birthday of a nation,- - the day which his own name and his own act had rendered glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to him, as the author, under God, of their greatest blessings, was all that was wanting to fill up the record his life. Almost at the same hour of his death, the kin- dred spirit of the venerable Adams, a.s if to bear him company, left the scene of liis earthly honors. Hand in hand they had stood forth, the chamjMons of freedom; hand in hand, during the dark and des|;er- ate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered and animated their desponding countrymen; for half a century they had labored together for tiie good of the country; and now hand in hand they depart. In their lives they had been united in the same great cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were not divided. In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes were light, his hair originally red, in after life became white and silvery ; his complexion was fair, his fore head broad, and his whole coni^'enance intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind as well as personal courage ; and '■.:9> command of tem- per was such that his oldest and most intimate friends never recollected to have seen him in a passion. His manners, though dignified, were simple and un- affected, and his hospitality was so unbounded that all found at his house a ready welcome. In conver- sation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic; and his language was remarkably pure and correct. He was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings is discernable the care with which he formed his style upon the best mode's of antiquity. 1 / (ZA^ ■- I . xf^ lt<-^^^^^t C'-K FOURTH FKfSIDENT. i^n^HQES n]:?IDISO]]. AMES MADISON, "Father of the Constitution," and fourth President of the United States, was born March i6, 1757, and died at his home in Virginia, '^'^ June 28, 1836. The name of James Madison is inseparably con- nected with most of the imix)rtant events in that heroic period of our country during which the founda- tions of this great republic were laid. He was the last of the founders of the Constitution of the United States to be called to his eternal reward. The Madison family were among the early emigrants to the New World, landing upon the shores of the Chesa- peake but 15 years after the settle- ment of Jamestown. The father of James Madison was an opulent planter, residing ui»n a very fine es- tate called "Montpelier," Orange Co., Va. The mansion was situated in the midst of scenery highly pictur- esque and romantic, on the west side of South-west Mountain, at the fool of Blue Ridge. It was but 25 miles from the home of Jefferson at Monticello. The closest personal and political attachment existed between these illustrious men, from their early youth until death. The early education of Mr. Madison was conducteci mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of 18 he was sent to Princeton College, in New Jersey. Here he applied himself to study with the most im- prudent zeal; allowing himself, for months, but three hours' sleep out of the 24. His health thus became so seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor of constitution. He graduated in 177 i, with a feeble body, with a character of utmost purity, and with a mind iiighly disciplined and richly stored with learning which embellished and gave proficiency to his subsf ' quent career. Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. This educational course, the spirit of the times in which he lived, and the society with which he asso- ciated, all combined to inspire him with a strong love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work ot a statesman. Being naturally of a religious turn of mind, and his frail health leading him to think that his life was not to be long, he diiected especial atten- tion to theological studies. Endowed with a mind singularly free from passion and prejudice, and with almost unequalled powers of reasoning, he weighed all the arguments for and against revealed religion, until his faith became so established as never to be shaken. In the spring of 1776, when 26 years of age, he was elected a member of the Virginia Convention, to frame the constitution of the State. The next year (1777)1 lie was a candidate for the General Assembly. He refused to treat tiie whisky-loving voters, and consequently lost his election ; but those who had witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the modest young man, enlisted themselves in his behalf, and he was appointed to the Executive Council. Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison remained member of the Council ; and their annreciation of his 32 JAMES MADISON. '.ntcllectual, social and moral worth, contributed not a little to his sabsequent eminence. In the year 1780, he was elected a member of the Continental Congress. Here he met the most illustrious men in our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of ihe most conspicuous positions among them. for three years Mr. Madiscn continued in Con- gress, one of its most active and influential members. In the year 1784, his term having expired, he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature. No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no na- tional government, with no ix)wer to form treaties which would be binding, or to enforce law. There was not any State more prominent than Virginia in Ihe declaration, that an efficient national government must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison carried a resolution through the General Assembly of Virginia, inviting the other States to apix)int commis- sioners to meet in convention at AnnajKilis to discuss this su'.jject. Five States only were represented. The convention, however, issued another call, drawn up by Mr. Madison, urgmg all the States to send their delegates to Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to draft a Constitution for the United States, to take the place of that Confederate League. The delegates met at ihe time ap|X)inted. Every State but Rhode Island •-vas represented. George Washington was chosen president of the convention; and the present Consti- tution of the United States was then and there formed. There was, perhaps, no mind and no pen more ac- tive in framing this immortal document than the mind and the pen of James Madison. The Constitution, adopted by a vote 81 to 79, was to be presented to the several States for acceptance. But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected we should be left but a conglomeration of independent States, with but little power at home and little lespect abroad. Mr. Madison was selected by tne conven- tion to draw up an address to the [)eople of the Uraied States, exix)unding the principles of the CcriStituiicn, and urging its ado[)tion. There was great opixjsition to it at first, but it at length triumphed over all, and went into effect in 1789. Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre- sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became the avowed leader of tlie Republican ptrty. While in New York attending Congress, he met Mrs Todd, a young widow of remarkable power of fascination, wliom he married. She was in person and character queenly, and probably no lady has thus far occupied so (jrominent a position in the very peculiar society whicli has constituted our republican court as Mrs. Mndison. Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under Jefferson, and at the close of his administiation was chosen President. At this time the encroach- ments of England had brought us to the verge of war. British orders in council destioyed our commerce, and our flag was e.\iK)sed to constant insult. Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring in his disiX)sition, war had no charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be roused. It makes ones blood boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought to, ujwn the ocean, by the guns of an English cruiser. A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the crcw to be paraded before him. With great nonchal- ance he selects any number whom he may please to designate as British subjects ; orders them down the ship's side into his boat; and places them on the gun- deck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the battles of England. This right of search and im- pressment, no efforts of our Government could induce the British cabinet to relinquish. On the 1 8th of June, 181 2, President Madison gave his apptoval to an act of Congress declaring war against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter hostility of the Federal party to the war, the country in general approved; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th of March, r8i3, was re-elected by a large majority, and eiitered uion his second term of office. This is not the place to describe the various adventuras of this war on the land and on the water. Our infan . navy then laid the foandations of its renown in grap- pling with the mobt formidable power which ever swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest by the appearance of a British flett, early in February, 1813, in Chesai)eake Bay, declaring nearly the whole coast of the L^nited States under blockade. The Emperor of Russia offered his services as me ditator. America accepted; England refused. A Brit- ish force of five thousand men landed on the banks of the Patu.xet River, near its entrance into Chesa- peake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladens- burg, uix>n Washington. The straggling little city of Washington was thrown into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the metropolis. The wliole population fled from the city. The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White House, with her carriage drawn up at the doer to await his speedy return, hurried to meet the officers in a council of war He met our troops utterly routed, and he could not go back without danger of being captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in Washington were in flames. The war closed after two years of fighting, and on Feb. 13, 1815, the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. On the 4th of March, '1817, his second lerm of office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to his beau- tiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the re- mainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, then at the age of 85 years, he fell asleep in death, Mrs. Madi son died July 12, 1849. ^^^ ? ^^^ FIFTH PRESIDENT. 35 ^> '^ ^ m^ pii^Es n]oi]ROE. ^^fig^" C*#' AMES MONROE, the fifth 'residentof The United States, 'was born in \Vestn)oreland Co., Va., April 28, 1758. His early life was passed at the place of nativity. Hi.; ancestors had for many years resided in tlie prov- ince in which he was born. When, at 17 years of age, in the process of completing his education at \\'iliiam and Mary College, the Qj- lonial Congress assembled at Phila- delphia to deliberate \\\yo\\ the un- just and manifold oppressions of Creat Britian, declared the separa- tion of the Colonies, and i)romul- gated the Declaration of Indepen- dence. Had he been born ten years before it is highly probable that he would have been one of the signers of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left school and enlisted among the patriots. He joined the army when everything looked hope- less and gloo ny. The number of deserters increased fron"i day to day. The invading armies came ix)uring in ; and the tones not only favored the cause of the mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of con- t:;nding with an enemy whom they had been taught to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who went right onward, undismayed through difficulty and danger, the United States owe their [Kjlilical emancipation. The young cadet joined the ranks, and esi)oused the cause of his injured country, with a firm determination to live or die with her strife for liberty. Firmly yet sadly he shared in the inel- anciioly retreat from Harleam Heights and White I'kiins, and accompanied the disi)irit(d army as it (led before its foes through New Jersey. In four mor.llu after the Declaration of Independence, the patriots iiid been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of Trenton he led the vanguard, and, in the act of charg- ing upon the enemy he received a wound in the left shoulder. As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was pro- moted a captain of infantry ; and, having recovered from his wound, he rejoined the army. He, however, receded from the line of promotion, by becoming an officer in the staff of Lord Sterling. During the cam- paigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandy wine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued aid-decamp; but becoming desirous to regain his position in che army, he exerted himself to collect a regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Ujxin this failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at that period Governor, and pursued, with considerable ardor, the study cf common law. He did not, however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag; but on the invasions of the enemy, served as a volun teer, during the two years of his legal pursuits. In 17S2, he was elected from King George county, a member of the Leglislature of Virginia, and by that body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive Council. He was thus honored with the confidence of his fellow citizens at 23 years of age ; and having at this early period displayed some of that ability and aptitude for legislation, wiiich were afterwards employed with unremittirg energy for the public good, 1 i6 JAMES MONROE. lie was in the succeeding year chosen a member of die Congress of the Unilcil States. Deeplyas Mr. Monroefi;lt the iinperfei tionsof thcoUl !'i)nlederacy, lie was opposed lotlicnew Constitution, '.hinking, with many others of *he RepuhHcan party, liuit it gave too nuieh |)owi.r to tlie CentralCovcrnnicnt, and not enough to the iniUvithial Slates. Still he re- tained the esteem of his tiiends who were its warm sui)porters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition secured its adoption. In 17.S9, he beranie a member if the United Slates Senate; which ofhc e he held for four years. Every month the line of distinction be- tween the two great parties which divided the nation, the federal and the Rei)ublican, was growing more distinct. The two prominent ideas which now sep- arated them were, that the Reixiblican party was in sympathy with I'rance, and also in favor of such a stiict construction of the Constitution as to give the Central Ciovernment as little power, and the Stale (lOvernments as much [wwOr, as the Constitution vvould warrant. 'l"he Keilcralisls syinpathi/ed with i>",ngland, .u\d were in i.wox of a liberal construction of the Con- stitution, wliich would give as much ]>ower to the Central Ciovernnient as that document could possibly authorize. ■['he leading Federalists and Republicans were alike noble liien, consecrating all their energies to the good of the nation. Two more honest men or more pure patriots than John Adams the Federalist, and lames Monroe the Republican, never breathed. In building up this majestic i\ation, which is destined to eclipse allCirecian and .Assyrian greatness, the com- bination of their antagonism was neeiled to create the light eiiuilibrium. And yet each in his day was de- nounced as almost a demon. Washington was then Tresident. England had es- poused the cause of the Hourbons against the princi- ples of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality be- tween these contending jiowers. France had helped us in the struggle for oiu' liberties. .Ml the despotisms of Europe were now combined to prevent the French fix)in escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse than that which we had endured Col. Monroe, more magnanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in their extremity. It was the impulse of a generous and noble nature. He violently opi>osed the Tres- ident's proclamation as ungrateful and wanting in magnanimity. Washington, who could appreciate such a character, developed his calm, serene, almost divine greatness, by appointing that very James Monroe, who was de- nouncing the ix)licy of the Government, as the minister of that Ciovernment to the Republic of France. Mr. Monroe was welcomed by the National Convention in France with the most enthusiastic demonstrations. Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Mon- roe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held the office for three yeais. He was again sent to France to co-operate with Chancellor Livingston in obtaining the vast territory then known as the I'rovince of Louisiana, wliich France had but shortly before ob- tained from Spain. Tlieir united efforts were suc- cessful. For the comparatively small sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the entire territory of Orleans and district of Louisiana were added to tlie United States. This w.is probably the largest transfer of real estate which was ever made in all the history of the world. Fronr France Mr. Monroe went to England to ob- tain from that country some recognition of out rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against those odious impressments of our seamen. But Eng- land was unrelenting. He again returned to Eng- land on the same mission, but could receive no retlress. He returned to his home and was again chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resigned to accept the position of Secretary of Stale under ^Lldison. While in this office war with England was declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and during these trying times, the duties of the War Department were also put upon him. He was truly, the armor- bearer of President Madison, and the most efficient business man in his cabinet. Upon the return ol peace he resigned the Department of War, but con- tinued in the office of Secretary of State until the ex- pir.ition of Mr. Afadison's adminstration. At the elec tion heKl the previous autumn Mr. Monroe himself had been chosen Fresident with but little o|iposition, and upon March 4, 1817, was inaugurated. Four years later he was elected for a second term. .■\mong the important measures of his Presidency- were the cession of Florida to the United States; the Missouri Comi)romise, and the " Monroe doctrine.' This famous doctrine, since known as the "Monroe doctrine," was enunciated by him in 1823. At that tinie the United Stales had recognized the independ- ence of the South American stales, and did not wish to have European powers Umger attempting to sub- due (jortions of the American Continent. The doctrine is as follows: "That we should consider any attempt on the part of European powers to extend their sys- tem to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety," and "that we could not view any interixssilion for the purixjse of oppressing or controlling American governments or provinces in any other light than as a manifestation bv European powers of an unfriendly dis|X)sition toward the I'nited States." This doctrine imuiediatel) affected the course of foreign governments, and has become the approved sentiment of the United States. At the end of his fecond term Mr. Monroe retired to his home in Virginia, where he lived until 1830. when he went to New York to live with his son-in- law. In that city he died.on the 4th of July, 1S31 J, 5, Ai rurtxi SIXTH rRESIDRNT. J9 OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the ,M sixih President of the United ^Stales, was born in the rural home of his honored father. John Adams, in Quincy, Mass , on the nth cf July, 1767. His mother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over his childhood during the almost constant ab- sence of his father. Wlien but eight years of age, he stood with ' *i' his mother on an eminence, listen- ing to the booming of the great bat- tle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing on upon the smoke and flames billow- ing up from the conflagration of Charlestown. When but eleven years old he took a tearful adieu of his mother, to sail with his fatner for Europe, through a fleet ot hostile British cruisers. The bright, animated boy spent a year and a half in Paiis, where his father was associated with Franklin and Lee as minister plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted the notice of these distinguished men, and he received from them flattering marks of attention. Mr. John Adams had scarcely returned to this country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again lOr.n Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he applied himself with great diligence, for si.x months, to 3*udy; then accompained his father to Holland, v/here he entered, first a school in Amsterdam, then the University at Leyden. About a year from this time, in r78i, when the manly boy was but fourteen yea's of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our mm- ister to the Russian court, as his private secretary. Tn this school of incessant labor and of enobling rulture he spent fourteen months, and then returned to Holland through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and Bremen. This long journey he took alone, in the winter, when in his sixteenth year. Again he resumed his studies, under a private tutor, at Hague, Thence, in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father V.- Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintance with the most distinguished men on the Con'inent examining arcliitectural remains, galleries of paintings and all renowned works of art. At Paris he agaii. became associated with the most illustrious men of all lands in the contemplations of the loftiest temporal themes which can engross the human mind. Aftj- a short visit to England he returned to Paris, ana consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, when he returned to America. To a brilliant young man of eighteen, vX/ ^-cS^^ ^\ SEVENTH PRESIhENT. '•13 (■-■.•a? NDREW JACKSON, the seventh Presidei.t of the "^ United States, was born in Waxhaw settlement, N. C, March 15, 1767, a few days after his father's death. His parents were poor emigrants from Ireland, and took u|) their abode in AVaxhaw set- tlement, where they lived in deepest poverty. Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally called, grew up a very rough, rnde, turbulent boy. His features were coarse, his form un- gainly; and there was but veiy little in his character, made visible, which was at- tiaclive. When only thirteen years old he joined the volun- teers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 1781, he and his brother Robert were captured and imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. " I am a prisoner of war, not your servant," was the reply of the dauntless boy. The brute drew his sword, and aimed a desperate Dlow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fear- ful gashes, — one on the hand and the other ujwn the head. The officer then turned to his brother Robert "yith the same demand. He also refused, and re- ceived a blow from the keen-edged sabre, which quite disabled him, and which probably soon after caused his death. They suffered much other ill-treatment, and were finally stricken with the small-pox. Their mother was successful i-o obtaining their exchange, and took her sick boys home. After a long illnesk. Andrew recovered, and the death of his mother soon left him entirely friendless. Andrew supixjried himself in various ways, such as working at the saddler's trade, teaching school and clerking in a general store, until 1784, when he entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, however, gave more attention to the wild amusements of the times than to his studies. In 1788, he was apjwinted solicitor for the western district of North Carolina, of which Tennessee was then a part. This involved many long and tedious journeys amid dangers of every kind, but Andrew Jackson never knew fear, and the Indians had no desire to repeat a skirmish with the Sharp Knife. In 1791, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman who supix)sed herself divorced from her former husband. Cireat was the surprise of both parties, two years later, to find that the conditions of the divorce had just been definitely settled by the first husband. The marriage ceremony was performed a second time, but the occur- rence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. Jackson into disfavor. During these years he worked hard at his profes sion, and frequently had one or more duels on hand, one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was espec- ially disgraceful. In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then containing nearly eighty thousand inhabitants, the people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a con- stitution. Five were sent from each of the eleven counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates. The new State was entitled to but one member in the National House of Representatives. Andrew Jack- son was chosen that member. Mounting his horse he rode to Philedelphia, where Congress then held its 44 AI^DREW JACKSOI^. iesiij.is, — .1 diilance of about eight hundred miles. Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- cratic pirty. Jefferson was his idol. He admired Bonaparte, loved France and hated F.ngland. As Mr. Jackson took his seal, Gen. \Vashington, whose second term of office was then expi.ini^, delivered his last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson did not approve of tiie address, and was one of the twelve who voted against it. He was not willing to say that Gen. Washington's adminslration had been " wise, firm and patriotic." Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned home. Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court of his State, wliich position he held for six years. When the war of 1812 with Great Britian com- menced, Madison occujiied the Presidential chair. Aaron Uiirr sent word to the President that there was an unknown man in llie West, Andrew Jackson, wlio would do credit to a commission if one were con- ferred uiwn him. Just at that time Gen. Jackson jtTeied his services and tiiose of twenty-five hundred volunteers. His ofTer was accepted, and the troops were assembled at Nashville. As the British were hourly expected to make an at- tack upon New Orleans, where Cien Wilkinson was in command, he was ordered to descend the river with fifteen hundred troops to aid Wilkinson. The expedition reached Natchez; and after a delay of sev- eral weeks there, without accomplishing anything, :he men were ordered liack to their homes. But the energy Gen. Jackson had displayed, and his entire devotion to the comrfort of his soldiers, won liim golden oi)inions; and he became the most popular man in the State. It was in this expedition that liis toughness gave him the nickname of " Old Hickory." Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip Col. Thomas H. Benton, for a remark that gentleman made about his taking a part as second in a duel, in which a younger brotiier of Benton's was engaged, he received two severe pistol wounds. While he was lingering upon a bed ot suffering news came that the lulians, who had combined under Tecumseh from Florida to the Lakes, to exterminate the white sel- lers, were committing the most awful ravages. De- cisive action became necessary. Gen. Jackson, with his fractured bone just beginning to heal, his arm in a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assis- tance, gave his amazing energies to the raising of an army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Alabama. The Creek Indians h.ad established a strong fore on one of the bendsof theTallaiwosa River, near the cen- ter of .Alabama, about fifty miles below Fort Strother. With an arniv of two thousand men. Gen. Jackson traversed the pathless wilderness in a march of eleven days. He reached their fort, called Tohopeka or Horse-shoe, on the 27th of March. 1814. The bend of the river enclosed nearly one hundred acres ol tangled forest and wild ravine. Across the narrow neck tlie Indians had constructed a formidable brea:.t- work of logs and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, with an ample suplyof arms were assembled. 'I'he fort was stormed. The fight was utterly des- perate. Not an Indian would accept of quarter. When bleeding and dying, they would fight those who en- deavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morn- ing until dark, the battle raged. The carnage was awful and revolting. Some threw themselves into the river; l)Ut the unerring bullet struck their heads as they swam. Nearly everyone of the nine hundred war- rios were killed A few probably, in the night, swam the river and escaped. This ended the war. The power of the Creeks was broken forever. This bold plunge into the wilderness, with itsterriffic slaughter, so appalled the savages, that the haggard remnants of the bands caiue to the camp, begging for peace. This closing of the Creek war enabled us to con- centrate all our militia upon the British, who were the allies of the Indians No man of less resolute will than Gen. Jackson could have conducted this Indian campaign to so successful an issue Immediately he was appointed major-general. Late in .August, with an army of two thousand men, on a rushing march. Gen. Jackson came to Mobile. A British lleet came from Pensacola, landed a force upon the beach, anchored near the little fort, and from both ship and shore commenced a furious assault. The battle was long and doubtful. At length one of the ships was blown up and the rest retired. Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his little army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, And the battle of New Orleans which soon ensued, was in reality a very arduous campaign. This won for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. Here his troops, which numbered about four thousand men, won a signal victory over the British army of about nine thousand. His loss was but thirteen, while the loss of the British was two thousand six liundred. The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be men- tioned in connection with the Presidency, but, in 1824, he was defeated by Mr. .\dams. He was, however, successful in the election of 1828, and was re-elected for a second term in 1832. In 1829, just belbre he assumed the reins of the government, he met with the most terrible affliction of his life in the death of his wife, whom he had loved with a devotion which has perhaps never been surpassed. From the shock of her death he never recovered. His administration was one of the most memorable in the annals of our country; applauded by one party, condemned bv the other. No man had more bitter enemies or warmer friends. .\t the expiration of his two terms of office he retired to the Hermitage, where he died lune 8, 1845. The last years of ^Ir. Jack- son's life were that of a devoted Christian man. '/ 7 /^U^^ ^i^?u. EIGHTH PRESIDENT. 4/ '% ARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth President of the United States, was born at Kinderhook, N. Y., Dec. 5, 1782. He died at the same place, July 24, 1862. His body rests in the cemetery at Kinderhook. Above it is a plain granite shaft fifteen feet high, bearing a simple inscription about half way up on one face. The lot is unfenced, unbordered or unbounded by shrub or flower. Tliere is but little in the life of Martin Van Buren of ri^mantic interest. He fought no battles, engaged in no wild adventures. Though his life was stormy in l»litical and intellectual conflicts, and he gained many signal victories, his days passed uneventful in those incidents which give zest to biography. His an- cestors, as his name indicates, were of Dutch origin, and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a farmer, residing in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, also of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- ligence and exemplary piety. .ie was decidedly a precocious boy, developing un- usual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At the age of fourteen, he had finished his academic studies in his native village, and commenced the study of law. As he had not a collegiate education, seven years of study in a law-office were required of him before he could be admitted to the bar. Inspired with d lofty ambition, and conscious of his powers, he pur- sued his studies with indefatigable industry.^ After spending six years in an office in bis native village. he went to the city of New York, and prosecuted his studies for the seventh year. In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty-one years of age, commenced the practice of law in his native vil- lage. The great conflict between the Federal and Republican party was then at its height. Mr. Van Buren was from the beginning a politician. He had, perhaps, imbibed that spirit while listening to the many discussions which had been carried on in his father's hotel. He was in cordial sympathy with Jefferson, and earnestly and eloquently espoused the cause of State Rights ; though at thai time the Fed- eral party held the supremacy both in his town and State. His success and increasing ruputation led him after six years of practice, to remove to Hudson, th,: county seat of his county. Here he spent seven years constantly gaining strength by contending in tho courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned the bar of his State. Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mi. Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for beauty and accomplishments. After twelve sliort years she sank into the grave, the victim of consump- tion, leaving her husband and four sons to weep over her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. Van Buren was an earnest, successful, assiduous lawyer. The record of those years is barren in items of public interest. In t8i2, when thirty years of age, he was chosen to the State Senate, and gave his strenuous support to Mr. Madison's adminstration. In 18 15, he was ap- pointed Attorney-General, and the next year moved to Albany, the capital of tlie State. 'iVhile he was acknowledged ;is one of the most p. ominent leaders of the Dc;iiiocratic party, he had 4S MARTIN VAN BVREN. the iiu>r:il coiiraije to avow that true democracy did not require ih it " universal siilTrage" which admits the vile, tlie dei;r,uled, the ignorant, to the rii;ht of governing the State. In true consistency with his ilemocralic iirinciples, he contended that, while the path leailing to the privilege of voting shoiiUi he open to every man without distinction, no one should be invested with that sacred prerogative, unless he were in some degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue and some pixiperty interests in tlie welt'arc of the l^tale. In iSji he was elected a member of the United States SeiMte; and in the same year, he took a seat in the convention to revise the constitution of his .lative State. His course in this convention secured ihe approval of men of all parties. No one could doubt the singleness of his endeavors to promote the interests of all classes in the community. In the Senate of the United States, he rose at once to a conspicuous ixjsition as an active and useful legislator. In iS;;, Jolm Quincy .-Vdams beii-g then in the Presidential chair, Mr. \'an Buren was re-elected to .he Senate. He had been from the beginning a de- :ermined opjioser of the .Vdministration, adopting the 'State Rights" view in ojiiKisition to what was deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. .Adams. SiKin al"ter this, in 182S, he was chosen Ciovernorof the State of New York, and accoalingly resigned his seat in the Senate. Probably no one in the United States contributed so much towards ejecting John Q. .Adams tR>m the Presidential chair, and placing in it Andrew Jackson, as did Martin Van Buren. Whether entitled to the reputation or not, he certainly was re- garded tha->ugiiout the L'nited States as one of the most skillful, sagacious and cunning of politicians. It was supiiosed that no one knew so well as he how ;o touch the secret springs of action; how to pull all ;he wires to put his machinery in motion ; and how to organize a ixslitical army which would, secredy and yte:''thily accomplish the most gigantic results. By :hese iwwers it is said that he outv.-itted Mr. Adams, Mr. Cl.iy, Mr. Webster, and secured results which few thought then could be accomplished. Wijea .Andrew Jackson was elected President he apiK-inted Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This position he resigned in 1831, and was immediately appoipted Minister to England, where he went the same autumn. The Senate, however, when it met, refused to ratify the nomination, and he leturned home, apparently nntroubleil ; was nominated Vice President in the place of Calhoun, at the re-election of President Jackson ; and with smiles for all and fiowns lor none, he took his [ilace at the liead of that Senate which h.ul refused to confirm his nomination as ambassador. His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal of President Jackson in behalf of his leiiudiated favor- ite; and this, probably more than any other cause secured his elevation to the chair of the Chief Execu live. On the 20th of May, 1836, Mr. Van Buren re- ceived the Democratic nomination to succeed Gen. Jackson as President of the United States He was elected by a handsome majority, to the delight of the retiring President. " Leaving New York out uf the canvass," says Mr. Parton, "the election of Mr. \'an Buren to the Presidency was as much the act of Gen. Jackson as though the Constitution had conferred uixjn him the ix)wer to apix)int a successor." His administration was filled with exciting events. The insurrection in Canada, which threatened to in- volve this country in war with England, the agitation of the slavery question, and finally the great commer- cial panic which si)read over the country, all were trials to his wisdom. The financial distress was at- tributed to theinanagement of the Democratic party, and brought the President into such disfavor that he failed of re election. With the exception of being nominated for the Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats, in 1S48, Mr. Van Buren lived quietly ujxjn his estate until his death. He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habits, and living within his income, had now fortunately a competence for his declining years. His unblemished character, his commanding abilities, his unquestioned jialriotism, and the distinguished [xssitions which he had occupied in the government of our countr)', se- cured to him not only the homage of his party, but the resjiect ot the whole community. It was on the 4th of March, tS4t, that Mr. Van Buren retired from the presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwald^ he still exerted a powerful influence upon theix)litics of the countr)'. From this time until his death, on the :;4th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, cf culture and of we.ilth; enjoying in a healthy old I age, probably far more happiness than he had before . experienced amid the stonny scenes of his active life- ^i •"' % -Oc-K Mr/t^iA. IVINTH PliESlDKNT. imM^ wm:m mmm^m^ t ILLIAM HENRY HARRI- SON, the nintli President of tlie United States, was born at Berkeley, Va., Feb. 9, 1773. His father, Benjamin Harri- son, was in comparatively op- ulent circumstances, and was one of the most distinguished men of his day. He was an intimate friend of George Washington, w as early elected a member of the Continental Congress, and was consijicuous among the patriots of Virginia in resisting the encroachments of the liritish crown. In the celebrated Congress of 1775, Benjamin Har- rison and John Hancock were both candidates for the office of speaker. Mr Harrison was subsequently chosen Governor of Virginia, and was twice re-elected. His son, i William Henry, of course enjoyed in childhood all the advantages which wealth and intellectual and cultivated society could give. Hav- ing received a thorough common-school education, he entered Hampden Sidney College, where he graduated with honor soor. r.fter the death of his father. He <;hen rei)aired to Philadelphia to study medicine under the instructions of Dr. Rush and the guardianship of i'obert Morris, both of whom were, with his father, ■signers of the Declaration of Independence. Jixsn the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and not- withstanding the remonstrances of his friends, he abandoned his medical studies and entered the army, .laving obtained a commission of Ensign from Presi- dent \Vashington. He was then but 19 years old. From that time he passed gradually upward in rank until he became aid to General Wayne, after whose death he resigned his commission. He was then ap- pointed Secretary of the North-western Territory, This Territory was then entitled to but one member in Congress and Capt. Harrison was chosen to fill that position. In the spring of 1800 the North-western Territory was divided by Congress into' two portions. The eastern portion, comprising the region now embraced in the State of Ohio, was called " The Territory north-west of the Ohio." The western portion, which included what is now called Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, was called the "Indiana Territory." Wil liam Henry Harrison, then 27 years of age, was ajx pointed by John Adams, Governor of the Indiana Territory, and immediately after, also Governor of Upper Louisiana. He was thus ruler over almost as extensive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe. He was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and was in- vested with powers nearly dictatorial over the now rapidly increasing white population. The ability and fidelity with which he discharged these responsible duties may be inferred from the fact that he was four times appointed to this office — first by John Adams, twice by Thomas Jefferson and afterwards by Presi- dent Madison. When he began his adminstration there were but three white settlements in that almost boundless region, now crowded with cities and resounding with all the tumult of wealth and traffic. Oneof these settlements was on the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville; one at Vincennes, on the Wabash, and the third a French settlement. The vast wilderness over which Gov. Hnrrisoi, reigned was filled with manv tribes of Indian.s. Aboii' WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. the year 1806, two extraordinary men, twin brothers, of the Shawiiese tribe, rose among them. Or.e of these was called Tecuinseh, or " The Crouching Panther;" the other, OUivvacheca, or "The Prophet." TecLiniseh was not only an InOian warrior, but a man of great sagacity, far-reaching foresight and indomit- able perseverance in any enterprise in which he might engage. He was inspired with the higlie:'.t enthusiasm, and had lung regarded with dread and with hatred the encroachment of the whites upon the hunting- grounds of his fathers. His brother, the Prophet, was anorator, who could sway the feelings of the untutored Indian as the gale tossed the tree -tops beneath which tliey dwelt. But the Prophet was not merely an orator: he was, i.i the superstitious minds of the Indians, invested with the superhuman dignity of a medicine-man or a magician. With an enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter the Hermit rousing Europe to the crusades, he went from tribe to tribe, assuming that he was specially sent by the Great Spirit. Gov. Harrison made many attempts to conciliate the Indians, but at last the war came, and at Tippe- canoe the Indians were routed with great slaugliter. October 28, 1812, his army began its march. When near the Prophet's town three Indians of rank made their appearance and inquired why Gov. Harrison was approaching them in so hostile an attitude. After a short conference, arrangements were made for a meet- ing the next day, to agree upon terms of peace. But Gov. Harrison was too well acquainted with the Indian character to be deceived by such protes- tations. Selecting a favorable spot for his night's en- campment, he took every precaution against surprise His troops were posted in a hollow square, and slept upon their arms. The troops threw themselves upon the ground for rest; but every man had his accourtrements on, his loaded musket by his side, and his bayonet fixed. The wakeful Governor, between three and four o'clock in the morning, liad risen, and was sitting in conversa- tion with his aids by the embers of a waning fire. It was a chill, cloudy morning with a drizzling rain. In the darkness, the Indians had crept as near as possi- ble, and j'lst then, with a savage yell, rushed, with all the desperation which superstition and passion most highly inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the little army. The savages had been amply provided with guns and ammunition by the English. Their war-whoop was accompained by a shower of bullets. The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as the light aided the Indians in their aim. With hide- jus yells, the Indian bands rushed on, not doubting a speedy and an entire victory. But Gen. Harrison's troops stood as immovable as the rocks around them until day dawned : they then made a simultaneous charge with the bayonet, and swept every thing be- fore them, and completely routing thf foe. Gov. Harrison now had all his energies tasked to the utmost. The British descending from the Can - adas, were of themselves a very formidable force ; but with their savage allies, rusliing like wolves I'rom the forest, searching out every remote farm-house, burn- ing, plu.idering, scalping, torturing, the wide frontier was plunged into a state of consternation whicli even the most vivid imagination can but faintly conceive, Tlie war-whoop was resounding everywhere in the forest. The horizon was illuminated with the conflagra- tion of the cabins of the settlers. Gen Hull had made the ignominious surrender of his forces at Detroit. Under these despairing circumstances. Gov. Harrison was appointed by President Madison commander-in- chief of the North-western army, with orders to retake Detroit, and to protect the frontiers. It would be difficult to place a man in a situation demanding more energy, sagacity and courage; but General Harrison was found equal to the position, and nobly and triumphantly did he meet all the re- sponsibilities. He won the love of his soldiers by always sharing with them their fatigue. His whole baggage, while pursuing the foe up the Thames, was carried in a valise.; and his bedding consisted of a single blanket lashed over his saddle Thirty-five Britisli officers, his prisoners of war, supped with him after the battle. The only fare he could give them was beef roasted before the fire, witlioul bread or salt. In 18 16, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member of the National House of Representatives, to represent the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved an active member; and whenever he spoke, it was with force of reason and power of eloquence, which arrested the attention of all the members. In 1819, Harrison was elected to the Senate of Ohio; and in 1824, as one of the presidential electors of that State, he gave his vote for Henry Clay. The same year he was chosen to the United States Senate. In 1836, the friends of Gen. Harrison ijrought him forward as a candidate for the Presidency against Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the close of Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nominated by his party, and Mr. Harrison was unanimously nominated by the Whigs, with John Tyler for the Vice Presidency. The contest was very animated. Gen Jackson gave all his influence to prevent Harrison's election ; but his triumph was signal. The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Webster at its head as Secretary of State, was one of the most brilliant with which any President had ever been surrounded. Never were the prospects of an admin- istration more flattering, or the hopes of the country more sanguine. In the midst of these bright and joyous prospects. Gen. Harrison was seized by a pleurisy-fever and after a few days of violent sick- ness, died on the 4th of April ; just one month after his inauguration as President of the United States. ^/?^. TENTH PRKSIDEJSft. 55 OHN TYLER, the tenth T-.p. Presidentof tlie United Stales. H,; was born in Cliarles-city Co., Va., March 29, 1790. He was the favored cliild of af- fluence and liigh social po- sition. At the early a'ge of twelve, John entered William and Mary College and grad- uated with much honor when hut seventeen years old. After graduating, he devoted him- self with great assiduity to the study of law, partly with his father and pirtly with Edmund Randolph, one of the most distin- guished lawyers of Virginia. At nineteen years of age, ne commenced the practice of law. His success was rapid and aston- 'shing. It is said that three months had not elapsed ere there was scarcely a case on the dock- et of the court in which he was :. )t retained. When but twenty-one years of age, he was almost unanimously ejected to a seat in the State Legislature. He connected himself with the Demo- cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures of Jefferson and Madison. For five successive years he wus elected to the Legislature, receiving nearly the unanimous vote or his county. When but twenty-six years of age, he was elected a member of Congress. Here he acted earnestly and ably with tlic Democratic party, ojiposing a national bank, internal improvements by the General '^vem- ment, a protective tariflT, and advocating a strict con- struction of the Constitution, and tlie most careful vigilance over State rights. His labors in Congress were so arduous that before the close of his second term lu found it necessary to resign and retire to his estate in Charles-city Co., to recruit his health. He, however, soon after consented to take his seat in the State Legislature, where his influence was powerful in promoting public works of great utility. With a reputation thus canstantly increasing, he was chosen by a very large majority of votes, Governor of his native State. His administration was signally a suc- cessful one. His popularity secured his re-election. John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of the United States. A ix)rtion of the Democratic party was displeased with Mr. Randolph's wayward course, and brought forward John Tyler as his opiwnent, considering him the only man in Virginia of sufficient popularity to succeed against the renowned orator of Roanoke. Mr. Tjler was the victor. In accordance with his professions, upon taking his seat in the Senate, he joined the ranks of the opposi- tion. He opposed the tariff; he sjxjke against and voted against the bank as unconstitutional ; he stren- uously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resist- ing all projects of internal improvements by the Gen- eral Government, and avowed his sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's view of nullification ; he declared that Gen. Jackson, by his opjx)sition to the nullifiers, had abandoned the principles of the Democratic party. Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress, — a record in perfect accordance with the principles which he had always avowed. Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice of his profession. There was a cplit in the P^mocralit; JOHN TYLER. Jarty. His friends still regarded him as a true Jef- fersoniarl, gave hini a dinner, and sliowered compli- ments upon him. He had now attained the age of forty-six. His career had been very brilliant. In con- sequence of his devotion to public business, his pri- vate affairs had f_ilien into some disorder; and it was not without satisfaction that he resumed the practice of law, and devoted himself to the culture of his plan- tation. Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, for the better education of his children ; and he again took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia. By the Southern Whigs, he was sent to the national convention at Harrisburg to nominate a President in 7839. The majority of votes were given to Gen. Har- rison, a genuine Whig, much to the disappointment of the South, who wished for Henry Clay. To concili- ate the Southern Whigs and to secure their vote, the convention then nominated John Tyler for Vice Pres- ident. It was well known that he was not in sympa- thy with the Whig [larty in the NoUh: but the Vice President has but very little power in the Govern- ment, his main and almost only duty being to pre- side over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it hap- pened that a Wliig President, and, in reality, a Democratic Vice President were chosen. In r84r, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice Presi- dent of the United States. In one short month from that time. President Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler thus -cund himself, to his own surprise and that of the whole Nation, an occupant of the Presidential chair. This was a new test of the stability of our institutions, as it was the first time in the history of our country that such an event had occured. Mr. Tyler was at home in Williamsburg when he received the unexpected tidings of the death of President Harri- son. He hastened to Washington, and on the 6th of April was inaugurated to the high and responsible office. He was placed in a position of exceeding delicacy and difficulty. All his long life he had been opposed tc the main principles of the party which had brought him into power. He had ever been a con- sistent, honc:t man, with an unblemished record. Gen. Harrison had selected a Wliig cabinet. Should he retain them, and thus surround himself with coun- sellors whose views were antagonistic to his own? or, on the other hand, should he turn against the party whicii had elected him and select a cabinet in har- mony with himself, and which would oppose all those views which the Whigs deemed essential to the pub- lic welfare? This was his fearful dilemma. He in- vited the cabinet which President Harrison had selected to retain their seats. He reccomm.'nded a day of fasting and prayer, that God would guide and bless us. The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for the incorporation of a fiscal bank of the United States. The President, after ten days' delay, returned it wiih his veto. He ^suef^ested, however, that he -.vould approve oj a bid drawn up upon such a plan as he proposed. Such a bill was accordingly prepared, and privately submitted to him. He gave it his approval. It .vas passed without alteration, and he sent it back with his veto. Here commenced the open rupture. It is said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this meas- ure by a published letter from the Hon. John M. Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who severely touched the pride of the President. The opposition now exultingly received the Presi- dent into their arms. The party which elected him denounced him bitterly. All the members of his cabinet, e.vcepting Mr. Webster, resigned. The Whigs of Congress, both the Senate and the House, held a meeting and issued an address to the people of the United States, proclaiming that all political alliance M between the VVhigs and President Tyler were at f an end. Still the President attempted to conciliate. He appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs and Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong party men. Mr, ^Vebster soon found it necessary to resign, forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends. Thus the fcair years of Mr. Tyler's unfortunate administra- tion i)assed sadly away. No one was satisfied. The land was filled with murmurs and vitujieration. Whigs and Democrats alike assailed him. More and more, however, he brought himself into sympathy with his old friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his term, he gave his whole influence to the support of Mr. Polk, the Democratie candidate for his successor. On the 4th of March, 1845, he retired from the harassments of office, tothe regret of neitherparty, and probably to his own unspeakable lelief. His first wife, Miss Letitia Christian, died in Washington, in 1842; and in June, 1844, President Tyler was again married, at New York, to Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lady of many personal and intellectual -accomplishments. The remainder of his days Mr. Tyler passed mainly in retirement at his beautiful home, — Sherwood For- est, Charles city Co., Va. A polished gentleman in his manners, richly furnished with information from books and experience in the world, and jTOssessing brilliant powers of conversation, his family circle was the scene of unusual attractions. ^Vitll sufficient means for the exercise of a generous hospitality, he might have enjoyed a serene old age with the few friends who gathered around him, were it not for the storms of civil war which his own principles and policy had helped to introduce. When the great Rebellion rose, which the State-. rights and nullifying doctrines of Mr. John C. Cal- houn had inaugurated, President Tyler renounced his allegiance to the United States, and joined the Confed- erates. He was chosen a member of their Congress; and while engaged in active measures to destroy, by force of arms, 'he Government over which he had once presided, he was taken sick and soon died. ^'^il' m,x- ..j^ ELE I ENTH PRE SI DEN T. 5S PDILK, AMES K. POLK, the eleventh ^aPresident of the United States, was born in Mecklenburg Co., N. C.,Nov. 2, 1795. His par- ents were Samuel and Jane (Knox) Polk, the former a son of Col. Thomas Polk, wlio located at the above place, as one of the first pioneers, in 1735. ■' In the year 1S06, with his wife and children, ai.d soon after fol- lowed by most of the members of the Polk farnly, Samuel Pulk emi- grated some two or three hundred mile.i farther west, to the rich valley of the Duck River. Here in the midst of the wilderness, in a region which was subsequently called Mau- ry Co., they reared their lot; huls, and established their homes. In the hard toil of a new farm in the wil- derness, James K. Polk spent the early years of his childhood and youth. His father, adding the pur- suit cf a surveyor to that of a farmer, gradually increased in wealth until he became one of the leading men of the region. His mother was a superior woman, of strong comn-.cu sense and earnest piety. Very early in life, James developed a taste for reading and e.xpressed the strongest desire to obtain a liberal education. His mother's training had made him methodical in his habits, had taught him punct- uality and industry, and had inspired him with lofty principles of morality. His health was frail ; and his father, fearing that he might not be able to endure a sedentary life, got a situation for him behind the coimter, hoping to fit him for conimercial pursuits. This was to James a bitter disappointment. He had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasks were irksome in the e.xtreme. He remained in this uncongenial cccupation but a few weeks, when at his earnest solicitat'on his father removed him, and made arrangements for him to prosecute his studies. Soon after he sent him to Murfreesboro Academy. With ardor which could scarcely be surpassed, he pressed forward in his studies, and in less than two and a half years, in the autumn of 1815, entered the sophomore class in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplary of scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allowing himself to be absent from a recitation or a religious service. He graduated in 18 18, with the highest honors, be* ing deemed the best scholar of his class, both ip mathematics and the classics. He was then twenty- three years of age. Mr. Polk's liealth was at this time much impaired by the a.-isiduity with which he had i)rosecuted his studies. After a short season ^of relaxation he went to Nashville, and enter.qd t^^ office of Felix Crundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jackson, who resided on his plantation, the Hermitage, but a few miles from Nashville. They had probably beeri slighlly acquainted before. Mr. Polk's father was a Jeffersonian Republican and James K. Polk ever adhered to the same, politi- cal faith. He was a popular public speaker, and was constantly called upon to address the meetings of his party friends. His skill as a speaker was such that he was poixilarly called the Napoleon of the stumi). He was a man of unblemished morals, genial aid 6o /AMES K. POLK. courterus in his bearing, and with that sympathetic nature in tlie jo) s and griefs of others which ever gave him troops of friends. In 1823, Mr. Polk was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee. Here he gave his strong influence towards the election of his friend, Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of the United .States. In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah Childress, of Rutherford Co., Tenn. His bride was altogether worthy of liim, — a lady of beauty and cul- ture. In the fall of 1825, Mr. Polk was chosen a member of Congress. The satisfaction which he gave to his constituents may be inferred from the fact, that for fourteen successive years, until 1839, he was con- tinuec^ in that office. He then voluntarily withdrew, only that he might accept the Gubernatorial chair of T'^nnessee. In Congress he was a laborious menober, a frequent and a popular speaker. He was always in his seat, always courteous ; and whenever he spoke it was always to the point, and without any ambitious rhetorical display. During five sessions of Congress, Mr. Polk was Speaker of the House Strong passions were roused, and stormy scenes were witnessed ; but Mr Polk per- formed his arduous duties to a very general satisfac- tion, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was passed by the Hou«e as he withdrew on the 4th of March, 1839. In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, as a candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. He was elected by a large majority, and on tlie i4tii of Octo- ber, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. In 1841, his term of office expired, and he was again the can- didate of the Democratic party, but was defeated. On the 4thof March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugur- ated President of the United States. The verdict of the country in favor of the annexation of Texas, exerted its influence upon Congress ; and the last act of the administration of President Tyler was to affix his sig- nature to a joint resolution of Congress, passed on the 3d of March, approving of the annexation of Texas to the American Union. As Mexico still claimed Texas as one of her provinces, the Mexican minister, Almonte, immediately demanded his passports and left tlie country, declaring the act of the annexation to be an act hostile to Mexico. In his first message. President Polk urged that Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be re- ceived into tlie Union on the same footing with the Other States, In the meantime, Gen. Taylor was sent with an army into Texas to hold the country He was sent first to Nueces, which the Mexicans said was the western boundary of Texas. Then he was sent 'learly two hundred miles further west, to the Rio Grande, where i'.e erected batteries which commanded the Mexican city of JMatamoras, which was situated on the western banks. The anticipated collision soon took place, and wai was declared against Mexico by President Polk. The war was pushed forward by Mr. Polk's administration with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, whose army was first called one of "observation," then of "occupation," thenof" invasion, "was sent forward to Monterey. The feeble Mexicans, in every encounter, were hopelessly and awfully slaughtered. The day of judgement alone can reveal the misery which this war caused. It v/as by the ingenuity of Mr. Polk's administration that the war was brought on. 'To the victors belong the spoils." Mexico was prostrate before us. Her capital was in our hands. We now consented to peace upon the condition that Mexico should surrender to us, in addition to Texas, all of New Mexico, and all of Upper and Lower Cal- ifornia. This new demand embraced, exclusive of Texas, eight hundred thousand square miles. This was an extent of territory equal to nine States of the size of New York Thus slavery was securing eighteen majestic States to be added to the Union. There were some Americans who thought it all right : there were others who thought it all wrong. In the proj-erution of this war, we expended twenty thousand lives and more than a hundred million of dollars. Of this money fifteen millions were paid to Mexico. On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired from office, having served one term. The next day was Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated as his successor Mr Polk rode to the Capitol in the same carriage with Gen. Taylor; and the same even- ing, with Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return to . Tennessee. He was then but fifty-four years of age. He had ever been strictly temperate in all his habits, and his health was good Witli an ample fortune, a choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic ties of the dearest nature, it seemed as though long years of traiKjuility and happiness were before him. But tiie cholera — that fearful scourge — was then sweeping up the Valley of the Mississippi. This he contracted, and died on the 15th of June, 1849,111 the fifU'-fourth year of his age, greatly mourned by his countrymen- w ^Ci-^c>/i<::?c^^^^/\^^ T^VELFTH PRESIDENT. 63 iv,.\u.\U^t..>yi i v?VHAVVAv,\^^\> -T-v\ - X^ gVA^^ ^T\\A^:v.\ T S\.V.V.\:f %%sm^^Mi: TAyLOI^ ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth ^_^rresideiit of the United States, m was born on the 24th of Nov., 1784, in Orange Co., Va. His father, Colonel Taylor, was a Virginian of note, and a dis- '^ tinguished patriot and soldier of the Revolution. When Zachaiy was an infant, his father with liis wife and two children, emigrated to Kentucky, where he settled in the pathless wilderness, a few miles from Louisville. Li thisfront- %)^ ier home, away from civilization and I all its refinements, yjung Zachary could enjoy but few social and educational advan- tages. When six years of age he attended a common school, and was tlien regard>"d as a bright, active boy, ratlier remarkable for bluntness and decision of char- acter He was strong, feailess and self-reliant, and oianifested a strong desire to enter the army to fight the Lidians wlio were ravaging the frontiers. There is little to be recorded of the uneventful years of his childhood on his father's large but lonely plantation. In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for him the commission of lieutenant in the United States army ; and he joined the troops which were stationed at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after this he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady from one of the first families of Maryland. Lnmediately after the declaration of war with Eng- land, in 18 12, Capt. Taylor (for he had then been ])romoted to that rank) was put in command of Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles above Vincennes. This fort had been built in the wilder- ness by Gen. Harrison, on his march to Tippecanoe. It was one of the first points of attack by the Indians, ;ed by Tecumseh, Its garrison consisted of a broken company of infantry numbering fifty men, many of whom were sick. Eariy in the autumn of 18 12, the Indians, stealthily, and in large numbers, moved upon the fort. Tlieir approach was first indicated by the murder of two soldiers just outside of the stockade. Capt. Taylor made every possible preparation to meet the antici- pated assault. On the 4th of Septemi^er, a band of forty painted and plumed savages came to the fort, waving a white flag, and informed Capt. Taylor that in the morning their chief would come to have a talk with him. It was evident that their object was merely to ascertain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept them at a distance. The sun went down ; the savages disappeared, the garrison slept upon their arms. One hour before midnight the war whoop burst from a thousand lips in the forest around, followed by the discharge of musketry, and the rush of the foe. Every man, sick and well, sprang to his post. Every man knew that defeat was not merely death, but in the case of cap- ture, death by the most agonizing and prolonged tor- ture. No pen can describe, no immagination can conceive the scenes which ensued. Tiie savages suc- ceeded in setting fire to one of the block-houses- Until si.K o'clock in the morning, this awful conflict continued. The savages then, baffled at every point, and gnashing tlieir teeth witli rage, retired. Capt. Taylor, for this gallant defence, was promoted to the rank of major by brevet. Until the close of the war, MajorTaylor was placed in such situations that he saw but little more of active service. He was sent far away into the depths of the wilderness, to Fort Crawford, on Fox River, which empties into Green Bay. Here there was but little to be done but to wear away the tedious hours as one best could. There were no books, no society, no in- 64 ZACHARY TAYLOR tellecliial stimulus. Thus wilh hiui the uncveiUUil yeai"!; roUeil ou (.Iratiually he rose lo tlie r.uik of colonel. In the Black Fiawk war, which resulted in the capture of that renowned chieftain, Col Taylor took a subordinate Init a brave ami efticient part. I'or twenty-foi'.r ye.irs Col. Taylor was engaged in the defence of the tfontiers, in scenes so remote, and in employments so obscure, that his namew.is unknown beyond the limits of his own immediate acquaintance. In the ye.ir 1836, he was sent to Florida to compel the Seminole Indians to vacate that region and re- tire beyond the Mississippi, as their chiefi by treaty, \\vC promised they should do. The services rendered he e sectired for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of the Government; and as a reward, he was elevated tc he rank of brigaiiier-general by brevet ; and soon after, in May, 183S, was apix)inted lo the chief com- mand of '.he United States troo|>s in Florida. .\fier two years of such wearisome employment .'.midst the everglades of the peninsula, (ien. T.iylor obtained, at his own request, a change of command, .'.nd was stationed over the Department of the South- west. This field embraced Louisiana, Mississippi, -A.labama andCeorgia. Establishing his headquarters at Fort Jessuj), in Louisiana, he removed his family to a plantation which he purchased, near Baton Rogue. Here he remained for five years, buried, as it were, from the world, but faithfully discharging every duty imposed u|)on him. Tn 1.S46, (ien. Taylor was sent to guard the land between the Nueces and Rio (irande, the latter river being the boundary of Texas, which was then claimed by the United States. Soon the war with Me.xico was brought 0.1, and at Palo .\lto and Resaca de la Palma, Gen. Taylor won brilliant victories over the Mexicans. The rank of major-general by brevet was then conferred upon (ren. Taylor, and his name W..S received with enthusiasm almost everywhere in the Nation. Then came the battles of Monterey and B.iena Vista in which he won signal victories over forces much larger than he commanded His careless habits of dress and his unaffected "iiinplicity, secured for Gen. Taylor among his troops, l\\t sjhn'quff of "Old Rough and Ready.' Tne tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena Visla ■pre.id the wildest enthusiasm over the country. The name ol Cren. Taylor was on every one's liiis. The Whig party decided to t.ike advantage of this wonder- ful jiopularity in biinging forward the unpolished, un- ' ''od, honest soldier as their candidate for the I'residency. Gen. Taylor was astonished at the an- nouncement, and for a time would not listen to it; de- claring that he was notatal! qualified for such an office. So little interest had he taken in politics that, for forty years, he had not cast a vote. It was not without chagrin that several distinguished statesmen who had been long years in the public ser\Mce found •;..ir claims set aside in behalf of one whose name | h.id never been heard of, save in connection with Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista. It is said that Daniel Webster, in his haste re- marked, " It is a nominalion not fit to be made." Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a fine writer His friends took possession of him, and pre- [)ared such few communications as it was needful should be presented to the ijublic. The popularity of the successful warrior swept the land. He was tri- umphanlly elected over two oi)posing candidates, — (ien. Cass and Ex-President Martin Van Buren. Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the good old man found himself in a very uncongenial jX)sition, and was, at times, sorely per|)le.>;ed and harassed. His mental sufferings were very severe, and probably tended to hasten his death. The pro-slavery party was pushing its claims with tireless energy, expedi- tions were fitting out to capture Cuba ; California was ])leading for admission to the Union, while slavery stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. Taylor found the political conflicts in Washington to be far more trying to the nerves than battles with Mexicans or Indians In the midst of all these troubles, Gen. Taylor, after he had occupied the Presidential chair but little over a year, look cold, and after a brief sickness of but little over five days, died on the 9th t)f July, 1850. His last woids were, " I am not afraid to die. I am ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." He died universally respected and beloved. An honest, un- pretending man, he had been steadily growing in the affections of the people; and the Nation bitterly la- mented his death. Gen. Scott, who was thoroughly acquainted with Gen Taylor, gave the following graphic and tvutliful description of his character: — " A\'ith a good store of common sense. Gen. Taylor's mind had not been en- larged and refreshed by reading, or much converse wilh the world. Rigidity of ideas was the conse- quence. The frontiers and small military posts had been his home. Hence he was quite ignorant for his rank, and quite bigoted in his ignorance. His sim- |)licity was child-like, and with innumerable preju- dices, amusing and incorrigible, well suited to the tender age. Thus, if a man, however respectable, chanced to wear a coat of an unusual color, or his hat a little on one side of his head; or an officer to leave a corner of his handkerchief dangling from an out- side pocket, — in any such case, this critic held the offender to be a coxcomb (jierhaps something worse), whom he would not, to use his oft repeated jihrase, 'touch with a pair of tongs.' "Any allusion to literature beyond good old Dil- worth's s|5elling-l)ook, on the part of one wearing a sword, was evidence, with the same judge, of utter unfitness for heavy marchings and combats. In short few men li.rve ever had a more coinforta V~ >-'>-v/->i. s.iving contempt for l.Mrnirg of every kind. M --cu^^/^S J^. ^-'<^-i'-i^ ^ ^'MILLflRn FILLMHRE.^ ILLARD FILLMORE, thir- teenth President of the United States, was born at Summer Hill, Cayuga Co., X. Y ., on the 7th of Januarj-, 1800. His *^ father was a farmer, and ow- ing to misfortune, in humble cir- cumstances. Of his mother, tiic \ daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, : of Pittsfield, Mass., it has been said that she jxjssessed an intellect of very high order, united with much personal loveliness, sweetness of dis- position, graceful manners and ex- quisite sensibilities. She died in 1831 ; having lived to see her son a young man of distinguished prom- isre, though she was not permitted to witness the liigli dignity which he finally attained. In consequence of the secluded home ar.d limited means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender ad- vantages for education in his early years. The com- mon schools, ivhich he occasionally attended were ver)' imperfect institutions; and books were scarce and expensive. There was nothing then in his char- acter to indicate the brilliant career upon which he was about to enter. He was a plain fanner's boy ; intelligent, good-looking, kind-hearted. The sacred influences of home had taught him to revere the Bible, and had laid the foundations of an upright character. When fourteen years of age, his father sent him some hundred miles from home, to the theit wilds of Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. Near the mill there was a small villiage, where some enterprising man had commenced the collection of a village library. This proved an inestimable blessing to young Fillmore. His evenings were spent in read- ing Soon every leisure moment was occupied with books. His thirst for knowledge became insatiate and the selections which he made were continually more elevating and instructive. He read history, biography, oratory , and thus gradually there was en- kindled in his heart a desire to be something more than a mere worker with his hands; and lie was be- coming, almost unknown to himself, a well-informed, educated man. The young clothier had now attained the age of nineteen years, and was of fine personal appearance and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so happened tha'. there was a gentleman in the neighborhood of ample pecuniary means and of benevolence, — Judge Walter Wood, — who was struck with tlie prepossessing ap- pearance of young Fillmore. He made his acquaint- ance, and was so much impressed with his ability and attainments that he advised him to abandon his trade and devote himself to the study of the law. The young man replied, that he had no means of his own, 10 fnends to help him and that his previous educa- tion had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood had so much confidence in him that he kindly offered to take him into his own office, and to loan him such money as he needed. Most gratefully the generous offer was accepted. There is in many minds a strange delusion alx)ut a collegiate education. A )Oung man is supposed to be liberally educated if he has graduated at some col- lege. But many a Ixay loiters through university hal' • ind then enters a law office, who is by no means ar >;6 MILLARD FILLMORE. well prepared to prosecute his legal studies as was Millard Fillmore when he graduated at the clothing- mill at the end of four years of manual labor, during which es"ery leisure moment had been devoted to, in- tense mental culture. In 1823, when twenty-three years of age, he was admitted to the Court of Co-nmon Pleas. He then went to the village of Aurora, and commenced the practice of law. In this secluded, peaceful region, his practice of course was limited, and there was no opportunity for a sudden rise in fortune or in fame. Here, in the year 1826, he married a lady of great moral worth, and one capable of adorning any station she might be called to fill, — Miss Abigail Powers. His elevation of character, his untiring industry, his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advocate, gradually attracted attention , and he was invited to enter into partnership under highly advantageous circumstances, with an elder member of the bar in Buffalo. Just before removing to Buffalo, in 1829, he took his seat in the House of Assembly, of the State of New York, as a representative from Ejie County. Though he had never taken a very active part in politics, his vote and his sympathies were with the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, and he found himself in a helpless minority in the Legislature , still the testimony comes from all parties, Ihat his courtesy, ability and integrity, won, to a very unusual degri e the respect of his associates. In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a seat in the United States Congress He entered that troubled arena in some of tlie most tumultuous hours of our national history. The great conflict respecting the national bank and the removal of the deposits, was ihen raging. His term of two years closed ; and he returned to his profession, which he pursued with increasing rep- utation and success. After a lapse of two years he again became a candidate for Congress ; was re- elected, and took his seat in 1837. His past exjie- rience as a representative gave him stiength and confidence. The first term of service in Congress to any man can be but little more than an introduction.' He was now prepared for active duty. All his ener- gies were brought to bear upon the public good. Every measure received his impress. Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, and his popularity filled the State, and in the year 1847, he was elected Comptroller of the State- Mr. Fillmore had attained the age of forty-seven years. His labors at the bar, in the Legislature, in Congress and as Comptroller, had given him very con- siderable fame. The Whigs were casting about to find suitable candidates for President and Vice-Presi- dent at the approaching election. Far away, on the waters of the Rio Grande, there was a rough old soldier, who had fought one or two successful battles with the Mexicans, which had caused his name to be proclaimed in tiumpet-tones all over the land. But it was necessary to associate with him on the same ticket so;ne man of reputation as a statesman. Under the influence of these considerations, the namesofZachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore became the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their candidates for President and Vice-Peesident. The Whig ticket was signally triumphant. On the 4th of March, 1849, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated President, and Millard Fillmore Vice-President, of the United States. On the 9th of July, 1850, President Taylor, but about one year and four months after his inaugura tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the Con- stitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus became Presi- dent. He apix)inted a very^ able cabinet, of which the illustrious Daniel Webster was Secretary of State. Mr. Fillmore had very serious difficulties to contend with, since the opposition had a majority in both Houses. He did everything in his power to conciliate the South ; but the pro-slavery party in the South felt the inadequacy of all measuresof transient conciliation. The population of the free States was so rapidly in- creasing over that of the slave States that it was in- evitable that the power of the Government should soon pass into the hands of the free States. The famous compromise measures were adopted under Mr. Fillmore's adminstration, and the Japan Expedition was sent out. On the 4th of March, 1853, Mr. Fill- more, having served one tenn, retired. In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the Pres- idency by the " Know Nothing " party, but was beaten by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. Fillmore lived in retirement. During the terrible conflict of civil war, he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed that his sympathies were rather with those who were en- deavoring to overthrow our institutions. President Fillmore kept aloof from the conflict, without any cordial words of cheer to the one party or the other. He was thus forgotten by both. He lived to a ripe old age, and died in Buffalo. N. Y., March 8, 1874. c>^^ FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT. 71 ^fediffiaa ■ t^^i^&-^%^ ^" FRANKLIN FIERCE.'^ w^ .*aE e '■"^lilS . jp?c^ RANKLIN PIERCE, the g) f'oLirteenth President of the ' United States, was born in Hillsborough, N. H., Nov. 23, 1804. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, who, with his own strong arm, hewed out a !iome in the wilderness. He was a man of inflexible integrity; of strong, though uncultivated mind, and an uncompromis- ing Democrat. The mother of Franklin Pierce was all that a son could desire, — an intelligent, pru- dent, affectionate, Christian wom- an. Franklin was the sixth of eight children. Franklin was a very bright and handsome boy, gen- erous, warm-hearted and brave. He won alike the love of old and young. The boys on the play ground loved him. His teachers loved him. The neighbors looked upon him with pride and affection. He was by instinct a gentleman; always speakingkind words, doing kind deeds, with a peculiar unstudied tact which taught him what was agreeable. Without de- veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural devotion to bDoks, he was a good scholar; in body, in mind, in affections, a finely-developed boy. When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me He was one of the most ]K)pular young men in the college. The purity cf his moral character, the unvarying courtesy of bis demeanor, his rank as a scholar, and genial nature, rendered him a universal favorite. There was something very peculiarly winning in his address, and it was evidently not in the slightest de- gree studied : it was the simple outgushing of his own magnanimous and loving nature. Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Woodbury, one of the most distinguished lawyers of the State, and a man of great private worth. The eminent social qualities of* the young lawyer, his father's prominence as a public man, and the brilliant political career into which Judge Woodbury was en- tering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce into the faci- nating yet perilous path of political life. With all the ardor of his nature he espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson for the Presidency. He commenced the practice of law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected to represent the town in the State Legislature. Here he served for four yeais. The last two years he was chosen speaker of the house by a very large vote. In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected a member of Congress. Without taking an active part in debates, he was faithful and laborious in duty and ever rising in the estimation of those with whom he was associatad. In 1837, being then but thirty-three years of age, he was elected to the Senate of the United States; taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren commenced his administration. He was the youngest member in the Senate. In the year 1834, he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a lady of rare beauty and accom- |)lishments, and one admirably fitted to adorn every Station with which her husband was honoicd, Of the r- tRANKLIN FIERCE. three sons who were bom to them, all now sleep with their parents in the grave. \\\ the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing fame and increasing business as a lawyer, took up his residence in Concord, tlie capital of New Hampshire. President Polk, upon his accession to office, appointed Mr. I'ierce attorney-general of the United .States ; but the offer was declined, in consequence of numerous professional engagements at home, and the precariuos state of Mrs. Pierce's healtli. He also, about the same time declined the nomination for governor by the Democratic party. The war with Mexico called Mr. Pierce in the army. Receiving the appointment of brigadier-general, he embarked, with a portion of his troops, at Newport, R. I., on the 27th of May, 1847. He took an important part in tjiis war, proving him- self a brave and true soldier. When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his native State, he was received enthusiastically by the advo- cates of the Mexican war, and coldly by his oppo- nents. He resumed the practice of his profession, very frequently taking an active part in political ques- tions, giving his cordial su[)port to the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party. The compromise measures met cordially with his approval; and he strenuously advocated the enforcement of the infa- mous fugitive-slave law, whicli so shocked tjie religious sensibilities of the North. He thus became distin- guished as a "Northern man with Southern principles.'' 'J'lie strong partisans of slavery in the South conse- quently regarded him as a man whom they could •afely trust in office to carry out their plans. On the I 2th of June, 1852, the Democratic conven- tion met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the Presidency. For four days they continued in session, c^nd in thirty-five ballotings no one had obtained a two-thirds vote. Not a vote thu; far had been thrown for Gen. Pierce. Then the Virginia delegation brought forward his name. Tiiere were fourteen more ballotings, during which Gen. Pierce constantly gained strength, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, he received two hundred and eighty-two votes, and all other candidates eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was the Whig candidate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with great unanimity. Only four States — Vermont, Mas- sachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee — cast their electoral votes against him (ien. Franklin Pieice was therefore inaugurated President of the United States on the 4th of March, 1853. His administration proved one of the most stormy our cour.try had ever experienced. The controversy be tween slaveiy and freedom was then approaching its culminating point. It became evident that there was an " irrepressible conflict " between them, and that this Nation could not long exist " half slave and half free." President Pierce, during the whole of his ad- ministration, did every thing he could to conciliate the South ; but it was all in vain. The conflict every year grew more violent, and threats of the dissolution of the Union were borne to the North on every South- ern breeze. Such was tlie condition of affairs when President Pierce approached the close of his four-years' term of office. The North had become thoroughly alien- ated from him. The anti-slavery sentiment, goaded by great outrages, had been rapidly increasing; all the intellectual ability and social worth of President Pierce were forgotten in deep reprehension of his ad- ministrative acts. The slaveholders of the South, also, unmindful of the fidelity with which he had advo- cated ti'.ose measures of Government which they ajv proved, and perhaps, also, feeling that he had rendered himself so unpopular as no longer to be able acceptably to serve them, ungratefully dropped him, and nominated James Buchanan to succeed him. On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce re- tired to his home in Concord. Of three children, two had died, and his only surviving child had been killed before his eyes by a railroad accident ; and his wife, one of the most estimable and accomplished of ladies, was rapidly sinking in consumption. The hour of dreadful gloom soon came, and he was left alone in the world, without wife or child. When the terrible Rebellion burst forth, which di- vided our country into two parties, and two only, Mr. Pieice remained steadfast in the principles which he had always cherished, and gave his sympathies to that pro-slavery party with which he had ever been allied. He declined to do anything, either by voice or pen, to strengthen the hand of the National Gov- ernment. He continued to reside in Concord until the time of his death, which occurred in October, 1869. He was one of the most genial and social of men, an honored communicant of the P>piscopai Church, and one of the kindest of neighbors. Gen erous to a fault, he contiil)uted liberally for the al- leviation of suffering and want, and many of his towns people were often gladened by his material bounty. ~* -m^ ^a?^gg^-^^t^■iS'.^S^l?3S'■^[^t^<^l^.^-'5^■'^'X'■^l^••''^i5^'ig^t^'^'^«^'g^ 'g^t^^'^'^itggit^ta^'i^'^'^t^'^'.' ■' :>>■< '■ '''■'iv'i^^c^i^i^iSiiifSS'as^i.^i^cm'iSi,-' m^ «« ->-♦ •"*- >»» AMES BUCHANAN, the fif- teenth President of the United Jj" States, was born in a small frontier town, at the foot of the ■^ eastern ridsie of the Allegha- nies, in Franklin Co., Penn., on the 23d of April, 1791. The ;?lace where the humble cabin of his father sti'od was called Ston)' Batter. It was a wild and ro- mantic spot in a gorge of the moun- tains, with towering summits rising grandly all around. His father was a •".ative of the north of Ireland ; a poor man, who had emigrated in 783, with little property save his own strong arms. Five years afterwards he married Elizabeth Spear, the daughter of a respectable farmer, and, with his young bride, plunged into the wilder- ness, staked his claim, reared his log-hut, opened a clearing with his axe, and settled down there to per- form his obscure part in the drama of life. In this se- cluded home, where James was borji, he remained for eight years, enjoying but few social or intellectual advantages. When James was eight years of age, his father removed to the village of Mercersburg, where l.is son was placed at school, and commenced a course of study in English, Latin and Greek. His progress was rapid, and at the age of fourteen, he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle. Here he de veloped remarkable talent, and took his stand among the first scholars in the institution. His application to study was intense, and yet his native powers en- abled him to master the most abstruse subjects wi '- facility. In the year 1809, he graduated with the highest honors of his clasL. He was then eighteen years of age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health, fond of athletic sport, an unerring shot, and enlivened with an exuberant flow of animal spirits. He immediately commenced the study of law in the city of Lancaster, and was admitted to the bar in 1812, when he was Init tvvent}'-one years of age. Very rapidly he rose in his profession, and at once took undisputed stand with the ablest lawyers of the State. When but twenty-six years of age, unaided by counsel, he suc- cessfully defended before the State Senate ore of tiie judges of the State, who was tried upon articles of impeachment. At the age of thirty it was generally admitted that he stood at the he.^d of the bar; and there was no lawyer in the State who had a more lu- crative practice. In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a candidate for Congress. He was elected, and for ten years he remained a member of the Lower House. During tlie vacations of Congress, he occasionally tried some important case. In 1831, he retired altogether from the toils of his iirofession, having ac- ijuired an ample fortune. Gen. Jackson, upon his elevation to the Presidency, appointed Mr. Buchanan minister to Russia. The duties of his mission he performed with ability, which gave satisfaction to all parties. Upon his return, in r 833, he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate. He there met, as his associates, V/eLster. Clay, Wright and Calhoun. He advocated tb.e meas- ures proposed by President Jackson, of niifc/ng repri- 76 JAMES BUCHANAN. sals against France, to enforce the payment of our claims against that country; and defended the course of the President in his unprecedented and wholesale removal from office of tiiose who were not tiie sup- porters of his adininistralion. Upon this question he was brought into direct collision with Henry Clay. He also, with voice and vote, advocated expunging from the journal of the Sjnate the vote of censure against CJen. Jackson for removing the deposits. Earnestly he op|)osed the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and urged tiie prohibition of the circulation of anti-slavery documents bv the United States mails. As to petitions on the subject of slavery, he advo- cated that they should be respectfully received; and that tiie reply should be returned, tliat Congress had no iKJwer to legislate upon the subject. ' Congress," said he, "might as well undertake to interfere with slavery under a foreign government as in any of the States where it now exists." U|)on Mr. I'olk's accession to the Presidency, Mr. Buchanan became Secretary of State, and as such, took his share of the responsibility in the conduct of the Mexican War. Mr. I'olk assumed that crossing the Nueces l)y the American troops into the disputed territory was not wrong, inil for the Mexicans to cross the Rio C.rande into that territory was a declafation of war. No candid man can read with pleasure the account of tlie course our Government pursued in that movement Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly with the party devoted to tlie pi^rpetuation and extension of slavery, and brought all the energies of his mind to bear against the U'ilmot Proviso. He gave his cordial approval to the compromise measures of 1S50, which included the fugitive-slave law. Mr. Pierce, upon his election to the Presidency, honored Mr! Buchanan with the mission to England. In the year 1856, a national Democratic conven- tion nominated Mr. Buchanan for the Presidency. The political conflict was one of the most severe in which oar country has ever engaged. .\11 the friends of slavery were on one side; all the advocates of its re- striction and final abolition, on the other. Mr. Fre- mont, the candidate of the enemies of slaveiy, re- reived 114 electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received 174, and was elected. The popular vote stood 1,340,618, for Fremont, 1,224,750 for Buchanan. On March 4th, 1857, Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated. Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only four vears were wanting to fill up his threescore years and ten. His own friends, those with whom he had been allied in political i)rincii)les and action for years, were sacking the destruction of the Government, that they might rear upon the ruins of our free institutions a nation whose corner-stone should be human slavery. In this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hopelessly be- wildered He could not, with his long-avowed prin- j ciples, consistently oppose the State-rights party in their assumptions. As President of the United States,' bound by his oath faithfully to administer the laws.' he could not, without perjury of the grossest kind, unite witii those endeavoring to overthrow the repub- lic. He therefore did notliing. The opponents of Mr. Buchanan's administration nominaied Abraham Lincoln as their standard bearer in the next Presidential canvass. The pro-slavery party declared, that if he were elected, and the con- trol of the Government were thus taken from their hands, they would secede from the Union, taking with them, as they retired, the National Capitol at Washington, and the lion's share of the territory of the United States. Mr. Buchanan's sympathy with the pro-slaverj' party was such, that he had been willing to offerthem far more than they had ventured to claim. All the South had professed to ask of the North was non- intervention ufx)n the subject of slavery. Mr. Bu- chanan had been ready to offer them the active co- operation of tlie Government to defend and extend the institution. As the storm increased in violence, the slaveholders claiming the right to secede, and Mr. Buchanan avow- ing that Congress had no power to prevent it, one of tiie most [litiable exhibitions of governmental im- becility was exhibited the world has ever seen. He declared that Congress had no power to enforce its laws in any State which had withdrawn, or which was atlenipting to withdraw from the Union. 7^his was not the doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with his hand upon his sword hilt, he exclaimed, "The Union must and shall be preserved!" South Carolina seceded in December, x86o; nearly three months before the inauguration of President Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in listless despair. The rebel flag was raised in Chadeston ; FortSumpter was he-ieged ; our forts, navy-yards and arsenals were seized ; our depots of military stores were plun- dered ; and our custom-houses and [xjst-offices were ajiiiropriated by the rebels. The energy of the rebels, and the imbecility of our Executive, were alike marvelous. The Nation looked on in agony, waiting for the slow weeks to glide away, and close the administration, so terrible in its weak- ness At length the long-looked-for hour of deliver- ance came, when Abraham Lincoln was to receive the scepter. The administration of President Buchanan was certainly the most calamitous our country has ex- perienced. His best friends cannot recall it with pleasure. And still more deplorable it is for his fame, that in that dreadful conflict which rolled Its billows of flame and blood over our whole land, no word came from his lips to indicate his wish that our country's banner should triumph over the flag of the rebellicir. He died at his Wheatland retreat, June i, 1868. ^^ c^ G^X^CS^^T^ SIXTEENTH FRES/DENT. ABRAHAM > gi»f !©[>< I10R>C1IS : 4 >; i LINCOLN. > i BRAHAM LINCOLN, the sixteenth President of the ^United States, was born in Hardin Co., Ky., Feb. 12, i8og. About the year 1780, a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln left Virginia with iiis family and moved into the theji wilds of Kentucky. Only two years after this emigration, still a young man, while working one day in a field, was stealthily appro:;ched I))' an Indian and shot dead. His widow was left in extreme poverty with five little children, three boys and two girls. Thomas, the youngest of the boys, was fcuir years of age at his father's death. This Thomas was the father of Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States 'hose name must henceforth fo'^ever be enrolled fiih the most prominent in the annals of our world. Of coarse no record has lieen kept of the life f one so lowly as Thomas Lincoln. He was among lie poorest of the poor. His home was a wretched jg -cabin; his food the coarsest and the meanest. Education he had none; he could never either read r write. As soon as he was able to do anything for imself, he was compelled to leave the cabin of his tarving mother, and [jush out into the world, a friend- iss, wandering boy, seeking work. He hired him- elfout, and thus spent the whole of his youth as a .borer in the fields of others. \Vhen twenty-eight years of age he built a log- abin of his own, and married Nancy Hanks, the aughter of another family of poor Kentucky emi- rants, who had also come from Virginia. Their econd child was Abraham Lincoln, the subject of liis sketch. The mother of Abraham was a noble 'Oman, gentle, loving, pensive, created to adorn palace, doomed to toil and pine, and die in a hovel. All that I am, or hope to be," exclaims the grate- ul son " I owe to my angel-mother. When he was eight years of age, his father sold his cabin and small farm, and moved to Indiana, Where two years later his mother died. Abraham soon became the scribe of the uneducated community around him. He could not have had a better school than tiiis to teach him to put thoughts into words. He also became an eager reader. The books he could obtain were few ; but these he read and re-read until they were almost committed to memory. As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly family was the usual lot of humanity. There were joys and griefs, weddings atid funerals. Abraham's sistei Sarah, to whom he was tenderly attached, was mar- ried when a child of but fourteen years of age, and soon died. The family was gradually scattered. Mr. Thomas Lincoln sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, and emigrated to Macon Co., 111. Abraham Lincoln was then twenty-one years of age. With vigorous hands he aided his father in rearing another log-cabin. Abraham worked diligently at this until he saw the family comfortably settled, and thei> small lot of enclosed prairie planted with corn, when he announced to his father his intention to leave home, and to go out into the world and seek his for- tune. Little did he or his friends imagine how bril- liant that fortune was to be. He saw the value oi education and was intensely earnest to improve his mind to the utmost of his power. He saw the ruin which ardent spirits were causing, and became strictly temperate; refusing to allow a drop of intoxi- cating liquor to pass his lips. And he had read irv God's word, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;" and a profane expression ha was never heard to utter. Religion he revered. His morals were pure, and he was uncontaminated by a single vice. Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired laborei among the farmers. Then he went to Springfield, where he was employed in building a large flat-boat. In this he took a herd of swine, floated them dowi\ the Sangamon to the Illinois, and thence by the Mis- sissippi to New Orleans. Whatever Abraham I,in- coln undertook, he performed so faithfully as to give great satisfaction to his employers. In this adveU' &0 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ture liis emplayeis were so well pleased, that upon his return tney placed a store and mill under his care. In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk war; he enlisted and was chosen captain of a company. He returned to Sangamon County, and although only 23 years of age, was a candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated. He soon after received from Andrew Jackson the appointmentof Postmaster of New Salem, His only post-office was his hat. All the letters he received he carried there ready to deliver to those he chanced to meet. He studied surveying, and soon made this his business. In 1834 he again became a candidate for the Legislature, and was elected Mr. Stuart, of Springlield, advised him to study law. He walked from New Salem to Spriiigfield, borrowed of Mr. Stuart a load of books, carried them back and began his legal studies. When the Legislature as- sembled he trudged on foot with his pack on his back one hundred miles to Vandalia, then the capital. In 1836 he was re-elected to the Legislature. Here it was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 he re- moved to Springfield and began tlie practice of law. His success with the jury was so great that he was soon engaged in almost every noted case in the circuit. In 1854 Ihe great discussion began between Mr. Lincoln and Mr, Douglas, on the slavery question. In the organization of the Republican party in Illinois, in 1856, he took an active part, and at once became one of the leaders in that party. Mr. Lincoln's speeches in opposition to Senator Douglas in the con- test in 1858 for a seat in the Senate, form a most notable part of his history. The issue was on the ilavery question, and he took the broad ground of .he Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal. Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this con- test, but won a far higher prize. The great Republican Convention met at Chicago on the r6th of June, i860. The delegates and strangers who crowded the city amounted to twenty- five thousand. An immense building called "The Wigwam," was reared to accommodate tlie Conven- tion. There were eleven candidates for whom votes were thrown. William H. Seward, a man wliose fame as a statesman had long filled the land, was the most orominent. It was generally supposed he would be the nominee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received the nomination on the third ballot. Little did lie tiien dream of the weary years of toil and care, and the bloody death, to which that nomination doomed him: and aslittle did he dream that he was to render services to his country, which would fi.x upon him the eyes of the whole civilized world, and which would give him a place in the affections of his countrymen, second cnly, if second, to that of Washington. Election day came and Mr. Lincoln received 180 electoral votes out of 203 cast, and was, therefore, constitutionally elected President of the United States.' The tirade of abuse that vas poured upon this good and merciful man, especially by the slaveholders, was greater than upon any other man ever elected to this high position. In February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln started for Washington, stopi-ing in all the large cities on his way making speeches. The whole journey was frought with much danger. Many of the Southern States had already seceded, and several attempts at assassination were afterwards brought to light. A gang in Balti- more had arranged, upon his arrival to "get up a row," and in the confusion to make sure of his death with revolvers and hand-grenades. A detective unravelled the plot. A secret and special train was ijrovided to take him from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected hour of the night. The train started at halt-past ten ; and to prevent any possible communi- cation on the part ot the Secessionists with their Con- federate gang in Baltimore, as soon as the train had started the telegraph-wires were cut. Mr. Lincoln reached Washington in safety and was inaugurated although great an.xiety was felt by all loyal people In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave to Mr Seward the Department of State, and to other prominent opponents before the convention he save lnnx)rtant positions. During no other administration have the duties devolving upon the President been so manifold, and the responsibilities so great, as those which fell to the lot of President Lincoln. Knowing this, and feeling Ins own weakness and inability to meet and in his own strength to cope with, the difficulties, he learned early to seek Divine wisdom and guidance in determining his plans, and Divine comfort in all his trials, bo»h personal and national. Contrary to his own estimate of himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the most courageous of men. He went directly into the rebel capital just as the retreating foe was leaving with no guard but a few sailors. >rom the time he had left Springfield, in i86r, however, plans had been made for his assassination.and he at last fell a victim to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, with Gen. Grant, was urgently invited to attend Fords' Theater It was announced that they would Le present Gen Grant, however, left the city. President Lincoln, feell ing, witli his characteristic kindliness of heart, that It would be a disappointment if he should fail 'them very reluctantly consented to go. While listening to the play an actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth entered the box where the President and family were seated, and fired a bullet into his brains. He died the next morning at seven o'clock. Never before, in the history of the world was a nation plunged into such deep grief by the death of its ruler Strong men met in the streets and wept in speechless anguish. It IS not too much to say tliat a nation was in tears. His was a life which will fitly become a modeh His name as the savior of his country v-ll hve \yith that of Washington's, its father; hisco-'ntry- men being unable to decide whi.h is tKp greater '-='^^^^:^tiS2>t^ S£ VE.VTl^lENni J>JiE6/L>EA T. »3 NDRRVV JOHNSON, seven- teenth President of the United States. The early life of Andrew Johnson contains but the record of poverty, destitu- tion and friendlessness. He was born December 29, 180S, in Raleigh, N. C. His parents, belonging to the class or the "poor whites " of the South, -^'ere in such circumstances, that they could not confer even the slight- est advantages of education upon their child. When Andrew was five years of age, his father accidentally lost nis life while herorically endeavoring to save a friend from drowning. Until ten years of age, Andrew was a ragged boy about the streets, supporled by the iabor of his mother, who obtained her living with her own hands. He then, having never attended a school one day, and being unable either to read or write, was ap- prenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gentleman was in the liabit of going to the tailor's shop occasion- ally, and reading to the boys at work there. He often read from the speeches of distinguished British states- men. Andrew, who was endowed with a mind of more than ordinary native ability, became much interested in these speeches; his ambition was roused, and he was inspired with a strong desire to learn to read. He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, and with the assistance of some of his fellow- workmen, iearned his letters. He then called upon the gentle- man to borrow the book of speeches. The owner. pleased with his zeal, not only gave him the book but assisted him in learning to combine the letters into words. Under such difficulties he pressed oi. ward laboriously, spending usually ten or twelve hours at work in the sliop, and then robbing himself of rest and recreatior to devote such time as he could to reading. He went to Tennessee in 1826, and located 3.t Greenville, where he married a young lady who pos sessed some education. Under her instructions he learned to write and cipher. He became prominent in the village debating society, and a favorite with the students of Greenville College. In 1828, he or- ganized a working man's party, which elected him alderman, and in 1830 elected him mayor, which position he held three years. He now began to take a lively interest in political affairs; identifying himself with the working-classes, to which lie belonged. In 1835, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of Tennes- see. He was then just twenty-seven years of age. He became a very active rnember of the legislature, gave his adhesion to the Democratic party, and in r84o "stumped the State," advocating Martin Van Buren's claims to the Presidency, in opposition to thos^ of Gen. Harrison. In this campaign he acquired much readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased his reputation. In 1841, he was elected State Senator; in 1843, he was elected a member of Congress, and by successive elections, held that important post for ten years. In 1853, he was elected Governor of Tennessee, and was re-elected in 1855. In all these resiionsible |)osi- tions, he discharged his duties with distinguished abi. 84 ANDRE W JOHNSON. ity, and proved himself the warm friend of the work- ing classes. In 1857, Mr. Johnson was elected United States Senator. Years before, in 1S45, he had warmly advocated the annexation of Texas, stating however, as his reason, that he thought this annexation would prob- ably prove " to be the gateway out of which the sable sons of Africa are to pass from bondage to freedom, and become merged in a population congenial to themselves." In 1850, he also supported the com- promise measures, the two essential features of which were, that the white people of the Territories should be permitted to decide for themselves whether they would enslave tlie colored people or not, and that the *'ree States of the North should return to the South persons who attempted to escape from slavery. Mr. Johnson was neverasharaedof his lowly origin: on the contrary, he often took pride in avowing that he owed his distinction to his own exertions. "Sir,'" said he on the floor of the Senate, " I do not forget that I am a mechanic ; neither do I forget that Adam was a tailor and sewed fig-leaves, and that our Sav- ior was the son of a carpenter." In the Charleston-Baltimore convention of iSuo, ne vas the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for the Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of the South- irn Democracy became apparent, he took a decided stand in favor of the Union, and held that " slavery must be held subordinate to the Union at whatever cost." He returned to Tennessee, and repeatedly imperiled his own life to protect the Unionists of Tennesee. Tennessee having seceded from the Union, President Lincoln, on Marcli 4th, 1862, ap- pointed him Military Governor of the State, and he established the most stringent military rule. His numerous proclamations attracted wide attention. In 1864, he was elected Vice-President of the United States, and upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, TS65, became President. In a speech two days later he said, " The American people must be taught, if they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and must be punished ; that the Government will not always bear with its enemies ; that it is strong not only to protect, but to punish. * * The people must understand that it (treason) is the blackest of crimes, and will surely be punished." Yet his whole administration, the history of which is so well known, was in utter icwonsistency with, and the most violent opposition to. the principles laid down in that speech. In his loose policy of reconstruction and general amnesty, he was opposed by Congress ; and he char- acterized Congress as a new rebellion, and lawlessly defied it, in everythmg possible, to the utmost. In the beginning of 1868, on account of "high crimes and misdemeanors," the principal of which was the removal of Secretary Stanton, in violation of the Ten- ure of Office Act, articles of impeachment were pre- ferred against him, and the trial began March 23. It was very tedious, continuing for nearly three months. A test article of the impeachment was at length submitted to the court for its action. It was certain that as the court voted upon that article so would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices pronounced the President guilty. As a two-thirds vote was neces- sary to his condemnation, he was pronounced ac- quitted, notwithstanding the great majority against him. The change of one vote from the not guilty side would have sustained the impeachment. The President, for the remainder of his term, was but little regarded. He continued, though impotent!;', his conflict with Congress. His own party did not think it expedient to renominate him for the Presi- dency. The Nation rallied, with enthusiasm unpar- alleled since the days of Washington, around the name of Gen. Grant. Andrew Johnson was forgotten. The bullet of the assassin introduced him to the President's chair. Notwithstanding this, never was tliere presented to a man a better opportunity to im- mortalize his name, and to win the gratitude of a nation. He failed utterly. He retired to his home in Greenville, Tenn., taking no very active part in politics until 1875 On Jan. 26, after an exciting struggle, he was chosen by the Legislature of Ten- nessee, United States -Senator in the forty-fourth Con- gress, and took his seat in that body, at the speciai session convened by President Grant, on the 5th of March. On the 27th of July, 1875, the e.x-President made a visit to his daughter's home, near Carter Station, Tenn. When he started on his journey, he was apparently in his usual vigorous health, but on reach- ing the residence of his child the following day, was stricken with paralysis, rendering him unconscious. He rallied occasionally, but finally passed away at 2 .\. M., July 31, aged sixty-seven years. His fun- eral was attended at Geenville, on the 3d of August, with every demonstration of respect '/^ (2 .::f EIGH IKENTII PRESIDENT. h ^^/s^f^^K®m^j^^^ ^^^^^rm^®^r^^:k^^^ LYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth President of the United States, was bom on the 29th of April, 1822, of Christian parents, in a humble "^ home, at Point Pleasant, on the banks of the Ohio. Shortly after his father moved to George- town, Brown Co., O. In this re- mote frontier hamlet, Ulysses received a common-school edu- cation. At the age of seven- teen, in the year 1839, he entered the Military Academy at West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid, sensible young man of fair abilities, and of sturdy, honest character. He took respectable rank as a scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated, about the middle in his class, and was sent as lieutenant of in- fantry to one of the distant military posts in the Mis- souri Territory. Two years he past in these dreary solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasperating Indians. The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was .5ent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His first battle was at Palo Alto. There was no chance here for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at Resacade la Palma, his second battle. At the battle of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that lie performed a signal service of daring and skillful horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its am- munition. A messenger must be sent for more, along .1 route exposed to the bullets of the foe. Lieut. Grant, adopting an expedient learned of the Indians, grasped the mane of his horse, and hanging ujxin one side of the aninvil, ran the gauntlet in entire safety. From Monterey he was sent, with the fourth infantry, 10 aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of Vera Cruz. In preparation for the march to the city of Mexico, he was appointed quartermaster of his regiment. At the battle of Molino del Rey, he was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at Cha- pultepec. At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant re- turned with his regiment to New York, and was again sent to one of the military posts on the frontier. The discovery of gold in California causing an immense tide of emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. Grant was sent with a battalion to Fort Dallas, in Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the im- migrants. Life was wearisome in those wilds. Capt. Grant resigned his commission and returned to the States; and having married, entered upon the cultiva- tion of a small farm near St. I^uis, Mo. He had but little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil not re- munerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into the leather business, with a younger brother, at Ga- lena, 111. This was in the year i860. As the tidings of the rebels firing on Fort Sumpter reached the ears of Capt. Grant in his counting-room, he said, — " Uncle Sam has educated me for the army ; though I have served him through one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready to discharge my obligations. I shall therefore buckle on my sword and see Uncle Sam through this war too." He went into the streets, raised a company of vol- unteers, and led them as their captain to Springfield, the capital of the State, where their services were offered to Gov. Yates. The Governor, impressed by the zeal and straightforward executive ability of Ca])t. Grant, gave him a desk in his office, to assist in the volunteer organization that was being formed in the State in behalf of the Government. On the 15th ol 88 ULYSSES S. GRANT. June, 1 86 1, Capt. Grant received a commission as Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Vol- unteers. His merits as a West Point graduate, who had served for 15 years in the regular army, were such that he was soon promoted to the rank of Brigadier- General and was placed in command at Cairo. The rebels raised their banner at Paducah, near the mouth of the Tennessee River. Scarcely had its folds ap- peared in the breeze ere Gen. Grant was there. The rebels fled. Their banner fell, and the star and stripes were unfurled in its stead. He entered the service with great determination and immediately began active duty. This was the be- ginning, and until the surrender of Lee at Richmond he was ever pushing tlie enemy with great vigor and effectiveness. At Belmont, a few days later, he sur- prised and routed the rebels, then at Fort Henry won another victory. Then came tlie brilliant fight at Fort Donelson. The nation was electrified by the victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was immediately made a M.njor-General, and the military iistrict of Tennessee was assigned to him. Like all great captains. Gen. Grant knew well liow to secure the results of victory. He immediately Dushed on to the enemies' lines. Then came the terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. Pemberton made an unconditional surrender of the city with over thirty thousand men and one-hundred and seventy-two can- non. The fall of "Vicksburg was by far the most severe blow whicli the rebels had thus far encountered, and opened up the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf. Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and pro- ceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown from his horse, and received severe injuries, from which he was laid up for months. He then rushed tc the aid of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas at Chattanooga, and by a v/onderful series of strategic and technical meas- ures put the Union Army in fighting condition. Then followed the bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels were routed with great loss. This won for him un- bounded praise in the North. On the 4th of Febru- ary, 1864, Congress revived the grade of lieutenant- general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. He repaired to Washington to receive his credentials and enter upon \h<^ duties of his new office Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took charge of ihe army to concentrate the widely-dispersed National troops for an attack upon Richmond, the nominal capital of the Rebellion, and endeavor there to de- stroy the rebel armies which would be promptly as- sembled from all quarters for its defence. The whole continent seemed to tremble under the tramp of these majestic armies, rushing to the decisive battle field. Steamers were crowded with troops. Railway trains were burdened with closely packed thousands. His plans were comprehensive and involved a series of campaigns, which were executed with remarkable en- ergy and ability, and were consummated at the sur- render of Lee, April 9, 1865. The war was ended. The Union was saved. The almost unanimous voice of the Nation declared Gen. Grant to be the most prominent instrument in its sal- vation. The eminent services he had thus rendered the country brought him conspicuously forward as the Republican candidate for the Presidential chair. At the Republican Convention held at Chicago. May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the Presidency, and at the autumn election received a majority of the popular vote, and 214 out of 294 electoral votes. The National Convention of the Republican party whichmet at Philadelphia on the 5th of June, 1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a second term by a unanimous vote. The selection was emphati- cally indorsed by the people five months later, 292 electoral votes being cast for him. Soon after the close of his second term, Gen. Grant started upon his famous trip around the world. He visited almost every country of the civilized world, and was everywhere received with such ovations and demonstrations of respect and honor, private as well as public and official, as were never before bestowed upon any citizen of the United States. He was the most prominent candidate before the Republican National Convention in 1880 for a re- nomination for President. He went to New York and embarked in the brokerage business under the firm nameof Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villain, wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was sent to the penitentiary. The General was attacked with cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic-like manner, never complaining. He was re-instated as General of the Army and retired by Congress. The cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, the nation went in mourning over the death of the illustrious General. 5 c--"^^^^ ^ NINETEENTH PRESIDENT. 9> RUTHERrOHD ®. HiS^YgS. '^t^'^t^'^'ggittga'^'^tiga'ii^'igi'-.-v .■,.., ;.'as»t?j^'t^'tfa;'ta^t;^>gg'(g^^t^t^i^<:^ta5' UTHERFORD B. HAYES, ■ ^ the nineteenth President of 1^ the United States, was born in Delaware, O., Oct. 4, 1822, al- most three months after the death of his father, Rutherford Hayes. His ancestry on both the paternal and maternal sides, was of the most honorable char- acter. It can be traced, it is said, as far back as 1280, when Hayes and Rutherford were two Scottish chief- tains, fighting side by side with Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. Both families belonged to the nobility, owned extensive estates, and had a large following. Misfor- rane ovwcaking the family, George Hayes left Scot- land in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His sou George wat born in Windsor, and remained there during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, mar- ried Sarah L.;e, and lived from the time of his mar- riage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufac- turer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel aiid grandfather of President Hayes, was born in New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a farmer, blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He emigrated to Vermont at an uirknown date, settling in Brattleboro, where he established a hotel. Here his son Ruth- erford Hayes the father of President Hayes, was born. He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors emi- grated thither from Connecticut, they having been among the wealthiest and best famlies of Norwich. Her ancestry on the male side are traced back to 1635, to John Birchard, one of the principal founders of Norwich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. The father of President Hayes was an industrious frugal and opened-hearted man. He was of a me- chanical turn, and could mend a plow, knit a stock, ing, or do almost anything else that he choose to undertake. He was a member of the Church, active in all the benevolent enterprises of the town, and con- ducted his business on Christian principles. After the close of the war of 181 2, for reasons inexplicable to his neighbors, he resolved to emigrate to Ohio. The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day when there were no canals, steamers, not railways, was a very serious affair. A tour of inspection was first made, occupying four months. Mr. Hayes deter mined to move to Delaware, where the family arrived in 1817. He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial fever, less than three months before the birth of the son, of whom we now write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore be- reavement, found the support she so much needed in her brother Sardis, who had been a member of the household from the day of its departure from Ver~ mont, and in an orphan girl whom she had adopted some time before as an act of charity. Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, and the 92 RUTHERFORD B. HA YES. subject of this sketch was so feeble at birth that he was not expected to live beyond a month or two at most. As the months went by he grew weaicer and weaker, so that the neighbors were in the habit of in- quiring from time to time " if Mrs. Hayes' baby died last night.' On one occasion a neighbor, who was on famiHar terms with the family, after alluding to the boy's big head, and the mother's assiduous care of nim, said in a bantering way, '• That's right! Stick to him. You iiave got him along so far, and I shouldn't wonder if he woald really come to something yet." "You need not laugh," said Mrs. Hayes. "You vait and see. You can't tell but I shall make him President of the United States yet." The boy lived, in spite of the universal jiredictions of his speedy death; and when, in 1825, his older brother was drowned, he became, if possible, still dearer to his mother. The boy was seven years old before he w<;nt to school. His education, however, was not neglected. He probably learned as much from his mother and i'.ster as he would have done at school. His sports were almost wholly within doors, his playmates being his sister and her associates. These circumstances tended, no doubt, to foster that gentleness of dispo- sition, and that delicate consideration for the feelings of others, which are marked traits of his character. His uncle Sardis Birchard took the deepest interest in his education ; and as the boy's health had im- proved, and he was making good progress in his studies, he proposed to send him to college. His pre- paration commenced with a tutor at home; bit he was afterwards sent for one year to a professor in the Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn. He en- tered Kenyon College in 18,58, at the age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head of his class in 1842. Immediately after his graduation he began the study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, Esq., in Columbus. Finding his opportunities for study in Columbus somewhat limited, he determined to enter theLaw School at Cambridge, Mass., where he re- mained two years. In 1845, after graduatmg at the Law School, he was admitted to the bar at Marietta, Ohio, and shortly afterward went into practice as an attor;iey-at-law with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fremont. Here he re- mained three years, acquiring but a limited practice, andapparently unambitious of distinction in his pro- fession. In 1849 he moved to Cincmnati, where his ambi- tion found a new stimulus. For several years, how- ever, his progress was slow. Two events, occurring at this period, had a powerful influence upon his sulise- quent '-.fe. One of these was his marr.nge with Miss Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of Chilicothe; the other was his introduction to the Cin- cinnati Literary Club, a body embracing among its members such mer> as'^hief Justice Salmon P, Chase, Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many others hardly less distinguished ia afterlife. The marriage was a fortunate one in every respect, as everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of our Presidents was more universally admired, reverenced and beloved than was Mis. Hayes, and no one did more than she to reflect honor upon American woman hjod. The Literary Cluu brought Mr. Hayes .'nto constant association with )oung men of high char- acter and noble aims, and lured him to display the imalities so lon^ iiidden by his bashfulne:-s and modesty. In 1856 he was nominated to the office of Judgj 0' the Court of Common Pleas; but he declined to ac- cept the nomination. Two years later, the office o! city solicitor becoming vacant, the City CoirnciL elected him for the unexpired tevm. In 1 861, when the Rebellion broke out, he was a; the zenith of his professional I'f., His lank at Ihe bar was among the the first. But the news of the attack on Fort Sumpter found him eager to take -in arms for the defense of his country. His military record was bright and illustrious.' In October, 186 1, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, and in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of the 79th Ohio regiment, but he refused to leave his old comrades and go among strangers. Subsequently, however, he was made Colonel of his old regiment. At the battle of South Mountain he received a wound, and while faint and bleeding displayed courage end fortitude that won admiration from all. Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, after his recovery, to act as Brigadier-General, and [Jaced in command of the celebrated Kanawha division, and for gallant and meritorious seivices in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he was promoted Brigadier-General. He was also brevetted Major-General, "forgallant and distinguished f trvices during the campaigns of 1864. in West Virginia." In the course of his arduous services, four horses were shot from under him, and he was wounded four times In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress, from the Second Ohio District, which had long been Dem- ocratic. He was not present during the campaign, and after his election was importuned to resign his commission in the army ; but he finally declared, " I shall never come to Washington until fcan come by the way of Richmond." He was re-elected in 1S66. I;^ 1867, Gen Hayes was elected Governor of Ohio, over Hon. Allen G. Thumian, a populai Democrat. In 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton. Ho was elected Governor for the third term in 1875. In 1876 he was the standard Icaierof the Repub- lican Party in the Presidential contest, and after a hard long contest was chosen President, and was in .aiigurated Monday, March 5, 1875. He served his lull term, not,_h. wever, with satisfaction to his party, but his admii;"stration was an average owr-. *?^ TtVENTIETH PRESIDENT. I |#ilii #, iARFIE^Bsl '^^l^^y^)^^ /i*> (in:?;f.;;,:^ AMES A. GARFIELD, twen- tieth President of the United States, was born Nov. 19, 1S31, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga Co., O His par- ^ ents were Abram and EHza •-.■\ -/_ (Ballou) Garfield, both of New England ancestr}' and from fami- lies well known in the early his- ti^^i tory of that section of our coun- try, but had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settle- ment. The house in which James A. was born was not unlike the houses of poor Ohio farmers of that day. It .ac about 20x30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces be- .ween the logs filled with clay. His father was a aard working farmer, and he soon had his' fields jleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. The household comprised the father and mother and .:heir four children — Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and 'ames. In May, 1823^ the father, from a cold con- :racted in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At this time James was about eighteen months old, and Thomas about ten years old. No one, ])erhaps, can cell how much James was indebted to his biother's toil and self sacrifice during the twenty years suc- ceeding his father's death, but undoubtedly very much. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sis- •vers live in Solon, O., near their birthplace. The early educational advantages young Garfield enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of them. He labored at farm work for others, did car- penter work, chopped wood, or did anything that would bring in a few dollars to aid his widowed mother in hf 'Struggles to keep the little family to- gether. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of his origin, and he never forgot the friends of his strug- gling childhood, youth and manhood, neither did they ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor the himiblest fiiend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the sympathy of one who had known all the bitterness of want and the sweetness of bread earned by the sweat of the brow. He was ever the simple, plain, modest gentleman. The highest ambition of young Garfield until hi was about sixteen years old was to be a captain oi a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard a vessel, which liis mother strongly opposed. She finally consented to his going to Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that he sliould try to obtain some other kind of employment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. This was his first visit to the city After making many applications for work, and trying to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meeting with success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. He re- mained at this work but a short time when he wen"; home, and attended the seminary at Chester for about three years, when he entered Hiram and the Eclectic Institute, teaching a few terms of school in tlie meantime, and doing other work. This school was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of which church he was then a member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way He then became both teacher and pupil. He soon " exhausted Hiram " and needed more ; lience, in the fall of 1854, he entered Williams College, from which he graduated in 1856, taking one of the highest hon- ors of his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram College as its President. As above stated, he early united with the Christian or Diciples Church at Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealous mem- ber, often preaching in its pulpit and places where he happened to be. Dr. Noah Porter, President of Yale College, says cf hiro in reference to his religion ; 9« JAMES A. GARFIELD. "President Garfield was more than a man of strong moral and religious convictions. His whole history, from boyhood to the last, shows that duty to man and to God, and devotion to Christ and life and faith and spiritual commission were controlling springs of his being, and to a more than usual degree. \x\ my judgment there is no more interesting feature of Ins character than his loyal allegiance to the body of Christians in which he was trained, and the fervent sympathy which he ever showed in tlieir Christian communion. Not many of the few 'wise and mighty and noble who are called' show a similar loyalty to the less stately and cultured Christian communions m whicli they have been reared. Too often it is true that as they step upward in social and political sig- nificance they step upward from one degree to another m some of the many types of fashionable Christianity. President Garfield adhered to the -hurch of his mother, the church in which he was trained, and in which he served as a pillar and an evangelist, and yet with the largest and most unsec- 'arian chanty for all 'who loveour Lord in sincerity.'" Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss Lucretia Rudolph, Nov. n, 1S5S, who proved herself worlhy as the wife of one whom all the world loved and mourned. To them were born seven cliildren, five of whom are still living, four boys and one girl. _ Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in iSc6 m Hiram and the neighborijig villages, and three years later he began to speak at county mass-meet- ings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he was. During this year he was elected to the Ohio benate. He also began to study law at Cleveland and in 186 1 was admitted to the bar. The great Rebel ion broke out in the early part of this year and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to defend the old flag He re ceived his commission as Lieut.-Colonel of the Forty- second Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Aug 14, 1861. He was immediately put into active ser- vice, and before he had ever seen a gun fired in acnon was placed in command of four regiments of infantn- and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the work of driving out of his native State the officer .Humphrey M-.rshall) reputed to be the ablest of those, not educated to war whom Kentucky had -nven to the Rebellion. This work was bravely and speed- ily accomplished, although against great odds. Pres- ident Lincoln, on his success commissioned him Brigadier-General, Jan. 10, 1862; and as "he had oeen the youngest man in the Ohio Senate two years oefore, so now he was the youngest General in the army. He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh in us operations around Corinth and its march through Alabama^ He was then detailed as a memherof the General Court-Martial for the trial of Gen. Fitz-Tohn Forter. He was then ordered to report to Gen Rose- crans, and was assigned to the " Chief of Staff." The iniUtary history of Get). Garfield closed with his brilliant services at Chickamauga, where he wotr the stars ot the Major-General. Without an effort on his part Ge? Garfield wav elected to Congress in the fall of 1862 from the Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of Ohio had been represented in Congress for sixty years niainly by two men— Elisha \Vhittlesey and Joshua R. Giddmgs. It was not without a struggle that he resigned his place in the army. At the time he en- tered Congress he was the youngest member in that body. Then- he remained by successive re- elections until he was elected President in 1880. Of his labors in Congress Senator Hoar says : " Since the year 1864 you cannot think of a question whici. has been debated in Congress, or discussed before ;, tnbunel of the American people, in regard to whict you will not find, if you wish instruction, the argu- ment on one side stated, in almost every instance better than by anybody else, in some speech made in the House of Representatives or on the hustings by Mr. Garfield." Upon Jan. 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elected to the U. S. Senate, and on the eighth of June, of the same year, was nominated as the candidate of his party for President at the great Chicago Convention. He was elected in the following November, and on March4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no ad- ministration ever opened its existence under brighter auspices than that of President Gaifield, and every day it grew in favo.- with the peoiile, and by the first of July he had completed all the initiatory and pre- liminary work of his administration and was prepar- ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Williams College. While on his way and at the depot, in com- pany with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind lum, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back The President tottered and fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his victim, but in.licting nofifrthei injury.. It has been very truthfully said that this was the shot that was heard round tlie world " Never before m the history of the Nation had anything oc- curred which so nearly froze the blood of the peop"° for the moment, as this awful deed. He was smit- ten on the brightest, gladdest day of all his life, and was at the summit of his power and hope. Foreighty days, all during the hot months of Juiy and Auoust he lingered and suffered. He, however, remamed master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent bearing was teaching the country and the world the noblest of human lessons— how to live grandly in the very clutch of death. Great in life, he was surpass- ingly great m death. He passed serenely away Sept 19, 1SS3, at Elberon, N. J., on the very bank'of the ocean, where he had been taken shortly previous The world wept at his death, as it never had done on the death of any other man who had ever lived ui^on it The murderer was duly tried, found guilty and exe- cuted, in one year after he committed the foul deed -r^ TWEJSfTY-FIJiST PRESIDENT. 99 %.t.^. HESTER A. ARTHUR, iL of the e5_ twenty-first Presi-^.^i " United States was born in I' ranklin Cour ty, Vermont, on f thefifthof Oc'ober, 1830, andis the oldest of a family of two sons and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. William Arthur, aBaptistd^rgyman, who emigrated to tb.s countr)' from the county Antrim, Ireland, in his 1 8th year, and died in 1875, in Newtonville, neai Albany, after a ong and successful ministry. Young Arthur was educated at Union College, S( henectady, where he excelled in all his studies. Af- ■^ ter his graduation he taught school 1 in Vermont for two years, and at the e.xpiration cf that time came to New York, with $500 in his pocket, and entered the office of ex- Judge E. D. Culver as student. After being admitted to the bar he formed a partnership with his intimate friend and room-mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicing in the West, and for three months they roamed about in the Western States in search of an eligible site, but in the end returned to New York, where they hung out their shingle, and entered upon a success- ful career almost from the start. General Arthur soon afterward n>arr''d the daughter of Lieutenant Herndon, of the United States Navy, who was lost at sea. Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in recognition of the bravery he displayed on that occa- sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's nommation to the Vice Presidency, leaving two children. Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celebrity in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had been declared free by Judge Paine, of the Superior Court of New York City. It was in 1852 that Jon< athan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when they were discovered and freed. The Judge decided that they could not be held by the owner under the Fugitive Slave Law. A howl of rage went up from the South, and the Virginia Legislature authorized the Attorney General of that State to assist in an appeal. Wm. M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed to represent the People, and they won their case, which then went to the Supreme Court of the United States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause of the slave-holders, but he too was beaten by Messrs Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward the emancipation of the black race. Another great service was rendered by General Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jennings, a respectable colored woman, was put off a Fourth Avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. General Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a verdict of $500 damages. The next day the compa- ny issued an order to admit colored persons to ride on their cars, and the other car companies quickly CHESTER A. ARTIfUR. followed their example. Before that the Sixth Ave- nue Com])any ran a few special cars for colored [ler- sons and tiie other lines refused to let them ride at all. General Arthur was a delegate to the Convention at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of the Second Brigade of the State of New York, and Gov- ernor Morgan, of that State, appointed hnn Engineer- in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was made Inspec- tor General, and soon afterward became Quartermas- ter-General. In each of these offices he rendered great service to the Government during the war. At the end of Governor Morgan's term he resumed the practice of the law, forming a partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, the District Attorney of New York, was added to the firm. The legal prac- tice of this well-known firm was very large and lucra- tive, each of the gentlemen composing it were able lawyers, and possessed a splendid local reputation, if not indeed one of national extent. He always took a leading part in State and city politics. He was appointed Collector of the Port of New York by President Grant, Nov. 21 1872, to suc- ceed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July, 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the famous National Republican Convention held at Chicago in June, 1880. This was perhaps the greatest political convention that ever assembled on the continent. It was composed of the 'sading politicians of the Re- publican party, all able men, and each stood firm and fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for their respective candidates that were before the conven- tion for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield re- ceived the nomination for President and Gen. Arthur for Vice-President. The campaign which followed was one of the most animated known in the history of our country. Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of the Democratic party, was a popular man, and his party made a valiant fight for his election. Finally the election came and the country's choice >vas Garfield and Arthur. They were inaugurated iVlarch 4, 1 88 1, as President and Vice-President. A. few months only had passed ere the newly chosen President was the victim of the assassin's bullet. Then came terrible weeks of suffering,— those moments of anxious suspense, wb.er the hearts of all civilized na- tions were throbbing in unison, longing for the rs covery of the noble, the good President. The remark- able patience that he manifested during those hours and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible suf- fering man has often been called upon to endure, was seemingly more than human. It was certainlv God- like. During all this period of deepest an.xiety Mr. Arthur's every move was watched, and be it said to his credit that his every action displayed only an earnest desire that tlie suffering Garfield might recover, to serve the remainder of the term he had so auspi- ciously begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested in deed or look of this man, even though the most honored jjosition in the world ,vas at any moment likely to fall to him. At last God in his mercy relieved President Gar- field from further suffering, and the wodd, as never before in its history over the death of any other man, wept at his bier. Then it became the duty of the Vice President to f.ssume the responsibilities of the high office, and he took the oath in New York. Sept. 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassing one to him, made doubly so from the facts that all eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would do, what policy he would pursue, and who he would se- lect as advisers. The duties of the office had been greatly neglected during the President's long illness, and many important measures were to be immediately decided by him; and still farther to embarrass him he did not fail to realize under what circumstances he became President, and knew the feelings of many on this point. Under these trying circumstances President Arthur took the reins of the Government in ]-is own hands ; and, as embarrassing as were the condition of affairs, he happily surprised the nation, acting so wisely that but few criticised his administration. He served the nation well and faithfully, until the close of his administration, March 4, 1S85, and was a popular candidate before his party for a second term. His name was ably presented before the con- vention at Chicago, and was received with great favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularity ut one of the opposing candidates, he would have been selected as the standard-bearer of his party for another campaign. He retired to private life car- rying with him the best wishes of the American peo- ple, whom he had served in a manner satisfactory to the:n and with credit to himself. if- z^-^^-z:^^' d^i^i^ TWENTY'SECONn PRESIDENT. '03 %. ._ __. . . ,.1/, OT^ TEPHEN GROVER CLEVE- LAND, the twenty- second Pres- ident of tlie United States, was born in 1837, in the obscure town of Caldwell, Essex Co., N. J., and in a little two-and-a- half-story white house which is still standing, cliaracteristically to mark the humble Ijirth-place of one of America's great men in striking con trast with the Old World, where all men high in office must be high in origin and born in the cradle of wealth. When the subject of this sketch was three years of age, his father, who was a Presbyterian min- ister, with a large family and a small salary, moved, by way of the Hudson River and Erie Canal, to Fayetteville, in search of an increased income and a larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most straggling of country villages, about five miles from Pompey Hill, where Governor Seymour was born. At the last mentioned place young Grover com- menced going to school in the "good, old-fashioned way," and presumably distinguished himself after the manner of all village boys, in doing the things he ought not to do. Such is the distinguishing trait of all geniuses and independent thinkers. When he ^arrived at the age of 14 years, he had outgrown the capacity of the village school and expressed a most emphatic desire to be sent to an academy. To this iiis father decidedly objected. Academies in those days cost mo.iey; besides, his father wanted him to become self-supporting by the quickest possible means, and tliis at that time in Fayette/ille seemed to be a position in a country store, where his father and the large family o;i his hands had considerable inll.ie;ice. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services llie first year, and if he proved trustworthy he was to receive $ 1 00 the second year. Here the lad com- menced his career as salesman, and in two years he had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness that his employers desired to retain him for an in- definite length of time. Otherwise he did not ex- hibit as yet any particular " flashes of genius " or eccentricities of talent. He was simply a good boy. But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayette- ville, he went with the family in their removal to Clinton, where he had an opportunity of attending a high school. Here he industriously pursued his studies until the family removed with him to a point on Black River known as the " Holland Patent," a village of 500 or 600 people, 15 miles north of Utica, N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, and Grover set out for New York City to accept, at a small salary, the position of " under-teacher " in an asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two years, and although he obtained a good reputation in this capacity, he concluded that teaching was not hia lOA S. GROVE R CLEVELAND. calling for life, and, reversing the traditional order, he left the city to seeic his fortune, instead of going to a city. He first thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as »here was some charm in that name for him ; but before proceeding to that place he went to Buffalo to tsk the advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted stock-breeder of tliat place. The latter did not speak enthusiastically. " AVhat is it you want to do my boy?" he asked. "Well, sir, I want to study Jaw," was the reply. "Good gracious!" remarked ihe old gentleman ; " do you, indeed .? What ever put that into your head.? How much money have you got?" -Well, sir, to tell the truth, I haven't got an;^''' After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a place temporarily as assistant herd- keeper, at $50 a year, while he could "look around." One d.ay soon aftervv.-ird he boldly walked into the office of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and told Lhem what he wanted. A number of young men were already en- gaged in the office, but Grover's persistency won', and lie was finally permitted to come as an office boy and nave the use of the law library, for the nominal sum of S3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for his board and washing. The walk to and from his uncle's was a long and rugged one; and, although the first winter was a memorably severe one, his shoes were out of repair and his overcoat— he 'had none— yet he was nevertheless prompt and regular. On the first day of his service here, his senior em- ployer threw down a copy of Blackstone before him with a bang that made the dust fly, saying "That's vvhere they all begin." A titter ran around the little circle of clerks and students, as they thought that was enough to scare young Grover out of his plans ; Dut in due time he mastered that cumbersome volume.' Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland exhibited a talent for executiveness rather than for chasing principles through all their metaphysical possibilities. " Let us quit talking and go and do it," was practically his motto. The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland was elected was t],at of Sheriff of Erie Co., N. Y., in which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it 'fell to his duty to inflict capital pi-.Ishment upon two caminals. Li t88i he was elected Mayor of the City of Buffilo, on the Democratic ticket, with es- pecial reference to the bringing about certain reforms in the administration of the municipal affairs of that city. In this office, as well as that of Sheriff, his performance of duty has generally been considered fair, with possibly a few exceptions which were fer- reted out and magnified during the last Presidential campaign. As a specimen of his plain language in a veto message, we quote ftom one vetoing an iniqui- tous street-cleaning contract : " This is a time "for plain speech, and my objection to your action shall be plainly stated. I regard it as the culmination of a mos bare-faced, impudent and shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people and to worse than squander the people's money." The New York ^«« afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleve- land's administration as Mayor of Buffalo, and there- upon recommended him for Governor of the Empire State. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, and his administration of the affairs of State was generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if any, were made very public throughout the nation after he was nominated for President of the United States. For this high office he was nominated July II, 1884, by the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, when other competitors were Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc.; and he' was elected by the people, by a majority of about a thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Repub- lican statesman, James G. Blaine. President Cleve- land resigned his office as Governor of New York in January, 1885, in order to prepare for his duties as the Chief Executive of the United States, in which capacity his term commenced at noon on the 4th of March, 1885. For his Cabinet officers he selected the following gentlemen: For Secretary of State, Thomas F. Bayard, of Del vare ; Secretary of the Treasury, Daniel Manning, of New York; Secretary of War, William C. Endicott, of Massachusetts ; Secretary of the Navy, William C. Whitney, of New York; Secretary of the Interior, L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi; Postmas.er-General, William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin ; Attorney-General, A. H. Garland, of Arkansas. The silver question precipitated a controversy be- tween those who were in favor of the continuance of silver coinage and those who were opposed, Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, even before his ip.aaguratior, C^a ^S^-T^-^A-^-eSitJ^-Z^ TWENT"^ -THIRD PRESIDElTT. Iu7 -.o«o.@^<^..o*o.. ENJAMIN HARRISON, the 'owenty-third President, is tlie descendant of one of the historical families of this country. The head of the family was a Major General Harrison, one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted follow- ers and fighters. In the zenith of Crom- well's power it became the duty of this Harrison to participate in the trial of Charles I, and afterward to sign the death warrant of the king. He subse- quently paid for this willi his life, being hung Oct. 13, 16G0. His descendants came to America, and the next of the family that appears in history is Renja- rnin Harrison, of Virginia, great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch, and after wliom he was named. Benjamin Harrison was a member of the Continental Congress during the years i774-5-C, and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. He wac; three times elected Governor of Virginia. Gen William Henry Harrison, the son of the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, afterasuo. cessful career as a soldier during the War of 1812, and with -a clean record as Governor of the North- western Territor}', was elected President of the United States in 1840. His career was cut short by death within one month after his inauguration. President Harrison war born at North Bend, Hamilton Co., Ohio, Aug. -^O, 1833. His life up to tiie time of his graduation by the Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful one of a coun- tiy lad of a family of small means. His fathor was al)le to give him a good education, and nothing more. He became engaged while at college to th3 daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of a female schoo at Oxford. After graduating he determined to en- tor upon the study of the law. He went to Cin cinnati and then read law for two years. At the expiration of that time young Harrison receivoJ th'; only inheritance of his life; his aunt dying left him a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy as & fortune, and decided to get married at once, taks this money and go to some Eastern town an ', 'oe- gin the practice of law. Ho sold his lot, and with the moncj' in his pocket, be started out wita his young wife to fight for a place in the world, llo 108 BENJAMIN HARRISONi. icciiied to go to Indianapolis, which was even at timt time a town of promise. He met with <,light ■ iicoiii-agement at first, making scarcely anythhig liie first year. He workcil diligently, applying him° self closely to his calling, built up an extensive practice and took a leading rank in the legal pro- /ossion. He is the father of two children. In 18GC Mr. Harrison was nominated for the position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- gan his experience as a stump speake; He can- vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the 17th Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its Colonel. His regiment was composed of the rawest of material, out Col. Harrison employed all his time at first mastering military tactics and drilling his men, when he therefore came to move toward th.e East with. Sherman his regiment was one of the best -irilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and for his bravery "t. Peachtree Creek he was made a Brigadier Gen- 'lal, Gen. Hooker speaking of him in the most complimentary terms. During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field he Supreme Court declared the office of the Su- preme Court Reporter vacant, and another person was elected to the position. From the time of leav- i! g Indiana with his regiment until the fall of 1864 ne had taken no leave of absence, but having been nominated that year for the same ofKce, h^got a thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time made a brilliant canvass of the State, and was elected for another term. He then started to rejoin Sher- man, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet .ever, and after a most trying siege made his way to the front in time tu participate in the closino- xeidents of the war, " In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined - re-election as eporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 187G Le was a candidate for Governor. Although de- eated, the brilliant campaign he made won for him 1 National reputation, and he was much sougiit, es- pecial.y in the East, to make speeches. In 1880, ^s usual, he took an active part in the campaign,' .'JkI vru elected to the United States Senate. Here ue served six years, and r/as known as one or the ibiest men, best lawyer^ .nd strongest debaters in that body. With the expiration of his Senatori:.: term he returned to the practice of his profession, becoming the head of one of the strongest firms in the State. The political campaign of 1888 was one of the most memorable in the history of our country. The convention which assembled in Chicago in June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief standard bearer of the Republican party, was great in every partic- ular, and on this account, and the attitude it as- sumed ujion the vital questions of the day, chief among which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest in the campaign throughout the Nation. Shortly after the nomination delegations began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This move- ment became jjopular, and from all sections of the country societies, clubs and delegations journeyed thither to pay their respects to the distinguished statesman. The popularity of these was greatly increased on account of the remarkable speeches made by Mr. Harrison. He spoke daily all through the summer and autumn to these visiting delega- tions, and so varied, masterly and eloquent were las speeches that they at once placed him in the foremost rank of American orators and statesmen. On account of liis eloquence as a speaker and his r-ower as a debater, he was called upon at an un- cor;2monly early age to take part in the discussion of the great questions that then began ij agitate the country. He was an uncompromising^ant: slavery man, and was matched against some of tlie most eminent Dem<,fr.atic speakers of his State. No man who felt the touch of his blade de. ired tr be pitted with him again. Witli all his eloq-ence as an orator he never spoke for oratorical effect, but his words always went like bullets to the mark' He is purely American in his ideas and is a spier did t3-pe of the American statesman. Gifted wit;, quick perception, a logical mind and a read>- tongue! he is one of the most distinguished improm^pfu speakers in the Nation. M-.uiy of these soeeches sparkled with the rarest of eloquence and contmned arguments of greatest weight. JIany of Jus terse statements have already become aphorisms. ( )ri.ri- nal in thought, precise in logic, terse in statement, yet w.thal f.aultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the sound statesman and brilUau orator c- ta. day •^m?^m jr^- 3^is£)^^,^Vr 'A "i^ 'f«^-' iyt'cC'-^.^^xxyny Go VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. f^ HADRACH BOND, ihe fust Governor of Illinois after its organization ns a State, serving from 1818 to 1822, was born in Frederick County, Maryland, in the year 1773, and was raised a farmer on his father's plantation, receiving only a plain English education. He emigrated to this State in 1794, when it was a part of the "Northwest Territory," continuing in the vocation in whicli he had been brought up in iiis native State, in the " New Design," near Eagle Creek, in what is now Monroe County. He served several terms as a member of the General Assembly of Indiana Territory, after it was organized as such, and in 1812-14 he was a Delegate to the Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses, taking his seat Dec. 3, 1812, and serving until Oct. 3, 1814. These were the times, the reader will recollect, when this Gov- ernment had its last struggle with Great Britain. The year 1812 is also noted in the history of this State as that in which the first Territorial Legislature was held. It convened at Kaskaskia, Nov. 25, and adjourned Dec. 26, following. While serving as Delegate to Congress, Mr. Bond was instrumental in procuring the right of pre-emp- tion on the public domain. On the expiration of his term at Washington he was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys at Kaskaskia, then the capital of ihe Territory. In company with John G. Comyges, Thomas H. Harris, Charles Slade, Michael Jones, Warren Brown. Edward Humphries and Charles W Hunter, he became a proprietor of the site of the initial city of Cairo, which they hoped, from its favor- able location at the junction of the two great rivers near the center of the Great West, would rapidly develop into a metropolis. To aid the enter- prise, they obtained a special charter from the Legis- lature, incorporating both the City and the Bank of Cairo. In 1818 Mr. Bond was elected the first Governor of the State of Illinois, being inaugurated Oct. 6 that year, which was several weeks before Illinois was actually admitted. The facts are these: In January, 1818, tlie Territorial Legislature sent a peti- tion to Congress for the admission of Illinois as a State, Nathaniel Pope being then Delegate. The petition was granted, fixing the northern line of the State on the latitude of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan; but the bill was afterward so amend- ed as to extend this line to its present latitude. In July a convention was called at Kaskaskia to draft a constitution, which, however, was not submitted to the people. By its provisions, supreme judges, pros ecuting attorneys, county and circuit judges, record- ers and justices of the peace were all to be appointed by the Governor or elected by the Legislature. This constitution was accepted by Congress Dec. 30. At that time Illinois coinprised but eleven counties, namely, Randolph, Madison, Gallatin, Johnson, Pope, Jackson, Crawford, Bond, Union, Washington and Franklin, the northern portion of the State be* ing mainly in Madison County. Thus it appears that Mr. Bond was honored by the naming of a SHADRACH BOND. county l)L-fore he was elected C.overnor. The preienl county of Bond is of small liinilatioiis, about 60 to 80 miles south of Springfield. For Lieutenant Governor the i^eople chose Pierre Menard, a prominent and wortliy l'"renchman, after whom a county in this State is named. In this election there were no opposition candidates, as the popularity of these men had made their promotion to the chief offices of the Siate, even before the constitution was drafted, a foregone con- clusion. The principal points that excited the people in reference to political issues at this period were local or "internal improvements," as they were called, State banks, location of the capital, slavery and the l)ersonal characteristics of the proposed candidates. Mr. Bond represented tlie "Coiveation party," for introducing slavery into the State, sup|iorted by Elias Kelt Kane, his Secretary of Stat.-, and John Mc- Lean, while Nathaniel Pope and John P. Cook led the anti-slavery element. The pjople, however, did not become very much excited over this issue until iS::o, when the fun jus Missouri Compromise was adopted by Congress, limiting slavery to the south of the parallel of 36° 30' except in Missouri. While this measure settled the great slavery controversy, so far as the average public sentiment was tempor- arily concerned, until 1854, when it was repealed under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, the issue as considered locally in this State was not decided until '824, after a most furious campaign. (See sketch cf Gov. Coles.) The ticket of 1S18 was a compromise one, Bond representing (moderately) the pro-slavery sentiment and Menard the anti-slavery. An awkward element in the State government under Gov. Bond's administration, was the imperfec- tion of the State constitution. The Convention wished to have Elijah C. Berry for the first Auditor of Public Accounts, but, as it was believed that the new Governor would not appoint him to the office, Uie Convention declared in a schedule that " an auditor of public accounts, an attorney general and such other officers of the State as may be necessary, may be apiwinted by the General .Assembly." The Constitution, as it stood, vested a very large ap|X)int- ing power in the Governor ; but for the purixjse of getting one man into office, a total cliange was made, and the power vested in the Legislature. Of this provision the Legislature took advantage, and de- clared that State's attorneys, canal commissioners, bank directors, etc., were all " officers of the State " and must therefore be appointed by itself independ- ently of the Governor. During Gov. Bond's administration a general law was passed for the incorporation of academies and towns, and one authorizing lotteries. The session of 1S22 authorized tiie Governor to appoint commis- sioners, to act in conjunction with like commissioners appointed by the State of Indiana, to report on the practicability and expediency of improving tlie navi- gation of the Wabash River; also inland navigation generally. Many improvements were recommended, some of which have been feebly worked at even till the present day, those along the Wabash being of no value. Also, during Gov. Bond's term of office, the capital of the State was removed from Kaskaskia to Vandalia. In 1820 a law was passed by Congress authorizing this State to open a canal through the public lands. The State appointed commissioners 10 explore the route and prepare the necessary sur- veys and estimates, preparatory to its execution; but, being unable out of its own resources to defray the expenses of the undertaking, it was abandoned until some time after Congress made the grant of land for the purpose of its construction. On the whole, Gov. Bond's administration was fairly good, not being open to severe criticism from any party. In 1824, two years after the expiration of his term of office, he was brought out as a candi- date for Congress against the formidable John P. Cook, but received only 4,374 votes to 7,460 for the latter. Gov. Bond was no orator, but had made many fast friends by a judicious l-i^towment of his gubernatorial patronage, and these worked zealously for liim in the campaign. In 1827 ex-Gov. Bond was appointed by the Leg- islature, with Wm. P. McKee and Dr. Gershom Jayne, as Commissioners to locate a site for a peni- tentiary on the Mississippi at or near Alton. Mr. Bond was of a benevolent and convivial dis- position, a man of shrewd observation and clear ap- preciation of events. His person was erect, stand- ing six feet in height, and after middle life became ixjrtly, weighing 200 pounds. His features were strongly masculine, complexion dark, hair jet and eyes hazel ; was a favorite wiili the ladies. He died .April II, 1S30, in peace and contentment Id^u^'UAD Coxiri^ GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. "5 }£6war5 Coles, ^;^-fe>^=^— .-•- DVVARD COLES, second Governor of Illinois, 1823- ^ 6, was born Dec. 15, 1786, in Albemarle Co., Va., on the old family estate called " Enniscorthy," on the Vv* Green Mountain. His fath- er, John Coles, was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War. Having been fit- ted for college by private tutors, he was sent to Hampden Sidney, where he remained until the autumn of 1805, when he was icnioved to William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, Va. This college he left in the summer of 1807, a short time before the final and graduating examination. Among his classmates were Lieut. Gen. Scott, President John Tyler, Wm. S. Archer, United States Senator from Virginia, and Justice Baldwin, of the United States Supreme Court. The President of the latter college, Bishop Madison, was a cousin of President James Madison, and that cir- cumstance was the occasion of Mr. Coles becoming personally acquainted with the President and re- ceiving a position as his private secretary, 1809-15. The family of Coles was a prominent one in Vir- ginia, and their mansion was the seat of the old- fashioned Virginian hospitality. It was visited by such notables as Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, the Randolphs, Tazewell, Wirt, etc. At the age of 23, youno Loles founa iiimself heir to a plant- ation and a considerable number of slaves. Ever since his earlier college days his attention had been drawn to the question of slavery. He read every- thing on the subject that came in his way, and listened to lectures on tlie rights of man. The more he reflected uixin the subject, the more impossible was it for liim to reconcile the immortal declaration "that all men are born free and equal" with the practice of slave-holding. He resolved, therefore, to free his slaves the first opportunity, and even remove his residence to a free State. One reason which de- termined him to accept the appointment as private secretary to Mr. Madison was because he believed that through the acquaintances he could make at Washington he could better determine in what par^, of the non-slaveholding portion of the Union he wouIq prefer to settle. The relations between Mr. Coles and President Madison, as well as Jefferson and other distinguished men, were of a very friendly character, arising from the similarity of their views on the question of slavery and their sympathy for each other in holding doc- trines so much at variance with the prevailing senti- ment in their own State. In 1857, he resigned his secretaryship and spent a portion of the following autumn in exploring the Northwest Territory, for the purpose of finding a lo- cation and purchasing lands on which to settle his negroes. He traveled with a horse and buggy, with an extra man and horse for emergencies, through many parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, determining finally to settle in Illinois. At this time, however, a misunderstanding arose between our Government and Russia, and Mr. Coles was selected to repair to St. Petersburg on a special mission, bear- ing important papers concerning the matter at issue The result was a conviction of the Emperor (Alex- ii6 EDWARD COLES. and(;r) of the error committed by his minister at Washington, and the consequent withdrawal of the the latter from the post. On liis return, Mr. Coles visited oilier parts of Europe, especially Paris, where ho was introduced to Gen. Lafayette. In the spring of 1819, he removed with all his negroes from Virginia to Edwardsville, 111., with the intention of giving them their liberty. He did not inake known to them his intention until one beautiful morning in April, as tliey were descending the Ohio River. He lashed all the boats together and called all the negroes on deck and made them a short ad- dress, concluding his remarks by so expressing him- self that by a turn of a sentence he proclaimed in the shortest and fullest manner that they were no longer slaves, but free as he was and were at liberty to proceed with him or go ashore at their pleas- ure. A description of the effect upon the negroes is best described in his own language : "The effect ufwn them was electrical. They stared at n-.e and then at each other, as if doubting the ac- curacy or reality of what they heard. In breathless silence they stood before me, unable to utter a word, but with countenances beaming with expression which no words could convey, and which no language can describe. As they began to see the truth of what they had heard, and realize their situation, there came on a kind of hysterical, giggling laugh. After a pause of intense and unutterable emotion, bathed in tears, and with tremulous voices, they gave vent to their gratitude and implored the blessing of God on me." Before landing he gave them a general certificate of freedom, and afterward conformed more particu- larly with the law of this State requiring that each individual should have a certificate. This act of Mr. Coles, all the more noble and heroic considering the overwhelming pro-slavery influences surrounding him, has challenged the admiration of every philan- thropist of inodern times. March 5, i8iq. President Monroe appointed Mr. Coles Registrar of the Land Office at EdwardsviLe, at that time one of the principal land ofifices in the State. While acting in this capacity and gaining many friends by his politeness and general intelli- gence, the greatest struggle that ever occurred in Illinois on the slavery quesdon culminated in the furious contest characterizing the campaigns and elections of 1822-4. In the summer of 1823, when a new Governor was to be elected to succeed Mr. Bond, the pro-slavery element divided into factions, putting forward for the executive office Joseph Phillips, Chief Justice of the State, Thomas C. Browne and Gen. James B. Moore, of the State Mil- itia. The anti-slavery element united upon Mr. Coles, and, after one of the most bitter campaigns, succeeded in electing him as Governor. His plural- ity over Judge Phillips was only 59 in a total vote of over 8,000. The Lieutenant Governor was elected * by the slavery men. Mr. Coles' inauguration speech was marked by calmness, deliberation and such a wise expression of appropriate suggestions as to elicit the sanction of all judicious politicians. But he compromised not with evil. In his message to the Legislature, the seat of Government being then at Vandalia, he strongly urged the abrogation of the modified form of slavery whif.h then existed in this State, contrary to the Ordinance of 1787. His posi- tion on this subject seems the more remarkable, when it is considered that he was a minority Governor, the population of Illinois being at that lime almost ex- clusively from slave-holding States and by a large majority in favor of the perpetuation of that old relic of barbarism. The Legislature itself was, of course, a reflex of the popular sentiment, and a majority of them were led on by fiery men in denunciations of the conscientious Governor, and in curses loud and deep upon him and all his friends. Some of the public men, indeed, went so far as to head a sort of mob, or " shiveree " party, who visited the residence of the Governor and others at Vandalia and yelled and groaned and spat fire. The Constitution, not establishing or permitting slavery in this State, was thought therefore to be defective by the slavery politicians, and they desired a State Convention to be elected, to devise and sub- mit a new Constitution; and the dominant politics of the day was "Convention" and "anti-Conven- tion." Both parties issued addresses to the people. Gov. Coles himself being the author of the address published by the latter party. This address revealed the schemes of the conspirators in a masterly man- ner. It is difficult for us at this distant day to esti- mate the critical and extremely delicate situation in which the Governor was placed at that time. Our hero maintained himself honorably and with supreme dignity throughout his administration, and in his honor a county in this State is named. He was truly a great man, and those who lived in this State during his sojourn here, like those who live at the base of the mountain, were too near to see and recognize the greatness that overshadowed them. Mr. Coles was married Nov. 28, 1833, by Bishop De Lancey, to Miss Sally Logan Roberts, a daughter of Hugh Roberts, a descendant of Welsh ancestry, who cami to this country with Wm. Penn in 1682. After the expiration of his term of service. Gov. Coles continued his residence in Edwardsville, sup- erintending his farm in the vicinity. He was fond of agriculture, and was the founder of the first agri- cultural society in the State. On account of ill health, however, and having no family to tie him down, he spent much of his time in Eastern cities. About 1832 he changed his residence to Philadel- phia, where he died July 7, 1868, and is buried at Woodland, near that city. ' O c^^-OiyGi-''^ GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 119 ^ ];.' ••<-5-<##=^-^>-^ INIAN EDWARDS, Governor from 1827 to 1830, was a son Y- of Benjamin Edwards, and was born in Montgomery \p^ County, Maryland, in March, 177^. His domestic train- '^' ing was well fitted to give his mind strength, firmness and lior.orable principles, and a good foundation was laid for the elevated character to which he afterwards attained. His parents were Bap- tists, and very strict in their moral piinciples. His education in early youth was in company with and partly under the tuition of Hon. Wm. Wirt, whom his father patronized and who was more than two years older. An intimacy was thus formed between them which was lasting for life. He was further educated at Dickinson College, at Car- lisle, Pa. He next commenced the study of law, but before completing his course he moved to Nelson County, Ky., to open a farm for his father and to purchase homes and locate lands for his brothers and sisters. Here he fell in the company of dissolute companions, and for several years led the life of a spendthrift. He was, however, elected to the Legis- lature of Kentucky as the Representative of Nelson i-'ounty before he was 2 i years of age, and was re- elected by an almost unanimous vote. In tygS he was licensed to practice law, and the following year was admitted to the Courts of Tennes- see. About this time he left Nelson County for Russellville, in Logan County, broke away from his dissolute companions, commenced a reformation and devoted himself to severe and laborious study. He then began to rise rapidly in his profession, and soon became an eminent lawyer, and inside of four years he filled in succession the offices of Presiding Judge of the General Court, Circuit Judge, fourth Judge of the Court of Appeals and Chief Justice of the State, — all before he was 32 years of age! Li addition, in 1802, he received a commission as Major of a battal- ion of Kentucky militia, and in 1804 was chosen a Presidential Elector, on the Jefferson and Clinton ticket. Li 1806 he was a candidate for Congress, but withdrew on being promoted to the Court of Appeals. Illinois was organized as a separate Territory in the spring of i8og, when Mr. Edwards, then Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, received from President Madison the appointment as Gover- nor of the new Territory, his commission bearing date April 24, 1809. Edwards arrived at Kaskaskia in June, and on the i ith of that month took the oath of office. At the same time he was appointed Superin- tendent of the United States Saline, this Government interest then developing into considerable proportions in Southern Illinois. Altiiough during the first three years of bis administration he had the power to make new counties and appoint all the officers, yet he always allowed the people of each county, by an informal I20 NINIAN ED WARDS. vote, to select their own officers, both civil and mili- tary. The noted John J. Crittenden, afterward United States Senator from Kentucky, was appointed by Oev. Edwards to the office of Attorney General of the Territory, which office was accepted for a short time only. The Indians in i8io committing sundry depreda- tions in the Territory, crossing the Mississippi from the Territory of Louisiana, a long correspondence fol- lowed between the respective Governors concerning the remedies, which ended in a council with the sav- ages at Peoria in 1812, and a fresh interpretation of the treaties. Peoria was depopulated by these de- predations, and was not re-settled for many jears afterward. As Gov. Edwards' terra of office expired by law in 1812, he was re-appointed for another term of three years, and again in 1815 for a third term, serving until the organization of the State in the fall of 181 8 and the inauguration of Gov. Bond. At this time cx-Gov. Edwards was sent to the United States Senate, his colleague being Jesse B. Thomas. As ■ Senator, Mr. Edwards took a conspicuous part, and acquitted himself honorably in all the measures that came up in that body, being well posted, an able de- :jater and a conscientious statesman. He thought .:eriously of resigning this situation in 1821, but was persuaded by his old friend, Wm. Wirt, and others to continue in office, which he did to the end of the term. He was then appointed Minister to Mexico by President Monroe. About this time, it appears that Mr. Edwards saw suspicious signs in the conduct of Wm. H. Crawford, Secretary of the United States Treasury, and an ambitious candidate for the Presi- dency, and being implicated by the latter in some of his statements, he resigned his Mexican mission in order fully to investigate the charges. The result was the exculpation of Mr. Edwards. Pro-slavery regulations, often termed "Black Laws," disgraced the statute books of both the Territory and -he State of Illinois during the whole of his career in Jiis commonwealth, and Mr. Edwards always main- tained the doctrines of freedom, and was an important r.ctor in the great struggle which ended in a victory for his parfy in 1824. In 1826 7 the Winnebago and other Indians com- mitted soire depredations in the northern part of the State, and the white settlers, who desired the lands' and wished to exasperate the savages into an evacu- ation of the country, magnified the misdemeanors of the aborigines and thereby produced a hostility be- tween the races so great as to precipitate a little war, known in history as the " Winnebago War." A few chases and skirmishes were had, when Gen. Atkinson succeeded in capturing Red Bird, the Indian chief, and putting him to death, thus ending the contest, at least until the troubles commenced which ended in the " Black Hawk War " of 1832. In the interpre- tation of treaties and execution of their provisions Gov. Edwards had much vexatious work to do. The Indians kept themselves generally within the juris- diction of Michigan Territory, and its Governor. Lewis Cass, was at a point so remote that ready cor- respondence with him was difficult or impossible. Gov. Edwards' administration, however, in regard to the protection of the Illinois frontier, seems to have been very efficient and satisfactory. For a considerable portion of his time after his re- moval to Illinois, Gov. Edwards resided upon his farm near Kaskaskia, which he had well stocked with liorses, cattle and sheep from Kentucky, also with fruit-trees, grape-vines and shrubbery. He estab- lished saw and grist-mills, and engaged extensively in mercantile business, having no less than eight or ten stores in this State and Missouri. Notwithstanding the arduous duties of his office, he nearly always pur- chased the goods himself with which to supply the stores. Although not a regular practitioner of medi- cine, he studied the healing art to a considerable ex- tent, and took great pleasure in prescribing for, and taking care of, the sick, generally without charge. He was also liberal to the poor, several widows and ministers of the gospel becoming indebted to him even for their homes. He married Miss Elvira Lane, of Maryland, in 1803, and they became the affectionate parents of several children, one of whom, especially, is weh' known to the people of the '■ Prairie State," namely, Ninian Wirt Edwards, once the Superintendent c' Public Instruction and still a resident of Springfield Gov. Edwards resided at and in the vicinity of Kas- kaskia from 1809 to 1818; in Edwardsville (named after him) from that time to 1824; and from the lat- ter date at Belleville, St. Clair Countv, until his death, July 20, 1833, of Asiaric cholera.' Edwards County is also named in his honor. GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. ,OHN REYNOLDS, Governor 1831- 4, was born in Montgomery Coun- ty, Pennsylvania, Feb. 26, 1788. His father, Robert Reynolds and his mother, nee Margaret Moore, were both natives of Ireland, from which country they emigrated to the United States in 1785, land- ing at Philadelphia. The senior Reynolds entertained an undying hostility to the British Govern- ment. When the subject of this sketch was about six months old, his parents emigrated with him to Tennessee, where many of their relatives had already located, at the base of the Copper Ridge Mountain, about 14 miles northeast of the present city of Knoxville. There they were ex- posed to Indian depredations, and were much molest- ed by them. In 1794 they moved into the interior of the State. They were poor, and brought up their children to habits of manual industry. In 1800 the family removed to Kaskaskia, 111., with eight horses and two wagons, encountering many Hardships on the way. Here young Reynolds passed the most of his childhood, while his character began to develop, the most prominent traits of which were ambition and energy. He also adopted the principle and practice of total abstinence from into.xicating liquors. In 1807 the family made another removal, -^-K- tliis time to the " Goshen Settlement," at the foot of the Mississippi bluffs three or four miles southwest of Edwardsville. On arriving at his 20th year, Mr. Reynolds, seeing that he must look about for his own livelihood and not yet having determined what calling to pursue, concluded first to attend college, and he accordingly went to such an institution of learning, near Knox- ville, Tenn., where he had relatives. Imagine his diffidence, when, after passing the first 20 years of his life without ever having seen a carpet, a papered wall or a Windsor chair, and never having lived in a shingle-roofed house, he suddenly ushered himself into the society of the wealthy in the vicinity of Knoxville! He attended college nearly two years, going through the principal Latin authors ; but it seems that he, like the rest of the world in modern times, had but very little use for his Latin in after life. He always failed, indeed, to exhibit any good degree of literary disciphne. He commenced the study of law in Knoxville, but a pulmonary trouble came on and compelled him to change his mode of life. Accordingly he returned home and re- cuperated, and in 1812 resumed his college and law studies at Knoxville. In the fall of 1812 he was admitted to the Bar at Kaskaskia. About this time he also learned the French language, which he practiced with pleasure in conversation with his family for many years. He regarded this language as being superior to all others for social intercourse. 124 JOHN REYNOLDS. From his services in the West, in the war of 1812, he obtained the sobriquet of the " Old Ranger." He was Orderly Sergeant, then Judge Advocate. Mr. Reynolds opened his first law office in the winter and spring of 1814, iuthe French village of Cahokia, then the capital of St. Clair County. In the fall of 1818 he was elected an Associate Justice upon the Supreme Bench by the General Assembly. In 1825 he entered more earnestly than ever into the practice of law, and the very next year was elected a member of the Legislature, where he acted independently of all cliques and private inter- ests. In 1828 the Whigs and Democrats were for the first time distinctively organized as such in Illi- nois, and the usual party bitterness grew up and raged on all sides, while Mr. Reynolds preserved a iudicial calmness and moderation. The real animus of the campaign was " Jackson " and " anti-Jackson," 'he former party carrying the State. In August, 1830, Mr. Reynolds was elected Gov- ernor, amid great excitement. Installed in office, he did all within his power to advance the cause of edu- cation, internal improvements, the Illinois & Mich- igan Canal, the harbor at Chicago, settling the coun- try, etc.; also reccmmended the winding up of the State Bank, as its affairs had become dangerously complicated. In his national politics, he was a moderate supporter of General Jackson. But the most celebrated event of his gubernatorial admin- istration was the Black Hawk War, which occurred in 1832. He called out the militia and prosecuted the contest with commendable diligence, appearing in person on the battle-grounds during the most critical periods. He was recognized by the President as Major-General, and authorized by him to make treaties with the Indians. By the assistance of the genf.ral Government the war was terminated without much bloodshed, but after many serious fights. This war, as well as everything else, was materially re- tarded by the occurrence of Asiatic cholera in the West. This was its first appearance here, and was the next event in prominence during Gov. Reynolds' Verm. South Carolina nullification coming up at this time, t was heartily condemned by both President Jackson .-.nd Gov. Reynolds, who took precisely the same grounds as the Unionists in the last war. On the termination of his gubernatorial term in .834, Gov. Reynolds was elected a Member of Con- (^ress, still coiisidering himself a backwoodsman, as 'e had scarcely been outside of the State since he became of age, and had spent nearly all his youthful iays in the wildest region of the frontier. His first iiove in Congress was to adopt a resolution that in all elections made by the House for officers the votes should be given viva voce, each member in his place naming aloud the person for whom he votes. This created considerable heated discussion, but was es- sentially adopted, and remained the controlling prin- ciple for many years. The ex Governor was scarcely i'ascnt from his seat a single day, during eight ses- sions of Congress, covering a period of seven years, and he never vacillated in a party vote; but he failed to get the Democratic party to foster his " National Road" scheme. He says, in " My Own Times " (a large autobiography he published), that it was only by rigid economy that he avoided insolvency while in VVashington. During his sojourn in that city he was married, to a lady of the place. In 1837, while out of Congress, and in company with a few others, he built the first railroad in the Mississippi Valley, namely, one about six miles long, leading from his coal mine in the Mississippi bluff to the bank of the river opposite St. Louis. Hiving not the means to purchase a locomotive, they operated it by horse-power. The next spring, however, the com- pany sold out, at great sacrifice. In 1839 the ex-Governor was appointed one of the Canal Commissioners, and authorized to borrow money to prosecute the enterprise. Accord' ngly, he repaired to Philadelphia and succeeding in obtaining a million dollars, which, however, was only a fourth of what was wanted. The same year he and his wife made at our of Europe. This year, also, Mr. Reynolds had the rather awkward little responsibility of introducing to President Van Buren the noted Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, as a " Latter-Day Saint!" In 1846 Gov. Reynolds was elected a member of the Legislature from St. Clair County, more particu- larly for the purpose of obtaining a feasible charter for a macadamized road from Belleville to St. Louis, a distance of nearly 14 miles. This was immediately built, and was the fir^t road of the kind in the State. He was again elected to the Legislature in 1852, when he was chosen Speaker of the House. In i860, aged and infirm, he attended the National Democratic Convention at Charleston, S. C , as an anti-Douglas Delegate, where he received more attention from the Southern Delegates than any other member. He supported Breckenridge for the Presidency. After the October elections foreshadowed the success of Lincoln, he published an address urging the Demo- crats to rally to the support of Douglas. Immedi- ately preceding and during the late war, his corre- spondence evinced a clear sympathy for the Southern secession, and about the first of March, 1861, he urged upon the Buchanan officials the seizure of the treasure and arms in the custom-house and arsenal at St. Louis. Mr. Reynolds was a rather talkative man, and apt in all the Western phrases and catch- words that ever gained currency, besides many cun- ning and odd ones of his own manufacture. He was married twice, but had no ciiildren. He died in Belleville, in May, 1865, just after the close of the war. GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 127 -«— S o«^-*li||>.^g.o LLIAM LEE D. EWING, Governor of Illinois Nov. 3 to 17, 1S34, was a native of Kentucky, and probably of Scotch ancestry. He had a fine education, was a gentle- man of polished manners and refined sentiment. In 1830 John Rey- nolds was elected Governor of the State, and Zadok Casey Lieutenant Governor, and for the principal events that followed, and the characteristics of the times, see sketch of Gov. Reynolds. The first we see in history concerning Mr. Ewing, in- forms us that he was a Receiver of Public Mot eys at Vandalia soon after the organization of t M ii > irf" iii|ii_Liut ui ic«iaeBls, wiA aa jmrfiimj l lwi n far ansbeamics. ffis mtfideacj altiartrd tbe awnn a obw of Hoa. Dnd P. :t.«ba hpmwf Iks eSdeal patam aad fnend. ^ :^ latter geadeMaa was aaeaiaeBt niM««^ states- oaaa wbo^as a T fi u ni t i nCfmiryTri. "'^ -■" ■ ^ ■ ^ T agriait : :act acies of laad to aid ia iiwi|ii riin^ tbe :'c yfkfd^m Caa^ aad alter wbon tbe . -- - ^ vrss aaaed. Tkra^^ tbe advice of 140 THOMAS FORJD. this genileman, Mr. Ford turned his attention to the study of law; but Forquer, then merchandising, re- garding his eJuc.ition defective, sent him to Transyl- vania University, where, iiowever, he remained but one term, owing to Forquer's failure in business. On his return he alternated his law reading with teach- ii'.g school for support. In 1829 Gov. Edwards appointed him Prosecuting Attorney, and in 1831 he was re-appointed by Gov. Reynolds, and after that he was four times elected a Judge by the Legislature, without opposition, twice a Circuit Judge, once a Judge of Chicago, and as As- sociate Judge of the Supreme Court, when, in 1841, the latter tribunal was re-organized by the addition of five Judges, all Democrats. Ford was assigned to the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and while in this capacity he was holding Court in Ogle County he received a notice of his nomination by the Democratic Conven- tion for the office of Governor. He immediately re- signed his place and entered upon the canvass. In August, 1842, he was elected, and on the 8th of De- cember following he was inaugurated. All the offices which he had lield were unsolicited by him. He received them upon the true Jefferson- ian [jrinciple, — Mever to ask and never to refuse office. Both as a lawyer and as a Judge he stood deservedly high, but his cast of intellect fitted him rather for a writer u|X)n law than a practicing advo- cate in the courts. In the latter capacity he was void of the moving power of eloquence, so necessary to success with juries. As a Judge his opinions were Tound, lucid and able expositions of the law. In practice, he was a stranger to the tact, skill and in- iinuating address of the politician, but he saw through the arts of demagogues as well as any man. He was plain in his demeanor, so much so, indeed, tiiat at one time after the expiration of his term of office, during a session of the Legislature, he was taken by a stranger to be a seeker for the position of door- keeper, and was waited upon at his hotel near mid- night by a knot of small office-seekers with the view of effecting a " combination ! " Mr. Ford had not the "brass" of the ordinary politician, nor that impetuosity which characterizes a ixilitical leader. He cared little for money, and hardly enough for a decent support. In person he was of small stature, slender, of dark complexion, with black hair, sharp features, deep-set eyes, a pointed, aquiline nose having a decided twist to one side, and a small mouth. The three most important events in Gov. Ford's administration were the establishment of the high financial credit of the State, the " Mormon War "and .he Mexican War. In the first of tnese the Governor proved himself *£) be eminently wise. On coming into office he found the State badly paralyzed by the ruinous effects of sne notorious "internal improvement' schemes of the i)reccding decade, with scarcely anything to show by way of "improvement." The enterprise that seemed to be getting ahead more than all the rest was the Illinois & Michigan Canal. As this promised to be the most important thoroughfare, feasible to the people, it was well under headway in its construction. Therefore the State policy was almost concentrated upon it, in order to rush it on tc completion. The bonded indebtedness of the State was growing so large as to frighten the people, and they were about ready to entertain a proposition for repudiation. But the Governor had the foresight to recommend such measures as would maintain the public credit, for which every citizen to-day feels thankful. But perhaps the Governor is remembered more for his connection with the Mormon troubles than for anything else; for it was during his term of office that the " Latter- Day Saints " became so strong at Nauvoo, built their temple there, increased their num- bers throughout the country, committed misdemean- ors, taught dangerous doctrines, suffered the loss of theirleader, Jo Smith, by a violent death, were driven out of Nauvoo to the far West, etc. Having been a Judge for so many years previously, Mr. Ford of course was no i-committal concerning Mormon affairs, and was ilierefore claimed by both parties and also accused by each of sympathizing too greatly with the other side. Mormonism claiming to be a system of religion, the Governor no doubt was "between two fires," and felt compelled to touch the matter rather " gingerly," and doubtless felt greatly relieved when that pestilential people left the State. Such compli- cated matters, especially when religion is mixed up with them, expose every person participating in them to criticism from all parties. The Mexican War was begun in the spring of 1845, and was continued into the gubernatorial term of Mr. Ford's successor. The Governor's connection with this war, however, was not conspicuous, as it was only administrative, commissioning officers, etc. Ford's " History of Illinois " is a very readable and entertaining work, of 450 small octavo pages, and is destined to increase in value with the lapse of time. It exhibits a natural flow of compact and forcible thought, never failing to convey the nicest sense. In tracing with his trenchant pen the devious operations of the professional politician, in which he is inimit- able, his account is open, perhaps, to the objection that all his contemporaries are treated as mere place- seekers, while many of them have since been judged by the people to be worthy statesmen. His writings seem slightly open to the criticism that they exhibit a little splenetic partiality against those of his con- temporaries who were prominent during his term of office as Governor. The deaih of Gov. Ford took place at Peoria, lU., Nov. 2, i8i;o. Go VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 143 Augustus Cc French. '4:&'**;;g-"§^;;S-*$;!S-*'*"S^S''-'**-'- , ,.^ - -■I'/j - •.■y'/j' Jit, -^ ' ^.f JS\~t'" ^^"^'-'-^ Jil t f -5»5— # — oi— 1€- a been a member since 1854, GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 155 ■*- ;-^^ iHN WOOD, Governor 1860-1, and l^«« the first settler of Qaincy, 111., was born in the town of Sempro- nius (now Moravia), Cayuga Co., N. Y., Dec. 20, 1798. He was the second child and only son of Dr. Daniel Wood. His mother, 7iee Catherine Crause, was of German parentage, and died while he was an infant. Dr. Wood was a learned and skillful physician, of classical attain- ments and proficient in several modern lai.guages, who, after serving throughout the Revolu- tionary War as a Surgeon, settled on the land granted him by the Government, and resided there a re- spected and leading influence in his section until his death, at the ripe age of 92 years. The subject of this sketch, impelled by the spirit of Western adventure then pervading everywhere, left his home, Nov. 2, 1818, and passed the succeed- ing winter in Cincinnati, Ohio. The following sum- mer he pushed on to Illinois, landing at Shawneetown, and spent the fall and following winter in Calhoun County. In 1820, in company with Willard Keyes, he settled in Pike County, about 30 miles southeast of Quincy, where for the next two years he pursued farming. In 1821 he visited "theBlufTs" (as the present site of Quincy was called, then uninhabited) and, pleased with its prospects, soon after purchased a quarter-section of land near by, and in the follow- ing fall (1822) erected near the river a small cabin, -^* 18 X 20 feet, the first building in Quincy, of which he then became the first and for some months the only occupant. About this time he visited his old friends in Pike County, chief of whom was William Ross, the lead- ing man in building up the village of Atlas, of that county, which was thought then to be the possible commencement of a city. One day they and others were traveling together over the country between the two points named, making observations on the com- parative merits of the respective localities. On ap- proaching the Mississippi near Mr. Wood's place, the latter told his companions to follow him and he would show them where he was going to build a city. They went about a mile off the main trail, to a high point, from which the view in every direction was most magnificent, as it had been for ages and as yet untouched by the hand of man. Before them swept by the majestic Father of Waters, yet unburdened by navigation. After Mr. Wood had expatiated at length on the advantages of the situation, Mr. Ross replied, "But it's too near Atlas ever to amount to anything!" Atlas is still a cultivated farm, and Quincy is 9 city of over 30,000 population. In 1824 Mr. Wood gave a newspaper notice, as the law then prescribed, of his intention to apply to the General Assembly for the formation of a new county. This was done the following winter, result- ing in the establishment of the present Adams County. During the next summer Quincy was se- lected as the county seat, it and the vicinity then containing but fpur aduU wale residents and half IS" rOHN WOOD. that number of females. Since tliat period Mr. Wood resided at the place of his early adoi)tion un- til his death, and far more tiian any other man was he identified with every measure of its progress and history, and almost continuously kept in public posi- tions. He was one of the early town Trustees, and after the place became a city he was often a member of the City Council, many times elected Mayor, in the face of a constant large opposition political majority. In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1856, on the organization of the Republican party, he was chosen Lieutenant Governor of the State, on the ticket with Wm. H. Bissell for Governor, and on the death of tiie latter, March 18, i860, he succeeded to the Chief Executive chair, which he occupied until Gov. Yates was inaugurated ncar'.y ten months after- ward. Nothing very marked characterized the adminis- tration of (Jov. W^ood. The great anti-slavery cam- paign of i860, resulting in the election of the honest Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the Presidency of the United States, occurred during the short period while Mr. Wood was Governor, and tne excitement and issues of that struggle dominated over every other consideration,— indeed, supplanted them in a great measure. The people of Illinois, during all that time, were passing the comparatively petty strifes under Bissell's administration to the overwhelming issue of preserving the whole nacion from destruction. In 1861 ex-Gov. Wood was one of the five Dele- gates from Illinois to the " Peace Convention " at Washington, and in April of the same year, on the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was appointed I Quartermaster-General of the State, wliich position he held throughout the war. In 1S64 he took com- mand as Colonel of the 137th 111. Vol. Inf, with whom he served until the period of enlistment ex- jiired. Politically, Gov. Wood was always actively identi- fied with the Whig and Republican parties. Few men have in personal experience comprehended so many surprising and advancing local changes as vested in the more than half century recollections of Gov. Wood. Sixty-four years ago a solitary settler on the "Bluffs," with no family, and no neighbor within a score of miles, the world of civilization away behind him, and the strolling red-man almost his only visitant, he lived to see growing around him, and under his auspices and aid, overspreading the wild hills and scraggy forest a teaming city, second only in size in the State, and surpassed nowhere in beauty, prosperity and promise; whose people recog- nize as with a single voice the proverbial honor and liberality that attach to the name and lengthened life of their pioneer settler, "the old Governor." Gov. Wood was twice married,— first in January, 1826, to Ann M. Streeter, daughter of Joshua Streeteri formerly of Salem, Washington Co., N. Y. They had eight children. Mrs, W. died Oct. 8, 1863, and in June, 1865, Gov. Wood married Mrs. Mary A., widow of Rev. Joseph T. Holmes. Gov. Wood died June 4, 1S80, at his residence in Quincy. Four of his eight children are now living, namely: Ann E., wife^'of Gen. John Tillson; Daniel C, who married Mary J. Abernethy ; John, Jr., who married Josephine Skinner, and Joshua S., who married Annie Bradley. The last mentioned now resides at Atchison, Kansas, and all the rest are still at Quincy. GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. '5.) p<>i]^ard Tal:<>^ ilCHARD YATES, the "War Governor," 1 86 1-4, was born Jan. 18, 1818, on the banks of the Ohio River, at V'arsaw, Gallatin Co., Ky. His lather moved in 1831 to Illinois, and after stopping for a time in Springfield, settled at Island Grove, Sangamon County. Here, after attending school, Richard joined the family. Subsequently he entered Illinois College at Jacksonville, where, in 1837, he graduated with first honors. He chose for his pro- fession the law, the Hon. J. J. Har- din being his instructor. After ad- mission to the Bar he soon rose to distinction as an advocate. Gifted with a fluent and ready oratory, he soon appeared in the political hustings, and, being a passionate admirer of the great Whig leader of the West. Henry Clay, he joined his political fortunes to he party of his idol. In 1840 he engaged with great ^■rdor in the exciting " hard cider " campaign for rfarrison. Two years later he was elected to the Legislature from Morgan County, a Democratic stronghold. He served three or four terms in the Legislature, and such was the fascination of his ora- r:'iry that by 1850 his large Congressional District, extending from Morgan and Sangamon Counties 1 orth to include LaSalle, unanimously tendered him tiie Whig nomination for Congress. His Democratic opponent was Maj. Thomas L. Harris, a very pop- vlar man who had won distinction at the battle of Cerro Gordo, in the Me.xican War, and who had oeaten Hon. Stephen T. jliogan for the same position, two years before, by a large majority. Yates wa.~ elected. Two years later he was re-elected, over John Calhoun. It was during Yates second term in Congress that the great question of the repeal of the Missouri Com- promise was agitated, and the bars laid down for re- opening the dreaded anti-slavery question. He took strong grounds against the repe.il, and thus became identified with the rising Republican party. Conse- quently he fell into the minority in his district, which was pro-slavery. Even then, in a third contest, he fell behind Major Harris only zoo votes, after the district had two years before given Pierce 2,000 majority for President. The Republican State Convention of i860 met at Decatur May 9, and nominated for the office of Gov- ernor Mr. Yates, in preference to Hon. Norman B, Judd, of Chicago, and Leonard Swett, of Blooming- ton, two of the ablest men of the State, who were also candidates before the Convention. Francis A. Hofifman, of DuPage County, was nominated for Lieutenant Governor. This was the year when Mr. Lincoln was a candidate for President, a period re- membered as characterized by the great whirlpool which precipitated the bloody War of the Rebellion. The Douglas Democrats nominated J. C. Allen cf Crawford County, for Governor, and Lewis W. Ross, of Fulton County, for Lieutenant Governor. The Breckenridge Democrats and the Bell-Everett party had also full tickets in the field. After a most fear- ful campaign, the result of the election gave Mr. Yates 172,196 votes, and Mr Allen 159,253. Mr. Yates received over a thousand more votes than did Mr. Lincoln himself. Gov, Ysites occupied the chair of State during the i6o RICHARD YATES. most critical period of our country's history. In the fate of the nation was involved that of each State. The life struggle of the former derived its sustenance from the loyalty of the latter; and Gov. Yates seemed to realize the situation, and proved himself both loyal and wise in upholding the Government. He had a deep hold upon the affections of the people, won by his moving eloquence and genial manners. Erect and symmetrical in person, of pre- possessing appearance, with a winning address and a magnetic power, few men possessed more of the ele- ments of popularity. His oratory was scholarly and captivating, his hearers hardly knowing why they were transported. He was social and convivial. In the latter respect he was ultimately carried too far. The very creditable military efforts of this State during the War of the Rebellion, in putting into the field the enormous number of about 200,000 soldiers, were ever promptly and ably seconded by his excel- lency ; and tlie was ambitious to deserve the title of "the soldier's friend." Immediately after the battle of Shiloh he repaired to the field of carnage to look after the wounded, and his appeals for aid were promptly responded to by the people. His procla- mations calling for volunteers were impassionate appeals, urging upon the people the duties and re- quirements of patriotism ; and his special message ill i86_^ to the Democratic Legislature of this State pleading for material aid for the sick and wounded soldiers of Illinois regiments, breathes a deep fervor of noble sentiment and feeling rarely equaled in beauty or felicity of expression. Generally his mes- sages on political and civil aff^iirs were able and com- prehensive. During his administration, however, there were no civil events of an engrossing character, although two years of his time were replete with partisan quarrels of great bitterness. Military ar- rests, Knights of the Golden Circle, riot in Fulton County, attempted suppression of the Chicago Times and the usurping State Constitutional Convention of 1862, were the chief local topics that were exciting during the Governor's term. This Convention assem- bled Jan. 7, and at once took the high position that 'he law calling it was no longer binding, and that it ■.ad supreme power; that it represented a virtual assemblage of the whole people of the State, and was sovereign in the exercise of all fwwer necessary to effect a. peaceable revolution of the State Government and to tlie re-establishment of one for the "happiness, prosperity and freedom of the citizens," limited only by the Federal Constitution. Notwithstanding the law calling the Convention required its members to take an oath to support the Constitution of the State as well as that of the general Government, they utterly refused to take such oath. They also as- sumed legislative powers and passed several imixsrt- ant "laws!" Interfering with the (then) present executive duties, Gov. Yates was provoked to tell them plainly that " he did not acknowledge tlie right of the Convention to instruct him in the performance of his duty." In 1 863 the Governor astonished the Democrats by " proroguing " their Legislature. Tliis body, after a recess, met June 2, that year, and soon began to waste time upon various partisan resolutions ; and, while the two houses were disagreeing upon the question of adjourning «'«if die, the Governor, having tlie authority in such cases, surprised them all by adjourning them " to the Saturday next preceding the first Monday in January, 1865 ! " This led to great excitement and confusion, and to a reference of the Governor's act to the Supreme Court, who decided in his favor. Then it was the Court's turn to receive abuse for weeks and months afterward. During the autumn of 1864 a conspiracy was de- tected at Chicago which had for its object the liber- ation of the prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, the burning of the city and the inauguration of rebellion in the North. Gen. Sweet, who had charge of the camp at the time, first had his suspicions of danger aroused by a number of enigmatically worded letters which passed through the Camp postoflice. A de- tective afterward discovered that the rebel Gen. Marmaduke was in the city, under an assumed name, and he, with other rebel oflScers— Grenfell, Morgan, Cantrell, Buckner Morris, and Charles Walsh — was arrested, most of whom were convicted by a court-martial at Cincinnati and sentenced to imprisonment, — Grenfell to be hung. The sentence of the latter was afterward commuted to imprison- ment for life, and all the others, after nine months' imprisonment, were pardoned. In March, 1873, Gov. Yates was appointed a Gov- ernment Director of the Union Pacific Railroad, in which office he continued until his decease, at St. Louis, Mo., on the 27th of November following. GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. ,63 -^•^ P^^ICHARD J. OGLESBY, Gov- ernor 1865-8, and re-elected ill 1872 and 1884, was born July 25, 1824, in Oldham Co., Ky., — the State which might fwc-A. be considered the " mother of Illinois Governors." Bereft of his parents at the tender age of eight years, his early education was neglected. When 12 years of age, and after he had worked a year and a half at the carpenter's trade, he removed with an uncle, Willis Oglesby, into whose care he had been committed, to Decatur, this State, where he continued his ap- prenticeship as a mechanic, working six months for Hon. E. O. Smith. In 1844 he commenced studying law at Spring- field, with Judge Silas Robbins, and read with him one year. He was admitted to the Bar in 1845, and commenced the practice of his chosen profession at Sullivan, the county seat of Moultrie County. The next year the war with Mexico was com- menced, and in June, 1846, Mr. Oglesby volunteered, was elected First Lieutenant of Co. C, Fourth Illinois Regiment of Volunteers, and participated in the bat- tles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. On his return he sougiit to perfect his law studies by attending a course of lectures at Louisville, l)ut on the breaking out of the California "gold fever " in 1849, he crossed the plains and mountains to the new Eldorado, driving a six-mule team, with a com- pany of eight men, Henry Prather being the leader, In 1852 he returned home to Macon County, and was placed that year by the Whig party on the ticket of Presidential Electors. In 1856 he visited Europe, Asia and Africa, being absent 20 months. On his return home he resumed the practice of law, as a member of the fir.n of Gallagher, Wait & Oglesby. In 1858 he was the Republican noninee for the Lower House of Congress, but was defeated by the Hon. James C. Robinson, Democrat. In i860 he was elected to the Illinois State Senate ; and on the evening the returns of this election were coming in, Mr. Oglesby liad a fisticuff encounter with " Cerro Gordo Williams," in which he came out victorious, and which was regarded as " the first fight of the Rebellion." The following spring, when the war had cominenced in earnest, his ardent nature quickly responded to the demands of patriotism and he enlisted. The extra session of the Legislature elected him Colonel of the Eighth Illinois Infantry, the second one in the State raised to suppress the great Rebellion. He WIS shortly eatrusted with important com- mands. For a time he was stationed at Bird's Point and Cairo ; in April he was promoted Brigadier Gen- eral ; at Fort Donelson his brigade was in the van, being stationed on the right of General Grant's army and the first brigade to be attacked. He lost 500 men before re-inforcements arrived. Many of these men were from Macon County. He was engaged in the battle of Corinth, and, in a brave charge at this place, was shot in the left lung with an ounce ball, and was carried from the field in e.xpectation of im- 164 RICHARD J. OGLESBY mediate death. That rebel ball he carries to this day. On his partial recovery he was promoted as Major General, for gillantiy, his commissioa to rank from November, 1862. In the spring of 1863 he wae assigned to the command of the i6th Army Corps, but, owing to inability from the effects of his wound, he relinquished this command in July, that year. Gen. Grant, however, refused to accept his resignation, and lie was detailed, in December folloiv- ing, to court-martial and try the Surgeon General of the Army at Washington, where he remained until May, 1864, when he returned home. The Republican, or Uiion, State Convention of 1864 was held at Springfield, May 25, when Mr. Oglesby was nominated for the office of Governor, while other candidates before the Convention were Allen C. Fuller, of Boone, Jesse K. Dubois, of Sanga- mon, and John M. Palmer, of Macoupin. Wni. Bross, of Chicago, was nominated for Lieutenant Governor. On the Democratic State ticket were James C. Robinson, of C'lark, for Governor, and S. Corning Judd, of Fulton, for Lieutenant Governor. The general election gave Gen. Oglesby a majority of about 31,000 votes. The Republicans had also a majority in both tha Legislature and in the repre- sentation in Congress. Gov. Oglesby was duly inaugurated Jan. 17, 1865. The day before the first time set for his installation death visited his home at Decatur, and took from it his only son, an intelligent and sprightly lad of six years, a great favorite of the bereaved parents. This caused the inauguration to be postponed a week. The political events of the Legislative session of 1865 were the election of ex-Gov. Yates to the United States Senate, and the ratification of the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery. This session also signalized itself by repealing the notorious " black laws," part of which, although a dead letter, had held their place upon the statute books since 1S19. Also, laws re- quiring the registration of voters, and establishing a State Board of Equalization, were passed by this Leg- islature. But the same body evinced that it was cor- ruptly influenced by a mercenary lobby, as it adopted some bad legislation, over the Governor's veto, nota- bly an amendment to a cliarter for a Chicago horse railway, granted in 1859 for 25 years, and now sought to be extended 99 years. As this measure was promptly passed over his veto by both branches of the Legislature, he deemed it useless further to attempt to check their headlong career. At this session no law of a general useful character or public interest was perfected, unless we count such the turning over of the canal to Chicago to be deepened. The session of 1867 was still more productive of private and special acts. Many omnibus bills were proposed, and some passed. The contests over the APcation of the Industrial College, the Capital, the Southern Penitentiary, and the canal enlargement and Illinois River improvement, dominated every- thing else. During the year 1872, it became evident that i( the Republicans could re-elect Mr. Oglesby to the office of Governor, they could also elect him to the United States Senate, which they desired to do. AccDidingly they re-nominated him for the Execu- tive chair, and placed upon the ticket with him for Lieutenant Governor, John L. Beveridge, of Cook County. On the other side the Democrats jjut into the field Gustavus Koerner for Governor and .John C. Black for Lieutenant Governor. The election gave the Republican ticket majorities ranging from 35,334 to 56,174, — the Democratic defection being caused mainly by their having an old-time Wliig and AboUtionist, Horace Greeley, on the national ticket for President. According to the general understand- ing had beforehand, as soon as the Legislature met it elected Gov. Oglesby to the United States Senate, whereupon Mr. Beveridge became Governor. Sena- tor Oglesby's term expired March 4, 1879, having served his party faithfully and exhibited an order of statesmanship beyond criticism. During the campaign of 1884 Mr. Oglesby was nominated for a "third term" as Executive of the State of Illinois, against Carter H. Harrison, Mayor of Chicago, nominated by the Democrats. Both gentlemen "stumped " the State, and while the peo- ple elected a Legislature which was a tie on a joint ballot, as between the two parties, they gave the ■ jovial " Dick" Oglesby a majority of 15,018 for Gov- ernor, and he was inaugurated Jan. 30, 1885. The Legislature did not fully organize until this date, on account of its equal division between the two main parties and the consequent desperate tactics of each party to checkmate the latter in the organization of the House. Gov. Oglesby is a fine-appearing, affable man, with regular, well defined features and rotund face. In stature he is a little above medium height, of a large frame and somewhat fleshy. His physical appear- ance is striking and prepossessing, while his straight- out, not to say bluff, manner and speech are weli. calculated favorably to impress the average masses. Ardent in feeling and sirongly committed to the pol- icies of his party, he intensifies ' Republicanism among Republicans, while at the same time his jovial and liberal manner prevents those of the opposite party from hating him. He is quite an effective stump orator. With vehe- ment, passionate and scornful tone and gestures, tremendous physical power, which in speaking he exercises to the utmost; with fretjuent descents to the grotesque; and with abundant homely compari- sons or frontier figures, expressed in the broadest vernacular and enforced with stentorian emphasis, he delights a promiscuoug audience beyond measure. s^ .K^,^^ &--£^i^c.c^ GO VER IVORS OF ILLINOIS. \%i J 0' HN M. Fa L 31 MR :OHN Mc AULEY PALMER, Gov- ernor 1869-72, was born on Engle Creek, Scott Co., Ky , Sept. 13, 1817. During his in- fancy, his father, who had been a soldier in the war of 181 2, re- moved to Christian Co., Ky., where lands were cheap. Here the future Governor of the great Prairie State spent his childhood and received such meager school- ing as the new and sparsely set- tled country afforded. To this he added materially by diligent reading, for which he evinced an ily aptitude. His father, an ardent Jackson man, IS also noted for his anti-slavery sentiments, which : thoroughly impressed upon his children. In 1831 ; emigrated to Illinois, settling in Madison County. ere the labor of improving a farm was pursued for lOut two years, when the death of Mr. Palmer's other broke up the family. About this time Alton )llege was opened, on the "manual labor " system, id in the spring of 1834 young Palmer, with his der brother, Elihu, entered this school and remained > months. Next, for over three years, he tried iriously coopering, peddling and school-teaching. During the summer of 1838 he formed the ac- laintance of Stephen A. Dougla,s, then making his first canvass for Congress. Young, eloquent and in political accord with Mr. Palmer, he won his confi- dence, fired his ambition and fixed his purpose. The following winter, while teaching near Canton, he be- gan to devote his spare time to a desultory reading of la.v, and in the spring entered a law office at Car- linville, making his home with his elder brother, Elihu. (The latter was a learned clergyman, of con- siderable orginality of thought and doctrine.) On the next meeting of the Supreme Court he was ad- mitted to the Bar, Douglas being one of his examiners. He was not immediately successful in his profession, and would have located elsewhere than Carlinville had he the requisite means. Thus his early poverty was a blessing in disguise, for to it he now attributes the success of his life. From 1839 on, while he diligently pursued his profession, he participated more or less in local politics. In 1843 he became Probate Judge. Ip 1847 he was elected to the State Constitutional Con vention, where he took a leading part. In 1852 hd was elected to the State Senate, and at the special session of February, 1854, true to the anti-slaver) sentiments bred in him, he took a firm stand in op- position to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and when the Nebraska question became a ])art) issue he refused to receive a re-nomination for th< Senatorship at the hands of the Democracy, issuinj, a circular to that effect. A few weeks afterward, i6& JOHN MC AULEY PALMER. however, hesitating to break with his party, he par- ticipated ill a Congressional Convention which nonii- T. L. Harris against Richard Yates, and which unqualifiedly approved the principles of the Kansas- Nebraska act. But later in the campaign he made the plunge, ran for the Senate as an Anti-Nebraska Democrat, and was elected. The following winter he put in nomination for the ^United States Senate Mr. Trumbull, and was one of the five steadfast men who voted for him until all the Whigs came to their support and elected their man. In 1856 he was Chairman of the Republican State Convention at Bloomington. He ran for Congress in 1859, but was defeated. In i860 he was Republican Presidential Elector for the State at large. In 1861 iie was appointed one of the five Delegates (all Re- publicans) sent by Illinois to the peace congress at Washington. When the civil conflict broke out, he offered his services to his country, and was elected Colonel of the J4th 111. Vol. Inf , and participated in the engagements at Island No. 10 ; at Farmington, where he skillfully extricated his command from a dangerous position ; at Stone River, where his division for several hours, Dec. 31, 1862, held the advance and stood like a rock, and for his gallantry there he was made Major General; at Chickamauga, where his and Van Cleve's divisions for two hours maintained their position when they were cut off by overpowering numbers. Under Gen. Sherman^ he was assigned to the i4lh Army Corps and participated in the Atlanta campaign. At Peach-Tree Creek his prudence did much to avert disaster. In Feliruary, 1865, Gen. Palmer was as- signed to the military administration of Kentucky, which was a delicate post. That State was about half rebel and half Union, and those of the latter element were daily fretted by the loss of their slaves. He, who had been bred to the rules of common law, trembled at the contemplation of his extraordinary power over the persons and property of his fellow men, with which he was vested in his capacity as military Governor ; and he exhibited great caution in the execution of the duties of his post. Gen. Palmsr was nominated for Governor of Illi- nois by the Republican State Convention which met at*Pejri;x May 6, 1868, and his nomination would probably have been made by acclamation had he not oersistently declared that he could not accept a can- didature for the office. The result of the ensuing election gave Mr. Palmer a majority of 44,707 over John R. Eden, the Democratic nominee. On the meeting of the Legislature in January, 1869, the first thing to arrest public attention was that portion of the Governor's message which took broad Slate's rights ground. This and some minor points, which were more in keeping with the Demo- cratic sentiment, constituted the e.itering wedge for the criticisms and reproofs he afterward received from the Republican party, and ultim.itely resulted in his entire aleniation from the Litter element. Tiie Legislature just referred to was noted for the intro- duction of numerous bills in the interest of private parties, which were embarrassing to the Governor. Among the public acts passed was that which limited railroad charges for passenger travel to a maximum of three cents per mile ; and it was passed over the Governor's veto. Also, they passed, over his veto, the "tax-grabbing law" to pay r^.ilrotid subscriptions, the Chicago Lake Front bill, etc. The new State Constitution of 1870, far superior to the old, was a peaceful " revolution" which took place during Gov. Palmer's term of office. The suffering caused by the great Chicago Fire of October, 187 r, was greatly alleviated by the prompt responses of his excellency. Since the expiration of Gov. Palmers 's term, he has been somewhat prominent in Illinois politics, and has been talked of by many, especially in the Dem- ocratic party, as the best man in the State for a United States Senator. His business during life has been that of the law. Few excel him in an accurate appreciation of the depth and scope of its principles. The great number of his able veto messages abun- dantly testify not only this but also a rare capacity to point them out. He is a logical and cogent reasoner and an interesting, forcible and convincing speaker, though not fluent or ornate. Without brilliancy, his dealings are rather with facts and ideas than with appeals to passions and prejudices. He is a patriot and a statesman of very high order. Physically he is above the medium height, of robust frame, ruddy com|)lexion and sanguine-nervous temperament. He has a largo cranial development, is vivacious, social in disposition, easy of approach, unostentatious in his habits of life, democratic in his habits and manners and is a true American in his fundamental principle.' of statesmanship. n GU VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 17 1 i '^v'^tZ;yi^ i^C^iSi ?i^i^C^<^C^^:?f&, i\*:'< : iTi'^^t^'^'^t^'^'^'^t^'g^'^t^:. m f(©l\i^ f ¥f fiidgf . Yl^^^^^^^m^MM^^^M.^^^^^^^^M^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^i^^if "pn^~ OHN LOWRfE BEVER- IDGE, Governor 1873-6, was born in the town of Green- wich, Washington Co., N. Y., July 6, 1824. His parents were George and Ann Bever- idge. His father's parents, An- drew and Isabel Bcveridge, be- fore their marriage emigrated from Scotland just before the Revolutionary War, settling in Washington County. His father was the eldest of eight brothers, the youngest of whom was 60 years of age when the first one of the num- ber died. His mother's parents, James and Agnes Hoy, emigrated from Scotland at tlie close of tiie Revolutionary War, settling also in 'pi Washington Co., N. Y., with their first-born, whose " native land " was the wild ocean. His parents and grandparents lived beyond the time allotted to man, their average age eing over 80 years. They belonged to the " Asso- iate Church," a seceding Presbyterian body of America from the old Scotch school ; and so rigid was the training of young Beveridge that he never heard a sermon from any other minister except that of his own denomination until he was in his 19th year. Later in life he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which relation he still holds. Mr. Beveridge received a good common-school ed- ucation, but his parents, who could obtain a livelihood only by rigid economy and industry, could not send him away to college. He was raised upon a farm, and was in his i8th year when the family removed to De Kalb County, this State, when that section was very sparsely settled. Chicago had less than 7,000 inhabitants. In this wild West he continued as a farm laborer, teaching school during the winter months to supply the means of an education. In the fall of 1842 he attended one term at the academy at Granville, Putnam Co., 111., and subsequently several terms at the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Ogle Co., 111., completing the academic course. At this time, the fall of 1845, ^'^ parents and brothers were anxious to have him go to college, even though he had not money sufficient; but, njt willing to bur- den the family, he packed his trunk and with only $40 in money started South to seek his fortune 172 JOHN L. BEVERIDGE. Poor, alone, witlunit friends and influence, he thus entered ui)on the battle of life. First, he taught school in Wilson, Overton and Jackson Cos., Tenn., in which experience he under- went considerable mental drill, both in book studies and in the ways of the world. He read law and was admitted to the Bar, in the South, but did not learn to love the institution of slavery, although he ad- mired many features of Southern character. In De- cember, 1847, he returned North, and Jan. 20, 1848, he married Miss Helen M. Judson, in the old Clark- Street M. E. church in Chicago, her father at that time being Pastor of the society there. In the spring of 1848 he returned with his wife to Tennessee, where his two children. Alia May and Philo Judson, were born. In the fall of 1849, through the mismanagement of an associate, he lost what little he had accumu- lated and was left in debt. He soon managed to earn means to pay his debts, returned to De Kalb Co., 111., and entered upon the practice of his pro- fession at Sycamore, the county seat. On arrival from the South he had but one-quarter of a dollar in money, and scanty clothing and bedding for himself and family. He borrowed a little money, practiced ^aw, worked in public offices, kept books for some of the business men of the town, and some railroad en- gineering, till the spring of 1854, when he removed to Evanston, 12 miles north of Chicago, a place then but recently laid out, under the supervision of the Northwestern University, a Methodist institution. Of the latter his father-in-law was then financial agent and business manager. Here Mr. Beveridge prospered, and the next year (1855) opened a law office in Chicago, where he found the battle some- what hard; but he persevered with encouragement and increasing success. Aug. 12, 1 86 1, his law partner, Gen. John F. Farusworth, secured authority to raise a regiment of cavalry, and authorized Mr. Beveridge to raise a company for it. He succeeded in a few days in rais- ing the company, of course enlisting himself along with it. The regiment rendezvoused at St. Charles, 111.,- was mustered in Sept. 18, and on its organiza- tion Mr. B. was elected Second Major. It was at- tached, Oct. II, to tlie Eighth Cavalry and to the Army of the Potomac. He served with the regiment until November, 1863, participating in some 40 bat- tles and skirmishes : was at Fair Oaks, the seven days fight around Richmond, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville and Gettysburg. He commanded the regiment thegreaterpartofthesummerof 1863, and it was while lying in camp this year that he originated the policy of encouraging recruits as well as the fighting capac- ity of the soldiery, by the wholesale furlough system. It worked so well that many other officers adopted it. In the fall of this year he recruited another com- pany, against heavy odds, in January, 1864, was commissioned Colonel of tlie 17th 111. Cav., and skirmished around in Missouri, concluding with the reception of the surrender of Gen. Kirljy Smith's army in Arkansas. In 1865 he commanded various sub-districts in the Southwest. He was mustered out Feb. 6, 1866, safe from the casualties of war and a stouter man than when he first enlisted. His men idolized him. He then returned to Chicago, to practice law, with no library and no clientage, and no political experi- ence except to help others into office. In the fall of 1866 he was elected Sheriff of Cook County, serving one term; next, until November, 1870, he practiced law and closed up the unfinished business of his office. He was then elected State Senator; in No- vember, 187 I, he was elected Congressman at large; in November, 1872, he was elected Lieutenant Gov- ernor on the ticket with Gov. Oglesby; the latter be- ing elected to the U. S. Senate, Mr. Beveridge became Governor, Jan. 21, 1873. Thus, inside of a few weeks, he was Congressman at large. Lieutenant Governor and Governor. The principal events oc- curring during Gov. Beveridge 's administration were: The completion of the revision of the statutes, begun in 1869; the partial success of the "farmers' move- ment;" " Haines' Legislature " and Illinois' exhibit at the Centennial. Since the close of his gubernatorial term ex-Gov Beveridge has been a member of the firm of Bever- idge & Dewey, bankers and dealers in commercial paper at 7 1 Dearborn Street (McCormick Block), Chicago, and since November, 1881, he has also been Assistant United States Treasurer: office in tlie Government Building. His residence is still at Ev- anston. He has a brother and two sisters yet residing in De Kalb County — James H. Beveridge, Mrs. Jennet Henry and Mrs. Isabel French. GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS. 175 SEELBY M, CVLLOBL '\ ■^Sj HELBY M. CULLOM, Gover- nor 1877-83,18 the sixth child of the late Richard N. Cullom, and was born Nov. 22, 1829, in Wayne Co., Ky., where his fa- ther then resided, and whence both tlie lUinois and Tennessee branches of the family originated. In the following year the family emi- grated to the vicinity of Washington, Tazewell Co., 111., when that section was very sparsely settled. They lo- cated on Deer Creek, in a grove at the time occupied by a party of In- dians, attracted there by the superior hunting and fishing afforded in that vicinity. The following winter was known as the " hard winter," the snow being very deep and lasting and the weather severely cold; and the family had to subsist mainly on boiled corn or hominy, and some wild game, for several weeks. In the course of time Mr. R. N. CuUoro became a prom- inent citizen and was several times elected to the Legislature, both before and after the removal of the capital from Vandalia to Springfield. He died about '873- Until about 19 years of age young Cullora grew up to agricultural pursuits, attending school as he had onportunity during the winter. Within this time, nowever, he spent several months teaching «chool- and in the following summer he "broke prairie "with an ox team for tlie neighbors. With the money ob- tained by these various ventures, he undertook a course of study at the Rock River Seminary, a Methodist institution at Mt. Morris, Ogle County; but the sudden change to the in-door life of a stu- dent told severely upon his health, and he was taken home, being considered in a hopelesi condition. While at Mt. Morris he heard Hon. E. B. V/ashburne make his first speech. On recovering health, Mr. CuUom concluded to study law, under the instruction of Abraham Lincoln, at Springfield, who had by this time attained some notoriety as an able lawyer; but the latter, being ab- sent from his office most of the time, advised Mr. Cullom to enter the office of Stuart & Edwards. After about a year of study there, however, his health failed again, and he was obliged to return once more to out-door life. Accordingly he bought hogs for packing, for A. G. Tyng, in Peoria, and while he re- gained his health he gained in purse, netting $400 in a few weeks. Having been admitted to the Bar, he went to Springfield, where he was soon elected City Attorney, on the Anti-Nebraska ticket. In 1856 he ran on the FlHmore ticket as a Presi- dential Elector, and, although failing to be elected as such, he was at the same time elected a Representa- tive in the Legislature from Sangamon County, by a local coalition of the American and Republican par- ties. On the organization of the House, he received th? vpte of the Fillmore men for Speaker. Practicir^" 176 SHELBY M. CULLOM. law until i860, he was again elected to the Legisla- ture, as a Republican, while the county went Demo- cratic on the Presidential ticket. In January follow- ing he was elected Speaker, probably the youngest man who had ever presided over an Illinois Legis- lature. After the session of 1S61, he was a candidate for the State Constitutional Convention called for that year, but was defeated, and thus escaped the disgrace of being connected with that abortive parly scheme to revolutionize the State Government. In 1862 he was a candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated. The same year, however, he was ap- pointed by President Lincoln on a Government Commission, in company with Gov. Boutwell of Massachusetts and Cnarles A. Dana, since of the New York Sun, to investigate the affairs of the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments at Cairo. He devoted several months to this duty. In 1864 he enteied upon a larger political field, being nominated as the Republican candidate for Congress from ;'ue Eighth (Springfield) District, in opposition to the incumbent, JohnT. Stuart, who had been elected in 1862 by about 1,500 majority over Leonard Svvett, then of Bloomington, now of Chicago. The result was the election of Mr. Cullom in Novem- ber following by a majority of 1,785. In 1866 he was re-elected to Congress, over Dr. E. S. Fowler, by the magnificent majority of 4 103! In 1868 he was again a candidate, defeating the Hon. B. S. Edwards, another of his old preceptors, by 2,884 votes. During his first term in Congress he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and E.xpenditures in the Treasury Department; in his second term, on the Committees on Foreign Affairs and 0:1 Territories ; and in his third term he succeeded Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, to the Chairmanship of the latter. He intro- duced a bill in the House, to aid in the execution of law in Utah, which caused more consternation among the Mormons than any measure had previously, but which, though it passed the House, failed to pass the Senate. The Republican Convention which met May 25, 1876, nominated Mr. Cullom for Governor, while the other contestant was Gov. Beveridge. For Lieuten- ant-Governor they nominated Andrew Shuman, editor of the Chicago Journal. For the same offices the Democrats, combining with tlie Anti-Monopolists, nlaced iu nomin^tiotj Lewis Steward, a wealthy farmer and manufacturer, and A. A. Glenn. The result of the election was rather close, Mr. Cullom obtaining only 6,800 majority. He was inaugurated Jan. 8, 1877. Great depression prevailed in financial circles at this time, as a consequence of the heavy failures of 1873 and afterward, the effect of which had seemed to gather force from that time to the end of Gov. Cullom's first administration. This unspeculative period was not calculated to call forth any new issues, but the Governor's energies were at one time put to task to quell a spirit of insubordination that had been begun in Pittsburg, Pa., among the laboring classes, and transferred to Illinois at Chicago, East St. Louis and Braidwood, at which places laboring men for a short time refused to work or allow others to work. These disturbances were soon quelled and the wheels of industry again set in motion. In May, 1880, Gov. Cullom was re-nominated by the Republicans, against Lyman Trumbull, by tlie Democrats; and althougli the former party was some- what handicapped in the campaign by a zealous faction opposed to Grant for President and to Grant men for office generally, Mr. Cullom was re-elected by about 314,565, to 277,532 for the Democratic State ticket. The Greenback vote at the same time was about 27,000. Both Houses of the Legislature again became Republican, and no representative of the (^ireenback or Socialist parties were elected. Gov. Cullom was inaugurated Jan. 10, iSSr. In his mes- sage he announced that the last dollar of the State debt had been provided for. March 4, 1883, the term of David Davis as United States Senator from Illinois expired, and Gov. Cul- lom was chosen to succeed him. This promoted Lieutenant-Governor John M. Hamilton to the Gov- ernorship. Senator Cullom's term in the LTnited States Senate will expire March 4, 1889. Ai a practitioner oflaw Mr. C. has been a member f)f the firm of Cullom, Scholes & Mather, at Spring- field; and he has also been President of the State National Bank. He has been married twice, — the first time Dec. 12, 1855, to Miss Hannah Fisher, by whom he had two daughters; and the second time May 5, 1863, t ) Julia Fisher. Mrs. C is a member of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, with which religious body Mr, C. is also in sympathy, GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. '79 -}-^lE^>7^^ *^;&«»s;s-^^;s-'S>v';^e«-S;g«.^;$«.^;s-*^:s<.^;-j#^;s.*-£;s^s;gig>S;g-^^!S*-g;s«^g ^. ^SSHJH*^ OHN MARSHALL HAMIL- ,^ TON, Governor 1S83-5, was born May 28, 1847, in a log house upon a farm about two miles from Richwood, Union County, Ohio. His father was Samuel Hamilton, the eldest son cf Rev. Wm. Hamilton, who, to- getb.er with his brother, the Rev. Samuel Hamilton, was among the early pioneer Methodist preachers in Ohio. The mother of the subject of this sketch was, before her marriage, Mrs. Nancy McMorris, who was born and raised in Fauquier or Lou- doun County, Va., and related to the two large families of Youngs and Marshalls, well known in that commonwealth ; and from the latter family name was derived the middle name of Gov. Hamilton. In March, 1854, Mr. Hamilton's father sold out his little pioneer forest home in Union County, O., and, loading his few household effects and family (of six children) into two emigrant covered wagons, moved to Roberts Township, Marshall Co., 111., being 2 1 days on the route. Swamps, unbridged streams and innumerable hardships and privations met them on their way. Their new home had been previously selected by the father. Here, after many long years of toil, they succeeded in payii.g for the land and making a comfor'a'''" home. John was, of course, brought up to hard manual labor, with no schooling except three or four months in the year at a common country school. However, he evinced a capacity and taste for a high order of self-education, by studying or reading what books he could borrow, as the family had but very few in tiie house. Much of his study he prosecuted by the light of a log fire in the old-fashioned chimney place. The financial panic of 1857 caused the family to come near losing their home, to pay debts; but the father and two sons, William and John, "buckled to" and perse vered in hard labor and economy until they redeemed their place from the mortgage. When the tremendous excitement of the political campaign of i860 reached the neighborhood of Rob- erts Township, young Hamilton, who had been brought up in the doctrine of anti-slavery, took a zeal- ous part in favor of Lincoln's election. Making special efforts to procure a little money to buy a uniform, he joined a company of Lincoln Wide- Awakes at Mag- nolia, a village not far away. Directly after the ensuing election it became evident that trouble would ensue with the South, and this Wide-Awake company, like many others throughout the country, kept up its organization and transformed itself into a military company. During the ensuing summer they met often for drill and became proficient ; but when they offered themselves for the war, young Hamilton was rejected on account of his youth, he being then but 14 years of age. During the winter of 1863-4 'le attended an academy at Henry, Marshall County. JOHN MARSHALL HAMILTON. and ill the following May he again enlisted, for the fourth time, when lie was placed in the 141st 111. Vol Inf., a regiment then being raised at Elgin, 111., for the roo-day service. He took with him 13 other lads from his neighborhood, for enlistment in the service. This regiment operated in Southwestern Kentucky, for about five months, under Gen. Paine. Tlie following winter, 1864-5, ^'■- Hamilton taught school, and during the two college' years 1865-7, '^"^ went through three years of the curriculum of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. The .third year he graduated, the fourth in a class of 46, in the classical department. In due time he received the degree of M. A. For a few months he was the Principal of iVIarshall " College " at Henry, an acad- emy under the auspices of the M. E. Church. By this lime he had coiiimenced the study of law, and after earning some money as a temporary Professor of Latin at the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, he entered the law office of Weldon, Tipton & Benjamin, of that city. Each member of this firm has since been distinguished as a Judge. Admitted to the Bar in May, 1870, Mr. Hamilton was given an interest in the same firm, Tipton hav- ing been elected Judge. In October following he formed a partnership with J. H. Rowell, at that time Prosecuting Attorney. Their business was then small, but they increased it to very large proportions, practicing in all grades of courts, including even the U. S. Supreme Court, and this partnership continued unbroken until Feb. 6, 18S3, when Mr. Hamilton was sworn in as E.xecutive of Illinois. On the 4th of March following Mr. Rowell took his seat in Con- gress. In July, 187 I. Mr. Hamilton married Miss Helen M. Williains, the daughter of Prof. \Vm. G, Williams, Professor of Greek in the Ohio Wesleyan University. Mr. and Mrs. H. have two daughters and one son. In 1876 Mr. Hamilton was nominated by the Re- publicans for the State Senate, over other and older competitors. He took an active part " on the stump " in the campaign, for the success of his party, and was elected by a majority of 1,640 over his Democratic- Greenback opponent. In the Senate he served on the Committees on Judiciary, Revenue, State Insti- tutions, Appropriations, Education, and on Miscel- lany ; and during the contest for the election of a U. S. Senator, the Republicans endeavoring to re- elect John A. Logan, he voted for the war chief on every ballot, even alone when all the other Republi- cans had gone over to the Hon. E. B. Lawrence and the Democrats and Independents elected Judgi? D ivid Davis. At this session, also, was passed the first Board of Health and Medical Practice act, of whicii Mr. Hamilton was a champion, again;'; . ; much opposition that the bill was several times " laid on the table." Also, this session authorized the location and establishment of a southern peni- tentiary, which was fixed at Chester. In the session of 1879 Mr. Hamilton was elected President //■md, with the spur of poverty and promptings of ambition ever with him, he Avas ready to hang out his professional shingle in 18G9. Being trust- worthy he soon gathered about him some Influen- tial friends. In 1871 he was elected Corporation Counsel of Bloomington. . In 1872 he was elected State's Attorney of McLean County. This ottice he held for eight years, when he took his seat in the State Senate. Here he served for four years. His ability to perform abundance of hard 'work made him a most valued member of the Legisla- ture. "^ jMr. Fifer was married in 1870 to Gertie, dauiih- t''i- of AVilliam J. Lewis, of Bloomini.ton. Mr. Fifer is six feet in height and is spare, wei^diin..- <»>l.v 150 pounds. He has a swarthy complexion^ keen black eyes, quick movement, and possesses a trank and sympathetic nature, and naturally makes friends wherever he goes. During the late'Gubei- natorial campaign his visits throughout the State proved a great power in his behalf. His happy faculty of winning the confidence and good wishes of those with whom he comes in personal contact is a sourceof great jwpularity, especially duringa polit- ical battle. As a speaker he is fluent, his lanyu.age IS good, voice clear and agreeable, and manner forcible. His manifest earnestness in what he says as well as his tact as a public speaker, and his elo- quent and forceful Language, makes him a most yaluable campaign orator and a powerful pleader at the bar. At the Kepubliean State Convention, hel.l in May, 1888, Mr. Fifer was chosen as its candi- date for Governor. He proved a popular nominee, and the name of " Private Joe " I,ecaine familiar to everyone throughout the State. He wasjcd a vigorous campaign, was elected by a good m.-ijority, and in due time assumed the duties of the Chief Kxecutive of Illinois. TRANSPORTATION NE of ilie most ira[)(jil;int fac- tors ill llie business duvflop- mcnt nii.l prosijcril}' of a cit_v, coiml>' or Mali', is its railroad coiniiiuiiicaliiins. A retrospeclioii of the history '^i ^"^ of Macoupin County since Iho ad- '^'jlL^.O vent of railroad facililiis, will con- vince tliG careful observer of llie immense benefit resulting from the introduction of this essential adjunct y r^_,^ of commercial enterprise. The fol- p MV^ lowing brief sketches of the leading dc.. railroads of this section of the great commonwealtii will form an interesting feature of this Record. It may be remaiked in tliis connec- tion that the roads referred to are not only the im- portant cori)orations of Illinois, but stand among the first in the Nation. ^^VHif5:>^ ^«-<-«,— ' Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, OPULARLY known as the Santa Fe Route. 1) The initial lines of this great sjstem were first built from Atchison to Topeka, in 1869, and for man}- 3'ears tlie former city was the Eastern terminus of the road. The maii- agemcnt of the Santa Fe, with wonderful energy. pushed out its lines in every direction into tiie young and growing State of K:insas, and in the majority- of instances preceding settlement and civilizn.tion. This road was the first to penetrate acioss the southern part of Colorado, via Pueblo and Trinidad into New Mexico, until its lines pen- etrated the old adobe town of Snnta Fe, whose cit- izens were half .Spanish and half Mexican. As ils course penetrated the wilderness it sometimes fol- lowed the old Santa Fe Trail, and generally not far distant at any time from the "trail" which had been made famous years before by lra[)pers and also by the Government freighters. The mar- velous growth and dev('lo|>mcnt of the State of Kansas is in a great measure due to the enterprise and public spirit of the managers of the Santa Fe System. Not only did thej' devote their energy to the upbuilding of the road, but at great expense they maintained emigration and Colonial agents in the various countries of Europe, as well as in the Eastern, Middle and Southern States, thereby ail- vertising the State of Kansas as no other State has heretofore been done. Its climate, its soil and great advantages to the home seeker were at times fully portrayed b\' the enterprise of this road — every fostering care was given to the stock and ranchmen, to the merchant, the mechanic and the manufacturer, to settle in Kansas — as a result we have here a State in the center of the Union, of boundless agricultural resources, settled by a wide TRANSPORTATION. awake, eiitcrprisiiiif ami prosperous people. The Santa Vc owns antl operates more miles of road in Kansas than any other line, with its vast s^'stoiu of East and West, North and South lines reaching ever^' important town in the .State, and penetrating sixty-three counties in Kans.as. The magnitude of its business is immense. Its lines beginning at the Missouri River towns in Kansas are St. Joseph, Atch- ison, Leavenworth and Kansas City; extends sohUi to Coffey vi lie, Arkansas City, Hunnewell, Caldwell, New Kiowa (thence to the I'an Handle of Texas), and north to Superior, in Nebraska; Concordia, Cla}' Center, Minneapolis, and other Northern Kansas cities. Its main lines and branches reacii nearly ever^- important city in the State. St. Jo- seph, on the Missouri side of the river, has a (wpu lation of nearly one hundred thousand, and its wholesale trade is heavy throughout the West, Atchison is a growing city of about twenty thous- and people; the Soldiers' Orphans [lomc of tlu' State is located here. Leavenworth, with her thirty thousand people, is an important maiiuf.Tcturiiig center. Leavenworth was the earliest famous city of Kansas, as it was the original outfitting point for travel and traffic across the plains. The Kansas system may be described as a main east and west line, over four hundred miles in lengili.with braiu h lines extending in every direction where an aie.i of (jarticularly rich country, or some other s|)eci,il advantages invited a line of rails. The road from Topeka, after liSG',), w.as ex' ended west and south, and then east to Kansas City by purchase of a line built by another company. From Kansas City, in 1887-88, the line was extemled to Chicago, under the name of the Chicago, Santa Fe ife California Road; in 1887, also the purchase of the Gulf. C^olorado ife Santa Fe Road, and the ex- tension of the Kansas lines through the Indian Territory to Texas, gave the company a line to the Gulf of Mexico. So that at the present time the Santa Fe System proper begins at Chicago, passes through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kans.as, Colorado, Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, and has for its Southern terminals Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico, and Ki Paso, on the Mexican frontier; and for its Western terminals San Diego and Lof Angeles, on the Pacific Coast, (San Francisco being practically a Pacific-Coast terminal, .as it is reached via Mojave, over the tracks of ihe Southern Pacific Railway); and for its Northern terminals Chicago, St. Joseph, Mo., Superior, Neb., and Denver, the capital of Colo- rado. Chicago to Kansas City is practically an air line, being the most straight and direct of an^- road between the two cities. It passes through a large number of important towns in Illinois, including Joliet, with its great steel works, and other manu- facturing interests. The next important place is Streator, a few miles south of the hitter place ; a branch extends to the thriving city of Pekin, on the Illinois River. From Streator the main line crosses the Illinois at Chillicothe, and extends throUiili Peoria and Knox Counties to the beauti- ful ;ind enterprising cit}' of (ialesburg, here it comes in competition with several lines of the Burlington System; thence running in southwest- erly direction through a rich and populous section, crossing the Mississippi at Ft. Madison, on a mag- nificent steel bridge. Here the com|)any have established shops, that being the terminus of the two operating divisions of the road. F'rom Ft. !\Iadis;)n by a spur Keokuk is reached. The line through .Missouri shows very heavy construction woik. ui.ade to secure what was dcsirul in the w.ay of distances and grades. Along the Santa Fe new towns are s[)ringiiig up. and new industries are be ing developed. 'I'went^' miles east of Kansas City the Missouri River is crossed b3- a steel bridge, so that the line erte-'s Kansas City on the south side of the river. From Kansas Cit}' to Topeka the line runs on the South bank of the Kansas River: at Wilder and Ilolliday are points for the depart- ure of branch line — one northwest to Atchison, and the other southwest through Ottawa and .South- ern Kansas, being known as the Southern Kansas division of the Santa Fe System. From Lawrence to Topeka the road is still in the Kans.as Valley, through a veritable garden. Native trees of great height overhang the railw.ay here and there, and in the spring and summer the crops look green and luxuriant. The a|)proach to Topeka is through the long 3-ards. and by the vast machine shops of the TRANSPORTATION. irgo, National City, Los Angeles, and a hundred other beautiful towns offer unequalled inducements to the seeker after health, wealth and pleasure. San Francisco and otiier cities of Central and Northern California are reached by the lines of the Southern Pacific by virtue of a special arrangement for traffic. Hetween Chicago and Kansas City meals are served on the finest dining cars; on the other lines and branches are superb eating-houses and hotels. No expense is spared in securing ele- gant accommodations; the supplies are secured from the best markets Fast and West. From the resume thus given of the facilities pos- sessed by the Santa Fe Railway, fcir interchanging traffic at its termini anti various junctions, it must lie apparent to the reader that the line is admirably' situated, and that in many respects it occupies a strategic position, superior to that of other trans- Missouri and Mississip|)i railroads. These advan- tages have been utilized In the past, as they will be in the future, in developing the localities through which the various branches extend, and to build up the permanent prosperity of the property whose history is so closely interwoven with thesettlement, development and prosperity of the West beyond the Missouri River. Its local traffic compares fa- voiably with that of other competing lines. To this purely local trafiic must be added the contri- butions of its several ttrmini, all large cities and l)rominent trade centers in the Missouri and Mis- sissippi Valleys. With the growth and steady development of the manufacturing and other indus- tries of Chicago, Kansas City, St. Joseph. Atchi- son, Leavenworth, Topeka, Wichita, Galveston, El Paso, Pueblo and Denver, the Santa Fe Rail- way must materially make corresponding strides toward attaining that proud financial position which has been the life dream of its origin.itors and pres- ent owners. Under the present progressive and conservative management, all advantages of geo- graphical position, and all the resources of the through line will be constantly utilized in building up the future prosperity of the road itself, and in developing the extended area of Chicago's com- mercial supremacy. The Land Grant from the Government amounted substantially- to three mill- ion acres. In brief its commanding geographical TRANSPORTATION. losiliun, eouplerl witli its direct Eastern alliance or lliroiigli business, must render llie Sniita Fe vfintuall}' one of the raost remunerative of our Vestern railroads. -^ The Wabash. V/ ^ O tiie public and our thousands of readers li^\- '" "cneral : — -It will no doubt be interesting ^^' to all if we give a biief description of this oad. The Wabash, as now known, has been opcr- ted under several names from time to lime. It is lie offspring, as it were, of the first line of road rojected in Illinois, then known as the Northern h'oss Railroad, extending from Danville to Quincy. "■his was chartered in 1837, and upon i*j the first :)Cora(jtive was placed in the winter of 1838-39, unning from Meredosia, on the Illinois River, to acksonville. In 1842 the road was eonijileted I'om Jacksonville to Siiringfield, and three trips 'ere made per week. The track was of the old at rail style, which was made by nailing thin strips f iron on two parallel lines of limbers placed at lie proper distance apart, and running longihways f the road. The engine as well as the road soon ecame so impaired that the former had to be bandoned, and mules substituted as the motor ower. However, such locomotion was (destined :j be of short dnralion, for the State soon after aid the entire road for a nominal sum, and thus or a short time was suspended one of the first rail- uad enter|irises in Illinois. Hut in the West a ew era — one of prodigious industrial activitj' and nr-reaching results in the practical arts — was dawn- )g, and within thirty years of the temporary fail- re of the road mentioned, Illinois had oulslri|)pcd II others in gigantic internal improvements, and t present has more miles of railroad than any Iher State in the Union. The Great Western, v^ hose name has been suc- essively changed to Toledo, Wabgsh & Western. V^abash, and Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, and V'abash Railroad, and The Wabash, the last of diicli it still bears, was an extension of 'he North- rn Cross Railroad, above mentioned, and traverses some of the finest portions of Illinois, In<1iana and Ohio. It soon became the popular highway of travel and traffic between the East and the West. Through a system of consolidation, unparalleled in American railways, it has l)econie a giant ,among them, and has ,a(l(led many millions of dollars to the value of bonds and shares of the various com- panies now inc()ri)oralod in the Wabash system. The road takes its title from the river of that name, a triliutar^- of the Ohio, which in part separates the Stales of Illinois and Indiana. In looking over the ma|) of the Wabash Railroad it M'ill be seen that the line extends through the most fertile and wealthy portions of the center of the United Slates, having termini at more large cities than any other Western road. It was indeed a far-reaching sagac- ity which consolidated these various lines into the Wabash system, forming one immense chain of great commercial activity and power. Its terminal facilities are unsurpassed by any competing line. Its home offices are established in commodious quarters in St. Louis. The lines of the road a-e co-extensive with the importance of the gre.'it trans- portation facilities required for the products of the 31ississi|)pi Valley. This line pa.sses through the States of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. The various lines of road may be divided into the following : Miles. .St. Louis to Chicago 286 Toledo to Kansas City 662 St. Louis to Des Moines 360 Logansport to Detroit 207 Chicago to Laketon -Junction 123 Clayton to Keokuk 42 Bluffs to (Juincy 10.5 Streator to Forest 37 Attica to Covington 15 Champaign to Sidney 12 Edwardsville to Edwardsville Crossing il Bement to Altamont and Ellingham 63 Brunswick to (^maha 225 Roseberry to Clariuda 21 ^ .Salisbury to Glasgow 15 Centralia to Columbia 22 Miles of main lines and branches. . 2204 From the above main line and branches as in- TRANSPORTATION. dieated. it will readily be seen that the Wahasli connects with more large cities and great marts of trade tban any other line, bringing Omaha. Kansas City, Des Moines. Keokuk, (^)iiii,cy, St. Louis, Clii- eago, Toledo and Detroit together with one contin- uous line of steel rails. This road has an immense freighl traffic of the cereals, live-stock, various productions and manufactured articles of the West and the Slates through wliicli it passes. Its facili- ties for rapid transit for the vast productions of the i)acking houses of Kansas City and St. Louis, to Detroit. Toledo and the Eastern marls of trade, is uue(|ualle(l. A large portion of the grain pro- ductions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illi- nois and Indiana, linds its way to the Eastern mar- kets over the lines of tiiis road. The Wabash has always taken an advanced position in tariffs, and its course towanl its patrons has been just and lil>eral, so that it has always enjoyed the commen- dation of the business and traveling jmblie. The road t)ed is one of the best in the country, and is ballasted with gravel and stone, well lied and laid with steel rails. The bridges along the various lines and branches are subsl.inlial structures. The depots, grounds and general property of the road are in good condition. The management of the Wabash is fidly abreast of the times. The road is |)rogressive in every respect. The finest pas- senger cars on the continent are run on its lines, and every effort made to .adv.ance the interests of its patrons. The passenger department is unex- celled for the elegant and substantial comfort afforded travelers. On several of the more im- portant branches of the system, dining cars are run. - tx-«j . •' ooio ■• (Jhiiago & Alton Ifailroiid. SHIS road traverses some of the best territory of Illinois and Missouri, with its western terminus in Kansas City and southern in St. Louis, and the principal terminus and headquarters in Chicago. It is one of the most important roads of the great system of railroads in the Mississippi A'alley. '1 he air-line between St. Louis and Chi- cago, the most |)rominent cities of the Great West, and the most i)ronounce. asowpin Qsuniv !^-* „ int:"roduqt:"ory.„^. ^««-«W®>^ jHE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to per- petuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age and the duty that men of the pres- ent time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In bio- graphical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the ITeopie who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their jirime entered tlie wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- maining who can relate the incidents of the first days if settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut dow.i by the scytjie of Time. To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best worivs and the most earnest efforts of their friends to perserve tiie memory of their live-;. The me.ins employ^>d to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory iias l)een in propor- tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. ThT pyramiarl of tlie land, but as his means accumulate his resi- dence here, he has held several iin()ortant civic offices, and has proved a valuable acquisition to the citizenship not only of Carlinville, where he has his present home as Postmaster at this city, but to the county at large. 3Ir. Castle is of New England biith and anteced- ants. born at Watertown, Litchfield County, Ct., March 22, 1839. His father, John Castle and his grand fatiier. Isaac Castle, were natives of that State. The latter was a machinist and followed his calling many years, the last [lart of his life being spent at Wateibury. The father of our suliject was reared amid the pleasant surroundings of his native Slate. For a number of \'ears he was prosperously engaged in fanning, but the closing years of his life were passed in retirement at Waterbury, Conn., where he died in 1852. The maiden nau.e of his wife was Clarinda AVclton. She was born in Litchfield County, Conn., and vvas a daughter of Jonathan Welton. She married a second time, becoming the wife of Samuel Holt, and now resides at New Haven, Conn. He of whom this biography is written was tiie only son of his parents, and he was thirteen ^ears old when he had the misforlune to lose his father. He oblaineil a practical education iu the public schools of Connecticut, which he attended until he was fourteen years old. He then came to Illinois with his uncle, Capt. Samuel AVelton, and resid- eil with him in Carli.iville Township, assisting on the farm until 1859, wiien he returned to the East, and ambitious to extend his education, he attend- ed school at Watertown. He devoted himself assi- duously to his books until 1801, making rapid progress in his studies. The great civil strife be- tween the North and the South broke out, and he watched its course with intense interest, aad in the opening years of a promising manhood, animated by the nolde and self-sacrificing patriotism that characterized both the old and the young men of that day, he enlisted in the service of his country, his name being enrolled .as a member of Co. D., 1st (lonnecticut Squ,adron, in August, 1861. His com- pany was mustered in the same month at Hartford, Conn., and was immediately attached to the Second New York Cavaliy, to which our subject belonged FOKTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 197 iiiilil Maj', 1863. Fie was then |)roraote(l to the pusilion of Second Lieutenant, and was tiansferrud to the Tliiiteentli New York Cavalry. He was subsequent!}' made First Lieutenant of liis coni- pan}', and later was commissioned its Ca|)tain, and commanded tlic compan}- the last twelve montlis of Ills service. Our subject distinguished himself in various encounters with the enemy, ami won his spurs on many a iiard fought battlefield, where he gave ample proof of intrepidity, cool daring and de- votion to the cause of the Lnion, seconded by tact as a leader and quick wit and sagacity in case of emergencies. He was serving under Gen. Kil- patrick during Stoneman's raid, and it was his regiment that got inside tiic works around Richmond, captured a few prisoners, including some rebel officers, and dated their paroles from that city. C'a|)lain Castle was with the advanccil corps at tiie battle of Falmouth, his regiment being the first to cross the river into Fredericksburg,and it guarded the rear of Pope's army duiing the re- treat from Rapidan to Fairfax Court House. He was with Siieridan in his campaign in the Shenan- doali Valley, and took an active part in the battle of Winchester. January 11, 1865, the captain resigned his commission and bade farewell to mili- tary life on account of disability. Our subject returned to Connecticut after he i left the army, and then came once again to Carlin- i ville. He gave his attention to farming until 1873, and then engaged in the livery business which he conducted until 1890. In February of that year he was appointed Postmaster, and has ever since been at the head of the postoffice in this city. He is managing the affairs entrusted to his care, methodically, promptl}-, and in a business like manner, so as to satisfy all concerned, and his courtesy and genialitj' render him very popular. He has lield other prominent positions, and in every case has displayed that true public spirit that seeks to promote the highest welfare of the country regardless of personal aggrandizement. He was a member of the Hoard of Aldermen, of Carlinville, from the First Ward one term, anil in 1878 he was elected Mayor of the city. In that capacity he used his influence to forward all schemes for the benefit of the public, and gave heart}- support to all measures calculated to pro- mote the growth of the municipality. In 1884 Mr. Castle was elected to the Stale Legislature, and he took an active part in that memorable contest that lasted from .January until IMay, and terminated in the election of John A. Logan to the United States Senate, he standing lirnily by the General from first to last. Politic- ally, the Republican party has always found in him a stanch adherent since he cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He has been identified with the Macoupin County Board of Agriculture for many years, has served it as Director and Pres- ident, and for six years he has been Secretary of the board, that owes much to his zeal in its behalf. Socially, he is a member of the Dan Messick Post, No. 339, G. A. R.;of Mt. Nebo Lodge, No. 76, A. F. & A. M.; of Orient Lodge, No. 95, K. P.; of Silver Lodge, No. 325, K. of H.; and of Carlinville Camp, No. 125, M. W. A. The marriage of our subject September 8, 1868, with Miss Emma B. Fishback, a native of Ala- bama, and a daughter of William H. and Margaret Fishback, has been one of mutual happiness. They have three children living — William II., Louisa R. and George J. Their joungest child, Clara Belle, died at the age of seven years. <"M-^-^r-^-i- ^RAVIS M. MITCHELL, who resides on bis pleasant farm on section 36, Brushy Mound Township, enjo3'S the distinction of being the oldest native-born citizen of said township. His birth took place in his father's log cabin on sec- tion 24, February 13, 1833, he being the second son born to Elijah and Jane (Moore) Mitchell. See sketch of William T. Mitchell for parental his- tory. Travis M. attended the pioneer schools of this localitj', which were taught in a log house on the subscription plan, each family paj'ingin proportion to the number of scholars sent. The teacher '•boardeil around" with the parents of the pupils 198 PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHIGAL RECORD. tlirougliout the district. Our subject was cloliied ill liomesiuin ir.anufrtcturcd l)}- the d^■ft hands of ills iiioUrm', and the fooil that he and tiie rest of the fatniiy ate was cooked by her before an open lire- pl.ice. Before the advent of tlie railways the pco- jile lived principally on tlie products of the farni. Our subject remained at home iinlil 1 So 4 wiili his parents, and his father then, on his attain- ing his majority, gave him a horse and saddle, which, with about ^20 in cash, comprised his entire capital with which to begin life on his own ac- count. Hut that was sulticient for a 3'oung man of his calibre and wide-awake activity, and in ihe course of time he has increaseii it many fold, and is one of the wealthy men of his township. In the fall of the same year that ho left the parental abode, after engaging for awhile in driving a team to break prairie, receiving half the profits, he rented of John Moore a tr.act of land in Honey I'oiiit Township, and put in a crop of wheat. In 1876 his father gave him seventy acres of prairie on the western half of the northeast quarter of section 30, lirushy Mound Townshii), and which is included in his present farm. Thv' same year he bought twenty acres of land arn in Somerset Count}, Pa., aliout tlie year 17S9. Ills mother was Nancj' Shockey, wlio was also a native of the same portion of tin: country ns her h'.isband, licr birth year being lcS02. After uiairiago tiiey set- tied in their native county and in the course of time removed from there to Alleirliany County. Md., in May, 1836, and lived iliere until his deatli which occurred in 1804 wlien he was in his seventy-sixth year. His widow came to Illinois about 1866 and still resides in Shipman with her daughter. They had a large family of fourteen children of whom our subject was the seventh in order of birth. Mr. Shullz was born in Somerset County, Pa., Ma\" 28, 1831. He was about five years of age when his parents removed lo Alleghany County, Md. There he grew to manhood under the mild influences incident to farm life. Arriving at 3'ears of manhood he was united in marriage in his adopted State March 20, 1853 to Miss Charlotte Augustine, a daughter of Jacob F. R. and Jus- dinah (Null) Augustine. The former was a native of Somerset County, Pa., anf tlie "one liundrerl flays' bn3-s" who went oiil in 1864 anil James who belonged to the Tiiirty-scconil Illi- nois Infantry, fell mortallj- vvoiinded at Siiiluli, April 6, 1862. Mrs. Steidley's brother, Joseph Rice, was killed nX the battle of Shiloh. He was First Lieutenant. ^^^Eti. RICHARD ROWKTT. At no lime in 11 g— , the history of oisr nation were the srand- ^^^ est qualities of hei'oism so brilliantly dis- plaj'ed as durin