1 1 1 mmmp$ .<^v^sy The American Government. BIOGRAPHIES OF THE PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENT, AND CABINET, THE SUPREME COURT, AND SENATORS OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR THE PERIOD 1873 — 1877. BY WILLIAM HORATIO^BARNES. WITH PORTRAITS ON STEEL. WASHINGTON, D. C. : W. H. BARNES & CO., PUBLISHERS, 328 Indiana Avenue. hi d en Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, By WILLIAM H. BARNES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. O. THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. The Confederation which existed between the States at the close of the Revolution, though it had subserved a great purpose, yet was lacking in stability and strength ; hence Congress recommended a convention of delegates to devise a better form of government. All the States, except Rhode Island, acceded to the proposal, and ap- pointed delegates, who assembled in general convention in Phila- delphia, in May, 1787. This convention, which was presided over by George Washington, presented a very rare combination of the best talents, experience, and patriotism which the country afforded, and consequently commanded universal public confidence. After several months of deliberation the convention agreed, with unprece- dented unanimity, on the plan of government which now forms the Constitution of the United States, and it was speedily adopted by the several States which formed the original American Union. The government thus ordained, which was organized on the 4th of March, 1789, consists of three departments, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary, among which were distributed the powers conferred by the people of the several States upon the National government. This division of powers was considered essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people ; therefore, in the construction of the departments they were made co-ordinate and independent. The Executive power is vested in the President of the United States. There have been twenty-two successive quadrennial elec- tions to fill this high office, which has been held by eighteen dis- tinguished citizens. While their powers and responsibilities have been immense, very few have been charged, even by their enemies, with having abused or transcended their constitutional authority. No nation has ever had a succession of so many rulers of equal intel- lectual ability and purity of personal character. 3 4 INTRODUCTION. The Judicial authority is vested in one Supreme Court and such inferior courts as Congress may ordain and establish. Con- gress may abolish the courts which it ordains and substitute others, but it cannot abolish the Supreme Court. This is a court of higher dignity and wider jurisdiction than any other in the world. Its jurisdiction extends to suits in which a State or the United States is a party. It expounds the Constitution, and decides upon the validity of statutes passed by Congress, and by the State Legisla- tures, declaring them void if they conflict with the Constitution of the United Slates. It decides finally between State laws and the laws of Congress when in conflict. Its power extends to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and by virtue of this au- thority it decides questions of international law. The Supreme Court, as at present constituted, consists of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. Previous to the acces- sion of the present judges, the Supreme Bench had been occupied by six Chief Justices and thirty Associate Justices. The incumbents of these high positions have been chosen from among the brightest ornaments of the profession of the law. In legal learning, general talents, and personal character, the Supreme Court of the United State-, as at present constituted, is fully equal to any that has pre- ceded. The Legislative power is vested in a Congress of the United States, which consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate tries the political offences which the House of Repre- sentatives submits to its decision. It also acts as the great executive council of the nation; the treaties which arc concluded by the President must be ratified by the Senate; and the ap- pointments he may make must be approved by the same body. It has the right of annulling certain acts of the President; but it cannot compel him to take any steps, nor does it participate in the exercise of executive power. The House of Representatives, eleeted directly by the people once in two years, is the popular branch of the government. It commands, as it deserves, the respect of its immense constituency, now numbering forty millions, for the ability, wisdom, and patriotism with which it has generally met its grave responsibilities. THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. THE EXECUTIVE. , ULYSSES S. GRANT, President of the United States, . [ HENRY WILSON, Vice-President, .... HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State, .... WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON, Secretary of the Treasury, BENJAMIN H. BRISTOW, Secretary of the Treasury, . WILLIAM W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War, GEORGE M. ROBESON, Secretary of the Navy, COLUMBUS DELANO, Secretary of the Interior, , JOHN A. J. CRESWELL, Postmaster-General, MARSHALL JEWELL, Postmaster-General, . GEORGE H. WILLIAMS, Attorney-General,. EDWARDS PIERREPONT, Attorney-General, PAGE 11 27 35 39 43 45 47 49 53 i 55 57 59 THE SUPREME COURT. I MORRISON R. WAITE, Chief Justice, 65 NATHAN CLIFFORD, Associate Justice, 73 NOAH H SWAYNE, Associate Justice, 79 SAMUEL F. MILLER, Associate Justice, 83 DAVID DAVIS, Associate Justice 89 ~i STEPHEN J. FIELD, Associate Justice 95 WILLIAM STRONG, Associate Justice, 101 .KiSKPH P. BRADLEY, Associate Justice, 107 ^ WARD HUNT, Associate Justice, 113 5 CONTENTS. THE SENATE. PAGE I SIMON CAMERON 119 HANNIBAL HAMLIN, 121 . CHARLES SUMNER, 126 ZACIIARIAH CHANDLER, 135 HENRY B. ANTHONY 139 LOT M. MORRILL, 141 | TIMOTHY O. HOWE, 143 i JOHN SHERMAN, 151 ALEXANDER RAMSEY, 155 WILLIAM SPRAGUE, 163 WILLIAM M.STEWART, 107 AARON H. CRAGIN, 169 GEORGE F. EDMUNDS, 171 ROSCOE CONKLING, 173 JUSTIN S. MORRILL, 175 OLIVER P. MORTON, 170 ORRIS S. FERRY, 191 FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN, 195 THOMAS W. TIPTON, 197 THOMAS J. ROBERTSON, 199 , GEORGE E. SPENCER 201 A UK LB ERT AMES, 203 THOMAS F. BAYARD 205 ARTHUR I. BOREMAN, 207 WILLIAM G BROWNLOW, 209 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM, 215 MATTHEW H. CARPENTER, 217 EUGENE CASSERLY, 221 REUBEN E. FENTON, 223 JOHN W. FLANAGAN, 227 ABIJAH GILBERT 229 WILLIAM T. HAMILTON, 231 JOHN F.LEWIS ' 233 DANIEL D. PRATT, 237 CARL SCHURZ, 241 JOHN SCOTT 247 CONTENTS. 7 PAGE JOHN P. STOCKTON 251 ALLEN G. THURMAN, 253 MORGAN C. HAMILTON, 255 JAMES L. ALCORN, 257 POWELL CLAYTON, 259 HENRY COOPER 261 HENRY G. DAVIS, 263 THOMAS W. FERRY, 265 PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK, 271 JOHN W. JOHNSTON, 273 JOHN A. LOGAN, 275 THOMAS M. NORWOOD, 281 JAMES K. KELLY 283 M ATT. W. RANSOM, 287 ELI SAULSBURY 289 JOHN W. STEVENSON, 291 JOSEPH R. WEST 295 WILLIAM WINDOM, .297 GEORGE G. WRIGHT 299 RICHARD J. OGLESBY, 301 GEORGE GOLDTHWAITE, 304 WILLIAM B.ALLISON, 305 LOUIS V. BOGY, 309 GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, 313 SIMON B. CONOVER, 317 GEORGE R. DENNIS, 319 STEPHEN W. DORSEY, 321 JOHN B. GORDON, 323 JOHN J. 1NGALLS, 329 JOHN P. JONES, 331 THOMAS C. McCREERY, 335 AUGUSTUS S. MERRIMON, 337 JOHN H. MITCHELL, 339 JOHN J. PATTERSON, 341 AARON A. SARGENT, 343 BAINBRIDGE WADLEIGH, 347 JOHN S. HAGER, 349 JAMES M. HARVEY, 353 8 CONTENTS. PAGE HIRAM R. PEASE, 350 WILLIAM B. WASHBURN, 357 AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, 359 NEWTON BOOTH, 365 B. K. BRUCE 367 ANGUS CAMERON, 369 ALLEN T. CAPERTON, 371 ISAAC P. CHRISTIANCY, 373 FRANCIS M. COCKRELL, 375 WILLIAM SHARON, 377 ROBERT E. WITHERS, .*.... 379 WILLIAM W. EATON, 381 CHARLES W. JONES, 383 FRANCIS KERNAN, 385 JOSEPH E. McDONALD, 387 SAMUEL J. R. McMILLAN, 389 SAMUEL B. MAXEY, 391 ALGERNON S. PADDOCK, 393 THEODORE F. RANDOLPH, 395 WILLIAM A. WALLACE, 397 WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE, 399 HENRY L. DAWES, 401 THE EXECUTIVE. ULYSSES S. GRANT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 'LYSSES S. GEANT was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. His parents were of Scotch extrac- tion, and had settled in Ohio several years before the birth of their eldest son. He received his early education by attending at intervals the village school. The first book which his mother put into his hands after he had learned to read was Weems's Life of Washington, which made a deep impression upon his mind. On the first of July, 1839, at the age of seventeen, he entered the West Point Military Academy as a cadet. Owing to limited op- portunities for early preparation his course was by no means easy, but he applied himself diligently, making steady and satisfactory progress. In French, Drawing, and Mathematics he was very pro- ficient, and as a rider he was the best in the institution. He was popular with his comrades, who regarded him as a yonth ot marked common sense, who performed his duties quietly, without ostenta- tion or display. Having completed his four years' course, he graduated in 18-43, at the age of twenty-one. tie was immediately appointed to the Fourth Infantry, and in 1844 was ordered to Texas to watch the Mexican army. In the spring of 1845 he shared in the glories of Palo Alto, Kesaea de la Palma, and Monterey. At the battle of Molino del Rey, and during the remainder of the operations before the city of Mexico, he behaved with such gal- lantry that he was promoted to Brevet First Lieutenant, and for his courage at the battle of Chapultepec lie was shortly afterward promoted to a Brevet Captaincy. Immediately after the close of the Mexican war Captain Grant returned to the United States, and shortly thereafter he married 11 8 ULYSSES S. GRANT. Miss Julia B. Dent, daughter of Colonel Frederick Dent, of St. Louis. In 1852 he was ordered to the Pacific Coast, and while serving in Oregon he was promoted to a full Captaincy. In 1854, finding a soldier's life wearisome in those wilds, he resigned his commission and returned to the East. His father-in-law having presented his wife with a farm near St. Louis, he built a log house upon it for his family, and applied himself with industry to the cultivation of the soil. After four years of constant, hut not very profitable, labor he gave up farming, and removed to Galena, Illinois, where he became a partner with his father and a brother in the leather trade. He devoted himself to his new business with the same energy which had marked his career as a soldier and a farmer. The firm of " Grant & Suns" soon acquired an excellent reputation among business men throughout the State. When the national flag was tired on at Fort Sumter, Grant's patriotism and military ardor were aroused together. "I have served my country through one war,'' he said to a friend, "and, live or die, will serve her through this." He immediately began recruit- ing ami drilling a company in the streets of Galena, and in four davs after Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men he went with it to Springfield. Governor Yates, feeling the need of his military education and experience in organizing the army of volun- teers assembling at Springfield, at once appointed him Adjutant- General of the State. In this position his services were invaluable. It was soon evident that his military talents were of so high an order as to demand for him active service in the held. On the 15th day of June, 1861, he received a commission as Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. Information having been received that the guerillas of Missouri threatened Quiney, on the Mississippi, Grant was ordered to the exposed point, marching his regiment one hundred and twenty miles for lack of transporta- tion. From Quincy he was ordered to a point on the Missouri River to guard the Hannibal and Hudson Railroad. In this service there was little opportunity for distinction, nevertheless he showed 12 ULYSSES ». GRANT. 9 such efficiency that he was soon after promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. In September General Grant was placed in command of the dis- trict of South-east Missouri, with his head-quarters at Cairo, Illinois. Hearing of Polk's intention of investing Paducah, Kentucky, he immediately fitted up an expedition, and on the 5th of September steamed up the river. He landed two regiments and a battery, and, without tiring a shot, took possession of Paducah. He im- mediately issued a proclamation in which he urged the people to pursue their usual avocations without alarm, assuring them that he had come among them "not as an enemy but as a fellow- citizen." Satisfied that the enemy was gathering troops and supplies at Columbus for operations in Missouri, Grant, on the 6th of Novem- ber, embarked Ids forces, and dropped down to Island Number One, eleven miles above Columbus. The troops landed on the Missouri shore, and marched about three miles to Belmont, where the rebels occupied a camp strongly intrenched. Grant moved on their works, and while at the head of the skirmish line had his horse shot under him. The tight was very severe for about four hours, but finally General Grant ordered a charge, and drove the enemy through their encampment. Thonsands of them took refuge on their transports, but many prisoners were taken, and all their artillery was captured. After this success, when General Grant was marching his forces back to the transports, he was intercepted by a large rebel force from Columbus who were confident of cutting off his return to the river. "We are surrounded," excitedly ex- claimed an aide riding up. "Very well," said General Grant, - we must cut our way out as we cut our way in. We have whipped them once, and I think we can do it again." They did cut their way through thirteen regiments of infantry and three squadrons of cavalry. They regained their boats and returned to Cairo, after having taken one hundred and fifty prisoners, and de- ^roved much material of war. On the first of February, L862, the War Department ordered 13 10 ULYSSES S. GRANT. the reduction of Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland, for the purpose of establishing points of operation against Memphis. Columbus, and Nashville. This duty was assigned to General Grant, with a land force of seventeen thousand men, and to Commodore Foote, with a fleet of seventeen gunboats. Fort Henry with seventeen heavy guns, and garrisoned by twenty-eight hundred men, was captured on the 6th of February. Early on the morning of the 12th General Grant, with eight light batteries and a main column of fifteen thousand men, commenced his march to Fort Donelson, twelve miles across the country. Fort Donelson was situated on a rocky eminence which commanded the rivei for several miles above and below. Numerous batteries, pro- tected by strong works, threw thirty-two and sixty-four pound shot Bastions, rifle-pits, and abatis opposed every approach. Twenty thousand soldiers manned the works, commanded by Generals Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd. Before noon on the 12th the rebel ]>ickets were driven in by Grant's advance, and before dark the fort was invested on all its land sides. The next day, with continuous skirmishing, the investment was drawn closer to the works. On the following day the enemy made a vigorous attack, which was re- pulsed. General Grant ordered a charge, which was vigorously made, and after a fierce struggle he gained a part of the intreiich- ments. Under cover of the night two of the rebel generals, with as many of their troops as could be embarked on steamers, abandoned the fort and ascended the river. Early on the following morning General Buckner dispatched a note to General Grant proposing an armistice in which to consider terms of capitulation. General Grant replied. "No terms except unconditional and immediate sur- render can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your works." Buckner made haste to accept the terms imposed. Ten thousand prisoners of war, sixty -five guns, seventeen thousand six hundred small arms, with an immense amount of military stores, fell into the hands of the victors. This brilliant victory, penetrating, as it did, the rebel line of de- fense west of the Alleghany Mountains, occasioned great rejoicing 14 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 11 throughout the North. Secretary Stanton recommended General Grant for a Major-General's commission. President Lincoln nomi- nated liiiu to the Senate the same day. The Senate at once con- firmed the nomination. The new military district of Tennessee was now assigned him. The successful General did not rest idly upon his laurels. Pie took immediate possession of Nashville, on the Cumberland, but established his headquarters at Fort Henry, that he might also con- trol the Tennessee River. It was deemed important to dislodge a large force of the enemy concentrating at Corinth. For this pur- pose General Grant, with thirty-five thousand men, ascended the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing. There they were disem- barked to await the arrival of General Buell, who was marching from Nashville to join them with a force of forty thousand. Johnston, the rebel General, in command at Corinth, resolved to throw his whole force of seventy thousand men upon Grant and annihilate his army before he could be joined by Buell. Early on the morning of the 6th of April, 1862, the rebel army suddenly and unexpectedly attacked the Union troops. Although our forces fought with desperation, they were driven nearly three miles with dreadful carnage on both sides. Night terminated a day of disaster to the Union arms. The rebel general telegraphed the news of his success to Richmond. He had no doubt of an easy and complete victory on the morrow. General Grant, however, never despaired of the result. No thought of ultimate defeat seemed to enter his mind. During the night he reorganized his broken forces, and formed a new line of battle. Twenty thousand of General Buell's troops, arriving after dark, were placed in posi- tion for the coining conflict. Relying upon the remainder of Buell's army for a reserve, he disposed all his available force for immediate action. With the dawn of day the national army along its whole line moved upon the astonished enemy with an impetu- osity inspired by confidence of victory. All day the conflict raged with terrific fury, and at night the discomfited foe retreated to their intrenchments at Corinth, having lost nearly twenty thousand 15 12 ULYS9ES S. GRANT. men. General Grant's loss was over twelve thousand men. This victory, though costly, was of inestimable value to the Union cause, giving, as it did, our armies the key to a large extent of the southern country, and opening the Mississippi to Memphis. The Union forces then advanced to the siege of Corinth, where the enemy had strongly intrenched themselves. They abandoned the place before the advance of the national forces, who occupied their works. General Grant made Memphis his headquarters, wlieu he took immediate and successful measures to suppress the crafty secessionists and unscrupulous traders who infested that city. He put negroes to useful employment, and in a short time, under his wise administration, order and security reigned. On the 17th of September General Grant made an advance on the enemy at Iuka. After a stubborn resistance they evacuated that place on the night of the 19th. On the .'Id of October the enemy, number- ing forty thousand, attacked Grant's defenses at Corinth, but after a sanguinary conflict, lasting until noon of the 4th, the rebels re- treated, leaving their dead and wounded on the held. On the 8th of October General Grant received a congratulatory order from President Lincoln. Envious of the successful general, a lew days after the victory of Corinth certain persons waited on President Lincoln and accused him of being a drunkard. After patiently listening to the story, he replied, " 1 wish all my generals would drink Grant's whisky." The next great military movement was made upon Vieksburg, where the enemy, strongly fortified, commanded the Mississippi. General Grant had full power given him to accomplish in his own way the capture of this stronghold. By a series of masterly move merits he concentrated an army of fifty thousand men on the land side, in a line extending from the Yazoo above to the Mississippi below the town. Commodore Porter, with a fleet of sixty vessels carrying two hundred and eighty guns, and eight hundred men, was directed to co-operate from the river. The siege which followed was one of the most memorable in history. It began early in February, 1863, and during the months 16 . ULYSSES S. GRANT. 13 it was protracted scarcely a day passed without a sanguinary battle. Shot and shell from the gunboats and batteries compelled the in- habitants to burrow in the hillsides for security. Assaults by the national troops were repulsed with such terrible loss that it seemed the only hope of reducing the stronghold was in regular siege operations. Iu the progress of the siege a mine was dug under one of the most important batteries of the enemy and charged with two thousand pounds of powder. At length, on the 25th of June, 1S65, the mine was ready to do its work of destruction. The ex- plosion was to be the signal for a simultaneous attack by land and water. At three o'clock in the afternoon the mine exploded, and immediately, over a line of twelve miles in length, the storm of battle opened upon the city with intense fury. But the defense was as determined as the assault, and the doomed city still held out. When General Grant was asked if he could take the place, he replied, " Certainly. I cannot tell exactly when I shall take the town, but I mean to stay here till I do, if it takes me thirty years." The final assault was to take place on the 4th of July, but on the day before a white flag appeared on the rebel works, and soon after two officers came out with a communication from Pemberton proposing an armistice for arranging terms of surrender. Grant replied that "unconditional surrender" only would be accepted. General Pemberton, hoping to obtain more favorable terms, urged a personal interview. The two generals met at three o'clock under an oak-tree less than two hundred feet from the rebel lines. Grant adhered to his demand, and the rebel commander, knowing that further resistance would be vain, after conferring with his officers accepted the terms imposed. At ten o'clock on the morning of the ( sighty-seventh anniversary of American Independence, white flags were raised along the rebel lines announcing their surrender. General Grant, with his staff, at the head of his army, entered the city and took possession of the works so gloriously won. The sur- render included one hundred and seventy-two cannon and over 17 14 ULYSSES S. GRANT. thirty thousand prisoners of war. The fall of Vicksburg was the most disastrous blow which had thus far been inflicted on the re- bellion. Its immediate effect was to open the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf. General Grant would have moved immediately upon Mobile, but he received orders from Washington to co-operate with General Banks in a movement upon Texas. Accordingly, on the 30th of August he left Vicksburg for New Orleans. In that city he was thrown from his horse, receiving injuries which disabled him for months. In East Tennessee affairs were not moving prosperously for the Union cause. The battle of Chickaniauga had resulted in the loss to the national troops of sixteen thousand men. They took posi- tion behind their intrenchments at Chattanooga, their lines of communication were cut off, and they were threatened with de- struction by a rebel force of eighty thousand men. In this emer gency General Grant was. on the lGth of October, 1863, assigned to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, in- cluding the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee. On the 19th of October he telegraphed to General Thomas, " Hold Chattanooga at all hazards. I will be there as soon as possible." On the evening of the 23d he entered Chat- tanooga, and his arrival at once put a new aspect upon affairs. At once he applied himself with immense energy to the work of making sure his lines of communication, hastening reinforcements, and securing supplies. " The enemy," said the " Eichmond En- quirer," " were out-fought at Chickaniauga, but the present position of affairs looks as though we had been out-generaled at Chat- tanooga." General Sherman, with the Fifteenth Army Corps, had marched his army from the Mississippi as rapidly as possible. At midnight, on the 23d of November, he crossed the Tennessee, above Chat- tanooga, and took a position to attack the enemy's right north of Missionary Ridge. The next day General Hooker stormed Lookout Mountain, on the enemy's extreme left, and gained a brilliant 18 L'L l SSES S. GRANT. L5 victory in the memorable "battle above the clouds." The next day the battle was opened along the whole line, the main attack being at the center, from an elevation where General Grant took position. The Union forces, led by generals whose names have become immortal, fought with a patriotic ardor which has never been surpassed. For miles the mountains and valleys were ablaze with the lightning of battle. The conflict raged with terrific fury during all the hours of that memorable day, but when night came the national flag floated over all the works which the enemy had held with so much apparent security in the morning. General Grant telegraphed to Washington, " Lookout Mountain top, all the rifle-pits in Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge entire, have been carried and are now held by us." This brilliant victory was one of the most decisive steps toward the final overthrow of the rebellion. The scale in the west turned irretrievably against the Confederacy when its armies were hurled from the summits of Look-out Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Still General Grant did not rest. He pursued the routed foe to- ward Atlanta, capturing thousands of prisoners, and securing im- mense supplies. General Grant had now three vast armies under his command, occupying over a thousand miles in extent. Feeling the weight of responsibilities resting upon him, he wished to acquaint himself personally with the condition of his command. In mid-winter, through storms and drifting snows which incumbered the mountain passeB, on horseback he visited the outposts of his army through an extent of country from Knoxville, on the one hand, to St. Louis on the other. A grateful country honored the soldier whose vigorous blows had told so terribly on the rebellion. A resolution was passed in Con- gress presenting the thanks of that body to General Grant and the officers and soldiers under his command. A gold medal was ordered to be struck off and presented to General Grant. On the 4th of February, 1864, Congress revived the rank of Lieutenant- General, which was conferred upon General Grant. He was sum- 19 16 ULYSSES S. GRANT. moned to Washington to receive his credentials, and to enter upon the command of all the armies of the United States. As he made his rapid journey to the capital multitudes gathered at every rail- road station to catch a gliinse of the man whose achievements sur- passed those of any other living General. He was received by President Lincoln with cordiality characteristic of a noble soul in which no spark of jealousy ever found a lodgment. On the 9th of March, in the executive mansion, in the presence of the Cabinet and other distinguished persons, General Grant received his commission as Lieutenant-General. President Lincoln having uttered some appropriate words of congratulation, General Grant replied : "Mr. President, I accept this commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies who have fought in so many battles for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibility now devolving upon me. I know that if it is properly met it will be due to these armies, and above all to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." General Grant now concentrated all his energies upon the work of crushing the rebellion and terminating the war by the destruc- tion of the rebel armies. He determined to concentrate the armies of the United States in a general attack upon the Confederate capital. The veteran Generals of the Union, with their splendid commands of tried soldiers, were assigned their several parts in the impending struggle. General Grant established his head-quarters with the army of the Potomac, which was encamped among the hills north of the Rapidan. Here he massed all his available forces preparatory to an attack upon General Lee, who occupied the south side of the river with as brave an army as ever went to battle. At midnight, on the third of May, 1864, General Grant left his camp with an army oue hundred and fifty thousand strong, and crossed the Rapidan a few miles below the intrenchments of the 20 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 17 enemy. In three columns the army penetrated the Wilderness, hoping by a flank movement to gain the rear of the enemy. At noon on the 5th General Lee, with an immense force, suddenly emerged from the forest, and fell upon the center of Grant's ex- tended line, hoping to cut it in two, and then destroy each part piece-meal. The battle raged with tremendous fury during the remainder of the day, and when night came no less than six thou- sand had fallen between the two armies on the bloody Held. At the rising of the morrow's sun the battle was renewed. No army ever had a braver or more determined foe. The forest was ablaze with the fire of battle in the face of the enemy, who contested every inch of ground, but by nightfall had been driven back tw< miles from where the battle opened in the morning. The third day of the battle of the Wilderness was distinguished by the retreat of the enemy toward his intrenchments near Spottsylvania Conrl house. After a series of bloody battles extending through the en tire day, the rebels reached their intrenchments in the night. Early on the following morning, which was Sunday, General Grant fel upon their works, and after a long day of battle the enemy vvere driven from their first line of intrenchments with the loss of twenty-five hundred prisoners. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes day the battle raged with constantly augmenting fury. The lattci day was signalized by fourteen hours of unremitting battle, and at its close General Grant, after announcing to the Government tin results achieved, added, " I propose to fight it out on this Urn >/ v takes all summer." During the night the national troops marched by another llai.l- movement, and before dawn had gained a series of ridges two miles bevond the Spottsylvania Court house. But the enemy, ever on the alert, had already manned intrenchments before them which had previously been prepared to resist any such movement toward Richmond. General Grant attacked their intrenchments, but they were too strong to be taken by assault. At night he sent a force of cavalry ten miles forward to seize a station on the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad, and in the morning the whole army 21 18 ULYSSES S GRANT. followed. 'By this advance of General Grant the rebels were left nearly twelve miles in his rear. General Lee was alarmed. lie feared that his line of communication might be cut off, and that General Grant might take the Confedederate capital without his being able to strike a blow in its defense. In haste he abandoned his position, and hastened toward another line of defense on the banks of the North Anna river. Both armies moved rapidly by parallel lines until they confronted each other on the banks of the "North Anna, within forty miles of Richmond. Here Leo being io< strongly intrenched to be successfully attacked, General Grant, concealing his purpose b}* a strong demonstration, inarched rapidly to a point on the Pamunky river, within fourteen miles of Rich- mond. He crossed the Pamunky, and on Wednesday morning, June 1, he was with his army at Cold Harbor face to face with the aimy of General Lee, now concentrated behind the defenses of Richmond. These works, bristling with guns-, were achievements of the highest engineering skill, and were manned by hosts of brave and determined defenders. There followed a week of as deperate and determined fighting as the war had witnessed. Day after day the brave battalions of the Union army were hurled against the rebels. It was evident that the time had not come for the capture of these works. The emergency displayed the resources of the Commanding General in devising and executing a movement bold as it was brilliant. Concealing his operations under a fire of skir- mishers, General Grant, with the mass of his army, commenced another flank movement. Descending the left bank of the Chieka- lioininy, he crossed it several miles below the enemy's lines, and by n rapid march reached the James River, and crossed it on pontoon bndges. By this brilliant movement he placed his forces in rear of Lee's army, south of Richmond. After effecting a junction with General Butler at Bermuda Hundred on the 15th of June, he crossed the Appomattox and commenced an attack on Petersburg. General Lee, startled at hearing the thunder of Grant's cannon far to the south of him, made haste to abandon his now useless ramparts and turn his army to the defense of Richmond in another 22 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 1 quarter. A triple Hue of intrenchmeuts reared for the defense of Petersburg were manned by soldiers who fought with the valor of desperation. After a terrible struggle the outer line was captured, with sixteen guns and three hundred prisoners. After two days more of bloody battle, whose scenes can never be adequately de- scribed, General Lee abandoned his second line, and concentrated all his strength for the defense of his inner works. In those three days of battle the Union Army lost ten thousand men in killed, wounded, and missing. It was evident that Petersburg, which was the key to Richmond, was defended by works so strong that they could only be taken by siege. Firmly, as in a vice, General Grant held the bulk of the rebel army, while General Sherman led a resistless host from Atlanta in a rapid and desolating march through Georgia and the Carolinas to co-operate with the army before the ramparts of Richmond. The Rebellion was tottering to its fall under the wise policy which placed General Grant at the head of the Armies of the United States. He comprehended the situation with the perception of a statesman and the intuition of a military genius, as the following extract from one of his official reports will show: " From an early period in the Rebellion I have been impressed with the idea that the active and continuous operations of all the troops that could be brought into the field, regardless of season and weather, was necessary to a speedy termination of the war. From the first I was firm in the conviction that no peace could be had that would be stable, and conducive to the happiness of the people, both North and South, until the military power of the Rebellion was entirely broken. I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy, preventing him from using the same force at different seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and from the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary sup- plies for carrying on resistance; second, to hammer continually against the armed force of the enemy and his resources, until by mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to 23 20 ULYSSES S. GRANT. him but an equal submission, with the loyal section of our commoi. country, to the Constitution and laws of the land." "Weeks and months rolled on, every day being signalized by im- portant military operations. General Grant was constantly making progress toward the end he kept continually in view — the destruc- tion of " the military power of the Rebellion." It was near the end of March, 18G5. General Sherman having swept through the heart of the Confederacy, had turned his victorious soldiers north- ward, and formed a junction with forces sent by General Grant to meet him. It was evident that the days of the Rebellion were numbered. It was feared by General Grant that the beleaguered enemy might make his escape from Richmond, and protract for a time his hope- less struggle. Seeing indications of such a purpose on the part of General Lee, Grant hurled his whole army at once upon the rebel lines. For three days the battle raged with a fury winch no previ- ous conflicts had surpassed. Lee was convinced that he could not resist the assault of another day, and on the night of the 3d of April fled, with the shattered remnants of his army. The National troops entered the abandoned works, aud immediately the nation was electrified by the joyful news: " Richmond and Petersburg are ours. A third part of Lee's army is destroyed. For the remainder there is no escape." In anticipation of the flight of Lee from Richmond, General Grant had placed the Fifth Corps in such a position that it was thrown in front of the enemy, and thus cut off his retreat. Lee's array was now at the mercy of General Grant. The rebel troops were so hemmed in, and so exposed to shot and shell, that a few hours would have sufficed for their destruction. Sympathy for them induced General Grant to make the first advances, and urge General Lee to surrender and spare him the pain of destroying the heroic but misguided soldiers of the Rebellion. Lee asked the terms of surrender which would be accepted, and General Grant replied, " Peace being my first desire, there is but one condition I insist upon, namely, that the men surrendered shall be disqualified 24 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 21 for taking up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged." General Lee proposed an interview, that he and General Grant might confer upon the "restoration of peace." General Grant's reply indicates his wise perception of the only responsibility which rested upon him : "As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed could lead to no good. I wdl state, however, General, that 1 am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace may be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten this most desirable event, save thou- sands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed." General Lee saw that delay or parley would serve no useful purpose with such a man. On the afternoon of the 9th of April he accepted the simple and decisive terms of surrender imposed by General Grant. All the material of war was to be given up, and the officers and men to give their parole not to serve against the United States until exchanged. Johnston surrendered to General Sherman a few days later. The great Rebellion was at an end. A grateful country acknowledged that the chief instru- ment in bringing about this happy result was General Ulysses S. Grant. His countrymen heaped honors upon him without parsi- mony. Congress revived the grade of General, which none had held since Washington, and on the 25th of July, 1865, this peer- less military rank was conferred upon General Grant. It soon became evident that it was the wish of the people to ele- vate him to the Presidency. On the 21st of May, 1868, the Ke- publican Convention, assembled at Chicago, gave him a unanimous nomination as candidate for this high office. He accepted the nomination in apt and modest terms, closing with the words, "Let us have peace," which were accepted by a long distracted country as auspicious of better days. The twenty-six States which partici- pated in the election gave two hundred and fourteen electoral votes for Grant, and eighty for Seymour, the opposing candidate. 22 ULYSSES S. GRANT. On the 4th of March, 1S69, General Grant entered upon the duties of his high office. He surrounded himself with able coun- selors, who were fully in accord with him in their purpose to give the country an honest and efficient administration. He was suc- cessful in the accomplishment of two results apparently incompati- ble with each other, yet both fortunate for the country — great re- duction of internal taxes, and immense diminution of the public debt. His humane policy toward the Indians, his generous but firm treatment of the lately rebellious States, his judicious steps in civil service reform, his wise administration of foreign affairs, — all received the general approval of the people. The delegates to the Republican National Convention which as- sembled in June, 1872, were instructed by the people, and by ac- clamation re-nominated Ulysses S. Grant for the Presidency of the United States. He was re-elected by an immense majority, receiv- ing two hundred and ninety-two electoral votes against seventy-four for all others. On the 4th of March, 1873, General Grant, was in- augurated for his second term as President of the United States. His address on the occasion did honor to his head and heart as the chief Executive of a great nation. In reviewing the past ho de- clared that it had been his purpose to act for the best interests of the whole people; that he had occupied the four years just closed in the effort to "restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all the arts of peace and progress." Looking to the future, he pledged himself to a policy as comprehensive and benign as was ever con- ceived by an enlightened and patriotic statesman. In personal character and endowments General Grant is singu- larly fitted for his high position. He possesses a mind practical and well-balanced; great strength of will with remarkable equa- bility of temper. He has a calm independence which is not pliant to the purposes of others. He makes up his mind rapidly, and forthwith bends every energy to the execution of his purpose. With great decision of character he combines profound deference for the popular will. He is faithful in his friendship, sincere in his pro- fessions, superior to all envy, truthful, honorable*, and upright. 26 ' ^^x ^4 (STt^ HEN RY WILSON, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 'ENRY WILSON was born at Farmington, N. H, Feb- ruary 16, 1812, of poor parentage. He was early appren- "Jv^'k ticed to a farmer in bis native town, with whom he contin- ued eleven years, during which period his school privileges, at dif- ferent intervals, amounted to about one year. He early formed a taste for reading, which he eagerly indulged on Sundays and even- ings by fire-light and moon-light. Thus, in the course of his eleven years' apprenticeship, he read about 1,000 volumes — mainly of his- tory and biography. On coming of age, young Wilson left Farmington, and with all his possessions packed upon his back, walked to Natick, Mass., and hired himself to a shoemaker. Having learned the trade, and labored nearly three years, he returned to New Hampshire for the purpose ot securing an education. His educational career, however, was sud- denly arrested by the insolvency of the man to whom he had entrust- ed his money, and in 1838 he returned to Natick to resume his trade of shoemaking. "Wilson was now twenty-six years of age, and up to this period his life had been mainly devoted to labor. It was in allusion to this that when, in 1858, he replied on the floor of Congress to the famous " mudsill " speech of Gov. Hammond of South Carolina, he gave ut- terance to these eloquent words : " Sir, I am the son of a hireling manual laborer, who, with the frosts of seventy winters on his brow, 'lives by daily labor.' I, too, have 'lived by daily labor.' I, too, have been a ' hireling manual la- borer ' Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow over the home of 27 2 HENRY WILSON. my childhood ; and want was sometimes there — an unbidden guest. At the age of ten years — to aid him who gave me being in keeping the gaunt specter from the hearth of the mother who bore me — I left the home of my boyhood, and went forth to earn my bread by ' daily labor.' " From his youth, Mr. Wilson seems to have been deeply and perma nently imbued with the spirit of hostility to Slavery, and few mer. have dealt more numerous or heavy blows against the institution. His political career commenced in 1S40. During this year he made upwards of sixty speeches in behalf of the election of Gen. Harrison. In the succeeding five years, he was three times elected a Representa- tive, and twice a Senator, to the Massachusetts legislature. Here his stern opposition to Slavery was at once apparent, and in 1845 he was selected, with the poet Whittier, to bear to Washington the great anti- slavery petition of Massachusetts against the annexation of Texas. In the same year he introduced in the legislature a resolution declai rag the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to the further extensioi and longer continuance of Slavery in America, and her fixed deter mination to use all constitutional and lawful means for its extinction. His speech on this occasion was pronounced by the leading anti-sla- very journals to be the fullest and most comprehensive on the Slavery question that had yet been made in any legislative body in the coun- try. The resolution was adopted by a large majority. Mr. Wilson was a delegate to the Whig National Convention of 1 848, and on the rejection of the anti-slavery resolutions presented to that body, he withdrew from it, and was prominent in the organi- zation of the Free Soil party. In the following year he was chosen chairman of the Free Soil State Committee of Massachusetts — a post which he filled during four years. In 1850 he was again a membei of the State legislature : and in 1851 and 1852 was a member of the Senate, and president of that body. He was also president of the Free Soil National Con zention at Pittsburg in 1852, and chairman of the National Committee. He was the Free Soil candidate for Con- gress in 1852. In 1853 and 1854 he was an unsuccessful candidate 28 HENRY WILSON. 3 foi Governor of Massachusetts. In 1853 he was an active and influ- ential member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. In 1S55, was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancj occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Everett. Mr. Wilson took his seat in the Senate in February, 1855, and. by a -ote nearly unanimous, has been thrice re-elected to that office. As a Senator, he has been uniformly active, earnest, faithful, prominent, and influential, — invariably evincing an inflexible and fearless opposi- tion to Slavery and the slave-power. In his very first speech, made a few days after entering the Senate, he announced for himself and his anti-slavery friends their uncompromising position. "We mean, sir," said he, " to place in the councils of the Nation men who, in the words of Jefferson, have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility to every kind of oppression over the mind and body of men." This was the key-note of Mr. Wilson's career in the Senate from that day to this. In the spring of 1856 occurred the assault upon Mr. Sumner by Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina. Mr. Wilson — whose fear- lessness is equal to his firmness and consistency — denounced this act as " brutal, murderous, and cowardly." These words, uttered on the floor of the Senate, drew forth a challenge from Mr. Brooks, which was declined by Wilson in terms so just, dignified, and manly, as to secure the warm approval of all good and right-minded people. At the commencement of the rebellion, the Senate assigned to Mr. Wilson the Chairmanship of the Military Committee. In view of his protracted experience as a member of this committee, joined with his great energy and industry, probably no man in the Senate was more completely qualified for this most important post. In this committee originated most of the legislation for raising, organizing, and governing the armies, while thousands of nominations of officers of all grades were referred to it. The labors of Mr. Wilson, as chairman of the committee, were immense. Important legislation affecting the armies, and the thousands of nominations, could not but excite the liveliest interest of officers and their friends ; and they 29 4 HENRY WILSON. ever freely visited him, consulted with, and wrote to him. Private soldiers, too, ever felt at liberty to visit him, or write to him concern- ing their affairs. Thousands did so, and so promptly did he attend to their needs that they called him the " Soldier's Friend." As clearly as any man in the country, Mr. Wilson, at the com- mencement of the rebellion, discerned the reality and magnitude of the impending conflict. Hence, at the fall of Fort Sumter, when President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 men, the clear-sighted Sen- ator advised that the call should be for 300,000 ; and immediately in- duced the Secretary of War to double the number of regiments assigned to Massachusetts. In the prompt forwarding of these troops Mr. Wilson was specially active. Throughout that spring, and until the meeting of Congress, July 4th, he was constantly occupying him- self at Washington, aiding the soldiers, working in the hospitals, and pi( 'paring the necessary military measures to be presented to the na- tional legislature. Congress assembled ; and, on the second day of the session, Mr. Wilson introduced several important bills relating to the military wants of the country, one of which was a bill authorizing the employ- ment of 500,000 volunteers for three years. Subsequently Mr. Wil- son introduced another bill authorizing the President to accept 500,- 000 volunteers additional to those already ordered to be employed. During this extra session, Mr. Wilson, as Chairman of the Military Committee, introduced other measures of great importance relating to the appointment of army officers, the purchase of arms and muni- tions of war, and increasing the pay of private soldiers, — all of which measures were enacted. In fact, such was his activity and ef- ficiency in presenting and urging forward plans for increasing and organizing the armies necessary to put down the rebellion, that Gen eral Scott declared of Mr. Wilson that he " had done more work in that short session than all the chairmen of the military committees had done for the last twenty years." After the defeat at Bull Kim, Mr. Wilson was earnestly solicited bj Mr. Cameron, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Chase, to raise a regiment of in- 30 HENRY WILSON. fantry, a company of sharp-shooters, and a Lattery of artillery. Ac cordingly, returning to Massachusetts, he issued a stirring appeal to the young men of the State, addressed several public meetings, and in forty days he succeeded in rallying 2,300 men. He was a 'in- missioned colonel of the Twenty-second Regiment, and with his regi- ment, a company of sharp-shooters, and the third battery of artillery, he returned to Washington as colonel ; and afterwards, as aid on the staff of General McClellan, Mr. Wilson served until the beginning of the following year, when pressing duties in Congress forced him to resign his military commission. Returning to his seat in the Senate, Mr. Wilson originated and carried through several measures of great importance to the interests of the army and the country. Among these was the passage of hills relating to courts-martial, allotment certificates, army-signal depart- ment, sutlers and their duties, the army medical department, en- couragement of enlistments, making free the wives and children of colored soldiers, a uniform system of array ambulances, increas- ing still further the pay of soldiers, establishing a national mili- tary and naval asylum for totally disabled officers and men of the volunteer forces, encouraging the employment of disabled and dis- ci arged soldiers, securing to colored soldiers equality of pay, and other wise and judicious provisions. Invariably true and constant in his sympathies for the down- trodden and oppressed, Mr. Wilson never once forgot the slave, for whose freedom and elevation he had consecrated his time and energies for .lore than a quarter of a century. He actively participated in tl measures culminating in the anti-slavery amendment to the ( !i tnsl i- tution. He introduced the bill abolishing Slavery in the District of Columbia, by which more than three thousand slaves were made free, and Slavery made for ever impossible in the capital of the Nation. lie introduced a provision, which became a law, May 21, 1862, "provid- ing that persons of color in the District of Columbia should be sub- ject to the same laws to which white persons were subject ; that they should be tried for offenses against the laws in the same manner 31 6 HENRY WILSON. as white persons were tried ; and, if convicted, be liable to the same penalty, and no other, as would be inflicted upon white persons foi the same crime." He introduced the amendment to the Militia Bill of 1795, which made negroes a part of the militia, and providing for the freedom of all such men of color as should be called into the ser- vice of the United States, as well as the freedom of their mothers, wives, and children. This, with one or two other measures of a kin- dred character, introduced by Mr. Wilson, and urged forward through much and persistent opposition, resulted in the freedom of nearly 100,000 slaves in Kentucky alone. After the close of the war, Mr. Wilson was no less active and in- fluential in procuring legislation for the suitable reduction of the army than he had been in originating measures for its creation. Making an extended tour through the Southern States, he delivered numerous able and instructive addresses on political and national topics, which had a marked effect in promoting practical reconstruction. It was in his place in the Senate, however, that he performed his most effective labors in promoting the great work of recon- struction. With the eye of a statesman he surveyed the tield, and was among the first to discover the means necessary to accomplish the desired end. He saw that the foundation of enduring pros- perity to the South and peace to the country must be a guarantee of civil and political rights to the colored people, firmly imbedded in the Constitution. This having been accomplished, he favored the mildest measures which sound statesmanship could devise in the treatment of persons recently in rebellion. Though possessed of rare kindness of heart, he did not permit his emotions to blind him to the necessity of adopting such measures as would insure the country against a recurrence of the bloody tragedy of rebellion. During all his public life Mr. Wilson has always been bold and eloquent in the advocacy of measures tending to give employment to working-men, and open to them all possible chances for advance- ment. He has been a strong advocate of homestead acts, of laws exempting from seizure the poor man's furniture and a portion of hie wages, of laws abolishing imprisonment for debt, laws to open 32 HENRY WILSON. 7 the public lands to actual settlers, and laws to reduce the hours of labor. He advocated the Eight Hour Law as likely to promote •'the material, intellectual, and moral interests of the masses of the people, whose lot it was to toil for their subsistence." Of his more than thirteen hundred public speeches a large majority have been directly in the interests of the people who are doing the world's necessary work. His sympathies for the unfortunate have been manifested not only in word but in deed. He is said to have devoted a large portion of his salary as a Senator and his pay as an author to the relief of the soldier and the unfortunate. He would never have to do with gains which were in any way wrung from the poor or the oppressed. While he was engaged in manufacturing shoes one of his Southern customers who had failed promised to compromise by paying fifty per cent of the indebtedness, but proposed to raise the money in part by the sale of his slaves. Wilson would not hear of this, but gave him a full discharge of the whole debt, requesting him never to send any divideud unless it could be doue from money not obtained by the traffic in human beings. Mr. Wilson was among the first to declare himself in favor of General Grant as the Republican candidate for the Presidency in 1868. After the nomination he entered with great zeal into the canvass, and made some of the ablest speeches of the campaign. He gave the administration a steady and consistent support, not hesitating, however, in a spirit of candor, to criticise its mistakes. President Grant having been unanimously nominated for re-elec- tion by the Republican National Convention of 1872, the second place upon the ticket was assigned to Henry Wilson. This nom- ination was every-where received with approval by the party. In Wilson they believed they had a candidate who in every emergency would do honor to his party and the country. He was elected to the Vice-Presidency by an unexpectedly large majority, receiving 292 out of a total electoral vote of 366. He was inaugurated Vice-President on the 4th of March, 1873, amid unusually auspi- cious omens for a happy and prosperous term. 33 8 II E N E T W I L S O N . Mr. Wilson was married in 1840 to Miss Harriet M. Howe, of Natick, a young lady of intelligence, amiability, and beauty. Her early loss of health prevented her from taking an active part in society. She died, much lamented, in May, 1S70, after a painful illness of several years. Their only child, Lieut. -Col. Hamilton Wilson, of the army, died in Texas in 1866, at the age of twenty In early life Mr. Wilson saw the lamentable effects of the use of alcoholic liquors as a beverage, in causing crime, and keeping the common people in their condition of poverty and degradation. He resolved to refrain entirely from their use, and to use his utmost in- fluence to induce others to do likewise. He founded the Congres- sional Temperance Society, and by its agency succeeded in saving more than one man of genius from degradation and ruin. In 1S68 Mr. Wilson became a member of the Congregational Church. He has given much of his time, talent, and money in forwarding religious enterprises. The elements and traits of Chris- tian character which exist in him are not the products of a day,' but the growth of years — are not ephemeral but enduring. Notwithstanding his cares and labors in the field of politics, Mr. Wilson has accomplished more in literature than many who have made it a pursuit. He is the author of a " History of the Anti- slavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Con- gresses," and " History of the Reconstruction Measures of the Thirty- ninth Congress." His principal literary work is " The History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," the first and second volumes of which, recently published, have received the approval of the leading critics of the country. In his personal character Mr. Wilson is without reproach. He possesses purity as stainless as when he entered politics, and integ- rity as unimpeachable as when first elected to office. He is one of the most practical of statesmen, and one of the most skillful of legis- lative tacticians. His forte is hard work — the simple and efficient means by which he has arisen from humble origin to his present high position. 34 V ///////// J/^/Sy V,, s> HAMILTON FISH, SECRETARY OF STATE. AMILTON FISH was born in New York city, August 3, 1808, of an old family in high consideration for wealth "jj^j S^ and respectability. He was educated at Columbia College, where he maintained an excellent character for scholarship. Hav- ing graduated, he entered upon the study of law in his native city. At the May term in 1830 he was examined, and admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court of the State. Three years later he was regularly enrolled among the counselors of that court. Though his natural abilities and liberal culture eminently fitted him for a brilliant professional career, the cares and responsibilities of a large property, that devolved upon him soon after he com- menced practice, prevented him from devoting that time and attention to the legitimate pursuits of his profession which are necessary to attain its highest honors. While he continued at the bar, however, his business was both considerable and lucrative. He was respected for the fidelity and promptitude with which he managed the interests committed to his charge. Early in his career he entered the field of politics, as a member of the Whig party, in which he soon attained a leading position. He was for several years Commissioner of Deeds for the City and Countv of New York. In 1842 he was elected a Representati7e in Congress from the Fourth Congressional District of New York city, over Hon. John M'Keon, the Democratic candidate, who then represented the district. His majority was small, but it was consid- ered a great triumph by his friends, as the majority of Governor Bouck over Mr. Bradish in the same district was about twelve hundred. In the Twenty-eighth Congress, to which he was then elected, Mr. Fish served on the Military Committee, and dis- 35 2 HAMILTON FISH. charged all the duties of his position with commendable punctual- ity and faithfulness. Mr. Fish was nominated as the "Whig candidate for Lieutenant- Governor, at the State Convention of 1846, on the same ticket with John Young. The Anti-Renters adopted Mr. Gardner, the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, and he was elected over Mr. Fish by upward of 13,000 majority. The latter was a candidate for the same office at the November election iu 1S47, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Gardner, and was elected by a majority of about 30,000. As President of the State Senate, Mr. Fish was distinguished by gentlemanly courtesy and dignified urbanity. Mr. Fish, as Lieutenant-Governor, occupied a position that natu- rally attracted the attention of the party to himself. The Whigs were divided into two factions, the Conservative or National, and the Radical Whigs — the particular friends of Mr. Seward. The sympathies of Mr. Fish were understood to be with the former ; but, however decided in his convictions, he was moderate in the expression of his opinions, and by his conciliatory course had secured the good wishes of both factions. His friends in the city of New York urged his nomination for Governor with much earn- estness, and such was his general popularity among the Whigs of the State, that he was nominated with great unanimity at the State Convention held on the 14th of September, 1848. The Democrats had now divided into two parties, presenting as their candidates John A. Dix and Reuben H. Walworth. The vote given for Mr. Fish was less than that given for both the Demo- cratic candidates, but his plurality over either of them was very large. The division in the Democratic party rendered un- necessary any effort by the Whigs to secure the victory. Mr. Fish took the oath of office as Governor in 1849. He was embarrassed by the solicitations made by the radical or conserva- tive factions in his party to exert his influence in favor of one or the other; but he at all times steadily refused to take part in the con- tentions and divisions the occurrence of which he so much regretted 36 HAMILTON FISH. 3 His conduct was generally approved, and his administration passed quietly and harmoniously. His messages indicated the possession on the part of their author of high literary abilities, and were much commended for the modest tone in which they were written. During his administration the slavery question was agitated in Congress and throughout the Union. He was entirely committed in favor of the principle of the Wilmot proviso. In his messages he expressed his decided opposition to the extension of slave territory. His remarks on this exciting question were conservative in their tone, though indicat- ing the depth of his convictions, and the firmness with which they would be maintained. Among the noteworthy recommendations of Governor Fish were the endowment of a State Agricultural School and a school for instruction in the mechanic arts — the restoration of the office of county superintendent of common schools — the management and equal taxation of personal property, and the establishment of tribunals of conciliation. In 1851 Mr. Fish was elected a United States Senator for the term ending in 1857. He served on the Committee on Naval Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations. His course in the Senate gave the highest satisfaction to his friends. His con- sistency as a politician, his sagacity as a statesman, his decision of character, and his business talent, gave him a prominent place in the Senate and before the country. At the breaking out of the civil war he gave his influence and means to the support of the Government. He was appointed with Bishop Ames, in January, 1862, upon a commission to relieve the Union prisoners in the South, and succeeded in negotiating a general exchange of prisoners of war. In 1869 Mr. Fish entered upon the office of Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Grant. His administration of this important office has been such as to give satisfaction to the country, and to increase the respect in which the American name is held every-where abroad. His policy has been eminently one 37 4 HAMILTON FISH. of peace and conciliation. Chief among the achievements of recent times is the settlement of the Alabama Claims and of the northwest water boundary, by the Treaty of Washington, which was negotiated in 1871 — principally through the agency of Mr. Fish. The culmination of this negotiation in the Tribunal of Arbitration, which concluded its important work in September, 1872, is one of the most signal victories of peace the world has ever seen. 38 ^^ca^H j///Ha& r*?UJ2t< WILLIAM A. RIOHAKDSON, SECRETARY OP THE TREASURY. p?ILLTAM A. RICHARDSON was born in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, November 2, 1821. His father, Hon. Daniel Richardson, was a lawyer of reputation, and his father's brother, William M. Richardson, was Chief-Justice of New Hamp- shire. He prepared for college at Groton (now Lawrence) Acad- emy, and graduated at Harvard in 1843. He was made Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at the same institution in 1846. He was admitted to the Boston bar on motion of the late Governor Andrew, July 8, 1846, and immediately settled in the practice of the law with his brother. Hon. Daniel S. Richardson, at Lowell, where they resided. In the year of his admission to the bar he accepted his first official position, that of Judge Advocate of the Massachusetts Militia, which he held for four years. He was appointed aid-de-camp to Governor Boggs in 1850. His admitted talents were early recognized by calls to fill stations of honor and responsibility. In 1849 he was chosen to the Lowell Common Council, also in 1853 and 1854, and was made President of that body. In 1853 he was one of the Corporators of the Low- ell Five Cents Savings Bank — appointed one of the Trustees and upon the Finance Committee, which trusts he still continues to discharge. The new institution was a financial novelty in that day, but experience has demonstrated the wisdom which devised and perfected it. His abilities as a financier were recognized by his appointment as President of the Wamesit (now National) Bank in 1859, which 39 2 WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. lie held until January, 1S67; also, with the exception of that time, he was a Director of the Appleton Bank, Lowell, from October, 1853, until his appointment as Secretary of the Treasury, when he resigned. He held the important office of President of the Mid- dlesex Mechanics' Association in Lowell for two years, and exercised a controlling influence in a thorough remodeling and reorganizing of that influential- institution. In 1855 he was appointed to revise the General Statutes of the Commonwealth, having as associates in this laborious work Hon. Joel Parker and A. A. Richmond. This occupied a period of four years, and resulted in the " General Statutes of Massachusetts, 1 ' enacted in 1859. The amount of labor, patient, study, and legal skill required in mastering so much complication, and bringing the mass into harmonious order, may be imagined by all ; but its suc- cessful accomplishment can only be appreciated by an experienced professional mind. The fidelity of this great work led the Legisla- ture, in 1859, to appoint Mr. Richardson (then Judge) Chairman of the Committee to edit the General Statutes, Judge Sanger being joined with him in the work; and by a further Act, in 1867, he was charged with a continuance of this duty, which he has per- formed annually from that time. Again, at the extra session of the Legislature, in November, 1872, he was appointed, with Judge Sanger, to edit a new edition of The General Statutes, and the Supplement thereto, in consequence of the destruction of the original plates in the great fire, and the same were published early in the year 1873, in two volumes of more than twelve hundred pages each. In April, 1850, he entered upon the duties of Judge of Probate for Middlesex County, by appointment of the Governor and Coun- cil, succeeding Hon. S. P. P. Fay, who had held the office for thirty- five years preceding. On the consolidation of the office of Judge of Insolvency with that of Judge of Probate, in May, 1868, he was appointed to the new position of Judge of Probate and Insolvency, and remained in it until April, 1872, when he resigned the charge ; a period of sixteen years from his first taking office as Judge of 40 WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. 3 Probate. The same industry which he has exhibited in so many other instances was manifested in a revisal of the entire mass of old Probate blanks and Probate practice, with results approved by the Supreme Court, and adopted throughout the Commonwealth in 1862. Although this work was done by authority of a Committee of Judges, yet it was Judge Richardson who performed the sub- stantial labor. It was bringing order out of chaos almost literally. Amid these multiplied demands upon his time, he was appointed one of the Trustees of Lawrence Academy in 1862, and one of the Overseers of Harvard College in 1863 ; and again, under the new law, in 1869; he has held these appointments from the first, and holds them still. In 1860 he found it necessary to remove his law office from Lowell to Boston, and his residence to Cambridge. In April of 1869 he was appointed and commissioned Judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, but declined the honor. He had long been well known to Governor Boutwell, who resided in the same county, and as soon as the latter was appointed Secre- tary of the Treasury, March 11, 1S69, he telegraphed to Mr. Rich- ardson to come to Washington, and take the position of Assistant Secretary, to which he was appointed March 20, 1869, without previous consultation with him. He not only was taken by surprise when the appointment was offered him, but he accepted it at last with reluctance, and by earnest persuasion. And even after he had filled the office with distinguished credit, he repeatedly sought to escape by tendering his resignation. But it was never accepted. He was immediately designated by the President to be Acting Secretary of the Treasury during any absence of Mr. Boutwell, and under that designation was in fact Acting Secretary for nine months while he held the office of Assistant, and for a short time in 1870 was also Acting Attorney-General by a like designation. During this busy life he found time to write other books, beside revising and editing the Statutes of Massachusetts, having pub- lished "The Banking Laws of Massachusetts" in 1S55, and a most valuable and comprehensive volume in 1872, entitled "Practical Information concerning the Public Debt of the United States: 41 4 WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. with the National Banking Laws ;" a second edition of which was printed in this country, and a third edition in England in 1873. One would think that a man surrounded by so many responsi- bilities and such varied demands upon his time would be borne down by the constant drudgery of thinking and working. But Judge Richardson took his vacations of foreign travel as well as men of more elegant leisure. He spent some five or six months of the year 1865 in Europe ; and again seven months of 1867 ; extend- ing his studies and trip the latter year as far as Russia. In June, 1871, while still Assistant Secretary, he was sent to Europe by Mr. Boutwell, the Secretary, as confidential agent, to negotiate abroad the new five per cent, funded loan, in which un- dertaking, amid much discouragement, he was eminently successful, having, in a few months, interested bankers and inventors in the loan, and organized a plan upon which he disposed of a large amount of bonds while there, and on which the funding of the public debt has since been continued. He had with him Mr. J. P. Bigelow, Chief of the Loan Division, and some thirty-five clerks, through whom he delivered seventy-six millions of dollars of the new bonds to subscribers, received payment therefor, and invested the proceeds in outstanding bonds which he received, canceled, and returned to the Department at "Washington. In March, 1872, he returned home, and the accounts were settled by the accounting officers of the Treasury without a single error in the whole transac- tion. At one time the money had so accumulated in his hands, that he had on deposit in the Bank of England sixteen or seventeen millions of dollars. On the 17th of March, 1873, upon the transfer of Mr. Boutwell to the Senate of the United States as Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Richardson was nominated, unanimously confirmed, and ap- pointed by President Grant to be Secretary of the Treasury. He resigned June 1, 1873, and was appointed one of the Judges of the United States Court of Claims. 42 BENJAMIN H. BEISTOW, SECRETARY OP THE TREASURY. 'ENJAMIN H. BRISTOW was born in Kentucky of an fcB old and respected family. They were slaveholders, but oc- ■10 cupied the attitude, exceptional with their class, of loyalty during the Rebellion. His father, who is said to have enjoyed the reputation of being "the honestest man in Kentucky," was a Representative in the Thirty-sixth Congress. Benjamin H. Bristow, after receiving a common school education, studied law, and engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Louis- ville. When the Civil War broke out Bristow left his law practice and entered the Union army. He was shot through the body at Shiloh, and lay upon the battle-field two days before he was discovered and cared for. He served with distinction under General Thomas, meriting the entire confidence of his chief. At the close of the war Mr. Bristow was made United States Attorney for the Louisville District. He occupied this office until 1870, when he was called to Washington, on the creation of the Department of Justice, to till the responsible position of Solicitor- General. In 1872 he resigned, to accept a situation in connection with the Southern Pacific Railroad, the duties of which position requiring him to reside in Philadelphia. During the latter half of the year 1873 he severed his connection with the railroad company and returned to Louisville, where he resumed the practice of his profession with General Harlan. On the opening of Congress in December, 1873, the President nominated Attorney-General Williams for the Chief- Justiceship, and at the same time sent in the name of Mr. Bristow for the va- cancy caused by the promotion of his former chief. Of course the 43 2 BENJAMIN H. BRISTOW. confirmation of Mr. Bristow as Attorney-General depended upon that of Judge Williams for the more distinguished position. When both names had been before the Senate for more than a month they were withdrawn by the President. The latter, who had been loth to accept the resignation of Mr. Bristow as Solicitor-General, resolved to have him in the cabinet on the occuirence of the first vacancy. On the 1st of June, 1874, he was nominated for Secre- tary of the Treasury, and on the day following was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. In a letter dated June 8, 1874, United States Treasurer Spinner wrote: " I don't wonder that you feel solicitude in regard to the new Secretary. He is not sufficiently known to the general pub- lic to be fully appreciated. I have great faith in his ability and business qualifications. I believe that he will leave the mere rou- tine of this great financial mill to his legal and responsible sub- ordinates, and that he will thus be able to devote his intellectual powers fully to the finances of the country ; and that he will in- augurate a system based on such just principles of political econ- omy as will challenge the approval of an intelligent people. His frank and open face carries the evidence of honesty. I am satis- fied that the President had his reputation for integrity and for ster- ling common sense in view when he made his selection of him for the most important place in the Government. I don't think that he is wedded to any particular scheme or theory, but that he will patiently hear reasons on all sides of the vexed cpiestion, and will then, after mature reflection, digest and announce a consistent and comprehensive plan of national finance. Such is my estimate of the man who now has the greatest power for good or for evil on this continent." 44 WILLIAM W. BELKNAP, SECRETARY OF WAR. °'f WILLIAM WORTH BELKNAP comes of a military family. His father, General William G. Belknap, was for many years a distinguished and useful officer of the regular Army. He entered the service in 1813 as Third Lieutenant of the Twenty-eighth Regiment, of Infantry, and died near Fort Wachita, Texas, November 10, 1851. He 'served with marked gallantry through the Florida and Mexican wars, in which he received frequent brevets. He was an intimate friend of Scott, Taylor, and Worth, for the latter of whom he named his first son, the subject of this sketch, who was born at Newhurgh, K T., on the twenty-second of September, 1829. He graduated from the college of New Jersey at Princeton, in the class of 1848. He studied law with H. Caperton, Esq., at Georgetown, D. O, and was the partner of the Hon. Ralph P. Lowes afterward Governor of Iowa, and Judge of the Supreme Court. He practiced his profession successfully in Keokuk, Iowa, where he located in 1851. He was elected to serve one term, that of 1857 and 1858, in the Iowa Legislature as a Democrat. Being unwilling to give coun- tenance to the « Lecompton swindle," he separated from the radi- cal wing of his party, and was known as a "Douglas Democrat ' up to the outbreak of the Rebellion. He then became a Republic- an, voting for Mr. Lincoln's re-election, and giving all the support in his power towards the election of General Grant. He entered the army as Major of the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, commanded bv Colonel, afterward General, Hugh T. Reed, in Octo- ber, 1861, and engaged in his first battle at Shiloh, in the Army of the Tennessee. In this engagement he exhibited remarkable 45 2 WILLIAM W. BELKNAP. ability, assuming command and restoring order and discipline to large numbers of troops that had become demoralized. He served on General McPherson's staff as Provost Marshal, Seventeenth Army Corps, and in other capacities. He figured in the campaigns in Tennessee under Generals Sherman and Grant. At the battle of Atlanta on the 22d of July, 1864, where General McPherson was killed, Colonel Belknap distinguished himself so highly as a commander, that he was promoted over the heads of his superior officers August 31, 1864, to he Brigadier General of Volunteers. In that memorable battle he personally distinguished himself by dragging the confederate Colonel Lampley, of the Forty-fifth Alabama, over the rebel breastworks. After the capture of Atlanta, he inarched witli Sherman to the sea, taking a prominent part in the actions of that brilliant campaign. He was brevetted Major General on the 13th of March, and at the date of his muster out in August, 1865, was re- garded as one of the most accomplished and promising officers of the Army. General Belknap was a lawyer of distinction, and although he was offered more prominent and lucrative offices, he chose to take the position of Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Iowa, in order that he might remain at home. In that district he wrought many wholesome reforms. He was serving in this position when he was tendered the appointment of Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Grant. In his administra- tion of the affairs of the War office he is regarded, both by the officers of the army, who experience its practical results, and by the country at large, as one of the most successful of the Secretaries of War. The Secretary is in the very prime of life and health. He is nearly six feet high, has fair hair and blue eyes, and is a perfect type of Saxon American manhood. His mental endowments are no less generous than his physical. He is large-brained, clear-headed, sen- sible, judicious, and well-educated — a good lawyer, and an honest man. 46 M m i ZtfTot- GEORGE M. ROBESON, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. EOEGE M. KOBESON was born in New Jersey in 1827, and is the son of Judge William Kobeson, of Warren County in that State. He graduated at Princeton Col- lege in 1847, began the study of the law at Newark, in Judge Ilornblowers office, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was very successful in his profession, and soon obtained a wide reputa- tion as an able lawyer. Not long after his admission to the bar he was appointed Prosecutor of the Pleas, an office which he con- tinued to fill until 1867, when he was appointed by Governor Ward Attorney-General of New Jersey, to succeed Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen, elected to the United States Senate. In 1869 Mr. Robeson was appointed Secretary of the Navy, in the Cabinet of President Grant, to succeed Hon. Adolpli E. Borie. He entered upon the duties of this important position with an ade- quate sense of the importance of the duties devolving upon him as the head of a Department whose province was, in the eloquent language of his first annual report, " to extend its influence and protection over every field into which, allured by trade or science, or inspired by religion, an American citizen has been able to penetrate." At the commencement of the Administration the work of repair- ing and renovating the Navy was entered upon and prosecuted with great energy, and yet in the nine months ending December 1, 1869, the expenditures of the Department were three millions and a half less than during the corresponding period of the previous year. In the year ending December 1, 1870, there was a decrease in the expenditure of more than one million of dollars 47 2 GEORGE .M.ROBESON. as compared with that of the previous year. The expenditures of the Navy Department for the fiscal .year ending June 1, 1872, were more than two millions of dollars less than the amount appropri- ated by Congress for its maintenance during that period. Under the immediate direction and supervision of Mr. Robeson, as Secretary of the Navy, was fitted up the expedition toward the North Pole commanded by Captain Hall. This, though unsuc- cessful in accomplishing all that was proposed, made valuable con- tributions to science, and reflected honor upon the Department which organized it, as well as upon the heroic traveler who com- manded the expedition. The New York Sun having originated and reiterated damaging charges against the official integrity of Mr. Robeson, a Congres- sional Committee of Inquiry was constituted, who, after long and patient investigation, pronounced the charges "totally devoid of anv semblance of truth." They approved the administration of the Department in every particular, saying in their report : " During the period embraced in our investigations the Secretary of the Navy has disbursed nearly $60,000,000 in the ordinary administra- tion of his Department; and it is a matter of congratulation to the country that not only is then.' no stain or suspicion of dishonor left upon this officer, as the result of this investigation, but that the searching scrutiny, invited and facilitated by him, into the various and extended operations of his Department has discovered as little pretense for attack, or need for defense, or explanation even in matters of discretion and judgment.'' Mr. Robeson made an able report to Congress on the restoration of American ocean commerce, which was pronounced by the Philadelphia North American to be " more comprehensive in its character, more practical in its propositions, more exact and dis- criminating in its narrative of facts and its statements of influences, methods, and plans of operation ; more in keeping with the spirit of the age we live in and the high ambition of the Republic, than any public document we have had on the subject." 48 COLUMBUS DELANO, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. jOLUMBUS DELANO was bom at Shoreham, Vermont, in the year 1809. At eight years of age he removed to Ohio, in the care of immediate relatives, who settled in the county of Knox. His boyhood was passed in the lighter avocations of the farm, joined with persistent devotion to study. He pursued his ele- mentary education at such schools as were then available, learning the Latin language with but little aid from classical teachers. His historical reading at the age of eighteen was extensive. With a se- riousness becoming his disposition, rather than his years, he began thus early to consider how he should make his way in the world, and what pathway was to lead him out of obscurity to a useful position in life. Without the aid of influential friends, but cheered with the encouraging words of those who knew and loved him, he determined to undertake the study of law. In 1829 he entered the office of Hosmer Curtis, Esq.", then a noted special pleader, practicing at Mount Vernon, Ohio. After three years of preparation he was admitted to the bar, in 1832, and com- mfi-eed practice at Mount Vernon at the age of twenty-two. though no display of talent had been exhibited to justify the ex- pectation that lie would triumph suddenly over the formidable obsta- cles in the way of the young attorney, his success was immediate He had the good fortune to be employed as junior counsel in a local suit, involving important legal questions and considerable estate. Having been left by an accident to the sole management of the case, he was triumphantly successful, and thus gained a reputation, the immediate effect of which was his election as prosecuting-attorney in a county adverse to his politics. After three years' service he was re-elected, but immediately resigned the trust, which interfered witli 49 2 COLUMBUS DELANO. his general practice. Ills constant attention upon the courts for a period of ten years, his uniform success as an advocate, his thorough- ness and integrity as a lawyer, met with ample reward. In politics he has ever been opposed to Slavery and the Demo cratic policy. Seeking no office while pursuing his profession, lie was still the occasional exponent of tin- Whig party in local contests. Surrounded by a cordon of Democratic counties, there seemed to be little hope for his popular preferment. But being unanimously nominated for Congress by the Whigs of his district, in 1S44, he was elected by a majority of twelve over his Democratic competitor, Hon. Caleb J. McNulty, a gentleman of extensive popularity, re sources and power. The Democratic candidate for Governor received COO majority in the same district, at the same election. On the 1st of December, 1845, Mr. Delano took his seat in the Twenty-ninth Congress, serving on the Committee on Invalid Pensions. This was an epoch in Congressional history. Contemporaneous with Mr. Polk's administration, it comprised men of great experience and ability. The measures of war and conquest, of Oregon and Mexico, were the vexed questions of that day, the evil shadows of which lengthened into the future. On the Oregon question, Mr. Delano advocated the claims for the largest measure of territory against the settlement which eventually prevailed. On the 11th of May, 1846, he voted with John Quincy Adams, ami twelve others, against the declaration that " war existed by the act of Mexico," defending his votes and the action of his associates by a speech in the House. Put forward as a leader of the fourteen who voted against the false declaration, he fully answered their expectations, but without the politician's cir- cumspection as to the future. The speech made great contention, and was regarded of so much significance that Mr. Douglas, of Illi nois, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, Mr. Chipman, of Missouri, and Mr. Tibbatt's, of Kentucky, gave themselves serious concern to answer it. His district having been changed by special legislation,^,, was not a candidate for re-election, but retired to close up his business in the courts. His name was brought before the Whig convention of Ohio on the 22d of February, 1848, for nomination as a candidate for 50 COLUMBUS DELANO. 3 Governor; and though he had voted in Congress to reinforce the army, and to supply the army, the vote against the declaration con- tributed to place him in opposition to the war, and he was conse- quently defeated by two votes. Retiring from his profession, he re- moved to the city of New York, as principal of the banking firm of Delano, Dunleyy & Co., with a branch at Cincinnati, Ohio. After tour years he withdrew from a successful business, in 1856, returning to his home in Ohio, to engage in agriculture. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention of IStIO, and supported Mr. Lincoln for the nomination. In 1861 he was appointed Commissary-General of Ohio, and administered that department with marked success until the General Government assumed the subsistence of all volunteers. The following year the Republican caucus of the Ohio Legislature brought his name forward for the United States Senate, and he again lacked but two votes of a nomination. In 1863 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature, serving as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representa- tives. In 1864 he was a member of the National Republican Con- vention at Baltimore, and was Chairman of the Ohio delegation in that body. He was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress in that year, and served as Chairman of the Committee of Claims of the House of Representatives. As an evidence of the integrity of his character, and the confidence reposed in him by the House, it is suffi- cient to state that every bill reported by him was passed into a law. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving as a member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs. Immediately upon the close of his Congressional term, he was nominated by President Grant, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, one of the most im- portant and responsible offices in the government — more than six thousand officers reporting to it— and being subject to its control. The new Commissioner proceeded at once to reorganize the bureau, and place its working force on a more efficient footing. The good results of vigorous administration were soon apparent in much 51 4 COLUMBUS DELANO. larger revenues to the Government, although under lower rates of taxation. Successful efforts were made to secure the aid of honest, capable, and faithful local Internal Revenue officers, whereby frauds were greatly diminished, and the expenses of collecting the revenue were much decreased. Mr. Delano's administration of the Bureau of Internal Revenue was so successful that, he was soon promoted to the Secretaryship of the Interior, while the whole country approved the wisdom of the appointment. His management of this complicated and difficult department was popular and successful. lie had the satisfaction, in his last, annual report, to represent the Indian Office as working in the most satisfactory manner; the Patent Office as having made important improvements in details of its management ; the Land Office as having brought, up the large arrears of work which had embarrassed its operations for years; the Pension Office as having materially reduced the claims on file, for the first, time since the close of the war; the Ninth Census as having been completed in a shorter time and in a more satisfactory manner than ever before; and the Bureau of Education as rapidly extending its held of useful- ness. Mr. Delano resigned the office of Secretary of the Interior in September, 1875, and was succeeded by Hon. Zachariah Chandler, for whose biography the reader is referred to page 135 of this volume. 52 JOHN A. J. ORESWELL. POSTMASTER-GENERAL. OHN A. J. CRESWELL was born at Port Deposit, Cecil County, Maryland, November 18, 1828. He graduated at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Maryland in 1850. He was originally a Whig in politics, casting his first Presidential vote for General Scott in 1852. As a result of the Know-Nothing furor which practically disbanded the Whig party, Mr. Creswell became a Democrat, and was a delegate to the Cincinnati Conven- tion which nominated Buchanan in 1S56. At the beginning of the war of the Rebellion he joined the Republican party. In 1861 he was elected a member of the Maryland House of Del- egates. In the summer of that year he was made acting Adjutant General for the State, and had charge of raising the first Maryland regiments which were enlisted in response to the call of President Lincoln. He was elected in 1863 a Representative from Maryland to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served on the Committees on Commerce and Invalid Pensions. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which renominated Mr. Lincoln in 1864. In March, 1865, he was chosen a United States Senator for the unexpired term of Hon. Thomas H. Hicks, deceased. He served on the Committees on Commerce, Agriculture, Mines and Mining, and as Chairman of the Committee on the Library. He was a delegate to the Phila- delphia Loyalists' Convention of 1S66. and to the Border-State Convention held in Baltimore in 1867. His position as an advanced Republican is clearly defined in his speech on the proposed thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, delivered in the House of Repressntatives on 53 2 JOHN A. J. C RE SWELL the 5th of January, 1865; his eulogy on the lite and character of his friend and colleague, Henry Winter Davis, delivered by request of the House of Repreresentatives on the 22d of February, 1866; and his speech before the Border State Convention held in Balti- more on the 12th of September, 1867, in favor of Manhood Suffrage. Mr. Creswell was appointed Postmaster General at the begin- ning of the administration of President Grant, in I860. This im- portant department of the Government has never been more efficiently administered than since Mr. Creswell assumed its con- trol. Almost every branch of the service lias been extended for the convenience and accommodation of the people. Receipts have been increased, and expenditures relatively diminished. The defi- ciency for 1871 was $2,084,933 less than that for 1868. Under his administration of the Post-Office Department many important reforms and improvements in the postal service have been introduced and carried into successful operation, among which may be mentioned — 1. A reduction of the cost of Ocean Mail transpor- tation, from eight cents to two cents per single letter rate; 2. The re-adjustment of the mail pay of railroads on an equitable basis; 3. An extensive increase of railway post-office lines and postal clerks assorting and distributing mail matter in the cars while in motion ; 4. A large increase of letter-carriers in cities, and a free delivery for every city in the country having a population of twenty thousand inhabitants ; 5. A thorough revision of our postal arrangements with foreign countries ; 6. The general extension of the Money-order system in the United States and to foreign coun- tries; 7. A complete codification of the laws relating to the Post Office Department, with a systematic classification of offences against the postal laws ; 8. A reform in the system of letting mail contracts, which prevents fraudulent bidding, aud secures fair com- petition among responsible bidders ; 9. The introduction of postal cards at a postage of one cent each, as a means of facilitating business correspondence, and a step toward a general reduction of our domestic letter postage; 10. The absolute repeal of the frank- ing privilege. 54 —ft ■ ■ MARSHALL JEWELL, POSTMASTER-GENERAL. MARSHALL JEWELL was born in Winchester, New Hampshire, October 20, 1825. He learned the trade of a tanner and currier, pursuing this employment for a while in his native State, and subsequently in Boston. After several years spent in the tanning business Mr. Jewell studied telegraph; and electricity. The knowledge thus acquired he sub- sequently put to practical use, engaging as he did in the con- struction and superintendence of telegraph lines between Louis- ville, Kentucky, and New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1850 he went to lartford and became a member of the firm of P. Jewell & Sons, manufacturers of leather belting, of which firm he is still an active member. He possesses superior talents for business, in which he has been remarkably successful. Down to 1867 Mr. Jewell had' led a comparatively uneventful life. He had taken no part in politics save as a private citizen, having never sought nor desired public office. In that year he was nominated for State Senator, but failed of an election. In January, 1868, he was tendered and accepted the nomination for Governor of Connecticut, but after a spirited and active canvass was defeated by Hon. James E. English. The following year both political parties made the same nominations, and this time, after a still more active campaign, Mr. Jewell was elected, and was inaugurated on the first Wednesday in May, 1869. In 1870 the same nominations were made for a third time by both parties, and Mr. Jewell was for a second time defeated by Mr. English. In 1871 he in turn defeated Mr. English, and in 1872 was again elected over Hon. It. D. Hubbard. In 1873 he declined 55 2 MARSHALL JEWELL. a renomination, and retired from office at. the expiration of liis term with a wide and well-deserved reputation as an able and ju- dicious executive. In June, 1873, Mr. Jewell was appointed United States Minister to Russia, and soon after proceeded to the scene of his duties at that distant court. lie proved himself eminently fitted for this position, meeting all official requirements to the satisfaction of his Government and that of the court to which he was accredited, and at the same time answering all social demands in such a way as to win the unqualified praise of all Americans visiting St. Fetersburgh, whether for business or pleasure. Mr. Creswell having retired from the Cabinet, the President, on the 3d of July. ls74. appointed Mr. Jewell to the office of Post- master- General, lie accordingly took leave of the Russian Mission on the 18th of that month, and, returning to the United States, en- tered upon the duties of his new position on the first of September. In this he brought to hear the rare administrative ability which lie had employed in the management of large and successful business enterprises. He has labored with great energy to have the postal service conducted economically, honestly, and efficiently in the interests of our vast and widely-extended population. 56 GEOEGE H. WILLIAMS. ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 'EORGE H. WILLIAMS was born in Columbia County, New York, March 23, 1823. He received an academ- j^<> ieal education in Onondaga County, and entered upon the study of law, in which he made unusual proficiency. Soon after his admission to the bar in 1844 he emigrated to Iowa. In 1847 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of Iowa. In 1852 he was a Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket. In 1853 he received from President Pierce the appoint- ment of Chief-Justice of the Territory of Oregon, and immediately made his residence on the Pacific Coast. He was reappointed by President Buchanan in 1857, but soon after resigned. He was a member of the Convention which formed a Constitution for the State of Oregon. While Oregon was under the absolute control of the Democratic party Mr. Williams became a Republican, and did much to pro- mote the success of that party in the State. In 1864 he was elected a United States Senator from Oregon for the term ending in 1871. He took a most active part in all the important legislation relating to Reconstruction. On the first day of the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress he brought before the Senate a bill "To Regulate the Tenure of Civil Offices," which was referred to a com- mittee, and subsequently, with modifications, passed over the veto of President Johnson. On the 4th of February, 1867, Mr. Will- iams introduced a bill "To Provide for the More Efficient Gov- ernment of the Insurrectionary States," which was referred to the Committee on Reconstruction. As subsequently reported and passed it was known as the Military Reconstruction Act, one of the most 57 2 GEORGE H. WILLIAMS. important legislative enactments in the history of the country. He served with much ability as a member of the Committee on Finance, the Judiciary, and other important committees. No member of the Senate, within recent years, has taken a more influential position, in a single term of service, than Mr. Williams. In 1870 the Republican party sustained a temporary reverse in Oregon, leaving it with a minority in the Legislature, and conse- quently Mr. Williams was succeeded in the United States Senate by a Democrat, Hon. James K. Kelly. He was appointed a mem- ber of the Joint High Commission which convened for the consid- eration of the "Alabama Claims" in the spring of 1871. The services which he with his associates rendered the country in this capacity were invaluable. In 1872 Mr. Williams was appointed Attorney-General of the United States. A few days after his appointment several gentlemen from the Pacific Coast called upon him and tendered their congrat- ulations. The Attorney-General replied in an eloquent impromptu speech, in the course of which he said : " I have the honor to he the first Cabinet officer taken from the Pacific Coast. California, Nevada, Oregon, and the Territories of the Far West may now consider themselves represented in every branch of the Government. I feel a pride in their growth and development, and I shall not for- get in my new office where my home is, or what I have learned of their wants and interests, by a residence of twenty-seven years on the sunset side of the Mississippi River." The death of Mr. Chase having made vacant, the Chief-Justice- ship of the United States Supreme Court, Mr. Williams was nominated by the President for that high position. Much oppo- sition having been developed to his confirmation, the nomina- tion was recalled at the request of Mr. Williams. He subse- quently resigned the office of Attorney-General, and was suc- ceeded by Judge Pierrepont. 58- aUAAl CuaAaIo ; EDWARDS PIEEEEPOKT, ATTORNEY-GENERAL. DWARDS PIERREPONT is a native of North Haven, Connecticut, and is a direct descendant of Rev. James Pierrepont, one of the founders of Yale College, and the common ancestor of the distinguisned families of Pierre- pont, Edwards, and Dwight. He graduated at Yale College, in the class of 1S37, with very high honors. His legal education was received at the New Haven Law School, of which Judge Daggett was then the head. In 1840 he was admitted to the bar, and pur- sued his profession with great success. In 1846 he married the daughter of Samuel A. Willoughby, her mother being of the old Dutch family of De Bevoise, in Brooklyn. In 1857 'Sir. Pierre- pont was elected Judge of the Superior Court of New York, to till the vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice Oakley. In 1860 he resigned his seat upon the bench and resumed the practice of law, and has for many years been one of the most distinguished lawyers at the New York bar. Until the breaking out of the civil war Judge Pierrepont had always been a Democrat, but from the first he took an active part against the Rebellion. He was a member of the Union Defense Committee, and a zealous supporter of the administration of Presi- dent Lincoln. In 1802 he was appointed with General Dix to try the prisoners of State then confined in the various prisons and forts. In 1S64 he was one of the most active in organizing the War Dem- ocrats in favor of the re-election of President Lincoln. In 1867 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, and one of the Judiciary Committee. In the spring of 1867 he was employed by the Attorney-General and the Secretary 59 2 EDWARDS PIERBEPONT. of State to conduct the prosecution on the part of the Government against John IT. Surratt, indicted for aiding in the murder of President Lincoln. This celebrated trial commenced before the United States District Court in the city of Washington on the 10th day of June and lasted until the 10th day of August, 1867. In the presidential contest of 186S, and also in 1872, Judge Pierrepont was an ardent supporter of General Grant, making very large contributions in money and effective speeches on the Repub- lican side. General Grant, upon his accession to the presidency, appointed Mr. Pierrepont Attorney of the United States for the Southern District of New York, which office he resigned in July, 1S70. In 1872 Judge Pierrepont received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Yale College, and the same honor from Columbia Col- lege in 1871. In May, 1873, President Grant appointed Judge Pierrepont American Minister at the Russian Court, an honor which he declined. In the autumn of 1870 he was one of the most active of the " Committee of Seventy " against the " Ring Frauds" of New York. Mr. Pierrepont has long ranked among the ablest and most elo- quent political orators of the country. His first public speech which attracted attention, was delivered on the death of Theodore Sedgwick, about a year and a half before the fall of Fort Sumter, in which he foreshadowed the war. After a review of the relations between the North and South at that time he said: "Sure as the punishment of sin, great troubles are coining in the distance which we shall be called on to meet. I have said this much, Mr. Presi- dent, being well aware that I speak in advance of the times; but I leave the times to overtake these fleeting words, and leave the wis- dom or fully of what I have said to be determined by the years which shall come in our life-time.'' On the 1st of November, 186-1, Judge Pierrepont addressed an immense meeting at Cooper Institute in favor of the re-election of Mr. Lincoln. In this speech he gave evidence of the statesman- ship which consists in capability of successfully grasping the polit- ical questions of the hour and leading the current of public opinion. GO " EDWARDS PIERREPONT. 3 On the 6th of March, 1865, just before the final campaign, Mr. Pierrepont addressed a mass meeting in Union Square upon the state of the war, the financial condition of the North, and its abil- ity to continue the struggle till the enemy should be conquered and the Union restored. On the 21st of October, 1868, Mr. Pierrepont addressed a great assembly at the Cooper Institute in favor of the election of General Grant, was an active supporter of his administration, and earnest in aid of his re-election in 1872. In June, 1871, Mr. Pierrepont delivered a very able address in the city of Washington, before the Law School, to the graduating class and an immense audience. In this speech he made the re- markable assertion that " no man without an upright mind, and no man who has not maintained his integrity, has ever died leavino- the reputation of a great lawyer." True to this noble maxim, Mr. Pierrepont stands high in his profession. He has unrivaled skill in the cross-examination of witnesses. As an advocate he arranges his facts in a manner that one seems to grow out of the other in such logical sequence that when the statement is made the argument is concluded. His re- markable power in the lucid statement of facts, and of adhering to them under every difficulty and counter-influence, constitute the force and charm of his advocacy. To an unprejudiced mind he generally conveys his own convictions, because they are convictions founded on truth. Mr. Pierrepont has given much study to the subject of finance, and as early as October, 1872, he made a speech in which he took strong ground in favor of an early return to specie payments, and insisted that the country could have no lasting prosperity until we adopted the standard of the commercial world. In the winter of 1874 he wrote a letter upon the finances, and proposed a plan for a return to a sound system ; this letter was addressed to Hon. John Sherman, Chairman of the Finance Com- mittee of the United States Senate, and attracted much public at- tention. In September, 1874, he delivered an able speech at 61 4 EDWARDS PIERREPONT. Cooper Institute in which he treated at great length upon the financial question, and pointed out the causes of depression of the industries of the country, and proposed the remedy. In the same speech he treated of the government of the South also. In June, 1873, he delivered an oration in the Center Church at New Haven before the Alumni of the Law Department of Yale College. The title of this address, as published, is " The Influence of Lawyers upon Free Governments, and the Influence of Moral Forces upon the Prosperity of Governments." It is remarkable for literary merit, high moral tone, and sound instruction rendered luminous by apt historical illustrations. How eloquent and appro- priate were his words of warning will appear from the following brief extract : — ■ " Yes; and fail we shall, unless a change comes over the spirit of this people, and sturdy honesty drives out imbecility and cor- ruption ! Moral forces as well as physical advantages must be con- sidered in calculating the future of a nation. No Government can prosperously endure which, in the main, is not administered by the higher intellect and the higher moral sentiments of the people." On the resignation of the Hon. George H. Williams, in April, 1875, Mr. Pierrepont was appointed to the office of Attorney-Gen- eral of the United States, and entered upon the duties of that high position with the distinctly pronounced approval of the entire country. 62 THE SUPREME COURT. ^.sf.fez^r MORRISON R. WAITE, CHIEF-JUSTICE. jfORRISON REMICK WAITE was born in Lyme, Connecticut, November 29, 1816. He is the eldest of &-VC tne eight children of the late Chief-Justice Henry Matson Waite. of Connecticut. His ancestors settled in Lyme, Connecticut, nearly a hundred years before the Revolution. One of the earliest ancestors, whose name has been preserved, was Thomas Waite, whose son, Marvin Waite, was on the first electoral ticket in Connecticut after the war, and cast his vote for Washington. He had nineteen elections to the General Assembly, was Judge of the county court for several years, and one of the commission- ers to sell the State's lands in the "North-western Territory" and to fund the proceeds. This was the origin of the noble school fund of Connecticut. A half-brother of Judge Marvin Waite was Remick, of Lvmo, who married Susannah Matson, a sister of the mother of Hon. William A. Buckingham, late Governor of Connecticut, and now a Senator in Congress. The eldest son of Remick was Henry Mat- son Waite. who was horn in Lyme, February 9, 1787. and gradu- ated at Yale College in 1S09, with high reputation for ability. He studied law under the direction of Governor Matthew Griswold, became a lawyer of learning and ability with a large and gen- eral practice, and was frequently elected to the lower branch of the Legislature. In 1832 and 1833 he held a seat in the State Senate, in 1834 he was chosen an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and in 1S54- was appointed Chief-Justice by the almost unanimous vote of both branches of the Legislature. He 65 2 MORRISON R. WAITE. held this uffiee until 1857, when lie reached the seventieth year of his age, the limit prescribed by the State Constitution. He died December 14, 18G9. It has been said that no one ever held the office of Chief-Justice of Connecticut who possessed in a higher degree the esteem of the bar and the confidence of the people. He married, in 1816, Maria, daughter of Col. Eichard Selden, of Lyme, and grand-daughter of Col. Samuel Selden of the same town, an officer of the Revolutionary army. Mrs. Waite was a woman of superior intellect and character, and many of her qualities are reflected in her children. The present Chief-Justice entered Yale College at the age of seventeen years, and graduated with honor in 1837 in a class which included William M. Evarts, Edwards Pierrepont, Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and others who have become influential and distin- guished men. He stood high as a scholar, and was eminently gen- ial, courteous, and unobtrusive. Ho was distinguished for his evenly-developed and well-balanced mind. After graduating Mr. Waite began the study of law in his father's office in Lyme, but finished his studies, preparatory to ad- mission to the bar, in the office of Samuel M. Young, Esq., thou a prominent, attorney in Mauraee City, Ohio. On his admission in 1S39 he formed a partnership with Mr. Young. Tin' firm having determined to remove to Toledo, in 1S5" » Mr. Waite proceeded to that place, where lie opened an office and established a successful business. Two years later Mr. Young followed, and the firm of Young & Waite continued until Mr. Waite's youngest brother, Richard, came to the bar, when the brothers formed a part- nership, which continued until the elevation of the senior partner to the Chief-Justiceship. From his advent in practice Mr. Waite's course was stamped with success. He quietly and unostentatiously pursued his pro- fessional labors, constantly growing in influence and power both as a lawyer and a citizen. He was soon acknowledged as a leading counselor and advocate in North-western Ohio. His distinguished abilitv, his studious habits, and his conciliatory manners, all con- 66 MORRISO X B. W A 1TE. ;j tributed to his popularity and success. From the first his mind was firmly set upon his profession, from which no attraction could lure him. As a lawyer he was without ambition, save for such distinction as might come of faithful and honorable pursuit of his profession. His studious habits and unflagging industry secured to him familiarity with the law in all its branches. One who often met him as opposing counsel says that " his assertion on any ques- tion of law was always accepted as indisputable." He proved him- self capable of grasping all the minute details affecting in any way a legal question. He manifested a reverence for law which is not a mere slavish worship of forms and technicalities, but an intelli- gent appreciation of the great principles of truth and right under- lying the whole fabric of civilized legislation. Politically Mr. Waite was a Whig, until the disbandinent of that party, and since that time has been a Republican. He was always too deeply engaged in his profession to become much of a partisan, and consequently never came to be recognized as a party leader. The conservative turn of his mind tended to lead him in opposition to radical political measures. This was shown during the war in his support of the policy of Mr. Lincoln, rather than the more summary measures advocated by some of the antislavery leaders. But to all the war measures of the Government he gave earnest and effective support, making himself especially useful in aiding the recruiting service of the army. In 1849 Mr. Waite was elected to the Ohio Legislature as a Whig, and served with credit and usefulness, although acting with the minority. In 1850 he was a candidate for the State Constitu- tional Convention, but was defeated on strict party grounds — there being a large Democratic majority in the district. In 1862 he very reluctantly became a candidate for Congress, after repeated ami persistent importunities from prominent citizens of both parties. Leading Republicans in the State had advised the people of the various districts to disregard strict party lines, and unite on the simple basis of the support of the Government and the suppression of the rebellion. In the Toledo Congressional District a conveu- 67 4 MORRISON R. WAITE. tion was held, which urged more radical measures than those which the Administration had adopted, demanding the confiscation of the property of leading rebels, and proposing virtually to make the abolition of slavery an end rather than an incident of the war. About the same time appeared a call, signed by Republicans and Democrats, for a convention of those " who were for the maintenance of the Government and the determined prosecution of the war, to the putting down of the rebellion and the restoration of the Union.*' The first of these conventions nominated Mr. J. M. Ashley, and adopted a radical antislavery platform ; while the other nominated Mi-. Waite, and indorsed the war-policy of the Administration, pledging itself in all ways and at all times to give its full and undivided support to such measures as the Government should deem necessary to crush out in the shortest time the wicked rebel- lion. Not long after this Edwin Phelps was brought out as the Democratic candidate. Through the superior organization and management of Mr. Ashley's friends, and the lack of organization (.hi the part of the supporters of Mr. Waite, the former succeeded by a purality vote of seven thousand and thirteen to five thousand eight hundred and fifty lor Waite. and live thousaud two hundred and thirty-four for Phelps. The high esteem in which Mr. Waite was held at home is shown in the fact that he received within five hundred of all the votes casl in Toledo — having a majority of twelve hundred, the mosl emphatic indorsement ever given to any man by the people of that city. The position of Mr. Waite was substantially the one on which the war was conducted to the end. Mr. Lincoln's preliminary proc- lamation of emancipation appeared during that campaign, and it was heartily sustained by Mr. Waite and his friends, not only as just toward the rebel slaveholders and the slaves, but as sound war policy, inasmuch as it was calculated to promote the " para- mount object — to save the Union." Although not a zealous parti- san, he has always been decided and positive in his expression of opinions in strictest accord with the principles and policy of the Republican partv. 68 MORRISON R. WAITE. 5 Tin' friends of Mr. Waite liave repeatedly urged him to become a candidate for judicial positions, but he invariably refused. When Judge Hocking Hunter, having been elected to the Supreme Bench of Ohio, declined to serve, Governor Brough offered the posi- tion to Mr. Waite, who declined the honor. The first position occupied by Mr. Waite, in which he attracted the attention of the whole country, was that of counsel for the United States in the arbitration at Geneva, associated with Hon. Caleb Gushing and Hon. William M. Evarts. lie was not an applicant for the appointment, and was not even aware that such a position was to be filled. The appointment was made at the sug- gestion of Secretary Delano. In November, 1872, Mr. Waite being in New York closing up an important case which had been pend- ing for a year and a half, received a dispatch, forwarded to him from Toledo, appointing him one of the counsel for the Govern- ment at Geneva, lie accepted, and in December departed for his post of duty. lie performed the required service to the entire satisfaction of the Government and the country, lie took a laboring oar in the preparation of the case. Me submitted an argument on the ques- tion of the liability of Great Britain for permitting the Anglo-Con- federate steamer to take supplies of coal in her ports. In that effort he displayed high logical power and comprehensive grasp of international questions. Having successfully closed his labors at Geneva, Mr. Waite re turned to his home and resumed the practice of hi? profession. In April. 1873, he was nominated by both political parties, and unan- imously elected one of the delegates from Lucas County to the Convention called to form a new Constitution for the State of Ohio. Upon the assembling of that convention in May, 1873, Mi'. Waite was chosen its president. The death of Chief-Justice Chase having created a vacancy in the highest judicial office in the United States, there was intense interest throughout the country to know who would receive the nomination. Hon. George II. Williams and lion. Caleb Gushing 69 MORRISON R. WAITE. having been successively nominated ami withdrawn, on the 20th of January, 1874-, the President sent to the Senate the name of Mr. Waite. Jusl one year before, Mr. Waite, on the motion of Caleb dishing, had been admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. The nomination was the more honorable because of the fact that Mr. Waite not only made no effort to influence the Presi- dent's choice, but advised against such efforts when offered by his friends. Not only was the appointment made without any solici- tation on the part of Mr. Waite, but it is believed that no pressure was brought to bear upon the President to bring about the result. Never was an appointment made to this high office in a manner that better befitted it. The nomination was received with general approval by the coun- try. The " Mew York Times" pronounced the nomination "a thoroughly respectable one, evincing in the President an earnest desire to discharge his very difficult duty in a conscientious manner. 1 ' "The Cleveland Herald" said "thai out of the entire list of possi- ble appointees, not one name presented stronger claims of eminent fitness than that of Mr. Waite. The qualities most needed for the high office are precisely those for which he is most distinguished." The "Detroit Tribune'' said, "He combines the three qualifies tions which the complications attending this important, matter made it certain must, characterize the next nominee, namely, pro- fessional fitness for the place, a record of original Republicanism, and a reputation for honor and integrity without blemish and above suspicion." The " Detroit Free Press" (Dem.) pronounced the nomination " the hest the President has ever made." The "Cleveland Leader'' said, "The mantle of Chief-Justice Chase has fallen upon another Ohio lawyer, of whom it is but just to say that he i- worthy of the office and of the great man whom he succeeds. Among all the eminent lawyers from whom the: President might have fitly chosen a successor to Mr. Chase, none, we are assured, could have been more acceptable to the Senate, the bar, and the people generally, irrespective of parties." The "Cincinnati Gazette" said, " The 70 M(> KIMS UN R. WAITE. 7 nomination is not only unexceptionable in every way. but is an admirable one. The selection is honorable to General Grant, and befits the high character the Supreme Conrt should have. Mr. Waite is a lawyer of thorough training and of large practice, and lias long ranked with the first lawyers of a State not lacking in high legal talent." The " Louisville Courier-Journal" said. " Mr. Waite doubtless possesses the solid virtues which will win for him a reputation not less enduring, nor hardly less honorable, than that which is acquired by a dazzling display of more brilliant genius. He will make a safe and conservative judge." When the news of the nomination reached the Ohio Constitu- tional Convention it found that body in session, with Mr. Waite presiding. A gentleman stepped up to congratulate him and found him ignorant of the fact of his nomination. The news was received in the most enthusiastic manner by the members, to all of whom Mr. Waite had become personally endeared. Unusual excitement prevaded the convention during all the remainder of the day, but the calm, unruffled dignity of the presiding officer would not have revealed the fact that anything unusual had occurred. The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce gave a public reception to the new Chief-Justice and the Convention over which he pre- sided, having previously adopted the following resolution : •• 12, solved, That this Chamber has heard with lively satisfaction of the confirmation of lion. Morrison R. Waite as Chief Justice of the Supreme < lourt of the United States, and rejoice that a citizen of our State of such well-known integrity of character and talent has been chosen for the second position in our Government.*' Mr. Waite was confirmed as Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by a vote which was never equaled in its favorable character within the memory of the oldest senator. The nomination was disenssed for about an hour, during which speeches were made by Mr. Sumner. Mr. Sherman, Mr. Edmunds, and Mi-. Thunnan. The speech of Mr. Sumner was one of the best and most impressive which he ever delivered in the Senate. He spoke with much feeling of the importance of the office and the great 71 8 MORRISON R. WAITE. responsibility of the Senate, and paid a high tribute to the profes- sion of tiie law, and to some of the great judges and lawyers of the past. Mr. Sherman spoke of Mr. Waite's high standing at home, and assured the Senate there was not a man in the world who had the respect and admiration of his neighbors to a greater degree than he. Not a breath of suspicion or reproach had ever been cast upon him, and the senator did not believe that a man existed whose character was more spotless, or whose sense of justice and honor was more acute. During the entire discussion not a word was said in opposition to the nominee. The nomination was spoken of by all a- creditable. When the discussion was ended a vote was taken by yeas and nays, and the result was something which rarely, if ever, occurred in the Senate. He received every vote cast. Sixty-three senators voted for his confirmation, and not one against him. Chief- Justice Waite took the oath of office March 4, 1S74, and immediately entered upon the duties of his high office. He was married September 21, L840, to Miss Amelia < '. Warner, of Lyme, Connecticut. They have for many years been active members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. They have had five- children, three of whom are living: a son who is Superintendent of the Cincinnati and Muskingum Valley Railroad, another sou who has recently been admitted as a partner in the law firm at Toledo, and a daughter at lion In the prime of intellectual vigor, of prepossessing presence ami dignified manners, Chief-Justice Waite will not only ably till, hut really adorn, the high position to which he has attained. He has the logical skill, the judicial temper, and the just mind which com bine to make the jurist. Added to these high professional quali- ties, lie is distinguished for purity of character, a large humanity, a generous nature, and a loyalty to his convictions, which make him beloved and respected as a man. 72 \yv Gc//>fZ &li<- land- Mi-. Clifford during the Twenty-seventh Con- gress defined his views concerning them not only by his votes hut h\ hi- speeches. His reported arguments, especially those on the tariff and the distribution hill, furnish tin- most honorable testimony hot! i of his steadfast adherence to his principles and the vigor of his intellect. lie never failed to wage unrelenting war againsl any other protection of American industry than that which incidentally results from a well-arranged system of revenue duties. It has long been the usage in Maine, and the Northern States generallj', not to return the same representative to Congress for more than two successive terms. Under the influence of this limi- tation Mr. Clifford wasexclu igain representing his district in the House. He took leave of Congress, therefore, on the 3d of March, L843, and at once returned to his profession in Newfield. lie retired from Congress with a high reputation not only for ability in debate, but tor a thorough and accurate knowledge of parliament' ary laws. Such was his amenity of temper, and his courteous and dignified bearing, that, notwithstanding his zealous and unflinching support of hi- political opinions, he was able to preserve the most cordial relations with all his Congressional associates, and to carry with him to his home their best wishes for his personal success. The summer of 184:1 witnessed the largest assembly of delegates ■which the Democratic party had ever convened in Maine. It met in the city of Bangor for the double Durpose of selecting a candidate 76 NATHAN CLIFFORD. 5 for Governor, and of choosing delegate* to represent the State in the approaching Democratic National Convention. Over that as- sembly Mr. Clifford was chosen to preside, and he was subsequently a member of the Baltimore Convention which nominated James K. Polk for the presidency. Although his original preference had been for the re-election of Mr. Van Bnren, he supported the nomination with untiring ardor during the animated canvass of 1844. He ad- dressed large masses of the people in nearly every section of the State. Meeting with especial care the tariff issue of the Whigs, he did more, perhaps, than any other political speaker of that period, to disseminate among the voters of Maine the principles of the Democratic party on the subject of " protection." Largely through his efforts his party achieved a victory at the fall election in the State, the influence of which was felt in every quarter of the Union. With these occasional interruptions Mr. Clifford, after leaving Congress, devoted himself with great assiduity to the business of his profession. He had again obtained a large practice, when he was summoned by President Polk to a place in his Cabinet, as Attorney- General of the United States. He discharged the duties of that office in a manner to prove himself a worthy successor of those who had preceded him in that distinguished place. While a member of the Cabinet he was appointed Commissioner to Mexico to negoti- ate a treaty of peace. The President inadvertently failed to sigu his name to the message in which he nominated Mr. Clifford. When the secretary informed the Senate, in executive session, of this fact, Mr. Webster inquired if the message was in the hand- writing of the President, and having been informed that it was, he moved that the informality be overlooked, and that they confirm Mr. Clifford at once, leaving the signature of the President to be appended to the message afterward. The nomination was unani- mously confirmed, and the same evening Mr. Clifford set out upon this important mission. He landed in Yera Cruz on the Sth of April, and soon after was formally received by the American army drawn up in line on the plain:- of Mexico. The Commissioner remained in the capital until a quorum of the Mexican Congress could be eon- (J NATHAN CLIFFORD. vened, and then proceeded to the city of Qneretaro, one liundrod and fifty miles north of Mexico, where the Government had made its head-quarters. After ratifications of peace had been exchanged, and the American army had evacuated the country, Mr. Clifford remained under a new appointment as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. He held this position until October 16, 1849, when he returned to the United States. Returning to Maine he changed his residence to Portland, where lie resinned the practice of his profession, forming a partnership with Hon. John Appleton, Assistant Secretary of State under Mr. Buchanan, and Minister to Russia. He continued to devote him- self to the practice of law until 1S58, when he was appointed by President Buchanan Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. When Mr. Justice Clifford went upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States nearly all the District Judge3 in hi- cir- cuit were old men, almosl past service, consequently an unusual amount of labor devolved upon him. lie was untiring in tin- in- dustry with which he applied himself to his judicial duties. For years lie scarcely took a day of vacation, save snch as were occupied in traveling from one court t" another. His opinion.-, a- published in some thirty volumes of Supreme Court Reports by Howard, Black and Wallace, form an important part of the judicial history of tin/ country. He has for several \ear- been the senior member of the Supreme Court, and on the death of Mr. Chase he became acting Chief-Justice. No living American has tilled so many exalted positions in public life. Hi- career lias traversed the three great departments of the American Government — the Executive, the Judicial, and the Legislative — and in every position he lias made a record of distinguished honor. • (S-^f.-&v r £t^?L^_) NOAH H. 'SWATIE, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. $|&grOAH H. SWAYXE was bom in Culpepper County, 3^^ Virginia, December 7, 1804. He was the youngest of "Jk-igf' ** ve c ' 1 '' ( -' re " ut Joshua Swayne, a prosperous and influ- ential fanner, and a member of the Society of Friends. The family were Pennsylvanians, Francis Swayne, the earliest American progenitor, having come over with William Penn and settled on a farm near Philadelphia, which is still in the hand- of his descendants. Joshua S way ne died in IS08, having in the mean time removed to Jefferson County, and leaving his children to the care of his widow, a woman >A' marked vigor of mind and excel- lence of character, who carefully watched over the education of her sons. Noah was kept at school in the neighborhood until thirteen, when he was sent to the academy of Jacob Meudenhall. at Water- ford, in Loudon County, then in high repute with the Society of Friends. In his fifteenth year lie was recalled, and placed at Al- exandria with Dr. George A. Thornton, a physician of eminence, who united witli Ins practice a small apothecary'- -tore. It was intended that the studies commenced here should eventually he continued in a hospital at Philadelphia, but the plan beiny inter- rupted a year later by the death of Dr. Thornton, the design was abandoned, circumstances fixing the purpose of the student on the study of the law. A collegiate education being deemed prerequi- site to this, he returned to school at Alexandria, where, under a good classical instructor, he pursued his studies with great earnestness, until a thorough preparation for college was accomplished, at which time the pecuniary losses of hi- guardian deprived him of the means to carry out his purpose. He, therefore, entered at once, as a stu- ._> NOAH H. SWA YNE. dent, the law office of .John Scott and Francis P. Brooks, at War- renton, finding there, as a fellow-student. Henry S. Foote, after- ward Governor and Senator from Mississippi. A close and lasting intimacy of the two arose from this association. Admitted to the bar in 1823, the nou-slaveholding example of his father, combined with his own observations from the same point of view determined him to remove immediately to Ohio. The entire journey, in the fashion of those days, was traveled on liorse hark. After passing at Zanesville the year of preliminary resi- dence, n that time required by law, before attorneys from other States were permitted to practice in Ohio, he opened an office, in 1825, at Coshocton, the county seat of an adjoining county. His success was considerable and immediate. During the first year he was appointed prosecuting attorney of the county, and was occu- pied with this and private practice until 1821), when he was elected to the Legislature. A pretty ardent Democrat of what was then known as the Jef- fersonian school, after serving one term he was invited to various paths of political preferment, but chose to return permanently to his profession. During the next year he was appointed United States An >rney for the Districl of Ohio, and removed to Colum- bus, where the courts of the United State- in < >hio were then held. These and tin Supreme Court of Ohio offered ample and inviting occupation, in view of which he declined the office of Presiding Judge of the Common Pleas for that circuit, to which two year- later he' was elected by the Legislature. » In 1832 he was married, at Harper'.- Ferry, Virginia, to Mis- Sarah Ann Wager, of that place. A number of slaves, who became his property by the marriage, were, by the joint purpose of his wife and himself, immediately manumitted. The years following, until his elevation to the Supreme Bench, were given to untiring labor at the bar. and varied only by devo- tion to domestic life, and to such public interests as engage a gen- erous care from private citizens. After nine year- the office of District Attorney was relinquished lor exclusive private practice. SO NOAH H. 8 WAYNE. 3 In 1837. the fiuances of Ohio having broken down under the burden of its public works, then incomplete, Alfred Kelly, Noah II. Swayne, und Gustavus Swan were, by a resolution of the Legislature, ap- pointed Fund Commissioners, to take charge of the State debt, and endeavor to restore credit and supply means to complete the public works. The Commissioners served three years, during which time both objects were eeonomicallj* carried out, they declining any com- pensation for the service. A controversy over the location of the east portion of the bound- ary line between Ohio and Michigan having occasioned serious excitement, followed by an inroad of armed men from Michigan, William Allen, Noah II. Swayne, and David T. Disney were sent oy the governor to Washington to seek a peaceable solution of the controversy, which was finally effected, leaving the disputed ter- ritory in Ohio. In 1840 William M. Awl, Noah H. Swayne, and James Hoge were appointed by the Legislature a committee to inquire and re- port upon the number and condition of the blind within the State. The labors of the committee were extended and various, resulting in the admirable Asylum of Ohio for the Blind, with which, as also with the Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb and for Lunatics, Judge Swayne was actively connected as trustee for many years, till the increasing >cope of his professional engagements compelled him to give them up. Meantime, what he regarded as subversion of the policy and pur- pose of the Democratic party, by the gradual encroachments of pro-slavery influence, had occasioned a complete revulsion of polit- ical attachment, finding vent in strenuous efforts toward the election of Fremont, and strongly identifying him thenceforth with the op ponents of the influence above referred to. The disclosure of the purpose of secession met his indignant rebuke, and at the outbreak of the war nearly his whole time was given to the service of the Governor in assisting the Ohio levies to the field. The sixth circuit of the Supreme Court of the United States, com- prising, at that time, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and .Michigan, was 81 4 NOAH H. SWAYNE. then presided over by the venerable Judge M'Lean, between whom and Judge Swayne warm friendship had existed many year?. The wish the former frequently expressed, that he might be succeeded by Judge Swayne, originating with himself, had spread, perhaps, from him to leading members of the bar within the circuit. Some recent argument.- at Washington had had a like effect with other members of the Supreme Court, and on the unexpected death of Judge M'Lean, a decided expression, from both the bar and the court, with tokens of strong popular approval, had the concurrence of the President. Judge Swayne was appointed by President Lincoln, in February, 1862. a Justice of the Supreme Court, and unanimously continued. The discharge of his duty since then has been constant and arduous as before. The accuracy and erudition of his judicial labors have been promoted by accumulated stores from many years' research, resulting from hi- habit of invariably noting down whatever ought to be preserved. The resnlts are found in the Reports, beyond which we are not furnished with details. Every occupation and vicissitude of life has been accompanied and supported by enthusiastic -tudv of ancient and modern litera turc and general knowledge. The degree of LL.D., conferred on him by Vale, Dartmouth, and Marietta Colleges, was but a recog- nition of the studies of a life-time, the same as had been given to his exertions at the bar by his elevation to the bench. 82 c)^^l. *9? MxjI^^ SAMUEL F. MILLER, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. \ m AMTJEL F. MILLER was born in Richmond, Kentucky, §^P April 5, 1810. His father was a Pennsylvania German, *$tf w '"' em 'S ra ' e< ^ f rom Reading to Kentucky in 1812. His mother was a native of Kentucky, of North Carolina parentage. His parents being in poor circumstances, his educa- tion was obtained under various disadvantages and with continued straggle. He graduated in" the medical department of Transyl- vania University in 1838, and practiced medicine for several years in Knox County, Kentucky, during which time he was married. After he had two children, and while in active practice, he deter- mined to adopt the law in preference, from an unconquerable repug- nance to the profession in which he was then engaged. He studied law while practicing medicine, was admitted to the bar in Ken- tucky in 1844, and was at once remarkably successful. In politics Mr. Miller was a decided Whig, the ardent friend of Henry Clay. He supported General Taylor for the Presidency with much earnestness. In 181:8, when a Convention was to be chosen for revising the Constitution, the people of Kentucky were convulsed by the emancipation question. Mr. Miller took an active part, and made great efforts to secure the election of dele- gates in favor of emancipation. His own county elected an eman- cipationist as a dch-gate to the Convention. The new Constitution fixed slavery more firmly than ever-on the people, providing, among other things, that no slave should he emancipated in the State with- out provision by the master for his support. It enunciated the odious doctrine that the right of property in slaves does out de- 83 2 SAMUEL F. MILLER. pend upon statutory enactment, but is a natural right. The Con- stitution thus pledging the State to slavery, made Kentucky an unpleasant residence for a professional man who had taken the high around occupied by Mr. Miller; hence he determined to make his home in a free State. Accordingly, in the spring of 1850 he re- moved to Iowa, and took lip his residence in Keokuk. That city constitutes part of a tract of one hundred and twenty thousand acres which had been granted both by treaty and act of Congress to the " half-breeds of the Sac and Fox Indian?-." The want of any more particular designation of the grantees was a source of protracted litigation in the courts of that place. The Federal Court for the State was then held there, and in the litigation aris- ing out of these circumstances lie soon had a large and varied practice, including real estate, admiralty, steamboat, and commer- cial r-uits. He immediately took a front rank in his profession, and within a year was regarded as leader of the Iowa bar. Mr. Miller became a Republican at the incipiency of the party in 1854, and cave unsparingly of his time, labor, influence, and money to promote its success, lie invariably declined nomina- tions for office which were urged upon him, save in asingle instance, when, alter repeated refusals to run, he allowed his name to be used in a hopeless canvass tor the State Senate. When Mr. Lincoln became President there were nine Judicial Circuits in the United Slates, five of which were in the South, the States o( the North-west and the Pacific coast, having their federal Courts held by District Judges alone. There were at the same time two or three vacancies on the bench of the Supreme Court. Mr. Lincoln sent a message to ( longress suggesting that the occasion was favorable for a reorganization and rearrangement of the Circuits. His suggestion was adopted, and under the ar- rangement thus consummated a new Circuit was constituted from the North-western States. The bar throughout these States turned almost unanimously toward Mr. Miller as the most suitable man for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. At the same time twenty-seven of the thirty-six Senators then in Congress, and 84 SAM CEL F . Mil. I. ER. 3 more than one linndred Representatives, united in requesting his appointment. lie was accordingly nominated in July, 1862, and was confirmed by the Senate without the usual reference t.i a com- mittee. Judge Miller** public lite may be said to have commenced with his accession to the bench. This occurre 1 at a very critical period in the history of the Government. Among the first cases in whose decision he participated were the Prize cases reported in Volume II <>)' Black's Supreme Court Reports. These not only involved the general doctrine:- uf the law of prize which had been in practical abeyance in this country since the war of 1S12, but many new and difficult questions growing out of the application of those doctrines tn a war between different parts of the same country, and especially the law of blockade arising under such circumstances. The opin- ions of the Court in these cases were mostly delivered by the senior judges; but Justice Miller's influence in shaping the judgments of the Court, and in determining the principles on which these judg- ments were based, was soon felt and acknowledged. The cases which perhaps first attracted to him special attention were those in which he differed from a majority of the Court. Among them were suits from the West, growing out of the efforts to enforce the payment of bonds given by municipal corporations in aid of the construction of railroads. Against the legality of these bonds Judge Miller always steadily opposed his judg- ment, and his dissenting opinions in the case of Gelpcke vs. The City of Dubuque, (1 Wallace,) and subsequent cases, are among the most vigorous of his judicial productions. The highest Courts of many of the States have concurred with him, among the most recent of which is that of New York. But perhaps his most important opinions are those in exposition of the clause of the Federal Constitution which ordains that Con- gress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nation-, among the several States, and with the Indian tribes. In the case of the United States vs. Holliday (3 Wallace, 407) he delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court, holding that the law of Congress 4 SAMUEL F. MILLER. prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors tu Indians was justified by the Constitution, though the liquor was sold within the territorial jurisdiction o\' a State, and without the limits of every Indian reservation. But the most important and far-reaching of the judg- ments of the Supreme Court, delivered by him on that subject is to be found in the ease of (Yandall vs. Nevada. (6 Wallace, 35,) in which it was held that no State could levy a tax on passengers, or on public carriers for conveying passengers through such State on the wav to another. Under this decision the odious tax on railroad passengers, from which the States of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey had for many years derived a large revenue, were abandoned or held void, and the right of every citizen of this great country to avail himself of all the usual modes of travel and conveyance with- out paying a tax or tribute for that privilege to the State through which he traveled, was decided and established beyond controversy. In the eases ^t Lot vs. rliuton and Parham vs. Woodruff (8 Wal- lace) he also delivered the opinion of the Court, holding that the same clause in the Constitution forbids each State from imposing taxes discriminating against the products of sister Static in favor of its own. In the railroad tax cases recently decided from the State of Pennsylvania, in which the question at issue was the power of that State to levy a tax on the railroads of the State for goods transported over those roads to or from other States, he declared in a dissenting opinion, concurred in by Judges Field and Hunt, that by no devise or evasion, by no form of statutory words, can a State compel citizens of other States to pay it a tax, contribution, or toll for the privilege of having their goods transported through that State by the ordinary channels of commerce. An opinion delivered on the Circuit in the case of the Clinton Bridge, reported in Woolworth's Reports of Miller's Decisions, has attracted much attention in Congress and in other places. It de- clares that under this same clause in the Constitution it is not only the right but the duty of Congress to assume the control and regu- lation of all railroad traffic when it exceeds the bounds of a single State. This is the first judicial declaration of a principle, to which 86 s.\ M I EL F. MILLER. 5 public attention is now largely and actively directed, as the only available relief from the extortions of those overgrown monop- olies. His dissent in the original decision of the legal-tender question in Hepburn vs. Griswold, (S Wallace, 6U3,) attracted universal atten- tion from its vigorous and close logical reasoning. In this he meas ured strength with the late lamented Chief-Justice, and, as was gen- erally conceded, with no discredit by the comparison. The opinion thus delivered, concurred iu by Justices Swayue and Davis, left a strong impression that the judgment of the majority could not stand long as the opinion of the Court, and its reversal inside of two years justified that impression. In the case of Watson vs. Jones, (13 Wallace, G79,) the grave question of the weight to be attached to the action of the ecclesias- tical tribunals of the various religious denominations of this coun- try when they were brought into the Courts as the foundation of civil rights to property, was for the first time brought before the Supreme Court of the United States. The decisions of the State courts were found to be numerous, somewhat conflicting, and rest- ing largely on the facts peculiar to each case. Those of England, in which there is an established Church, with mere toleration of dissenters, were found not to be in harmony with our institu- tions on that subject. After an exhaustive review of the whole subject, the principle is laid down that in all questions of ecclesiastical doctrine, discipline, and government, the decision of the highest tribunal of each denomination as to its own rules on those subjects will, in the civil courts, be accepted as the true ex- position of the principles of that organization, without further inquiry as to their soundness. This judgment has met the general approbation of cultivated minds in and out of the Church as one which will carry the courts safely through a most embarrassing class of cases. But, perhaps, the most important opinion of the court during Mr. Justice Miller's connection with it, if not ecpial in importance to any ever delivered by the court, is that of the Slaughter-House cases 87 of the December term, 1S72. It required an exposition of the Thir- teenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitu- tion, which came before the court for the first time in these cases. They had been twice argued in the Supreme Court, and had been held under advisement for over a year. Public attention was very largely turned to the expected result, and it was believed by the court, and by many eminent statesmen and constitutional lawyers, that the continued existence of the States with any vital powers as a part, of our national Government was practically involved in the decision. In this opinion Mr. Justice Miller, speaking tor the court, held that while these amendments secured liberty, suffrage, and equality of civil and political rights to the African race, ami placed the protection of these rights, and others belonging to citizens of the United States, under the control of Congress, the right of the States in regard to the control of domestic and internal legislation remained unimpaired otherwise than as above expressed. (16 Wallace, 36.) The general acquiescence of the public in the soundness of this exposition of the recent amendments of the Constitution, and the references to it in the recent debate- in ( Jongress on the Civil flights bill, leave little room to doubt that it will in future be received as the authoritative declaration of the effect of these amendments on our political system. Mr. Justice Miller has to an extraordinary degree the respect and confidence of the bar of the United States. When the recent vacancy occurred in the Chief Justiceship there was no name sug- gested for the position with so near an approach to unanimity on the part of the profession as that of Mr. Justice Miller. With the utmost purity of private character, with ^official integrity above sus- picion, with talents which singularly befit his judicial eminence, lie well deserves the esteem and honor in which lie is universally held. As he is in full vigor of mind and body, with great powers of in- tellect devoted without distraction to the discharge of the high trusts imposed upon him, it is a reasonable expectation that his valuable services will long be continued to the country. 8S ^^W/^^2X^ DAVID DAVIS. ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. i^^jjtf AVID DAVIS was born in Cecil County, Maryland, March 9, 1815. He was educated at the Academy in Newark, Delaware, and at Kenjon College, Ohio, under the presi- dency of Bishop Chase, where he graduated in the year 1832. Having made choice of the law as his profession, he, in the fall of the same year, entered the law office of Judge Henry W. Bishop, of Lenox, Massachusetts. In this office, under the judicious advice of his preceptor, he pursued his reading in the elementary writers for the space of two years, and finally completed his pre- paratory studies with another year's attendance oil the lectures of the law school in New Haven. Connecticut. The great West was already then, as it has remained ever since. the alluring field of opportunity and ambition to all young men of talent and energy east of the Alleghanies. Mr. Davis pushed out, with little save thorough preparation for his chosen profession, to what was then the almost extreme frontier. Tn the fall of 1835 he located himself in the town of Pekin, the county-seat of Tazewell County. Illinois. This was long before the railroad era, and Pekin, favorably situated on the Illinois River, the as yet principal com- mercial highway through the Prairie State, made claim to promis- ing chances of future importance, both as an agricultural and a trading center. Here, in the current western phraseology, Mr. Davis "hung out his shingle" and began the practice of the law. A year's experience, however, convinced him that he had not wisely chosen his location. The river towns were at that period, as a rule, very unhealthy ; and though he succeeded beyond his expectations 89 2 DAVID DAVIS. in obtaining professional business, he was, as sunn as the hot sum- mer months came, prostrated with the prevalent malaria] fever, which unpleasant fact decided him to seek a new home. Eastward from Pekin, toward the center of the State, lay the ad- joining county of M'Lean, comprising then an almost limitless ex- tent of high, grandly undulating prairie, broken by timber belts along the streams and occasional groves on the slopes and ridges. In this beautiful and fertile region a new community was being rapidly concentrated, irresistibly attracted by the local advantages of soil and climate, and the still more obvious benefit of cheap lands. The now flourishing city of Bloomington, with a popula- tion of twenty tlioiisan 1. was then a straggling village of four hun- dred and fifty souls, having been located only live years previously. As the county seat of M'Lean County, however, it was necessarily both the official and political center. In fact the push and enter- prise, which have since given it prosperity, were already then stir- ring its small bill ambitious population ; and no doutrt Judge Davis was at that early beginning of his legal career much cheered to find that the embryo metropolis had already, after a four years' ex- istence, replaced its first log conrl house, built in 1832 at :: contract price of $339 75, by an aspiring brick building 4<'.\4r> feet in size, two stories high, the erection of which loaded the county with u hat for years proved a crushing debt <>f $8,000. Here among the hardy, self-reliant pioneers, who rapidh filled up both town and county, and who have contributed their full share t" give central Illinois a degree of solid affluence and power unrivaled among the newer States, Judge Davis laid the permanent foundation.- of his home and fortune, and here he remain- still, except for that portion of the year which demands his official labors in Washington. In the West every lawyer is necessarily a politician. The struct- ure of society is such that ever} man who can think clearly and talk fluently is forced, whether he wishes it or not, into an active participation in local and general politics; and Lincoln, Douglas, Li-owning, Baker, Trumbull, and others, are convincing examples that it is not only a spontaneous, hut also a healthy and useful school 90 DAVID DAVIS. 3 of earnest, practical statesmen. The Whig party, then a hopeless minority in the State, followed the sagacious policy of nominating it> youngest and ablest leaders as candidates for public favor. In the hotly contested campaign of 1840 Judge Davis was made the Whig candidate for the State Senate from a district comprising M'Lean and six other counties, but was defeated by his Democratic competitor. He had, however, made a canvass so satisfactory to his party, having only been beaten by a small majority in the seven counties, that two years later, in 1842, he was again nominated by his Whig friends for the lower house of the State Legislature, which nomination he declined. Two years afterward the call to party leadership for the third time was so pressingly urged upon him that he could not refuse it. This contest resilted in his election as the Whig representative to the State Legislature, in which capacity he served acceptably to his friends and usefully to the public during the winter of 1S44-5. The most important measure of the session, and in the furtherance of which he actively joined, was that relating to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, at that time a most vital scheme of internal im- provement for Illinois, which had languished and been suspended through the financial mismanagement and disasters of 1S36-7. Under the favorable legislation and counsels of this session of 1844-5 this' great work was resumed, and completed three years after — a consummation which marks a turning tide from bankruptcy t.. solvency in the financial history of Illinois. The State having partially recovered from its prostration, was now beginning a period of rapid growth and development. Its first Constitution, adopted in 1818, had been outgrown for years, though fierce partisan rivalry had hitherto prevented its reform. A partial lull in politics was succeeded by a popular vote in favor of a Constitutional Convention. It was held in the year 1847, and Judge Davis was chosen a member without opposition. The occasion called together the best men of the State, who, during a laborious and earnest session of three months, drafted what was for that dav a most admirable instrument, and which was adopted by 4 DAVID DAVIS. an overwhelming vote of the people in the following spring, and re- mained unchanged until 1871. The Convention was not wholly free from selfish and angry partisanship; but after all, the net re- sult was a liberal and statesmanlike yielding of conflicting views, and the final engrafting in the Constitution of a large number of progressive and most salutary reforms, embracing, among others, a limitation of the power of the Legislature to contract debts, a pro- hibition of the lending of State credit to individuals or corpora- tions a most rigid economy in official salaries, liberal but clearly defined qualifications for citizenship and office, the abolition of ap- pointments by the Legislature, the substitution of an elective judiciary, and. finally, the imposition of a two-mill tax to reduce the principal of the State debt — a measure more efficacious than any other in restoring the long-lost credit of the State. Judge Davis, in common with the other practical and far seeing men of both political parties in the Convention, gave his voice and vote for these changes, while on appropriate committees he was more immediately instrumental in securing a provision against the hasty division of counties, and in defeating tin- adoption of a code— thus retaining the EngKsh common law practice which still prevails in the State. The new organic law went almost immediately into effect, and in the same year, 1848, Judge Davis was, without opposition, elected one of the nine Circuit Judges provided by the new Constitution. Hi- circuit wasaverv large one, embracing, in all, fourteen counties, and including both his home town of Bloomington, and Springfield, the capital of the State. Of the fourteen years of this judicial service which Judge Davis now performed a most interesting volume might be written, so full was it of earnest work, of fresh impulsive life, and of curious adventure, incident, and humor. The hard and monotonous labors of traveling almost incessantly from county to county, often dragging through miry roads and swimming swollen streams, holding from twenty five to thirty terms of Circuit Court every year, were also somewhat relieved by the sincere at- tachments he formed among the people, and the hearty hospitality with which they welcomed his every return. So well did he dis- H A VID DAVIS. 5 charge the duties of his office that lie was, without opposition, re- elected in 1855, and again, withoul opposition, in 1861. Ee had jti-t entered upon his third six-years 1 term as Circuit Judge when President Lincoln, in 1862, appointed him an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Tinted States. In 1860 lie was a member of the famous Chicago Convention, and wielded important influence in bringing about the nominal ion of bis intimate personal and political friend, Abraham Lincoln, who, as the leadiuglawyer of Central Illinois, had been engaged in almost constant practice throughout the circuit in which Judge Davis presided, and in the course of which a close friendship was formed and matured between the two men, interrupted only by the untimely death of the great President. When the rebellion broke out Judge Davis was one of the foremost of the hosts of Union men who have made for the State of Illinois such a proud record in support of our imperiled Government. Not only did President Lincoln constantly seek and receive hi-- friendly advice, but, in 1861, be confided to Judge Davis, Judge Holt, and Mr. Campbell the delicate and important duty of investigating the Fremont-JVTKinstry Quartermaster mismanagements ami corruptions at St. Louis. In 1872. at the Liberal Republican Convention held in Cincinnati, Judge Davis had a large and influential number of adherents, and great probability existed for some time of his becoming the nomi- nee. The best informed leaders of that movement still think that his candidacy would have brought them a much more auspicious result at the ballot-box. On the Supreme Bench of the United States Judge Davis has been for twelve years an unremitting and most efficient worker. To characterize him as an administrator of the law, he may be best described as possessing, in an eminent degree, what may be termed integrity of intellect. With a quick apprehension he looks through the surroundings of a case and seizes upon the principle of justice and equity which should determine it. Having found this, he steadily adheres to the pivotal point upon which the discussion turns. There are usually many points raised in a case not necessary 93 6 DAVID DAVIS. for its determination. It is tlie part of judicial prudence that the court should not involve itself in the discussion of difficult questions until the necessity of the case demands it. No judge recognizes the propriety of this rule of conduct in a greater degree than Judge Davis. His opinions are, therefore, noted for their brevity, except on a few great occasions which demand elaboration, as in the cele- brated Milligan ease. It will he remembered that Milligan. a citizen of Indiana, who was in no wise connected with the military or naval service, was arrested by a military order in October, 1864, on charges of trea- sonable acts, tried by a military commission, and sentenced to be hung on the 19th of May. lstl.'.. Milligan brought the case to the Supreme Court on proceedings by habeas corpus. The Judge opens his opinion by the declaration that "the im- portance of the main question cannot lie overstated, for it involves the very frame-work of the Government, and the fundamental prin ciples of American liberty." After appealing to historical prece- dents, and citing the principles which control our jurisprudence on this subject, lie denies the jurisdiction of the military commission in a few well-selected sentences. " When the courts are actually closed, then on the theater of active military operations, where war really prevails, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for civil authority \- necessity creates the rule, so it limit- it- duration ; for if military government is continued after the court- are reinstated, it is a gross usurpation of power. "' The army had saved the Union. It was lor the court to save tin 1 Constitution. Judge Davis was married in October, 1838, at Lenox, Massachu- setts, to a daughter of Judge Walker of that place, Miss Sarah W. Walker, of whom, with their two children now living, a daughter and a son, his family consists. The degree of Doctor of Laws has been conferred upon him by the Wesleyan University at Blooming- ton. Illinois, by Beloit College of Wisconsin, and by Williams Col- lege of Massachusetts. 94 jkf*&o*^ %^£ STEPHEN J. FIELD, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. ' giTEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD was born in Haddam, Con- iO necticut, November 4, 1810. The removal of his father, ' .;' Rev. David D. Field. D.D., to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, took him to that place, where he passed his childhood. The residence of a near relative in the East afforded him the opportunity, when he was about thirteen years old, of going to Greece and A-ia Minor, in which countries he remained until he was sixteen, travel- ing extensively and making himself proficient in the Greek lan- guage. Returning to America, he entered "Williams College, Mas- sachusetts, where he graduated in 1837 with the highest honors of his class. He entered upon the study of the law, in the city of New York, with his brother, David Dudley Field, whose partner he afterward became. After devoting himself to the business of the firm for eight years, in 184s Mr. Field again went abroad. Remaining in Europe until the next year, he found on his return to the United States that, owing to the discovery of gold, a vast tide of population was setting toward California. He emigrated thither, and in December, 1849, arrived on the Pacific coast. After remaining a few days in San Francisco, he went to the northern part of the State and established himself at Marysville. Before the rapidly accumu- lated population of the new country could organize a Territorial or State Government, the necessity for a temporary organization of courts tbr the administration of justice under the then existing (Mexican) laws was met by the proclamation of the militarj gov- ernor, acting under the directions <>f the President, for the election 95 2 STEPHEN .1. FIELD. of judges or alcaldes, and lesser magistrates. Judge Field was chosen bv the people alcalde of the Marysville District in January, 1850, and acted in that capacity until the organization of the judiciary under the State Constitution during the following summer. He discharged the novel duties .if this difficult position iii such a manner a.- to secure universal acquiescence in his decisions, and so established order ami a respect fur law and rights among the rest- less and discordant elements by which he was surrounded. Thi' public confidence, thus secured, manifested itself in his elec- tion in the following autumn to a seat in the. Assembly of the State. to represent Yuba County, from which the counties of Nevada and Sierra have since been created. His term in the Legislature was one of activity and usefulness, lie drafted the act " Concerning the Court.- of Justice and Judicial Officers " of the State, which de- fined the jurisdiction and powers of the different courts and judges. This act remained in force, with some alterations principally drawn bv himself, until the amendments t" the Constitution of the State were adopted in 1862. Of these amendments, it may he here said, lie was also the author. With a few changes made in the Legislature, the amendments are a- he drew them for the Judiciary Committee of the Senate of California. After they were adopted he prepared the draft of the present act " Concerning the Courts of Justice and Judicial Officers," which was presented by the chairman of the Jndi- eiarj Committee. While a member of the Legislature he also in- troduced hills to regulate proceedings in civil and criminal cases. Those hills were taken from the code- of New York reported by the ( Commissioners of the State ; hut over two hundred sections of these were rewritten and modified, to meet as well the peculiar con- dition of the State and the requirements of its Constitution, as his own views of what would constitute the best practice. These bills be- came laws, and. with some amendments found necessary during a period of nearly twenty year-, remained on the statute-book until the adoption of the recent codes, in which they are substantially embodied. He was the author of the policy, still adhered to by the State, of exempting from execution and forced sale the homestead STEPHEN J. FIELD. 3 and household furniture, the books and instruments of professional men, and the tools of farmers, artisans, and miners. He was also the author of the following provision of law enacted during his legislative term : — "In actions respecting mining claims proof shall be admitted of the customs, usages, or regulations established and in force at the bar or diggings embracing such claim ; and .-uch customs, usages, or regulations, when not in conflict with the Constitution and laws of California, shall govern the decision of the action." This brief provision solved a very perplexing problem, and has ever since remained undisturbed. Upon it rests the settled policy, not only of California, but of all other States and Territories in which the precious metals have since been discovered. This policy has also received the sanction, of the National Congress, ami in cases arising in the Federal Courts. Judge Field resumed the practice of the law in 1851, and con- tinued in it successfully until 1>C>7. being employed in a majority of cases appealed to the Supreme Court from the northern half of the State. In 1S57 he was elected by the people a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State (then composed of three judges) by a majority larger than had ever been given to any officer in the State. The term for which he was chosen commenced in January, L858; but a vacancy having meantime occurred, he was appointed by a Governor opposed to him politically to till the unexpired term pre- ceding that for which he had been elected. He thereupon took his seat on the bench in October, 1S57; and on the resignation of Judge Terry, in 1859, he became Chief Justice. Of his judicial services in this capacity the following account, written by Hon. Joseph Ox. Baldwin, who was tor three years an as- sociate of Judge Field on the Supreme Bench of California, and who is also widely known as the author of " Partisan Leaders," and ''Flush Times in Alabama and Mississippi," will he read with in- terest : — "When lie came to the bench, from various unavoidable causes the calendar was crowded with cases involving immense interests, 97 4 STEPHEN J. FIELD. the most important questions, and various and peculiar litigation. California was then, as now, in the development of her multiform physical resources. The Judges were as much pioneers of law as the people of settlement. To be sure something had been done, hut much had yet to be accomplished, and something too had to he undone of that which had been done in the feverish and anomal- ous period that had preceded. It is safe to say, that even in the experience of new countries hastily settled by heterogeneous crowds of strangers from all countries, no such example of legal or judicial difficulties was ever before presented as has been illustrated in the history of California. There was no general or common source of jurisprudence. Law was to In- administered almosl without a standard. There was the civil law. as adulterated or modified by Mexican provincialism, usages, and habitudes, for a great part of the litigation ; and there was the common law for another part, hut what //hi/ was was to he decided from the conflicting decisions of any number of courts in America and England, and the various and diverse considerations of policy arising from local and other facts. And then contracts made elsewhere, and some of them in semi civilized countries, had to lie interpreted here: besides all which may lie added that huge and important interests peculiar to this State existed — mine-, ditches, etc. — for which the courts were compelled to frame the law, and make a system out of what was little better than chaos. •• When, in addition, it is considered that tin unprecedented num- ber of contract- and an amount of business without parallel had been made and done in hot haste, with the utmost carelessness; that legislation was accomplished in the same way, and presented the crudest and most incongruous materials for construction; that the whole scheme and organization of the government, and the re- lation of the departments to each other, had to he adjusted l>\ judi- cial construction, it may well he conceived what task even the ablest jurist would take upon himself when he assumed this office. It is no small compliment to say that Judge Field entered upon the duties of this great trust with his usual zeal and energy, and that STEPHEN J. FIELD. 5 he leaves the office not only with greatly increased reputation, hut that he has raised the character of the jurisprudence of the State. He has more than any other man given tone, consistency, and system to our judicature, and laid broad and deep the Founda- tion of our civil and criminal law. The land titles of the State, the most important and permanent of the interests of a great com- monwealth, have received from his hand their permanent protec- tion, and this alone should entitle him to the lasting gratitude of the bar and the people." The court had, before Judge Field became one of its members, held that "'the mines of gold and silver found in the public lands, as well as in the lands of private citizens, were the property of the State by virtue of her sovereignty." He delivered the opinion in which this was reversed, and another in which he laid down the doctrine that the minerals in the soil belonging to the United States pass with the soil by a grant thereof, and that neither the sovereignty of the United States, nor of an individual State, ex- tends to the ownership of such minerals. Decisions by him, com- pelling the fulfillment of obligations by municipal corporations, have attracted very general attention, and received high commendation from leading jurists and law writers. The decisions of the court concerning mortgages are mainly his. Judge Field was appointed by President Lincoln to be an Asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1863, all the representatives in Congress from the Pacific Coast uniting in urging the appointment. In different departments of the law in that court his labors have been considerable; while in all that re- lates to the region west of the Rocky Mountains they have been of the highest importance, especially in that peculiar class of cases growing out of the claim by the city of San Francisco to land, as successor of a Mexican Pueblo. In commercial and other questions he has taken his share, and in the adjustment, of constitu- tional law the opinions delivered by him in the well-known test- oath cases in 1867 are remarkable for their clearness and power, and will undoubtedly stand the tests of time and reason. His dis- 99 6 STEPHEN J. FIELD. senting opinions in the confiscation cases, in the legal-tender cases, and in the famous New Orleans slaughterhouse ease, which involved the construction of the Fourteenth Amendment, also attest both his judicial ability and his strong individuality of thought and action. In I860 Judge Field received the degree of LL. D. from Williams College. In 1869 he was elected Professor of Law in the Univer- sity of California by the Regents of that institution, which posi- tion he now holds. In 1873 he was appointed by the Governor of California one of a commission to examine the code of laws of that State adopted at a previous session, and to prepare amendments to the same for legislative action. The commission duly made a re- port, and its principal recommendations were adopted by the Legis- lature. During our civil war the Government found in Judge Field one of its most patriotic adherents, and most vigilant and active sup- porters and defenders. Both his private and public words and acts contributed much to secure the steady and unswerving loyalty of California in that great crisis. 100 //// 1 r/nj WILLIAM STRONG, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. ILLIAM STRONG was born at Soniers, Tolland Coun- ty. Connecticut, May 6, 1808. His father and mother were both of English origin. His father's ancestors emigrated to this country in 1630. and settled in Massachusetts. A branch of the family came at an early day to Connecticut. His grandfather was a lawyer of eminence; his father, a graduate of Yale College, and a Congregational minister, was settled for many years as pastor as Soniers. He owned there a small farm, on which his son worked during school vacations. His early educa- tion was obtained at the district school of his native town. His father took charge of his classical and mathematical studies. He was then sent for a year to an academy in Mooson, Massachu after which he entered Vale College, at the age of fifteen. There he took the full course of four years, and graduated in 1827,high in his class. After leaving college he taught school for three years and a half, to pay the debt incurred in his collegiate education, and to enable him to carry out his purpose of pursuing a course of legal studies. He then returned to Yale, and entered the Law School, taking part of the legal course. Finding his means insufficient, he opened a classical and mathematical school in Burlington, New Jersey, at the same time pursuing his legal studies under the direction of the late lion. Garret D. Wall. Returning to the New Haven Law School, he pursued diligently his studies under Judge Daggett, afterward Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and Judge Hitchcock, both very eminent and successful protessorsof law. 101 2 W I L LI AM STRONG. Graduating at the Law School iu 1S32, Mr. Strong was admitted to the bar in Connecticut, and near the close of the year to the bar in Philadelphia. Under the advice of his friends, Hon. Horace Binney and Hon. Charles Chauncy, lie settled in Reading, Berks County, Pennsyl- vania. At that time the town and county were thoroughly German, and that was the common language used. The young lawyer at once addressed himself to the acquisition of the language, and was soon able to speak and write it fluently. This was ever after of great service to him. His practice grew rapidly and soon became large, and he drew around him, in his new home, a large circle of warm and influential friends. In 18;!fi Judge Strong married a daughter of Hun. Garrick Mallory, presiding Judge of that judi- cial district. She died in 1843. In 184:9 he was married to his present wife, the daughter of lion. Edward Davies, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a Representative in Congress from 1*:'.7 to 1841. In politics Mi - . Strong was in early life a Democrat, and as such he wa> elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirtieth ami to the Thirty-first Congresses, lie wa- Chairman of the Com- mittee on Elections, and in that capacity made many able and judi- cious report- in contested cases. He declined to be a candidate for a third term. Alter leaving Congress he again devoted himself wholly to his profession, being the acknowledged head of the bar in his county and district. In 1857 he was elected on the Democratic ticket a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, for a term of fifteen years. lie gave all the influence of his high position and character to the support of the Government of the United States against the Rebellion. He resigned in October, 1868, t" resume the practice of his profession in Philadelphia. His professional services were eagerly sought after. He wa- employed and consulted in a great number of the most important cases, both in the Federal and State Courts. His practice promised unusual pecuniary reward, when, unsought and unsolicited by him or his friends, President Grant, in February, 1870, tendered him the appointment of Associate-Justice 102 WILLIAM STRONG. 3 ot' the Supreme Court of the United States. In that high tribunal lie at once gained a conspicuous position, and that not only on general questions of law, but on the special cases growing out of the recent rebellion. Although his judgments are marked h\ greal fairness and moderation on these exciting questions, they have, al the same time, been uniform, consistent, and inflexible in maintain- ing the supremacy of the Federal authority. While he has con- strued most favorably and liberally every act of beneficence or pardon, by the General Government, toward the rebels, he has also most firmly insisted upon obedience and submission, on their part, to the amended Constitution and the laws of the United States. Many of these questions, with which our Supreme Judiciary has been occupied the last t'fw years, were new and difficult. The principles of international law, the laws of war, and the policy of modern civilized nations, as they affect the rights of citizens, neu- trals, and belligerents, and as they are modified by the genius and structure of our own Government, the advancing civilization of the age, and the special legislation of Congress, were to be expounded, reconciled, and applied by this Court in numerous and diverse cases. While many of these questions have given rise to acrimo- nious political controversy, and sometimes popular clamor and turbulence, it speaks well for the wisdom, fidelity, and conserva- tism of the Court, that its deliverances upon them have not only been generally submitted to and acquiesced in, but have been almost universally approved. One of Judge Strong's first opinions was the case of Bigelow vs. Forrest, (9 Wallace, 339.) French Forrest was an officer in the Confederate Navy, His real estate in Virginia had been seized, libeled, condemned, and sold, under the Confiscation Act of 1862. He died in 1866. His heir at law brought suit to recover it back from the purchaser. This heir at law had also been an officer in the Confederate service. In the opinion, it is clearly shown and maintained, that under the Constitution of the United States — the Act and Resolution of 1862 — forfeiture for treason was limited to the life of the offender, and could extend no further. L03 4- WILLIAM STROXU. In Miller vs. the United States, ill Wallace, 268,) where the power of the Government to confiscate the property at all, under the Constitution, was ably and vigorously attacked. Judge Strong, in a full and exhaustive opinion, maintains the power of Congre-s to legislate to that end, ami the < 1 oiirts to enforce the legislation, by virtue of the general war powers conferred in the Constitution, and as distinguished from the municipal and sovereign power of the Government to punish treason and rebellion. It is doubtless the fullest, clearest, and ablest judicial exposition yet made on this much controverted question. In the United States vs. Wiley, (1 1 Wallace, 508,) he discusses the questions of how far, for what time, and between what persons, the war of the rebellion suspended the running of the statute of lim- itations. In Montgomery vs. the United States. (15 Wallace. 395,) it was held that a citizen of New Orleans, who, after its capture by Far- ragut and Bntler, purchased cotton, etc., from inhabitants of a pari of the same State outside the Onion lines, was guilty of a breach of the non-intercourse laws, and could acquire no title to the prop- erty purchased. In the Planters' Bank vs. the Union Bank, (16 Wallace, 185,) Judge Strong, in a most thorough ami masterly manner, reviews the right of the Government, under the laws of war and the legislation of Congress, to >eize and confiscate property of rebels in belligerent territory. He shows, that after General But ler's proclamation of May 1. 1862, then' could he no seizure and confiscation of private property in the city of New Orleans; that under no circumstances, or at any time, could the military com- mander- make any order for confiscation; that power rested in Congress alone. In the Fannie, (11 Wallace, 238,) Thorp vs. Hammond, (12 Wal- lace. 408,) the Scotia, (14 Wallace, 170,) the Commerce. (16 Wal- lace, 33,) the Sapphire, (IS Wallace, 51,) the questions of the relative rights and liabilities of steam and sailing vessels are dis- cussed and expounded, and the rules and principles by which these are to be determined, in cases of collision, so set forth and 104 WILLIAM STRONG. 5 developed that do seafaring man need err therein or mistake his lights and duties. But the ablest and most important opinion delivered by Mr. .Justice Strong, since his accession to the Supreme Bench, is that in the Legal Tender case, (12 Wallace, 457.) Hepburn vs. (iris- wold (8 Wallace, 006) had previously decided the Legal Tender act unconstitutional, so far as it applied to debts contracted prior to its passage. The majority of the Court, as then constituted, having determined to overrule the case of Hepburn vs. Griswold, so recently decided, committed to Judge Strung the task of sus- taining their ruling by reason and authority. How well he per- formed that duty is known to the country. The clear statement of the questions, the complete analysis of the arguments on the one side and the other, the collocations of the reasons and author- ities by which they were sustained or refuted, are grouped so lu- cidly and so naturally, as to make them palpable to the commonest comprehension. The view taken of the power of Congress under the Constitution, in dealing witli this great question, discards the narrow, technical, legal ideas so strenuously urged upon the Court, and adopts the same broad, beneficent, and statesman-like construc- tion of Hamilton, Marshall, and Story. In its style and diction, the opinion is marked by that simplicity, purity, and elegance, that is at once so attractive and appropriate in a legal opinion. On questions of insurance in many of its phases, on corporations on patents, on the rights of the States to tax corporation- and indi- viduals, on the power ami functions of the Federal and State Courts, and the multifarious and important questions that came before this great tribunal, the last tune volumes of their Reports bear marks of his great industry and learning. In every respect Judge Strong's profession was well chosen. 11 is early inclinations and predilections were for the law, and all his preparatory studies were pursued in reference to it. The charac- teristics and qualities of his mind were admirably adapted to master and unfold its principles. His many published opinions as Judge, both in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court 1 1 1:, ' Q W I L LI A M STRONG. of the United States, bear the marks of deep research and profound legal erudition; while in language and construction they are models of purity and simplicity, and rank their author as one of the ablest jurists of the age. He lias greatly endeared himself to his asso- ciates and the profession by his simple yet dignified maimers, and by uniform courtesy and kindness to all. As previously intimated. Judge Strong was a moderate and con- servative Democrat until the contest over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He could not conscientiously support his party in that and cognate measures, but sympathized with the views and principles of the rising Republican party. He was favorable to the election of Lincoln in ISO). His legal and literary acquirements have been acknowledged by the degree of LL.D., conferred by Yale, Prince- ton, and Lafayette Colleges. From early life Judge Strong has been in his religious belief a Calvinistic Presbyterian. He is now* a ruling elder in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington. He lias Ion-; boon :i Commissioner in the American Board of Foreign Missions. He is a Vice-President of the American Bible Society and of the American Sunday School Union, Presidentof the American Tract Society, and a member of the Evangelical Alliance. Judge Strong's long career of honor and usefulness, both in pub- lic and private life, affords an excellent model and example to the youth of our land. His early struggles, his patient, persistent industry, and his complete success, are so many encouragements to them. His life teaches, too, the still higher and better lesson, that success may be attained, and the highest public stations reached and filled, without a single blot or stain resting upon the private and personal character. \t shows also that eminence in public life is entirely consistent witli enlarged private charity, sys- tematic benevolence, a kind disposition, engaging manners, gener- ons confidence in man, and unfaltering faith in the Divine wisdom and goodness. 106 I -- -, : ' -■■■ JOSEPH P. BRADLEY, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. OSEPH P. BRADLEY was born in Berne, Albany Ij; County, New York, in 1813. His paternal ancestors l^i" were among the first settlers of New Haven. His imme- diate family emigrated to Albany County in 1791, and settled in the Helderberg region. His mother was a Gardiner, be- longing to a family from Newport, Rhode Island. He was the eldest of eleven children, and was brought up on his father's farm at Berne. He early exhibited a strong proclivity for reading and studv, and managed, by the aid of his father's library and that of the town, which was kept in the neighborhood, to make consider- able progress in historical and miscellaneous reading, such as travels, essays, theological discussions, etc. His school education was confined to the merest elementary studies ; but being fond of mathematical investigation, a taste derived from the maternal side, he mastered algebra, trigonometry, and surveying, and reduced the last-named study to practice. He commenced teaching school in ln's sixteenth year, and continued it at intervals until he left his native State. By these various means he profited as much, per- haps, as he could have done in a seminary of learning. Health, a habit of observation, and a deep thirst for knowledge in a young man, are almost certain elements of success. At eighteen, being tired of country life and the little prospect it afforded for the future, young Bradley accepted the invitation of the parish clergyman. Rev. A. H. Myers, to live in his family and pursue the necessary course of study for entering college. He ac- cordingly entered Rntejers College, New Jersey, in 1S33, and 107 2 JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. graduated in 1836, in the same class with Hon. Frederick T. Fre- linghuysen, Cortlandt Parker, Esq., and others, who subsequently became eminent in their several professions. After receiving his academical degree, Mr. Bradley at first as- sumed the principalship of an academy in Millstone, New Jersey, but soon took to the study of law in the office of A. Gifford, Esq., in Newark. Here he was admitted to the bar in 1839, and for thirty rears devoted himself assiduously to the laborious practice of his profession. He was engaged during that period in many of the most important causes which were contested in the New Jersey courts, and the United States courts of that district. These em- braced land, commercial, patent, and corporation cases, as well as criminal trials. In 1S60, with other counsel, he argued the cele- brated New Jersey Bridge cases before the Supreme Court at Wash- ington ; these and the Albany Bridge case being argued together. In politics he was originally a Whig, and on the dissolution of that partj became a Republican. Although often urged to accept nominations for office, he always eschewed political life until 1862, when ho ran for Congress in the Fifth District of New Jer- M'\ on the Republican ticket, and was defeated, the districl being strongly Democratic. In L868 ho headed the Grant and Colfax electoral ticket of New Jersey. He was a warm supporter of the late war, regarding tin' integrity of the nation as essential to tin- triumph of free institutions. On several occasions lie attended the new regiments to the field, and addressed them on the issues ol the war. lie was for many years a director and principal counselor of the New Jersey railroad companies. In this position his influence was exerted to induce the companies to abandon their i lopoly privi- leges and transit duty on passengers ami freight, so odious in other parts of the country, both of which objects at last were consum- mated. He also strenuously advised and seconded the efforts that were made by the railroad lines of New Jersey during the war, and especially in the spring and summer of 1861, in forwarding troops and military supplies. ,F 108 JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. 3 From is,">l to 1863, notwithstanding the pressure of professional duties, lie acted as mathematician or actuary of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, and from 1S65 to 1869 was President of the New Jersey Mutual Life Insurance Company. While residing in Newark, Mr. Bradley was a director in various financial institutions. His counsel in periods of difficulty wasalways highly regarded. He brought to the various questions raised that clear analytical judgment for which he is distinguished. In 1849 he delivered an address on Progress before the literary societies of Rutgers College, and other addresses on similar occa- sions since, several of which have been published. He has also delivered lectures before the classes of that institution on Political Economy and Constitutional Law. In 1851 he delivered the an- nual address before the New Jersey Historical Society, on the " Perils through which the Federal Constitution has passed, and which still threaten it ;" and in 1865 an address on the Life and Character of Honorable William L. Dayton. In June, 1S70, he was called upon to deliver the centennial address at Rutgers College, which, together with the proceedings on that occasion, have been published. He received the degree of LL.D. from Lafayette Col- lege, in Ea.-ton, Pennsylvania, in 1859. Mr. Bradley was always fond of scientific studies, and kept up an acquaintance with the latest discoveries and improvements. His association with men distinguished in this pursuit brought him continual pleasure, and correspondence with them called out the best qualities of his mind. The same habits of investigation were brought to bear on his own profession. He was never content with the mere practical part, but was fond of law as a science, and made considerable acquaintance with the civil law, which he has un- doubtedly found of service in his judicial duties, especially in the southern circuit. In October, 1844, he married the youngest daughter of the late distinguished Chief-Justice Hornblower, of New Jersey. Being much worn in health by many years of toil, he went to Europe in 1865, and returned after an absence of five months, much benefited 109 4 JOSEPH P. BRADLEY . Travel brought to him not only recreation and health, but the en- joyment of a cultured mind. In February. 1870, after the resignation of Mr. Justice Crier, and the sudden deatli of Mr. Stanton, who was appointed to succeed him there beiny then two vacancies on the bench of the Supreme Court, President Grant nominated Mr. Strong and Mr. Bradley to till them. The latter was continued by the Senate on the 21st of March, and was allotted to the fifth circuit, which embraces the southern tier of States from Georgia to Texas. At that time this was the most important section of the country in reference to the exercise of Federal jurisdiction. It is true, that since the creation of circuit judges there has not been the same necessity for the presence of the justices of the Supreme Court in the circuits a- be- fore; and the increase of the business in the Supreme Court is such as often to prevent them from presiding at the regular terms of these courts. Judge Bradley visits his circuit regularly, after the close of each term of the Supreme Court, and has had occasion to make some important decisions. One of these— his decision in what is known as the Slaughter House cases, in June, 1870 — excited much interest in the public mind. This was the first decision in those cases, and involved the construction of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Judge Bradley, in an opinion afterward pub lished in the first volume of Abbott's United States Reports, held that this amendment placed ever} citizen of the Tinted States under the protection of the General Government, wherever any of his fundamental rights as a citizen were invaded by the State Legis lature. The Legislature of Louisiana had created a corporation with the exclusive right to keep slaughterhouses in New Orleans and vicinity for a distance of twenty or thirty miles. Judge Brad- ley held that this monopoly was an unwarrantable invasion of the rights of those citizens who desired to engage in the same business, and therefore void ; and that, under the Fourteenth Amendment, the courts of the United State? could declare it void. The Su- preme Court of Louisiana, in a similar case, held that the Legisla- ture did not exceed it> authority; and its decision being brousrlit L10 JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. 5 to the Supreme Court of the United States, was affirmed 1 >v a vote of five judges to four ; thus, in effect, overruling the opinion of Judge Bradley. But the case lias given rise to a considerable di- versity of opinion. In the legal tender cases, Justices Strong and Bradley both gave opinions in favor of the constitutionality of the act of Congress ; and the position taken by them has been the subject of much ani- madversion on the part of those who advocated the contrary view, if being even charged that they were appointed for the purpose of obtaining a decision sustaining the act. This charge has been shown to be unfounded and unjust. Their appointment was urged, and under consideration, long before the first decision of the court was known, and without any reference thereto. A re-argument of tin- question was asked for, on the ground that there was not a full bench when the former decision was pronounced ; and it was in- sisted that the importance of the question rendered such a course, under the circumstances, justifiable and proper. At all events, there seems to be no ground for doubt that the two new judges, as well as those with whom they concurred in the action taken by the court, acted conscientiously. Justice Bradley has recently been called upon to give an opinion on another question of very grave importance. In April, 1ST::, a lawless assemblage of whites attacked and killed a large number of colored persons at Colfax, in Grant Parish, Louisiana. They were indicted for this outrage in the Circuit Court of the United State-. under the Enforcement act of May 31, 1870. Several of them being convicted, motion was made to arrest judgment on the ground that the United States Courts had no jurisdiction. It was contended that it was merely riot or murder, which are only offenses against the laws of the State. The charge of the indictment was, of a con- spiracy to intimidate and injure the colored people, (who were alleged to be citizens of the United States,) with intent to prevent them in the exercise and enjoyment of the right peaceably to as- semble, secured to them by the first amendment to the Constitu- tion. Other counts charged similar violations of the right to bear 111 fi JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. anus, the right to equal benefit of the laws, the right to vote, etc. For the Government, it war- contended that this was a crime against the United States, and a direct breach of the Constitution. Justice Bradley held that the right to assemble, bear arms, etc., w;i> se- cured by the Constitution only as against the acts of the Govern- ment, and not as against acts of individuals, which were punishable by State laws; and that violence inflicted by individuals against colored persons, or any other persons, to prevent their enjoyment of civil rights, was nothing more than an ordinary criminal act, amenable to the State laws, unless committed against those persons because of their particular race or color. If done for thai cause, the crime is cognizable by the Federal authorities. As this fact was not alleged in the indictment he arrested the judgment, and the circuit judge being of a contrary opinion, the case is to be decided ]>\ the Supreme Court. Justice Bradley, in this case, conceded that whenever, by any act or law of a State, an individual i- de- prived of a constitutional right, he i- entitled to redress, in some form, in the courts of the United Status. It cannot he denied that the question involved in this opinion lies at the very foundation of the constitutional relation- of the Federal and State Governments as affected by the recent amendments to the Constitution. The opinions of Justice Bradley in all the various cases decided since he tools his -eat in the court, exhibit, iii their fullest extent, the high qualities which have insured him success. Thoroughly master of the greal principles upon which the profession of the law is based, with a, clear understanding of the nature, spirit, and sc >p i of our national Constitution, he unite- that correct judgment which properly applies this knowledge to particular cases. U'\> style of writing is commensurate with hi- wide range of culture and thought, as is evidenced by his public addresses and written opinions. Ill ultimate reputation will undoubtedly place him among the first judges of the nation. 112 WAED HUNT, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, ' P^ARD HUNT was born in Utica, Oneida County, New York, June 14, 1810. The Hunt family is of English origin, but for a century and a half the records show a New York branch of the original stuck. The lather of the subject of this sketch, Montgomery Hunt, was a gentleman of education, and for many years cashier of the old Bank of Utica, which was indebted to his financial ability for the marked reputa- tion it acquired as a leading country bank with a high standing in New York city. When a boy of about fourteen years Ward Hunt lost the care and affection of a most excellent mother, who is re- membered as a woman of genial manners, a generous heart, and a fine intellect. In his seventeenth year he entered Union College, where he grad- nated with credit. He then attended the law school of Judge James Gould, at Litchfield, Connecticut. Having completed the course, he returned to Utica and entered the office of Hiram Denio, since eminent as a Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. He was admitted to the bar in 1831, having just reached the lawful ao-e. In those days the professional business afforded by banks was im- portant to a young lawyer, and the connection of his father and friends with the Bank of Utica at once secured to Mr. Hunt an auspicious beginning, and his partnership with Judge Denio shortly alter added materially to his professional prospects. He soon com- manded a lucrative practice, which, with his patrimony, placed him in an independent position. The bar of Oneida County, distin- guished for men of legal eminence, was of a character to demand 113 2 WARD HUNT. ability of all who sought distinction. Mr. Hunt showed himself fully able to compete with his ablest antagonists. His practice was of the miscellaneous character common to country districts — now law, then equity; now that of an attorney, then of a solicitor, and commonly as a counselor in all cases. He was connected with some of the most important trials, and won distinction at the bar foi- clearness of mind and fairness in his conduct of caies. He was always a deliberate and orderly speaker, and, without any effort at rhetorical display, he possessed an aptness in illustrative anecdote and allusion that pleasantly enlivened his formal speech and his ordinary conversation. Mr. Hunt's earliest political associations were with the old Dem- ocratic party, <f the Cuurt render a verdict of guilty. It was argued that this direction made the verdict that of the court and not of the jury, and that the provisions of the Constitution securing a trial by jury in criminal cases had been violated. The motion for a new trial was denied in an elaborate decision, in which numerous authorities were cited. Among other things Judge Hunt " The right of trial by jury, in civil as well as in criminal case-. is a constitutional right. The Hist article of the Constitution of the State of New York provides that "the trial by jury, in all cases in which it has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate forever.' Article 7 of the Constitution of the United States contains a similar provision. Yet in cases when the facts are all conceded, or when they are proved and uncontradicted by evidence, it has always been the practice of the courts to take the case from the jury and decide it as a question of law. No counsel has ever disputed the right of the court so to do. No respectable counsel will venture to doubt the correctness- of such practice, and this in cases of the character which are usually submitted to a jury. The right of a trial by jury in a criminal case is not more distinctly secured than it is in a civil case. In each class of cases this right exists only in respect of a disputed fact. To questions of fact the jury respond. Upon ques- 115 4 WARD HUNT. tionsof law the decision of the court is conclusive, and the jury are bound to receive the law as declared by the court. Such is the established practice in criminal as well as in civil cases, and this practice is recognized by the highest authorities." Another important case which attracted general attention was the Credit Mobilier suit, based upon the act of Congress of March, 1873. It came before Judge Hunt, holding the Circuit Court at Hartford, Connecticut, in September, 1873. The case was aigued on demurrer to the complaint by the most eminent counsel on both sides. Judge Hunt delivered a very able and elaborate opinion, in which he sustained the demurrer and showed that the United States could not properly be a plaintiff in the case, but that "redress must be sought through the corporation, unless they refuse to bring suit, in which case the action must be by a shareholder of the corpora- tion." Judge Hunt is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he was educated, and has held therein many honorable offi- cial trusts. In all his relations, both public and private, he is every- where esteemed for the correctness and purity of bis life. lie has been twice married, first to the eldest daughter of the late Chief- Justice Savage, of the State of New York, and again, in 1853, to his present wife, daughter of the late James Taylor, Esq., of Albany. A son bearing the same name, a practicing lawyer of the city of Utica, and a married daughter, wife of Arthur B. Johnson, Esq., of the same place, constitute the remaining family of Judge Hunt. 116 K yw^t^^^/7, SIMON CAMERON. -jSfLMON CAMERON was born in Lancaster County, Pennsvl- ~^j) vania, March 8th, 1799, and was left an orphan at nine '$ti 3' ea1 " 3 °f age. He educated himself while pursuing his em- ployment as a printer in Harrisbnrg and in Washington City. lie edited and published a paper, called the " Pennsylvania Intelligencer," at Doylestown, and subsequently, before he reached the age of twenty- two, he was editor of a newspaper published at Harrisburg. In 1832 he established the Middletown Bank. He devoted much attention to the railroad interests of Pennsylvania, and became president of two ra'ilroad companies. Before reaching the age of thirty he was appointed by Governor Shultze, Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania. In 1S45 he was elect- ed United States Senator for four years. Retiring from office in lb-49, he resumed active business, and de- voted himself to internal improvements and financial affairs. In 1857 he was again elected to the United States Senate for six years, but resigned in 1SG1 to become Secretary of "War under President Lincoln. In this position he favored the most vigorous measures for prosecuting the war, and insisted on arming the negroes. These views being at variance with those of the Administration, he retired from the Cabinet, and accepted the appointment of Minister Pleni- potentiary to Russia. On his arrival at St. Petersburg, he found the Czar engaged in the noble work of emancipating the serfs, and his first act was to congratulate him for doing that justice which our country could not then be induced to do, predicting at the same time that events would force this nation to follow his great example. Du- ring his stay at St. Petersburg, the unbroken and continuous news of Federal disasters strengthened his fear that the policy of the Gov- 119 2 SIMON CAMERON. eminent foreboded ruin, and deeming it yet possible to impress his views on the Administration, and believing that the salvation of the country depended on a change of policy, he resigned It is office and hastened home to take an active part in the mighty struggle. The Government would not yet yield to the growing pressure for vigorous measures, and he threw himself into the work of recruiting the Fede- ral army, and supporting the Union cause in Pennsylvania and the loyal States. At last the negroes were accepted for soldiers, and, rinding that the work of their enlistment was unpopular, he offered his services to Mr. Lincoln to recruit a brigade of negro soldiers for the war and lead them. His offer being declined, he continued to devote himself to the Union cause, to the utmost of his ability, until the end of the war. In 1867 he was elected for the third time to the Senate of the United States, for the term ending in 1873, and taking his seat in that bod\ he was placed on the Committees on Foreign Relations, Military Affairs, and Ordnance, and was made Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, lie was steadfast in his opposition to the policy of President Johnson, and voted for conviction in the great Impeachment Trial. In the reorganization of the Senate in March, 1871, he was appointed to succeed Mr. Sumner as Chair- man of the Committee on Foreign Relations. Jn March, 1873, Mr. Cameron entered upon his fourth term in the Senate. In his speeches before the Senate he expresses his ideas with clearness and distinctness. The simplicity and frankness of his dis- course are only equaled by the glow of bis patriotism. No man in the Senate more finely illustrates the advice once given by the Duke of Wellington to a young member of Parliament : " Tell just what you have to say, and don't quote Latin." He was one of the found- ers of the Republican party, and in 1860 was prominently before its National Convention as a candidate for nomination to the Pres- idency. He is the oldest member of the Senate. Not a single one of his contemporaries when he entered that body in 1841 is now in public life. 120 y €. V. HANNIBAL HAMLIN. ■ '^'ANNIBAL HAMLIN was born in Paris, Maine, August 27, 1809. He was the youngest of seven children, and his father designed to give him a liberal education ; but when nearly fitted for college, the health of an older brother failing, Hannibal was recalled from school to aid in the labors of the farm. He continued upon the farm till eighteen years old, when, by the approval and direction of his father, he commenced the study of law with au elder brother residing in the eastern part of the State. His father, however, dying soon after Mr. Hamlin's departure from home, he returned, and during the succeeding two years continued to labor upon the farm. About the time of his coming of age Mr. Hamlin became asso- ciated with Mr. Horatio King in the proprietorship of the Jeffer- sonian, a paper printed in his native town. This enterprise, however, he soon relinquished, and under the advice of his mother resumed the study of law. At the end of three years' study he was admitted to the bar, and entered at once on the practice of his pro- fession, gaining a case on the very day of his admission. In April of the same year he removed to Hampden, near Bangor, where he has since resided. Here he at once entered upon a large practice, and in addition to his forensic efforts made frequent addresses at lyceums, as well as at political and other assemblies. In the five years from 183G to 1840 inclusive Mr. Hamlin was annually elected a Representative in the State Legislature, and became at once a prominent member of the House; was prominent in all the principal debates, was one of the recognized leaders of his party, and for three out of these five years he was Speaker of the House. In 1810 he was the Democratic candidate for Repre- sentative in Congress, and was defeated by less than two hundred votes. Three years afterward, however, he was pitted against the 121 2 HANNIBAL HAMLIN. Bame opponent and for tlie same office, and was elected by a major- ity of a thousand. Assuming li is seat in the Twenty-eighth Con- gress, he at once took the position of an active and able-member of the House. The measure for annexing Texas by joint resolution failed to meet his approval, and he made an eloquent speech against it, wherein he expressed his regret that this "great and important question had heen dragged down, down, down from its own proper sphere to a wretched, contemptible one for extending and perpetu- ating slavery." Mr. Hamlin was elected to the succeeding Congress, in which he served in the Committee on Naval Affairs, and was Chairman of the Committee on Elections. In this Congress, both by speech and vote, lie assumed a decided stand against the encroachments of slavery, announcing most explicitly his opposition to its exten- sion, and offered the Wilmot Proviso as an amendment to the famous "Three Million Bill." In 1848 Mr. Hamlin was elected to the Senate of the United States to fill the vacancy occasioned hy the death of Governor Fairfield. Having served the lour years of this unexpired term, he was re-elected for the full term. He was elected as a Democrat, although bitterly opposed by a portion of the party for his previous anti-slavery attitude in Congress. His opposition to slavery and its extension continued firm and unyielding, utterly regardless of party ties or inducements leading in any other direction. "I owe it," said he in a speech on the Clayton Compromise, "I owe it to the constituents whom I represent, to our posterity, to all the toil- ing millions who are seeking an asylum in our land, to embrace this opportunity of opposing with unshaken firmness any attempt to introduce or permit this institution to flow into territory now free. 1 ' In June, 185C, in connection with a brief speech in the Senate on the Democratic Platform, as announced at the Cincinnati Con- vention, Mr. Hamlin publicly and formally declared off from that party, and expressed his determination to battle vigorously tin- the defeat of its presidential candidate. In the following January, L22 HANNIBAL HA M L I N. 3 having by a large majority been elected Governor of Maine as a Republican candidate, he resigned his seat in the Senate. About one week after his inauguration, however, he was for the third time chosen a Senator of the United States. He resigned the office of Governor in a little more than a month after assuming it. and resumed his seat in the Senate. The nomination of Mr. Hamlin for the Yice-Presidency of the United States was as unexpected to himself as it was honorable; while the unanimity and cordiality with which it was made, and its universal popularity, were conclusive evidences of the exalted character and eminent national standing of the Senator. Having been triumphantly elected on the ticket with the illustrious Lincoln, he presided over the Senate as Vice-President from 1801 to 1865, acquitting himself in that position with great ability and universal approval. When the Republican Convention of 18(34 re- nominated Mr. Lincoln there was a desire to have a Southern man associated with him on the ticket, and Mr. Hamlin was set aside for Andrew Johnson, much to the subsequent regret of the party. Mr. Hamlin was appointed Collector of the Port of Boston, but resigned in the following year on account of his disapproval of the policy of President Johnson. He was subsequently re-elected to the Senate, and took his seat for the fourth time as a member of that body March 4, 1SG9. Of Mr. Hamlin's general congressional career a judicious writer has said : It is but stating the truth to say that during his entire congressional service Mr. Hamlin has displayed in an eminent degree the qualities of a prompt, intel- ligent, and efficient business man. His executive abilities are of a rare and high order. He has made it a first object to meet the demands made upon him by his own constituents and State. Every letter of this sort is promptly attend- ed to and answered. What a draft this has constantly made upon his time and efforts every man who knows anything of the requirements made of a Congress- man will be able to appreciate. All parties in Maine have demanded these services of Mr. Hamlin, and have accorded him the praise, of fidelity and effi- ciency in devotion to their interests. The heads of the Treasury and of the Customs Departments, including such men as Secretary Guthrie, Secretary Hodge, and Governor Anderson, have declared Governor Hamlin to be the best business man in the Senate. During his entire service as a Senator he has been a member of the very laborious and important Committee on Commerce, and 123 i HANNIBAL HAMLIN. was its Chairman for seven years. In this hitler capacity he harl supervision of all the great questions and measures affecting the commerce of the country, both domestic and foreign, acted upon by that Committee— no bill being reported which he had not fully understood by personal investigation. The luter record of Mr. Hamlin's senatorial course seems to indi- cate a greater attention to the current and actual business of the Senate than any inclination to long and elaborate speeches. Of these latter the history of the Forty-first Congress reveals to us but few. "I believe," said lie on one occasion, "I do not occupy the three and a half minutes that I am entitled to ou) "fa day's session here; and if Senators would vote as cheerfully as I will vote, with- out talking, we should have passed the Mississippi bill yesterday." With the concluding remarks of Mr. Hamlin's brief speech in the Senate on the occasion of the death of his colleague, Mr. Fes- senden, we close this sketch : Mr. President, there an- evi nta connected with the Senate which the solemni- ties of the occasion seem to impress upon me with peculiar force, and lo which I may appropriately refer. I run mj eye over the Senate Chamber to-day, and ot'all the men which constituted the body upon my entrance into it as a mem- ber, but a single one, but a single one now remains with me. That one is my honored friend, the Senator from Pennsylvania, who sits nearest, to me, (Mr. Cameron ;) and it is no slight compensation for the annoyance incident to public life to know that intimate and most friendly relations which were then formed in all changes anil antagonisms of public life have never for one moment been disturbed. Could we have been transferred from that time to the present, from the Senate as it then was to the Senate as it now is, how startling would be the change! We would find ourselves in association with those who would be strangers to us. It teaches a moral that all may heed. During the period of time referred to the Senate has certainly been graced by many of the most eminent and distinguished American Senators. Clay, witli his clarion voice and fervid eloquence; Calhoun, with his captivating manner and subtle metaphysics; Webster, with his words of masterly power; Benton, with his comprehensive knowledge of the legislation of the country and an indomitable will; Douglas, with an earnestness and courage to meet and, if possible, to overcome all obstacles in his way; and Collamer, with his plausibil- ity to persuade, and his learning and his logic to convince, and Cass and Clay- ton, are certainly some of the Senators whose names stand highest upon the roll of senatorial fame. Their names, and others that might be designated, will he remembered while the Republic or its history shall exist; and to this list is now to be added the name of Fessenden, my late colleague. There it will re- main imperishable as one of the great American Senators. 124 c^#<~&l-, /LA^yu^ CHARLES SUMNER. HE ancestors of Charles Sumner were among the early emigrants to New England. His father's cousin, Increase Sumner, was one of the early governors of the State of Massachusetts, and was regarded as a worthy successor of Hancock and Adams. The father of Charles Sumner was a successful law yer, and for many years held the office of High Sheriff of the County of Suffolk. Charles Sumner was born in Boston, January 6th, 1811. Having received a preparatory training in the Boston Latin School, and the Phillips Academy, he became a student in Harvard College, where he graduated in 1830. He subsequently entered the Cambridge Law School, where he pursued his studies three years under the direction of Judge Story, with whom he formed an intimate and lasting friend- ship. In 1830 he was admitted to the bar, and rose rapidly in his pro- fession. He was appointed Reporter of the Circuit Court of the United States; and, while holding this office, published three vol- umes of decisions, known as "Sumner's Reports." At the same time he edited the "American Jurist," a law paper of high reputation. During three winters following his admission to the bar, Mr. Sum- ner lectured to the students of the Cambridge Law School. Then, as in after life, his favorite subjects were those relating to constitu- tional law and the law of nations. la 1830 he was offered a profess- orship in the Law School, and in Harvard College, both of which he declined. In 1837 he visited Europe, where he remained till 1810, traveling 12:> 2 CHARLES SUMMER. in Italy, Germany, and France, and residing a year in England. His time was improved in adding to liis previous literary and legal attainments an extensive knowledge of the languages and literature of modern Europe. After three years spent abroad, Mr. Sumner returned to his native city, and resumed the practice of law. In addition to his professional duties, he was occupied from 184:4 to 1846 in editing and publishing an elaborately annotated edition of "Yesey's Reports," in twenty volumes. Mr. Simmer was recognized as belonging to the "Whig party, yet for several year- after his return from Europe he took but little part in politics, lie made his first appearance on the political stage on the 4th of July, 1845, when he pronounced an oration before the municipal authorities of Boston on " The True Grandeur of Nations." This titterance was made in view of the aspect of affairs which portended war between the United States and Mexico. This oration attracted great attention, and was widely circulated both in Europe and America. Cobden pronounced it "the most noble contribution made by any modern writer to the cause of peace." At a popular meeting in Fanned Hall, November 4-, 1S45, Mr. Sumner made an eloquent and able argument in opposition to the annexation of Texas, on the ground of slavery. In the following year he delivered an address before the Whig State Convention of Massachusetts on "The Anti-Slavery Duties of the "Whig Party." In this address, Mr. Sumner avowed himself the uncompromising enemy of da very. He announced his purpose to pursue his opposi- tion to that great evil, under the Constitution, which he maintained was an instrument designed to secure liberty and equal rights. Pro- visions in the Constitution conferring privileges on slaveholders were compromises with what the framers of that instrument expected would prove but a temporary thing. In 1846 Mr. Sumner addressed a public letter to Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, who then represented Boston in Congress, rebuking him for his vote in favor of war with Mexico. In this letter the Mexican 126 CHARLES SUMNER. 3 war was characterized as an unjust, dishonorable, and cowardly attack on a sister republic, having its origin in a purpose to promote the extension of slavery. The position of Mr. Sumner was too far in advance of the Whig party to admit of his remaining in full fellowship. In 1848 he sun- dered his old political ties, and aided in the organization of the Free Soil party, whose platform was composed of principles which he bad distinctively announced in his public addresses. Van Buren and Adams, candidates of the new party, were earnestly supported by Mr. Sumner in the Presidential contest of 1848. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act tended to obliterate old party lines and overshadow former political issues. A vacancy in the United States Senate occurring by the accession of Daniel Webster to the cabinet of Mr. Fillmore, the duty of electing his suc- cessor devolved upon the Legislature of Massachusetts. By a coali- tion of Free-Soilers and Democrats in the Legislature, Mr. Sumner was nominated for the office, and was elected after an earnest and protracted contest. The result was regarded as a signal triumph of the anti-slavery party. In the Senate of the United States, Mr. Sumner's first important speech was against the Fugitive Slave Law. He then announced his great political formula, " Freedom is national, and slavery sectional," which furnished the clue to his subsequent career. He argued that Congress had no power, under the Constitution, to legislate for the rendition of fugitive slaves, and that the act was not only in conflict with the Constitution, but was cruel and tyrannical. The great debate on the Missouri Compromise and the contest in Kansas elicited all of Mr. Sumner's powers of eloquence and argu- ment. His great speech, published under the title of " The Crime against Kansas," occupied two days in its delivery. Southern Sena- tors and Representatives were greatly incensed by this speech, and it was determined to meet argument by blows. Two days after the delivery of the speech, Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina, assaulted Mr. Sumner while writing at his desk in 127 4 CHARLES SUMNER. the Senate Chamber. Mr. Sumner, unarmed and powerless behind his desk, was beaten on the head until he fell insensible on the floor. A Committee of the House of Representatives reported in favor of Brooks's expulsion. The resolution then reported received a little less than the two-thirds vote necessary to its adoption. Mr. Brooks, however, resigned his seat, pleaded guilty before the court at Wash- ington upon an indictment for assault, and was sentenced to a tine of three hundred dollars. Having returned to his constituents to re- ceive their verdict on his conduct, lie was re-elected to Congress by a unanimous vote. A few days after resuming Ins seat in Congress, he died suddenly of acute inflammation of the throat. On the other hand, Mr. Sumner did not fail to receive the endorse- ment of his constituents. In the following January, while still dis- abled with his wounds, he was re-elected by an almost unanimous vote, in a Legislature consisting of several hundred members. In the spring of L857 he went to Europe, by the adviceofhis physicians, to seek a restoration of his health, and returned in the following autumn to resume his seat in the Senate. His health being still im- paired, he again went abroad in May, 1858, and submitted to a course of medical treatment of extraordinary severity. After an absence of eighteen months, he returned in the autumn of 1850, with health restored, again to enter upon his Senatorial duties. It was highly appropriate that the first serious effort of Mr. Sumner, after his return to the Senate, should be a delineation of " The Barbarism of Slavery." In an elaborate and eloquent speech, which was published under that title, he denounced slavery in its in- fluence on character, society, and civilization. In the Presidential contest of 18G0, which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Sumner took an active part, and w T as grati- fied in seeing the signal triumph of principles which he had long maintained. On the secession of the rebel States, he earnestly op- posed all compromise with slavery as a means of restoring the Union. He early proposed and advocated emancipation as the speediest mode of bringing the war to a close. 128 CHARLES SUMNER. 5 In March, 1S61, lie entered npon the responsible position of Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. In this posi- tion he has rendered great service to the country by his vigilant at- tention to our interests as affected by our relations with European powers. His influence has always been exerted to promote pence and mutual understanding. On the 9th of January, 1862, he de- livered an elaborate speech, arguing that the seizure of Mason and Slidell, on board the steamer Trent, was unjustifiable on the princi pies of international law which had always been maintained by the United States. In March, 18G3, Mr. Sumner entered upon his third Senatorial term. He advocated with zeal and eloquence all the great Congressional measures which promoted the successful prosecution of the Mar. The Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery, which was the great act of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, was a triumph of the prin- ciples long advocated by Mr. Sumner, and forms a crowning glory of his statesmanship. On the first day of the Thirty-Ninth Congress Mr. Sumner intro- duced a bill bioking to the reconstruction of the rebel States under a Republican form of government, and a measure to confer suffrage on the colored people of the District of Columbia. He took the high ground that it was the right and duty of Con- gress, under the Constitution, to guarantee impartial suffrage in all the States. He was bold and eloquent in advocating the securing, by Congressional enactment, of equal civil and political rights to all men without regard to color. He earnestly opposed the reconstruction policy of President John- son, and shuddered to see his disposition to leave the freedmen in the hands of their late masters. On the 20th of December, 1865, Mr. Sumner denounced the President's " attempt to white wash the unhappy condition of the rebel States, and throw the mantle of official oblivion over sickening and heart-rending outrages where hu- man rights are sacrificed, and rebel barbarism receives a new letter of license." 129 G CHARLES STJMNER. From first to last Mr. Sumner was one of the boldest of the op- ponents of President Johnson's usurpations. In the great trial of Impeachment he voted to convict the President, and sustained his verdict in the case by a learned and able opinion concerning t lie law and the evidence. With the beginning of the Forty-first Congress, March 4, 1869, Mr. Sumner commenced his fourth Senatorial term of six years. Ileopposed the bill for repealing the Civil Tenure Act. In discus- sions relating to strengthening the Public Credit, the Currency Bill, the Franking Privilege, and Reconstruction, he participated, with characteristic ability and zeal. On the 13th of April, 1SG1), during the consideration of the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty, in Executive Session of the Senate, Mr. Sumner delivered a remarkable speech against the ratification of the treaty. So important was the argument regarded that the Senate removed the injunction of secresy, and it was published under the title of " < >ur Claims on England." The following sen- tence from the concluding paragraph contains a reason for much of the feeling in this country against England: " At a great epoch of history, not less momentous than that of the French Revolution or that of the Reformation, when civilization was fighting a last battle with slavery, England gave her name, her influence, her material resources to the wicked cause, and flung a sword into the scale with slavery." A treaty tor the annexation of Dominica to the United States having been rejected by the Senate, largely through the opposition of Mr. Sumner, a joint resolution passed the House and the Senate authorizing the President to appoint Commissioners to visit the island for the purpose of ascertaining all prominent facts relating to the country and its people. Pending this resolution in the Senate a spirited debate ensued, in which Mr. Summer sternly opposed the pending resolution. He was excessively severe and offensive, mak- ing a personal issue with the President — entitling his speech against annexation " Nabotlfs Vineyard." In the reorganization of committees at the beginning of the 130 CHARLES SUMNEE. 7 Forty-second Congress, Mr. Sumner was removed from the Chair- manship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and proposed as Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. He de- clined to serve on that committee, stating that after twenty years in this service lie had a right to expect that his associates would not impose upon him a new class of duties when he expressly said they were not welcome to him. A leading editorial in the New York Tribune of March 13, 1871, in commenting on Mr. Sumner's unwillingness to serve in the post assigned him, said : " His hou- orable eminence has been nowise achieved through the Chairman- ship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, but wholly through that eager, uncompromising, unsleeping devotion to the equal rights of men, which the position just assigned him by the Senate must afford him the largest opportunities to subserve. If he had asked the Senate to relieve him from further service in the Committee on Foreign Relations, and assign him to just such duties as have now been imposed on him, the wisdom and titness of his choice would have been generally admitted." An effort was made by Mr. "Wil- son and some others to have Mr. Snmner reinstated at the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the opening of the next session, in December, 1871, but it was unsuccessful, and Mr. Sumner per- formed no committee service during the Forty second Congress. On the Oth of March, 1871, Mr. Sumner introduced his Supple- mentary Civil Rights Bill, providing that hotels, railroads, schools, etc., should exercise no discrimination in the matter of privilege and accommodation against colored people. This bill he advo- cated with great persistency, designating it as '' the capstone of that equality before the law to which all are entitled, without dis- tinction of color." On the 12th of February, 1S72, Mr. Sumner introduced a reso- lution to provide for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the sale of ordnance stores to French agents during the war between France and Germany. He advocated this proposition in several speeches before the Senate, the most remarkable of which was delivered February 28, 1872, and published under the title of 131 8 CHARLES SUMNER. "Reform and Purify in Government — Neutral Duties — Sale of Arms to Belligerent France." The resolution was adopted, and the committee appointed. Mr. Sumner was summoned before it as a witness, but filed a written protest "against the formation and constitution of the committee, as contrary to any reasonable re- quirements of parliamentary law." On a subsequent day, having been subpoenaed, lie gave his testimony under protest. On the 31st of May, 1872, just before the assembling of the Re- publican National Convention, Mr. Sumner delivered a powerful philippic, which was published under the title, "Republicanism vs. Grantism — The Presidency a Trust, not a Plaything and Per- quisite — Personal Government and Presidential Pretensions — Re- form and Purity in Government." Mr. Sumner took sides in the Presidential contest whicli followed with the combined Democrats and Liberals. He wrote several public letters in support of Greeley and Brown, although his absence in Europe during most of the campaign prevented him from taking an active part in politics. At the opening of the third session of the Forty-second Congress Mr. Sumner offered a resolution that the names of battles be re- moved from the flags of the army. For this he was severely criti- cised, and resolutions of censure were passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts. Among all his official and public labors Mr. Sumner has been constant in his devotion t,, literature. lie published in 1850 two volumes of •• ( Nations ;" in 1 "•>.">:'>, a work on " "White Slavery in the Barbary States; and in 1856, a volume of li Speeches and Ad- dresses." Some of bis recent speeches in the Senate are as exhaust- ive in their treatment of their subjects, as elaborate in finish, as abundant in facts, and as copious in details, as ordinary volumes. Such, for example, is the great speech in the Senate on " The Ces- sion of Russian America to the United States,'' in whicli the geog- raphy, history, ami resources of our newly acquired territory are set forth more accurately and fully than in any accessible treatise on the subject. Mr. Sumner's complete works have been pub- lished in superb style by a Boston house. 132 CHAKLES SUMNER. 9 Mr. Sumner's career was closed by his death on the 11th of March, 1874. During the winter of 1873-74, the first session of the Forty-third Congress, he was laborious and faithful, as he had always been, in the discharge of Iris public duties. He Mas espe- cially zealous to secure the passage of his Civil Rights bill, the great work which was to crown his labors, the last act necessary to fill the measure of the colored man's rights. It was the first bill offered upon the assembling of the Forty-third Congress, and at his death stood at the head of the Senate Calendar of bills. It was not permitted him to see its formal enactment, but he knew that this keystone of the grand arch was already fitted to its place. Mr. Sumner was in attendance upon the Senate on the day pre- vious to his death, and then had the satisfaction of hearing the announcement made by his colleague that the Legislature of Mas- sachusetts had repealed and expunged the resolutions condemnatory of his proposition to remove the names of battles from the flags of the army. Mr. Sumner died of angina pectoris, produced by the brutal as- sault made on him by Preston S. Brooks, in the old Senate Chamber, nearly eighteen years before. During his last hours he repeatedly uttered the exclamation, "Oh, so tired! Oh, so weary!" To a colleague of the House of Representatives, who stood at his bedside, he said, " See to the Civil Rights bill ; don't let it fail ! " Mr. Sumner's death, so sudden and unexpected, created a profound sensation throughout the United States. The colored people, whom he had regarded as peculiarly his own constituency, everywhere manifested profound and unaffected sorrow over the sad event. The funeral was the occasion of extraordinary manifestations of respect and sorrow from Washington, where the obsequies began, to Boston, where the sad ceremonies ended by the burial on Mount Auburn. Mr. Sumner should undoubtedly be ranked among the greatest Senators of the United States. Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, who died about the time of his entry into the Senate, are often described as men unequalled in our legislative history, but Sumner surpassed them in learning, equalled them in eloquence, and was more fortunate in his success. They entered public life surrounded by hosts of personal and political friends, but failed in accomplishing their dar- ling schemes, and died disappointed men. When Sumner entered 133 10 CHAELES SUMNER. the Senate there were but two men in that body whom he could class as his party ; all the rest were his enemies, who, in their arro- gance, long declined to allow him to serve on any committee, as being "outside of any healthy political organization." He died when little past the prime of life, yet he lived to see the party whose for- lorn hope he had led, dominate the nation and number a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Congress. The young statesman, who was denounced as an abolitionist, and derided as a fanatic, lived to see the slaves whom he had championed all freed and enfranchised. Mr. Sumner's warmest friends do not maintain that he was devoid of faults. Having achieved so much against such obstacles, he was egotistical. While forgiving to his enemies, he was intolerant of opposition from his friends. He has been charged with self-confi- dence, hut this in him was not a fault, for with modest diffidence in his own powers he could have accomplished nothing where all po- litical parties and all public men were arrayed against him. Mr. Sumner possessed high physical as well as moral courage. He possessed that true politeness, founded on benevolence, which prompted him in mixed society to avoid all subjects which might prove disagreeable to any present. In conversation he avoided all that was low and vulgar; intellect, refinement, and taste marked all that he said. I n person he was so well proportioned that his remark- able height, six feet four inches, attracted no special attention. He was a man of remarkable industry j his great orations were not the inspiration of genius, but the products of patient labor. There was nothing selfish nor sordid in his labors, and no man ever accused him of profiting by his pursuit of politics. He received the only reward he sought, — the undying gratitude of an emancipated race and the general approval of mankind. He was great in intellect, profound in learning, sincere in his convictions, true in his friend- ships, amiable in his intercourse, and wholly unassailable by corrup- tion. 134 £>. SZ. ^rvl ZACHAEIAH CHANDLER. JQf ACHARIA1I CHANDLER is a native of Bedford, N. II., feggSJ and was born Dee. 10, 1813. He received an academical education in addition to the usual school training given to .New England boys. As is common with such boys, he worked upon the farm until six- teen or seventeen years old. In the course of his youth he taught school two or three winters; and in 1833, when twenty-two years of age, he emigrated to Michigan, and engaged in mercantile business in Detroit. The country was then new, and Detroit was a town of but about 4,000 inhabitants. Mr. Chandler is one of those fortunate men of the "West who have grown up with the country, lie commenced, at first, a small retail dry -goods store, but was soon enabled by a prosperous trade to en- large his business to a wholesale trade, and extended, in courseof time, his operations to all parts of the surrounding country, so that there were few of all the retail dealers in Northern and Western Michigan, Northern Ohio and Indiana, and in Western Canada, who wore not numbered among his customers. Mr. Chandler was a Whig in politics, but seems never to have sought for political honor, choosing, rather, to set the example of ac- cepting nlKce as an incident of the success of his party, than to strive fi ir it as a primary object. His first official position was that of Mayor of Detroit, to which office he was elected in 1851. Here he served acceptably, and the following year was nominated for Governor of the State. His strong anti-slavery ci invictions, however, were brought into the canvass, ami he preferred to be what he deemed right, than 135 2 ZACIIAUIAII CHANDLER. to lie Governor. In denouncing the institution of slavery as the great curse of the nation, he lost the election. The progress of anti-slavery sentiment in Michigan was such that in 1856 he was elected to the Senate of the United States for six years, and took his seat on the 4th of March of that year. During the important period of his first term in the United States Senate, Mr. Chandler was identified with all the leading measures of ( ongress for a general system of internal improvements — forprevent- ing a further increase of slave territory, and for the overthrow of the powerful domination of the slave power, which had usurped the con- trol of the nation, lie was one of the few Northern men in the Sen- ate at that time who foresaw the tendency of events, and that the country was drifting onward to a terrible war. Mr. ( 'handler opposed all the so called compromise measures of the South, as the virtual surrender of the liberties of the people. In all the Senatorial contests of that period, he stands on record as the un- flinching defender of liberty, and the fearless advocate of the doc- trines of the I leclaration of Independence. These great doctrines ho maintained by speech and vote in the Senate and before the people ; and if an appeal to arms should be accessary, he welcomed the ar- bitration of war. "The country," writes one of Mr. Chandler's admirers, " docs not now appreciate how much it owes to his Roman firmness. The people have become too ranch accustomed to regard him as one of the great fortresses of their liberties, which no artillery could breach, and whose parapet no storming column could ever reach, that they have never given themselves a thought as to the disastrous consequences which might have followed on many occasions had he spoken or voted otherwise than he did. When did he ever pander to position or com- plain of being overslaughed by his party? Tet no man ever did braver work for a party, and got less consideration than he." As the war came on, and seemed for a time to be prosequted with indifferent success, particularly in the East, Mr. Chandler, with a mul- titude of other good men, chafed under what he considered the dila- 136 ZACIIAlilAH CHANDLER. 3 tory and unskillful management of army operations. He was prompt to discern and denounce the want of generalship in McClellan. His speech on this subject, made in the Senate, July 7, 1SC2 — soon after the defeat of the army of the Potomac — was bold and incisive. " The country," he exclaimed, " is in peril ; and from whom — by wh< m\>. And who is responsible ? As I have said, there are two men to-day who are responsible for the present position of the army of the Poto- mac. The one is the President of the United States, Abraham Lin- coln, whom I believe to be a patriot — whom I believe to be honest, and honestly earnest to crush out and put down this rebellion ; the other is George U. McClellan, General of the Army of the Potomac, of whom I wiU not express a belief. * * Either denounce Abra- ham Lincoln, President of the United States, whom I believe to be a pure and honest man, or George B. McClellan, who has defeated your army, lie took it to Fortress Monroe, used it guarding rebel prop- erty, sacrificed the half of it in the swamps and marshes before Yorktown and the Chickahominy, and finally brought up the right wing with only thirty thousand men, and held it there till it whipped the overwhelming forces of the enemy, repulsed them three times, and then it was ordered to retreat, and after that, the enemy fought like demons, as you and I knew they would, a retreating, defeated army. Tell rne where were the left and center of our army? Tell me, where were the forces in front of our left and center ? Sir, twenty thousand men from the left and the center to reinforce Porter on the morning after his savage and awful fight, would have sent the enemy in disgrace and disaster into Richmond." Mr. Chandler, as we have seen, had no patience with any half- heartedness, or dilatory efforts in the prosecution of the war against the rebellion. He was for striking decided and heavy blows in order to crush the power of the enemy, and it was under the influence of such sentiments that he, in his place in the Senate, proposed a spe- cial " Committee on the Conduct of the War." This Committee was at once ordered. Mr. Chandler declined the chairmanship of the Committee, but was one of its most energetic members ; and his zeal- 137 4 ZACIIARIAH CHANDLER. cms and faithful efforts, in connection with his associates, soon re- sulted in the removal ofM'Clellan from his command. Equally active was he throughout the war in promoting its efficacy, looking after the interests of the soldiers, and encouraging all measures tending to a successful issue of the great struggle. Mr. Chandler was re-elected in 1869 for a third term, which ex- pired in 1875. His later speeches, like those delivered at an earlier period in his senatorial career, evince the ardor of his tem- perament and the strength of his convictions. One of his most noteworthy efforts was a masterly speech on the subject of Ameri- can Commerce, delivered May 28, 1^7<', which commanded the close attention of the entire Senate. A multitude of deeply inter- esting facts were presented by the speaker, and such as were calcu- lated tn excite serious consideration in the minds of American state-men. Among them was the following personal reminiscence, which indicates the hearing of the Speech: " Twenty-seven \ears ai;o 1 spent a winter abroad, and at that time I saw more ships bearing the American than the flag of any other nation in the dif- ferent ports which I visited. During the past summer, in a six months' journey or more. I do not remember having seen but one single American flag in European waters." Mr. Chandler has been very successful in business, having amassed a fortune equaled by that of very few men in public life. At the same time he has been remarkably successful in politics, having seen longer continuous service in the Senate than any of his con- temporaries, save Mr. Sumner, lie is unswervingly faithful to his party obligations and to his friends, lie never abandons a man whom he has befriended so long as the man is true to him. Energy and perseverance are marked traits in his character. That he has reached his present high position is chiefly due to a will which de- viates before no obstacles, when once he has settled upon a policy to be pursued or a result to be attained. On the resignation of Mr. Delano as Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Chandler was appointed to till the vacancy, and in October, 1875, entered upon the duties of the office. 138 /fYM^ HENRY B.AKTHOIT. V" W5 {M^M EXRY B - ANTHONY was bom in Coventry, Rhode , Sly IS Island, April 1,1815. His ancestors were Quakers, who "Uf fi found in Rhode Island the "soul-liberty" which was de- nied their sect in other colonies. With studious habits and aptness to learn, he entered Brown University at an early age, and gradu- ated in 1S33. He adopted the profession of journalism, and in 1S3S he assumed editorial charge of the •' Providence Journal," which lie retained for many years, lie made a successful news- paper, which exercised a great influence in molding the politics and public opinion of Rhode Island, and still retains a command- ing position. Mr. Anthony first appeared conspicuously in politics in 1849, when he was elected Governor of Rhode Island. He served with honor, and was re-elected, but declined to be a candidate for a third term. Retiring from official life, he devoted himself, with industry, energy, and enlarging influence, to his profession. He was elected a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, as a Republican, to succeed Philip Allen, Democrat, and took his scat in 1859 for the term ending in 1805. He was subsequently re- elected for the term ending in 1S71, and was then re-elected for a third term, upon which he has recently entered. Such repeated indorsement was well deserved. No member of the Senate has been more faithful to his duties, or more devoted to the interests of his State. His watchful care for the honor of Rhode Island was conspicu- ously manifested soon after his entrance into the Senate. Jeffer- son Davis, of Mississippi, had said in a speech: "Persecution reigned throughout the colonies, except, perhaps, (and it is a proud 139 2 HENRY B. ANTHONY. example too,) that of the Catholic colony of Maryland ; but the rule was persecution." In reply to this statement Mr. Anthony said " that the colony from which sprung the State of Rhode Island was the only spot on the face of the whole civilized world where a man might avow his belief in any religion or in no religion, and sutler no punishment, incur no disability, be called to no question there fur." lie further asserted that " religious freedom, or ' soul- liberty, 5 was discovered by Roger Williams, just as much as Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood or Kepler discovered the orbits of the planets." Twelve years later Mr. Anthony elabora- ted this idea in an admirable speech, which he delivered in the Senate on the occasion of the presentation of the statue of Roger Williams by the State of Rhode Island to the Congress of the United States. The speeches of Mr. Anthony in the Senate are marked by strong common sense, logical precision of statement, combined with an attractive beauty of style. They exhibit a familiarity with affairs resulting from long experience in public life, and a practical char- acter derived from thorough training in the art of journalism. They seldom have the formality and pretension of " orations," but are the brief and forcible' discussions of practical subjects when immediate re-nit- in legislation were to be reached. They touch upon all the great subjects which have attracted attention during twelve years, the most important in American history. He has served for many years as Chairman of the Committee on Printing, and as a member of the Committees on Claims, Naval Affaire, Mines and Mining, and Post-Offices. In March, 1869, he ■was elected President of the Senate pro tempore, a position which he held for four years. Frequently called upon to occupy the chair, he presided with much ability, displaying rare familiarity with parliamentary law. Mr. Anthony is recognized as among the ablest and most progressive of Republican Senators. He has much influence, consequent upon his ability and his long service. There are now in the Senate only two others who have been so long members of that body. 140 v ' ^JCj-ji^ ^ LOT M. MORRILL. '* N *~'OT M. MORRILL was bom in Belgrade, Maine, May 3, 'upaSi 1813. In 1834, at the age of twenty-one, lie entered Waterville College, but soon after left the institution to commence the study of law. Five years later he was admitted to the har, and entered upon a lucrative practice. Taking an active part in politics, he soon rose to prominence as a leader in the Democratic party. In 1S54 he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature, and in 1S50 he was elected to the State Senate, of which he was chosen President. lie had never been an apologist for slavery, though acting with the Democrats, and when they attempted to force slavery by fraud and violence upon the people of Kansas, he denounced the scheme, and severed his connection with the party. In 1857 he was nom- inated by the Republican party for Governor of the State, and was elected by a majority of fifteen thousand votes. He administered the State Government to the satisfaction of the people, and was by them twice re-elected. In 1S61 he was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Han- nibal Hamlin, elected Vice-President. He took his seat on the 17th of January, and on the 2d of March ensuing he made his first speech in the Senate. The occasion was an important one, it being the great debate on the resolution pro- posing an amendment fixing slavery irrevocably in the States where it existed. Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Douglas, and others, had advocated the proposition with great elocpience. Mr. Morrill en- tered the discussion against them, maintaining that the adoption of the proposition " would be an entire subversion of the theory of the Government, and would incorporate into the Constitution a 141 2 LOT M. MORRILL. principle entirely foreign." This speech gave him recognition among the leading minds in the Senate, a position which he has ever since maintained. In the first session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, convened by proclamation of the President, July 4, 1861, Mr. Morrill was one of the stanchcst supporters of the Government in its efforts to put down armed rebellion. Speaking in reference to a resolution to render legal and valid the doings of the President, he maintained that it was unnecessary, since " every measure of the President calculated to put down the rebellion, having reference to a state of insurrection in the country, is legal and is constitutional, and has not transcended the powers which are necessarily logically (Indu- cible from the powers conferred upon him by the Constitution." This extract gives the clue to Mr. Morrill's course during the entire war. The Union had no more honest and fearless defender in the halls of legislation. After the close of the war he -was among the foremost Republicans in laboring to secure a reconstruc- tion on the basis of freedom and equal rights which would render it permanent, lie firmly opposed the policy of President John- son, and voted for his conviction in the Impeachment Trial. Mr. Morrill had been re-elected in 1863 for the term ending March 4. l^'l'.'. In the election for the ensuing term there was a warm contesl between the friends of Mi'. Morrill and Mr. Hamlin. In the Republican caucus the latter was nominated by a majority of one vote, and was accordingly elected by the Legislature. But Mr. Morrill remained out of the Senate only a short time. On the death of William P. Fessenden he was appointed by the Governor of Maine, and was subsequently elected by the Legislature, to till the vacancy, taking his seat December 6, 1869. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations and Member of the Committee on the Library. The Senate contains no member more Senatorial in appearance, of more unquestioned honesty, or more marked ability. Strong in his convictions of truth and duty, fearless in his utterances, ready and impressive in speech, he is one of our best and ablest statesmen. 142 z^Jrtr&z^v^ TIMOTHY O. HOWE. gpllPIMOTHY O. HOWE is a native of LiveniK.ro, Maine, and v rB£ was born on the 24th of February, 1816. Many generations • $¥? since, bis ancestors settled in Massachusetts. His father was a physician, living in a strictly rural district, having a wide prac- tice among the farming community of fifty years ago. After receiving a good common school education, Mr. Howe studied law, first with Hon. Samuel P. Benson, of Wmthrop, and subsequently with Judge Robinson, of Ellsworth. In 1839 he was admitted to the bar, and immediately commenced the practice of his profession, at Readfield. In 1841 he married Miss L. A. Haynes. In politics, he was an ardent Whig, and a devoted admirer of Henry Clay. Taking a warm interest in political questions, he was elected by the Whigs of his district as a member of the popular branch of the Maine Legislature of 1845. The Hon. William Pitt Fessenden was a member of the same body. In the Legislature he took an active part in discussions, and was recognized as a young man of unusual promise. In the latter part of that year be removed from Maine to the Territory of Wisconsin, and opened a law office at Green Bay, which, at that time, was a small village, separated from the more thickly settled parts of the Territory by a wide belt of forest, extending for forty or fifty miles to the southward. He soon became known, how- ever, to the people of the Territory, and upon its admission into the Union, in 18-18, was nominated by the Whigs for Congress. The district being largely Democratic, he was defeated. In 1850 be was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. At that time the Circuit Judges of the State were also Judges of the Supreme Court, and Judge Howe was, during a part of his term, Chief Justice of the State. In 143 2 TIMOTHY 0. HOWE. 1854, immediately after the passage of the Nebraska bill, the Whigs, Free Soilers, and Anti-Nebraska Democrats, of Wisconsin, met in mass convention at Madison, the capital, and organized the Republi- can party in that State. This occurred two years before the national organization of the party. Judge Howe was then on the bench, and took no active part in politics, but published a letter expressing his hearty approbation of the movement. The following year he resigned his office as Judge and resumed the practice of the law. He bore a leading part in the State canvass of that and the following year, as a speaker, in the advocacy of Republican principles ami the election of tin 1 nominee-, of the Republican party. The year 1856 was signalized by one of the most remarkable judi- cial trials in the history of jurisprudence. At the general election in November, L855, lion. Wm, A. Barstow, then the Governor of Wisconsin, was the Democratic candidate lor re-election. The can- didate of the Republican or opposition party was Hon. Coles Bash- ford, recently a dele-ate from the Territory of Arizona in the For- tieth Congress. The canvassers determined that Mr. Barstow had received the greatest number erf votes. In pursuance of that determination a certificate of election was issued to him, signed by the Secretary of State, and authenticated by the great seal of the State, and on the opening of the next political year Mr. Barstow took the oath of office, and was re-inaugurated witli imposing ceremonies and much display of military force. Mr. Bashford averred that, in fact, the greater number of legal votes were cast for him, and not for Mr. Barstow. lie contended that the canvass was fraudulent and false, and he resolved to try the validity of Mr. Barstow's title by a suit at law. Accordingly he also took the oath of office. On the L5th of January the Attorney-General tiled, in the Supreme Court of the State, an information in the nature of quo warranto against the acting Governor. That is snpposed to be the only instance in the history of Government, when the people of a State have appealed to the jud'cial authority to dispossess an incumbent of the executive office. 144 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 3 Some of the best professional talent in the State was employed in the conduct of the cause, and in its progress party feeling was stirred to its lowest depths. An attempt was made to deterthe prosecution by threats that the litigation would be protracted so that no judgment could be obtained during the Gubernatorial terra. It was broadly hinted on the argument, and freely asserted by a portion of the press, that, if the court should give judgment for the relator, the respondent, hav- ing already the command of the militia of the State, would not submit to the judgment. For the relator appeared, besides Mr. Howe, Mr. E. (}. Ryan, Mr. J. II. Knowlton, and the late Postmaster-General, Ibni. A. W. Randall, while the defence was managed by Mr. J. E. Arnold, Judge ( >rton and the present Senator Carpenter. It was expected that Mr. Ryan would lead the prosecution. He was a Democrat in politics, and so was politically opposed to his client; and, moreover, was a lawyer unsurpassed for ripe learning and forensic ability by any member of the profession in the United States. But an unfortunate disagreement between him and the court, in the commencement of the contest, induced his temporary withdraw- al from the case, and thereupon the lead was assigned to Mr. Howe. A sketch of the progress of the case would hardly fail to interest both the professional and the general reader; but space forbids. The prosecution, however, was completely triumphant. In spite of threat- ened delays, the court unanimously gave judgment for the relator, on the 24th day of March, 1856 — but little more than two months from the commencement of proceedings — and in spite of threatened resi>tance, the relator was, on the next day, quietly and peaceably installed in the office. The reputation won by Judge Howe, in the management of that great State trial, gave to his name marked prominence as a candidate for the U. S. Senate in the place of Hon. Henry Dodge, whose term expired on the 4th of March, 1857. When the Legislature assembled, his election was regarded as al most certain. But no sooner had the canvass for Senator fairly opened, than a novel question was raised in the party, for an explana- tion of which it is necessary to refer to events that had transpired 145 4 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. some years before. In 1S54 a fugitive slave from Missouri was arrested at Racine, Wisconsin, taken to Milwaukee, and there thrown into jail for security, while the master was engaged in com- plying with the legal forms necessary to enable him to reclaim his human property. The fugitive had been treated with great bar barity at the time of his arrest, and popular feeling, inflamed by this circumstance, and by detestation of Shivery and the Fugitive Slave act, became so turbulent that it resulted in the organization of a mob which broke open the jail, released the fugitive, and sent him to Can- ada. Some of the prominent actors in this proceeding were arrested for violating the provisions of the Fugitive Slave law, but were re- leased upon a writ of habeas corpus, partly upon technical grounds, and partly on the ground that the Fugitive Slave act was unconsti- tutional. Subsequently the case came before the Supreme Court of the State, ami one of the Judges delivered a very elaborate opinion, pronouncing the Fugitive act unconstitutional, and affirming the most ultra doctrines of the State Rights school of Southern politi- cians, hut applying them to the detriment instead of the support of slavery. The decision became at once immensely popular with a great number of radical anti-slavery men in the State, and was thought by them to he an admirable example of capturing the guns of an enemy and turning them against him. This da>s of Republi- cans regarded what they termed an anti-State Rights Republican as a little worse than an out and out pro-slavery Democrat, Accord- ingly, when the senatorial election approached, in the winter of 1857, the friends of other candidates raised the cry of State Rights, and averred that Judge Howe was unsound on that issue. In a caucus of the Republican members of the Legislature a resolution was adopted in substance identical with the first of the celebrated Ken- tucky resolutions of 1798, declaring the right of each State to be the final judge of the constitutionality of laws of the United States, and in ease of infractions upon what it held to be its rights, that it should determine for itself as to the mode and measure of redress. Each of the candidates was requested to declare whether or not lie ap- proved of the doctrines of the resolution. Judge Howe alone re- 146 TIMOTHY O . HO W E . 5 fused to endorse them. lie preferred to remain a private citizen rather than secure a seat in the Senate by endorsing doctrines which lie regarded as unsupported by the Constitution, and in practice fatal to the perpetuity of the Union. The result was that lie was de- feated, and the Hon. James R. Doolittle elected. But his defeat on such grounds attached to him, by the strongest ties of per- sonal esteem and devotion, a large body of influential mem- bers of the party who were in harmony with him on the question of State Sovereignty. They agreed with their opponents that the Fugitive Slave law was an infamous statute, and they thought it unconstitutional; hut they denied that a State court possessed the right of passing final judgment upon a law of the United States. Upon this question a dangerous division continued among the Republicans of Wisconsin, until the breaking out of the rebellion. Judge Howe was the leader of the Republicans who repudiated the State Sovereignty theory. At every Republican State Convention the question arose, and the opponents of State Sovereignty, only by 'lint of the most strenu- ous efforts, succeeded in fighting off an endorsement of the principle in the Republican platform of the State. On two occasions, once be- fore a Republican State Convention, and again in the Assembly Cham- ber during the session of the Legislature, Judge Howe met in debate the ablest and most brilliant champions of the State Sovereignty the- ory, the Hon. Carl Schurz, then a resident of Wisconsin, and Judge A. D. Smith, the author of the opinion pronouncing the Fugitive law null and void, and achieved a signal victory over them in the argu- ment of the question. The next senatorial election in Wisconsin occur- red in the winter of 1S61. In the pretended secession of the Southern States, justified upon the ground of the sovereignty of each State, the people had a practical illustration of the ultimate consequence of the doctrine. It was the vindication of Judge Howe. The quality of his Republicanism was no longer questioned, and a Republican Leg- islature elected him to the Senate. From that time to the present he has borne himself in all the new and perplexing crises, that have occurred in our political history in such a manner as to secure the approbation of his constituents. 147 6 TIMOTHY 0. II OWE. At the expiration of his term in 1807 Mr. Howe was re-elected, and in 1873 lie entered upon his third term in the Senate. In his Senatorial career he had displayed so much ability, so much con- sistency and steadfast adherence to principle, that the people of Wisconsin, on the occasion of both these re-elections, demanded his return with unexampled unanimity. No legislative caucus was held to nominate a candidate for Senator, and Mr. Howe re- ceived the unanimous vote of the Republican members when the elections occurred. Mi - . Howe has done valuable service on many important com- mittees. During the war he was a member of the Finance Com- mittee. In the Fortieth Congress he was made Chairman of the Committee on Claims, one of the most laborious committees of the Senate. More recently lie became Chairman of the Committee on the Library, and a member of the Committees on Foreign Relations and Railroads. lie is one of the most fluent, graceful, and persuasive speakers in the Senate, lie i- ;m ever-readj and ever-faithful defender of Republican principles. An illustration is found in the following fine climax from a speech in reply to Mr. Thurinan, who hail pro- nounced the Republican party a failure: " I am one of those who >till cherish the conviction that Repub- lican administration has not been a failure. Nay, more, sir, I am even rash enough to stand here and assert that, in my judgment, Republicanism has been a success. I think more than that — it lias been a triumph. I venture to go further than that, and to say to any student of political history that he cannot find the story of a political party which, in a single decade, has accomplished so much for human rights and for human progress as the Republican party has during that less than a decade in which it has held the reins of Government." In similar tone was his reply to Mr. Bayard's charge of injustice practiced against the South by Congress, in which Mr. Howe main- tained " that this administration of the Government is the first one 148 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 7 winch ever undertook to carry justice to the Southern section of the United States." Among the numerous propositions that have been made for the improvement of the Civil Service, none is more comprehensive and far reaching in its prospective results than one offered by Mr. Howe. He proposed in the Senate a plan for the organization of a National University, which would prove a powerful agency in the elevation of the Civil Service, as well as for the promotion of the educational interests of the country. His speech on this occa- sion displayed his generous conceptions of what a university should he. fie said : "It should startle the nation to reflect that the destiny of this great Republic, the welfare of these millions, is committed to the control of free thought. Whether that thought be sensible or senseless, virtuous or vicious, it still sways the national course. We do certainly know that if unwise and wicked influences pre- vail the Republic must surely be wrecked. Yet knowing tin's, the fact remains that the teacher and the preacher, those who are espe- cially charged with the care of the minds and souls of men, are the men who live the nearest to beggary of all who labor among us. When we shall venture to lay the foundation of a National Uni- versity let us endow it not meanly but richly, furnish it with the instructions of the best intellects of the age, and pay thorn as be- comes a nation whose temporal salvation depends upon intellect." He would appropriate to the support of the University a million dollars a year, a sum which seems very large, yet would lie but at the rate of two and a half cents per capita of our population, or but a cent on every three hundred dollars of our national wealth. An additional tax on whisky of two cents on a gallon would yield the whole amount. " And," the Senator humorously remarked, "a man who drinks whisky never complains of any thing that enters into its cost." He proposed that the University be made directly beneficial to that important corps of subordinate officials who are employed in Washington. His plan was to fill the three thousand clerkships in the Departments with graduates from our 149 8 TIMOTHY 0. HOWE. colleges, who would thus be able to complete their studies and sup- port themselves by service to the Government. With such a num- ber of scholarships offered, there would be afforded to ambitious and worthy young men of moderate means, all over the country, an opportunity to obtain a liberal education, while in them the Government would obtain a class of clerks far superior to those now employed. A proposition so novel and judicious, evinces a statesmanship which reaches beyond partisan exigencies, looking to results of enduring benefit to the country. As a speaker Mr. Howe is deliberate and impressive, with a ready command of language, and all the resources of extemporary oratory. He appears, indeed, to the best advantage in the sudden exigencies of debate, the excitement of the occasion stimulating his faculties and rousing them to the fullest action. In private life he is social and genial, attaching men to him by his cordiality and frankness, and winning their respect by his purity of character and genuine worth. 15a J01OT SHEEMAX. 'S W'N 103-1, three Shermans — two brothers and a cousin — emigra- \Mx ted from Essex, England, to the infant colony of Massachu- X cestry were Scotch, as tbe name indicates, having de- scended from two emigrations — one to the North of Ireland, and thence to the United States, constituting the well-known Scotch- Irish population of this country. The family of his mother was of German descent. Left an orphan at ten years of age, by the death of his father, young Ramsey was assisted by an uncle in his efforts to obtain an education and engage in business. He was a clerk in the store of this uncle at Harrisburg. About the year 1828, he was for a short time employed in the office of the register of deeds of Dauphin County. He after- ward qualified himself to pursue the business of house-carpenter, but at length, impelled by a love of reading, he determined to study law. With this view, he became a student of Lafayette College, at Ea«ton, Pennsylvania, whence he passed, in 1837, to the office of Hamilton Alrich, Esq., of Harrisburg. He also prosecuted his studies at Car- lisle in the law-school of Hon. John Reed, and was admitted to prac- tice in 1839. During this period he often engaged in teaching. The following year was the celebrated Harrison campaign ; and Mr Ramsey was so prominent in the organization of "Whig clubs, that he was chosen Secretary of the Electoral College, which cast the votes of Pennsylvania for Harrison and Tyler. In 1841, he was elected chief clerk of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. In 1843, he was nominated for Congress, and elected representative for the district composed of the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon, and Schuylkill, and served in the Twenty-eighth Congress, (1813-4.) Having been reelected in 1S14, was a member of the Twenty-ninth Congress, which terminated March 4th, 1847. During these four 155 2 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. years Mr. Ramsey developed those qualities of sagacity and firmness which have been conspicuous during his whole career; and no mem- ber of the Pennsylvania delegation commanded more respect. His reputation extended to all parts of the State ; and his political friends intrusted to his management, as Chairman of the Whig State Com- mittee, the gubernatorial campaign of 1848, which also involved the election of General Taylor to the Presidency. Immediately after the inauguration of President Taylor, it devolved upon him to select the officers of the new Territory of Minnesota. The position of governor was tendered to Mi-. Ramsey, whose choice of a future residence on the Upper Mississippi was confirmed by a visit some years previously to Texas and othrr south-western territories. The date of his commission as governor was April 2, 1849; and in May he arrived, with his family, at St. Paul, where he has since resided. Mrs. Ramsey — nee Anna E irle Jenks— is also a native of Pennsyl- vania, the daughter of lion. Michael II. Jenks, of Bjrks county, who served in Congress as a colleague of Mr. Ramsey. When Governor It imsey assumed his duties as the executive offi- cer of the Territory of Minnesota, he ascertained, by a census, that the population, other than Indians, was only 4,680, mostly in the vi- cinity of Fort Snelling, and in the settlements of lumberers on the St. Croix River. The Indians, recently increased by a removal to a reservation in the Territory of the Winnebago tribe, numbered about 35,000; and the entire region west of the Mississippi River was in their possession, except the military reservation inclosing Fort Snell- ing. The western limit of the Territory was the Missouri River; and the entire area was fully 166,000 square miles. The territorial government was organized June 1, 1849. On the 11th of June, an executive proclamation established three judicial districts, and provided for the first election of a territorial legislature. This body assembled in the dining hall of the Central Hotel, in St. Paul, on the 3d of September. In the first message of the governor, he strongly advised against a public debt, and invoked the action of 156 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. c Congress to extend the preemption laws to unsurveyed lands, and to limit the sales of the public lands to actual settlers. The National Legislature promptly responded to the recommendation in favor of preemptors; and the evil of non-resident ownership has had less ex- istence under the land administration in Minnesota than in many other Western States. Governor Ramsey almost immediately commenced negotiations with the Indian tribes for tue cession of their possessory rights to the public domain. The treaty of Mendota was first effected, by which the title of the Sioux half-breeds to a valuable parallelogram of ter- ritory near Lake Pepin, conterminous with the lake and extending westward about thirty miles, was commuted, and the district opened to settlement. During the years 1851-2, a negotiation was made with the Dakota nation for the cession of forty million acres west of the Mississippi, and which now constitutes Southern Minnesota. The first treaty of July 18, 1851, was amended by the Senate of the United States, requiring a new assemblage of the bands in 1852. In the autumn of 1851, Governor Ramsey negotiated with the Chippewas of Northern Minuesota for the cession of thirty miles on each side of the Red River of the North. This important treaty was not ratified by the Senate, postponing fully ten years the settlement of that region of Minnesota. After the adjournment of the Chippewa Council at Pembina, Governor Ramsey embarked on the Red River, and visited the Selkirk settlement, seventy miles north of the interna- tional frontier, on latitude 49°. His party was received with much consideration by Governor Christie, the officer of the Hudson Bay Company, then in command at Fort Garry. Few descriptions of this remote and unicpie colony convey a more vivid and correct impression than a narrative of this visit, which was afterward published by Go- vernor Ramsey, and partly repeated in a recent speech on the Win- nipeg insurrection, delivered in the Senate of the United States. In 1853, with a change of parties in the administration of the Fe- deral government, Governor Ramsey was succeeded in the office of territorial governor by Willis A. Gorman. In taking leave of the 157 * ALEXANDER RAMSEY executive office, a prediction was hazarded of the future progress of the new community on the sources of the Mississippi which was then deemed sanguine, but has been more than realized by events. Go- vernor Ramsey's last message assigned ten years for the accomplish- ment of a State organization, which was reached in 1858 ; and twenty years, or 1873, for a population of half a million, which has been fully realized by the census of 1870. His horoscope of railroad connec- tions with Chicago, St. Louis, Lake Superior, and the Red River of the North, for which twenty years were allowed, will be witnessed before 1873. During a period of great party excitement which followed tbe re- tirement of Governor Ramsey, he met some injurious imputations upon his conduct of the negotiations with the Sioux Indians, by a demand for an investigation by a committee of the United States Senate. The result was an emphatic approval of his action — the ver- dict of a body politically hostile. In 1855, Governor Ramsey Berved a term as Mayor of St. Paul. In 1857, ho was the candidate of the Republican Party for governor under the State organization. The election was close, the majority of II. II. Sibley, the Democratic candidate, who was declared chosen, having been exceeded by a vote on the Pembina frontier which was well known to be fraudulent. In 1859, on a second trial, he was elected governor, over G. L. Becker, by a majority of 3,752, in a to- tal vote of 38,918. On again assuming the executive office, Governor Ramsey illustrat- ed the practical qualities for which he has always been distinguished. He found the State deeply discredited ; ami he inaugurated a policy of rigid retrenchment. lie proposed and effected a reduction of salaries and a diminution of the number of members of the Legis- lature. The laws fl >r the imposition and collection of taxes were thoroughly revised; but, while husbanding the revenue, he opposed all sacrifices of the lands donated by the general government. He especially re- sisted the demand for the sale of the school lands at low rates, and 158 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 5 tin 1 distribution of their proceeds among the counties. He advocated, in a message of great force, that a minimum price of $8 per acre should be fixed, with a rate of $1.25 for swamp lands, reserving the proceeds of the latter for charitable institutions. These suggestions, with some modifications, were adopted. The fund accumulated under this legislation, in 1870, is $2,371,199, the proceeds of only 363,000 acres, or about one eighth of the lands appropriated for the encouragement of education. At the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, Governor Ramsey was in Washington; and immediately after the attack upon Fort Sumter, even in advance of President Lincoln's proclamation, he called on the Secretary of War, and tendered 1,000 men from Minnesota. The tender was accepted by Mr. Cameron, and became the initiative of an enrollment of 25,0l>0 men of all arms — the contingent of Minnesota for the national defense. During the active scenes of the first year of the war, Governor Ramsey was reelected governor by a majority of 5,826 in a poll of 26,722 votes. An Indian war, unparalleled for atrocity, broke out in August, 1802, upon the western frontiers of Minnesota. The Sioux bands, ob- serving the great exertions of the whites for the suppression of the rebellion, were prepared to believe that their great father at Washing- ton was powerless to repress hostilities; and an unfortunate delay in the payment of annuities increased the excitement. A fatal affray, which at airy other time would have passed with the punishment of the parties implicated, became the signal of wide-spread massacre. At least five hundred settlers, of all ages, lost their lives. Thousands abandoned their homes; and the panic extended to the Mississippi towns. Governor Ramsey was indefatigable in his exertions to re- store confidence and defend the frontier. Troops were dispatched under H. H. Sibley. The Indians were severely chastised ; a large number were captured, of whom thirty were executed at Mankato; and the Sioux nation was forcibly expelled from the territory of tbe State. During the progress of these events, an extra session of the Legislature became necessary. The message of Governor Ramsey 159 b ALEXANDER RAMSEY. on that occasion is a graphic narrative of this striking passage of bor- der history. In January, 1863, Governor Ramsey was elected Senator of the United States, in place of Henry M. Rice, and was chosen for a second term in i860. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Post-Offices and Post- Roads, Senator Ramsey has devoted himself to the extension and re- form of that important branch of the public service. A series of trea- ties has been consummated with his efficient cooperation, by which the postal rates to England and Germany have been greatly reduced , and, in 1869, Mr. Ramsey visited Paris to urge a similar arrangement. The terms which he then indicated, as the representative of Post- master-General Creswell — although not immediately accepted— have since been proposed by the French government, but were met by a counter-proposition for a still more material reduction of postage. These negotiations are likely to result in a common rate to all parts of Europe not largely in excess of our inland postage. The abolition of the franking privilege has been proposed and supported by Senator Ramsey. A bill to that effect passed the House of Representatives at the session of 18H9-70, and led to an elaborate discussion in the Senate, but failed by a liw votes to become a law. The burden of the argument against all exemptions in the payment of postage mostly devolved on the Chairman of the Post-Office Com- mittee ; and his array of facts against the continuance of the franking privilege attracted the attention of the country. In answer to the allegation that the movement for the abolition of the Franking Privilege was mainly the work of the present Postmaster-General, Mr. Ramsey insisted that this was a great mis- take, and proceeded to illustrate, by numerous and ample refer- ences, that for the past half-century Postmasters-General of the United States have continually pressed the matter upon Congress; and as to the present Postmaster-General, Mr. Ramsey asserted that, receiving letters from all parts of the country asking the abo- lition of the privilege, and asking the Department to indicate how 160 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 7 the matter could be most effectually brought to the attention of Congress, he had given them a brief form, and this was all that had been done by the Department. In the progress of the discussion touching this subject, and responding to Mr. Sumner, who desired the reduction of postage to one cent per half ounce, Mr. Ramsey insisted that the United States rate of postage was extremely low — the least charge for postal service of any nation under the sun. English postage, he remarked, was nominally lower — about two cents of our coin ; but considering the limited extent of country, compared with ours, over which her mails were carried, her postage was really higher than ours. The efforts of Mr. Ramsay were ultimately crowned with success by the passage of an act abolishing the franking privilege, which took effect July 1, 1873. The bill originated in the House of Representatives, and but for the strenuous exertions of the Chair- man of the Post-Oflice Committee of the Senate it would not have passed that body. As a member of the Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads, Mr. Ramsey has contributed materially to the legislation facilitating the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and is understood to advocate efficient encouragement to the enterprise of a Southern Transcontinental road. He has always favored three trunk lines between the Mississippi and the Pacific States as necessary and just. Observing also the beneficent influence of railroads in Minnesota and other States, he has supported the donation in aid of railways of alternate sections of public lands to give value to the domain still held by government, and to relieve the settlers of excessive burdens of transportation. Reference has been made to a visit by Governor Ramsey to the Selkirk Settlement, in 1S51, and to his favorable impressions of that singular and interesting community. As governor and senator, he has never omitted efforts to establish commercial and postal relations between the contiguous districts; and, in anticipation of the with- drawal of the jurisdiction of the Hudson Bay Company, he pre- 161 g ALEXANDER RAMSEY. sented to the Senate, in 1S68, the outlines of a treaty between the United States, England, and Canada, by which, with the cession of the north-west territory and British Columbia to the United States, Canada might make certain of a liberal arrangement for reciprocal trade, and all claims against Great Britain originating during the late civil war might cease to be a topic of diplomatic discussion. These views were repeated in 18T0, in connection with the resistance of the Red River people to a plan of irresponsible government under a Canadian official ; and though their consum- mation is for the present postponed, yet their influence upon the com- ing question of a political union between the United States and Ca- nada is very apparent. Tbis hasty summary will sufficiently indicate the prominent posi- tion of Senator Ramsey. Few of his colleagues have exhibited more tact in establishing and sustaining personal influence. His elaborate speeches are terse and pointed, seldom exceeding thirty minutes in delivery ; while his self-possession and force of statement in the con- versational discussions of the Senate are most effective* He has proved himself a vigilant guardian of the interests of Minnesota. Of a frank, hearty bearing, his figure, countenance, and voice concur to make him a favorite with his associates and with all observers. 162 / ^ €2 /¥ WILLIAM SPRAGUE. €fsfi|lLLIAM SPRAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode rfjssfi Island, September 11, 1830. ' His ancestor, Jonathan Sprague, first noticed in Rhode Island history in 1681, was for many years a member of the General Assembly. By intermarriage the family is connected with Roger Williams, the founder of the State. William Sprague, grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, early engaged in cotton manufacture, and par- ticularly in the business of calico printing. lie associated in busi- ness with himself his sons, Amasa and William. The elder Sprague dying in 1S36, the entire business fell into the hands of his two sons, who carried it forward on a constantly enlarging plan under the name of A. & W. Sprague. The junior member of the firm entered political life, and was successively a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, Representative in Congress, Governor of the State, and United States Senator. He relinquished the latter ofiice on the death of his brother in 1843, who left two sons, Amasa and William, the subject of this sketch. The surviving partner, abandoning politics, now devoted his whole time to busi- ness, enlarging and extending his works until 1856, when he died at the age of fifty-six, leaving one son, Byron. On the death of the first Governor Sprague it was supposed that, owing to the youth of his nephews and son, the great scheme he had projected for erecting another cotton mill which should sur- pass any in the State would be abandoned. The friends of the young men strongly urged this step under the impression that their eight large cotton mills and extensive print works would be as much as they could profitably manage. The young men thought differently, and under the same firm name determined to carry out 163 2 "WILLIAM SPRAGUE. all the gigantic plans which hail been devised. They erected the great cotton mill at Baltic, which is built of stone, one thousand feet in length and five stories high, containing eighty thousand spindles. The erection of this immense structure, and one hun- dred dwelling houses for operatives, involved an expenditure of five hundred thousand dollars. The subject of this sketch had attended the common school until he was thirteen years old, when he was sent to the Irving Institute at Tarrytown, New York, where he remained two years. He was then placed by his uncle in the "factory store" in Cran- ston, where goods of all kinds are furnished to the operatives. Here he remained one year, when he was transferred to the count- ing-room of the company in Providence, where he opened the office, made the tires, cleaned the lamps, and swept out the office, doing such drudgery in so satisfactory a manner that after three years he was promoted to the place of bookkeeper. He occupied this position three } T ears, during which, by constant attention, he made himself familiar with all the ramifications of the extensive business, so that when he reached the age of twenty-two years he relinquished the books, and became an active partner in the con- cern. Here his active mind was constantly exercised. There was no portion of the business that did not come under his eye, ami witli which from actual experience he was not acquainted. Four years later his uncle died, when he was compelled to assume the whole weight of the business, which has gone on constantly aug- menting until it is said to be the largest establishment of the kind in the world. Early in life Mr. Sprague manifested strong military tastes. When twelve years of age he formed a military company of forty boys, of whom he was chosen the captain. In 1848 he joined the Marine Artillery Company as a private. He was soon promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and was subsequently elected Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, and finally Colonel. He took a deep interest in this organization, which he soon succeeded in making a full bat- tery of light artillery. 164 "WILLIAM SPR AGUE. 3 The cares of business having greatly impaired his health, in 1859 Mr. Sprague visited Europe. He visited all the battle-fields of the recent Italian war, as well as those memorable in the cam- paigns of the first Napoleon. While in Italy he became ac- quainted with Garibaldi, and contributed liberally toward the fund then being raised for that distinguished patriot. After an absence of seven months Mr. Sprague returned with health restored. The State of Rhode Island was at that time much agitated by the contending political parties. The Republicans had nominated a candidate fur Governor who was offensive to a large portion of the party, who determined not to support the nomina- tion. They called a convention, which nominated Mr. Sprague, and the Democrats also placing his name upon their ticket, he was elected. He proved himself in every respect an able executive, ami in 1861 was re-elected. President Lincoln's proclamation, calling for seventy-five thou- sand men for the defense of Washington, reached Providence on the 15th of April, 1861, and was immediately promulgated. On the 18th of April, three days after the proclamation was published, the first battery of light artillery, of six guns and one hundred and fifty men, under Colonel Tompkins, completely equipped and officered, took their departure for the capital. Two days later they were followed by the first battalion of the first regiment of infantry, seven hundred strong, under Colonel A. E. Burnside, with provisions for thirty days. The following week the second battalion, under Colonel J. S. Pitman, took its departure. Gov- ernor Sprague accompanied the regiment in person. The entire force of this regiment and battery numbered nearly fourteen hun- dred men. Arriving in Washington, the Rhode Island troops en- camped in a beautiful grove near the city, to which they gave the name of " Camp Sprague." After remaining a few weeks with the regiment, assiduously occupied in providing for officers and men, the Governor returned to Rhode Island. He determined to form a second regiment, and by his zeal and energy induced hundreds to come forward and join 165 i WILLIAM SPR AGUE. the ranks. The regiment was soon filled up, and after remaining in camp a few weeks to perfect themselves in drill, embarked for Washington accompanied by Governor Sprague. Governor Sprague remained with the Rhode Island troops most of the time, and accompanied them on their march with the army to Centerville on the 16th of July, 1801. In the memorable battle of Bull Run, which took place on the 21st, the Rhode Island troops were among the foremost in the fight, and suffered severely. Their gallant Governor was with them in the thickest of the battle, aud when his horse was shot from under him by a cannon ball, he seized a rifle from the grasp of a dead soldier, and, rushing forward, took his place in the ranks, encouraging the men by his presence and bravery. Two bullet holes found in his clothes after the bat- tle showed that he had not shrunk from danger. On his return to Rhode Island Governor Sprague did not in the least relax his efforts. He determined that his State should furnish her lull quota of the five hundred thousand men called for by Presi- dent Lincoln. The artillery arm of the service having proved so ef- fective in the battle of Bull Bun, Governor Sprague raised a full regi- ment often batteries of six rifled guns of one hundred and fifty men each. Other regiments were speedily sent forward, and soon Rhode Island had furnished far more than her proportion of troops. He was offered by President Lincoln a commission as Brigadier- General, which be declined. He gave the Government his cordial co-operation, both personally and officially, until the close of his term as Governor. Among all the "loyal Governors" none were more zealous supporters of the war or braver defenders of the Union than William Sprague Soon after the close of his second gubernatorial term Mr. Sprague was elected United States Senator for six years from March 4, 1863, and was re-elected for the term ending in 1875. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, and as a member of the Committees on Commerce and Military Affairs. In the impeachment trial he voted President Johnson guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors as charged in the indictment. 166 /A -^Cfk^s- Y WILLIAM M. STEWART. ,*>, rILLIAM M. STEWART was born in Wayne County, New York, August 9th, 1827. When eight years old he re- moved with his father to Trumbull County, Ohio. He worked on a farm in summer, and attended school in winter, until thirteen years old, when he left home with the consent of his parents and worked at farming for various persons, at six, eight, and twelve dollars a month, until 1844. In the Spring of that year he drove a herd of cattle to Pennsylvania, and visited Philadelphia, the first large city he had seen. He thought of going to sea, and went on board the receiving ship with a view to getting into the Navy\ While on board he saw a boy badly treated, and thinking the situa- tion not congenial to him, he started back to Ohio. In the summer of 1845, he taught school in Hampden, Ohio, and subsequently attended an academy at Farmington. He then re- turned to his native county in New York, where he taught school, and prosecuted his studies, making especial proficiency in Mathemat- ics. He entered Yale College in 1818, remaining there until the winter of 1850, when he started for California, and arrived there by way of the Isthmus in the following April. He worked two years at mining with varied success. He ran for Sheriff of Nevada County in the Spring of 1851, but there being several oDposing can- didates, who made a combination, he was defeated by a few votes. Soon after he commenced the study of law, and in the fall of 1852 was admitted to the bar, and appointed District-Attorney' on the same day. The next year he was elected to the same office by the Democratic party. In 1854, the Attorney-General of California left the State on leave of absence for six months, and Mr. Stewart was appointed in his place. He subsequently went to San Francisco 167 2 WILLIAM M. STEWART. and formed a law partnership with ex -Governor Henry S. Foote of Mississippi, and Judge Aldrich, which continued about two years. In the spring of 1855 he married a daughter of Governor Foote and went back to Nevada, where he remained practicing law until 1857. He then went to Downieville, where there was a great deal of litigation growing out of mining disputes. He got the lead of the practice, and received large fees. In the spring of 1860 he went to the Territory of Utah — now Nevada — where he was employed by the first locators of the Comstock Lode to manage their heavy litigations. "When the Legislature of Nevada was organized he was in the Territorial Council. He took an active part in organizing the Union party, and in 1863 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention. < >n the admission of Nevada into the Union he was elected to the United States Senate, and was admitted to his seat February 1, 1865. Ee was subsequently re-elected for a second term ending in 1875. Upon his entrance into the Senate he was appointed to the important Committees on the Judiciary, Public Lands, Pacific Railroad, and Mines and Mining. Of the last named Committee he subsequently served as Chairman. He took a prominent part in the important discussions of the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses relating to reconstruction measures. On the 24th of May, 1866, he made a speech, of two hours' duration, on a pending Constitutional Amendment, in which he advocated "pardon for the rebels and the ballot for the blacks." He stood in the Fortieth Congress among the firmest opposers of the policy of President Johnson, and voted for his conviction in the Impeachment Trial. Mr. Stewart drafted, and reported from the Judiciary Committee, the Fifteenth Amendment, and had charge of it during the entire contest which resulted in its adoption by the Senate, thus rendering a service to the country which connects his name with one of the greatest events of American history. The bill for the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment, which subsequently became a law, was reported by him from the Judi- ciary Committee. 168 /ni AAEON H. CEAGEN". [^ AEON H. CRAGIN was born in Weston, Vermont, Feb- ruary 3, 1S21. He is of Scotch descent, one of Lis an- V ■■■-;■-' ji cestors being John Cragin, who was among the prisoners taken by Cromwell at the great battle of Dunbar, September 3, 1650, and banished to America. Aaron worked at farming and in a woolen mill until he became of age. His education was principally acquired at " Burr Seminary," Manchester, Vermont, and at the "Lebanon Liberal Institute," at Lebanon, N. H. Having finished his studies at the academy, he re- turned to his native town of Weston, and entered at once upon the study of law. He afterwards spent two years in law studies at Albany, New York, and was admitted to the bar in New York ( lity, in the fall of 1847. The same year he moved to Lebanon, N. IL, and commenced the practice of his profession. In 1848, Mr. Cragin took an active part in the canvass for Gen. Taylor, and was an associate editor of the Granite State Whig, pub- lished at Lebanon. In 1S52, he was on the electoral ticket for Scott and Graham, and made numerous speeches in behalf of those candi- dates. In the years of 1852, 1853, 1S54, and 1S59, he was a member of the New Hampshire legislature. He was elected to the Thirty- fourth Congress, a representative from the Third Congressional Dis- trict of New Hampshire, by a majority of 3,000 ; although this Dis- trict, before that time, had been strongly Democratic. He was re-elected in 1S57, and served through the Thirty-fifth Congress. Mr. Cragin was a delegate at large from New Hampshire to the Republican Convention at Chicago, in 1860, and voted first and last 169 2 AARON II. CRAG IX. for Abraham Lincoln, and supported him upon the stump in every county in New Hampshire. In June, 1864, he was elected to the United States Senate, to succeed John P. Hale, and was re-elected in 1870. Upon entering the Senate Mr. Cragin was appointed a member of the Committee on Territories, of which he became chairman upon the resignation of Mr. Grimes. Among the many important measures originated or promoted by this committee since Mr. Cragin has been its chair- man, may be mentioned a regulation requiring examination for pro- motion, and an act making the course at the Naval Academy six years instead of four. The efficiency of the service has been in- creased by the building of eight additional steam-vessels of war, and by the passage of an act by which the pay of all honorably re- tired officers was increased to three fourths of the highest sea-pay, and at the same time such officers are not allowed to have active employment except in time of war. As a member of the Committee on Territories, with which he has been connected since his accession to the Senate, Mr. Cragin has been prominently identitied with all legislation tending to de- velop the " Great West." lie has been an active opposer of po- lygamy in Utah ; and his great speech, delivered in tiie Senate May 18, 1870, was one of the severest blows ever administered to " the loathsome and festering monster of polygamous Mormonism." Mr. Cragin's speeches in the Senate are not frequent, but are invariably characterized by sound logic and just conclusions care- fully reached and forcibly expressed. Watchful of the interests of his constituents, faithful to his party obligations, and devoted to his country, he combines the qualities requisite to a wise and useful legislator. 170 GEOEGE F. EDIUIDS. EORGE F. EDMUNDS was bom in Richmond, Ver- mont, February 1, 1S28. His education was carried Jtey* somewhat beyond the curriculum of the common schools by the instructions of a private tutor. Possessing naturally an acute intellect and a practical readiness with his mother-tongue, he took almost instinctively to the law, which he studied with unusual assiduity and success, lie was admitted to the bar in 1S49, and eschewing politics, devoted himself exclusively to his profession, in which he had unusual success. In 1851 he settled in Burlington, and in 1854, in 1857, in 1858, and in 1S59 he was elected to the lower branch of the Vermont Legislature, in which he served three years as Speaker. In 1861 and 1802 he was elected to the State Senate, and was President pro tern, of that body. On the breaking ont of the rebellion he was a member of the State Convention which met to form a coalition between the Re- publicans and War Democrats, and drew up the resolutions which were adopted by the Convention as the basis of union for the country. lie was appointed to the United States Senate as a Re- publican to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Solomon Foote, and took his seat April 5, I860. He was elected by the Legislature for the remainder of the term ending March 4, 1S69, and was re-elected without opposition for the further terra of six years. He entered upon his third term March 4, 1875. On the 10th of December, 18G6, soon after taking his seat in the Senate, Mr. Edmunds, as Chairman of the Committee on Retrench- ment, reported a bill to regulate the tenure of civil offices. In bring- ing forward the measure, Mr. Edmunds asserted that they were "acting in no spirit of hostility to any party or administration 171 2 GEORGE F. EDMUNDS. whatever, but for the true republican interest of the country under all administrations, and under the domination of all parties, in the growth before the nation in the future." In the session of Congress which convened at the beginning of President Grant's administration, it was proposed to repeal the Tenure of Office Law. This proposition was earnestly opposed by Mr. Edmunds in several speeches of much eloqueiree and force of logic. "I submit to Senators, seriously," said he, "not for this President, not for this Vice-President, not for to-day or to-morrow or this age, but for that great age which is to come after us, when we have a hundred States and a hundred million people, whether it is not worthy of some consideration whether this body should lay aside from it powers which we all now. excepting the Democrats, confess either belong to it by the Constitution, or may and ought to be properly conferred upon it by law." Mr. Edmunds served on the Committees on Commerce, Public Land.-. Retrenchment, ami Appropriations. During the Forty-first ( 'ongress lie was Chairman of the * lommittee on Pensions. In the re-organization of committees consequent upon the participation of several Republican Senators in the "Liberal" movement, in the third session of the Forty-second Congress, Mr. Edmunds was ap- pointed to succeed Mr. Trumbull as Chairman of the Judiciary ( on unit tee. He frequently addressed the Senate, especially on subjects re- ported from the committees with which he was connected. His speeches evince much practical knowledge of affairs, and great fa- miliarity with laws and precedents. He is a very fluent speaker, with much readiness of repartee and skill in the art of extempo- raneous argument. 172 EOSCOE CONKLING. >41WOSCOE CONKLING was born in Albany, New York, ($31?% October 30, 1S2 ( J, and is descended from a family lon a/- ehs*^£-^-~ sA FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUTSEK ^EEDEEICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN was bora in Mill- stone, Somerset County, New Jersey, August 4, 1817, and is the son of Frederick Frelinghuysen, who died quite young, but not until he had developed an admirable char- acter, had gained distinction for erudition and eloquence at the bar, and had acquired great popularity. On his father's death he became the adopted son of Theodore Frelinghuysen. He was graduated at Rutgers College in 1836, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was soon engaged in a general and lucrative practice throughout the State. He took au active part in all matters of public interest, both benevolent and political, and was frequently called upon to address the people. At the request of the Eepublican members of the Legislature in 18G0 he accepted the appointment tendered him as a member of the Peace Congress which met at Washington, where he was laborious in his efforts to avert the war which he clearly saw im- pending, and his speeches in that convention attracted much attention. In 1SC1 he received from the Governor of New Jersey the nom- ination for Chief Justice of the State, which failed of confirmation, the Legislature being Democratic, and on the adjournment thereof the olfice was left vacant. In the same year he was appointed Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, in which position during the war he gave almost his entire time and energy in aiding the State to place her troops promptly and efficiently in the field, and in keeping the public sentiment up to a proper appreciation of the importance of the duty that the crisis involved. 195. 2 FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN. In 1SGG lie was reappointed Attorney General, and in the same year was temporarily appointed United States Senator to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. William "Wright. In 18G7 he was elected by the Legislature of the State to fill the term in the United States Senate which ended in 18G9. lie was then appointed one of the Committee on the Judiciary, as a member of which, as well as of a Select Committee, he took a prom- inent part in measures for the reconstruction of the States then recently in rebellion, which measures, as well as those for the relief of the South, he fully discussed in the Senate. He was also one of the Committee on Claims, and as such took an active part in debate as to the proper limit of the liability of the Government for claims growing out of the war. He was also a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs. Of all the Senators who sat as judges during the impeachment trial none gave the case more careful and candid attention than Mr. Frelinghuysen. nis opinion, pronounced at the conclusion of the trial, was an elaborate and able paper, wherein he maintained that Mr. Johnson, having manifested " willful, persistent, and defiant disregard of law," was guilty of a high misdemeanor re- quiring his removal from office. He maintained that " to suffer the Executive successfully to assert the right to adjudicate on the validity of laws claimed to be inferentially, though not in terms, contrary to the Constitution, and to execute such as he approves and violate such as he condemns, would be to permit the Govern- ment to be destroyed." In 1SC9, New Jersey having a Democratic Legislature, Hon. John P. Stockton was elected his successor, and Mr. Freling- huysen again returned to the practice of the law. In the summer of 1870 he was nominated by the President, and confirmed by the Senate, to succeed Mr. Motley as minister to En- gland, which appointment he declined. In the fall of 1870, the State being Republican, he was again elected United States Sen- ator to succeed Hon. A. G. Cattell, who had declined a re-election, and took his seat March 4, 1871. 196 I *.V/r ax^ - THOMAS W. TIPTON. /j|HOMAS "W. TIPTON was born near Cadiz, Ohio, August 5, ! ' 1817. He was a student at Allegheny College, Meadville, $> and graduated at Madison College, Pennsylvania, in 1840. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, and was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature in 1845. He was at the head of a division in the General Laud Office during Mr. Fillmore's administration, aud returned to the practice of law in Ohio, in 1853. lie received license as a Methodist preacher in 1856, but preferring the democ- racy of Congregational church government to the Episcopacy, he changed the latter for the former. He removed to Nebraska in 1858, and was soon after elected to a constitutional convention. He was a member of the Territorial Senate in 1860. He was elected Chaplain of the 1st Nebraska regiment in July, 1861, aud appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue for Nebraska in 1866. He was elected a United States Senator in 1867, and at the end of two years was re-elected for a term of six years. Mr. Tipton was a member of the old Whig party, and gave a devoted and enthusiastic support to Clay, Taylor, Scott, aud Fremont for the Presidency. He became a Republican when Salmon P. Chase was elected Governor of Ohio. Being in a Territory when Mr. Lincoln was twice elected, he was prevented voting for him, but canvassed for General Grant in 1868, and for Mr. Greeley in 1872. That Senator Tipton possesses an individuality of his own, all understand who share his intimate acquaintance. From a volume of " Pen Sketches of Nebraskians," we copy the following : " Iu all matters of State, as well as individual interest, he thinks for himself, and acts promptly, independent of all personal cousidera- 197 2 THOMAS W. TIPTON. tions. Right, truth, justice, and mauhood are the chief attributes of his character. "When he once forms an opinion he is as firm as the rock of Gibraltar. He is in appearance reserved, with a tinge of moroseness resting on his brow, but touch his heart, and a well-spring of social greeting flows forth as from a protean fountain. He is a great lover of the sublime in nature, is moved with sympathy for poverty and distress, is generous with hie means, so much so, that had he an income of many thousands he would die a poor man. He keeps his own counsels, and works by the model of an upright life." In every position in life, and in discharge of every public trust devolved upon him, his character for fidelity has never been questioned. He knows no precedent, respects no custom, and follows no direction that does not come to him all over radiant with the evidences of propriety, necessity, and common sense. Of his manner as a public speaker, one of the most popular correspondents of the day has said, "This man is by far the keenest and boldest humorist of the Senate. He is a ready debater, utter- ing sentences as crisp and sparkling as the ablest man about. Always timely ; very severe ; and yet his keenest thrusts are marked by an indescribable grimness of humor, which makes everybody, but the particular object, delighted. He always man- ages to say in full what other Congressmen merely hinted at, and forebore. His humor is subordinate, and subservient to his boldness. He has demonstrated confidence, coolness, power of repartee, and superb aggressiveness. Although not cautious by temperament, he never lays himself open to a bad thrust." 198 THOMAS J". ROBERTSON". gjHOMAS J. EOBEETSON was born in Fairfield County, South Carolina, August 3, 1S23. His father, John Eob- Sp^ ertson, was a wealthy planter who is still living, honored in having served the country as a volunteer in the war of 1812. The subject of this sketch pursued his preparatory studies at Mount Zion Academy in his native district, and graduated at South Carolina College, Columbia, in December, 1SA3. He entered upon the study of medicine, but soon found that this was not congenial to his tastes and inclinations, which from the associations of his early life were drawn towards agricultural pursuits. He engaged in planting, at the same time giving attention to railroad enterprises — the most efficient aids for the development of the agricultural interests of the country. At the breaking out of the rebellion he did not join the multitude of Southern people who took arms against the United States, but 6tood forth a remarkable exception among men of his class in loyalty to the Union. He remained during the entire war an outspoken Union man, and never in any way compromised his position as a loyal citizen of the United States. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention which met under the Eeconstruction Acts. At the first meeting of the General Assembly, under the new Con etitution, he was elected a Senator from South Carolina in the Con- gress of the United States by a vote almost unanimous, and took his seat July 22, 1868. He was placed on the Committees on Manufac- tures and Claims, and was made chairman of the Select Committee on the Eemoval of Political Disabilities. 199 2 TIIOMAS J. ROBERTSON. Mr. Robertson was re-elected to the Senate for the term of six years from March 4, 1871. In the Forty-second and Forty-third Conoresses he served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufact- ures and a member of the Committee on Agriculture. As a Southern man who preserved his allegiance to the United States during the Rebellion, he was prepared to place the responsibility of the war where it belonged, as he did in one of his reports as Chairman of the Select Committee on the Removal of Political Disabilities, in which he said : " The leaders were responsible for that action. The people were not suffered to think and act for themselves. They were fooled by their leaders, and drawn into the war, and therefore I do not hold them responsible." Mr. Robertson favored the granting of alternate sections of the public lands in the Territories to aid in building railroads where the country was undeveloped, but he was unwilling " to go into the Territories and give lands there to build railroads in the States." He is neither frequent, nor voluminous in his speeches before the Senate. In a direct and business-like way he gives expression to his views, and is always tolerant of those who differ with him in opinion. 200 ,^<^Z^ GEORGE E. SPENCER. 'EORGE E. SPENCER was born in the town of Champion, Jefferson County, New York, November 1, 1S36, the young- est of four sons of the late Doctor Gordon P. Spencer, of Watertown, New York, who was a surgeon in the United States Army during the war of 1812. Doctor Spencer was born in Salis- bury, Connecticut, from which State the Spencer family emigrated to New York, prominent among them being the Hon. John C. Spen- cer, and Ambrose Spencer, names familiar to the country in the record of statesmen and lawyers. The subject of this sketch, after obtaining a liberal education at Montreal College, Canada, returned to his home in Watertown, New Ycik, and entered upon the study of the law. But he was impa- tient of home restraints, and, having imbibed in early youth a long- ing for adventure, determined upon emigrating to the far west. He located in the State of Iowa, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and, entering actively the arena of politics as a Republican, was chosen secretary of the Iowa State Senate at its session of 1S57-5S. At the breaking-out of the rebellion, Mr. Spencer was pioneering further westward, engaged in prospecting the mineral resources of Colorado and adjacent territory, a true type of the restless but deter- mined spirit of American adventure, which has discovered and opened up the wealth of gold and silver that has enriched the nation and populated the wilderness. He entered the army of the Union as captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, and served with distinction as chief of staff to Major-Gen. Grenville M. Dodge until 1863, when he recruited and raised the 1st Regiment of Ala- bama cavalry, composed of the loyal mountaineers of that State, and, as colonel, commanded a brigade of cavalry on Sherman's famous 201 2 GEORGE E. SPENCER. " March to the Sea." He was brevetted a brigadier-general for gal- lantry on the held, and, after the war, resumed the practice of the law at Decatur, Alabama, in the neighborhood of the homes of his old comrades of the First Alabama Cavalry. Mr. Spencer took a prominent part in the reconstruction of Ala- bama and was appointed a register in bankruptcy by Chief-Justice Chase in May 1867. In the following year he was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican, and took his seat July 25, 18G8. He entered upon the duties of hissecond term in the Senate on the 4th of March, 1873. He has served on several important committees: Commerce, Pensions, the District of Columbia, Mili- tary Affairs, the Select Committee on the Levees of the Mississippi River, and the Joint Select Committee on Alleged Outrages in the Southern States. Although not a frequent speaker, Mr. Spencer is fearless in maintaining his opinion on the floor of the Senate. The following brief illustration of his style is from his speech on the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment; " The condition of the South, political and social, is truly de- plorable. To be a Republican, an advocate of liberty, and a supporter of the Administration and its policy, is a heinous crime. It sets a mark upon the brow and a price upon the head. There is no such thing in the South to-day as freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and freedom of action, except it be in those rare locali- ties where the inhabitants chance to be all loyal." He has faithfully maintained the interests of the colored people of the South, as appears from the following passage in his speech in the Senate during the discussion of the labor question and the eight-hour system : " Their toil is now their own, consecrated to them by the best blood of free America ; and it is a matter of deep concern to the country and to myself that they shall receive the benefits of that freedom, not only in their labor, but in theii education ; as well in books as in their new relations as citizens of the Republic." 202 t / ADELBEET AMES. >DELBERT AMES was born at Rockland, Maine, October 31, 1835. He received an academic education in his "£i|0fI o native State, and was admitted to the United States Military Academy as a cadet July 1, 1856. He gradu- ated, ranking fifth in his class, May 6, 1S61, an opportune moment, for, the War of the Rebellion having just broken out, there was a loud and urgent call from the country for men of military education for her service. Mr. Ames immediately entered upon active duty as 2d Lieutenant of the Second Artillery. His first duty was drill- ing volunteers in Washington, in which he was employed until July, when he participated in the memorable Manassas campaign. In the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he was severely wounded, and was breveted Major for his gallant and meritorious services. He was disabled by his wounds until September, when he resumed active duty and served in the defenses of Washington until March, 18C2. He then participated in the Virginia Peninsular campaign, and was engaged in the siege of Yorktown, the battle of Gaines' Mill, and the battle of Malvern Hill, where his gallant conduct earned promotion to the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He was appointed Colonel of the 20th Regiment of Maine Volun- teers, August 29, 1862, and a few days later was with his command in the battle of Antietam. He then took part in the Rappahannock campaign, engaging in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. He was in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, acting as Aid-de-camp to General Meade. Having been promoted to the rank of Brigadier- General of Volunteers, he command a brigade at the battle of Beverly Ford, May 20, 1863. He fought in the battle of Gettysburgh, July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, and engaged in the pursuit 203 2 ADELBERT AMES. of the enemy to "Warren ton, Virginia. For his gallantry in the battle of Gettysburg he was breveted Colonel in the regular army. From August, 1863, to the following April, he engaged in the opera- tions of the Department of the South. In command of a brigade or division of the ISth Army Corps he aided in the operations before Petersburg, engaging in the action of "Whitehall Junction, May 7, 1864, and the battle of Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864. Subsequently, in command of a division of the 10th Army Corps, he engaged in the actions of Darbytown Road. He afterward joined in the first and second expeditions against Fort Fisher, participating in the assault and capture of that stronghold, January 15, 1865. For his distinguished services on this occasion he was breveted Major-General of Volunteers. He was mustered out of the Volunteer service April 30, 1866. In consideration of gallant and meritorious services in the field during the Rebellion he was breveted Major-General in the regular army. Under the Reconstruction Act he was appointed Provisional Governor of Mississippi. June 15, 1S68, and was p pointed to the command of the Fourth Military District, Department of Missis- sippi, March 17, 1869. He was elected United States Senator from Mississippi, January 18, 1870. His credentials having been presented to the Senate, were referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, who reported that General Ames was not entitled to the seat in the Senate to which he had been appointed, Mr. Rice alone of the Committee dissenting from this conclusion. An exhaustive and able debate ensued, running through several days, in which was discussed the meaning of the constitutional requirement that a man to be a Senator must be an " inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen," and whether it was in the power of a person in the military service to choose his place of residence. Finally, April 1, 1870, the Senate disagreed to the report of the Judiciary Com- mittee by a vote of forty to twelve, and Mr. Ames was immediately sworn in as a Senator of the United States. Before the expira- tion of his term of service in the Senate, Mr. Ames resigned to accept the office of Governor of Mississippi. 204 THOMAS F. BATAED, mOMAS FRANCIS BAYAED was born in Wilming- ton, Delaware, October 28, 1828. His father, Hon. James A. Bayard, and his grandfather, of the same name, were both Senators of the United States — the latter hav- ing also been Minister to France, and one of the Commissioners who negotiated the Treaty of Ghent. His great grandfather, Richard Bassett, was a delegate to the Convention which formed the Fed- eral Constitution, and was a Senator in Congress from Delaware. The subject of this sketch was chiefly educated at the Flushing School, established by Rev. Dr. F. L. Hawks. His early training was for mercantile life, but his tastes and talents were for the bar. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. With the exception of two years, spent in Philadelphia, he has ever since practiced in his native city. In 1S53 he was appointed United States District Attorney for Delaware, but resigned in the follow- ing year for the purpose of devoting himself to his own private and professional business. He was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat to succeed his father, and took his seat in that body March 4, 1869. He has served on the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and the Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the United States. From his entrance into the Senate Mi - . Bayard has borne a prominent and able part in debate. In his speech on the Civil Tenure Act he took a decided stand against the suspension of the law, and in favor of its absolute repeal, be- lieving it to be uncalled for and without constitutional warrant. In his remarks upon the bill authorizing the submission to the people of the Constitutions of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, Mr. 205 2 THOMAS F. BAYARD. Bayard declared himself as Laving been opposed to the " series of measures called reconstruction, believing them to be in direct, open, and flagrant violation of the spirit and the letter of the fun- damental law of this country." He excepted to the bill for en- forcing the Fifteenth Amendment, as grasping at the whole control of elections, and intended not to prevent discrimination between races, but to discriminate directly against the white race and in favor of the black. He also opposed the bill for abolishing the Franking Privilege, and animadverted with severity upon the in- fluence of the Post-Office Department in procuring the multitude of petitions flowing in upon Congress for this object. He is one of the ablest defenders of Democratic principles and policy on the floor of the Senate. He earnestly opposed the union of the Democratic party with the Liberal Republican movement in the political campaign of 1872. lie acquiesced in the decision of the National Convention ; but ill health, which necessitated a trip to Europe, prevented him from taking an active part in the campaign. From family associations, study, and observation, he has been well furnished for a successful career as a politician and statesman. His speeches manifest the skillful lawyer and the accomplished rhetorician. Without the voice necessary to success- ful oratory in noisy assemblies, yet his well-considered matter and graceful manner render him an agreeable and successful debater in the hall of the Senate. 206 ARTHUE I. BOREMAK ^ETHUE IXGIIRAM BOEEMAN was born in Waynes- burg, Pennsylvania} July 24, 1823. His grandfather was bora in London, and, coming to this country before the Revolutionary War, became a pay-master in the Continental army, and subsequently settling at AVaynesburg, he held all the various clerk's offices for the county many years. When the subject of this sketch was a child his father removed to Western Virginia, where he received a common-school education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845, and commenced the practice at Earkersburg. In 1855 he was elected to the House of Delegates of Virginia, and during six years represented his neighbors in that capacity at Richmond. He was in the State Legislature in the extra session in the spring of 1861, taking an active part against the secession movement. While the Legislature was in session a Convention was held in Richmond for the purpose of carrying Virginia out of the Union. Excitement became very great. The Legislature was lost sight of in the superior importance of the deliberations of the Convention. Mr. Boreman left Rich- mond finally, after the adjournment of the Legislature, about the time the ordinance of secession was passed, with the determination of doing Ws utmost to stay the progress of rebellion. He was president of the Wheeling Convention, held in 1861 for the pur- pose of reorganizing the government of Virginia. In October of that year he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, and held that office until 1863, when, the old state of Virginia having been divided and West Virginia constructed, Mr. Boreman was unani- mously chosen the first Governor, no vote being cast against him. In 1861 another gubernatorial election was held, and he was again unanimously elected, receiving 19,098 votes. In 1S66 he was 207 9 ARTHUR I. BOREMAN. elected for the third time. A Democratic candidate was put np against him, but Governor Boreman received 23,802 votes to 17,158 for his opponent, a majority of 6,644. As Governor he cordially and efficiently co-operated with the General Government in the work of suppressing the rebellion. Under hi', administration more than 33,000 troops were sent into the field, who were among the bravest and most efficient soldiers in the Union armies. Gov- ernor Boreman made efficient use of the means at his disposal within his own State, seldom calling on the War Department for aid, which, whenever called for, was promptly granted. Secretary Stanton, after the close of the war, repeatedly expressed himself in terms of highest commendation of Governor Boreman's administra- tion, and his efficient co-operation with the government at Wash- ington. Such was the sleepless vigilance and tireless energy of Governor Boreman during the war, and amid the emergencies, equally trying, of the years immediately following, that his health was seriously and permanently impaired ; not, however, to such a degree as to prevent him from giving further service to the country. In 1808 Mr. Boreman declined a re-election as Governor, and was in the following year chosen United States Senator, to succeed Peter (J. Van Winkle, for the term of six years from the 4th of March, I860. During the Forty-first Congress Mr. Boreman served on the Committees on Manufactures, Territories, and the Removal of Political Disabilities. The principal speech made by him dur- ing this Congress was on the bill to admit the State of Georgia to representation. He viewed the subject as "involving questions of great State policy, and not of mere technical law," and urged that " the hesitating policy which had characterized the action of Con- gress at almost every step, since the close of the war, looking to the reconstruction of the rebel States, should not lead us to commit an irreparable injury in the case of Georgia." He comprehensively reviewed the course of Congress in reconstruction, which " after near two years of temporizing" at length began in earnest, and "has been progressing in the midst of opposition and obstacle to the present time." 208 / / ) /( u //, /r WILLIAM G. BROW^LOW. being a too influential and troublesome man to be toler- ated within the Confederate lines. He reported himself accord- ingly to General Crittenden, received a renewal of the promise of passport and escort, and was to start on the morning of December 7. Before the appointed time arrived, however, he was arrested on a warrant for treason, tailed of protection from Crittenden, refused a trial and bail, and was committed to the common jail. Here about one hundred and fifty Union men, old and young, were incarcerated, and so crowded was the building that there was not room for all to lie down at once, but the prisoners were obliged to sleep and rest by turns. Many of these prisoners were old and tried friends of Mr. Brownlow, and hailed his en- trance among them with surprise and tears. Finding them gen- erally depressed in spirits, and fearing the worst, he addressed them, saying, " Gentlemen, don't take your confinement so much to heart ; rather glory in it as patriots devoted to your country and to your principles. ... I am here with you to share your sor- rows and sufferings, and here I intend to stay until the rebels release me or execute me, or until the Federal army shall come to 212 WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 5 my rescue. You may take a different view of the subject, but I regard this as the proudest day of my life." After a confinement of nearly a month Mr. Brownlow was taken with severe sickness, and, on the application of his physician, was permitted to exchange the confinement of the prison for a private room on his own premises, where lie was guarded as at the jail. Here he continued till the first of March, when the officer in com- mand of the post was authorized by the Richmond Government to send him within the Federal lines, where he was received with the most cordial welcome. Mr. Brownlow, shortly after reaching Nashville, proceeded north, and visited many of the principal cities, taking in his route Cin- cinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Harrisburgh, Philadelphia. Baltimore, and Washington, addressing crowds of people wherever he came, and being everywhere received with flattering welcome. A few weeks after his departure from Knox- ville, Mrs. Brownlow received notice that herself and family would be required to pass beyond the Confederate lines within thirty-six hours, and that passports would be granted them accordingly. They reached Bordentown, N. J., in safety, where Mr. Brownlow was waiting to receive them. Mr. Brownlow was a member of the Constitutional Convention for the reorganization of the State of Tennessee, and on the 4th of March, 1865, was elected Governor with almost no opposition. In 1867 he was re-elected against Emerson Etheridge, the opposition candidate, and on March 4, 18G9, took his seat in the Senate of the United States to succeed David T. Patterson. Mr. Brownlow was placed on the Committees on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims. His state of health seems to have pre- vented him from an extended record of service in the Forty-first Congress, although no Senator was more constant in his attendance upon the sessions of the Senate. At its first session he on the loth of December had leave to present, as a personal explanation, a speech in the form of a letter relating to a previous election in Tennessee. 213 6 WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. On the fifteenth of February, 1872, Mr. Brownlow, having been charged by M)-. Beck, in the House of Representatives, with being a "refugee," made a personal explanation, which was read at the desk by the Secretary of the Senate. This address contained interesting matter of personal history, of which the following paragraphs are specimen- ; " I am a refugee, and while the short limit of my life endures, cannot recover from its outward signs. These feeble limbs that need assistance to bring me to this chamber; these palsied hands that ask fur help to write; my whispering voice that cannot speak my thoughts, all bear testimony to the fact — I am a refugee. It is a coward's part to call me one, but yet I hold the title as an honor. I first became a refugee on the fifth day of November, 1861, having remained in Knoxville defending the cause of my country against organized treason, at the risk of my life, until that day. How I have escaped immolation I do not know, except that it was in the mercy of God's providence, which sustained me in my efforts to put down a hell horn rebellion. My paper had been suppressed, and my arrest for treason against the Southern Confed- eracy determined upon. ... I found a hiding-place from the blood- hounds of the rebellion in the smoky mountains which separate North Carolina from Tennessee, beyond the precincts of civiliza- tion. Amid the high summits of this range, and in one of their deep gorges where no vehicle hail ever penetrated, 1 found a tem- porary refuge, until rebel .-com-, discovered my hiding-place. I was then induced by false promises of protection, and being sent through the lines, to deliver myself to the rebel authorities of the confederacy in Tennessee, but they treacherously threw me into prison. I will not detail the dreary hours of that incarceration, in which I saw men led from my side to an execution which I ex- pected daily to share; others dying of fever; the agonized cries of wives and children of men sent to death for loving their conn- try. I, who was second to no man in strength and vigor of body and constitution, came out of prison sick, and have never recovered from the shock my system then received." 211 m* (IfbMuJz WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. "jX WmiLUAM A. BUCKINGHAM was born in Lebanon, jjfiln Conn., May 21, 1S04. At the age of twenty lie com- menced a course of training for mercantile life, and two years later established himself as a merchant in the city of Nor- wich, where his career has been alike successful and honorable. His enterprising life, his prudence, thrift, punctuality, and spotless integrity, have given him in the business circles of the country a name without blemish or reproach. In 1858 he was elected Governor of Connecticut, and was suc- cessively re-elected in the seven years following. From the com- mencement of the national troubles he conceived that compromise with the South was impossible, that the great struggle for liberty in this countrj' was at hand, and that no human agency could avert the storm. Hence the news of the fall of Sumter, and the Presidential call for troops, found Governor Buckingham awake to the great crisis, and though the State Legislature was not in ses- sion, yet his extensive financial relations enabled him to command at once the necessary funds for equipping the militia for the field. Influential and strong men were ready to co-operate with him at this critical period, and the Governor gave himself with a will to the great work ; and when, by the uprising of rebellion in Mary- land, Washington was deemed in imminent peril, the first tidings received from the North was that Connecticut was rising as one man for the rescue of the government, thus giving assurance to the President that the national capital was safe. The advanced and enlightened views of Governor Buckingham at this very beginning of the great struggle are noteworthy and remarkable. In an official communication to President Lincoln he insisted that this was no ordinary rebellion ; that more than 215 2 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 300,000 men were already organized and armed against the gov- ernment; that these gigantic preparations should be met and sup- pressed by a power of corresponding magnitude; that the princi- ples of equity and justice, the claims of humanity, civilization, and religion unite in demanding a sufficient force to drive the rebels from every field ; that half a million of men should at once be raised for this purpose ; that all other legislation than what was demanded for suppressing the rebellion should be deemed out of place until the authority of the government should be respected in every section of the country ; and he pledged the Stale of Con- necticut, witli its entire resources, to co-operate with the General Government in currying out the strong and patriotic measures which he suggested. Thus Governor Buckingham possessed a clearer vision of the importance and magnitude of the rebellion than many other states- men. He had little faith that "the war would be over in sixty days," or in "three months," nor, as it loomed up in greater and more alarming proportions, did bis energy and courage falter in the least degree. He was among the earliest to urge upon the President the policy of emancipation, alleging strong and unan- swerable arguments in its favor; and when at length the cautious yet brave Lincoln sent forth his proclamation of September 24, 1862, the equally brave Governor of C tecticut was among the first to congratulate him and the country. Indeed, from the be- ginning to the end Governor Buckingham was one of those effi- cient and loyal magistrates who rallied closely around President Lincoln, advising and cheering him in the dark hours of the war, assuring him of the fidelity of the people, and that the loyal masses of the North would carry him safely through the mighty struggle. He was elected to the United States Senate from Connecticut, and took his seal March 4, 1869. He served bis State and coun- try in this capacity with unbending integrity and distinguished honor. Jus! before the expiration of the term for which he was elected be died, universally regretted. 216 /t^ftu/it MATTHEW H. CARPENTER ■^aKATTHEW II. CARPENTER was born December 22, 1824, at Mooretown, Washington County, Vermont, In ^k^p June, 1S43, at the age of nineteen, lie bore the requisite examination and was entered a cadet at West Point, where he maintained an honorable position until he resigned in 1845, on account of ill health, while his class was on furlough. He soon thereafter entered upon the stud}' of the law in the office of the Hon. Paul Dillingham, of Waterbury, Vermont, under whose instruction, and by a course of systematic reading, he acquired a knowledge of those solid elementary principles of the law which have been the gn mud-work of his future success at the Bar. His great aptitude in grouping and comprehending princi- ples, his powers of reasoning and critical analysis, his readiness of perception and retentive memory, with intense application, soon made him complete master of the learning and theories of his pro- fession, and perfectly qualified him for admission to the Bar, and he was accordingly admitted at Montpelier, Vermont, in the spring of 1817. He immediately entered upon the practice and active duties of his profession in no obscure place, and with none of that doubt- ing timidity that shrinks from competition, for he sought a position in the office of Hon. Rufus Choate, of Boston, as his assistant, and continued with that great lawyer, at the period of his highest maturity and greatest practice, until July, 1848. How much famil- iar intercourse with Mr. Choate, socially and professionally, and the exalted abilities, eloquence, peculiar manner, and high standing as a lawyer of such an example and instructor may have influenced a young man so impressible as Mr. Carpenter, and so capable of appreciating such high qualities, cannot be known. But however 217 ■2 MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. much of an impetus may have been, and certainly was, given to his progress by such a connection, and however much his ambition and emulation may have hen excited, he became no mere copyist or imitator, but has always maintained his own natural manner and peculiar style of oratory. And yet the advantages of such instruc- tion and intercourse must have been most efficient and salutary in forming and shaping his future career, as we know they have been in securing his lasting admiration and gratitude. After being admitted to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massa- chusetts he went to Beloit, Wisconsin, one of the most flourishing young cities of the State, and commenced his independent career as a lawyer, with scarcely any other means than his ready and com- manding abilities as a counselor and advocate, and secured from the start a large and lucrative practice. He was soon elected to the office of District-Attorney of Rock County, and held it for two terms with great credit to himself and usefulness to the public. He very soon attained the highest rank among a Bar conceded to be as able as any in the West, and was unexcelled as a profound law- yer and eloquent advocate, and no lawyer anywhere has been engaged in more cases or of greater importance. In 1S51 he con- ducted a cause involving the questions of dedication to public use, of the legality of city plats, and of estoppel by deed and in pais concerning a public landing on Hock River, in the city of Beloit. The cum' came to the Supreme Court of the State when at that time in that Court such questions were new, ami Mr. Carpenter's brief, reported in full with the opinion of the Court, is a master- piece of legal investigation and learning, and the most elaborate to be found in the reports of that Court, passing in review the leading authorities of England and this country on the question involved — over one hundred cited cases. In 1856 that very remarkable proceeding by quo warranto to try the title of the office of Governor of Wisconsin, between the relator Bashford and the incumbent Barstow, was argued in the Supreme Court. Mr. Carpenter was the leading counsel for the respondent. The questions were then new and very important, 218 MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. 3 involving an inquiry into the constitutional principles of our State governments and the relative power of the departments, and his brief in that cause, with an abstract of his argument, showing a char understanding of the subject and great research, were also published with the opinion of the Court in the Wisconsin Reports. These two cases are not mentioned because they were the only ones of great importance in which he was thus early engaged, but as indicating the class of causes in which his services were sought, and which he was deemed fully able to manage. His practice in Wisconsin constitutes a very large part of the judicial history of the State, and for several years past his has been the most familiar and attractive presence in the Supreme Court of the United States. lie w T as retained by the late and lamented Stanton, when Secretary of AYar, to argue before the Supreme Court several important causes growing out of the reconstruction measures of Congress, and involving the constitutional powers of the Government. His able arguments in the Garland and McAr- dle cases bear indubitable evidence of his ability and high position in the highest ranks of the profession ; and it is safe to assume that, more than any other lawyer in the country, he has impressed his views upon the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the disposition of the great and complicated questions arising from the war of the Rebellion and the anomalous condition of the reconstructed States. His legal practice has been most extensive and diversified, and his researches and knowledge in all branches of jurisprudence are exhaustive and profound. But as a mere lawyer and able counselor he is not alone distinguished. Although not often associated in the same individual, yet in him we find a remarkable combination of the highest powers of reason and logic, great learning, clear and impartial judgment, with the embel- lishments of imagination, ehxpience, and wit. His exalted position both at the Bar and in the Senate, his forensic efforts and his ad- dresses before popular assemblies, have exhibited him as an orator seldom rivaled, as all who have heard him will freely concede. His literary acquirements are extensive, and his tastes cultivated 219 i MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. and refilled. His intimate knowledge of books, of law, and of lit- erature could only be acquired by the most constant and severe study and reading, and he has gathered the largest and best selected libraries of both law and miscellaneous literature in the country. In the common acceptation of the word he has never been a pol- itician or an office-seeker. Both by education and natural impulse he was a Jeffersonian Democrat, and he acted ably and disinterest- edly with the Democratic party until he conscientiously believed that to continue longer his partv connection would rank him with the enemies of his country, and he then, at the risk of odium and proscription, broke ranks, and has since stood shoulder to shoulder with the Republican party, Mr. Carpenter waseleeted a United States Senator from Wisconsin, to succeed Mr. Doolittle, and took his seat March 4, 18*10. lie served as a member of the Committees on the Judiciary, Patents, the Re- vision of the Laws of the United States, and Privileges and Elec- tions. From the first lie has borne a conspicuous ami able part in the debates of the Senate, participating in nearly all important discussions. His speech in reply to Sumner and Schurz, during the French Arms debate, attracted special attention. It is said to have been more widely circulated than any other public document during the political campaign of 1872, more than one million copies having been distributed from Washington alone. In March, 1873, he was elected President of the Senate pro tempor< . He has a striking and attractive personal appearance, and pos- - fine eyes, thick brown hair, and a good complexion. He is a fluent speaker, an agreeable debater, and a shrewd parliamentary leader. He is now in the full maturity of his life, but by no means near the end of his acquirements and improvement ; for his great industry, constant study, and untiring and restless activity must advance him still higher in the shining pathway on which he has entered. 220 EUGENE CASSERLY. ^UGENE CASSERLY is a native of Ireland, bom in 1823. "When four years old lie came with his parents to America and settled in New York city. Young Casserly fared better than most children of newly-arrived emi- grants in the city, and instead of being left to the uncertain educa- tion of the streets, he received careful instruction in classical and general studies. After leaving school he spent five years as an attache of the newspaper press. Meanwhile, having studied law, he was in 1845 admitted to practice in the courts of New York. In 1846-4-7 he served as Corporation Attorney. He continued the practice of law in New York until 1850, when he went to California, and made his residence in San Francisco, where he has since resided. He began life in California as the publisher of a daily paper, and in 1851-52 was State printer. He then resumed the practice of law, which he continued until November, 1S68, when he was elected United States Senator from California. On taking his seat in the Senate, March 4, 1S69, Mr. Casserly was placed on the Committees on Foreign Relations, Public Lands, and Printing. He began early to rank among the most active members and most frequent speakers of the Senate. His manner of addressing the body is fluent, easy, and generally unimpassioned. His views on all party questions, which are strongly Democratic, are presented clearly, often forcibly, and always persistently. His first extended speech was in favor of repealing the Civil-Tenure Act. He gave no countenance to the idea of merely suspending the law. Said he, " I am for the repeal of the law, pure and sim- ple. I shall vote for that because I believe the Tenure-of-Office Act to be a violation of the Constitution, and to have engendered, 221 2 EUGENE CASSERLY. and, for the time, disturbed some of tbe most important balances of tbe Constitution." To the general measures of Reconstruction Mr. Casserly pre- sented an opposition stern, uncompromising, and invariable, and every step encountered bis persistent hostility. On the question of Georgia's being required, previous to reinstatement, to ratify tbe Fifteenth Amendment, he said : What has Congress to do with' the ratification by the States ? The function of Congress is ended when it proposes. It has nothing else to do with the sub- ject ; just as the function of the President is ended, in appointing to office, when he proposes a name to you. Suppose he should surround this Chamber with an armed force, and forbid you to go out for meat, drink, candle-light, or tire until you had agreed to his nomine- 1 , would that be a valid confirmation? Would that be an act of ratification which would bind anyone? "Would it bind this body any longer than until the external force was removed? That is entirely too plain for argument. Therefore I say that the coercion which, by the decla- rations of Senators, is to be exerted upon Georgia, whether it be expressed in the bill or omitted from it. is coercion that invalidates all ratifications which have in any substantial or material degree been affettcd by that coercion. Mr. Casserly favored the repeal of the Income Tax. insisting that the tax had outlived its time by at least two years, and that by its repeal the Senate would be doing a good work even if it were the only act of the present session. We present one more extract from the numerous speeches of Mr. Casserly, in which he evinces that, while a firm and consistent Democrat, he is capable of commending what he deems to be good, though the policy of a Republican ad- ministration. In the commencement of his speech on the Indian Appropriation Bill he remarked as- follows: The administration, in the assertion of an undoubted power, has seen fit to inaugurate a new policy in respect to Indian affairs. The distinguishing ele- ment of that policy is that it proposes, by means of a board of benevolent men, empl ying peaceful measure-, to bring the Indian tribes of the plain under the humanizing influences of Christian civilization. Can any object lie more noble? Can any be more honorable to the country '. Looking at it in the lowest, point of view, as a financial question, is any course so likely to turn out advanta- geously '. I- it not worth a trial '! I say with all my heart, Let the new policy be tried. I would no*, place the least obstruction in the way. I would not even speak too strongly of the many discouragements which our experience in the past may well suggest. EEUBEN" E. FEKTOK *yftr EUBEW E - FENTON was born in Carroll, Chautauqua County, New York, July 4, 1819. His father was a na- , , tive of New Hampshire, but the family was of Connecticut origin and furnished its share of soldiers, who did good service during the Revolutionary War. His opportunities for acquiring an education were limited to the common schools, and a few terms in neighboring academies, lie read law one year, not with the view of going into the profession, but for the purpose of obtaining knowledge which would be useful to him in whatever business he might engage. At the age of twenty he entered into mercantile business with limited means at his command, but with an energy and industry which soon made him successful. He soon engaged in the lumber trade as auxiliary to his mercantile pursuits. He was very pros- perous, and in a few years lumbering became his principal busi- ness. So energetically and skillfully did he ply this pursuit that he soon enjoyed the reputation of being the most successful lum- berman on the Alleghany and Ohio rivers. The first office held by Mr. Fenton was the Supervisorship of his native town, to which he was elected in 1S43. He held the office eight years, during three of which he was Chairman of the Board, although the majority were Whigs, while he was a Demo- crat. In 1849 he was a candidate for the Assembly, and came within twenty-one votes of being elected, although the successful candidate was one of the most popular men in the district, which was strongly Whig. In 1852 he was a candidate for Representative in Congress, and was elected by fifty-two majority, although his opponents had counted on carrying the district by at least three thousand ma- jority. He took his seat in a house in which the Democrats out- 223 2 REUBEN E. FENTON. numbered their opponents by about two to one. Just then occurred one of the most memorable events in the legislative history of this country, the proposal by Mr. Douglas of a bill to repeal the Mis- souri Compromise. Mr. Fenton, with Nathaniel P. Banks and others of the younger Democrats, strenuously opposed this proposi- tion, but it passed the House by a vote of 113 to 100, and became a law. A breach was thus made in the Democratic ranks which was never healed. Mr. Fenton, with such conspicuous Democrats as Preston King and George Opdyke, was after that identified with the Republicans. In 1854 Mr. Fenton did not consent to be a candidate for re- election until the Saturday before the election, and the Know Nothings carried his district by a considerable majority against him. In 1856 he was a candidate mi the Fremont ticket and was elected, and was re-elected by large and generally increasing ma- jorities until 1801, when he was nominated for Governor. Mr. Feliton's career of ten years in Congress was marked by much that was useful t<> his constituents and the country. With humane and patriotic care he watched the interests of the soldiers of 1812, and shortly after entering Congress lie introduced a bill providing for the payment of certain just claims due them. He continued to urge this measure upon the attention of Congress, and finally, on the 30th of May, L860, had the satisfaction to witness its passage in the House. He held a prominent place on several leading Committees, and discharged the duties which thus devolved upon him in a most successful manner. He delivered able and effective speeches against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise Act, and in opposition to the policy of the Democratic party with regard to Kansas, and in favor of a cheap postal system, the bill to extend invalid pensions, for the improvement of rivers and harbors, the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and other important subjects. In Congress Mr. Fenton gave his constant and efficient support to the government in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. He voted steadily for taxes, leans, levies, drafts, and for the policy of emancipation. 224 REUBEN E. FENTON. 3 As early as the fall of 1862 Mr. Fenton'a name was favorably mentioned in connection with the office of Governor of New York but upon the presentation of the name of General Wadsworth he promptly withdrew from the canvass, and gave his warmest sup- port to the patriot soldier. Two years later Mr. Fenton received the nomination, and was elected Governor by a majority consider- ably larger than that of Mr. Lincoln in JSTew York. Entering upon his administration as Governor at a most trying period in the progress of the war, Mr. Fenton found exercise for all his industry and ability as an executive officer. He was prompt to reward merit, and skillful to harmonize differences which threat- ened injury to military organizations in the held. His judicious course in the administration of public affairs met with much approval and created strong public confidence. At the close of the first year of his service as Governor, Moses H. Grinned, Peter Cooper, and many other prominent citizens of New York, addressed him a letter of thanks, promising him their hearty co- operation and support in his efforts to meliorate the condition of the metropolis. A few mouths later, when he was in New York, city, he was waited upon in person by thousands of leading citi- zens, who gave him sincere expressions of their warm approbation. The New York Tribune referred to this remarkable demonstration as a proper recognition of official worth and integrity, saving, " This hearty welcome sprang from a generous and enduring remem- brance of the protection afforded to our municipal rights and fran- chises in his judicious exercise of the veto power." His vetoes of various bills which would have deprived the city of valuable fran- chises without compensating advantages proved so acceptable to the Board of Supervisors of New York County that they passed a resolution tendering thanks to the Governor, and congratulating the people of the State "in having an Executive who possesses the vigilance and fearlessness necessary to correct the errors of hasty and imperfect legislation." Mr. Fenton's course as Governor during his first term had been such as to secure for him the unqualified approval of his party. 225 1 REUBEN E. FENTON. He had stimulated volunteering, and had relieved New York from a large portion of the dreaded burden of the draft. He had done much to originate a financial system which rendered the credit of the State secure, and furnished the means to supply the demands of war without being felt as oppressive. He had sought to foster all the material interests of the Commonwealth, and had reluctantly interposed to the defeat of needed enterprises when their aid would render the burden of taxation onerous, and awaited a more favor- able opportunity to join in giving them necessary aid. He was vigilant in his attention to the commercial wants of the State, and promoted its prosperity by every means within his reach as its chief Executive. So successful and popular had been the administration of Gov- ernor Fenton that the Republican State Convention of 1866 re- nominated him by acclamation, and he was elected by a majority of five thousand larger than was given him for his first term. In his messages to the Legislature Governor Fenton advised a reduction of the number of items in the tax lists, and a re-adjust- ment of the assessment laws, in order that every source of wealth might bear its just proportion of burden. He took strong ground in defense of the inviolate maintenance of the national faith. He elocpiently maintained the rights of the freedmen, in consideration of their manhood and loyalty, to protection through law, and to the elective franchise. The claims of Governor Fenton to receive the Republican nom- ination for the Yice-Presidency were strongly urged upon the Chicago Convention of 1868. The Republican State Convention held at Syracuse February 5, 1868, unanimously adopted a resolu- tion that " Reuben E. Fenton is the first choice of the Republican party in this State for the office of Vice-President." Having been elected to the Senate of the United States, Mr. Fenton took his seat in that body on the 1th of March, 1SC9, for the term ending in 1S75. During the Forty-first Congress he served on the Committee on Finance and the Committee on the Pacific Railroad. 226 2 J. W. FLANAGAN. election, in February, 1870, as a Republican, to the United States Senate, taking his seat in that body on the 31st of March following. Mr. Flanagan, though a large slave-holder, always adhered un- flinchingly to the Union, and was one of the ten out of four hun- dred and eighty-five who cast his vote against secession ; and he re- cords with pleasure that a son and a son-in-law were also of the ten. Mr. Flanagan is one of the modest and prudent men of the Senate ; while, at the same time, in his remarks before that body he gives evidence of a large share of independence of thought, as well as of much good sense. One of the most elaborate of his speeches in the Forty-first Congress was that on the abolition of the franking privilege, delivered on the 9th of June, a few weeks after entering the Senate. In this speech he took very decided ground against this bill. lie considered the franking privilege a privilege not only to those who possessed it, but also to their con- stituents, and a public advantage. He admitted its abuse, but contended that the benefits arising from it much overbalanced the evils; and this he endeavored to illustrate by alluding to the infor- mation scattered broadcast over the country by the use of the frank, which he was inclined to elevate to the rank of an educator of the people. He said : If I preferred darkness rather than light, I would vote to abolish the frank- ing privilege. But I am unqualifiedly for education. I want education broad- cast throughout the Union. I want to educate the boys and the little girls. I want to be educated myself. * * * I de-ire to be able at all times to be the instrument to send knowledge and information to the great State of Texas, which I have the honor, in part, to represent. * * * Let information be spread abroad in every sense of the word. Our people are a reading people; and I am all anxiety that they should be enabled to have all the documents that emanate from the Congress of the United States, or anything that may come into the possession of the representatives of the people at large. * * * As a matter of course, bad documents will occasionally get among the people under this privilege; but I am clearly of the opinion that if proper documents had been spread broadcast throughout the South at the proper period previous to the war, the people thereby obtaining proper light on their relations to the Government, the Rebellion would not have gone on as it did. Such were some of the sentiments urged by the Senator, and such may be deemed a specimen of his ordinarv style. 228 ■'/■< ABIJAH GILBERT. ^BIJAH GILBERT is a native of Gilbertsville, Otsego County, New York. He was the eldest of a family of eighteen children born to a father who was a man of remarkable energy, great force of character, and rare integrity, lie was a strict Presbyterian, and reared his family in accordance with his high notions of Christian precept and practice. The duty of implicit obedience was early learned by every member of his numerous household. So carefully did they heed the maxims of a wise lather that all of them who lived to maturity became wealthy and influential citizens. Mr. Gilbert entered Hamilton College as a student; but applica- tion to study developed symptoms of consumption, and he was compelled to abandon his plans for literary and professional pur- suits. He then went into a store as clerk, and, finding the employ- ment conducive to his health, he entered with much energy and ability into mercantile pursuits. He greatly extended his opera- tions, with head -quarters in New York city, and branch establish- ments in various parts of the country. He was very prosperous in his commercial undertakings, and while yet in middle life had secured an ample fortune. At this point, such is the spirit of the age, most men would have increased their efforts, and labored with greater zeal to swell their already more than sufficient fortunes; but Mr. Gilbert had other and higher aims. He wisely determined to enjoy his wealth, by making it of service to hiixself and his fellow-men. He retired from active business pursuits, expecting to find some better way of employing his time and money than simply in amassing more. Opportunities were not long wanting. The climate of New York being unfavorable to the health of his family, Mr. Gilbert deter- mined to settle in Florida. He purchased a handsome place near 229 2 ABIJAH GILBERT. the ancient city of St. Augustine, the beauties of which he de- veloped by a judicious outlay of money and the exercise of a culti- vated taste. But it was not destined that he should spend his time in devotion to rural pleasures and pursuits. Citizenship in Florida, in its transition state, brought with it new duties and responsibilities. In early life Mr. Gilbert had been a Whig, but after the demise of the old party which had so long claimed his fealty he became an ardent Republican. The cares of business, however, had pre- vented him from actively participating in politics, and in the North there were so many competent as well as willing to do political work ami hold the offices that Mr. Gilbert had gladly stood aloof. In Florida, however, affairs wire different. A large portion of the population had just been released from a slavery which had left them poor both in money ami in intellectual resources. With un- exampled magnanimity the Government had come out of the war leaving its enemies rich, and its friends in the South abjectly poor. A political campaign came on in Florida involving the whole question of Reconstruction and the future well-being of the State; but the party friendly to the Government had no money to prose- cute a canvass, and take the first step- necessary to a successful issue. At this juncture Mr. Gilbert, without even visiting the Capital or making the acquaintance of politicians, nearly all the candidates being unknown to him, quietly furnished the money necessary to conduct the canvass. Speakers went to all parts of the State at his expense, the newly enfranchised people were enlight- ened as to their rights and duties, and t lie State by a large majority was carried for the Republicans. Mr. Gilbert refused to -hare any of the honors or emoluments resulting from the victory. The Republican Legislature would gladly have elected him to a seat in the United States Senate on the readmission of the State, but he declined the honor. The service of Senator Welch, who drew the short term, expiring March 4, 1869, Mr. Gilbert was prevailed upon to allow his name to be used for the succession, and he was elected by more than a full party vote for the Senatorial term ending March 3, 1S75. 230 WILLIAM T. HAMILTON. iTLLIAM T. HAMILTON was born in Washington County, Maryland, September 8, 1S20. His parents died when lie was quite young, and he was adopted by his maternal uncles, three of the oldest citizens of Hagerstown. His education, commenced in the common schools, and continued at the Haters- town Academy, was completed at Jefferson College, Cannonsbunj, Pennsylvania. Upon his return to Hagerstown he studied law under Hon. John Thompson Mason, and was admitted to the bar of Washington County in 1845. He devoted himself with energy to his profession, in which he rose to a proud and flattering eminence. " In a pro- fessional point of view," says a leading journal, " he is one of the ablest and most successful lawyers in Maryland, and his social standing is high and unsullied." In politics from the first he was a Democrat, and as such was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1846, after a close and exciting contest. In 1847 he was again nominated on the Democratic ticket for the same position, and although be was largely ahead of his ticket, was defeated— the Whigs having that year car- ried the county. In the Presidential contest of 1848 he was a candidate for Presidential elector on the Cass ticket. In 1849 he received from the Democratic party his first nomination to Con- gress, and was elected in a close and very animated contest, although the district had the year before given a large majority for General Taylor. The absorbing issue of the day in the district was the tariff. Mr. Hamilton advocated the Democratic principle of duties for revenue, and was elected upon that issue. During his first term in Congress Mr. Hamilton gave a steady 231 2 WILLIAM T. HAMILTON. support to the compromise measures of 1850, introduced by Mr. Clay. In 1851 he was re-elected to Congress for his second term. In 1853 Mr. Hamilton desired to withdraw from public life, and declined to be a candidate, but at the urgent instance of prominent gentlemen throughout the Congressional district, he was for the third time nominated by the regular Democracy, and was again elected over the Hon. Francis Thomas, who ran as an independent candidate against him. This was the most exciting political con- test ever waged in the district, and Mr. Hamilton was elected by upward of one thousand majority; In Congress he gave consist- ent and able support to the administration of President Pierce, and served faithfully and creditably upon several important commit- tees. In 1855 he was again nominated for Representative in Con- gress, but was this time defeated. From that time to the adoption of the present Constitution of Maryland he persistently declined all nominations for office — refusing to be a candidate for Governor in 1861, although urgently solicited by his party friends. His long and honorable prominence in State and national poli- tics singled him out as the candidate of his party for the United States Senate, and he was elected to that body, in which he took his seat March 4, 1869, for the term ending in 1875. He was as- signed to service on the Committes on Patents, Public Buildings and Grounds, and Mines and Mining. Although not a frequent speaker, he is one of the most earnest and effective debaters on the Democratic side of the Senate. He goes straight to his purpose, without indirection. Although exceedingly sober in his demeanor, he sometimes uses terms which give a glow of humor to the dry routine of Senatorial debate. His opposition to the measures of the Republican majority is marked by a frankness which is char- acteristic of reasonable and generous antagonism. 232 ^/ JOHN F. LEWIS. « 'Sjj**OHN F. LEWIS was born near Port Republic, in the (fj| County of Rockingham, Va., March 1, 1818. His name '; V } and lineage are of Revolutionary fame. His paternal great grandfather, Thomas Lewis, was the elder brother of An- drew Lewis, whose imposing statue is among the group, with Henry, and Jefferson, and' Mason, around the "Washington monu- ment in Richmond, Va., and whose name is the synonym of all that is noble and chivalric in human character. His maternal great grandfather (his father and mother being cousins) was that Charles Lewis who is so frequently mentioned in Virginia history for his daring in the Indian warfare of that early period, and who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant. His bloody clothes, brought by a soldier, conveyed the first news his wife had of his death. His father, General Samuel H. Lewis, was, during his whole mature life, a prominent citizen of Virginia, profoundly respected by men of all parties, and whose sterling moral and religious char- acter made him the beloved friend of Bishops Meade and Cobbs. The old veteran, while exceedingly genial among his especial friends, was a man remarkable for his strict religious observances, for his stern deportment in the presence of frivolity, particularly if it savored of irreligion, and for his iron will and irreproachable integrity as a public officer ; yet in his latter days he was as tender as a woman in the manifestation of his religious feelings and con- victions, and always wept when speaking of his two devoted friends, Bishop Meade and Bishop Cobbs. The name of General Samuel H. Lewis is dear to the Church in Virginia, in whose councils he was so long a ruling spirit. His son, the subject of this sketch, is heir to many of his traits 233 o JOHN F. LEWIS. of character. John F. Lewis while a boy was noted for his reck- less bravery, his impulsive denunciation of wrong, and his utter disregard of public opinion when he conceived it to be in error. These traits of character, belonging essentially to the Lewis family, coupled with his old anti-democratic proclivities and principles, brought him to the position he now occupies with such unmistakable advantage to his State, and with such genuine honesty of purpose. Born to a farmer's life, and living in the very stronghold of democracy, the famous " tenth legion," as it is still called in Vir- ginia, he of course saw but little of public life until iu 1861 he was elected to the Convention which attempted to withdraw Virginia from the Union. His county, although democratic, was opposed to its party leaders on this point ; it was thoroughly Union in sen- timent, and elected John F. Lewis for his known character and principles. His county, however, during the sitting of the Conven- tion, changed. Pleaded with and inflamed by a hundred stump speakers, it was persuaded to instruct its delegates in the Conven- tion to vote for secession ; but John F. Lewis, like a rock in the midst of the furious waves, was immovable. He sent back word to his constituents that " they had elected him as a Union man — they had sent him there to vote against secession — and while some assassins might kill him, there was no power on earth that could make him vote for that ordinance ;" and he never did. None but those -who were present at the time can realize the intense excitement that agitated Richmond for the six or seven days before the ordinance of secession was passed. Another con- vention had been secretly called, and had assembled there, com- posed of the most prominent men in Eastern Virginia, and for the avowed deliberate and determined purpose of raising the war flag should the Constitutional Convention fail to pass the ordinance. It assembled daily, and was a standing threat to the Unionists to drive them from the capital and inaugurate civil war. Many of the best and staunchest Union men gave way to the pressure, and signed the ordinance. Samuel M'Dowel More was burned in effigy ; Jubal A. Early was threatened with mob law ; 234 JOHN F. LEWIS. o jet More and Early, fearing the results, yielded to the overwhelm- ing excitement. Carlile and Willey fled from the city, and John F. Lewis was left — not to stem the torrent, for no one man could have done that, but to remain at his post and be true to the last. A hundred times that ordinance was thrust in his face, and the demand made upon him to sign it ; but he invariably replied, " 1 will die first." He stood by when his colleague, Colonel Gray, after long per- suasion and many threats, was writing his name to it, and, grinding his teeth in anger, he exclaimed, "Never mind, Colonel, you need not be so particular about writing your name, for the time is com- ing when you will wish it blotted out ! " A prominent seces- sionist, who was standing by and holding the paper for Colonel Gray to sign, angrily replied, " Lewis, I expect to see you hanged yet ! " " And I," retorted the indomitable Unionist, " and I ex- pect to see the time when all such traitors as you are will be hanged ! " That he was not killed seemed almost a miracle. When the deed was done, and the last hope of saving his State was gone, he returned to his home, and during the whole war was an outspoken opponent of the Confederacy, and a warm and ardent friend to the American Union. His truth, his integrity, his hon- esty of purpose were so well known and so well appreciated that they seemed to be a shield to his open and often reckless Union utterances; and while others were imprisoned or shot down on the roadside, he was spared, and spared to save his State from the in- ternal strife which to-day retards the happiness and prosperity of many of the more Southern States. In 1S69 he was elected Lieu- tenant Governor on the ticket with Gilbert C. Walker, both gen- tlemen running as Republicans, and in November of that year he was elected to the United States Senate. Mr. Lewis married the youngest daughter of the great Virginia representative, Daniel Sheffy, and in their beautiful home on the banks of the Shenandoah, surrounded by their sons and daugh- ters, they constitute one of the most hospitable families in " Old Virginia." 235 ± JOHN F. LEWIS. Ill the Senate, though little given to speech making, Mr. Lewis is a most active and efficient member. After serving as a member of several important committees, he was, at the organization of the Senate for the Forty-third Congress, made Chairman of the Com- mittee on the District of Columbia. In the early part of 1872 he introduced a bill in the Senate, which afterward became a law, saving to the bankrupt of Virginia and several other Southern States $2,000 and upward. The Court of Appeals of Virginia and Hon. Alexander Rives, United States District Judge, declared it unconstitutional. At the commence- ment of the third session of the Forty-second Congress, a bill passed the House declaratory of Lewis's bill of 1ST2. When the bill was sent to the Senate. Senator Lewis labored incessantly until he se- cured a favorable report from the Judiciary Committee, and the passage of the bill. Senator Pool, a member of the Judiciary Committee, in a recently published letter, thus refers to the in- fluence by which the bill became a law: "Senator Lewis was far more zealous and active in the matter than any other Senator. Always earnest and persistent, especially in whatever pertains to the interest of the people in his own State, he was pre-eminently so in this matter. I have never known a Senator to urge any measure more strenuously ami earnestly than he did this, not only while pending in the Senate, but during the time the approval of the President was in doubt. Certainly no one deserves more credit than he does for the success of the measure after it left the House of Representatives. I take no part in any contest for credit in securing the passage of this measure, so humane and beneficent to our people in the Southern States. I think it was advocated by every Senator and Representative from the South ; but Senator Lewis and the Representatives from Virginia pressed it with espe- cial earnestness and activity." With sterling common sense, great industry, and unbending in- tegrity, Mr. Lewis has rendered service in the Senate which is as useful to his State and country as it is honorable to himself. 236 A A f: t-oaa)- DANIEL D. PRATT. JANIEL D. PRATT was born in Palermo, Maine, October 20, 1813. His father emigrated to central New York when the subject of this sketch was but a year old. The son of a country physician, he was raised on a farm, and inured to the hardy pursuits of country life. He graduated at Hamilton College in 1S31, and in the year following removed to Indiana. He first applied himself to school-teachiug in Lawrence- burgh, and was subsequenjjy for a few months Principal of a seminary in Rising Sun. Having engaged in the occupation of teacher to obtain the means of prosecuting the study of the law, at the end of a year lie resigned his position, to the great regret of both patrons and pupils, and went to Indianapolis, where he entered the law office of Calvin Fletcher. When his school earn- ings were expended he supported himself by odd jobs of writing during the legislative sessions, assisting in the office of the Secre- tary of State. He was subsequently appointed Quartermaster- General by Governor Noble, with a salary of fifty dollars a year. In March, 1836, he removed to Logansport, where he has since resided. At that time this was a village of about eight hundred inhabitants, affording but little business for lawyers. Mr. Pratt's earnings for the first year amounted to but three or four hundred dollars; but his business increased by degrees, and, journeying on horseback from one county to another during the sessions of Court, he practiced law through most of the northern half of the State. He devoted himself closely to his profession, and was soon regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in the State. Mr. Pratt was a Whig during the lifetime of that party, and took a deep interest in its success. He was always ready to 237 2 DANIEL D. PRATT. advocate its cause or speak in its defense, but rather declined than sought its honors. Devoted to his profession, he had very little aspiration for political preferment ; but in 1847, having been nominated for Congress by his party, he canvassed a district embracing nearly all the State lying north of rhe Wabash River, but was defeated by about four hundred majority. The next year, being a candidate for Presidential Elector, he canvassed the same district with Dr. Fitch, afterward United States Senator. In 1856 he was again a candidate for Elector, and made a canvass in the interest of the Fremont ticket. Mr. Pratt was several times a member of the State Legislature, accepting the position not from any desire to occupy political place, but at the instance of personal friends of all parties who desired the enactment of good laws, and knew that he was well qualified for such a duty. The Whig, and afterward the Repub- lican, party would have given him the nomination for Governor on more than one occasion, bul he always discouraged any move- ment in that direction. lie was elected a Representative to the Forty-first Congress by a majority of 2,287, hut before taking his seat was elected by the Legislature of Indiana to the United States Senate as a Repub- lican, to succeed Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, Democrat, for the term of six years ending March •">, 1S75. Taking his seat in the Senate at the opening of the Forty-first Congress, Mr. Pratt was appointed a member of the Committee on Pensions and the Committee on Claims. To his Committee work he applied himself with the same assiduity which had marked his application to his profession. During the second and third sessions of the Forty-first Congress he made no less than seventy-two re- ports from his Committees, which were ordered by the Senate to be printed. lie made able and elaborate speeches on Admiralty Jurisdiction, on the Payment of War Losses, and on the Rights of the Settlers on the Public Lands. This latter speech, though brief, was replete with legal and historical learning pertaining to the important subject. 238 DANIEL D. PRATT. 3 Iii the last mentioned speech Mr. Pratt illustrated a point under consideration by the following reference to his own State : " You know, sir, that she is the smallest of the States admitted into the Union under the Federal Constitution, except Vermont. Y.m know that she was not admitted into the family of States until 1816; that her political age is less than that of many Senators upon this floor. It was my fortune to settle in that State in an early day, and in that part of it where the public surveys had but recently been extended. Indeed, the Indian title to large bodies of land was extinguished in my neighborhood after I took up my residence there. I know, therefore, from experience the kind of men who first aecpiire a foothold in a new country. I know their enterprise and their hardships. I know their wealth of muscle, of strength, and courage, and hope. It is almost their only wealth. " I have witnessed the laying of the foundations of society. I have seen great and wealthy communities grow up from the rude beginnings of the pioneer settlers; and I know, bit, that there is no class of men more deserving the fostering care of the Govern- ment than these." Mr. Pratt also spoke at length on the Ku-Klux outrages in the South, and the Constitutional power of Congress to extend protec- tion to oppressed Union men there. He gave a graphic picture of the causes which led to the disordered state of the South, and a startling review of the evidence which proved the prevalence of Ku-Klux organizations, and the atrocity of their crimes in all the recently rebellious States. As a remedy he was in favor of making "the property holders, the men of means, who live in the localities where these outrages occur, responsible for them to the sufferers or their survivors; in other words, to hold their estates liable for the loss of life and property through the operations of this Ku-Kluk order." On the 9th of May, 1S72, Mr. Pratt addressed the Senate in favor of the Amnesty bill, not in a spirit of charity or as an act of pistice, but as a "measure of expediency, demanded at this time by wise statesmanship." One of his ablest and most elaborate speeches 239 4 DANIEL D. PRATT. was delivered on the 17th of May, 1S72, in favor of an act to con- tinue in the President of the United States the power of suspending the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus to the end of the next session of Congress. None of the speeches called forth by this and kindred subjects abound in stronger statement of facts or more powerful arguments. lie declared that no one had been hurt by the denial of this writ of habeas corpus except the criminal men whom the courts had been able to punish by reason of its suspen- sion. His broad and practical statesmanship, rising above the narrow view of the mere technical lawyer, appears most distinctly in the closing sentiment: "We shall never do violence to this sacred instrument, while in the future, as in the past, we legislate to secure to all, and everywhere, the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Mr. Pratt's speech of March 2, Is7i>, in favor of releasing to the State of [ndiana certain reclaimed lands, was a masterly argument upon the question where the proprietary interest and municipal jurisdiction reside, in the case of the beds of our lakes and rivers which have been reclaimed after the lands on their banks and margins have been sold. This speech, which was successful in se- curing the object -ought, was but one of many instances to show his watchfulness over tin- interests of his State. In personal appearance Mi-. Pratt is remarkable, his physical proportions approaching the gigantic. His mind and heart are in just and full proportion with his body. Having devoted many years to the successful pursuit of his profession, his tastes run in that direction rather than in the line of politics. It is with him a matter of principle faithfully to discharge every duty. There is not a man in public life who is more industrious and who daily devotes more hours to official duties. In moral character he is without a stain, and in all respects is worthy to be mentioned among the best statesmen of our day. 240 i /l I I I J CAEL SCHURZ. tjTi^K?^ SCHUEZ was born at Liblar, a village near Cologne, X^Jj on the Rhine, where his father was teacher, on the 2d of l 7y&ji March, 1S29. After having finished the preliminary course of studies prescribed by the laws of Prussia, he entered the University of Bonn. His studies were soon inter- rupted by the outbreak of the revolution of 1848. The political state of Germany at that time was unsatisfactory in a high degree. The public mind universally demanded constitutional liberty and the unity of the country. The contest for these priceless blessings was going on in Germain' when the French Eevolution made chaos of continental Western Europe, which promised to be followed by the day of liberty and unity. No wonder that the German youth supported these movements with all the enthusiasm and ardor peculiar to that stage of life. Schurz soon joined the circle of devoted friends of liberty which collected around Professor Kinkel of Bonn, one of the best known poets of his day. " Unity and liberty " was the watchword of the great mass of the people ; the form under which both might be secured best was subject to controversy, and dependent in a large measure on the course of events. This course proved little satis- factory in Germany. The Constitutional Assembly of Germany had at last finished a constitution for the country when the great pow- ers of Germany and some of the small ones turned against it. At this critical moment Southwestern Germany rose in arms for the new Constitution, which alone seemed to promise the achievement of liberty and unity. Supporters from other parts of Germany joined the movement, among them Kinkel and Schurz. The latter entered the army, took part in some engagements, and was taken 241 2 CARL SCIIURZ. prisoner at Rastadt, together with his teacher, Kinkel. He, how- ever, found means to escape from the fortress, while his beloved teacher was condemned to death, and afterward pardoned to im- prisonment for life. Schurz, an exile in Switzerland, determined to liberate his friend, who at that time was kept at a prison near Berlin. With great danger to himself he went to Berlin and ac- complished the difficult task. In November, 1850, he landed safely with Kinkel in England. At that time his name became first known in Germany. Schurz remained after that several years in England, a careful observer and diligent student of political life and science. Seeing no good prospects for the realization of his political ideas in Europe lie determined to emigrate to America, where he arrived in 1852. That year saw the memorable campaign in which the Whigs, under General Scott, were so utterly routed that the party broke up entirely. The succeeding abolition of the Missouri Compromise put an end to the truce which for more than thirty years had kept at peace the discordant elements of the Union. The formation of the Republican party was the result, coming out of the seething chaldron at that time. To the enthusiastic heart and the keen observation of Schurz it was equally clear which party he had to join. Thus we find him an ardent Republican from the start. From Philadelphia, where he had lived the first years after his arrival in America, he had gone to Watertown, Wisconsin, and settled there with his family on a farm, all the time, however, studying politics and the English language. The defeat of the Republican party in 1856 had nothing dis- couraging in it, and the organization went on with great zeal and vigor. Mr. Schurz at that time had mastered the English lan- guage to such a degree that he could undertake to speak publicly in English. The power of his logical argumentation and the artistic finish of his speeches arrested public attention at once. He immediately counted among the most prominent speakers of the Republican party. He ran as Lieutenant-Governor on the Republican ticket in 1859, and when defeated there he became 242 CARL SCHURZ. 3 clerk of the Legislature. In I860 he was a member of the Nom- inating Convention at Chicago, exerting his influence for the nom- ination of Mr. Seward. The convention, in recognition of his tal- ents and services, made him a member of the National Republican Committee. Thus he was enabled to exert great influence in the election of Mr. Lincoln, and to be instrumental in shaping public opinion and preparing it for the great trial which was in store for the nation. When the Rebellion broke out Schurz offered to enter the army and to fight as a soldier for those principles of liberty and union of which he had shown himself such an able champion on the tribune. Mr. Lincoln chose to send him as Minister to Spain. The defeat of the national arms did not permit him to stay quietly at Madrid and to enjoy there the leisure and emoluments of his position. In midwinter he crossed the ocean to offer again his services as a soldier for the Union. Mr. Lincoln acceded to his wishes, and made him a Brigadier-General of volunteers. He participated as such in the battles which the Army of the Potomac fought in 1862. The next year he was made Major-General, and fought at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg!]. In the succeeding year he served with his troops in the Southwest. After his return to America Mr. Schurz was on terms of inti- macy and friendship with Mr. Lincoln, which position he consci- entiously used for promoting the best interests of the country. The abolition of slavery as a war measure was a foregone conclu- sion with Mr. Schurz when he returned from Europe, and he im- proved every opportunity to convince Mr. Lincoln of this. In an address in the Cooper Institute in New York he forcibly spoke to the same purpose. In 1864 he took an active part in the cam- paign for the re-election of Mr. Lincoln. When peace came in 1865 he was sent by President Johnson to investigate and report on the state of the South. When the able report was ready the mind of the President had undergone such a change that it was received by him in a very different mood from that in which it had been ordered. In the important winter of 1865-66 Mr. Schurz was the chief 243 -t CARLSCnURZ. correspondent of the "New York Tribune'' in Washington, and as such aided in fixing the public opinion of the North in respect to Johnson's administration. In the spring of 1866 he became chief editor of a new Repub- lican paper in Detroit, Michigan ; but after a short time exchanged tin's position for that of one of the proprietors and editors of the leading German Republican paper of Missouri, the " Westliche Post" of St. Louis. Missouri, by her geographical position and her history, is one of those States of the South which had to be reclaimed first for a new life. Mr. Schurz in going there meant to assist in this work of national importance. In the fall of 1868 the Legislature of Missouri elected him a Senator in Congress. He entered the Senate on the 4th of March, 1869. Always earnest in his political convictions, he has stood up for them and worked for them in the new arena open for him with the greatest industry and with entire independence. His endeav- ors for civil service reform and for amnesty for the South are well known to the country by the speeches he made on them. He was appointed a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and as such took a conspicuous part in opposing the an- nexation of Dominica. In opposition to this scheme he delivered, on the 28th and 29th of March, 1871, a very elaborate speech, which was heard by a great concourse of visitors, and received at its close the unfrequent and disallowed compliment of "applause in the galleries." On the 20th of September, 1871, Mr. Schurz made a speech in the capitol at Nashville, in which he pronounced in favor of uni- versal amnesty, and recommended the organization of an independ- ent party in opposition to Grant's renomination. This speech created a profound impression in political circles. The most sig- nificant incident connected with it was a letter formally addressed to Mr. Schurz, signed by several hundred Confederate soldiers', em- bracing every grade and rank from privates and non-commissioned 244 CARL SCIIURZ. 5 officers up to major-generals. They expressed their admiration for the "patriotic address," their faith in the republic, their respect for the flag, and their wish to ally themselves with any party that would he animated by the spirit of toleration and a broad patriot- ism not bounded by State lines. Mr. Schurz replied in an eloquent letter, in which he said that spontaneous expression of such senti- ments as their letter contained might " well be called an event of great significance in the history of our days." lie soon followed this advocacy of amnesty on the stump by a powerful speech in the Senate, advocating the removal of political disabilities. A resolution having been introduced by Mr. Sumner providing for an investigation into the sale of arms to French agents durin" the war between France and Germany, Mr. Schurz supported it in two speeches, delivered February 20 and February 27^1872. He was requested by the committee appointed under tin's resolution to be present during the investigation, and after the presentation of their report he made another elaborate speech, 'May 31,) in which he said " he would not with Mr. Sumner call it 'a whitewashing report, 5 for," said he, " all the colors of the rainbow are heaped so thick and heavy in this document upon truth and reason that the whole subject in question disappears under the monstrous accumu- lation of paint." The course pursued by Mr. Schurz in the Senate led to an open breach with the Republican Administration. lie took sides with the Liberal Republicans, and ably advocated the election of Ho Greeley in numerous speeches on the stump, in nearly all parts of the country. The first of this series of speeches was delivered in St. Louis, July 22. 1S72, in which he gave an impressive picture of the evils of personal government, and a review of the failures, blun- ders, and crimes of the Administration. The campaign was characterized by much personal bitterne especially against such prominent Republicans as joined in the Lib- eral movement. Mr. Schurz was a most 3onspicnous mark. The New York Times contained a long and labored article full of charg a against him, to which he replied in the Senate, lie closed 1 \ say- 24."» 6 CARLS C HUEZ. ing: "If attacks should come as thick as locusts, they will uot frighten me away from that course which I conscientiously believe to be the course of honor, truth, right, and duty." The element of resistance is strong in Mr. Sehurz. He takes to revolution as the most legitimate form of intellectual activity. He is a laborious student, and has a high appreciation of culture wher- ever seen. He many years ago conceived a high admiration for the scholarship of Charles Sumner, ami has been his steadfast friend in the Senati — the two evidently having a great mutual influence upon one another. Hi- wife, who is daughter of a Hamburg banker, is one of the finest specimens of German womeu in America. She met Sehurz in London when he-was a poor exile there, living uj remittances from home ami from lence with German journals, and sympathized with liim and loved him. She is a dark-haired, dark- eyed woman, of mild and pleasant countenance. Both arc strong in their attachment to the German manner and German country. They prefer to give their children a German education. Mi-. Sehurz is a man of great boldness of character, backed by the finest talents. He is not without humor, hut it is of the grim, severe quality chiefly exercised in satire. As an orator ho is grave and i latic. [n the S lie is unequaled in direct, pointed attack, and in skillful, graceful vel Ho displays as much familiarity with our language and history as with those ^\' Ger- many and France. I!,- is in the prime of vigorous life. In person ho is tall, round- shouldered, spare, and graceful. He lias a muscular, active, and vital frame; all his movements are quick' and vigorous. His face, which i- long in the nose and jaw. is rather Mephistophelean in expression. His hair is of a brownish auburn, his heard is blonde, and his eves a strong gray, lie ha- reached the highest position attainable in the United State- by a citizen of foreign birth. His career, so versatile and so adventurous, is among the most remark- able in this country of stirring live- and startling successes. 246 ^i/^^\ JOHX SCOTT. ^'S^OHN SCOTT was born in Alexandria, Huntingdon Coun- ,('\?k t . v - Pennsylvania, July 14, 1824. His ancestry on both -i!>. He was assigned to the Committees on Claims Pacific Railroad.-, and Naval Affairs. Hi- senatorial record allows him to he an attentive, industrious, and able member of that body. In the last session of this Con- gress he was appointed Chairman of the Select Committee to investigate the alleged outrages in the Southern States. lie first spoke in the Senate upon the bill to repeal the " Tenure-of-Office Act. -1 He has since spoken in review of Commissioner Wells's Report; upon the admission of Virginia to representation; upon the eligibility of Mr. Revels and General Ames to seats in the Sen- ate ; upon the Funding Bill ; in advocacy of the repeal of the Income Tax, and upon other subjects. His speeches are generally brief, sensible, and without attempt at ornament. 248 J O II N SCOT T. 3 Mr. Scott opposed the repeal of the Civil Tenure Act : " We have," said he, " tins principle given to us now, a most valu- able principle in the administration of this Government, which prevents the President from exerting a power which in the hands of a bad man, with the immense patronage at his command, would be the absolute control of all the offices. Shall we surrender it ? I say no. Incorporate it in whatever legislation you may have, and that principle is of more importance to us for the future of this country than any mere question of temporary convenience about men either getting into office or getting out of office." One of Mr. Scott's best speeches on the floor of the Senate was bis Memorial Address on the life and character of his friend, Hon. John Covode, (Representative from the Twelfth Congres- sional District of Pennsylvania,) delivered February 10, l s 71. Referring to the traits of character, public and private, which dis- tinguished the deceased, he said : He was not a man of learning; he was a man of intellect. It was not tliat cultivated intellect which often leads men to be mere thinkers, whose thoughts end in dreams and are sometimes afterward caught up and made practical In the earnest workers of the world. His was that busy, practical brain which made him a man of action, a type of the untiring working men who are making their mark upon this active century, who study their fellow-men more than books, and who are indispensable to the earnest thinkers of the ai thinkers and earnest workers need each other. Earnest thought is earnest work in one sense, but not in all senses. The earnest thought of the com- mander who plans a campaign or maps out a battle-field may be earnest work for him; but it is not that kind of earnest work which carries forts and routs opposing armies. The men who do this kind of earnest work should li\e in history, as well as those who plan it and direct it to be done. I saw recently a huge painting of the battle of Gettysburg, ordered by the Stale of Pennsylvania. It represents the pinch of the fight- — the repulse of Pickett's charge. Its central figure is a private Union soldier — tall, muscul r. with all the energy of determined action apparent in every feature and in every limb — with a musket clenched frantically in his hands, and drawn to strike an assailant. He seems to lie the teal leader of all who are behind him. The commanding generals are in the dim distance. I thought, as I looked upon it, that the men of action are, in our day, coming to the front. ... If a man's life has not impressed his fellow-men his funeral will not. But his funeral may tell how his life has impressed them; and, standing there, no man could doubt the sincerity of tiie sorrow which his death had occasioned among those who knew him best. A bad man could not be so mourned. 249 4 JOHN SCOTT. Having introduced an amendment putting tea and coffee on the tree list, Mr. Scott, in advocating this measure on the 15th of March, 1872, made a most able am! exhaustive speech on tin- Tariff, lie presented the argument in favor of protection to home manufactures with an elaborate array of facts ami figures. Having been placed in a position where the operation of the disqualifications of the Fourteenth Amendment were forced upou his attention, he gave it as his opinion, in a speech before the Senate, December 20, 1871, that it would be the part of wisdom to remove these disabilities. One of Mr. Scott's most distinguishing labors in the Senate was his voluminous report — the result of much labor — on the alleged outrages in the South. On the 17th of May, 1872, lie delivered an able am! extended speech, based on thi> report, advocating the ex- tension of the Ku-Klux Act. " Others," said lie in closing, "may hesitate upon tin- subject, I cannot. Government was instituted to protect it> citizens, and we shall be derelict to our duty if we permit the more than four millions of citizens in the South, against whom this conspiracy has been formed, to be subject for a day to great calamities, and subject to them at a time, too, when the stron.: es will be operating for the infliction of just such outrages a- those I have described." In the Senate Mr. Scott has full} tilled the prediction made by the Pittsburg at the time of his election : "Beinga lawyer eat depth and acute discernment, it may naturally be suppo I that lie will soon take a trout rank with the' foremost in (Jon. particularly in questions involving international law, and the interest and protection of home manufactures, a subject in which lie is well informed, and entertains broad and favorable views." In private life he has been an active and leading spirit in all the prominent enterprises of his neighborhood. lie was an original member of the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad, gave freely of his means, and labored assiduously for the success of the enter- prise, and has lived to see his labors crowned with success. 250 JOHN P. STOCKTON. 1 '-■. jl 'OlIX P. STOCKTON was born in Princeton, New Jer- sey, August '2, 1826. His ancestors were distinguished in ^ the history of the country. His great-grandfather was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His grandfather and his father preceded him in the Senate of the United States, the latter having previously won distinction as an officer in the navy. The subject of this sketch graduated at Princeton College in 1843. He studied law, was licensed to practice in 1846, and came to the bar in 1849. lie was appointed by the Legislature of New Jersey a commissioner to revise the laws of the State. He was subsequently for several years Reporter to the Court of Chancery, and published three volumes of equity reports which bear his name. He was appointed by President Buchanan Minister Resi- dent To Rome, and was recalled at his own request in 1861. He then devoted himself to his profession until 1SG5, when he was elected a United States Senator from New Jersey. After he had held this position for more than a year his election was declared by the Senate to have been informal, and he was unseated. He was subsequently again elected to the Senate as a Democrat to sui Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, and took his scat March 4, 1869. He was assigned to the Committees on Appropriations, Naval Affairs, and Ventilation. Among the early speeches of Mr. Stockton was a brief address against the bill authorizing Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas to submit their Constitutions to a vote of the people, amended by the requirement to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, and he insisted 251 2 JOHN P. STOCKTON. that by such an enforced ratification that amendment could never become a part of the Constitution of the country. Of the same tenor was his speech pending the bill to promote the reconstruction of Georgia. In his remarks upon the bill for enforcing the Fifteenth Amend- ment he discountenanced that measure as unnecessary, and argued that the amendment would enforce itself— that every good citizen would see to its enforcement. At the same time, while he thought it would be wise to pass no act, he would raise no opposition to a fair bill for the purpose specified. In connection with the consideration of the Legislative Appro- priation liill came the following interesting remarks from Mr. Stockton touching the national capital : The Senator from California complains that there is not a public square in this city except one which U creditable to show to anj stranger, and in saying that la- says but the truth ; but why is this so ? It is because gentlemen come here, as ho does now, and resist appropriations which are necessary to improve these grounds and make available the large sums already invested. The city of Washington now contains many magnificent buildings which will compare with the buildings in many of the "Id capitals of Europe, and it wants nothing in the world but a little proper investment of money at the present time to become an ornament to this country, a city of which we may be proud. We want the streets properly paved. We want this investmenl not for mere pleasure grounds to recreate in. as has been said in this debate, but for the health ot the people; and in addition t i that, in order that all the people of the country may feel thai proper pride in the capital of the country that they ought to feel. Gentlemen make themselves prophets, and predict in a solemn way that this capital must be moved. I know there are men whose policy and whose polities and wdiose statesmanship consist in moving landmarks. I trust that the Senator from California will not join that party. There is no bh-sing pro- nounced on those who move landmarks. I believe in holding on to all the landmarks that our fathers have made, and one of the most sacred of those is the place where they located this capital. . . . Mr. President, I wish that not only the members of the Legislatures who have passed resolutions in favor of moving the capital, but all the agitators of this movement, could stand on the heights of Arlington and watch the setting sun reflected from the dome of our Capitol. Let them turn their faces to Mecca when they worship; let them not forget Jerusalem, although they wander in stranoe lands. Let not strength ami manhood Paget the parent that cherished its infancy, but rather let all unite in a permanent determination that at least this old landmark shall not be removed. ALLEX G. THUEMAK j. -LLEN G. THURMAN was horn in Lynchburg, Virginia, November 13, 1S13. His paternal ancestors for two liun- v^Tf 3 dred years were citizens of Virginia, he being of the sixtli generation of his family born in the " Old Dominion." His paternal grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution, serving during the war. His mother was daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Allen, of North Carolina, nephew and adopted son of Joseph Hewes, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who, as Chairman of the Naval Committee during the first years of the Revolution, performed the duties which have since devolved on the Secretary of the Navy. In 1819 Mr. Thurman removed to Ohio, where he obtained an academic education. He studied law with Senator "William Allen and Judge Swayne, now a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was admitted to the bar in 1835, and entered at once into a large and successful practice. He immediately took high rank at the bar, where he was brought into competition with lawyers of such ability as Henry Stanbery, Thomas Ewing, and Judge Hunter. Mr. Thurman never sought, but rather avoided, office. His first office, that of Representative in the Twenty-ninth Congress, was thrust upon him, much against his inclination. He had declined to be a candidate, but when absent from the State he was nomi- nated, and was elected by nearly four hundred majority in a district which had in the previous canvass elected the Whig candidate by a majority almost as large. In the Twenty-ninth Congress Mr. Thurman was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and took an active part in the proceedings, participating prominently in the 2-33 2 ALLEN G. THURMAN. debates of the House. lie made effective speeches on the Mexi- can War and the Oregon Question, the subjects of overshadowing importance in that day. Mr. Thurman declined a re-election, and, at the close of a single term in Congress, returned to the practice of his profession. In the first election under the new Constitution of Ohio in 1S51 Mr. Thurman was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, running two thousand votes ahead of his party in the State, and nine hundred ahead in his own county. He was Judge of the Supreme Court four vears — during the last two years, from 1854 to 1856, serving a- Chief-Justice. In 1867 Mr. Thurman was the Democratic can- didate for Governor of Ohio, and lacked less than three thousand votes of being elected, although the Republican majority the year before was forty-three thousand in the State. The Democratic party having carried the Legislature of Ohio, Mr. Thurman was elected a Senator of the United States to suc- ceed Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, and took his seat March 4, 1869, fortlie term ending in 1875. lie was a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Post-Offices, and the Joint Select Committee on Retrenchment. Mr. Thurman was at once recognized as one of the strong men of the Senate, anil the loader of liir- party in that body. He is extremely vigilant and faithful — watching with careful eye all the proceedings — a frequent speaker, ready, clear, persistent, and strong in debate; courteous in his hearing, and generally evincing perfect candor and respect toward his opponents and their opinions, while, with a masterly ability, he asserts and advocates his own views. 254 ^£c- . £. Ad^^\s t MOEGAJN" C. HAMILTON. '0jfi ORGAN C. HAMILTON" was born in the territory now within the limits of Alabama, near Huntsville, H&C? February 25, 1809. His boyhood was spent in severe manual labor, interrupted at rare intervals by brief at- tendance at country schools, in which he obtained little more than the mere rudiments of education, lie obtained a situation in a country store, where he gained practical knowledge of business. When eighteen years old, being of a stirring and adventurous temperament, he naturally fell in with the tide which swept so many young men to the far South-west, where Texas was struggling for recognition as a republic. Being capable and of good address, he attracted the notice of the authorities, and two years after his arrival was appointed to a clerkship in the War Department. It is proof of his capacity and perseverance, that amid the constantly shifting scenes of those days he held this position until April, 1845. During the last three of these years he was acting Secretary of War. The responsibilities of this position were second to nunc, as the infant republic and nascent State was just then passing through its "baptism of tire." Entering so early into public life, and having no ordinary capac- ities for managing affairs, Mr. Hamilton might have continued to be an incumbent of office, and might have reached the highest places, but he chose another path. He went into retirement, and devoted himself entirely to private business. In this he was very successful, acquiring within a few years vast tracts of land and im- mense herds of cattle. When the rebellion broke out Mr. Ham- ilton refused to take part in the war against the Union. He was stern in his denunciation of the secessionists, and bold in declaring 25 5 2 MORGAN C. HAMILTON. himself in favor of the United States, although such proceeding was at the peril of his life and property. His very boldness saved him, while others, no less true but more moderate in their avowals, perished. The war over, and the Government having reasserted its author- ity, his services were needed to aid in the restoration of law and order, and he promptly rendered them. In 1867 he was appointed Comptroller of the Treasury of Texas by the commander of the Fifth Military District. He was one of the most active and effi- cient members of the Convention of 1SG8, which framed a new Constitution for Texas. Tbe State at last being ready for restora- tion tn representation in Congress, Mr. Hamilton was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican. He was admitted to his seat March 31, 1870, and was appointed on the committees on Indian Affairs, Revolutionary Claims, and the Select Committee on the Removal of Political Disabilities. lie immediately took a prominent part in the discussion and proceedings. Soon after his admission he delivered a speech, in which he urged that the Government should give protection to the only friends and supporters it bad in nearly one half of its peopled territory. He made the startling statement that " not less than ten thousand hearts have ceased to beat, within tbe limits of the late Confederacy, since the surrender of Lee's army, simply because they were true to the Government." He showed that the small number of arrests and convictions was as " incredible as the very large number of homicides committed." Mr. Hamilton sympathized with the Liberal Republican move- ment, a fact which somewhat modified the tone of his later speeches. We find him, on the 21st of May, 1872, making a speech in the Senate against the bill to extend the Kuklux act, which he pro- nounced the most objectionable of the legislation enacted for the government of the Southern States. 256 JAMES L. ALCOBX. ? AMES L. ALCORX was born in Golconda, Illinois, November 4, 1816. He was taken when a child to Kentucky, and there grew up to manhood. He was educated at Cumberland College in that State, and sub" sequently taught school iu Jackson, Arkansas. Having been offered the position of deputy sheriff (if Livingston County, Ken- tucky, he returned to that State. Here he soon afterward married, studied law, and obtained a license as an attorney. Elected as a Whig to the Legislature of Kentucky, in 1813, he resigned the office of sheriff, and took his seat at Frankfort. At the close of the first session of the Legislature, putting his family and goods on board a flat-boat, lie floated down the Ohio on his way to a new home in Mississippi, landing at Delta, in the county of Coahoma. Having purchased a small tract of land near the town he placed his family upon it, and soon afterward opened an office in Delta for the practice of law. Mr. Alcorn had been but a few months in Coahoma when he was nominated by the Whigs of that county for the Legislature. Having been elected, he sat in either the upper or lower house of the Legislature of Mississippi for sixteen years of the twenty-six that have elapsed since his first election. At Jackson, while a member of the Legislature, he made the acquaintance of the accom- plished lady who became his second wife. He was nominated by the Whigs, in 1854, as their candidate for Governor, but declined. He ran for Congress in that year, but failed to overcome the large majority of the Democratic party in the district. In the Presiden- tial contest next succeeding he was the Scott elector for the State at large. In 1801 Mr. Alcorn was elected as a Unionist to the Convention 257 2 JAMES L. ALCORN. which withdrew the State from the Union. Forced by the hope- lessness of the straggle into submission to the fury of secession, Mr. Alcorn, with words of protest, cast his lot with his State. Appointed on the Military Board with Jefferson Davis and three others, be gave his services to the State for eighteen months. Finding bis personal relations with the chiefs of the Confederacy insuperable obstacles to his usefulness in the field, be returned to his plantation. Here he was captured by a force of Federals from Helena, and subsequently was released on parole. At the expira- tion of his parole he withdrew with his family within the Con- federate lines, and settled for a time on a place belonging to his father-in-law in Alabama. While sojourning here be was elected to the Legislature of Mississippi. At the close of the war Mr. Alcorn returned to his home in Coa- homa. He was elected to the Legislature of 1805, and by that body was chosen for the long term in the United States Senate, the short term being given to that distinguished jurist, Judge Sharkey. Refused admission by the Senate, Mr. Alcorn went home ami subsequently urged upon his people an acceptance of Congressional reconstruction. He declined, however, to join the Republicans. < m their defeat as proscriptionists, in 1868, he ac- cepted overtures from them on condition of their acceptance of a liberal platform. After a canvass of great excitement, he carried tbe Stale as nominee of the Republicans for Governor in 1809, by a majority of thirty-eight thousand. He declined the position of provisional Governor, offered him by the military commander, on the ground that be could not consent to rule over the people uuder an appointment by the military power. Inaugurated in March, 1870, as Governor of Mississippi, elected by the people, lie did much for the restoration of peace and good-will by a mingled policy of conciliation and firmness. Having been elected to the Senate for the term ending March 3, 1S77, he resigned the execu- tive chair on the 30th of November, 1871, and took bis seat as United States Senator on the 4th of December following. 258 POWELL CLAYTON. i i&a MOXG- those who accompanied "William Penn in 1681 - 1 -— . -^ from England, to assist in the peaceful settlement of ^^^>3 Pennsylvania, was William Clayton, who with his family settled in what now is Delaware county of that State. Sixth in descent from William was John Clayton, who married Ann, daugh- ter of Captain George Clark, of the British army. To them, Au- gust 7, 1833, on the same spot that his ancestors for so many years had lived, was born Powell Clayton. lie spent liis youth on the paternal farm, which he did not leave until Lis twentieth year, when he entered the famous Military Academy of Captain Alden Partridge, at Bristol, Pennsylvania. Leaving that institution in ISM, he commenced the study of civil engineering at Wilmington, Delaware, under the auspiecs of Professor Sudler. In 1855, Mi-. Clayton emigrated t<> Kansas, where he soon attain- ed such professional proficiency and repute as to he chosen, in 1850, hy the people of Leavenworth, engineer and surveyor of that city. When Fort Sumter was" fired on, the governor of Kansas ordered Captain Clayton, with the militia company which he commanded, into camp near Fort Leavenworth. When the call was made for volunteers by President. Lincoln, the First Kansas Infantry was raised; Powell Clayton being mustered into the United States service as captain, May 29, 1861. This regiment was immediately ordered to Missouri, and was assigned to the command of the lamented Lyon, under whose leadership it participated in the battle of Wilson's Creek. The gallantry exhibited by Captain Clayton's company, which lost forty-nine out of seventy-four men, received official recognition. Their commander was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, and, soon after, the colonelcy of the same regi- ment was given him. 259 2 POWELL CLAYTON. Colonel Clayton subsequently marched with General Curtis to Helena, Arkansas, and aided in the repulse of the Confederate attack on that city. He participated in the capture of Little Rock, and was shortly afterwards assigned to the command of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. On the 25th of October, 18G3, General Mar- maduke, with four thousand men and twelve pieces of artillery, made a furious attack on Pine Bluff, which was gallantly repulsed by Colonel Clayton, with six hundred men and nine pieces of artillery, lie then made a movement in the direction of Montieello, Arkansas, and at Mount Elba defeated the division of General Dockery. Fur these achievements President Lincoln, in August, 1864, commissioned Clayton as a brigadier- general. He remained in command of Pine Bluff until August, 1865, when lie was mustered cut of the service. Soon alter the return of peace, General Clayton married Miss McGraw, the daughter of an old citizen of Helena, Arkansas, and settled mi a plantation in Jefferson county, near Pine Bluff. In 1807, the question of a constitutional convention was sub- mitted to the people, and he canvassed the State in its favor. After the formation of a constitution, he was. in February, 186?, nominated for governor L\ the Republican State Convention. The campaign, which was very spirited, resulted in the adoption of the constitution and the election of General Clayton. On the 10th of January, 1871, Governor Clayton was elected to the United States Senate, receiving all the votes cast in the Legislature hut fourteen. He decided, however, not at that time to vacate the office of governor. He was re-elected on the 13th of March, and circumstances having changed, he accepted the honor. Resigning the office of State Executive, he took his seat iii the Senate of the United States on the 25th of March, 1871. 260 fo Z-u <&£TZ^ 'cJL^c < HENRY COOPEP. 7 ENRY COOPER was born in Columbia, Maury county, • '-T- Tennessee, August 22, 1827. He was educated at Jack- ^ «^ son College, graduating August 11, 1847. He studied for tbc bar, to which be was admitted in August, 1849, and com- menced the practice in Shelbyville, Tennessee, January 1, 1850. He was married, November 10, 1850, to Miss Ann Strickler, wbo, with five children, constitutes his family. In 1S53, Mr. Cooper was nominated by the convention of the Whig Party of his district as a candidate for representative in the Legislature from the counties of Bedford and Rutherford, and in the following August was triumphantly elected, receiving a much larger majority than the other Whig candidates in the district. He was not a candidate in the next election, the Know-Nothing Party hav- ing arisen in the mean time, of which he was not a member, as he disapproved of all secret political societies. In 1857, Mr. Cooper was again nominated for the Legislature, and, after a very exciting canvass, was elected over a very popular opponent. In 1S00, he was elected by the State Convention as a delegate to the National Convention of the Union Party, held at Balti- more, in which he supported the Hon. John Bell, who was then nominated for the Presidency. In the struggle which ensued, culminating in the civil war, Mr. Cooper was a firm and devoted friend of the Union. He did all in his power to prevent the seces- sion of his State; and when Tennessee joined in the rebellion, he determined not to follow her, but to maintain his allegiance t ■ > the Federal Union. His devotion to his country, as embodied in the Constitution and the Union of the States, is evident from an ex- pression in one of his speeches to the people, in which he said, "I would rather leave my children the inheritance of such a govern- ment as I have enjoyed, with all its blessings of political and religious freedom, than to leave them the wealth of the Indies." 261 2 HENRY COOPER. After the occupation of the State by the national troops, Mr. Cooper was called to the bench as judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit. This position ho continued to hold, although he made several attempts to resign, untilJanuary, 1867, when his resignation was accepted. While on the bench, many of the questions growing out of the war came before him for adjudication ; among others, the constitutionality of the law limiting the elective franchise, and the legal status of contracts growing out of the use as a circulating medium of confederate treasury notes. His decision in both cases was reversed by the Supreme Court of the State. His decision in the last case— that <>f confederate money — was afterward sustained, in an analogous ease, by the Supreme Court of the United Stales. In February, 1866, Mr. Cooper was made president of the first Slate Convent ion of the 1'nioii ( ', >i iservat i ve Party. Jn September, 1866, he accepted a professorship in the law-school of Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, in which he continued until June. L868, when fe resigned and removed to Nashville, where he resumed the practice of law. In the reorganization of the State, he favored a liberal policy to all who had adhered to the Southern cause; and in public speeches urged universal amnesty as the surest and safest way to a true and lasting peace. In. Inly, L869, while absent from home on professional business, he was nominated by the Democratic- and Conservative party as a candidate for the State Senate, from the countj of Davidson, and was elected by a majority of twenty-five hundred, in the Legisla- ture to which he was thus elected ther icurred a most exciting contest for the United States Senatorship, ex-President Andrew Johnson being the most prominent candidate. Mr. Cooper was elected, and took his seat March 4. L871, for the term ending in 1877. ITe is now identified with the Democratic Party; but those who know him best believe that he will not hesitate to act with any other party whose policy he believes will better subserve the public interest. It is expected that he will act independently, and HENRY G. DAVIS. ;%/||ENRY G. DAVIS was born in Howard County, Mary- ,'$$ S 1$ land, November 16, 1823. Losing his father when quite K^ /-^ J' oun §> no was for years occupied in severe manual labor to aid in the maintenance of his widowed mother and younger brothers. He enjoyed only limited advantages of schools, which, however, he improved to the utmost. In 1843 ho entered the service of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as brakeman, and was from this position advanced to be conductor, assistant superintend- ent of trains, and agent at Piedmont. In 1858 he became President of the Piedmont Savings Bank; about the same time he formed a partnership with his brothers in the lumber and coal trade. He was successful as a financier, and established a large and prosperous business. During the late civil war he sympathized with the Government in its efforts to suppress the rebellion, taking, however, but little part in public affairs. His first prominent appearance in politics was in 1865, when he was elected as a Democrat from Hampshire County to the Virginia House of Delegates, in which he served on the Finance Committee. In 1S6S he was a delegate to the Dem- ocratic National Convention. In the autumn of that year he was elected to the Senate of West Virginia from a district which had previously gone Republican by large majorities — "overcoming," said the Baltimore " Sun," " by his popularity and energy a large vote which was counted against him when he entered the contest.'' On the same occasion the Martinsburg "New Era" said: "Mr. Davis has no one to thank for his election : it is attributable alone to his own indomitable will and indefatigable labors. Without any experience as a public speaker, he yet met his opponents on 263 2 HENRY 6. DAVIS. the stump, and in every instance came off best. He is a courteous gentleman, of unsullied honor, of incorruptible integrity, and prom- ising ability as a financier, second to none in the State." In 1870 Mr. Davis was re-elected to the State Senate by an in- creased majority, and was made Chairman of the Committee on Taxation and Finance. While holding this position he was elected to the Senate of the United States. On the occurrence of that event the Wheeling " Register" said: "He is a representative of the class of ' self-made men,' and owes the position he has attained to his own native ability and force of character. There are very few public men indeed who have surmounted as many obstacles and achieved as many successes as has Mr. Davis." Taking his seat in the Senate on the fourth of March, 1871, Mr. Davis at once applied himself with assiduity to the duties of his position. He was, at the opening of the Forty-third Congress, ap- pointed on the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Claims, lie brought to the discharge of his duties a practical ability and unquestionable fidelity to the interests of his State. A loading journal of West Virginia, which was not friendly to Mr. Davis's Senatorial aspirations, said, after more than two years of his term had elapsed : "It gives ns noi only groat pleasure to attest his devotion to the great principles of Den ratio free government, but also to bear testimony to his watchful care over all legislation likely to bear upon the interests of his constituency. ... It is highly compliment- ary to hi- talents and aptitude, that in so short an experience he has attained to a very influential position in the gravest deliberative body known to our system of government." The Wheeling " Register" of March 15, 1873, after noting the appointment of Mr. Davis upon the Committee on Appropriations, one of the most important standing committees of the Senate, said : " It gives us pleasure to note the fact that there are none of the new members of the Senate who are more esteemed than he by his fel- low-Senators, and few who have acquired so much influence in a quiet and unostentatious way." 264 THOMAS W. FEERT. ^^pHOMAS W. FERRY was born in Mackinaw, Michigan, 1 W June 1, 1827. His father, Rev. William M. Ferry, emi- > t ■'" grated from Massachusetts to Michigan in 1S22, and established the Mackinaw Mission, which, under his management, was very successful until it was terminated by the re- moval of the Indians further West. After this event he made a torn- of Lake Michigan, in an open boat, to determine where he should make his future home. He visited Chicago, then only a military outpost, and many other places, and finally located at Grand Haven, Michigan. Here he established his family, building the first frame house erected in that city. Possessed of great physical endurance, strength of mind, and force of will, the pioneer preacher turned his attention to develop- ing the natural resources of the region. He immediately began operations in the lumber business, which soon reached large propor- tions. With the aid of his four sons he erected mills, built vessels for transportation, and made Grand Haven an important source of the lumber trade for Chicago and vicinity. A business partnership with a father so energetic, thorough, and successful had a tendency to develop sterling traits of character in his sons. When the war broke out two of them entered the army, one of whom, Major 1ST. H. Ferry, of the Fifth Michigan cavalry, fell at Gettysburg, shot through the head while bravely leading his command. Thomas W. Ferry's first political associations were with the Whigs, by whom he was elected to the Legislature of Michigan in 1S57. After the disintegration of the Whig party he became a Republican, and as such was elected to the State Senate in 1857, serving two years. He soon became an active and influential 265 2 THOMAS AV. FERRY. member of the Republican party. For a period of eight years he served on the Republican State Central Committees of Michigan. Tn 1860 he was a member and one of the Yice-Presidents of the National Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-ninth Congress. In this Congress he was appointed upon three Committees: Post-offices and Post-Roads, Militia, and the War Del its of the Loyal States. He was the first to move success- fully in securing appropriations for harbors on Lake Michigan, and obtained the passage of other important measures for developing the resources and promoting the commerce of his State. Mr. Ferry was re-elected to Congress for his second term by a majority of more than seven thousand votes. In the Fortieth Con- gress he was re-appointed on the Post-office Committee, and was placed on the important Committee on Naval Affairs. A Wash- ington correspondent said: "Mr. Ferry is the hardest worker in the Post-office Committee. The Department places him next to Colfax in connection with our mail system.'" He did much to in- crease mail facilities for the region which he represented. When he entered Congress, in 1864, there was only a weekly mail from Grand Haven to Traverse City. Now there is a daily lake-shore mail, a daily mail by steamers, a daily interior mail from Grand Rapids to Traverse City, and a daily mail to Milwaukee, Chicago, and St. Joseph. Mr. Ferry was Chairman of a Sub-Committee to visit New York to examine the old Post-office, and report upon the necessity of a new one. Speaking of the result of this investigation as laid before the House by Mr. Ferry, the Xew York Herald said : "The report is an interesting and instructive document. Mr. Ferry takes a broad and statesmanlike view of the wonderful progress and future grandeur of this metropolis, and urges the erection of an edifice which in point of architecture and completeness will do honor to the Republic and to her greatest city." He was influential in defeating the passage of a bill establishing 266 THOMAS W. PERRY. 3 low* tariff on lumber coming from Canada. In a speech on tin's measure Mr. Ferry said: "Are we under any obligation to pursue so generous a policy as is proposed by the Committee toward Can- ada? "What has she done to merit this liberal treatment? What has been the experience of the past years of our sanguinary war ? Did she lend the aid of her sympathy and good-will, most cheaply given, which would have been gladly received ? No, sir ; she pre- ferred to offer her soil as an asylum for plotters, conspirators, and traitors against the life of this Government. The treatment we have given Canada deserved her encouragement in the hour of our peril. Her press and voices should have been raised to conciliate England, to remind her that in the veins of this great people, battling for life and liberty, there ran the blood of her own sons, and that her hand should be stayed against a contest so righteous as putting down a rebellion founded on human slavery. We fought alone, under the sneers and jeers of both England and Canada, and crowned our victory with universal liberty, and vindi- cated the rights of humanity." When the tax-bill was under consideration Mr. Ferry made a successful argument in favor of exempting breadstuff, and lumber from the tax. " It harmonizes," said he, " with the theory of that legislation which generously grants a free homestead to the poor settler who, for want of means, would otherwise roam homeless and a wanderer throughout the land. Freeing lumber from taxation lessens its cost and cheapens the shelter of the homestead. Releas- ing breadstuffs from taxation reduces the cost of the primal food of the primal poverty-stricken settler. With a free home, a free shel- ter, and free food, the staple and necessary conditions of livelil 1 are protected, and the poorer classes of the community befriended by a considerate Government. With such protection and such a start in life, failure to rise above the misfortunes which hover around the more dependent classes of citizenship must be chargeable to per- sonal inefficiency rather than to legislative authority." Re-elected for the third time, in the Forty-first Congress Mr. Ferry remained on the Committees on Post-offices and Naval 267 4 THOMAS W. FERRY. Affairs, and was appointed on the Committee on Rules. He fre- quently addressed the House on important subjects of legislation. Pending the Indian Appropriation Bill, he delivered a speech re- plete with philanthropic views, in the conclusion of which he said : " It is the verification of what is known to be true by those who best understand the habits and character of the Indian that, natu- rally hospitable, generous, and just, dividing with friends so long as they have any thing to share, they become shy, treacherous, and murderous when their hospitality is violated, their generosity out- raged, and the smoke of peace returned by cruelty and the torch of desolation. No wonder that such treatment causes the pipe to be changed into the tomahawk. Then the cry is, ' Indian treachery ! ' ' "Wanton massacre!' to be succeeded by organized military forces for devastation and annihilation." Mr. Ferry was re-elected a Representative from Michigan to the Forty-second Congress, but before taking his seat was elected to the Senate of the United States, the successor of Hon. Jacob M. Howard, for the term of six years from March i, 1871. He was placed on the Committees of Finance, Post-offices, and the District of Co- lumbia. At the beginning of the Forty-third Congress he was also made Chairman of the Committee on Rules. On that occasion the New York Times, referring to the new Committees of the Senate, said, ■" Mr. Ferry, of Michigan, succeeds Mr. Pomeroy as Chairman of the Committee on Rules, a place seldom accorded to one so young in service, but for which Mr. Ferry's ability as a presiding officer has shown him to be abundantly qualified." Mr. Ferry was frequently called by the Yice-President to occupy the chair, in which position he displayed rare knowledge of parlia- mentary law and skill in the discharge of such delicate and respon- sible duties. His first speech in the Senate was upon the Chicago Relief Bill. Present during the Chicago fire, he offered and sold his own lumber at ante fire prices at great pecuniary sacrifice, and thus succeeded in effectually breaking a " ring" formed for the purpose of putting up the price of lumber on the sufferers. In the Senate, when it was 268 THOMAS W. FERRY. proposed by the Chicago Relief Bill to strike at the lumber interests of Michigan, which State had also largely suffered by tire, lie deemed it his duty to rise above personal sympathy in defense of the interests of his constituents' by opposing the bill in the form of relief proposed. His efforts in this debate had much to do in breaking the precedent established by the Portland Relief Bill, the good results of which were more apparent after the Boston fire. In a discussion which occurred May 13, 1872, on a proposition to pay a mechanic in the navy yard for the use by the Government of his valuable inventions, certain Senators opposed the measure for the reason that the inventor was in the employ of the Government; but Mr. Ferry addressed the Senate earnestly in favor of it, main- taining that "the Government should not, because it employs an individual, deprive him of some share of the fruits of his mind ami his genius. The results of such a policy, if pursued, will be that mechanics will follow in the old ruts; in other words, there will be no stimulus to invention, and their employment will be just such as those who preceded them.'' Mr. Ferry introduced a resolution to set apart the Island of Mackinac as "a national public park for health, comfort, and pleasure, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.'' He advo- cated this resolution in an eloquent speech, in which he said: " 'We cannot too early or too surely arrest and preserve from decay relics of national history or fame. We owe it to ourselves and to the future to grasp, and tix in some form to hand down to posterity, all points or incidents of historic value which serve to illustrate the march of the nation. I would add this example in perpetuity of that worthy record, that this, with other national memorials, may not perish, but brighten witli the lapse of time.'' During the discussion of the Caldwell case in March, 1^7.-, an amendment having been proposed to the resolution of the Com- mittee declaring the seat vacant, that Mr. Caldwell, instead, be ex- pelled, Mr. Ferry offered an amendment by which a vote could be taken upon the original resolution questioning the validity of the election, substantially as reported by the Committee, and which 269 6 THOMAS W. FERRY had been so long and ably discussed. Maintaining with much force of reasoning the importance of such a direct vote, he said : " The pivotal idea upon which the whole debate has ranged has been the effect which bribery has upon the election of a Senator. It is due to the Senate and to the country that this debate should be allowed to crystallize into a vote upon the merits of the ques- tion. The gravity of the case demands that a precedent should be established by the solemn judgment of the Senate upon the simple question of the Committee at issue, otherwise the debate is substan- tially a waste, so far as the recorded opinion of this body is con- cerned. What more opportune moment could be afforded for the dispassionate discharge of a constitutional duty? Although no ad- vocate of the hackneyed shibboleth of 'State rights, 5 I do entertain due respect for State sovereignty, and believe now is the time for the Senate to mark the boundary between Federal and State elective jurisdiction. Our associates over the way have divided in the ex- pression of their views, and thrown down the gauntlet tor equal abandonment of political affiliations on this side of the Chamber in the determination of a high constitutional question. Partisan strife is wholly at rest. Survey the national horizon, and not. a speck as big as a man's hand indicates the approach, much less prevalence, of political antagonisms. The heat and criminations of party zeal have subsided into the cool and respectful amenities of citizen fellowship. "Is it not the time and place, ami would we not lie recreant to our duty, if we did not rise above the politician into the domain of official dignity to hail this auspicious occasion when we can pro aounce the clear, enlightened judgment of the statesman in the exalted forum of the American Senate?" The senatorial career of Mr. Ferry, but recently begun, is a fulfillment of the promise of his successful service in the Uonse. His speeches show him to be a careful observer of current events, and a diligent student of political science. As a citizen, lie takes a deep interest in all moral and benevolent enterprises. 270 . flfazizau C/^O PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK. •86 l/ <^s- ; jV^IIINEAS W. HITCHCOCK was born at New Lebai , tjK^ New York, November 30, 1831. His ancestors were English, who settled in New England in early colonial days. He obtained a liberal education, graduating at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1S55. lie then studied law, and removed to Nebraska in the spring of 1857. In these early days be was an active member of the Omaha Library and Debating Society. Although modest and unobtrusive in manner, and by no means boisterous or aggressive, be gave evidence of possessing superior qualities as a debater and extemporaneous speaker. Engaging actively in the business of real estate and the practice of law, be at the same time took a deep interest in polities, and was ranked as a leading abolitionist. He was one of the organizers of the Republican party in Nebraska. He aided in establishing the first Republican newspaper in the State, and as a constant con- tributor to its columns did much to mold public sentiment in the infant commonwealth. He was a member of the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 18G0. He was appointed United States Marshal in 1861, and held the office until 1S joi-ix w. .loiixs'rox. ^OHX W. JOHNSTON was born at Abingdon, Virginia, September 9, ISIS. His fatber, who lived but about year after marriage, was an eminent physician, a brother of General Joseph E. Johnston, of the Confederate Army, and the son of Judge Peter Johnston, who served through the whole of the Revolutionary War, attached to Lee's legion. On the mother's side the subject of this sketch is the grand-nephew of General William Campbell, who commanded the American fin-r- at the battle of King's Mountain, and ou the father's side a grand- nephew of Patrick Henry. Young Johnston in early life gave evidence of an active tem- perament, and manifested great anxiety to acquire knowledge. He received the rudiments of his education at the Abingdon Academy. At the age of fifteen he had prepared himself for college, and on horseback and alone he traveled from Abingdon to Columbia, South Carolina, where lie entered South Carolina College, in which be studied about four years, but left without graduating. While at college he was a diligent student, and held a good position in his classes. After leaving the South Carolina College he entered the Uni- versity of Virginia, where he devoted one session to the study of law. He then completed his legal education in the law-office of his uncle, Hon. Beverly E. Johnston, one of the most eminent lawyers of the South. In the year 1839, when in his twenty-first year, he was admitted to the bar, and immediately removed to Jefferson ville, Tazewell County, Virginia, where he opened an office and commenced an active and successful career in the prac- tice of law. 273 2 JOHN W. JOHNSTON. In 1S41 he married Miss Nicketti B. Floyd, youngest daughter of Governor Floyd, and sister of John B. Floyd, who was Secretary of "War under Mr. Buchanan. In 1846 he was elected to the State Senate for two years, but took little part in the proceedings of that body, and declined a re-election. In 1S50 he was elected President of the North-western Bank of Virginia, which was located at Jefferson ville. He served in this position for eight years, when he resigned and removed to Abingdon, his present residence. Here he continued in the practice of his profession, principally in the same Courts as before, conducting a business which had become very large and lucrative. He was a Democrat before the war, and when hostilities com- menced warmly espoused the cause of the South. After the war his disabilities were removed without his knowledge through the kind intervention of an officer of the United States Army, with whom he had become acquainted. General Stoneman appointed him Judge of the Tenth Judicial District of Virginia, and while holding that office he was elected to the Senate of the United States as a representative of the Conservative element of his State. Admitted to his seat in the Senate January 28, 1870, during the remainder of the Forty first Congress Mr. Johnston took an active part in the debates on the original and supplemental Enforcement bills, speaking earnestly against both measures. lie also resisted the passage of the Naturalization bill, and was quite vigorous in his efforts in favor of the reduction of taxation and the repeal of the Internal Revenue system, of which, in his speech of January 2G, 1871, he said : It is not equal in its operation, but bears with almost destructive weight upon some parts of the country and some important interests. It is badly ad- ministered, and cannot well be otherwise. It is demoralizing in its effects, and tends to weaken the respect of the people for the Government ami lessen their inclination to obey the laws; and it extends tha jurisdiction of the United States Courts, extends the power- of the General Government, swells the already too great patronage of the Executive, is fatal to the individual liberties of the people, and destroys the constitutional rights of the States. 274 *?** JOHN A. LOGAN. OIIN A.- LOGAN was born in Jackson County, Illinois, February 9, 1S26. His father, Dr. John Logan, came from Ireland to Illinois in 1823 ; his mother, Elizabeth Jenkins, was a Tennesseean. He was indebted for his early education to his father, and to such teachers as chanced to remain for brief periods in the new settlement. At the commencement of the Mexican war young Logan volun- teered, and was chosen Lieutenant in a company of the First Illinois Infantry. He did good service as a soldier, and was for some time adjutant of his regiment. On his return home, in the fall of 1848, lie commenced the study of law in the office of his uncle, Alexander M. Jenkins, Esq., formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois. In No- vember, 1849, he was elected Clerk of Jackson County. He at- tended a course of law lectures in Louisville, and having received his diploma in 1857, he commenced the practice of his profession with his uncle. By his popular manners and rare abilities he soon won his way to a high place in public esteem, and was, in 1S52, elected Prosecuting- Attorney of the Third Judicial District. In the autumn of the same year he was elected to the State Legislature, and was three times re-elected. In 185G he was a presidential elector. In 1858 he was elected by the Democrats as a Eepresentative in Con gross, and was re-elected in I860. In the Presidential campaign of this year he ardently advocated the election of Mr. Douglas ; never- theless, on the first intimation of coming trouble from (lie South, Mr. Logan did not hesitate to declare that in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election he would " shoulder his musket to have him in- augurated." When in Washington, in attendance on the called session of Con- 275 2 JOHN A. LOGAN. gress, in July, 1SG1, Mr. Logan joined the troops that were marching to meet the enemy. He fought in the ranks at the disastrous battle of Bull Run, and was among the last to leave the held. Returning to his home, he announced to his constituents the determination to enter the service of the country, for the defence of the "old blood- stained flag." His stirring and patriotic eloquence rallied multitudes of volun- teers; and on the 13th of September, L861, the Thirty-first Regiment of Illinois Infantry was organized and ready to take the field, under command of Colonel Logan. The regiment was attached to Gen- eral McClernand's Brigade. Its first experience in battle was at Belmont, where Colonel Logan had his horse shot under him. And here he assisted materially in preventing the capture of a part of General McClernand's command by leading his men in a bayonet charge, breaking the enemy's line, and opening the way for the force that was being surrounded. He led his regiment in the attack upon Fort Henry. While gallantly leading his men in the assault on Fort Donelson, he received a severe wound, which disabled him for some time from active sen ice. Reporting again for duty to Gen eral Grant, at Pittsburg Landing, he was, in March, 1862, made a Brigadier-General of Volunteers. Ho took an important part in the movement against Corinth; and subsequently was given command at Jackson, Tennessee, with instructions to guard the railroad com- munications. His numerous friends and old constituents urged him to become a candidate for re-election to Congress in 1 s, '>2, as representative for the State at large; but he replied to their importunities with these glowing words of patriotism: "In reply I would most respectfully remind you that a compliance with your request on my part would be a departure from the settled resolution with which I resumed my sword in defence and for the perpetuity of a Government the like and blessings of which no other nation or age shall enjoy, if once suffered to be weakened or de- stroyed. In making this reply, I feel that it is unnecessary to en- 270 JOHN A. LOGAN. 3 large upon what were, or are. or may hereafter be, my political views, but would simply state that politics, .it' every grade and char- acter whatsoever, are now ignored by me, since 1 am convinced that the Constitution and life of the Republic— which I shall never ci ase to adore— are in danger. I express all my views and politics when I asserl my attachment for the Union. I have no other politics now and consequently no aspirations for civil place and power. "Xo! I am to-day a soldier of this Republic, so to remain, changeless and immutable, until her last and weakest enemy shall have expired and passed away. " Ambitious men, who have not a true love for their country at heart, may bring forth crude and bootless questions to agitate the pulse of our troubled nation, and thwart the preservation of this Union, but for none of such am 1. I have entered the field to die if need be, for this Government, and never expect to return to peace- ful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a fact established. "Whatever means it may be necessary to adopt, whatever local interests it may affect or destroy, i- no longer an affair of mine. If any locality or section suffers or is wronged in the prosecution of the war, I am sorry for it, but I say it must not be heeded now, for we are at war for the preservation oi the Union. Let the evil be recti- fied when the present breach has been cemented for ever. "If the South by her malignant treachery has imperilled all that made her great and wealthy, and it, was to be lost, I would not stretch forth my hand to >ave her from destruction, if she will not be saved by a restoration of the Union. Since the die of her wretchedness has been cast by her own hands, let the coin of her misery circulate alone in her own dominions until the peace of Union ameliorates her forlorn condition." In Grant's Northern Mississippi campaign, General Logan com- manded the third division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, under General McPherson, exhibiting a skid and bravery which led to bis promotion as Major-General of Volunteers, dating from NTovi 277 ■I JOHN A. LOGAN. 20, 1S62. He took an active part in the movement on Vieksburg; the seven steamboats which ran the batteries there with supplies were manned exclusively by men from his command of his own selection. We subsequently see him contributing to the victory at Port Gibson, saving the day by his personal valor at the battle of Raymond, participating in the defeat of the rebels at Jackson, and ■ taking a prominent part in the battle at Champion Hill. General Grant, in his report of the last mentioned battle, uses the following language: "Logan rode up at this time, and told me that if Hovey could make another dash at the enemy, he could come up from where he then was and capture the greater part of their force." Which suggestions were acted upon and fully realized. In the siege of Vieksburg he commanded McPherson's centre, and on the 25th of June made the assault after the explosion of the mine. His column was the first to enter the surrendered city, and he was made its Military Governor. The Seventeenth Army Corps honored him hy the presentation of a gold medal inscribed with the na lies of the nine battles in which his heroism and generalship had been distinguished. He succeeded General Sherman in the command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, in November, 1 863, and during t lie following winter had his head-quarters at Huntsville, Alabama. In May, 1864, he joined the Grand Army, which, under General Sherman, was prepar- ing for its inarch into Georgia, lie led the advance of the Army of the Tennessee in the movement at Resaca, and participated in the battle which ensued, with Wood's Division, charging and capturing the enemy's lines of works between the fort and the river. At I 'alias, on tli ■ 23d of May, he met and repulsed Hardee's veterans. The next day, while pointing out to Generals Sherman and McPher- rou the position of the enemy, be was again wounded by a shot through the left arm ; nevertheless he continued in the field, carrying his arm in a sling. At Kenesaw Mountain he drove the enemy from his line of work-, and on the 27th of June made a desperate assault against the impregnable face of Little Kenesaw. 278 JOHN A. LOG AX. At the battle of Atlanta, on the 22d of July, in the hottest of the fight, Logan was informed of the fall of his beloved commander, General McPherson, in another part of the field. Assuming com- mand, General Logan dashed impetuously along the lines, shouting, "McPherson and revenge." The effect was electrical, and thou- sands of rebels slain on that sanguinary field attested the lo the Union soldiers for their dead commander, and their enthusiastic imitation of the valor of his successor. General Sherman, in his report, speaking of the death of General McPherson, says : " General Logan succeeded him and commanded the Army of the Tennessee through this desperate battle, with the same success and ability that had characterized him in the command of a corps or division." And in his letter of August 16th, to General Halleck, General Sherman said : " General Logan fought that battle out as required, unaided save by a small brigade scut by my orders." On the 2Sth of July he fought the battle of Ezra Chapel, where, in the language of General Sherman, ''lie commanded in person, and that corps, as heretofore reported, repulsed the rebel army com- pletely." He was efficient in the remaining battles until after the fall of Atlanta, when his troops being ordered into camp for a season of respite, he went North and spent a i'vw months in stumping the Western States during the Presidential campaign of 1864. His troops forming a part of Sherman's Grand Army in its march to the sea, General Logan rejoined them at Savannah, Georgia. From Savannah he marched with his corps through the Carolinas, actively participating in the battle of Benton's Cross Roads or Mill Creek. After Johnson's surrender, he inarched with his veterans to Washington, and took part in the great review of the victorious Union armies on the 23d of May. On the same day he was appointed to the command of the Army of the Tennessee. As soon as active duty in the field was over, he at once tendered his resigna- tion, stating he did not desire to draw pay when not in active service. He was offered the position of Minister to Mexico in 1S65, but 279 q J O II N A. L O G A X . declined the honor. He was in 1SGG elected a Representative to the Fortieth Congress, from the State at large, receiving 203,045 votes against 147,058 given for his Democratic opponent. He im- mediately occupied a position of influence in the House of Repre- sentatives, to which his previous experience, his acknowledged ability, and hissuccess asacivilian and a soldier entitled him. lie opposed the pretensions of President Johnson, and as one of the managers on the part of the House of Representatives aided in con- ducting the Impeachment trial. Re-eleeted to the Forty-first Congress he was made chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. In this capacity he ren- dered great service to the country by bringing forward and secur- ing the passage of an act for the reduction of the army. He advocated this measure March L0, L870, in an able and elaborate speech, in which he presented aconvincing array of facts and argu- ments. Time has demonstrated the wisdom of tin- measure, which is another illustration that ■tories No less renowned I tian v, ar." "Mr. Logan was re-eleeted Representative from the State at large to the Forty-second Congress, but before that Congress convened he was chosen by the Legislature a Senator of the United States for the term commencing March I, 1871. In the Senate hi fully sustained the high reputation gained by long and successful service in the House. Ho cordially sustained the administration of President Grant, and one of the most eloquent and aide of Ins efforts in the Senate was made dune 3, 1872, in "Vindication of the President" against the attack of Mr. Sumner. He was chosen by the Senate Chairman of the Military Committee, to succeed Vice- President Wilson. General Logan's career as a soldier, a politician, and a statesman has been unusually brilliant. From his impetuous personal brav- ery on the field of battle he was styled " The Murat of the Union Army." In Congress his career has been no less successful and distinguished. 280 ■ ' .y/, sr,-^ THOMAS M. NORWOOD. ^^pHOMAS MANSON NORWOOD was born in Talbot g County, Georgia, April 26, 1830. His father was Caleb . . M. Norwood, born in Blount County, Tennessee, and his mother was Jane Manson, a native of South Caro- lina. His father removed to Talbot County, Georgia, in 1829, and thence to Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia, in 1836. This village was the seat of two academies, and was the center of a community of great wealth and high intellectual and moral culture. Mr. Xorwood was placed under the tuition of Marvin Massey Mason, principal of one of the academies of the town, where he remained until he was prepared to enter on a collegiate course, liis father at this time submitted to him the alternative of a colle- giate education or a patrimony at his majority. lie without hesi- tation chose the former, and in the summer of 1847 entered Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, then presided over by Judge A. B. Longstreet, and graduated in the summer of 1S50 under the presi- dency of Bishop George F. Pierce. After graduation he took charge of a school, which he conducted for one year. In Septem- ber, 1851, he, with Claudius C. Wilson, late brigadier-general in the Confederate army, commenced the study of law at Culloden. in the office of James M. Smith, now Governor of Georgia. In February, 1852, they were admitted by the Superior Court of Monroe County to practice law, and immediately went to Savannah, Georgia, where they opened a law office in partnership. In .Tune, 1S53, Mr. Norwood was married to Miss Anna M. Hendree, of Richmond, Virginia. He carried on his law practice prosperously for a number of years, but at the breaking out of the civil war the partnership was dissolved, one of the partners going into the military and the other into the civil service of the Con- 281 2 THOMAS M. NORWOOD. federate States. In 1861 Mr. Norwood was elected a member of the Legislature of Georgia, in which lie served two years. In March, 1S62, he enlisted as a private in the Chatham Artillery, in the service of the Confederate States, but was soon discharged by reason of an injury which disabled him from active duty. After the war Mr. Norwood resumed the practice of law in Savannah. He took an active part as a Democrat in the election held in Georgia, in April, 1808, in opposition to the adoption of the State Constitution under the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, lie was appointed alternate Democratic elector for the State at large in 1808, on the Seymour and Blair ticket. In November, 1871, he was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat for the term ending March i, 1877. His seat was contested by Foster Blodgett, but in the decision of the question there was no division of opinion in favor of the right of Mr. Norwood to the seat, and he was admitted, December 19, 1871. Taking his seat in the Senate of the United States, Mr. Norwood at once devoted himself with assiduity to the public business. 282 ^fT~ */c^c<^t£_, JAMES K. KELLY. £:'-^Wyj? HE ancestors of the subject of this sketch, both paternal ^SE and maternal, emigrated from the north of Ireland in the <\S|?- early part of the last century, and settled in Lancaster county, in the province of Pennsylvania. Here his grand- father, Colonel John Kelly, was born in the year 1744. and lived until about the year 177o. when he removed with hfe young wife to that portion of Northumberland county known as Buffalo Valley, and subsequently embraced within the limits of Snyder county. This was then an almost unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by a few resolute and daring adventurers, who braved alike the privations of a new country and the Hostilities of the Indians, far more numerous than they. Tradition and story have chronicled the heroic deeds and adventure- of Colonel Kelly, in Indian warfare in the valley of the Susquehanna. He also participated in the revolutionary war ; and, as a major, commanded a detachment of Pennsylvania militia in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Returning to his home in Buffalo Valley, he lived there the quiet life of a farmer, beloved and honored by all who knew him. and died at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. In that valley, John Kelly, the father of Senator Kelly, was born in the year 1774, and also became a farmer. "When about forty years of age, he was united in marriage with Anne Caldwell, of Northumberland county, a woman of more than ordinary men- tal endowments and strength of will. Soon after their marriage, they removed to George's Valley, in Centre county, Pennsylvania, where their second son, James K. Kelly, the subject of this notice, was born on the 16th day of February, 1819. Losing Ins mother by 283 2 JAMES K.KELLY. death in liis early boyhood, lie was left with two brothers and three sisters to the care of an indulgent father, and remained at home until he was about fifteen years of age. In the mean while he went part of the time to a country school, which he alternated with such work as a boy could do upon his father's farm. At that age he was sent to the Milton Academy, a classical school then favorably known throughout the State of Pennsylvania. There, and at the Lewisburg Academy, he remained about three years, making such proficiency in his classical and mathematical studies that he was prepared to enter the junior class at Princeton College in the year 1837, and graduated at that institution in the class of 1839. At the close of the year 1839, Mr. Kelly commenced the study of law, in the law school attached to Dickinson College, under the care and instruction of Hon. John Peed, of Carlisle, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1842. The same year he commenced the practice of law in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where he resided until the spring of 1819. During the last year of Gover- nor David R. Portei''s administration, he was appointed to, and held, the office of deputy attorney general for Juniata county, and, upon the accession of Francis P. Shunk to the office of governor, Mr. Kelly was appointed deputy attorney -general for the county of Mifflin, in which he resided; ami held the office until the death of ( lo\ ernor Shunk. Filled with a spirit of adventure, in the spring of 1819, Mr. Kel- ly, in company with twelve other young men, left Pennsylvania for California, doing from Lewistown by stage to Pittsburg, they there took passage by steamboat to New-Orleans, and thence by sailing vessel to Vera Cruz. On horseback they crossed over the Mexican Pepublic to San Bias, on the Pacific, coast, and there found a Mexi- can vessel bound for San Francisco. On this they took passage foi California, and landed in San Francisco on the Tt.h of July, 1849. Like nearly every other adventurer to the land of gold, Mr. Kelly went to the mines, and with pick and shovel worked hard in delv- ing for gold at Murphy's diggings, in Calaveras county. Here he mined until December of that year, when he went to San Fran- cisco, and again began the practice of law. In the spring of L851, 284 JAMES K. KELLY. 3 lie went to Oregon, where lie has since continued to reside, practic- ing his profession with much success. In December. 1852, the Legislative Assembly of Oregon elected three members of the bar a board of commissioners to prepare a code of laws for that terri- tory. Of this commission, Mr. Kelly was the chairman, his asso- ciates being Hon. R. P. Boise and Eon. D. R. Bigelow. In June 1853, he was elected a member of the Legislative Council to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of A. L. Lovejoy, of Clackamas county; and again, in 1854, be was reelected to the same office for the term of three years. During this term he was twice chosen president of the council. In the fall of 1S55, doubtless by preconcerted action, Indian hos- tilities commenced throughout both Oregon and Washington terri- tories, in which nearly every Indian tribe within their borders was arrayed against the white population. A proclamation was issued by Governor Curry, calling for volunteers to defend the settlements from the hostile savages. Mr. Kelly, among others, responding to the call, volunteered, and was eh cted captain of Company 0, First Regiment of Oregon Mounted Volunteers. In October. Ins com- pany marched across the Cascade Mountains, and joined other com- panies of the same regiment, in Eastern Oregon, where, in organiz- ing, Hon. J. AY. Xesmith, late United St ites Senator from On was elected colonel, and Mr. Kelly lieutenant-colonel of the regi- ment. Colonel Nesmith, taking five companies, inarched to the scene of hostilities in the Yakima Valley, in Washington Territory, and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly to proceed with the other five companies to the valley of Walla Walla. While encamped on the Walla Walla River among the hostile Indians, the com- mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly, numbering about two hund was attacked by the combined forces of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla tribes of Indians, numbering not less than five or six hundred warriors, well mounted on fleet ponies. For three days the fight was continued, when the Indians, after sustaining heavy losses, were driven at all points, and fled precipitately beyond and north of Snake River, and scattered in all directions, leaving the Oregon volunteers in the undisputed possession of the whole coun- 285 4 JAMES K. KELLY. try south of that, river. By this action, attended with considera- ble loss to the Oregon volunteers, the hostile Indians in the valleys of Walla Walla and Umatilla were thoroughly subdued, and have since remained at peace with the white inhabitants. In the spring of 1850, the first regiment of mounted volunteers was mustered out of service, and Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly returned to his home in Oregon City and resumed the practice of law. In 1857, he was elected a memher of the convention which framed the constitution of Oregon, and took an active part in the labors and deliberations of that body. In 1860, he was elected a State Senator, and as such served four years in the Legislative Assembly of Oregon. On the 27th of November, 1863, Mr. Kelly was married to Miss Mary B. Millar, of * >regon, a daughter of the late Reverend James P. Millar, of Argyle, Washington county, New- York, where she was born. In 1864, Mr. Kelly was nominated by the Democratic State Convention their candidate for Congress; and although at the time no hopes of his election were entertained either by Mr. Kelly or the members of the convention, yet he made a canvass of the whole State with hi- opponent, Hon. J. TI. IX Henderson, and greatly reduced the Republican majority' of the former election. In 1866, he was the Democratic candidate for governor of Ore- gon, and was, according to the otlicial count, defeated by two hundred and seventy-seven votes, although the majority against him was less than that number, being increased by the fraudulent rejection of many votes given in his favor. On the 20th of September, L870, Mr. Kelly was elected by the Legislative Assembly of Oregon, United States Senator for the term of six years, commencing March 4,1871. On taking his seat, he was appointed by the Senate a member of the Commitee on the Pacific Railroad, the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Eoads, and the Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills. I'Sli MATT W. RANSOM. ytf'-ATT W. RANSOM was born in Warren County. North Carolina, October 8, 1826. He received an academic %?*£%? education preparatory to entering college, and became a student in the University of North Carolina, where he graduated in 1847. Having a taste for legal studies, he had, while astudent in the University, prepared himself for the bar, to which he was admitted soon after his graduation, and practiced his profession with great success. He was elected to the Attorney Generalship of North Carolina in 1S52, by a Legislature a majority of which was politically op- posed to him. He performed the important duties devolving upon him in this position with credit, and resigned the office in 1855. For three years succeeding he devoted himself with assiduity to his private business, at the same time, however, taking no inconsider- able interest in public and political affairs. In 1 85S he once more appeared in public life — this time as a member of the State Legis- lature at Raleigh. lie served in that body during that year and the two succeeding, obtaining a high reputation for attention to the interests of his constituents and devotion to the public busi- ness — especially the promotion of the finances and internal im- provements of the State. He was opposed to secession, and earnestly endeavored to pro- mote peaceful relations between the embittered sections. He was sent as a Peace Commissioner from the State of North Carolina to the Congress of the Southern States convened at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1861. All efforts to promote peace and good will between the North and South proved futile, and the war broke with fury upon the country. Mr. Ransom being, by birth, educa- 287 2 MATT W. RANSOM. tion and feeling a Southern man, cast in his lot with the Confed- erate States and entered the Southern army. He served as lieu- tenant-colonel, colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general. The close of the war in 1SC5 found him with General Lee, and with him he surrendered at Appomattox. He then returned to his estate in North Carolina, and engaged again in his pursuits as a planter and lawyer. He was identified with the Democratic party, although not seeking to act a prominent part in politics. Gover- nor Vance, who had been elected Senator from North Carolina, havinc been declared by the United States Senate ineligible, Mr. Ransom was elected to the position in January, 1S72, and took his seat, on the twenty-fourth of the following April, for the term ending in 1877. He entered upon his duties as a United States Senator with characteristic energy, devoting himself with industry to promoting the interests of his constituency. He labored faithfully to secure amnesty and the removal of political disabilities, and made sincere efforts to restore peace to the whole country. In person lie is tall and of fine presence, with unusually agreeable manners. 288 ELI SAULSBURY. I U^jfLI SAULSBURY was born in Kent county, Delaware, tj|& December 29, 1817. lie attended common and select i'Vv*^ schools, and pursued an irregular course of study at #>$% Dickinson College, Pennsylvania. He then studied law. and practiced bis profession in Dover. In 1853 and 1854, lie was a member of the Legislature of Delaware. He was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate, to succeed his brother, Hon. "Willard Saulsbury, and took his seat March 4, 1871, for the term ending in 1877. He was appointed to the Committee on Pensions, the Committee on Mines and Mining, and the commit- tee to audit and control the contingent expenses of the Senate. On taking his seat in the Senate, Mr. Saulsbury began imme- diately to take an active part in the proceedings of that body. In a brief speech, delivered April 7, 1871, pending the resolution re- ported by the Joint Committee on Southern disorders, he opposed an investigation into the alleged outrages in the Southern States, believing that no good would result to the country from such investigation, and no information be thus afforded to the Senate that would enable it to offer the proper remedy. He deprecated the expense that would be involved, and asserted that the mea- sure was intended for political purposes only, while it would accomplish for the country no good whatever. In a much more extended speech, delivered April 12, 1871, in Committee of the Whole pending the consideration of the hill to enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, Mr. Saulsbury took strong ground against that measure, animadvert- ing with much severity upon the conduct of the Republican Party and the operations of the administration. 289 2 ELI SAULSBURY. On the 30th of January, 1ST2, Mr. Saulsbury delivered an a!>le speech in favor of the removal of political disabilities. " I would be glad," said he, "to strike the tetters from every arm that is bound, and once more lift into the sunlight of freedom every man who is now fettered by the provisions of the Fourteenth Constitu- tional Amendment." lie opposed the amendment proposed by Mr. Sumner, securing equal rights to negroes. " I do protest," said he, "against this persistent effort to drag down the race to which I belong to a level with a race stamped with inferiority by the Author of their being." A .Senator having commended to Mr. Saulsbury the Report of the Committee on Alleged Southern Outrages as " profitable, if not pleasant reading" for the next Sunday, he responded : " I certainly would 1»' inclined to avail myself of any suggestion of the honor- able Senator from Indiana in reference to what is profitable reading for the Sabbath, but he must excuse me if I see proper to turn to the pages of the old Bible in preference to the report of this com- mittee." The religious element is strong in the character of Mr. Saulsbury, and appears prominently in many of his speeches. "I like the word 'mercy,'" said he in his Amnesty speech. "It is a charming word. It is the sweetest that ever fell on mortal ears. Through all the ages past Mercy has been the guardian angel of our race. When Justice barred (lie gates of Paradise against our federal head and all hisrace.it was Mercy that intervened and plead tin- cause of erring man." In the same speech, while de- claring that the effect of Mi'. Sumner's Supplementary Civil Rights bill would be the infusion of negroes into the churches, which would result in their being closed, and the ministers dismissed, he added, "that the Church will be destroyed there need be no fear, for it is written that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; yet that it maybe annoyed, and perplexed, and persecuted all his- tory attests." Mr. Saulsbury is tall ami slender in person, with a scholarly stoop in his shoulders. He is pure in his character, true to his principles, and faithful to his State. 290 JWjU^Jy JOHX W. STEVENSON. ^J|oHNW. STEVENSON was bom in Richmond, Virginia, ' Tj- M:1 J 4 , 1812 - His mother, who died at his birth, waa *""~ M a daughter of John White, of the County of Hanover, His grandmother was a daughter of Carter Braxton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His father, Andrew- Stevenson, was a member of the Legislature for many years, and was Speaker of the House of Delegates. He was engaged in the practice of his profession in Richmond, where, though a young man, he held an enviable rank at tin/ bar. He devoted the greatesl care to the early education of his son, giving him the advantage of private tuition, under his own immediate supervision. When, in 1821, lie went to Congress as a representative from Virginia, he took with him his son, that his education might he conducted under his direction. At Washington, he was consigned to the care of John McLeod, a teacher of high repute, who fitted him for Hamp- den Sidney College, which he entered at fourteen years of age. There he remained until the end of his sophomore year, when he was entered in the University of Virginia, and in that institution he finished his collegiate education, at the age of eighteen. After he left the university, his father placed him under the care of the Hon. Willonghhy New ton, of Westmoreland County, Virginia, with whom he studied law, and was admitted to the bar. During this period of his life, John W. Stevenson had many ad- vantages in his association with the distinguished statesmen of his country. With Jefferson and Madison he was a favorite ; and the time he spent, almost as a member of their families, in their society . produced a most marked influence on his character. He received from both the most admirable suggestions as to his course in life. Enjoying familiar intercourse with men who had contributed so 29] 2 JOHN \V. STEVENSON. much to define the principles of colonial, confederate, and constitu- tional law, John ~W. Stevenson was educated by these statesmen in the truest and purest teachings of American politics. Enjoying these rare advantages, and with a mind fresh from the acquire- ments of his collegiate education, these teachings of "the fathers" of the country made these indelible impressions which have had a marked effect upon his whole subsequent life. It is not too much to say of him, that his power at the bar, in the halls of legislation, in deliberative bodies, lias much of its effect from the training he re- ceived at Montpelier and Monticello, where his opening mind was impressed by the wisdom, experience, and earnest faith of these great statesmen. It wa> Mr. Madison who advised Mr. Stevenson to leave Virginia and settle in the West. He at once followed this advice, and left his home, and family and friends, and located himself in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There he began the practice of the law. It was a severe struggle. The law of the forum was less sought after by the indigent population of this new settlement than the law el' demand and supply of the actual necessaries of life. A few months were sufficient to demonstrate that success at the bar would be too tardy in Vicksburg, and Mi-. Stevenson removed to Covington, Kentucky, in 1SI0. The choi< I' a Location, and the time it was determined upon, were both fortunate. Covington was then a grow- ing, vigorous, and increasingly-importanl town, whose population presented a. phase of social and industrial progress which made Mr. Stevi nson's choice of a heme eminently advantageous to him. He at once entered upon his professional life in his adopted residence. Yen soon it was made apparent to the people that Mr. Stevenson possessed all those qualities which were essential in a leader of public opinion, and an exponent and defender of those principles of government which Virginia had expounded and Kentucky indorsed and sustained in the first trials of the constitution of the United States, after its adoption and during its earliest operation as the ex- periment of American liberty with law. During all these years of Mr. Stevenson's life he was receiving, from time to time, the coun- sel of his father and his friends in Virginia. Andrew Stevenson was then one of the foremost men in the councils of the country. 292 JOHN W. STEVENSON. 3 In 1821, lie was first elected to Congress, where he remained as Virginia's representative till 1834 From 1827 to the expiration of his last term in Congress he was its Speaker. It was in these memo- rable years that Livingston, Stevenson, Ritchie, of the " Richmond Enquirer," and Mr. Blair, of the "Globe," were among the chosen confidential advisers of Andrew Jackson. The " veto message," the "proclamation" against nullification, and those greal state papers of that renowned sage and soldier-President, were either elaborated or finished by the pens of these giants in the political contests of those times. So signal and so highly appreciated were the services of Andrew Stevenson that he was sent to represent the United States at the British court, from 1836 to 1841, where he rose to the first rank among the envoys and ambassadors who made the court of St. James, at the beginning of Victoria's reign, so remarkable. It is not, then, to be overlooked, that John W. Stevenson was ripening, under the instruction he had received and was still receiv- ing, into a lawyer and a statesman of admitted ability and growing preeminence. The few years John W. Stevenson had been a citizen of Coving- ton made for him the character which was so well suited to his future. In 1815, he was elected to the Legislature of Kentucky, and reelected in 1816 and 1S17. His service in the Legislature gave evidence of his ability and preparation for the duties attend- ing this responsibility. So marked was his capacity, and so efficient were his services, that he left the Legislature with a high character and large popularity. This was shown by the people in 1849, when he was elected to the convention which was charged with the duty of altering and amending the constitution of the State. In this convention Mr. Stevenson took a leading position. His line of study, his acquirements, his thorough grounding in the principles of government, gave him a power in that convention which its proceedings show. In 1841, 184S, 1852, and in 1856, he was re- elected as a representative in the national conventions of the Demo cratic Party, and twice he was senatorial elector for Kentucky. Such services, and the manner he always acquitted himself, rendered bis name a commanding influence in his State and before the coun- 293 JOHN W . STEVENSON. try. He -was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the criminal and civil code of Kentucky, and performed the duty thus devolving upon him to the satisfaction of the har, the bench, and the people. Mr. Stevenson was elected a representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses. In this sphere of public service he maintained his well-earned reputation. In debate he was impressive, and held the attention of the House by his power of condensation, his strong and powerful presentation of his views, and his faith in his political principles. During the civil war, Mr. Stevenson was consistent, dignified, and true to the teachings of bis youth. Endeared to the people of his State by his devotion to their interests while in their service, he was chosen by them as lieutenanl governor in 1867, and in the follow- in-- year lie was elected governor. While filling the executive chair of Kentucky, he was subjected to severe tests, both of admin- istrative capacity and thorough statesmanship. The geographical position of the State, its past history, the trials the people were forced to undergo, and the anomalous condition of the relations of a State with the federal government which arose out of the civil war, made the duties of his office more serious and complicated than those of any other State. Tried as he was, lie proved equal to all the exigencies. His mes- sages, his public addresses, his care of the rights of the State, the interests and welfare of the people, his prudence and judgment, force of character ami unbending integrity, are parts of the history of Kentucky. Near the close of his term of service as governor, the Legislature, representing the people of the State, witnesses as its members were to his signal ability, courage, and force in the executive de- partment, determined to seal with their approval an official life which had so won their admiration. At the session of the Legisla- ture in 1870, he was elected to represent. Kentucky in the Senate of the United States, and resigning just before the term of governor expired, he took his seat in the Senate on the 4th of March, 1871. 29-1 JOSEPH R. WEST. « |^r OSEPH RODMAN WEST was born in the city of New i^Jl> Orleans, Louisiana, September 19, 1822. At an early age 2W^J lie was taken North by his parents, and at fourteen entered the Pennsylvania University. Ho did not, however, ad- vance to graduation, but at the end of two years, withdrew from the university, and returned to New-Orleans. At the breaking out of the Mexican war, he entered the army as a private, and rose to the rank of captain of cavalry. On the return of peace, Captain West emigrated to California. Here he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was one of the origi- nators of the " Price Current " of San Francisco, and, for a number of years, one of its principal editors. At the commencement of the war of the Rebellion, he entered the Union service as lieutenant- colonel of a regiment of California cavalry, and marched, with his regiment, a distance of fifteen hundred miles over the plains to Western Texas. He also, during the war, served in important movements in Arkansas and the South-west, and was promoted, Btep by step, until he attained the rank of brigadier-general of volun- teers, and was breveted major-general. At the end of the war, General West settled temporarily in Texas ; but at the appointment of General Herron as United States Marshal, he accepted the place of chief-deputy marshal for the New-Orleans district, retaining the position during General Herron entire term of office. Shortly afterward he was, under the new city charter, appointed by Governor Warmoth administrator of im- provements, this being one of the most important of the municipal positions created by the law. Here the people had the opportunity of observing his official acts, the untiring industry, the promptness 295 2 JOSEPH R. WEST. and correctness of decision, and the comprehensive ability that have earned for him the reputation of being one of the best execu- tive men of the State. As chief of a great department, he had few equals, and scarcely a. superior. He is a staunch supporter of the Union of the States under the constitution, and strongly attached to the principles of the Republican Party as a means of such union and of the prosperity of the country. His party in Louisiana gave the highest indorsement to his abili- ties and principles by electing him to the Senate of the United Stall-, in which body In' took his scat March -±, 1871, for the term of six years. On the occasion of his election to this high office, the press of the countj gave cordial approval of the selection, and ex- pression of hopes of liis sin-cess and usefulness in the national coun cils. "He is possessed," says the "New-Orleans Picayune," " of remarkable administrative abilities; and, if we may judge of him in the more elevated position to which he has been called, by his course in our city council, we are assured that he will be fully equal to any emergency that may arise." " lie will prove," says another journal, "an able and valuable member of that highly dignified and respectable body of men, and guard with jealous care the interests committed to his trust." General West's residence for a time in California has been already alluded to ; and on his election to the Senate, the following commendatory words were heard from that distant State: "In Senator Wesl we are certain to find a warm and intelligent friend, who will exercise much influence in procuring desirable legis- lation for this coast, a- well as for the important State he has been called upon to represent. ... As a senator, we have no hesitation in predicting that he will make an honorable record, even among the more experienced and able of his associates. California will find a true, consistent, and influential friend in Joseph Rodman West." 296 WILLIAM WLTOOM. ^ILLIAM WINDOM was born in Belmont County, Ohio, May 10, 1S27. Pie received an academical education, J^fF studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was elected prosecnting-attorney for Knox County, Ohio, in 1852. In 1S56 he removed to Minnesota, making his home in Winona, where he engaged in tin' practise of law and in political pursuits. He soon attracted the attention and acquired the confidence of the people of his adopted State, and was elected a Representative from Minnesota to the Thirty-sixth Congress, in which he served on the Committee on Public Lands, and on the Special Committee of Thirty-three on the rebellious States. Re-elected to the Thirty- seventh Congress, he served on the Committee on Public Expendi- tures. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he was chairman of the Com- mittee on Indian Affairs, and of the Special Committee to visit the Indian tribes of the West. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, served on the Committee on the death of President Lincoln, and was chairman of a Special Committee on the conduct of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, receiving 13,961 votes against 8,021 for the Democratic candidate. In his capacity as chairman of the Commit- tee on Indian Affairs, he introduced and advocated several measures relating to that important subject. He secured the passage in the House of a bill originating in the Senate designed "to establish peace with certain hostile Indian tribes." with which the United States were at war at an expense of $1,000,000 per week. lie op- posed a bill, which passed the House, restoring the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the War Department. At the close of the Fortieth Con- gress Mr. Wiudom declined a re-election. 297 2 WILLIAM WIND OM. Soon after the close of his service in the House of Representa- tives, Mr. Windom was elected to the Senate of the United States, and took his seat on the 4th of March, 1871. His first speech in that body was a brief expression of his approval of an appropriation for the subsistence of certain Indians "who have been collected and located upon the reservation set apart for their use and occupation by the treaties made with them in 1867." In support of this appropriation he said : " For several years, while Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs in the other House, I struggled for the adoption of the policy to feed rather than fight the Indians. I have been exceedingly gratified with the results of the policy so far, as they have been tested by this Administration. I think that in nothing has it shown its wisdom more than in this policy. I should be very unwilling now to return to the old method of fighting, by failing to keep our agreement with the Indians. ... So far as the management of Indians is con- cerned I have always been a Quaker ; I am so today ; and I be- lieve that if we continue the policy which is adopted we shall bo freed from Indian wars in the future. Let us not return to the bad policy of the past." Mr. Windom introduced a bill to prevent the destruction of tim- ber on lauds of the United States. In his remarks, March 7, 1872, advocating an appropriation for the employment of additional clerks in the General Land Office, Mr. Windom said : " The set- tlement, population, and improvement of our public lands is of vast importance. I believe we are all agreed in the advocacy of any policy that will tend to the settlement and development of our great public domain Now if we desire to encourage the settle- ment of these lauds, let us give to the office that has to do with their settlement all the necessary force that may be called for in order to promote their settlement." He advocated the passage of the Soldiers and Sailors' Home- stead Bill. Though seldom indulging in set speeches, he has made brief and pertinent remarks upon most of the important subjects of legislation. 298 GEOEGE G. WEIGHT. •^Spv EORGE G. WRIGHT was bora in Bloomington, Indi- rjV ana, March 24, 1820. lie was a cripple from the age of . I- four years, and utntble to attend school, except occasionally, until he was near twelve. He became a student in the State University at his native place, being one of two scholars sent under a State law which allowed that number of free pupils from each county. His father had died when he was five years old, and his two older brothers assumed all his expenses except that of tuition, his mother being unable to help him, as she had a large family. After his graduation he studied law with one of these brothers, Hon. Joseph A. Wright, who was afterward Governor of Indiana, a Senator in Congress, and American Minister at Berlin. In October, 1840, Mr. Wright removed to Keosauqua, Iowa, and began the practice of his profession. He remained in this place until 1865, when he removed to Des Moines, where he has since resided. His practice extended all through what is known as the Des Moines valley, comprising some fourteen counties lying on both sides of the river, a hundred and twenty miles in length and fifty miles in width. Journeys were made on horseback, and in every way known to frontier life, and were attended with many stirring incidents. In 1847 and 1848 he was Prosecuting Attorney. In 1849 he was elected to the State Senate, in which he served two terms. In his second term he was the only Whig who held the chairmanship of a Committee, as the Democrats had a majority. lie was the only Whig upon the important Committee having in charge the Code of 1851, which was adopted at that session owing largely to Mr. Wright's strenuous exertions. In 1850 he was nominated for Rep- resentative in Congress, greatly against his own wishes, and was 299 2 GEORGE G. WRIGHT. defeated, the district being strongly Democratic. The usual majority, however, was greatly decreased. In 185-t he was chosen Chief Justice of the Supreme Court - of Iowa. In 1860, the Consti- tution having been changed, he was elected to the same office by the people, and was re-elected in 1865. He was for five years President of the Iowa State Agricultural Society, beginning in 1860, and for about the same length of time was President of the County Society in Van Buren County, where he lived. He was a professor in the law department of the Iowa State University for six years, beginning in 1865. His nomination for Judge was made with unanimity, and during the whole time that he served the people he never ran behind the other candidates on the tickets in any election. In aid of benevolent, agricultural, and literary societies, he has given many lectures and addresses on various subjects pertaining to the State and its history, and on legal and other topics. He was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican, and took his seat March 4. 1871, for the term ending in 1877. He was appointed a member of the Committee on Finance and the Com- mittee on Claims. In the second session of the Forty-second Con- gress he was appointed on the Committee on Revision of the Laws, and on the Special Committee to investigate the charges against Senator Clayton, of Arkansas. He is one of the most pains- taking and laborious members of the Senate. His speeches on the most important questions pending in the Senate uniformly evince careful preparation, laborious research, and strong argumentative ability. 300 EIOHARD J. OGLESBY. ^pFlOHAED JAMES OGLESBY was born in Oldham Coun- \J£% ty, Kentucky, July 25, 1824. He came to Illinois when JA^jl he was about twelve years old, settling at Decatur, which ever since has been his home. Both of his parents died before he had arrived at an age to appreciate a mother's love or profit by a father's advice and aid. His early life was passed in a country and in a time in which education, in its present significance, had not become popular, and he never had the advantage of so much as twelve months of schooling in the whole course of his life. At the age of sixteen years he returned to his native county, where he learned the carpenter's trade, and afterward worked at it in De- catur until the year 1843. In 1844 he commenced the study of law with Judge Robbins, of Springfield, and began the practice at Sullivan, Illinois, in 1S45. His professional duties were soon interrupted, however, by the Mex- ican war, and, returning to Decatur, he was active in raising a com- pany, of which he was elected first lieutenant. He took part in the siege of Yera Cruz, and commanded his company at Cerro Gordo, showing throughout the campaign that spirit and bravery which dis- tinguished him in the greater war of later years. Returning from the Mexican war, Oglesby took a full law course, and received his diploma at the Louisville Law School. He then developed an ardent desire for travel and adventure. He crossed the plains to California in 1849, when such an undertaking was hazardous, and worked two years in the mines. He subseciuently visited Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Oglesby's political career began in 1852, when he was an elector on the Whig ticket. In 1858 he was a Republican candidate for 301 RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 2 Congress against Hon. James C. Robinson, and reduced the stand- ard Democratic majority by several thousand. In 1860 he was elected to the State Senate, but resigned his seat in 1861 to volun- teer his services in the war against the rebellion. He was commis- sioned Colonel of the Eighth Illinois regiment, and was from the first among the most active and successful commanders in the West- ern armies, always holding responsible positions above his rank. Colonel Oglesby first commanded the forces stationed at Cairo, Illinois, and then those at Bird's Point, Missouri. He joined in the general movement, made by Grant against the rebel army at Belmont. Transferred to the command of a new brigade in the army of West Tennessee, he was the first to enter Fort Henry, and led the advance to Fort Donelson through the sharpest skirmishing of the war. On the 15th of February, 1862, his command was at- tacked by the rebel army, and lost one fifth of its number in its gal- lant resistance. On the first of April, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-general for gallant conduct at the battle of Fort Donelson. After the evacuation of Corinth, General Oglesby commanded an entire division for several months; but on the return of the com- manding officer he took charge of his own brigade, and led it into the terrible battle of Corinth on the 3d of October, 1862. From this battle-field Colonel Oglesby was carried, as it seemed, in a dying condition. A ball had entered his left lung, whence it lias never vet been extracted. For his gallant conduct in this battle he was promoted at once from brigadier-general to the rank of major- general, above his superiors in command. He returned to the field as soon as he was able to do so, but the pains from his wound were so acute that he was compelled to tender his resignation. This was accepted six months afterward, when it was apparent that he could no longer endure the hard-hips of the campaign. The people of Illinois paid an immediate and hearty tribute to the patriotism of General Oglesby by electing him Governor of the State by the largest majority ever given for any officer. He was inagnrated Governor on the 16th of January, 1865, for the term of four years. The unanimity of the choice was gracefully 302 ' 3 RICHARD J. OGLESBT. recognized in his inaugural address. ' : I do not disguise the fact," he said, " nor do I desire to do so, that I have been chosen to this high position by the Onion people of our State without regard to party, and am expected by them to administer its executive affairs with a view to no partisan or selfish purposes, and thus, relieved of many of the burdens which usually attend a mere party triumph, am left free with you to follow the path of duty pointed out so clearly that I hope to be able to adhere to it." Governor Oglesby in his administration fulfilled the promise of his inaugural. His term was one of the most trying and exacting, but he gave entire satisfaction to the people who elected him. At the close of his gubernatorial term he retired to private life at Decatur, Illinois, but was not suffered long to remain apart from public affairs. In May, 1872, he was again nominated for Gov- ernor, to which office he was elected by a majority of more than forty-one thousand votes. He was inaugurated Governor on the 13th of January, 1873. On the !22d of the same month he was elected to the United States Senate, receiving one hundred and nineteen votes against eighty-six for Hon. Lyman Trumbull, and on the following day he resigned the office of Governor. He en- tered upon his duties as United States Senator on the 4th of March, 1873, and was appointed on the Committees on Public Lands, Indian Affairs, and Pensions. He took the prominent and active part in the proceedings of the Senate to which his abilities and experience entitled him. Able in debate, faithful in his devotion to public business, and honorable in all the relations of life, he holds high rank as a Senator and a statesman. 303 GEOEGE GOLDTHWAITE. '/fify'* EORGE GOLDTHWAITE was born in Boston, Massa- v^fif? musetts, December 10, 1809. He received an academic %J> education in the schools of his native city. He removed to Alabama, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1827. He was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, in 1843, by the Legis- lature, and was re-elected to the same office by the people in 1850. In the following year he was appointed one of a commission of three to prepare a Code of Laws for Alabama, which was reported to and accepted by the Legislature of 1852. He was elected Judge of the Supreme Court in 1851, but re- signed in 1853 to allow the court to be reorganized. He was re- elected by the Legislature, and was subsequently Chief-Justice of the State of Alabama. He resigned in 1856, and resumed the practice of law. Upon the passage of the ordinance of Secession by Alabama in January, 1861, Mr. Goldthwaite was appointed Adjutant General of the State, which position he held during the war. Ho was elected Circuit Judge in 1866, and occupied the bench until 1868, when he was removed under the Reconstruction Acts. He then resumed the successful practice of the law. On the 7th of Decem- ber, 1870, he was elected to the United States Senate, as a Demo- crat, for the term ending March 3, 1877. Near the beginning of the second session of the Forty-second Congress his case was acted on by the Committee on Privileges and Elections, who recom- mended that he he admitted to his seat immediately on the prima facie evidence furnished by his certificate of election. The case, however, went over until after the holidays, when the Senate voted to admit him, and he was sworn in on the 15th of January, 1872. 304 &*/#&&«. WILLIAM B. ALLISON. pf?ILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Perry, "Wayne County, Ohio, March 2, 1S29. He passed I is boyhood father's farm. He received the rudiments of learning by attending the common school in the winter, work on the farm re- quiring his attention during the summer. In his youth and early manhood, however, he had the advantages of a liberal course of education, pursuing his studies at Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, and at Western Reserve College, Ohio. He was a diligent student, and while making proficiency in the regular studies of college found time to read extensively in history and general literature. Upon the completion of his collegiate course he resolved to make the law his profession, and after a more thorough course than usual was admitted to tlio practice. After practicing with success in Ohio for a few years, in 1857 he removed to Dubuque, Iowa. The financial crisis of that year was peculiarly disastrous in Iowa. There were at that time no banks in the State. They had been prohibited by law, and hence the State was the receptacle of all the worthless bank-notes of the country. When the "wild cat" institutions blew up with the tremendous crash of 1857, the people of Iowa had their pockets and coffers full of bank-notes, but no money. There was absolute distress in hundreds of families inde- pendently rich but a short time before the crisis. The citj of Dubuque shared in the general misfortune. It was a dark day for beginning life in a new home, but Mr. Allison was not discouraged by the gloomy outlook. Skillful in his profession, attentive to bis duties, and affable to all, he soon had all the business be desired. In politics he was an earnest, active Republican, but was in the minority in Dubuque, and had little opportunity for distinction. 305 2 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. Iii 1S60, however, he was chosen one of the delegates to attend the Eepublican National Convention at Chicago, when he aided in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. In 1SG2 he was nominated for Representative in Congress. He made a thorough canvass of the district, speaking in all the counties, numbering not less than twelve, and in some of them more than once. His majority was three thousand six hundred and sixty in a vote of about twenty- one thousand. Mr. Allison was the youngest man in the delegation, which num- bered six, and the only one without actual experience in legislative bodies or public office. Encouraged by the hearty friendship of his colleagues, and by that of several distinguished representatives from other States, he entered upon his duties with zeal, and with stndious habits which have never been laid aside, and which have given him remarkable success as a legislator. Mr. Allison sustained all the great measures brought forward in the Thirty-eighth Con- gress for the carrying on of the war, and for the development of the country, especially of the North-west. He procured the land grant for a railway through Iowa, westward from M'Gregor. lie also introduced a hill for the improven ent of the navigation of the Mississippi, and at length succeeded in having the measure adopted. In all the political contests of the period he voted for the most rad- ical measures, and against every hill or resolution looking to the adoption of rose-water warfare against the rebels. lie voted for those great measures of freedom passed by this Congress — the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the resolution for the Thir- teenth Constitutional Amendment. Against extravagance in every shape he gave his vote without deviation. During the first session of this Congress he made a set speech upon the bill relating to homesteads on forfeited estates. It was an evening session. He had a fine audience, and made a good im- pression both on House and galleries. He took ground in favor of every measure for the suppression of the Rebellion, which the most radical Republicans had believed necessary, including the measure under direct discussion. " If we hope to attain success in 306 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. s this contest," he remarked near the close of his speech, "we must guaranty to all the privileges of religion, of family, of property, and of liberty." Mr. Allison was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress by a majority of about three thousand votes. He was assigned a place on the Committee of "Ways and Means, and was, during the entire time of his subsequent service in the House, one of the most laborious and efficient workers on that committee, a membership of which ranks about with the chairmanship of most other commit- tees. Entirely familiar with all the financial measures >f the Gov- ernment, having a thorough knowledge of their practical results, and knowing, by attentive observation, the commercial, material, and general business interests of the country, he was frequently designated by the Committee to take charge of important measures recommended for passage. His speech on the Loan Bill, and that on the trade of British America, made during the first session of this Congress, showed a thorough knowledge of trade and finance. We find him in this Congress successfully speaking in favor of the improvement of the Mississippi River, for which he had himself introduced a bill, and in favor of the Xiagara Ship Canal. We find him also favoring a wiser and better administration of the affairs of the Agricultural Department, the placing of agricultural implements on the free li>t. and in other ways manifesting a special regard for that great industry of the country in which he was born and nurtured. We find him speaking earnestly for radical measures of general policy, advocating and voting for the Fourteenth Consti- tutional Amendment, for the Civil Eights Bill, and the Freedi Bureau Bill. It was a period of great political excitement, the conflict between the Executive and the Legislative Departments of the Government being carried to the pitch of fury on the part of President Johnson, and with the firmest determination on the part of Congress. Throughout this remarkable contest Mr. Allison was undisguisedly outspoken in hostility to the President and his policy of reconstruction. Mr. Allison was renominated bv his party for the third time in 307 4 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 18G6, and was elected over a popular competitor by a majority of five thousand votes. When the question of impeachment came up Mr. Allison took emphatic grounds in favor of the measure, making an able speech on the subject on the 24th of February, 1868. The opposition had begun to make war on the Republicans for their management of the public finances. Subjects of this kind were the chief matters of discussion in the Presidential campaign of 1868. Mr. Allison's speech on the finances, and the frauds and peculations of many then holding office under Mr. Johnson, had as much circulation and influence in the campaign as any other document. After a very exciting canvass Mr. Allison was re- elected a Representative to the Forty-first Congress by a majority of six thousand votes. < >ne of his most successful speeches during this Congress was delivered March 24 and 25 on the Tariff. Al- though he did not advocate free-trade, he favored certain re- forms in the tariff laws, which were substantially incorporated in legislation. Refusing to be again a candidate for Representative in Congress Mr. Allison returned to Ills home in Dubuque, where he engaged in various business enterprises tending to develop the resources of the city and the State. Ee was not, however, permitted to remain long in retirement. In January, 1S73, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, to succeed lion. James Harlan, and on the 4th of March took his seat in that body for the term ending in 1879. He was appointed on the Committees on Appropriations, Indian Affairs, and the Library. Mr. Allison has a fine personal presence, with keen black eyes, and a pleasant expression. His bead is large and well formed. His manners are agreeable, and his bearing such as to command respect. Every part of bis public career and private life bears tes- timony to the fact that he is an honest and true man. :',!S^ cation, and at the age of nineteen commenced the study of medicine, entering the University of Pennsylvania in 1860. A few months after graduating, in 1863, he received an appointment as assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland, and was stationed at Nashville, Tennessee. In lSCi he was trans- ferred to the Haddington Hospital, Philadelphia, and from there to Cincinnati, where he was placed in charge of the Post Hospital. In 1806 he went to Florida as surgeon in the United States army, and was stationed in Lake City. Here he speedily won public confidence and esteem. He distinguished himself by his unweary- ing services to the colored people, riding night and day to benefit them. Politically he has always been a consistent, fearless, and inde- pendent Republican. He has labored faithfully and earnestly for the Republican party from its organization in 1S56, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. On settling in Florida he at once identified himself with the true interests of the State and of the Republican party. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention from the counties of Baker and Columbia by a large majority. On the election of Governor Reed in 1868, Dr. Conover was rewarded for his valuable services in the campaign, and during the reconstruction period, with the appointment of State Treasurer. This position lie filled with credit to himself and advantage to tin- State. It is an evidence of public confidence in his integrity that all efforts to remove him from his position by those who could nor, use him to further their own ends uniformly failed. In 1808 he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention, and was made a member 317 2 SIMON B. CONOVER. of the National Republican Committee. At the last State Conven- tion he was appointed on the State Executive Committee. At the expiration of his term of service as State Treasurer lie was elected to the Florida Legislature as a Representative from the county of Leon, and was chosen Speaker of the House. In Janu- ary, 1873, he was elected a United States Senator to succeed Hon. T. W. Osborn, "after a struggle," said the Tallahassee Sentinel, " protracted through many days, and which, for intensity of party action, is without a parallel in the political history of the Stair." The successful candidate received forty-three of the seventy -three votes cast. "Let the vote be examined that elected him," said the Tallahassee Floridian, "and it will be found to stand composed of twenty-two anti-Ring Republicans, and twenty-one young pro- gressive Democrats, which swept down on the other side a junction between the forces of the Ring and the unprogressive Bourbons among the Conservatives." In a speech in response to a serenade by the citizens of Talla- hassee soon after the election Mr. Conover said : '•As I understand, all that supported me have done so knowing my political predilections. I was a delegate to the Chicago Con- vention, which first nominated General Grant, sent there by the first Republican organization that ever existed in the State, and have always been an unwavering supporter of his administration in all matters which I believed for the best interests of the country, and I shall continue in that course. It shall he my endeavor to do all things in my power that may conduce to the welfare of the State anil to secure harmony among all classes of our people." One of the leading journals of Florida gives the following edi- torial estimate of his character: "His energy and ability, together with his strict integrity and honesty of purpose, have commanded the respect even of his polit- ical opponents. Firm and unwavering in his political convictions, yet never intrusive, his gentlemanly discretion has obtained for him the confidence and respect of all the people, and won him a reputation of which he may well be proud." 318 ^ r GEOEGE E. DENNIS. gEOEGE R DENNIS was born in White Haven, Somerset Comity, Maryland, April 8, 1822. Tie is of one of the oldest families in the State, members of which were prominent in polities at an early period in the history of the country, and all of whom have resided upon the Eastern Shore of Maryland. John Dennis was a member of Congress in 1797, dying during his term of service; Littleton P. Dennis also died while serving in Congress in 1S33 ; John Dennis was in Con- gress from 1839 to 1S43. Littleton Dennis, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a Whin- elector for five Presidential elections, first serving in 1801; he was an eminent lawyer, and was appointed one of the Judges of the General Court, at that time the Supreme Court of the State. The present Senator received his early education from a private tutor, Michael Tuomey, (afterward State Geologist of Alabama,) and at Washington Academy, Mary- land. He then entered the Van Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, where he graduated in 1S10. A fter completing the course of the Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Dennis entered the University of Virginia, and. subsequently studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Receiving his degree as a doctor of medicine from that institution in 1843, lie entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in his native county. He practiced with eminent success for many' years, but about fifteen years ago retired from active professional work, and has since devoted himself to the management of a large plantation. He took an active interest in the great works of internal im- provement which have been of such service in developing the resources of the State and nation. He is President of the Eastern Shore Railroad, of which he was a director from its first organiza- 319 2 GEORGE R. DENNIS. tion. He was a State Director in the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road, resigning that position at the time of his election to the United States Senate. In politics Mr. Dennis was at first a "Whig, but since 1860 has acted with the Democratic party. He was a delegate from the State at large to the Whig National Convention which nominated Fillmore in 1850, and also to the Democratic National Convention which met in New York in 18C8, serving as one of the Vice-Presi- dents of that body. He was elected to the State Senate in 1S54. to the House of Delegates in 1867, and again to the State Senate in 1871. While holding this position he was elected to the United States Senate, receiving fifty-eight ont of sixty-eight votes in caucus, and took his seat in that body March 4, 1S73. He was appointed on the Committees on Agriculture and Commerce. In the State Legislature he devoted himself witli zeal to the promotion of edu- cation and the development of the resources of the State, and has lived to see his Commonwealth enjoying a high degree of prosperity under the liberal policy he advocated. Mr. Dennis has been twice married. His first wife was a daughter of Thomas R. Joynes, Esq., of Accomae County, Vir- ginia. He contracted a second marriage with a daughter of Will- iam W. Johnston, Esq., of Somerset County, Maryland. His eldest son, J. Upshur Dennis Esq., is a successful lawyer in Baltimore. Prepossessing in appearance and agreeable in his manners, he is very popular; and with active and industrious habits and a sound judgment he combines the elements of an able Senator and a safe legislator. 320 cSV/C^ax^, STEPHEN W. DOESEY. > ^TEPHEN W. DORSET was l. ( ,rn in Benson, Rutland ^ County, Vermont, February 28, 1^4l'. He received an academic education, ami left his native State at an early age. locating in Oberlin, Ohio. At the breaking out of the late civil war he enlisted as a private in a battery of light artillery. He fought his first battle at Shiloh, under General Grant, where, as first lieutenant, he commanded two pieces of artillery. He was at Perryville under General Buell, ami at Stone River and Chickamauga under General Roseerans. He was subsequently inspector of artillery on the staff of General Thomas. He commanded a battery at the battle of Mission Ridge, after which he was promoted to a captaincy. In ISO-i he was transferred t<> the Army of the Potomac, and assigned to the command of the First Ohio Battery. In the mem- orable campaign under General Grant he was engaged in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. He was in command of the historic " Fort Hell," in front of Peters- burg, during the siege. He participated actively in nearly all the engagements which closed the terrible drama, and which compelled the surrender at Appomattox. The war over, he resigned this commission, and returning to Ohio, organized the now well-known "Sandusky Tool Company," of which he was elected Manager. This company, tinder his effi- cient management, became one of the largest and most successful of its kind in the country. Mr. Horsey took a prominent part in the politics of Ohio, identifying himself with the Republicans, by whom he was frequently tendered positions of honor and profit, which he invariably declined. He was Chairman of the Congres- 321 2 STEPHEN "W. DORSEY. sional and County Central Committees for several years, and in those positions rendered valuable service. Early in January, 1870, he was elected President of the " Ar- kansas Central Railway Company." He accepted the position, and at once left for his new field of labor and responsibility. At that time not one hundred miles of railroad had been completed within the limits of the State. The " Arkansas Central Railway Company" had a charter to build, equip, and operate a road from Helena on the Mississippi River to Little Rock, with a branch to Pine Bluff, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, but no money or any thing else available to build, equip, or operate it with. Nothing whatever of a practical nature had been done save a partial preliminary survey. The State Board of Railroad Commissioners had awarded fifteen thousand dollars per mile in bonds of the State, for the entire line of the "Central," but as the company had to make provision for the interest if it accepted and negotiated them, this award at that time, as a matter of fact, amounted to nothing. It was with these surroundings that Mr. Dorsey took hold to bring "order out of chaos," and achieve a success where disaster seemed almost certain. His own resources were promptly brought into action. He contributed largely of his private means, and in- duced a number of his financial friends to follow his example. lie visited the moneyed centers of this country and Europe, and as a result of his persevering energy the bonds of Arkansas have now a very positive value. That his management of the Central has proven a complete success, the sixty miles already completed, fully equipped, and doing a profitable business, amply attest. In the politics of Arkansas Mr. Dorsey has always taken an active and prominent part. In the Republican State Convention of 1872 and as a member of the "State Central Committee," he added materially to the success of the party. He subsequently declined a nomination for Representative in Congress, but was soon after elected to the Senate, receiving the votes of every Republican and two thirds of the Democrats in the Legislature. He took his seat March 1, 1873, for the term which will expire in 1879. 822 ■4 JOHN B. GORDON". , |p >OHN B. GORDON was born in Upson County, Ga., February 6, 1832, and was educated at the University of Georgia. At the outbreak of the late civil war he was en- gaged in mining eoal in Dade County, Georgia, and in Jackson County, Alabama. In April, 1861, he raised a company of in- fantry, which was accepted as a part of the Sixth Alabama Regi- ment, of which he was elected major. The regiment was sent to Manassas in May, and was attached to Ewell's brigade. Gordon was soon after commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and when the regi- ment was reorganized in April, 1S62, he was, by unanimous vote, elected colonel. Seven Pines was the first important battle in which the Sixth Alabama was engaged. More than two thirds of Gordon's com- mand were killed or wounded ; the lieutenant-colonel, the major, and the adjutant were all killed. Every horse ridden into the tight was killed, the one on which Gordon was mounted being the last to fall under bis rider. He participated in the Seven Days' battles around Richmond. At Malvern Hill he was in command of Rodes' brigade, and led the desperate charge upon the Federal liatteries for half a mile through an open field. His brigade was first in the charge, and left its dead nearer the enemy's guns than any other of the Confederate troops. Nearly one half of the entire command were either killed or wounded in the terrible onset. The colonel had the butt of his pistol carried away by a ball, the breast of his coat torn open by another, and the canteen at his side shot through by a third. On Lee's march into Maryland Gordon commanded the first Confederate infantry that crossed the Potomac. In the battle of 323 2 JOHN B. GORDON. South Mountain he distinguished himself. Of his conduct in this fight General D. H. Hill reported that "Colonel Gordon, the Christian hero, excelled his former deeds at Seven Pines and in the battles around Eichmond. Our language is not capable of ex- pressing a higher compliment." He evinced remarkable gallantry in the subsequent field of Sharpsburgh. He was wounded twice ear.y in the fight, two balls passing through his right leg, but he refused to leave the field. An hour later he was shut again, a ball passing through bis left arm, mangling the tendons and muscles, and severing a small artery. He bled rapidly, his arm was completely disabled, and his whole system greatly shocked. A little while and another ball pene- trated his shoulder, producing a terrible shock upon bis already weakened powers, but he yet persisted in remaining on the field, and, haggard and bloody, continued to cheer his men and to wave them on to the fight. At last the fifth ball, passing entirely through the left cheek, brought him senseless to the ground, and he Mas carried to the rear by some of his men. For several months his life hung by a thread, but at length, through his unfailing spirits, and the assiduous nursing of a devoted wife, his recovery was effected. Colonel Gordon's gallantry al the battle of Sharpsburgh did not escape the notice of his superiors. He was made a brigadier general after bis recovery, in April, 1863, and placed in command of the Georgia brigade, formerly commanded by General A. R. Lawton. In a little more than a month after he took command he fought at Marye's Hill, in front of Fredericksburgh, and retook the heights by a brilliant charge. In the outset of the Pennsylvania campaign General Gordon was with Ewell at the capture of Milroy's forces in Winchester. He crossed into Maryland, and moved in front of the Confederate army on the Gettysburg, Yorkville, and Wrightsville pike. He moved on to Wrightsville, on the Susquehanna River, and, by a flank movement on the enemy's intrenched position, caused its evacua- tion. In their retreat they fired the bridge after crossing the river. The flames were communicated to adjoining buildings, and the 324 JOHN B. GORDON. whole town would have been reduced to ashes bat for the gem efforts of Gordon's troops to subdue the conflagration. He formed them in lines around the burning houses, and it was by their per- severing work, continued far into the night, that the flames were finally extinguished. Next day General Gordon marched to Gettysburg to participate in the great battles fought there. On the arrival of Early's division Gordon was sent in to support Rodes, whose left was being turned. He saw his opportunity, and by a bold and rapid charge broke the line guarding the right flank of the Federal army, after an almost hand-to-hand conflict, and then struck the flank, pressed heavily forward, broke every thing in his front, and turned the tide of battle. u It was a most brilliant charge," as officially reported. Pollard, in his "Lee and his Lieutenants," says of this charge: "The results showed an amount of execution greater, perhaps, than was ever accomplished in similar circumstances of the war by the same number of men. So great was the success that the whole Federal line had retreated, and Gordon was anxious to continue the pursuit and seize the heights which the enemy afterward so stronglv fortified. But he was halted by his superior officers. In consulta- tion with senior officers at the close of the day he advised an ad- vance at once, and expressed an opinion that the heights could be taken even at that time. So strongly was he impressed with this conviction, that at night he saw his superiors again and urged the movement. But other counsels prevailed, and the Confederates lost the opportunity of winning what might have been the decisive victory of the war." It was on the stormy lines of the Rapidan that General Gordon performed his chief part in the history of the late civil war. < >n the fifth of May his command was on the pike leading from < >ra Court-House to Fredericksburgh. The Confederate troops in Ids front had been engaged some time when they were overpowered aud forced to retreat rapidly. General Gordon ordered his men forward to a charge, riding in their front, He broke the Federal line, and then, designating certain troops to guard the front, 325 4 JOHNB. GORDON. wheeled his right and lei't, and swept down upon the enemy's flanks in both directions, capturing many prisoners and one regi- ment entire. During the night of the fifth of May Gordon was transferred to the extreme left of the Confederate army. Early on the following morning lie urged an attack upon the enemy's right flank, but his suggestions were not adopted until very late in the afternoon. "The probable effect of the movement," says Pollard, " if made early in the morning, when General Gordon first suggested it, may be judged from the success which attended it at dark. He struck the enemy fairly and squarely. The surprise was complete and the panic very great. The Federal officers endeavored to draw out brigade after brigade, division after division, and form at right angles to the breastworks, so as to check the impetuous attack. But Gordon's men were upon them before they could be properly placed in the new position. He met with no check until sometime after dark, when, in the confusion attending all night attacks, one or two of his regiments on the right were tired into by other Con- federate troops, and gave way. But the other troops pressed on until theenemy's lines had been captured by Gordon's own brigade, for more than a mile, nearly one thousand prisoners taken, includ- ing Generals Seymour and Shaler, and a complete disorganization effected in a large portion of the Sixth Corps of Grant's army. "At Spottsylvania Conrt-House Gordon was a conspicuous actor in one of the most memorable and dramatic passages of the war. It was here that, put in command of Early's division, he gave the first check to the enemy advancing after taking the salient held by General Johnston ; and it was here occurred the affecting and noble scene, when he seized the In-idle of General Lee's horse, and refused to let bim lead the Georgians and Virginians placed in line for a desperate counter-charge upon the enemy." This fight made him a major-general. After this battle Gordon took part in the various engagements of the two armies until the 13th of June, when he was sent with Early to Lynchburgh to meet Hunter, and afterward to the Valley 326 JOHN B. GORDON. 5 of Virginia and into Maryland. It was his division that won the victory at Monocacy. " It was his command." says Pollard, " that struck the enemy that almost mortal Wow al Cedar Creek and then, palsied by the command of superiors, had the mortification of seeing a brilliant victory changed to an irretrievable defeat. It was Gordon's command chiefly engaged in the battle of Hare's Hill, where the troops fought with a vigor and brilliancy that reminded one of Lee's old campaigns; it was Gordon'- command that held the last lines in front of Petersbnrgh ; and it was Gordon's com- mand that, in Lee's final and fatal retreat, was at t'lie front, and gilded the last scene of surrender with the spectacle of three thousand men attempting to cut their way through Sheridan's lines, ami signalizing the close of the war by the capture of his artillery." In closiug his sketch of General Gordon Mr. Pollard says : '■His military services constitute for him one of the first reputa- tions in the war. But he appears, even beyond this object of am- bition, to have wou a peculiar regard from his countrymen : he has been accepted since the war, in some manner, as tin- representative of the young South. He is one of those who have clearly not ter- minated their career, and is certain to appear again in history. His fiery courage, his ardent sentiments, tempered by the highest tone of honor, and regulated by a strong and practical intellect, complete a character to be admired and trusted beyond that of most men." In the year following the war General Gordon was strongly urged by his friends to become a candidate for Governor of Geor- gia. He declined the honor, and took occasion to address to his fellow-citizens the most judicious advice as to the political attitude and action of the South. "Let us demonstrate,"' said he, '-that the men of the South are most reliable in their observances of plighted faith, and true to the principles of the Constitution. Dif- ficulties of the greatest magnitude oppose our political and mate- rial advancement ; but let us give ourselves to the task of overcoming them with brave hearts, and wise, unremitting toil." Z27 G JOHN B. GORDON. In 1SG7 he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor of Georgia, against Bufus B. Bullock, and the Demo- crats claim that he was elected by a large majority. He was Chairman of the Georgia Delegation in the Democratic National Convention of 1868, and in the ensuing canvass was Elector for the State at large. He was a Delegate to the National Conven tion which assembled at Baltimore July 9, 1S73. In January, 1873, General Gordon was elected by the Legis- lature of Georgia United States Senator, to serve for six years from March 4, 1S73. In this contest his competitors were Hon. Alex- ander II. Stephens, late Vice-President of the Confederate States, Hon. B. II. Hill, late ex-Confederate State Senator, and Hon. Amos T. Ackerman, ex-Attorney-General of the United States. General Gordon was elected on the fifth ballot, the vote being Gordon 112, Stephens 80, Ackerman 7. At the called session of the Senate, beginning March 4, 1873, he entered upon the dis- charge of the duties of his position with characteristic faithfulness and energy. 328 u n^j c n /Cj JOHN J. IIGALLS. ''OTIN J. INGALLS was born of Puritan ancestry in Mid- dleton, Essex County, Massachusetts, December 2ft, is::::. He received the rudiments of education in the common schools of his native county, and prepared for college in the Hav- erhill High School, to which town his parents removed in 1841. lie graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in the class of 1S55. He read law in Haverhill, and in 1857 was admitted to the Essex County bar. • He removed to Kansas in 1858, settling at Sumner, named after Senator Sumner, and at that time the only distinctively " State," or antislavery, town on the Missouri River. There he re- mained until 1SC0, when he removed to Atchison, where he has since resided. During the Border conflicts he was well known as an earnest Free-soiler, and made himself prominent by the vehe- mence with which lie denounced the supporters of slavery. In 1859 he was elected a member of the Wyandotte Convention which formed the present Constitution of the State of Kansas. It is told of him, that soon after his election he was taunted by David R. Atchison, a proslavery champion, about his youth andobscui Ingalls, not disconcerted, briefly replied that his youth and obscu- rity were preferable to age which was accompanied by infamy. This reply secured him the prominence which his ability and energy fully deserved. In 1S60 he was Secretary of the Territorial Council, and in 1861, after the admission of the State, he was Secretary of the Senate. In 1862 he was elected State Senator from Atchison .County. In the same year he was a candidate for Lieutenant- Governor, upon what was known as the " Anti" ticket, and a 329 2 JOHN J. INGALLS. in 1864, but was defeated on both occasions, although he carried his own county in each instance by immense majorities for the whole ticket. Mr. Ingalls was editor of the Atchison Champion from 1863 to 1865, and since that time he has been engaged in the practice of law in different courts of the State. He was married in 1865. He was one of the founders of the Kansas Magazine, to which he has been one of the principal contributors, writing chiefly on Western life. In his writings he has displayed a varied knowledge of the history of the Western country in its transition from barbarism to civilization. His papers have attracted much attention, having been reprinted largely both in this country and in Europe. He has always been a Republican, and has been prominent both with his pen and on the stump in the advocacy of the principles of his party. The recent election of United States Senator in Kansas was one of the most remarkable scenes in the history of American politics. Mr. Pomeroy and his friends were confident of his re-election. The joint Convention had met. and was proceeding to vote, when sud- denly a State Senator arose and sent to the clerk's desk a roll of money, amounting to seven thousand dollars, which he asserted that he had received from Mr. Pomeroy as a bribe for his vote. The effect was electric. Mr. Pomeroy was abandoned by his friends, and Mr. Ingalls was elected by a vote almost unanimous. He took his seat in the Senate March 4, 1873, and was appointed on the Committees on Pensions and Education and Labor. 330 '■■'■■ ' 7frr^' -iu~esf JOHN P. JONES. ^TOHN P. JONES was born in Hay, Brecknockshire, Wales, in 1828. His father, a man of considerable force and originality of thought, emigrated to this country aboul forty years ago. He settled with his family near Cleve- land, Ohio, and carried on the marble business there until hisdeath. John P. Jones received the ordinary education of an American boy in the public schools of that city. In company with his brother, Henry, he sailed for California in September, 1849, and landed there early in 1850. His first expe- rience in mining was at the North Fork of the Feather River. Thence he went to Marysville; and thence to Poor Man's Creek, where he remained a few days, and then set out for new scenes. The autumn found him in Tuolumne. After mining there and in Cala- veras for nearly two years, with varied success, he went to Trinity County. In 1853 he went back to Tuolumne, and entered into some large mining enterprises, which for a time were very profitable. Fortune, however, deserted him; lie lost all, and became involved in debt. In 1855 ho returned to Trinity, and out of his first earnings paid off his Tuolumne creditors. Soon after his return to Trinity, Jones was elected a Justice of the Peace. While he based his decisions generally on the equities of the cases tried before him, lie studied enough law to clothe them in such legal forms that dissatisfied lawyers could not upset them. A year later he was sheriff of the county. An Indian war broke out, and Jones, as a volunteer, did good service. On one occasion, he and fifteen other volunteers were surrounded by a large force of Indians, where they were cut off from water for sixteen hours. Several were killed and wounded, and all would have perished had they not received assistance from the main body. 331 2 JOHN P. JONES. A little later Jones went back to mining, and, like most of his class, lived for years in a snug log cabin on a steep mountain-side. By day, with the hammer, drill, and pick, in shaft and tunnel, with unfaltering hope and cheerful toil he wrought for gold. At night, by poring over such books as in tin ho days found their way into the almo.-t inaccessible mountains of Trinity, he added to his stores of knowledge, more precious than gold. Of course, when miners and others met in consultation or debate, Jones, being the fullest man, generally had something good to say, and was always called for. Hence he became a ready man, and having to deal with audiences that were too honest and outspoken to bear boring, he learned to use few words and make his discourse epigrammatic and entertaining. Wherever he might be, he was a great book-buyer, often spending his week's earnings to gratify his taste for reading. When, in 1861, Trinity miners wanted to send a Senator to Sacra- mento, they thought of Jones. In the Legislature for four years he did his work quietly, honestly, and without fear or favor. When Gorham was nominated for Governor, Jones was selected for the second place on the Republican ticket, — the Lieutenant-Governor- ship. He was popular from on,' end of the mother lode of Cali- fornia quartz to the other, and was known by name to every Repub- lican from the seashore to the ridge of the Sierras. The Democrats, however, carried all before them, and the defeat of the Republican party was complete. Jones found himself the day after the election with a little mining property in Trinity, a loving wife, some house- hold furniture, and a heavy load of debt incurred in that hottest of all California's political campaigns. Alvinza Hayward had discovered in Jones the kind of man he wanted to superintend the Crown Point and Kentuck mines, which were hardly holding their own on the Comstock, though they had in previous years paid excellent dividends. Jones accepted the po- sition, with its handsome salary and other advantages, and went to Gold Hill, Nevada. Old mining superintendents, mill-owners, and even underground men looked rather coldly on the " politician from Trinity." Gradually his fellow-superintendents found that Jones was a gentleman, and that he knew how to mine. By and by his men came to know him better; they liked his straightforwardness, his few words, his strong will, and pleasant ways. He seemed to 3:J2 JOHN P. JONES. g them more like one of themselves than the dashing, finely-d and bejewelled superintendents who were not unknown to the lode. These men afterwards learned to love him, for lie and thej through the valley of the shadow of death, and struggled for life with destructive flames and poisonous gases side by side, at the time of the fire in Crown Point, Yellow Jacket, and Kentuck mines. After the worst effects of the fire were removed, it was found that there weresome of the middle levels that could not be safely i and the lowest were yet undeveloped. Assessments were made, first to meet the extraordinary expenses of the fire, and then to prospect at greater depth. The stock fell from §80 to $2.50. Everything looked gloomy, and it was feared the stockholders would tire before the question was si lived whether there was paying ore at 1100 feet, or the ground was worked out. Jones sought every way to hasten the solution of the problem. He did solve it six months before the answer was expected, and he found lie had under his charge the richest mine then known in the world. He and his friend- I stock every day, everywhere, and at any price. Jones soon found himself with an income of over 81,000,000 a year. The Crown Point was the foundation of his fortune; but other fortunate and judicious investments have since made that but one of several sources of revenue. In 1870 Mr. Jones with great liberality and party zeal proposed to bear all the legitimate election expenses of the Republican party of Nevada in the pending election. The result was a Republican triumph, the party being largely predominant in the Legislature. Upon its meeting a Republican caucus was held, and Mr. Jones was unanimously nominated for United States Senator. The fact that he had used money during the campaign was never denied, but no one ever insinuated that he had undertaken to approach any member of the Legislature with bribes. After Mr. Jones had been elected Senator he was invited to address both Houses of the Legis- lature in joint convention, and did so. In his address he alluded to the charge that he had spent money during the campai admitted it, and added that millions of money might be spent in political campaigns in the way he had used it without corrupting anybody. Mr. Jones took his seat in the Senate on the 4th of March, L873, 333 4 JOHN P. JONES. and at once devoted himself with energy to his official duties. He immediately took a deep interest in financial questions which came before the Senate, and in all subjects of legislation bearing upon the commercial and business prosperity of the country. Considerable time elapsed before he gave utterance to his views, but when he did speak it was in such a way as to attract the attention of the entire country. In his speeches before the Senate he took strong ground in favor of gold as the only real money, supporting his position by masterly arguments. His speeches seemed to be delivered without special preparation for the immediate occasion, but gave evidence of being the deliberate conclusions of an eminently practical mind, after long experience and profound reflection. The readiness of his reply to interrogatories, and the ability with which he answered ob- jections which came in as interruptions to his remarks, showed him to be a skilful and dangerous antagonist in the arena of debate. The President of the United States addressed a letter to Mr. Jones, in which he committed himself and the administration to a sound cur- rency, and an early resumption of specie payment. 33 1 THOMAS 0. M c OEEEET. jgHOMAS C. McCREERY is a native of Kentucky, and was born in 1817. He studied law, but instead of practising his profession, he turned his attention to the more p< aceful pursuits of agriculture. He was a presidential elector in 1S52, and in 1858 was a member of the Board of Visitors to the military academy at West Point. On the resignation of James Guthrie, as Senator in Congress, from Kentucky in 1868, Mr. McCreery was elected as a Democrat for the unexpired term ending in 1871, and took his seat in the Senate, February 28, 1808. He was assigned to places on the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Territories. His first elaborate speech in the Senate was delivered May 28, 1 V| >, when he spoke at great length against the bill to admit Arkansas to representation in Congress. The style of the speech is illustrati the following passage: "The safeguards which were thrown around the rights of the citizen, as well as the land-marks which were erected to protect the different departments in the exercise of their delegated powers have been obliterated and destroyed ; and instead of the symmetry and simplicity of our old republican institutions the nation this day groans under the weight of a compound radical iniquity, which may be denominated a civil, circumspect, military, despotic, represented and unrepresented confederation of States, principalities and powers." He was the sole supporter of a resolution offered by his colleague, Mr. Davis, declaring that "a court of im- peachment cannot be legally formed, while Senators from certain States are excluded." December 17,1868, lie proposed an am ment to the Constitution intended to protect the rights of minori and provide against the contingency of bringing an election for President and Vice-President to tiie House of Representatives. 335 2 THOMAS C. Mo CR EERY. In the Forty-first Congress Mr. McCreery served on the Commit- tee on Pensions, in addition to those upon which he had previously been appointed. The most remarkable of the acts of Mr. McCreery in the Senate was his offer, December 13, 1S70, of a joint resolu- tion for the relief of Mrs. Robert E. Lee, looking to the restoration to her possession of the estate known as "Arlington," the burial- place of seventeen thousand soldiers who fell in the War of the Rebellion. On presenting the resolution Mr. McCreery eulogized General Lee as one who "enjoyed a singular exemption from the faults and follies of other men.'" Referring to Mrs. Lee, he said : "In her behalf I implore your justice. I do not ask for any thing else. She belongs to a race fond of bestowing charity, but poverty cannot force them to accept it. She owns, but does not occupy, the home of her fathers. Will you, Senators, remove the bar which excludes 1mm- from Arlington?" Mr. McCreery's efforts were unavailing; the Senate refused leave to introduce this resolu- tion by a vote of fifty-four to four. At the expiration of his term, March 4, 1871, Mr. McCreery was succeeded by lion. John W. Stevenson. After the death of Hon. Garrett Davis, the Democrats of the Kentucky Legislature, who admired the boldness of Mr. McCreery in proposing his Arlington resolution, elected him to (ill the vacancy, and he took bis 3eal in the Senate March 1. l v 7o. On the occasion of his election the St. Louis Democrat said of him: " McCreery is a jolly old soul, and :il;\ one of i he cleverest of men. You would take him, from his dress and appearance in the Senate, to be a well-to-do farmer, fresh from bis barn-yard, who had just dropped in to see with what iittle wisdom the world was governed." 336 AUGUSTUS S. MEEEIMOK ^UGUSTUS S. MERRIMON was born September 15, 1830, in the County of Buncombe, (now Transylvania,) North Carolina. But little is known of his ancestors, who, though respectable, did not belong to the ruling, aristocratic class. Augustus inherited neither wealth nor position, but entered life with a sound constitution, good powers of mind, and resolute will, which abundantly made up for the lack of moneyed capital. En- joying but limited means for schooling, he applied himself dili- gently to private study, in which he made good proficiency. He studied law, and was admitted to the supreme bar of North Carolina in 1852 at the age of twenty-two. He soon reached an honorable eminence in his profession. His first official position was that of County Attorney, in which capacity he served at various times in several counties. In 18C0 he was nominated by the Union Whigs for the lower house of the State Legislature, and was elected by a majority of twenty-six votes. He took an active part with the Whigs in the Legislation of 1860— 'Gl, in opposition to secession. Their efforts were vain, and when outvoted, and the State undertook to secede, he went with his people, and did what he could to preserve*] aw ami order in the State. He was made State Solicitor of tin- Eighth Circuit by appointment of Judge French, and was afterward elected by the Legislature to the same office, which he held during the con- tinuance of the war. At the close of the war he became a Conservative candid the Constitutional Convention called under President John>.»n"s Reconstruction Proclamation, but was beaten by seventeen votes. In 1S6G the first Legislature organized in North Carolina after the '337 2 AUGUSTUS S. MERRIMON. war elected him Judge of the Superior Court. He served in this capacity until 1S67, when he resigned, rather than execute, while sitting as a civil judge, the military orders of General Sickles regu- lating the proceedings of courts, believing that the execution of such orders would be a violation of the Constitution and of his official obligation. In 1868 he was nominated by the Conservatives for Governor under the Reconstruction Acts. He declined to run for that office, but accepted the nomination for Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1871 he was one of the candidates in Wake County for the Consti- tutional Convention, but was defeated with the rest of the Conserv- ative ticket. On the 20th of May, 1872, he was nominated by the Conservative Convention at Greensboro' for Governor of North Carolina. As the election in that State was held early in the summer, it was considered very important as an indication of the probable issue of the great Presidential campaign then pending, and strenuous efforts were made by both parties to carry the State. Caldwell, the Republican candidate, was declared elected by nine- teen hundred majority, which Mr. Merrimon believes was obtained by " counting,'" and not by the actual vote. On the occasion of the election of a United States Senator to succeed Hon. John Pool, some twenty Democrats, who were un- willing to support Governor Vance, the regular Democratic can- didate, united with the Republicans and elected Mr. Merrimon, who received eighty-seven votes against seventy-two for Vance. Upon entering the Senate, March 4. 1873, he was appointed on the Committees on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, Claims, and the Re- vision of the Rules. Fie identified himself fully with the Demo- cratic minority in the Senate. His face wears an honest, thoughtful expression, more irradiated with the sober light of common sense than lit up with the glow of genius. He is prone to take practical views of things, and is not easily led away in pursuit of theories and speculations. 338 JOHN H. MITCHELL. r OHN H. MITCHELL was born in Washington County, (pjfy Pennsylvania, June 22d, 1835. After acquiring the rudi- ^f meats of an English education at the public schools of his "^i native county, he attended for some time the Witherspoon Institute, and finished his scholastic course under a private instructor. He then entered the law office of Hon. Samuel A. Purviance (of the firm of Purviance & Thompson), in Butler, Pennsylvania, under whose instructions lie remained for two years. After passing a sat- isfactory examination he was in 1-858 admitted to the bar of Butler County. Here he immediately commenced the practice of his pro- fession, where ha remained two years law partner with Hon. John M. Thompson, late member of Congress from that district. The love of adventure, ami the inducements which California seemed to offer to young and energetic men decided him upon ven- turing into that inviting field. He went to San Francisco, and thence to San Louis Obispo, California. Soon, however, he returned to San Francisco, and, in July, 1860, went to Portland, Oregon, which he made his permanent residence. He at once gave his attention to building up a legal practice, in ■which he was highly successful. He attained a large business, and his professional ability was recognized by his election, in 1861, to the office of Corporation Attorney of Portland. He was a Republican, and soon became influential in local poli- tics. In 1862 he was nominated and elected to the Oregon State Senate, in which body he served efficiently four years. During the first two years of his term he was Chairman of the Judiciary ( !om- mittee, and the last two years he held the position of President of the Senate. During his service in the Senate his record was so satisfactory to 339 2 JOHN H. MITCHELL. his constituents, that they desired to further honor him with still higher proofs of their esteem and confidence. In 1866, strenuous efforts were made by his political friends to secure for him a seat in. the United States Senate, and they only failed of success through lack of one vote in the caucus. In 1872 lie obtained the prize, which, six years before, had so narrowly eluded his grasp, receiving on first ballot over three-fourths of all the votes in the Republican caucus. He was elected to the United States Senate September 28th, 1872, and took his seat in that body March 4th, 1873. From 1867 until January, 1873, when he resigned all other en- gagements to enter upon his duties as United States Senator, he was constantly employed in non-political positions of usefulness and honor. For about four years he filled the Professorship of Medi- cal Jurisprudence in Willamette University, at Salem, Oregon. He was five years attorney for the "Oregon and California Rail- road Company," and the "North Pacific Steamship Transportation Company," at an annual salary of £10,000 in gold. In the Senate of the United States he immediately took an influ- ential position, serving efficiently on the important Committees on Privileges and Elections, ( Jlaims, and Railroads, and on the Special Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard. 340 JOHN J. PATTERSON. r OHN J. PATTERSON was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, August 8, 1830. He was educated at Jeffer- son College, where he graduated in 1848. Subsequently for two years he remained in Juniata County, assisting his father in conducting a large tanning business. In 1852 lie became editor of the "Juniata Sentinel,' 1 and supported General Scott for the Presidency. In the same year he was a member of the Whig State Committee of Pennsylvania. He served upon nearly every succeeding "Whig and Republican Committee until he left the State. He was a member of the first National Republican Con- vention by which General Fremont was nominated, and of the Chicago Convention of 1860 that first nominated Mr. Lincoln. In 1859 and 1SG1 he represented Juniata, Union, and Snyder Coun- ties in the Pennsylvania Legislature. When the war of the Rebellion broke out he was captain of a volunteer company of cavalry already organized, and on the day of the publication of President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thousand volunteers he tendered the services of himself and com- pany. In the evening of the same day a dispatch from Washing- ton announced the acceptance of the offer. Captain Patterson at once appointed a rendezvous, and ordered his men to report imme- diately for duty; but on the following day a second dispatch announced the decision of the authorities not to accept the services of volunteer cavalry, and the orders were countermanded. Not to be swerved from his patriotic purpose, Mr. Patterson took a position on the staff of General Williams, with the rank of captain, in the three months' service. He was then appointed captain in the Fifteenth Infantry regular army, and served under General Ro 341 2 JOHN J. PATTERSON. crans in West Virginia. In 1862 lie went into the Paymaster's Department, and served under the same general. In the same year, returning home, he received the Republican nomination for Congress, but was defeated by General W. H. Miller. The Re- publicans of Juniata County renewed the nomination in 1864, 1866, and 1868, but in each instance it failed in the District Convention. From 1863 to 1SC9 he was engaged in the banking and other business in his native county, but in the latter year he went to South Carolina on account of his health. Possessed of ample pecuniary means, it was not long before he found opportunities for investments. He purchased large interests in the dilapidated rail- roads of the State, and at once engaged in the work of reconstruct- ing and bringing them up to the Northern standard. He was elected Vice-President of the Greenville and Columbia Company in 1870, and served in that capacity until the sale of the road to the South Carolina Company. In 1871 he was elected President of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company, which office he yet holds. In 1872 Mr. Patterson was a delegate to the Philadelphia Con- vention that renominated President Grant. In 1873 he was elect- ed United States Senator from South Carolina, to succeed Hon. F. A. Sawyer, receiving on the first ballot seventeen out of thirty- three votes in the Senate, and seventy-three of one hundred and twenty-four in the House, thus rendering a joint ballot unnecessary. He took his seat at the called session, March 4, 1873, and at once applied himself with industry to the duties of his position. 342 Oc. 6< ■ At >-a y< .^ . AARON A. SARGENT. §ARON AUGUSTUS SARGENT was born September 23, 1827, iu Newburyport, Massachusetts. Wben a boy lie en- tered a printing office, and while acquiring a trade became proficient in elemeutary education. Having mastered "the art preservative," he went to Washington, D. C, where be was en- gaged from 1847 to 1849 as a reporter in Congress. In February, 1849, he migrated to California, and, after a brief sojourn in San Francisco, made fhe city of Nevada his permanent residence. After mining, with more or less success, he started the Nevada Journal, which, under his editorial control, became noted for vigor, ability and fearlessness. In 1853, while thus engaged, he commenced the study of the law, came to the bar in 1854, and about the same time was elected District Attorney of Nevada county, a position which he held from 1855 to 1857, and rapidly became a leader of the Nevada bar, being singularly fortunate in his conduct of the many intricate and important causes confided to his care — a result perhaps attributable as much to his indefati- gable industry as to the high qualities of bis mind. In politics Mr. Sargent was a Whig until 1S5G, when he became a Republi- can and threw himself into the Fremont Presidential campaign with restless energy, at a time when in California it was danger- ous to be a Republican, and when denunciations of Democracy were greeted with jeers, rotten eggs and other missiles. He was afterwards nominated for Attorney General of California, but with the rest of the ticket was defeated. Subsequently, be was a delegate to and Vice President of the Chicago Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln. Iu 18G1 he waa elected a Representative from California to the 343 2 AARON A. SARGENT. Thirty-Seventh Congress, during which he served as a member of the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad, and from the fact that lie drew the first Pacific Railroad act passed by Congress, foughl it through the House against all opposition, and success- fully brought every honorable influence to bear upon its passage by the Senate, Mr. Sargent earned the gratitude of the people of the Pacific coast, and is justly considered "The Father of the Pacific Railroad." Among his speeches during this Congress, those of January 31 and April 9, 1802, proving the military ity for the Pacific Railroad; that of May 23, 1862, on the confiscation of rebel property ; and his tribute to the memory of his friend, the lamented Senator Edward D. Baker, who fell at Ball's Blurt' — attracted marked attention. The " New York Tribune," of June 23, 1869, contains a letter from Omaha, written by the late Albert D. Richardson, in which occurs a reminiscence that gives some idea of the amount of labor undergone by Mr. Sargent at this time. lie writes : " A. A. Sargent, the Representative from California, who, in 1862. drafted the bill under which the Pacific railroad has been built, was also upon our train. * * * * It is difficult to imagine that a man still so young, that his face retains the fresh- i' boyhood, has seen the richest State in the Union grow up from nothing to the greatest material enterprise since the world was originated and created. Sargent, James II. Campbell, of Pennsylvania, and Schuyler Colfax, were the most efficient and judicious friends of the measure in the House, as were "Wilson, of Massachusetts, Morrill, of Maine, and McDougall, of Califor- nia, in the Senate. Day after day, for a month, in Committee of tin' Whole. Sargent and Campbell alternately answered objections to the bill in five-minute speeches, and night after night, with Theodore D. Judah, the engineer, supplying them with exact information, they 'sat up' with Eastern Senators and Represen- tatives. There was hostility to overcome, there was incredulity 344 AARON A. SAKiiENT, 8 to satisfy. Iu the House one day Owen Lovejoy asked, with Lis peculiar satire of tone and shrug of the shoulders: 'Do I under- stand the gentleman from California to say that lie acntally expects this road to be built t 'The gentleman from 111"; replied Sargent promptly, ' may understand me to predict that if this bill is passed the road will be finished within ten years.' In his heart of hearts, though, Sargent feared that this was a wild prophecy. Only seven years have passed, three of them years of exhausting civil war, but over the prairie, over the desert, over the mountains to the waters of the Pacific, long trains are rolling daily." * * * * Having accomplished bis great Pacific Railroad task, Mr. Sar- gent resumed his lucrative practice of the law in Nevada city, and persistently declined re-nomination — his mining iuteree quiring bis presence at home. It was before this time that the Republican minority of the State Legislature gave him their vote for the United States Senate, although he was not then of Consti- tutional age to enter that body. In 18G2, iu the Republican majority caucus he lacked only three votes of being their el for United States Senator, to succeed the lamented Broderick. At a subsequent Senatorial election, he again received a large vote in Republican caucus, but a combination of other candidates defeated him. In 18G9 he yielded to the solicitations of frii and consented to run fur the Forty-First Congress, and was the only Republican Representative elected by California — bis mi ity being about equal to the combined majorities of the Demo- cratic delegation from that State. A less popular man would probably at that juncture have suffered defeat, and the State been irretrieveably lost to the Republican party. Duringthi he was a leading member of the Committee on Appropriati and the Committee on Mines and .Mining, distinguishing hii especially as the author of the new mining code under which min- eral lauds can bo held in fee simple; of various homestead and 345 4 AARON A. SARGENT. pre-emption measures; and, as the member Laving charge of the Indian appropriation lulls, for the spirited and determined man- ner in which, during several sessions, he fought for and finally secured the statutory relinquishment by the United States Senate of its long claimed and exercised right to make treaties with the Indian tribes. His comprehensive review of Congressional recon- struction as far as then accomplished, at the first session drew upon him the attention of the House and the country; and, dur- ing the second, his scathing exhibit of the " Record of the Dem- ocratic Party," delivered before the House, February 5, 1870, created a great sensation. His minor speeches, — on Tariff and Internal Revenue reduction, for Settlers' Rights, against Mining Tunnel Subsidies, and on the Goat Island bill and other subjects of legislation, — were numerous and able. Of his course during this period the "New York Tribune," of July 4th, 1870, justly said: "Aaron A. Sargent, of California, has, without question, been the most industrious man in Congress." Upon returning to his constituents, the University of California honored him with the degree of A. M., and his district re-elected him to the Forty-Second Congress by a large majority. Here he again signalized himself by the celerity with which he prepared, perfected, and pushed through the House appropriation bills in his charge ; by the fearless honesty and the ability with which he attacked the Indiana, Illinois and Ohio two per cent. bill. He was a leading member of the Committee to Investigate Charges against the Navy Department, appointed March 12, 1872, and drew the exhaustive report for the majority of the committee, which so fully exonerated the Navy Department from the charges preferred. Soon after his re-election to Forty-Second Congress, the Legislature of California elected him to the United States Senate — his vote in Republican caucus being 54 against 17 given for all other candidates — to take his seat March 4, 1873. 346 73u%i, where dnring a long and eventful life he ranked among the most marked and influential men in that ii of the West. Mr. Eager was elected to the United States Senate as an anti- monopoly Democrat for the unexpired term of Eugene Casserly, resigned. His election was noticed with approval by leading journals of all parties. The "San Francisco Examiner" said: •• Long ago Judge Hager established a reputation for learning and . ri'v. which he illustrated on the bench of the Fourth District Courl in this city, and during three terms in the State Senate, where he acquired legislative experience of service to him in his new capacity. lie has all the elements of success with him and within him. "We have no doubt he will make an impression in the Federal Senate by his quiet, dignified deportment, his calm, judicial bearing, his scholarly attributes, his closely logical, yet interesting style of speech in debate, his judicial ability, and his familiarity with public affairs.' 1 A Republican journal, the "Sacramento Daily Union," said: "Judge Hager's abilities, culture, educational training, and legis- lative experience, quality him to maintain a respectable position in the National Senate. In something like six years' service in the California Senate, commencing as far back as 1851, be always showed great skill, self-possession, and force in debate. "We feel no apprehension but that he will prove an efficient and valuable ally of the people's cause." Mr. Hager took his scat in the United States Senate February 9, L874. Dining the short time he has been a member of that body he has taken a modest but influential part in the debates, and devoted himself with energy and faithfulness to the duties of his position. 352 JAMES M. HARVEY, *g§*^AMES M. HARVEY was born in Monroe County, Vir- JL|| ginia, September 21, L833. His ancestors for several 3$?$ generations were Virginians. His parents were among the pioneers who made the earliest settlements in Rush County, Indiana. They were on a visit to their ancestral home when the subject of this sketch was born : hence, although a native of the " Old Dominion," he was practically a Hoosier in all save " the accident of birth." His parents had a preference for pioneer life, and no sooner had the region in Indiana where they lived be- come somewhat settled and improved, than they pushed for the farther west. They lived two or three years in Iowa, and then located in Adams County, Illinois. Thus it came to pass that the son received his early education amid the stirring scenes and in the country schools of three States. He married in Illinois, and there engaged in the business of surveying and civil engineering, lie removed to Kansas in 1859, and adopted the occupation of farming. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he entered the military service of the United States, and from 1861 to 1864 was captain successively in the Fourth and Tenth Regiments of Kansas Volun- teer Infantry. He served as a Representative in the Kansas Legis- lature in 1S65, and again in 1866. He was a member of tl Senate in 1867 and 1868. He was elected Governor of Kansas in 1869, and was re-elected in 1870. He was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Alexander Caldwell, and took his seat February 12, 1874, for the remainder of the term, which will expire March 3, 1877. " While Governor of Kansas," says a writer, " he had more to 353 2 JAMES M. HARVEY. do with the conduct of Stat'- affairs than any of his predecessors. He was any thing but perfunctory. He s-etoed bills; sometimes pardoned criminals, and sometimes refused; sometimes placed his veto personally or officially upon movements supported by popular cry. Sometimes he has made speeches, though not addicted that wav. and is a forcible and terse writer. In the many political con- tests in which he has taken part he lias never made a compromise for use in a given emergency. A defeat at one time has, contrary to the general rule, left him all the stronger for the next occasion. His election to the Senate was the result of a very long and hard poll, in which he was the only man in the field capable of gaining strength steadily through a week of legislative balloting. He has a large acquaintance with public men, is a constant reader, and baa a memory especially retentive of the ideas and works of others." 354 HENEY R. PEASE. ENRY R. PEASE was born in Connecticut February 19, , vSl .io 1836. His ancestors for several generations were among "J^i J^ the most enterprising and estimable citizens of Connecti- cut, some of whom were honored with high positions of public trust. His father, a highly respectable man of limited means, was unable to give him any educational advantages save the rudiment- ary instruction of the common schools, and a domestic training in habits of sobriety, industry, and self-reliance. At the age of six- teen he was thrown upon his own resources, and, unaided, In- succeeded in acquiring a thorough academic education. He after- ward prepared himself, by a special course of training, for the profession of teaching, which he pursued for about eleven years. He then entered upon the study of law, and after completing his studies was admitted to the bar. At the breaking out of the late Rebellion he enlisted as a private soldier in the volunteer service of the United States, and served through the war. He was promoted to the rank of Captain, and participated in the battles fought in the Department of the Gulf. He was assigned by General Banks to duty on the staff of General George L. Andrews, who commanded the u Corps ePAfrigw." While in this position he matured and submitted a plan of i tion for the non-commissioned officers of the corps by means of a system of regimental schools, which was adopted ; and he was charged with the organization and execution of the project. At the time of the inauguration of this system of education not more than two per cent, of the non-commissioned officers, ami only aboul one per cent, of the private soldiers of the corps, were able to read or write. When the corps was disbanded over eighty per cent, of the non-commissioned officers and fifty per cent, of the private 355 2 II E N i: v n. PEASE. r- had learned to read and write, besides acquiring the radi- an 11! • of arithmetic and geography. Mr. Pease was afterward placed in charge of the educational interests of the State of Louisiana while under military rule. He organized a Bystem of instruction for freedmen and refugees, the main features of which have since been adopted by the State in her Bjstera of Common Schools. In 1867 lie was appointed, by General <>.<>. Howard, Superintendent of Education for the Freed- men of the State of Mississippi, lie at once established a plan of cooperation with the several educational and eleemosynary insti- tutions of the North. Teachers were accordingly supplied, and schools established in all the cities and towns in the State, and also ii[nin many plantations. As the result of these schools, over thirty thousand freedmen were taught to read, and twenty-five thousand learned to read and write. He founded the "Tougaloo University," which was organized as a Normal School on the manual-labor plan. It is now conducted under the auspices of the "American Missionary Association," and is one of the most flourishing institutions of learning in the South. He took an active and prominent part in the political work of reconstructing Mississippi, and is regarded as one of the found- ers of the Republican party in that State. In 1819 he was elected te the etliee of Superintendent of Public Education, which position he held for four years. He inaugurated a system of public instruc- tion which justly entitles him to rank among the leading educators of the country. During his term of office, in addition to his ardu- ous official duties, he edited and published the "Mississippi Edu- cational Journal," the first magazine devoted to popular education ever published in the South. The political consistency, ability, and strict integrity which have characterized his public life are indorsed by all parties and classes in his adopted State. In 1874, a varaiirx occurring in the United States Senate, he was elected, li\ the unanimous vote of the Legislature of Mississippi, to fill the unexpired term. 356 WILLIAM B. WASHBURN. f|ff ILLIAM B. WASHBURN was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, January 31st, 1820. His family is of Scotch , origin, and liis grandfather was a soldier in the American Revolution. After a thorough preparatory training in the schools of Ids native State he entered Yale College, where be graduated in 1844. He chose a business rather than a professional career, and commencing as a clerk soon after graduating, in 1847 he founded a manufacturing establishment of his own. In 1859 he was elected President of the Greenfield Bank. He brought into business those sterling qualities which insure success, and was soon recognized among the men whose ability and integrity give character to the institutions and enterprises of New England. Mr. Washburn was at first a Whig in polities, and as such he was in 1850 elected to the Senate of Massachusetts. In 1 ^ : > I he svas a member of the lower house of the State Legislature. He was among the first to identify himself with the Republican party in its incipi- ency. In 1862 he was elected a Represenative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served on the < !om- mittee on Invalid Pensions, and the Committee on Roads and Canals. Re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, he served on the Committee on Claims, and the Committee on Revolutionary Pen- sions. He was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first ( !ongr< , and served as Chairman of the Committee on Claims. It is a remarkable fact that, although during Mr. Washburn's chairmanship, this committee reported on more than fifteen hundred claims, no report was ever overruled by the House, and all, without exception, were sustained. The subjects which came before this committee were such as required a great amount of patient investi- gation, which Mr. Washburn faithfully bestowed. The unexampled 357 2 WILLIAM B. WASHBURN. unanimity with which bis reports were sustained was an emphatic recognition by the House of his industry and faithfulness in an un- inviting but useful field of legislative labor. Mr. Washburn seldom occupied the time (if the House with re- marks, although he occasionally made brief and pertinent speeches on subjects relating to pending claims, taxation, and finance. By his lies and his votes he uniformly opposed monopolies, and favored legislation in the interests of the people. In February, 1868, he made- a speech opposing the further extension of a patent for screw- machinery, for the benefit of the American Screw Company, which he described as "one of the greatest monopolies this country has ever seen, affecting every manufacturer, mechanic, and farmer in the land." His integrity as a legislator is illuminated by the fact that although himself a large dealer in lumber, he opposed a proposition to exempt that article from tax, maintaining that it was " a mistake to say that there is any argument that will apply to lumber that will not apply to other necessaries of life." Mr. Washburn was re-elected to the Forty-second Congress, and entered upon his duties, hut resigned December 25th, 1871, t<> ac- cept the office of Governor of Massachusetts, to which he had been elected. Re-elected Governor in 1S72 and 1S73, his administration was as useful to the Commonwealth as it was honorable to himself, and the party from which he was chosen. Mr. Washburn was elected by the Legislature of Massachusetts to lill the vacancy in the United States Senate, occasioned by the death of Charles Su er,and resigned the governorship April 29th, 1874, to enter upon the duties of that position, which he occupied during nearly half of the period of the Forty-third Congress. It i- a curious and interesting fact that he has been a member of every Congress since his first election to the Thirty-eighth in 1862, al- though meanwhile he was three times elected Governor of Massa- chusetts. His service in the Senate, though brief, was characterized by faithful service of his constituents and the country. Although Ma sachusetts may have had more eloquent and more showy Sena- tors, she has never had one who has done the State more service. :::,s < ( AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE. m^ MBROSE EVERETT r.ERXSIDE was bom at Lib- erty, Indiana, May 23d, 1824. His parents were natives :>f South Carolina, and of Scotch descent. They were • " . . among the earliest settlers in the Northwestern Territory, where the father taught school and studied law, and tin- nearly thirty years filled the positions of Judge of the Probate Court and Clerk of the Circuit Court. He was highly respected by all who knew him for his strict integrity and genial bearing. His fifth child, the subject of this sketch, was instructed at intervals at the county seminary in Liberty, until he was about sixteen ; after which lie took a course at the Beach Grove Academy near Liberty, the superintendent of which was the celebrated Quaker preacher, "Wil- liam Horton. At the age of eighteen, he received from Hon. < laleb B. Smith the appointment of a cadet at West Point, and in 1843 he entered the Military Academy. In 1847 Bumside graduated in' the artillery, the eighteenth in rank in a class of thirty-eight members. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Third Artillery, and immediately pro- ceeded to the scat of war in Mexico. On arriving at Vera Cruz he was put in command of an escort to a baggage train, but before he reached the city of Mexico, that capital had been surrendered, the war was virtually at an end, and Burnside had no opportunity of participating in the active operation- of the armies in the field. When the army had returned home Lieutenant Burnside was or- dered to Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island, where by his social qualities and honorable bearing he gained many friends, and laid the foundation of that remarkable esteem with which lie has long been regarded in the State of Rhode Eland. In 1849 lie was ordered to New Mexico to join Bragg's famous 359 2 A M B R S E E. 15 UK.NS1D E. battery, and was appointed First Lieutenant. As the country was IouikI 1. 1 be impassable to the operations of artillery the command was reorganized as cavalry. In command of a squadron. Lieutenant Burnside performed creditable service against hostile Indians. In L851 lie filled the office of quartermaster of the boundary commis- sion then engaged in running the line between the United States and Mexico. During the time of his service in New Mexico Lieutenant Burn- side invented a br sh-loading rifle, which was vastly superior to any one of the kind then in the service. It was distinguished for the facility with which it could be loaded, discharged, and cleansed; for its endurance as a serviceable weapon, its accuracy of aim, and its length of range. He offered to contract with the government for the manufacture of the rifle, and was encouraged by the War Depart- ment to expect that his offers would be accepted. Meanwhile he returned to his former post at Newport, and on the 27th of April, L852, he was married to Miss Mary Richmond Bishop, of Provi- dence. On the 1st of November, 1853, lie resigned his commission. Re- moving to Bristol, Rhode Island, with the aid of leading capitalists of the State he built a large manufactory for his newly invented weapon, and prepared to complete his negotiations with the National Government. Unfortunately the contract was not consummated, and alter a few years of struggle and loss Burnside found himself compelled to withdraw entirely from the manufacture of arms. He then went West and obtained a situation as cashier in the Land Department of the Illinois Central Railroad. In June, 1860, he received the appointment of treasurer of the corporation at its office in New York. Politically he was not a friend of the administration of Mr. Lin- coln, yet. at the breaking out of the civil war he ardently espoused the national cause. On the loth of April, 1861, as he was sitting in his office in New York there was handed him a telegraphic dis- patch dated at Providence, from William Sprague, the Governor of Rhode Island, to the following purport: "A regiment of Rhode Island troops will go to Washington this week. How soon can you come on and take command '."' lie replied briefly and to the point : ''At once!" The next morning he was in Providence, received his 360 AMBROSE E. BUKNSIDE. 3 commission as Colonel of the First Regiment of Rhode Island De- tached Militia, and immediately 1 imenced the work of organiza- tion and equipment. He reached Washington with his command on the 20th of April, only four days alter the issuing of the call by the President. In the first battle of Bull Run he commanded a brigade which did hard service on that ill-fated field, and at last covered the retreat and saved the army from utter destruction. In the organization of the forces which soon followed, Burnside was appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, his commission dating August 6th, 1861. In January, 186:2, he was placed in com- mand of an expedition to North Carolina. In the face ofgreal ob- stacles, and yet with small loss, he captured Roanoke Island, an achievement which did much to raise the spirits of the patriotic, who had grown despondent from the inaction or ill success of our armies in the East. General Burnside's next achievement was the capture of Newbern, a success which was immediately recognized in Wash- ington by his promotion to tin' rank of Major-General, hi- com- mission dating March 18th. The reduction of Fort Macon and the occupation of the North Carolina coast and waters north of Wilmington was a gain of great value to the National cause. After the close of McClellan's unsuccessful campaign in the Pen- insula, General Burnside was recalled, and on the 22dof July, 1862, be was placed in command of the Ninth Army Corps. lie was ordered to Fredericksburg, where he remained until after the defeat of Pope in the second battle of Bull Run. The offer of the com- mand of the Army of the Potomac was made to General Burnside, but lie urged that another opportunity should be given to McClellan, and he served under that singularly unsuccessful general during the rebel invasion of Maryland. On the 14th of September, 18G2, General Burnside fought and gained the battle of South Mountain. In this engagement he displayed great skill, and heartily sustained by his subordinates, he achieved a victory which was a welcome interruption to the continuity of the disasters which had befallen the Army of the Potomac. In the memorable battle of Antietam, which soon followed, Gen- eral Burnside commanded (he left wing of the National force-. In that engagement he accomplished one of the most difficult of mili- tary teats, carrying a narrow bridge in the face of a resolute enemy. 361 4 A M B ROS E E. I! I' UN SIDE. At ill.- close of the bloodies! battle-days of the war, September 17th, L862, bis command, after performing prodigies of valor, held a more advanced position than any other corps of the army. On the 7th of November, 1862, General Burnside superseded McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac. He imme- diately marched from the Rapidan to Fredericksburg, on the Rap- pahannock, intruding to cross the river at that point and move upon Richmond. Through some lack of prompt co-operation in Wash- pontoon bridges did not reach him until some time after his arrival at the river. Taking advantage of Burnside's unavoidable delay in crossing the river, Lee concentrated his forces on the oppo- and fortified the heights above Fredericksburg. It was not until the 1 2th of December that Burnside's army could effect the , and on the following day he endeavored to force the Confed- erate lines. His repeated attacks, however, were all repulsed, and after heavy losses he withdrew his forces, and recrossed the river. There had been a lack of hearty co-operation on the part of several subordinate officers which went far to account for the failure at Fred- ericksburg. Subsequently, learning that some of them were engaged in intrigues which would impair the efficiency of the Army of the Potomac, General Burnside asked to be relieved of his command, and on the 25th of January, 1863, his request was granted. On the lGth of March, 1863, General Burnside was appointed to the command of the Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at Cincinnati. This command embraced the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Eastern Kentucky, with the prospective addition of East Tennessee. Considerable disaffection, amounting cases to actual disloyalty, existed in certain parts of this de- partment. Dome-tie enemies were busy in attempting to thwart the plans of the government, to prevent the enlistment of troops, and to give aid and comfort to the public enemy. Foremost among the op- ponents of the government in the State of Ohio was Mr. ClementL. Vallandigham, formerly a member of Congress, and a Democratic politician of some note. His arrest was ordered by General Burn- side, and his trial by court-martial, his conviction and banishment beyond the loyal lines, had a salutary effect in repressing disloyalty throughout the North. Early in dune the Ninth Corps was detached from Burnside's 362 AM B ROSE E. BURNS IDE. 5 command, and sent to aid General Grant a( Vicksburg. During this ali-cnre occurred the raid of John Morgan, whose bold design was to break through the National lines in Central or Western Kentucky, cross the Ohio, plunder the southern tier of counties of Indiana and Ohio, and either escape into West Virginia, or march through Pennsylvania and join General Lee's invading army. This expedition was brought to nought more effectually and con than any other during the entire war. The capture of the rebel partisan and his men was an exploit for which General Burnside, his subordinate officers, and his troops well deserved the applause they received for their vigilance, persistence, and fidelity. Immediately after the defeat and capture of Morgan General Burnside commenced his campaign in East Tennessee, for the pur- pose of freeing that section from rebel troop-. In this he was suc- cessful, and received the thanks of Congress. Late in September the Ninth Corps was restored to General Burnside's command. In the meantime General Lee had sent Longstreet to Tennessee with a strong force from Virginia. General Burnside fell hack to Knox- ville, where he was besieged till the beginning of December, when the siege was abandoned on the approach of Sherman with a detachment from Grant's army. General Burnside was then relieved from the command in the West, and in January, 1864, was again placed in command of the Ninth Corps, to which a division of colored troops was attached. The original design was to send this corps to North Carolina, but General Grant, now in chief command, required it in Virginia. Grant having crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of May, the Ninth Corps followed the next day and took part in the battles of the Wil- derness, Spottsylvania, and the North Anna. In the subsequent operations down to the siege of Petersburg, General Burnside bore a prominent part. During the early part of the siege Burnside's line- wire close to those of the enemy, and opposite them wa- a strong redoubt forming an important part of the Confederate de- fence. Burnside undertook to blow up this work by rut mine beneath it. This was completed in a month, and explode d on the 30th of June. The redoubt was blown up, but the general assault which was to follow the explosion was not made, and the effort proved a failure. General Burnside s 1 after offered Ins 363 q A \l BROS K E. BU RNSI DE. resignation, which the President refused to accept, bat gave him leave of absence. He was nol again called into active service, ami resigned April L5th, L865. In 1866, General Burnside was elected governor of Rhode Island, and was re-elected in the two following years. In the autumn of 1870, being in Europe, he was admitted within the German and French lines in and around Paris, and ineffectually endeavored to mediate between the belligerents. < >n the 26th of January, 1875, after a long contest, General Bitni- side was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Hon. William Sprague, for the term of six years from the 4th of March, 1875. 364 NEWTON BOOTH. '^j^EWTOX BOOTH was bora in the town of W I- foliL 1)ritlge ' New Haven County, Connecticut. His father, 3T?fj£ Beebe Booth, a native of the same county, is now living ^f in Terre Haute, Indiana, to which lie emigrated thirty years since. His uncle, General Walter Booth, at one time repre- sented the Xew Haven district in Congress. Soon after emigrating to Indiana, Newton Booth became a student in Asbury University, at that time the leading college of the West, having a faculty of rare ability, with Bishop Simpson at its head, and including such pro- fessors as Larrabee, Tefft, Nutt, and Wheeler. At college Booth was noticed as a bright, handsome youth, with more taste for general reading than hard study. He graduated with credit in 1846. The discovery of gold, which attracted such a vast emigration to the Pacific coast, allured him also to the West. Unlike must emi- grants of that period, he went to stay. Seeking gold by mure efficient means than mining, he engaged in trade. He was very successful, and has been, for several years, at the head of a large wholesale liquor establishment in Sacramento. AYhile devoted to business, he was ai the same time an intent student of political economy, history, and general literature. He collected an extensive library, and gave evi- dence in his conversation that he was familiar with his books. Though not previously prominent in politics, Mr. Booth was, in 1871, taken up by the people and elected Governor. It happened in 1872 and 1873 that the Pacific Central Railroad was suspected ofa design to rule the politics of the State. Whether the suspicion was well-founded or not, the people thought it was, and a new party was organized tor the election of the biennial Legis- lature of 1873. This new party called itself Anti-Monopoly, but soon changed that name to one given it by its opponents, viz., the 365 2 \ E \\ TO N BOOTH. Dolly Varden pari}-. Mr. Booth's policy and messages, as Governor, were in unison with the views of this party, and he was constrained (<> lake the stump in its behalf. He had been a Republican, but his opinions did uol always concur with the plans of the " leading men," and consequently the Republican organs discouraged his efforts. He accordingly went into the canvass relying exclusively on the people without respeel to party ties. The result was a victory for the "Dolly Vardens." Mr. Booth was then spontaneously named as a candidate for the position cit' United Slates Senator, to be tilled by the choice of the ensuing Legislature, and after a canvass of several days was elected. He took his seat in the United States Senate at the special session, which began March 4th, 1875. In person he is of medium height, with florid complexion. He has an air of energy and enterprise, and yet he is mild and undemonstrative in his manner. One of his friends, writing of him soon after he took his seat, predicted that •• by tin 1 cud of his official term his reputation will be second to none in the Senate as a patriotic and sagacious legislator." 3GG B. K. BRUCE. ^*2- ( Jig . ^S2P K " BR t T CE was Dorn in Prince Edward County, Vir- J©. gil ' ia ' March Ist > ls "• His ,notll <>" was a slave, and he ,..■.. j lived under the disabilities of the same unfortunal <^» ditiou until he was emancipated, as a resull of the war. When he was quite young the family to which lie was attached moved to Mississippi. After a few years they removed to Missouri, where he remained until the beginning of the war. Although the laws of the States in which he lived made il a crime with heavy penalties to leach colored people even the rudi- ments of education, yet, such was the wealth and social standing of his master, that he was able without clanger to disregard this un- reasonable law, and taught his slaves to read and write. Soon after obtaining his freedom, Mr. Bruce went to Kansas, where he attended school, sawing wood at night to enable him to pay for Ins tuition. His health giving way under this double tax upon his en- ergies, he obtained employment on a Mississippi steamboat. I taving by this employment accumulated some money, he was able again to resume his studies, which he prosecuted at Oberlin College, Ohio, which was for many years distinguished as the only instituti f its grade in the country where color imposed no barrier to a' 1 mis-ion. After pursuing a liberal course of study, Mr. Bruce returned to Mississippi, and entered earnestly into the work of reconstri endeavoring in every way to promote tin' material and ] prosperity of his State. lie has engaged largely in real-estate opera- tions, buying up extensive tracts of land, and selling them in smaller parcels to colored people of limited means, thus enabling them to provide themselves with comfortable homes. In 1870 Mr. Bruce was elected Serjeant-at-Arms of the Mis- sissippi Senate, when there were only four colored members of that 367 2 B. K. BSUCE. body. He resigned in 1*71 to accept the office of Assessor of Bolivar < lounty. In the same year he was elected Sheriff and Tax Collector, and was re-elected in 1873 without opposition. He held the office of Civil Commissioner for three years. He discharged the duties of these positions with ability and integrity, until his election to the Senate of the United States, February 3d, 1874. lie entered upon the duties of this high position March 5th, 1875, and was appointed on the Committees on Pensions, Manufactures, and Education. 368 ^* #*$. ANGUS CAMERON. I^^NGUS CAMERON was born in Caledonia, Livingston County, New York, July 4, 1826. His father, Duncan A. Cameron, and his mother, Sarah McColl, emigrated to America from the Highlands of Scotland, the former in 1800, and the latter in 1805. They were married in 1813, and had a family of seven sons and three daughters, — three of the sons be- coming lawyers, and two physicians. Angus worked on his father's farm during the summer, and attended school during the winter months, until he was fifteen years old, when he went to the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, where he remained two years, and then became a student in Temple Hill Academy, Geneseo. A tier attendance there of one year, he taught a common school, and then returned to the seminary at Lima. After two years' tuition there he was employed for some time iu the seminary as a teacher of Latin and mathematics. He then went to Buffalo, and commenced the study of law in the office of Wadsworth & Cameron (an elder brother), where he re- mained a year and a half. He then attended the Law School al Balston Spa, New York. He graduated in 1850, was admitted to the bar in Albany, and immediately returned to Buffalo, when' he practiced his profession until 1853. At that time, with three brothers, he removed to La Crosse, Wisconsin. lb' gave strict at- tention to the duties of his profession, and in a few years became recognized as one of the leading members of the Wisconsin bar. He was employed as the attorney for several important corporations, among others "the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, the Southern Minnesota Railroad, and the Northwestern Union Packet Company. In politics Mr. Cameron was from the firsl a decided Republican, and as such he was, iu 1862, elected to the Wisconsin Stat 3G9 ANGUS OA MERON. The most important question which came before that body was that nf bridging the Mississippi l>y railroads. As an advocate of the river interesl Mr. Cameron opposed the bridging, and insisted that it could be authorized only by an act of Congress, In 1865 he was elected to the Assembly, and was re-elected in 1866, serving during the second term as Speaker. While a member of the Assembly he introduced the first bill to regulate rates for passengers and freights on railroads. The bill was referred to a select committee, of which Mr. < 'ameron was chairman, and it subsequently passed the House, but was defeated in the Senate. In 1870, Mr. Cameron was again lii the Siate Senate, and served as chairman of the Judiciary C mittee. lie, with but one other Republican Senator, opposed the passage of the temperance bill (afterwards known as the Graham l,;iv, '. The bill passed, however, and resulted in the defeat of the Republican candidate for governor by 15,000 majority. Mr. Came- ron was elected to the Senate of the United States, to succeed Hon. M. II. Carpenter, for the term of six years from March 4th, 1875. Mr. Cameron was married in 1866 to Miss Mary Baker, of Steuben County, New York. He has been for many years a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1866 he was appointed by Gov- er ' Fairchild a Regent of the University of Wisconsin, and held this position until he was elected to the United States Senate. 370 ALLEN T. CAPERTON. ^|M^f LLEX TAYLOR CAPERTON was born &i E] JfS^L the ancestral home of his family, near Union, Monroe JfpY County, West Virginia, November 21st, 1810. Bis ^M father, Hon. Hugh Caperton,a widely known farmer and stock-raiser, represented the Greenbrier district of old Virginia in the House of Representatives, from 1813 to 1815, and died in Monroe County, West Virginia, February 9th, Is 17. The son attended school in Virginia and Huntsville, Alabama, and was subsequently a student in the University of Virginia, and in Yale College, graduating at the latter institution when he was twenty- two years of age. He was number seven on the list, numb ring fifty-three of the graduating class of 1832. He had as classmates G. W. Backus, who led the class, and Cassius M. Clay. Mr. Caperton studied law with the late Judge Briscoe ('<. Baldwin of Staunton, Virginia, a man who was an honor to the judiciary of the State. Having been admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession in his native State, he soon became promi- nent as a lawyer of the strictest probity of character, clear intellect, and sound judgment, and as a gentleman of large and liberal views. In early life he took an active and patriotic interest in the en- lightenment and material prosperity of the Slate, and in everything that would promote her progress. He was a director of the James River and Kanawha Canal. In politics he was a Whig, and as such he was on several a- sions elected a member of the House of Delegates, and of the State Senate, his last term in the Senate being from 1859 t" 1 SI »"- He was a Union man before the war, and in the Constitutional Convention of 1861, to which he was a delegate, he opposed 371 2 ALLEN T. CAP E KTON. -iun until the actual commencement of hostilities, when he sided with his State The Legislature of Virginia elected him a member of the Confederate States Senate, in conjunction with Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, and he served in that capacity until the collapse of the Confederacy in 1865. Alter the war Mr. Caperton returned to his old home. Being disfranchised, he took no part in polities, but wisely turned his en- ergies to helping the people of Virginia to recover, under adverse circumstances, from the prostration consequent upon the war. He largely aided in bringing the coal, mineral, timber, and grazing lauds of West Virginia before the attention of Northern and foreign capi- talists, and the general public. Alter one of the most stubborn and protracted contests on record, Mr. Caperton was elected to the Senate of the United States to suc- ceed Hon. A. I. Boreman, and took his seat at the beginning of the special session, March 5th, 1875. 372 /7-^-r^J -£*_^£^t^<— ' ISAAC P. CHKISTIANCY. ^ SAAC P. CHRISTIANCY was bom March 12, 1812, in what was then Johnstown, Montgomery County, now Caroga, Fulton County, New York. His father was a poor hard-working fanner, who, when his son was I nit twelve years old, was disabled for life by a Log rolling over him. From that time forward the support of a large family devolved in a great measure upon the son. He worked at fanning, lumbering, and various oilier industries, until by close application at school during the winter, and by devoting his evenings to study, he became competent for the position of school-teacher., upon which he enfc red at the age of eighteen, in Pleasant Valley, now Rockwood. This occupation augmented his opportunities for mental improvement, and furnished him the means to attend academies at Johnstown and Kingsboro'. At the age of twenty-one lie went to Ovid, Seneca County, where he taught school, and also availed himself of the educational advantages offered by the academy of that place. Having determined to make the law his profession, lie entered the office of Hon. John Maynard as a student, where lie remained until the spring of 1836. He then went to Monroe, Michigan, and n- pleted his studies -with Hon. Robert McClelland, since Secretary of the Interior. Having been admitted to the bar, Mr. Christiancy practiced his profession with much success until his accession to the Supreme Bench in January, 1858. In politics he was originally a Democrat, hut in 1848, feeling a deep interest in excluding slavery from the Territories of the United States, he severed his old political ties and finned new associations more in harmony with his principles. In that year he attended the Buffalo Convention, which, under the lead of Salmon I'. Chase, Charles Francis Adams, and others, founded the Free-soil Platform, ;;< 3 2 ISA A C P. C il i; I ST I A NC Y. and Dominated Martin Van Buren for the Presidency. In 1849, contrary to his wishes, lie \va~ nominated by all parties, Democrats, Whigs, and Free-soilers, for the Stale Senate, and was unanimously elected. For three sessions he occupied this position, lie opposed the resolutions rescinding the instructions to General Cass t<> sup- port the Wilmot proviso, and continued to protest against the ex- tension of slavery. In 1854, Mr. Christiancy was instrumental in preparing the plan for the organization of the Republican party in Michigan, where, in fact, it was first formed and named.. In the winter of 1857 the present Supreme ' lourt of Michigan was >l by the Legislature, and Mr. Christiancy was nominated as of the judges of that court. In January, 1SG5, the question of the constitutionality of the Soldiers' Suffrage Act came before the court. He joined with the majority of the court in holding the statute void, and wrote an opinion to that effect. But the Legisla- ture having held otherwise, and admitted members elected by the votes of soldiers in the field, became to some extent hostile to the court. The more influential of the Republican papers, however, sustained Judge Christiancy, and as an election was to be held in April, 1865, to fill his place upon the bench, he was again nomi- nated by the Republican Convention. The Democratic Convention resolved to nominate no one against him, and he was unanimously elected. In L 873 both parties, in separate conventions, nominated him, and he was again honored with a unanimous re-election. On the 21st of January, 1875, Judge Christiancy, without seek- ing the office, was elected to the Senate of the United States by a combination of Republican and Democratic votes over Hon. Zacha- riah Chandler. Taking his seat at the special session in March, 1875, he was appointed on the Committees on Claims, Revision of the Laws, and Territories. 374 ' I FRANCIS M. COCKEELL. ';• RANCIS MARION COCKRELL was bom in Johnson County, Missouri, October 1st, 1834. He was reared on a farm, and was educated at the common schools until I 550 when he entered Chapel Hill College, in Lafayette < iounty, Missouri, where lie graduated in 1853. He studied law, and having been admitted to the bar at the ago of twenty-one, he located in Warrensburg, for the practice of his profession. He was a Demo- crat, but desiring to devote himself exclusively to his profession, lie always declined solicitations to become a candidate for office. In 1861 the Legislature of Missouri, sympathizing with the Southern States, with a view to aiding the Confederacy, provided for the organization of-the Missouri State Guard. Mr. Cockrell went into this service in June, 1861, as a private, and was soon after elected Captain. During the six months, for which he was enlisted, he participated in the battles of Carthage, Wilson ( Ireek, and Lexington. He subsequently entered the regular Confederate service, and was commissioned as Captain in the Si id Regiment of Missouri Infantry. lie participated in the battle of Pea Ridge; then with his regiment under Price and Van Dora, lie crossed to the east side of the Mississippi and proceeded to < lorinth. In May, 1862, Cockrell was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Missouri, and a month later he was promoted to the Colo- nelcy. He participated in the battle of luka; (ought at Corinth and at Hatch ie. He was with Pemberton's army in it< retreat from Holly Springs to Grenada. Pie took part in the bombardmenl of Grand Gulf, and in the battle of Porl Gibson. Me was in the battle of Champion Hills, and in the battle of the Big Black. He took part in the defence of Vicksburg, ami shared all the dangers and privations to which (lie besieged were subjected. Colo- 375 2 F RA N C I S SI. OOC K K ELL. nel Cockrell had command of Fort Hill, the mosi important and conspicuous of the defences of the city. Against this the National forces directed their most strenuous efforts. It was the key to Vicksburg, and three days after its destruction by the explosion of a mine, by which Colonel Cockrell was himself severely injured, Pemberton surrendered to General Grant. Colonel Cockrell was sent to the Parole Camp at Demopoli.s, Alabama, and was promoted to Brigadier-General. After his ex- change he was with Lieutenant-* ieneral Polk's army in front of Sherman, in his movement from Vicksburg to Meridian, Missis- sippi. He joined General Joseph E. Johnston's army near Rome, G gia, and was with it in front of Sherman in his march to Atlanta. He was wounded at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. He was with Hood's army on its march in the rear of Atlanta into Tennessee. He was in the battle of Alatoona, October 5th, 1864, and in that of Tilton, Georgia, on the 13th of the same month. He participated in the battle of Franklin, where he was three times wounded. On the transfer of Hood's army from Mississippi to North Carolina, General Cockrell was, in February, 1865, left at Mobile in command of French's Division, and was captured on the evening of April 9th, 1805, the day of Lee's surrender. He was sent as a prisoner to Fort Gaines, on Dauphin Island, and was paroled on the 14th of May, 18G5. The war having closed, he returned to his home in Warrensburg, Missouri, and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1874 he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Missouri, and was defeated in the convention by one-sixth of a vote by Hon. Charles Hardin, the present Governor. In January, 1875, he was elected, by the unanimous vote of his party in the Legislature, to the United States Senate, to succeed Hon. Carl Schurz, for the term of six years from March 4th, 1875. Taking his seat in that body at the special session, he was ap- pointed on the Committees on Military Affairs, Claims, and Missis- sippi Levees. 376 WILLIAM SHARON. ¥& ILLIAM SHARON was born at Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio, January 9th, 1821. His parents were & Quakers, his ancestors having came to this country with William Penn. His early life was passed on \\\> father's farm. At the age of seventeen lie determined to work for himself, and having an interest in a flat-boat he started with it on a voyage to New Orleans. The boat was wrecked at Louisville, and his partners cheated him out of his money. Disgusted with his ex- perience he returned and worked as a farmer for three years. In 1842 he entered the Ohio University at Athens, but left it two years after and returned to the farm, relieving his labor by reading law. He studied with the late Edwin M. Stanton, and was admitted to the bar in St. Louis. His health failing he abandoned the law, and in Is II ei into partnership with his brother in the mercantile business at < !ar- rollton, Illinois. Mr. Sharon remained at that place till L849, when he emigrated to California and began business at Sacramento. The floods of that year swepi his store out of existence, but did not quite ruin him, and in 1860 he went to San Francisco, where be turned his attention to operations in real estate. He continued buy- ing and selling property until 1864, by which time he had acquired a fortune of §150,000. In that year the San Francisco Board of Brokers was originated. Mr. Sharon then became a speculator in Stocks, and in six months lost all his money. Mr. Sharon sought employment of the Bank of California, and was sent to Virginia City, Nevada, to adjust some outstanding claims for that institution. Be afterwards suggested that an agency or branch should be established there. Hi- advice was adopted, and he was placed at the head of the new establishment. Unlimited 2 W I I, I. I A M S II A BON. powers were granted him, ami lie held the position for many years, much to his own credit, ami to the great profit of the parent house. Through his shrewdness ami clever management lie had great Buccess as a mining-stock operator. He invested largely, ami he- cane' ile' acknowledged "kin-; of the Conistock" by reason of his many controlling interests in mini- located in that great ledge, and in the mills and railroad, which are their necessary adjuncts. He has control of eight mines, a large interest in three others, and re- ceives, it is said, a revenue of §12,000 per day from his railroad extending from Etenoto Virginia City. In politics Mr. Sharon has always been a Republican. For a number of years he was a member of the council in San Francisco. Bis election to the Senate, which occurred in January, 1875, was the result of a compromise made between himself and the managers of the Republican party in Nevada, two years before. With Hon. John P. Jones, he was a candidate then, but agreed to withdraw from the contest providing the party would guarantee to elect him to succeed Mr. Stewart. This programme was carried out with more fidelity than is customary in the political world. 378 ROBERT E. WITHERS. pf OBEET E. WITHERS was bom in Campbell County, Virginia, September 18th, 1821. His ancestors among the earliest settlers in Virginia, having emigrated from England in the reign of Charles the First. His pa- ternal grandfather served in the Revolutionary War, as an officer on the staff of General Henderson, in Greene's campaign in the < laro- linas. Mr. Withers was educated at private schools and at the I "ni- versity of Virginia, graduating in the Medical Department of that institution in 1841. He entered upon the practice of hi- profession in Campbell County, Virginia, but subsequently removed to Dan- ville, Pittsylvania County. lie was eminently successful in his profession, soon acquiring a large and profitable practice. In 1846 he was married to Miss Mary V. Royall, of Lynchburg, Virginia. He was a Whig in polities, but never sought office; he, however, took an active interest in public affairs, and canvassed his district as assistant elector for Fillmore for the Presidency. During the agitations which immediately preceded the war, he was an avowed Union man, and an open enemy of secession. Pending the election of delegates to the convention called to meet in Richmond, i sider the question of secession, Mr. Withers took an active part in the canvass of his county, which elected the Union candidates by over 1000 majority. When, however, it was determined that Vir- ginia should secede, Mr. Withers maintained his allegiance to his State, and at once went into the Confederate Army as Major of a battalion of infantry. In May, 1861, he was made Colonel of the Eighteenth Regiment of Virginia Volunteers. He saw the - and most active service, and was several times badly wounded. Finally, at the battle of Gaines's Mills, near Richmond, he was so severely wounded as to be disabled during the remainder of the war, and for several years after its close. He was placed on the 379 2 IU) BERT E. WITHERS. retired list, and was appointed in command (if the military post at Danville, which he surrendered to General Wright about ten days after the capitulation of Genera] Lee at Appomattox. At the close of the war Colonel Withers being physically dis- qualified for the active pursuit of his profession, became a candidate for Congress, in the fall of 1865, but was defeated. The passage of the various reconstruction measures which speedily followed, aroused the greatest anxiety and apprehension throughout the Southern State-, and leading citizens of all political parties recognized the necessity of merging all minor differences of opinion, in the one great object of retaining the political control in the hands of the white population. In 1866 Colonel Withers accepted the position of leading editor of the "Daily News," a political paper just started in Lynchburg, Virginia, and for three years devoted his whole time and attention to the duties of his position. His paper soon took a leading part in directing and controlling the polities of the State, and in organ- izing the Conservative party, for the purpose of resisting the aggres- sions and usurpations of the Republicans. In 1868 he was nomi- nated by the first Conservative Convention as their candidate for Governor of Virginia, at the election provided for by the " Under- W 1 < ''institution." He entered at once on a most active canvass, and traversed every section of the State, urging the necessity of com- bining all conservative elements to oppose the adoption of that con- stitution by the people. Owing to the hostility thus excited against it, the military authorities would not permit the election to be held, and Colonel Withers retired to Russell County, where he engaged in farming operations. In I860 lie resigned his candidacy for the Governorship in favor of Gilbert C. Walker, who was elected. In 1872, Mr. Withers was a member of the Conservative Con- vention which appointed delegates to the National Convention, and opposed the resolutions instructing them to support Mr. Greeley. He was chose of the electors for the State at large, and took an active part in the < ireeley canvass. The next year he was beaten for the Gubernatorial nomination, by Governor Kemper,and was nomi- nated and elected Lieutenant-Governor and ex-officio President of the Senate. While discharging the duties of this office he was chosen United States Senator for the term of six years, from the 4th of -March, 1875. 3S0 WILLIAM W. EATOX. 'ILLIAM W. EATOX was bom in Tolland, Connecti- cut, October 11th, 1816. Ee removed to South Caro- lina, where he spent his youth and early manhood, lie studied law, and returning to his native State soon ac- quired a large practice and a wide reputation as an able lawyer. Having n ived his political training at the feet of Calhoun and his coadjutors of the ultra State-rights school, Mr. Eaton took a stand in the North as a Democrat of the "straitest sect." lie vig- orously opposed the North during the rebellion, taking every occa- sion, both in public and in private, to denounce those who in the forum or the field were endeavoring to prevent the success of the s< cessionists. His speeches were among the most encouraging to the Southern cause of any delivered in any of the Northern States. He served many years in the State Legislature of Connecticut, nearly always being in the minority. In the only two terms in which his party was in the majority he was elected to the Speakership. In January, 1875, Mr. Eaton was elected to the Senate of the United State- for theterm of six years from the 4th of March. 1875. On the death of Mr. Buckingham, Mr. Eaton was appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term ; hence lie entered upon his duties in the Senate a few days earlier than the other newly elected Senators. On the occasion of receiving the nomination for Senator by the Democratic caucus, Mr. Eaton returned thanks for the -honor con- ferred, and referred to tic position of Senator as next in importance to that of President of the United States. He assured his friends that he appreciated the responsibilities of the office, and would dis- charge his duties honestly, conscientiously, and with a sincere desire to promote the welfare and guard the int. rests of hi- State. In the special session of the Senate, March 20, 1875, Mr. Eaton 381 2 WILLIAM W. EATON. addressed the Senate at Home length on the Louisiana question, strongly opposing the admission of Pincbback to a seal in that body. A considerable part of his speech was devoted to the subject (it' State sovereignty. "This government of ours," he maintained, "is not a nation; it is a confederacy of nations." Denouncing the doctrine thai it is a "sovereign nation," lie said : "Sir, I should disgrace my own State, 1 should forget the names of Ellsworth and Sherman, if I did not denounce thai heresy. Six times in the convention that formed the Constitution of the United States did two Connecticut men prevent the word 'National' from going into the Federal Con- stitution, and inserted the word 'Federal' instead of 'National;' and yet I am told that there are no independent States, and that this is one great consolidated empire Connecticut, with six hundred thousand inhabitants, is the equal of New York with its five mil- lions. God forbid that I, as the representative of one of the smaller States should so far forget not only my patriotism but my love of the States as to admit that this is a government of majorities. There is no greater heresy known on the face of God's footstool than that. This is a government of States, — equal States, sovereign States, in- dependent States. When it ceases to be a government of that char- acter, may it be long after I have laid my bones in the soil near my own river!" ... - . .... "<£%< 7?i,ni in March, 1875. His first speech in the Senate was made in that session, and was an able argument against the policy of the administration in relation to Louisiana. J&htf* ^>2f 0-fo( Joseph e. McDonald. OSEPH E. McDOXALPwas born in Butler County, Ohio, August 2'.), LSI!). His parents were from Penn- sylvania, and emigrated to Ohio in 1800. He lost his father when about, two years of age, and in L826 he emi- grated, with his mother, to [ndiana, settling in Montgomery County. He served six years in an apprenticeship to the saddler's trade. I Str- ing his boyhood he had very lew opportunities for attending school. At the close of his apprenticeship he determined to obtain an educa- tion, and in pursuit of this object he became a student in Wabash College, and subsequently in Asbury University) leaving the latter institution in the fall of 1840. After leaving college lie taught school a short time, then i as clerk in his brother's dry goods store, and finally, having made choice of his profession, he entered the law office el' Z. Baird, Esq., at Lafayette. lie was admitted to the bar in 1843, located in La- fayette for the practice of his profession, and was, in the same year, elected prosecuting attorney for that Judicial District, lie was re- elected, and held the office in all four years. During hi- I term he removed to Crawfordsville, where he continued to reside many years in the practice of his profession. In 1849 he was elected a. Representative in Congress from the Eighth District of Indiana, lie was elected as a Democrat, to which party ho has always adhered. In the Thirty-first Congress, .,'' ! : ;h Mr. McD.mald was the youngest member, the two political parties were very nearly equally divided. The long contest for the Speakership between the Whigs supporting Robert C. Winthrop, and the Democrats supporting Howell ( lobb, was finally decided in favor of the latter by a small majority. Mr. McDonald's work in 387 2 JOSEPH E. McDO XA ED. this Congress, which attracted mosl attention, was the part lie took in a contested election case in which he vindicated the right of the sitting member. I [e sustained the compromise measures which were adopted by thai Congress, and for his vote in favor of the Fugitive Slave act was defeated as a candidate for renomiuation. At the close of his term in Congress, Mi-. McDonald resumed the practice of his profession in Crawfordfville. In 1856 lie was elected Attorney-General of Indiana, the first incumbent of that "Hire elected by the people. He was re-elected, and during his second term removed his residence to Indianapolis, where heentered into a law partnership with Judge Roache. In 1864 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor against Hon. O. P.Morton, and after a spirited canvass was defeated. He then gave undivided attention to the practice of his profession, in which he has been eminently successful. In his present law linn, styled McDonald & Butler, his partners arc John M. Butler, F. B. McDonald, his son, and George Butler. They have as large and lucrative a practice as any in the State. Mr. McDonald has been twice married. His first wile, Miss Ruth Buell, of William-port, died in 1872. lie was again married in 1874 io Mrs. Vance, of Crawfordsville, and her he lost by death, February 19, 1875. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, an officer in the St. Paul's Parish, Indianapolis, and legal adviser to the diocese of Indiana. In the summer of 1874 Mr. McDonald was appointed by the Democratic Convention as Chairman of the State Central Com- mittee, and in that capacity conducted the decisive campaign of thai year, which resulted in the complete triumph of his party in Indiana. On the 20th of January, 1875, he was elected to the Senate of the United Stales on the first ballot taken in joint conven- tion. He took his -eat at the sj ial session of the Senate, which convened March 5, 1875, and was appointed on the Committees on Pensions, Commerce, and Agriculture. 388 samuel j. e. McMillan. •AMUELJ. R. McMILLAN was born in Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, February 22d, 1826. He resided, however, during st of his early life in Pittsburg, which was the home of his family. His ancestors on the paternal side were Scotch, and on the maternal side Irish. His grandfather of the same name was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His father was for several years clerk of the courts of Alle- ghany County, and this brought the son into such early associations as doubtless did much to determine his future profession. Reen- tered upon a course of classical studies, and graduated in 1849. Meanwhile he prosecuted his legal studies, which wen' begun under the direction of Judge Shaler, and were continued under A. \\\ Loomis, Esq., both of the Pittsburg bar. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Pittsburg in 1850. During the same year lie married .Miss Harriet E. Butler, daughter of Major John B. Butler, of Pittsburg. He practiced law in Pittsburg until 1852, when he removed to Minnesota, then under Territorial government. He established his residence in Stillwater, and at once resumed the practice of las profession, in which he was very successful. At the organization of the State government in 1857, Mr. Mc- Millan was elected Judge of the first Judicial District of Minnesota. He remained on the district bench six years and a half, and then was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota by vjrovernor Miller, to fill a vacancy. In the autumn of 186 I he was elected Associate Justice for the full term, and in IsTl' he was re-elected. In April, 1*7 1 he was appointed Chief Justice to fill a vacancy occasioned bv the resignation of Chief Justice Ripley. 389 2 SAM D B L J. It. M c M I LLA N. In the autumn of the same year he was elected to the same posi- tion for the lull term, which began January 1st, 1875. Entering upon his judicial duties at the organization of the State he became intimately identified with its growth and progress. New questions were constantly arising-, and principles of law were to be settled in their adaptation to a new political community. Plis opin- ions are published in twelve volumes of .Minnesota Reports, com- mencing with the ninth. Judicial duties were very congenial to his tastes, and he sought nothing higher. Nevertheless, on the 19th of February, 1875, lie was elected by the Legislature of Minnesota to the office of United States Senator. He entered upon the duties of his position at the special session of the Senate, March 5th, 1875, and was appointed on the Committee on Privileges and Elections, the Committee on Com- merce, and the Committee on Claims. 390 fl&^-S /Sa_x-C__ 7>^ / SAMUEL B. MAXF.Y. ^gf^AMUEL B. MAXEY was bom March 30th, 18*25, in ^Jipk Monroe County, Kentucky. His ancestors were French £--=/ Huguenots, who emigrated to America alter the revocation y^> of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in Virginia, wh< re for several generations they were planters on the Dan River. Both his grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. I lis father was born in Kentucky, and practiced his profession th< re as a lawyer many years, but, in 1857, emigrated to Texas, where he is -liil living. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the pri- vate schools of his native State. In 1842, at the age ofseventeen, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1846 as brevet Second Lieutenant. He was assigned to the Seventh Infantry, and as war had recently been declared against Mexico, he entered at once upon active duty in the Held. He served under General Scott in all his operations, from th of Vera Cruz to the surrender of the city of Mexico. He was in the storming party at Cerro Gordo and Contreras, and for gallantry was breveted First Lieutenant. In September, 1849, Lieutenant Maxey resigned his commission in the army, and commenced the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and practiced in Clinton County, Kentucky, until 1857, when he removed to Paris, Lamar County, Texas, where he resumed the practice of his profession, lie soon acquired a large and lu'^ptiT"* business in the District and Supreme Court- of tin- State. He was a Democrat in politics, and in 18G1 was elected l>y majority to the State Senate, but the war coming on he de to take his seat. In the summer of 1861 he was commissioned as 391 2 SA M D E L B. MA X E V. Colonel of the Ninth Texas Infantry in the Confederate service. His regimen! was assigned to service under General Sidney John- ston at Corinth, Mississippi, but Colonel Maxey was himself senl to relieve General Floyd at Chattanooga, having been promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, March 7th, 1862, and after the death of General Sidney Johnston joined General Beauregard at Corinth. While in the Army of To ssee General Maxey was placed in command of the corps of observation extending sixty miles along tlio Tennessee River, from Shell .Mound to Gunter's Landing. The Federal army, under General Buell, was preparing to march across the river Tennessee into Kentucky, and it was the duty of General Maxey to give the earliest information to General Bragg of Buell's movements. The information was communicated on the night that Buell began his march. Buell left garrisons at the mouth of Battle ('reek, Bridgeport, Stevenson, and Huntsville, which were imme- diately captured by a force of cavalry and infantry under General Maxey. In the fall of 1SG2 General Maxey was ordered to Port Hudson, where he commanded a brigade during the first siege. He was subsequently ordered to reinforce General Joseph E. Johnston in front of Jackson. In the autumn of 186.3- he was sent under orders from President Davis to the Trans-Mississippi Department, where he was placed in command of the district embracing the In- dian Territory, and was also made superintendent of Indian Affairs. When General Steele began his campaign towards the Red River, at his own instance, General Maxey was ordered to reinforce General Price in Arkansas. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General for services in this campaign, and at its close resumed his military and civil duties in the Indian Territory. He subsequently com- manded a division, which was disbanded on the 26th of May, 1865, among the last of the Confederate forces. After the close of the war he resumed the practice of his profes- sion, in which he was continuously occupied until his election to the Senate of the United States. He took his seat in that body on the 5th of March, 1875, and was appointed on the ( 'ommittees on the Post Office, Territories, and Education and Labor. t 392 ALGERNON S. PADDOCK. ^?5f LGERXOX SIDNEY PADDOCK was born in Glen's Falls, New Turk, November 5th, 1830. He is of English ancestry, being both on the paternal and maternal side oi <^V1 Puritan blood. His father, a lawyer by profession, was for many years one of the leaders of the old Whig party in Northern New York. Young Paddock entered Glen's Falls Academy at the age of thirteen years, and pursued the usual course of academical studies until his eighteenth year, lie then turned his (her westward, and located in Detroit, Michigan, where he engaged in teaching as the assistant of an elder brother, a graduate of Union ( lollege, and now a prominent lawyer in New York City. After remaining in Detroit eight months, he returned to New York and engaged in teaching, at the same time devoting his leisure to the study of law. In May, 1857, Mr. Paddock emigrated to Nebraska, and pre- empted a farm near Fori Calhoun in that territory. He s after- wards took up his residence at Omaha, and became one of the raosl active citizens of that town, with whose interests he was closely iden- tified for several years. He became one of the editors of the "Omaha Republican," performing a large share of the editorial labor on that paper during the years 1858 and 1859. Mr. Paddock assisted in the organization of the Republican party in Nebraska. He attended the lirst informal meetingof Republicans in 1859 for the purpose of a permanent organization, and was a dele- gate to the convention for the perfection of the work. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention which nominated Abraham Lin'' '• : ' ,c,, ;0, but voted for William 11. Seward on every ballot. After the nomination of Lincoln he went to New York, and -pent three months in work for the successofthe Republican party. The newspapers were exceedingly complimentary in their notices ot his efforts in the city and the northern counties of the State. 393 2 ALGERNON S. PADDOCK. Soon after the inauguration of the new administration Mr. Pad- dork was nominated for the position of Secretary of Nebraska Ter- ritory, at the in.-tance of Secretary Seward, a warm personal friend, and was confirmed by the Senate. He entered upon the discharge of the duties of this position on the 1st of April, 1861. He attended faithfully to business, and during the frequenl absences of the Chief Executive, performed the duties of acting Governor. He took an active par) in organizing the First Regiment of Nebraska Infantry. He obtained orders fi>r organizing two companies of cavalry, and afterwards the Second Regiment of Nebraska Cavalry. He bonded the Territorial debt, raising the value of bonds from thirty cents to par. In 18C4 lie received a majority of votes in convention for nomination as candidate for delegate to Congress, but failed through a mistake in counting. lie was a delegate to the convention at Bal- bimore which renominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. He took an active part in the canvass for the organization of a Stale government. The nomination for Governor was unanimously tendered to Mr. Paddock, but was declined. He was a candidate before the Republican caucus for United States Senator at the first senatorial election in 18G7, and came within a lew votes of receiving the nomination. He was subsecpuently nominated for Representa- tive in Congress, but was defeated. He was nominated by Presi- dent Johnson fir Governor of Wyoming, and the nomination was confirmed at an extra session of the Senate; but Mr. Paddock did not enter upon the duties of the position because no appropriation had been made to defray the expenses of a Territorial government. When Congress met again in December he wrote a letter to the President declining the office. Subsequently Mr. Paddock devoted his attention to farming, manufacturing, and railroad construction, giving very little time to politics. On the 22d of January, 1875, lie was elected to the Senate of the United States, without the intervention of a caucus, receiving ;i majority of the Republican votes in the Legislature, and all save two of the Democratic votes. Taking his seat in the Senate at the special session in March, 1875, he was appointed on the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, the Committee on Public Buildings and Ground.-, and the Committee on Public Lands. 394 THEODORE F. RANDOLPH. JpHEODORE F. RANDOLriT was horn in New Bruns- wick, Middlesex County, New Jersey, June 24th, L826. He is descended of Revolutionary slock, and traces his au- S cestry back with the famous Virginia Randolphs of Roan- oke. His father was a stanch Henry ('lay Whig, who edited ami published the " Fredonian" at New Brunswick tin- thirty-six rears, and served six years as a member of Congress from New Jersey. When a boy the present Senator was accustomed to read proof in the office of the " Fredonian," and afterwards became a contributor to its columns. In such association he derived valuable instruction, and doubtless gained much of that knowledge of men and things which has served him so well in subsequent life. After a liberal education Mr. Randolph was elected in 1860 a Representative in the Lower House of the New Jersey Legislature, from the First District of Hudson County, being the first Democrat who ever carried that district. lie served in both branches of the Legislature of the State for eight years, distinguishing himself for his zealous support of the general government during an eventful and trying period of its history, and for his uncompromising oppo- sition to every species of legislative corruption. In 1867 In- was unanimously chosen President of the Morris and Essex Railroad Company. The securities of this company advanced nearly one hundred per cent, during his administration of two years. He was elected Governor of New Jersey after a most spirited canvass in the fall of 1868, receiving a majority of 4547 votes over John J. Blair, the Republican candidate. Governor Randolph was inaugurated in January, 1869, and performed the duties of his im- portant office in a most able and efficient manner. Exercising the 395 2 THEODOJ1E F. 1IANDOLPH. veto power fearlessly whenever it became necessary to defeat corrupt legislation, he was prompt to render support to anything coming under his province calculated to promote the public good, Hein- itiated man)- beneficent measures, including the abrogation of the vexatious transit duties upon persons travelling on railroads through the State, and ;i stringent bill for the punishment of bribery in elec- tion-. " I u short," said a paper politically opposed to him, "his whole career as a legislator and Governor proves him to be a sound dis- criminating statesman, and a high-toned Christian patriot." The official act which attracted most public attention was his proclamation of July 11th, 1871, the day preceding the riot in New York ( 'ity, assuring the right of parade with full protection by the civil ami military power to the Orangemen of New Jersey. The effect of this proclamation was to prevent the occurrence in New Jersey of such bloody scenes as disgraced New York on that mem- orable occasion. ( rovernor Randolph's official term expired in January, 1872, and he was not eligible for re-election owing to the constitutional one- term principle which prevails in New Jersey. In 1875 he was elected to the United States Senate, and entered upon his duties at the special session in March. lie is an accomplished gentleman, of fine conversational powers, acknowledged ability, and ample fortune — fond of literature, poli- tics, and agriculture. His country seat in Morristown is possessed of all the essentials of comfort and refined taste, and is said to be one of the loveliest in the State. His wife is a daughter of Hon. N. D. Coleman, a former member of Congress from Kentucky, and a granddaughter of Chief Justice Marshall. 396 /^^ ^f^^c^ AYILL1AM A. WALLACE. ^^^ILLIAM A. WALLACE was born in Huntingdon *j^ County, Pennsylvania, November 2Sth, 1827. He n is educated in Clearfield Academy, and in 1847 commenced the study of law with his father. He was admitted to the bar when only twenty years of age, and soon obtained a large and lucrative business. He devoted special attention to the land laws, and obtained a thorough knowledge of the titles in the portion of the State where he resided. After fifteen years of close application to his profession his health failed, and he entered the arena of politics. He was a Democrat, and as such in 1862 he was elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania, and held a scat in that body hy successive re-elections for thirteen years. He originated the resolution for the revision of the civil code; advocated zealously the education of or- phan children of soldiers by the State; favored with earnestness the passage of a free railroad law, and was identified with all the leading measures of legislation which looked to the development of the gnat material interests of his State. The general statutes of 187 1 enacted to carry out the provisions of the new constitution of 1873 are marked by much of his judicious labor. He prepared and carried through the general corporation act. of that year, which is regarded as the most perfect statute of its character in the country. The law for regulating the affairs of cities was also his handiwork. On all questions of law his opinion was listened to in the Senate with attention, and his influence was powerfully exerted in the modi- fication or formation of some of the most important statutes of the commonwealth. In the discussion of such questions he uni rose above the consideration of mere partisan or local interests, and threw the weight of his influence in favor of those measures which in his judgment would result mosl beneficially for the general wel- 397 2 WILLIAM A. W A L L A C E. fare of the State. ITe was always opposed to special legislative enactments based upon suggestions of mere expediency, which were aimed to meel a present emergency at the expense of a general prin- ciple. Such a course undeviatinglj pursued during the whole period of his career in the State Legislature won for him not only the appreciation of political friends, butgave him the reputation of an hones) and faithful public servant throughout the commonwealth. In 1865 Mr. Wallace was chosen chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, and in this position, which he held for many years, lie displayed the equalities which characterize a success- ful party leader. He was elected Speaker of the State Senate in 1871. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions at Chicago in 1864, and at Baltimore in 1872, serving during the latter as Chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation. lie was a member of the commission of seven to suggest amendments to the constitution of 1873, of which commission Chief Justice Agnew was chairman. Mr. Wallace was the nominee of the Democratic members of the Legislature for United States Senator in 1869, but as his party was then in the minority, this was but an empty honor. Six years later, however, when the relations of the parties were changed, Mr. "Wal- lace was elected to that high office, and entered upon his duties in the Senate of the United States at the special session which began March 5th, 1875. In private life his affability and many excellent traits of personal character have secured for him the warm friendship of a large circle, embracing some of the most prominent names in his own and other States. 398 WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE. ■»f?ILLIAM PIXKXEY WHYTE was born in Balti- more, August 9, 1824. He is the boh of Joseph Whyte, whose father, the late Dr. John Campbel] Whyte, was one of the United Irishmen of 1798, and settled in Ball at the beginning of the present century. His grandfather on the mother's side was the distinguished orator and statesman, William Pinkney. Mr. Whyte was educated under the tuition of .M. II. McNally, one of the most accomplished teachers of Baltimore, who had been private secretary to Napoleon the First. In 1842, he lefl school, and entered the counting-house of Messrs. Peabody, Riggs & Co., the commercial house founded by the Iat< George Peabody. Here he remained about two years in the capacity of clerk and while diligently discharging his duties, he occupied his leisure time in study. In the winter of 1842, Mr. Whyte became a student in the office of Messrs. Browne & Brune, eminent lawyers of Baltimore. In 1844 and 1845, he was a student in the Harvard Law School, at- tending the lectures of Judge Story and Professor Greenleaf. In 184G, he was admitted to practice at the Baltimore bar. In the following year lie was elected as a Democrat to the Maryland House of Delegates. Just before taking his seat in that body he was mar- ried to the youngest daughter of Levi Hollingsworth, an eminent merchant of Baltimore. In April, 1848, he was appointed by John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy, to serve as .Indue Advocate oi a court-martial for the trial of certain midshipmen at the Naval Academy. V. M "'._ . :. continued closely in the practice of the law until 1853, when he was elected < bmptroller of the State Treasury by a very large majority. Here he discharged his duties with such fidelity, and arranged the details of his office, then n ntly estab- lished, with so much ability, that the Legislature of 1856, i - 399 2 WILLIAM PINK N i: Y W II X I E. trolled by his political opponents, passed resolutions approving, in most complimentary term-, the successful manner in which the ob- jects of the constitution had been accomplished, and the several acts of the Assembly referring to this department had been observed by Mr. Whyte. He refused to be a candidate for re-election in 1855, and went back to the bar with his accustomed energy and zeal. He took little pari in politics, but became so disgusted with the mode in which elections had been held in Baltimore, from 1854 to 1856, that he deemed it his duly to call the attention of the country to the violations of the elective franchise in thai city, and hence in L857 he consented to be a candidate for Congress in the Third Dis- trict, with a view to contesting the right of the member claiming the seat under such pretended election. This he did at his own ex- pense, and the House Committee of Elections of the Thirty-seventh Congress reported a resolution vacating the seat of the sitting mem- ber, but finally, after many delays, near the close of the second ses- sion, the resolution was lost by a small majority. Nevertheless, the publication of the testimony, and the exposure of the proceedings at Baltimore, so effectually aroused the people of the State, that the next Legislature passed a series of laws which effectually put an end to the pernicious practices which had previously thwarted the will of the majority in that city. Mr. Whyte pursued his profession, from 18G0 to 1868, without interruption, save that in 18GG he visited Europe. In duly, 1868, upon the resignation of Reverdy Johnson, who had been appointed Minister to the Court of St. James, Mr. Whyte was appointed by the Governor to the vacant seat in the Senate of the United States, which he held until the close of the Fortieth Congress. lie took a prominent part in the debates, and defended the course of Presi- dent Johnson on several occasions. On his retirement from the Senate, in 1869, he received the warmest congratulations from his constituents in all parts of the State. The press was outspoken in its regrets that his term of service had keen so limited. In 1871, .Mr. Whyte was elected Governor of Maryland, and was inaugurated January 1, 1872. He discharged the duties of this important office in a manner eminently satisfactory to the people of the Commonwealth. He was elected to the Senate of the United States lor the term of six years from March 4, 1875. 400 ^ - a-S ^ I a c . « (