USA > Connecticut > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 13
USA > Rhode Island > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 13
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and entered into civil life as a manufacturer of firearms, at Bristol, R. I., in which occupation he continued until 1858. During that period, from 1855 to 1857, he officiated as major-general of the Rhode Island militia. In 1856 he became prominent in the mechanical, as well as in the military pursuits of life, as the inventor of the " Burnside breech-loading rifle," and in the same year was a member of the Board of Visitors to the U. S. Military Academy-his stern old Alma Mater at West Point. In 1858-9 he was cashier of the Land Department of the Illinois Central Railroad Company-a position for which the general efficiency and incorruptibility of a West Point graduate admirably fitted him. In `1860-61 he was treasurer of the same great corporation.
During the rebellion of the seccding States, 1861-65, he re-entered the military service of his imperilled country, aided in the defense of the city of Washington, D. C., in May, 1861-having been commissioned on the 2d of that month as colonel of Rhode Island Volunteers-participated in Major-General Paterson's opcra- tions about Cumberland, Maryland, June, 1861 ; also in the defense of Washington in July and August-during which timc he bore a conspicuous part in the Manassas campaign, and at the battle of Bull Run, on July 21st, 1861.
On the 2d of August, 1861, he was mustered out of service, but re-entered it on the 6th with the commission of brigadier-general of U. S. Volunteers. He then served in command of a provisional brigade in the vicinity of Washington, D. C., from September 3d to October 23d, 1861 ; in organizing the coast division of the Army of the Potomac, at Annapolis, Maryland, from October 23d, 1861, to January 8th, 1862. On the 13th of the latter month, he was intrusted with the command of the Department of North Carolina, and on the 18th of March, 1862, received his commission as major-general of U. S. Volunteers.
On the 13th of January, 1862, hc sailcd from Fortress Monroe for North Carolina ; Commodore L. M. Goldsborough being in command of the naval part of the expedition. Doubling Capc Henry, he moved southward to Hattcras Inlet, and thencc up Pamlico and Croatan sounds to Roanoake Island, where on the 8th of February hc stormed the enemy's fortifications, and captured about 2700 prisoners, including many valuable officers. There, in harmony with the prevailing Union theory of the manner in which the war for the suppression of the seces- sionist movement should be conducted, he and Commodore Goldsborough issued a proclamation to the people of North Carolina, in which he said :
" The Government asks only that its authority may be recognized ; and we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, con- stitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages in any respect."
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The people at large had not yet come to the conclusion that all rights guar- anteed by the Constitution had been forfeited by rebellion against it, and by repudi- ation of all its solemn and binding obligations. As a military commander, he wiscly followed public opinion, instead of attempting to create or lead it.
General Burnside next concentrated his forces at Hatteras Inlet, for an attack upon Newbern, at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers, and the most important seaport of North Carolina. Commodore Goldsborough had, in the mean timc, been relicved by Commodore Rowan. A landing was effected at Slocum's Creek, 18 miles below the city, and from that point the intrenchments and for- tifications were successively carried, and by evening of March 15th the army was in possession of the city, of 69 rebel cannon, two steamboats, large quantities of stores and munitions, and somc 500 prisoners. Fort Macon fell on the 25th of April, and with its garrison of 500 men, remained in the hands of the National army. Numerous additional captures followed, whereby his division of 15,000 men was widely dispersed, and converted into a possessory rather than an offensive force. On the 4th of July, 1862, he was ordered, by telegraph from Washington, to hastcn with all his available forces to Fortress Monroe, where he arrived three days afterward.
The immediate effect of Burnside's brilliant successes in North Carolina, in connection with the movement of Mcclellan's grand army up the peninsula, was to compel the evacuation of Norfolk by the rebels, and the destruction of their famous ironclad, the Merrimac. In the bloody and indecisive engagement at An- tietam, September 17th, his corps held the extreme left of the national army, opposite the lowest of the three bridges spanning the Antietam, and carried not only the bridge, but the heights beyond, some of his troops reaching even the out- skirts of Sharpsburg. On the 8th of November, he reluctantly succeeded General McClellan in the command of the Army of the Potomac, but could not refuse the unsought post without positive disobedience to orders. The devotion of the prin- cipal, and of most of the subordinate, officers to the displaced commander was such as to leave but a poor chance for their hearty and unquestioning support to his successor. Patriotism, however, rose superior to disappointment, and none could have fought more valiantly than did they, and most of their respective commands, at the unsuccessful battle of Fredericksburg on the 13th of December. " But for the fog, and the unexpected and unavoidable delay in building the bridges, which gave the enemy twenty-four hours to concentrate his forces in his strong position,' Burnside would almost certainly have succeeded in his attempt to advance on Rich- mond by that routc. As it was, he camc very near to success. Failing to accom- plish the main object, he remained in order of battle for two days, unmolested by the enemy, after which he recrossed to the left bank of the Rappahannock, without
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loss of men or property. Horace Greeley, in his American Conflict, vol. ii., p. 349, remarks that " General Burnside's errors in this movement were errors of judgment only ; and these were nobly redeemed by his subsequent conduct and bearing." His magnanimity and generosity in his report of the battle were unusually conspicuous. Had. he been permitted to retain the command, the results of his next movement toward Richmond might have been wholly different. Genius and boldness marked its conception, as did promptitude and vigor the attempts that were made to carry it out. But in addition to a powerful, disciplined, and wary enemy in front, General Burnside had to contend with wily and insubordinate officers in his own camp Clandestine communications were made to President Lincoln that misrepresented both the commander and his army. When the latter discovered the mischievous machinations of the cabal, he prepared a general order dismissing them from the service ; but was persuaded, before publishing it, to submit it to the President. Mr. Lincoln, instead of approving the order, decided, after consultation with his official advisers, not to approve it, and also relieved General Burnside-as was stated-at his own request. Against this Burnside protested as most unjust, and pressed his demand that his resignation should be accepted instead. This de- mand he subsequently and nobly withdrew, in deference to the entreaties of friends, who begged him to serve wherever his aid might be required, and to allow any order deemed essential to the public welfare to be published. The sacrifice of professional pride that was thus required was patriotically made, in order to further the great ends of the conflict.
On the 26th of March, 1863, General Burnside was assigned to the command of the Department of the Ohio. His old Ninth Corps was dispatched with him, in order to effect the liberation of loyal, but crushed and suffering, East Tennes- sec. On the 16th of August, having thoroughly organized and cquipped his com- mand-about 20,000 strong-at Camp Nelson, near Richmond, Ky., he commenced his advance on Knoxville, without waiting for the return of the Ninth Corps, which had been sent to the aid of General Grant at Vicksburg. By the 3d of Scp- tember he had reached that city, where he was welcomed "with such an outpouring of enthusiastic loyalty as had rarely been equalled." Long-hidden national flags waved from almost every house. "The cheers and fond greetings and happy tears of the assembled thousands attested their fervent hope and trust that the national authority and protection, for which they had prayed and pined through two long, weary years, would never again be expelled from their city." On the 9th he arrived at Cumberland Gap, and compelled the surrender of the rebel General Frazier, with his 2000 men and 14 guns. In a subsequent contest with Longstreet, he repulsed that able general with masterly ability, and remained in possession of East Ten- nessee.
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Burnside's opinions as to the best methods of dealing with the rebels had by this time been considerably modified. On the 3d of April, 1863, he put forth a general order, in which he proclaimed that henceforth,
" All persons found within our lines who commit acts for the benefit of the enemies of our country, will be tried as spies or traitors, and, if convicted, will
suffer death. The habit of deelaring sympathies for the enemy will not be allowed in this department. Persons committing such offenses will be at once arrested with a view to being tried, as above stated, or sent beyond our lines into the lines of their friends. It must be distinctly understood that treason, expressed or implied, will not be tolerated in this department." The notorious Vallandigham was soon arrested under this order, tried by court-martial, and sentenced to close confinement till the end of the war. The President modificd the sentence into a direction to send Mr. V. through the military lines into the Southern Confederacy, and in case of his return to imprison him as prescribed by the sentence of the court. The convict was duly forwarded by General Rosecrans to his secessionist friends, but only remained with them for a few weeks; taking a blockade-runner to Nassau, and thence making his way to Canada. His sympathizers in Ohio, New York, and other States, made strong representations on his case to President Lincoln, whose legal and constitutional arguments signally refuted theirs, while they established the wisdom and justice of his own procedure, and by consequence, that of General Burnside.
On the 23d of April, 1864, Burnside, who had been reorganizing and receiving large accessions to his (Ninth) corps in Maryland, crossed the Potomac and joined Meade's army, thus raising the effective strength of that army to considerably more than 100,000 men. On the 4th of May, he followed Haneoek and other corps commanders into the tangled labyrinth known as the Wilderness, and arrived at the front by forced marches on the night of the 5th, when his eorps was distributed to the points where it seemed to be most needed. On the 6th the heroic Ninth Corps was thrown in between Hancock and Warren, so as to give our line the
full strength of our infantry. In that position it aided in the repulse of Hill's and Longstreet's corps with heavy loss to the enemy; Longstreet himself being disabled for months. On the 9th of May, Burnside held position on the left of the Union army, and fought with a determined gallantry best .expressed by Grant's pithy bulletin on the morning of the 11th, in which he said : "I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer." Afterward, on the right of our army, in conjunction with Warren he delivered charge after charge upon the enemy's position at Spottsylvania Court House, with dauntless courage and daring. The mutual carnage was fearful; and if Burnside was not everywhere successful, it was
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simply because sueeess under sueh eireumstanees was impossible. At Cold Harbor, June 2d, 1864, he executed a eritieal flank movement with his usual resolution. On the 3d his eorps was stationed on Warren's right and rear, and at one point in the engagement " swung two of his divisions around to flank the enemy's left, which he hotly engaged, and must have worsted had the battle along our front been protraeted." On the 14th and 15th, in company with Wright, he erossed the Chiekahominy at Jones's bridge, moved thenee to Charles City Court House, and very soon his " guns were thundering at the southern approaches to the rebel eapital."
At Petersburg, Burnside's eorps held a position directly in front of the city, " ineluding a point where our lines, owing to the nature of the ground, had been pushed up to within 150 yards of the enemy's, where a fort projected beyond their average front." Under this fort a mine had been run from a convenient ravine within the National lines, and the morning of July 30th was fixed for springing it. At 4.35 A.M. the mine was exploded, its garrison annihilated, and a gigantie erater 150 feet long, 60 wide, and 25 to 30 deep, oeeupied the spot where the fort had stood. Had Burnside possessed the right kind of military material at the time, the charge which followed might have been as splendidly sueeessful as it proved to be a disastrous failure.
From August 13th, 1864, to April 15th, 1865, when he resigned, General Burn- side was on leave of absenee, and awaiting orders.
Resuming the pursuits of eivil life, he adopted the profession of a eivil engineer, and followed that in 1865-66. In 1864 he became a director of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and in 1867 of the Narragansett Steamship Company. In 1865 he aeeepted the office of president of the Cineinnati and Martinsville Railroad Com- pany ; in 1866 that of president of the Rhode Island Locomotive Works at Providence, R. I .; and in 1867 that of president of the Indianapolis and Vineennes Railroad Company. In 1866 he was elected Governor and Captain-General of the State of Rhode Island and Providenee Plantations, and was re-elected in 1867-68. In 1870 he visited Europe, and received the distinguished compliment, due to his professional standing and intellectual abilities, of admission within the German and Freneh lines in and around Paris. On that oeeasion he aeted as a medium of communication between the hostile nations in the interests of eoneiliation. On the 4th of March, 1875, having been elected to the United States Senate, by the Republican party as the suecessor of William Sprague, Independent, he took his seat in the chamber of that august and influential legislative eorps. Since then, his serviees have been those of an enlightened statesman and independent thinker- singularly free from narrow prejudice and temporary expedieney. His term of serviee will expire on the 3d of March, 1881. 8
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NTHONY, HENRY B., of Providence, Senator of the United States from Rhode Island. Born in Coventry, R. I, April Ist, 1815. After the usual academic education, he entered Brown University at Providence, and grad- uated therefrom in due course and with honor.
Selecting the journalistic profession, he next assumed charge of the Providence Journal, and pursued a successful editorial career until 1849, when he was elected Governor of Rhode Island. In 1850 he was honored by a second election, but after filling the annual term of office, declined further continuance therein. In 1859 he took his seat in the United States Senate-to which he had been elected as a Union Republican-as the successor of Philip Allen, Democrat. In 1864, 1870, and 1876 he was re-elected to the same position. On the 23d of March, 1869, he was elected President of the Senate, pro tempore, and was re-elected thereto on the 10th of March, 1871. His term of service expires March 3d, 1883.
PRAGUE, WILLIAM, cx-Senator of the United States from Rhode Island. Born at Cranston, R. I., September 12th, 1830. He is well known as one of the principal manufacturers of plain and printed cotton fabrics. His grandfather established, and his father and uncle subsequently carried on, the celebrated print works, which were among the first in that branch of industrial art established in the United States. His father was murdered in 1844; and he subsequently became partner with his uncle.
From 1860 to 1863 Mr. Sprague was Governor of Rhode Island. In 1861, in the hour of the nation's extremity, he proffered a regiment and battery of artillery to President Lincoln for service in the Union cause. Hc, himself, took the field with them, having received his commission as brigadier-general.
In the battle of Bull Run, General Sprague bore a prominent part, and had his - horse shot under him. He also served in several actions during the peninsular campaign. In 1862 he was chosen United States Senator, and was made chairman of the Committee on Manufactures. Re-elected in 1868, he next served as chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. His public official service closed in 1875. Both in business and political, as well as in military affairs, Senator Sprague has an honorable record, and is entitled to be numbered among the benefactors of the American people.
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IPPITT, HENRY, of Providence, ex-Governor of Rhode Island. Born in Providence, R. I., October 9th, 1818.
Governor Lippitt is descended from an ancient and honorable English stock, and is connected with a family to which, as much as to any other, the foundations of American industrial art on a large scale are attributable. With the Revolutionary history of the country they are also prominently identified. In the annals of Rhode Island, from the very inception of the commonwealth, their patronymic frequently appears. John Lippitt, the first American progenitor, came to this country from England about 1636, and joined Roger Williams at Providence prior to 1638. In 1647 he was appointed one of the commissioners charged with the duty of organizing the government of the colony under the charter granted by the Parliament of England. In 1655 he removed to Warwick, R. I., purchased a large tract of land, and engaged in agriculture. His descendants, for several generations, likewise addicted themselves to the same pursuits.
Christopher Lippitt, the great-grandson of the original settler, became the father of twelve children ; of whom Christopher and Charles were among the first to embark in the manufacture of cotton fabrics in Rhode Island. In them constructive enter- prise was united with destructive energy. In other words, they were intelligently bent on breaking the fetters which bound the colonies to the mother-country, and on raising them to the dignity of independent republican States. Federative nation- ality for all the Americo-Europeans was the patriotic end to which they, in common with many others, aspired, and to which they applied all their strength and resources. Both were excellent officers of the Continental army ; and Christopher, in particular, gained distinction as commander of one of the Rhode Island regiments at a very critical epoch in the Revolutionary struggle. On the expiry of his commission, he returned, like Cincinnatus, to his farm, but again emerged from his retirement in 1780, to aid as brigadier-general of the Rhode Island militia in the defence of New- port against the threatened attack of a British expedition. Thirty years followed, in which General Lippitt occupied himself with the duties of husbandry, while his brother Charles discharged those pertaining to local merchandise in Providence. Then came the change in the direction of energy to manufacturing pursuits. The Pawtuxet River, flowing through the town of Warwick, presented-at several falls of considerable magnitude-eligible sites for the erection of factories whose machinery should be driven by water-power. The mill privileges thus offered attracted the attention of William Almy and Obadiah Brown, the partners of Samuel Slater; and when the first manufacturing experiment at Pawtucket had become a demonstrated success, they, in connection with Joseph Allen and other residents of Warwick, established the second factory in Rhode Island, at what is now the village of Cen-
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terville. In 1807 a third mill was erected, and constituted the nucleus of the village of Crompton.
Further progress was inevitable. As soon as the conditions of success were existent, wise and strong hands were ready to work under those conditions, and to convert possibility into reality. On the 9th of November, 1809, Christopher and Charles Lippitt, together with several Providence gentlemen, organized the Lippitt Manufacturing Company. The capital stock was $40,000, of which the Lippitts sub- scribed half, and four citizens of Providence the remainder. Christopher Lippitt was appointed its first agent, at the economical salary of $40 per month. At that time the power-loom had not been introduced into America, and the yarns were distrib- uted to the wives and daughters of farmers, to be woven on hand-looms into cloth. Eleven years afterward, in 1820, the Lippitt Manufacturing Company introduced power-looms, with new machinery and new methods, and also artisans to operate them into their factory. Then, the genius of a man of letters began to cnrich the frugal soil of our cis-atlantic coast. When Arkwright's spinning-jenny and Cromp- ton's drawing-frame were fairly at work, manufacturers inquired, "What is to becomc of the yarn? There will not be hands enough to weave it?" The Rev. Edmund Cartwright applied himself to the solution of the problem. He was a poor mechanic, and had never seen a loom when, in 1784, he made his first attempt to construct one. His first patent was taken out in 1785. His second patent, taken out in 1787, was for a machine that had automatic mechanical devices to operate all its parts. Radcliffe, of Stockport, in 1802; Jacquard, of Lyons, in France; Roberts, of Manchester, England; and Bigelow, Crompton, and Lyall, of this country, success- ively laborcd on the power-loom, and brought its capacities of production to the highest apparent limit. The Lippitt Manufacturing Company kept a vigilant eye on all successive improvements, and judiciously availed themselves of all that could contribute to lucrative fabrication.
Charles, son of Warren Lippitt, followed the sailor's vocation in carly life, and for several years had command of a vessel. Subsequently, for the space of twenty years he conducted business as a cotton merchant in Providence, R. I., and in Savannah, Ga. On the death of his father an interest in the Lippitt Manufacturing Company fell to his share. In 1840 he was chosen treasurer of the corporation, and retained that office until his death in 1850. Soon after that cvent, the interest of his cstate in the Lippitt Manufacturing Company was purchased by the heirs of Christopher Lippitt, who still hold a controlling share in the association.
Governor Lippitt is the second son of Warren Lippitt. His scholastic educa- tion was received at the academy in Kingston, R. I., and closed when he was about fifteen years of agc. Hc then accepted the position of clerk in the store
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of Burr & Smith, Warren, R. I. His employers were interested in the whale-fishery, and dealt largely in the produets brought home by their ships. With them he remained until November, 1835, when he returned to Providence to fill the position of bookkeeper for Josiah Chapin & Co., the largest cotton merchants in the city at that time. Three years afterward, in 1838, the firm closed its business; and Mr. Lippitt entered into the commission business, in copartnership with Edward Walcott, and with Amory Chapin as special partner. Since then, both in the com- mission branch of trade and in the manufacture of cotton cloths, bleached goods, etc., he has worthily established his reputation as one of the most intelligent, able, and successful business men in the State.
Mercantile and manufacturing enterprise possesscs marked aptitude for public affairs, and always comes to the front in seasons of national erisis and need. This historie truth received an addition to countless pre-cxisting illustrations in the appoint- ment of Mr. Lippitt to the post of Commissioner of Enrollment for Rhode Island, at the outbreak of the great Rebellion in 1861. His energy and prudence justificd the Governor's action in making the appointment, and quickly provided all the quotas of patriot troops demandcd from the State by the national administration.
Mr. Lippitt was one of the chief agents in the organization of the Providence Board of Trade, and became its first vice-president and its second president. Mani- fest fitness powerfully commended him to the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, and in 1875 and 1876 the highest loeal honor they could bestow was conferred upon him, in his clection to the gubernatorial chair of the State. Both terms of office were characterized by the distinguished ability and administrative efficiency anticipated by those who knew him best.
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