USA > Connecticut > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 36
USA > Rhode Island > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 36
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Long and actively identified with the finances of the State, and receiving the entire confidence of the commonwealth in his fiscal integrity and ability, always an unswerving Whig and Republican, and frequently prominent in the nominating con- ventions of his party, the choice of his name for the second office in the State was but a partial recognition of his worth as a citizen, and of his value as a statesman. In 1878 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, which he continued to fill until the ist of January, 1881.
Governor Gallup was married in 1835 to Julia Ann Woodward, of Plainfield, Conn.
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LATT, GIDEON LUCIAN, M.D., of Waterbury, Conn. Born in Middle-
bury, Conn., July 20th, 1813. His father and grandfather both bore the given name of Gideon, and both were farmers by occupation, and natives of Milford, Conn. His mother, née Lydia Sperry, was the daughter of Jacob Sperry of Waterbury, who also was a yeoman of the old Puritan stoek.
The primary education of Dr. Platt was received in the public and private schools of Middlebury; his academical education in the Academy at Farmington, and his professional education, first in the office of Dr. Henry Bronson-who then lived in Waterbury-and subsequently in the School of Medicine connected with Yale College. His preparatory medical studies commenced in 1834, and elosed with his graduation as M.D. in March, 1838. His old preceptor, Dr. Bronson, afterward held the post of Professor of Materia Medica in the Yale Medical School. Beginning the practice of medicine in Waterbury immediately after his graduation, in professional association with Dr. Bronson, he continued in that relation for a short period, and subsequently associated himself for about three years with Dr. G. P. Roekwell. Then, preferring an independent career, he entered upon professional duties on individual account, and has sinee prosecuted them, in the twofold capacity of physician and surgeon, with distinguished ability and suceess. With the State Medical Society he has been connected in membership for many years, and now holds the post of president of that body.
Dr. Platt was married on the 18th of December, 1844, to Caroline, daughter of William F. Tudor, of Connecticut-a gentleman whose patronymic and genea- logical register indieate consanguinity with one of the royal houses of England. His first American ancestor came from Wales to the New World in company with the Puritans; and, after a brief residence in Massachusetts, removed to Windsor, Conn., about the year 1636. There he lived in that part of the town known as " The Island." His two sons, Samuel and Owen, changed their residence to East Windsor, on the other bank of the Connectieut River, about 1680, and occupied the place where Dr. Elihu Tudor subsequently livcd. Owen died unmarried, but Samuel marricd the Widow Bissell-whose maiden name is supposed to have been Tilley- by whom he had six children, of whom Samuel, the youngest, beeame an eminent minister of the Gospel. Hc graduated at Yale College in 1728, was the second minister of Poquonnock, Windsor, and was mueh respected for his intelligence, application to business, and dignity of manners. His wife was Mary, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Smith, first minister of Middletown. By her he had ten ehildren, of whom Elihu, the second, was born February 22d, 1733, and died March 6th, 1826, at the age of ninety-three.
Elihu Tudor graduated at Yalc College in 1750, studicd medicine with Dr.
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Gale of New Haven, joined the army at the outbreak of hostilities between Great Britain and France, and served therein throughout the war. After the peace of 1763, he retained his military position, and improved the opportunities it afforded by study and practice in the hospitals of London, England. Subsequently, he was discharged at his own request, made a half-pay officer, and returned to his native town after an absence of ten years, during which he had received no tidings from his family. He took an active part in the establishment of the Medical Society of Connecticut, of which he was elected vice-president. In 1790 he received the degree of M.D., in a manner highly honorable to himself, from Dartmouth College. He married Lucretia, daughter of Elisha Brewster of Middletown-a lineal descendant of Elder William Brewster, the first minister of Plymouth, Mass. He died March 6th, 1826. Dr. Tudor was the father of eleven children, of whom William Franklin Tudor, the father of Mrs. Dr. Platt, was the seventh. W. F. Tudor was born February 26th, 1782, and died June 20th, 1857.
The issue of Dr. Platt's marriage with Miss Caroline Tudor survives in the persons of four children-three sons and one daughter. With such an ancestry, it was only natural that two of the sons should adopt the paternal profession. One of them, L. Tudor Platt, M.D., is settled in Bristol, Conn .; the other, Walter Brewster Platt, M.D., is senior house surgeon in the Boston City Hospital. Dr. W. B. Platt has added to the medical qualifications obtained by study and practice at home, those derived from sixteen months' residence in Berlin, Vienna, Heidelberg, and London, in Europe. While in attendance at the University of Berlin, he was enrolled among the private pupils of Professor Von Langenbeck-one of the most celebrated professors in Germany.
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YON, NATHANIEL, Brigadier-General United States Volunteers. Born at Ashford, Windham County, Conn., July 14th, 1819. On July Ist, 1837, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as a cadet, and graduated from thenee on July Ist, 1841, when he was promoted in the army to the grade of second-lieutenant in the Second Infantry.
In 1841-2 he served in his first campaign against the hostile Indians in Florida. Four years' of garrison life followed at Saekett's Harbor and Fort Columbus, N. Y. From the latter post he was called to Mexico at the outbreak of war with that country, and was commissioned first-lieutenant of the Second Infantry, February 16th, 1847. In March 9th to 29th, 1847, he bore part in the siege of Vera Cruz ; on April 17th-18th, at the battle of Cerro Gordo; on August 16th, in the skirmish of Oka Laka; on the 19th and 20th of August, in the battle of Contreras; and again on the 20th in the battle of Churubusco. For gallant and meritorious conduct in the lat- ter engagements, he received the brevet of Captain. At Molino del Rey, September 8th, 1847, and in the assault and capture of the City of Mexico, September 13th and 14th, 1847, he again distinguished himself, and was wounded in the final attack on the Belen Gate
When the war closed he returned to New York, and · performed garrison duty at Fort Hamilton in 1848. From thence he sailed to California in 1848, and was on frontier duty at San Diego, Benieia, and Camp Stanislaus successively in 1849; at Monterey, and in an expedition to Clear Lake and Russian River-in which he was engaged in two skirmishes with hostile Indians-in 1850. On the 11th of June, 1851, he was commissioned as captain of the Second Infantry; and in 1853 took part in the Rogue River expedition. After that he returned to New York, and in 1854 and '5 served on frontier duty, during the political troubles in Kansas. In 1855 he took part in the Sioux expedition, and subsequently served on the fronticr until February 7th, 1861, when he was placed in command of the forees for the defenee of the St. Louis Arsenal. The times werc pregnant with futurc troubles. The position was critical. Very much depended on the turn affairs might takc in the metropolis of Missouri. But the gallant and godly son of a stern old Puritan ancestry proved himself to be fully equal to the cmergeney. Lyon promptly made arrangements for the protection and defence of that post, with its garrison of several hundred regular soldiers, storcs of arms, and munitions of war. On the night of the 25th of April, the great bulk of these were quictly but rapidly transferred to a steamboat, and transported to Alton, Ill. Thenee the principal portion of them was conveyed to Springfield, the capital of that State, thus foiling the Seeessionists, who had organized a " State Guard" in the neighborhood, and who for several days had been hopefully awaiting the right moment in order to capture those very arms. On
N. Lyon
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the morning of May Ioth, Captain Lyon and Colonel Frank P. Blair suddenly sur- rounded the State Guard at Camp Jackson, and demanded their surrender. The demand was enforced by the presence of six thousand Unionists and an effective battery, and only half an hour was afforded for compliance. It was quite enough, for General D. M. Frost, who was in charge of the camp, was completely surprised, and had no other alternative. Twenty cannon, twelve hundred new rifles, several chests of muskets, large quantities of ammunition, etc., which had recently been received from the Baton Rouge Arsenal-then in Confederate hands-were among the spoils of victory.
This blow at secession was a severe and timely one. If it intensified the rage and hate of the disloyal, it also strengthened the courage and fidelity of the loyal. Captain Lyon's course received cordial approval, and he was commissioned as Brigadier-General of the First Brigade of Missouri Volunteers. About the same time, under orders from the National Government, he superseded General William S. Harney in command of the department. On the 11th of June an interview took place at St. Louis between the Secessionist General Price, on the part of the Gov- ernor of Missouri, and General Lyon and Colonel Blair on behalf of the Union, whereat Price demanded, as an essential condition of peace, that no Federal troops should be stationed in the State, or allowed to pass through it. General Lyon peremptorily refused compliance with the preposterous demand. Jackson and Price returned that night to Jefferson City, sanctioned acts of war upon the National Government, and fully committed themselves to the cause of the Rebellion by the issuance of a proclamation from the former as Governor, calling out 50,000 State militia " to repel Federal invasion." The traitorous document advised the citizens that while it was their " duty to obey all constitutional requirements of the Federal Gov. ernment"-" your first allegiance is due to your own State"-and therefore they were under no obligations to obey the Government at Washington, or " submit to the infamous and degrading sway of its wicked ministers" in that State.
The Governor and his accessories were already tasting the bitterness of defeat, and notwithstanding the fact that Missouri had authoritatively and overwhelmingly refused to leave the Union, were defiantly bent on casting in their lot with the fortunes of the Great Rebellion. The State School Fund, the money provided to pay the inter- est on the heavy State debt, and all other available means, were used in prosecution of their treasonable designs. Despotic powers were usurped by Governor Jackson, and ex-Governor Sterling Price was appointed Major-General of the State forces. The Secessionists gathered in the heart of the slave-holding region, and were fol- lowed thither by General Lyon and his army on the 13th of June. Jefferson City was reached on the morning of the 15th. Re-embarking on the 16th, he reached
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Rockport, nearly opposite Booneville, on the following morning, and espied the rebel encampment just across the river. It contained some two or three thousand half-armed men, under Colonel Marmaduke. Jackson, disconcerted by Lyon's rapid and soldierly movements, had ordered his "State Guard" to be disbanded, and that no resistance should be offered. But Marmaduke determined on fighting, and started for the landing, where he hoped to surprise and cut up the debarking Unionists. But again Lyon had been too quick for his adversaries. He advanced in good order, easily routed Marmaduke, captured two guns, with much camp-equipage, clothing, etc., dispersed his infantry, and drove his cavalry into celeritous flight.
Lyon pursued the retreating rebels into Jasper County. In the affair at Car- thage on the next day, they suffered considerably at the hands of General Franz Sigel, who, though compelled to retreat on Springfield, carried off the palm of vic- tory. At Springfield, General Lyon, who had been delayed by lack of transportation, joined and outranked the victorious Sigel.
The rebels, largely reinforced from the South, and possessing numerous and effective cavalry, soon overran all southern Missouri, and confined Lyon to Spring- field and its immediate vicinity. He needed reinforcements; but the disastrous rout at Bull Run, and the expiry of the three months' period of enlistment, pre- cluded the hope of receiving any. Hearing that the enemy was advancing in two strong columns, from Cassville on the south, and Sarcoxic on the west, to over- whelm him, he resolved to strike the former before it could unite with the latter. Leaving Springfield on the Ist of August, with 5500 foot, 400 horse, and 18 guns, he encountered a detachment of the encmy at Dug Springs the next morning, and put them to speedy rout. The rebels then recoiled, and, under McCulloch, effected a junction with the weaker column advancing from Sarcoxie to strike Springficld from the west. Lyon retraced his steps to Springfield, to which the rebels, now commanded by Price, their best general, advanced slowly and warily, reaching Wil- son's Creek, ten miles south of Springfield, on the 7th. Thcre Lyon purposed to surprise them in a night attack, but was obliged to defer his attempt until the 9th, when he again advanced from Springfield. His force was divided into two columns, of which he led the principal one, seeking the enemy in front; while Sigel, with 1200 men, was to gain their rear by their right. At 5 A.M., on August 10th, Lyon opened upon the rebels in front, while Sigel assailed the rear of their right. The battle was obstinate and bloody. The division of the national forces proved to be a mistake, in view of the superior numbers of the foe. The Union infantry was overwhelmed by the rebel cavalry, and of Sigel's 1200 men less than 400 were present at the next roll call. Not all were slain or wounded, for one regiment of 400 men, whose term of enlistment had expired, fled in all directions. The main
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body, under General Lyon, repeatedly drove the rebels back in confusion; but shame would not allow them to confess defeat by a force numerically far inferior to their own. He manifested the most reckless bravery throughout, was twice wounded, and had his horse killed under him. When the second ball struck him on the head, he seemed for the moment to be confused. Walking a few paces to the rear, he remarked to his Adjutant, Major Schofield, " I fear the day is lost." Schofield re- sponded : "No, General, let us try them once more." Lyon then mounted Major Sturgis's horse, and, bleeding from his two wounds, swung his hat in the air, and called upon the troops nearest to him to prepare for a bayonet charge on the lines of the enemy. The Second Kansas rallied to his call, and when their brave colonel, Mitchell, fell, severely wounded, cried out : "We are ready to follow -- who will lead us?" " I will lead you," replied the heroic Lyon ; "come on, brave men !" But just at that juncture a third bullet struck him on the breast, and he fell mortally wounded. Still the battle was not lost. The indomitable spirit of the gallant leader transfused itself throughout the entire host. The enemy was driven precipitately from the field. Major Schofield stated that "it was a perfect rout-that the enemy fled in the wildest confusion." Lyon, like Wolfe, died in the arms of victory. His death was a national calamity. The rebels both hated and admired him. Pollard, in his South ern History, says :
" The death of General Lyon was a serious loss to the Federals in Missouri. He was an able and dangerous man- a man of the times, who appreciated the force of audacity and quick decision in a revolutionary war. To military education and talents, he united a rare energy and promptitude. No doubts or scruples un- settled his mind. A Connecticut Yankee, without a trace of chivalric feeling or personal sensibility - one of those who submit to insult with indifference, yet are brave on the field-he was this exception to the politics of the late regular army of the United States, that he was an unmitigated, undisguised, and fanatical Abo- litionist."
This was really, though unintentionally, the highest praise that the rancorous Southern historian could bestow. It proves that General Lyon thoroughly under- stood the condition of national affairs, that he stood with the God of the oppressed and down trodden in the struggle, and that he clearly discerned that the path to the ultimate triumph of the Union arms, and the beneficent consolidation of the American Republic, lay through the righteous emancipation of the four million slaves then held in hopeless thrall and chattelhood.
The death of General Lyon produced a profound and painful sensation through- out the entire country. " His remains were received with military honors in all the principal cities through which they passed en route to Connecticut, where they were
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interred with great military and civic honors. By will he left almost his entire property to the Government to aid in preserving the Union. Congress gratefully passed the following resolution about the same time: "That it scems just and proper to enter upon its records a recognition of the eminent and patriotic services of the late Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon. The country to whose services he devoted his life will guard and preserve his fame as a part of its own glory."
" A series of able letters written by him during and subsequent to the Kansas troubles were published in 1862, entitled The Last Political Writings of General Nathaniel Lyon,"-Johnson's Encyclopedia.
AMP, HIRAM, of New Haven, President of the New Haven Clock Com- pany. Born April 9th, 1811, at Plymouth, Conn. His father, Samuel Camp, and his grandfather, who bore the same name, were substantial New England yeomen, and of the stalwart, unconquerable, Puritanic stock, to which the country and the world are so largely indebted. Samuel Camp, Sr., was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was well acquainted with General Washington and the Marquis de La Fayette, and rendered efficient service to the cause of his country at Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and Staten Island. Four of his brothers, namely, John, Bennajah, Joab, and Ephraim, also served in the patriot armies. John Camp became a Congregationalist minister, and Samuel Camp a deacon in the same order of the Christian Church. The latter settled in Plymouth, and in old age was maintained by his son, Samuel Camp., Jr., the father of Hiram Camp, who also supported his wife's parents. The pressure of onerous responsibility thus resting on the shoulders of the younger Samuel, made it very necessary that all the members of his family should aid in sustaining it. The farm was poor, and the soil rocky. The good old deacon, when past the season of effective agricultural labor, employed his declining energies most usefully, by visiting every family in the town, at least once in the course of each year, in order to converse with its members on religious topics, and to pray with and for them. His son followed in the same beneficent path, was intensely interested in religious affairs, had committed not less than half the contents of the Bible to memory, and was always ready to speak of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. The influence of such examples and of such teaching upon his
Cump'
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children was benign and powerful. He literally obeyed the injunctions of the Almighty to the Israelitish people, and through them to all people, to speak of His precepts and promises to their children, when lying down, rising up and walking by the way.
Young Camp's abilities were utilized while he was yet in very tender years. At the age of four he was tied on a horse used in ploughing. The child slipped from the back of the animal on one occasion, and narrowly escaped violent death, while the frightened horse ran about the field, with the strange burden dangling against his legs. Incidents similar in character are recorded of several eminent men, who in their childhood were providentially preserved to accomplish their destined mission in mature life. Such educational advantages as the common country schools of the time afforded were appropriated by the rapidly-developing youth. The study of Daboll's Arithmetic, and of Walker's Spelling-Book was not a complete preparation for business life by any means, but it was much better than none. The value of opportunity to individuals resides largely in their own disposition to improve it. Hiram Camp eagerly seized the opportunity presented, and then proceeded to make further opportunities for himself. He had a natural taste for mechanical pursuits, and besought his father's permission to work with his uncle in the manufacture of clocks. It was finally determined that he might do so on attaining the age of eighteen. When that eventful epoch arrived-breakfast over, family worship ended, "Good-by" pronounced to parents and sisters, he struck a direct line across the country for about ten miles to the residence of Chauncey Jerome, his mother's brother. All his worldly goods were then tied up within the limits of a cotton handkerchief. Mr. Jerome received his nephew with kindness, and ere long put him in charge of all his works. The business association then formed continued for somewhat more than twenty years.
At that period the clock manufacture was in its infancy. Little had been done toward its establishment in this country previous to the year 1815. From that time to 1829 it grew slowly, and by the aid of machinery that was small in quantity and poor in quality. Since then vast improvements, to which Mr. Camp has largely contributed, have been effected.
The measurement of time by the mechanical contrivances known as clocks, is comparatively of very recent date. The sun-dial and the clepsydra were the carly machines used for that purpose-the first showing apparent time, and the latter giving a rude approximation to mean time. These inadequate instruments doubtless provoked the inventive ingenuity of the unknown person, or persons, to whom the world is indebted for its invaluable clocks. Whether he or they were French, German, or Italian is impossible now to determine. Striking clocks were known in
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Italy in the latter part of the thirteenth, or the beginning of the fourteenth century. In the year 1288, the fine imposed on the Chief Justice of the King's Bench was appropriated to furnishing a clock for the famous clock-house near Westminister Hall. St. Mary's, at Oxford, was not provided with a clock until 1523, when one was paid for out of fines imposed on the students of the university. Venice did not obtain a clock, according to one author, until 1497. Henry de Wyck, a Ger- man artist, who placed a clock in the tower of the palace of Charles V., about the year 1364, is held by some to have been the inventor of the machine; but it is more probable, as Berthoud suggests, that it is a compound of successive inventions, each worthy of a separate contriver. Analogy certainly sustains this opinion, for the timepieces of the present day have been brought to their present degree of perfec- tion by consecutive improvements upon the comparatively rude mechanism of De Wyck. In 1560 the celebrated astronomer, Tycho Brahe, possessed four clocks which indicated hours, minutes, and seconds. Prior to that year the substitution of a main-spring for a weight, as the moving power, and also the application of the fusee, must have taken place. Huyghens is often credited with the application of the pendulum to the clock, and is entitled to the honor of having done so in a masterly and scientific manner, although it is known that Richard Harris, a London artist, invented a long pendulum clock in 1641.
Science is much indebted to the ingenious manufacturers of clocks, for in 1577 Moestlin, by counting the number of beats made during the time of the sun's passage over a meridian, determined the sun's diameter to be 34' 13". Huyghens discovered that the pendulum vibrated slower as it approached the equator, which led the way to the subsequent discovery that the earth is not a globe, but an oblate spheroid.
In 1680, Clement of London, invented the anchor escapement; and in 1715 George Graham discovered the means of rectifying the errors of the pendulum, caused by the contraction and expansion of metals under changes of temperature, in the celebrated mercurial pendulum. He afterward introduced the dead-beat cscapement. Since his death numerous scientific improvements of great value have been made by successive inventors, which have given to timepieces the quality of precision to a degree that closely approximates perfection. Among the men through whose genius and industry this splendid result has been attained, must be included Hiram Camp of New Haven. In 1842 or '3 Mr. Jerome removed part of his works -that for the making of cases-to New Haven. In 1845-Mr. Camp having then been for sixteen years in his employ-Jerome's movement shop was burned to the ground, and much of the contained machinery destroyed. Measures were at once taken to rebuild it, not in Bristol, Conn., but in New Haven. Camp's services
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