USA > Iowa > Mills County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 14
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 14
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JOHN JAMES INGALLS, a famous American statesman, was born Decem- ber 29, 1833, at Middleton, Massachusetts, where he was reared and received his early education. He went to Kansas in 1858 and joined the free-soil army, and a year after his arrival he was a member of the his- torical Wyandotte convention, which drafted a free-state constitution. In 1860 he was
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made secretary of the territorial council, and in 1861 was secretary of the state sen- ate. The next year he was duly elected to the legitimate state senate from Atchison, where he had made his home. From that time he was the leader of the radical Re- publican element in the state. He became the editor of the " Atchison Champion " in 1863, which was a "red-hot free-soil Re- publican organ." In 1862 he was the anti- Lane candidate for lieutenant-governor, but was defeated. He was elected to the Unit- ed States senate to succeed Senator Pom- eroy, and took his seat in the forty-third congress and served until the fiftieth. In the forty-ninth congress he succeeded Sen- ator Sherman as president pro tem., which position he held through the fiftieth con- gress.
B ENJAMIN WEST, the greatest of the early American painters, was of Eng- lish descent and Quaker parentage. He was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in 1738. From what source he inherited his genius it is hard to imagine, since the tenets and tendencies of the Quaker faith were not cal- culated to encourage the genius of art, but at the age of nine years, with no suggestion except that of inspiration, we find him choos- ing his model from life, and laboring over his first work calculated to attract public notice. It was a representation of a sleep- ing child in its cradle. The brush with which he painted it was made of hairs which he plucked from the cat's tail, and the colors were obtained from the war paints of friendly Indians, his mother's indigo bag, and ground chalk and charcoal, and the juice of berries, but there were touches in the rude production that he declared in later days were a credit to his best works. The pic- ture attracted notice, for a council was
called at once to pass upon the boy's con- duct in thus infringing the laws of the so- ciety. There were judges among them who saw in his genius a rare gift and their wis- dom prevailed, and the child was given per- mission to follow his inclination. He studied under a painter named Williams, and then spent some years as a portrait painter with advancing success. At the age of twenty- two he went to Italy, and not until he had perfected himself by twenty-three years of labor in that paradise of art was he satisfied to turn his face toward home. However, he stopped at London, and decided to settle there, sending to America for his intended bride to join him. Though the Revolution- ary war was raging, King George III showed the American artist the highest considera- tion and regard. His remuneration from works for royalty amounted to five thou- sand dollars per year for thirty years.
West's best known work in America is, perhaps, " The Death of General Wolf." West was one of the thirty-six original mem- bers of the Royal academy and succeeded Joshua Reynolds as president, which posi- tion he held until his death. His early works were his best, as he ceased to display originality in his later life, conventionality having seriously affected his efforts. He died in 1820.
S AMUEL PORTER JONES, the famous Georgia evangelist, was born October 16, 1847, in Chambers county, Alabama. He did not attend school regularly during his boyhood, but worked on a farm, and went to school at intervals, on account of ill health. His father removed to Carters- ville, Georgia, when Mr. Jones was a small boy. He quit school at the age of nineteen and never attended college. The war inter- fered with his education, which was intended
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to prepare him for the legal profession. After the war he renewed his preparation for college, but was compelled to desist from such a course, as his health failed him en- tirely. Later on, however, he still pursued his legal studies and was admitted to the bar. Soon after this event he went to Dal- las, Paulding county, Georgia, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession, and in a few months removed to Cherokee county, Alabama, where he taught school. In 1869 he returned to Cartersville, Georgia, and arrived in time to see his father die. Immediately after this event he applied for a license to preach, and went to Atlanta, Georgia, to the meeting of the North Geor- gia Conference of the M. E. church south, which received him on trial. He became an evangelist of great note, and traveled extensively, delivering his sermons in an inimitable style that made him very popular with the masses, his methods of conducting revivals being unique and original and his preaching practical and incisive.
S HELBY MOORE CULLOM, a national character in political affairs and for many years United States senator from Illinois, was born November 22, 1829, at Monticello, Kentucky. He came with his parents to Illinois in 1830 and spent his early yearson a farm, but having formed the purpose of devoting himself to the lawyer's profession he spent two years study at the Rock River seminary at Mount Morris, Illinois. In 1853 Mr. Cullom entered the law office of Stuart and Edwards at Springfield, Illinois, and two years later he began the independent prac- tice of law in that city. He took an active interest in politics and was soon elected city attorney of Springfield. In 1856 he was elected a member of the Illinois house of representatives. He identified himself with
the newly formed Republican party and in 1860 was re-elected to the legislature of his state, in which he was chosen speaker of the house. In 1862 President Lincoln appoint- ed a commission to pass upon and examine the accounts of the United States quarter- masters and disbursing officers, composed as follows: Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois; Charles A. Dana, of New York, and Gov. Boutwell, of Massachusetts." Mr. Cullom was nominated for congress in 1864, and was elected by a majority of 1,785. In the house of representatives he became an active and aggressive member, was chairman of the committee on territories and served in congress until 1868. Mr. Cullom was returned to the state legislature, of which he was chosen speaker in 1872, and was re-elected in 1874. In 1876 he was elected governor of Illinois and at the end of his term he was chosen for a second term. Hewaselected United States senator in 1883 and twice re-elected.
RICHARD JORDAN GATLING, an American inventor of much note, was born in Hertford county, North Carolina, September 12, 1818. At an early age he gave promise of an inventive genius. The first emanation from his mind was the invention of a screw for the propulsion oi water craft, but on application for a patent, found that he was forestalled but a short time by John Ericsson. Subse- quently he invented a machine for sowing wheat in drills, which was used to a great extent throughout the west. He then stud- ied medicine, and in 1847-8 attended lectures at the Indiana Medical College at Laporte, and in 1848-9 at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. He later discovered a method of transmitting power through the medium of compressed air. A
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double-acting hemp break was also invented by him. The invention, however, by which Dr. Gatling became best known was the famous machine gun which bears his name. This he brought to light in 1861-62, and on the first trial of it, in the spring of the latter year, two hundred shots per minute were fired from it. After making some improve- ments which increased its efficiency, it was submitted to severe trials by our govern- ment at the arsenals at Frankfort, Wash- ington and Fortress Monroe, and at other points. The gun was finally adopted by our government, as well as by that of Great Britain, Russia and others.
B ENJAMIN RYAN TILLMAN, who won a national fame in politics, was born August 11, 1847, in Edgefield county, South Carolina. He received his education in the Oldfield school, where he acquired the rudiments of Latin and Greek, in addition to a good English education. He left school
in 1864 to join the Confederate army, but was prevented from doing so by a severe illness, which resulted in the loss of an eye. In 1867 he removed to Florida, but returned in 1868, when he was married and devoted himself to farming. He was chairman of the Democratic organization of his county, but except a few occasional services he took no active part in politics then. Gradually, however, his attention was directed to the depressed condition of the farming interests of his state, and in August, 1885, before a joint meeting of the agricultural society and state grange at Bennettsville, he made a speech in which he set forth the cause of agricultural depression and urged measures of relief. From his active interest in the farming class he was styled the "Agricult- ural Moses." He advocated an industrial school for women and for a separate agri- 7
cultural college, and in 1887 he secured a modification in the final draft of the will of Thomas G. Clemson, which resulted in the erection of the Clemson Agricultural Col- lege at Fort Hill. In 1890 he was chosen governor on the Democratic ticket, and carried the election by a large majority. Governor Tillman was inaugurated Decem- ber 4, 1890. Mr. Tillman was next elected to the United States senate from South Carolina, and gained a national reputation by his fervid oratory.
G EORGE DENISON PRENTICE.
No journalist of America was so cele- brated in his time for the wit, spice, and vigor of his writing, as the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. From Atlantic to Pacific he was well known by his witticism as well as by strength and force of his edi- torials. He was a native of Preston, Con- necticut, born December 18, 1802. After laying the foundation of a liberal education in his youth, he entered Brown University, from which he was graduated in 1823. Tak- ing up the study of law, he was admitted to the bar in 1829. During part of his time he was editor of the " New England Weekly Review," a position which he relinquished to go south and was succeeded by John Greenleaf Whittier, the Quaker poet.
On arriving in Louisville, whither he had gone to gather items for his history of Henry Clay, Mr. Prentice became identified with the " Louisville Journal," which, under his hands, became one of the leading Whig newspapers of the country. At the head of this he remained until the day of his death. This latter event occurred January 22, 1870, and he was succeeded in the control of the "Journal " by Colonel Henry Watterson.
Mr. Prentice was an author of consider- able celebrity, chief among his works being
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"The Life of Henry Clay, " and " Prentice- ana," a collection of wit and humor, that passed through several large editions.
S AM. HOUSTON, in the opinion of some critics one of the most remarkable men who ever figured in American history, was a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, born March 2, 1793. Early in life he was left in destitute circumstances by the death of his father, and, with his mother, removed to Tennessee, then almost a boundless wilder- ness. He received but little education, spending the most of his time among the Cherokee Indians. Part of the time of his residence there Houston acted as clerk for a trader and also taught one of the primitive schools of the day. In 1813 he enlisted as private in the United States army and was engaged under General Jackson in the war with the Creek Indians. When peace was made Houston was a lieutenant, but he re- signed his commission and commenced the study of law at Nashville. After holding some minor offices he was elected member of congress from Tennessee. This was in 1823. He retained this office until 1827, when he was chosen governor of the state. In 1829, resigning that office before the ex- piration of his term, Sam Houston removed to Arkansas, and made his home among the Cherokees, becoming the agent of that tribe and representing their interests at Washington. On a visit to Texas, just prior to the election of delegates to a con- vention called for the purpose of drawing up a constitution previous to the admission of the state into the Mexican union, he was unanimously chosen a delegate. The con- vention framed the constitution, but, it be- ing rejected by the government of Mexico, and the petition for admission to the Con- federacy denied and the Texans told by the
president of the Mexican union to give up their arms, bred trouble. It was determined to resist this demand. A military force was soon organized, with General Houston at the head of it. War was prosecuted with great vigor, and with varying success, but at the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, the Mexicans were defeated and their leader and president, Santa Anna, captured. Texas was then proclaimed an independent repub- lic, and in October of the same year Hous- ton was inaugurated president. On the ad- mission of Texas to the Federal Union, in 1845, Houston was elected senator, and held that position for twelve years. Oppos- ing the idea of secession, he retired from political life in 1861, and died at Hunts- ville, Texas, July 25, 1863.
ALI WHITNEY, the inventor of the cot- ton-gin, was born in Westborough, Mas- sachusetts, December 8, 1765. After his graduation from Yale College, he went to Georgia, where he studied law, and lived with the family of the widow of General Nathaniel Greene. At that time the only way known to separate the cotton seed from the fiber was by hand, making it extremely slow and expensive, and for this reason cot- ton was little cultivated in this country. Mrs. Greene urged the inventive Whitney to devise some means for accomplishing this work by machinery. This he finally succeeded in doing, but he was harassed by attempts to defraud him by those who had stolen his ideas. He at last formed a part- nership with a man named Miller, and they began the manufacture of the machines at Washington, Georgia, in 1795. The suc- cess of his invention was immediate, and the legislature of South Carolina voted the sum of $50,000 for his idea. This sum he had great difficulty in collecting, after years of
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litigation and delay. North Carolina al- lowed him a royalty, and the same was agreed to by Tennessee, but was never paid.
While his fame rests upon the invention of the cotton-gin, his fortune came from his improvements in the manufacture and con- struction of firearms. In 1798 the United States government gave him a contract for this purpose, and he accumulated a fortune from it. The town of Whitneyville, Con- necticut, was founded by this fortune. Whitney died at New Haven, Connecticut, January 8, 1825.
The cotton-gin made the cultivation of cotton profitable, and this led to rapid in- troduction of slavery in the south. His in- vention thus affected our national history in a manner little dreamed of by the inventor.
L ESTER WALLACK (John Lester Wal- lack), for many years the leading light comedian upon the American stage, was the son of James W. Wallack, the " Brum- mell of the Stage." Both father and son were noted for their comeliness of feature and form: Lester Wallack was born in New York, January 1, 1819. He received his education in England, and made his first appearance on the stage in 1848 at the New Broadway theater, New York. He acted light comedy parts, and also occasion- ally in romantic plays like Monte Cristo, which play made him his fame. He went to England and played under management of such men as Hamblin and Burton, and then returned to New York with his father, who opened the first Wallack's theater, at the corner of Broome and Broadway, in 1852. The location was afterward changed to Thirteenth and Broadway, in 1861, and later to its present location, Broadway and Thirteenth, in 1882. The elder Wallack died in 1864, after which Lester assumed
management, jointly with Theodore Moss. Lester Wallack was commissioned in the queen's service while in England, and there he also married a sister to the famous artist, the late John Everett Millais. While Les- ter Wallack never played in the interior cities, his name was as familiar to the public as that of our greatest stars. He died Sep- tember 6, 1888, at Stamford, Connecticut.
G EORGE MORTIMER PULLMAN, the palace car magnate, inventor, multi-millionaire and manufacturer, may well be classed among the remarkable self-made men of the century. He was born March 3, 1831, in Chautauqua county, New York. His parents were poor, and his education was limited to what he could learn of the rudimentary branches in the district school. At the age of fourteen he went to work as clerk for a country mer- chant. He kept this place three years, studying at night. When seventeen he went to Albion, New York, and worked for his brother, who kept a cabinet shop there. Five years later he went into business for himself as contractor for moving buildings along the line of the Erie canal, which was then being widened by the state, and was successful in this. In 1858 he removed to Chicago and engaged in the business of moving and raising houses. The work was novel there then and he was quite success- ful. . About this time the discomfort attend- ant on traveling at night attracted his at- tention. He reasoned that the public would gladly pay for comfortable sleeping accom- modations. A few sleeping cars were in use at that time, but they were wretchedly crude, uncomfortable affairs. In 1859 he bought two old day coaches from the Chi- cago & Alton road and remodeled them some- thing like the general plan of the sleeping-
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cars of the present day. They were put into service on the Chicago & Alton and became popular at once. In 1863 he built the first sleeping-car resembling the Pullman cars of to-day. It cost $18,000 and was the "Pioneer." After that the Pullman Palace Car Company prospered. It had shops at different cities. In 1880 the Town of Pullman was founded by Mr. Pullman and his company, and this model manufac- turing community is known all over the world. Mr. Pullman died October 19, 1897.
JAMES E. B. STUART, the most famous cavalry leader of the Southern Confed- eracy during the Civil war, was born in Patrick county, Virginia, in 1833. On graduating from the United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1854, he was as- signed, as second lieutenant, to a regiment of mounted rifles, receiving his commission in October. In March, 1855, he was trans- ferred to the newly organized First cavalry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following December, and to captain April 22, 1861. Taking the side of the south, May 14, 1861, he was made colonel of a Virginia cavalry regiment, and served as such at Bull Run. In September, 1861, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-gen- erai, and major-general early in 1862. On the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia, in June of the latter year, when R. E. Lee assumed command, General Stu- art made a reconnoissance with one thou- sand five hundred cavalry and four guns, and in two days made the circuit of McClel- lan's army, producing much confusion and gathering useful information, and losing but one man. August 25, 1862, he captured part of Pope's headquarters' train, including that general's private baggage and official correspondence, and the next night, in a
descent upon Manasses, capturing immense quantities of commissary and quartermaster store, eight guns, a number of locomotives and a few hundred prisoners. During the invasion of Maryland, in September, 1862, General Stuart acted as rear guard, resisting the advance of the Federal cavalry at South Mountain, and at Antietam commanded the Confederate left. Shortly after he crossed the Potomac, making a raid as far as Cham- bersburg, Pennsylvania. In the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, Gen- eral Stuart's command was on the extreme right of the Confederate line. At Chancel- lorsville, after "Stonewall " Jackson's death and the wounding of General A. P. Hill, General Stuart assumed command of Jack- son's corps, which he led in the severe con- test of May 3, 1863. Early in June, the same year, a large force of cavalry was gathered under Stuart, at Culpepper, Vir- ginia, which, advancing to join General Lee in his invasion of Pennsylvania, was met at Brandy Station, by two divisions of cavalry and two brigades of infantry, under General John I. Gregg, and driven back. During the movements of the Gettysburg campaign he rendered important services. In May, 1864, General Stuart succeeded, by a detour, in placing himself between Richmond and Sheridan's advancing column, and at Yellow Tavern was attacked in force. During the fierce conflict that ensued General Stuart was mortally wounded, and died at Rich- mond, May 11, 1864.
F FRANKLIN PIERCE, the fourteenth president of the United States-from 1853 until I857-was born November 23, 1804, at Hillsboro, New Hampshire. He came of old revolutionary stock and his father was a governor of the state. Mr. Pierce entered Bowdoin College in 1820,
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was graduated in 1824, and took up the study of law in the office of Judge Wood- bury, and later he was admitted to the bar. Mr. Pierce practiced his profession with varying successes in his native town and also in Concord. He was elected to the state legislature in 1833 and served in that body until 1837, the last two years of his term serving as speaker of the house. He was elected to the United States senate in 1837, just as President Van Buren began his term of office. Mr. Pierce served until 1842, and many times during Polk's term he declined important public offices. During the war with Mexico Mr. Pierce was ap- pointed brigadier-general, and he embarked with a portion of his troops at Newport, Rhode Island, May 27, 1847, and went with them to the field of battle. He served through the war and distinguished himself by his skill, bravery and excellent judg- ment. When he reached his home in his native state he was received coldly by the opponents of the war, but the advocates of the war made up for his cold reception by the enthusiastic welcome which they ac- corded him. Mr. Pierce resumed the prac- tice of his profession, and in the political strife that followed he gave his support to the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party. The Democratic convention met in Baltimore, June 12, 1852, to nominate a candidate for the presidency, and they con- tinued in session four days, and in thirty- five ballotings no one had secured the re- quisite two-thirds vote. Mr. Pierce had not received a vote as yet, until the Virginia delegation brought his name forward, and finally on the forty-ninth ballot Mr. Pierce received 282 votes and all the other candi- dates eleven. His opponent on the Whig ticket was General Winfield Scott, who only received the electoral votes of four
states. Mr. Pierce was inaugurated presi- dent of the United States March 4, 1853, with W. R. King as vice president, and the following named gentlemen were afterward chosen to fill the positions in the cabinet: William S. Marcy, James Guthrie, Jeffer- son Davis, James C. Dobbin, Robert Mc- Clelland, James Campbell and Caleb Cush- ing. During the administration of President Pierce the Missouri compromise law was repealed, and all the territories of the Union were thrown open to slavery, and the dis- turbances in Kansas occurred. In 1857 he was succeeded in the presidency by James Buchanan, and retired to his home in Con- cord, New Hampshire. He always cherished his principles of slavery, and at the out- break of the rebellion he was an adherent of the cause of the Confederacy. He died at Concord, New Hampshire, October 8, 1869.
JAMES B. WEAVER, well known as a leader of the Greenback and later of the Populist .party, was born at Dayton, Ohio, June 12, 1833. He received his earlier education in the schools of his native town, and entered the law department of the Ohio University, at Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1854. Removing to the grow- ing state of Iowa, he became connected with "The Iowa Tribune," at the state capital, Des Moines, as one of its editors. He afterward practiced law and was elected district attorney for the second judicial dis- trict of Iowa, on the Republican ticket in 1 866, which office he held for a short time. In 1867 Mr. Weaver was appointed assessor of internal revenue for the first district of Iowa, and filled that position until some- time in 1873. He was elected and served in the forty-sixth congress. In 18So the National or Greenback party in convention at Chicago, nominated James B. Weaver as
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