The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume, Part 3

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 954

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side there is an open bottom surrounded by a deep bayou. Following the bayou was a strong line of defenses, consisting of a series of works for artillery and breastworks. The bayou served admirably as a ditch. In rear of the principal line of works was another line, shorter but strong, and both extend- ed in something like semi-circular shape from the river above the bridge, which gives the battle its name, to the river below. The works were well de- fended by artillery and infantry. McClernand was or- dered to take them. Lawler's brigade, in which was Colonel Merrill's regiment, was ordered to make the charge. It did so with the greatest gallantry. The rebels were driven from their works in a very short time, leaving eighteen guns, fifteen hundred prison- ers, and many of their dead in the Union hands. The charge had hardly occupied more time than it takes to tell of it. But along its track the ground was covered with the dead and the dying. The victims on the Union side, most of whom belonged to the 21st and 23d Iowa regiments, Colonel Kins- man of the latter command being slain, numbered three hundred and seventy-three. While Colonel Merrill was leading his regiment in this deadly charge he received an almost fatal wound through the hips. This brought his military career to a close. Suffering from his wounds, he resigned his commis- sion and returned to McGregor, but was unable to attend to his private affairs for many months, and is still, at times, a sufferer from his "tokens of remem- brance," received on the battlefields of freedom.

During the gubernatorial career of Governor Mer- rill, extending through two terms, from January, 1868, to January, 1872, he was actively engaged in the discharge of his official duties, and probably no incumbent of that office ever devoted himself more earnestly to the public good.

The thirteenth general assembly had provided for the building of a new state house, to cost one mill- ion five hundred thousand dollars, and made an ap- propriation therefor of one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars; with this sum the work was begun, and on the 23d of November, 1871, the corner stone was laid in the presence of citizens from all parts of the state. On this occasion the governor delivered the address. It was a historical review of the incidents culminating in the labors of the day. It was re- plete with historical facts ; showed patient research; was logical and argumentative, and at times elo- quent. It is a paper worthy the occasion, and does justice to the head and heart that conceived it.

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Thus briefly has been reviewed the leading fea- tures in the record of a busy life, and there can be no more fitting conclusion than the closing words of his last public message, on the eve of surrendering the robes of office to his chosen successor. He says:

I cannot close this my last message without expressing to the people of lowa my grateful acknowledgment for the generous confidence they have reposed in me. During the four years of my service to the state I have received from them a support, a sympathy and an encouragement which have greatly aided me in the discharge of my official duties.

While administering the office of chief magistrate I have been filled with increasing respect for the institutions of the state. No one, so well as he who upon this post of obser- vation has been called to keep constant watch of the whole field, can grasp in thought and feeling the history and growth of our common wealth. While discharging my

duty, to be diligent in aiding the development of our state, to labor for the success of our schools and charities, and to temper mercy with justice, it has been my privilege to real- ize the intelligence, justice and humanity of our people.

In severing my connection with the state government I cannot close this communication without bearing my will- ing testimony to the fidelity, zeal and industry of the vari- ous officers of the state, and those associated with me in the different agencies of the government during my adminis- tration of its affairs. I shall ever carry with me in my re- tirement a grateful remembrance of the friendship and court- esy which have always marked our official relations.

To have served the state at this time of its greatest pros- perity, and to have been permitted to aid in an official sta- tion in laying the foundations of her future greatness, may justly be regarded as an honor. But there is an honor, too, in being a private citizen of such a state; and as I pass from the one station to the other, permit me to unite with vou in dedicating ourselves, our commonwealth and our country anew to freedom and to God.

GENERAL JAMES B. WEAVER,

BLOOMFIELD.

O NE of the most prominent lawyers and politi- cians in southern Iowa, one of the purest- minded men, and best type of a statesman in the state, is James Baird Weaver, a native of Dayton, Ohio. He dates his birth on the 12th of June, 1833, his parents being Abram and Susan Imley Weaver. His father, also a native of Ohio, was for ten years clerk of the court in Davis county, Iowa, and for fourteen years clerk of the court in Atchi- son county, Kansas, where he now resides, he being in his seventy-fifth year.

The Weavers were originally from England; set- tled in New York, and scattered thence over the country. William Weaver, the grandfather of James B., removed to Ohio when it was a wilderness, and was a judge of one of the courts at an early day. At one time, during the Indian wars, he had com- mand of a fort at the foot of Main street, where the city of Cincinnati now stands. * He also participated in the second struggle with England, and had good revolutionary blood in his veins. The mother of James B. belonged to an old and prominent New Jersey family.

Abram Weaver removed with his family to Cass county, Michigan, in 1835, remaining on a farm there until 1842, when he crossed the Mississippi river, and, after a little delay, settled in Davis county, on the ist of May, 1843, that being the day on which the whites were allowed on the reservation purchased of the Sac and Fox Indians.

The subject of this memoir farmed until fifteen

years old; then moved into town and reaped what educational advantages he could in the rude school- houses of that early day, spending part of his time at this period in carrying at first the weekly and then semi-weekly mail between Bloomfield and Fair- field, his father having the contract on this route. Caleb Baldwin, since a chief justice of Iowa, was then postmaster at Fairfield.

About 1850 young Weaver concluded he would fit himself for the practice of the law; commenced reading in the office of Hon. Samuel G. McAchran, of Bloomfield, afterward state senator; in a short time entered the store of C. W. Phelps as a sales- man, continuing his legal studies during the leisure time which he could command; in 1853 drove an ox team to California across the plains for a rela- tive; returned by water in the autumn of the same year; the following winter clerked for Edwin Man- ning, of Bonaparte, Iowa, Mr. Manning urging him to remain with a promise of increased wages and a future partnership; but increased love for his con- templated profession induced Mr. Weaver to leave the store and resume his studies. He connected himself with the Cincinnati Law School in the au- tumn of 1854, and graduated in the April following with the title of LL.B. The next month he opened an office in Bloomfield, and has since been in steady practice, except while in the military service.

In April, 1861, at the first call of the l'resident for troops, Mr. Weaver enlisted as a private in company G, 2d Iowa Infantry, intending to go into the first

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regiment, but the company was a little too late in filling. He was immediately elected first lieutenant of the company; served in that position until Oc- tober, 1862, having passed through the battles of Donelson, Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth. The night before the battle of Corinth he received his commission as major of the regiment, an honor un- solicited by him. He entered that sanguinary battle the next morning; during that day Colonel James Baker was mortally wounded; the next morning Lieut .- Colonel Mills was mortally wounded, and Major Weaver was left in command of the regiment throughout the engagement. Seven days afterward he was unanimously elected colonel, and was duly commissioned by Governor Kirkwood - a striking example of rapid elevation, rising from lieutenant of a company to colonel of a regiment in one short week. He led the gallant 2d until the expiration of the term of service, on the 27th of May, 1864, when he was mustered out. He never missed a march, a skirmish or a battle, and came the nearest to -being hit at Fort Donelson, when a ball passed through the top of his cap, and plowed a furrow through his hair. At the battle of Resaca, Georgia, he led the brigade that crossed the Oostanala, found the ene- my's position there, laid the pontoon bridges under fire, and after crossing the brigade, jumped into the rifle-pits and drove the enemy before him.

On the 22d of May, 1866, Colonel Weaver was breveted brigadier general "for gallant and merito- rious services," the brevet to date from the 13th of March, 1865, the United States senate confirming the well-merited honor. While in the army he never shrank from the most perilous position, and seems to have been always sanguine of success. His power of command, voice, presence and magnetism, made him a very fine officer.

At a soldiers' reunion, held at Des Moines a few years ago, the members of the glorious old 2d regi- ment met their gallant commander and gave him an enthusiastic greeting.

In 1866 General Weaver was elected district at- torney of the second judicial district, and served the full term of four years. In 1867 he was ap- pointed assessor of internal revenue for the first congressional district, and held the office until it was abolished by law.

In the spring of 1869 the Hon. Silas A. Hudson, cousin of General Grant, and then newly appointed minister to Guatemala, Vice-General FitzHenry Warren, undertook to control the patronage of the

first district of Iowa by reason of his relationship to the President. Mr. Hudson resides at Burlington, Iowa. General Weaver had from nine to twelve as- sistants under him, for whose official conduct he was responsible. They were appointed by the secretary of the treasury on his recommendation. The as- sumption of Mr. Hudson met with a most stunning rebuke, as the following correspondence will show. The correspondence had the widest possible range of publication, being copied into all the leading journals of the country. Upon the matter being made public, Mr. Hudson took his departure for South America, and made no reply. A copy of the correspondence was forwarded by General Weaver to the President through commissioner Delano. Be- low are the letters :

HON. J. B. WEAVER : BURLINGTON, IOWA, May 10, 1869. My Dear Sir,-On the first day of my arrival in Wash- ington I secured your and Belnap's retention, and the right to supervise such changes of officers as in my best judgment would prove beneficial to the service. I let Mc- Crary know this, and turned over to him that duty for all the counties in this district but Des Moines. I have only ordered one change here so far, wishing to take time to make the others advisedly. You will therefore not make any change here without first consulting myself, and if you have sent forward any name recall it until you see or hear trom me. It is very natural that General Grant should trust this duty to me, and look to me for its proper discharge. Please answer immediately. I am suffering too severely with neuralgia and rheumatism to be able to write more at this time. Very truly yours, SILAS A. HUDSON.

HON. SILAS A. HUDSON : BLOOMFIELD, June 8, 1869.

Sir :- Your letter of the 25th ultimo is received. The appointment you ask will not be made. Your insolent and dictatorial letter of the roth has been laid before the Presi- dent and the commission. I consider it a gross insult to myself and a libel upon General Grant, whom you affect to be able to control hecause of your consanguinity. . I scorn your pretended influence, and regard your attempt to con- trol my office as an effort to involve me in dishonor.

I am, sir, J. B. WEAVER, Assessor.

General Weaver, as a lawyer, is strongest on con- stitutional questions or those involving great results. He has the power of grasping the main issues in a case and concentrating his whole power upon them. His clear distinctions of right and wrong, and his deep sympathy for the injured or suffering, make him especially powerful with both courts and juries in pleading causes where he believes his client is be- ing oppressed or his liberty unjustly assailed. A question involving mere dollars and cents fails to arouse him like one involving human rights. Dur- ing his term as district attorney he prosecuted sev- eral of the most important criminal cases ever tried in the district, and his speeches in those cases are remembered by all who heard them as brilliant and

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overpowering. His antagonists always feared when he spoke last to the jury. His power of repartee is extraordinary, and it is dangerous to insolently in- terrupt him. The audience never thins out while he is speaking, but those who come within the sound of his magnetic voice usually listen to him till the close.

General Weaver was a democrat until 1856; sub- sequently was a republican for twenty-one years, and is now a member of the national party. He is an eloquent man on the stump as well as at the bar, and a brilliant canvasser.

He was a candidate for governor, against his wishes, in 1875, and distanced all the candidates in the convention until a combination was formed on Governor Kirkwood, a candidate suddenly sprung upon the convention. A year earlier his name was before the convention for congressional honors, and he came within one vote of being nominated, his defeat being caused by the delegates of one county

changing their votes against instruction, and in or- der to support a man of their own county.

General Weaver is a Knight Templar in the Ma- sonic fraternity, also an Odd-Fellow, a valiant worker in the temperance cause, and an official member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a lay delegate to the general conference which met in Baltimore in 1876, and is recognized by everybody who knows him as a conscientious man and a sin- cere and devoted christian.

General Weaver has a wife and seven children, five girls and two boys, his wife being formerly Miss Clara Vinson, of Keosauqua, Iowa. They were mar- ried on the 12th of July, 1858. They lost their third child. Their eldest daughter is an accom- plished young lady, and their eldest son is a promis- ing lad of sixteen. Mrs. Weaver is a woman of more than ordinary talent and culture, and one of the leaders of the state in the woman's foreign mis- sionary work.

CHARLES ALDRICH,

WEBSTER CITY.

T' "HE subject of this notice was born on the 2d of October, 1828, in the town of Ellington, Chautauqua county, New York. He was the eldest son of Stephen and Eliza Aldrich, who settled in Chautauqua county in 1826. The ancestors of Ste- phen Aldrich lived for many years in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and afterward in Yates county, New York, where his (Stephen's) father and mother died. Charles received only such an education as could be obtained before he was sixteen years of age in the district school, and one year at the Jamestown Academy. While pursuing his academical studies, he met with an accident, a slight wound in the knee, which brought on an illness so dangerous as to threaten his life, and so prolonged as to compel him to abandon his studies. From the effects of this difficulty he never fully recovered.

While at the common school, the branches of edu- cation pursued by him were those usually taught there, and while at the academy he studied algebra, geometry, chemistry, philosophy, and gave a brief time to the latin.

lle commenced the study of the law with Hon. William Pitt Angel, of Ellicottsville, Cattaraugus county, but the study of this profession he was com-

pelled to abandon, after a few months, on account of impaired health. In June, 1846, he engaged with Messrs. Clement and Faxon, of Buffalo, New York, in the office of the "Western Literary Messenger," to learn the trade of a printer, and having gained a good knowledge of this vocation, worked at it in the villages of Attica and Warsaw, New York, and War- ren, Pennsylvania. In June, 1850, he established a weekly paper, entitled the "Cattaraugus Sachem," at Randolph, New York, and continued its publication one year. Thence he removed to Olean, in the same county, and established the "Olean Journal," and conducted it between four and five years, when he retired to his farm in Little Valley.

In May, 1857, he removed to Webster City, Hamil- ton county, Iowa, and started a weekly republican journal under the title of the "Hamilton Freeman," now one of the oldest newspapers in the state. The village in which he commenced this enterprise con- tained only about three hundred persons, the county but fifteen hundred, and the whole state north and west of that point was even more sparsely populated. It was a venture calculated to discourage ordinary editors and publishers, but Mr. Aldrich had volun- tarily sought this field, with a full knowledge of the

Peter's Aldrich

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privations and hard work incident to a frontier life, and his energy rose with all the demands which were made upon it. This field of labor afforded a good chance for any one disposed to "grow up with the country," though it could hardly have presented much of a prospect for immediate newspaper patron- age. The county was only just organized, and the official patronage was very meagre, while the mer- chants and other advertisers in town were few in number and possessed of but small means. During the first year of the publication of his paper he had no other assistance than that of an apprentice; but his journal was always "on time " on publication day, and soon attracted the attention of leading pol- iticians all over the state. It was recognized as a newsy, sprightly, able republican advocate. Its edi- tor rapidly worked his way up among the leaders of radical republicanism in northwestern Iowa. The "Freeman" was never dull; it bristled all over with sharp paragraphs, keen, incisive hits, and pungent items. In those times Fort Dodge, a neighboring town, was the headquarters of democracy for north- western Iowa. Among its citizens were some of the ablest politicians in the state, as, for instance, John F. Duncombe, John M. Stockdale, A. S. White (the latter "a born journalist," who sank into an early grave several years ago), and Major William Will- iams, all of whose names will go into the history of those early days. These gentlemen controlled the United States land office, wielded the federal patron- age, and conducted the Fort Dodge "Sentinel," the democratic organ for that section of the state. Some of the fiercest political contests ever fought in Iowa were waged by these strong men to sustain the wan- ing fortunes of the democratic party in the north- west from the vigorous assaults that were led against it by C. C. Carpenter, long afterward elected gov- ernor, Charles Aldrich and C. B. Richards, the re- publican leaders in that section. In these political conflicts the republican cause was so ably main- tained by the eloquence of Carpenter on the stump, by Aldrich with his wide-awake and vigilant "Free- man," and Richards, as organizer and counsel, that the trio soon became famous throughout the state. It is within the bounds of moderation to say that no paper was quoted more frequently by the state press and leading politicians than the "Hamilton Free- man " while conducted by Mr. Aldrich. He called the first republican convention ever held in Hamilton county, and was chairman of the republican county committee for two years.

During the first candidacy of Governor Grimes for the United States senate, in the summer of 1857, a powerful effort was made to defeat him by urgent appeals to the jealousy of the north half of the state. The claims of northern Iowa for recognition were never so persistently dwelt upon, and it was sought by the opponents of Governor Grimes to unite the press north of the center of the state in a solid array against him. In this campaign "The Freeman " warmly supported Mr. Grimes, on account of his al- ready distinguished services in the cause of human freedom, as well as his recognized position as one of the ablest men in the west. This course brought down upon the new frontier paper the animadver- sions of quite a number of northern journalists, but Mr. Aldrich has always been proud of the company he found himself in during his first year in Iowa.

He published his paper until September, 1862, when he locked up his office and entered the mili- tary service as adjutant of the 32d Iowa Infantry. Serving in this capacity about a year and a half, he resigned and returned to Iowa, and was soon after preparing to reënter the service as major of the roth Cavalry, when orders came discontinuing the organ- ization of that regiment. Subsequently he was ten- .dered an appointment on the staff of General M. M. Crocker, when that officer was about to proceed to Arizona, but was compelled to decline on account of private business affairs. In 1865 he was for a short time editor of the "Dubuque Daily Times," and in 1866 purchased and for about three years conducted the " Marshall County Times." During his ownership of that journal, no weekly newspaper in the state excelled it in rapid increase of circulation, influence or prosperity, and he only retired from it on account of impaired health, the result of severe labor. He resided in Marshalltown till 1871, and in the au- tumn of that year removed to his farm on the banks of Boone river, one and a half miles from Webster City, where he now resides. Since leaving the "Marshall Times " he has been connected for brief periods with the "Waterloo Courier," "Council Bluffs Nonpareil," and "Chicago Inter-Ocean."

During the periods herein specified, in addition to the editorial and military services rendered by him, he was chosen to and discharged the duties of several important civil trusts. In 1860 he was elected chief clerk of the Iowa house of representatives, and re- elected in 1862, 1866 and 1870, thus having held that position eight years, as well as the next highest clerkship of the same body one year, chosen except

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on a single occasion by acclamation - a manifesta- tion of party confidence rarely accorded in the his- tory of the Iowa legislature. It is a fact well known to scores of legislators that during those years no member of the general assembly originated so many salutary, progressive and humane acts now on our statute books as the ever-active and vigilant worker who presided at the clerk's desk.

In January, 1872, he was appointed by Governor Carpenter a member of a commission, under an- thority of an act of the state legislature, to investi- gate and report upon the land titles of sundry set- tlers in the Des Moines valley, who were being driven from their homes by reason of adverse de- cisions of the supreme court of the United States. The governor was also empowered to send these commissioners to Washington, instructed to make an effort to secure as far as possible indemnity to the settlers for their losses. Mr. Aldrich was continued in the office at Washington, and in Iowa a portion of the time, until March, 1875. The other commis- sioners, Messrs. John A. Hull and Norman H. Hart, acted with him constantly, during the work at home, and also for a time at Washington. The labors of the commissioners resulted in the passage of a law by congress under which the President appointed a new commission to report the status of these titles as connected strictly with the action of the federal government. Mr. Aldrich was appointed by the President as a member of that commission. Their recommendation for the relief of settlers, in the form of a bill, passed the house of representatives in 1874, but was lost in the senate in 1875. During the latter year he was a member of the United States geological and geographical survey of the ter- ritories under charge of Professor F. V. Hayden, the expedition for that season proceeding to southwest- ern Colorado, and adjacent portions of Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. His published letters descrip- tive of the country through which he passed, and particularly a visit to the cliff builders' houses in the canon of the Rio Mancos and other ruins of an extinct race, formed very important contributions to current scientific literature.

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The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume, Part 3

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 954

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 954