USA > Indiana > Decatur County > A Genealogical and biographical record of Decatur County, Indiana : compendium of national biography > Part 13
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army in Florida, where he attacked the In- dians in the swamps and brakes, defeated them and ended the war. He was brevetted brigadier-general and made commander-in- chief of the army in Florida. He was as- signed to the command of the army of the southwest in 1840, but was soon after re- lieved of it at his request. He was then stationed at posts in Arkansas. In 1845 he was ordered to prepare to protect and de- fend Texas boundaries from invasion by Mexicans and Indians. On the annexation of Texas he proceeded with one thousand five hundred men to Corpus Christi, within the disputed territory. After reinforcement he was ordered by the Mexican General Am- pudia to retire beyond the Nueces river, with which order he declined to comply. The battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma followed, and he crossed the Rio Grande and occupied Matamoras May ISth. He was commissioned major-general for this campaign, and in September he advanced upon the city of Monterey and captured it after a hard fight. Here he took up winter quarters, and when he was about to resume activity in the spring he was ordered to send the larger part of his army to reinforce General Scott at Vera Cruz. After leaving garrisons at various points his army was re- duced to about five thousand, mostly fresh recruits. He was attacked by the army of Santa Anna at Buena Vista, February 22, 1847, and after a severe fight completely routed the Mexicans. He received the thanks of congress and a gold medal for this victory. He remained in command of the "army of occupation " until winter, when he returned to the United States.
In 1848 General Taylor was nominated by the Whigs for president. He was elected over his two opponents, Cass and Van Buren. Great bitterness was developing in
the struggle for and against the extension of slavery, and the newly acquired territory in the west, and the fact that the states were now equally divided on that question, tended to increase the feeling. President Taylor favored immediate admission of California with her constitution prohibiting slavery, and the admission of other states to be formed out of the new territory as they might elect as they adopted constitutions from time to time. This policy resulted in the " Omnibus Bill," which afterward passed congress, though in separate bills; not, how- ever, until after the death of the soldier- statesman, which occurred July 9, 1850. One of his daughters became the wife of Jefferson Davis.
M ELVILLE D. LANDON, better known as " Eli Perkins, " author, lecturer and humorist, was born in Eaton, New York, September 7, 1839. He was the son of John Landon and grandson of Rufus Lan- don, a revolutionary soldier from Litchfield county, Connecticut. Melville was edu- cated at the district school and neighboring academy, where he was prepared for the sophomore class at Madison University. He passed two years at the latter, when he was admitted to Union College, and graduated in the class of 1861, receiving the degree of A. M., in 1862. He was, at once, ap- pointed to a position in the treasury depart- inent at Washington. This being about the time of the breaking out of the war, and before the appearance of any Union troops at the capital, he assisted in the organiza- tion of the " Clay Battalion," of Washing- ton. Leaving his clerkship some time later, he took up duties on the staff of General A. L. Chetlain, who was in command at Mem- phis. In 1864 he resigned from the army and engaged in cotton planting in Arkansas
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and Louisiana. In 1867 he went abroad, making the tour of Europe, traversing Rus- sia. While in the latter country his old commander of the " Clay Battalion," Gen- eral Cassius M. Clay, then United States minister at St. Petersburg, made him secre- tary of legation. In 1871, on returning to America, he published a history of the Franco-Prussian war, and followed it with numerous humorous writings for the public press under the name of "Eli Perkins," which, with his regular contributions to the " Commercial Advertiser," brought him into notice, and spread his reputation as a hu- morist throughout the country. He also pub- lished "Saratoga in 1891," " Wit, Humor and Pathos," "Wit and Humor of the Age," "Kings of Platform and Pulpit," " Thirty Years of Wit and Humor," " Fun and Fact," and " China and Japan."
L EWIS CASS, one of the most prom- inent statesman and party leaders of his day, was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, . October 9, 1782. He studied law, and hav- ing removed to Zanesville, Ohio, commenced the practice of that profession in 1802. He entered the service of the American govern- ment in IS12 and was made a colonel in the army under General William Hull, and on the surrender of Fort Malden by that officer was held as a prisoner. Being re- leased in 1813, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and in 1814 ap- pointed governor of Michigan Territory. After he had held that office for some sixteen years, negotiating, in the meantime, many treaties with the Indians, General Cass was made secretary of war in the cabi- net of President Jackson, in 1831. He was, in 1836, appointed minister to France, which office he held for six years. In 1844 he was elected United States senator from
Michigan. In 1846 General Cass opposed the Wilmot Proviso, which was an amend- ment to a bill for the purchase of land from Mexico, which provided that in any of the territory acquired from that power slavery should not exist. For this and other reasons he was nominated as Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States in I848, but was defeated by General Zachary Taylor, the Whig candidate, having but one hundred and thirty-seven electoral votes to his opponent's one hundred and sixty- three. In 1849 General Cass was re-elected to the senate of the United States, and in 1854 supported Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska bill. He became secretary of state in March, 1857, under President Buchanan, but resigned that office in December, 1860. He died June 17, 1866. The published works of Lewis Cass, while not numerous, are well written and display much ability. He was one of the foremost men of his day in the political councils of the Democratic party, and left a reputation for high probity and honor behind him.
D E WITT CLINTON .- Probably there were but few men who were so popular in their time, or who have had so much in- fluence in moulding events as the individual whose name honors the head of this article.
De Witt Clinton was the son of General James Clinton, and a nephew of Governor George Clinton, who was the fourth vice- president of the United States. He was a native of Orange county, New York, born at Little Britain, March 2, 1769. He gradu- ated from Columbia College, in his native state, in 1796, and took up the study of law. In 1790 he became private secretary to his uncle, then governor of New York. He en- tered public life as a Republican or anti- Federalist, and was elected to the lower
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house of the state assembly in 1797, and the senate of that body in 1798. At that time he was looked on as " the most rising man in the Union." In Iso1 he was elected to the United States senate. In 1803 he was appointed by the governor and council mayor of the city of New York, then a very important and powerful office. Hav- ing been re-appointed, he held the office of mayor for nearly eleven years, and rendered great service to that city. Mr Clinton served as lieutenant-governor of . the state of New York, 1811-13, and was one of the commissioners appointed to examine and survey a route for a canal from the Hudson river to Lake Erie. Dif- fering with President Madison, in relation to the war, in 1812, he was nominated for the presidency against that gentleman, by a coalition party called the Clintonians, many of whom were Federalists. Clinton received eight-nine electoral votes. His course at this time impaired his popularity for a time. He was removed from the mayoralty in 1814, and retired to private life. In 1815 he wrote a powerful argument for the con- struction of the Erie canal, then a great and beneficent work of which he was the prin- cipal promoter. This was in the shape of a memorial to the legislature, which, in 1817, passed a bill authorizing the construc- tion of that canal. The same year he was elected governor of New York, almost unani- mously, notwithstanding the opposition of a few who pronounced the scheme of the canal visionary. He was re-elected governor in 1820. He was at this time, also, presi- dent of the canal commissioners. He de- clined a re-election to tlie gubernatorial chair in 1822 and was removed from his place on the canal board two years later. But he was triumphantly elected to the of- fice of governor that fall, and his pet project,
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the Erie canal, was finished the next year. He was re-elected governor in 1826, but died while holding that office, February II, 1828.
A ARON BURR, one of the many brilliant figures on the political stage in the early days of America, was born at Newark, New Jersey, February 6, 1756. He was the son of Aaron and Esther Burr, the former the president of the College of New Jersey, and the latter a daughter of Jonathan Edwards, who had been president of the same educa- tional institution. Young Burr graduated at Princeton in 1772. In 1775 he joined the provincial army at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. For a time, he served as a private soldier, but later was made an aide on the staff of the unfortunate General Montgom- ery, in the Quebec expedition. Subse- quently he was on the staffs of Arnold, Put- nam and Washington, the latter of whom he disliked. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and commanded a brigade on Monmouth's bloody field. In 1779, on account of feeble health, Colonel Burr resigned from the army. He took up the practice of law in Albany, New York, but subsequently removed to New York City. In 1789 he became attorney-general of that state. In 1791 he was chosen to represent the state of New York in the United States senate and held that position for six years. In 1800 he and Thomas Jefferson were both candidates for the presidency, and there being a tie in the electoral college, each having seventy-three votes, the choice was left to congress, who gave the first place to Jefferson and inade Aaron Burr vice-presi- dent, as the method then was. In 1804 Mr. Burr and his great rival, Alexander Hamil- ton, met in a duel, which resulted in the death of the latter, Burr losing thereby con-
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siderable political and social influence. He soon embarked in a wild attempt upon Mexico, and as was asserted, upon the southwestern territories of the United States. He was tried for treason at Richmond, Virginia, in 1807, but acquitted, and to avoid importunate creditors, fled to Europe. After a time, in 1812, he returned to New York, where he practiced law, and where he died, September 14, 1836. A man of great ability, brilliant and popular talents, his influence was destroyed by his unscrupu- lous political actions and immoral private life.
A LBERT GALLATIN, one of the most distinguished statesmen of the early days of the republic, was born at Geneva, Switzerland, January 29, 1761. He was the son of Jean de Gallatin and Sophia A. Rolaz du Rosey Gallatin, representatives of an old patrician family. Albert Gallatin was left an orphan at an early age, and was educated under the care of friends of his parents. He graduated from the University of Geneva in 1779, and declining employ- ment under one of the sovereigns of Ger- many, came to the struggling colonies, land- ing in Boston July 14, 1780. Shortly after his arrival he proceeded to Maine, where he served as a volunteer under Colonel Allen. He made advances to the government for the support of the American troops, and in November, 17So, was placed in command of a small fort at Passamaquoddy, defended by a force of militia, volunteers and Indians. In 1783 he was professor of the French language at Harvard University. A year later, having received his patrimony from Europe, he purchased large tracts of land in western Virginia, but was prevented by the Indians from formning the large settle- ment he proposed, and, in 1786, purchased
a farm in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. In 1789 he was a member of the convention to amend the constitution of that state, and united himself with the Republican party, the head of which was Thomas Jefferson. The following year he was elected to the legislature of Pennsylvania, to which he was subsequently re-elected. In 1793 he was elected to the United States senate, but could not take his seat on account of not having been a citizen long enough. In 1794 Mr. Gallatin was elected to the representa- tive branch of congress, in which he served three terms. He also took an important position in the suppression of the " whiskey insurrection." In ISoI, on the accession of Jefferson to the presidency, Mr. Gallatin was appointed secretary of the treasury. In 1809 Mr. Madison offered him the posi- tion of secretary of state, but he declined, and continued at the head of the treasury until IS12, a period of twelve years. He exercised a great influence on the other de- partments and in the general administration, especially in the matter of financial reform, and recommended measures for taxation, etc., which were passed by congress, and be- came laws May 24, 1813. The same year he was sent as an envoy extraordinary to Rus- sia, which had offered to mediate between this country and Great Britain, but the lat- ter country refusing the interposition of another power, and agreeing to treat di- rectly with the United States, in 1814. at Ghent, Mr. Gallatin, in connection with his distinguished colleagues, negotiated and signed the treaty of peace. In ISI5, in conjunction with Messrs. Adams and Clay, he signed, at London, a commercial treaty between the two countries. In 1816, de- clining his old post at the head of the treas- ury, Mr. Gallatin was sent as minister to France, where he remained until I823.
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After a year spent in England as envoy ex- traordinary, he took up his residence in New York, and from that time held no public office. In 1830 he was chosen president of the council of the University of New York. He was, in 1831, made president of the National bank, which position he resigned in 1839. He died August 12, 1849.
M ILLARD FILLMORE, the thirteenth president of the United States, was born of New England parentage in Summer Hill, Cayuga county, New York, January 7, 1800. His school education was very lim- ited, but he occupied his leisure hours in study. He worked in youth upon his fa- ther's farm in his native county, and at the age of fifteen was apprenticed to a wool carder and cloth dresser. Four years later he was induced by Judge Wood to enter his office at Montville, New York, and take up the study of law. This warm friend, find- ing young Fillmore destitute of means, loaned him money, but the latter, not wish- ing to incur a heavy debt, taught school during part of the time and in this and other ways helped maintain himself. In 1822 he removed to Buffalo, New York, and the year following, being admitted to the bar, he commenced the practice of his profession at. East Aurora, in the same state. Here he remained until 1830, having, in the meantime, been admitted to practice in the supreme court, when he returned to Buffalo, where he became the partner of S. G. Haven and N. K. Hall. He entered poli- tics and served in the state legislature from 1829 to 1832. He was in congress in 1833- 35 and in 1837-41, where. he proved an active and useful member, favoring the views of John Quincy Adams, then battling almost alone the slave-holding party in na- tional politics, and in most of public ques-
tions acted with the Whig party. While chairman of the committee of ways and means he took a leading part in draughting the tariff bill of 1842. In 1844 Mr. Fill- more was the Whig candidate for governor of New York. In 1847 he was chosen comptroller of the state, and abandoning his practice and profession removed to Al- bany. In 1848 he was elected vice presi- dent on the ticket with General Zachary Taylor, and they were inaugurated the fol- lowing March. On the death of the presi- dent, July 9, 1850, Mr. Fillmore was in- ducted into that office. The great events of his administration were the passage of the famous compromise acts of 1850, and the sending out of the Japan expedition of 1852.
March 4, 1853, having served one term, President Fillmore retired from office, and in 1855 went to Europe, where he received marked attention. On returning home, in 1856, he was nominated for the presidency by the Native American or " Know-Noth- ing" party, but was defeated, James Buch- anan being the successful candidate.
Mr. Fillmore ever afterward lived in re- tirement. During the conflict of Civil war he was mostly silent. It was generally sup- posed, however, that his sympathy was with the southern confederacy. He kept aloof from the conflict without any words of cheer to the one party or the other. For this rea- son he was forgotten by both. He died of paralysis, in Buffalo, New York, March 8, 1874.
P ETER F. ROTHERMEL, one of Amer- ica's greatest and best-known historical painters, was born in Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, July 8, 1817, and was of German ancestry. He received his earlier education in his native county, and in Philadelphia
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learned the profession of land surveying. But a strong bias toward art drew him away and he soon opened a studio where he did portrait painting. This soon gave place to historical painting, he having discovered the .bent of his genius in that direction. Be- sides the two pictures in the Capitol at Washington-" De Soto Discovering the Mis- sissippi" and "Patrick Henry Before the Virginia House of Burgesses"-Rothermel painted many others, chief among which are: "Columbus Before Queen Isabella," "Martyrs of the Colosseum," "Cromwell Breaking Up Service in an English Church," and the famous picture of the "Battle of Gettysburg." The last named was painted for the state of Pennsylvania, for which Rothermel received the sum of $25, - 000, and which it took him four years to plan and to paint. It represents the portion of that historic field held by the First corps, an exclusively Pennsylvania body of men, and was selected by Rothermel for that reason." For many years most of his time was spent in Italy, only returning for short periods. He died at Philadelphia, August 16, 1895.
DMUND KIRBY SMITH, one of the distinguished leaders upon the side of the south in the late Civil war, was born at St. Augustine, Florida, in 1824. After receiv- ing the usual education he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 1845 and entered the army as second lieutenant of infantry. During the Mexican war he was made first lieutenant and captain for gallant conduct at Cerro Gordo and Contreras. From 1849 to 1852 he was assistant pro- fessor of mathematics at West Point. He was transferred to the Second cavalry with the rank of captain in 1855, served on the
frontier, and was wounded in a fight with Comanche Indians in Texas, May 13, 1859. In January, 1861, he became major of his regiment, but resigned April 9th to fol- low the fortunes of the southern cause. He was appointed brigadier-general in the Confederate army and served in Virginia. At the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he arrived on the field late in the day, but was soon disabled by a wound. He was made major-general in 1862, and being trans- ferred to East Tennessee, was given com- mand of that department. Under General Braxton Bragg he led the advance in the invasion of Kentucky and defeated the Union forces at Richmond, Kentucky, August 30, 1862, and advanced to Frankfort. Pro- moted to the rank of lieutenant-general, he was engaged at the battle of Perryville, October 10, and in the battle of Murfrees- boro, December 31, 1862, and January 3, I 863. He was soon made general, the highest rank in the service, 'and in com- mand of the trans-Mississippi department opposed General N. P. Banks in the famous Red River expedition, taking part in the battle of Jenkins Ferry, April 30, 1864, and other engagements of that eventful cam- paign. He was the last to surrender the forces under his command, which he did May 26, 1865. After the close of the war he located in Tennessee, where he died March 28, 1893.
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
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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.
R 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 în 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 farın, 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 hiin 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.
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