USA > Indiana > Decatur County > A Genealogical and biographical record of Decatur County, Indiana : compendium of national biography > Part 9
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gained Meade much credit. He also was employed in surveying the boundary line of Texas and the northeastern boundary line ' between the United States and Canada. In 1842 he was reappointed in the army to the position of second lieutenant of engineers. During the Mexican war he served with dis- tinction on the staff of General Taylor in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma and the storming of Monterey. He received his brevet of first lieutenant for the latter action. In I851 he was made full first lieutenant in his corps; a captain in 1856, and major soon after. At the close of the war with Mexico he was employed in light .- house construction and in geodetic surveys until the breaking out of the Rebellion, in which he gained great reputation. In August, 1861, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers and placed in command of the second brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves, a division of the First Corps in the Army of the Potomac. In the campaign of 1862, under McClellan, Meade took an active part, being present at the battles of Mechan- icsville, Gaines' Mill and Glendale, in the latter of which he was severely wounded. On rejoining his command he was given a division and distinguished himself at its head in the battles of South Mountain and Antie- tam. During the latter, on the wounding of General Hooker, Meade was placed in command of the `corps and was himself slightly wounded. For services he was promoted, November, 1862, to the rank of major-general of volunteers. On the recovery of General Hooker General Meade returned to his division and in December, 1862, at Fredericksburg, led an attack which penetrated Lee's right line and swept to his rear. Being outnumbered and un- supported, he finally was driven back. The same month Meade was assigned to the
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command of the Fifth Corps, and at Chan- cellorsville in May, 1863, his sagacity and ability so struck General Hooker that when the latter asked to be relieved of the com- mand, in June of the same year, he nomi- nated Meade as his successor. June 28, 1863, President Lincoln commissioned Gen- eral Meade commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac, then scattered and moving hastily through Pennsylvania to the great and decisive battlefield at Gettysburg, at which he was in full command. With the victory on those July days the name of Meade will ever be associated. From that time until the close of the war he com- manded the Army of the Potomac. In 1864 General Grant, being placed at the head of all the armies, took up his quarters with the Army of the Potomac. From that time until the surrender of Lee at Appo- matox Meade's ability shone conspicuously, and his tact in the delicate position in lead- ing his army under the eye of his superior · · officer commanded the respect and esteem of General Grant. For services Meade was promoted to the rank of major-general, and on the close of hostilities, in July, 1865, was assigned to the command of the military division of the Atlantic, with headquarters at Philadelphia. This post he held, with the exception of a short period on detached duty in Georgia, until his death, which took place November 6, 1872.
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D AVID CROCKETT was a noted hunter and scout, and also one of the earliest of American humorists. He was born Au- gust 17, 1786, in Tennessee, and was one of the most prominent men of his locality, serving as representative in congress from 1827 until 1831. He attracted consider- able notice while a member of congress and was closely associated with General Jack-
son, of whom he was a personal friend. He went to Texas and enlisted in the Texan army at the time of the revolt of Texas against Mexico and gained a wide reputa- tion as a scout. He was one of the famous one hundred and forty men under Colonel W. B. Travis who were besieged in Fort Alamo, near San Antonio, Texas, by Gen- eral Santa Anna with some five thousand Mexicans on February 23, 1836. The fort was defended for ten days, frequent assaults being repelled with great slaughter, over one thousand Mexicans being killed or wounded, while not a man in the fort was injured. Finally, on March 6, three as- saults were made, and in the hand-to-hand fight that followed the last, the Texans were wofully outnumbered and overpowered. They fought desperately with clubbed mus- kets till only six were left alive, including W. B. Travis, David Crockett and James Bowie. These surrendered under promise of protection; but when they were brought before Santa Anna he ordered them all to be cut to pieces.
H' ENRY WATTERSON, one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of American journalism, was born at Wash- ington, District of Columbia, February 16, 1840. His boyhood days were mostly spent in the city of his birth, where his father, Harvey M. Watterson, was editor of the "Union," a well known journal.
Owing to a weakness of the eyes, which interfered with a systematic course of study, young Watterson was educated almost en- tirely at home. A successful college career was out of the question, but he acquired a good knowledge of music, literature and art from private tutors, but the most valuable part of the training he received was by as- sociating with his father and the throng of
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public men whom he met in Washington in the stirring days immediately preceding the Civil war. He began his journalistic career at an early age as dramatic and musical critic, and in 1858, became editor of the "Democratic Review" and at the same time contributed to the "States," a journal of liberal opinions published in Washington. In this he remained until the breaking out of the war, when the "States," opposing the administration, was suppressed, and young Watterson removed to Tennessee. He next appears as editor of the Nashville "Republican Banner," the most influential paper in the state at that time. After the occupation of Nashville by the Federal troops, Watterson served as a volunteer staff officer in the Confederate service until the close of the war, with the exception of a year spent in editing the Chattanooga "Rebel." On the close of the war he returned to Nashville and re- sumed his connection with the "Banner." After a trip to Europe he assumed control of the Louisville "Journal," which he soon combined with the "Courier" and the "Democrat " of that place, founding the well-known ."Courier-Journal," the first number of which appeared November 8, 1868. Mr. Watterson also represented his district in congress for several years.
P ATRICK SARSFIELD GILMORE, one of the most successful and widely known bandmasters and musicians of the last half century in America, was born in Ballygar, Ireland, on Christmas day, 1829. He attended a public school until appren- ticed to a wholesale merchant at Athlone, of the brass band of which town he soon became a member. . His passion for music conflicting with the duties of a mercantile life, his position as clerk was exchanged for
that of musical instructor to the young sons of his employer. At the age of nineteen he sailed for America and two days after his arrival in Boston was put in charge of the band instrument department of a prominent music house. In the interests of the pub- lications of this house he organized a minstrel company known as "Ordway's Eolians," with which he first achieved success as a cornet soloist. Later on he was called the best E-flat cornetist in the United States. He became leader, successively, of the Suf- folk, Boston Brigade and Salem bands. During his connection with the latter he inaugurated the famous Fourth of July con- certs on Boston Common, since adopted as a regular programme for the celebration of Independence Day. In 1858 Mr. Gilmore founded the organization famous thereafter as Gilmore's Band. At the outbreak of the Civil war this band was attached to the Twenty-Fourth , Massachusetts Infantry. Later, when the economical policy of dis- pensing with music had proved a mistake, Gilmore was entrusted with the re-organiza- tion of state military bands, and upon his arrival at New Orleans with his own band was made bandmaster-general by General Banks. On the inauguration of Governor Hahn, later on, in Lafayette square, New Orleans, ten thousand children, mostly of Confederate parents, rose to the baton of Gilmore and, accompanied by six hundred instruments, thirty-six guns and the united fire of three regiments of infantry, sang the Star-Spangled Banner, America and other patriotic Union airs. In June, 1867, Mr. Gilmore conceived a national musical festi- val, which was denounced as a chimerical undertaking, but he succeeded and June 15. 1869, stepped upon the stage of the Boston Colosseum, a vast structure erected for the occasion, and in the presence of over fifty
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thousand people lifted his baton over an . orchestra of one thousand and a chorus of ten thousand. On the 17th of June, 1872, he opened a still greater festival in Boston, when, in addition to an orchestra of two thousand and a chorus of twenty thousand, were present the Band of the Grenadier Guards, of London, of the Garde Repub- licaine, of Paris, of Kaiser Franz, of Berlin, and one from Dublin, Ireland, together with Johann Strauss, Franz Abt and many other soloists, vocal and instrumental. Gilmore's death occurred September 24, 1892.
M ARTIN VAN BUREN was the eighth president of the United States, 1837 · to 1841. He was of Dutch extraction, and his ancestors were among the earliest set- tlers on the banks of the Hudson. He was born December 5, 1782, at Kinderhook, New York. Mr. Van Buren took up the study of law at the age of fourteen and took an active part in political matters before he had attained his majority. He commenced the practice of law in 1803 at his native town, and in 1809 he removed to Hudson, Columbia county, New York, where he spent seven years gaining strength and wis- dom from his contentions at the bar with some of the ablest men of the profession. Mr. Van Buren was elected to the state senate, and from 1815 until 1819 he was at- torney-general of the state. He was re- elected to the senate in 1816, and in 1818 he was one of the famous clique of politi- cians known as the "Albany regency." Mr. Van Buren was a member of the con- vention for the revision of the state consti- tution, in 1821. In the same year he was elected to the United States senate and served his term in a manner that caused his re-election to that body in 1827, but re- signed the following year as he had been
elected governor of New York. Mr. Van Buren was appointed by President Jackson as secretary of state in March, 1829, but resigned in 1831, and during the recess of congress he was appointed minister to England. The senate, however, when it convened in December refused to ratify the appointment. In May, 1832, he was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for vice-presi- dent on the ticket with Andrew Jackson, and he was elected in the following Novem- ber. He received the nomination to suc- ceed President Jackson in 1836, as the Democratic candidate, and in the electoral college he received one hundred and seventy votes out of two hundred and eighty-three, and was inaugurated March 4, 1837. His administration was begun at a time of great business depression, and unparalled financial distress, which caused the suspension of specie payments by the banks. Nearly every bank in the country was forced to suspend specie payment, and no less than two hundred and fifty-four business houses failed in New York in one week. The President urged the adoption of the inde- pendent treasury idea, which passed through the senate twice but each time it. was de- feated in the house. However the measure ultimately became a law near the close of President Van Buren's term of office. An- other important measure that was passed. was the pre-emption law that gave the act- ual settlers preference in the purchase of public lands. The question of slavery had begun to assume great preponderance dur- ing this administration, and a great conflict was tided over by the passage of a resolu- tion that prohibited petitions or papers that in any way related to slavery to be acted upon. In the Democratic convention of 1840 President Van Buren secured the nomination for re-election on that ticket
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without opposition, but in the election he . only received the votes of seven states, his opponent, W. H. Harrison, being elected president. In 1848 Mr. Van Buren was the candidate of the "Free-Soilers," but was unsuccessful. After this he retired from public life and spent the remainder of his life on his estate at Kinderhook, where he died July 24, 1862.
W INFIELD SCOTT, a distinguished American general, was born June 13, 1786, near Petersburg, Dinwiddie county, Virginia, and was educated at the William and Mary College. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, and in 1808 he accepted an appointment as captain of light artillery, and was ordered to New Orleans. In June, 1812, he was promoted to be lieutenant- colonel, and on application was sent to the frontier, and reported to General Smyth, near Buffalo. He was made adjutant-gen- eral with the rank of a colonel, in March, 1813, and the same month attained the colo- nelcy of his regiment. He participated in the principal battles of the war and was wounded many times, and at the close of the war he was voted a gold medal by con- gress for his services. He was a writer of considerable merit on military topics, and he gave to the military science, "General Regulations of the Army " and " System of Infantry and Rifle Practice." He took a prominent part in the Black Hawk war, and at the beginning of the Mexican war he was appointed to take the command of the army. Gen. Scott immediately assembled his troops at Lobos Island from which he moved by transports to Vera Cruz, which he took March 29, 1847, and rapidly fol- lowed up his first success. He fought the battles of Cerro Gordo and Jalapa, both of which he won, and proceeded to Pueblo
where he was preceded by Worth's division which had taken the town and waited for the coming of Scott. The army was forced to wait here for supplies, and August 7th, General Scott started on his victorious march to the city of Mexico with ten thou- sand, seven hundred and thirty-eight men. The battles of Contreras, Cherubusco and San Antonio were fought August 19-20, and on the 24th an armistice was agreed upon, but as the commissioners could not agree on the terms of settlement, the fight- ing was renewed at Molino Del Rey, and the Heights of Chapultepec were carried by the victorious army of General Scott. He gave the enemy no respite, however, and vigorously followed up his advantages. On September 14, he entered the City of Mexico and dictated the terms of surrender in the very heart of the Mexican Republic. General Scott was offered the presidency of the Mexican Republic, but declined. Con- gress extended him a vote of thanks and ordered a gold medal be struck in honor of his generalship and bravery. He was can- didate for the presidency on the Whig plat- form but was defeated. He was honored by having the title of lieutenant-general con- ferred upon him in 1855. At the beginning of the Civil war he was too infirm to take charge of the army, but did signal service in be- half of the government. He retired from the service November 1, 1861, and in 1864 he published his "Autobiography." Gen- eral Scott died at West Point, May 29, 1866.
EDWARD EVERETT HALE for many years occupied a high place among the most honored of America's citizens. As a preacher he ranks among the foremost in the New England states, but to the gen . eral public he is best known through his writings. Born in Boston, Mass., April 3,
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1822, a descendant of one of the most Prominent New England families, he enjoyed in his youth many of the advantages denied the majority of boys. He received his pre- paratory schooling at the Boston Latin School, after which he finished his studies at Harvard where he was graduated with high honors in 1839. Having studied theology at home, Mr. Hale embraced the ministry and in 1846 became pastor of a Unitarian church in Worcester, Massachusetts, a post which he occupied about ten years. He then, in 1856, became pastor of the South Congregational church in Boston, over which he presided many years.
Mr. Hale also found time to write a great many literary works of a high class. Among many other well-known productions of his are " The Rosary," " Margaret Per- cival in America," "Sketches of Christian History," " Kansas and Nebraska," "Let- cers on Irish Emigration," "Ninety Days' Worth of Europe," " If, Yes, and Perhaps," "Ingham Papers," "Reformation," "Level Best and Other Stories, " " Ups and Downs," "Christmas Eve and Christinas Day," "In His Name," "Our New Crusade," " Work- ingmen's Homes," "Boys' Heroes," etc., etc., besides many others which might be mentioned. One of his works, "In His Name," has earned itself enduring fame by the good deeds it has called forth. The numerous associations known as "The King's Daughters," which has accomplished much good, owe their existence to the story men- tioned.
D AVID GLASCOE FARRAGUT stands pre-eminent as one of the greatest na- val officers of the world. He was born at Campbell's Station, East Tennessee, July 5, 1801, and entered the navy of the United States as a midshipman. He had the good
fortune to serve under Captain David Por- ter, who commanded the "Essex," and by , whom he was taught the ideas of devotion to duty from which he never swerved dur- ing all his career. In 1823 Mr. Farragut took part in a severe fight, the result of which was the suppression of piracy in the West Indies. He then entered upon the regular duties of his profession which was only broken into by a year's residence with Charles Folsom, our consul at Tunis, who was afterwards a distinguished professor at Harvard. Mr. Farragut was one of the best linguists in the navy. He had risen through the different grades of the service until the war of 1861-65 found him a captain resid- ing at Norfolk, Virginia. He removed with his family to Hastings, on the Hudson, and hastened to offer his services to the Federal government, and as the capture of New Orleans had been resolved upon, Farragut was chosen to command the expedition. His force consisted of the West Gulf block- ading squadron and Porter's mortar flotilla. In January, 1862, he hoisted his pennant at the mizzen peak of the "Hartford " at Hampton roads, set sail from thence on the 3rd of February and reached Ship Island on the 20th of the same month. A council of war was held on the 20th of April, in which it was decided that whatever was to be done must be done quickly. The signal was made from the flagship and accordingly the fleet weighed anchor at 1:55 on the morning of April 24th, and at 3:30 the whole force was under way. The history of this brilliant strug- gle is well known, and the glory of it made Far- ragut a hero and also made him rear admir- al. In the suminer of 1862 he ran the batteries at Vicksburg, and on March 14. 1863, he passed through the fearful and destructive fire from Port Hudson, and opened up com- munication with Flag-officer Porter, who
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had control of the upper Mississippi. On May 24th he commenced active operations against that fort in conjunction with the army and it fell on July 9th. Mr. Farragut filled the measure of his fame on the 5th of Au- gust, 1864, by his great victory, the capture of Mobile Bay and the destruction of the Confederate fleet, including the formidable ram Tennessee. For this victory the rank of admiral was given to Mr. Farragut. He died at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Au- gust 4, 1870.
G EORGE W. CHILDS, a philanthropist whose remarkable personality stood for the best and highest type of American citizenship, and whose whole life was an object lesson in noble living, was born in 1829 at Baltimore, Maryland, of humble parents, and spent his early life in unremit- ting toil. He was a self-made man in the fullest sense of the word, and gained his great wealth by his own efforts. He was a man of very great influence, and this, in conjunction with his wealth, would have been, in the hands of other men, a means of getting them political preferment, but Mr. Childs steadily declined any suggestions that would bring him to figure prominently in public affairs. He did not choose to found a financial dynasty, but devoted all his powers to the helping of others, with the most enlightened beneficence and broadest sympathy. Mr. Childs once remarked that his greatest pleasure in life was in doing good to others. He always despised mean- ness, and one of his objects of life was to prove that a man could be liberal and suc- cessful at the same time. Upon these lines Mr. Childs made a name for himself as the director of one of the representative news- papers of America, "The Philadelphia Pub- lic Ledger," which was owned jointly by 5
himself and the Drexel estate, and which he edited for thirty years. He acquired con- trol of the paper at a time when it was be- ing published at a heavy loss, set it upon a firm basis of prosperity, and he made it more than a money-making machine-he made it respected as an exponent of the best side of journalism, and it stands as a monument to his sound judgment and up- right business principles. Mr. Childs' char- itable repute brought him many applications for assistance, and he never refused to help any one that was deserving of aid; and not only did he help those who asked, but he would by careful inquiry find those who needed aid but were too proud to solicit it. He was a considerable employer of labor and his liberality was almost unparalleled. The death of this great and good man oc- curred February 3d, 1894.
P ATRICK HENRY won his way to un. dying fame in the annals of the early history of the United States by introducing into the house of burgesses his famous reso- lution against the Stamp Act, which he car- ried through, after a stormy debate, by a majority of one. At this time he exclaimed " Cæsar had his Brutus, Charles I his Crom- well and George III " (here he was inter- rupted by cries of " treason ") " may profit by their example. If this be treason make the most of it."
Patrick Henry was born at Studley, Hanover county, Virginia, May 29, 1736, and was a son of Colonel John Henry, a magistrate and school teacher of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a nephew of Robertson, the historian. He received his education from his father, and was married at the age of eighteen. He was twice bankrupted before he had reached his twenty-fourth year, when after six weeks of study he was admitted to
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the bar. He worked for three years with-' out a case and finally was applauded for his plea for the people's rights and gained im- mense popularity. After his famous Stamp Act resolution he was the leader of the pa- triots in Virginia. In 1769 he was admitted to practice in the general courts and speed- ily won a fortune by his distinguished ability as a speaker. He was the first speaker of the General Congress at Philadelphia in 1774. He was for a time a colonel of militia in 1775, and from 1776 to 1779 and 1781 to 1786 he was governor of Virginia. For a number of years he retired from pub- lic life and was tendered and declined a number of important political offices, and in March, 1789, he was elected state senator but did not take his seat on account of his death which occurred at Red Hill, Charlotte county, Virginia, June 6, 1799.
B ENEDICT ARNOLD, an American general and traitor of the Revolution- ary war, is one of the noted characters in American history. He was born in Nor- wich, Connecticut, January 3, 1740. He ran away and enlisted in the army when young, but deserted in a short time. He then became a merchant at New Haven, Connecticut, but failed. In 1775 he was commissioned colonel in the Massachusetts militia, and in the autumn of that year was placed in command of one thousand men for the invasion of Canada. He marched his army through the forests of Maine and joined General Montgomery before Quebec. Their combined forces attacked that city on December 31, 1775, and Montgomery was killed, and Arnold, severely wounded, was compelled to retreat and endure a rigorous winter a few miles from the city, where they were at the mercy of the Canadian troops had they cared to attack them. On his re-
turn he was raised to the rank of brigadier- general. He was given command of a small flotilla on Lake Champlain, with which he encountered an immense force, and though defeated, performed many deeds of valor. He resented the action of congress in pro- moting a number of his fellow officers and neglecting himself. In 1777 he was made major-general, and under General Gates at Bemis Heights fought valiantly. For some reason General Gates found fault with his conduct and ordered him under arrest, and he was kept in his tent until the battle of Stillwater was waxing hot, when Arnold mounted his horse and rode to the front of his old troop, gave command to charge, and rode like a mad man into the thickest of the fight and was not overtaken by Gates' courier until he had routed the enemy and fell wounded. Upon his recovery he was made general, and was placed in command at Philadelphia. Here he married, and his acts of rapacity soon resulted in a court- martial. He was sentenced to be repri- manded by the commander-in-chief, and though Washington performed this duty with utmost delicacy and consideration, it was never forgiven. Arnold obtained com- mand at West Point, the most important post held by the Americans, in 1780, and immediately offered to surrender it to Sir Henry Clinton, British commander at New York. Major Andre was sent to arrange details with Arnold, but on his return trip to New York he was captured by Americans, the plot was detected, and Andre suffered the death penalty as a spy. Arnold es- caped, and was paid about $40,000 by the British for his treason and was made briga- dier-general. He afterward commanded an expedition that plundered a portion of Vir- ginia, and another that burned New Lon -. don, Connecticut, and captured Fort Trum-
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