A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II, Part 34

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006

USA > Indiana > A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II > Part 34

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has never been in any sense an office seeker, although in various public and private capacities he has demonstrated remarkable executive ability, and an administrative power possessed by few men in so marked a degree. He was largely identified with the inception of some of the most prosperous insurance companies in the state, and was the first president and executive officer of the oldest company now operating in Indianapolis. As one of the first commissioners of the State Sinking Fund, he rendered valuable service to the state, and in 1872 he was elected to the state Senate from Marion County, and during one of the most exciting sessions in the his- tory of that body became an acknowledged leader of his party in the upper house. Among many enterprises which have done much towards the building up of the trade of the city of Indianapolis, which Judge Martin- dale was active in originating, was the immense foundry and machine establishment known as the Atlas Works, which now gives employment to over one thousand men. In social life he is a fine type of an American gentleman, and his home has ever been a center of gen- erous hospitality, in doing the honors of which he is gracefully seconded by his amiable wife and the older mem- bers of his family. Judge and Mrs. Martindale (née Miss Emma Taylor) were united in marriage in Henry County in 1853, and of ten children born to them, nine survive. Judge Martindale is himself the tenth son of a family of fifteen. His children are named respectively Lynn B., Charles, Susan, Robert, Clarence, John, Mary, Emma, and Elijah B., Jr., now four years old, and en- joying the unique privilege of being the tenth son of a tenth son. Judge Martindale has always been in much request as presiding officer at public meetings, where his fine presence and agreeable address stamp him as a man of brilliant social qualities, while his dignified de- meanor would give to a stranger the impression of hauteur, which gives way at once upon a closer ac- quaintance, when he is found to be the very soul of geniality and one of the most courteous and urbane of men. In business his industry is untiring; he knows not what it is to "eat the bread of idleness," and it is a rare thing to find him when not "busy." He is now in the very prime of manhood, physically and intellectu- ally, and there are few men in the state who can com- pete with him in all that goes to make up the polished, courteous, active, popular, and praiseworthy gentleman.

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RMSTRONG, WILLIAM P., M. D., of Terre Haute, was born at Bloomington, Indiana, April 5, 1829. His father, Hawes Armstrong, was a native of Virginia, and died in 1844. His mother, Mary (McCollough) Armstrong, a native of Kentucky, is still living. James B. Armstrong, a twin brother of the Doctor's, was for several years engaged with him as practicing physician in Terre Haute, and bore to him an extraordinary resemblance in appearance, manners, and disposition. His professional reputation was of the highest character, and he was universally esteemed for his genial and other attractive social qualities. He per- ished by the hand of an assassin, while returning from a night visit to a patient a short distance in the country. The motive for the deed was evidently robbery, but the design of the murderer in that direction was frustrated. His tragic death created a most intense excitement, and not only cast a gloom over the surviving members of his family, but was regarded by the citizens of Terre Haute as a public calamity. So close were the relations of the brothers to each other, professionally and socially, that in sketching the record of one we give substan- tially the history of the other. The early days of William P. Armstrong were spent in his native town, where he received the ordinary common school educa- tion afforded by the state of Indiana. He subsequently spent a year and a half in pursuing a literary course at the Bloomington University; after which he commenced the study of medicine under the tuition of an older brother who was engaged in practice near Little Rock, Arkansas. He attended his first course of lectures at Louisville University, in 1854, after which he practiced medicine for two years before graduating. Returning to Louisville University for another course of lectures, he graduated with the class of 1857. He commenced practicing with his brother at Bloomfield, and, with the exception of a short interval, continued his profession there until 1864, when, with his brother, he removed to Terre Haute. They soon built up a lucrative busi- ness, in which James B. attended more particularly to 1) -- I

the general practice of medicine, while William de- voted the greater part of his time to the diseases of women and children. For this branch of the profession he had an especial taste, and in it he became remark- ably proficient, meeting with unusual success in his practice. In order to more thoroughly acquaint himself with the most approved methods in this department, he, in 1865, went to Europe for study and research, visiting the Universities of Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. He re- mained abroad two years and a half, and was thus enabled on his return to carry into practice the ripe re- sults of the research of his journey. Since his brother's death, he has devoted himself assiduously to the more laborious duties devolving upon him, and to-day he enjoys a fine practice, being widely known as an able practitioner. Doctor Armstrong is a member of the Vigo County Medical Society. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, in which his deceased brother bore a very active and conspicuous part. In politics he is a Republican, and is a member of the Disciple or Christian Church. Doctor Armstrong married, in Sep- tember, 1873, Miss Emma Jackson, a lady born in the city of Terre Haute, though brought up and educated in Wisconsin. Two children, both girls, are the fruits of this marriage. The Doctor is a man of most agree- able social qualities, whose pleasant face and cheerful demeanor mark him as peculiarly fitted to bring cheer and comfort to the sick chamber. He is a universal favorite in the community, and an active supporter of the best interests of society.

ALL, WILLIAM CREIGHTON, journalist, of Terre Haute, was born at Terre Haute, December 27, 1846. His father, William James Ball, was an old resident of Vigo County, and for a long time actively identified with railroad and similar enterprises in that section of the state. He was resident engineer of the Wabash and Erie Canal, engineer of the Indian-

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apolis and St. Louis Railroad, constructing engineer of Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad, and receiver of the Richmond and Logansport Railroad. Mr. Ball's mother, whose maiden name was Julia Sterritt Creigh- ton, was a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, where her family have long been very prominent, her father having been for many years member of Congress from that district. The Ball family are of Virginian extraction. After re- ceiving his early training in the private and public schools of Terre Haute, William C. spent one year at the Indiana State University, and afterwards finished a literary course at Amherst College, Massachusetts, whence he was graduated in 1868. For the succeeding three years he taught in a high school at St. Louis, Missouri, and, during the same period, studied law in the Washington University Law School in that city. In 1871 he returned to Terre Haute, and November I, 1872, purchased the Terre Haute daily and weekly Gasette, with which he has since been connected. His paper is devoted strictly to the advocacy of the prin- ciples of the Democratic party, and is universally ac- knowledged to wield a powerful influence among the members of the party in that section of the state. While thus outlining his policy, the editor, in his edi- torial department, can not be said to be trammeled by party machinery, as in local affairs he is thoroughly in- dependent and non-partisan in his comments on matters of public utility. Never a candidate for political dis- tinction himself, he is an unflinching supporter of the leaders of his party with pen and voice. While dis- claiming for himself any record worthy of mention, and refusing to recognize himself as entitled to the honor, his friends insist upon his right to a seat among the representative men of his native state; and his marked ability, and unquestioned position as a journalist wield- ing more than ordinary influence, entitle him to this distinction. He is still (1878) unmarried.

ARRINGTON, GENERAL HENRY BEEBEE, L.L. D., of the United States army, was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, March 2, 1824. He is the son of Miles and Mary (Beebee) Carrington. The name figures as early as 1192 in English history, and the Beebees took their name, with the Beehive coat-of-arms, during the protectorate of Cromwell, in recognition of industry and usefulness in the Puritan cause. General Carrington's grandfather, James Car- rington, was a partner of Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton-gin, and from about the year 1800 until 1825 was superintendent of the manufacture of arms for the United States at Whitneyville, Connecticut, and for a long time inspector of public work at the Springfield and Harper's Ferry United States armories. As a

memento of past times, Eli Whitney, junior, sent a fowling-piece of his own manufacture to the General's second son, James, as "an expression of profound respect for his own father's friend." The site of Simp- son, Hall & Co.'s Britannia works, at Wallingford, Con- necticut, is known as "Carrington's Pond," in memory of James Carrington, who indulged his inventive taste in the manufacture of the first parallel rulers, coffee- mills, and other original mechanical products, as he gained time from public work. He also built the first factory there. General Carrington's maternal grand- father and great grandfather, as well as himself, were graduates of Yale College, and the second named bore part in the French and Canadian War of 1757, the orig- inal address which he delivered to the soldiers on the eve of departure for Canada being still in possession of the family. The subject of this sketch began prepara- tion for college in 1835, at Torringford, Connecticut, in the old house of Samuel J. Mills, the early missionary, and under the instruction of Rev. William Goodman and Doctor E. D. Hudson, who were among the ear- liest Abolitionists, and were repeatedly mobbed in New England for their sentiments. While at this school an incident occurred which made a permanent impression upon the young student. A stranger visited the school, addressed the boys upon African history and the hor- rors of the slave-trade, and then asked all to stand up who would pledge themselves in after years to pray and work for universal liberty. Young Carrington was one of two who gave this pledge. The stranger, placing a hand upon the head of each, repeated the following singular benediction : " Now, may God the Father, my Father, your Father, and the African's Father; Christ the Savior, my Savior, your Savior, and the African's Savior; and the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, my Com- forter, your Comforter, and the African's Comforter, bring you early to Jesus, and give you grace to redeem your pledge." It was not until years after that it was known that this stranger was John Ossawatomie Brown, whose soul, "still marching on," is immortal in song and history. How well the subject of this sketch proved faithful to the pledge so solemnly imposed is shown in his whole subsequent career. From 1837 to 1840 he was under the instruction of Simeon Hart, of Farming- ton, Connecticut, joining the Congregational Church there, under the care of Rev. Noah Porter, senior, and being taught in Latin and Greek by his son, who had previously graduated from Yale College. At that time the Armistead slaves were on a farm at Farmington, pending the decision of their future destiny. The im- pression previously made by John Brown's appeals was deepened when a mob broke the glass windows of Rev. Doctor Porter's lecture room, because he offered prayer that the negroes might never be returned to slavery. | With a strong predilection for military studies he had

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to contend with decided tendencies to lung troubles, but, ' and Secretary Cass, and arrange for an interview as a surrendering his first choice, graduated at Vale College in 1845, with a class which afterward furnished seven gen- erals to the war, including Generals Richard Taylor, Tap- pan, St. John, and others, he being the only general officer from the class who was in the national army. Upon leaving college he became professor of natural philos- ophy and chemistry, at the Irving Institute, Tarrytown, New York, where he enjoyed the friendship, advice, and encouragement of Washington Irving; and began that inquiry into our national history which culminated, after thirty years of study, in his great work, "The Bat- tles of the American Revolution." The students were organized as a military organization, a gymnasium was built, and he had a foretaste of the work which, many years after, he performed for Wabash College, Indiana. In 1847 he entered the Law School of Yale College, sup- plementing his legal study by filling the position of professor of natural science at the New Haven Young Ladies' Collegiate Institute. In 1848 he located at Columbus, Ohio, first as law partner of Hon. Aaron F. Perry, now of Cincinnati, and then, for nine years, with Hon. William Dennison, afterward Governor of the state. In 1849 he participated, with two other young men, in protecting Frederick Douglass from an attempt made by a mob to drown out with a fire-engine his advertised address at the old state-house; and in 1854 took an active part in the protest against the pro-slavery operations in Kansas and Nebraska. It is an inter- esting incident that in 1861, from the steps of the new state-house, in the same grounds, he presented to a company of the 58th Massachusetts the first colors placed in the hands of colored troops. As a represent- ative of the Twelfth (Columbus) Ohio District, in the state convention of June 17 of that year, he was placed upon the committee upon resolutions, along with Joshua R. Giddings, J. J. Root, Ephraim R. Eckley, Rufus P. Spaulding, and others, and was selected by the convention for chairman of the committee of seven which was instructed to correspond with friends of lib- erty throughout the country, and secure concert of ac- tion in the organization of the new party, which soon adopted the name Republican. An intimate friendship was at once formed with Salmon P. Chase, and one which never wavered. Upon entering on his duties as Governor, Mr. Chase commissioned General Carrington as Judge Advocate, then as Inspector-general, and finally as Adjutant-general, which office he retained until 1861, when he entered the regular army. In 1857 Governor Chase initiated a thorough state militia system, accompa- nying the adjutant-general during his visits to encamp- ments. An issue arose between the Ohio state and the United States authorities as to certain arrests made near Xenia, under the fugitive slave law, and General Carrington was deputized to visit President Buchanan

basis of settlement of the vexed conflict. It was agreed that whichever party first gained jurisdiction should pro- ceed to try cases; and Mr. Chase declared that, while he would respect Federal authority when legitimately used, he would exhaust the power of the state in vindication of its own rightful process. On another occasion, when the Ohio Supreme Court tested, by writ of habeas corpus, the legality of certain fines and imprisonments made in Cuyahoga County, under the same fugitive slave law, the militia of Columbus were put under arms to en- force the finding of the court, in case it should dis- charge the parties and rearrest be attempted. During twelve years' practice of the law, General Carrington followed up his scientific studies, besides being the at- torney of the railroads of Central Ohio, including those to Cincinnati and Cleveland; but with equal fidelity de- voted his leisure hours to the perusal of classic authors, thus laying the foundation of his work upon " Pre-Chris- tian Assurances of Immortality and Accountability," which embraces a selection from Latin and Greek au- thors upon those themes. He was elder in the Second Pesbyterian Church at Columbus, for a time superintend- ent of its Sunday-school, and had charge of the erection of its fine church edifice; was president of the Young Men's Christian Association of the city, and, with II. Thane Miller, Esq., of Cincinnati, attended as a delegate from Ohio the first international association, held at Mon- treal in 1849. For months before the war began he was earnestly interested in the preparation of the state militia for the contingency already foreseen. A letter from Sena- tor Chase in February advised the selection of good offi- cers, as the best advised persons were anticipating war. Secretary Cass thus wrote in the spring : "We have in- deed fallen upon evil times, when those who should pre- serve seem bent upon destroying the country." Impressed by the urgency, General Carrington wrote to General Wool, then commanding at Troy, New York, for ten thou- sand stand of arms, and announced, in an address entitled "The Hour, the Peril, and the- Duty," that the nation was "on the verge of a war which would outlast a pres- idential term, would cost hundreds of thousands of lives and thousands of millions of treasure ; but that in the end the continent would be free, and the nations would pay us homage." This was repeated at the request of the members of the Ohio Senate, especially of Mr. Garfield and Mr. Cox (both of whom became generals in the serv- ice), but before it was delivered a second time the an- nouncement of the fall of Sumter was received. Upon the first call for troops two regiments were started for Washington from Ohio within sixty hours; a foundry was opened on Sunday for casting round shot for a bat- tery, and under the orders of General Mcclellan, to whom Governor Dennison had intrusted the command of the state troops, nine full regiments were moved to

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West Virginia before the United States three months' men were organized. The thanks of the Secretary of War and of Generals Scott and Wool for this prompt action were followed by the detail of General Carrington as visitor to West Point, and by his appointment as col- onel of the 18th United States Infantry, they concurring with Secretary Chase in a recommendation to the Presi- dent for his selection to a full colonelcy. A regular army camp was established near Columbus, Ohio, under his command, for the organization of the 15th, 16th, 18th, and 19th United States Infantry. The demands of the service left little time for drilling men in camp; so that in the fall of 1861 he reported to General Buell with twelve companies of the 18th and six of the 16th In- fantry. He was assigned to the command of his regi- ment, the 9th and 35th Ohio and the 2d Minnesota, and joined General Thomas at Lebanon, Kentucky. Be- ing required to complete his regiment, he returned to Ohio and filled it to its maximum of two thousand four hundred and fifty-three men, but in the pressure of the Kirby Smith campaign he was transferred to Indiana, to hasten the organization and movement of its troops to the front. Promotion as brigadier-general of vol- unteers followed in 1862, and as district commander, superintendent of recruiting service, and commander of the draft rendezvous, he had charge of the organization of nearly one hundred and thirty-nine thousand men in Indiana, in addition to the regular troops and the early regiments raised from Ohio. For services in raising the siege of Frankfort, he received the thanks of Governor Bramlette, and fully disclosed the secret operations of the Sons of Liberty, and other treasonable orders along and north of the Ohio River. His personal relations were extremely intimate with Governor Morton, and he entertained the strongest confidence in the purity, pa- triotism, and statesmanship of that extraordinary man. Upon muster out as general of volunteers, he joined his regiment in the Army of the Cumberland, presided over the military commission at Louisville for the trial of guerrillas, and was then sent to the plains to replace volunteer troops with his own regiment. Late in 1865 he was in command, at Fort Kearney, of the East Sub- district of Nebraska, supervising Indian operations on the Republican River. In May, 1866, he commanded the expedition to open a wagon route to Montana by the Powder River and Big Horn Mountain countries, built Fort Kearney, and other posts, commanded the Rocky Mountain district, and was through the harass- ing Indian operations connected with the Red Cloud campaign. In 1867 he was in charge at Fort McPher- son, establishing friendly relations with Spotted Tail and other chiefs, commanded at Fort Sedgwick in 1868 and 1869, and was detailed, under an act of Congress, as professor of military science at Wabash College, In- diana, in December of that year. In 1870, suffering on

account of wounds and exposure incurred while on duty, he was retired from field service, but continued on the college detail, at his pleasure. Thus is given, in rapid summary, General Carrington's career as a student, lawyer, and soldier. His record as a litterateur remains to be considered. He has paid little attention to his minor works. "The Scourge of the Alps," a serial Swiss story of the days of Tell, was written in 1847, while at Tarrytown. " American Classics," or " Incidents of Revolutionary Suffering," followed in 1849, as well as " Russia as a Nation." This was coincident with the visit of Kossuth, from whom he obtained a detailed map of the Russo-Hungarian War, and with whom he formed an enduring friendship. His address upon the Hungarian struggle was the last ever given in the old Ohio state-house, which was burned on the night of its delivery. " Hints to Soldiers Taking the Field " be- came popular, and the Christian Commission distributed more than a hundred thousand copies during the war. Lectures and essays have been numerous, including a pamphlet upon the "Mineral Resources of Indiana," and papers upon " Chrome Steel," the " American Rail- way System," etc., etc., some of which have been read before the British Association of Science in Great Brit- ain. At the Bristol meeting of that scientific body, in 1875, he was placed on the executive committee of the following sections: "Mechanical Science," "Geog- raphy," and "Anthropology." His paper upon the "Indians of the North-west" was published in full in the British papers; and upon the test of the eighty-one ton gun at Woolwich he was called from Paris by tele- gram from General Campbell, British Director-general of Artillery, being the only foreigner present at the ex- periment. "Crisis Thoughts," published in 1878, in- cludes " The Hour, the Peril, and the Duty," with two other orations upon the war. " Ab-sa-ra-ka, Land of Massacre," now in its fifth edition, is a book of nearly four hundred pages, with maps and engravings, giving a full description of Indian battles, massacres, and trea- ties from 1865 to 1879, and is carefully accurate, while full of thrilling narrative and adventure; the first thirty chapters, embodying his wife's experience, were first pub- lished in 1868, upon her return from Montana and Da- kota. A more important work, the result of research and study extending over a period of thirty years, and the outgrowth of early conferences with Irving, is the " Battles of the American Revolution." The labor upon this work has been immense. British and French authorities, and the faculties of universities, alike ex- tended courtesies during the research ; and while per- sonal surveys of many battle-fields greatly cleared the doubtful questions, the field-notes of British, Hessian, French, and other soldiers, were carefully tested, and incorporated in the maps, which in every case were drawn by the laborious author. The indorsements of

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the work include not only public officials abroad, such as ex-President Thiers, and Senator La Fayette, of France, but English statesmen, with Bancroft and Loss- ing, Woolsey and Evarts, Generals Sherman and Sheri- dan, and the press without exception. The work is original in design. It not only tells why and how a battle was fought, but, with the aid of the forty splen- did maps that adorn the work, each battle-field assumes the character of a slowly moving panorama, in which every movement is presented to the eye. Historic pre- cision blends with descriptive power of a high order to make this work at once valuable to the student of history and intensely interesting to the general reader. General Carrington has, however, made much progress upon another work, for which he is eminently adapted by previous study. This is none other than "The Battles of the Bible," based on the same general plan that characterizes his great American history. This will involve not only a visit to the Holy Land, but research among Hebrew antiquities, with critical examination of many authors and places. He has the assurance of of- ficial aid abroad, and possesses the courage to under- take the work. He knows neither fatigue or doubt in such labors. He has received many compliments from historical societies, and has had several literary titles conferred upon him. He is a member of the United States Supreme Court bar. General Carrington has been twice married. His first wife, Margaret Irvin Sullivant, was the eldest daughter of Joseph Sullivant, Esq., a noted scientist and scholar, of Columbus, Ohio, and granddaughter of Colonel Joseph McDowell, of Danville, Kentucky. She is described in a memorial volume, published at Columbus, Ohio, in 1874, as "of commanding presence, gentle and dignified in deportment, refined and cultivated in taste, and, while quite delicate in constitution, of great courage and endurance ; of a high type of womanhood, loved and respected by both relatives and friends." She accompa- nied her husband during the war, and with equal fidelity through the years of trying exposure on the plains, from 1865 to 1869. She died at Crawfordsville, Indiana, May 11, 1870, just after her husband began duty at Wabash College. Of their children, Mary McDowell, born Oc- tober 5, 1852, died April 7, 1854; Margaret Irvin, born November 22, 1855, died July 25, 1856; Joseph Sulli- vant, born June 9, 1859, died September 29, 1859; Morton, born June 23, 1864, died August 23, 1864; Henry Sullivant, born August 5, 1857, was with his parents on the plains, and declined an appointment as engineer cadet at Annapolis, but spent two years with an expedition to the South Seas. He then entered Wabash College, and graduated June 25, 1879. James Beebee was born October 23, 1860; he was also on the plains, and, after three years at Wabash College, took a commercial course at Russell's Collegiate and Military

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A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II, Part 34

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1006

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006