A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana, Part 5

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

USA > Indiana > Boone County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 5
USA > Indiana > Clinton County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 5
USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > A portrait and biographical record of Boone, Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 5

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Harrison won the love of his soldiers by always sharing with them their fatigue. His whole baggage, while pursuing the foe up the Thames, was carried in a valise; and his bed- ding consisted of a single blanket lashed over his saddle. Thirty-five British officers, his

prisoners of war, supped with him after the bat- tle. The only fare he could give them was beef roasted before the fire, without bread or salt.

In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a mem- ber of the national house of representatives to represent the district of Ohio. In congress he proved an active member, and, whenever he spoke, it was with force of reason and power of eloquence, which arrested the attention of all the members.

In 1819, Harrison was elected to the sen- ate of Ohio; and in 1824, as one of the presi- dential electors of that state, he gave his vote for Henry Clay. The same year he was chosen to the United States senate.

In 1836, the friends of Gen. Harrison brought him forward as a candidate for the presidency against Van Buren, but he was de- feated. At the close of Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nominated by his party, and Harri- son was unanimously nominated by the whigs, with John Tyler for the vice presidency. The contest was very animated. Gen. Jackson gave all his influence to prevent Harrison's election; but his triumph was signal.

The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Webster at its head as secretary of state, was one of the most brilliant with which any presi- dent had ever been surrounded. In the midst of these bright and joyous prospects, Gen. Harrison was seized by a pleurisy-fever, and, after a few days of violent sickness, died on the 4th of April; just one month after his inau- guration as president of the United States.

With the exception, perhaps, of the death of George Washington, the demise of no presi- dent of the United States, down to this time, had created a deeper thrill of sympathy through- out the country than that of President Harri- son. North and south, his obsequies were ob- served with unaffected sorrow, and men of all parties seemed to forget differences of opinion in doing honor to the memory of the dead.

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

J OHN TYLER, the tenth president of the United States, was born in Charles City county, Va., March 29, 1790. At the early age of twelve, John entered William and Mary college and graduated with much honor when but seventeen years old. He devoted himself with great assiduity to the study of law, partly with his father and partly with Edmund Randolph, one of the most dis- tinguished lawyers of Virginia.

At nineteen years of age, he commenced the practice of law. His success was rapid and astonishing. It is said that three months had not elapsed ere there was scarcely a case on the docket of the court in which he was not retained. When but twenty-one years of age, he was almost unanimously elected to a seat in the state legislature. He connected himself with the democratic party, and warmly ad- vocated the measures of Jefferson and Madison. For five successive years he was elected to the legislature, receiving nearly the unanimous vote of his county.

When but twenty-six years of age, he was elected a member of congress. Here he acted earnestly and ably with the democratic party, opposing a national bank, internal improve- ments by the general government, a protective tariff, and advocating a strict construction of the constitution, and the most careful vigilance over state rights. His labors in congress were so arduous that before the close of his second term he found it necessary to resign and retire to his estate in Charles City county, to recruit his health. He, however, soon after consented to take his seat in the state legislature, where his influence was powerful in promoting public works of great utility. He was then chosen by a very large majority of votes, governor of his native state. His administration was sig- nally a successful one, and his popularity secured his re-election.

John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-

crazed man, then represented Virginia in the senate of the United States. A portion of the democratic party was displeased with Mr. Randolph's wayward course, and brought forward John Tyler as his opponent, and Tyler was the victor. In accordance with his professions, upon taking his seat in the senate, he joined the ranks of the opposition. He opposed the tariff; he spoke against and voted against the bank as unconstitutional; he stren- uously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resisting all projects of internal improvements by the general government, and avowed his sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's view of nullifica- tion; he declared that Gen. Jackson, by his opposition to the nullifiers, had abandoned the principles of the democratic party. Such was Mr. Tyler's record in congress -a record in perfect accordance with the principles which he had always avowed.

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice of his profession. There was a split in the democratic party. His friends still re- garded him as a true Jeffersonian, gave him a dinner, and showered compliments upon him. He had now attained the age of forty-six. Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, for the better education of his children; and he again took his seat in the legislature of Vir- ginia.

By the southern whigs, he was sent to the national convention at Harrisburg to nominate a president in 1839. The majority of votes were given to Gen. Harrison, a genuine whig, much to the disappointment of the south, who wished for Henry Clay. To conciliate the southern whigs and to secure their vote, the convention then nominated John Tyler for vice president. Thus it happened that a whig president and, in reality, a democratic vice president were chosen.

In 1841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated vice president of the United States. In one short

JOHN TYLER.

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

month from that time Pres. Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler thus found himself, to his own sur- prise and that of the whole nation, an occu- pant of the presidential chair. This was a new test of the stability of our institutions, as it was the first time in the history of our country that such an event had occurred. Mr. Tyler was at home in Williamsburg when he received the unexpected tidings of the death of Pres. Harrison. He hastened to Washington, and on the 6th of April was inaugurated to the high and responsible office. Gen. Harrison had selected a whig cabinet. Should he retain them, and thus surround himself with coun- selors whose views were antagonistic to his own? or, on the other hand, should he turn against the party which had elected him and select a cabinet in harmony with himself, and which would oppose all those views which the whigs deemed essential to the public wel- fare? This was his fearful dilemma, and so he invited the cabinet which Pres. Harrison had selected to retain their seats.

The whigs carried through congress a bill for the incorporation of a fiscal bank of the United States. The president, after ten days' delay, returned it with his veto. He suggested, however, that he would approve of a bill drawn up upon such a plan as he proposed. Such a bill was accordingly prepared, and privately submitted to him. He gave it his approval. It was passed without alteration, and he sent it back with his veto. Here com- menced the open rupture. It is said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this measure by a pub- lished letter from the Hon. John M. Botts, a distinguished Virginia whig, who severely touched the pride of the president.

The opposition now exultingly received the president into their arms. The party which elected him denounced him bitterly. All the members of his cabinet, excepting Mr. Web- ster, resigned. The whigs of congress, both the

senate and the house, held a meeting and issued an address to the people of the United States, proclaiming that all political alliances between the whigs and Pres. Tyler were at an end.

Still the president attempted to conciliate. He appointed a new cabinet of distinguished whigs and conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong party men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary to resign, forced out by the pressure of his whig friends. Thus the four years of Mr. Tylor's unfortunate administra- tion passed sadly away. More and more, however, he brought himself into sympathy with his old friends, the democrats, until, at the close of his term, he gave his whole influ- ence to the support of Mr. Polk, the demo- cratic candidate for his successor.

On the 4th of March, 1845, he retired from office, to the regret of neither party, and probably to his own unspeakable relief. His first wife, Miss Letitia Christian, died in Washington, in 1842; and in June, 1844, Pres. Tyler was again married, at New York, to Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lady of many personal and intellectual accomplishments.

The remainder of his days Mr. Tyler passed mainly in retirement at his beautiful home -- Sherwood Forest, Charles City county, Va. A polished gentleman in his manners, richly furnished with information from books and experience in the world, and possessing bril- liant powers of conversation, his family circle was the scene of unusual attractions. With sufficient means for the exercise of a generous hospitality, he might have enjoyed a serene old age with the few friends who gathered around him, were it not for the storms of civil war which his own principles and policy had helped to introduce.

When the great rebellion rose, which the state rights and nullifying doctrines of John C. Calhoun had inaugurated, Pres. Tyler re- nounced his allegiance to the United States,

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

and joined the confederates. He was chosen. a member of their congress; and while engaged in active measures to destroy, by force of arms, the government over which he had once pre- sided, he was taken sick and soon died.

J AMES KNOX POLK, the eleventh president of the United States, was born in Mecklenburg county, N. C., November 2, 1795. His parents were Samuel and- Jane (Kr. x) Polk, the former a son of Col. Thomas Polk, who located at the above place, as one of the first pioneers, in 1735.

In the year 1806, with his wife and chil- dren, and soon after followed by most of the members of the Polk family, Samuel Polk emi- grated some two or three hundred miles further west, to the rich valley of the Duck river, Tenn. Here, in the midst of the wilderness, in a region which was subsequently called Maury county, they reared their log huts, and estab- lished their homes. In the hard toil of a new farm in the wilderness, James K. Polk spent the early years of his childhood and youth. His father, adding the pursuit of a surveyor to that of a farmer, gradually increased in wealth until he became one of the leading men of the region.

Very early in life, James developed a taste for reading and expressed the strongest desire to obtain a liberal education. His mother's training had made him methodical in his habits, had taught him punctuality and industry, and had inspired him with lofty principles of morality. His health was frail; and his father, fearing that he might not be able to endure a sedentary life, got a situation for him behind the counter, hoping to fit him for commercial pursuits. He remained in this uncongenial occupation but a few weeks, when at his carnest solicitation his father removed him,

and made arrangements for him to prosecute his studies. Soon after he sent him to Mur- freesboro academy. In the autumn of 1815 he entered the sophomore class in the university of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. He grad- uated in 1818, with the highest honors, being deemed the best scholar of his class, both in mathematics and classics. He was then twenty-three years of age. Mr. Polk's health was at this time much impaired by the assi- duity with which he had prosecuted his studies. After a short season of relaxation he went to Nashville, Tenn., and entered the office of Felix Grundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jack- son, who resided on his plantation, the Her- mitage, but a few miles from Nashville.

James K. Polk was a popular public speaker, and was constantly called upon to address the meetings of his party friends. His skill as a speaker was such that he was popularly called the Napoleon of the stump. He was a man of unblemished morals, genial and courteous in his bearing, and with that sympathetic na- ture in the joys and griefs of others which ever gave him troops of friends. In 1823, Mr. Polk was elected to the legislature of Tennes- see. Here he gave his strong influence toward the election of his friend, Mr. Jackson, to the presidency of the United States.

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah Childress, of Rutherford county, Tenn. His bride was altogether worthy of him-a lady of beauty and culture. In the fall of 1825, Mr. Polk was chosen a member of congress. The satisfaction which he gave to his constit- uents may be inferred from the fact, that for fourteen successive years, until 1839, he was continued in that office. He then voluntarily withdrew, only that he might accept the gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. In congress he was a laborious member, a frequent and popular speaker. He was always in his seat,

JAMES KNOX POLK.

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

always courteous; and whenever he spoke it was always to the point, and without any am- bitious rhetorical display.

During five sessions of congress, Mr. Polk was speaker of the house. Strong passions were aroused, and stormy scenes were witness- ed; but Mr. Polk performed his arduous duties to a very general satisfaction, and a unani- mous vote of thanks to him was passed by the house as he withdrew on the 4th of March, 1839.

On the 14th of October, 1839, he took the oath of office as governor of Tennessee at Nashville. In 1841, his term of office ex- pired, and he was again the candidate of the democratic party, but was defeated. On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugurated president of the United States. The verdict of the country in favor of the annexation of Texas exerted its influence upon congress; and the last act of the administration of President Tyler was to affix his signature to a joint reso- lution of congress, passed on the 3d of March, approving of the annexation of Texas to the American Union. As Mexico still claimed Texas as one of her provinces, the Mexican minister, Almonte, immediately demanded his passports and left the country, declaring the act of annexation to be an act hostile to Mexico.

In his message, President Polk urged that Texas should immediately, by act of congress, be received into the Union on the same foot- ing with the other states. In the meantime, Gen. Taylor was sent with an army into Texas to hold the country. He was sent first to Nueces, which the Mexicans said was the western boundary of Texas. Then he was sent nearly two hundred miles further west, to the Rio Grande, where he erected batteries which commanded the Mexican city of Matamo- ras, which was situated on the western banks.

The anticipated collision soon took place, and

war was declared against Mexico by President Polk. The war was pushed forward by Mr. Polk's administration with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, whose army was first called one of "observation," then of "occupation," then of "invasion," was sent forward to Monte- rey. The feeble Mexicans, in every encounter, were hopelessly and awfully slaughtered. It was by the ingenuity of Mr. Polk's administra- tion that the war was brought on.

"To the victors belong the spoils." Mex- ico was prostrate before us. Her capital was in our hands. We now consented to peace upon the condition that Mexico should sur- render to us, in addition to Texas, all of New Mexico, and all of Upper and Lower Califor- nia. This new demand embraced, exclusive of Texas, 800, 000 square miles. This was an extent of territory equal to nine states of the size of New York. Thus slavery was securing eighteen majestic states to be added to the Union. In the prosecution of this war we ex- pended 20,000 lives and more than $100,000, - 000. Of this more than $15,000,000 were paid to Mexico.

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk re- tired from office, having served one term. The next day was Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to the capitol in the same carrriage with Gen. Taylor; and the same evening, with Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return to Ten- nessee. He was then but fifty-four years of age. He had ever been strictly temperate in all his habits and his health was good. With an ample fortune, a choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic ties of the dearest nature, it seemed as though long years of tranquility and happiness were before him. But the cholera-the awful scourge-was then sweep- ing up the valley of the Mississippi. This he contracted, and died on the 15th of June, 1849, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

Z ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth presi- dent of the United States, was born on the 24th of November, 1784, in Orange county, Va. His father, Colonel Taylor, was a Virginian of note, and a distinguished patriot and soldier of the Revo- lution. When Zachary was an infant, his father, with his wife and two children, emi- grated to Kentucky, where he settled, a few miles from Louisville. In this frontier home young Zachary could enjoy but few social and educational advantages. When six years of age he attended a common school, and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of char- acter. He was strong, fearless and self-reli- ant, and manifested a strong desire to enter the army to fight the Indians who were ravag- ing the frontiers.

In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for him the commission of lietenant in the United States army; and he joined the troops which were stationed at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after this he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady from one of the first families of Maryland.

Immediately after the declaration of war with England, in 1812, Capt. Taylor (for he had then been promoted to that rank) was put in command of Fort Harrison, on the Wa- bash, about fifty miles above Vincennes. This fort had been built in the wilderness by Gen. Harrison, on his march to Tippecanoe. It was one of the first points of attack by the Indians, led by Tecumseh. Its garrison con- sisted of a broken company of infantry num- bering fifty men, many of whom were sick. Early in the autumn of 1812, the Indians, stealthily, and in large numbers, moved upon the fort. Their approach was first indicated by the murder of two soldiers just outside of the stockade. Capt. Taylor made every possi- ble preparation to meet the anticipated as-

sault. On the 4th of September, a band of forty painted and plumed savages came to the fort, waving a white flag, and informed Capt. Taylor that in the morning their chief would come to have a talk with him. It was evident that their object was merely to ascertain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept them at a distance. The sun went down; the savages disappeared, the garrison slept upon their arms. One hour before midnight the war-whoop burst from a thousand lips in the forest around, followed by the discharge of musketry, and the rush of the foe. Every man, sick and well, sprang to his post. Every

man knew that defeat was not merely death, but in case of capture, death by the most agonizing and prolonged torture. The savages succeeded in setting fire to one of the block- houses. Until six o'clock in the morning, this awful conflict continued. The savages then, baffled at every point, and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. Capt. Taylor, for this gal- lant defense, was promoted to the rank of major by brevet.

. Until the close of the war, Major Taylor was placed in such situations that he saw but little more of active service. He was sent far away into the depths of the wilderness, to Fort Crawford, on Fox river, which empties into Green bay. Gradually he rose to the rank of colonel. In the Black Hawk war, which resulted in the capture of that renowned chieftain, Col. Taylor took a subordinate but a brave and efficient part. For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged in the defense of the frontiers, in scenes so remote, and in employments so obscure, that his name was unknown beyond the limits of his own imme- diate acquaintance. In the year 1836, he was sent to Florida to compel the Seminole Indians to vacate that region and retire beyond the Mississippi, as their chiefs, by treaty, had

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

promised they should do. The services ren- 1 dered here secured Col. Taylor the high ap- preciation of the government; and as a reward, he was elevated to the rank of brigadier-gen- eral by brevet; and soon after, in May, 1838, was appointed to the chief command of the United States troops in Florida. After two years of such wearisome employment, Gen. Taylor obtained, at his own request, a change of command, and was stationed over the de- partment of the southwest. This field em- braced Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Establishing his headquarters at Fort Jesup, in Louisiana, he removed his fam- ily to a plantation which he purchased near Baton Rouge. Here he remained for five years, buried, as it were, from the world, but faithfully discharging every duty imposed upon him.

In 1846 Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the land between the Nueces and Rio Grande, the latter river being the boundary of Texas, which was then claimed by the United States. Soon the war with Mexico was brought on, and at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Gen. Taylor won brilliant victories over the Mex- icans. The rank of major-general by brevet was then conferred upon Gen. Taylor, and his name was received with enthusiasm almost everywhere in the nation. Then came the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista, in which he won signal victories over forces much larger than he commanded. His careless habits of dress and his unaffected simplicity, secured for Gen. Taylor among his troops the sobriquet of "Old Rough and Ready."

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena Vista spread the wildest enthusiasm over the country. The whig party decided to take ad- vantage of this wonderful popularity in bring- ing forward the unpolished, uncultured, honest soldier as their candidate for the presidency. Gen. Taylor was astonished at the announce-

ment. and for a time would not listen to it; declaring that he was not at all qualified for such an office. So little interest had he taken in politics that, for forty years, he had not cast a vote.

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a fine writer. His friends took possession of him, and prepared such few communica- tions as it was needful should be presented to the public. The popularity of the successful warrior swept the land. He was triumph- antly elected over two opposing candidates- Gen. Cass and ex-Pres. Martin Van Buren. Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the good old man found himself in a very uncon- genial position, and was, at times, sorely per- plexed and harassed. His mental sufferings were very severe, and probably tended to has- ten his death. The proslavery party was pushing its claims with tireless energy; expedi- tions were fitting out to capture Cuba; Cali- fornia was pleading for admission to the Union, while slavery stood at the door to bar- her out. Gen. Taylor found the political con- flicts in Washington to be far more trying to the nerves than battles with Mexicans or Indians.

In the midst of all these troubles, Gen. Taylor, after he had occupied the presidential chair but little over a year, took cold, and after a brief sickness, of but litttle over five days, died on the 9th of July, 1850. His last words were; "I am not afraid to die. I am ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." He died universally respected and beloved.

Gen. Scott, who was thoroughly acquainted with Gen. Taylor, gave the following graphic and truthful description of his character: " With a good store of common sense, Gen. Taylor's mind had not been enlarged and re- freshed by reading, or much converse with the world. Rigidity of ideas was the consequence. The frontiers and small military posts had

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

been his home. Hence he was quite ignorant for his rank, and quite bigoted in his igno- rance. His simplicity was child-like and with innumerable prejudices, amusing and in- corrigible, well suited to the tender age. Thus, if a man, however, respectable, chanced to wear a coat of an unusual color, or his hat a little on one side of his head; or an officer to leave a corner of his handkerchief dangling from an outside pocket-in any such case, this critic held the offender to be a coxcomb (per- haps something worse), whom he would not, to use his oft repeated phase, "touch with a pair of tongs."

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Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080