USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware county, 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 7
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a LYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth president of the United States, was born on the 29th of April, 1822, of christian parents, in a humble home, at Point Pleasant, on the banks of the Ohio. Shortly after his father moved to Georgetown, Brown county, Ohio. In this remote frontier hamlet, Ulysses received a common school education. At the age of seventeen, in the year 1839, he entered the Military academy at West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid, sensible young man of fair abilities, and of sturdy, honest character. He took respect- able rank as a scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated, about the middle in his class, and was sent as lieutenant of infantry to one of the distant military posts in the Missouri terri- tory. Two years he passed in these dreary solitudes, watching the vagabond and exasper- ating Indians.
The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His first battle was at Palo Alto. There was no chance here for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at Resaca de la Palma, his second battle. At the battle of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that he per- formed a signal service of daring and skillful horsemanship. His brigade had exhausted its ammunition. A messenger must be sent for more, along a route exposed to the bullets of the foe. Lieut. Grant, adopting an expedient learned of the Indians, grasped the mane of his horse, and hanging upon one side of the animal, ran the gauntlet in entire safety. From Monterey he was sent, with the Fourth infantry, to aid Gen. Scott, at the siege of Vera Cruz. In preparation for the march to the city of Mexico, he was appointed quarter- master of his regiment. At the battle of Molino del Rey, he was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and was brevetted captain at Chapultepec.
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At the close of the Mexican war, Capt. Grant returned with his regiment to New York, and was again sent to one of the mili- tary posts on the frontier. The discovery of gold in California causing an immense tide of emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. Grant was sent, with a battalion, to Fort Dallas, in Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the immigrants.' Life was weari- some in those wilds. Capt. Grant resigned his commission and returned to the states; and having married, entered upon the cultiva- of a small farm near St. Louis, Mo. He had but little skill as a farmer. Finding his toil not remunerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into the leather business, with a younger brother, at Galena, Ill. This was in the year 1860. As the tidings of the rebels firing on Fort Sumter reached the ears of Capt. Grant in his counting room, he said- " Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; though I have served him through one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the debt. I
am still ready to· discharge my obligations. I
shall therefore bcukle on my sword and see Uncle Sam through this war, too."
He went into the streets, raised a company of volunteers, and led them, as their captain, to Springfield, the capital of the state, where their services were offered to Gov. Yates. The governor, impressed by the zeal and straight- forward executive ability of Capt. Grant, gave him a desk in his office, to assist in the volun- teer organization that was being formed in the state in behalf of the government. On the 15th of June, 1861, Capt. Grant received a commission as colonel of the Twenty-first regiment of Illinois volunteers. His merits as a West Point graduate, who had served for fifteen years in the regular army, were such that he was soon promoted to the rank of brigadier general and was placed in command at Cairo. The rebels raised their flag at Pa-
ducah, near the mouth of the Tennessee river. Scarcely had its folds appeared ere Gen. Grant was there. The rebels fled. Their banner fell, and the stars and stripes were unfurled in its stead.
At Belmont, a few days later, he sur- prised and routed the rebels, then at Fort Henry won another victory. Then came the brilliant fight at Fort Donelson. The nation was electrified by the victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was immediately made a major general, and the military dis- trict of Tennessee was assigned to him.
Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well how to secure the results of victory. He immediately pushed on to the enemy's lines. Then came the terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, were Gen. Pemberton made an unconditional surrender of the city with over 30,000 men and 172 cannon. The fall of Vicksburg was by far the most severe blow which the rebels had thus far encountered, and opened up the Mississippi from Cairo to the gulf.
Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and proceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown from his horse and received severe injuries, from which he was laid up for months. He then rushed to the aid of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas at Chattanooga, and by a won- derful series of strategic and technical measures put the Union army in fighting condition. Then followed the bloody battles of Chatta- nooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels were routed with great loss. This won for him unbounded praise in the north, On the 4th of February, 1864, congress revived the grade of lientenant general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. He repaired to Washington to re- ceive his credentials and enter upon the duties of his new office.
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Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took charge of the army to concentrate the widely dispersed national troops for an attack on Richmond, the nominal capital of the rebel- lion, and endeavor there to destroy the rebel armies which would be promptly assembled from all quarters for its defense. The whole continent seemed to tremble under the tramp of these majestic armies, rushing to the de- cisive battle field. Steamers were crowded with troops; railway trains were burdened with closely packed thousands His plans were comprehensive and involved a series of campaigns, which were executed with remark- able energy and ability, and were consummated at the surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865.
The war was ended. The Union was saved. The almost unanimous voice of the nation declared Gen. Grant to be the most prominent instrument in its salvation. The eminent services he had thus rendered the country brought him conspicuously forward as the republican candidate for the presidential chair. At the republican convention held at Chicago May 21, 1868, he was unanimonsly nominated for the presidency, and at the autumn election received a majority of the popular vote, and 214 out of 294 electoral votes. The national convention of the repub- lican party which met at Philadelphia on the 5th June, 1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomi- nation for a second term by a unanimous vote. The selection was emphatically indorsed by the people five months later, 292 electoral votes being cast for him.
Socn after the close of his second term, Gen. Grant started upon his famous trip around the world. He visited almost every country of the civilized world, and was every where received with such ovations and demon- strations of respect and honor, private as well as public and official, as were never before bestowed upon any citizen of the United States.
He was the most prominent candidate before the republican national convention in 1880 for a renomination for president. He went to New York and embarked in the brokerage business under the firm name of Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villain, wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was sent to the penitentiary. The general was attacked with cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic like manner, never complaining. He was re-instated general of the army and retired by congress. The cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, the nation went in mourning over the death of the illus- trious general.
UTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nine- teenth president of the United States, was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822, almost three months after the death of his father, Rutherford Hayes. His ancestry, on both the paternal and mater- nal sides, was of the most honorable character. It can be traced, it is said, as far back as 1280, when Hayes and Rutherford were two Scottish chieftains, fighting side by side with Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. Both families belonged to the nobility, owned extensive estates, and had a large following. Misfortune overtaking the family, George Hayes left Scotland in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son George was born in Windsor, and remained there during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, married Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of his marriage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufacturer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel and grandfather of President Hayes, was born in New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.
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farmer, blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He emigrated to Vermont at an unknown date, settling in Brattleboro, where he established a hotel. Here his son, Rutherford Hayes the father of President Hayes, was born. He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia Bir- chard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors emigrated thither from Connecticut, they hav- ing been among the wealthiest and best fami- lies of Norwich. Her ancestry on the male side are traced back to 1635, to John Bir- chard, one of the principal founders of Nor- wich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war.
The father of President Hayes was an in- dustrious, frugal and open-hearted man. He was of a mechanical turn, and could mend a plow, knit a stocking, or do almost any- thing else that he chose to undertake. He was a member of the church, active in all the benevolent enterprises of the town, and con- ducted his business on christian principles. After the close of the war of 1812, for reasons inexplicable to his neighbors, he resolved to emigrate to Ohio.
The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day, when there were no canals, steamers, nor railways, was a very serious affair. A tour of inspection was first made, occupying four months. Mr. Hayes determined to move to Delaware, where the family arrived in 1817. He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial fever, less than three months before the birth of the son, of whom we now write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore bereavement, found the support she so much needed in her brother Sardis, who had been a member of the house- hold from the day of its departure from Ver- mont, and in an orphan girl whom she had adopted some time before as an act of charity.
Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, and the subject of this sketch was so feeble at birth that he was not expected to live beyond
a month or two at most. As the months went by he grew weaker and weaker, so that the neighbors were in the habit of inquiring from time to time "if Mrs. Hayes' baby died last night." On one occasion a neighbor, who was on familiar terms with the family, after alluding to the boy's big head, and the moth- er's assiduous care of him, said in a bantering way, "That's right! Stick to him. You have got him along so far, and I shouldn't wonder if he would really come to something yet."
"You need not laugh," said Mrs. Hayes. "You wait and see. You can't tell but I shall make him president of the United States yet." The boy lived, in spite of the universal predictions of his speedy death; and when, in 1825, his older brother was drowned, he be- came, if possible, still dearer to his mother.
The boy was seven years old before he went to school. His education, however, was not neglected. He probably learned as much from his mother and sister as he would have done at school. His sports were almost wholly within doors, his playmates being his sister and her associates. His uncle Sardis Birchard took the deepest interest in his education; and as the boy's health had improved, and he was making good progress in his studies, he pro- posed to send him to college. His preparation commenced with a tutor at home; but he was afterwards sent for one year to a professor in the Wesleyan university, in Middletown, Conn. He entered Kenyon college in 1838, at the age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head of his class in 1842.
Immediately after his graduation he began the study of law in the office of Thomas Spar- row, Esq., in Columbus. Finding his oppor- tunities for study in Columbus somewhat limited, he determined to enter the law school at Cambridge, Mass., where he remained two years. In 1845, after graduating at the law school, he was admitted to the bar at Marietta,
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Ohio, and shortly afterward went into practice as an attorney-at-law with Ralph P. Buck- land, of Fremont. Here he remained three years, acquiring but a limited practice, and apparently unambitious of distinction in his profession.
In 1849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his ambition found a new stimulus. Two events, occurring at this period, had a powerful influ- ence upon his subsequent life. One of these was his marriage with Miss Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of Chilicothe; the other was his introduction to the Cincin- nati Literary club, a body embracing among its members such men as Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many others hardly less distin- guished in after life. The marriage was a fortunate one in every respect, as everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of our presi- dents was more universally admired, rever- onced and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and no one did more than she to reflect honor upon American womanhood. The Literary club brought Mr. Hayes into constant associa- tion with young men of high character and noble aims, and lured him to display the qualities so long hidden by his bashfulness and modesty.
In 1856 he was nominated to the office of judge of the court of common pleas; but he declined to accept the nomination. Two years later, the office of city solicitor becoming vacant, the city council elected him for the unexpired term.
In 1861, when the rebellion broke out, he was at the zenith of his professional life. His rank at the bar was among the first. But the news of the attack on Fort Sumter found him eager to take up arms for the defense of his country.
His military record was bright and illus- trious. In October, 1861, he was made
lieutenant-colonel, and in August, 1862, pro- moted colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio regi- ment, but he refused to leave his old comrades and go among strangers. Subsequently, how- ever, he was made colonel of his old regiment. At the battle of South Mountain he received a wound, and while faint and bleeding displayed courage and fortitude that won admiration from all.
Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, after his recovery, to act as brigadier-general, and placed in .command of the celebrated Kanawha division, and for gallant and meri- torious services in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he was pro- moted brigadier-general. He was also brevet- ted major-general, "for gallant and distin- guished services during the campaigns of 1864, in West Virginia." In the course of his arduous services, four horses were shot from under him, and he was wounded four times.
In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to con- gress, from the Second Ohio district, which had long been democratic. He was not pres- ent during the campaign, and after his elec- tion was importuned to resign his commission in the army; but he finally declared, "I shall never come to Washington until I can come by the way of Richmond." He was re-elected in 1866.
In 1867, Gen. Hayes was elected governor of Ohio, over Hon. Allen G. Thurman. a popu- lar democrat. In 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton. He was elected gov- ernor for the third term in 1875.
In 1876 he was the standard bearer of the republican party in the presidential contest, and after a hard, long contest was chosen president, and was inaugarated Monday, March 5, 1875.
He served one full term of four years, then retired to his peaceful home, where he expired January 17, 1893.
C
J. A. GARFIELD.
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J AMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth pres- ident of the United States, was born November 19, 1831, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. His parents were Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Gar- field, both of New England ancestry and from families well known in the early history of that section of our country, but had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settle- ment.
The house in which James A. was born was about 20x30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces between the logs filled with clay. His father was a hard working farmer, and he soon had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. The household comprised the father and mother and their four children- Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In May, 1823, the father, from a cold contracted in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At this time James was about eighteen months old, and Thomas about ten years old. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live in Solon, Ohio, near their birthplace.
The early educational advantages young Garfield enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of them. He labored at farm work for others, did capenter work, chopped wood, or did anything that would bring in a few dollars. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of his orign, and he never forgot the friends of his struggling childhood, youth and manhood, neither did they ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor, the humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as ever.
The highest ambition of young Garfield until he was about sixteen years old was to be a captain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard a vessel, which his mother strongly opposed. She finally con- sented to his going to Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that he should try to
obtain some other kind of employment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. After making many applications for work, and try- ing to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meet- ing with success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos Letcher, on the Ohio & Penn- sylvania canal. He remained at this work but a short time when he went home, and attended the seminary at Chester for about three years, when he entered Hiram and the Eclectic institute, teaching a few terms of school in the meantime, and doing other work. This school was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of which church he was then a member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way. He then be- came both teacher and pupil. In the fall of 1854, he entered Williams college, from which he graduated in 1856, taking one of the high- est honors of his class. He afterwards re- turned to Hiram college as its president. Dr. Noah Porter, president of Yale college, says of him in reference to his religion:
"President Garfield was more than a man of strong moral and religious convictions. His whole history, from boyhood to the last, shows that duty to man and to God, and de- votion to Christ and life and faith and spiritual commission were controlling springs of his being, and to a more than usual degree."
Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss Lucretia Rudolph, November 11, 1858, who proved herself worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved and mourned. To them were born seven children, five of whom are still living, four boys and one girl.
Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 1856, in Hiram and the neighbor- ing villages, and three years later he began to speak at county mass meetings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he was. Dur- ing this year he was elected to the Ohio senate. He also began to study law at Cleve-
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land, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar. The great rebellion broke out in the early part of this year, and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to de- fend the old flag. He received his commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-second reg- iment of Ohio volunteer infantry, August 14, 1861, He was immediately put into active service, and before he had ever seen a gun fired in action, was placed in command of four regiments of infantry and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the work of driving out of his native state the officer (Humphrey Mar- shall) reputed to be the ablest of those, not educated to war, whom Kentucky had given to the rebellion. This work was bravely and speedily accomplished, although against great odds. President Lincoln, on his success com- missioned him brigadier-general, January 10, 1862; and as "he had been the youngest man in the Ohio senate two years before, so now he was the youngest general in the army." He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, in its operations around Corinth and its march through Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of the general court-martial for the trial of Fitz-John Porter. He was then ordered to report to Gen. Rosecrans, and was assigned to the chief of staff. The military history of Gen. Garfield closed with his brill- iant services at Chickamauga, where he won the stars of the major-general.
Without an effort on his part Gen. Garfield was elected to congress in the fall of 1862 from the Nineteenth district of Ohio. This section of Ohio had been represented in con- gress for sixty years mainly by two men- Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua R. Giddings. It was not without a struggle that he resigned his place in the army. At the time he entered congress he was the youngest member in that body. There he remained by successive re- elections until he was elected president in 1880.
Of his labors in congress Senator Hoar says: "Since the year 1864 you cannot think of a question which has been debated in congress, or discussed before a tribunal of the American people, in regard to which you will not find, if you wish instruction, the argument on one side stated, in almost every instance, better than by anybody else, in some speech made in the house of representatives or on the hustings by Mr. Garfield."
Upon January 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elected to the United States senate, and on the 8th of June, of the same year, was nom- inated as the candidate of his party for presi- dent at the great Chicago convention. He was elected in the following November, and on March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no administration ever opened its existence under brighter auspices than that of President Garfield, and every day it grew in favor with the people, and by the first of July he had completed all the initiatory and preliminary work of his administration and was preparing to leave the city to meet his friends at Will- iams college. While on his way and at the depot, in company with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back. The president tottered and fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no further injury. For eighty days, all during the hot months of July and August, he lingered and suffered. He, however, remained master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent bearing was teaching the country and the world the noblest of human lessons-how to live grandly in the very clutch of death. He passed serenely away September 19, 1883, at Elberon, N. J., on the seashore, where he had been taken shortly previous. The murderer was tried, found guilty and executed, in one year after he committed the foul deed.
C. A. ARTHUR.
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a HESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first president of the United States, was born in Franklin county, Vermont, on the 5th of October, 1830, and is the oldest of a family of two sons and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who emigrated to this country from the county Antrim, Ireland, in his eighteenth year, and died in 1875, in Newtonville, near Albany, N. Y., after a long and successful ministry.
Young Arthur was educated at Union col- lege, Schenectady, N. Y., where he excelled in all his studies. After his graduation, he taught school in Vermont for two years, and at the expiration of that time went to New York, with $500 in his pocket, and entered the office of ex-Judge E. D. Culver as student. After being admitted to the bar he formed a partnership with his intimate friend and room- mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicidg in the west, and for three months they roamed about in the western states in search of an eligible site, but in the end re- turned to New York, where they entered upon a successful career almost from the start. Gen. Arthur soon afterward married the daugh- ter of Lieut. Herndon, of the United States navy, who was lost at sea. Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in recognition of the bravery he displayed on that occasion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's nomi- nation to the vice presidency, leaving two children.
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