USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 48
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captain, and before marching or- ders were received, he was appoint- ed colonel of the regiment. In 1860 Colonel Lane was elected governor of the State of Indiana, over Thomas A. Hendricks, and almost immediately following he was elected by the legislature to the office of United States senator, which position he accepted, leav- ing the office of governor to O. P. Morton, the lieutenant-governor. Hon. H. S. Lane is still an active resident of Crawfordsville.
REV. JAMES THOMPSON.
He is another of the old pioneers of Crawfordsville ; was born in Ham- ilton county, Ohio, in the year 1801. He graduated at the Miami Univer- sity of Oxford, Ohio, in 1825, and moved to Montgomery county in 1828. He was the first regular Pres- byterian preacher in Crawfordsville, and was instrumental in promoting the growth of Wabash College. He removed to Wabash, where he preached with great success for five
years; after which he returned to Crawfordsville. In 1853 he moved to Mankato, Minn., where he preached for fifteen years. He died in. Octo- ber, 1873, and his remains were brought back to Crawfordsville and deposited in Mill's cemetery. His name is fresh and precious in the memory of the people of Montgom- ery county, as also among those who have met with him in Minne- sota.
* A brief sketch of Mr. Beard is included in the history of Montgomery county.
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WILLIAM W. NICHOLSON
He was one of the first settlers in Crawfordsville. He left Kentucky in a keel-boat in 1822, passed down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wa- bash, thence up the Wabash to the mouth of Sugar creek, and from thence to Crawfordsville, where he
settled, one of the first in the little hamlet. Soon after he arrived he started a tan-yard, and opened a tav- ern in a log house. He was very industrious, and accumulated con- siderable property. He died in 1859, at the age of seventy.
ISAAC C. ELSTON.
He was one of the leading citizens of Crawfordsville, now deceased; was born in the State of New York in 1795, and emigrated to Montgom- ery county, Indiana, with his family in 1824. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Crawfords- ville for many years, and during the last years of his life was a successful
banker. He established the well- known Elston Bank of Crawfords- ville. Mr. Elston was a very con- sistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in 1867, at the age of seventy-two years. He is remembered by the people of Montgomery county as a useful citizen.
WILLIAMSON DUNN.
He was born in Kentucky, in 1781; settled in Crawfordsville in 1824. He was appointed register of the land office by President Mon-
roe, and filled many other offices of usefulness to the citizens of that town. He died near Hanover, Indi- ana, in 1854.
ROBERT BRACKENRIDGE.
Robert Brackenridge, (now de- ceased,) for many years a prominent resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was born at Brockville, Indiana, in September, 1818. In 1830 he moved with his uncle, Capt. Robert Brack- enridge, to Fort Wayne, and became a clerk in his uncle's office, who was register of the United States land office at that place. At an early age he commenced the study of law, and at the age of twenty was admitted to the bar. He was a partner with Charles W. Ewing till the death of the latter, in 1843. He
early distinguished himself at the bar, and receiving a very liberal patronage, accumulated consider- able wealth. He died at Fort Wayne in February, 1873. On this sad oc- casion the press of that city re- viewed his life as something of great importance to the city. The Sentinel, in a two column eulogy of his character, made the follow- ing remarks: "Few men in Fort Wayne, or in the State, were better known than Robert Brackenridge, and he was a man sure to be known wherever he went, for he carried
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with him a marked individuality. For more than forty-two years he has gone in and out before the peo- ple of Fort Wayne, until we may say, almost without exaggeration, everybody knew him, and few there are who will not miss, with a sense of sadness, his familiar form and voice. Never an office holder, we believe, nor, so far as we know, an aspirant for office, he was essentially a public man. A man of his strong faculties and bold self-assertion,
could not be hidden. He was a natural leader, and therefore in his chosen profession of a lawyer inevi- tably became a leader among his brethren at the bar. It is no dis- paragement to any of the able men of the Fort Wayne bar, or of the bar of the State, to say that Robert Brackenridge was among the ablest of them-and in some elements of the highest order of forensic ability he was their superior."
COL. FRANCIS VIGO.
Francis Vigo was born in the kingdom of Sardinia, in 1840, and died in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1836. Until about the year 1778, he was a resident of the then Spanish port of St. Louis, where he was active in trading with the Indians, in which pursuit he acquired the title of the "Spanish merchant." He removed to Vincennes a short time previous to the capture of that post by the celebrated George Rogers Clarke. He was instrumental in assisting Clarke to take the post, and was arrested by the British as a spy. "In the Illinois campaigns of 1778 and 1779," says a writer for the Vigo County Atlas, " under the com- mand of Gen. George Rogers Clarke, Col. Vigo relieved the suffering and destitute army by advancing large sums of money to feed and clothe them, receiving therefor bills of ex- change drawn on O. Pollock, of New Orleans, the financial agent of the State of Virginia, under the authority of which Gen. Clarke was conducting the campaign. Some of these bills were paid, and some have never been paid to this day, although Col. Vigo, in sickness and
destitute circumstances, applied for the money, and although the com- missioners of Revolutionary claims for the State of Virginia adjusted the claim in his favor, amounting, with interest accruing, to $32,654.85, at Richmond, Virginia, on the six- teenth of December, 1825. Col. Vigo, although his patriotism and self-sacrifice had saved the army and given victory to the cause of the colonies in the west, was al- lowed to die in a state of almost absolute penury for the want of payment of a just claim of money which he had advanced to the suf- fering soldiers, to the great detri- ment of his own business. There can be no doubt that the money spent for the army was the cause of Col. Vigo's poverty in the latter years of his life, when he became too old to retrieve his lost fortune. A suit for the above unpaid bill has been brought by the executors of Col. Vigo, and is now pending in the court of claims of the United States against the State of Virginia.
Col. Vigo was not married until quite old, when he was united in matrimony to Miss Shannon, a
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daughter of one of the earliest set- tlers on the Wabash. They never had any children. Col. Vigo was made commandant of the militia of Vincennes in 1790, and in 1810 he was one of Gen. Harrison's confi-
dential messengers to the Indians, especially those at the Prophet's Town. Col. Vigo's name will ever be associated with the early history of the Wabash valley.
THOMAS DOWLING.
This distinguished resident of Vigo county was born in Ireland, in 1810, and came to America in 1818. At the age of eight years his parents died, and he was thrown upon his own resources for a liveli- hood. But in this extremity young Dowling was not wanting in cour- age and energy. His first move was to enter the printing office of the National Intelligencer, at Wash- ington, D. C., where he was then living. He remained in this office fourteen years, or until he was twenty-two years of age. During this time he had become thoroughly self-educated, and had gained a practical knowledge of the political events of the country. In 1832 he removed to Terre Haute, where he started the Wabash Courier. In 1842 he became the editor and proprietor of the Express, which he conducted with energy and ability as a Whig paper until 1845. Previous to this
date he had served eight years as a member of the State legislature, in which he became a prominent and useful legislator. In 1864 he erected "Dowling Hall," at Terre Haute, at a cost of $60,000. In all the leading enterprises of his adopted city, he has been active, always productive of the general good of the county and city. In June, 1873, he was placed, by the unanimous voice of the people of Vigo county, at the head of the affairs of the county in the board of county commissioners. Grave difficulties had arisen con- cerning certain alleged extravagant schemes, which were calculated to burden the people with useless and enormous taxation for proposed public improvements. The county was carried through this political storm safely, chiefly through his energy and honesty of purpose. He is now an old and respected citizen of Terre Haute. .
RICHARD W. THOMPSON.
This old and respected resident of Terre Haute was born in Vir- ginia, in June, 1809. In the fall of 1831, he emigrated to Indiana, where he taught in Bedford, a pri- vate school, after which he opened the Lawrence County Seminary. After conducting this about one year, he engaged as clerk in a large dry goods house in that county.
While in this capacity he began the study of law, in which he was suc- cessful, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. During the same year he was elected to the legislature of In- diana. In 1838 he was returned to the House, and in the following year was chosen State Senator. In the legislature of the State, Mr. Thompson not only displayed great
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ability and foresight, but was actu- ally instrumental in effecting very important legislation. He was Pres- ident of the Senate pro tempore on the occasion of the resignation of Lieutenant-Governor David Wal- lace, and held the office of acting Governor during the administration of Hon. Noah Noble, until Hon. David Hillis was elected Lieuten- ant-Governor. In 1841 he was nom- inated for Congress by the Whig convention of the second congres- sional district, and was elected over Hon. John W. Davis. In that Con- gress, Mr Thompson served on sev- eral important committees, and was considered an able member. He declined a renomination to the same position, and in 1843 removed to Terre Haute, where he has since continued the practice of law. In ® literary and educational pursuits, 1847 he was again elected to Con- having collected a very extensive library of rare and standard works. He is president of the board of trustees of the Indiana State Normal School, and a member of the board of trustees of the Indiana Asbury University. He is now living qui- etly in his elegant residence at Spring Hill, some miles from Terre Haute, one of the pleasantest rural homes in the State. gress by the Whig party over Hon. W. A. Wright, afterwards Governor of Indiana. He was prominent in Congress during this term, and at its close retired from public life. In 1849, he was appointed United States Minister to Austria by Gen- eral Taylor, but declined to accept the position. He was tendered sev- eral other appointments by the gen-
eral government, all of which he declined. Mr. Thompson held the office of judge of the eighteenth ju- dicial circuit of Indiana one term, commencing in 1867, but declined to be a candidate at the election in 1869. During the war for the Union, Mr. Thompson was active, and rendered valuable services to his country. He was commandant of "Camp Dick. Thompson," near Terre Haute, and also served as Pro- vost Marshall of the district. Du- ring the past four years Mr. Thomp- son has lived a retired life, declin- ing all political offices tendered him. He has also retired from the practice of law, except as the attor- ney for the I. H. and I., the St. L. V. and T. H., and several other roads. He has taken a deep interest in
ZENAS SMITH.
This very old and much respected citizen of Terre Haute was born in New Jersey, in June, 1796. He has been a very diligent and hard work- ing man, through a long and honor- able life, and will go down to the
grave with the good will of a host of citizens. He was for many years a brick-layer, and has erected many of the brick buildings in Terre Haute. He has been a magistrate for over fifteen years.
DAVID S. DANALDSON.
He was born in Kentucky, in 1809. He received his education in a log school house in his native State.
He located permanently in Terre Haute in 1835, first engaging in the dry goods business. At this time
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the village extended only to Third street. He was burnt out in 1839, and after a time started again in the same business. In 1845 he pur- chased from Col. Thomas Dowling the Wabash Express printing estab- lishment, and conducted that paper as editor and proprietor until No- vember ninth, 1853, when he sold out. During his newspaper experi- ence, he started the first daily paper ever printed in Terre Haute. This
experiment was, at that time, unsuc- sessful. After disposing of his newspaper establishment, he re- turned to the dry goods business, and at the close of the war sold out to his partner, and commenced the prosecution of pension claims, which he still successfully con- tinues. He has built up a fine rep- utation, and enjoys the respect of all who know him.
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH .*
He was born in Scott county, In- diana, and is now in the prime of life. He is the son of the late Major Elisha G. English, one of the pio- neers of Scott county, whose por- trait and biography appear else- where in this volume. Mr. Eng- lish's early education was such as could be acquired at the common schools of his neighborhood, and a course of three years' study at the South Hanover University. He studied law, and was admitted to practice in the circuit court at the early age of eighteen years. He was subsequently admitted to the supreme court of his State; and, in the twenty-third year of his age, to the highest judicial tribunal in the country, the supreme court of the United States.
At an early age Mr. English turn- ed his attention to politics, and al- though remarkably successful in political life, in the calmer reflec- tion of later years, he laid down the honors of office to seek in the walks of business a more congenial vocation.
In 1843, he was chosen principal clerk of the house of representa- tives of Indiana, and during the ad- ministration of President Polk he filled, with credit, an important po- sition in the treasury department at Washington. He was a clerk of the claims committee, in the United States senate during the memora- ble session of the compromise of 1850, and while in Washington was married to Miss Emma M. Jackson, of Virginia.
Returning to his native State, he was chosen an officer of the mem- orable convention which formed the present constitution of Indiana, which instrument, as is well known, bears his name as principal secre- tary.
The first legislature under the new constitution was the most im- portant, as well as the longest, ever held in the State. Sound judgment and discretion were required to shape the laws and machinery of government to conform to the new constitution, and many useful, and now popular, reforms can be traced
* Our sketch of Mr. English is mainly taken from a work recently published in New York, entitled "Representative Men."
CROSSCUP& WEST.PHILA.
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to that session, such, for instance, as the substitution of our present short form for deeds, mortgages, and other legal instruments in place of the old and outrageously long forms of the common law. Mr. English was a member of this legis- lature, and had much to do in se- curing these reforms. He also had the distinguished honor of being elected speaker of the house at this session, and in his service of over three months discharged the duties in such a satisfactory manner that no appeal was taken from any of his decisions.
In October, 1852, Mr. English was
elected to the United States house of representatives. He continued in that position, being repeatedly re- elected by his constituency for sev- eral terms. He distinguished him- self in congress, when the civil war struggle was pending, by advocating many measures full of loyalty and practical good. Retiring from con- gress he returned to Indianapolis, and has since devoted himself to business. He is president of the First National Bank of Indianapo- lis, and is interested and active in all important enterprises that are calculated to improve the city.
J. D. NUTTMAN.
He was born at Elizabeth, New Jersey, November twenty sixth, 1816. He moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in May, 1839. In the fall of 1861 he opened a banking house in that
city, which he continued until it was merged into the First National Bank of Fort Wayne, of which he is president. He is an enterprising, honorable business man.
GEN. LEWIS WALLACE.
He is the second son of Governor David Wallace, and was born in Franklin county, Indiana, April tenth, 1827. He was a law student in his father's office at the outbreak of the Mexican war, and under the first call for volunteers became sec- ond lieutenant of the first Indiana regiment. After the conclusion of that campaign, he returned to his books and clients, but his military training was not forgotten, and he kept in discipline a company care- fully drilled in the tactics of the Zouave, and as member of the State senate vainly urged the adoption of measures for organizing the militia of the State. When Sumter was attacked, he was in Clinton county,
attending court. A dispatch from Governor Morton summoned him to Indianapolis; he reported next morning, and at once received the appointment of adjutant-general. There were no books, no law, no office, no preparation of any descrip- tion, and but three independent companies in the State. This was Tuesday; the following Friday night Wallace reported to the governor sixty companies for six regiments complete, and in Camp Morton, and in addition more than eighty surplus companies organ- ized and ready to move. Accom- panying the report was his resig- nation and a request for permission to go out and organize his own reg.
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iment. It was given, and in twen- ty-four hours he reported the eleventh regiment. A few weeks later it was armed and ready for marching orders. The three mili- tia companies were incorporated in this regiment, and, when dis- banded at the end of the first term of service, a large number became officers in other regiments.
As brigadier-general, Wallace serv- ed with distinction in the army of the Tennessee, was promoted for gal- lantry at Fort Donelson, and was the first to advocate arming the negroes, in a speech made in Wash- ington, July, 1862.
When Kirby Smith threatened Cincinnati, he proclaimed martial law in that city, Covington, and Newport. It totally suspended business, and sent every man, with- out exemption, to the ranks or the trenches. "Citizens for labor, sol- diers for battle," was the cry by which he reached every able-bodied man in the metropolis, and united the energies of forty thousand peo- ple. There were no defences except a few half-finished works and dis. mounted guns. In the face of Heath and his victorious hordes from Richmond, (Kentucky), Gen. Wal- lace organized a new and formida- ble army. There was no sleep in Cincinnati. All day and night the city resounded with the tramp of men, the sudden sound of saws and hammers. A pontoon bridge across the Ohio was begun and completed between sundown and sundown, and groaned day and night with the per- petual stream of life, all setting southward. Except at the battle of New Orleans, no equal amount of work has ever been done on this continent, nor as many men got
together in so short a time. In three days there were ten miles of intrenchments lining the hills, mak- ing a semicircle from the river above Cincinnati to the banks of the river below. The result was the enemy came in the night, looked at the works, and stole away, making a hasty and ruinous retreat. For his successful services in this emer- gency, Wallace received the thanks of the legislature, then in session at Columbus, Ohio.
April, 1864, Wallace was assigned to command of the middle depart- ment, headquarters at Baltimore, Md. With 5,800 men he intercepted the army of Early, estimated at 30,000, then marching on Washing- ton, and July ninth fought the bat- tle of Monocacy, Md. Though de- feated, he gained all he hoped- time for General Grant to reinforce the capital from City Point. Of this action, Grant, in his official report for 1865, says: " On the sixth July, the enemy, (Early,) occupied Ha- garstown, moving a strong column toward Frederick City. General Wallace, with Rickett's division, and his own command, the latter mostly new and undisciplined troops, pushed out from Baltimore with great promptness, and met the enemy in force on the Monocacy, near the crossing of the railroad bridge. His force was not sufficient to insure success, but he fought the enemy nevertheless, and although it resulted in a defeat to our arms, he detained the enemy, and thereby served to enable Wright to reach Washington before him." An ad- mission that General Wallace, by his promptitude and firmness, saved the capital from capture at a most important juncture of the war.
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Wallace was president of the commission appointed to investi- gate General Buell's operations in Tennessee and Kentucky, member of the court that tried the assassins of President Lincoln, president of the court that tried Captain Wirz, keeper of the Andersonville prison. At the end of the rebellion he re- signed his commission and returned to his profession.
After the war, General Wallace turned his attention to literature, in which he has gained considerable reputation. His, The Fair God; or, The last of the Tzins-a tale founded on the conquest of Mexico, has gained a world-wide celebrity. He now resides in Crawfordsville, Indiana, enjoying a lucrative prac- tice at the bar.
W. E. NIBLACK.
His early life was devoted to agri- cultural and mechanical pursuits, among the stirring scenes of pioneer life. The first school he attended was kept in a log house, two miles away from his home. He entered the college at Bloomington in the fall of 1838, and attended college there at intervals for two years, but owing to the death of his father, was unable to graduate. He after- wards studied law, and was admit- ted to the practice in 1843. In the spring of 1845, he located at Mt. Pleasant, Indiana, the then county seat of Martin county, and formally commenced the practice of law. In August, 1849, he was elected a rep- resentative in the State legislature from that county. In 1850, the year following, he was elected to the State senate from the counties of Daviess and Martin for the term of three years, (as the term then was.) In the session of 1850-1, which fol- lowed, Knox county was added to his Senatorial district; he was con- scquently a member of the State senate during the long session of 1851-2, which revised the statutes to conform to the new constitution of 1851. He went out of the senate in October, 1852, by the operation of
the new constitution. He was re- nominated for the position under the new constitution, but declined to be a candidate. In January, 1854, Hon. Alvin P. Hovey, who was judge of the then third judicial cir- cuit which embraced eleven of the southwestern counties, resigned the office. Governor Wright immedi- ately tendered Mr. Niblack the ap- pointment to fill the vacancy, which, after some hesitation, he accepted, and at once entered upon the duties of the office. In October following, he was elected to the office for the full term of six years.
At the October clection in 1856, Hon. James Lockhart, of Evans- ville, was elected a representative in Congress from the first district, which then embraced ten counties of Mr. Niblack's judicial circuit. In the early part of September, 1857, Mr. Lockhart died without having taken his seat in Congress. In the latter part of that month, Mr. Niblack was nominated as a candi- date to fill the vacancy. At the Oc- tober election following, he was elected without opposition. Near the close of the month of October, he resigned his judgeship to accept the position as a representative in
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the thirty-fifth Congress, which be- gan its first session on the first Monday in December following. In 1858 he was re-nominated and re-elected to the thirty-sixth Con- gress. In 1860, he was not a candi- date for re-election, and retired from Congress in the spring of 1861.
In the fall of 1855, he removed to Vincennes, in Knox county, where he still resides. At the October election, in 1862, he was elected a representative in the State legisla- ture from Knox county. During the ensuing session of the legisla- ture, he was appointed a member of what was known as the military auditing committee, which consist- ed of two members of the Senate and three members of the House, and was required to meet once in each month to consider and pass upon all claims arising against the State growing out of the war, of
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