USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 7
USA > Indiana > Franklin County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 7
USA > Indiana > Union County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 7
USA > Indiana > Fayette County > Biographical and genealogical history of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin counties, Indiana, Volume I > Part 7
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
FRANCIS M. BILBY.
The subject of this sketch, Francis M. Bilby, of Connersville, Indiana, is one of the prominent and influential farmers and stock dealers of Fairview township. He is a native of Fayette county and has been identified with it all his life. He was born June 5, 1830, son of Stephen C. and Jane (Lud_ low) Bilby, and is of English descent. His grandfather Bilby came from England to America on board a pirate ship, by surprise, during the Revolu- tionary period, and fought for independence in the American army. After the war he settled in Pennsylvania, where his death occurred some years later. His children were John, of Ohio; Joseph, of Terre Haute, Indiana; Stephen C., father of the subject of this sketch; Richard and Mrs. Lois Johnson.
Stephen C. Bilby grew to manhood in Ohio and was married there, and in 1828 came to Indiana, settling in Fayette county. He subsequently entered land in the new purchase at Indianapolis, where he improved a farm. This farm he sold in 1856 and at that time purchased a small farm in Harri-
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son township, where he passed the closing years of his life, his death occur- ring in 1873. His wife died in 1883, at the home of her son, Francis M. They were old-school Presbyterians, strict in their religious views, and plain and unassuming in manner. By trade Stephen C. Bilby was a blacksmith, and through the greater part of his life followed it, in connection with his farming operations.
The Ludlows were New Jersey people, and it was in that state that Mrs. Bilby was born. She was reared and married in Ohio, to which place her parents emigrated and where they passed the rest of their lives and died. Their family comprised four children: Henry, John, Jane and Osa, the last named the wife of Mr. S. Phipps. Stephen C. and Jane (Ludlow) Bilby were the parents of seven children, as follows: Mrs. Julia A. Wallace; Mrs. Viola Moffit; Salona, who died at the age of seventeen years; Francis M., whose name introduces this sketch; Albert G., a resident of Wayne county, Indiana; Jasper, deceased, left a family; and Mrs. Elizabeth Lesord, deceased.
Francis M. Bilby was reared on his father's farm. After completing his studies in the common schools, he taught school and with the proceeds attended Fairview Academy, in this way obtaining a good education. He remained a member of his father's household until his marriage, in Decem- ber, 1854, when he settled on a rented farm. He farmed rented land for eleven years. During this time careful economy and honest industry enabled him to lay by a snug little sum, and in 1865 he purchased the farm upon which he has since lived. He has made additional purchases from time to time until his landed estate now comprises over one thousand acres, in Fay- ette and Delaware counties. Mr. Bilby has always carried on general farm- ing and stock-raising, and since 1850 has dealt more or less in stock, some- times buying in large quantities and shipping to market, taking a pride in handling only the best the county afforded. While his operations have in the main been successful, he has had his full share of misfortune, meeting with losses in many ways. He has lost by cholera as many as a thousand hogs. Throughout his whole career Mr. Bilby's transactions have always been strictly on the square. He has never defrauded any one out of a single penny and he has reason to take just pride in his high standing among the capital- ists of the country, who regard his word as good as his bond.'
Mr. Bilby married Miss Dorcas A. Etherton, daughter of Stout Ether- ton, of Ohio, who came to Indiana about 1832 and bought and improved a farm in Fayette county. Mr. Etherton died in Milton, Indiana. He was known as a Whig in early life and was a supporter of the Republican party from the time of its organization. Religiously he was a Baptist. His chil- dren were Charles, Joseph, Aaron and Dorcas A. by his first wife. Charles
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and Aaron died in early life. Joseph was a volunteer in the Union army during the civil war and died in the army. By his second wife Mr. Etherton had the following named children: Margaret, Mary, Sarah, Nancy. Adeline, Samuel and Sophia. After the death of his second wife, whose maiden name was Rachael Martin, Mr. Etherton married her sister, Sarah Martin. There were no children by this union. Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Bilby are the par- ents of ten children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Charles and Emerson, farmers; Florence, who was the wife of Alva Hardy, died, leaving three children; Mrs. Clara Kendry; Elmar, a farmer; Mary Anna, wife of E. Williams; and Alva E., Morton, Palmer W. and Sherman, all farmers.
Mr. Bilby affiliates with the Republican party and takes an interest in public affairs, but has never been an aspirant for political favors, nor has he ever filled office of any kind, his own extensive business affairs occupying the whole of his time and attention.
AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE.
General Ambrose Everett Burnside was born in Liberty, Indiana, May 23, 1824, and died in Bristol, Rhode Island, September 3, 1881. The Burn- side family are of Scottish origin. Having followed the fortunes of Charles Edward, the pretender, until his final defeat at Culloden, in 1746, the found- ers of the American branch emigrated to South Carolina. The revolt of the American colonies against Britain divided them, some joining the patriots, others remaining loyal to the crown. Among the latter was James, grand- father of Ambrose, who was a captain in one of the regiments of South Caro- lina royalists. When it became certain that the revolution would be success- ful he, in company with others whose estates were confiscated, escaped to Jamaica, but eventually obtained amnesty from the young republic and returned to South Carolina. After his death his widow and her four sons migrated to Indiana, manumitting their slaves, from conscientious motives. Edghill, the third of these sons, settled in the new town of Liberty, and in 1814 married Pamelia Brown, another emigrant from South Carolina. He taught school for a time, and, having some legal knowledge, was, in 1815, elected associate judge of the county court, and subsequently clerk of court, which office he held until 1850. Ambrose, the fourth of nine children, was born in a rude log cabin at the edge of the wilderness. The village schools were exceptionally good for a frontier town, and at seventeen he had acquired a better education than most boys of his age, but his father could not afford to give him a professional training, and he was indentured to a merchant tailor. After learning the trade he returned to Liberty and began business as a partner under the style of Myers & Burnside, merchant tailors. Con-
Ambrose &. Burnside.
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versation with veterans of the second war with Great Britain interested him in military affairs, and he read all the histories and other books bearing on the subject that he could procure. In 1847 he was appointed a cadet at the West Point Military Academy, where there were more than a score of future generals, including McClellan, Hancock and "Stonewall" Jackson. The war with Mexico was nearly over when Burnside was graduated, but he accom- panied one of the last detachment of recruits to the conquered capital, and remained there as second lieutenant of the Third Artillery during the military occupation of the place. Then followed years of life in garrison and on the- frontier, including some Indian fighting.
In 1852 he married Mary Richmond, daughter of Nathanial Bishop, of Providence, Rhode Island, and in November of the same year resigned his. commission, having invented a breech-loading rifle, the manufacture of which he wished to superintend. In August, 1857, a board of army officers reported favorably upon the Burnside breech-loader; but the inventor would not pay his way among the underlings of the war department, and was forced to go into bankruptcy. He devoted all his personal property to the liquidation of his debts, sought employment, found it at Chicago, under George B. McClel- lan, then vice-president of the Illinois Central Railroad, and, by practicing strict economy, he eventually paid every obligation. In June, 1860, he be- came treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad, his office being in New York city. In the autumn of that year he visited New Orleans on business, and gained an insight into the movement for secession that shook his lifelong faith in the Democratic party. So confidently did he anticipate war that he set his business affairs in order, and was ready to start at once when, on April 15, 1861, Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, telegraphed for him to take command of the First Regiment of detached militia. On April 20 the regiment left Providence by sea, and marched, with the other battalions that had been hurried forward, from Annapolis to Washington, reaching the capi- tal on the 26th of April. The preliminary operations about Washington soon culminated, owing mainly to popular outcry and political pressure at the north, in the premature advance of the federal army and to the battle of Manassas or Bull Run on the 21st of July. Colonel Burnside commanded a brigade on the extreme right of Hunter's division, which was detached from the main army early in the morning and sent across an upper ford to turn the Confederate left. The movement was anticipated by the enemy, and a sharp engagement took place, at the beginning of which General Hunter was wounded, leaving Burnside in command. The Confederates were forced back, losing heavily, until nearly noon, when they were reinforced by Gen- eral Johnston's advance brigade under Jackson, who stemmed the tide of fugitives and there won his name of " Stonewall." By this time Burnside's
4
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ammunition was exhausted, and his command had to fall back. It made no further aggressive movement, but retained its organization after the rout of the army and on the retreat toward Washington. A period of comparative inactivity followed, during which Colonel Burnside's regiment was mustered out, on the expiration of its term of service. On August 6, 1861, he was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers, and given a command of the three-year regiments then assembling at Washington. On the 23d of Octo- ber General Burnside was directed to organize a " coast division," with head- quarters at Annapolis. This force was largely composed of regiments recruited on the New England coasts, and was intended for operations along the lower Potomac and Chesapeake bay. The plan was changed, however, the expeditionary force was largely increased, and on January 12, 1862, a corps of twelve thousand men, on a fleet of forty-six transports, sailed from Hampton Roads with sealed orders directing them to rendezvous in Pamlico sound by way of Hatteras inlet. Within twenty-four hours a heavy gale arose, which lasted nearly two weeks, scattered the fleet and imperiled its safety. On the 25th of January, however, all the vessels had passed through Hatteras inlet and were safe in the sound. On the 5th of February the fleet, with an escort of gunboats, moved toward Roanoke island, a fortified post of the Confederates, and engaged the gunboats and batteries. Within a few hours a landing was effected, and on the 8th of February the Confederate position near the middle of the island was carried and the garrison captured, numbering two thousand five hundred men. The possession of Roanoke island gave command of the extensive land-locked waters of Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and was one of the earliest substantial successes of the national arms. Newbern, North Carolina, was occupied, after a sharp strug- gle, on the 14th of March. The surrender of Forts Macon and Beaufort soon followed, and when General Burnside visited the north on a short leave of absence he found himself welcomed as the most uniformly successful of the federal leaders.
During the campaign in the Carolinas and the early summer following, the Army of the Potomac, under McClellan, had been defeated before Rich- mond, and had in turn repelled the Confederates at Malvern Hill. Burnside relinquished the command of the department of North Carolina, and, with his old division reorganized as the Ninth Corps, was transferred to the Army of the Potomac, which held the north shore of Rappahannock, opposite Fredericksburg. The chief command was offered to Burnside, but he abso- lutely declined it, frankly declaring that he did not consider himself com- petent. On the 27th of June the order was issued relieving McClellan and placing Pope in command. The fortunes of the Confederacy now seemed so distinctly in the ascendant that it was determined at Richmond to assume
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the offensive. The preparations for the movement were at once known in Washington, and the administration urged General Pope to create a diver- sion along the line of the Rappahannock. This he attempted, but was foiled almost at all points, and the Army of Virginia, as it was temporarily desig- nated, fell back sullen and demoralized after a second defeat at Manassas, upon the defences of Washington, where Burnside was again asked to take command, but again declined. In its extremity, the administration again called upon McClellan, who, in a remarkably short time, brought order out of chaos and reinspired the army with a degree of confidence. By this time Lee's advance had crossed the Potomac near Sharpsburg, and Burnside was sent to meet him with the First and Ninth Corps. On the 3d of September he left Washington. On the 12th of September he met the enemy's pickets at Frederick City, and on the 14th encountered the Confederates in force at South Mountain, and very handsomely dislodged them from a strong position. The energy of this movement was probably not anticipated by General Lee. He retreated to Antietam creek, threw up intrenchments and awaited attack. To Burnside's Ninth Corps, on the morning of the battle of Antietam (Sep- tember 17th), was assigned the task of capturing and holding a stone bridge. This was done at a terrible sacrifice of life; but it was the key to the position, and, according to a high Confederate authority (Edward A. Pollard, the his- torian), if the bridge could have been recaptured the result of the battle of Antietam would have been decisive. The army remained in the neighbor- hood of Sharpsburg until early in November, when Mcclellan was relieved, and on the 10th of November Burnside reluctantly assumed command. At this time the Confederate army was divided, Longstreet and Jackson com- manding, respectively, its right and left wings, being separated by at least two days' march. McClellan and Burnside were always warm personal friends, and the former gave his successor in command the benefit of his projected plans.
A month passed in reorganizing the army in three grand divisions, under Generals Sumner, Franklin and Hooker, with the Eleventh Corps under Sigel as a reserve. The plan was to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and, if possible, crush the separated wings of the Confederate army in detail. The movement began on the 15th of November, and four days later the army occupied the heights opposite Fredericksburg, but with the river intervening and no pontoon train ready. The responsibility for this failure has never been charged to General Burnside, nor has it ever been definitely fixed upon any one, save a vague and impersonal " department;" but it necessitated a fatal delay, for Lee had moved nearly as rapidly as Burnside, and promptly occupied and fortified the heights south of the river. During the period of enforced inaction that followed, General Burnside went to Washington and
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expressed his doubts as to the policy of crossing the river, in view of the fail- ure of the attempt to divide Lee's forces. But he was urged to push a winter campaign against Richmond, and, returning to the front, gave orders to place the bridges. This was gallantly effected in the face of a sharp resistance, Fredericksburg was cleared of the enemy, and on the 13th of December, the whole national army had crossed, and was in position south of the Rappa- hannock. The situation in brief was this: South and in the rear of Freder- icksburg is a range of hills irregularly parallel to the course of the river; the space between is a plateau well adapted for the movement of troops. This was occupied by the national army in the three grand divisions specified,- Sumner holding the right, Hooker the center, and Franklin the left. The Confederates occupied the naturally strong position along the crest of the hills, and were well intrenched, with batteries in position. Longstreet com- manded the right wing, and Jackson the left. The weak point of the Con- federate line was at its right, owing to a depression of the hills, and here it was at first intended to make a determined assault; but, for some reason, orders were sent to Franklin, at the last moment, merely to make a demonstration, while Sumner attempted to carry Marye's hill, which, naturally a strong position, was rendered nearly impregnable by a sunken road, bordered by a stone wall along its base. The best battalions in the army were sent against this position, but the fire of artillery and infantry was so severe that nothing was gained, although the struggle was kept up till nightfall, General Hooker's division being the last to attack, only to be repelled as its predecessors had been. Burnside would have renewed the attack on the next day, but Sum- ner dissuaded him at the last moment, and that night the whole army re- crossed the river, having lost, in killed and wounded and missing, more than twelve thousand men. Some of these, however, afterward returned to their regiments. The Confederate loss was five thousand three hundred and nine. Insubordination was soon developed among the corps and division command- ers, and Burnside issued an order, subject to the president's approval, sum- marily dismissing several of them from the service, and relieving others from duty. The order, which sweepingly included Hooker, Franklin, Newton, and Brooks, was not approved, and General Burnside was superseded by Major-General Hooker.
Transferred to the Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at Cincin- nati, Burnside found himself forced to take stringent measures in regard to the proceedings of southern sympathizers on both sides of the river. On April 13, 1863, he issued his famous general order defining certain treasonable offences, and announcing that they would not be tolerated. Numerous arrests followed, including that of Clement L. Vallandigham, who was tried by military commission for making a treasonable speech, was
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found guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment during the remainder of the war. This sentence the president commuted to banishment, and Vallan- digham was sent within the lines of the Confederacy. The Democrats of Ohio thereupon nominated him for governor, but he was defeated by a majority of more than one hundred thousand. In August, 1863, Burnside crossed the Cumberland mountains at the head of eighteen thousand men, marching two hundred and fifty miles in fourteen days, causing the Confeder- ates, who had their headquarters at Knoxville, to make a hasty retreat. He pushed forward, and Cumberland Gap was captured, with its garrison and stores. Attacked by Longstreet, with a superior force, General Burn- side retreated in good order, fighting all the way to Knoxville, where he was fortified and provisioned for a siege by the time Longstreet was ready to invest the place. This movement, according to General Burnside's biogra- pher, was made on his own responsibility to draw Longstreet away from Grant's front, and thus facilitate the defeat of General Bragg, which soon fol- lowed. The siege of Knoxville was prosecuted with great vigor for a month, when the approach of General Sherman compelled Longstreet to raise the siege. Immediately afterward General Burnside was relieved, and devoted himself to recruiting and reorganizing the Ninth Corps. In April, 1864, he resumed command at Annapolis, with the corps nearly twenty thousand strong. Attached once more to the Army of the Potomac, this time under General Grant, he led his corps through the battles of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, and the operations against Petersburg. In these latter engage- ments the corps suffered very heavily, and General Meade preferred charges of disobedience against Burnside, and ordered a court-martial for his trial. This course was not approved of by General Grant, and, at Burnside's request, a court of inquiry was ordered, which eventually found him " ans- werable for the want of success." He had always held that the failure was due to interference with his plan of assault, and before a congressional com- mittee of investigation much testimony was adduced to show that this was really the case.
General Burnside resigned from the army on the 15th of April, 1865, with a military record that does him high honor as a patriotic, brave and able officer, to whom that bane of army life, professional jealousy, was unknown. He always frankly admitted his own unfitness for the command of a large army and accepted such commands only under stress of circumstances. Returning to civil life he became at once identified with railroad construction and management. He was elected governor of Rhode Island in April, 1866, and re-elected in 1867 and 1868. Declining a fourth nomination he devoted himself successfully to the great railroad interests with which he was identi- fied. He went to Europe on business during the height of the Franco-Prus-
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sian war, and, as a soldier, naturally wished to witness some of the siege operations before Paris. Visiting the Prussian headquarters at Versailles simply in a private capacity, he found himself called upon to act as an envoy between the hostile forces, which he did, passing back and forth under a flag of truce, endeavoring to further negotiations for peace. In Paris, and among the German besiegers, he was looked upon with the greatest curiosity, and, although his efforts at peace-making were unsuccessful, he secured the lasting respect and confidence of both sides. In January, 1875, after his return to this country, he was elected United States senator from Rhode Island and in 1880 was re-elected. He took a leading position in the senate, was chairman on the committee of foreign affairs and sustained his lifelong character as a fair-minded and patriotic citizen. His death, which was very sudden, from neuralgia of the heart, occurred at his home in Bristol, Rhode Island. The funeral ceremonies assumed an almost national character, for his valuable services as a soldier and as a statesman had secured general recognition, and in his own state he was the most conspicuous man of his time. Burnside was a tall and handsome man, of soldierly bearing, with charming manners, which won for him troops of friends and admirers. He outlived his wife and died childless.
REV. PHINEAS LAMB.
One of the best known and most generally loved citizens of Richmond and vicinity was Rev. Phineas Lamb, whose whole life was passed in this immediate section of Wayne county. From his youth he seemed to be of a serious, deeply religious nature, and, as he grew older, the meaning and responsibilities of life wore a yet graver aspect for him. He was thoroughly earnest and sincere in all his thoughts, words and deeds, and his noble, manly life has proved an inspiration to many of his old friends and associates. Though he has passed to his reward, the influence of his conscientious, just career, his kindly, generous heart and sympathetic manner abide.
A son of Thomas and Sarah (Smith) Lamb, and brother of Isaac Lamb, a well known resident of Wayne county, the subject of this sketch was born on the old family homestead, two and a half miles northwest of Richmond, September 5, 1824. His boyhood was passed in the usual active labors com- mon to frontier life in those days, and when quite young he was competent to manage a farm. He continued to dwell on the parental farm until 1875, when he took up his abode in the western part of Richmond and gave his attention to gardening. There he was still living at the time of his death, January 26, 1887, when he was in his sixty-third year. For many years he had been a licensed minister in the Methodist Episcopal denomination and was very active in the work of the church. On numerous occasions he occu-
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pied the pulpit, and for years he served as a class-leader, superintendent of the Sunday-school and in other official positions in the West Richmond church. He had been reared in the faith of the Society of Friends, but, after studying the gospel and the doctrines of various churches, he came to the conclusion that none surpassed in beauty, simplicity and the amount of good accomplished in the elevation of the world that of the Methodists, and he accordingly enlisted in its wonderful army of communicants. As would be expected of such a man, true in all his relations to his fellows, he was loyal to his duties as a citizen of this great commonwealth, and used his franchise in favor of all noble principles and upright candidates for public office. He was a Republican in national affairs, while in local matters he voted for the man rather than for the party.
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