USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 36
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JAMES GREGORY.
JAMES GREGORY, an Indiana pioneer, was born in Buncombe county, North Carolina, in the year 1783. When twenty-two years old he married Elizabeth Lee, and five years afterward left his native State and removed to Kentucky. He remained there three years, and in 1813 came to Indiana Territory. He located in Washington county, where he built a cabin in the woods, and in it placed his earthly goods, which were few, even for a Western pioneer. A large number of those who settled in Washington county were North Carolinians, so the young pio- neer had countrymen for neighbors. I say countrymen, for at that time, and indeed at the present day, people from the Southern States consider those who were born in the same State as themselves friends and countrymen. The young settler was strong and courageous, and in his neighborhood was a man of influence and a leader whom the people delighted to follow. The frontier was then menaced by Indians, and the pioneers were wont to carry their rifles in their hands, as they visited from cabin to cabin. Such were the surroundings of the sub- ject of this sketch for many years after he made his home in the Territory north of the Ohio river.
Three years after Mr. Gregory settled in Washington county he was an unsuccessful candidate for delegate to the convention that made our first State constitution. Two years after this, in 1818, he removed to Lawrence county, then just organized.
He was elected State Senator from the counties of Washing- ton, Orange, Jackson, Lawrence and Monroe, and took his seat November 27, 1820.
In 1818 Lewis Cass, Jonathan Jennings and Benjamin Parke, as commissioners on behalf of the United States, pur
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chased of the Indians all the central part of the State, and, with the exception of some small reservations, all the Indian lands south of the Wabash river. This large territory was known as the New Purchase, and among the first to locate upon it was James Gregory, the subject of this sketch. He bought a tract of land in Shelby county, about four miles west of where Shel- byville now stands, and again built a cabin and opened up a farm in the wilderness. He at once became a leading man of his county, was made a colonel of militia, and in 1822 was elected to the State Senate from his district. The district then comprised eight counties, including Marion, a county which now sends two men to the Senate upon a basis much larger than that upon which Mr. Gregory was elected from the eight. The other seven counties of the district were Hamilton, Madi- son, Johnson, Decatur, Shelby, Rush and Henry.
The constitution of 1816 required that "Corydon, in Harri- son county, shall be the seat of government until 1825, and until removed by law." The Legislature met on the first Monday of December in each year, and, therefore, that of 1824-25 must have met at Corydon, unless the time for its meeting was changed. Soon after Colonel Gregory took his seat in the Senate he went to work to get a law passed changing the time of the meeting of the Legislature to the first Monday in January in each year. He was assisted in his work by John Paxton, the representative from Marion county, by James Rariden, of Wayne, Milton Stapp. of Jefferson, and others. At the head of those opposed to it was Dennis Pennington, Senator from Harrison, a man of much influence, and Ratliff Boon, then Lieutenant-Governor of the State. These gentlemen succeeded in uniting the members from the southwestern part of the State against the measure, but there were not enough of them to de- feat it. It went through both houses and was approved by the Governor. The constitutional restriction being thus removed. Colonel Gregory succeeded in getting a law passed changing the capital to Indianapolis. The act was passed on the 28th of January, 1824, and provided that the offices and archives should be removed to the new capital by the 10th of the January fol- lowing, one year earlier than it could have been done had it not been for Colonel Gregory's bill.
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The hostility of the people of Corydon toward Colonel Greg- ory for his course in relation to the removal of the capital, was intense. Caricatures of him were posted on the walls of the State-house and in other places about the town. Indignities were offered him in public and threats were made to lynch him. The reasons which caused the people of Corydon to insult and abuse Colonel Gregory, endeared him the more to his constitu- ents of Marion county. James Blake, Calvin Fletcher, Samuel Henderson, Colonel Paxton and James M. Ray inaugurated a movement to give him a public dinner in recognition of his ser- vices. The dinner came off at Washington Hall, and was at- tended by most of the leading citizens of the town. Calvin Fletcher, Harvey Gregg, Colonel Paxton, John Hawkins, Nicholas McCarty and others made speeches. The late James M. Ray, in a letter to Judge Gregory, of Lafayette, thus speak; of the dinner :
"The speeches, and your father's happy and graceful reply, were cheered in the highest pitch. Sismond Basye (afterwards of Lafayette) was present ; also, B. J. Blythe, Hervey Bates, Alfred Harrison, O. Foote, Douglas Maguire, Nat Bolton, George Smith, Dr. Coe, D. Mitchell and others. It was a jolly good time, and a hearty proof of the high estimate of your father's prominence and popularity in our part of the 'New Purchase.' In decisive force of character, for executive ability and magnetic influence over his associates, Colonel Gregory had much of the force and stamp of Governor Morton."
Colonel Gregory continued in the Senate until 1831. when he lett Shelby county and removed to Warren. Before he left his home his neighbors and friends met at Shelbyville in mass con- vention to bid him good-bye. Judge Gregory, of Lafayette. was at this meeting, and, in a letter to the author, says : . I thought the speech of my father to his old friends and neighbors very touching and eloquent." He left them to again found a home in the wilderness.
Very soon after Colonel Gregory removed to Warren county he was sent to the Legislature. Wherever he went the people had use for him in a public capacity., In 1833 he ran for Con- gress against the eloquent Edward A. Hannegan, and was de-
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feated. In 1837 he was a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of the State, and was defeated by David Hillis. Colonel Gregory, while in the Legislature, opposed the vast schemes of internal improvement, then so popular in Indiana, and it was upon that issue he made his race for Lieutenant-Governor.
In the winter of 1842 Colonel Gregory went to New Orleans on a trading expedition. The next May he chartered a vessel in that city, loaded it with pork and flour, and sailed for Yucatan, in Central America. Soon after his arrival there he took the black vomit and died. A young man named Johnson was with him, and at his death took charge of his affairs, but nothing is definitely known about his sickness or the circumstances of his death. It is known, however, that he breathed his last at a small town on the coast, and was buried there. But no stone marks his resting place, and none of his family know the place where he sleeps. The ashes of the old pioneer mingle with foreign soil. but his memory will be preserved by the people of the State he helped to found.
When Colonel Gregory settled in Warren county the supplies of the settlers were brought from Chicago. The farmers would take their grain to Chicago in wagons, and return with them loaded with salt, leather and such other things as they needed. Colonel Gregory was a large trader in cattle, sheep and hogs. He once took a drove of cattle to Chicago and sold them to an ancestor of the Chicago sharper of to-day. Soon after getting possession of the cattle the purchaser sold them, put the money in his pocket and ran away without paying Colonel Gregory a dollar. As soon as the latter found out that he had been swindled, he got a rifle and a fast horse and put out after the swindler. He caught him, made him disgorge, and then, with a healthy malediction, let him go.
During Colonel Gregory's service in the Legislature his son Benjamin opened an office at Newport and commenced the practice of the law. His father wrote him a letter from Indian- apolis, which is still preserved in the family, and contains sen- timents worthy of a philosopher. He was not an educated man, and reached his enviable standing by reason of his strong com- mon sense and correct dealings ; but if he had not studied the
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philosophers, he was not a stranger to their teachings. The letter is as follows :
" DEAR SON-I received your letter from Newport. You have now settled down as a lawyer ; you are young in experience and amongst strangers. On your course now as a young man of your profession much of your future standing in society de- pends. You must be steady. Meddle not with anything that you are not called on to take part in, saying nothing in your speeches in any tryal you may be engaged that is qualifyed to injure the feeling of any person ; be faithful to your client and honest in all your dealings ; take exercise for your health ; walk where you can ; avoid drinking strong drink, you can do well without. I have not and I think I shall not taste one drop of anything that tends in the least to stimulate, and I have just as good health as any member here that uses it. One other injunc- tion, and in this and from this you must in nowise deviate : Never, never, in no case, do you gamble-not the most inno- cent games. Never put your hands on a card-they have a be- witching quality about them. Go to meeting and other moral societys, so that you can always be numbered with those that respect the morals of the country. Dabble as little in politics as possible. You must have always before your eye that your brothers are moral men-so I want all my children to be when they leave me. I will send your books to you so soon as they come to hand. Your Father and Friend,
"JAMES GREGORY.
" Mr. Benjamin F. Gregory, Newport, Indiana."
The orthography of the letter may be faulty, but no one will find fault with its sentiments.
Colonel Gregory was not only a pioneer of Indiana, but was one of four counties. He didn't like to be crowded, and when population came about him he sold out and moved away. He was never better satisfied than when building cabins and clear- ing up land. He was essentially a pioneer.
Colonel Gregory was a strong man, both in mind and in body. He weighed 244 pounds, had fair complexion, black hair and eyes. He was of commanding presence, would have been a
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man of mark in any company. He was one of those who opened up Indiana to civilization, and the people owe him much. He left a family which has honored his name. Three of his sons and a grandson have sat in the Legislature of the State, and one of them, Hon. Robert C. Gregory, of Lafayette, served a term as Supreme Judge. Right worthily they bear their father's name.
JOSEPH GLASS MARSHALL.
" He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again."
SCOTCH-IRISH and cavalier blood mingled in the veins of Joseph G. Marshall. Like the North of Ireland man, he got all the contention out of a thing there was in it; and like the cavalier, he was warm-hearted, impulsive, and brave. When contending for a principle he believed to be right you would imagine him a born son of Carrickfergus; when at the fire- side, or around the social board, he would impress you as one born on the banks of the York or the James. His father was a Scotch-Irishman and his mother a Virginian, so his leading characteristics were his by inheritance.
Joseph Glass Marshall was born in Fayette county, Ken- tucky, January 18, 1800. His father was a Presbyterian minis- ter, and he thoroughly indoctrinated the son in the principles of the Scottish Church. He was fitted for college at home, en- tering Transylvania University as a junior, and graduating from that institution in 1823. In 1828 he came to Indiana and set- tled at Madison, where he resided until he died. He had studied law in Kentucky, and although a young man in a town noted for the strength of its bar, he soon obtained a lucrative practice. Two years after coming to Indiana he was elected Probate Judge of his county, and discharged the duties of the office with signal ability. When he left the judgeship he returned to the bar. In 1836, 1840, and 1844, he was on the Whig electoral ticket, and each time made an active canvass of the State. In 1846 he was nominated for Governor and was beaten by James Whitcomb 3,958 votes. In 1849 President Taylor appointed
Joseph q. Marshall.
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him Governor of Oregon, but he refused the place. Before de- clining, however, he went to Washington and personally thanked the President for the tender of the office. In 1850 he was elected Senator from his county, and served the legal term. In 1852, much against his wishes, he was nominated for Congress in his district, and was beaten by Cyrus L. Dunham 931 votes. This was the last race he made before the people. In addition to the offices named, he represented his county several times in the lower branch of the State Legislature.
Mr. Marshall had an ambition to go to the United States Sen- ate, but his ambition was never gratified. In the Legislature of 1844 the Whigs had ten majority on joint ballot. They nom- inated him for the Senate, but the Democrats refused to go into an election. Each party had twenty-five members in the Sen- ate, and Jesse D. Bright, then Lieutenant-Governor, gave the casting vote against going into the election. In 1845 the Dem- ocrats carried the Legislature, and elected Mr. Bright to the Senate, his vote being eighty, and Mr. Marshall's sixty-six. His defeat the year before incensed him against Mr. Bright, and ever afterward he hated him.
In the Legislature of 1854 the People's, or anti-Nebraska party, had a majority of fourteen on joint ballot, but the Demo- crats, having two majority in the Senate, prevented the election of a Senator. Mr. Marshall was the nominee of the dominant party, and had an election been held he would have been chosen. Thus it will be seen that he was twice kept from go- ing to the Senate by the refusal of the Democrats to perform a legal duty.
Mr. Marshall was at Indianapolis most of the time during the session of the Legislature of 1854-5, and while there contracted a deep cold. The cold settled on his lungs, and soon became alarming. Early in the spring of 1855 he started on a Southern trip, in hopes of regaining his health. When he reached Louis- ville, being too sick to proceed further, he took to his bed, and. on the 8th of April, 1855, died. His remains were brought to Madison and there interred. When the sad news reached In- dianapolis a meeting of the bar was held to take action upon his death. Governor Wright presided at the meeting, and James
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Rariden was the secretary. A committee consisting of Oliver H. Smith, Samuel C. Wilson and Simon Yandes was appointed to prepare suitable resolutions, and reported the following :
"The members of the bar have recently heard with deep re- gret that their professional brother, Joseph G. Marshall, is no more.
" The profession has been deprived of one of its brightest or- naments, and our State and country of a distinguished citizen. We who have witnessed the pure example of the deceased can not permit an event so solemn and affecting to pass unnoticed. Few men of his age in any country have left behind stronger proofs of eminent professional abilities, or higher claims to pri- vate and public confidence. While we feel a just pride in the professional attainments and distinguished character of the de- ceased we will long cherish a recollection of his social qualities and amiable deportment in private life which endeared him to his friends and acquaintances.
"Therefore, in order to testify our regard for the memory of the deceased,
" Resolved, That we hold in the highest estimation the pure and exalted private and professional character of Joseph G. Marshall, and deeply lament the loss which the profession and the country have sustained by the death of one so eminently qualified for the high position which he occupied. *"
The meeting appointed Oliver H. Smith to present the pre- amble and resolutions to the United States Circuit Court, then in session. The next day Mr. Smith performed the duty, and Judge McLean ordered them recorded. Before making the order he said :
" The court sympathizes with the bar in the loss of one of its distinguished members. Our social and professional relations teach us how uncertain is the tenure of our earthly existence. Among all the members of the bar there was no one who, from his apparent strength of constitution and healthful vigor, ap- peared to have a stronger hold on life than the friend whose death we now deplore.
" Mr. Marshall was a man of vigorous intellect and of strong.
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reasoning powers. His mind had a basis of common sense, without which learning and experience are of little value. In the strength of his views he more than compensated for any want of polish in his manner. He was always sensible, often convincing. At any bar in the Union his ability would have been marked, and he would have been considered as an antago- nist worthy of the highest efforts. His professional bearing was elevated and honorable. The loss of such a man can not but be deeply felt and deplored by the public, and especially by the bench and the bar, to whom he was best known.
. "The court directs the proceedings presented to be placed upon the records."
Indiana never had the equal of Mr. Marshall in breadth and strength of intellect. Neither did she ever have his equal in ability to stir the passions and sway the feelings of the people. . She has had men of greater culture and of more general infor- mation, but in those qualities which enable the orator to melt the hearts and fire the passions of his auditors he was without a peer. He was called the "Sleeping Lion," and, when fully aroused, he was a lion indeed.
On such occasions his oratory was like the hurricane that sweeps everything before it. Ordinarily, he did not show his power, but when engaged in a case that enlisted his feelings and his conscience his words were like hot shot from the cannon's mouth. I will name but two examples of his power to sway the people. One was his speech in defense of John Freeman, charged with being a fugitive slave. Of this effort Miss Laura Ream gives the following account :
" The trial of the case excited unusual interest from the fact that Freeman had long resided in that place, and, with his family, was held in personal esteem. He alleged, under oath, and his counsel brought testimony to prove, that he was a free man, but the presiding judge did not care to brave the popular sentiment in favor of the fugitive slave law, and at the close of the argu- ment asked if there was no other reason why the prisoner should not be returned to his master? On the instant, a man on the outskirts of the bar, in the old Court-house, was seen to rise to his feet. He did it slowly, grasping the table before him with
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both hands as if to steady his quivering nerves ; and towering to his full height, with breast heaving and eyes aflame, in trumpet tones began : 'Your Honor, though not of counsel for this un- fortunate man, I think I can answer the question why he should not be remanded to slavery. I will answer that question. The law presumes every man to be free. It is a fundamental ques- tion going back to the first principles of free government. It is essential to State sovereignty. For it we went to war with Great Britain in 1812 ; shall we surrender it now? The writ of habeas corpus was not suspended by the fugitive slave law. It is the inalienable right of every citizen, whether black or white, whether bond or free. The State is not required to deliver up a person held to service in another State before she knows whether that person is a slave or not. In this case the fact of slavery is denied, and there is no power in the world that had the right to determine the point but the sovereign State of In- diana, to whom this man belongs.' The above is but the im- perfect summary of a speech which electrified the audience. which did not need to be told that the speaker was ' Jo Marshall,' as he was familiarly called. In a moment the court-room, every window, was crowded with people, eager, breathless, in tears, and ready to protect the prisoner with their lives. The incident has been related to me by different men who were pres- ent, but none could define the secret of Mr. Marshall's elo- quence. ' He was like one inspired,' said one gentleman. ‘He was the incarnate majesty of right. I could no more define the quality of his eloquence than I could explain the wonders of the deep.' "
The other case was his defense of Delia A. Webster, charged with running off slaves from Kentucky. Miss Webster lived on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river, opposite the city of Madison. Previous to her residence there she had served a term in the Kentucky State prison for assisting slaves to escape. While residing opposite Madison she was an object of suspicion on the part of her Kentucky neighbors. Several slaves in the neighborhood escaped, and investigation showed that she prompted their leaving. For this she was indicted in the Trimble Circuit Court, but before being caught she crossed the
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river to Madison. She was arrested on a requisition from the Governor, but before the officers could get her away Mr. Mar- shall had her brought before a judge on a writ of habeas corpus. In his speech at the trial he so maddened the people that they drove the Kentucky officers from the Court-house and from the State. Indeed, they had to run for their lives, so frenzied were the people.
In some respects Mr. Marshall's oratory was faulty, but it was none the less effective. He seemed to speak from his throat, and not from his chest. When excited he enunciated so rapidly and sent his words after each other so swiftly that they ran to- gether. His voice was not musical, like that of Hannegan, but his matter was so strong that one hardly noticed his defects. In his day the Madison bar was a strong one, but he was its king. Michael G. Bright, Judge Sullivan, Judge Stevens, William McKee Dunn and Abram W. Hendricks, all lawyers of emi- nence, practiced at it, but none of them approached Mr. Mar- shall in ability to convince courts and sway juries. The litigant who had him for an advocate was fortunate, indeed. In fact, it was almost impossible to get a verdict against him when he was thoroughly aroused and " shook his mane."
A man with Mr. Marshall's power to arouse passion in others must have passion himself. He had plenty of it, and, although like his eloquence, it was usually dormant, yet when it was stirred it was hot and burning. The late John Dumont once de- murred to a complaint drawn by Marshall, and made his points so well, and argued them so strongly, that it seemed almost cer- tain he would be sustained. At that time a demurrer was a more serious matter than it now is, for, if maintained, it drove the plaintiff out of court ; therefore, Marshall fought Mr. Du- mont with all his might. When it became evident that the court would decide against him he asked for a suspension of judgment until he could bring a certain authority into court. The favor being granted he thrust his hat upon his head and started for his office almost on the run. At that time Judge Woollen, now of Franklin, had a sleeping-room adjoining Mr. Marshall's office, and was in it when Mr. Marshall reached his door. He tried to open it, and, finding it locked, cried out fiercely : "Woollen, have you the key to this door?" " No.
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sir," replied Mr. Woollen ; "I do not carry your key, Mr. Marshall." The hall leading to his office was some six feet wide, and Marshall, backing up against the wall, and drawing his lips between his teeth, shouted, " d-n the door," and with a bound and a kick he went through it like a flash. Mr. Wool- len went down the stairs, but, being desirous of seeing the re- sult of the storm, stopped in the doorway. In a few minutes Mr. Marshall came down the stairway, and observing Mr. Woollen, he said, with a smile, " Woollen, I had the key in my pocket. My passion has cost me a door."
Mr. Marshall and Judge Otto were once opposing counsel in a case at Charlestown, and during the trial had a personal diffi- culty. Mr. Marshall, becoming incensed at something Judge Otto said, retorted very severely. During the wrangle Judge Otto called him a liar, whereupon Mr. Marshall knocked him down. Jndge Otto arose, and, coming at Mr. Marshall in a belligerent manner, was knocked down again. He then got up and went out of the house to arm himself preparatory to re- newing the fight. While he was gone some one told Mr. Mar- shall that he was to blame for the commencement of the diffi- culty, whereupon he sat down and wrote Judge Otto a letter in which he apologized for his conduct and asked his pardon. He was too great and brave to refuse justice when justice was due.
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