USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 7
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In another speech delivered on a series of resolutions intro- duced by Mr. Rariden, approving of Mr. Clay's compromise measures, Governor Wallace made the following rather note- worthy statement. He said :
" MR. PRESIDENT-I hope that the charge of being an abo- litionist will not be made against me because I vote against the postponement of these resolutions. I ought to be above suspi- cion, for when I had the honor of a seat in Congress I voted to expel the high priest of abolitionism from that body-Joshua R. Giddings. I voted for that expulsion, and I speak of it now as an act that, under the same circumstances, and influenced by
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the same impressions which then operated on me, I would cheerfully do again. I voted on that occasion regardless of consequences, honestly believing that the welfare of the country demanded such an example."
In 1856 Governor Wallace was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and held the office until he died. As a judge he was impartial and able, and made the best record of his life.
He died suddenly on the 4th of September, 1859, and the next day the Indianapolis bar convened to take action upon his death. Judge David McDonald presided at the meeting, and John Co- burn acted as secretary. Several gentlemen delivered ad- dresses, and a committee on resolutions was appointed. The resolutions were reported by Mr. Coburn, one of them declar- ing that the dead jurist " was a just judge-firm, upright, clear, patient, laborious, impartial and conscientious." Mr. Coburn was appointed to present the resolutions to the Circuit Court, and twenty-one days afterward he performed the duty, accom- panying the presentation with an eloquent eulogy upon the life and character of the deceased. The address was a chaste and elegant production, and worthy of its distinguished subject. Speaking of Governor Wallace's ability as a speaker, Mr. Co- burn said :
"As an orator Governor Wallace had few equals in the na- tion. With a voice modulated to the finest and nicest precision, an eye sparkling and expressive, a countenance and person re- markable for beauty and symmetry, he stepped upon the speak- er's stand, in these respects, far in advance of his compeers. His style of delivery was impressive, graceful, and at times impassioned, never rising to a scream or breaking into wild ges- ticulations, and never descending into indistinctness or lassi- tude. His style of composition was chaste, finished, flowing, and beautiful, often swelling up into rarest eloquence or melt- ing down into the tenderest pathos.
* His prepared orations were completed with the severest care. As the sculp- tor chisels down and finishes his statue, chipping and chipping away the stone to find within his beautiful ideal, so did he elabo- rate his thoughts till they assumed the shape he would give them, and so will retain them forever.".
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DAVID WALLACE.
Previous to ordering the resolutions placed upon the records Judge Wick said :
" The political and official history of the deceased would lead one, in the absence of knowledge of his personal character, to expect that he had become more or less imbued with the spirit of the times. But those who have known him longest, and the most intimately, can unite their voices in calling for proof or allegation that he ever knowingly wronged a fellow-creature, or pocketed a single cent in dishonesty or corruption.
" Few persons born at the close of the last century, and flour- ishing during more than half the present one, prominent in both private and political station, can present such a record as this.
" Verily, the absence of evil is the best evidence of the pres- ence of good-far better than all the monuments ever erected by either real or Pharisaic piety."
On the 7th of November, 1835, a convention was held on the Tippecanoe battle- ground, at which General Harrison was formally put forward for the presidency. William Ross Wal- lace read a poem, and Governor Wallace, in replying to a toast, said :
" We have been told by the magic genius of our youthful poet that we are standing on one of the proudest battle fields of our country, the very soil of which has been rendered holy by the blood of heroes ; that some of the noblest of Kentucky chivalry are sleeping beneath our feet, inclosed in the same grave, mingling their dust with the bravest of the sons of In- diana ; that, although no monument as yet arises to commemo- rate their deeds, no inscription to claim the homage of gratitude from the traveler, scarce a vestige to indicate the exact place of their repose, still-still they are not forgotten. Their memories and their sacrifices have found an abiding place and a sanctu- ary in the hearts of the living who are here, and of every son and daughter of Indiana who is absent, and there they remain, to be forever fondly and devotedly cherished while man has a soul to worship at the altar of patriotism, or woman a tear to shed at the tomb of the fallen brave."
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He then pronounced a glowing eulogy upon General Harri- son, during which he said :
" It is the first time in my life that the opportunity has pre- sented itself enabling me to pay a long-existing debt of grati- tude to one whose name and whose services are identified with the history and the glory of this field. Twenty-four years ago, and you all recollect how consternation and dismay pervaded the whole line of our Western frontier ; how conflagration and murder and massacre were the ordinary scenes of the day ; and how the fiend-like yell of the savage was often the last sound that rang upon the ear of the dying pioneer as he sank beneath the assassin blow of the Indian knife or tomahawk. And there, too, you recollect, there was in the field that mighty genius- that man-I scarce know where to place or what to name him- the sworn, the inveterate enemy of our race, who grasped so astoundingly the scepter of power, and with a giant's strength and a god's ability, seemed to wave it over the wilderness, and to make the tribes and nations there bow to its supremacy ; to forget the national feud and private animosities, and to catch from it the same fierce, terrible and unrelenting hate toward us which fired and burned and blazed in his own bosom. But why this allusion to the past? Why, that you may recol- lect more vividly the thrill of joy and shout of exultation with which you received the tidings of the battles fought and victory won on this field ; that you may recollect with what sincerity of heart you hailed the victor's return, and blessed the memory of those who gallantly perished in the fight; that you may recol- lect in all its freshness the unbribed, unasked burst of approba- tion and applause which everywhere rose to greet and welcome the honored chieftain of the battle; how, with one voice, you proclaimed him your preserver ; the restorer of peace to your firesides ; the matchless warrior, who, on Tippecanoe, had broken and dispersed the fierce legions of the border foe; who rolled back with one sweep of his arm the destructive war-cloud which the charmed genius of the savage had so wonderfully gathered and concentrated and suspended over your boundless forests, shading them with terror and bristling them with death."
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DAVID WALLACE.
While Governor of the State, Governor Wallace issued a proclamation appointing a day for thanksgiving and prayer. It was the first paper of the kind issued by a Governor of In- diana, and it established a precedent which has been followed to the present time. Governor Wallace, in this matter, but fol- lowed the custom of the Governors of the New England States, who for a long time previous had been in the habit of annually calling upon the people to meet together and give thanks for the blessings they enjoyed.
When in Congress Governor Wallace was a member of the Committee of Ways and Means, and in committee gave the casting vote in favor of assisting with a donation, Professor Morse to develop the magnetic telegraph. This act was ridi- culed by his political opponents, and cost him many votes the last time he ran for Congress. But he lived to see the telegraph established in nearly all the countries of the world and the wisdom of his action acknowledged by all.
Governor Wallace was not a money-making and money- getting man. He took more pleasure in filling his mind with knowledge than in filling his pockets with money. He entered into a business venture at Fort Wayne which, proving unfortu- nate, cost him his entire estate. One day, while sitting in his yard talking with his oldest son, the sheriff came with an exe- cution which he sought to levy upon the Governor's property. After some parleying the sheriff left, and the Governor, ad- dressing his son, said: "William, I want you to remember that it will be a good deal better to have a few thousand dollars laid away for old age than to have been Governor of the State or a member of Congress."
Governor Wallace was a man of great equanimity of temper. He was never known to exhibit anger in his family, but in his home and in his business affairs he was uniformly courteous and kind. He was a lover of books, and was one of the most de- lightful of readers. In this respect he was superior to most men who make reading and elocution a profession. It was his custom of evenings, at his home, with his family and friends around him, to read aloud choice selections from the writings and speeches of poets and statesmen. Those who were so for- tunate as to be admitted to his family circle, and had the privi-
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lege of being present on such occasions, will ever remember the pleasure the exhibitions afforded.
Governor Wallace was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of John Test, and his second a daughter of Dr. John H. Sanders. The latter still lives, and is prominent in reforma- tory work. She is one of the leaders of the woman's suffrage movement, and is quite active in the temperance cause. She is a good public speaker, and is a woman of great force of char- acter and large influence.
When a young man, Governor Wallace had a well-propor- tioned body, but in his latter years its symmetry was marred by an undue amount of flesh. He had black hair, dark eyes, and a ruddy complexion. He was cultured and well-bred. His address was good, and his manners unexceptionable. He was prominent at a time when Marshall and Dunn, the two Smiths, Whitcomb, Bright and Howard lived, and had he not been a man of talent he would inevitably have been obscured by their greatness. That he was not is the best evidence that can be adduced of his ability and acquirements.
SAMUEL BIGGER.
THE life-journey of a man like Samuel Bigger is difficult to sketch in a way that will interest the reader. From the time he grew to manhood he occupied the table-lands of life. There were no mountains in his pathway nor gorges for him to cross. If his road was not smooth it was level, and if not macadamized it was solid enough to bear his weight. He ever occupied a respectable plane ; he never fell below it, and his altitude was never much above it.
Samuel Bigger, Governor of Indiana from 1840 to 1843, was born in Warren county, Ohio, March 20, 1802. He was the eldest son of John Bigger, a Western pioneer, and for many years a member of the Ohio Legislature. The son loved his books, was fonder of them than of farm work, a disposition which remained with him while he lived. When eighteen years old he contracted a deep cold which settled on his lungs and came near costing him his life. His feeble health unfitted him for manual labor and determined his father to qualify him for a profession. He was prepared for college in the neigh- borhood, and then entered the one at Athens, from which he graduated with honor. Subsequently he studied law, and in 1829 removed to Liberty, Indiana, and commenced the prac- tice of his profession. He remained at Liberty but a short time, when he removed to Rushville, where his public life be- gan. He was elected to the Legislature in 1834, and re-elected in 1835. In the Legislature of 1834 Mr. Bigger was a candi- date for Speaker of the House, his opponent being Colonel James Gregory. On the first ballot he received 37 votes, Colonel Gregory 38, and one vote was cast scattering. On the
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second ballot each of the candidates received 38 votes. The vote continued about even until the sixth ballot, when Colonel Gregory was elected, receiving 39 votes, one more than a ma- jority. The next year Mr. Bigger was chosen judge of his judi- cial circuit, and served acceptably until called to a higher office. In 1840 he was nominated for Governor by the Whig State con- vention, and, after an exciting race, was elected, beating Gen- eral Tilghman A. Howard. He was a candidate for re-election in 1843, and was defeated by James Whitcomb, one of the ablest of Indiana's Governors. Soon after leaving the gubernatorial office he removed to Fort Wayne and resumed the practice of law. His professional career at Fort Wayne was honorable, but was too brief for him to obtain a lucrative practice. He died at Fort Wayne in 1845, and was buried in the cemetery there.
While Governor Bigger was Chief Executive of Indiana the State was overwhelmed with debt. The internal improvement system broke down the year before his election, leaving the people in the slough of despond. Little was done during his administration to relieve the State from its financial embarrass- ments, that being reserved for his successor, Governor Whit- comb.
In February, 1841, the Legislature appointed Governor Big- ger " to prepare a compilation and revision of the general stat- ute laws of this State, and to suggest such amendments and alterations in any of said statutes, and to prepare such additions as he might deem proper, with a view to the adoption and enact- ment by the Legislature of a full and complete code of general laws." This was a work Governor Bigger was well qualified to do. He entered upon it at once, but becoming convinced that he could not, of himself, prepare the revision in the time fixed by the law, he asked the next Legislature to allow him an assistant. His request was granted, and George H. Dunn became associated with him in the work. The revision was reported to the Legislature in 1842, and passed that body almost as it came from the hands of the revisers. It was intelligently and carefully done, and is a memento of the painstaking care and legal ability of its author.
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SAMUEL BIGGER.
The Hon. Finley Bigger, in a note to the author, gives this graphic account of his brother's early life :
"When a boy, his (Governor Bigger's) temper was very equable, and it was seldom any one ever saw him angry, or even vexed. He was nevertheless high-strung and sensitive, and to have been decoyed or hurried into a wrong act would have mortified him greatly. A cowardly or unmanly act in another would sometimes throw him off his guard and prompt him to action. I recollect, when at school, an instance which I will name. A boy, much larger than his victim, struck and knocked a small boy down and then kicked him. Samuel broke a gad from a bush, took the large boy by the arm, and gave him a severe flogging. This was the only time in his whole life that I ever saw him evince what one might call hot temper.
" When quite a boy he was noted for expertness in wearing out the seat and knees of his breeches ; a good pair would last him about a week. I have heard my mother say that, as a matter of economy, she once made him a buckskin suit, and that even the pants of this didn't stand his gyrations long.
" He was always, in his young days, fond of his books, but the state of his health compelled him to moderate this desire. His early life was passed in the midst of great men-the West- ern pioneers, who felled dense forests and cultivated farms, and at the same time built log houses, barns, school-houses and churches, employed and paid teachers and preachers, lived at first on venison, wild turkeys and bear meat killed with their rifles. Sometimes they dropped the ax and hoe, shouldered their rifles, and hastened to some point to defend their homes from an invasion of savages. A common necessity and a com- mon danger made all these men brothers. Among such men Samuel began his life and grew to manhood. No one knew him better than I, and it may look unseemly in a brother, but I only do just reverence to his name and memory when pronounc- ing him a great man in goodness, great in heart, and great in soul."
Governor Bigger's talents were not of the showy kind. As a speaker he was plain and simple. He made no attempt at florid oratory, and would have failed if he had. His mind was
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of the judicial order. He carefully weighed a question before deciding it, and reached his conclusions by feeling his way.
Governor Bigger was beaten for Governor in 1843 mainly by the influence of the Methodist church. His opponent, James Whitcomb, was a member of that denomination, and during the canvass it was charged that in opposing some legislation which resulted in the establishment of Asbury University, Governor Bigger had said that the Methodist church did not need an ed- ucated clergy ; that an ignorant one was better suited to the capacity of its membership. The vote of the church was cast almost solid against him and caused his defeat. The author well remembers hearing the late Bishop Ames say, in 1846: "It was the amen corner of the Methodist church that defeated Governor Bigger, and I had a hand in the work."
Governor Bigger was a Presbyterian, and for many years was a ruling elder in the church. He was a capable musician, being a good bass singer, and a skillful performer upon the vio- lin. For many years he led the church choir, and took much delight in the work. He was a man of fine form and presence. He was six feet two inches high, and weighed two hundred and forty pounds. His hair was black, his eyes a blue hazel, and his complexion dark. The expression of his face was kind and benignant, and denoted the goodness of his heart. His talent was not of the highest order, but he accomplished more in life than others more brilliant than he. He was a patriotic citizen, an incorruptible judge, and an executive officer of very respect- able ability.
JAMES WHITCOMB.
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THE student of Indiana history will look in vain for a more eminent name than that of James Whitcomb. It is a name which should excite love and veneration in the bosom of every Indianian, for his State gave Whitcomb her highest honors, and he bore them honestly and well.
James Whitcomb was born near Windsor, Vermont, Decem- ber 1, 1795. When James was a little boy his father left the barren fields of the Green Mountain State and came to the Great West. then the El Dorado of the enterprising and am- bitious. The family settled near Cincinnati, Ohio, and at once began the work of opening up and improving a farm. Hard work and coarse fare were their lot, their new home being in a barren pasture for the cultivation of the mind, but a rich one for the growth of a steady independence and a true manhood. The future Governor and Senator was known in the neighbor- hood as a studious boy, one who read all the books he could lay his hands upon. His father often complained of his son's love of books rather than of manual labor, and more than once told him he would never amount to anything in life ; for, be it known, that old John Whitcomb, like many another pioneer. thought it more important that his son should be able to lay off a straight corn row and to deftly handle the sickle and the scythe than to read Homer and Virgil in the original. But the son did not agree with the father, and continued to borrow books and to read them when his daily work was done. In this way he acquired a great fund of information, and was noted throughout the settlement as the most studious and intel- ligent boy in it. Indeed, so well established was his reputa-
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tion for diligence and knowledge, that a Mr. Johnson-a neighbor-once said to him, "Jimmy, some day you will be a United States Senator ; you study while others play." This incident Governor Whitcomb related to a friend a few moments after he was elected to the United States Senate in 1849.
When the lad had fitted himself for college he entered Transylvania University, and by teaching during vacation managed to maintain himself at college until he graduated. On leaving college he entered a law office and bent his best energies to acquiring a knowledge of the profession in which he afterward became eminent. In March, 1822, he was admitted to the Fayette County, Kentucky, bar, and two years after this he came to Indiana and settled at Bloomington, then one of the most promising towns in the State. He soon became known as an able advocate and practitioner, and in 1826 was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of his circuit by James Brown Ray, then Governor of the State. In discharging the duties of this office he traveled over a large scope of country and became acquainted with many leading men. In 1830 he was elected to the State Senate, and was re-elected in 1833. In the Senate he had for associates Calvin Fletcher, John Dumont, and other men of distinction, but it is saying only what is known to those who are familiar with the history of that day, that in ability and influence he outranked them all. The internal improvement fever was then at its highest point, and Whitcomb did more to stay its progress than any other man in the State. On the roll- call, there were but nine votes against it, Whitcomb being one of the nine.
While in the Senate Mr. Whitcomb participated largely in the debates of that body, and during most of the time was chair- man of the Judiciary Committee. He was felt in the Committee- room as well as in the Senate chamber.
In October, 1836, General Jackson appointed Mr. Whitcomb Commissioner of the General Land Office, and the next June he was reappointed by President Van Buren, and served as com- missioner until the end of Mr. Van Buren's term. On taking charge of the land office Mr. Whitcomb found himself embar- rassed by reason of his inability to read French and Spanish, many of the land grants being printed in these 'tongues ; he
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therefore commenced at once to study these languages, and soon qualified himself to read them with facility and ease.
Early in 1841 Mr. Whitcomb left Washington and returned to Indiana. He located at Terre Haute, opened an office and commenced the practice of law. Business came to him quickly, and he soon commanded a large and lucrative practice. Ile was then one of the best known and most popular members of his party, and at the Democratic State convention of 1843 he was nominated for Governor of the State. His opponent was Samuel Bigger, who, three years before, had beaten Tilghman A. Howard, one of the ablest and purest men in the State, 8,637 votes. Mr. Whitcomb entered the canvass with confidence and zeal, and was elected Governor by 2,013 majority. Three years afterward, in 1846, he was re-elected, beating Joseph G. Mar- shall, the Whig candidate, 3.958 votes.
Governor Whitcomb occupied the executive chair during an eventful period of the State's history. He entered the office with the State loaded down with debt, upon which no interest had been paid for years ; he left it with the debt adjusted and the State's credit restored. "He smote the rock of national resources, and abundant streams of revenue burst forth ; he touched the dead corpse of public credit, and it sprang upon its feet." It was at his suggestion and on his recommendation that the Butler bill was passed, whereby one-half the State's debt was paid by a transfer of the Wabash and Erie canal, and the other half arranged for by the issuance of bonds drawing a low rate of interest. The settlement was alike satisfactory to the bondholders and the people, and in Governor Whitcomb's own words, restored " the tarnished escutcheon of Indiana to its original brightness." Had he done nothing else, he would de serve the gratitude of all. but this was only one of the many things he did for the good of the people and the honor of the State. It was by his efforts that a public sentiment was created which demanded the establishment of our benevolent and re- formatory institutions, and he it was who awakened the people of Indiana to the importance of establishing common schools and providing a fund for their maintenance. It was while he was Governor that the Mexican war broke out, and Indiana was called upon for soldiers to assist in " conquering a peace."
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Five regiments of infantry were organized and mustered into the service under his direction, and the ease and rapidity with which it was done proved him as able in organization as in finance.
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