USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > Evansville and its men of mark > Part 23
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Another man, with half the intellect and preparation, but possessed of a larger share of boldness and self-confidence, would have successfully hastened that issue, and much sooner crowned himself with the emoluments of the profession. We have often, still, in this most enlightened age, to witness and lament the truth of this criticism ; and we shall be compelled to witness and lament its truth so long as mankind, too often taking sound for sense, suffer themselves to pass by true merit only to be captivated and carried away by the false but winning
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displays of superficial learning. In these ways of conceit or forward assumptions, our new-comer was poorly gifted; for, in his temper and disposition, vanity and self-confidence had no place whatever. He was not, we dare say, unconscious of his own strength ; but naturally modest and retiring, and altogether devoid of popular art, he could not advance himself by practices which, when adroitly played off, seldom fail to promote the for- tune of inferior minds. Under the operation of these virtuous but unpropitious causes, his progress was, of course retarded. But the slowness of his professional growth-by giving him larger opportunities for study and reflection-added strength and solidity to his forensic conquests, and in these consequences assured the height and durability of the fame he had subse- quently accomplished. By the members of the bar with whom he would be in daily contact he hoped, no doubt to be some- what favored in an introduction to public notice and considera- tion ; for as they must be the first to weigh and estimate his pretensions, it was not in vain on his part to suppose that they would, at no very distant day, invite his aid and co-operation in the management and dispatch of business. Nor in this re- quest if such were his reflections, was he at all mistaken or dis- appointed; for it so soon afterward happened that, by the countenance and good opinions of those who knew him, as well as by his studious habits, and by a quiet and becoming exhibi- tion of his legal knowledge, he attracted the observation and applause of his older brethren. An adept in that most difficult branch of legal science, he was first employed to make up pleadings : and, blessed with a strong memory and a ready and wonderful acquaintance with the books, he was next brought into counsel, and not unfrequently engaged in the preparation of bills and answers in chancery. These tokens of approved personal worth and professional skill led to an unsolicited part- nership with a most worthy and long established attorney of the Nashville bar; and, as a notable fact in the history of this connection, we may remark that it was the means of gaining him an advocacy, with a large contingent fee, in a suit for wild and distant lands, the successful recovery of which, in the sub- sequent rapid increased value of many " broad acres," gave him a very large reward for his services.
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Thenceforth the way was open to the man of this short record. His reputation was fairly established by the united judgment of his professional compeers, and the foundation of his fortune thereby securely laid. But as patronage, where the leading members of the bar are sufficiently enlightened and at- tentive, does not readily run into new channels, the number of his retainers, though steadily advancing, did not yet correspond with his just claims and his acknowledged abilities. A good practice, 'tis true, gave him ample support, with moderate accu- mulations; but he was left still with many leisure hours. They were not, however, hours of idleness or of fruitless dis- content; for, imbued by nature with a mind which is happily exempt from despondency as from its opposite weakness, he pursued, under every phase of life, the " even tenor of his way." In his office and by his books-the temple and the earthly idols of his heart-mingling, in his daily exercises, the study of law with polite and abstruse literature, and never forgetting to keep up and extend his critical learning, in the ancient classics, he was constantly improving himself, and enlarging the rich and abundant stores that have since obtained, for his judgments and opinions, oracular confidence and authority.
In our worldly affairs it sometimes pleases Fortune to lend a capricious smile, where neither true merit, nor wisdom, nor industry, entitles an unworthy object to the grateful concession. But, less fickle in her gifts and good will than the sportive god- dess is famed to be, that poetic deity seldom fails to add her grace and blessing wherever virtue, and constancy, and quali- fication, unite.to aid the good man in a heroic struggle for hon- est promotion. In the former case, her wavering and unstable countenance is, oftentimes, quickly clouded or forever turned from an undeserving favorite ; in the latter, patience and per- severance, with the help of time and opportunity, will, under many disadvantages, sustain our efforts, and, in the end, crown our labors and our trembling hopes with a propitious and last- ing harvest of honor and profit. Nor do we know of any one whose progress and career illustrate more handsomely than his the truth of this last reflection. Penniless, friendless, young, and a stranger-a voluntary exile for the sake of the hope be- fore him, and armed alone with his learning and integrity-he
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abandoned his native soil and all its manifold endearments, and resolutely built his youthful home in a distant land, and in the midst of an unknown people. We have followed him through the gloom which, in the early moments of his enterprise, shad- owed his path ; we have witnessed the courage and firmness with which he braved all difficulties and every disappointment ; and we behold him now, at the end of his probation, without pride and without vanity, seated at the side of the very fore- most of his profession, honored of all men, and daily attended by a crowd of rewarding clients. Great, indeed, is his triumph -not greater, we faithfully proclaim, than the measure of his high and indisputable claims do justly challenge.
It was thus, soon after he had passed his twenty-eighth year, that this virtuous and gifted man so happily succeeded in executing the great object and design of his life. Poor, but full of laudable ambition, and trusting to his own good valor and resolution, he came to us in quest of a home, of honorable employment, and of a name worthy to be noted among men, By his talents and application, and by his amiable, dignified, and unpretending deportment, he commanded the applause and enlisted the good feelings of his elder brethren at the bar, and finally attained before the public an enviable and extended fame, together with all the emoluments that follow high profes- sional distinction. The means, too-upright and honorable- that enabled him to reach this eminence, proved the strength and the broad basis of his reputation, and gave the most relia- ble promise of a happy and prosperous future. He could well, then, and with a prudent confidence, contemplate a new and important relation in life; and he thence resolved to seek, at the domestic altar, those solid and precious enjoyments that can only be hoped for or found in a congenial, affectionate, and enduring union of the sexes. Accordingly, in the Fall of 1823, having previously engaged his heart to a lady, young, lovely, and admired for her personal charms and for the bright- ness of her intellect and her acquirements, he was married to a daughter descended, on both sides, from ancestors pre-emi- nently revered and distinguished in the Revolutionary annals of South Carolina for chivalry and patriotism, and for a pure and self-sacrificing devotion to American liberty. To our well-
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informed readers we need not elucidate this text by repeating the historic names of Middleton and Rutledge-patriots and statesmen of an age that " tried men's souls," and which, for good or for evil, consecrated or doomed their characters with posterity.
This alliance - cherished and heartily sanctioned by the parents of the bride -- enlarged the happiness of their adopted son, and widened the circle of his associations ; but it did not interrupt his professional labors, or abate the ardor with which he had previously pursued his studies or engagements. In his habits of industry he found time to cultivate the gladness of his his new estate, and, withal, to forward the business of his clients, and still to augment, by close and continued literary research his large stock of learning. Such, indeed, was his unrelaxed observance of all these voluntary duties, that the honeymoon, which, to most others, is a lengthened carnival of exhausting or unprofitable pleasure, was to him - in the brightness and freshness of his joy - only a season of quiet felicity, softened and refined in the abscence of all nuptial parade, by the purity and significance of strong but silent emotions.
This last important step, on his part, was soon followed by a new professional association, which, after a peaceful and hap- py existence for nearly the fourth of a century, was amicably terminated within the last few years, leaving the parties where that association found them, mutually allied and bound together in reciprocal sentiments of profound and unalterable confidence and attachment.
A member of the Nashville bar, raised and educated in that city, and fortunately favored with a large practice and a corresponding income, finding himself unable to keep up the business of the office, invited the partnership to which we refer and which, after some honorable scruples, was, at last, politely accepted. By an arrangement between the parties of their re- spective branches of labor, the subject under our pen was placed in a position which, whilst it best suited his disposition, and his particular learning, gave him a fine field for the exer- cise and display of his surpassing talents and abilities in the higher departments of jurisprudence. To his care was assigned, by a joint and cordial consent, all the service in the Courts of
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Chancery and in the Supreme Court, and to his partner the business of the common law courts, State and Federal, together with the financial duties and adjustments of their office, and the task of their correspondence, at home and abroad, commensu- rate in its extent with nearly all the commercial litigation of half the State.
We do not intend to report in further detail the history of this long partnership, and only stop to add, that the parties harmonized and prospered for many years; one of them-stu- diously and exclusively pursuing his profession-continued to gather, all the time, fresh laurels and high renown; while the other, more flexible in his resolutions-we write by permission and without offence -- was too frequently won away by the whisperings of his own political ambition, or by the flattering and seductive persuasions of the popular tongue, The former, we know, does not repent his prudence, -- the latter will not say perhaps, that he was overwise. Their destinies, though they are both happily content in their present fortunes, differ widely, and in the contrast, their best friends may judge between them which of the two has most reason to rejoice in the policy or the good sense that caused those diverging movements in their several lives. But naturally and sincerely averse, as the able and virtuous citizen of our text has ever been to public honor and service, his name, twice in his time, has been suspended at the hustings-once without his knowledge or consent, and, again, after a long interval, when, in an important crisis in our State legislation, he yielded reluctant obedience to a call, which under the circumstances, he could not properly disregard. On both of these occasions his popularity, founded solely on his great abilities and his acknowledged integrity, carried him tri- umphantly through the polls, and, in the first instance, consid- erably ahead of time-honored and influential competitors, and that, too, without a serious effort on his part : for, contrary to our custom here, and the uniform practice of candidates, he never went out of his way to seek favor and support, and only addressed the people when he was occasionally, but rarely called up in the large assemblies that sometimes convened in Nash- ville during a political canvass.
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It was thus, that, in 1834, he was a member of the conven- tion that framed the present Constitution of Tennessee, and it was thus, too, that he served his county and its wealthy and enlightened metropolis in the Legislature of that State. In both situations he exalted his own high character, and was honored and distinguished by all men of every party for his great learning and integrity, and for the profound and practical wisdom he displayed on all questions under consideration and debate in those important assemblies. If he ever set any par- ticular valne on his own services or his influence in either of these situations, his native delicacy has not suffered him, we are sure, to whisper the silent compliment to his own bosom. But all who have noticed his acts, and witnessed the diligence, the thought and the judgment he daily manifested in discharg- ing his official duties, will join us in saying that by his knowl- edge, and by the confidence and admiration with which he inspired his compeers, he was chiefly instrumental in engrafting on our jurisprudence many important and beneficial reforms. He has never failed, indeed, everywhere to laugh at, condemn and assault the idle forms, the barbarisms, the fictions, and all the learned nonsense and jargon of the old law, and, we dare say, he heartily rejoiced in the deadly blows which he success- fully dealt upon these insufferable relics of a darker or more designing period. But we must hasten to the close of a memoir already drawn beyond its intended limits.
Mr. Fogg, as our readers will have observed, is approach- ing the conclusion of his fifty-seventh period ; but a sound con- stitution, fortified and strengthened by a habit of strictest tem- perance in all the pleasures and good things of the world give him a hopeful guarantee of lengthened years. He inherits this promise, indeed, from a long-lived ancestry, and is not likely, we are sure, to forfeit or endanger his chances on life by an im- prudent act, or by an undue indulgence that would be caclulated to impair his health, or shorten the number of his days. In stature he is about five feet seven inches in beight, of a vigorous and rotund frame, with a quiet, pleasing and benign.counte- nance, and a light gray eye, which, though it does not sufficiently herald his extraordinary intellect, evinces deep and deliberate thought and great reflection. Nevertheless, that eye readily
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beams an approving smile, or drops a sympathetic tear. It always sparkles brightly under joyous or pleasurable emotions, and is altogether unused to bitter, scornful or indignant looks. The marked lines in face, and his blanched locks, indicate more years than he has passed .; but care and great sorrows frequently leave their indelible impress, and alter and relax, without fatally weakening the faculties of the mind, or the muscular powers of the body.
Of these cares and sorrows our good friend has, of late years, tasted deep and felt much. Called, in a sudden and un- expected hour, to mourn, in an early manhood, the loss of a noble, generous and accomplished son,-the senior of three only children-wise and learned, as he was, beyond his tender age, beloved and honored by the young, and full of all good promises as to the future, his disconsolate father had scarcely ceased to weep over an object too well loved ever to be forgot- ten, when, in an hour quite as sudden and overwhelming, the "angel of death " stood again at his door. An only daughter, lovely, and of rare endowments and abilities, the fairest and brightest jewel of his heart, praised and everywhere courted and caressed, a sweet rose of the spring in its early and most delicious bloom, sank to a most untimely grave, leaving one only remaining child to comfort is grief or desolation, by hold- ing up a solitary but dear and hopeful light in the house of mourning. That he should, for a time, languish and repine under these great afflictions, was to be expected of a father so full of kindness and affection ; but Heaven, we are assured, all in due time " tempers the breeze to the shorn lamb "; and we rejoice to know that the wounds which bowed a strong man to the earth are gradually healing, though the scars thereof can never be effaced.
We have said before that this excellent man is, in his gen- eral manner and bearing, habitually quiet and unobtrusive. But this, we must add, is only his every-day out-of-door dress ; for those who know him best will testify to his warm feelings, his generous and noble disposition, and to the happy and inter- esting fervor which, in a circle of cherished and confiding friends, oftentimes turns his natural and accustomed gravity into sounds of joyous mirth, or accents of animated and highly
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excited colloquy. In such scenes he delights in the sportive and well told anecdote, or unconsciously rising from his seat he lectures and enlightens his small audience with vehement learning on any topic that may be started. Nor does his au- thoritative manner on such occasions prove against him either vanity or presumption. No man condemns these unworthy vices more than he does ; no man is more free from their hate- ful practice. Such indeed. is the gentleness and simplicity of his heart, that he never manifests a feeling of pride or superi- ority, but seems, in the eyes of every one, to be the only person who is ignorant of his own acknowledged and commanding powers. And in this respect, we must pause to say, he imitates the finest example of true greatness-for, it may be well re- peated, that nothing more conclusively shows a want of true merit and greatness than a vain assumption of these rare and inestimable endowments.
In his speeches at the bar and everywhere else, he is clear, cogent and methodical, and never injures by dilating an argu- ment. He labors to convince the mind, and seldom attempts the passions or the imaginations of men ; hence, he is always forcible, terse and succinct. But hurried away by his feelings, we have seen him, at times, rise to the sublimity of real eloquence ; and, long or short, as his speeches may be, his audi- ence-always charmed with his wisdom and evident sincerity -adhere in silence to his accents, and never fail to seize with avidity the last words that fall from his lips.
Such is the short but faithful history of the subject of this memoir ; such his virtues and his learning; such the traits of his amiable and unblemished personal character ; and, as such, he is, and we can truly add, without an enemy to mar or inter- rupt his peace and happiness, Many may equal - all should emulate-but none can rival or excel his worth .- Review.
He was a friend of many of Evansville's enterprises, and was often consulted in regard to questions which threatened the overthrow of the young city.
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Southern Indiana in the War.
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TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
HE Administration did not realize, when the rebellion commenced, the immense task it had undertaken. Hence, but a small force was called to meet, what was then thought to be, an immediate emergency. The call was promptly filled. The martial spirit of the West was aroused, and the number of volunteers exceeded the troops demanded. By inces- sant application to the President and War Department, per- mission was given C. M. Allen and others to raise four additional regiments in Indiana, and a request was made to that effect to Governor Morton, by the Secretary of War. The Governor, accordingly, on the 22d of June, 1861, issned orders, through his Adjutant-Genaral, that these regiments should be recruited in the first, second and third Congressional districts, popularly called " The Pocket."
The Twenty-fourth was recruited and organized under this order, and rendezvoused at Vincennes. A military camp was a novelty to the citizens of that section, and for miles around they flocked to " Camp Knox " with baskets filled with sub- stantial fare for their friends - the volunteers. Many warm friendships were formed at this camp, and some, who were then visitors, have since been the heroes of hard-fought battles.
On the 31st of July the regiment was mustered into the service of the United States by Lieutenant-Colonel T. J. Wood, U. S. A. Its roster was as follows :
Field and Staff Officers .- Colonel, Alvin P. Hovey, Mount Vernon ; Lieutenant-Colonel, John Gerber, Madison ; Major, Cyrus C. Hines, Indianapolis ; Adjutant, Richard F. Baxter, Mount Vernon; Regimental Quartermaster, John M. Clark,
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Vincennes; Surgeon, Robert B. Jessup. Vincennes ; Assistant Surgeon, John W. Davis, Vincennes; Chaplain, Charles Fitch, Mount Vernon.
Company A .- Captain, Hugh Erwin, Mitchell ; First Lieu- tenant, George Sheeks, Mitchell; Second Lieutenant, Hiram F. Baxton, Bedford.
Company B .- Captain, Solomon Dill, Paoli ; First Lieu- tenant, John W. Tucker, Orleans; Second Lieutenant, Stephen H. Southwick, Paoli.
Company C .- Captain, John F. Grill, Evansville; First Lieutenant, Charles Larch, Mount Vernon ; Second Lieutenant, William Miller, Vincennes.
Company D .- Captain, Nelson F. Bulton, Washington : First Lieutenant, Jacob Covert, Washington ; Second Lieuten- ant, Samuel M. Smith, Washington.
Company E .- Captain, Samuel R. Morgan, Petersburg ; First Lieutenant, John E. Phillips, Princeton ; Second Lieuten- ant, John T. Deweeson, Petersburg.
Company F .- Captain, Amizon Connett, Evansville ; First Lieutenant, Thomas E. Ashley, Evansville ; Second Lieutenant, Joseph A. Launclers, Evansville.
Company G .- Captain, Wm. T. Spicely, Orleans ; First Lieutenant, Charles T. Jenkens, Orleans ; Second Lieutenant, Arthur W. Gray, Orleans.
Company H .- Captain, Wm. L. Merrick, Petersburg ; First Lieutenant, John B. Hutchens, Petersburg ; Second Lieutenant, James J. Jones, Winslow.
Company I .- Captain, Samuel T. McGuffin, Loogootee ; First Lieutenant, James Wood, Loogootee ; Second Lieutenant, Benjamin J. Summers, Loogootee.
Company K .- Captain, Thomas Johnson, Washington : First Lieutenant, Francis M. Redburn, Princeton ; Second Lieu- tenant, William T. Rolland, Cynthiana.
Colonel Hovey at once instituted drill, and thoroughly in- structed the men in their duty as soldiers. He was ably assisted by Captain Spicely.
On the 16th of August muskets were drawn, and the regi- ment was equipped for the field.
Then there was an urgent demand for troops in Missouri
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to meet the invasion of that State by the rebel General Price. Indiana responded to that call by sending several regiments, including the Twenty-fourth.
On the 18th the regiment left Camp Knox, and marching to the depot, took cars for St. Louis, and bivouacked opposite the city that night. The next morning crossed the Mississippi, marched through the streets of St. Louis, and camped in Park Lafayette. Here it remained a few days, and then inarched to Carondelet, seven miles below St. Louis, where it formed camp, and was assigned to guard the gunboats, then in process of con- struction.
On the 6th of September, Colonel Hovey, with six compa- nies of the regiment, were conveyed twenty-five miles on the Iron Mountain railroad. They then made a rapid march of fif- teen miles, and reached a rebel camp, but the enemy had fled. The detachment then returned to Carondelet.
On the 16th the regiment embarked on a steamer, and sailed for St. Louis. On learning that the Army of the Poto- mac was their destination, the men filled the air with their glad shouts. Arriving at St. Louis, the regiment was ordered to take cars for Jefferson City, Missouri.
The train slowly moved, and soon found the track so much obstructed by weeds as to impede progress. After forty-eight hours' hard labor, the cars ran one hundred and twenty-five miles. The regiment went into camp at Syracuse.
On the 20th the regiment marched seven miles along the railroad, and halted where the pioneers were constructing a bridge. Here it guarded the workmen and fortified the position. The bridge being completed, the regiment crossed on the 24th, and made a wearisome march over a plowed prairie to George- town.
On its arrival here it was brigaded with the Eighteenth and Twenty-second Indiana, the brigade being under command of Colonel Jeff C. Davis, of the Twenty-second, and applied itself to the learning of the various maneuvres necessary for an active campaign. In a few weeks afterward the regiment reached Sedalia, and taking cars, arrived at Tipton, where it went into camp. Here it was assigned to General Hunter's division.
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