USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > Evansville and its men of mark > Part 28
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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
On arriving be was placed in command of the Star Fort, in which Major Abbott was killed the day previous.
After one day's hard fighting -- September 16th, 1862-the garrison being surrounded, as was anticipated, by General
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Bragg's entire army, with a large amount of artillery, command- ing and enfilading all the works, there was no avoiding a capit- ulation, which was granted on honorable terms, commanders retaining their horses and side arms.
Colonel Owen and his regiment were exchanged in Novem- ber, and ordered on the Vicksburg expedition. Participating with General Sherman's troops in the attack, Colonel Owen was ordered to skirmish on Chickasaw Bayou, and cover the retir- ing army, when it was decided to evacuate.
By keeping the camp fires burning and making a noise by chopping wood, until just before leaving at 4 A. M., on the 21st of January, 1863, they deceived the enemy and reached the boats, five miles distant, in safety. The enemy made a sortie, shelled the woods and attacked some boats which had been delayed in casting loose.
The next work in which Colonel Owen was engaged, with his regiment, was at Arkansas Post, where, after bivouacking, on the night of January 10th, 1863, in front of the fort, they formed in line of battle on the 11th, and about noon, in con- junction with the Sixteenth Indiana and Eighty-Third Ohio, advanced on the fort under heavy artillery direct fire, and a cross fire from the rifle pits. Colonel Owen thrice led the regi- ment to the charge, in the first of which, Lieutenant Colonel Templeton of the Sixtieth, and Lieutenant Colonel Orr of the Sixteenth, were wounded near him; but he escaped unhurt on this, as on previous occasions, although exposed to the same fire which the regiment sustained, and which killed or wounded seventy out of less than three hundred.
Colonel Owen remained in service until the 11th of July, 1863, when he resigned, his health being very much impaired."
Hon. William Reavis.
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UR subject was born near Princeton, Gibson Co., on the 27th of August, 1815. Isham Reavis, his father, was originally from North Carolina, but had removed to Ken- tucky some years previous to the war of 1812. While living in Kentucky he was married, and hearing of the fertile prairies of Indiana, he resolved to make his home in that territory. In the spring of 1813, he started on a keelboat for Shawneetown, and thence via the Wabash and Patoka rivers he came to a point now known as Patoka, but which was termed Smithland by the original settlers. The Indians were prowling about, and as no Treaty of Peace had been declared between Great Britain and the United States, he remained within the fort in order to secure the necessary protection till the final close of hostilities in 1815. Wolves, deer, etc., were so plentiful, that Mrs. Reavis kept a rifle and often shot them as they passed through the settlement. On one occasion she killed a catamount that was attempting in midday to carry off a young pig. Our subject, while a boy, never had a year's schooling. At what time he learned his letters, he can not remember; but his companions have told us of his intense love of reading. Every book, good or bad, was read carefully, and he was earnestly hoping for an opportunity to obtain an education, when his father was killed by the falling of a tree, in 1825, and the support of the family was suddenly thrown upon an elder brother and himself. He remained at home till 1835, when his mother gave him his free- dom and a horse, saddle and bridle He sold the three latter for seventy-five dollars, and devoted the proceeds to obtaining a little more education at Fort Branch. After four months' experience as a student, he started, without a dollar in his pocket, to seek his fortune. At the age of twenty-one he was married to Miss E. C. Burton, daughter of an old settler. At
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the age of sixteen, he had taught school, and soon after his marriage he again commenced teaching, as a means of obtaining a decent living. He at the same time read theology, with the view of entering the General Baptist ministry. He joined the church in 1839, was ordained to preach during the same year, and was first located in Gibson county. From 1839 to 1847 he preached regularly at various places in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. Mr. Reavis was regarded as among the leading divines in the denomination, and was intimately associated with such shining lights as Benoni Stinson, Jesse Lane, Jacob Spear, and Geo. P. Cavanagh. On account of ill health he was forced to retire from the ministry, though he continued to preach at intervals for several years. In 1847, he was elected by the Whigs County Treasurer of Gibson County, and was re-elected in 1849 to the same position. In 1852, he was nominated at Petersburg for Congress, by the Whigs, and though making a most splendid canvass, and running ahead of his ticket in nearly every township, was defeated in the general overthrow of the Whig organization.
In 1852, he commenced the study of law, at Princeton, and at the same time acted as a real estate broker. He was not ad- mitted till 1859, when he moved to Benton, Franklin Co., Ill., where he received many favors from John A. Logan, then practicing law in that county. In 1860, our subject removed to McLeansboro, and was successfully engaged in the profession when the civil war of 1861 made a sudden change in his career. He commenced canvassing Southern Illinois for recruits and made hundreds of addresses for the Union cause. In the fall of 1861, he enlisted as a private in the 56th Ill., was chosen captain of a company, and immediately marched to the front. In 1862, while lying sick in a hospital, and acting as Colonel Commanding of the Post, the battle of Corinth was in progress. Capt. Reavis rallied thirty-eight invalids and took a prominent part in that engagement, which resulted in such a glorious victory for the Union cause. It was Capt. Reavis who ordered the horses of the Richardson battery to be shot, as the Con- federates were about taking possession of the guns.
In the fall of 1862, on account of ill health, he was dis- charged from the service, and returned to Indiana. In Decem-
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ber 1862, he removed to Evansville and again returned to the active duties of the legal profession. Capt. Reavis was the leading claim agent of Southern Indiana, and has prosecuted more claims against the government than any attorney in this section of the state. In 1870, he was appointed Register of Bankruptcy for the First Congressional District, and is in the possession of that office at the date of writing.
His estimable lady died in 1856. In 1858 he was married to Mrs. Lathena Damon, of Vanderburgh Co., a lady distin- guished for her financial skill and forethought, as well as her genial manners in the social circle.
Capt, Reavis is noted alike for fine qualities of head and heart, and none outrank him in the esteem of all the old citizens of Southern Indiana.
Willard Carpenter.
N the history of every community may be found some one man, who, for far reaching sagacity, business enter- prise, and public spirit, stands pre-eminent among his fellows. Evansville has such a man, and though brought into competi- tion with many men possessing these qualities in an eminent degree, it is not invidious to claim, that the man, whose name stands at the head of this page, occupies this proud position. When an iron frame is bound to a bold comprehensive mind, business, commerce, capacity for details, and indomitable en- ergy, the man who possesses these qualities combined, unless handicapped heavily in life's race at the outset, is destined to eminence. Such a man the following pages will show Willard Carpenter to be, and though he has had, outside himself, no advantages, not possessed by all, even the poorest and humblest of our young men, he has by his own efforts achieved wealth and reputation. His name has long been a synonym in Southern Indiana for skill and sagacity. And this is not all. Many
WILLARD CARPENTER.
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men achieve fortunes by means as selfish as the ends they pur- sue. Shrewd, no doubt, and acute in their special calling, they are still men of narrow mind-men of routine. They lack that mental breadth and comprehensiveness which enables them to take a large angled view, and realize that even the largest business success is secured by that public spirit, which looks to- ward public improvements and the development of the com- munity and country where their business is situated. Willard Carpenter had that mental grasp. Ambitious, as all men who succeed are, he appreciated from the beginning the importance of public improvements, and saw with singular clearness, that in working for the public good and the development of the city and community, he was also working in the most effective man- ner for his own interests. Some men are incapable of appreciat- ing this principle, others grasp it intuitively, still others learn and comprehend it more or less perfectly. It is far better understood and more generally acted upon now than fifty years ago. But the lesson learned or unlearned makes the difference between the public spirited man, whose life is public benefac- tion, and the fogy who is a clog upon community. Mr. Car- penter belongs emphatically to the first class. His zeal for the public interests will be seen to have been the leading feature of his career, a zeal always tempered with judgment and almost
always crowned with success. And while as a business man he has always intended that his schemes should inure to his own benefit, he was never unwilling that the public should share in the benefits. And so it has come to pass, that luring his long and active career, in addition to the substantial personal suc- cess which has deservedly accrued, Mr. Carpenter has the proud consciousness, that his work has not been advantageous to self solely, but also to the community at large. His biographer can record that for its present prosperity Evansville, and indeed the whole Pocket District, is indebted to no man more largely than to Willard Carpenter. As before stated, the policy of public improvements is now generally conceded, and it is difficult for us at this day to appreciate the difficulties with which the public spirited man a generation since was forced to contend. He must combat with ignorance, indifference, and the fiercer opposition of narrow minded men, and when these are combined
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it requires rare gifts and great industry to overcome them. There must be knowledge to instruct, logic to convince, and energy to arouse and execute That Mr. Carpenter, with his compeers, met full share of these difficulties, will be seen in the following pages. That he has succeeded so often, is remarkable; that he has failed occasionally is not to be wondered at.
To-day the great and ever growing interests of the West are controlled largely by home talent. Young men, born in our midst, are taking the lead in our great enterprises. A few years ago this was different. Our Bank Presidents, Rail Road Directors, Manufacturers, Capitalists, and shrewdest Speculat- ors were imported, principally from New England. This at once suggests Mr. Carpenter's nativity. He is a Yankee-a Vermont Yankee, and we might say, in reference to those qualities of thrift and energy, which have made New England and New England men famous all over the known world, that he is a typical Yankee. He brought to the West with him the great physical powers of endurance, the pluck, perseverance and insight of his people, and these have been with him and formed the basis of his success through his long, active career, and now, with his three score and ten years behind him, he is able to do and daily does perform more business than many young men. Mr. Carpenter is of good old English stock, prop- agated for generations in New England, and then transplanted to the rich soil of the West, which stimulates all growth and gives rich results where the stock is thrifty and strong. He may be said in his character to represent the three elements which enter into his make-up. The sturdy independence and bull dog tenacity of Old England, the keen sagacity of New, and the large generous, liberal views which characterize the men of the West. Those who follow his history in these pages will see all these qualities prominent in his life, and it is not too much to say, that while his family was far from affluent and he had to combat in early life the hardest poverty, he yet in- herited and developed that within himself which was of far more worth and value, both to him and others, and which was far better capital to commence life upon than if his inheritance had bee ''' ad, broad acres and a large bank account. Cer- tainly th ory of his life, with its early struggles, its privations
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its toils, and its successes, is fuller of interest to the young man, is more valuable as an example of what courage and energy will achieve when directed by judgment, than any record of money spent which never cost labor to hand or brain.
WILLARD CARPENTER was born in Strafford, Orange Co., Vermont, on the 15th of March, 1803. He was born upon a farm and there spent his earlier years. Among his first re- collections is that of assisting to pile in heaps for burning the brush and undergrowth which his father and elder brothers cleared away in preparing the ground for tillage. The section of country where his father resided, was quite as wild and un- cultivated as the rural districts in our own State a few years ago. Sparsely settled, the original forests still covering the face of the country, roads execrable and school privileges meagre, the subject of our sketch experienced in Vermont in his childhood most of the hardships incident to a frontier life. If New Englanders find it difficult to realize such a state of affairs, let them remember that "'Tis sixty years since " of which we are writing. Mr. Carpenter had the usual experiences of a boy's life on a farm. He drove an ox-team over the rough roads to Tunbridge, a distance of nine miles, to mill. Worked during the summer on the farm, handled the plow, hoe or ax, and then when the winter came and the farm was buried under the deep snows until spring, the neighborhood school was opened, and tucking his pantaloons into his cowhide boots, along with the other embryo Financiers, Bank Presidents and Railroad Directors of the neighborhood, he broke a path through the snow to the school-house, and spent two to four months on the hard benches, digging out of musty dog-eared books the knowledge that was to stand him in such good stead through life. Spring came again, slate and arithmetic, copy- book and reader were laid away for nine months, spelling , matches were forgotten, and the hard routine work of the farm began again.
When this is the round from year to year; nine months on the farm and three in the school-room, often under an ignor- ant, inefficient teacher, it requires more than average intellect to make much real progress. Most of the ground gained in the winter is apt to be lost in the remainder of the year, and
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every winter will find the boys traveling over pretty much the same ground. A shrewd boy, with a good grip on ideas, will retain something of last winter's lessons, and stand a chance of · seeing the last pages of his arithmetic before the first are en- tirely worn out.
Mr. Carpenter was of this class, and five years of this life, averaging perhaps three months per year in the school-room, furnish the sum total of his educational facilities in early life. He subsequently taught school, and in all probability learned as much in teaching as he had ever learned as a pupil ; but the fact that he was qualified to teach at all illustrates the mental vigor which he must have exercised in boyhood and gives prom- ise of his future life. He remained at home with his father until he was nineteen years old, receiving his board and clothes, and "education " for his labor upon the farm. During these years he had, like most Yankee boys, "turned a penny " and gained a little stock of money by doing odd chores for the neighbors, and petty speculations. The first money the future financier ever earned was by digging sarsaparilla, or "snake root", and selling it to his uncle. The proceeds of the sale amounted to twenty-five cents, and he immediately loaned it out at 6 per cent. per annum. În process of time, by the earn- ings of odd jobs and the accumulations of interest, all securely invested, his capital swelled until at the age of nineteen he found himself unincumbered and undisputed possessor of seven dollars. With this sum on hands, he immediately made his preparations and set out to seek his fortune. We can not say of him, as is always said in the fairy stories : that his way was cleared before him, and a good genius gave him success without his looking for it. He had many a stout wrestle with fortune. He encountered all the difficulties a poor, unknown young man will encounter in the world. He overcame obstacles as many another has done, and many another will do, and achieved suc- cess by struggling and fighting for it. He was taking a heavier contract than he knew, but his capital-the least part of it was in his slender purse-proved sufficient for the drafts upon it. His preparations for departure were very simple. With a pack upon his back, a stout cudgel in hand, he set out upon foot and turned his face westward. A long stretch lay before him, but
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he was young and strong, and inured to toil and hardships. Occasionally he would get a "lift" from a passing teamster, who would good-naturedly give a ride to a traveller in return for a bit of gossip. In those days news facilities were very meagre, and the wayfarer would often get lodged and fed in return for the information he might give from " furrin parts" and the host consider himself the obliged party and decidedly the gainer by the operation. In this manner Mr. Carpenter proceeded across the country to the Mohawk, and passed through Troy about the time of the great fire of 1822. From here he proceeded down the river to Albany, reaching there in May. His face was still westward, and he remained in Albany but a few days. At Albany he made his first mercantile venture. His investment -the nemisor of so many later and larger ones-consisted in turning his cash capital of seven dollars into a stock of Yankee Notions. With his pack on his shoulder he resumed the route and sturdily tramped up the valley of the Mohawk in the pleas- ant spring weather on his way to Buffalo. The route through this most charming region which, in our day, in one of the magnificent Palace Coaches of the New York Central Railroad consumes but a few hours, and is a perpetual pleasure, was an- other kind of journey to the itinerant merchant. Proceeding slowly on foot, often turning aside to the quaint old Dutch farm houses to offer his wares for sale, he no doubt, despite his youth, and health, and strength, had many a back-ache and was often footsore and weary, still the journey was not unprofitable.
His traveling expenses were paid, and he often secured a ride in the huge lumbering old freight wagons, which at that time monopolized the carrying trade of the valley between Buf- falo and Albany, and supplied the place of the Erie Canal and the New York Central R. R. In due time he reached Buffalo, but did not tarry. His face was still westward, and passing on down the Lake Shore, he crossed Pennsylvania and penetrated Ohio as far as Salem. Here he found an uncle who had emi- grated to Ohio some years previously, and rested from his long journey. But he could not be quiet long. He had come out into the world to make his fortune, and his activity soon mani- fested itself. Ready for anything in the shape of business that promised remuneration, he wore no kid gloves and was not fas-
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tidious. If he could not find the work that suited him best, he was willing to take what might offer, and was as ready with his muscle as he was ready with his brain when the time came. The first employment that offered was a job of clearing off eighty acres of forest land. He promptly closed the contract at five dollars per acre, and employing two men he set to work, and during the summer and autumn of the same year-1822 --- they finished the contract. Owing to the scarcity of currency, grain was frequently used as money, and even notes of hand were given to be paid in grain. Mr. Carpenter received his pay, $400, in notes of this description, and after settling with his assistants, he disposed of the remaining notes to a Detroit distillery firm.
Mr .. Carpenter was now twenty years of age. He had done a hard Summer's work, and had evidently made a favorable impression upon the people, by his pluck and willingness to " turn a hand." A school teacher was needed in an adjoining neighborhood. The school directors turned their minds upon the young Yankee, and offered him the situation. The place was by no means the most desirable one. The country was new, and the pay not large. They bid one hundred and forty dollars for his services during the Winter. He accepted, and spent the Winter of 1822-3, in teaching. In the Spring, having received his pay in grain notes, as before, he turned his atten- tion to mechanical pursuits, and after consideration, concluded to learn the business of tanning and shoe making. According- ly, he formed a contract with a Mr. Brown, and entered his employment. As he gained an insight into the business, he became dissatisfied. It was not so pleasant or profitable as he had supposed, and after an experience of six months he retired. The firm was well pleased with him, however, and were very anxious to retain his services. In reply to their solicitations, he answered, comprehensively: " You have been here ten years; you are and have been doing all the business in this section of the country. You are now worth only about seven thousand dollars, including both land and personal property. This will not do for me; it is too slow. I am not going to work all my life and accumulate nothing. I shall go to some other country." This may seem pretty large talk from a young man not yet
Walnut Street Presbyterian Church.
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twenty-one years old and probably not worth two hundred dollars in the world. But this young Yankee had a thing or two in his head, and knew pretty well what he was about. He set about disposing of his grain notes, the proceeds of his school teaching, which he still held, and in a short time concluded a trade for a horse and accoutrements, a silver watch and sixteen dollars in money. Mounting his horse, he turned eastward this time, and took the route back to New York, intending to look out for a location where he could turn his time and labor to more profitable use than he had done in Ohio, though most men would have been satisfied with the result of his work in Salem. But young Carpenter was not satisfied. He felt that a wider field was needed for the development of his faculties, and he determined to seek it.
On his way back towards Buffalo, he met with an experi- ence, not peculiar, but which still deserves a place in this biog- raphy. It taught him a lesson which he was not slow to learn, and the one lesson has served him through life. It has never needed to be repeated. Many men learn the lesson only from experience, and it was probably as well that he should learn it then, as later. The game of the " Little Joker " was not as gen- erally understood then as now, and though, as always, it was- "Now you see it, and now you don't see it "-young Carpenter thought he had seen it last and might safely risk his watch on a guess as to its whereabouts. He guessed it once, but instead of being satisfied with two watches, he wanted another. His success in guessing was not remarkable afterward, and in a little time both watches and all his money but a single dollar were gone. The sharpers however, not after the manner of sharpers, gave him back four dollars of his money. He sadly mounted his horse, plucked pigeon as he was, with five dollars, four of them by the generosity of his pluckers, in his pocket, and felt as a man may be supposed to feel in his situation, and yet withal glad that it was no worse. Indeed, on the whole, for a young man who has started out to make his fortune and who had just left a situation because his proprietors had made but seven thou- sand dollars in ten years, it was rather humiliating. However, as the lesson came early and at a time when he had little to lose, and as he had really gotten off very well in saving his
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