USA > Indiana > Public men of Indiana : a political history from 1860 to 1890, v. 1 > Part 2
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Colonel Thomas H. Bringhurst of Logansport succeeded Fitch as colonel of the 46th and served until the war ended.
Another prominent soldier of that regiment was Major George Burson of Winamac, who raised and commanded a company of it in all of its marches and engagements until near the close of the war when he was commissioned as major of another regiment, in which he served until the last gun was fired. Returning home he again engaged in the law practice that he had left to enlist; served as a democratic member of the legislature in 1875 and 1877, and was soon after elected Circuit Judge and
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served for twelve years. At this writing he is still living in the enjoyment of the admiration of all his fellow citizens and honored by all of his many acquaintances.
Martin M. Ray, a pioneer lawyer of Shelbyville, a man of imposing personal appearance and high attainments, after a long residence there became a resident of Indianapolis, and the head of the law firm of Ray, Gordon and March, composed of Walter March, Jonathan W. Gordon and himself. March had long been prominent as the leader of the bar at Muncie, Delaware County. Jonathan W. Gordon was an educated surgeon, practicing his profession in Ripley County until the Civil War began, when he enlisted in the Union Army and became Major of the 11th Regiment of Regulars, serving until the war closed, when he took up the law practice at Indianapolis and soon took rank as the leading criminal lawyer of the State, espe- cially in cases in which questions of medical and surgical science arose, his education and experience as a physician and surgeon greatly aiding him in scientifically mastering intricate complications. He was also an able advocate and resourceful in origi- nating and urging upon courts what were then points of great interest to the legal profession. His great wit often rivaled his legal acumen.
The first judicial definition of "a reasonable doubt" was expressed by the Supreme Court in ap- proving literally a definition contained in Gordon's brief in what was known as the Nancy E. Clem case.
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His contentions in her defense, on the charge of homicide, in respect to a reasonable doubt, and other points he urged, secured a reversal of the case, and on a second conviction and appeal he was again successful in his contention that where a single act results in killing two persons that the conviction for killing one bars a conviction for killing the other, because the offender has already been once in jeopardy for the same offense.
He was also credited with having caused the Supreme Court, in other cases in which he appeared, to greatly expand the doctrine and right of self defense.
His early political affiliations were with the demo- cratic party, but changed during the Civil War and he became active in republican campaigns and a republican member of the legislature, and was ap- pointed clerk of the Supreme Court by Governor Porter to fill a vacancy.
He was the son-in-law of General Ebenezer Dumont, a prominent Union General.
Next to Major Gordon as a criminal lawyer and general practitioner was Jolin S. Duncan, who soon after his graduation from the Northwestern Chris- tian University (now Butler College) was elected Prosecuting Attorney, and among other cases that he successfully prosecuted was the Clem case that Gordon defended. Upon the expiration of his term as State's Attorney he was sought after in most important criminal cases, both to defend and prosecute, and was classed more as a criminal law- yer than as a general practitioner, but he was both,
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and was noted for his successes, and was besides a man of lovable disposition and attractive qualities in every way.
His father, Robert B. Duncan, was a pioneer lawyer of Indianapolis. The firm of Duncan, Smith and Duncan long existed and had an extensive business. Charles W. Smith, a member of it, was a graduate of Asbury University and served as an officer in the Union Army during the war. He was among the ablest of the many able lawyers of the State and devoted his entire time conscientiously and exclusively to the practice representing the most important interests, and sought no political or other public honors, but at times served on edu- cational boards and in the promotion of civic inter- ests. He was often a successful contender in legal contests with members of the great law firms of Porter, Harrison and Hines, Hendricks, Hord and Hendricks, McDonald and Butler and others of their class.
Cyrus C. Hines, of the firm of Porter, Harrison and Hines, was lieutenant colonel of the 57th Indi- ana Regiment, serving throughout the war and at its close became Circuit Judge. Of Porter, Harri- son, and others, much more will hereafter appear.
Ovid Butler, a distinguished lawyer and philan- thropist of Indianapolis, was of the log cabin class who availed himself of all the advantages he could acquire in the old schoolhouses and then completed a full course of self-education and became a suc- cessful teacher, and while following that vocation studied law and became prominent as a practitioner,
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having as partners Calvin Fletcher, Simon Yandes, and Horatio C. Newcomb. For twenty years he was president of the Northwestern Christian Uni- versity that he founded, that afterwards honored him by changing its name to Butler College and its location from Indianapolis to Irvington.
His political affiliations in his early days were with the democratic party that he abandoned be- cause of its proslavery attitude, and became a mem- ber of the Free Soil party and led its members into the republican party when it was organized, and educated that party's members to an under- standing of its principles and purposes in the col- umns of the Indiana State Journal newspaper that he established. He died in 1881 in his 80th year.
Noble C. Butler, the efficient clerk of the United States Circuit and District Courts at Indianapolis, was appointed to that position in 1879 by Judges Drummond and Gresham, was one of the young men who entered the military service as a private soldier in the 93d Indiana Regiment soon after his graduation from Hanover College. He served until the end of the war and then entered the law office of his father, a pioneer lawyer of Salem, Indiana, who moved to New Albany and formed a co-partnership with General Walter Q. Gresham. Noble C. became the junior member of the firm of Butler, Gresham and Butler, and remained in it until its dissolution by the appointment of General Gresham as Judge of the United States District Court.
He has been a frequent contributor to news-
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papers on political, educational, and literary sub- jects, also to law journals, and while serving as a register in bankruptcy at New Albany for a num- ber of years, when the old Bankruptcy Act of 1867 was in force, he rendered many able legal opinions that appear in Bissell's Reports and Federal Cases. IIe had been preceded in the office of elerk by John D. Howland, who had served as clerk of these courts for more than twenty years. Howland had previously been long in the law practice as a mem- ber of the firm of Barbour and Howland. Lucien Barbour, his partner, had served one term in Con- gress before the Civil War and was long a prominent practitioner of Indianapolis.
Typewriters had not come in use to any extent during the time that Howland was clerk and his records in his own elegant handwriting were always clean, correct, and plainly written. He was not only a rapid writer but had a well-trained legal mind that readily suggested to him what to put on paper. Many lawyers who had business in these courts and were in doubt as to the methods of pro- cedure relied upon him for guidance and got their education in Federal practice from him, and he was ever ready to accommodate and aid them. His brother, Livingston Howland, also a lawyer, rose to the rank of major of an Indiana regiment in which he served from the beginning until the end of the war, and was soon after elected and served for a number of years as Judge of the Circuit Court composed of the counties of Marion and Hendricks.
The position of Register in Bankruptcy yielded
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large sums in fees and compensation for services in bankruptcy cases, of which the United States Dis- trict Court at Indianapolis had jurisdiction. Col. John W. Ray had been appointed to the position of register in 1867, and held it until about two years before the law went out of existence in 1878, when Judge Gresham decided to pass prosperity around by asking Ray to resign so he could ap- point Col. Henry Jordan, an old army comrade, in his place, and, of course, Ray complied with the request. John W. Ray was colonel of the 49th In- diana Regiment, was long prominent in religious work and in business affairs, was a man of excel- lent character, and for many years one of the trustees of Asbury University, before its name was changed to DePauw University.
Addison C. Harris and John T. Dye composed the law firm of Dye and Harris, noted for the abil- ity of its members. After its dissolution Harris practiced alone and had a large clientage, was a State Senator and Minister to Austria during the administration of President Mckinley. John T. Dye was for many years the general counsel of the Big Four Railroad Company.
James M. Cropsey was an able lawyer and held the offices of States Attorney, and was prominent as a democratic leader.
Napoleon B. Taylor and Judge Frederick Rand were both judges of the Superior Court at Indian- apolis. When their terms as judges expired they formed a law partnership into which Edwin Taylor, the son of Napoleon B., entered, the firm name be-
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ing Taylor, Rand and Taylor. Edwin Taylor later moved to Evansville and formed a partnership with John E. Iglehart and they were for many years the general attorneys of the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad Company.
John E. Iglehart was the son of Asa Iglehart, a prominent lawyer of Evansville, who was the author of an instructive work on practice in the Courts.
For many years the Supreme Court at its pub- lic terms, in May and November, was attended at the opening days by members of the bar from every county of the state, in person, for the purpose of submitting their cases.
Asa Iglehart was always a conspicuous figure on these occasions, as were John Brownlee of Marion, Walter March of Muncie, John B. Niles and Andrew L. Osborn of LaPorte. These meetings of the court served to bring the lawyers of the state into fellowship and association with each other, and this association continued until the adoption of a rule by the court under which the cases are auto- matically submitted so as to avoid personal attend- ance.
Lawyers have at all times been influential lead- ers in public affairs and especially in legislative assemblies, and their activities have sometimes been subjects of complaint by others. They have never failed in their patriotism when emergencies called for it.
They were the first to respond to the call for soldiers in the war for the Union.
Of forty distinguished civilian citizens of In-
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diana, who rose to or above the rank of brigadier general, twenty-eight were lawyers. The following is a list of these generals :
Generals Alvin P. Hovey and William Harrow of Posey County, James M. Shackelford and John W. Foster of Evansville, Lew Wallace and Mahlon D. Manson of Crawfordsville, Reuben C. Kise and Abram O. Miller of Lebanon, Silas Col- grove and Thomas M. Browne of Winchester, Joseph J. Reynolds, Isaac N. Stiles and Charles Cruft of Lafayette, Newell Gleason and Jasper Packard of LaPorte, Reuben Williams and George H. Chapman of Warsaw, Charles S. Parish of Wa- bash, Pleasant A. Hackelman of Rushville, James R. Slack of Huntington, Solomon Meredith of Richmond, John P. C. Shanks of Portland, Mor- ton C. Hunter of Bloomington, Jeremiah Sullivan of Madison, Robert H. Milroy of Rensselaer, Milo S. Hascall of Goshen, Nathan Kimball of Loogoo- tee, William Grose of New Castle, Walter Q. Gresham of Corydon, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas A. Morris, Abel D. Streight, Frederick Knefler, George F. McGinnis, Ebenezer Dumont, John Co- burn, Daniel McCauley and Jolin Love of Indian- apolis, Henry B. Carrington and Jefferson C. Davis.
Of these Gen. Walter Q. Gresham, as previously mentioned, served on General Grant's staff, was severely wounded in battle, long served as a Fed- eral Judge after the war, and was a member of the cabinets of Presidents Arthur and Cleveland.
Gen. Benjamin Harrison became a United
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States Senator and president of the United States.
Gen. Pleasant A. Hackelman lost his life in battle while leading his command at Corinth.
Gen. Abel D. Streight, and part of his com- mand, was captured in battle, and confined in a Confederate prison from which he and other prison- ers escaped by means of a tunnel that was excavated under the prison by his direction, was long a prominent manufacturer and business man of In- dianapolis, and made an energetic but unsuccessful campaign for the republican nomination for gov- ernor in 1880.
Gen. John P. C. Shanks served on General Fre- mont's staff, and after the war many terms in con- gress.
Gen. Alvin P. Hovey was a judge of the State Supreme Court before the war, was prominent as a general and diplomat and became governor of the state. Gen. Jolin W. Foster was a prominent journalist, historian and diplomat. Gen. James M. Shackelford distinguished himself in battle, and as the captor of the Confederate general, John Mor- gan. Gen. John Coburn served many terms in congress. Lew Wallace was a Major General, a foreign ambassador and great author. On the occasion of the death of General Hackelman the Lafayette Journal published these lines:
"His last words were:
I am dying for my country, His comrades knelt to hear What loved message they should carry To his friends and kindred dear,
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Dying-he so faintly whispered While his face in the radiance beamed- For my country-Then so gently slept as he dreamed.
Of the records and acts of all these militant heroes much will appear in the pages that follow. Many men whose careers began in Indiana became conspicuous in public life elsewhere.
Gen. John Hay was President Lincoln's bio- grapher and Secretary of State, a prominent Union General, writer, statesman and diplomat, was born at Salem, Washington County.
Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, who succeeded Gen. George B. McClellan as the commanding general of the Union Army, was born at Liberty, Indiana. In January, 1863, he was in charge of the depart- ment of the Ohio, comprising that state, Indiana and others with headquarters at Cincinnati, where on the 13th of April of that year he issued the celebrated military order, No. 38, prohibiting the utterance of disloyal sentiments and informing all persons who committed acts for the benefit of the enemies of the country that they would be tried as spies and if convicted would suffer death. Lamb- din P. Milligan of Huntington and others of In- diana, and Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, were arrested, tried and convicted of violation of this order, but escaped death.
Gen. John W. Foster was a native of Pike County, graduated from the Indiana State Uni- versity, served with distinction in the Union Army, was long a prominent journalist of Evansville, In- diana, became a member of presidential cabinets as
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Secretary of State and filled many diplomatic posi- tions, and was the father-in-law of Robert Lansing, who succeeded William J. Bryan as Secretary of State.
James M. Eads, the great engineer and ship builder, who rendered great aid to the national gov- ernment in outfitting its war vessels in 1861 and other years of the Civil War, and constructed the great St. Louis steel bridge, was born at Lawrence- burg, Indiana.
Charles V. Gridley, the American naval officer, who commanded the Olympia at Manilla Bay on May 1st, 1898, and destroyed the Spanish fleet when Admiral Dewey commanded "Fire, Gridley, Fire," was born at Logansport.
Gen. Willis A. Gorman, who commanded the great Gorman Brigade in the Civil War, was a native of Indiana, appointed by President Pierce as territorial governor of Minnesota, became prom- inent in the affairs of that state, and entered the Union Army as colonel of the 1st Minnesota Regi- ment and for bravery in action was soon promoted to be brigadier general.
Willis C. Vandevanter, now a judge of the Su- preme Court of the United States and the youngest member of that great tribunal, was born at Marion in Grant County, and began his legal education in the office of Isaac C. Vandevanter, his father, who was well known as an able lawyer of the Grant County bar.
John D. Works began the law practice at Vevay, Switzerland County, was a member of the Indiana
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legislature in 1879, and author of a law treatise called Work's Practice, became a judge of the Su- preme Court of California and represented that state in the United States Senate.
John Clark Ridpath, a native of Putnam County, and professor of English literature at Asbury Uni- versity, acquired fame as a historian, as well as an educator, was the author of a history of the United States of many volumes, also of a school history and an English grammar.
Moses E. Clapp, born near Delphi, Carroll County, became attorney general of Minnesota and United States Senator.
John Lane Wilson, a descendant of Governor Henry S. Lane, became a United States Senator from the State of Washington.
Henry Lane Wilson, of the same family, became one of the most prominent of the ambassadors of the United States.
John C. Spooner, who became a United States Senator from Wisconsin for two terms, was a son of Philip Spooner, a prominent pioneer lawyer of Lawrenceburg, and brother of Gen. Ben Spooner, who was for many years United States Marshal for the District of Indiana.
Joel F. Vaile gained a high reputation as a lawyer before leaving his birthplace at Kokomo, Indiana, to become a resident of Denver, Colorado, where he became an associate in the law practice with United States Senator Wolcott and was for many years ranked at the head of the Colorado bar. His father, Rawsom Vaile, was, in early days, an
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editor of the Indianapolis Journal and quit journal- ism to engage in the law practice at Kokomo.
William N. Vaile, a member of the sixty-seventh congress, is a son of Joel F. Vaile.
William M. Springer, a member of Congress from 1875 to 1895, representing the Springfield, Illinois, District, was born at Sullivan, Indiana, and graduated from the Indiana University. While in Congress was the author of a bill that gave a judi- cial system to the Indian Territory and established the State of Oklahoma.
Nathan G. Calkins, an American scientist, was born at Valparaiso, Indiana. Graduated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and had charge of scientific expeditions in Alaska and be- came instructor in zoology at Columbia University.
Jacob E. Reighard, an American educator, was born at LaPorte, Indiana, graduated at the Uni- versity of Michigan, and made a biological survey of the Great Lakes in 1898.
Russell B. Abbott, a graduate of the University of Michigan, was principal of the public schools at Muncie and New Castle, and established the Albert Lea College in Minnesota.
James M. Callahan, an American publicist, was born at Bedford, Indiana, graduated at the University of Indiana, and became lecturer on American Diplomatic History at Johns Hopkins University.
Andrew H. Burke, the drummer boy of the 75th Indiana Regiment, became Governor of North Dakota.
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John S. Poland, born at Princeton, Gibson County, served through the Civil War as a lieu- tenant and became Brigadier General of Volunteers in the war with Spain, was a professor of history at the United States Military Academy.
Edwin H. Terrell, a graduate of De Pauw Uni- versity, born at Brookville, Indiana, practiced law at Indianapolis as the partner of Captain Charles P. Jacobs; later became a resident of Texas and held diplomatic positions during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison.
The Congressional Directories of every session of Congress for the last half century contain the biographies of members from every western State who began life in Indiana.
Jacob Newman, a great lawyer and philanthro- pist of Chicago, began life at Indianapolis, got his common school education at Noblesville, Indiana, and took a full literary and law course, graduating from the University of Chicago, made his own way in the world, and for half a century has practiced his profession with great success and been engaged in the most important litigations. It is said of him by lawyers that he has made more law in his cases than any other of Chicago.
William T. Fenton, Vice President of the Na- tional Bank of the Republic of Chicago, and one of its founders, continuously identified with it and the group of great Chicago financiers, began his bank- ing career at Indianapolis in the old banking house of Fletcher and Sharpe, was a man of high culture and literary accomplishments that led him in his
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early days to compose some elegant poetic effu- sions that he was too modest to have published, though they would have taken a high rank with those of Indiana's numerous and most distinguished poets and writers.
Thomas A. Goodwin, D.D., of Indianapolis, was for half a century conspicuous as a publicist, the author of many books on both religious and secular subjects, and a forecaster of future events in com- munications to the public press over the name "U. L. See." Among his compositions published over his own signature was an Oriental love story to which he gave the title "Lovers Three Thousand Years Ago," in which he commented in the preface on the fact that all the literature that had come under his notice on the subject of the Song of Solomon, there was not found a single presentation of it in a form that would allow it to be read in its true character, as in fact a poem describing the heroine of the song as "a beautiful sun-burnt maiden in northern Palestine, whose home life had been made miserable by the oppressions of two half- brothers who put her to the task of keeping sheep, where she was visited by procurers who were seek- ing young women for Solomon's harem, and under a promise of a good home in the King's palace induced her to go with them, she not suspecting their design, against which she protested vigor- ously." How she escaped with her rustic lover constitutes a thrilling love story, all the more inter- esting, so he says, "because the song had so long been tortured to refer to Christ and His love for the Church."
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In his contributions to the newspapers on current subjects of interest, his predictions of the conse- quences that would follow from what was occurring, made his non de plume a most apt selection. Among other of his productions was a booklet entitled, "Facts and Figures," showing, as he contended, "that state institutions of learning are needlessly expensive, radically non-American, and unavoid- ably non-religious," and not contemplated by the Constitution of the State. His opposition to the policy of the State in fostering and maintaining these institutions had its inspiration, doubtless, in his love for the sectarian institutions of learning, in one of which he had been educated, nevertheless his arguments were plausible, but failed to change the policy of the State. He was followed and sup- ported in his contentions by William H. Craig of Noblesville, Indiana, a graduate of Hanover Col- lege, a regular contributor to the Indianapolis press, and a member of the editorial staff of the Indianapolis Star. His writings on the subject are no less interesting than those of Goodwin.
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CHAPTER II
S OME of the experiences of the author, in his ob- servations of others, intrude themselves for mention in this chapter.
The association of one object with another is a natural characteristic in mental processes. An observance of the course of human events is always attended with an observance of those identified with them.
The tendency to observe things has its most vigorous growth as youth begins to merge into manhood.
The calendar year 1860 was the one that brought the mind of the author to a keen observance of events that have lingered in cold storage in his recollections. It was in that year that his then young mind was impressed by the lurid scenes pro- duced by a company of campaign marchers call- ing themselves "Wide Awakes," in their uniforms of oil cloth capes and caps and carrying lighted torches. He inquired why they called themselves by that name, and was told by one of mature years that the name was very appropriate, as their pur- pose was to awaken the voters of the country to an understanding of the conditions that had been brought about by slave owners of the Southern
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States, who wanted to have slavery extended into Northern States, and that the republican party did not intend they should succeed.
The next political event that he observed with interest was a Democratic rally at Peru, Indiana, when a procession of men, women, and children followed a band of music to a grove of trees, where a high hickory pole was raised and an American fag was unfurled to wave over a speaker's stand, on which was seated a number of men dressed in black broadcloth suits, one of whom was introduced as the speaker of the day and as the Douglas candidate for vice-president. This was Honorable Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia, a very stout man with long bushy black hair and heavy eyebrows, who spoke at great length, saying among other things, as the writer remembers, that the Southern people would not tolerate any interference with their property rights in the slaves that they owned, and any attempt to interfere with their domestic concerns or privileges of occupying new territories would justify their separation from their northern neighbors and the establishment of a separate government of their own, and closed by saying: "These are the views of your candidate for vice- president, and if you don't like them you don't have to vote for him." There were many mutterings of disapproval of his speech, some saying he had insulted the flag that waved over his head, and many took him at his word and didn't vote for him; a year later he became one of the leaders of his State in its attempt to secede from the Union.
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