USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 66
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Upon resuming his seat in Congress at the commencement of the session of 1823-4, Mr. Clay was elected speaker, over Mr. Barbour of Vir- ginia, by a considerable majority. He continued speaker of the House until he entered the cabinet
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of Mr. Adams, in 1825. During this time, the subject of the tariff again came before Congress, and was advocated by Mr. Clay in one of the most masterly efforts of his life. His speech on the occasion was distinguished for the thorough knowledge of the subject which it displayed; for its broad, comprehensive and statesmanlike views, and for its occasional passages of impressive and thrilling eloquence. He also advocated a resolu- tion, introduced by Mr. Webster, to defray the expenses of a messenger to Greece, at that time engaged against the power of the Turks in an arduous and bloody struggle for independence. A spectacle of this kind never failed to enlist his pro- foundest sympathies and elicit all the powers of his genius.
Toward the close of the year 1824 the question of the Presidency was generally agitated. As can- didates for this office Messrs. J. Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and W. H. Crawford had been brought forward by their respective friends. Mr. Clay had been nominated by the Kentucky Legislature as early as 1822. The people failing to make a choice, the election was thrown into the house. Mr. Clay, being the lowest on the list, was excluded from the house by the constitutional provision, which makes it the duty of Congress to select one of the three highest candidates. His position in the house now became exceedingly delicate as well as important. He had it in his power, by placing himself at the head of the party who went with him in the house, to control its choice of the three candidates before it. When the election came on he cast his vote for Mr. Adams, who thus became President of the United States. This vote of Mr. Clay has been made the subject of much calumny and misrepresentation. At the time it was charged that he had been bought up by the offer of a seat in the cabinet. Efforts were made to produce evidence to this effect, but it was attended by signal failure. The charge was reiterated by General Jackson, the de- feated candidate, which led to an investigation of the whole affair. The result of this was the exposure of one of the darkest conspiracies ever formed to ruin the character of an individual. Our limits forbid an attempt to array the evidence on this subject, and we must content ourselves with
the remark that there is probably not one man of intelligence now in the Union who gives to the charge of "bargain and corruption" the slight- est credit.
During Mr. Adams' administration Mr. Clay occupied a seat in his cabinet as secretary of state. The various official documents prepared by him while in his office are among the best in our archives. While secretary of state he negotiated many treaties with the various foreign powers with whom this country maintained relations, in which he approved himself as superior as a diplo- matist, as he had been before unrivaled as a legis- lator and orator. He was a universal favorite with the foreign ministers, resident at Washington, and contributed much, by his amenity and suavity of deportment, to place the negotiations on a footing most favorable to his own country.
At the expiration of Mr. Adams' term of office Mr. Clay retired to Ashland, his seat near Lex- ington. He continued engaged in the avocations of his profession until 1831, when he was elected to the Senate of the United States for the term of six years. About the same time in a national con- vention at Baltimore, he was nominated to the Presidency in opposition to General Jackson.
The subjects brought before the Senate during this term of Mr. Clay's service were of the most important and exciting character. The subjects of the tariff, the United States bank, the public lands, etc., embracing a system of legislative policy of the most comprehensive character and the high- est importance, constantly engaged the attention of the country and of Congress. During the period signalized by the agitation of these great questions, probably the most exciting in the politi- cal annals of America, no man filled a larger space in the public eye than Mr. Clay. He was the cen- ter of a constellation of genius and talent, the most brilliant that has ever lighted this western hemis- phere. Although defeated when the election for President came on, that circumstance appeared but to increase the devotion of his friends, and perhaps the star of Henry Clay never blazed with a luster so bright, so powerful and far-pervading as at this moment, when all the elements of oppo- sition, envy, hatred, malice and detraction con- glomerated in lowering masses, seemed gather-
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ing their forces to extinguish and obscure its light forever.
General Jackson's veto of the bill to re-charter the Bank of the United States, while it clearly in- dicated the unsparing temper in which this war of parties was to be prosecuted, produced an effect on the financial condition of the country, which resulted in the most disastrous consequences to trade, commerce and business in all its branches. The establishment of the pet bank system but aggravated and hastened the evil, and in those first measures of General Jackson's second term of service were sown the seeds which, at a future day, were reaped in a harvest of woe and desola- tion. As in 1816, Mr. Clay advocated the re- charter of the bank, and denounced the veto in unmeasured terms. He predicted the conse- quences which would result from the measure, and subsequent events fully verified his anticipa- tions.
In 1840 General Harrison, the Whig candidate for the Presidency, was elected by one of those tremendous and irresistible popular movements, which are seen in no other country besides this. During the canvass Mr. Clay visited Hanover county, the place of his nativity, and while there addressed an assembly of the people. It was one of the ablest speeches of his life, and contained a masterly exposition of the principles and subjects of controversy between the two parties.
After the election of General Harrison, when Congress assembled, it set itself to work to repair the ravages made in the prosperity and institu- tions of the country by twelve years of misgovern- ment. Unfortunately, however, the work had scarcely commenced before death removed the lamented Harrison from the scene of his useful- ness, and Mr. Tyler, the Vice-President, succeeded to his place. Then followed, in rapid succession, veto after veto, until all hope of accomplishing the objects for which the Whigs came into power were extinct.
During this period Mr. Clay labored night and day to bring the President into an accommodating temper, but without success. He seemed resolved to sever all connection between himself and the party which brought him into power. He will go down to posterity with the brand of traitor
stamped upon his brow, and take his place with the Arnolds of the Revolution.
On the 31st of March, 1842, Mr. Clay executed his long and fondly cherished design of retiring to spend the evening of his days amid the tran- quil shades of Ashland. He resigned his seat in the Senate and presented to that body the credentials of his friend and successor, Mr. Crittenden. The scene which ensued was indescribably thrilling. Had the guardian genius of Congress and the nation been about to take his departure deeper feeling could hardly have been manifested than when Mr. Clay arose to address, for the last time, his congressional compeers. All felt that the mas- ter spirit was bidding them adieu; that the pride and ornament of the Senate and the glory of the nation was being removed, and all grieved in view of the void that would be created. When Mr. Clay resumed his seat the Senate unanimously ad- journed for the day.
In May, 1844, the National Whig Convention nominated Mr. Clay as a candidate for President of the United States. The nominee of the Demo- cratic party was Colonel James K. Polk of Ten- nessee. The canvass was probably one of the most exciting ever witnessed in this country. In addi- tion to the old issues, a new one was formed on the proposition to annex the Republic of Texas to the American Union. This question, intimately involving the exciting subject of slavery, gave to the Presidential canvass a new character and an unforeseen direction. It would be out of place here, although not without interest and instruc- tion, to trace and analyze the causes which oper- ated to defeat the Whigs. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Polk was made President. Texas became one of the United States. War ensued with Mexico; and the armies of the United States swept the fertile provinces of that sister republic from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the western base of the Rocky Mountains. Governments were ab- rogated and new ones established in their place by the fiat of subordinate militia officers; and throughout the whole extent of that rich and beautiful region scenes were enacted which carry the mind back to the days of romance, and revive the memory of those tragedies which have crin- soned the pages of European and Asiatic history.
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Defeated for the Presidency, with apparently no chance to ever reach that high place, Mr. Clay resolved to remain in private life. He had spent more than forty years in public service. He had nearly lived out the years allotted to man. All the honors his state could bestow had been lavishcd upon him. He commanded alikc the love of his friends and the respect of his foes. During the period of his retirement Ashland, his home, was visited by thousands of persons from all sec- tions of the country, and even from abroad, who came to testify their admiration or esteem for the statesman and the patriot. Now and then he appeared professionally in court, at the solicita- tion of an old client; but most of his time was devoted to casual visitors, or to the enjoyment of the society of his friends. In 1847 Mr. Clay joined the Protestant Episcopal Church of Lexington -- thus consummating a purpose he had cherished for ycars.
A year before the Presidential election of 1848 the two great political parties began preparations for the contest. No one could conjecture who were to be the chiefs of the opposing forces. There were dissensions in the Whig party, and Mr. Van Buren's defection threatened to disrupt thc Democracy. He did finally accept the nomina- tion of the "Free Soilers" for the Presidency, which brought disaster on the Democratic party. The Whigs would not unite on Mr. Clay. They had followed his fortunes with singular devotion, but the exigencies of the party were great-so great, indeed, that its dissolution seemed immi- nent. In the national contests he had often led to defeat-never to victory. They determined to sacrifice him for success, and ventured upon the fatal policy of expediency. General Zachary Tay- lor, already famous for other achievements in Mexico, had won the battle of Buena Vista against immense odds; and he who before that war was scarcely known beyond army circles became the object of popular adoration. The opponents of Mr. Clay's nomination concentrated on Taylor, who received the nomination of the Whig Conven- tion held in Philadelphia in June, 1848. Mr. Clay, probably, was not surprised at the result, but he was keenly affected by the action of a portion of the Kentucky delegation, who, at a critical
moment, abandoned him, and cast their vote for General Taylor. They were accused of treachery by the disappointed and incensed adherents of Mr. Clay, who himself believed that he was betrayed. The occurrence led to a temporary alienation of friendship between Mr. Clay and a lifetime friend who had been onc of the chief actors. But Mr. Clay's resentment was of brief duration, for they niet subsequently with the usual cordial greeting.
Mr. Clay was married in 1799 to Lucretia, daughter of Colonel Hart of Lexington, Ken- tucky, with whom he lived happily for fifty-three years.
G ENERAL JOHN HUNT MORGAN- dis- tinguished as the greatest partisan ranger (perhaps excepting Gencral Francis Marion) of all American wars-was born June I, 1825, at Huntsville, Alabama. His father, Calvin C. Mor- gan (a Virginian by birth, and a relation of Gen- eral Daniel Morgan, of the Revolutionary war), was a merchant there; his mother, the daughter of John W. Hunt, a leading merchant of Lexing- ton, Kentucky. In 1829 they rcmoved to a farm near the latter place. John was the cldcst of six sons, of whom five devoted themselves to the cause of the South: Calvin C. Morgan, who always act- ed as agent in Kentucky for his brother John; Colonel Richard Morgan, on the staff of the great General A. P. Hill as adjutant-general; Major Charlton Morgan, in his brother's command (formerly representing the United States govern- ment abroad); and Lieutenant Thomas Morgan, also in his brother's command, and twice cap- tured. A cousin was one of the bravest private soldiers in the same command.
John H. Morgan's first war experience was as first lieutenant of Captain Oliver H. P. Beard's company, of Colonel Humphrey Marshall's regi- ment of Kentucky Cavalry, in the Mexican war; and his first battle experience, of the terribly-in- earnest type, at Buena Vista, February 22 and 23, 1847, with his men dismounted and fighting as in- fantry. In 1857 he was made the first captain of a volunteer infantry company, the Lexington Rifles, which became prominent for its drill and efficiency, and was afterward incorporated into the "state guard." September 20, 1861, having determined
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to link his fortunes with the South, he succeeded -although a Federal regiment was encamped within a mile, with orders to next day seize the armory and guns of Captain Morgan's company -- in eluding their vigilance, and escaping with all his guns and a number of his men toward the Con- federate lines. After a few weeks' service his com- pany was regularly organized as Company A, of Morgan's Squadron; and the dashing independent service to which his life was henceforth devoted began. We have not space to follow him in all his brilliant and dangerous exploits-generally suc- cessful and forward, but often of the hurriedly retrograde kind.
April 4, 1862, he received from General Albert Sidney Johnston his commission as colonel, and positive encouragement that his field of action would be enlarged, his force increased and his desire to act independently gratified. The victory at Hartsville, Tenn., in December, 1862, brought him a long-ago-won and long-delayed commis- sion of brigadier-general, which General Hardee urged should be that of major-general at once; but President Davis could only overcome by slow de- grees what seemed an unreasonable prejudice against Kentuckians-possibly because he was too rigid a disciplinarian to encourage the bril- liant independency of Morgan's men and move- ments. May 17, 1863, the Confederate Con- gress recognized the invaluable services of Gen- eral Morgan in a handsome resolution of thanks. His great raids through Kentucky were in July, 1862, August and September, 1862, De- cember, 1862, and June, 1864. His wild raid or ride from Tennessee, across Kentucky, and through the southern part of Indiana and Ohio, to his capture in Columbiana County, Ohio, was in July, 1863. His imprisonment in the peniten- tiary at Columbus lasted only four months; his escape was as startling as it was ingenious; and on November 28, 1863, he was again working his way southward.
JAMES G. BIRNEY, the first "Liberty" candi- date for President of the United States, was born in Danville, Kentucky, February 4, 1792; died at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, November 25, 1857, aged sixty-five years. After studying law
he settled in Alabama, was district attorney and quite successful. Returning to Kentucky in 1833 he assisted in organizing the Kentucky Coloniza- tion Society, and was made president of it-while holding the position of professor in Center Col- lege. His views, at first conservative, then pro- gressive, rapidly changed to "anti-slavery" of the demonstrative kind; he advocated in a public letter in 1834 immediate emancipation, and set the consistent example of freeing his own slaves; then removed to Cincinnati and established a newspaper, The Philanthropist, of a type not prudent to publish in Kentucky. But there he ran so far and so obnoxiously in advance of public sentiment, that his press was thrown into the river; he revived it, however, in connection with Dr. Bailey. In 1836 he became secretary to the American Anti-Slavery Society at New York, and continued to press the idea of a political party for "freedom." The "Liberty" party nominated him in 1840, and again-after he had become a resident of Michigan-in 1844, as its candidate for the Presidency.
ARRET DAVIS was born in Mount Ster- G I ling, Kentucky, September 10, 1801. His father, in early life a blacksmith, was a man of energy and good sense, gained a competency, and served one term in the Legislature. Two of his brothers, Singleton and Amos, were brilliant young men-the latter a member of Congress, 1833-35, and dying June 5, 1835, before he could be re-elected. Garret Davis in his boyhood was a deputy in the circuit clerk's office at Paris; ad- mitted to the bar in 1823; a representative in the Legislature in 1833, '34 and '35; elected to Con- gress from the Maysville district in 1839-41, and was thrice re-elected, 1841-47, from the Ashland district, Bourbon County having been transferred to the latter; was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1849, and so determinedly opposed to an elective judiciary that, solitary and alone, on December 21, he voted against the new consti- tution, refused to sign it, and left the convention (Richard H. Hanson being elected to fill the vacancy, who signed the constitution); was elect- ed United States Senator, 1861-67, and re-elected, 1867-73, but died September 22, 1872, aged
25
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seventy-one years and twelve days. In Congress he acquired distinction by his earnest advocacy of the principles and measures of the Whig party; and when about to retire in 1847 Henry Clay appealed to him as a personal favor to make the race for another term, but he had invited Charles S. Morehead to take the field, and could not hon- orably consent. He was a prominent leader in the "Native American" movement, as he was afterward in the "Know-Nothing" or "American" party; and his anti-Catholic views, boldly and ably expressed in a speech in the Constitutional Convention in 1849, gave him considerable noto- riety; he was nominated in 1856 as the American party candidate for the Presidency, but declined. He was nominated for lieutenant-governor in 1848 on the Whig ticket with John J. Crittenden for governor, but declined; and when nominated for governor by the American party in 1855, also declined; thus he declined more good positions, even when election was certain, than most am- bitious men succeed to. He was among the few leading Kentuckians who opposed secession in 1861.
G I ENERAL CHARLES SCOTT, from whom Scott County received its name, a distin- guished officer of the Revolution, was born in Cumberland County, Virginia. He served as a corporal in a volunteer company of militia in the memorable campaign of 1755, which terminated in Braddock's defeat. Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary war he raised the first com- pany of volunteers south of James River that entered into actual service, and so distinguished himself that when the County of Powhatan was formed in 1777 the County of Scott was ramed in honor of him. Having been appointed by General Washington to the command of a regi- ment in the Continental line, he was with Gen- eral Wayne at the storming of Stony Point. He was in Charleston when it surrendered to Sir Henry Clinton. When marching out of the gate a British officer spoke to him very abruptly; or- dered him to march faster to give room for others. Scott turned upon him, ripped out a tremendous oath (one of his characteristics), and shamed the officer for having let so few men stand out so
long against so large an army. The officer molested him no further. After the war termi- nated he removed to Kentucky, and in 1785 set- tled in Woodford County. He was with General St. Clair in his defeat on the 4th of November, 1791, when there were about six hundred men killed in one hour. In 1791 he and General Wil- kinson conducted a corps of horsemen against the Indian towns on the Wabash, killed some of the warriors and took a number of prisoners. In 1794 he commanded a portion of Wayne's army at the battle of the Fallen Timber, where the Indians were defeated and driven under the walls of the British fort. In 1808 he was elected to the office of governor of Kentucky, and dis- charged his duties faithfully.
JEFFERSON DAVIS was born in Christian County, Kentucky (in that part now included in Todd County), June 3, 1808; but with his father removed to Mississippi in his infancy. He returned to Kentucky for awhile as a student at Transylvania University; was a cadet at West Point Military Academy, 1824-28, and graduated 1828; second lieutenant infantry, 1828-33; first lieutenant of dragoons, 1833-35; served in vari- ous campaigns against the Indians, and was dis- tinguished as a subordinate officer in the Black Hawk campaign; resigned his army commission, 1835, and became a planter in Mississippi. Mr. Davis began his political career as Presidential elector, 1844; was elected to Congress, 1845-47, but resigned, 1846, to take a colonelcy of a Mis- sissippi regiment enlisted for the Mexican war; was promoted brigadier-general for gallant con- duct at Buena Vista-where, it was claimed, his regiment, by its steadiness and valor in repelling the final charge of the enemy, turned a doubtful battle into a great victory; in 1847 was appointed by the governor of Mississippi to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate, and subsequently was unanimously elected by the Legislature to the same, 1847-51; resigned, 1850, to make the race for governor of Mississippi against Henry Stuart Foote; was re-elected United States Senator, 1852, but resigned to accept the position of sec- retary of war under President Pierce, 1853-57; in 1857 was again elected to the United States
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Senate, from which he withdrew January 8, 1861, Mississippi having seceded from the Union.
On February 4, 1861, the delegates from the cotton states met at Montgomery, Alabama, or- ganized a provisional government, adopted a constitution for the Confederate States, and chose Jefferson Davis President, and Alexander H. Stephens Vice-President.
Jefferson Davis died at his home in Mississippi in 1888.
G OVERNOR JOHN POPE, one of the most distinguished politicians and states- men of Kentucky, and for many years a resident of Washington County, was born in Prince Wil- liam County, Virginia, in 1770, but brought to this state when quite a boy. In early life, while at- tending a cornstalk mill, he had the misfortune to lose his arm-an accident which turned his at- tention to the profession of the law. Being a young man of great native vigor of intellect, he soon attained eminence. He settled in Shelby, which county he represented in the Kentucky Legislature in 1802; then removed to Lexington, and in 1806-7 was a representative in the lower house from Fayette County, a colleague of Henry Clay and Colonel William Russell. Of that body his great talents rendered him an emi- nently conspicuous and influential member. He was United States Senator from Kentucky for six years, 1807-13-a colleague of Henry Clay, Buckner Thruston and George M. Bibb; and twenty-four years later a member of the lower house of Congress from the Springfield district for six years, 1837-43. In the meantime he was appointed by President Jackson governor of the territory of Arkansas, which office he held for six years, 1829-35. He died at his residence in Washington County July 12, 1845, aged seventy- five years.
P HIL J. VEITH, Clerk of the Campbell County Court, Newport, was born in New- port, January 17, 1864. He received a good edu- cation in the public schools, and after taking a business course in a commercial college, com- menced bookkeeping for a planing mill when eighteen years of age. He remained with that
firm nine years, and in 1891 took charge of the Phil J. Veith Planing Mill & Lumber Company of Newport, which employs about forty people. While the business is conducted in his name the firm is Stone & Veith. Very few young men have met with such signal success, and this is due in a large measure to his careful attention to busi- ness and well directed energy. Although an active, pushing business man he has had time to look after politics on the Republican side, and his party honored him with the lucrative office of clerk of the Campbell County Court in Novem- ber, 1894. He is an active member of a number of benevolent orders, including Knight Templars, Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows, and is one of the prominent members of the Newport Com- mercial Club, from all of which it may be inferred he is a busy man.
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