The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 127

Author: Armstrong, J. M., & company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Cincinnati, J. M. Armstrong
Number of Pages: 946

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and Everett, in 1860; and was a Union man during the great civil war. Mr. Blatterman was married, in 1843, to Eleanor Orr Collins, daughter of Judge Lewis Col- lins, the historian of Kentucky. In 1877, he was elected a delegate to the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church, which convened in New Orleans.

RICE, GEN. SAMUEL W., Artist and Soldier, was born at Nicholasville, Kentucky, August 5, 1828. He is the son of Daniel B. Price, who held the offices of Clerk of the Circuit and of the County Court of Jessamine for about thirty- five years, commencing with the year 1816; and probably no citizen of that county was ever more generally and familiarly known, or more universally re- spected. At a very early age, the subject of this sketch evinced a strong inclination for art. His first attempts at drawing were from engravings he chanced to meet among his father's books. When but ten years of age, while seated near his father's desk in the court-room, during the trial of a man for the killing of his wife, his attention was called by the sheriff, Campbell Willmore, to a well-known old farmer, Capt. John Scott, who prc- sented the attitude of an earnest listener (with mouth wide open ) to the eloquent appeals of the illustrious Tom Marshall; at the same time, asked him to try a sketch of him, which he complied with; and, to the great astonishment of the sheriff (as it was the young artist's first attempt from life), produced a perfect coun- terpart of the original. The sheriff was so much pleased with it that he handed it to the judge; and from the "court" it took the rounds of the large audience, caus- ing great merriment. From that moment, he looked more to nature for his subjects. As he grew up, his love for art became more and more manifested ; but his father, instead of encouraging him, endeavored to warp his mind in another direction, fearing that his devotion to art would distract his attention from his studies at school. While proud of his son's talents, he considered the first and most important duty was to have him taught in the sciences-at least, in the rudimental stud- ies. To give his children an academic and collegiate education was his great ambition, believing it to be an essential basis for any calling or pursuit in life. Not- withstanding his father's opposition, he diligently used his recesses and vacations in drawing. About the age of fourteen, he became ambitious to try his hand in colors, but could not indulge his inclination for the want of material, and his independent nature prevented him from asking his father for assistance, and, of course, he had to depend on his own crudely prepared canvas, and common house paints ; but relief soon came to him, as if Providence favored him in his extremity. An itin-

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erant portrait-painter, by the name of Brown, was found dead on the public road-side, a short distance from Nich- olasville. His effects were sold, by order of the court, at auction ; and a friend by the name of Jefferson Brown, proprietor of the principal hotel in the village, pur- chased the artist's materials, for a very small sum, and presented them to Price. The young artist, with heart full of gratitude to his benefactor, took the gift home, and, on examination, found thirty silver dollars, in a long tin hox, concealed in the effects. At the advice of his strictly conscientious father, he returned the treas- ure to the commissioner, feeling that he had procured a treasure without the silver. After attending the acad- emy at Nicholasville for several years, at the age of six- teen, his father sent him to the Kentucky Military Insti- tute, where he completed his education. While pursuing his studies in the junior and senior courses, he was made professor of drawing at this institution. At the comple- tion of his collegiate course, he was placed in the studio of Oliver Frazer, an artist of celebrity at that day. He was for some time employed in copying, which he did with great fidelity. He did not long continue to copy, however; but soon began to paint, and progressed so rapidly, that, at the advice of Mr. Frazer, he went to New York City, and studied in the Art School of De- sign for several months. From New York he returned to Lexington, and opened a studio. His talents were now sufficiently displayed to warrant the brightest au- guries as to his future success in his profession. In a few months after he commenced painting as a profession in Lexington, he was called to Louisville, Kentucky, to paint a prominent and wealthy citizen and family of that place. After the completion of these portraits, he got quite a number of commissions from other citizens, which kept him employed in that city for several years. Feel- ing confident of his ability to support a wife, he offered his hand to Miss Mary Frances Thompson, daughter of R. Coleman Thompson, at that time surveyor of the customs of that city, and they were united in marriage on the 26th of May, 1854. Soon after his marriage, he was invited to Nashville, Tennessee, to paint a few por- traits; and, after a sojourn in the "Rock City," he went to Clarksville, Tennessee, to paint Brice Stuart and family, a prominent and wealthy citizen of that place. He remained there for two years. While in that place, he was commissioned by the Fillmore and Donelson Club to go to Buffalo and paint Millard Fillmore's por- trait, who was then making the race for the Presidency. From Clarksville, he went to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to paint Gen. James S. Jackson and family, and was occupied in that place for several months. In 1857, he returned to Lexington, Kentucky, where he remained until the breaking out of the war of the rebellion. He promptly threw down the brush and took up the sword, ready to stand by his country when the threatened hos-

tilities had assumed a reality. At the beginning of the rebellion, he commanded a company, called the " Old Infantry," at Lexington. John Morgan and Roger W. Hanson commanded other companies in the same regi- ment, which formed a part of the "State Guard." He subsequently withdrew from the regiment with his com- pany, and entered the "Home Guard " organization, believing that the "State Guards" would be used to further the purposes of secession. He took an ac- tive part in the equipment and arming of the " Home Guards;" and, with his company, went to Frankfort, to protect the Legislature when threatened by the "State Guards," under General Buckner; and, when Kentucky was first called upon for troops to aid in suppressing the rebellion, by President Lincoln, he joined Col. E. L. Dudley to recruit a regiment for the service. But their fragment of a regiment was united with another, recruited in the southern part of the State by Col. B. A. Wheat, and he consequently lost his prospective position of major in the regiment. On the death of Col. Dudley, in the Spring of 1862, Capt. Price was commissioned Colonel of the Twenty-first Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. He took command of the regiment under embarrassing circumstances, and when it was in an imperfect state of discipline, and being largely scattered over the State, owing princi- pally to the death of its gallant colonel. He at once sought permission to move his regiment to the front for active service ; and was ordered, by Gen. Buell, to proceed with his regiment to Nashville. At that place he reorganized his regiment, and put it in efficient shape. He subsequently commanded the port at Shel- byville, Tennessee, for several months; in July, 1862, he was brigaded with the Twenty-third Brigade, then a part of Gen. Nelson's Division, stationed at Murfrees- boro, Tennessee ; shared the hardships of Buell's march to Kentucky; and, after Bragg was driven from the State, returned with his regiment to Nashville. De- cember 9, 1862, the regiment, while foraging with other regiments of the brigade, under command of Col. Stanley Matthews, near Dobbin's Ford, was attacked by Wheeler's Cavalry, and, after a sharp engagement, was repulsed; Col. Matthews being disabled in that engagement, the command of the brigade fell to Col. Price, who occupied that position at the battle of Stone River, and for some time afterwards. In the battle of Stone River, his brigade performed conspicu- ous service ; losing in killed seventy-eight, and wounded three hundred and eleven men, bearing the brunt of the charge of Breckinridge's Division, and, fighting gal- lantly, aided greatly in the lultimate defeat of the en- emy. Early in the engagement, being stationed at the river, he was asked, by Gen. Rosecrans, if he could hold the ford, and replied that he would die in. the at- tempt ; was again asked, by the commanding general, .

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if he would hold the ford, when he replied that he would; and he was able to make good his promise. A few days after the evacuation of Chattanooga, the Twenty-first Kentucky was stationed at Whiteside's, on the railroad, fifteen miles west of Chattanooga, and, from some oversight, omitted, and did not participate in the battle of Chickamauga. On the first day of Oc- tober, three days after reaching Chattanooga with his command, he was ordered, by General Rosecrans, to march with his own regiment to the Sequatchee Valley, to protect a train of supplies, and, early the following morning, the train was attacked by Wheeler's Cavalry; while coming up with his regiment a sharp engagement ensued, but, having great odds against him, was obliged to retreat, with a loss of thirty-eight men captured, but not until he had inflicted upon the enemy a severer loss in killed and wounded. He afterwards participated in the battle of Missionary Ridge, in the division of Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, and subsequently marched to the re- lief of Burnside at Knoxville. Of his conduct in the Knoxville and other campaigns, in recommending him for promotion, Gen. Davis said to the Secretary of War: "On several occasions the enemy was met by this regi- ment, and gallantly driven back. So conspicuous was the conduct of Col. Price and his regiment in the en- gagement at Chickamauga Station, that it attracted uni- versal admiration throughout the division. Especial men- tion is made of their conduct in my report." In January, 1864, with three-fourths of his regiment, he re-enlisted. After the expiration of its furlough, the regiment rejoined its brigade at Cleveland, Tennessee, and participated in the toils and hardships of the Atlanta campaign, being engaged in numerous skirmishes, and several charges and pitched battles. On the 20th of June, at the head of his command at Kenesaw Mountain, he charged a rebel position, which he captured, and while holding the posi- tion sustained seven separate assaults, in attempts of the enemy to recover their loss, his brigade being engaged from early morn until midnight. Towards the close of this day's fighting, he was wounded and carried from the field. After his recovery, he remained in charge of the post at Lexington, Kentucky, until the close of the war. Before retiring from the service, he was brevetted brigadier-general for meritorious service, and for gal- lantry on the Moulton and Dallas roads, and at Kene- saw Mountain. He made a fine record as a soldier, was a thorough disciplinarian, and yet had the universal re- spect of his men, and characterized his conduct dur- ing his connection with the army as a Christian officer. At the solicitation of the friends of the Constitutional Amendments, he was a candidate for the State Senate, in 1865, but was defeated. After recovering from his wound, he resumed his profession as an artist at Lexing- ton. He was appointed postmaster early in the admin- istration of President Grant, and held the position for

seven years; finally being removed, without cause, under the peculiar workings of President Grant's "Civil Serv- ice Reform," leaving the position with the confidence of the post-office department, of the Government, and. the citizens of Lexington. Among his best composition paint- ings are, "The Young Artist," "Not Worth Mend- ing," "Caught Napping," "Night After Chickamauga," "Fixing for Sunday," "Civil Rites," and other pieces indicating superior talents. But, as a portrait-painter, he has been most widely known, and in that line of art skill probably has few if any superiors. Probably his most celebrated picture is "Old King Solomon," the grave- digger of 1833, and long one of the "institutions" of Lexington. His portraits of Gen. George H. Thomas and President Fillmore" have been very favorably re- ceived, and are widely regarded as among the finest works in portraiture ever executed in this country. He has recently turned his attention to some extent to paint- ing animals, to meet the demand of the "Blue Grass" region. Gen. Price has spent most of his time in Lex- ington, where he now resides, and has shed honor on the art history of Kentucky.

ATTERWHITE, THOMAS P., M. D., was born July 21, 1835, in Lexington, Kentucky; and was the son of Dr. Thomas P. Satterwhite, a distinguished physician of that city, who died in 1845. His mother was Mary Cabell Breck- inridge, daughter of Hon. Joseph Cabell. Breck- inridge, and was a native of Kentucky. His father was a Virginian by birth. His parents raised but two chil- dren; his sister, now deceased, was the wife of Dr. W. H. Miller, of Louisville. Dr. Satterwhite received his early education at Lexington, but subsequently took an irregular course in Centre College, and, in 1855, com- menced the study of medicine, in the office of Dr. R. J. Breckinridge, and graduated in the University of Louis- ville, in 1857. In the same year he began the practice of his profession, at Louisville. He was six years Dem- onstrator of Anatomy in the medical department of the University of Louisville, having previously carried on a dispensary. After withdrawing from his position in the University, in connection with Dr. Goodman he built and operated a dispensary on the University grounds. For several years he has devoted himself exclusively to his private practice; has performed a number of difficult surgical operations, and taken a prominent position as a surgeon and as a general practitioner. He is a mcm- ber of the State Medical Society ; is a member of the Medico-chirurgical Society; served for one year as its president; is a member of the College of Physicians and Surgcons of Louisville; is a member of several other organizations of his profession, in which he has filled

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important positions. He has been several times offered a professorship in the Louisville Medical College, but has declined, preferring to devote his attention to the active pursuit of his private practice. Religiously, he is connected with the Presbyterian Church, and occu- pies a valuable and honorable place in society. Dr. Satterwhite was married, January 14, 1858, to Miss M. P. P. Rogers, daughter of Col. Rogers, of the United States army. They have five living children.

ELL, HON. JOSHUA FRY, Lawyer, was born November 26, 1811, in Danville, Kentucky; and died there, August 17, 1870. His father, David Bell, of Newry, Ireland, was, for fifty years, a leading merchant of Danville; and his mother, Martha Divers Fry, of Virginia, was the daughter of Joshua Fry, distinguished for his liter- ary attainments, who, after his removal to Kentucky, acquired a high reputation as an educator of many of the great men of the State. The father of Joshua Fry was a colonel in the Virginia line during the Colonial War; and his mother was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Walker, who was the first white man, it is said, who penetrated the interior of Kentucky; and, as early as 1750, he surveyed the boundary line between Kentucky and Tennessee. At a very early age, Joshua Fry Bell gave evidence of fine mental powers, and began his edu- cation in a boys' school under the tuition of Duncan F. Robinson; was subsequently prepared for college by his grandfather, Joshua Fry; and, in 1828, when only sixteen and a half years old, graduated at Centre Col- lege, then under the presidency of Rev. Gideon Black- burn. He read law with Judge John Boyle; graduated at the age of nineteen ; traveled several years in Europe, and returned to Danville, where he commenced the prac- tice of his profession. He soon established a large and lucrative business, and rose to distinction as an advocate and jurist. In 1845, he was elected to Congress, serv- ing one term; became Secretary of State, under Gov. Crittenden, in 1850; in 1859, ran for the office of Gov- ernor, as the candidate of the Opposition party, and made a brilliant race, being defeated by only a few thousand votes, when the State was largely Democratic. In January, 1861, by a unanimous vote of the Senate, and eighty-one to five in the House, he was chosen one of the six commissioners to the Peace Conference, at Washington City, and there pleaded eloquently for "peace between embittered and hating brothers;" May 4, 1861, was elected one of the delegates to the Border State Convention; was nominated for Gov- ernor by the Union Democratic State Convention, held at Louisville, March 19, 1863, receiving six hundred and twenty-seven votes to one hundred and seventy-one for

Acting Governor James F. Robinson; but, in the follow- ing April, declined the nomination, believing that his elevation to the gubernatorial chair would be more ow- ing to the existence of Government troops in the State than the free suffrage of the people; several times re- ceived a large vote in the Legislature for United States Senator ; was one of the five members of the Lower House of Representatives appointed in committee, Jan- uary 14, 1865, to visit President Lincoln for the purpose of laying before him the disturbed condition of Ken- tucky; and his last public service was as a member of the Kentucky Legislature, from 1864 to 1867; in May, 1867, a new county was organized and named after him. From the outbreak of the war, he was a zealous sup- porter of the Union. In politics, he was a Clay Whig, and to the end of his life was true to the principles of that party, never for a moment yielding himself, for policy, to the Democratic or Know-Nothing party, against the latter of which he especially was violently opposed. After the dissolution of the Whig party, and after the war, he was identified with what was known, in Kentucky, as the Third party, which was claimed to be a conservative branch of the Union party; and sub- sequently, although not appearing actively in politics, co-operated mainly with the Democracy. He was a man of fine literary attainments, and superior ability as a lawyer; as an orator, stood among the first in the nation ; was a close, logical, powerful pleader, and the smoothness and beauty of his eloquence gained for him the appellation of "Bell of the silver tongue." Few men rose so rapidly to position, and few were less in- jured by popular applause. As a man, he was distin- guished for his geniality, benevolence of heart, and un- doubted integrity of character ; and, both in private and public life, his many charming qualities endeared him to the people. From early boyhood he was an earnest Christian, and was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bell was married, in October, 1836, to Miss Mary Montgomery Helm, the only daughter of Thomas Montgomery Helm, of Lincoln County, Ken- tucky, both of whom are descendants of influential Vir- ginian families. Of this union, three daughters and one son were born- Mrs. Mary Bell Allen, Mrs. Fanny J. Lee, Mrs. Pattie B. England, and Thomas H. Bell.

ILSON, REV. ROBERT, Clergyman, was born in Virginia, in 1772, and came as a missionary of the Presbyterian Church to Kentucky, in 1798. He settled at Washington, in Mason County ; organized the Churches at Maysville and Augusta; labored for the congregations of Smyrna, Flemingsburg, and other points; was possessed of great piety ; was wholly devoted to the great work of

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his life; was unremitting in his efforts, leaving no op- portunity to pass unappropriated to some good cause or work. He was greatly esteemed ; and died at Washing- ton, Mason County, October 31, 1822.

ERRELL, JOHN ALLEN, Merchant, Mechanic, and Inventor, was born June 1, 1824, in Shel- byville, Kentucky, and is of Norman-French ancestry on his father's side. His mother was a descendant of the Moores and Abbotts, of Scotch- Irish parentage. His father was a physician, and a man of great mechanical ingenuity. He gave his children every opportunity early to gratify their taste for scientific and mechanical study. John A. Terrell re- moved, when young, to Indiana with his parents. He received a good literary education; and, after engaging for some time in learning the printing business, in 1839, he apprenticed himself to the draper and tailoring trade, at Columbus, Indiana. He soon became an adept in that trade, in the mean time not relinquishing his in- terest in, and natural taste for, philosophy and me- chanical science. About 1843, the explosion of the can- non "Peacemaker," on board the "Princeton," caused him to turn his attention to the idea of making a gun of large caliber which could be fired rapidly without the danger of explosion. He succeeded at once in making a model which he believed would ultimately lead to success. In 1844, for the purpose of furthering his knowledge of iron casting, he visited the foundries of Louisville, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg. In that year, he located at Bloomfield, Kentucky, and engaged in business with his uncle, A. A. Terrell. In 1848, having met with success, he purchased his uncle's business, which he continued alone until 1852, when he connected with him a Mr. Shaw. Soon after, in the same year, he exhibited at Washington City, in the Ordnance office of the Government, his small model of "Terrell's Perforated Re-enforce Breach-loading Cannon." Not until 1868 did he take out letters patent on his inven- tion, owing, in part, no doubt, to the opposition raised by the Ordnance Bureau; on grounds, as he always be- lieved, wholly untenable, and as he demonstrated ably and fully in a pamphlet which was published, setting forth the great advantages of the invention, and the error in matter of fact, and on scientific principles, of the arguments against it. Although meeting little en- couragement from the Government, he still had faith in the principles of his invention, and quietly continued his business, waiting for the developments time might bring in his favor. In 1859, he erected a large business house, and extended his trade, from the manufacture of men's clothing, to include the general dry-goods trade. The civil war coming on, he stood by the old flag, and

served for some time as deputy provost-marshal in the county, the duties of which office he conducted with sat- isfaction to his superior officers and the community. In 1864, his business partnership was dissolved, owing greatly to the disturbed condition of the country. In 1865, he again resumed business alone. The war again revived his interest in his gun, which he placed on its merits before the navy and army boards, in 1872, and, although meeting with decided opposition, he yet be- lieves it will be introduced into the armies of the world. His invention has been brought prominently before the Government and the scientific world, and from the lat- ter, especially, has met with most favorable criticism, and only two out of seven members of the Ordnance Board voted to reject his theory. In politics, Mr. Ter- rell has always been a member of the Whig party, and is now identified with its successor, the Republican party. Religiously, he is in harmony with the Chris- tian or Reformed Church. He has been a successful business man, and is a valuable and useful member of society. He was married, in 1846, to Amanda M. Busey, of Shelby County, Kentucky. She died in 1861. He was subsequently married to a sister of his first wife, and, as the fruits of this marriage, they have one son and three daughters.

RIGSBY, GEN. J. WARREN, Lawyer and Soldier, was born about 1820, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He entered the Virginia Military Institute when he was but twelve years old, and graduated at the age of sixteen. He then became editor of a paper in his native county, which position he filled with signal ability for about four years. At the early age of twenty he was ap- pointed Consul at Bordeaux, in France. He remained abroad in this service during two Presidential adminis- trations, and for a part of a third. Upon his return to America, he studied law, and practiced his profession in New Orleans for about four years. About the year 1850 he was married to Miss Susan Shelby, of Kentucky, a granddaughter of Gov. Isaac Shelby. Since then he has resided in Lincoln and Boyle Counties, in this State, with the exception of four years' absence, in the Con- federate service. At the breaking out of the war, he raised the Sixth Kentucky Regiment of Kentucky Cav- alry, and attached himself to the command of Gen. Wheeler. With him he remained until March, 1863, when he was transferred to the command of Gen. John HI. Morgan. He was severely wounded at Melton, Ten- nessee, while charging a battery, at the head of his regiment. He accompanied Gen. Morgan on his raid through Indiana and Ohio, and escaped at Buffington Island, with about four hundred of his command, by

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 127

Author: Armstrong, J. M., & company, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Cincinnati, J. M. Armstrong Number of Pages: 946

Author: Armstrong, J. M., & company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Cincinnati, J. M. Armstrong
Number of Pages: 946