USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 37
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At the term of the Supreme Judicial Court held at Norridgewock, in the county of Somerset, in September next following his death in August, 1869, Hon, S. D. Lindsey, as
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chairman of a committee selected for the purpose of preparing resolutions suited to the occasion, prefaced the presentation thereof with some very appropriate and pertinent remarks. Amongst other things he said :
"All who knew Judge Tenney will concede that the resolutions I am about to read contain but a fair and impartial statement of the qualities of mind and heart which distinguished him. . . . The junior members of this bar, those who came to it while he was on the bench, will cherish his memory with peculiar pleasure. His kindness, his indulgent forbearance toward youth and inexperience, his words of encouragement and advice, can never be forgotten.
"And when he left the bench and came so gracefully back to the bar, 'full of years and full of honors,' with unabated interest in the good name of the bar, with no reserve and no austerity, placing himself in sympathy with the youngest, giving to all the benefit of his large experience and discrimi- nating judgment, we all felt that the man was greater than the lawyer, the advocate, and judge.
"The loss to the bar of such a member cannot well be measured. This audience-room without his imposing presence can hardly seem what it was. The loss to this community and his neighbors can only be appreciated by those who understood how he lived among them, and who were acquainted with his 'daily walk and conversation.' "
The resolutions were as follows :
" Resolved, That the members of the Somerset bar have learned with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. JOHN S. TENNEY, late Chief Justice of this court.
" Resolved, That his eminent learning, his power of analysis, his sound and solid judgment, and his clear and accurate discrimination were equalled only by the breadth and comprehensiveness of his intellect, and by the purity of his character as a magistrate and a citizen.
" Resolved, That in his death this community, of which he has been a citizen for nearly fifty years; the bench, of which he was an honored and most eminent member for more than twenty years; and the bar, at which he acquired that broad and brilliant reputation which finally raised him to the highest position in Maine-have alike sustained an irreparable loss.
" Resolved, That we tender our heartfelt sympathy to the members of his family in this great afflic- tion ; and that a copy of these resolutions and proceedings be transmitted to them by the Secretary of the bar."
The resolutions were seconded by appropriate remarks by Hon. D. D. Stewart and Hon. John S. Abbott; whereupon J. H. Webster, Esq., addressed the court, remarking " that he could not let the occasion go by without adding his tribute to the memory of our lamented brother, the late Chief Justice Tenney. He was one of the strong men of our State."
"I have," said Mr. Webster, "been intimately acquainted with him during my whole professional life. . .. I knew him in court so long as he remained at the bar. I have practised before him while he was on the bench. Those who have preceded me have spoken of his efforts at the bar, of his judicial character, and his social qualities. All these I have observed, and fully appreciated."
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" One characteristic which Judge Tenney possessed in a prominent degree, and one more important in our profession than almost any other, has not been alluded to-that is, the extreme carefulness with which he examined a client's case before advising to run the hazard of a law-suit. . . . No man ever investigated a client's case with more care and patience. No man was ever more cautious in advising to commence or defend a suit; and unless called suddenly into a case to assist some younger counsel, he never engaged until by the most rigid examination he was satisfied his client had reasonable grounds to hope for success."
Judge Danforth (himself formerly a student of Chief Justice Tenney) responded to the resolutions at length. Among other things he said :
" I fully concur in the resolutions which have been read, as also in the remarks which have been made, to which I have listened with much interest. That a man of extraordinary powers of mind and of the highest moral character has passed from us, none will deny. In such a case it is well that those who are left, especially those of the same profession, and who have so long been associated with him, should review his life and dwell somewhat upon his character, that the lessons to be derived therefrom, and the rich intellectual and moral legacy left by him, should be duly treasured up and have their legiti- mate effects upon our lives."
" When a student, as in later life, he was distinguished not so much for the number of books which he read, as for the thorough manner in which he read them; though he went over but little ground, he completely and entirely mastered all he attempted. . .. He thus became a perfect master of the ground- work of his profession, and laid the sure foundation of his future success. In this respect his example is well worthy of the imitation of all who hope to succeed in this most arduous profession. . . . With this thorough preparation he commenced his professional life in this town, in the year 1820. . . . He very soon entered upon a somewhat profitable office business, and, in a comparatively short time acquired the reputation of being a sound and safe counsellor. His reputation as an advocate was of a much later origin. He must have been in practice some ten or twelve years before making any attempt in this line which attracted attention; and even then, as tradition runs, he was forced into it by the stratagem of a friend who had known him long and known him well, and was unwilling that so much legal ability and so much sound logic should be permitted to waste away in the dull routine of the mere drudgery of a lawyer's office. . . . His first case of any importance was one which at the time attracted considerable attention, and was tried in this county (Somerset) in or about 1832. The Hon. Peleg Sprague, then a Senator in Congress from this State, and one of the most eloquent men in the nation, as well as a sound lawyer, was opposed to him. The case, as might well be supposed, was closely contested; but Judge Tenney was successful. Such was the ability he manifested in this trial, and such the impression made upon the public, that he at once took a high stand as an advocate, as well as a sound lawyer. . . . The practice of the law was his chosen profession; to that his tastes led him, and in that he found his great- est pleasure. .. . His standard of professional honor and integrity was so high, that it admitted of no dereliction whatever from perfect rectitude. The obligations of his professional oath were constantly present with him; they were in him a living, controlling source of action. His clients were sure, not only of his entire fidelity, but that his best ability would be exerted in their behalf. But his zeal for them, great as it was, did not for a moment lead him to forget the respect due to himself or the fidelity due to the court. . . .
" As a speaker, he was not distinguished for the graces of oratory, either in manner or matter. Still
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he was ready and fluent with a good command of language. His arguments were specimens of close compact logic, as well as clear and forcible statements of his cause, and he never failed to secure the attention of the court and jury. . . .
"In October, 1841, he received his appointment as Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. This appointment was entirely unsolicited on his part-a voluntary offering to his fitness for the place. It was nevertheless received by him with pleasure and with gratitude. . . . Into this position he carried the same sterling unflinching integrity, the same nice sense of honor, that had characterized his profes- sional life. Here, too, was exhibited that same self-possession, the same patience, under trying and dif- ficult duties, by which he had hitherto been distinguished. His courtesy toward the members of the bar never failed. In his courtesy, however, he never forgot his dignity-or rather that never forgot itself. His dignity needed no continual watching, lest unawares it might become soiled. It was natural to the man-a part of his very being ; existing within him, the result of native force, and an innate sense of the right and proper; ever present, regulating and controlling all his conduct, without effort and almost unconsciously to himself. . . . In his opinions upon questions of law he manifested the same conscientious carefulness, the same accurate thought and painstaking labor, that were devoted to all his duties. The style of his composition was not always lucid; his sentences were occasionally involved and sometimes heavy ; but the thought was always well digested; the logic clear, strong, and conclusive. Such was the entire satisfaction which he gave, that at the end of his term he was reappointed without any opposition, and at the end of his second term, with universal approbation, he was made Chief Justice. This was the height of his worldly ambition. This place was higher in his estimation than any other the State could bestow. His reverence for the law was unbounded; his respect for the position of him who administers the law was equal in degree. He would have considered it as the deepest disgrace to have been unfaithful to such a trust, and how well he discharged that trust the present generation and his works will alike bear testimony.
"At the expiration of his term of office as Chief Justice, having served the State upon the bench longer than any other person, with perhaps one exception, he retired, in good health and in full vigor of mind, with the ermine unsullied, and with the respect of his associates, the members of the bar, and the people of the State.
"In the fall of 1863, and again in 1864, he was elected to a seat in the State Senate. This placed him in a position requiring habits of thought very different from those to which lie had been accustomed, and much less congenial to his tastes. Still he entered upon the task with conscientious zeal, and dis- charged his duty with credit to himself and usefulness to the State. At the close of his Senatorship he retired entirely from public office. After this, for a time, at the urgent solicitation of friends, he gave legal counsel to such as asked it, and occasionally lent liis assistance in cases litigated in the courts. This, however, through the growing infirmities of increasing years and declining health, soon became irksome to him, and he gave up all employment for others, spending his time in the care of his own affairs and in social intercourse. This course of life continued for two or three years, his health still slowly but gradually declining, until, on the 24th day of August last, death somewhat suddenly closed the scene, and he passed forever from our sight.
" In private life Judge Tenney was genial and affable to all. He recognized to its fullest extent the great truth that 'all men are created equal.' In this respect he recognized no inferior and no superior. This truth was to him a living, practical reality, and was plainly manifest in all his inter- course with society. His conversational powers were very great. He equally interested all classes of men. He was not only a good talker himself, but could also draw from others whatever stores of
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knowledge they might possess, whether little or much. . . . His social powers were at once to him the great means of recreation, and the source of that information which gave him so eminent a reputation for sound judgment and great practical common-sense. . . . But he is gone. This court-room, the place hitherto so familiar with his majestic form, the scene of his earliest professional triumphs and his latest professional labors, where his voice has so often been heard impressively pleading for the right, shall know him no more forever. . . . But how little of such a man can die ! We shall indeed see him no more. His active, working brain is still; his large heart has ceased to beat; but the thoughts which originated in that brain, the noble impulses of that heart, his words of wisdom and kindness, are still with us and of us; they have become a part of the constitution of society, and shall never perish."
ESSENDEN, GENERAL JAMES D., was born in the town of Deering, Maine, at the residence of James Deering, his grandfather, on the 28th day of September, 1833, and is the oldest son of Hon. Wm. Pitt Fessenden. He was prepared for college at the schools in Portland, entered Bowdoin College at the age of fifteen, and was graduated in the Class of 1852. He then adopted the legal profession, studying with his father and at the Harvard Law School. In 1856 he was admitted to practice, and at once became a member of his father's law- firm, which then enjoyed a very large practice in the courts of Maine. The firm consisted of Senator Fessenden, the Hon. M. M. Butler, one of the leading lawyers of the Cumber- land bar, and General James D. Fessenden. He at once took his share in their large practice, in which he continued until the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, when, believing there was to be a prolonged struggle between the North and South, he aban- doned his lucrative professional business, and by authority of the Governor he recruited a remarkably fine and stalwart company for the Second Regiment of U. S. Sharpshooters. Having been mustered into service on the 2d of November, 1861, as captain, he proceeded with his company to Virginia, where he was in camp during the winter of 1861-62, em- ployed in drilling and preparing his company for active service. On the 27th of March, 1862, Captain Fessenden was ordered to duty on the staff of Major-General Hunter, then in command of the Department of the South, and who had proceeded to Port Royal to conduct operations in conjunction with the navy against Charleston, South Carolina. Captain Fessenden arrived in South Carolina on the 16th of April, 1862, and reported to General Hunter for duty. During the spring he was employed on important missions to Florida, to the Edisto, and to other points within the command.
In May, Captain Fessenden was assigned to the responsible duty of organizing, dis- ciplining, and commanding the first regiment of colored troops ever taken into the service. of the United States. General Hunter had anticipated the Government in the policy of
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organizing colored troops, and had issued an order declaring slavery incompatible with martial law, and announcing its abolition within the limits of his department. The employ- ment of black troops was not then favorably received. Hunter's proclamations were met with violent denunciations on the part of the Confederate Government. Hunter himself was declared an outlaw, and it was announced that the officers and, men of colored regi- ments would not be treated as prisoners of war, but as felons. Few officers were then willing to be employed in the work of organizing colored troops, and many were violently opposed to such organizations. Captain Fessenden not only regarded the measure as justifiable, but believed that it would be a fatal blow at the Rebellion. At the desire of his commanding-general, Captain Fessenden undertook the labor of organizing and drilling the regiment, which proved to be the forerunner of the large number of colored troops which at a subsequent period of the war were mustered into the U. S. service. Under his command the first regiment of colored troops attained in the course of two months such proficiency in drill, discipline, and service as to extort unwilling commendations from those who had been violently opposed to the measure. The experiment proved the prac- ticability of raising well-disciplined and efficient black troops. The Government, however, was not then prepared to sustain General Hunter in the employment of black troops, and refused to permit the regiment to be mustered into the U. S. service, and after having been commanded by Captain Fessenden for some months, it was disbanded. Captain Fessenden exerted himself to have the colored troops put upon the same footing as the volunteers, believing that when once mustered into service they would soon be treated by the enemy according to the rules of war. In recognition of his services in the operations of the department and with the colored troops, he was at the request of General Hunter promoted to the rank of colonel. Although these troops were disbanded as a military organization, they were afterward employed in the Quartermaster's Department, and were finally mustered into the U. S. service as the First Colored Regiment, under the command of Colonel T. W. Higginson, distinguished alike in literature and the service of his country.
Active operations having ceased with the attack on Charleston, Colonel Fessenden went to Washington with General Hunter, and returned with him in the following winter to the department. . The Government proposed sending additional troops to insure vigor- ous operations against Charleston. In February, Colonel Fessenden was sent by the commanding-general to be present at the attack by the navy on Fort McAllister, near Savannah. In April he was despatched to the Edisto River on important matters con- nected with the troops operating against Charleston. On returning from this expedition he was engaged in the attack by the navy under Dupont on Fort Sumter and the forts which defended Charleston. In the severe engagement of the 7th of April, when one monitor, the Keokuk, was sunk, and two more were disabled by the enemy's fire, Colonel Fessenden was employed with General Hunter's steamer in maintaining communication
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between the army and naval commanders, and was much exposed to the rebel batteries. The operations of the fleet in conjunction with the movements of the army lasted through the month, and Colonel Fessenden was constantly and arduously employed. On the 6th of May he was thrown from his horse, and so injured that he was obliged to leave the field. Having partially recovered, he was ordered on mustering and disbursing duty until September, when he received orders to report to Major-General Hooker. General Hooker had just been assigned by President Lincoln to the command of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, then being rapidly moved from the East to protect the line from Nashville to Chattanooga, and to open communications with Rosecrans. Joining Hooker at Washing- ton, Colonel Fessenden accompanied him on his energetic journey to Stevenson, Alabama, where headquarters were established, and preparations begun for that splendid series of movements which under Grant resulted in the glorious victories of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The month of October was spent in opening communications with the Army of the Cumberland, then holding Chattanooga almost without food or ammuni- tion. Late in November, Grant began the operations which defeated Bragg. Colonel Fessenden participated in the brilliant movements of Hooker in Lookout Valley on the 24th, when his divisions scaled the western slope of Lookout Mountain, drove the enemy from their riffe-pits, and swept round the northern point of Lookout, into Chattanooga® Valley. The following day he was on duty with the leading column, which crossed the valley, ascended the southern extremity of Missionary Ridge, turned the flank of the rebels, and compelled them to retreat. The tired, hungry, but enthusiastic divisions again started at daylight, fighting the enemy at Ringgold, and pursuing till late at night. The next morning Hooker found the enemy holding a very strong position, which he prepared to assault. At this point the pursuit was stopped by order of General Grant. The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, after halting for three days to destroy railroads and bridges, returned to Lookout Valley. Throughout these arduous operations Colonel Fessenden was constantly on duty, and was officially complimented by General Hooker for the ser- vices he rendered during the four days of continuous marching and fighting. The armies made no further movement till May. During the winter the Eleventh and Twelfth. Corps were consolidated into the Twentieth Corps, to be commanded by Hooker, with divisions under Williams, Geary, and Butterfield.
Early in May, Sherman opened the campaign against Atlanta. By the 4th Hooker had moved his corps from Lookout Valley and concentrated it in the valley of the Chicka- mauga. Colonel Fessenden was engaged in the movements of Butterfield's Division toward Buzzard's Roost, in Geary's assault of Chattanooga Mountain on the 8th of May, and in the heavy engagements on the west of Buzzard's Roost. He shared in the operations of the corps in support of McPherson at Resaca, in the repulse of the enemy by Williams' Division when attempting to overwhelm the right flank of the Fourth Corps, and in the
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bloody battle of Resaca on the 15th of May. In this battle the Twentieth Corps bore the brunt of the enemy's determined assaults; its loss in killed and wounded being equal to that of the rest of the army. For conspicuous gallantry and efficient services in these engage- ments Colonel Fessenden was recommended for promotion to the rank of brigadier-general.
The enemy retreated after the battle of Resaca, and on the 17th the Twentieth Corps crossed the Coosawattee in pursuit. Colonel Fessenden participated in the heavy engage- ments fought in front of Cassville, and rendered important services in the movement to interpose between the enemy and Dallas. The corps was advancing in three columns to cross Pumpkin Vine Creek, Colonel Fessenden leading the advance of the main column with a small force of cavalry. On arriving at Pumpkin Vine Creek he found the only bridge in flames, and the enemy on the opposite bank. Time was of the greatest impor- tance, and the loss of the bridge would have inflicted serious delay upon the army, and been of great advantage to the rebel commander. Colonel Fessenden promptly attacked the enemy, and at great personal exposure rushed across the burning stringers and extinguished the fire. Then quickly repairing the bridge, he drove the enemy's cavalry back two miles upon their main body, and developed a strong force of infantry advancing in line of battle. Johnston, with his usual skill, had divined the movement upon his rear, and had sent two corps to prevent it. Sending word to Hooker, Colonel Fessenden fell slowly back to the leading brigade, which formed in line, and after a sharp fight checked the rebel advance. At five o'clock, the whole corps being in line, an attack was made upon the enemy, who was driven back two miles into a line of earthworks. This sanguinary engagement lasted till 8 P.M., and is called the battle of New Hope Church. Night put an end to Hooker's victorious advance, and the troops bivouacked in a pouring rain.
After the battle of New Hope Church Colonel Fessenden was constantly on duty during the demonstrations of the Twentieth Corps in front of Dallas, in exploring the country between McPherson's position and the Twentieth Corps, and in the advance of the corps toward Marietta. He was engaged in the capture of Pine Hill on the 15th of June, and in the gallant but unsuccessful assault by the Twentieth Corps on the enemy's fortified position. Three weeks of rainy weather had swelled the creeks, and made the labors of officers and soldiers extremely difficult. Colonel Fessenden rendered valuable service in the operations of the corps in front of Kenesaw Mountain, shared in the reconnaissances in force toward Kulp's house, and was engaged in the hard-fought battle of that name on the 22d of June.
The Union assault on the enemy's line in front of Kenesaw Mountain having failed, Sherman prepared to turn the position. In this movement the Twentieth Corps advanced, and on the 3d of July took possession of Marietta, and during the next three days pressed closely upon the retreating enemy. Finding his position untenable, Johnston crossed the Chattahoochee on the 9th of July, and took up a new line covered by the Chattahoochee
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and Peach Tree Creek, and behind a series of strong earthworks constructed beforehand, and a few miles north of Atlanta. Colonel Fessenden participated in the arduous opera- tions of the ensuing ten days, during which the Twentieth Corps was engaged in crossing the Chattahoochee, in crossing and taking position beyond Peach Tree Creek, and in fight- ing the bloody battle named from the latter stream. Here the rebel commander had pre- pared to strike a decisive blow while the army was engaged in crossing the creek, and on the 20th of July he fell in heavy masses upon Williams' and Ward's divisions of the Twentieth Corps. Their assaults were furious and repeated, but were finally repulsed with great slaughter. The Twentieth Corps suffered heavily, losing 1500 men out of a total of 1700 from all the corps engaged. For his services in this battle and in the preceding oper- ations Colonel Fessenden was again earnestly recommended for brigadier-general, with the request by General Hooker that he might be ordered to report to him for duty in his command.
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