USA > Michigan > American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-made Men.: Michigan Volume > Part 8
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from point to point by the victorious columns of Harri- ' scholar and Christian, -the city of Romulus and the son, the British General at last took a strong position city of David,-he found a few months of grateful on the banks of the Thames, where he concentrated his repose. On his return to his native city, he met great tried battalions, with the bloody Tecumseh and his, tokens of regard from the nation he had represented, two thousand murderous savages. The triumph of our from institutions of science and learning, and the great arms was complete: Proctor fled, and Tecumseh was West and its advancing millions. When the great slain. General C'ass, who had contributed so much to patriot of the Hermitage felt that he was drawing near render the campaign successful, had his full share of . his end, General Cass visited him at his home, and the the peril-, the heroism, and the glory of the day. In j parting scene was filled with the tenderness of a final the dispatches of the commanding General, his name separation. In 1845 he was elected to the United States was associated with Perry's, who fought with him side Senate, and for three years was one of its brightest by side. The victory of the Thame, left General Cass ornament .. During the days of trial, he stood firmly by the military guardian of Michigan, of which he became the Coustitution. With Clay, Webster, Houston, and civil Governor. At the close of the war, he removed . other state-men, who were worthy to have sat with our with his family to Detroit, where he commenced tha: father- around the early council fires of the Republic, he long series of civil services which won for him the ' could not be tempted to give up to party what belongs gratitude of the West. To his judicious counsels, per- to mankind. In May, 1848, on his nomination as a candi- suasive eloquence, unwearied evertions, fearless adven- date for the Presidency, he resigned his position in the tures, and generous patriotism, that vast and powerful United States Senate. After the election of his opponent, region owe, much. In the year 1820, Mr. Calhoun, ,General Taylor, to that office, the Legislature of his State, who was then Secretary of War, approved of an expe. in 1849, re-elected him to the Senate for the unexpired dition which was proposed by Governor Cass, to explore portion of his original term of six years. When Mr. the sources of the Mississippi, and establish friendly Buchanan became President, he invited General Cass intercourse with all the Indian tribes. His negotiations to the head of the Department of State, which position had begun in 1815, and they were continued under he resigned in December, 1860. He devoted some
seven successive administrations. He was renominated on the expiration of his teri of office, and each time was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, without a single remonstrance from the large territory over which
attention to literary pursuit-, and his writings, speeches, and State papers would make several volumes; among which is one entitled, France; its King, Court, and Gov- ernment, pablished in 1840. He died in Detroit, June he presided. During this long period, he negotiated . 17, 1866; and will long be remembered as the most twenty-one treaties with the Indians of the North-west, emment and successful statesman of Michigan. and thus secured peace and prosperity to those brave but fading races, and undisturbed progress to their con- querors. In 1831 he was called, by General Jackson, to the position of Secretary of War. Of all the cabinet of that great man, Cass remained longest in office, and OOKE, MAJOR-GEN. PHILIP ST. GEORGE, United States Army, was born in Loudon County, Virginia, June 13, 1809. His father was Dr. possessed Jackson's entire confidence. In 1830 he left the War Department for the mission to France. He was abundantly qualified for that high station; and, in 'Stephen Cooke, a well-known physician of that region ; the discharge of its duties, rendered signal service to'and his mother, Catherine Esten, was a sister of Chief- his own country, and gained the respect and admiration | Justice Esten, of Bermuda ( West Indies), whose memoir of Europe. During this period, the Quintuple Treaty ; appears in Appleton's Cyclopedia. At the age of four- became the question of European cabinets. This wa- teen, he was appointed cadet in the United States Mil- intended, by Great Britain, to impart to her assumed itary Academy, at West Point, and graduated July 1, naval supremacy the sanction of the great Powers of 1827, receiving his commission as Second Lieutenant in the continent, thereby making a law for the ocean | the Sixth Infantry. He joined his regiment at Jefferson that would give her the right of searching our vessels at sea. Mr. Cass was determined to defeat the project. In 1842 he made a formal protest against the ratification Barracks, Missouri, in November of the same year, re- maining on duty there ten months. In 1829 his com- pany acted as escort to one of the Santa Fe caravans; of the treaty by France, and wrote a pamphlet on the ; and, on the 3d of August, while Lieutenant Cooke was "Right of Search," which was read by every state-man ! officer of the guard, a sudden charge was made upon the in Europe. The scheme of the British ministry was camp by about five hundred Comanches. He asked annihilated. During his mission, he visited the south orders to meet the charge, and did so at the head of of Europe and the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. | thirty-six men, and passed through and scattered the At those shrines, which will forever be sacred to the savages. During the Black Hawk War, he was acting
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Adjutant of his regiment, and in the battle of Bad Axe, [ to "the great energy and discrimination displayed by led the reserve, consisting of three companies, into Colonel Cooke during moments when the want of action. At the close of the war, he was appointed Ad- either of these qualities might have led to the most fatal and extended disaster." He marched with his com- mand to Utah, in 1857, remaining there during 1858; and, on June 14, 1858, was commissioned Colonel of his regiment. In 1859 and 1860 Colonel Cooke was engaged, by order of the War Department, in com- piling a new system of cavalry tactics, and went abroad, during the Franco-Austrian War, for the purpose of studying the European systems. The tactics thus pre- pared were adopted for the United States service. In the summer of 1861, the military Department of Utah, of which Colonel Cooke was then in command, was discontinued, and he marched the troops to Washington, arriving there in October. He was here promoted to the position of Brigadier-General, but found himself lower in rank than a large number of volunteer officers. It would seem that General Cooke's long service ought to have established him in full confidence with the Gov- ernment, but the fact of his Southern birth occasioned a feeling of distrust not surprising, so that he was not placed in those important commands for which his skill and bravery-of which the Government stood in such need - had so eminently fitted him. He commanded a division of regular cavalry at Washington, up to March, 1862, when he took the command of the cavalry reserve of the Army of the Potomac ; and participated in all the important engagements of Mcclellan's Peninsula campaign. He had command of the cavalry forces in the battle of Gaines' Mill. In several accounts of the close of that battle, a singular injustice seems to have been done him, apparently founded on the official report of General Fitz-John Porter, which has never been pub- lished,-he being soon after cashiered. A sufficient negative is given to these by the impartial testimony of disinterested parties. In a letter from Prince De Join- ville to Duc D'Aumale, on the day following the battle, and published in the newspapers at the time, he says: "The fusillade and cannonade were so violent that the projectiles, striking the ground, raised a permanent cloud of dust. General Cooke at that moment charged at the head of his cavalry, but that movement did not succeed, and his horsemen on the return only increased the dis- order. He made every effort, aided by all who felt a little courage, to stop the panic, but in vain." In a letter of General Merritt, dated February 15, 1868: "I thought at the time, and subsequent experience has convinced me, that your cavalry, and the audacity of its conduct at the time, together with the rapid firing of canister at short range by the battery mentioned, did much, if not every thing, to prevent the entire destruc- tion of the Union army at Gaines' Mill." A letter of jutant by General Atkinson. In 1833 he was appointed First Lieutenant of Dragoons, and marched that winter from Jefferson Barracks to Fort Gibson, a distance of five hundred miles. After serving on the South-western Expedition, in 1834, he was promoted to a Captaincy of the First Dragoons, - 31, 1835, and detailed on recruiting service. This was, however, a life entirely too dull and inactive; and, in February, 1836, he applied for orders to join his company. Receiving these, he marched from Fort Gibson to Nacogdoches, Texas. From this date until 1845, Captain Cooke was constantly with his company on the frontier, engaged in garrison duty, or on long marches against the various tribes of hostile Indians. In 1834, while commanding four companies of dragoons, for the protection of the Santa Fe trade, he saved the caravan by capturing and disarming a large force under commission from the Pres- ident of the young Republic of Texas. For the courage and hardihood manifested in these perilous enterprises, Captain Cooke and his companions were mentioned with commendation by the General-in-Chief in his reports. Captain Cooke was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of Vol- unteers in 1846; and marched overland with the force of General Kearney, which secured New Mexico and California to the United States during the Mexican War. Resigning his commission in the volunteer service, he was promoted, February 16, 1847, to the rank of Major of the Second Dragoons, then in Mexico; and, four days later, was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel, for mer- itorious conduct while in California. In 1848 he com- manded the rear guard of the victorious army which, under General Scott, on its retirement from the City of Mexico for embarkation at Vera Cruz, had compelled a peace at the Mexican capital. In 1853, while in com- mand of the Second Dragoons, in Texas, he led an expe- dition against the Lipan Indians, driving them across the Rio Grande. On July 15, of the same year, he was promoted to the full rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and ordered to New Mexico. In the winter of 1854, he defeated the Jacavilla Apaches, after a pursuit of one hundred and fifty miles, through deep snows, over a mountainous and broken route, and was mentioned by General Garland with especial praise, in general orders, June 21, 1854. In 1855 Colonel Cooke commanded the Second Dragoons, and two companies of mounted artil- lery and infantry, in the Sioux War; and, in the battle of Blue Water, his command being detached, he encoun- tered the enemy, pursued and defeated them, inflicting a loss of seventy-nine men. In the Kansas troubles of 1856-57, he commanded the forces in the field. General Smith, in his reports of September 10, October 14, and |Colonel Martin, Adjutant-General, United States army, November 11, 1856, refers in terms of the highest praise | dated March 24, 1870, says: " It is my opinion that,
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but for the charge of the 5th Cavalry on that day, the ! prominently in its political administration. The men loss in the command of General Fitz-John Porter would | who go to our new Territories in official capacities, have been immeasurably greater. Indeed, I believe that the charge, more than any other thing, was instrumental in saving that part of the army on the north side of
their salaries provided by the Federal Government, and their safety guaranteed by its military power, stamp the impress both of their names and char- the Chickahominy. You were the last general officer ; acters upon the civil institutions of the upspring- of Porter's command to leave the field on the left, -jing State. While it is a political necessity that they General Porter himself leaving before you did. You do this, they are frequently less entitled to honor by had, therefore, an excellent opportunity to see what the exercise of moral courage, energy, public spirit, was going on." From 1864 to 1866, General Cooke was and devotion, than others whose names appear less Superintendent of Recruiting Service; and, in April, conspicuously in the public annals. The State has its 1866, took command of the Department of the Platte. Hle was brevetted Major-General, March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services during the civil war : and, in accordance with the law, was retired, October 29, 1873, after forty-six years of continuous service. As a young man, General Cooke cultivated literary taste -. Ile studied law as a pastime during his military service in the West, and was admitted to practice, first in Vir- ginia, and, in 1850, by the Supreme Court of the United States. He contributed somewhat to various magazine-, a number of his sketches having been collected and
foundation, not only in its political life, which is the expression of underlying forces, but also in its re- ligiou-, social, and commercial institutions. Recog- niving these factors in the life of our Peninsular State, the name of Joseph Campan appears so prominently as to give him a clear title to having been one of its founders. As such, he exercised a greater influence than any other man upon its early development and progress, for a period of more than sixty years. Mr. Campau wa, "to the manor born." His father, Mar- qui, Jacques Campan, born in 1730, was also a native published, in 1850, under the title : Sony ani Auinn- Vof Detroit, his father having arrived there in 1701, as tures in the Army ; or, Romance of Military Lifs. He Private Secretary to M. de la Motte Cadillac. Ile has lately published a work, entitled. Conquest of Now fought under Montcalm, at Quebec; and distinguished himself in the battle on the Plains of Abraham, in 1759, which decided the fate of that city, and of the French possessions in America. 'The mother of Joseph Cam- pau was Catherine Menard, a relation of the carly French missionary of that name. She was a native of Montreal, and was educated under the refining in- fluences of the religious establishments in that city. Mr. Campan was essentially a Frenchman, both by
Mexico and California, which, singaladly in this day of many books, filled an unoccupied place in American military history. As the author was a prominent actor throughout. a personal interest and piquancy are added to the historical value of the work. General Cooke was married, in 1830, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Miss Rachel Wilt Hertzog, the daughter of a Philadelphia merchant. They have four children. The eldest, John R. Cooke, served in the Confederate army, in which he ide-cent and education; and, as a scion of the French reached the rank of Brigadier-General. The eldest , nobility that controlled the early settlement of Detroit, daughter was the wife of General J. E. B. Stuart, also ; he maintained, throughout his life, the social checks of the Confederate army. General Cooke, now in the'and peculiarities of the old school. He was a man evening of his days, surrounded by the comforts of home, and enjoying the peace of domestic life, has richly earned the privilege of bequeathing to his pos- terity the record of a well-spent life, devoted to his country's service, and untainted with aught of dishonor.
of liberal views, -making no distinction on account of creed or nationality ; was unassuming in manners; and, though a man of few words, was always generous, charitable, and courteous. His education, up to his tenth year, was received at home under the instruc- tion of his mother, and such religious teachers as the frontier post afforded. When ten years old, he was sent to Montreal, where he remained five years at RAMPAU, JOSEPHI, late of Detroit, was born in that city, February 20, 1769; and died there July 23, 1863. " Famous, always, among men, are the founders of States," said Hon. William M. Evarts, in his oration, delivered in Philadelphia, July 4, 1876. But it is frequently necessary to look behind the mere school, returning, in 1786, an accomplished young Frenchman, and a welcome addition to the small but aristocratic society of the town. His father having died during his absence, he became clerk for Mr. McGregor, then a merchant in the town of Sandwich. Ile held this position until he had acquired some means, when he made a contract with the British political structure for the real foundation of the State, Government to build a fort at Malden. He accumu- and it is frequently unjust to look for the real founders lated, for the purpose, a large quantity of lumber and of the State to the men whose names appear the more | material, only to see his enterprise frustrated, the fruit
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF MICHIGAN.
of his savings swept away by a flood, and himself left | multifarious, requiring not only constant personal ac- penniless. He re-entered the service of his old em- ployer; but, shortly afterwards, commenced trade on his own account, thus beginning a career of unvarying success. Ile bought his goods chiefly in Montreal, but sometimes in Boston, being the first to open a trade between that city and Detroit. In his visit- to Boston and Montreal, he induced many enterprising people to
tivity, but great executive ability. In 1809 he erected, and for many years operated, a large distillery; at the same time conducting ten branch stores in the Terri- tory. He was also one of the original stockholders in the first banking institution in the city, -the Territorial Bank .- of which his nephew, General John R. Williams, was President. Mr. Campau and Mr. Williams were come and settle in Detroit. He became a buyer and also associated in various other business enterprises, seller of real estate, purchasing uncultivated lands es- [ among which was the establishment, in 1831, of the Democratic Free Press, a weekly paper, which has de- veloped into the Detroit Free Press, of to-day. They purchased, for the purpose, the material then used in
pecially, improving and building upon them: and then selling or leasing them, fully stocked, on easy terms to settlers, thus greatly facilitating the settlement of the - country. The cost of clearing the land averaged about : the publication of the Oakland Chronicle, in Pontiac. fifty dollars per acre, and the building improvement- He was also a stockholder in the Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad, now the Michigan Central. Mr. Campau was reached from three to four thousand dollars on cach piece of property. In his dealings with his tenants. "equally comprehensive and liberal in his benevolent and most of whom were poor, and some of whom occupied | social enterprises and in his business relations. In 1806 the same farm for two and three generations without ; he built, at his own cost, the first school-house in De- paying any rent, he was always lenient. When their , troit; and, in the same year, contracted for the erec- payments became due, and they were, for some good tion of St. Ann's Church. Ile was a member of a reason, unable to pay. instead of seading them threat- ; debating club, which included the prominent men of ening messages, he would visit them himself. and the town, and which held its meetings in his office. assure them that the kind Providence who had en- | He materially aided in the establishment of Detroit trusted so much property to his care had taught him College, in 1817. He was a member of the Masonic "to do unto others as he would that others should do | Fraternity, and took a leading part in the establish- unto him." His books show uncollected rents and ment of that society in the North-west. Without hope dues of over two million five hundred thousand dol- lars. He had seventy-four farms or plantations, the
of reward, he ransomed many white men who had fallen into the hands of the Indians. He was liberal to his greater number of which were in the vicinity of De- relatives, providing for their education and comfort. troit. IIe had, however, lands in other parts of this ! He was, at one time, the owner of several negro slaves, and in adjoining States, and there was scarcely an, purchased in Montreal, whom he subsequently freed. organized county in Michigan, at the time of his In 1Sos Mr. Campau married Adelaide Dequindre, death, in which the name of Campau did not appear | daughter of Antoine Ponchartrain Dequindre and upon the title deeds there recorded. He left an avail- " Catherine ( Desriviere) Lemoinodiere. A brother of able estate, mostly landed, valued at over three million Mrs. Campau, Major Antoine Dequindre, won distinc- | tion in the battle of the Monguagon, in IS12. Mrs. Campau died May 29, 1862. They have left nine chil- dren. Mr. Campau occupied his homestead (No. 140 Jefferson avenue, Detroit) from 1796 to the time of his death, in 1863. The house was destroyed by fire dollars. Mr. Campau was interested largely in stock- raising, especially horses, cattle, and sheep. At one time, he had over five hundred horses. Himself de- scended from the Norman-French stock, he took espe- cial pride in the Norman horse, which, with its remote Arabian blood, was imported from Normandy, lin 1805, but was immediately replaced by the present and from which has sprung the popular breed of horses now used in Canada and the North-west. He was a member of the "Board of Trade Britannic " as early as 1798. In IS12 he was connected with the North-
structure, costing, at that time, seven thousand dollars. Situated on the site of the head-quarters of Cadillac, the associations of the place invested it with interest in the estimation of Mr. Campau. This feeling is not only western Fur Company, with John Jacob Astor, James respected. but shared, by those of his children having Abbott, and I. G. Schwarz. Mr. Campau was never | control of that part of his estate. It is probable that an aspirant for public or official honor .. He held the | the "Campau Mansion," although now in the heart office of Trustee for the town of Detroit in 1802; and , of the city, and an unpretending edifice compared with was appointed Captain, and, subsequently, a Major, of those adjoining, will stand as long as a Campau remains. militia, by Governor Hull. In 1812 he was ordered to |In the rear of this homestead, and on the river front, muster his regiment for immediate service; but the | Mr. Campau subsequently built a store-house and dock occasion passed without the necessity of ordering him for the accommodation of his boats, of which he had to the front. Mr. Campau's business enterprises were ! several in the Montreal trade. The homestead has been 6
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used, since Mr. Campau's death, as a repository of ! successful practice. Always courteous in manner, genial family relics, and an office for the settlement of the and sympathetic in nature, he won the esteem of a large estate. The surviving children are Daniel J., Denis, circle of friends and patrons. In the spring of IS71, he J., Theodore J., James J .. Alexander T., Adelaide, removed from Ypsilanti to Detroit, as a field affording Catherine I)., Emily, and Matilda V. The sons -- Theo- 'a wider range for professional labor, and has there a dore J., and Denis J .- were appointed administrators; large practice. Having been brought up a Friend, he of his estate. The funeral of Mr. Campan was pro- is a firm believer in the orthodox faith, but is tolerant bably the largest ever witnessed in Detroit: and was in his views. He has been a stanch Republican from attended by the entire Masonic Fraternity, municipali the organization of that party. He believes thoroughly officers, members of the bar, the La Fayette Association, ; in free government, free institutions, free speech, free and citizens, with the leading men of the city as pall- press, and the right of suffrage to persons of all classes bearers. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, with and races. December 18, 1862, he married Miss Jose- Masonic honors, July 27, 1863. phine S. Bagg. youngest daughter of the late Dr. Joseph HI. Bagg, one of the pioneers of Detroit, whose sketch : will be found elsewhere in this work. March 10, 1868, ¡two children -Charles Rush and Jessie Willmut-were born to them. Both are strong, healthy children, and
MON, WILLIAM G., M. D., of Detroit, was born i have a commendable love for school, and talent for April 2, 1831, at Middlebury, Schoharie County, music.
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