USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 11
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reached Bogota in February, 1829, but had hardly entered upon his duties when he was recalled by President Jackson. Returning, he resumed agricultural pursuits at North Bend. In 1836 he was de- fated for the presidency by Martin VanBuren. In 1840 he was renominated by the Whig convention held at Harrisburg and triumph- antly elected over his former competitor, in November of that year. March 4th, 1841, he was inaugurated President of the United States. Exactly one month thereafter he breathed his last.
The personal qualities of William Henry Harrison had much to do with his elevation to the presidency. His life was marked by a union of moderation with good fortune and substantial success. He was pros- perous as a commander where others failed. He was identified with the growth and prosperity of a powerful region of the Republic. The people believed in his good sense and in his integrity, and these were among the most prominent elements of his success. Nearly fifty years have elapsed and his grandson Benjamin fills the position held by him at his death.
COMMODORE OLIVER H. PERRY.
Oliver Hazard Perry was born at South Kingston, R. I., August 23, 1785. His great grandfather, Edmund Perry, was an English Quaker, and emigrated from Devonshire, England, and settled first at Plymouth, Mass., but the prejudices against the Quakers induced him to follow Roger Sherman to Rhode Island, where he purchased from the Indians a large tract of land and founded South Kingston. His grandfather, Freeman Perry, was a Judge, and a member of the Colonial Assembly. He was also a Quaker, and married the daughter of Oliver Hazard, also of Quaker descent. From this alliance sprang the revolutionary Christopher Perry, father of the subject of this sketch. Christopher Perry volunteered in the navy at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, commanded a privateer, and was cap- tured and confined for a period in the Jersey prison, at New York. After his exchange he again went to sea, and continued in the naval service during the war. All this occurred before he was 22 years of age. After the close of the war he entered the merchant service, and during one of his return voyages from Ireland he fell in love with one of his passengers, Sarah Alexander. She was of Scotch ancestry, though born in Ireland, and is said to have been a woman of great personal beauty and force of character. Captain Christopher Perry and Sarah Alexander were married in 1784. From such stock came the hero of Lake Erie, Oliver Hazard Perry. He had all the advantages for obtaining an education which Rhode Island and those times afforded. He was but 13 when his father was appointed by President John Adams,
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in 1798, to the command of the frigate "General Green," to resist the aggressions of France. Oliver accompanied him as midshipman in all his cruises in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. After the French war feeling was over, young Perry went again to his studies, and in 1802, was appointed midshipman on the frigate "John Adams," which had just been ordered to the fleet of Commodore Morris, then blockad- ing Tripoli. In 1803 he returned in his ship under the command of Commodore Morris, and was not employed in active service till sent again to the Mediterranean in the frigate Constellation, which did not reach the African coast till the more daring hostilities of the Barbary war was over. On his return in 1806 he was employed in superintend- ing the construction of a fleet of gunboats, and it was not until 1809 that he was appointed to command of the armed schooner "Revenge," with which it will be remembered he cut out from under the guns of a British ship in Spanish waters, an American vessel previously stolen. On returning from this cruise in 1811, he lost his vessel on Watch Hill Reef, through an error of his pilot. He was not merely acquitted of censure, but his conduct in saving his crew was extolled by a court of inquiry. Owing to the loss of his vessel, he was temporarily thrown out of a command, which he turned to account by marrying Miss Elizabeth Champlin Mason, the daughter of an influential and wealthy family at Newport, R. I., the wedding taking place in May, 1811. The commencement of the war of 1812, found him in charge of a flotilla of gunboats in Newport Harbor. Perry did not like this service, and applied for more active service, and in the month of February, 1813, he was ordered to join Commodore Chauncy, at Sackett's Harbor, with his picked men from the flotilla. On his reporting to Chauncy, he was detained for a time on Lake Ontario, and the end of March sent to Erie to superintend the fitting out of two vessels for service on Lake Erie. When he received advices that Chauncy designed to attack Fort George, at the mouth of Niagara river, he joined him, and participated in its capture, and again returned to Erie. Owing to the lack of men, the completion of the vessels was somewhat delayed, but on the arrival of a reinforcement of men, he soon had his vessels pre- pared for action. One of these vessels was named after the lamented "Lawrence," the other the " Niagara." With these, and seven smaller vessels, and further strengthened by a reinforcement brought from Lake Ontario by Captain Jesse D. Elliot, he left Erie to watch the enemy. The commander of the British fleet, Captain Barclay, a gallant officer who had seen much service, expected an easy capture of Perry's fleet, as his armament was larger by nine guns, and were of longer range than those of Perry's. On the 10th of September, 1813, the respective forces of the two commanders stood as follows : Perry's -The " Lawrence," "Niagara " and seven smaller vessels, carrying in all 54 guns. Barclay's-The "Detroit," " Queen Charlotte," " Lady
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Provost," and three smaller vessels, carrying in all 63 guns. The loca- tion of the American fleet was in Put-in-Bay, just off Malden, from which the British fleet was approaching. Perry arranged his vessels in line, taking the lead in his flag ship " Lawrence," on which he now raised the signal for action-a blue flag inscribed in large white letters, with the words of the dying Lawrence : "Don't give up the ship !" Addressing his men : "My brave lads, this flag contains the last words of Captain Lawrence; shall I hoist it ?" " Ay, ay sir!" was the res- ponse. Then for an hour there was silence, which was suddenly broken by a bugle sounded on board the British vessel " Detroit," and a shot immediately following, which fell short of its mark. Owing to the superior range of the enemy's guns, Perry sought closer quarters, and making all sail brought the "Lawrence" within reach of the " Detroit," upon which he kept up a steady fire from his carronades, assisted by the "Scorpion " and " Ariel." The destruction on the deck of the "Lawrence " was fearful; out of 100 well men who went action 22 were killed and 61 wounded. At this time Perry finding his ship disabled, resolved to move his flag to the "Niagara." He had half a mile to traverse, exposed to the enemy's fire in an open boat. On reaching the "Niagara " he instantly bore up to the " Detroit," the guns of which were fired resolutely, when she became entangled with her consort, the "Queen Charlotte," and the "Niagara " poured her shot into both vessels, and at the end of seven minutes both had surrendered.
The American loss in this fight was 27 killed and 96 wounded; that of the English 41 killed and 91 wounded. Perry's letter to General Harrison reads as follows :
" Dear General :- We have met the enemy and they are ours-two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.
Yours, with great respect and esteem,
O. H. PERRY."
That to the Secretary of the Navy :
" Sir :- It has pleased Almighty God to give the arms of the United States signal victory over their enemies on this lake. The British squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop, have this moment surrendered to the force under my com- mand. I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully,
Your Ob't Servant,
O. H. PERRY."
This victory cleared the lake, and enabled Perry to co-operate with General Harrison in driving the British from Michigan. Perry's fleet sailed up to Detroit, but the enemy had fled to Canada, and were subsequently arrested by Harrison. Perry's next service was in Aug., 1814, in command of the "Java," a 44 gun frigate, recently built at Baltimore, but owing to the blockade of that port, he was not able
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to get to sea before peace was declared. He subsequently joined the squadron of Commodore Shaw, in the Mediterranean. It was during this cruise that Perry permitted himself to strike an officer of the marines for what he considered disrespectful conduct. Instead of being at once settled, it was suffered to rankle, until 1818, and subsequently ended in a duel, which was fought at Weehawken. Decatur was his second. Perry had consented to the meeting as a compensation to the officer he had injured, but forbore to return his antagonist's fire. In 1819, he, as Commodore, sailed in the "John Adams " for the West Indies, bound for Venezula. Reaching the mouth of the Oronoco, he was attacked with yellow fever, from which he died on board his flag ship, August 23rd, 1819, in his 34th year.
Such, and so early, was the fate of the gallant Perry. His remains were interred at Port Spain with every attention by the English Governor. They were subsequently brought home in a national vessel, and interred in the cemetery at Newport. The country also provided for his family. If ever America produced a man whom the nation delighted to honor, it was Perry.
LEWIS CASS.
This distinguished statesman and diplomat, so well known to Michi- gan's early pioneers, was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, October 9th, 1782. His ancestry, on both the paternal and maternal sides, came from the Puritan stock of old England, to become more intensified in their belief in New England.
His father, Jonathan Cass, was a stern representative of Puritan principles. At the age of 19 he enlisted at the first call as a soldier of the revolution. He served through the war from Bunker Hill to its close and retired with the rank of captain. On the reorganization of the army he was appointed to the command of Fort Hamilton, Ohio, with the rank of major. Not long after he resigned and received a tract of bounty land for his services, lying on the Muskingum river, near where Zanesville now is, and made the home in which Lewis Cass was introduced and became so prominently identified with Michi- gan and the Northwestern Territory.
As stated, Lewis Cass was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, at the close of the war of the revolution, so that in early boyhood he had the advantages afforded by the Exeter academy, of which Benjamin Abbot was the principal, under whose tutorage Daniel Webster, the Everetts and Buckingham received their education. Young Cass was entered there at the age of ten and left it at seventeen, when his father removed to the West. His parents did not go at once to their western
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home, but traveled a roundabout way, stopping for a time at Wil- mington, Delaware, where Lewis was employed as a teacher in an academy. Thence they proceeded to Harper's Ferry and Winchester to Pittsburg, and from there down the Ohio river to Marietta. When the family passed to their land on the Muskingum, Lewis remained at Marietta and commenced the study of law in the office of Governor Meigs, at that time judge of the supreme court of the territory, subsequently completing his studies with Mathew Baccus, and in 1802 was admitted to the practice of his profession.
In 1808 he married Miss Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of a New York gentleman who had settled in Virginia, and in the same year he was introduced into political life and elected to the Ohio State legis- lature, which assembled at Chillicothe, the capital of the new State. This was the capital also at the period when Col. Burr began to equip a fleet of boats, supposed for a treasonable design, and with the inten- tion of dismembering the western states from the Union.
The matter was brought to the attention of President Jefferson, who sent a special messenger to Ohio to communicate with the Gov- ernor, and learn the sentiment of the people. The Governor presented the matter to the legislature and a special committee was appointed, of which Mr. Cass was a member, to investigate. A bill was therefore passed, authorizing the Governor to arrest all concerned in the con- spiracy. The boats were seized and the affair put an end to.
On this occasion Mr. Cass was selected to propose an address to the President, which was replied to by him with unusual satisfaction. Thus began the political career of Mr. Cass. In 1811 the President appointed him United States marshal of Ohio. At the close of this year, the threatened aspect of the Indians and imminent war with Great Britain led to a call for troops in the States. Mr. Cass at once volunteered, and joining this body at its rendezvous at Dayton in the spring of 1812, he was commissioned a colonel and placed in command of one of the regiments. The whole united with a body of regulars under Colonel Miller and placed under command of Brigadier General Hull, then Governor of the Territory of Michigan. The plan agreed upon by the respective authorities was " to invade Canada from Detroit, co-operate with a similar attack at Niagara, and joined by a force from Pittsburg, to advance on Montreal." In accordance therewith, Colonel Cass led his troops two hundred miles through the wilderness from Urbana to Detroit. On the last day of June, 1812, the expedition reached the rapids on the Maumee river. Hull was not aware then that war had been declared at Washington and on the 18th of June, Hull sent his sick, a portion of his stores and baggage forward by water, to Detroit. The fact that war had been actually commenced was known by the British, who quietly captured the vessel as it ap-
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proached Malden. Among the spoils were the private papers of Hull, so that the enemy were put in possession of all the military details and objects of the expedition. Hull received news of the declaration after this event. The British, however, did not make any effort to intercept the land force and it reached Detroit unmolested. In the council of war which followed, Cass urged rapid action, while Hull was inclined to delay, but finally yielding, the army crossed the river on the 11th of July Col. Cass being in advance and the first on British soil. There was some delay waiting for artillery and meantime Cass wrote and circulated among the inhabitants a proclamation. Hull still counselled inaction, so that it was not until the 17th that Cass was allowed to move forward to take possession of a bridge which crossed a stream below Sandwich. He was successful, and leaving a company of riflemen to divert the enemy at the bridge, he passed his men over the river above, met the British and drove them before him with great loss. The advantage gained would have led to the capture of the Malden fort, had not Hull ordered the force from the position so creditably gained. Hull then, on the 8th of August, returned to Detroit. Hull's return was hastened, it is said, in consequence of the defeat of a party which had been sent from his camp to assist in bringing some provisions which were on their way to Detroit from Ohio. A second detachment was sent under Colonel Miller to escort the provision train. On the way a sharp fight ensued and though Miller held his own the commander-in-chief recalled him. Still a third attempt was made to open the way for the expected supplies under Colonels Cass and McArthur.
This expedition started the very day when Gen. Brock arrived to take command at Malden, and before its return Hull had surrendered his entire force, including that led by Cass and McArthur, who reluctantly acquiesced. Colonel Cass, on being called upon to deliver his sword, drew it from its scabbard and, breaking it in two, threw the parts away. He was released on parole and returned to Ohio, thence proceeded to Washington, at the request of his fellow soldiers, to inform the government the particulars of the surrender.
In January, 1813, on being released from his parole by exchange, he was commissioned a colonel in the regular army and charged with raising another Ohio regiment. He joined Harrison in the summer with the increased rank of brigadier general, and after Perry's victory, crossed with Harrison to Malden and from thence to the Thames, acting with Commodore Perry as aides to Harrison in the battle at that point, which resulted in the complete defeat and rout of the British. On the advance of Harrison he was left in command of the north- western frontier and soon after received the appointment (made by President Madison), of Governor of the Territory of Michigan, and thus his subsequent life became identified in its future history.
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He participated with Harrison in the Grand Council with the Indians at Greenville, and afterwards in conciliating the friendly tribes, and opposing the hostilities offered by others in the region under his protection. On the conclusion of peace, he established his family at Detroit, and then turned his attention to the settlement and develop- ment of the territory. His first step was to negotiate with the Indians for a cession of lands; this he effected in the Indian Council at Fort Meigs, in the spring of 1817, by a treaty which extinguished the Indian title to four million acres of land in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, and the policy of removal fairly adopted by a treaty which was pronounced by Secretary of War Calhoun, "in its fiscal, moral and political effect, the most important of any hitherto made with the Indians."
For eighteen years Cass administered the government of Michi- gan, continuing his negotiations with the Indians, assisting emigration, and developing the resources of the region under his charge.
In August, 1831, he was appointed Secretary of War by President Jackson. The Black Hawk War, and the nullification threat of South Carolina, occurred while he held this position. In 1837 he resigned, and was appointed Minister to France. The year succeeding this appointment he made an extended tour through Europe and Egypt. In September, 1842, he requested to be recalled, and prior to leaving Paris was entertained at a dinner given by the Americans in that city. He returned in December, landing at Boston. He proceeded to Wash- ington, and from thence to Detroit, where a hearty welcome awaited him. In 1845 he was elected to the United States Senate. He served as Senator until nominated for the Presidency in 1848, in opposition to Gen. Taylor, the Whig candidate. He received the vote of 15 States, and a popular vote of 1,223,795, being 138,447 less than that for Gen. Taylor. The election being thus decided, he was returned to the Senate for the remainder of the period for which he was originally chosen. In 1851, his senatorial term having expired, he was again chosen Senator for six years. The following year his name was again before the Democratic National Convention, and for several days it seemed probable he would receive the nomination, but after many ballotings, it was given to Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire. In 1857 he was appointed Secretary of State by President Buchanan. He discharged the duties of that position till near the close of the adminis- tration, when, protesting against the lack of firmness exhibited in treat- ing with the impending rebellion, and the want of patriotism in the Cabinet, he resigned in December, 1860, demonstrating by the act, in the words of Senator Baker of California : "That he loved his country more than he loved either State, or place, or power, or party." He then returned to his home in Detroit, where he on more than one occasion gave encouragement by precept and example to the War for
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the Union, into which the nation was forced. He died just at its close, in sight of the restoration of the Constitutional Government, with the exciting cause of the rebellion wiped out. His death occurred at his residence, on West Fort Street, Detroit, June 17, 1866.
PATRICK H. McWILLIAMS.
Invention is the talent of youth, and judgment, of age .- Swift.
"Nothing can be made of nothing ; he who has laid up no material can produce no combination."
The characteristic of the subject of this sketch is the practical application of what he has thought out. In other words, he demon- strates his theory of combinations before adopting them, by employing judgment and common sense in testing their adaptation.
Patrick Henry McWilliams is a native of Ireland, having been born on that island on the 12th day of March, 1830, and was brought to Detroit by his parents, July 12th, 1834.
He did not have the educational advantages enjoyed by the sons of wealth, but such as were offered he improved. He first learned the trade of a ship joiner, with J. E. Dixon, prominent in Detroit, mean- while improving his leisure time in the study of mechanics and natural philosophy, and thus is recognized for his practical skill as an inventor. It was this which led to his appointment as President of the Board of Inspectors of Buildings for the city, and to his knowledge and excellent judgment the public are indebted for the improvements in its buildings, for the safety and the lives of its citizens.
Mr. McWilliams, May 5, 1851, married Miss Louise Lacorce, of Sault Ste. Marie. The marriage ceremony occurred at Marine City, and was the first had in the then new Catholic church of that town, at that time called Newport. Rev. Father L. Kilroy, officiated. Among those witnessing the marriage was Henry Schoolcraft, half brother of the bride, and son of Michigan's historian of the same name, and Miss M. D. Cottrell, of Cottrellville, who was the bridesmaid.
The fruit of this marriage was eleven boys and three girls, all living. In 1871, his wife, Louise Lacorce, died, and in 1873 he was married the second time, to Miss B. McEnhill, of Detroit, on the day of the defeat of Horace Greeley for President. By this union he has three daughters and two sons, making nineteen children. Therefore he feels rich in the blessings allotted the poor, but desires more, as all his children have proved (thanks to the care he has exercised over them) worthy of their parentage, and bid fair to do it honor in the future.
In 1854 Mr. Mc Williams accepted a position as car constructor on
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the Illinois Central, and then on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; and in 1859, accepted the charge of the construction of bridges on the Memphis & Charleston R. R., remaining until the surrender of Fort Sumpter, in 1861, when he returned to Illinois, where he raised a com- pany for three months' service, as called for by the proclamation of President Lincoln, in which he held the position of first lieutenant. but meanwhile, owing to the quota having been filled under the call, his company disbanded, never having been mustered into the service. This ended his war experience. He was then elected supervisor, and represented the city of Aurora. His principal duties during the two years was to provide for the protection of the families of volunteers, and the care of their property, and in superintending the building of a city hall and post office for the city of Aurora. At the end of his term he accepted the appointment of superintendent of roads and bridges from the county. This position he held until the close of the war, when he returned to Detroit, and superintended the construction of the Pullman Palace Car Shops, the Peninsular Stove Works, the Riverside Company's Warehouse, and other large buildings. He then was employed to superintend the building of the Kealy Stove Works at Columbus, Pa., and returning to Detroit, began the utilization of the several patents he had obtained for several useful inventions, in which he has been partially successful. At the same time he supervised the construction of numerous large structures for manufacturing, until appointed Inspector of Buildings for the city. On his retirement from that office, he was, and is now, engaged as Designer and Superintendent in the building of structures in the interest of the city and its manufac- tories.
ELON FARNSWORTH.
This eminent and distinguished pioneer of Michigan, was born at Woodstock, Vermont, February 2nd, 1799. His ancestry were nobles, in that they preserved and transmitted to their descendents indubit- able evidences, as exhibited by the subject of this sketch, of independ- ence of character, integrity of purpose and acts, enterprise in their encouragement of all that makes men and women, patriotism in their devotion to the maintenance of civil and religious liberty. Elon Farns- worth left his native State and located in Detroit in the year 1822, and hence was a contemporary of that other nature's nobleman, Charles C. Trowbridge. In 1834, Mr. Farnsworth was a member of the Terri- torial Council. In 1843 he was appointed Chancellor. In connection with this office, Chancellor Kent thus speaks : "The administration of Justice in Equity in Michigan under Chancellor Farnsworth was enlightened and correct, and does distinguished honor to the State." In 1844 (he having resigned this office on account of ill health in 1843)
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