Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 160

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

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Judge Gilbert entered upon the discharge of his duties with that industry and directness of purpose which characterized his career at the Bar. As a trial judge he was successful, and, what is not often the case, he was equally fortunate as a judge in the appellate court, or court in banc. Neither the pressure of sympathy, the pressure of public opinion, the clamor of par- tisan zeal, the alleged hardship of the case, nor the sophistry of counsel, were ever known to deflect him from the line of duty and striet impartiality.

During the seventeen years he pronounced the law front the Bench, his opinions, both upon questions of practice and questions of common law, statute law, and equity, are nu- merons; and the student, in reading his opinions in the New York Reports, in Barbour's, and in Howard's Reports, finds in- dubitable evidence of Judge Gilbert's learning and untiring industry. It would be a pleasure to refer to many of these, but as the Bar and the public are familiar with them, it would be but the work of supererogation. Among those to which we venture to refer are the following: the case growing out of the removal of steam-transit from Atlantic street, in Brooklyn; the construction of Prospect Park; the case relating to the destruc- tion of property occasioned by the riot which took place in 1863; and that in which the right of the Legislature to regulate ferriage across the East River was established. All these were causes celebré, and came before him either at nisi prius or at the General Term. The manner in which his rulings and opinions in these cases were received by the Bar and public need no de- scription from us.

For two years previous to the expiration of his judicial term, he was assigned by the Governer to the Fourth Judicial Depart- ment of the State. One of the last cascs decided by him was that of the PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, on the relation of JOHN NEGUS, against RICHARD S. ROBERTS, one of the Board of Aldermen of Brooklyn, and sixteen other Aldermen of the city, whom he had adjudged guilty of contempt of court, in violating an injunction order granted by County Judge Henry A. Moore, in January, 1882. His opinion in that case, though very brief, is often quoted for its learning and for the inflexibility with which he punished those who, with premeditation, disregarded and sct at naught a solemn order of the Supreme Court.

"To allow such offenders," he said, in pronouncing his judg- ment, "impunity for their misconduct, would be a practical surrender of a trust which has been confided to the judiciary by the people for their own protection. The power which the court possesses of punishing disobedience of its mandates 18 one of the safeguards for the administration of justice. Those who commit such offenses must be inflexibly punishicd."

Judge Gilbert retired from the Bench in December, 1883, having, as we have said, attained that age which is supposed to disqualify him from the duties of a judge. Though still in the possession of every faculty, mental and physical, necessary for the discharge of his official duties, it is, perhaps, no affectation to say he is better qualified by his experience on the Bench.

In cases like his, we are Icd to doubt the propriety of a con- stitutional provision which disqualifies judicial officers in the very midst of their usefulness, and ripened by a long and valu able experience.

On retiring from the Bench, Judge Gilbert resumed the prac-

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tice of his profession, because he loved and honored it from long association. He is, at this writing, at the head of the well- known and successful law firm composed of his son, James H. Gilbert, Alexander Cameron, and another son, William T. Gilbert. The offices of this firm are at 67 Wall street, New York City, and 213 Montague street, Brooklyn.

We leave Judge Gilbert enjoying the fruits of a long and suc- cessful legal and judicial career. With the full honors of the Bench, he returns to that arena which, in his young manhood, he adorned.

JUDGE CALVIN E. PRATT.

IN presenting a biographical sketch of one who is in mid career of an active and useful life, we are necessarily restrained from expressions of commendation, which the subject would in- spire were we writing of a man whose race was run and his mis- sion and journey ended. We, therefore, give a merely historical narrative of one of our citizens who has long been conspicuous at the Bar, in the field, and on the Bench. The family of Pratt, one of the oldest in Massachusetts, is descended either from Phineas Pratt, who came from England to Plymouth in 1622 (two years after the Pilgrims landed there from the Mayflower), or from Joshua Pratt, who came to Plymouth in the ship Aun in 1623, and was one of the first purchasers at Dartmouth.

CALVIN EDWARD PRATT, the subject of this sketch, was born at Princeton, in Massachusetts, on the 23d January, 1828. His father was Edward A. Pratt, a son of Captain Joshua Pratt, of Shrews- bury; and his mother was Mariaime Stratton, daughter of Deacon Samuel Stratton, of Princeton. The family removed from that place, in Judge Pratt's early child- hood, to Sutton, in the same State, where he was diligent alike in the district school and upon his father's farm up to his fifteenth or sixteenth year, developing and maturing the physical and mental strength for which he has since been remarkable. From his early boyhood to the present hour he has known no idle time. From Sutton he went to the celebrated academy in Wilbraham, and while pursuing his studies there, during a portion of the time assisted in surveying the line of the Providence and Worcester Railroad. The following season he taught one of the district schools in the town of Uxbridge, and the next year in that of Sutton, and subsequently, for three suc- cessive winters, in Worcester. Meanwhile he diligently pursued classical studies, and completed his preparation for college, for which he was finally fitted at the Worcester Academy.

In the spring of 1849, he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Henry Chapin, a distinguished lawyer of Worces- ter. He was content with no superficial knowledge, but was a close, thorough, and untiring student-going to the very founda- tions, the underlying principles, on which the rules of law in all its departments are based. While engaged in these studies he held for one year the office of Clerk of the Criminal Court, to which he was appointed in 1850. He was admitted to the Bar at Worcester in 1852. He at once became anything but a "briefless barrister." He was not subjected to the long and weary waiting which is the lot of most young men on entering the profession, but was speedily in active practice. He was retained almost immediately in many important criminal cases, among which were a number for murder-one being that of Barker (a case that attracted great attention at the time), in which he was associated for the defense with ex-Judge Dwight Foster, the prosecution being conducted by Judge P. E. Aldrich and the late Rufus Choate.

In order that he might be thoroughly prepared and competent for the trial of cases involving medico-legal questions, Mr. Pratt sought the knowledge to be obtained by medical studies, and pursued especially and thoroughly that of anatomy. From 1851 to 1859 (in which year he removed to New York), he labored incessantly, and without holiday or rest.

During this period his remarkable physical strength and vigor disposed him to active exercise and sports. lle became an ath- lete, was expert as a boxer and in the use of the small sword, broad sword and bayonet, in which he took lessons from skilled instructors. The passion of all boys for military matters did not, in him, cease with his boyhood, but grew with his years, and in 1851 he enlisted as a private in the Worcester Light In- fantry, one of the oldest military organizations in the country, dating back to about 1808. He became successively orderly ser- geant, 2d lieutenant and 1st lieutenant of the company, and was then elected major of the 10th Regiment Massachusetts Infantry, in which he served for two or three years, when lie accepted a position as major on the staff of Major-General llobbs. We note this early chapter of his military experience (while at the same time in full practice as a lawyer), as the precursor of his gallant and skillful action in the war of the Rebellion.

During this period of Mr. Pratt's life he was earnest and ardent in his political convictions. His sincerity was shown by his act- ing and identifying himself with the Democratic party, which in Massachusetts was not a popular or profitable servicc. He was so effective and acceptable as a speaker that his voice was con- stantly invoked and heard at the public meetings of that party in central Massachusetts, and not unfrequently in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. He had much humor and tact, and a forcible, elear and effective way of stating and argu- ing his case, that told with great effeet on " the masses." lle was appointed a justice of the peace in Worcester in 1853, and held that office until his removal to Brooklyn, New York, in 1859. He was a member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Central Committee, a delegate to all the Democratic State Conventions, and, for a number of years, chairman of the County Committee.

He was wise enough at the same time not to allow party poli- tics to divert his mind or interfere with his attention to legal, political, medical and mechanical science, in all which he was a constant student; and he also sought and acquired rare knowl- edge of gunnery and other important branches of military ser- vice. These acquirements, aided by a retentive memory, have verified, throughout his career at the Bar, in the army and on the Bench, Lord Bacon's adage that "knowledge is power."

In May, 1859, Mr. Pratt removed to Brooklyn, where he has ever since resided. He resumed his labor at the law, and, in partnership with Levi A. Fuller, Esq. (having their office at No. 39 Jauncey Court, New York), continued in active practice nntil the breaking out of the Rebellion in April, 1861. llis political associations did not prevent his instantly arraying himself on the side of the Union. He bade good-bye to the law for a sea- son, and determined at once to raise a regiment and lead it to the front. He hired the premises 360 Pearl street, in the city of New York, and, with his accustomed energy, soon recruited seven full companies. These recruits, it must be confessed, were not all of the élite of the land, nor even of the "F. F. V's" of that part of the city, but unsparing and incessant drill soon illus- trated the truth that strict discipline and good officers can make good soldiers out of almost any material. By an arrangement with William H. Browne, Esq., these seven companies were con- solidated with three others, which had been recruited by that gentleman, into one regiment, being the 31st New York Volun - teers, of which Mr. Pratt was thereupon appointed the colonel and Mr. Browne the lieutenant-colonel. Neither of these gentle- men had received pecuniary aid in raising the regiment, but accomplished it in the short space of twenty-nine days by their own means and exertions. They at once tendered it and then- selves to the State, in the service of which it was "mustered in" on the 27th of May, and into that of the United States on the 14th of June, and was soon thereafter ordered to Washington, to report to General McDowell. When taken into the State service the regiment was ordered to Riker's Island, in East River, where Colonel Pratt devoted himself most assiduously to its drill and equipment, which be continued until about the 19th of June,

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JUDGE CALVIN E. PRATT.

1861, when he received orders to move it on the following day to the front by transports to Jersey City, and thence by railroad on the next Monday, to join the Western army. He embarked his command accordingly, but the transport became unmanage- able in Ilell Gate, and escaped sinking by being run ashore on Long Island, whenee he marehed his regiment by the way of the Hunter's Point Ferry to New York, and went into camp in the City Ilall Park barracks, and reported to the Governor at Albany and to the Adjntant-General of the United States at Washington. On the following Sunday the men were "paid off," and, having omitted to sign " the temperance pledge," were not in the best condition on their return to camp at evening. Be- forc leaving for Washington, a beautiful set of colors was pre- sented to the regiment by ladies of New York and Brooklyn.

On the 24th, the regiment procccded by the cars at Jersey City for Washington, and on reaching the Northern Depot at Baltimore, marched through that city to the Washington Depot (at its southern side), It was the first regiment that moved through Baltimore after the 21st April, when the 6th Massnehu- setts was attacked by the mob, and, at the point of the bayonet, forced its way throngh the streets on its march to Wash- ington, with loss of many lives, alike of the sohliers and of their assailants. Colonel Pratt expected and prepared for a like reception. On alighting from the cars, he ordered the right and left (the front and rear) companies to load their innskets with ball cartridges. He addressed the men, enjoining on them coolness and steadiness, and under no provocation to fire until they should receive orders to do so. The stern and steady bear- ing of both officers and men seenred for them an unimpeded march to the Washington train, by which they reached that city in due time, and went into camp on Seventh street, about two miles from the Capitol.

Soon after the famous grand review of the army by General MeDowell, Colonel Pratt, pursuant to orders, moved across the

Potomac and went into camp on Hunting Creek, in the imme diate neighborhood of the city of Alexandria, where he was in- cessantly engaged in drilling his men until about the 10th of July, when his regiment, and the 16th and 32d New York, were consolidated into a brigade, under the command of the senior officer (a West Point graduate), Colonel Thomas A. Davies, of the 16th New York.

About the 17th July, 1861, Colonel Pratt marched with his regiment for Centreville, on the old Braddock Road, and after a skirmish at Fairfax Court House, encamped on the second night at Centreville. The famous battle of Bull Run was fought on Sunday, July 21st. Colonel Pratt's regiment was in the re- serve division, under General Miles, and was posted on the extreme left of the line of battle. After skirmishing in front for some time without finding any enemy in force in that direction, he was ordered to take command of his own regiment, and also of the 32d New York, and support General Hunt's battery. A turning column of the rebels, late in the day, made a vigorous attack upon Colonel Pratt's command, but were handsomely re- pulsed and driven back. Ile then received directions to retreat, which was done in good order. After falling back a short dis- tance, it being abont sundown, the line was reformed, arms stacked, and the men hid down to rest. Colonel Pratt's regi- ment and the 32d New York were two of those in line when Jeff. Davis, Beauregard and other rebel generals rode to the front to make a reconnoissance. In the rebel report of the battle it was given as the reason for their not advancing on Washington that there appeared to be Union troops in line ready for battle

About midnight Colonel Pratt aseertained that the whole Union army was in full retreat on Washington, and he there- upon gave orders to fall in, and marched to Alexandria, where he arrived in his okl eamp withont the loss of a single straggler from his command, so perfeet was their discipline.

Ilis conduct in the battle of Bull Run was so judicious, skillful

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and gallant that he was recommended, without his knowledge, by his superior officers for promotion. His regiment was marked for its discipline and good conduct. On reaching camp again, he forthwith resumed drilling his men. His early amateur ex- perience in the militia and study of tactics had made him at the ontset a specially capable instructor and trainer of his command.

A new brigade was soon formed by General Franklin (of the regular army), consisting of Colonel Pratt's regiment (the 31st) and 18th and 32d New York and 95th Pennsylvania, of which General John Newton was placed in command.

The fall and winter were occupied by Colonel Pratt in the usual routine of camp, picket duty and drilling, and on courts marshal, by one of which Colonel McCunn, of New York, was tried and dismissed; and much of Colonel Pratt's time was spent in examining, by a Board of which he was the president, into the qualifications of officers, many of whom were examined and dropped from the rolls on reports made by the Board.

In April, 1862, Colonel Pratt embarked with his command from Alexandria for the Peninsula, and arrived at Pocosin Creek a few days before the battle of Williamsburgh, remaining on the transports until the 6th of May, when he sailed up the York River and landed at Brick House Point (or West Point, as it was commonly called). On the morning of 7th of May, he received orders before daylight to take his regiment (the 31st New York) and 95th Pennsylvania, and to skirmish in front-make a recon- noissance and report. In obeying this order, he concluded that from the nature of the ground one regiment was sufficient to cover the fronts; so, exercising his judgment, and taking the responsi- bility, he kept the 31st Regiment in reserve (his doing which was afterward commended by General Newton). He then dashed on with his skirmishers, and soon found the enemy. General New- ton thereupon sent in the 32d New York and 95th Pennsylvania to make an attack. They encountered the enemy in such force that they were compelled, after sharp fighting, to fall back, with much loss to both regiments. Colonel Pratt was thereupon or- dered to advance with his regiment (the 31st New York), which he did, and took a position which he held through the day, carrying on a heavy skirmish, and encountering a formidable attack by a large force of the rebel infantry, which, with the assistance of the 27th and 16th New York Regiments, he repulsed with great loss to them, and sustained in his own command the loss of eighty- seven men, a majority of whom were killed, and among them five commissioned officers out of the eighteen who went into the battle. Such a loss out of a command of only six hundred men attests the severity of the engagement.

The next day the regiment received the thanks of General Mc- Clellan. Colonel Pratt was specially named for his gallant service, and was strongly recommended for promotion by a large num- ber of general officers, not only of high rank, but of very high personal standing.

Soon after the battle of West Point the army marchied to the Chickahominy River, which Colonel Pratt, with his command, crossed about the 24th of June, and was busily engaged in build- ing bridges, and other work, preliminary to the fierce conflict which soon followed. On the 26th the memorable battle of seven days commenced near Mechanicsville, on the extreme right of our army.

On the 27th, Colonel Pratt was ordered to return across the river (to the north side) to support General Fitz John Porter. The battle was desperate, terrible. Colonel Pratt was ordered with his regiment to charge the enemy, and while in its front, gallantly leading it on, was struck in his left check, about an inch below the eye, by a bullet, which passed through into the head, back of the nose, crushing the bones, and lodging under the check bone, below the right eye, where it still remains, causing him at times excruciating pain. He was taken to the rear, but in spite of his suffering, and the state of almost total blindness caused by the wound, he mounted his horse and rode to the hospital on the south side of the river.

The wound could not be then dressed, and the next day hie went, some six miles, to Savage Station, where the surgeons examined it, pronounced it fatal, and directed that he should not be moved. A few hours after this he heard sharp firing at a short distance, and learning that it was a skirmish between the rear gnard of our own army and the advance of the rebels, de- termined not to fall into the hands of the latter, but ordered his horse, and, almost entirely blind from his wound, which was still undressed, started to follow the army, then falling back to James River, which was reached on the fourth or fifth day after he was wounded.

An incident occurred on his way to James River worthy of mention. It was after dark when Colonel Pratt, in wretched plight, arrived at the place, on the south side of White Oak Swamp, where the 6th Corps had encamped in line of battle. A warm friend of his, Captain Platt, of the regular army, was then chief of artillery of the Gtli Corps, and had placed his guns in battery ready for an attack by the enemy. Colonel P'ratt rode up to the battery and inquired for an officer, but finding none, asked the sergeant for some feed for his horse. The man replied that they had none to spare, and were, in fact, short themselves. Colonel Pratt asked for Captain Platt, who soon after came, when the colonel at once asked him for some forage. The captain said it was impossible to spare any ; that he was sorry, but it was impossible, &c., and wound up by saying, " Who are you ?" Colonel Pratt replied, as well as the condition of his face and mouth would admit, "I am Colonel Pratt, of the 31st New York." Captain Platt replied, "I don't think you can get anything on that statement, for we left him dead on the other side of the Chickahominy three days ago." "Well, I am the man," Colonel Pratt replied. It is needless to say that after that he was supplied with the necessary forage he sought, and having found his regiment, tied his horse to a tree and laid down upon the ground to sleep.

General Slocum, learning that Colonel Pratt had come into camp, sent Captain Hopkins, his quartermaster, who at last found him and took him to the general's headquarters, where he spent the night with the general upon the floor of a small cabin.

The next day, Colonel Pratt mounted his horse and started for the James River, witnessing the battles of Charles City, Cross Roads and Malvern Hill, and it was not until after those con- flicts were over that he received any surgical attention to his terrible wound, which had thus remained during five days wholly uncared for.

He returned to Brooklyn about the 7th of July, and when so far relieved from his wound as to be able to travel, rejoined his regiment (about the 1st of September), just after the second battle of Bull Run. General MeClellan then resumed the com- mand of the army, and nominated a number of colonels for pro- motion to the rank of general. Colonel Pratt was one of those whom he recommended.

About the evening of the 5th September, the army moved on the famous Maryland campaign to meet Lee, who with the rebel force had commenced the expedition which ended disastrously to then at Antictam.

On the 10th September, 1862, while on this march, Colonel Pratt was, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field, ap- pointed by President Lincoln Brigadier-General of Volunteers. His commission did not reach him until the 19th, when he was assigned to succeed General Hancock in command of a brigade in General W. F. Smith's Division of the famons 6th Army Corps.

On the 18th September, in the desperate battle of Antietam, General Pratt was stationed in front of the Dunker Church, aud bore an active and efficient part in support of the Federal bat- teries. He was struck by a piece of shell, but the iujury did not disable him from duty. His horse was at the same time wounded under him.

A few days after the battle, he was sent with his brigade to Cunningham's Cross Roads to intercept Stewart, a rebel general,

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who was making a maid in the rear of the Army of the Potomae. After this service, he remained with the army in the neighbor- hood of Ilagerstown, while it was recruiting and receiving sup- plies, until about the 1st November, when it moved down the east side of the Blue Ridge to New Baltimore and Warrentown. At New Baltimore, General Pratt was ordered to make a reeon- noissance through the gap west of that place, to aseertain if the rear of the Confederate army had passed, which was done and report made that it had not. It appears that at this time Jackson and the two llills were far north of this point upon the marel, and if Mcclellan had been permitted to attack Lee and Long- street in his front at Warrentown, he must have defeated then in detail. At this time Mcclellan was removed, and Burnside sneceeded him in command of the army. Thence it marched to White Oak Church and Falmouth, on the north side of the Rappahannock, opposite Fredericksburgh.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 160

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360