The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 139

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 139

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In his work, Ohio in the War, Whitelaw Reid gives the following estimate of General Gillmore's character as an officer :

"General Gillmore's military standing is clearly defined by his career during the war. He never displayed remark- able merits as a leader of troops in the open field. He was a good, but not brilliant, Corps General. If he committed no grave faults, on the other hand, he never shone conspicuous above those that surrounded him. He was prudent, judi- cious, circumspect, not dashing, scarcely enterprising. It is

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

only fair to add that he was never tried on a large scale or under favorable auspices. But in his proper province as an engineer and artillerist, he was as bold as in the field he was cautious. He ignored the limitations of the books. He ac- cepted theories that revolutionized the sciences, and staked his professional standing on great operations based upon them. He made himself the first artillerist of the war. If not the foremost engineer, he was second to none; and in the boldness and originality of his operations against Wagner, he surpassed any similar achievements, not only in this war, but in any war; so that now, notwithstanding the more varied professional operations around Richmond, and Atlanta and Vicksburgh, when men speak of great living engineers, they think as naturally of Gillmore in the New World as of Todleben in the Old. General Gillmore is among the hand- somest officers of the army. He is above the medium height, heavily and compactly built, with a broad chest and general air of physical solidity. His features (shaded, not concealed, by his full beard) are regular and expressive. The face would be called a good-humored one; the head is shapely, and the forehead broad and high. He speaks with nervous quickness, the more noticeable, because of a slight peculiarity in the enunciation that gives a suggestion of his having sometimes lisped or stammered. He is an excellent talker, and is familiar with a wide range of subjects outside of his profession. In social life he appears as an elegant and ac- complished gentleman. He was often remarked during the war for his apparent indifference to physical danger. His head-quarters on Morris Island were pitched under fire and his soldiers used to tell of him that during the slow siege ap- proaches he often whiled away the tedium by reading novels or magazines while the enemy's shells were bursting in in- convenient proximity."

Among the standard works on professional subjects, of which General Gillmore is the author, are : Limes, Hy-

draulic Cements and Mortars; Engineer and Artillery Operations against Charleston in 1863; Siege and Reduc- tion of Fort Pulaski; Beton Coignet and other Artificial Stone; Roads, Streets and Pavements; and The Strength of the Building Stones of the United States. When the " Mississippi River Commission " was created by Congress in 1879, he was made its President. He is President of a Board of Engineers for the improvement of Cape Fear River, N. C., and the Potomac River and Flats, near Washington; and is member of several Boards for the improvement of im- portant harbors on the Atlantic and Gulf coast. He is the author of the projects now in process of execution for im- proving the harbors of Charleston, Savannah, Fernan- dina and the mouth of St. John's River and several less important harbors and rivers; and has charge of all the river and harbor improvements on the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and the eastern coast of Florida, and of the fortifica- tions from New York to Florida.

He was one of the judges at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, 1876, and made special and voluminous reports on articles embraced in Group II., viz .: " Portland, Roman and other cements and artifical stone," and " Brick- making machinery, brick kilns, perforated and enameled bricks and pavements."

He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Oberlin College, Ohio, while a Lieutenant, before the Civil War, and, a few years since, the degree of Doctor of Phil- osophy from Rutgers College, New Jersey.

THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

IN KINGS COUNTY.

The Grand Army of the Republic* originated in Indianapolis, Ind., in 1866. It was thought best that the soldiers who had fought to maintain the Union should unite for the purposes of self-defense and mutual help. It was looked upon as a proper thing for the soldiers to band together in their own interests. It was considered their slogan that, other things being equal, they should vote for a fellow soldier, no matter for what office nominated, or by what party. Gen. S. A. HURLBURT was largely instrumental in forming the organization, and was elected its first Commander-in- Chief ; he afterwards died while U. S. Minister to Peru. The order spread like wildfire, from its incep- tion in 1866 ; membership came to be regarded as a passport to employment in the public service. The time is well remembered, when, at the close of the meetings of the order, men would come before the Commander and ask : " When shall I be put on in the yard ?" The result was that the organization soon fell to the ground, and became well-nigh extinct. But there was, of course, a better element in the organiza- tion, which felt that the veterans, for the best interests of the order, should band together in the spirit of

fraternity, charity, and loyalty; of fraternity, for the purposes of communion, the "touch of elbows," and the feeling of that old martial spirit which was born upon the battle-field, and can never die ; of charity, to redeem the promise made, when a soldier pledged a dying comrade that his wife and children should never want for anything, and also to fulfill the moral obliga- tion resting upon this nation to assist its defenders in their want and suffering.

Through all these years, no genuine call for charity has been refused by the order. It is a proper thing to say that in the ritual of the G. A. R. are incorporated these questions: " Is any comrade sick or in distress ? Has any died since the last meeting ? Has any comrade any knowledge of any soldier or sailor within our limits who needs our assistance ?" That is obligatory upon the commandery, at every meeting of the Post. That is where charity finds ample and positive ex- emplification. The spirit of loyalty in the order, which some have construed into an idea of politics, is simply loyalty to each other now, as formerly in the field. If a soldier is worthy of esteem, let his com- rades stand by him, though the world assail him, and show to men that they were worthy in their loyalty to country, by being loyal to each other. Among

* Contributed by Col. EDWIN A. PERRY.

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GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

other sentiments common to the order are these : to encourage honor and purity in public affairs, and to protect the flag of our country. That is what is meant by the sentiment of loyalty.

At the present time, after twenty years of weeding the order has so melted away all differences of political and religious opinion, that no man knows or think, whether the comrade at his side is a Democrat or Re- publican, a Catholic or Protestant, a Jew or Gentile, and there is no place in all their ceremonies where it is possible for those questions to be thought of. It would be a matter of pride to the order to show its ritual to the whole world, and when the last comrade dies and leaves to it the written formula of its organi- zation, it is only then that they will appreciate how beautiful in sentiment and how perfect in practice is their ritual.

Since 1866, the Commanders-in-Chief have been: Gens. Hurlburt, Burnside, Devins, Earnshaw, Merrill Hartrauft, Robinson, Wagner, Vandervoort, and Beath, some of whom served two years, others only one. It is important to mention that the organization is gov- erned by regular military formulas, the National or- ganization being subdivided into State and Territorial Departments, and they, in turn, into Posts; in practice, however, to avoid complication, the district organiza- tions have been eliminated, and the Posts report to the Departments, and they to National Head-quarters. There are Staff Officers of the National Department, and of the Posts, who are called by the same titles as in the field. There are quarterly reports from each Post to its Department, and from the Departments to the National Department, so that the place of each mem- ber of the order can be definitely ascertained. When a man dies, his record of service is often best ascertained from the rolls of the order, his wife and children frequent- ly being ignorant of the company in which he served, and of other details in his service of the country. A good measure, which was originated and carried through by the G. A. R., provides for the separate burial of indigent soldiers and sailors, upon the production of their record and certificate of discharge. This act has spurred the comrades to place their records in better shape,

The organization in New York State was made in December, 1866, Post No. 1 being started in Rochester The first in Kings county was Post No. 4, organized in the same month. Among those chiefly instrumental in introducing the order in this State were Gens. BARNUM, GEO. F. HOPPER, and EDWARD COLE. The first Com- mander of the New York State Department was Gen. MCKEAN. The Department Commanders since have been: Gen. Sickles, Col. Lansing, Gens. J. C. Robinson, Barnum, Corlies, Jardine, Palmer, Rogers, Tanner, Mc- Quade, Young, Merritt, J. S. Fraser, Reynolds and Hedges. Comrade Dr. JAMES W. FARLEY, of this city, has been Adjutant-General of the N. Y. Department,

under Gen. Sickles, and Adjutant-General of the Na- tional Staff, under Gen. Robinson; Comrade GEO. B. SQUIRES was Adjutant-General under Commander Tan- ner, and is now Adjutant-General under Commander Hedges.

In the early days of the order it met with great op- position in this county. The fact that its cry was, " a place for everybody, and everybody in a place," brought an antagonism which almost crushed it; everybody re- garded it as a one-sided political organization; what few Democrats had joined it soon left, and the Posts were reduced to a dire extremity, when the better ele- ment succeeded in electing Gen. JAMES JOURDAN as Commander, upon the platform that politics should be rooted out of the order. Although he was not com- pletely successful in accomplishing this, a good start was made; then Col. E. A. PERRY was chosen, and through his influence a number of leading and influen- tial Democrats like Gens. Slocum, Woodward, and Meserole joined the order, in token that it was not to be swayed entirely by the Republican element, but that partizanship should be banished. The Eagle, from being unfriendly, became its ally, and from that time, no responsible authority has charged the order with being a political organization. The growth of the Grand Army in this county has been through difficulties; no appropriations for its benefit have been made by the city, in contradistinction to what has been done by other cities; but lately, a room in the City Hall has been set apart for its use; the use of the Council Chamber for meetings has been given. A Memorial and Executive Committee of the G. A. R. has been appointed, and a Bureau of Employment opened, where all indigent soldiers and sailors, or their widows and orphans, if worthy, may find relief and be helped to a livelihood; and a Relief Fund has been started to aid those unable to provide for themselves. Through the efforts of the G. A. R., aided by Mayor Low and Engineer C. C. Martin, twenty per cent. of the appointments to the Bridge service were given to the order, and ably filled from its ranks. Other legis- lation secured by the organization is the bill to provide a perfect record in the Adjutant-General's office at Al- bany of all the soldiers who went out from New York State; while other States have secured such records of their defenders, and can point to each man's history, the details of his service, whether he was wounded, where and when, New York State has only the original muster rolls to show the names of those who enlisted in her service. The most important, however, was the Soldiers' Home, which had its birth in Brooklyn. There had been desultory attempts to turn over the property which had been set apart for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home in Manhattanville, but the conditions were such as to place its control entirely outside the pale of the Soldiers' organization, and it was looked upon with alarm by the representatives of the people as

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

a scheme to assist the order in aggregating property, so that it failed. But from Brooklyn went up a delega- tion in 1875 to the Department Encampments, which asked to have a committee appointed for the purpose of raising money to establish a Soldiers' Home, and in speaking for the resolution, " Corporal " JAMES TANNER pledged Brooklyn for $10,000, which, in view of the difficulty before experienced in raising money for the purpose, caused a ripple of astonishment. After their return, they called upon the soldiers' friend, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, who delivered an address in the Academy of Music, for the purpose of raising funds for a Soldiers' Home. A committee secured some pledges, and the enthusiasm awakened by the meeting swelled the amount to $14,000, contributed by Brook- lyn's most generous citizens. This meeting gave an impetus to the movement throughout the State, which culminated in the erection of the Soldiers' Home at Bath, Steuben county. Since that time they have never appealed in vain to the State for aid in carrying on the institution; it contains 600 inmates, and needs larger quarters, for which an appropriation of $50,000 has been made. In connection with Corporal Tanner, the names of E. C. Parkinson and Judson A. Lewis, of the Grand Army, and of J. B. Murray and John F. Henry, citizens, may he mentioned, as having worked night and day to bring about the success of the project.

The first Post established in Kings county, was Wadsworth Post, No. 4, in December, 1866; Rankin Post, No. 10, was started shortly after; next were Lyon Post, No. 33; Mansfield Post, No. 35; Thatford, No. 3; it is impossible to give them in their exact order, but the Posts as at present constituted are as follows:

"Thatford " Post, No. 3 .- Commander, Chas. J. Kinsey; org. in Fallasen's Hall, cor. Third ave. and Twenty-second st., May 9th, 1868; not incorporated; original membership, 10; first OFFICERS: Jno. Q. Adams, P. H. O'Beirne, J. Howard Young and James Woodhead. Present membership, 81.

"Rankin " Post, No. 10 .- Commander, T. B. Rutan.

" Barbara Fritchie " Post, No. 11 .- Commander, H. Pea- sell.

"Frank Head " Post, No. 16 .- Commander, C. H. Grant.

" Harry Lee " Post, No. 21 .- Commander, J. B. Menden- hall.

" Mansfield " Post, No. 35 .- Commander, Martin Short.

"Mallery" Post, No. 84 .- Commander, T. M. K. Mills.

" J. H. Perry " Post, No. 89,-Commander, Geo. H. Jack- son; org. Jan. 23, mustered into G. A. R., Feb. 13th, 1879; in- corp. Feb. 28, 1881, under State laws; The original member- ship was 22; first OFFICERS: Henry W. Hughes, Comm .; Robert B. Keeler, Senior V .- Comm .; Charles M. Hartmann, Junior V .- Comm .; Fred E. Lockwood, Adj. Present member- ship, over five hundred; OFFICERS (same order as above), Geo. H. Jackson, Samuel Davis, John Merritt and Charles G. Cur- tis. In 1881, this Post appointed a committee to draft a bill and present it to the Legislature, to provide that where a

veteran of the " War of the Rebellion " died without sufficient means to bury him, he should be buried at the expense of the county in which he last lived, in a public grave, and not in a plot set aside for the pauper dead; this bill was passed, and is now a law of the State. In 1882, this Post appointed a com- mittee petitioning Congress to make an appropriation to pur- chase more land at Cypress Hills, that the National Cemetery may be enlarged; the bill is now in the hands of J. Hyatt Smith, and the Military Committee is prepared to report favorably upon it. This Post takes its name from Rev. JAMES H. PERRY, a graduate from West Point, and a veteran of the Texan War for Independence. He recruited the 48th Regt., N. Y. S. Vols., and took it to the front in September, 1861, in the War of the Rebellion; he died suddenly in June, 1862, while in command at Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah river, Georgia.

"German Metternich " Post, No. 122 .- Commander, C. Fredericks.

" Devin " Post, No. 148 .- Commander, Louis E. McLough- lin.

"Kerswill " Post, No. 149 .- Commander, J. W. Werner; org. March 11, 1880, with fifteen charter members; first OFFI- CERS were: Patk. H. McCarthy, James S. Jordan, John D. Anderson, John W. Werner and John Norton; present mem- bership is 27.

" Hamilton " Post, No. 152 .- Commander, J. W. Fox.

"Ford " Post, No. 161 .- Commander, W. H. Rogers.

" Dupont " Post, No. 187 .- Commander, J. W. Platte.

" Winchester" Post, No. 197 .- Commander, E. H. Sinsa- baugh; org. at 160 Clermont ave., Feb. 2d, 1881; not incor- porated; original membership, 13; the first OFFICERS: C. W. Cowtan, Jos. W. Kay, and Wm. R. Harding. Present mem- bership, 81; officered by E. H. Sinsabaugh, A. M. Clark, and William Warren. .

"Dakin " Post, No. 206 .- Commander, J. F. Sias, org. March 31st, 1881; not incorporated; members originally, 14; members at present, 140; first OFFICERS: B. Jacobs, Comm. Wm. S. Duryea, V .- Com .; E. G. Hamblin, J. V .; D. W. Hol- lock, Chaplain ; John Foley, Adjt .; present OFFICERS: John F. Sias, Comm .; John Foley, S. V. C .; Geo. Shepherd, J.V.C .; William Bishop, Chaplain ; C. G. Hall, Adjt.

"Wm. Lloyd Garrison" Post, No. 207 .- Commander, J. P. Johnson Howard.

"Cushing " Post, No. 231 .- Commander, D. J. Pillsworth; org. Oct. 8, 1881, at Greenwood Hall, Fifth avenue, cor. 9th street; incorporated; original membership, 16; the OFFICERS: D. J. Pilsworth, Comm .; Jno. A. Duncan, S. V .- Comm .; N H. Ross, Jr. V .- Comm .; H. L. Hunt, Adj .; present member- bership, 73; the OFFICERS are, in same order as above: D. J. Pillsworth, Thos. W. Lindsay, John H. Van Liew, Walter E. Nason.

"G. K. Warren " Post, No. 286 .- Commander, J. W. Cun- ningham.

" Post No. 327," of Brooklyn .- Commander, Geo. F. Tait; org. Jan. 30, 1883, incorporated March 26, 1883; original mem- bership, 105; present number, 186; first OFFICERS were: Geo. B. Squires, Comm .; Geo. F. Tait, S. V .- Comm .; Jas. P. Howatt, Jr. V .- Comm .; John H. Stoothoff, Adj. The present officers are the same.

"C. D. Mckenzie " Post, No. 399 .- Commander, P. T Hubbard.

"Abel Smith " Post, No. 435 .- Commander, F. Cocheu.

THE

BENCH AND BAR OF BROOKLYN.

Bbvator BY

THE history of the Bench and Bar of KINGS COUNTY, (see page 339 of this work,) mostly relates to a period prior to the removal of the seat of justice from Flatbush to Brooklyn. It con- sists largely of the biographies of those who had been active in making that history; most of whom are at rest in honored graves. Since the removal of the county seat, the history of the BENCH AND BAR OF BROOKLYN, upon which we are about to enter, embraces that of the Bench and Bar of the County. Both these histories re- call a number of widely dissimilar, but deeply interest- ing characters, each one in his own identity a prominent dramatis persona on the legal stage. But every insti- tution bas its defects ; every order of men its un worthy members; and so, doubtless, has the legal profession everywhere.

Speaking on this subject, Hon. HENRY S. FOOTE, a Senator in Congress, and one of the ablest American lawyers, said: "Were I to indulge in indiscriminate commendation of all those whom it has been my fortune to meet in the contests of the forum, or the incidents of whose professional career have been brought to my notice, I should greatly wrong my own self-respect and do injustice to other professions and to the public at large ; but I am certain that I do not go too far in declaring that in the various States which I have from time to time visited, in the progress of a now somewhat protracted professional career, I have found my brethren of the Bar, with a few exceptions, intelligent, astute, laborious, upright and manly in their conduct, cherishing a high and delicate sense of individual honor, and displaying, on all occasions, a proper regard for the dignity of their own calling, as well as profound respect for the example and counsels of those illustrious sages embalmed in the forensic annals of our own country and of England."

It is certainly no extravagance to say, that this lan- guage of Senator Foote applies most appropriately to the members of the Brooklyn Bar.

No saying has been more universally quoted than that of Dionysius of Helicarnassus, "History is philosophy teaching by example." With equal truth it may be said that biography is a chief element of his- tory, less formal and stately, displaying the characters of men whose actions largely create history. Biography derives its value from its moral and personal parallels

and contrasts, which are developed in relating the his- tory of those whose lives and careers are prominent in nations, States, municipalities, and in those institutions which have a bearing upon society. We shall, there- fore, give the lives and careers, the contrasts and paral- lels in the characters of some of the members of the Brooklyn Bench and Bar; with a description of some of the important trials that have taken place at that bar, as its truest and best history. We shall begin with

JOHN GREENWOOD,

the oldest, and one of the most highly esteemed represent- atives of the Brooklyn Bar, and of Southern New York. Although he has reached his eighty-sixth year, he is vigorous and active, physically and mentally. His knowledge is pro- found, his judgment clear, and his quickness in apprehending a truth or the fallacy of a proposition or an argument is surpris- ing. He retains in a remarkable degree the scholarly accom- plishments and habits of his earlier years; few men are more interesting conversationalists; few speak with a clearer expres- sion, or a more simple grace of diction. He abounds in anecdote and incident which his tenacious memory brings up, not only from the present, but from the long ago, with vivid and truthful precision.

His acquaintance with illustrious men of the past was large, his remembrance of them lively, and his description of them is given with biographical accuracy.

Judge Greenwnod evinces the truth and beauty of Lord Lyt- ton's remark, that "Nothing is more interesting and pleasing than an old man who has gone successfully through life's battles, retiring from the field, strong, sunny-hearted and happy, old in years, but young at heart."

There is, however, this exception in Judge Greenwood's case to Lord Lytton's remark: he has NOT RETIRED from the field. He still vigorously holds it with his armor on, "with his visor up," a prominent and successful contestant in many of the lines of legal warfare; for he loves his profession with all the ardor of his young manhood, and since retiring from the bench, has devoted himself to it, though in the enjoyment of ample fortune.

Judge Greenwood can now look back upon the world as from an elevation from which he has seen life in all its changing phases. He has seen families rise and fall; has seen the great brought low, and the low elevated to the places of the great. He has seen peace and war succeeding in their turns; he has seen the very city in which he dwells rise from a small town into magnificent proportions, that threaten to rival the great metropolis to which it is united by the most wondrous cause- way in the world. He has seen chancellors, judges, illustrious jurists, statesmen and great advocates depart, as it were, in long procession-from the scenes of their ambition and their triumphs, to join "the majority in the shadowy world." Hence, we may well say of him that he is one of the few "through

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

whom one generation speaks its thoughts, feelings and appeals to another."

John Greenwood was born at Providence, R. I., November 6, 1798. At the age of ten years he removed with his father to the city of New York, where he soon commenced preparing for col- lege. He was an industrious, untiring student, early exhibit- ing a love of the natural sciences, which was gratified by his attending chemical and philosophical lectures. He became a proficient in Latin and Greek, acquired a practical knowledge of French and German, and a critical acquaintance with English Belles-Lettres. It was the desire of his father, a desire in which the young man ardently coincided, that he should become a lawyer. There was very much in the organization of his mind, in his love of polemics and of subtle distinctions, which indi- cated that in the altercations of the Bar he would find in the future his appropriate sphere of action.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 139

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345