History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 52

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

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in this engagement. The Fifth took part in the expedition against Fort Fisher and Wilmington, and performed efficient service. It also partici- pated in the assault on Sugar Loaf and Fort An- derson, and marched with Gen. Terry's command to Raleigh, N. C. After the surrender of the Confederate armies, the Fifth was stationed for a while at Goldsboro, and in the latter part of September, it returned to Columbus, where it was honorably discharged.

A large number of colored soldiers were sent to the field from Camp Delaware, in addition to the Fifth Colored Regiment. The Delaware Gazette announces the departure for the front from Camp Delaware, in the summer of 1864, of 250 colored troops, intended for the Twenty-seventh Colored Regiment. The Eighth Colored Regiment was in camp at this place for a time, and received quite a number of recruits. Beyond these few meager facts, however, we have no information in regard to these organizations.

This constitutes a brief sketch of the regiments in which Delaware County was represented, and their participation in the rebellion. In compiling our war history, we have drawn extensively on "Ohio in the Late War," supported by such local facts as we have been able to obtain, and, in this, we have earnestly endeavored to do "justice to all and injustice to none." Many minor facts connected with the war, pertaining mostly to the city of Delaware, will be noticed in that chapter. The Soldiers' Aid So- ciety, and movements inaugurated for the purpose of encouraging enlistments, belong more properly to the city than in this department, as well as the Soldiers' Monumental Association. A few words in reference to the drafts which took place in the county, and we will close a subject of which we are becoming somewhat wearied.

The first draft in Delaware County occurred in October, 1862, and was for forty-three, the num- ber remaining due on the President's call for 300,000 men. Hon. T. W. Powell, as Commis- sioner of the Draft, superintended the drawing of the lots. The distribution of prizes to the differ- ent townships was according to population and the number of recruits already furnished, and was as follows: Concord, three; Genoa, seven; Har- lem, one; Kingston, one ; Liberty, four; Orange, thirteen ; Radnor, four; Scioto, four; Trenton, five, and Troy one. Another draft occurred in May, 1864, and was for 150 men, distributed as follows: Berkshire, three; Brown, eight; Genoa,

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twenty; Trenton, eighteen ; Thompson, thirteen ; Troy, fifteen ; Oxford, fourteen; Orange, nine; Porter, ten; Scioto, two; Harlem, nine; Kings- ton, four, and Liberty fifteen. Delaware, Con- cord, Berlin, and Radnor escaped, having filled their calls by enlistments. After this, there were one or two other drafts for small squads of men in some of the townships, which had proved a little derelict in furnishing their quotas. But, taken all in all, the patriotism of Delaware County pre- sents nothing to be ashamed of, and her alacrity in filling every call promptly was surpassed by few counties in the State. The exact number of men furnished is not definitely known, as many enlisted in scattering regiments, but those that can be accounted for will reach 3,000, perhaps, exclusive of one-hundred-days men and colored soldiers.

We deem it entirely appropriate to close this chapter with a brief sketch of some of the great men of the county.

We all love great men ; it is one of the noblest feelings that dwells in man's heart. No skeptical logic can destroy this inborn loyalty, and no sad- der proof can be given by a man of his own littleness, than disbelief in it. Every true man feels that he is himself made higher by doing rev- erence to what is really above him. The relation which, in all times, unites a great man to others, is divine. It is the vivifying influence of their life, is the very essence of Christianity itself. The history of the world is but the biography of great men. Hero-worship endures forever, while man endures-the everlasting adamant, lower than which even communistic revolutions cannot fall ! So, in substance at least, says Thomas Carlyle, and he further says, as if he stood the teacher of the present hour, that "Great men, taken up in any way, are profitable company. We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon a great man with- out gaining something by him. He is the living light, fountain of native, original insight of man- hood and heroic nobleness, which it is good and pleasant to be near. No great man lives in vain." And happy the century, happy the commonwealth, if it produce but one, whether it be a soldier-the foremost of the age, or a statesman, who adminis- tered the affairs of a nation.

Like all other portions of our great and glorious country, Delaware County has produced some great men, men who have filled high and honor- able positions in the camp, at the bar, in the halls of legislation, and at the head of the government. The history of Delaware County would be incom-

plete without some notice of her illustrious sons. It would be like the play of Hamlet, with the one great character-the melancholy prince-left out. We shall, therefore, devote a brief space to some of her distinguished men.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in the town of Delaware, on the 4th of October, 1822. His father, Rutherford Hayes, was a native of Vermont, and came to Delaware County in 1817, locating in the town, where the remainder of his life was spent. A son of his, and a brother to the President, was drowned in the Olentangy River, while skating-a melancholy incident, still remembered by many of the old citizens of the place. After a preliminary education, young Hayes passed a regular course at Kenyon College, from which he graduated in 1840. He then read law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, Esq., of Columbus, and, when sufficiently advanced in his studies, entered the Law Department of Harvard College, where he graduated with all due honors. It was while a law student here that Mr. Hayes went to Boston to witness a demonstration in honor of Henry Clay, who was a candidate for President (in 1844) against James K. Polk. The campaign was an exciting one, and hotly contested from the opening to the close. Upon the occasion referred to, the Hon. Cassius M. Clay was to make a speech before the Henry Clay Club, and the most exten- sive preparations had been made for a big day. In accordance with the customs of those times, a grand civil parade was a chief feature of the pro- ceedings. Mr. Hayes met Mr. Aigio, from Dela- ware, whom he recognized, and, while standing in front of the Tremont House, they were joined by several others, among them Mr. Birchard, an uncle of the President. The motley-bannered pro- cession was being highly praised, when young Hayes suggested that it only lacked an " Ohio delegation " to make its success complete. It was received as a happy jest, but nothing more thought of it until Mr. Hayes, who had hardly been missed, again appeared, carrying a rude banner which he had hastily constructed of a strip from the edge of a board, on either side of which, in awk- ward, straggling letters, was painted the word " Ohio." As the procession passed, Mr. Hayes, with his banner, " fell in," while the others (three in number) brought up the rear. Ohio men con- tinued to drop in and swell their ranks, until, when the procession halted on Boston Common, the "Ohio Delegation " numbered twenty-four men, and was one of the most conspicuous in the

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procession. The enthusiasm was great, and floral tributes were showered upon them from the bal- cony windows along the line of march. Among these tributes were several wreaths. These the young leader carefully placed over the rude ban- ner, and the unexpected " Ohio delegation," proudly marching under a crown of laurel wreaths, was cheered and honored as Ohio had never been honored before. This was probably Mr. Hayes' first appearance as a political leader, and doubt- less, one of the happiest and proudest days of his life.

After the completion of his legal education, Mr. Hayes located in Cincinnati and commenced the practice of his profession. At the breaking- out of the late war, on the first call for troops, he proffered his services to the Government, and was appointed Major of the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, his rank dating from June 7, 1861. During the summer and fall, he served in West Virginia, under Gen. Rosecrans, and was, for a time, Judge Advocate on his staff. He was pro- moted to Lieutenant Colonel in November, and took command of his old regiment (the Twenty- third), and the next year was appointed Colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio, but, owing to a wound received at South Mountain the previous autumn, was prevented from joining the regiment. On the 15th of October, 1862, he was promoted to the colonelcy of his old regiment. In December, he took command of the First Brigade of the Kanawha Division, and continued in this position until the fall of 1864, when he took command of the Kanawha Division. In October, 1864, he was appointed Brigadier General, for gallant and meri- torious services in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. He was brevetted Major General at the close of the war for his gallant services during the West Virginia cam- paign of 1864. He was wounded four times during his term of service, and had three horses shot under him.

At the close of the war, he was elected to Con- gress from the Second Cincinnati District, and re- elected in 1866. Though somewhat conservative, his action was uniformly in the line of policy of the Republican party, by which he had been elected. In 1867, he was nominated, by a large majority, a candidate for Governor of the State, to succeed Gov. J. D. Cox, and was elected by a majority of about 3,000. He was elected his own successor in 1869, by a majority of nearly 8,000 over Hon. George H. Pendleton. In

1867, he was again elected Governor of the State, by a majority of 5,000 over Hon. William Allen, and, at the National Republican Convention of 1875, he became the standard-bearer of his party in one of the most exciting Presidential contests that have occurred since the war of the rebellion, perhaps since the great campaign of Gen. Harri- son. The result of that bitter contest is still vividly remembered by our readers, and to enter into particulars here would be wholly superfluous. A discussion of the pros and cons of the subject is not appropriate matter for this work.

William Starke Rosecrans is a native of Delaware County, and was born in Kingston Township, Sep- tember 6, 1819, His father, Crandall Rosecrans, was of Dutch origin, his ancestors having emi- grated from Amsterdam to Wyoming Valley, Penn. This was the native place of Crandall Rosecrans, who came to Ohio in 1808, and settled in Dela- ware County, thus becoming one of its pioneers. His wife, the mother of William, was a daughter of Timothy Hopkins, whose name is recorded as one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and also as a soldier of the Revolution. Young Rosecrans is remembered as possessed of great energy of character, and, mainly through his own individual exertions, he gained admission into the Military Academy at West Point. His biog- rapher says : "His proficiency in such mathe- matical and scientific studies as he had been able to pursue, led him to look longingly upon the treasures of a West Point education. Consulting no one, not even his father, he wrote directly to Hon. Joseph R. Poinsett, Secretary of War, under President Van Buren, asking for an appointment as cadet. It was not strange that such an applica- tion failed to receive an instant response ; but young Rosecrans thought it was, and applied to his father for some plan to re-enforce his request. A petition for the cadetship was prepared and largely signed, and, as he was depositing the bulky docu- ment in the post office, he received the letter informing him of his appointment."

At West Point he was known as a hard student. His class (that of 1842) numbered fifty-six, among whom were Longstreet, Van Dorn, Pope, G. W. Smith, Lovell, R. H. Anderson, Doubleday, Rains, Newton and McLaws. In this class Rosecrans stood third in mathematics and fifth in general merit, while Pope was seventeenth, Doubleday twenty-fourth and Longstreet fifty-fourth. After graduating he entered the Engineer Corps of the regular army, as a Brevet Second Lieutenant, and

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was assigned to duty at Fortress Monroe. At the age of thirty-four years, he was acknowledged master of the profession of engineering, and had given to the Government (as an engineer) eleven years of his life, without having reached a captain's commission or-salary. Becoming discouraged with service in the army, " where few die and none resign" in the peaceful times then prevailing, pro- motion seemed hopelessly remote, and Rosecrans determined to resign his commission. Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, expressed unwilling- ness to lose so valuable an officer from the service, and proposed to give him a year's leave of absence, at the end of which, should he still desire it, he should be permitted to resign. Accordingly, in 1854, his resignation was tendered and accepted. Gen. Totten, the Chief of Engineers, forwarded with the acceptance to Lieut. Rosecrans a compli- mentary letter, extolling in high terms the services rendered by him to the Government, and his "regret that the country was about to lose so able and valuable an officer."

After his resignation, Rosecrans resided in Cin- cinnati until the breaking-out of the rebellion. He here held a number of positions, among them that of President of the Cannel Coal Company, and later he held a similar position in the Cincin- nati Coal Oil Company. In all these he displayed such ability as to command the confidence of cap- italists, yet most of his ventures ended in pecun- iary failures. His restless mind was constantly bent on making improvements, and his ingenuity left everywhere its traces in new inventions of which others largely profited, through his re- searches and experiments.

Thus, the opening period of the rebellion found him but little better situated, pecuniarily, than when he resigned his commission as First Lieu- tenant in the regular army. He was forty-two years of age, in the prime of vigorous manhood, and possessing, both by virtue of his professional abilities and his religious affiliations,* marked influence in the great city which he had made his home. From the moment the war declared itself, Rosecrans gave thought and time to no other sub- ject. He devoted his time to organizing and drill- ing the home guards who enrolled themselves for the purpose of guarding against a sudden rush over the border, a position for which his military education eminently fitted him. He thus occupied

himself until the appointment of Mcclellan, Major General of the Ohio Militia, by Gov. Dennison. At the earnest solicitation of Mcclellan, he accepted the position of Engineer on his staff, and as such selected and prepared a camp of instruction for the volunteers that were now pour- ing in. His services were next claimed by the Governor, who sent him on various expeditions connected with the troops being raised. On June the 9th, he was commissioned Chief Engineer of the State, and a few days later was made Colonel of the Twenty-third Ohio, and assigned to the command of Camp Chase. Four days afterward, his commission as Brigadier General in the United States Army reached him, and almost immediately, Gen. McClellan summoned him to active service in West Virginia.

From this time on, the record of Gen. Rosecrans is familiar to all-readers of the history of the great rebellion. His brilliant service in West Virginia is illustrated by such flattering notices as the fol- lowing: " The first troops ever commanded in the field by Gen Rosecrans were the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Ohio, and the Eighth and Tenth Indiana. Within two weeks after he assumed command, they had fought a battle under him, and won the victory that decided the first cam- paign of the war." His success in this battle raised him from the command of a brigade to the command of a department. The victories of Iuka, Corinth and Stone River added new laurels to his brow, and his star for a period shone in undimmed luster. But Chickamanga proved his Waterloo, and his star went down in dark and Inrid clouds. Jealousy of his growing reputation had been con- ceived by other officers, whose ambition led them to covet his hard-earned laurels. His blunder at Chickamauga afforded the excuse his enemies had long sought, and the most atrocious calumnies were circulated concerning him, until finally the order came relieving him of his command. He turned it over to his intimate friend and trusted officer, Gen. George H. Thomas, and left for his home at at Cincinnati. The jealousies of his comrades in arms had succeeded. It is but justice here to state, that the people of his native State had never sympathized in the hue and cry raised against him, because after so many victories he had lost a battle and the public journals demanded his res- toration to coinmand with such persistency, that he was finally (January, 1864) ordered to relieve Gen. Schofield, in command of the Department of Missouri. He served in this State till December,

* Rosecrans was a devout Roman Catholic, and believed in the infallibility of hie church. He was a brother to Bishop Rosecrane, of the Catholic Church, and throughout his public life he endeav- ored to conform to the principles of that denomination.

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1864, when he was relieved of his command without explanation or warning, through the same jealousies that had once. before procured his down- fall. An historian of the war* pays him this flat- tering compliment :

"The officer thus ungraciously suffered to retire from the service he adorned must forever stand one of the central figures in the history of the war for the Union. He cannot be placed in that small category of commanders who were always successful, but who of our generals can ? Few of his battles or campaigns are entirely free from criticism, for ' whoever has committed no faults has not'made war.' But, as a strategist, he stands among the foremost, if not himself the foremost, of all our generals. In West Virginia, he out- generaled Lee. At Corinth, he beguiled Van Dorn and Price to destruction. In his Tullahoma and Chattanooga campaigns, his skillfully combined movements developed the highest strategic ability, and set the model which was afterward followed with varying success in the famed advance on Atlanta." Here we will leave him. Like many another deserving individual, his reward, and his entire vindication, may not come.in this world, except so far as he feels an inward consciousness of having faithfully performed his duty. In the language of Prentice-

" The flame

Has fallen, and its high and fitful gleams Perchance have faded, but the living fires Still glow beneath the ashes."

John Anthony Quitman, a noted and gallant officer of the Mexican War, was for a number of years a resident of the town of Delaware. It is a fact, remembered now by few, perhaps, that he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in the courts of Delaware County, and, some time after, emigrated to the State of Mississippi, which thenceforward became his home.

Gen. Quitman was born in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, N. Y., September 1, 1799. After com- pleting his education, he came to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he commenced the study of the law with Col. Brush, acting at the same time as tutor to his sons. Soon after this he came to Delaware, as a clerk and student of Platt Brush, Esq., Reg- ister of the Land Office, and one of the early lawyers in this section of the State, and in whose office Quitman completed his legal education. After his admission to the bar, an event that occurred in 1821, he expressed to Mr. Brush his

desire to go South, but that he lacked funds to do so. He was furnished by that gentleman with the requisite amount to defray his expenses to the country he proposed to make his future home, and set off on horseback, then the common mode of transit. He located in the city of Natchez, Miss., where he soon reached the head of his profession. In 1827, he was elected to the Legislature, and from 1828 to 1834 served as Chancellor of the State, and afterward was President of the Senate. In 1836, he raised a small body of men to aid Texas, then on the point of throwing off the rot- ten yoke of Mexico, and marched with them to the seat of war. The Natchez Courier of May 1, 1836, thus mentions the event : "The departure of Hon. John A. Quitman and his compatriots for Texas, so soon after the news of a most barba- rous butchery, presents a scene of extraordinary interest. The gallant Judge has filled nearly all the stations the State can confer, and no man ever passed through so many offices of trust and honor more creditably. We might truly say that no man ever questioned the honesty or integrity of Judge Quitman's public conduct, or the purity of his private character."

In July, 1846, after hostilities had com- menced between the United States and Mexico, Quitman was appointed Brigadier General, and ordered to report to Gen. Taylor, then at. Cam- argo. At Monterey, he distinguished himself by a successful assault on Fort Tenerice, and his daring advance into the heart of the city. He commanded the first sharp engagement at Vera Cruz, and was with the advance under Gen. Worth, when Pueblo was captured. For his brav- ery in this engagement, he was brevetted Major General. At Chapultepec, he stormed the impor- tant works, and pushed forward to the Belen Gate, which he carried by assault, and took possession of the capital of the Montezumas, of which Gen. Scott, upon his arrival, made him Governor. Soon after his return to the United States, and to Mississippi, he was elected Governor of the latter, almost by acclamation. In 1855, he was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1857, without opposition. During his entire service in Con- gress, he was at the head of the Military Com- mittee. He died in the city of Natchez July 17, 1858.

John Calvin Lee was born in Brown Township, Delaware County, and is a son of Hugh Lee, a tanner by trade, and one of the pioneers of that township. He received his early education and

* Reid.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

309

began his career of usefulness in the city of Dela- ware. He arose from a humble station in life, and,' by virtue and honest industry, achieved a position of high and honorable rank. He chose the pro- fession of the law, and, some time after his admis- sion to the bar, he located at Tiffin, Ohio, where he was residing at the beginning of the rebellion. On the 25th of November, 1861, he was com- missioned Colonel of the Fifty-fifth Ohio Infantry, and was ordered to West Virginia. For a short time he served as President of a court-martial convened by Gen. Rosecrans, at Charleston, after which he joined his regiment. He participated in the battles of Freeman's Ford, White Sulphur Springs, Warrenton, Bristow's Station, New Balti- more, New Market, Thoroughfare Gap, Chantilly and the second battle of Bull Run. On account of illness in his family, he tendered his resignation in 1863, but was commissioned Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio (National Guard), and was mustered out in 1864, and bre- vetted Brigadier General.

Gen. Lee was nominated by the Republican State Central Committee July 10, 1867, a candi- date for Lieutenant Governor, on the ticket with Gen. R. B. Hayes. Hon. Samuel Galloway had heen nominated for the position, but declined the honor, and Lee was chosen his successor upon the ticket. The Delaware Gazette, July 12, 1867, thus editorially speaks of Gen. Lee's nomination : " General Lee is widely known as an able lawyer, an eloquent orator, and an upright and affable gen- tleman. Having for some time been associated in the same command with him in the army, we can speak of his military services with the more confidence. We first met him in the winter of 1861, when commanding in West Virginia the Fifty-fifth Ohio, of which he was then Colonel, and which, it is not invidious to say, was well known as one of the best regiments in the Eleventh Corps. To the end of the war it carried the flag without a stain of dishonor, passing through Pope's, Hooker's and Mead's campaigns in Vir- ginia and Pennsylvania, through Sherman's cam- paigns in Georgia and the Carolinas, and joining,

finally, in the grand review at Washington. At the battle of Chancellorsville, Col. Lee was one of the few officers who were on the alert and knew of the approach of the enemy. He took the responsibility of sending repeated messengers to the headquarters of the divisions and corps, expressing his belief that the enemy was ap- proaching on the flank and rear of the command, and asking that the front should be immediately changed. Unfortunately, his advice was not fol- lowed, though had it been, it is safe to say the disaster of Chancellorsville never would have hap- pened. Subsequent to that action he resigned, but re-entered the service prior to the close of the war as commander of a regiment. Gen. Lee possessed the reputation of being popular with his regiment, without the sacrifice of discipline. For some time he commanded a brigade with the rank of Colonel, in which capacity he richly earned a rank commensurate with the position he filled, but which he did not receive until the close of the war. Throughout the corps he was known as one of the most efficient disciplinarians, bravest officers and most affable gentlemen."

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History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 52

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818