History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 80

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The general opinion entertained by those opposing enlistments was that the subject of this sketch was a man of no courage, and that he would never venture into the field of battle. This opinion had been diffused to a considerable extent among the soldiers and officers under his command; but after the first fight on that terrible Friday before Shiloh, all doubts as to his courage or disposition to go into danger were scattered. He there had the opportunity of showing, under fire, that valor and determination were some of the strong points of his character. On one occasion, during the battle of Shiloh, being ordered to advance his

brigade under a very severe fire from the artillery and musketry of the enemy, there seemed, at the moment, to be some hesitation in the lines. General Buckland immediately rode up to one of the color-bearers, took hold of the staff, and con-ducted the bearer and colors to the desired point, followed by the cheers of the soldiers as they swept forward.

General Sherman, in his report of that battle, written on the 10th of April, 1862, uses the following language: "Colonel Buckland managed his brigade well. I commend him to your notice as a cool, intelligent, and judicious gentleman, needing only confidence and experience to make him a good commander."

This opinion of General Sherman's never changed during the time of the war, but, on the contrary, was strengthened by a more intimate and longer acquaintance, which has continued up to the time of this writing.

In the advance on Corinth, begun on the 29th of April, sickness to a great extent prevailed in the ranks, and it required the utmost courage and attention to prevent the men from becoming demoralized. Being in close proximity to the enemy, it was necessary to form line of battle before daylight every morning. The men had be- come so weak and dispirited that few turned out. This condition was alarming, and foreboded fatal results in case of attack. To remedy this increasing evil, General Buckland took upon himself to arise before daylight, and with Surgeon J. B. Rice and a lantern, went from tent to tent of the officers and" soldiers, causing all complaints to be examined by the surgeon, and compelling all those whom the surgeon advised it would not injure to turn out. This proceeding made him very unpopular, and many bitter letters were written home concerning him. But the soldiers soon discovered that it was done for

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their good; their feelings changed, and by open thanks they showed him their appre- ciation. From thenceforward he became universally beloved by his soldiers.

General Buckland remained in command of the Fourth brigade until the army reached camp No. 6, on the 13th of May, where he was assigned command of the Third brigade; but on the following day General J. W. Denver, having reported to Sherman, by order of General Halleck, was put in charge of the Third brigade, and General Buckland returned to the command of his regiment. In the fight before Corinth, his regiment was constantly under the fire of the heavy guns on the rebel battlements, and, on the 30th of May, entered the city, finding it deserted.

On the 12th of November, 1862, while at Memphis, he assumed command of the Fifth brigade of troops in General Lauman's division, and formed part of the Tallahatchie expedition. Under orders from General Grant, who had learned of the capture of Holly Springs by General Van Dorn, he marched to retake the place, which was successfully accomplished. Soon after, the brigade was assigned to the division commanded by Brigadier General Ross, who, three days later, was placed under arrest, and General Buckland, as the ranking colonel, assumed command of the division until December 26. On the following day he began a march towards Dresden, Tennessee, for the purpose of attacking and driving For- rest from that place; but, on arriving there on the morning of the 29th of December, he found that the enemy had evacuated it the same day.

On the 10th of March he joined General Sherman's corps in front of Vicksburg, and participated in a series of battles and skirmishes which occurred in the movements to the rear of that city. During the siege he was always active and vigilant,

and at times much exposed. On the 19th of May, on foot, at the head of his brigade, he marched down the graveyard road, under a terrific fire of musketry and artillery from the enemy's works, and, taking a position along the first parallel ridge, to support an assault on the rebel works, he maintained his place until after the assault on the 22d of the month. Although he was constantly exposed, and his men were shot down around him in great numbers, he escaped uninjured.

While on duty, on the 24th of September, by the fall of his horse his right wrist was broken. By this injury he was in-capacitated for active service, but continued to command his brigade, except for a short time, until on the 26th of January, 1864, General Sherman placed him in command of the district of Memphis, where his administrative abilities were exemplified and his integrity of character was clearly manifested.

The incidents connected with General Forrest's night raid on Memphis shed the strongest light on General Buckland's sterling traits of character. But for his courage, decision and promptness of action, the rebel forces would have taken possession of the city, and have captured large stores of Government property. General C. C. Washburne was at that time in command of the department, and had his headquarters in the city. General Buckland commanded the district. Most of the troops, under command of General A. J. Smith, had been sent in pursuit of Forrest, but, by a piece of strategy, the latter had eluded his pursuers near Oxford, Mississippi, and made a rapid march to Memphis. He captured the cavalry patrol, rushed over the infantry pickets, and, under cover of the darkness preceding the dawn of Sunday, the 21st of August, entered the slumbering city. General Washburne was surprised at his

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headquarters, his staff and orderlies cap- tured, and he narrowly escaped the enemy's clutches. He was in a building near that occupied by his officers, and, being op- portunely awakened, with only his pants on, he made good his escape to the fort below the city. General Buckland was aroused by the pounding on his door by the sentinel. The rebels were then in possession of a considerable portion of the city. At once realizing the full extent of the danger, and determined not to be captured without a struggle, but still without the least idea of the number of the enemy surrounding him, General Buckland rallied about one hundred and fifty men; at the same time ordering the rapid firing of an alarm gun, which served to awaken his own troops and alarm the enemy; and, in the gray mist of the early dawn, placing himself at their head, he instantly attacked the body of rebels collected near General Washburne's headquarters. He was out-numbered by four to one. He swept the enemy before him down the darkling streets; his numbers increased, and in such spirit was the attack conducted, and so rapidly was it carried on, that in less than an hour every rebel was driven from the city. A sharp battle immediately ensued in the morning, on the Hernando road, in the outskirts of the city, between the Union troops under General Buckland and General Forrest's entire forces, in which the latter were defeated and turned in full retreat.

A few weeks after these last occurrences, in answer to a letter of General Buckland's concerning events at Memphis, the present situation and his prospect of being elected to Congress, General Sherman wrote him a private letter, from which we make the following extract:

I know on all occasions you will do your best. I attach little importance to Forrest's dash at Memphis. He is a devil of a fellow, and I wish I had

a few such, but they don't make permanent results like such men as you do. I entertain for you not only a measure of respect but also of affection. I think you are right now in going to Congress. That is National. I did not want to see you return to private life on account of the labor of war. We must have the assistance of the best men in the Nation to reinvigorate it. In Congress you take a National position, strengthened by a practical knowledge of the labor, responsibility, sleepless anxiety and personal danger of war. Your mind can skip the personal and selfish for the patriotic and real. 'Wu know also that words now must be mistrusted and men judged by acts. Opinions may be soft, pleasant and flowing, but the real man must act and not talk. Indeed I do value your friendship. Poor McPherson was dear to us both; and well do I remember in our first Shiloh days how he always hunted out your camp. Whatever may befall us, believe me that I feel for you more than usual esteem and personal friendship, and feel gratified in knowing it is reciprocated.

General Buckland remained in command of the district of Memphis until the 22d of December, 1864, and on January 6, following, he tendered his resignation at Washington, to the Secretary of War, and was duly mustered out of the service. August 3, 1866, he was commissioned brevet major- general United States Volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, for meritorious service in the army.

Without having sought or expected political favor, and while still serving in the army, he had been nominated for Repre- sentative in the Thirty-ninth Congress. Without having gone home to further his interests, he had been elected by the people of the Ninth district of Ohio. In obedience to their wishes, he left the military for the civil service of his country. In 1866 he was re- elected to Congress. During the whole of the four years in Congress he served on the committee on banking and currency, and on the military.

At the close of his Congressional career General Buckland resumed his law practice, a field of labor in which, before the war, he had attained distinction, and at this date he is still actively engaged in the labors of his profession.

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To his example and influence the city of Fremont is indebted to a great extent for its many public improvements, and not the least among them are the beautiful shade trees, which adorn almost every part of the city. He erected the first substantial brick block in Fremont, a three-story building of four store- rooms, with a public hall in the third story, considered at the time a great and hazardous enterprise. In 1853 he erected the finest dwelling then in Northern Ohio, and sub- sequently the three-story brick block at the corner of Front and State streets. In every public enterprise for the interest of the town, he was one of the first to propose and one of the foremost to act, relaxing no effort, and withholding no help until the thing had been pushed to a complete success.

In 1870 he was elected president of the board of managers of the Ohio 'Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans Home, located at Xenia, which position he filled for four years.

On the 30th of January, 1875, General Buckland, Hon. R. P. Ranney, Dr. W. S. Streeter, as the guests of Henry A Kent, of New York, sailed from that city in the sailing yacht Tarolinta, for the West In-dies. They visited Martinique, Barbadoes, Trinidad, Grenada, Santa Cruz, St. Thom-as, Porto Rico, San Domingo, Jamaica, and Cuba, returning to New York April 19, after having sailed about seven thousand miles.

General Buckland was a delegate to the Cincinnati convention that nominated General Hayes. It is well known that his labors and influence contributed largely to the success of the nomination.

For three years, from 1878 he held the position of Government director of the Union Pacific Railroad.

General Buckland's career has been measured by a success that adds one more

example of what may be attained by a boy born outside of the pale which is presumed to enclose the advantages and the means necessary to success, viz :- influential friends and parental wealth. Left an infant at the death of his father, whose letter, embodied in this sketch, shows him to have been a man, the impress of whose character was worth more than an estate to his son, he made his own way in the world, and will leave as an inheritance to his children the record of a successful life, judged by what it has accomplished, and of a character for integrity, honor, and noble impulses, worthy of all imitation.

In his family General Buckland has always been kind and considerate of the best interests of each. With the wife of his youth, who still lives, he came to his Lower Sandusky home, and together, with marked mutual esteem, they, each in their sphere, worked to prosper, sharing alike with cheerfulness and hope the privations of the beginning. Suited to each other, as no man and wife could be better, they have lived happily in each other's confidence and love, to enjoy together in an unusual degree the comfortable surroundings their industry has enabled them to secure; and have always shared the pleasures of travel and social enjoyment, for which the later public and official life of General Buckland afforded unusual opportunity.

SARDIS BIRCHARD .*

A detailed biography of Sardis Birchard would be an important contribution to the history of Sandusky county. Although not one of the first settlers, he, at an early day, became a man of influence and prominence. He was born at Wilmington, Windham county, Vermont, January 15,

*Information derived mainly from Knapp's History of the Maumee Valley.

S. Birchard

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1801. Both his parents died while he was yet a child. Both of his grandfathers were Revolutionary soldiers. His grandfather, Elias Birchard, died of disease contracted near the close of the war. His grandfather, Captain Daniel, served as an officer under Washington during the war, and survived many years. The Birchards were among the first settlers of Norwich, Connecticut. Sardis was the youngest of five children. He was placed in charge of his sister Sophia, who married Rutherford Hayes; became one of the family, and lived with them at Dummerston, Vermont, until 1817, when he accompanied them in their emigration to Ohio.

In Vermont young Birchard acquired the rudiments of an English education, by irregular attendance at such schools as were in existence at that day in the country districts of Vermont. He became, for a boy of his age, an expert hunter and horseman, and gained some knowledge of business in the store of his brother-in-law, Mr. Hayes.

In Ohio he worked with his brother-in-law in building, farming, driving and taking care of stock, and employing all his spare hours in hunting. He was able with his rifle to supply his and other families with turkeys and venison.

In 1822 his brother-in-law, Mr. Hayes, died, leaving a widow and two young children and a large, unsettled business. Mr. Birchard, who was then only twenty-one years old, at once assumed the duties of head of the family, and applied himself diligently to the management of the unsettled affairs of his brother-in-law's estate, and to the care of the household.

Inheriting from his father what was con- sidered a handsome start for a young man, with a jovial and friendly disposition, fond of wild sports and wild company, with no one to look to as entitled to control or advise him, his future might well be regarded

with apprehension. He was then a slender, delicate, handsome youth, with engaging and popular manners, and a favorite among the young people of the new country. Warmly attached to his sister and her children, he devoted himself to them and their interests, and was the main-stay of the family.

While yet a boy he was hired to help drive hogs to supply the first settlers of Fort Ball, now Tiffin, in 1817. The men in charge were hard drinkers, and soon after leaving Delaware the whole management depended upon Mr. Birchard. It was in the bitterly cold weather of early winter. The streams were bridgeless, and the roads all but impassable, but with praiseworthy energy and zeal he pushed forward to the Tyamochtee, where he delivered the drove to a party of Fort Ball settlers. This was Mr. Birchard's first visit to the Sandusky. He saw Lower Sandusky for the first time in September, 1824. His companion was Benjamin Powers, afterwards for many years a successful merchant and banker at Delaware. The outfit of the young men was a little extra clothing and a jug of fine brandy. They travelled in a one-horse spring wagon. The custom which universally prevailed, of acquaintances drinking to each other's health whenever they met, made the brandy an important part of the outfit. At Fort Ball they met Erastus Rowe, and had a jolly time, to which the brandy contributed freely. At Fremont they stopped at Leason's tavern, a log house which stood where Shomo's block now stands. The village population at that time numbered about two hundred. While stopping here they made the acquaintance of George Olmstead and Judge Howland. Mr. Birchard and his travelling companion went to Portland the following day, and on their return Mr. Birchard bought a drove of fat hogs, which, as soon as the weather was cold enough, he drove

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to Baltimore. Mr. Birchard has narrated two incidents of the trip: At Wheeling it was necessary to swim the hogs across, and they came near losing them all by the swift current of the river. By great exertions, and at considerable risk, they got all but half a dozen safely over. They were overtaken by a tall, fine-looking gentleman on horseback, who had also a carriage drawn by four horses, and two attendants on saddle-horses. The gentleman helped Mr. Birchard get his hogs out of the way, chatted with him about the state of the market, and advised him as to the best way to dispose of his drove when he got them to Baltimore. He learned that the gentleman was General Jackson, on his way to Washington after the Presidential election of 1824, in which he received the highest vote, but was not finally the successful candidate.

In the summer of 1825, while mowing in the hay-field, he was seriously injured in health by over-exertion. He never entirely recovered, but remained in poor health dur- ing the remainder of his life. In the winter of 1825-26 he had an attack pronounced consumption, and it was sup-posed he would not live till spring. He however thought hopefully of his condition, and spoke of a horseback trip to Vermont. One day he heard two men at work in the room below him, discussing his case. One of them said: "It is strange how Birchard is deceived; he thinks he will make a long journey soon; but the only journey he will make is when he leaves his house, feet foremost, for the graveyard." But the cheerful disposition of Mr. Birchard, assisted by the elasticity of his constitution, carried him through. In May he made a horseback trip to Vermont, where he remained till the approach of cold weather, and then travelled South to Georgia, where he remained till the spring of 1827. Having recovered his health he

went to New York for the purpose of laying in his first stock of dry goods. He was without money, and had no acquaintances. Passing about the streets he fell into conversation with a young merchant named William P. Dixon, a stranger to him, connected with the firm of Amos Palmer & Co., to whom he developed his plans and explained his condition. Dixon. told him he would sell him all the goods he wanted in his line and would recommend him to others. His stock was made up and shipped to Cleveland, he accompanying the goods. Mr. Birchard's plan was to sell to laborers on the Ohio Canal, then being built from Cleveland southward. He followed the canal into the Tuscarawas Valley, but became dissatisfied and sold part of his goods to another trader, and with the remainder opened a store at Fort Ball (now Tiffin). Here he remained, trading successfully. till December, when, he decided to remove to Lower Sandusky. He purchased the stock of Richard Sears, who had made his fortune trading with the Indians.

Merchants, at that time, paid very little cash for produce, and consequently received very little cash for goods, except from the Indians. For clothing, broad-cloth, Kentucky jeans, and linsey cloth was generally in use. The Indians bought fine blue cloth, Mackinaw blankets, beads, powder and lead. A great deal of corn was received in payment for goods. This was traded to the distilleries for whiskey, and the whiskey was shipped to Buffalo and sold.

Mr. Birchard received the Indian trade to a large extent by refusing, to sell them whiskey. At the end of about four years he had accumulated about ten thousand dollars, which at that time was considered a large amount of money. He was making arrangements to retire, but in 1831. was induced into a larger business than

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ever. In partnership with Esbon Husted and Rodolphus Dickinson, under the firm name of R. Dickinson & Co., the largest store in Ohio, west of Cleveland and north of Columbus, was opened. The yearly sales amounted to fifty thousand dollars.

Senecas, Ottawas, Wyandots, and a few Delawares, traded in Lower Sandusky at this time, and the store was often full of customers from the reservations. Mr. Birchard found the Indians in his business transactions generally, very honest. They would not steal as much as the same number of whites with the same opportunities. He often had his store-room full of Indians sleeping at night, with no watch or guard.

In 1835 Esbon Husted died, and his place in Mr. Birchard's firm was taken by George Grant, who had been a clerk in the establishment since the organization of the firm. In 1841 Mr. Grant died and the firm was dissolved, the business being settled by Mr. Birchard.

Mr. Grant was one of the most promising business men in the place. He was tall, slender, of fine address, and full of life and ambition. He died young, aged only thirty- two years.

Mr. Birchard's connection with banking is mentioned under the proper head. He made large investments in wild land which, as the county improved, rapidly multiplied his wealth.

Mr. Birchard was one of the few men who, with increasing wealth, became more generous and public spirited. His good works are conspicuous. He advanced by means of his wealth and influence every public enterprise, and so many were his munificent gifts that he fully deserves the title often given him-"the city's benefactor," -His business operations stimulated commerce between this point and Buffalo. He worked unceasingly to secure the necessary legislation for the mac-

adamizing of the Western Reserve and Maumee road. The Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland railroad enterprise received his strongest efforts.

In politics Mr. Birchard was an enthu- siastic Whig, and after the formation of the Republican party became an earnest supporter of its principles. During the war he used his influence to encourage enlistments, and when money was wanted he was never appealed to in vain. He was the first Ohio purchaser of Government bonds, in 1862.

Mr. Birchard's private charities were large, and his public gifts are a monument to his memory. He had a deep sympathy for the poor, and could not bear to know suffering without offering relief. During the last years of his life, when poor health required confinement at home, he left with Mr. Miller, cashier of the bank, standing instructions to contribute liberally to worthy charities. His tenderness and solicitude for the unfortunate is illustrated by a letter which Mr. Miller still preserves. It was written on a cold, stormy day in early winter, and reads as follows:

MR. MILLER:

What a storm! I fear many poor people are suffering. If you hear of any such, give liberally for me.

S. BIRCHARD.

The Fremont Messenger, in an obituary sketch, sums up Mr. Birchard's benefactions, as follows:

About three years since Mr. Birchard presented to the city of Fremont the large park lying between-Birchard avenue and Croghan street, and the small triangular park at the junction of Birchard and Buckland avenues.

In 1873 he set apart property amounting to fifty thousand dollars, for the purpose of establishing a public library in Fremont. He contributed from this fund, for the purchase of a library, about one third of the amount required to obtain for the public the square on which old Fort Stephenson formerly stood, and was thus mainly instrumental in securing that famous historical locality to the people of Fre-

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mont forever. His gifts to the city are estimated at seventy thousand dollars, or about one-fifth of his estate.

In addition to the above gifts made during his lifetime, we understand he made in his will the fol- lowing bequests: Five thousand dollars to Oberlin college, five thousand dollars to Home Missions, one thousand dollars to the Fremont Ladies' Relief Society, and one thousand dollars to the Conger Fund. Mr. Birchard was benevolent to a degree and in a manner known only to his most intimate friends. Aid in necessity was extended to many when none knew it except the recipients, and perhaps a friend whom he consulted. Mr. Birchard was especially devoted to the fine arts, and during his eventful life made a fine collection of oil paintings, which will eventually form one of the attractions of the "Birchard Library."

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 80

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