USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 99
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Colonel Boone was of fine presence, six feet one and one- half inches high, straight as an Indian, about one hundred and ninety pounds in weight, broad shoulders, soldierly car- riage, with hazel eyes, black hair, mustache and side whiskers, and his countenance and voice were pleasant and assuring. Ostentation, hypocrisy, and all shams were ab- horrent to him. He was an open, fearless, courteous, self- respecting, upright, pure, totally unselfish gentleman, who attracted the confidence and commanded the esteem of those with whom he came in contact. He bore malice towards none, and held mankind in high esteem, believing them gen- erally better than usually credited with being. He was charitable, and generous to the unfortunate and poor, with- out making any parade about it; and his employes and nu- merous tenants always counted confidently on his unstinted liberality, and were never disappointed.
One of the most gratifying episodes, to him, of his public career, occurred after the late war when he was a candidate for Corporation Counsel to the city of Louisville. Having been absent from the city during the war, and disabled for some time afterwards, he had not mixed with the people much, had no connection with local politics, and did not know as the city had grown much since 1861 and had re- ccived a large Confederate element, whether his ante bellum popularity could be counted on, or whether he had faded from the public mind. Two popular lawyers had been long in the field as candidates for the office. Only a few days in- tervened before the election, and his health did not admit of very active canvassing, but his friends insisted he should run the race, and he was elected by a handsome majority, largely added to by the Confederates, who voted for him with strik- ing unanimity. This compliment they repeated afterwards, when he was elected to the Charter Convention of 1870 (which charter, by the way, he, as Chairman of the Revision Committee mostly wrote, and did more to carry at the elec- tion than any one man). That hindsome action of the Con- federates towards their late enemy, he fully appreciated, and believing that as the Union had been preserved, and the ene- my in good faith had returned to their citizenship and allegi- ance, they were entitled to all the blessings and protection that he was, his voice and influence were always in favor of
Col. J. Rowan Boone.
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securing to them these blessings. Happily he lived to see the Union secure, and its incomparable blessings free to all.
He had regained his health and was in its full enjoyment when early in January, 1875, he was caught in a rain-storm. Typhoid pneumonia ensued, and notwithstanding medical skill was exhausted in his behalf, he died on the 24th day of January, 1875, after great suffering, borne with characteristic fortitude and Christian resignation, being for over a week fully conscious that the physicians had wholly despaired. He was buried from St. Paul's Episcopal church, January 25, 1875, and his remains followed to Cave Hill Cemetery by the Masons, the members of the bar, and a large procession of mourners.
Of the many public expressions following his death we select as an example of the popular estimate of Colonel Boone, the following extract from an article in the Courier- Journal, viz :
During the past few months we have been called upon to pay the last sad tribute of respect and affection to an unusually large number of our old and prominent citizens, whose faces were wont to smile on us, and whose names were as familiar as household words. And now to the sad list another honored name has been added, causing us to ex- claim with the Apostle, " How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out." To say that Colonel Boone was a man of truth and justice, desiring always to be right, of unswerving integ- rity, a wise counsellor, a faithful public servant, a gentleman by nature, honored and respected by all who knew him, who acted well his part in the drama of life, is but to restate the verdict of the com- munity in which he spent the greater part of his life. But would you know his worth? Inquire of his neighbors. It is difficult to deline- ate a character like his without seeming exaggeration. It is more like we read of in partial biographies than what is often found in real life. A critical inspection is apt to reveal defects and blemishes in what, to mere casual observers, may appear noble and almost faultless. The striking truth in his case, however, was, that those who knew him most intimately, saw most of his daily inner life, had the deepest sense of his personal worth and the greatest admiration of his charac- ter. His pure life, ever kind word, gracious smile, and helping hand, his generous and sympathetic regard for the poor, had taken a deep and abiding hold upon the confidence and affection of the West-end, that part of the city which is so greatly indebted to his untiring efforts for ite improvement and prosperity: and their unceas- ing inquiries, anxieties, and hopes for his recovery during the period of his last illness, the large number of them who, as real mourners, attended his funeral services at the church, and accompanied his re- mains to their last resting place, attested their bigh appreciation of him.
The lawyers of the city held a meeting and adopted resolu- tions as follows:
Common Pleas Court-Resolutions by the bar on the death of Colonel W. P. Boone:
The members of the bench and bar of the several courts in the city of Louisville are again called upon to pay the last tribute of respect to the memory of a deceased brother. Colonel W. P. Boone has been suddenly takeo from our midst by the hand of death.
Colonel Boone commenced the practice of law in this city in his early manhood, and throughout his professional life his conduct was characterized by the strictest fidelity to his clients and the highest sense of honor towards his professional brethren.
He was incapable of subterfuge, and in his life at the bar he never failed to illustrate his innate love of truth and justice. He was frank, manly, and chivalrous in his bearing, and commanded the respect of all who knew him. His brethren of the bar can never forget his genial temper, his uniform politeness, and his punctilious regard for the rights of others. He was gentle in his manners, truthful in his utterances, magnanimous in every impulse, and heroic in the discharge of every duty. As a citizen in the performance of the many official duties imposed upon him by a confiding public, he was always faith- ful to his trust, and was controlled only by the highest considerations of the public good. Impelled by his ardent nature, and prompted by a conscientious sense of public duty, during the late unhappy civil
war Colonel Boone tendered his services to the Federal Government in command of the Twenty-eighth regiment Keutucky volunteers. To say that he acquitted himself with honor, is but a just tribute to the true and gallant soldier. In all his responsibilities he was true to the interests of his fellow-men, to the strictest integrity, and to the holiest dictates of justice.
. W. F. BULLOCK, JOHN W. BARR, MARTIN BIJAR,
HAMILTON POPE,
THOMAS W. GIBSON, HENRY J. STITES, Committee.
At the time of his death Colonel Boone was sixty-two years of age, but having within the last six or eight years of his life entirely recovered his health, which his ardnous services in the army in the winter of 1863-64 had almost totally wrecked, he was, until his last illness, of comparative youth- ful appearance, his eye bright, his expression strong and ani- mated, his carriage erect and step firm. The portrait of him accompanying this sketch was copied from a picture taken of him when broken down by disease and exposure after he left the army in 1864, never expecting to recover-hence it gives a very incorrect idea of the Colonel, lacking as it does in fulness of face, power of eye, and animation and force of countenance, indeed those who only know him after he had recovered his perfect vigor of manhood and appeararice will hardly recognize the portrait as that of Colonel Boone, but unfortunately no later likeness than that of 1864 could be obtained.
COLONEL JOHN ROWAN BOONE.
Among the younger natives whose valor and services illus- trate Louisville's patriotism and enterprise, few can claim pre-eminence over Colonel John Rowan Boone. He was born and raised in Louisville, and was a son of Colonel Wil- liam P. Boone, a sketch of whom we have herein before given, and of Eliza H. Boone, granddaughter of the distin- guished lawyer, statesman, and orator, Hon. John Rowan, for whom young Boone was named. Up to his sixteenth year he attended the Louisville schools, giving also consid- erable energy and time to manly exercises, such as horseman- ship, hunting, etc., from which he acquired early physical development.
When in 1861 the tocsin of war was sounded, Rowan Boone, in his seventeenth year, was a student of the Indiana university at Bloomington, Indiana, prominent in his classes and in the literary and debating societies. To his ardent temperament confinement to college campus when the air was full of battle echoes was like prison life, and he stepped from college in June, 1861, into the stirring arena of active lite. Many of his dearest loved companions and school- mates, in hot zeal, were espousing the Southern side, and they earnestly entreated young Boone to go with them. It may easily be understood that his heart bled at parting with his chums, but to his mind it was evident that, though some States had enacted nullifying legislation, the General Govern- ment had given no color of offense to any State, and was true to the Constitution and Union; that the Democrats by their divisions elected the Republican President; that he was the legal Chief Magistrate for four years, entitled to the respect and support due to his station; that the Democrats had a majority in both Houses of Congress, and that nothing could be more causeless than an attempt to destroy a Union from which nothing but unrivalled blessings and honors had ac- crued. To him love and admiration for that Union, estab- lished by the blood of the Fathers, was a sacred religion, and unfealty to it a sacrilege. He united with the Union clubs
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forming in Louisville, became secretary of the large one that met over Avery's plow factory, made patriotic addresses at flag raisings, and did what he could in support of the Union cause. As soon as military organization began in Louisville, he enlisted in the " Boone Guards," named in honor of Col- onel William P. Boone, took his first lessons in drill, pro- gressed to a lientenancy in the company, and, with his com- pany, early in September, 1861, responded to the call of General Anderson, going at midnight as the advance of the force under General Sherman, which moved from Louisville
to Lebanon Junction to meet the enemy invading the Union State of Kentucky and threatening the capture of Louisville. Within a few days he was made ordnance officer by General Sherman, but resigned to become adjutant of a battalion at Bardstown Junction, and early in October, 1861, was ap- pointed adjutant of the Twenty-eighth Kentucky infantry, a regiment raised by Colonel William P. Boone for three years' service in the Union army. That he was efficient, his early promotion to post adjutant, then to assistant adjutant- general, attests. After the battles of Chickamauga, Look- out Mountain, Mission Ridge, Graysville, and Ringgold, on the recommendation of Generals George H. Thomas and W. C. Whittaker, the Governor of Kentucky, Bramlette, himself a distinguished soldier, tendered young Boone a commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-eighth Kentucky volun- teers.
His services in the positions mentioned had separated him for some time from his old regiment, and naturally he preferred to be with his comrades of that regiment, but he was reluctant to supersede gallant officers of the regiment entitled by rank to promotion, especially as his father was the colonel (though he was not aware of the Governor's offer to young Boone), and he made known these objections to the Governor. But His Excellency expressed his belief that the promotion would more than please the regiment; that he made it on its merits, and instructed Boone to go with the commission to the regiment, which had then been sent back to Nashville to be mounted and armed with the cele- brated Spencer repeating rifles, and, if his reception did not satisfy him that the regiment approved of the promotion, to return the commission and he would send him one as full colonel in another regiment.
His reception relieved his mind of all doubts, and on De- cember 23, 1863, he mustered in on his commission. Colonel W. P. Boone was next day put in command of a brigade composed in part of the Third and Fifth Kentucky cavalry, Fourth Michigan cavalry, and Twenty-eighth Kentucky Mounted infantry, and the brigade dispatched at once to the front. Thus, on the 24th of December, 1863, in the twentieth year of his age, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Rowan Boone be- came commander of his regiment, and, as Colonel William P. Boone never commanded less than a brigade until he re- signed in the spring of 1864, Colonel Rowan Boone never had a command less than a regiment thereafter until mustered out in January, 1866. After a winter of arduous and gallant services in front of the Army of the Cumberland, during which fighting and scouting was almost incessant, the regi- ment "veteranized," i. e., re-enlisted for three years more, and was sent home to Louisville to enjoy the usual thirty days furlough.
Its reception in Louisville was enthusiastic and flattering, and the Journal of that city said :
The Twenty-eighth Kentucky volunteers have re-enlisted as veterans and arrived in this city yesterday from the front. The Twenty-eighth is one of Kentucky's earliest regiments, and has rendered efficient and gallant service on many fields. A majority of
its officers and men are Louisville born, and the city has felt a deep interest in all their movements. The regiment was mounted about a year ago, and no troops have seen more active service or sustained themselves with greater gallantry. The last six months the Twenty- eighth has been on outpost duty for the Army of the Cumberland, and led the advance in all the movements of that army. W. P. Boone is the colonel, and is one of those dashing officers a proud State delights to honor. He has long been commanding a cavalry brigade. We are sorry to learn that he is seriously indisposed. For the last four months the regiment has been under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. Rowan Boone, one of the youngest and best officers of his rank in the army. He greatly distinguished himself in the storming of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, for which gallantry his State promoted him to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the twentieth year of his age. He has a brilliant future before him.
We welcome with pride each member of the Twenty-eighth Ken- tucky veteran regiment to our city and the State of Kentucky.
Before the furlough expired the surgeons pronounced Col- onel William P. Boone totally disabled for service, and about May Ist, Lieutenant-colonel J. Rowan Boone led the regi- ment again to the front. At Chattanooga it was found horses for a re-mount could not be obtained without delay and as the Atlanta campaign was in progress and fighting at the front inviting, young Boone, with the regiment's approbation, decided to waive for the present the right to continue as mounted infantry and to get into the fight without delay. Accordingly he applied to General Steadman for transporta- tion to the front. That veteran, in whose command Boone had once served, responded by honoring the regiment with a very onerous and perilous duty. He had some fifteen hun- dred head of beef cattle on hand, very greatly needed at the front, but which, owing to the cnemy's cavalry along the route he had been afraid to send forward. Recognizing in this splendidly armed regiment and its experienced, though beardless commander, a safe guard worthy of this valuable charge, he put the immense herd in Colonel Boone's care, who, disposing of his command so as to be most available against attack, moved out for the front at once. After driv- ing off the enemy a number of times during the march of over one hundred miles through the enemy's country, Colonel Boone overtook the army near Burnt Hickory, Georgia, and amidst much enthusiasm turned over the beef to the hungry boys, without having lost one. Abont the middle of May his regiment was assigned to General Wagner's brigade, Fourth army corps.
General Whitaker, who commanded a large brigade in the same corps, hearing that Colonel Rowan Boone had arrived, offered General Wagner two of his regiments for Colonel Boone's. The exchange would have been made, but, before it had been a furious attack was made on Wagner, which portended danger to his front lines. He called on Colonel Boone with his regiment, which then was in reserve, to rein- force and take charge of the front line. This was gallantly and effectively done-the enemy was repulsed, and next day General Wagner complimented Boone publicly, and informed him he had notified Whitaker that he would not swap Boone's regiment for five others. This high standard the regiment ever maintained, and as there were but one or two other infantry regiments in the army having the Spencer seven shooters, the regiment became justly celebrated for the heavy work it did during the balance of the war. It got to be known by the enemy, and often on the skirmish line it was greeted on the opposite side with, "We know you; you are that regiment of Kentuckians that load on Sunday and shoot all the week."
At Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864, Colonel Boone, as
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stated in the report of the battle, led his regiment in three desperate charges against the impenetrable works of the enemy, after having been severely wounded in the first charge. No persuasion could in- duce him to leave the field, even to have his wound dressed, until the battle was over. He was then carried on a stretcher to the hospital.
For his gallantry in the Atlanta campaign and specially at Pine Mountain, and at Kenesaw Mountain, he was commis- sioned, July 5, 1864, full colonel. He being only twenty years of age, was known in the army as "The young colonel." Before entire recovery from his wounds news came of Hood's invasion of Tennessee, and throwing aside his crutches, he resumed command of his regiment at Columbia, held the post of honor at Spring Hill November 29th, driving out the enemy's cavalry, and capturing the town about II o'clock A. M., holding the most advanced position all day, and covering the town in the face of Houd's whole army till day dawn, November 30th, after the Union army had retreated by mid- night to Franklin. In the battle of Franklin, November 30th, his regiment suffered heavily, but contributed its full share towards the enemy's terrible repulse. The first day of the battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864, he commanded the division of skirmishers, advancing in front of the Fourth corps, and did brilliant work, capturing a battery and about three hundred prisoners at one point before the main lines of the United States got up to it. The second day he com- manded his regiment, carrying every position directed against. He received a painful flesh wound during this battle, being his third wound, but refusing to be placed hors du com- bat, he had his wound dressed at night, and every day led his regiment against Hood's retreating army till Florence, Ala- bama, was reached, and the enemy had crossed the Tennessee river. The weather was very inclement, and it was months before this wound healed, but Colonel Boone was always at the head of his regiment. He was breveted by the Presi- dent "for gallant and meritorious services," and during the latter part of his service he for five months commanded a brigade and the post of Port Lavacca, Texas, and afterwards the sub-military district.
Considering that he had no knowledge whatever of military affairs when the war broke out, and that his promotions were, as stated by General Thomas, because "of his individual merit and gallantry," and not from any favoritism, the career of Colonel Rowan Boone as a soldier and patriot was not only strikingly brilliant, but also quite remarkable, as in years he really was only a boy, and justify the unusual space here given to it.
He was mustered out of service in January, 1866, having been in military service since July, 1861.
In 1867 he made his first visit to Washington city. Hear- ing that he was about to visit Washington, General George H. Thomas, the Commander of the Army of the Cumber- land, in which young Boone had served during the war, voluntarily sent him a letter of introduction to the President of the United States, which, because of his unlimited ad- miration of Thomas, Colonel Boone is said to value as highly at least, as any of the numerous commissions he won. The letter was follows:
His Excellency, Andrew Johnson,
President U. S. A.
SIR: I take the liberty of introducing the bearer, Colonel J. Rowan Boone, late of the Twenty-eighth Kentucky volunteer in- fantry, who served with distinction during the late war, and rose by his individual merit and gallant conduct from the grade of lieu- tenant to the colonelcy of his regiment.
He was severely wounded at the assault on the enemy's entrench- ments near Kenesaw mountain, Georgia, during the Atlanta cam- paign, but as soon as he recovered he rejoined his command, and
remained on duty with it until honorably mustered out of service in Texas, in January, 1866.
I am, Sir,
Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, GEO. H. THOMAS, Major-General, U. S. A.
When it is remembered General Thomas rarely compli- mented and never flattered, the estimate that Colonel Boone is said to put upon that letter is not too high.
His Excellency, President Johnson, had known Colonel Boone as a soldier when he, Johnson, was Military Governor of Tennessee, and believing he had decided military talents he offered the young colonel a position as captain in the Seventh cavalry, United States Army, or a majority in an infantry regiment. Nothing could have been more satisfac- tory to young Boone, but information of the offer having reached his father and mother, such uncompromising oppo- sition to his going into the regular army was interposed, that with a heart filled with regret he had to decline the highly flattering and enticing offer.
Subsequently the President nominated Colonel J. Rowan Boone to the Senate as United States Marshal of Ken- tucky, but that body had become so bitter in its hostility to the President that it would confirm none of his nomina- tions. It was, however, communicated to Colonel Boone that if he would make some speeches putting himself on rec- ord as an anti-Johnson Republican he would be confirmed. Colonel Boone was young, without any profession or em- ployment, the office was said then to be worth about $17,000 a year, and he could reasonably have expected to hold it about six years. He was an uncompromising Unionist, but a Dem- ocrat, and he felt that the condition suggested was a reflec- tion on his patriotism and in the nature of a bribe, and as such he repelled it in vigorous Saxon not flattering to the Senate. Yet he was not affirmatively rejected as were many nominations-General McClelland as Minister to England, among others-sent to the same Senate. The body adjourned without any action, and the appointment was cut off thereby.
He then studied law, and in 1869 began practice as junior in the firm of Boone & Boone, the senior being Colonel Wil- liam P. Boone, who quitted the office of corporation counsel of Louisville to form the partnership. The firm maintained a valuable practice till the death of the senior member in 1875, since which Colonel J. Rowan Boone has successfully practiced alone.
Early in 1870 he was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Bell Morris, one of the most popular belles of Louisville, the daughter of Hon. George W. Morris, a prominent citi- zen and merchant of that city. The union has been blessed with seven promising children-George M., William P., Harney, Annie M., Carrie, Fanny, and Rowan, Jr., of whom Colonel Boone is justly proud.
PRESIDENT R. S. VEECH.
Few men are successful in varied pursuits, especially when changing from one to the other after habits of thought and action are fixed. The subject of this sketch has been pecul- iarly successful as a farmer, banker, railway official, and as a breeder of trotting stock. Richard Snowden Veech was born April 20, 1833, in Jefferson county, Kentucky, five miles from Louisville, on the same farm where his father was born in a pioneer fort in 1787. His grandfather was a sturdy Scotch Presbyterian, a surveyor by profession, who came to
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