USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 12
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It was not long after the close of the war that Mr. Coe was united in mar- riage to Miss Catherine Elizabeth Jones, the wedding being celebrated on the 27th of January, 1867. Her parents came to America from Wales, the father arriving at the age of eighteen years. He was a miller by trade and followed that pursuit in support of his family. Subsequent to his marriage he established his home near Ravenna, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Coe became the parents of four chil- dren, of whom one son, George E., died at the age of twenty-one years. The daughters are: Jennie A., who conducts the business left by her father; Minnie Irene, the wife of Harry R. Viot, for sixteen years associated with the Barney Smith Car Works, of Dayton, and now with the Chalmers Detroit Company,
ELVIN H. COE
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of Detroit, Michigan, by whom she has one daughter, Catherine Louise, aged seven years ; and Grace L., now the wife of Lawrence B. George, of Dayton, who is with the Brownell Iron Works. They have two sons, Williard B. and Elvin Coe, twins.
Mrs. Coe and daughters are consistent and faithful members of the Memorial Presbyterian church, to which Mr. Coe contributed generously and during his life he served as deacon in the church for many years. He belonged to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and to the Masonic fraternity, and was also an interested and active member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He made his home in Dayton from September, 1879. For twenty-two years he was in the employ of the Erie Railroad Company, but in 1889 he retired, from that position and turned his attention to the insurance business, to which he de- voted his remaining days, carefully conducting his business affairs so as to win substantial results. He was also a member of the Chamber of Commerce and enjoyed in the fullest measure the confidence and good will of those who knew him because his life was ever honorable and upright. He was never a negative factor but rather a potent force working for public good, his ethics and influence extending into many lines which were a feature in the city's improvement and development. After a useful and well spent life he passed away on the 26th of July, 1908.
GENERAL THOMAS JOHN WOOD.
Again and again on the field of battle and also when the position of the army was that of protection rather than of active defense General Thomas John Wood responded to the roll call until finally taps were sounded and the light was for- ever extinguished for him in this life. He leaves behind him a memory of hon- orable, faithful, valorous service and the record of chivalrous and patriotic man- hood and his memory remains undimmed in the minds of those who were his closest associates, friends and comrades through many years. He was the last survivor of the West Point class of 1845 but with his passing the roll of that old class was completed on the other side of the river. His birth had occurred in Mumfordville, Hart county, Kentucky, September 25, 1823. When Virginia was holding out its invitation to the old world that the people of European countries might become factors in its colonization his ancestors had located in the Old Dominion and both the paternal and maternal lines sent their patriotic sons to aid in the establishment of American independence and also to participate in the wars which established the supremacy of the white race in the new world. His father, Colonel George T. Wood, was a prominent resident of Kentucky and his mother was a sister of Governor Charles Helm of that state. As a boy he played along the banks of the Green river and in 1841, after acquiring a limited education in Kentucky, he received an appointment to the West Point Military Academy and entered upon a connection with the army that continued unbroken for sixty-five years. During his first year at West Point he was a roommate of U. S. Grant. He was one of the honor men of the class of 1845 and after a brief term of ser- vice at the Academy was offered his choice between his graduation leave and an
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assignment on General Taylor's staff in Texas. Accepting the latter he reported to General Taylor at Corpus Christi and because of his excellent record in school was assigned to the topographical engineers and became the tent-mate of Lieutenant George G. Meade, afterward the distinguished general to command the forces at Gettysburg. Soon the war with Mexico followed and General Taylor in the spring of 1846 advanced toward the Rio Grande, encountering the enemy at Palo Alto. Lieutenant Wood had been detailed to bring up the heavy guns from Point Isabel and in his official record General Taylor made mention of Lieutenant Wood's efficient service at that time. At Palo Alto he was for the first time under fire and on the following day, the 9th of May, took part in the battle of Resaca de la Palma and the retreat of the Mexicans across the Rio Grande, leaving Texas completely in the possession of the American army. That summer General Tay- lor advanced toward Monterey and Lieutenant Wood served on his staff in the three days' engagement there. In October, 1846, he was transferred to the Second Dragoons and served as adjutant to Colonel Charles May, during the campaign of Buena Vista. On this occasion Lieutenant Wood did his full duty, penetrating inside the Mexican lines before the action and Colonel May in his official report said : "To my adjutant, Lieutenant Wood, my thanks are particularly due for the prompt manner in which he conveyed my orders and for the energy and zeal he displayed throughout the battle." After the capture of the city of Mexico Lieu- tenant Wood was ordered to Vera Cruz and acted as escort to the United States representatives who concluded the peace of Guadaloupe Hidalgo.
During the succeeding five years Lieutenant Wood was engaged in guard- ing the frontier, being sometimes the only officer which the company possessed. During a part of this period he was aide-de-camp on the staff of General Harney and for several years was adjutant of the Second Dragoons. In 1849 he was ordered to West Point as an assistant professor but was relieved at his own re- quest as he preferred duty with his regiment. In 1851 he was promoted to first lieutenancy in the Second Dragoons and in 1854 went to New York where he spent a year on recruiting services. In March, 1855, following the organization of the First Cavalry Regiment he was commissioned its second captain and after recruiting a portion of his company in Kentucky proceeded to Leavenworth. He was on active duty on the Kansas frontier when the Indians were a constant menace, when the Mormon question presented many difficulties and when the dif- ferences between pro-slavery and free-soil factions required the constant vigi- lance of the military.
It is a notable fact that Captain Wood was never "waiting orders" but was always on duty with troops. During 1856-7 he was chiefly engaged in trying to keep peace in Kansas and was on a six months' expedition as escort to Lieuten- ant Colonel Johnson, who was running the Kansas boundary. In 1858 the First Cavalry took part in General A. S. Johnston's Utah division and in the fall of that year Captain Wood was sent with two troops to Fort Washita, Indian Ter- ritory, where he remained in command of the post until the fall of 1859. A year's absence enabled him to spend 1860 in Europe, during which time he was one of the official guests at the coronation of Charles XV as king of Norway. While in Alexandria in January, 1861, he was notified that all leaves had been recalled and at once returned, reaching New York in March.
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A southern man by birth Captain Wood faced the most painful and important crisis in his career but he never faltered for one moment in his duty to the government. In his immediate family in Kentucky his father and he were the only Union men. Going at once to Washington Captain Wood was made major of the First Cavalry but never joined the regiment. When moderate men of both north and south failed in the attempt to bring about a compromise and President Lincoln issued his first call for troops, following the attack at Fort Sumter, Major Wood was ordered to Indianapolis and spent six months in mustering in the quota from Indiana. In May, 1861, he was promoted to a lieutenant colonelcy of the First Cavalry and on the IIth of October, 1861, was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers and ordered into the field, his first command being a brigade at Camp Nevin, Kentucky.
During General Wood's service at Indianapolis he had met Miss Greer of Dayton and in this city they were married November 29, 1861. He spent the succeeding winter in training and organizing new troops and before the cam- paign of 1862 opened was placed in command of the Sixth Division of the Army of the Ohio under General D. C. Buell. His division took part in the advance on Nashville, ending in the occupation of that city. The Army of the Ohio then marched toward Pittsburg Landing to join the Army of the Tennessee and as they proceeded they heard the booming of cannon, telling them that the battle was on. They reached the Tennessee river after a forced march about daylight on the 7th, having marched twenty-four hours without food or rest, covering thirty miles. At Savannah the troops embarked for Pittsburg Landing and partici- pated in the pursuit of the enemy, bivouacking that night farther to the front than any of the other national troops. In the summer of 1862 General Wood was assigned to repair and guard the Charleston & Memphis Railroad and while thus engaged was exposed to the raids of numerous bands of Confederate cavalry. In August, 1862, however, he was able to strike and scatter General Forrest's cavalry command near McMinnville, Tennessee. Through information which General Wood was able to obtain the Union commander in that year gained his first insight into Bragg's plans for his Kentucky campaign. He was engaged in trying to save from capture the Union garrison at Mumfordville which was a strange coincidence as that was his native town. General Wood's division also participated in the advance against Bragg terminating in the battle of Perryville in October, 1862, and the retreat of the Confederates from Kentucky. In com- mand of his old division in the left wing of the Army of the Cumberland he ad- vanced from Nashville in the last days of 1862 and had several brilliant skir- mishes with the Confederates. At Stone River Bragg's army was found drawn up in battle array, while General Wood's division was at the extreme left of the Union line. He sent men out with orders to climb into trees and to keep close watch on the encmy, receiving the report that the Confederates were moving large bodies of troops from his right to his left. This information seemed so import- ant that General Wood at once sent the picket officer to the commanding general. Had the information reached its destination the result would undoubtedly have been different. General Wood with but two brigades never faltered in his posi- tion and his holding thereof was one of the most valorous acts of the Union troops. Although struck by a minie ball in the left hcel at ten o'clock that morn-
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ing he did not dismount from his horse or have his wound dressed until the day's fighting was over in the evening. For a few weeks his wound necessitated his rest from active duty but in the middle of February he was again in command of his division with which he took part in the Tullahoma campaign and the sub- sequent advance to the Tennessee river during the months of July, August and September, 1863. On the 5th of September his division crossed the river, being the first of the national troops to occupy Chattanooga on the 9th. General Wood advanced as far as Lee and Gordon's Mills where he remained until September 19th. The reconnaissance made by Harker's Brigade under General Wood's command revealed the enemy in heavy force across Chickamauga creek. The Union forces were then widely scattered but General Wood's orders were to hold his position at all hazard and if forced back defend every inch of the road back to Chattanooga. However, Bragg did not attack and Rosecrans concentrated his forces in time for Chickamauga. From Lee and Gordon's Mills General Wood started, according to orders to support Van Cleve's right and while on the way encountered Davis' division and succeeded in checking and holding the Con- federate advance. In a charge General Wood's horse was killed. The fight was bitter and when it ceased the men rested on their arms for the battle that morn- ing was sure to bring. General Wood's gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Chickamauga led to his recommendation for brevet as a brigadier general by the board composed of Generals Sherman, Meade and Thomas. Fol- lowing the investment of Chattanooga General Wood was given the command of the Third Division, Fourth Army Corps and the 23d of November, 1863, found the united national army, under command of General Grant, confronting Bragg's forces at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. It was planned that General Sherman should make an attack against the Confederate right but after three days it was found that he was not yet in a position for attacking. Under the circumstances General Wood was ordered to practically make a reconnaissance in force against the Confederate lines at Orchard Knob. Advancing rapidly the line swept over the low ground and soon the reconnaissance became an attack and with a gallant dash the division carried Orchard Knob and captured many of its defenders. This movement led to the defense which broke the Confeder- ate center on the 25th. Orchard Knob became General Grant's headquarters during the remaining days of the fighting at Chattanooga. On the next day General Hooker carried Lookout Mountain and then followed the battle of Mis- sionary Ridge. In an account of this the Annual Review said: "Nearer and nearer the crest climbed the line in blue, but no more a line-a series of angles, each angle marked by the battle-flag of a regiment carried by the strongest men, for each one was striving to be the first to plant its colors in the Confederate lines. Almost simultaneously the ridge was gained at half a dozen points and the soldiers' assault of Missionary Ridge became one of the marvels of the war. General Wood always claimed that the troops of his division were the first to gain the crest of the ridge, basing his assertion on the fact that while Sheridan's division was halted at the foot of the ridge and that part of it which had started up the ridge was recalled, his (Wood's) division never stopped its advance from the time it left Orchard Knob until the crest was gained."
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The following brief extract from an account written at the time gives some little idea of the enthusiasm of both officers and men.
"It was near sundown when General T. J. Wood, whose conduct all through the three days' battle, marked him as one of the ablest leaders of the national armies, rode along the lines of his superb division. Loud shouts of enthusiasm everywhere greeted his appearance, until at last his feelings, no longer controll- able, broke forth in a speech.
" 'Brave men!' said he, 'you were ordered to go forward and take the rebel rifle-pits at the foot of these hills; you did so; and by the Eternal! without orders, you pushed forward and took all the enemy's works on top! Here is a fine chance for having you all court-martialed, and I myself will appear as the principal witness against you, unless you promise me one thing.'
" 'What is it? What is it?' laughingly inquired the men.
"'It is' resumed the General, 'that as you are now in possession of these works, you will continue, against all opposition of Bragg, Johnston, Jeff. Davis and the devil, steadfastly to hold them !'
"At the conclusion of his speech, the enthusiasm of the soldiers knew no bounds ; they left the ranks and crowded around the General. 'We promise! We prom- ise!' they cried; and amid such exclamations as 'Of course we'll hold them!' 'Let any try to take them from us!' 'Bully for you!' 'Three cheers for old Wood !' the gallant officer rode off the field."
General Wood's division took part in the movement sent into eastern Ten- nessee to the relief of Knoxville which caused Longstreet to fall back. May 18, 1864, marked the beginning of the great campaigns of the east and the west and found General Wood in command of the Third Division, Fourth Army Corps. He was engaged at the action at Rocky Face Ridge, in the battles of Resaca May 14-15 and the action at Adairsville on May 17th. After the battle of New Hope Church May 25-26 he was ordered to find the extreme right of the enemy's posi- tion, turn it and attack him in flank. The order was obeyed but in two hours fourteen hundred and fifty-seven men had been killed and wounded in this one division. General Wood also took part in the various engagements about Pine and Kenesaw Mountains and in a brilliant movement forced the crossing of Peach Tree creek and threw a bridge across the stream in the presence of the enemy on the 19th of July, 1864. During the siege of Atlanta General Wood's division occupied a line of works near Peach Tree creek until it took part in the swinging movement to the south which caused the evacuation of Atlanta. In this move- ment he was engaged in the battles of Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station and in the latter was struck down by a rifle shot which passed through his left foot. Although suffering from a painful wound he refused to give up his command and be sent north on sick leave. Still crippled with his foot bound up in an old buffalo robe because he could not wear a boot General Wood entered into his last campaign. He was not heavily engaged at Franklin and after General Stan- ley was wounded there succeeded to the command of the Fourth Corps. Gen- eral Wood was the main support of General Thomas on the Nashville campaign and proposed the plan which, with a few added details, was that adopted for the battle. The engagement followed and the Union troops were victorious. In
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January, 1865, General Wood was appointed major general of volunteers. Dur- ing the winter and spring of 1865 the Fourth Corps was stationed in eastern Tennessee, guarding the passes of the mountains against a possible attempt of General Lee's escape to the west. After Lee's surrender the Fourth Corps was sent to Texas in the summer of 1865 as a menace to Maximilian and his French allies. General Wood participated in these different movements until Septem- ber, 1865, when he was placed in command of the central district of Arkansas.
At the request of General Thomas he was brought from Arkansas and placed in command of the department of Mississippi during the reconstruction period. He found the condition of affairs there most deplorable but labored first to gain the confidence of the people of Mississippi and then to restore the shattered fabric of civil life both in government and in business. That he succeeded the record shows but perhaps the most touching proof is found in the following incident.
After his death in February, 1906, just forty years after he had labored for the people of Mississippi, the Vicksburg Herald, the leading paper in the state, published the following editorial: "The death of General Thomas J. Wood is a reminder that he deserves grateful remembrance from Mississippi. He succeeded General H. W. Slocum as commander of the military in the state, with head- quarters at Vicksburg in September, 1865. In that position which he held all through 1866, duties were devolved upon him which were a severe test of admin- istrative ability and that proved high character as well. Socially, industrially and politically, there prevailed chaos, confusion and uncertainty. In sections there was distress and disorder in the years immediately following war. It can readily be seen that such a situation demanded a military ruler who combined with firmness and fairness, sagacious judgment. The chronicles and the surviving memories of the period credit General Wood with proving himself such a com- mander."
In 1867 General Wood was relieved from the command of the district of Mis- sissippi and mustered out of the volunteer service. He rejoined his regiment, the Second Cavalry at Fort McPherson but soon found that his wounds and injuries had incapacitated him for further service and he was placed on the retired list with the rank of major general. From that time on he made his home in Day- ton. In this connection the Annual Record said :
"Quietly and peacefully the veteran soldier passed these last years, believing that an officer of the army should live up to the highest ideals, he never permitted anything to conflict with what he thought was his duty. Perhaps his greatest pleasure was found in the love and devotion of the soldiers who had served under him and with him which was manifested in many ways and he was always a prominent figure in the meetings of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. In 1892, he assisted in marking the lines at Chickamauga Park and was always most enthusiastic over all things that tended to perpetuate the deeds of the brave men of the Civil war, whether they wore the blue or the gray. In the same year a dinner of the surviving members of the class of 1845 was held in New York, only six were left, W. F. Smith, T. J. Wood, Fitz-John Porter, Henry Cop- pee, J. P. Hatch and E. K. Smith. A sad but sweet meeting and Thomas J. Wood voiced it when he gave as his toast those beautiful lines of Moore's :
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'Long days have passed, old friend, since we First met in life's young day,
And friends long loved by thee and me Since then have dropped away.
But enough remain to cheer us on And sweeten, when thus we're met,
The glass we fill to the many gone And the few who are left us yet.' "
In 1895 General Wood was appointed a member of the board of visitors at West Point by President Cleveland, this being the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation from the academy. When the Spanish-American war broke out though long past the age limit he offered his services to the war department. In 1902 he attended the one hundredth anniversary of the military academy at West Point and responded for the Mexican war. Then in his eightieth year but full of vigor and life he enjoyed to the uttermost that brilliant occasion. Dur- ing the next three or four years his health gradually gave way and in accordance with a desire he had expressed he was laid to rest in the West Point cemetery.
CHARLES E. SWADENER.
Charles E. Swadener, for thirty-five years a member of the Dayton bar, is now specializing in the practice of real-estate law. He is well qualified for gen- eral practice because of his comprehensive understanding of legal principles but his ability in this particular line has enabled him to concentrate his energies upon one department and gain therein a large and growing clientage.
Born on a farm in Montgomery county, Ohio, on the 2d of January, 1853, Charles E. Swadener spent his youthful days in the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Swadener. The father was also a native of Montgomery county, born in 1818. He was long identified with educational interests in this part of the state, devoting the greater portion of his life to school teaching, although for four years, from 1869 until 1873, he served as sheriff of Mont- gomery county, proving a capable officer, prompt, fearless and efficient in the discharge of his official duties. His family numbered five children, two sons and three daughters, all of whom are yet living.
Upon the home farm Charles E. Swadener spent his youthful days to the age of sixteen years, when the father was elected sheriff and the family removed to Dayton. Prior to this time he had attended the country schools and had also pursued his studies in St. Mary's Institute near Dayton. Continuing his educa- tion after the removal to the city he was graduated from the Dayton high school with the class of 1873 and then, determining to make the practice of law his life work, he began reading in the office of George D. Nauerth, a well known attorney, with whom he remained until admitted to the bar in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 4, 1874. He located for practice in Dayton and later formed a part- nership with W. C. Howard, which was maintained until Mr. Howard was appointed clerk of the district and circuit courts in Cincinnati. Mr. Swadener
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then practiced alone until 1889, when he formed a partnership with the late Judge D. A. Haynes and they were thus associated until Judge Haynes retired from active practice. Mr. Swadener has since been alone and has made a specialty of real-estate law, in which department of the science of jurisprudence he is particularly well versed, his comprehensive knowledge thereof causing his opinions concerning real-estate law to be largely accepted as authority.
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