USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 61
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PARL, WILLIAM COOK, Editor and Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, was born at Kendall, now Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, May 23d, 1817, and is a son of Gilberthorp and Sarah Earl, both natives of New Jersey, and of English descent. Ilis youth was passed on a farm until he reached his seventeenth birthday, and during the winter seasons he attended school in the primitive structures of those days. After leaving the farm he became a clerk, and afterwards a partner in a store, remaining there altogether about ten years. He next engaged in the milling and mauu .
OIINSON, HION. W. W., Lawyer, Banker and Jurist, was born, August 17th, 1826, in Muskingum county, Ohio. His father removed from Litchi- field county, Connecticut, and his mother from Brooke county, Virginia, in 1805, and were among the earliest settlers of eastern Ohio. Their son was reared in the country, having the advantages and sub- ject to the usual incidents of life on a new farm, engaged in clearing and cultivating it, and attending the log school- house in the winters. Being ambitious of mental culture, he devoted all of his leisure moments to the improvement of his mind; endowed with studious habits, he passed his evenings and rainy days in study and reading, and later in life taught school in winter for some five years. In 1849 he studied mathematics for one session at Muskingum Col- lege; and in April, 1850, commenced reading law in Cincin- nati, under the preceptorship of the late Judge Parker. Ile remained with him only three months, finishing his course in the office of Judge Convers, of Zanesville, a man pre emi- nent iu that part of the State for his great learning in the law, of which he gave his students the benefit, inspiring
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them with a portion of his own zeal for the profession. He | to a vacancy at West Point, and he tells this story : "At last was admitted to the bar in September, 1852, by Judges there came a letter accompanied by no testimonials, no in- fluential recommendations or appeals from wealthy parents, It simply asked that the place might be given to the writer, and was signed " thit. Sheridan.' 'The boy needed no recommendation, for I knew him and his father before him, and I appointed him at once." When the future general entered West Point he was seventeen years old, and he found himself in the same class with James B. McPherson, afterwards general, and who met his death in the late war. Among bis other classmates were Schofield, Terrell, Tyler, Sill, and the rebel General Hood. His high animal spirits made his career at West Point a troublesome one for his preceptors, and though above the average, he was not high in his recitations because of his frequent appearance in the column of demerits. Ile was continually transgressing the rules, and on one occasion flogged a classmate for an alleged insult. For this he was compelled to stay an addi- tional year at the academy. This little incident explains why, though the date of his admission was in the year 1848, he was not admitted to the service till 1853. Ilis suspen- sion had thrown him over into the class succeeding that in which he should have graduated. When in his twenty- third year, having finished his course, he was assigned to the ist Infantry as Brevet Second Lieutenant, and was soon promoted to a full Second Lieutenancy in the 4th Infantry. Ilis first service was on the Texas frontier against the In- dians. One story of the way his promotion was brought about is as follows : R.mey, Stillwell, Jewett, and Alexander, who examined him in person, without the usual town of appointing a com mitter, In the autumn of the same your be located in Ironton, Lawrence county, Ohio, where he has since re- sided. Filled with an honorable emulation, with a fair field before him, it was not long before he became known as a rising man in his profession. In 1858. he was elected Judge of the second subdivision of the Seventh Judicial District, and was twice re-elected. With an interval of two years at the bar, he continued on the bench until 1873, when he resigned to try the benefits of a change for his health. In 1874 he was nominated by the Republican Convention to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court ocen- sioned by the resignation of the late Judge Stone. The nomination was by acclamation and a marked testimonial to his standing as a Judge. After his resignation, above referred to, he took charge of the Second National Bank of Ironton, where he continued until February, 1876, when he accepted the appointment tendered him by Governor Ilayes, as one of the Supreme Court Commission-under the amendment to the Constitution of the State-to dispose of the accumulated docket of the Supreme Court. In the community where he resides he enjoys the entire confidence of all who know him, regardless of party or condition, as one of the purest of men, reliable in every respect, though modest and retiring, passing for less than his real worth -- a man of great and substantial attainments. He was married in 1854 to Eila, daughter of the late Judge Blocksom, of Zanesville, Ohio.
IERIDAN, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL PHILIP HENRY, was born in the village of Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, March 6th, 1831. Ilis parents were recent emigrants from county Cavan, in the north of Ireland, and were devout Catholics, He was serupulously reared in this faith. About his native village there had long been gather- ing a Catholic population, and the " Church of St. Joseph " there was noted as one of the oldest houses of worship in the State. He received the usual advantages of the rural schools, and when okl enough to help in the support of the family, he was placed as store clerk with a Mr. Talbot, a small hardware dealer, where he remained for some time. Ilis employer, taking an interest in him, taught him mathe- matics and encouraged him to study history. The boy was intelligent, active, and faithful. An opportunity to do better being offered, he entered the service of a Mr. Ilenry Dutton, also as a store clerk. Meantime his studies in mathematics and history were progressing with success, and be began to aspire to something better than the life of a clerk in a country store. There was quite a pressure being brought upon General Thomas Ritchey for the appointment | Accordingly the War Department, in the spring of 1855,
" Lieutenant Sheridan had ere long to try his powers with the Apache warriors. One day he was outside the fort with two others, when a band of those savages sud- denly sprang upon them. The chief, not dreaming of resistance from three men amid several times their number, leaped from his . hery mustang' to seize his prisoners. In an instant Sheridan was on the back of the wild charger and galloping away to Fort Duncan. Ile summoned the troops to arms, seized his pistols without dismounting, and hastened back like a flying warrior to the aid of the two companions who were heroically fighting for life. Dashing up to the enraged chief, he levelled a pistol at his head, 'crack' went the little weapon, and, with a mad leap into the air, the Indian fell dead at the feet of the Lieutenant's horse. The soldiers that followed him then came up, and the just now exulting band was ridden down and most of the number killed. The valiant deed, however, won no commendation from the commandant of the fort, who seemed to have a Southern prejudice against the ' Western boy.' The irritated, jealons officer charged his lieutenant with breach of discipline because he was away from bis command. That commander was a Confederate general in the late civil war. For two years Sheridan was thus em- ployed in the defence of the Southern frontier; at one time leading a company of sokliers to a threatened settlement, and at another cautiously making explorations, not knowing where the stealthy savage would rise from ambush, or fire his weapon from its unknown seclusion. But the unfor- tunate displeasure of his superior officer, and the collisions attending, induced Sheridan to seek a different post of duty.
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created him a full Lieutenant in the 4th Infantry, then in [ sand attacked his force of two regiments. Ile retreated Oregon."
slowly, but kept up a continuous fire. The day was going against him, but he determined to hasard a bold move to wegain it. Selecting a body of reliable men, about a hun- ched in all, he sent them by a circuitons toute to the rear of the rebels. In the meantime the main body fought desperately. Suddenly the enemy were .startled by the crack of carbines in the rear, and in their bewilderment they thought a whole brigade had come to the rescue. Amid this confusion Sheridan made an impetuous charge, and the day was his, the enemy fleeing in great disorder. This gal- lant fight made his name famous, and his bravery brought him a Brigadier-General's commission, to date from the day of the hard-fought battle and victory. But after his promo- tion he was detailed to an infantry command, and kept for a considerable time away from the field of service for which he was so peculiarly fitted. In a letter written since the war he says :
Until the opening of the war, with only a brief interval, he was on the hontier in active service. In 1855 he com manded the escort of an exploring party through Oregon, seeking a route for a branch of the Pacific Railroad. The following year he behaved so gallantly in a fight with the Yokimas, near Fort Vancouver, as to receive special men- tion in general orders. Ile had command of the Yokima reservation in 1857, and his admirable control of affairs elicited praise from General Scott. He soon after estab- lished a military post at Yamhill, and concluded an advan- tageous treaty with the Coquillo Indians. Ile had become a daring Indian fighter, well versed in their mode of war- fare, but never provoking them, and always ready to pre- serve the peace. At last he was rewarded with a Captain's commission in the 13th Infantry, and with it news came of the threatenings of civil war. This suited his combative nature. " If they will fight us," he wrote to a friend in " It has been said that I was 'lucky' during the rebel- lion in the success which attended me; but whether I was or not, I believe there was no general officer in the service who was subjected to harder tests. I was not only changed from one arm of the service to another, but was constantly being changed from one line of operations to another, cach involving new geographical and topographical study, the necessity of overcoming the local prejudices of soldiers of different armies, and the old and bitter prejudices between infantry and cavalry." " the States," " let them know we accept the challenge." And he added, with an ambition rather dwarfish in view of what he afterwards attained : " Who knows? Perhaps I may have a chance to earn a Major's commission." The war cloud broke over the land, and he was ordered to report at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He arrived at the time Fremont had been removed, and was made President of the Board to audit the claims under his administration. Still, in spite of these drawbacks, he had made rapid progress. Bragg was threatening Louisville at the time of his arrival in Kentucky, and Buell was hurrying to head him off. Ile put the city in a position for defence. Join- ing Buell's army on its arrival, he did good service in the pursuit of Bragg, which ended at Perryville. When Rose- crans assumed command, he was transferred to MeCook's wing of the army-the right. He behaved with great gallantry at the battle of Stone River, and bore off the honors with Rosecrans. A Major-General's commission dated from this battle. He took part in the battle of Chick- amauga, one of the bloodiest of the war, but his conduct was not so conspicuous as at Stone River. He nevertheless behaved with great courage and was effective in his move- ments. After the removal of Rosecrans his command was considerably enlarged. The storming of Mission Ridge was one of the most brilliant military assaults recorded in his- tory. In leading the charge he had a horse shot under him, and five shots penetrated different parts of his uniform, but he came out without a scratch. Ilis bravery on this occasion amounted almost to rashness. Ile was ever in the thickest of the fight and cheering his men. Soon after this battle Grant applied for his transfer to the East. He was made Chief of Cavalry to the Army of the Potomac. A few weeks later he was covering the flank of the army as it moved upon the wilderness. The year that followed brought him to the very pinnacle of fame. Ile had sent to This was very dull routine for so impatient and active a soldier, but he did the work satisfactorily, and he was made Quartermaster and Commissary under Curtis. Ile worked faithfully in his new duties, and felt that he was being rapidly advanced, seeing that he was sixty-fourth on the list of Captains. Having displeased his commanding gen- cral by criticising his mode of conducting the affairs of the Quartermaster's Department, after the battle of Pea Ridge he was sent to St. Louis under arrest. This affair was satisfactorily settled, and he was sent to Wisconsin to buy horses-a rather slow mission for the gallant cavalryman, but he was no doubt a good judge of horses! Meanwhile the cavahy arm of the service was in a very incomplete state, and Halleck, knowing his mettle, ordered him to report at Corinth, where he did staff duty. Pittsburgh Landing had just been fought. Bushwhacking had become an important feature in the rebel mode of warfare, and the daring raids of these men needed a counter-irritant. Sheri. dan was made Colonel of the 2d Michigan, and soon after started toward Booneville on his first raid. Ilis reckless during at once manifested itself, and a second regiment was added to his command. Ile made a dash after the guerilla Forrest, and was so successful in it that he was formally made commander of a cavalry brigade and sent to Boone- ville, twenty miles in front of the army. Here the memor- able battle of Booneville occurred. On the ist of July, 1862, a rebel force numbering between four and five thou- Ithe War Department during that time two hundred and
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five battle-flags captured in open fight, and about one hun- | who never liked his summary mode of dealing with the dred and seventy field-pieces. Ilis command fought rebel element, removed him to the frontier. The General of the Army protested, but it was of no avail. In his old role of an Indian lighter he was perfectly at home. When his old commander and wann personal friend was elected President, Lieutenant.General Sherman succeeded him as General of the Army, and the dashing cavalryman donned the latter's epaulettes. Ile is the most active of the high- grade officers of the regular army, and the authorities despatch him wherever danger threatens. Ile has a quick way of dealing with turbulent bodies, and even warm friends of the " administration thought him unnecessarily severe in branding the Louisiana Legislature as " banditti," when called to that State recently to preserve order. In person General Sheridan is short, stout, with a deep chest. llis military presence is the most striking when on horse- back. Ile is popular with his officers, and especially so in society. He was married in 1875. seventy-six battles in cleven months, all but thirteen of which were under his personal supervision. The story of these battles form the greater part of the history of the cavalry operations of the war. Ile has been censured for the devastation of the Shenandoah Valley, but not from official sources. Ile thoroughly believed in making a waste of the enemy's country, to bring them the quicker to terms, and thus hastening the war to a close ; though to his credit be it said he permitted no outrages in ocenpied territory, and was quick to punish transgressors when lound. Ilis memorable exploits in the valley are some of the most bril- liant pages in military history, and " Sheridan's Ride " was the theme of a distinguished poet. During his service here he was made a Brigadier-General of the regular army, to lill the vacancy created by the death of his old classmate McPherson. The country was excited to the highest pitch of admiration over his successes. The rebels, under Long- street and Early, made one more desperate effort to crush him, and this led to his memorable " Ride " from Win- chester. Ile had been called to Washington on October RIMBLE, WILLIAM ALLEN, Lieutenant- Colonel United States Army, and United States Senator from Ohio. The memorable conflict called the Second War of American Independ- ence brought to the front many a gallant and patriotic citizen soldier, who confronted the. trained and hanghty Briton on many a sanguinary battle- field from Niagara and the Canadian frontier to the shores of the Chesapeake and Potomac, culminating at New Orleans in General Jackson's signal triumph of the 8th Jan- uary, 1815. Conspicuous among the gallant and heroic men of Ohio, Hillsborough is proud of the military fame and public services of William Allen Trimble, whose early years were identified with the primal settlement of High- land county. He was the second son of Captain James Trimble, a soldier of the Virginia line in 1776, who, after the Revolutionary war, removed to Kentucky and settled in Woodford county in 1783. His son William received a liberal education at Transylvania College, Lexington, and commenced the study of law at Paris, Kentucky, under the late Judge Robert Trimble, United States Supreme Court, then a leading lawyer of Kentucky. Ilis father having died in 1804, the family removed to Highland county, Ohio, the next year, 1805, under the auspices of his eldest brother, Allen Trimble, late Governor of Ohio. In 1807 he came to Ohio and assisted his brothers in opening up a farm near Hillsborough, and the next year repaired to Chillicothe, the capital of Ohio, and entered the law office of Ilon. W. Il. Creighton, member of Congress from that district. In the summer of 1810 he accepted the situation of an assistant in a large and popular boarding school under the control of a Swiss gentleman, Major Joseph Neef, at the Falls of Schuylkill, near Philadelphia. Two of his younger 13th, 1864, for a military consultation. The oft-beaten rebels massed their troops and began a stealtby march from Fisher's Ilill. The full details of the march and attack cannot be given here. Suffice it to say that a largely in- creased force of rebels suddenly attacked the Union army, and sent them flying in retreat to Winchester. Sheridan had returned from Washington during the night, had made an early breakfast, and was riding through Winchester. A mile from the town he met the first fugitives. Instantly grasping the situation, he gave his orders quickly, and started at once for the scene of danger. Ile had no word of reproach for those he met, but cheered and encouraged them to return and fight their pursuers. "Face the other way, boys; face the other way! We are going to lick them out of their boots! " And they did " face the other way." Cheered by the presence of their brave commander, they reformed in line of battle. He did not even assume the defensive, but turned the tide of battle into the most brilliant victory of his military career. The effect upon the country was electric. Within sight of Richmond Grant fired one hundred guns in honor of the victory. The resig- nation of Mcclellan made a vacant Major-Generalship in the regular army. Ile was given the commission. The General now began to co-operate more closely with Grant and Sherman in the encircling of Richmond. He harassed the enemy at the most unexpected points. He was active, relentless, aggressive-always within sight of the foe. At the close of the war he was transferred to the Southwest. All became peace there with his appearance. Ilis connec- tion with the " reconstruction " troubles has been the sub. ject of much criticism, but he certainly brought order and quiet wherever he was detailed for that purpose. After a long and varied career in the South, President Johnson, | brothers -- Cary A., aged fifteen, and John A., aged nine-
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accompanied him, crossing the mountains in a strong single ' Highland and Adams counties, and two battalions of five gig, constructed for the rough and fatiguing journey of five hundred men responded to the call and marched to Dayton within the time. The late Judge John W. Campbell, then a young lawyer of West Union, took an active part in en- rolling the troops from Adams county. These troops, under command of Colonel Alen Trimble, Major Massna, and Major Trimble, of the 26th, as volunteer Adjutant of the regiment, marched to fort Wayne and dispersed the Indians from their towns on the Mississinewa river, thus opening and protecting the march of Ilarrison to Fort Meigs. It was a patriotic and Spartan sentiment which inspired this gallant expedition, and is a thrilling episode of the cam- paign of 1813 rarely if at all referred to in its history. In the spring of 1814, Major Trimble, having received his exchange, joined his regiment, which was then consolidated with another, and formed the veteran 19th, distinguished at Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and Niagara. Arriving at Buf- falo, he assumed command of that important post and of Black Rock ; the main army, under General Gaines, occu- pying the defences of old Fort Erie, on the Canada side. The night of the 14th of August, 1814, was the memorable assault of the whole British army upon the American forces under General Gaines. Late that evening Major Trimble, anticipating a battle, waited upon General Gaines and was permitted to take the command at Buffalo, while another officer took the command of his own regiment, the 19th, stationed in the bastions and block-houses of the fort. He had by lamplight examined into all the positions of his reg- iment and defences of his exposed position. As was anti- cipated, in the impenetrable darkness of a stormy night the enemy's veteran columns, led by Colonels Drummond and Scott, approached the parapets of the fort, and with scaling ladders and charge of bayonet, had carried like a tornado the principal batteries of Townson and Douglas, and pressing to the position of the 19th, under Major Trimble, Drummond shouted the watchword, "Give the d-d Yankees no quarter !" But he was received with a volley of musketry and charge of bayonet which hustled them headlong into the ditch. Drummond fell within six feet of the position of Major Trimble; Colonel Scott, of the 103d Royal Regiment, was also killed, and his sword-a hundred miles, He remained one year with Mr. Neef, and visited Litchfield, Connecticut, to complete his studies at that celebrated law school, under Judge Story. He there met the late Judge Bellamy Storer, of Ohio, as a classmate. Returning to Ohio in the winter of 1811, he opened a law office in fHillsborough, and prepared to enter upon his pro- fession with flattering prospects. But. another sphere awaited him. The thrilling and stirring news of war with England reached him by messenger midway between Hillsborough and West Union, in the adjoining county, whither he was going to attend the first court after his ad- mission to the bar. The herald was a fast rider, with an order from General McCarthurs calling on llighland county for a quota of one hundred volunteers. The young lawyer forgot his cherished profession, and turning his horse home- wards, his maiden speech was made the next day in the public square of Hillsborough, to the citizen soldiers of Highland, who had rallied to the call of their country. In a few days two full companies of one hundred men each were mustered into service and marched to head-quarters at Dayton, under the command of Captains John Jones and George W. Barrere. Mr. Trimble entered the company of Jones as a private, and upon the organization of McCarthurs' regiment was chosen Major. That little army, of the 4th United States Infantry, with the brigade of General Find- lay, took up its toilsome and laborious mirch through a dense and impenetrable forest of four hundred miles through Ohio and Michigan, and shared the inglorious fortunes of Hull in his cowardly surrender of four thousand men to General Brock, at Detroit. As a prisoner of war Major Trimhle was paroled and returned to Ohio. Ordered to attend the court-martial for the trial of General flull, at Albany, New York, he returned via Washington city, and, soliciting it, procured the appointment of Major for the 26th Infantry, to be recruited in Ohio. His young brother, C. A. Trimble, a youth of seventeen, received the appoint- ment of Lieutenant in the same regiment. In the spring of 1St3 he was superintending the recruiting department, while General Harrison was at Dayton, Ohio, making active preparations for a campaign to. recover Detroit and |fine Damascus blade-Colonel Trimble secured and wore wipe out the stain of General Hull's surrender. Major Trimble was not yet exchanged as a prisoner, and was not eligible to active duties in the field against the British. Hle waited upon General Harrison, at Dayton, and pro- cured a commission of Colonel for his brother, Allen Trimble, to raise a battalion of five hundred mounted men, armed and equipped for the relief of Fort Wayne, on the Maumee, then beleaguered by the hostile Indians under Tecumseh. The stipulation was that this force should be mustered at Dayton in ten days. Major Trimble gave the pledge, and riding all night, fifty miles, to Ilillsborough, handed his brother the commission and instructions from General Harrison. They took the field, travelling through | surprise of the surgeon, Dr. Trowbridge, he was restored to
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