USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 71
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
a partnership with Judge Stallo, one of the principal German lawyers in the city, and the firm of Stallo & McCook soon had all the business it could transact. Here the war of the Rebellion found him. His partnership with Judge Stallo gave him influence with the Germans, who were ready to enlist, and they at once selected him as colonel of their first regi- ment. He knew nothing of military matters, but they had plenty of experienced officers among their number who had sufficient of that kind of knowledge. They wanted for col- onel a man whom they could trust, and whose standing with the authorities would secure them from the annoyance their ignorance of the English language, and, as citizens of foreign birth, they would probably otherwise meet with. In conse- quence he was commissioned colonel of the first German regiment given by Ohio to the Government, April 28th, 1861, and which regiment was numbered as the 9th Ohio regiment of volunteer infantry. It went to Camp Dennison, and there soon became noticed as the regiment that made no com- plaints, its colonel having a strict regard for the wants of his men; and while they were kept drilling he devoted himself to their comfort, saw to their supplies, the condition of their camp, and the wants of their sick. The spirit of the regi- ment was thus strongly maintained when the question of the prospective three years' enlistment was disintegrating every other command in the camp. The men of the 9th Ohio promptly reënlisted, and their colonel had the satisfaction of leading them, well drilled, perfectly equipped, and in the best of spirits, among the first of the three year regiments, into West Virginia. Subsequently the life of Colonel Robert L. Mc- Cook was identified with the movements of his regiment. At the action with Floyd, at Carnifex Ferry, it was by its col- onel led, with especial gallantry, right under the eye of the commanding general himself. Colonel McCook called his regiment his " Bully Dutchmen," and saw to it that they wanted for nothing. Supplies, clothing, pay, transportation, everything was promptly supplied in abundance to Colonel McCook's command. Where his wagons came from nobody knew, but his regiment generally had twice as many as any other. Noticing this, General Rosecrans issued an order to have all extra transportation turned over to his staff quarter- master. McCook cheerfully complied, as promptly as any of the other colonels, but while they were cut down to barely regulation supply, his regiment in a few days had double as many, and his " Bully Dutchmen" were the envy of the whole command. Commissioned a brigadier-general, he was at once assigned to the command of an excellent brigade of Buell's army of the Ohio, but he insisted that his old 9th reg- iment must have a place in it, and it did. After the long de- lay in Kentucky followed the rapid movements that culmina- ted in the capture of Fort Donelson and the battles of Pitts -- burgh Landing and Shiloh, and in these and the skirmishes that varied the monotony of Halleck's advance on Corinth, General McCook's command took such part as raised him in the esteem of his superiors. From the outset he had counted too much on his robust constitution, and really not in vain, but at last camp dysentery prostrated him. His surgeon urged him to proceed to the general hospital at Nashville, and there remain in quiet until his digestive organs were re- stored to their normal condition of health, but he refused to leave his troops. A camp cot was fitted into an ambulance, and, reclining on this, he was driven about with his brigade, while continuing to direct its movements. This was the time when rebel raids were frequent in Tennessee. John Morgan
1
277
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
had suddenly burst into Kentucky, and was passing through that State like a hurricane, leaving a swarth of death and rapine in his rear. Points between Nashville and Halleck's army were threatened by other rebel raiders, and the division of which McCook's command formed a brigade, was ordered from Athens, Alabama, to Decherd, Tennessee. Even yet there was opportunity for him to take his surgeon's advice and go into hospital at Nashville, but he persisted in accom- panying his men as we have described. August 5th, 1862, he started, as he did the day before, in his ambulance in the center of his brigade. At a point where two roads met, the officer leading the march mistook the right road, and when General McCook arrived there, he halted the column and turned its head in the proper direction. The headquarters train was now, however, in the way, and to clear it he or- dered his ambulance to be driven slowly ahead, expecting to have it speedily overtaken by the troops. Then he became occupied looking about for a good camping-ground, sending one party of his guard ahead and another to the right for that purpose. Thus it was he was left unprotected, when a party of some forty partisan rangers, and sixty of the 4th Alabama cavalry, who had been all day lying in wait for a train, opened fire upon the men of the guard who had just left the general. At once divining the nature of the attack, he ordered the few remaining members of the escort to keep back the assailants if possible, while the ambulance was driven at full speed back to the advancing brigade. The at- tacking party could see, as the curtains were rolled up, that it contained only a sick man and an unarmed attendant, but they nevertheless directed a sharp fire upon it. General Mc- Cook, seeing the impossibility of escape, ordered the driver to run his horses against the bank beside the road, and held up his hands in token of surrender. Three shots were fired after this, one of them from the carbine of Captain Frank Gurley, as his name was subsequently discovered to be, that struck the general in the side, giving him his death-wound. Afterward a score of weapons were leveled at him, but Cap- tain Hunter Brooke, of his staff, prevailed on them not to fire into a sick and wounded man, while the general himself exclaimed that he was already mortally wounded. He lin- gered in great agony until the following day, when, after giving a detailed account of the attack to those about him, and directing that his horses should be divided between his brothers Alexander and Daniel, and his other property given to his mother, on the 6th August, about noon, he expired. What this noble soldier might have become, it is vain to conjecture. It is enough for his fame, that ever in the path of duty he was from a sick bed striving to direct the move- ments of his brigade, when he was murdered by men who had not the excuse of knowing that it was the commander of the brigade they had discovered, for no insignia of his rank were visible, he being simply dressed in his underclothing, reclining on the cot, as we have described. No officer was ever more beloved by the soldiers of his command, while the city of his adoption has perpetuated his memory by placing a granite statue of him in its beautiful cemetery, known as Spring Grove, in the suburbs of the city.
LYTLE, WILLIAM HAINES, lawyer, soldier, and poet, was born at Cincinnati, November 2d, 1826, and killed in the battle of Chickamauga, Tennessee, September 20th, 1863. He was educated at the old Cincinnati College and graduated in his sixteenth year. His poetical talent at an
early period manifested itself, but he did not indulge it, as he found it interfered with his law study. Occasionally, how- ever, he wrote verses, and, among those which he published, his "Antony and Cleopatra " among the earliest, and "The Drummer Boy " among the latest, served to establish his rep- utation as a poet. Inheriting the predilections of his father for a military life, his family urged him to study for the bar, and yielding to their desires he entered the office of his uncle E. S. Haines, Esq. During the following five years he not only studied law, but also the sciences, belles-lettres and the French and German languages, but upon the outbreak of the Mexican war, the military spirit of his family asserted itself, and, although not yet twenty-one, he entered the service as first lieutenant in the 2d Ohio infantry. He was soon after elected captain, and served with distinction throughout the war. At its close he returned to Cincinnati and entered into a law partnership with his uncle and Mr. Todd, his uncle's partner, under the firm name of Haines, Todd & Lytle, his talents, scholarship and brilliancy as an advocate, soon giving him a place in the foremost ranks of the legal profession of his native city. In 1852, he was by the democratic party elected to the Ohio legislature, and while there did not allow
his reputation to diminish. Subsequently appointed major- general of the Ohio militia, an office previously held by his father, before surrendering that office the sword won by him in Mexico was drawn in defence of the Union. Although the party which had threatened the Union of the States was that of his family and his own choice, he felt that country was above party, and without delay responded to the call of the President. As major-general of the. militia of Ohio, he was ordered to establish Camp Harrison, and, with the promptness and efficiency which had always characterized his move- ments, in twenty-four hours he had it ready for the recep- tion of troops. This was the first properly organized camp of instruction in the Western States. The colonelcy of the Ioth Ohio regiment of infantry having been offered him he accepted, and that regiment having been ordered into West Virginia, the following three months were spent in wearisome marchings in that rough country, during which his self-abne- gation and care for his men gained for him their affection. At the battle of Carnifex Ferry on the 10th September, 1861, and in which he was wounded, he bore so distinguished a part that even the enemy in their account of this battle, ac- corded to him unusual praise. His wounds being severe, he was obliged to return home and remain under the care of physician and nurse until his restoration to health, when, in January, 1862, he was assigned to the command of the camp at Bardstown, Kentucky, at that time an important post, con- taining from ten to fifteen regiments. Having remained there until the following April, he was ordered to report at Huntsville, Alabama, and there placed in command of the 17th brigade of the 3d division of General Buell's army. Rejecting the propositions of his friends to at this time accept their nomination for Congress, for the reason that he consid- ered his true arena to be with his troops in the field, under orders on the 31st August, he evacuated Huntsville, and made the march "o Louisville, Kentucky, with his command, then a division, in less time than his commanding general allowed for the movement, and without the loss of a wagon or an animal -General Buell pronouncing this "a masterly movement." After remaining three days at Louisville, Gen- eral Buell's entire command marched in pursuit of that of General Bragg, and, on the 8th October, fought the battle of
278
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
Perryville. Although the confederate leader directed his attack upon the troops of Colonel Lytle, his command nobly sustained themselves, and at first steadily drove the enemy back upon their supports. Being subsequently outnum- bered, Colonel Lytle sent twice to his commanding general for reinforcements, each time receiving the reply "Hold out as long as possible," and he heroically obeyed. The des- peration with which attack and defence were at this point sustained, was at no time or at any other point excelled dur- ing the war. But there is a limit to human endurance even in the bravest hearts. A bullet pierced the head of the brave colonel, and, as he thought mortally wounded him. At once his men rushed to bear him from the field. "Leave me, my men," said he; "you may do some good yet, but I can do no more. Here I must die." This wound, strange to say, did not prove fatal. Colonel Lytle and the men who would not leave him were taken prisoners, but recognizing his valour, the enemy shortly afterward paroled him, and he returned home to have his wounds healed. Here he was met by the following telegram from Secretary Stanton "Allow me to express my high estimation of your gallantry, and hope for your speedy recovery and restoration to your command, with appropriate rank." This telegram was soon followed by his commission as brigadier-general, and in February, 1863, he again took the field to join the army of General Rosecrans at Murfreesboro, and again withstood the desires of his friends for his political preferment. On reaching Murfreesboro he was placed in command of the Ist brigade of the 3d division of the 20th army corps, that which had previously been com- manded by General Sill. On the 5th August he was ordered to take the head of the corps in its advance upon the enemy concentrated at Chickamauga. On the 19th September he was ordered to place his brigade in position at Gordon's Mills in time to prevent the enemy crossing at that point. Here his command was completely isolated, when, at midnight, he received orders to march to the widow Glen's house, and there take position for defence. This he had accomplished by daylight, when the order arrived that he should on the double quick, march his brigade to the support of General Thomas. On receiving this order he remarked to his chief of staff; "It is a soldier's duty to obey, but we now march to certain death." He saw the inevitable result of the move- ment, but in no wise faltering, he abandoned the excellent position he had secured, formed his column and obeyed the order. General Wood's division having received similar orders, and an immense gap being thus formed in the Federal line of battle, the enemy poured through and. furiously attacked the advancing column of General Lytle, who, at once forming his line for battle, met them nobly. A fearful fight ensued. General Lytle received four wounds, and yet, pale and bleeding his life away, he continued to inspire his men with fresh courage. A fifth shot passed through his head, when handing his sword to the aid who sprang forward, he thus indicated his resolve that it should not fall into the enemy's hands. A number of his faithful adherents then bore him from the scene of his death-wound, but before they reached a sheltered nook, all except one, Captain Howard Green, were stricken by the sharp fire the enemy directed upon them. Captain Green laid him on the turf under a tree, receiving the smile of his dying general as thanks, and then, folding his arms across his gallant breast, General Lytle resigned his soul to Him who gave it. His death was the occasion of mourning in Kentucky as well as in Ohio.
Under a guard of honor, detailed from his first regiment, the Ioth Ohio, accompanied by several officers of his staff, his remains were brought to Cincinnati, and all along the route, even from the enemy's camp to his own home, they were accorded the highest respect. Laid in state in the court house twenty-four hours to receive the visits of the thousands who had known, loved and honored him, the next day the flags throughout the city at half-mast, and the public buildings draped in black, with all the school houses and most of the business houses closed, the bells tolled his funeral obsequies, and the city of his birth exhibited in this unmistakable man- ner her sorrow, as his remains were borne to their resting place at Spring Grove Cemetery. General Lytle never mar- ried.
PERKINS, JACOB, capitalist and railroad promoter, was born at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, September Ist, 1822 ; resided in Cleveland, and died at Havana, Cuba, January 12th, 1859. He was a brother of Joseph Perkins, now living at Cleveland; of studious disposition from his boyhood, and after thorough preparation at Burton Academy, Ohio, and at an academy in Middletown, Connecticut, he entered Yale College in 1837. There he distinguished himself by his liter- ary and oratorical abilities, delivering the philosophic oration at his junior exhibition, and being chosen second editor of the Yale Literary Magazine, a position he filled with credit to himself and to the satisfaction and pride of his classmates. His close application to study and the additional labor of literary work was, however, too much for his strength, and be- fore the close of his junior year he was obliged to relinquish his studies and go home without graduating with his own class. In the succeeding year, his health having improved, he returned and graduated with the class of 1842. On leav- ing college he entered his father's office in Warren, and was engaged closely in its business until the death of his father, when with his brothers he was some time engaged in settling the large estate. After his return to Warren he was fre- quently called on to address the people upon public occasions, and always with success. He became early interested in politics, taking the anti-slavery side, which was then not in popular favor, and made many effective speeches in support of its principles and measures. An address delivered in 1848 attracted much attention from the boldness and distinctness with which it asserted the right of self-ownership to belong to every person, without regard to color or race. The abilities he displayed, his strong convictions of right, and the fearless- ness with which he maintained them, led the people of his district to choose him as one of the members of the conven- tion that framed the Ohio Constitution which was adopted in 1851, and remains the fundamental law of the State. His political principles placed him with the minority in that body, but his influence and position were equalled by few in the dominant party. This was the only political position held by him, except that in 1856 he was one of the senatorial Presi- dential electors for Ohio on the Fremont ticket. As might be expected from his early devotion to study he was in later life an earnest friend of educational enterprises. It was owing to his suggestion and persistence that the authorities of Western Reserve College were induced to adopt the condi- tions of a permanent fund rather than to solicit unconditional contributions, and, in connection with his brothers, he made the first contribution to that fund. The wisdom of the course adopted was shown in after years, when dissensions and em-
Pauperhuis
279
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
barrassment crippled the institution and would have destroyed it but for the permanent fund which enabled it to weather the storm, and which became the nucleus of its permanent en. dowment. He gave another proof of his public spirit and generous liberality by uniting with two others of like spirit in purchasing the grounds for Woodland cemetery at Warren, beautifying them, and then transferring the property to the existing corporation. The most important enterprise of his life, and one which has conferred vast benefits upon the pub- lic, was the building and management of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, Soon after returning from the Consti- tutional convention he became interested in the scheme for a railroad between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, by way of the Mahoning Valley, and was most influential in procuring the charter and organizing the company, of which he was made president. It was very difficult to procure subscriptions to the stock, most of the capitalists of Cleveland and Pittsburgh being interested in other and partly conflicting lines. In 1853 work was commenced with a small stock subscription, and the gradual tightening of the money market operated to prevent much increase. The bonds were placed with great difficulty, and when the financial crisis occurred, with the road still unfinished, the bonds were unsalable. Railroads · which were to have connected with the Mahoning and so have prolonged the line to the seaboard were abandoned, and the prospects of that road thus rendered still more gloomy. In this emergency but one of two courses remained open to the management : to abandon the enterprise and lose all that had been invested, or to push it to completion, from Cleve- land to the coal fields, by the pledge and at the risk of the private fortunes of the managers. The latter course was chosen at his earnest entreaty, he agreeing, in case of disas- ter, to pay the first $100,000 of loss and to share equally with the others in any further sacrifice. In 1854 he went to Eng- land with the hope of raising money, but returned unsuccess- ful. In 1856 the road was completed to Youngstown, and the development of the coal and iron business commenced. In June, 1857, his wife, to whom he was devotedly attached, died of consumption. His close attention at her sick bed broke down his constitution. The latter part of the winter of 1857-58 was spent in the Southern States, returning the fol- lowing summer. The next winter he again visited the South; but the disease was beyond cure, and on the 12th of January, 1859, he died at Havana, Cuba. His remains were embalmed and brought home to Warren, where they were interred in Woodland cemetery. His character shows clearly in the acts of his life. Richly endowed with natural gifts, he used these gifts in the interests of humanity and freedom, though thus sacrificing all hope of a political career he was so well fitted to adorn. Fond of study, and with wealth to indulge his tastes, he sacrificed ease, wealth, and health for the public benefit. He once remarked that on his tombstone might justly be en- graved, " Died of the Mahoning Railroad." He was married October 24th, 1850, to Miss Elizabeth O. Tod, daughter of Dr. J. I. Tod, of Melton, Trumbull county, Ohio. His wife and two of his three children died before him. His son, Jacob B. Perkins, alone survives him.
MCGUFFEY, WILLIAM HOLMES, D. D., was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, September 23d, 1800, and died at Charlottesville, Virginia, May 4th, 1873. When he was but a child, his father removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, at that time a sparsely settled frontier region. His new
home offered no incitements to mental improvement and few opportunities for it. His parents were too poor to educate him, and could not dispense with his services on their farm. It is a proof of his energy and extraordinary zeal for knowl- edge that in the midst of these difficulties and discourage- ments he was able to prepare himself for college. He en- tered Washington College, Pennsylvania, of which Dr. An- drew Wiley was then president. This gifted man exerted a powerful influence upon his character. He treated him as a companion rather than a pupil, and continued through life his ardent friend. In March, 1826, before he was graduated, he was elected professor of ancient languages in Miami Uni- versity, at Oxford, Ohio. This chair he exchanged, in 1832, for the more congenial one of mental philosophy. The years which he spent at the Miami University were among the most active of his life. Having been licensed as a minister of the Presbyterian church, in 1829, he preached regularly in the neighborhood on Sunday. He here began the preparation of the "Readers," which were afterward published under the name of the "Eclectic Series," and which are still the most popular school-books in the country. He also took a lead- ing part in the great movement for popular education, and was an active member of the educational associations which met so frequently in those days. But his chief work then, as in every period of his life, was in the class-room. Here he exhibited those powers as a teacher in which few have ever surpassed him. Many of his pupils became eminent in their different professions, and all bear testimony to his wonderful success in awakening the interest and calling forth the ener- gies of his classes, and in training them to habits of vigorous and independent thinking. It was a great misfortune to the university and to the cause of education in Ohio that he felt constrained to resign his professorship. Immediately after his resignation, in 1836, he was chosen president of the Cin- cinnati College, an institution which had been suspended for some years, and which Dr. Drake and other prominent citi- zens of Cincinnati were endeavoring to revive. Able facul- ties in the several departments were elected, and if zeal and ability could have achieved success, the college would cer- tainly have succeeded. The number of students was en- couraging, reaching at one time one hundred and sixty. But the college had no endowment, and depended entirely on tuition fees to defray expenses. The revenue not being suffi- cient to support the professors, the college lingered for a few years and was closed. While connected with the college, Dr. McGuffey delivered a series of Sunday morning lectures, which attracted large audiences, and the memory of which remains vivid with many of the older citizens of Cincinnati. In 1839, Dr. McGuffey was elected president of the Ohio University. Owing to the manner in which the lands of the university were leased, it derived a scanty revenue from its splendid domain. The university was poor and had a pre- carious existence. Dr. McGuffey, while laboring to elevate its standard of scholarship, attempted also to recover for the college what he regarded as its rights. This brought him into collision with the surrounding community, and, after many annoyances, finding it impossible to carry out his plans, he resigned, and returned to Cincinnati in 1843. He now accepted a position in Woodward College, but was not allowed to remain in it long. The professorship of moral philosophy in the University of Virginia becoming vacant by the resigna- tion of Professor Tucker, Dr. McGuffey was chosen his suc- cessor in 1845. In this position he spent the remainder of his
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.