USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 4
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Calorin Peace
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BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
land in Ohio and other States at one time, have required much travel through the Western States, and in this and other business he has visited every State in the Union east of the Rocky Mountains. In 1862 he was appointed military agent for the State of Ohio, by Governor Tod, with head- quarters at Louisville, Kentucky, being also aid-de-camp to the Governor, with the rank of Colonel. He remained here one year in the discharge of his duty, when he was ordered to remove his head-quarters to Nashville, the Union Army having recently taken possession of Middle Tennessee. He remained here until the Spring of 1864, when he again removed his headquarters to Chattanooga, just before the be- ginning of Sherman's march upon Atlanta, and remained in that place until near the close of the war in the spring of 1865. Early in 1865 he was appointed Commissioner of the bureau of military claims in Ohio, and went to Columbus, re- maining in the discharge of these duties two years and ten months, after which the office was discontinued, at the rec- ommendation of Mr. Taylor, by an act of the Legislature, the unsettled business being given into the hands of the Ad- jutant-general of the State. During the time he filled this office he collected and distributed to soldiers and to soldiers' widows and orphans over two million dollars, and at the end of this period the books showed his accounts to have been kept accurate to a cent, a fact which will ever stand a wit- ness, not only to his honesty, but his accuracy as a business man. In civil life he has held the offices of Justice of the Peace, for a number of terms, and that of County Commis- sioner one term. From 1842 to 1868, his family resided in Cuyahoga County, whither he went to accommodate better his business as land agent, and also to act as agent for the Cleveland and Mahoning Railway, of which he was a stock- holder. Since 1868 he has resided in Ravenna, where be- sides his connection with lands, he has been engaged in a general insurance agency. He has traveled throughout Up- per and Lower Canada, and also in 1875 went on a business trip to England, and traveled through that country and Ire- land. Although never a church member, he is a man of upright and honorable motives ; has a good social standing in his own community, and is regarded as possessing excel- lent business qualities. In politics he is a Republican, being a Whig previous to the war. He has been married three times; first in Kentucky, to Rebecca Saunders, March 29th, 1826, to whom three sons and two daughters were born, all of whom but one, a daughter, are dead. The second time he was married to Sarah Richardson, formerly of Connecticut, March 27th, 1837, to whom four sons and three daughters were born, of whom two sons have died; and the third time to Mrs. Annette Hatch, formerly of Vermont.
CUSTER, GEORGE A., soldier, was born at New Rum- ley, Harrison county, Ohio, December 5th, 1839. Having received a good English education, he engaged in teaching. In June, 1857, through the influence of Hon. John A. Bing- ham, he received the appointment of cadet at the Military Academy, West Point, and graduating in June, 1861, was appointed second lieutenant, company G, 2d United States cavalry, formerly commanded by Robert E. Lee. On the 18th June, 1861, he left the Military Academy, and reported to General Winfield Scott on the 20th, the day preceding the battle of Bull Run. General Scott gave Lieutenant Custer the choice of a position on his staff, or of joining his com- pany, then with General McDowell, near Centreville. Eager
to participate in active field service, he chose the latter, and reached McDowell's headquarters at 3 o'clock on the morn- ing of the 21st. Preparations for the battle had already be- gun, and after delivering his dispatches and partaking of a hasty breakfast, he joined his company. This company was among the last to leave the field, which it did in good order, bringing off General Heintzelman, who had been wounded. He continued to serve with his company until the lamented Kearney was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, when that distinguished officer appointed Lieutenant Custer on his staff. He remained in this position until an order was issued by the War Department prohibiting officers of the regular army from holding appointments on the staff of generals of volunteers, when Custer returned to his company, after re- ceiving flattering testimony to his efficiency. The rebels having evacuated Manassas, Lieutenant Custer's company moved with that part of the army of the Potomac which marched to that point. He was in the advance under Gen- eral Stoneman, and encountered the enemy for the first time near Catlett's Station. Lieutenant Custer volunteered to charge the enemy's advanced post, driving the rebels across Muddy creek, wounding a few, and having. one of his own men wounded -thus drawing the first blood in the campaign under McClellan. When the army settled down before York- town, he was detailed as assistant-engineer under Sumner, in which position he planned and erected the nearest earth- work to the enemy's lines. He accompanied the advance under Hancock in pursuit of the enemy from Yorktown, and at Williamsburg acted as aide-de-camp to that general, capturing the first battle-flag ever taken by the army of the Potomac. Lieutenant Custer was the first to cross the Chick- ahominy, which he did by wading, in the face of the enemy's pickets. For this gallant act he was promoted by Mcclellan to the rank of captain, and made a personal aide. He re- mained with the General, and participated in all the engage- ments, including the seven days' battle, and marked out the position occupied by the Union forces in the battle of Gaines's Mills. He also shared in the campaign ending with the bat- tle of South Mountain and Antietam. When Mcclellan was relieved of the command of the army, Captain Custer ac- companied him in his retirement, and was not again in active service until the battle of Chancellorsville, in which he served as first-lieutenant, company M, 5th cavalry, his rank of cap- tain having been disallowed. After this battle, General Pleas- anton, commanding a division of cavalry, made Lieutenant Custer a personal aide, in which capacity he shared in nu merous cavalry engagements. When Pleasanton was made a major-general and assigned to a cavalry corps, he re- quested the appointment of four brigadiers to command un- der him, and upon his recommendation, indorsed by Generals Hooker and Meade, Lieutenant Custer was raised to the rank of brigadier-general. He was at once assigned to a brigade of Michigan cavalry. At the battle of Gettysburg he utterly routed Hampton's division of cavalry, having had two horses shot under him. Immediately after the battle, General Cus- ter was ordered to attack the enemy's train, then making its way to the Potomac. He overtook them and destroyed up- wards of four hundred wagons, and captured eighteen hun- dred prisoners, between Gettysburg and the Potomac. A severe engagement followed at Hagerstown, Maryland, and General Custer again had his horse shot under him; and when the enemy finally crossed the Potomac, his command was the only one that harassed the crossing. This was at
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Falling Waters, where he attacked the entire rebel rear guard. General Pettigrew, who commanded it, was killed, and his command routed, with a loss of thirteen hundred prisoners, four battle-flags, and two pieces of cannon. Dur- ing the fall of 1863, Custer was engaged constantly in skir- mishing with the enemy, and in the winter in picketing the Rapidan between the two armies. In the spring of 1864 he took part in the opening battle of the Wilderness, and early in May set out, under General Sheridan, on his raid toward Richmond. General Custer's brigade, in the advance, cap- tured Beaver Dam, burned the station and a train of cars laden with supplies, and released four hundred Union pris- oners. Rejoining Grant's army on the Pamunkey, he par- ticipated in several engagements, and had another horse shot under him. At Trevillian Station he was sent out to surprise the enemy's rear, and executed the movement promptly, but through the delay of another commander, who was ordered to attack in front, the enemy was enabled to devote his en- tire attention to Custer. Five brigades surrounded his one, and against such odds the battle was waged for three hours. One of his guns was captured twice, and each time retaken. His color-bearer was killed, and the battle-flag only saved from capture by General Custer himself tearing it from the standard and concealing it about his person. The arrival of Tobert's force enabled him to extricate his command with comparatively small loss. In the Shenandoah valley, Custer made a record only less brilliant than that of his commander. When General Averill was relieved, General Custer was as- signed to the 2d division of cavalry, army of the Shenan- doah ; but in a few days, when General Wilson was relieved from the command of the 3d division, to which General Cus- ter formerly belonged, he was transferred to that division, and continued in command of it until after Lee's surrender. When Sheridan arrived on the field after his famous ride, he found one command ready for action, and his immediate order was, "Go in, Custer!" Custer "went in," and the en- amy was driven several miles beyond the battle-ground. The division captured several hundred prisoners, including a ma- jor-general, and forty-five pieces of artillery out of the forty- eight captured by the entire army. For his conduct in this battle, General Custer was brevetted major-general of volun- teers, and as a further mark of approval, General Sheridan detailed him to carry his report of the battle, and the cap- tured flags, to Washington. On October 9th, 1864, he routed the rebel General Rosser, capturing six pieces of artillery, two battle-flags, his entire train, and many prisoners. For his conduct on this occasion, he received thanks and con- gratulations in a special order from the War Department. Again, in the winter of the same year, he attacked with a force of one thousand, a force of two thousand, under Jubal Early, whom he utterly routed. A pursuit resulted in the capture of eighteen hundred prisoners, eleven battle-flags, fourteen pieces of artillery, and two hundred wagons, in- cluding General Early's private baggage. The latter himself narrowly escaped capture. General Custer lost one man killed and four wounded. He did noble service in the first campaign around Richmond. At the battle of Dinwiddie Court-house, Custer's division arrived on the field when the Union troops were gradually yielding ground. Ordering the band to strike up "Hail Columbia," he charged the advanc- ing column so impetuously that he not only checked the ad- vance, but drove the enemy backward over the lost ground. At Sailor's creek, Merritt and Crook were ordered by Sher-
idan to break the enemy's line and delay his retreat. Their efforts were ineffectual. Sheridan called for Custer, exclaim- ing: "I wish to God old Custer was here; he would have been into the enemy's train before this time!" Accordingly, "old Custer's" division was ordered up, and immediately threw themselves upon the enemy-actually leaping their horses over the breastworks. In this, his greatest cavalry charge, the capture by Sheridan's command consisted of five thousand prisoners, including seven general officers, sixteen pieces of artillery, and thirty-one battle-flags. After this battle, Custer was riding up to General Sheridan, who was surrounded by his staff and other officers of rank, when the general and all his staff, with caps waving, gave three cheers for Custer! He was in the advance when the surrender at Apomattox took place, and was the first to receive the white flag sent in by General Lee. After the terms of surrender had been signed by Generals Grant and Lee, General Sher- idan purchased from Mr. McLean, in whose house the nego- tiations had been conducted, the little table upon which the terms were made, and presented it to Mrs. Custer, with the following letter : "MY DEAR MADAM : Permit me to present to you the table upon which were signed the terms of sur- render of the army of northern Virginia, under General Robert E. Lee; and in conclusion, let me add, that I know of no person more instrumental in bringing about this most desirable event, than your own most gallant husband. I am, madam, most truly your friend, PHILIP H. SHERIDAN, Maj .- Gen. U. S. A." For his distinguished conduct in these closing scenes of the war, he received the appointment of major-general of volunteers, and after the grand review at Washington, he accompanied Sheridan to the military divi- sion of the gulf, where he was assigned to an important com- mand in Texas. At the time of his promotion as general, he was the youngest officer of his rank in the army, and after Sheridan, the most dashing cavalryman. He never lost a gun or a color, and captured more flags, prisoners, and mu- nitions of war, than any other officer not in command of an army. These were all captured in actual fight, and not in abandoned forts or arsenals. In politics, the general made himself more conspicuous after the war than most of the prominent regular army officers. He sympathized with An- drew Johnson, and accompanied him on his famous tour to the Douglas monument dedication. He also took an active part in the Philadelphia union convention in 1866, and in the soldiers' convention at Cleveland, in the autumn of 1869. In the reorganization of the regular army after the war, Gen- eral Custer took the rank of colonel of cavalry, and was as- signed for duty under General Terry in the western territo- ries. Here, being on detached service with a command of about three hundred men, he was killed on June 25th (or 26th), 1876, in a battle with an estimated force of three thousand Sioux warriors, led by Sitting Bull. Of the move- ments of the brave Custer after the first date given, but very little is known, as his entire command, consisting of twelve officers, two hundred and forty-seven enlisted men, five civ- ilians, and three Indian scouts, were all killed except one officer and two men, and most of them mutilated by the savages.
ROGERS, GEORGE P., retired iron merchant, Ironton, Ohio, was born June 12th, 1802, in Fayette County, Pennsyl- vania, and was a son of Major James and Jane (Porter) Rogers. He received only the advantages of a common
PiSter Pury
Gui Pilique
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school education, and went to work for his father, in the iron business, at an early age, in Westmoreland County, Pennsyl- vania, where he remained a short time, then going to Con- nellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He was there en- gaged in the same business for a couple of years, when he came down the Ohio River, and settled in Adams County, Ohio, there conducting the Brush Creek Furnace four or five years. Then he moved to Estill County, Kentucky, and con- ducted the Red River Furnace and Forge there two years. From Estill County he was called to Bath County, Kentucky, to take charge of Maria Forge, which he did for two years. He then had the management of the Slate Forge, of the same county, for two years, giving up this position at the ex- piration of that time, and making a visit home to his parents in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. After remaining there a short time, he came back in charge of Licking Forge, Bath County, Kentucky, where he remained one year, when he was removed to Pactolus Furnace, on the Big Sandy River, which he managed for one year. Then having accumulated some capital, he concluded he would return home, where with his father and brother, they built what was known as the Fayette Furnace, where they did business twelve or fourteen years, part of the time Mr. George P. Rogers being in mer- cantile business. After selling out his interests in Pennsyl- vania, Mr. Rogers came to Ohio in 1844, and took charge of Center Furnace, Scioto County, Ohio, remaining there a year, when he entered the employment of John Campbell, of Iron- ton, and was located at Hanging Rock about five years. He was then transferred to Keystone Furnace, which he built and managed until it was in good running order. He was again transferred to Gallipolis, where he had charge of the landing about two years, when Mr. William D. Kelley called him to Ironton, and gave him charge of Lagrange Furnace, which he ran for about two years, and from there he was moved to the old Rolling Mill, of which he took charge for some time. He was then appointed financier of the Old Rolling Mill, Ironton, a position he held for a number of years, when he, in partnership with others, bought out the Amanda Fur- nace, Greenup County, Kentucky, which he ran until the war broke out, when Mr. Rogers sold his interest, and organ- ized Company H, Ninety-first Ohio Volunteers, of which he was commissioned Second Lieutenant. After going into camp he contracted dysentery, and had to resign. After re- gaining his health, he was for a short time connected with the Ironton Railroad, since which period he has passed a re- tired life, enjoying the respect and confidence of his neigh- bors and acquaintances, by his integrity and fair-dealing during life. Mr. Rogers married Eliza Clayton, 1834. They have been the parents of eleven children, nine of whom are living. Mr. Rogers has been a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a staunch Republican. The only iron manufactory with which he is now connected is that of the Ohio Iron Company, of Zanesville, and the Etna Iron Works, of Ironton.
MURRAY, HIRAM BINGHAM, coal merchant, Ports- mouth, Ohio, is the youngest son of David N. Murray, and was born in Portsmouth September 14th, 1845. Most of his minority was passed on his father's farm, in the vicinity of Portsmouth, and his education was obtained in the public schools of that city. When he was nineteen or twenty years of age the family removed to town, and young Murray entered the machine-shop of his father, and learned the
machinist's trade, which he followed for some four years. For six years subsequent he was employed as clerk in the office of the foundry and machine-shops of Messrs. Murray Moore & Co., in Portsmouthi. In 1873 he embarked in the coal . trade, in which he has been engaged to the present time. In February, 1879, he took in as a partner to the business Mr. R. S. Micklethwait, and is now conducting the largest business in this line in Portsmouth. On December 4th, 1867, he married Sarah Jane, daughter of Henry Raugh, of Ports- mouth, but formerly of Pennsylvania. Two sons are the issue of this union-Howard S. and LeRoy Murray. Polit- ically Mr. Murray is a solid, staunch republican. He is a Presbyterian in religious faith, and is connected with the Second Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth. He has never sought or held office of any kind, but has given his whole attention to his business, in which he has made a fine suc- cess. In his business relations he is just and honorable, while as a man and a citizen he commands respect for his gentlemanly manners and integrity of character.
GRIMES, WILLIAM MCCULLOUGH, D. D., Pres- byterian divine, living, in 1883, at Steubenville, Ohio, was a native of Belmont County, Ohio, and was born September 16th, 1821. His father, Joseph Grimes, and mother, Martha E. Mccullough, were of Scotch-Irish extraction. Our sub- ject's maternal grandfather, William McCullough, belonged to Washington's command in the struggle for colonial inde- pendence, and on one occasion was taken prisoner by the enemy. Our subject received his classical training at Frank- lin College, graduating in 1844. He afterward taught school at various points in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky, follow- ing this occupation for three years. He entered the Western Theological Seminary at Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, and pursued a course of theological study for two years. He was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of St. Clairsville, in 1850. His first pastorate was composed of the congregations at Centerville and Bealsville, in Belmont County. July 4th, 1856, he accepted a call extended by the First Presbyterian Church, of Cadiz, Ohio. Dr. Grimes preached in that church for nearly twenty years, which term of service was marked by the single interruption of the late war, when, in June, 1863, he was appointed by his presbytery to the Christian Commission, and assigned to service in the Army of the Cumberland. He subsequently transferred his labors to the Army of the Potomac. Attending upon the wounded soldiery, alleviating their sufferings, and administering spiritual conso- lation to the dying, were labors in which his whole heart was enlisted. The Church under Dr. Grimes's care at Cadiz was one of the few Churches in the State whose efficiency was not crippled by the secular controversies growing out of the civil war. In February, 1876, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church, of Steubenville, and at the end of the first seven years of his pastorate he was able to rejoice at the almost total extinguishment of a burdensome debt, which had long encumbered the Church. Also during that time the membership of the Church was doubled in numbers. Dr. Grimes was one of the most successful and eloquent pulpit orators in the State of Ohio. His sermons, which were de- livered extemporaneously, abounded with striking figures and grand climaxes; and pervading all was a delicate and true conception of the beautiful. His powers of illustration seemed inexhaustible; and this feature of his method of preaching was purely characteristic. His eulogy on the life
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of Garfield lacked the cheerful inspirations which ordinarily animated his discourses, but it was a repository of beautiful thoughts, in the presence of a national calamity. The fol- lowing is a reproduction of a portion of the address :
" Time and mortality destroy human calculations, deride man's boasted prescience, and punish his presumptuous reli- ance upon futurity. The wheels of time still roll on, and bury, every moment, in the dust, the mournful wrecks of former revolutions. Change is written everywhere on this fallen world, and mutability renders every lovely object less valuable. Sometimes the foundation of a building is laid upon a rock, the materials used are well chosen and good, the builder is wise, the plan is admirable, and the design is mag- nificent, and yet the structure is never finished. Adversity paralyzes the arm of the builder, dries up his resources, changes his prospects. Death calls away the master from his work in time to his responsibility in eternity. That which was planned for a palace stands half finished-a ruin. The proposed hall of pleasure becomes the silent seat of desola- tion. Time, with his fleecy locks and corroding tooth, like Death on his pale horse, has the earth for his battlefield. The monuments of genius and the arts fall alike before him in his irresistible might. He seems to-day to be pointing with his triumphant, bony finger, to the tottering temples of Greece and smiling at the ruins of Athens. Greece, the glory of the world, the bright luminary of learning, liberty, and law, is prostrate in the dust; her philosophers, heroes, states- men, and poets are mingling with the fragments of her fallen grandeur. Their memory, it is true, still lives and flits about the dusty halls of Acropolis. The imperial city, hallowed by the footsteps of the Cæsars, is strewn with the crumbling fragments of other ages. The traveler inquires mournfully : ' Where is the cottage of Romulus, the golden palace of Nero, and the shrine o. Apollo ? Where is the famous arena of the gladiator, the walks and home of Cicero ?' The red sun goes down and sheds his last ray like a fading fringe of gold upon its gray battlements, and the mellow moonbeams glim- mer through the ivy-crowned walls and gloomy halls of that desolate city. Every thing connected with this world, except sin, is local and temporary."
In 1878 Dr. Grimes went abroad. He traveled over the greater part of Europe and the Holy Land. He experienced th distinguished honor of preaching in the City of Jerusalem. At the Basilica of the Nativity occurred an incident at once touching and peculiar. The Greek patriarch, having in his diocese some fifteen thousand souls, greeted Dr. Grimes and his companions with all the warmth of Oriental custom. Taking Dr. Grimes by the hand, the patriarch asked, through their dragoman: "Are you a minister of Christ? Are you a Protestant minister?" Dr. Grimes having replied in the affirmative, the patriarch continued : "I am a bishop of the Greek Church, and I recognize you as a brother, and a min- ister of Jesus Christ. You have come away from the land of the setting sun, to the place where the Savior was born. You believe him to be the God of gods ; so do I. We are resting on the same meritorious death of Jesus Christ, and I hope to meet you in our heavenly home, through that Savior who was born in this hallowed place." To this Dr. Grimes replied : "Yes, my venerable and beloved brother, we have come away from the land of the setting sun, to the place where the wise men, coming away from the land under the rising sun, following that lone and miraculous star of the East until it stood over the cradle-bed in the grotto beneath where we are now standing. It is my only hope that through the precious blood of that crucified Redeemer, who is God's co-eternal Son, and our Savior, that we are saved. And through his meritorious death and saving grace we will meet you under the shadow of the tree of life that stands on the margin of the river of God, flowing from the throne of God
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