USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 67
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A few years passed peacefully away when the bugle blasts of civil war called him to the horrid scenes of the battle-field. Heroically he performed his part on many a bloody field. Mr. Reid, in his excellent history of Ohio during the war, writes :
" In October, 1864, Colonel Hayes was appointed Brigadier General 'for gal- lant and meritorious services at the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek.' In the Spring of 1865, he was given command of an expedition against Lynchburg, by way of the mountains of West Virginia, and was en- gaged in preparations for that campaign when the war closed." He was then in honor of his distinguished services breveted Major General.
The following incident is related by General Comly, in his account of Sheri- dan's victory of Winchester : " After the usual amount of marching and coun- ter-marching, from the 4th to the 18th of September, the battle of Winchester was fought on the 19th. General Crook's command was in reserve, but was very soon brought into action and sent to the extreme right of the line to make a flank attack. Hayes' brigade had the extreme right of the infantry. The position was reached under cover of an almost impenetrable growth of cedar
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crossing a swampy stream. Here the division was halted and formed : First brigade (Hayes') in front, and the second (Johnson's) in the rear. Throwing out a light line of skirmishers, the brigade advanced rapidly to the front, driving the. enemy's cavalry. The national cavalry at the same time advanced out of the woods on the right. After advancing in this way across two or three open fields, under a scattering fire, the crest of a slight elevation was reached, when the enemy's infantry line came into view, off diagonally to the left front, and he opened a brisk artillery fire. Moving forward double-quick under this fire, the brigade reached a thick fringe of underbrush, dashing through which it came upon a deep slough, forty or fifty yards wide and nearly waist deep, with soft mud at the bottom, overgrown with a thick bed of moss, nearly strong enough to bear the weight of a man.
" It seemed impossible to get through it, and the whole line was staggered for a moment. Just then Colonel Hayes plunged in with his horse, and under a shower of bullets and shells, crossed over. When he was about half the way over, his horse mired down. He dismounted and waded, and pushed his way through-the first man over. The Twenty-third was immediately ordered by the right flank and crossed over the slough at the same place. In floundering through this morass men were suffocated and drowned ; still the regiment plunged through, and, after a pause long enough partially to reform the line, charged forward again, yelling and driving the enemy. Sheridan's old cavalry kept close upon the right, having passed around the slough, and every time the enemy was driven from cover, charged and captured a large number of prison- ers. This plan was followed throughout the battle ; by which the cavalry was rendered very effective. In one of these charges, Colonel Duvall, the division commander, was wounded and carried from the field, leaving Colonel Hayes in . command. He was everywhere exposing himself recklessly as usual. He was the first over the slough, and he was in advance of the line half the time after- ward. His adjutant general was severely wounded, and men were dropping all around him, but he rode through it all as if he had a charmed life." He was wounded four times, once very severely.
Just before the termination of this dreadful strife, he was elected to Congress from the Second Cincinnati District, and re-elected in 1866. He was ever an able and highly valued supporter of the principles of the Republican party. In 1867, this party, in Ohio, by general acclaim, nominated him for the governor- ship of the state. There were many complications in this election ; the commu- nity being greatly agitated and divided by the " negro suffrage" question. General Hayes, who had won much esteem by his dignified bearing during the conflict, was elected by about three thousand majority, and in 1869 he was re- elected by an increased majority.
Governor Hayes' administration was illustrious in the benefits it conferred upon the state. A home for the orphan children of soldiers was provided. A reform school was established. Great improvements were introduced in the treatment of the insane. The penitentiary was enlarged, and vigorous measures of improved prison discipline adopted. Additional authority was given to the Board of State Charities to investigate and bring to light all abuses in the penal and charitable legislation of the state. An Agricultural College was founded.
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A geological survey of the state was undertaken. New efforts were adopted to. protect all important historical documents. Portraits of the governors and other distinguished citizens were secured. Casts of the pottery of the mound-builders. were obtained and carefully preserved. A Lincoln and soldiers' monument was erected in the rotunda of the State House. And last, but by no means least, the true democratic doctrine of extending the right of suffrage to colored citizens was adopted.
Governor Hayes still lives. One who knows him well has paid the following fine tribute to his character :
" General Hayes is one of the few men capable of accomplishing much without: any egotistical assertion of self. As a soldier in the army, an advocate at the: bar, or an earnest supporter of radical measures he has been content to do his. duty with an unpretending, noiseless energy that makes him a marked man. The people will find his utterances full of sound thought, and his deportment modest, dignified and unassuming. He proved himself not only a gallant sol- dier, but a model officer. We had opportunities of close observation while serving with him in Virginia, and found him cool, self-possessed, and as thor- ough in the discharge of his duties as he was gallant in action."
It is also pleasant to give the following still more decisive testimony to the merits of Governor Hayes from one of the leading papers of the state. This testimony was repeated by many other public journals, without, so far as we: know, any dissentient voices :
"That the gubernatorial chair of Ohio has never been filled by a man more: personally and specially esteemed by the people than Governor Hayes, is a fact. admitted by everybody of all parties. He is recognized as a most efficient, dis- creet, practical executive officer. His messages, proclamations, etc., have been. universally complimented by the press for their brevity, directness and good common sense. Editors and reporters have never been obliged to trouble them- selves about condensing any state paper he issued - it was always couched in. the fewest words possible, clear and forcible. He retires with a splendid record, high in the confidence of the people of our noble state."
HON. EDWARD F. NOYES. [See page 703.]
Edward Follensbee Noyes was born at Haverhill, Mass., October 3, 1832. His: parents were Theodore and Hannah Noyes, both of whom died before he was, three years of age, leaving the little orphan child with the world before him, in which his battle was to be fought single-handed and alone. He was taken in charge by maternal grandparents, Edward and Hannah Stevens, who resided at East Kingston, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. At twelve years of age, his grandfather having died, he went to live with his guardian, Joseph Hoyt, of Newton, New Hampshire.
To New Hampshire boys life is not altogether playtime. At thirteen the youth took care of twenty head of cattle, worked on the farm in Summer, and in Winter made a daily pilgrimage of four miles and cut and piled his half cord of swamp maples-certainly a fair day's work for a youngster in the beginning
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of his teens. But here was laid the foundation of robust, vigorous health, that stood him well in hand in times of after trial, when less hearty strength would have succumbed. At forty-two years of age Governor Noyes is of a hale, cheery temperament. His good nature is infectious. His vivacity is inspiring, and his intellect clear and incisive. He is not put down by adverse circum- stances, but attacks difficulties and overcomes them by persistency, or if van- quished in turn, bears ill-success with equanimity.
How much of character, of energy and of mental faculty depend upon the simple fact of good health is not generally appreciated. A sound mind cannot flourish in an unwholesome body ; and to the complete and perfect exercise of such powers as have been given to men, the first and most essential requisite is unimpaired physical condition.
It does not exceed the truth to say that Governor Noyes is one of the foremost political orators in the West ; and those who have been moved by the power of his pathos until their eyes became misty-who have been excited to boisterous laughter by the overflowing humor of his happy nature or exalted by his elo- quence-are not perhaps aware how much of the subtle influence is owing to the twenty head of cattle, the maple cord-wood, and that early life which gave to an active mind an entirely healthful body.
At fourteen young Noyes was apprenticed as a printer in the office of the Morning Star, the organ of the Free Will Baptist denomination, published at Dover, New Hampshire, and boarded in the family of the editor, Wm. Burr, a kind-hearted and good man, where he remained for four years. By the neces- sary indentures the future governor of Ohio was a " bound boy," whose term of service was to last until he reached the age of twenty-one. Mr. Burr was well pleased with his youthful charge, who was smart and active, and did his work intelligently and well, and was surprised one day when the boy went to his room, and with a form of statement at once precise and emphatic said, " Mr. Burr, I want to quit your office." The good editor inquired the reason, and was in- formed by the lad that he had no cause for dissatisfaction or complaint, that he had been always treated with the consideration that a father might show to a son, " but I feel that there is something more in me than a journeyman printer"; he added, "I want to go home and go to school." The old gentleman pondered a moment, and then said, " Yes, Edward, you can go ; and if ever I can be of assistance to you, call upon me freely." So they parted. Mr. Burr lived long enough to see his bound boy successful in life, but not long enough to see him as he afterwards became-a leading man in Ohio.
Young Noyes prepared for college at the academy in Kingston, New Hamp- shire, under the tutelage of Professor Joseph Eastman ; entered Dartmouth Col- lege in 1853, graduating in 1857, one of the foremost scholars in his class. Even then were recognized in him brilliant possibilities for the future. He was at that time considered the best speaker in his class ; and whenever he had occasion to appear upon the rostrum he always commanded the attention of his fellows to a degree that foreshadowed the power of after years. Upon com- mencement day he was requested by the Faculty to deliver a poem, and it is suggestive that the theme assigned him was "Eloquence."
In the Winter of his senior year Noyes commenced the study of law in the
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office of Stickney & Tuck, at Exeter, New Hampshire. This was Amos Tuck, for many years a member of Congress, and a man of considerable note in those days. Before leaving the halls of his Alma Mater the collegiate had imbibed from such men as Amos Tuck, John P. Hale, Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner and John G. Whittier, the intimate friend and townsman of his father, those ideas which made him an old school Liberty man, a Free Soiler, an Independent Democrat and a Republican-following the party that opposed slavery through all its changes of name and vicissitudes of fortune. In 1856, at the request of the State Central Executive Committee of New Hampshire, he stumped the state for John C. Fremont, much to the disgust, as one of his class-mates tells us, of the theological professor of old Dartmouth.
In 1857 Governor Noyes went to Ohio, rather by accident than otherwise, to visit a college classmate, never for a moment dreaming that it was to be his future home. Some people call it luck ; others, more thoughtful, might ascribe it to Providence; but whatever the fact, the young New Englander was not long in discovering that the West was the field for self-reliant energy. It is not an ex- aggeration to say that his career thus far in the State of Ohio has been excep- tionally brilliant. He went there a poor boy, without a dollar in his pocket, or at his command, a perfect stranger outside the family in whose household he visited, yet within fourteen years he was governor of that great commonwealth, and perhaps as widely and favorably known as any of her distinguished public. men now on the stage of action.
The visit to Cincinnati was altogether a pleasant one, and the new-comer was welcomed to a hospitable society. Being one of those who easily make friends, his circle of acquaintance was soon enlarged, and not lacking in qualities of address that impress themselves favorably upon others, those who knew him soon liked him. As he pondered upon the proposition of returning to his native hills, he could not avoid an involuntary contrast between the staid, sober, plod- ding ways of his old home, and the dash, energy, and vivacious pluck of the West. Without yet any definite plan of action, he resumed the study of law in the office of Tilden, Rairden & Curwen, attending the lectures of the Cincinnati Law School, in the Winter of 1857-58.
In Mr. M. E. Curwen, then Professor in the Law School, and a lawyer of high standing and character, Mr. Noyes found a faithful friend and most conscien- tious mentor. To this preceptor, whose wise judgment and perfect integrity of life may now be spoken of, as it is worthy to record the virtues of the dead, the pupil acknowledges a debt of gratitude for the advice and friendly conduct which induced him to make Cincinnati his home.
An office was opened in Cincinnati in 1858. Business began to come, and came quite rapidly, and the way to success seemed opening, when the tocsin of war sounded in 1861. Those who had studied the political history of the coun- try with any reasonable degree of appreciation, foresaw that the struggle was to be for life or death, and the young lawyer did not believe that the impending contest was such as could be determined by the three months' volunteers. He turned his thoughts towards the army. He knew nothing about war, but in this he was not different from the thousands and thousands of others who, in the end composed the victorious cohorts, whose heavy tread shook from its throne the
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fearful power that had ruled the Republic from the beginning, and now sought to ruin it.
Perhaps, as he was considering the gravity of the occasion, some vision of mil- itary glory may have flitted across his brain. It was natural to years that were few, and ambition that was strong, but he knew that the picture had its reverse side, and deliberately weighing the future, he concluded that whatever might happen, there was a duty owing which could not be postponed or shirked.
On the 8th of July, 1861, a notice was published in the Cincinnati papers calling upon officers representing company organizations, and desiring to enlist for the war, to report at the law office of E. F. Noyes - then Stephenson & Noyes -without delay. On the 20th of August a full regiment, the 39th Ohio Infantry, took the field, with John Groesbeck as colonel, A. W. Gilbert as lieutenant colonel, and Edward F. Noyes as major. It was believed by these officers that the most brilliant campaign of the war would be in opening up the Mississippi River to the commerce of the West, and in breaking through the center of the Rebellion. So, by request, this regiment, with the 27th Ohio In- fantry, was transferred from the eastern to the western army, and sent to Mis- souri, where General John C. Fremont was in command. After marching fifteen hundred miles in the State of Missouri, dispersing guerilla bands under Sterling Price and Martin Green, the regiment, early in 1862, joined the expedition of Major General John Pope, forming part of the old Army of the Mississippi. Under this distinguished commander, Major Noyes took part with his regiment in the capture of New Madrid and Island No. Io, and was then detailed to General Pope's staff, where he remained until that officer was transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia.
Colonels Groesbeck and Gilbert having left the service, and General Pope having gone to Virginia, Noyes was commissioned colonel and took command of his regiment in October, 1862. He took active part in the battles of Iuka and Corinth under General Rosecrans, and under General G. M. Dodge in all the operations against the commands of General Forest and other rebel generals in the Tuscumbia Valley. In 1864, the Thirty-ninth Ohio Infantry formed a part of the First Division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, and in the army of General Sherman took part in the famous Atlanta campaign. On the fourth of July, 1864, Colonel Noyes, while leading an assault upon the enemy's works at Ruff's Mills, Nicojack Creek, Georgia, was severely wounded, and suffered the amputation of a limb upon the field. Five weeks later he endured a second operation at Cincinnati, having in the mean time been brought from Marietta. Georgia, to Louisville in a cattle car, and from Louisville to Cincinnati by boat. This second amputation nearly cost him his life, but a vigorous constitution and a frame hardened by healthy labor and temperate habits, carried him through the great suffering he endured. In October, 1864, while still on crutches, he reported for duty to Major-General Joseph Hooker, and was assigned to the command of Camp Dennison. While in the discharge of his military duty there, and without solicitation on his part, he was elected to the important office of City Solicitor for Cincinnati, to accept which position he resigned his com- mission in the army,
Having been recommended, before he was wounded, for promotion to the full rank of brigadier-general, he was breveted after the loss of his limb.
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Of General Noyes as a soldier, General J. W. Sprague says : "I observed the conduct and bearing of Colonel Noyes at Iuka, Corinth, New Madrid, Resaca, Dallas, and all the affairs in which his regiment was engaged during the cam- paign against Atlanta, up to the time of his being disabled by wounds. He was ever and always distinguished for his gallantry, zeal and constant devotion to his command." General D. S. Stanley says : " He was an intrepid, bright and untiring officer, having an aptness for military life." General Pope speaks of him as " conspicuous for gallantry, military ability and zeal ; an educated gen- tleman and an accomplished soldier, eminently qualified for promotion, which he has fairly earned by long and distinguished service in the field."
Rosecrans commends him " for bravery, efficiency and intelligence," and Gen- eral G. M. Dodge, in whose command he was for nearly two years and up to the time of his being wounded, says, in a very complimentary letter, he knows " of none among all the gallant officers of his command, more brave, earnest and patriotic."
General Sherman endorsed a recommendation for promotion by brevet as follows :
"HEADQUARTERS, MIL. DIV., Aug. 23, 1865.
"I take special pleasure in endorsing this recommendation that Colonel Noyes be breveted brigadier-general, to date from July 4th, 1864. I was close by when Colonel Noyes was shot. We were pressing Johnston's army back from Marietta to the Chattahoochie, when he made a stand at Smyrna Camp-ground, and I ordered his position to be attacked. It was done successfully at some loss, and Colonel Noyes lost his leg. He fully merits this honorable title.
(Signed)
"W. T. SHERMAN, " Maj. Gen'l Com'd'g."
Before General Noyes' term as City Solicitor had expired, he was elected Pro- bate Judge of Hamilton County, one of the most lucrative offices at that time in Ohio. He served the usual term of three years, and in the Fall of 1871 resumed the practice of law. For a second time his prospects for success in the profes- sion were flattering, when he was tendered the nomination for governor by the Republican party. Although loth to abandon his law office, he did not feel at liberty to decline an honor tendered with entire unanimity. After a brilliant campaign, he was elected by over twenty thousand majority. Two years later, having been again nominated by acclamation, he was defeated by Governor Allen by a majority of about 800 in a vote of 448,000. After this he received the unanimous vote of his party in the Legislature for the place of United States Senator.
The administration of Governor Noyes was eminently conservative and non- partisan, his treatment of political opponents generous, and his published speeches breathe the spirit of conciliation. He was among the first of our pub- lic men to advocate general amnesty for southern rebels, while at the same time he demanded civil and political rights for the colored race.
Early in 1863 Colonel Noyes received leave of absence from the army for two weeks, and was married at Kingston, New Hampshire, Feb. 15 of that year, to Margaret Wilson Proctor, of that place.
Governor Noyes is now practicing law in the City of Cincinnati.
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HON. WILLIAM ALLEN. [See page 713.]
William Allen, the present Governor of Ohio, was born in Edenton, Cho- wan County, North Carolina, in the year 1807. He was, by the death of both father and mother, left an orphan in his infancy. His parents were poor. In his boyhood days there were no common schools in North Carolina, nor in Virginia, whither he early removed ; and he never attended any school of any kind, except a private infant school for a short time, until he came, at the age of sixteen, to Chillicothe, Ohio. He, however, early managed to acquire the rudi- ments of learning ; and that was the golden age of public speaking, and the era of oratory and orators in this country. He was enthused and carried away with a passion for listening to public addresses upon every occasion and upon any subject, marking the manner and treasuring up the words of the various speakers he listened to- and he would go far to get the opportunity to hear. He soon secured a prize, to him more precious than silver and gold - a pocket copy of Walker's Dictionary, which he consulted for the pronunciation and meaning of every word that he heard and did not understand. This com- panion always accompanied him to public meetings, all of which he sought and attended as a deeply interested hearer.
Several of the years of his boyhood life were spent at Lynchburg, Virginia, where he supported himself working as a saddler's apprentice. When he was sixteen years old. he collected together his worldly goods, tied them in a hand- kerchief, and set out on foot, walking every step of the way from Lynchburg, Virginia, to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he found his sister, Mrs. Pleasant Thurman, the mother of Hon. Allen G. Thurman, who was then a small boy whom he had never seen before.
After taking up his residence at Chillicothe, which has ever since been his home, young Allen was by his sister placed in the old Chillicothe Academy, where he received his only real instruction from a teacher. She herself selected and supervised his general reading. In this he considers that he derived the greatest advantage. The books she placed in his hands were the works of the best and most advanced writers and thinkers, by the aid of which his thoughts were impelled in the right direction, and his mental development became true and comprehensive.
Struggling on and maintaining himself as best he could, Allen entered as law student the office of Edward King, father of Hon. Rufus King (President of the late Ohio Constitutional Convention), and the most gifted son of the great Rufus King, of Revolutionary memory and fame. When he came to the bar, and while he continued to practice, forensic power - the ability and art of addressing a jury successfully - was indispensable to the lawyer's success. This Allen possessed and assiduously cultivated, rather than the learning of cases and technical rules and pure legal habits of thought and statement, which make a counselor influential with the court.
Political activity, a wide-spead reputation as a legal power in the judicial forum before a jury, and a fine military figure and bearing, joined to a voice of marvelous force and excellence, fixed him in the public eye as one deserving of
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political promotion. He had not long to wait. "His congressional district was strongly Whig. William Key Bond and Richard Douglas so hotly contested for the position of congressman in that party that a " split " was produced, to heal which Governor Duncan McArthur was induced to decline a gubernatorial reelection and become the candidate - they both withdrawing in his favor. Against him William Allen was put in nomination by the Democracy, to make what was deemed a hopeless race. With a determination to succeed, such as he manifested in the late gubernatorial canvass, he spoke everywhere most ably and effectively, mapped out every road and by-road in the district, and visited nearly every voter at his home, thus insuring the full vote of his party at the polls and the accession of many converts. During this campaign, he met and overcame in debate William Sumter Murphy, the grandson of the Revolutionary General Sumter, and at that time recognized as the first orator in Ohio, who had been put forward as another Democratic candidate to divide with Allen the Demo- cratic vote. The power he displayed in this canvass was fully exemplified in Allen at a later period, when he accepted the challenge of the Whigs to debate with Thomas Ewing. In the very first debate, Allen, in the opinion of the audience, had much the best of it, and so firm did this conviction become, that Ewing was withdrawn after the second joint discussion.
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