USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 21
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"2d. Be it further resolved, That the United States pledge the faith of the Union to make full and fair compensation to all loyal citizens who are, or shall remain active in supporting the Union, for the loss they shall sustain by virtue of this Act."
Indignant at the dilatory policy of the President, he denounced it severely. The war to him was the death-uote of slavery, and he was impatieut at the least delay of the consummation desired so long. The Treasury Note Bill and the Internal Revenue Laws were matured in the committee of which Stevens was Chairman, and the National Banking Bill was signed by the President, February 25, 1863. The Conscription Bill followed, March 3, and Ste- vens introduced the Indemnity Bill to indemnify the President and others for suspending the Habeas Corpus writ. Under his lead, also, a bill introduced in the Senate by Henry Wilson to place colored soldiers on equality with white was carried through
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the House, April 30, 1864. The repcal of the Fugi- tive Slave Laws was approved June 28, and a ten- dency to legalize Negro suffrage was beginning to be perceived. At the Republican Convention which met in Baltimore, June 7, 1864, Stevens, who was one of the delegates, opposed the selection of Johnson as Vice-President, anticipating difference on the subject of Reconstruction which was realized when the latter became President, after the assassi- nation of Mr. Lincoln. Measures of extremity in confiscating property were advocated by Stevens and others, and, December 4, he submitted the cele- brated resolution securing the committee of fifteen for the Reconstruction of the Southern States, of which he himself was Chairman. A bill for the en- largement of the Freedmen's Bureau, established March 3, 1865, was vetoed February 19, 1866. The Civil Rights Bill met a similar fate, but was passed over the veto. Subsequently another attempt in be- half of the Freedmen's Bureau resulted in the same manner. The XIVth Amendment, which met but a qualified approval from Stevens, was submitted for the consideration of the States, June 13, 1866. The breach with the Executive widened, constant skirmishing upon general principles being main- tained, the chief object being to secure universal suffrage alike in the District of Columbia and in the new Territories of Nebraska and Colorado. December 13, 1866, Stevens submitted the North Carolina Bill, " the beginning of the inevitable end," as it was termed, followed, January 3, by another, which matured finally to the Military Bill of Febru- ary 6, dividing the Southern States into five mili- tary districts. Subsequent legislation limited the power of the President in removing officials from office and barred the interference of the Supreme Court in measures of Reconstruction. The attempt of Mr. Johnson to remove the Secretary of War was followed by a vote for impeachment, on a resolution submitted by Stevens, February 22, 1868. A. com- mittee consisting of Stevens and John A. Bingham notified the Senate of this action on the 24th. Ste- vens was one of the committee selected to prepare the Articles of Impeachment, and was also appointed a manager, but his failing health rendered him un- equal to any active participation in the trial, con- cluded May 26. The few remaining days of his life are thus beautifully summed in the tribute of a fel- low-Republican, Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee :
"During the last year we all felt that his sands had nearly run. Day by day we saw him borne in- to the hall upon the arms of young men, weak as a child, but eager and attentive, whether the discus- sion turned upon foreign or home affairs. No sub- ject was above his grasp, none beneath his notice. Treaty stipulations with a great power and the
salary of the humblest clerk alike found in him an advocate. Toward the close of the summer session nature made a final rally. For a few days the old vivacity returned, the brilliant repartee and unex- pected sallies that all enjoyed so much. He him- self felt the renewal of strength and a revival of hope for the future. It was the last glimmer of the expiring flame. We had scarcely dispersed to our distant homes before the telegraph announced to us that he was no more. If a brilliant career be a happy one, and if that career be brilliant which, un- aided by wealth, family or powerful friends, attains the front rank among the great leaders of a great epoch, and makes a name for ban or blessing in every household of the land, then, indeed, is this champion of the oppressed to be accounted happy. But thrice happy in the opportune article of his death. Though the strength of manhood was gone, the babble and drivel of dotage had not supervened. He had seen his country emerge, after a long and painful strife, from the clouds and turmoil of civil war and resume her place among the nations freer, richer, stronger, happier and more honored than be- fore; entering upon a new era of prosperity and growth, excelling them in all the splendor of her renown, even as ' one star excelleth another star in glory.' The principles for which he had contended through a lengthened life had been recognized and adopted. His life-work was done, and who shall say it had not been well done? The son of David has said that ' there is a time to die,' a time when to die is better than to live, and fortunate are they who are summoned at this auspicious moment, permitted to attain the full measure of their fame, but not to survive their reputation or their usefulness to man- kind."
He died August 11, 1868. One of his last acts had been to secure an appropriation from Congress for the public charities of the District of Columbia, and in his final hours he was surrounded by the Sisters of the Catholic Church, who administered to him the last rites of their faith. The spirit of his life was followed in death. Five colored and three white pall-bearers bore his body to the rotunda of the Capitol, while the guard of honor on the occa- sion was a colored organization, entitled the Butler Zouaves. His remains were afterwards taken to Lancaster, and now lie in an obscure cemetery founded by a private citizen and friend. His grave bears the following inscription:
"I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any natural preference for solitude, but find- ing other cemeteries limited by charter rules as to race, I have chosen it that I might be enabled to illustrate in my death the principles which I have advocated through a long life-the equality of man before his Creator."
The character of Thaddeus Stevens was that of a profound enthusiast. In early years he had " read the books " of Calvinistic theology, and, perhaps, had thus imbibed sentiments of fatality. "I believe men are sometimes born for certain purposes," he said once, "I was born to cry down slavery. I
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have done so for years. God Almighty has per- mitted me to live to see it abolished, and I do not believe that had all the slave-holders in the South, and all the devils in hell combined to destroy my life, that God Almighty would have permitted it to be done." His virtues and his faults were those of a temperament which, perceiving but few ideas, held to them with invincible tenacity and sacri- ficed all to their attainment. With regard to one fault lie may be declared blameless. He was tem- perate to the verge of abstemiousness, and expressed an unbounded abhorrence for intoxication in all its phases. He was easily accessible to flattery, and in this connection it may be mentioned that a number of citizens of Colorado once offered him a tribute, of which he was very proud, in the shape of a snuff- box of native gold with this inscription :
"When Old Thad takes snuff all Colorado sneezes."
He was a man adored and hated on political grounds, though he had few personal enemies, and the bitterness of his expressed opinions never tinc- tured his private life. In sentiment he was opposed to capital punishment, never undertaking the prose- cution in such cases. Earnest, candid, to the point always, a despiser of long speeches, he never made an address beyond an hour, and endeavored to cur- tail others disposed to waste public time. Emphat- ically "born to lead " he possessed the qualities that fit for command. "The memory of Mr. Ste- vens will not perish," says the Senator from his na- tive State, " because he never permitted his human- ity to grow old, and because in spite of any other deductions he wasted no time in self-seeking dis- plays, but devoted his highest faculties to measures alive with liberty, loyalty and love of his country."
D. HAYES AGNEW.
DR. D. HAYES AGNEW, one of the most widely known and eminent surgeons in the United States, and for forty years or more a practitioner in Phila- delphia, was born in Lancaster County, Penn., No- vember 24, 1818, and was a son of the late Dr. Robert Agnew, who practised medicine in that region for nearly half a century and attained well merited prominence. His literary education was received at Moscow Academy, a school of renown, located in Chester County and at that time under the direction of Rev. Francis Latta ; at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Penn., and at Newark Col- lege, Delaware, where Rev. John Holmes Agnew, a relative, was professor of languages. His future vocation, for which he had a natural inclination,
having been determined upon, he matriculated at the Medical Department of the University of Penn- sylvania and graduated therefrom in 1838. He practiced for a short time in Lancaster County, and then removing to Philadelphia, commenced teach- ing and lecturing on anatomy in the Philadelphia School of Anatomy, on College avenue, a famous school in which almost all the older medical nien of distinction cither were educated or taught in this line. He remained thus engaged, and also practic- ing his profession, and quickly obtained distinction in the latter as the logical result of his native ability, thoroughi education and untiring application, and his success as an instructor may be inferred from the fact that his classes in Surgical Anatomy and Operative Surgery soon grew to be the largest pri- vate classes in the country. He remained in this honorable position for many years, and upon the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, his class numbered 265 students, representing every State in the Union. Dr. Agnew was also the founder of the Philadelphia School of Operative Surgery. In 1854 lie was elected Surgeon to the Philadelphia Hos- pital. In 1863 he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy and assistant lecturer on clinical surgery in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and a year later was elected one of the Surgeons to the Wills Hospital for Diseases of the Eye. In 1865 he was elected to a similar posi- tion in the Pennsylvania Hospital, and resigned after serving for twelve years, being re-elected in 1877. In 1867 he was elected one of the surgeons of the Orthopaedic Hospital, and in 1870 was given the Chair of Clinical Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1871 was elected Professor of the Principles and Practice of Surgery in the same institution, which position he still holds, as he also does that of the professorship of Clinical Surgery in the hospital of the University. Dr. Agnew has been identified with many societies, most of thiem of medical or scientific purpose, though among the oldest was one of entirely different na- ture -- the American Colonization Society, of which Henry Clay was President. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society, was one of the founders of the Philadelphia Pathological Society, is a member of the Academy of Surgery, and of the College of Physicians, and has been President of the Philadelphia County, and of the State Medical Societies, and of the American Surgical Association. Highly valued contributions to the literature of the profession have been made by Dr. Agnew, during his fifty years of arduous practice and instruction. Among his works is one on " Practical Anatomy," one on " Lacerations of the Female Perineum and
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Vesico-Vaginal Fistula ; " a series of papers, about sixty in number, on " Anatomy in its Relations to Medicine and Surgery ; " an exhaustive work, of re- cent years, ou " Principles and Practice of Surgery," in three volumes, aggregating 3,000 pages, and in addition to these he has made numerous contribu- tions to medical journals on varied surgical topics. As is well known, Dr. Agnew has devoted himself almost exclusively to surgery, its practice, and in- struction in the art. He is a master of every branch or department of surgery, and the rapidity and skillfulness of his operations, and the scholarly character of his literary contributions, have made his fame world wide. In his capacity as surgeon and as consulting physician he has been called in- to many cases of importance and of prominence in general as well as medical history, among the latter the most generally knowu being the case of Presi- deut Garfield, the victim of Charles J. Guiteau's pis- tol on July 2, 1881, in which Dr. Agnew was the chief surgeon and whose skill, though the Presi- dent's wound was mortal, was an important factor in the prolongation of the martyr's life for over ten weeks, until the angry and inflamed passions of partisans had become cool and it was rendered pos- sible for the interests of law and good order to pre- vail. It may be remarked that the distinguished surgeon's character as a man and citizen is in per- fect keeping and accord with his professional prom- inence and ability, a condition of symmetrical de- velopment nowhere more admirable or necessary than in his vocation.
A. LOUDON SNOWDEN.
COL. A. LOUDON SNOWDEN, ex-Chief Coiner of the United States Mint, ex-Postmaster of Phila- delphia, and ex-Superintendent of the Mint, is a gentleman who, whilst possessing a National repu- tation, particularly on coinage and matters relating to monetary standards and finance, is pre-eminently a representative Philadelphian. The line of his ancestry goes back beyond the landiug of William Penn, and his great ancestor, William Snowden, owned large bodies of land in Philadelphia as far back as 1669. John Snowden, the son of William, was born in Philadelphia in 1685. From his daugh- ter the late Mayor Alexander Henry was descended. John Snowden was not only one of the most enter- prising merchants in the infant city, but was also a leader in all benevolent and Christian work. He was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church, as was his grandson Isaac of the Secoud
Church, with which church Col. Snowden's family is connected at the present time. As an evidence of the profound and simple faith of the early set- tlers in Philadelphia, it may be instructive in this material age to state that bills of lading are in exist- ence issued by this same old merchant, who in committing his vessels to the uncertain deep, form- ally "committed the lives of the seamen and the safety of the cargo to the protection of Divine Providence." Isaac Snowden, the eldest son of John, followed in his father's steps as a merchant, as did also his eldest son, Isaac, who had five sons, all educated at Princeton College, and, what is remarkable, all became Presbyterian miuisters. Of these, the eldest, the Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, was born in Philadelphia in 1770, and was the first Presbyterian preacher in Harrisburgh, Pa. His eldest son, Dr. Isaac Wayne Snowden, the father of Col. Snowden, was born in Philadelphia in 1794. He studied medicine and entered the army as surgeon before he was twenty years of age, and served with Gen. Jackson in the Seminole War, and at New Orleans. He was severely wounded at Fort Scott. At the close of the war he resigned from the army and began the practice of his profession in the beautiful Cumberland Valley, near Carlisle. Here he married a daughter of Archibald Loudon, a prominent land owner residing in the eastern end of the county. From this union the subject of our sketch, Archibald Loudon Snowden, was born. When attending the academy at Newville, in his thirteenth year, his father died quite suddenly from disease contracted in his professional work. Learn- ing that the estate was somewhat involved, the youthful student hastened home to ascertain the facts and concluded to economize by entering the Cum- berland Valley Institute at Mechanicsburg. He resided with his mother, and either walked, or rode on horseback, to and from the school, several miles distant, each morning and evening. In his deter- mination to obtain a good collegiate education he took charge of a district school, which he taught for several months, before he was sixteen years old. This was an early demonstration of the determina- tion and spirit which have ever been his striking characteristics. Resigning his desk as teacher, he went the following year to Jefferson, now Washing- ton and Jefferson College, in Western Pennsylvania. From the old college many distinguished men have graduated, among them James G. Blaine, the late Chief-Justice Mercur, Judge Sterrett, Gen. Beaver and many others. At college, Col. Snowden was distinguished as an accomplished writer, and the most eloquent speaker in the institution. He twice represented the class as Orator in the annual con-
A Loudon monday
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test of the literary societies. Besides these accom- plishments, he was, as a classmate recently said to the writer, " the jolliest boy in the college." On finishing his collegiate course he began the study of law, but shortly thereafter, at the request of his uncle, the late Hou. James Ross Snowden, then Director of the United States Mint, entered that institution in 1857, as Register. From that position he was, in 1866, promoted to the Chief Coinership, which he held with great advantage to the institu- tion until 1877, when he was unexpectedly made Postmaster of the city by President Grant, but was returned to the Mint Service as Superintendent by the voluntary act of President Hayes in 1879, after having declined the appointment of Director of all the Mints, voluntarily tendered by the same Presi- dent. On eachi occasion when his uame was pre- sented to the Senate, he was unanimously confirmed. His official connection with the National Mint ex- tended over a period of more than twenty-eight years, when he voluntarily resigned the position he held, after the election of President Cleveland. This action he felt compelled to take, not only from a desire for personal independence, but as required by his sense of self-respect, as he liad taken an active and conspicuous part in the canvass in behalf of the Republican party's candidate. In the Mint he obtained a National reputation and became an authority on all subjects relating to coins aud coinage. His advancement in that service was uninfluenced by political considerations. As the best equipped man he was promoted from a subor- dinate position until, refusing the highest place iu the service, he accepted the chief executive office in the old institution in which he had entered as a youth more than twenty-two years before. Recog- nizing the advantage of experience in our Civil Service, he made the rule absolute in his adminis- tration of the Mint, that all vacancies should be filled by experienced and capable subordinates. This rule was not only applied in the matter of minor positions, but was made to apply to all others where his own action was involved or his influence could reach. Under this admirable principle, on his recommendation, Col. Bosbyshell was promoted from assistant to coiner, and on his retirement, his assistant, Mr. Stell, was advanced to his place. Mr. Charles E. Barber, the skillful and accomplished artist, was also promoted on the death of his father, from assistant to the chief engravership of the Mint, and the late William E. DuBois, assayer, was on his death, after years of valuable service, suc- ceeded by his nephew, Mr. Eckfeldt, who had been his first assistant. Under Col. Snowden's manage- ment of the Mint no man was ever removed from
place for a political or partisan reason, but only for such cause as would have removed the same indi- vidual from any private establishment. As Chief Coiuer, and, subsequently, as Superintendent, he devoted his energies and skill in procuring, devising and suggesting machinery and appliances for the rapid and artistic production of our coinage. To him is largely due the purchase from England and Austria of the "Hill Reducing Machine," for the rapid production of medal and coinage dies, now considered indispensable in that branch of the Mint work, and also the importation of the "Seiss Assorting Machine," which has rendered it an almost impossibility to issue a legal coin outside of the legal tolerance allowed by law-a very impor- tant matter in coinage. Not only the best appli- ances of other countries were imported for our service, but all our domestic machinery was im- proved and the whole mechanical appliances brought up to the highest point of efficiency, so that on his retirement he could say with truth, as he did in his letter of resignatiou to President Cleve- land, "I leave the best equipped Mint in the world." During his connection with the Mint, as Register, Chief Coiner and Superintendent, there passed through his hands-was in his custody-or was operated upon during its conversion into coin under his supervision, $1,713,495,946.75 in gold and silver and minor coins, -- a sum so vast as to seem almost incredible, were not the figures taken from the books of the Mint. Upon this great mass of gold and silver, there was a legal allowance for wastage of $1,330,284.58, and on which the actual wastage was but $92,301.56, or $1,237,983.02 less than the legal allowance for wastage. During his superin- tendency he expended in wages, for repairs to machinery, new machinery, in ordinary supplies, in building storage vaults, in renovating, ventilat- ing, electric lighting and lighting, and other needed expenditures, $3,151,796.47, and yet, in his final settlement made under a Democratic Administra- tion, the accounts were so accurate as to leave but a difference of eighteen cents, and this in the late Superintendent's favor. His administration of the Philadelphia post office was also highly ereditable. He entered the office very reluctantly, almost on the peremptory order of President Grant, but the citizens of Philadelphia, without distinction of party, soon appreciated the value of his services and freely acknowledged the advantages they derived from his admirable management of the office. Business methods were applied, old abuses corrected, unworthy employes dismissed, whilst the worthy were protected in their places and promoted when opportunity presented. Political conventions
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were permitted to take care of themselves, whilst the Postmaster devoted his energies and the capabil- ities of his subordinates to the discharge of the duties assigned to each. The order which he issued on taking charge of the office, that "All employes who discharge their full duty will be retained, all others dismissed," was faithfully car- ried out to the end of his term, as was attested ou his retirement from the office, when at a full meet- ing of the employes, it was formally declared that " Under Postmaster Snowden, no faithful subordi- nate had been discharged, but, on the contrary, where occasiou presented, had been protected and promoted, whilst those who had been displaced were justly removed from the service." Thus spoke the men who knew him best and had no favors to ask. As Postmaster he met the full ex- pectation of the public, and rendered as acceptable and intelligent a service as could have been rendered by any officer. This was the universal verdict of the entire city press on his retirement. As a citizen, Col. Snowden is bold and outspoken on all public questions ; as a public officer, his first effort has always been to give to the people and Government the best service possible, and next, in so far as was proper, to promote, by a wise and conservative course, the unity aud welfare of the party in whose principles he believes, and whose success he desires by all honorable means to promote. Being the son of a prominent Democrat-one who had served with Gen. Jackson, and who revered the memory of that remarkable man-the subject of our sketch very naturally inherited the political opinions of his father. In 1860 he, however, became alarmed at what he believed was the manifest determination of the National Democratic organization to force human slavery into the Territories, against the inter- est and will of the people, thereby endangering the permanency of the Union. Being convinced of this he separated himself from the party in which he had been reared, and has not acted with it since his last Democratic vote, cast in 1859. Col. Snowden's pre-eminent quality is clearness and quickness of intellect, with remarkable administrative ability. He grasps a proposition submitted to him as if by intuition, and his conclusions are promptly given. He is as ready of reply as he is quick of under- standing. As a test of his executive ability his plan and management of the great parade on December 16, 1879, in honor of Gen. Grant, on his return from Europe, may be properly mentioned. The entire management of this stupendous popular demon- stration was placed in his hands by the joint-com- mittee of Councils of Philadelphia. Wheu ques- tioned on the day previous to the occasion by the
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