USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 29
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Charles H. J. Collis
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Thirteenth Regiment of Pennsylvania Reserves, so well | been for some time previously on the editorial staff of that known under the familiar title of " the Bucktails," he ac- paper-a journal which is demonstrative in its advocacy of the principles of Democracy, and which he conducted with signal ability until his death, on September 28th, 1873. He also made occasional contributions to general literature, one of his productions being a critical review of the case of Major Andre, in reply to the strictures of an English historian upon General Washington, which is very highly spoken of by Dr. Allibone, in his Dictionary of Authors, under the title of " Lord Mahon." cepted the coloneley, and was assigned at the same time to the command of Camp Curtin. The strictness of his discipline, in his endeavor to organize the troops daily arriving at the camp, and to prepare his own regiment for active service, did not prove acceptable to the new recruits, and gave rise to considerable murmuring in their ranks; but when their experience in their severe campaigns and on the field of battle led them to perceive the wisdom that had dictated his course, with soldierly magnanimity they awarded him due credit for the lessons in military duty which they had learned at his hands while in camp at Harrisburg. On June 21st, 1861, he was, in obedience OLLIS, GENERAL CHARLES H. T., Soldier and Lawyer, is a native of Ireland, descended from a prominent Episcopalian family, numbering among its members two of the most eminent bar. risters at the Irish bar and one of the most cele- brated surgeons of Great Britain. His father was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and came to this country with his son when the latter was quite a child. The remainder of the family perished in the ill-fated steamer " City of Glasgow." After leaving school he found him- self dependent wholly on his own exertions, but succeeded by diligent industry in supporting himself with his pen while he prosecuted the study of the law in the office of the Hon. John M. Read, later one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the bar February 4th, 1859. No sooner had the war of the Rebellion broken out than he determined to throw his whole energies into the Union cause, and was at once mustered into the service as sergeant-major in Colonel William D. Lewis's Eighteenth Pennsylvania Regiment. For three months he was on d'uty in Baltimore, when he received authority from the Secretary of War to recruit a company for special duty in the Valley of the Shenandoah. Of his company of picked men, which were known as Zouaves, he was commissioned captain, and proceeded, in October, 1861, to join General Banks, at Darnestown, Mary- land. From this time to the close of the war his career was one of exceptional brilliancy and rapid promotion. In the latter days of May, 1862, he with his command, by a series of skilful and daring manœuvres protected the critical retreat of General Banks from Strasburg with such ability that the General addressed him, through his chief of staff, a formal recognition of this important service in the fol lowing words : to a call from General Scott, placed in charge of a detach- ment of the Reserve Corps, consisting of his own regiment, the Fifth, and a battery of the Pennsylvania Artillery. At the head of this force he left Camp Curtin, to defend the borders of Maryland and Pennsylvania. ITis command met and dispersed several parties of the enemy, and by their activity and efficiency in cooperating with the forces of General McClellan, then in command in Western Vir- ginia, elicited the warmest praise from the latter, who, in his official report of his campaign in that region, com- mended " the great activity and intelligence displayed by Colonel Charles J. Biddle." The estimation in which he was held at home was shown by his election to represent the Second District of Philadelphia in Congress, during the period of his military service. Ile accepted the position, but absented himself from the first session of the term for which he had been elected, in the belief that he could render more efficient service to the country in the field. At the commencement of the second session, his regiment being then in winter-quarters in front of Washington, he responded favorably to a request coming from his consti- tuents that he would take his seat in Congress, and re- signed his commission in the army, his resignation being accepted by the Secretary of War, on December 12th, 1861. During his Congressional career, while he opposed the policy of the Administration on many points, he favored all the measures for carrying on the war to a successful issue. At the time that the enemy, from its position at Manasses, threatened the National Capital, he held the position of aid to General Andrew Porter, who was then in command of the troops that garrisoned Washington city. In 1862, he went to the field again with the Pennsylvania militia, ac- companying the first detachment that crossed the State line into Maryland, in the campaign of Antietam. In 1863, he was chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, " The manner in which your single company stood up at the stone-wall at Middletown and boldly checked the ad- vance of a whole regiment, while threatened with being outflanked by another regiment of the enemy, would seem incredible to any one who had not witnessed it, and I con- sider it a great honor to have selected you for a position you so well defended. The quiet, steady coolness displayed by the men was admirable. I only regret and was again active and efficient in raising troops for the defence of the State, during the invasion which was termi- nated with the rout of the enemy at Gettysburg. As a gentleman, a soldier, and a man of letters, he was held in high esteem by all who knew him. In March, 1871, he became the responsible editor of The Age, having | that you had not a regiment of such brave fellows,
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when the foe would have had little to congratulate himself upon."
The wish here expressed was soon acted on, and at the solicitation of General Banks, the Secretary of War and Governor Curtin directed him to increase his command to a regiment, which he did within a few weeks from the date of the order, and again joined the Army of the Potomac at the head of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, well known as " Collis' Zouaves." Their first engagement was at Fredericksburg, where they came at a timely moment to the relief of the Pennsylvania Reserves, and in the words of the General commanding (General Stoneman), " charged most nobly, under a very galling fire.". At the desperate contest at Chancellorsville, May, 1863, the One Hundred and Fourteenth participated in the very hottest of the struggle, as was only too well indicated by the fearful loss of over three hundred men in killed, wounded, and missing in the engagement. For his gallant conduct here, the field officers of the brigade united in requesting his " permanent assignment to the command of the brigade." This promotion was delayed by an un- fortunate personal controversy, and later by an attack of typhoid fever, which latter also kept him absent from the hard-fought field of Gettysburg. Ile rejoined his command, however, in August, 1863, and was at once assigned by General Birney to the command of a Pennsylvania brigade, consisting of the Fifty-seventh, Sixty-eighth, One Hundred and Fifth, One Hundred and Fourteenth, and One Hundred and Forty-first regiments, which troops he commanded in all the subsequent engagements, including " Auburn," " Locust Grove," " Mine Run," " Kelly's Ford," and " Rappahannock." At the engagement at " Auburn," his brigade was attacked while on the march by Stuart's Cavalry Brigade, but the rebel horsemen were dispersed by a skilful disposition and intrepid charge of the Pennsylvanians, and the road was secured for the rest of the army, hastening from Culpeper to Centreville. Upon the reorganization of the army, in 1864, preparatory to Grant's campaign against Richmond, the One Hundred and Fourteenth Regi- ment was selected by General Meade for special duty at his head-quarters, Colonel Collis being left in command of his brigade in Birney's division. At this time Generals Birney, French and Meade, united in recommending the Colonel's promotion ; Birney stating that " the brigade deserved a general officer to command it, promoted for services in it." There were no vacancies, however, in the list of general officers, and he received in response to these recommenda- tions only the brevet rank of Brigadier-General, but was assigned to duty as a general officer, and placed in com- mand of an independent brigade, held for special service at the head-quarters of the Commanding General, consisting of five regiments of infantry and cavalry. With this com- mand he participated in the campaign from the Rappahan- nock to Petersburg, rendering especial service in repulsing in attack made by Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry upon the head-
quarters of Generals Grant and Meade. At the battle of Petersburg the Ninth Corps having been driven back from the line of works they had so gallantly captured during the morning of April 2d, 1865, he came up to their relief, and leading the charge of the Sixty-eighth and One Hundred and Fourteenth Pennsylvania, and Sixty-first Massachusetts regiments in person, succeeded in retaking the lost ground, though at a terrible loss of life. For his conduct on this occasion he was breveted Major-General, at the special re- quest of Lieutenant-General Grant. In June, 1865, his regiment returned home and was mustered out of service.
He at once resumed his practice, and bestowing upon it the same zeal and care which had secured him such a striking military carcer, he rapidly advanced in the estima- tion of the public and the other members of the bar. The duty of every citizen to take decided position in political questions was one he early recognized, and has always con- sistently acted upon. His sympathies are, and have always been, with the views of the Republican party. Even before he attained his legal majority he was a worker in political canvasses, and on his return to civil life after the war he aided, by his personal exertions and addresses, to organize the party and carry the State for the principles of his adop- tion. This combination of legal and political talent led to his selection by the Hon. F. C. Brewster, in 1866, as As- sistant City Solicitor, and after the close of the campaign in 1868 he was recommended by the bench and the bar of Philadelphia as United States District Attorney, and later he was tendered the position of Deputy Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, which, however, he declined. In 1871, he was nominated upon the first ballot, by a vote of 223 out of 336, for the office of City Solicitor by the Republican Convention. The campaign was an animated, even a bitter one, but he was elected by a majority of nearly 10,000. He at present fills this responsible position, and has earned the commendation of the bar and the press for the earnest- ness with which he carries out the duties of the office. In 1869 he was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of Public Trusts, and to him the public are indebted for the only accurate and complete history of the charitable trusts held by the city of Philadelphia which has ever been pub- lished.
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LLEN, HARRISON, M. D., Physician, Professor and Author, was born in Philadelphia, April . 17th, 1841. He comes of Quaker parents and ancestry. After receiving a sound preliminary education, he graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1861. Soon after his graduation he was appointed one of the Resident Physi- cians to the Philadelphia Hospital. In July, 1862, he en- tered the regular army as assistant-surgeon, and remained in the service until November, 1865, passing through a very varied and valuable experience. Ilis retirement from the
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army was consequent on his election to the Professorship of Comparative Anatomy and Medical Zoology in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He returned immediately to Philadelphia and entered upon his duties. In 1867, he was elected Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the Philadelphia Dental College, and, in 1870, to the position of Surgeon to the Philadelphia Hospital. In con- nection with these duties he has always conducted a general practice in the city. His tastes have led him to contribute freely to the literature of his profession, and several of his writings have attracted general attention. In Zoology, to which he has given much study, his articles have been con- fined to the mammalia. His Monograph on the North American Cheiroptera was published by the Smithsonian Institute, in 1864, a fact which of itself is a sufficient indi- cation of its valuable character. Other papers on zoological subjects have appeared in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, from 1861 to 1869. . In purely medical matters, his researches and writings have added to the know- ledge of osteomyeletis, human osteology, and the morbid anatomy of camp diseases. In 1869, he published his Out- lines of Comparative Anatomy and Medical Zoology, which has attained standard rank as a text book. Extending the principles of anatomical science to the study of the develop- ment of the fine arts, he has delivered before the American Philosophical Society and other learned bodies several ad- dresses on the Origin and History of Art-designs, tracing them to anatomical archetypes, and thus throwing au entirely new and instructive light on this interesting subject.
INE, JESSE M., Banker, was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, August 25th, 1815, and is of German extraction. His father, Joseph Line, was a farmer, and he himself was brought up on the farm. His education he received in the ordinary district schools. Farming, however, was not the line that he preferred to pursue during life, and, ac- cordingly, on reaching his nineteenth year, he removed to Allentown, where he was apprenticed for some four years to the cabinet-making business. At the expiration of that term he entered a dry-goods and grocery store, remaining in that employment until 1846. During this time he took a deep interest in the politics of the day, and made so good a mark as to receive the appointment of Deputy Sheriff and County Clerk, which he held for seven years. Subsequently he went into the banking and farming business, undertaking also contracts in New York for grading sidewalks and other works. In these pursuits he proved eminently successful. On the establishment of the Allentown State Bank he was chosen one of the directors, and on the organization of the First National Bank of Allentown he was selected as its cashier, and is still connected with that institution as a director. He is now a member of the banking firm of William H.
Blenner & Co., and also carries on a large private banking business. He has always manifested public spirit, and has contributed materially to the improvement of the city and county. He was one of the promoters of the Local Gas Works, and continues to hold a large interest therein. 1le was married, in 1851, to Mary L. Pretz, of Allentown. Since his fourteenth year he has led an eminently busy life, and the honorable position to which he has attained has been won by his own unaided and indefatigable efforts.
ARKHURST, JOEL, Merchant and Banker, was born in Marlborough, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, April 8th, 1800. He was one of a family of seven sons and two daughters, children of Major John Parkhurst, of Massachusetts, who served in the Revolutionary war, but afterwards removed to the State of New Hampshire. Though of slen- der frame, he was brought up to labor on a farm, and had in youth only the educational advantage of a few months in winter at the common schools of his vicinity. He was, however, a diligent student, and employed his leisure time so effectively that at the age of seventeen he obtained a situation to teach a common school at Loyalsock, near .Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The next year he taught at Long Reach, near Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, and after- wards at Painted Post, New York. In 1822, he was teach- ing school in Auburn, New York, and devoting his leisure time to the study of medicine, which profession he reluc- tantly consented to adopt, at the earnest solicitation of his father. In the spring of 1822 he was employed to go to Michigan as a surveyor of Government lands. With an assistant, he took passage at Buffalo on the second steam- boat that ran on Lake Erie. The machinery of the boat getting out of order, the captain put into Cleveland for re- pairs, and as the period of delay at this point was likely to be indefinite, he shouldered his baggage and walked as far as Steubenville, Ohio. At that place he bought a horse and accoutrements for forty-five dollars, and started for New Hampshire, stopping at Pittsburg to visit the coal mines, and also for a short time in Tioga county, Pennsylvania. Reaching Richmond, New Hampshire, he obtained a mer- cantile clerkship, with a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars per annum. After a few weeks' trial, his employer was so well pleased with him that he commissioned him to purchase goods for the store, and gave him a general over sight of the business. At the end of two years he was paid for his services in goods of the value of three hundred dol- lars, to transport which he bought a horse and wagon on credit, and, crossing the Green Mountains, went to Rich- mond, now Mansfield, Tioga county, Pennsylvania. After a short stay at this place, he, in 1826, removed to Lawrence- ville, in the same county, with six hundred dollars worth
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of goods, and entered into a copartnership with his brother and brothers-in-law. At the end of two years the partner- ship was dissolved, and he received as his share one thou- sand dollars, with which, in 1828, he removed to Elkland, in the same county, where he continued in business as mer- chant and farmer until 1853. For the first two years he associated with himself John. Ryan and Robert Tuffs. After buying out his partners he established branch stores at West- field and at Brookfield, in the same county. From 1853 to the present time he has been engaged in banking, having the entire control of an extensive business. He has some highly improved farms, and though not able to devote much personal attention to agriculture, he takes great pleasure in their general management. He was the principal promoter of, and a large subscriber to, the stock of the Cowanesque Valley Railroad ; was elected its President on the organiza- tion of the company, and has held the position ever since. A conservative in politics, his popularity and prominence have caused him to be sought after to fill public positions, which he has most frequently declined. He was postmaster of the village in which he lives for twelve years; has held the position of burgess for a long and almost uninterrupted period, and has been often nominated and elected to posi- tions of trust against his wishes. IIe was a candidate for the State Legislature in 1847, and for Congress in 1852. Ilis recognized fairness and aversion to disputes are illus- trated by the fact that he never had but one case in a court of law, and in that the jury, under instructions from the Court, rendered a verdict without leaving their box. His own practice and his advice to others have unifora:ly been to settle disputes without a resort to legal process, where it can be done without a sacrifice of principle. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since his youth, and is an elder and liberal supporter of the denomination, and a zealous worker in the Sunday-school and Bible class. His charities have been extensive and varied, their objects in- cluding churches, institutions of learning, and private per- sons. He contributed nearly all the means required to build a handsome edifice for the Presbyterian church at Elkland, and was the largest subscriber to the fund for the erection of a Methodist house of worship in the same place. He has been a zealous worker in the cause of temperance, and has held the principal offices in societies devoted to this object. He married, in 1835, Emeline daughter of Edwin Allen, of Cortland Village, New York, by whom he had seven children, only one of whom survives. His wife died in 1853, and in 1855 he married Martha H. Steele, daughter of the late Benjamin Harrower, of Lindley, New York. By her he has two children. He is of a highly social and genial nature, and though so closely devoted to business, has found time for considerable literary culture. Ilis man- ners are unostentatious, cordial, and sympathetic. In per- son he is of medium height. Although as old as the cen- tury, he still retains, in a remarkable degree, his mental and physical powers.
LISSON, OLIVER S., Rear-Admiral of the United States Navy, was born in Ohio, and ap- pointed Midshipman from Indiana, November Ist, 1826. Having been ordered to sea, as was the custom prior to the organization of the Naval Academy, his first cruise was made during the years 1827-28 in the sloop of war " John Adams," from which he was transferred to the corvette " Falmouth," and served in that vessel in 1829-30. From the latter he was ordered to the schooner " Grampus," and remained on her through the two ensuing years; all these vessels comprising a portion of the West India Squadron. On June 4th, 1832, he was promoted to the grade of Passed Midshipman, and for three years after served on the ship of the line " Dela- ware," which was the flag-ship of the Mediterranean fleet. On his return to the United States, in 1836, he was assigned to duty in the Navy Yard, at Norfolk, Virginia, where he remained, however, but a short time. On February 9th, 1837, he received his commission as Lieutenant, and having joined the sloop of war " Fairfield," he served on that ship -on the Brazil station-until the year 1840. On his return, he was detailed for duty at the Norfolk yard, where he re- mained but one year, and was then ordered to the " Marion," of the West India Squadron, where he spent one year, re- turning to the Brazil Squadron, and serving other two years on the corvette " Saratoga," thus closing with the year 1844. During the Mexican war (1847) he was placed in command of the schooner " Reefer," and when peace was declared with that Republic, he was again detailed for shore duty, at the Navy Yard, Norfolk, where he remained until the close of 1850. During the two following years he was on " special duty," and, in 1852, was again ordered to sea, being attached to the steam-frigate " Powhatan," of the Japan Expedition, under Commodore Perry, and was Exe- cutive officer of the frigate " Powhatan," when the treaty was signed, which opened that ancient Empire to the com- merce of the world. During this cruise he received his commission as Commander, September 14th, 1855, and was at once placed in charge of the store-ship " John P. Ken- nedy," of the East India Squadron. On his return to the United States, he passed the three years from 1857 to 1860 inclusive on duty at the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia. On the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was assigned to the command of the purchased steamer " Mount Vernon," of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and while in this vessel rendered valuable service. The United States trans- port " Mississippi," bound to New Orleans with General Butler, and 1500 men on board, was designedly run on Frying-pan Shoals, North Carolina. By the timely assistance of the " Mount Vernon," a great disaster was prevented, and the troops were enabled to reach their destination in time to participate in the battle. Again, while blockading the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, he burned a light- bott under the guns of Fort Caswell; and so close did he run his boats to the fort, that the voices of the sentinels were
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plainly heard on board. This light boat was quite ready to receive her battery of eight guns, and, in a few days, would have started out to cruise against our commerce. HIe received his Captain's commission July 16th, 1862, and during that and the year following commanded the steam sloop " Mohican," which vessel was employed in chasing the rebel privateer " Alabama." He was next assigned to the command of the purchased steamer " Santiago de Cuba," and in her was present at the two attacks on Fort Fisher, December, 1864, and January, 1865. He com- manded the Third Division in both engagements, and was recommended by Admiral Porter for promotion, for gal- lantry displayed in covering the landing of the troops and leading his division into action. He was commissioned as Commodore July 25th, 1866, and was in command of the Naval Station at League Island, Pennsylvania, from 1867 to May Ist, 1870. In June of that year he received his commission as Rear-Admiral, and was at once ordered to the command of the European fleet. During this, his final cruise, he was everywhere received with marked attention, and was the recipient of many distinguished honors. At length, having reached the age prescribed by the Naval Regulations, after so many years of active service on sea and land, he was placed upon the Retired List, January 18th, 1871. During his long service of forty-five years, he was ever prompt to execute all orders to which he was assigned. He was always ready with his command, and during the civil war, carried out" by his energy, good man- agement and gallantry, many undertakings, in spite of seemingly insurmountable difficulties. His services have been as brilliant as they have been valuable. .
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