USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 37
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Major General Zenas Randall Bliss, C. S. a.
Z ENAS RANDALL BLISS was born April 17, 1835, in Johns- ton, Rhode Island. His father, Zenas Bliss, was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, June 11, 1806, graduated from Brown University in the class of 1826, and was engaged throughout his business life in the printing of cloth. He married, January 14, 1828, Phoebe Waterman Randall, of Johnston, Rhode Island.
The Bliss, Waterman and Randall families were early settlers in Rhode Island, and the neighboring colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and from early Colonial days have been prominent in business and public affairs.
Of the three children born to Zenas and Phoebe Waterman Bliss, but one, Zenas Randall, reached maturity. His early education was obtained in the city of Providence, principally in Lyon and Frieze's School, which in later years became prominently known as the "University Grammar School." In 1850, at the age of fifteen years, he was appointed by Senator Dixon, of Westerly, to the West Point Military Academy. Sixteen years was the minimum age limit for admission to the Academy, but the young appointee was so well developed physically, and showed such aptitude for his studies and duties, that no objection was raised because of his youth. He was a cadet at the Military Academy for four years. He graduated in July, 1854, and was promoted in the army to brevet second lieutenant, and was assigned to the First Infantry, then serving in Texas.
After spending a short leave of absence with his parents he joined his company which was stationed at Fort Duncan, Texas. In March, 1855, he was promoted to second lieutenant, and assigned to the Eighth Infantry, which was also serving in Texas. He was stationed successively at Forts Duncan, Davis, Camp Hudson, Forts Inge, Mason, Clark, and Quitman, being transferred from one to the other in some cases several times, during the first six years of his service. During the latter part of this period he was in charge of a detachment of mounted infantry, and was practically in constant pursuit of hostile Indians. He was post adjutant and quarter- master and commissary at Camp Hudson, and held other minor appoint- ments.
In 1860, after six years of continuous service in Texas, he obtained a leave of absence and returned to Rhode Island to visit his parents. On the expiration of his leave he was given command of a detachment of recruits assigned to various commands in the Department of Texas. He was assigned to the command of Fort Quitman during the latter part of the year 1860, and during this service, on October 17, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.
In March, 1861, he received orders to proceed with other commands to San Antonio, Texas. On April 5 he left Fort Quitman under command of Captain Reeves, of the Eighth Infantry, in accordance with his orders
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Major General Zenas Randall Bliss, U. S. a.
en route for San Antonio. The march to San Antonio was long and arduous, and while many rumors of trouble between North and South were rife, no reliable information had been received for weeks, and it was thought by most of the officers that there would be no resort to arms.
On May 9, 1861, when Captain Reeves and his command were a day's march from San Antonio, they were met by a large Confederate force under command of General Earl Van Dorn. The Confederate force was so over- whelmingly superior that resistance was considered useless. Captain Reeves surrendered his command, and they were marched into San Antonio as pris- oners of war. Lieutenant Bliss remained in San Antonio as a prisoner of war until February, 1862, when he and two other officers were transferred to Richmond, Virginia, and confined there in the negro jail until exchanged the following April. While he was a prisoner of war he was promoted to the rank of captain, May 14, 1861.
After his exchange had been effected, he obtained a leave of absence to visit his parents, from whom he had received no word in more than a year. Within a few days after his return home, his father died on May 14.
Governor Sprague offered Captain Bliss the colonelcy of the Tenth Rhode Island Volunteers. This appointment he declined on the ground that as it was a three months' regiment there would be no active service. Governor Sprague being anxious to obtain his services with the volunteer troops from Rhode Island, promised that if he would accept the colonelcy of the Tenth, he would appoint him colonel of the Seventh Rhode Island Volunteers, which was then being recruited. The Seventh was a three years' regiment, and it was expected that it would be ready for service by the time the Tenth had completed its term. With this understanding, he was made colonel of the Tenth, and was assigned to the defences about Washing- ton. In the latter part of June he was ordered to Virginia, and commanded the troops in the immediate vicinity of Fairfax Seminary, consisting of several regiments of infantry and cavalry, and several batteries. He was later ordered to Tennaly Town.
In August he was ordered back to Rhode Island, and recommissioned as colonel of the Seventh Rhode Island on the 21st. The regiment was recruited nearly to its full complement, and was in camp near Providence. On leaving Rhode Island, the regiment consisted of over one thousand men, with a full complement of officers. He was ordered to report with his regi- ment to General McClellan soon after the battle of Antietam. The regiment joined the Ninth Army Corps, and was assigned to General Nagle's brigade.
Colonel Bliss was in command of his regiment in the skirmish near White Sulphur Springs, in the Rappahannock campaign and throughout the battle of Fredericksburg. The splendid performance of the troops and the skill and daring of their commander were highly praised by superiors, and Colonel Bliss received the rank of brevet major in recognition of his services, and later was awarded the Medal of Honor for distinguished gal- lantry by Special Act of Congress.
After the battle of Fredericksburg, the regiment went to Newport News, Virginia. The regiment was later transferred to Kentucky, and R I-1-22
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Major General Zenas Randall Bliss, U. S. a.
remained there until May, '63, when it was ordered to report to General Grant, and took part in the Vicksburg campaign. His services in this cam- paign gained for him a recommendation for promotion from General Grant. After the fall of Vicksburg, he was ordered to Jackson, Mississippi, and took part in the operations against General Johnston's army, and after these operations returned to Pleasant Valley. He was for a short time in com- mand of the Second Division of the Ninth Army Corps. After leaving Pleasant Valley he was stationed in Kentucky. At this time failing health forced him to give up his command, and he returned to Rhode Island on sick leave.
While on leave he married (October, 1863) Martha N. Work, daughter of Godfrey and Almira (Thomas) Work. of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Upon his return to his regiment he was placed in command of Lexington, Ken- tucky, and in December he was ordered to Knoxville, Tennessee, and was in command of the Military District of Middle Tennessee, a very important post, the principal duty of which was to protect General Sherman's line of communications. This service gave him the largest and most important command he ever held. He remained in this command until late in the spring of '64, when the Ninth Corps was moved from Tennessee to Virginia.
The latter part of March he went to Kentucky, and shortly afterwards was ordered to Annapolis. He was ordered by General Burnside from Annapolis to Alexandria, Virginia, in charge of the ordnance supplies of the Army of the Potomac. He remained here for three weeks issuing arms and ammunition to the troops on the way to join the Army of the Potomac under General Grant.
From Alexandria he was ordered to report at once with his troops on the Rapidan, and reported to General Potter, and was assigned to command of First Brigade, Ninth Army Corps, his old brigade. The battle of the Wilderness was begun the morning after his arrival, and ended on the 6th of May. His brigade lost upwards of 700 killed, wounded and missing. He received the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious service in this battle.
On May 9 the Army of the Potomac was in front of Spottsylvania, and he took part in the preliminary manœuvers and the beginning of the battle. He was injured by his horse falling on him, and was sent to Washington to recover, where he remained for some time. He joined his brigade before Petersburg, and remained there during the siege. His brigade consisted of seven regiments, among which was the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Infan- try, commanded by Colonel Pleasants, who conceived the idea of mining the breastworks in front of the brigade. Colonel Bliss was ordered to assist the enterprise so far as possible. The mine was successfully completed, and fired, but the attack was a failure.
Colonel Bliss remained at the front until August, when he went to the field hospital sick, then to Washington, and back to Rhode Island on sick leave. While on sick leave he asked for some duty which he could perform, and was assigned to duty as president on a board of officers to inspect hos- pitals, and went to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he remained through the winter.
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Major General Zenas Randall Bliss, U. S. a.
In July he was ordered to Providence, Rhode Island, to be mustered out of the volunteer service. His regiment had been mustered out some time previously. After being mustered out of the volunteer service he re- turned to duty as captain in the regular army, and was ordered to Albany, New York, on recruiting service, where he remained until March, 1866. He was in command of his company for short periods at Baltimore, Maryland, and Schuylkill Arsenal, Pennsylvania.
In April, 1866, he was ordered to Fort Porter in command of all troops on the northern frontier from Fort Niagara to Erie. From Fort Porter he was sent to Charleston, South Carolina, and later was assigned to the Dis- trict of Chester by General Sickles. Here he served as Assistant Commis- sioner of Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, was also military commandant of the district, post and troops, provost judge and provost marshal, having charge of both the military and civil business of the district.
From South Carolina he was ordered to Providence, Rhode Island, on recruiting service, and remained there until promoted major of the Thirty- ninth United States Infantry in August, 1867, when he was ordered to join his regiment at New Orleans. The order was suspended because of the pre- valence of yellow fever. He joined his regiment in December, and served at Forts Jackson, St. Philip and Ship Island, and while at Ship Island was in command of the post and regiment.
In the fall of 1869 he was ordered to Fort Jackson to command regi- ment; early in the following year was ordered to Ship Island to abandon the post, and conduct troops and prisoners to Fort Jackson. In 1869 the Twenty-fifth and Thirty-ninth regiments of infantry were consolidated and formed the Twenty-fifth Infantry, of which he was made major.
In May, 1870, he was ordered to Indianola, Texas, thence via San An- tonio, Texas, to Fort Duncan, where he arrived in July, 1870, about sixteen years after his first arrival there in November, 1854. During the next eight years he commanded Forts Clark, Davis, Stockton and Bliss, and part of the time he was in command of his regiment.
In 1878 he was placed in charge of the principal depot for general re- cruiting at Davids Island, New York, and in 1879 was promoted to lieu- tenant-colonel of the Nineteenth Infantry, and on completing his term of recruiting service joined his regiment, and was assigned to the command of Fort Hayes, Kansas. His services took him to various forts in the south- west until his promotion to colonel of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, in April, 1886, when he was ordered to Camp Supply, Indian Territory, in command of that regiment.
In 1888 he was ordered to Fort Bayard, New Mexico, where he re- mained until promoted brigadier-general, April 15, 1895, and was assigned to command of the Department of Texas. While in command of the De- partment of Texas he was promoted major-general, May 17, 1897, and was retired two days later at his own request.
General Bliss was of a commanding military presence, a splendid horse- man, and a fine shot with both rifle and pistol. He was an ardent sportsman, and spent much of his leisure in pursuing the game and fish which abounded on the frontier during his service there before the war.
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Major General Benas Randall Bliss, U. S. a.
The greater part of his service before and after the war was on the southwestern frontier, principally in Texas, remote from civilization to a de- gree that cannot readily be appreciated in this day of rapid transit, and easy communication. He served at many stations six or seven hundred miles from the nearest railroad, where communication with the outside world was always uncertain and frequently interrupted for months, and where it was impossible to obtain anything but the barest necessities of subsistence. Life " at these stations was not only devoid of comfort, but was fraught with con- stant danger. Scouting was the principal activity of frontier troops, and from 1854 to 1860 he was almost constantly in the field in pursuit of hostile Indians.
General Bliss was an accomplished Spanish scholar, and because of his familiarity with that language, and his intimate knowledge of the frontier people, both Mexicans and Indians, his services were sought by his superior officers in adjusting differences and settling disputes which were of frequent occurrence.
In addition to his knowledge of the language and the people, he had many firm friends among the Mexicans, who had confidence both in his judgment and integrity, and he was able to render valuable assistance in conducting various negotiations between the authorities of Mexico and the United States made necessary by the almost constant state of revolution existing in Mexico, and the consequent violation, by one faction or the other, of the rights of Americans in Mexico, or on the border.
He was a keen student, and following a natural inclination towards scientific subjects maintained himself abreast of modern scientific thought.
His long and active service on the frontier and the important part taken by him in many of the great battles and campaigns of the Civil War, gave him a fund of information and experiences which, coupled with a facile and engaging manner of conversation, made him a delightful companion. He was of a kind hearted, generous and sympathetic disposition, and had to a marked degree the happy faculty of smoothing out difficulties and making friends among officers and enlisted men alike, and he was respected, admired and loved by all who knew him.
He had the somewhat unique distinction of serving in every grade in the service, beginning as brevet second lieutenant and holding successively all grades to that of major-general. He was twice breveted for gallant and meritorious service, and was awarded a Medal of Honor by Special Act of Congress, and received the commendations and recommendations for pro- motion from both Generals Grant and Burnside. He was the idol of his troops, and at the reunions of his regiments, his surviving companions in arms delight to relate instances of his kindness and consideration when on the march or in the trenches.
Upon his retirement in 1897, he made his home in Washington, D. C., spending his summers in Providence, Rhode Island.
Upon the breaking out of the Spanish War, he immediately offered his services to the government, but it was not found necessary to call on the retired list.
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Major General Zenas Randall Bliss, U. S. a.
He was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and Soci- ety of Indian Wars, the Metropolitan Club, and the Army and Navy Club of Washington, the Hope Club and the University Club of Providence, Rhode Island.
He died at the Providence Hospital in Washington, D. C., January 2, 1900, and was buried with military honors in the National Cemetery at Ar- lington, Virginia.
He is survived by his wife, and two children --- Zenas Work Bliss, of Providence, Rhode Island; and Mrs. Alice Ingoldsby Massey, of Boerne,. Kendall county, Texas.
George Henry Corliss
T HE assertion is sometimes made that in spite of certain nota- ble exceptions the type of mind possessed by inventive geniuses is rarely capable of dealing with the commercial or business aspect of life, and we have the popular and familiar picture of the unsuspecting ingenuous inventor fleeced of the well earned profit from his devices by the sophisticated and scheming business man. Ifthis be so it is strange enough, for, to the layman at least, there seems to be no incompatibility between the mind that can grasp the highly practical problems of physical and mechanical science and the very similar problems of everyday business rela- tions, but rather a parity such as to suggest that they are of one and the same kind. However this may be, it is certain that the remarkable group of American inventors of the generation just passed, whose achievements have given rise to the wide-spread respect for "Yankee genius," were not afflicted with any such one-sidedness of character. They, at least, were not deprived of their just deserts, and were quite equally capable of producing their masterpieces of mechanical skill and of marketing them to their own best advantage and to that of the world at large. And if they thus prove this belief as to the one-sidedness of genius to be false, they no less dispose of another fallacy, the notion, namely, that such a union of abilities shows a man to have developed the material side of his nature at the expense of the spiritual. Nothing could be further from the truth, as these men have well shown in their lives, wherein were displayed that essential spirit of democracy that is but another form of the Christian virtue of charity, and even those higher reaches of idealism expressed in religion and art. Such, for example, was the character of the late George H. Corliss, of Providence, Rhode Island, whose death there on February 21, 1888, deprived that com- munity of one of its most prominent and highly honored citizens, and the world at large of a benefactor and one of its foremost inventors. Mr. Corliss was sprung from one of the best and most ancient of the old Colonial fam- ilies which had spent the years previous to the Revolution in New England, but after that epoch-making struggle lived in New York State.
The founder of the family in this country was George Corliss, a native of Devonshire, England, where he was born about 1617, a son of Thomas Corliss. The young man came to the colonies when about twenty-two years of age and settled at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1639. This was but temporary, however, and he shortly after removed to Haverhill in the same colony, this town becoming the permanent home of the family until the time of John Corliss, five generations later, the grandfather of the Hon. George Henry Corliss of this review. George Corliss, the immigrant, became the owner of a handsome farm at Haverhill and it was here that several genera- tions of the family carried on the occupation of farming and finally died, George Corliss and his son and grandson, by a very strange coincidence,
yours truly C. N. Corliss.
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George Denry Corliss
meeting death while seated in the same chair. The grandfather of Mr. Corliss already mentioned, Captain John Corliss, as he was called, served with distinction in the Revolution and some years later, sometime in the early nineties, removed to the town of Easton, Washington county, New York. The depreciation of the currency following the Revolution made a great difference in his fortune and that which followed the War of 1812 proved another blow, but he and his sons were extremely energetic and enterprising and their fortunes were recouped. His wife was Lydia Haynes, of Haverhill, and they had eleven children, of whom Hiram, the father of Mr. Corliss, was the youngest. Hiram Corliss was a physician and became a very prominent figure in Easton and the surrounding region, and prac- ticed medicine until he was over eighty years of age. He was three times married, but it was his first wife, Susan (Sheldon) Corliss, who was the mother of Mr. Corliss, of this review.
George Henry Corliss was born June 2, 1817, at Easton, New York, the second child of Dr. Hiram and Susan (Sheldon) Corliss. His educational advantages were decidedly meagre in the first instance, although he after- wards supplemented them, for the district schools of that period, especially in the rural neighborhoods, were anything but adequate. An intelligent mind such as that of Mr. Corliss did not take long to absorb all they had to offer, and he was but' fourteen years of age when he turned from his studies and began his business career. Like so many of the great Americans, Mr. Corliss made this beginning in the general store at Greenwich as a clerk, and here remained for upwards of three years, a thoughtful, serious lad, with dreams of things beyond his horizon. As he grew older he came to feel more and more the great need for further study and he determined at length to compass this ambition in spite of every obstacle. Accordingly in 1834 he gave up his position in the store and entered an academy in Castle- ton, Vermont, where he remained the full four years and proved himself a student of intelligence and a scholar of attainments. As yet, however, he had no idea of taking up the line of work in which he was later to become so famous, and with the exception of a youthful exploit in the planning and build- ing of a temporary bridge across Batten Kill, had displayed no talent what- soever in that direction. And now, upon leaving his studies at the academy, and having attained his majority, instead of turning his thoughts and ener- gies in what would naturally be supposed a congenial direction, he returned to the business he had already attempted, only this time as an independent enterprise, and early in 1838 established a general store of his own at Green- wich, New York. For nearly three years he continued in this line with con- siderable success and actually passed his twenty-fourth birthday without ever having seen the inside of a machine shop. In these years, however, he had begun to come to a more definite knowledge of himself, and his tastes and opinions to form and crystallize. More and more the mechanical side of every question interested him and he found himself solving mechanical problems and devising mechanical contrivances almost spontaneously. Finally, about 1841, he decided to take up what was so obviously his bent, and in spite of the very uncertain character of the returns which a young and unknown inventor can count upon, gave his whole attention to his new
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George Denty Corliss
task. His work during the better part of the following four years was upon the invention and perfection of a machine for sewing boots, shoes and heavy leather of all kinds. But Mr. Corliss was laboring under the disadvantage that has beset so many young inventors, that of not having sufficient capital to place his device upon the market at the outset, and so it was that, although the machine itself was both ingenious and practical, he abandoned it and turned his attention to other things. How great a disappointment such seeming failure is, how it operates to discourage in spite of the knowledge that in the essential matter one has succeeded, no one can judge who has not passed through the experience, but Mr. Corliss' courage was not of the kind to fail him for discouragement, and he immediately set to work upon another matter that had long attracted his attention, namely, the improve- ment of the steam engine. But Mr. Corliss possessed a faculty even rarer than courage, and in the matter of material success not less valuable, that is he was able to persuade his fellows of the thing of which he was himself convinced and so enlist their sympathy and aid. In the year 1844 he came to Providence, Rhode Island, to live, the city which remained his home from that time up to the time of his death, and he there became associated with two gentlemen, Mr. John Barstow and Mr. E. J. Nightingale, who felt so much confidence in his ability that a partnership was formed under the style of Corliss, Nightingale & Company, and for the next four years Mr. Corliss worked indefatigably upon his inventions. In 1848 these were practically complete and he was able to construct and operate an engine which, save for some minor improvements in application and finish, was essentially the famous Corliss engine of later years. Feeling now that the task was consummated and that all that remained was to reap the fruits of his endeavors, Mr. Corliss and his associates began the erection of the works of the Corliss Steam Engine Company, on a scale, however, that gave but little indication of their. later huge proportions. These works were suffi- ciently progressed for the production of the new engine by the early months of the year 1849, and on March 10 of that year patents were granted by the United States government covering the improvements made. The engine was then placed upon the market and from that time until after his death has held a foremost place in the engineering world. In 1856 the Corliss Steam Engine Company was incorporated with Mr. Corliss as president and his brother, William Corliss, as treasurer. A modest factory at the time of its erection, the Corliss works grew rapidly until, at the time of their found- er's death in 1888, the floor space included in the buildings amounted to above five acres and over a thousand hands were employed there. The works grew in response to the great increase of the market for these remark- able engines, which in a few years had spread all over this country and reached to Europe. Indeed, Europe eventually became a great purchaser of the Corliss engine and it was copied by engine builders who placed upon their imitations the name of the American maker.
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