USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 7
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General Ambrose @. Burnside
G ENERAL AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE, a distin- guished soldier of the Civil War, was born in Liberty, Indiana, May 23, 1824, fourth son of Edgehill and Pamelia (Brown) Burnside. His first American ancestor, Robert Burnside, settled in South Carolina about 1746, having fled from Scotland upon the final defeat of the "Young Pre- tender," whose cause he had espoused. Of his three sons born in America, James during the period of the Revolution remained loyal to the crown, and was captain of a regiment of loyalists who operated with the British army in the southern campaigns. As a Tory he fled to the island of Jamaica, but in 1786 returned to South Carolina, where he died in 1798. His widow, with four sons then grown, joined a band of Quaker emigrants bound for a free State, and before setting out gave freedom to all her slaves. She crossed the Ohio river and located in Indiana. The third son, Edgehill, made his home in Liberty, a new town then just forming; here he married and brought up a family of nine children. His life was a constant struggle with poverty, and his son, Ambrose E., when seventeen years old, was apprenticed to a tailor.
The trade to which he was introduced was irksome to young Burnside, and he showed his inclination to a military life by reading stories of heroes and talking with the old soldiers who had served in the War of 1812. This trait was made the subject of comment by the patrons of the shop, and one of these, Caleb B. Smith, at the time a Representative in Congress, offered to procure for him an appointment to West Point, which was obtained in 1843. Upon his graduation with the class of 1847, Lieutenant Burnside was ordered to the City of Mexico, then under military occupation by United States troops. He did garrison duty there until the return of the army, when he served at Fort Adams, at Las Vegas, New Mexico, where he was wounded, and at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He resigned his commission as first lieutenant of the Third Artillery in 1853, and established at Bristol, Rhode Island, a factory for the manufacture of a breech-loading rifle which he had invented, and which had received the approval of a board of commissioners appointed by Congress to test its merits in competition with some eighteen different breech-loading arms which had been submitted. This decision justified him in expecting an order from the government, which not being forthcoming he went to Washington and was informed that he could have the contract upon the payment of a bonus of five thousand dollars to a lobby- ist who enjoyed the favor of certain officials of the War Department. This proposition he indignantly refused, and he was thereupon obliged to make an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, and with fifteen dollars in his pocket he started west to retrieve his fortunes. With the assistance of old friends in Indiana he secured a position in Chicago as cashier of the land department of the Illinois Central railroad, of which his classmate, Captain George B. McClellan, was vice-president, and after a year's service became
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treasurer of the road, with an office in New York City. By practicing the strictest economy he paid his debts in full.
In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed by Gov- ernor Sprague, colonel of the First Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, which he had organized. He led the regiment to Washington by way of Annapolis, Maryland, and was one of the first to reach the national capital to assist in its defence. He participated in the first battle of Bull Run, where he commanded a brigade at the commencement of the engagement, and succeeded to the command of General Hunter's division after that officer was wounded. He was promoted to brigadier-general, and received inany public testimonials for his part in that battle. In the winter of 1861-62 General Burnside was entrusted with the organization of an expedition designed to effect a lodgment upon the shores of North Carolina, and to carry a force into the interior in the rear of the Confederate army in Virginia, to cut off communication with the South. The attack was to be made by sea, and the first move proposed was the capture of Roanoke Island. Some twelve thous- and troops were recruited and organized, sixty-five vessels collected and armed, and on January 12, 1862, the fleet put to sea from Hampton Roads, arriving in Pamlico Sound on the twenty-fifth, after a most tempestuous voyage. The island was captured on February 8, after several sharp engage- ments. Control of Painlico and Albemarle sounds being thus secured, the next step was the capture of the town on the mainland. A series of brilliant manoeuvers resulted in the capture of Newberne, Beaufort, Fort Macon, and a number of less important points of vantage, and upon General Burn- side's return to the North he was presented with a handsome sword, together with a vote of thanks by the State of Rhode Island, and congratulatory resolutions from the Massachusetts and Ohio legislatures; and was pro- moted major-general of volunteers by nomination of President Lincoln and confirmation of the Senate.
General Burnside was next attached to the Army of the Potomac, and with his famous Ninth Corps assisted General McClellan in withdrawing from the Peninsula. He marched into Maryland in command of the right wing of the army, reaching Frederick on September 12, and, pushing on in pursuit of the retreating enemy, came into collision on the fourteenth with the Confederate rear in the passes of South Mountain. The engagement was spirited; the enemy was driven at all points, and a signal advantage gained. Three days later, Burnside's troops prevented the battle of Antie- tam from being altogether a decisive victory for the Confederates, by carry- ing and holding the stone bridge which crossed the Antietam. When Gen- eral Mc Clellan was relieved of his command and ordered to report at Tren- ton, New Jersey, General Burnside, on November 10, 1862, was placed in command of the Army of the Potomac. Then followed the disaster at Fredericksburg, all responsibility for which was generously assumed by Burnside, and after the occurrence of several minor misfortunes he resigned the command and was superseded, January 26, 1863, by General Hooker. The President refused to accept his resignation from the service, and ap- pointed him to the command of the Department of the Ohio, where he ren- dered conspicuous service, clearing the country of guerillas, enforcing strin-
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gent measures against the southern sympathizers on both sides of the river, and affording protection to the loyal population.
In August, 1863, he marched a force of eighteen thousand men across the Cumberland Mountains, captured Cumberland Gap, and, advancing toward Knoxville, Tennessee, resisted an attack by Longstreet as he pro- ceeded. He occupied Knoxville, which had been evacuated by General Buckner upon his approach. Here he entrenched himself and sustained a terrific assault made by Longstreet, and held his position in the face of fearful odds until relieved at the end of a month by General Sherman's approach. Again assigned to the command of his old Ninth Corps, General Burnside was actively engaged in the closing operations of the war under General Grant in the Wilderness, at Cold Harbor and in the Petersburg campaign. The losses in his corps in the Petersburg mine explosion were very heavy, and General Meade, whom he had outranked, but to whom he had magnanimously yielded the command when the exigencies of the occasion seemed to indicate that a junction of forces would be effective, preferred charges of disobedience against him and ordered a court-martial. General Grant disapproved of this method of procedure, but at Burnside's request a court of inquiry was held. He was judged "answerable for the want of success," but subsequently it was determined by a congressional committee appointed to investigate the matter that General Burnside's plans had been well laid and would without doubt have been crowned with success had they been carried out according to his orders. At the close of the war General Burnside resigned his commission and retired to private life.
In 1866 he was elected Governor of Rhode Island, and, being twice re- elected, served until 1869, when he refused a fourth nomination, and once more engaged in railroad construction and management. He was in Paris at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, and was requested to act as envoy between besiegers and besieged. The attempted negotiations were not con- summated, but General Burnside won the respect of both armies through the incident of his offices. In January, 1875, he was elected to the United States Senate from Rhode Island, and soon gained prominence in that body. He proved himself an able statesman, was appointed a member of several important committees, and in 1880 was reelected. See "Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside," by Ben Perley Poore (1882). He died in Bristol, Rhode Island, September 3, 1881.
William Thomas Aicholson
W ILLIAM THOMAS NICHOLSON, prominent as an inventor and a manufacturer, was born at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, March 22, 1834, son of William and Eliza ( Forestell) Nichol- son. He attended the common schools until he was thirteen years of age, and then spent a year at the academy at Ux- bridge, Massachusetts. On his return to Pawtucket he entered a machine shop to learn the trade of machinist, and having gained the requisite proficiency, removed to Providence to seek a larger field. Before long, his energy and his thorough knowledge of his trade brought him advancement to the position of manager of the factory where he had been employed. His evenings during this time were devoted to the study of mechanics and mechanical drawing, and he became so pro- ficient in these branches that he was competent to make all the drawings necessary in his shop. Later he began the manufacture of machinery and machine tools, and during the Civil War he undertook large government contracts for supplying parts of rifles.
In 1864 he set to work to develop an idea that had long been carried in his mind, to produce an improved machine for cutting files, and after con- siderable labor perfected his invention. Even after his patents were secured and a stock company had been organized for the manufacture of files, and their manufacture was going on satisfactorily, he was still seeking greater perfection, and he continued his experiments and made an exhaustive study of the methods by which files were produced, both in the United States and in Europe. Mr. Nicholson obtained more than forty patents for improve- ments and for new machinery, and some years before his death was recog- nized as the largest manufacturer of files in the world, as well as the pro- ducer of a superior article, and as the man to whom was due America's preeminence in this particular industry. The Nicholson File Company, which he founded, and of which he was president for thirty years, came to operate four distinct plants-two at Providence, one at Pawtucket, and one at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, employing in the aggregate fourteen hun- dred operatives. Mr. Nicholson possessed great financial and commercial ability, and his energies were by no means limited to his manufacturing enterprises. He was connected with many public and philanthropic institu- tions, and was highly esteemed for his sound judgment, his personal char- acter, and his beneficent deeds.
He was married, at Smithfield, Rhode Island, to Elizabeth Dexter, daughter of Samuel Easton and Mary (Carpenter) Gardiner, who bore him five children. One of his sons, Samuel M., succeeded him as president and general manager of the Nicholson File Company. Mr. Nicholson died at Providence, October 17, 1893.
horatio Rogers, ZE. D.
H ORATIO ROGERS, a distinguished jurist and a late Asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, was a descendant in the seventh generation from James Rogers, who was an inhabitant of Newport, Rhode Island, as early as 1638, probably a son of Thomas Rogers, one of the pas- sengers of the "Mayflower." The line from James Rogers to Judge Rogers is traced through Captain John Rogers, of Newport, who was several times a representative in the Colonial Assembly : Ensign John Rogers, also a representative in the Assembly ; William Rogers, of Newport, and his wife, Sarah (Sanford) Rogers; John Rogers, of New- port and Providence, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War, and his wife, Elizabeth (Rodman) Rogers; and Horatio Rogers, of Providence, and his wife, Elizabeth (Curtis) Rogers, who were the parents of Judge Rogers. Horatio Rogers was born in Providence, Rhode Island, December 29, 1798, and died August 26, 1867, and his wife was born September 14, 1799, and died May 23, 1860.
Horatio Rogers was born in Providence, Rhode Island, May 18. 1836. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, and at Brown Uni- versity, from which he was graduated in 1855, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He began the study of law in the office of IIon. Thomas A. Jenckes, in Providence, and later at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1858. As a Republican, he took an active part in the presidential campaign of 1860, which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln. When Fort Sumter was fired on, in April, 1861, and the first call for volunteers was issued, he was anxious to enlist immediately, but was unable to enter the army until the following August, when he was com- missioned first lieutenant in Company D, Third Rhode Island Heavy Artil- lery. On October 9, 1861, he was promoted to captain, and assigned to Com- pany H, of the same regiment. With this command he took part in General T. W. Sherman's expedition to Port Royal, South Carolina, in the fall of 1861, and in the assault which resulted in the capture by the Union forces of Forts Walker and Beauregard, at Hilton Head and Bay Point. The Third Regiment garrisoned the captured forts, Captain Rogers being stationed at Bay Point. In March, 1862, he was ordered with a part of the Third Regi- ment to Tybee Island, Georgia, to aid in the reduction of Fort Pulaski. On April 10-II following he was in command of Battery McClellan, which was nearest the fort, and rendered excellent service in its reduction. In the following June Captain Rogers and his command participated in the cam- paign of James Island, South Carolina, and for the brave part he took in the action of June 16th he was promoted to the rank of major. He participated in a number of movements and engagements while attached to the Depart- ment of the South, and also acted as judge advocate at several courts-martial. On January 7, 1863, Major Rogers received a commission as colonel of the Second Rhode Island Regiment, which was then stationed at Falmouth,
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Virginia. With this gallant regiment he shared in the various engagements and movements of the Army of the Potomac during 1863, and received, in addition to the praise of the generals under whom he served, the thanks of the General Assembly of Rhode Island for his efficient service during that time. In January, 1864, his health failed, and he found it necessary to resign his commission and return home. He was later brevetted brigadier-general of the United States Volunteers.
General Rogers resumed his law practice, and at the election in 1864 was chosen Attorney-General and served for several years. In 1868 he was elected to the General Assembly and served for one year, and was again elected to the Legislature in 1874 and 1875. In .1866 he was elected to the Common Council of Providence, again in 1867, and also in 1873 and 1874, during a portion of the last period of service being president of the body. About 1870 he formed a partnership with his father-in-law, Governor James Y. Smith, and his brother-in-law, C. A. Nichols, in the manufacturing of cotton goods, and for several years thereafter General Rogers gave little attention to the law. On the death of Governor Smith, in 1876, however, he resumed practice, and in 1888 was again elected Attorney-General, in which capacity he served for one year, and on May 27, 1891, was made Asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, which position he occupied until his retirement in 1903.
1 Judge Rogers was for a time president of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and contributed in various ways to the usefulness of that organiza- tion, which he served as president from 1889 until 1895; he was chairman of the Record Commission of Providence; was a member of the American Antiquarian Society, and of many other societies, and held numerous posi- tions of honor and trust. He was a prominent Mason, having become a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 1, Providence, October 20, 1858. He served two years as secretary of that lodge, and one year as grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. In 1878 he joined Calvary Com- mandery, No. 31, Knights Templar, of Providence, and served as eminent commander for one year. About the time he was elected to the associate justiceship he withdrew from the Masonic organization to which he be- longed, not having sufficient time to devote thereto.
Judge Rogers was exceedingly well informed regarding all matters of history and jurisprudence, and was a man of scholarly tastes and disposition. He was the author of many papers and pamphlets on subjects of historical, patriotic and literary character, and he delivered addresses on many public occasions. As Justice of the Supreme Court he gained the respect and esteem of his associates on the bench as well as of the entire legal profession in Rhode Island, and his record in civil life was on a par with the excellent one he made as a soldier. A number of his addresses were printed, and he was the author of "Private Libraries of Providence" ( 1878) ; "Mary Dyer, of Rhode Island, the Quaker Martyr" (1896) ; and "Hadden's Journal and Orderly Books" (1884), consisting of the journal of Lieutenant (afterwards Major-General) James M. Hadden, of Burgoyne's army, with which Judge Rogers combined copious and exhaustive notes and essays of a biographical and personal character-a work which, in the words of the "New York
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Nation," was performed "in a manner so complete that Burgoyne's officers became as well known to us as those of the patriot army." The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, in 1896.
Judge Rogers married, January 29, 1861, Lucia, daughter of Resolved Waterman, of Providence, Rhode Island. She died in the spring of 1867, and in the autumn of 1869 he married Emily Priscilla Smith, daughter of the late Governor James Y. Smith, of Providence, and they had one daughter, Emily P. S. Rogers. The children of the first marriage were: Arthur, of Westchester, Pennsylvania, who was rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in 1908; and Lucian Waterman, who was rector of St. George's Episcopal Church, Central Falls, Rhode Island, in 1908.
Judge Rogers died suddenly, November 12, 1904, at his home on Bowen street, Providence. On the death of Judge Rogers there appeared on the editorial page of the Providence "Journal" of November 13, 1904, the fol- lowing high tribute to his character and worth, paid by his colleague, the late Chief Justice Pardon A. Tillinghast :
In the death of Judge Horatio Rogers the State has lost one of its foremost and most useful citizens and one whom its people delighted to honor. A man of broad views, of ardent patriotism, of high ideals, of liberal culture, he naturally took high rank as a molder of public thought and a leader of men.
In professional life Judge Rogers was noted for his great thoroughness in the preparation and trial of his eases. He never left anything undone, and he never did any- thing by halves. The aphorism that "whatever is worth doing is worth doing well" was forcibly illustrated in both his professional and official life. Clear and convincing in his logic, forcible and attractive in his style of public discussion, he always commanded the attention of the court or jury and caused them to feel that they were listening to a man whose cause was certainly entitled to careful consideration.
As a judge, in which capacity I knew him best, lie fully exemplified those qualities which are the prime essentials in one who occupies this exalted position. Absolute integrity, superior ability, fairmindedness, patience, fearlessness, diligence and a careful regard for the rights and feelings of the members of the Bar-these were well known characteristics of our departed brother, Judge Rogers, and caused him to take high rank in his exalted calling.
That he always stood erect in judgment and decided for the right as he saw the right, no one who knew him ever had the least doubt. Conscientious almost to a fault, if such a condition is possible, he gave to every ease, regardless of its size or seeming importance, that careful, original and exhaustive study and consideration which enabled him to clearly fix in his own mind the relative rights of the parties thereto ; and then, and not till then, did he decide it. His published opinions, although not numerous by reason of the fact that he was not long a member of the Appellate Division, conelusively witness to his great diligence and careful research.
Judge Rogers greatly enjoyed and highly appreciated his position on the Beneh. He had a judicial turn of mind. He liked to look at and consider every question fairly and dispassionately, without any bias or prejudice, and hence the atmosphere and duties of the Bench were in every way congenial to him. He frequently told me that he had reached the height of his ambition and that he desired nothing better or niore honorable than a seat upon the Bench of the Supreme Court of his beloved State. He was a most agreeable man to be associated with. Always genial and friendly in his relations with his brethren, never speaking an unkind word, anxious to do his full share of the work and never offensively setting up his opinion against that of his associates, it was a great pleasure to be associated with him on the Bench. And I shall always regard it as amongst the pleasantest recollections of my official life that Judge Rogers was a co-worker with me for twelve years on the Bench of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island.
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The Providence "Journal" of November 15, 1904, referring to the life of Judge Rogers, said editorially :
One special truth needs to be emphasized in a remembrance of the life of Horatio Rogers-the supreme value of an honest, upright and honorable character. All who knew him must agree that such a character was his in an eminent degree. The reputa- tion which he leaves to his family, to the State which he devotedly loved and the univer- sity of which he was proud to be an alumnus, is worth more than all the wealth heaped up in the banks of Providence. Sterling, incorruptible integrity was the central princi- ple and quality of his heart and life. But this, aside from his distinctly religious convic- tions, was sustained and enforced by other considerations. He was a simple-minded man. He was a pure-hearted man He was a contented man. To be sure, the tempta- tions which assail so many others never appealed to him, but if they had so assailed him they would have been thrown back from his simple honesty like shattered reeds from a shield of steel. Now that he is gone, all who knew him feel that from out of the circle of their life has vanished a conserving and bettering force. And as they stand around his bier to-day they do it not only from affection but under the stress of a certain sense of moral obligation, under the prompting of a profound feeling of respect and admiration.
At this time and in such a land as ours we need the lesson of such a life and such an example. In a time marked by much greed and covetousness, in a time of general restlessness, discontent and bad emulation ; when many men want to be something other than they really are; when to be rich, rich at whatever cost, is too often the supreme rule and ambition of life ; when reputations that have stood for many years are being self-killed all over the land ; when, as a consequence of these things, some men are losing all faith in man, if not in God ; when these things are so, surely we need the example of every good life, the witness of every voice, to the supreme and only blessedness of purity and truth. He who has set this example, has borne this witness, deserves well of his fellow man. Nec facile invenias multis e millibus unum Virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui.
Pardon Elisha Tillinghast
T HE SUBJECT of this narrative, a veteran of the Civil War and an accomplished lawyer and jurist, was a worthy repre- sentative of a family resident in Rhode Island for some two hundred and seventy years, and which from generation to generation through this long period has given evidence of honorable standing and ideal citizenship. The line of descent from the immigrant ancestor to the immediate sub- ject of this narrative is through six generations, as follows: Pardon Tilling- hast, a native of Seven Cliffs, County of Sussex, England, born in 1622, emigrated to the New World, and located in Providence, Rhode Island, the first record of him being January 19, 1646. He was prominent in town affairs, a merchant, and pastor of the First Baptist Church for many years. By his second wife, Lydia (Taber) Tillinghast, he had a son, Pardon Tilling- hast, born February 16, 1668, and died in 1743. He and his wife, Mary (Keech) Tillinghast, were the parents of John Tillinghast, who engaged in agricultural pursuits, and who died in West Greenwich, October, 1770. By his second wife, Phebe Tillinghast, he had a son, Charles Tillinghast, born April 5, 1729, in East Greenwich, and died in November, 1775, from wounds received at the hands of four masked Tories. He was the father of ten children, among whom was Deacon Pardon Tillinghast, born in June, 1763, died in November, 1816. He married, December IS, 1785, Mary Sweet, of West Greenwich, who bore him twelve children, among whom was Rev. John Tillinghast, born in West Greenwich, October 3, 1812, and died March 28, 1878. He was ordained pastor of the West Greenwich Baptist Church, October 18, 1840, and for nearly forty years served most faithfully as a minis- ter in that region, filling the one pulpit through all those years without re- muneration. He was also a successful farmer. He was a member of the Rhode Island Assembly in 1854-55. He married, March 2, 1834, Susan Caroline, daughter of Elisha Avery, and they were the parents of Pardon Elisha Tillinghast.
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