Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 127

Author: Speer, William S
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Nashville, A. B. Tavel
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Tennessee > Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee > Part 127

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After admission to the bar, he practiced little in Ohio, but studied a good deal. In November, 1865, he came to Greeneville, Tennessee, and practiced law there till 1878, in partnership, first, with James Brit- ton, then attorney-general, and HI. L. Terrell, esq., a Yale class-mate, who came with him. The latter is now general counsel of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad, at New York. This firm dissolved in 1869, and Judge Ingersoll associated with himself in practice of law, F. W. Earnest, of Jonesborough, 1871 to 1874. In 1878, he located at Knoxville, where he

. has resided ever since, in partnership in law practice, 1878-9, with Col. John M. Fleming, who had been one of the most accomplished newspaper editors in the - State. From 1879 to 1885, he has had four concur- rent partnerships: Lugersoll & Dosser, Jonesborough ; Ingersoll & Shoun, Greeneville; Ingersoll & Cocke, Knoxville ; Ingersoll & Park, Dandridge,

For the last five years of President Andrew Johnson's life, Judge Ingersoll was his attorney and counsel, and while at Greeneville occupied, by Mr. Johnson's re- quest, an office adjoining his own.

For two years, March, 1879, to December, 1880, he was judge of the Supreme court commission at Knox_ ville, appointed by Gov. A. S. Marks, with the advice and consent of the senate.

In September, 1878, he was appointed by Gov. Marks special Supreme judge at Knoxville, and under ap- pointment from Gov. Bate, September, 1884, he held the same position for a year in several important cases.

Iņ 1884, he edited " Barton's Suit in Equity," pub- lished by Robert Clark & Co., Cincinnati, re-writing a large part of the text so as to conform the book to mod- ern practice, and make a work useful to students and practitioners.

As an advocate, he is best known from his defense of Capt. Johnson, tried in 1885, at Greeneville, for killing Maj. Henry, for the seduction of his wife. It was the most famous of recent criminal trials in the State; and to his preparation and conduct of the case in success- fully introducing evidence of insanity, and his address to the jury upon the law of insanity, seduction and hom- icide, as well as on the facts of the case, Senator Vor- hees, his eloquent associate, attributed the acquittal of their client.

As a judge, he has the true judicial mind-coming to conclusions only after the most careful research. There are two classes of minds in judges-one that decides at first blush and finds reasons afterward; the other that examines the reasons first, and upon that reason- ing bases conclusions. The first takes conclusions like a politician, and then hunts up the reason for it after- ward. This may be called judge-craft. To the second class Judge Ingersoll belongs

Judge Ingersoll came to Tennessee at twenty-one, having no kindred or acquaintance in the State. His alarm at the excesses and disorder then prevalent, in 1865, in East Tennessee, and his indignation at the eru- elty, injustice and violence then practiced under the Brownlow regime, made him, following the bent of his nature, a conservative. There was no Democratic or Republican party there then. All were either radicals or conservatives. He enlisted on the side of the lat- ter with energy and zeal in the contest then going on in Tennessee, and with a resolution never to abandon it till the State was released from the domination of a factious, ignorant and tyrannical minority. At that time all the Confederates in the State were disfran-

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chised. They could neither hold office, vote, or even sit on a jury -- and he resolved to give himself no rest in politics until the intelligence, wealth and moral char- acter of the State could take part in its government. He had the pleasure of witnessing and contributing to that result in 1869. With his own hand he signed the papers of enfranchisement for more than a thousand citizens of Greene county. During that period he had a contest also with a tyrannical radical judge, who dis- barred lawyers for refusing to take the test oath. Taking up the cudgel in behalf of his brother lawyers, a contest for right ensued, in which he was successful in attaining a judgment of the Supreme court in his favor, and also in securing the passage of an act of the Legislature disestablishing the court that had dis- barred him. Judge Ingersoll is a Democrat from sen- timent, sympathy and conviction, and has frequently been a delegate to the Democratic State conventions and a regular participant in every political canvass, from 1867 till 1885, except the one of 1882. Besides the judgeships above cited, he has held no offices except that, in 1876 he was the Democratic elector in the First Tennessee district, on the Tilden and Hendricks ticket.

He became a Mason in 1865, in Kenton, Ohio; was made a Knight Templar, at Knoxville, in 1881, and has served as Worshipful Master, High Priest and Captain- General ; and has been, for several years, chairman of the committee on appeals and grievances in the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. He is now Senior Grand Warden of that body. He received the 33º of the Scottish Rite in 1884, at Knoxville, and is presiding officer (com- mander-in chief) of Knoxville Consistory, No. 10. Ile is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He attends the Protestant Episcopal church, and be- lieves, like Ben Adhem; in religion that ennobles man, lifts him higher and makes him better-that teaches man to love his fellow-man and keep the golden rule; to do right, love the good and speak the truth; that saves man in this world as well as in the next.

Judge Ingersoll married, in Kenton, Ohio, April 11, 1864, Miss Emily G. Rogers, who was born April 18,. 1846, daughter of Everett Rogers, a native of Virginia; a contractor and builder. Her mother, ne Catharine Eliza Campbell, was born in Berks county, Ponusylva uia, and is a descendant of the clan Campbell, of Scot land. Mrs. Ingersoll was educated at the Wesleyan Female College, Delaware, Ohio, and is a lady of culti- vated mind and many graces. She has fine taste as a housekeeper, is very fond of society, excels as a conver- sationalist, and is noted among her friends and acquaint. ances for her unstinted hospitality and art of enter- taining. She is a woman of decided strength of char- acter and resolution, and of warm attachments. Her friends and her husband's friends she never forgets.

By his marriage with Miss Rogers, Judge Ingersoll has had two children : (1). Everett. Ingersoll, who died in early infancy. (2). Mabel Rogers Ingersoll, born at

Greeneville, Tennessee, May 12, 1868; graduated, in 1883, from the Knoxville High School, and in 1886, from the Brooklyn Heights Seminary.

The family name, Ingersoll, derived from the old Danish or Saxon, means " palace in a meadow." The family is Saxon, and appears in English history in the records of the Domesday Book. The ancestral home is in Bedfordshire, England. In 1629, two brothers, Rich- ard and John Ingersoll, emigrated to the American colonies, landed on Massachusetts soil, and settled at Salem. From these two brothers are descended all of the Ingersolls of America. Two have been governors of Connecticut. Five have been members of congress, Charles J., Joseph R., of Philadelphia ; Ralph I., and Colin M., of New Haven, and Ebon C., of Illinois. It was over the remains of the latter that his brother, the celebrated Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. uttered the beau- tiful sentiments: "This brave and tender man in every storm of life was oak and rock ; but in the sunshine he was vine and flower. He was the friend of all heroic souls. He climbed the heights and left all superstitions far below, while on his forehead fell the golden dawn- ing of a grander day. He added to the sum of human joy, and were every one for whom he did some loving service to bring a blossom to his grave, he would sleep to-night beneath a wilderness of flowers. Life is a nar- row vale, between the cold and. barren peaks of two eter- nities; we strive in vain to look beyond the heights ; we cry aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. From the voiceless lips of the unreplying death there comes no word ; bat in the night of death hope sees a star and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing.'

Among other members of the family who have made the Ingersoll name famous, there was Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the framers of the constitution of the United States in 1787, and Federal candidate for vice-president in 1812; Charles J. Inger- soll was United States minister to the court of St. James, 1850-53; Judge J. E. Ingersoll, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Judge O. M. Ingersoll, of Chicago, and Rev. Dr. E. P. Ingersoll, of Brooklyn, New York, have also added to the reputation of the family ; Maj. " Jack ', Ingersoll, of Mobile, and William K. Ingersoll, a law yer, of Vicksburg, are also well known and highly re garded. One of the best known of the family in New York, was Chandler L. Ingersoll, a ship and boat builder, who made a world-wide reputation as a builder of boats.and yachts. Of late years Col. Robert, G. In- gersoll, of Washington, the eminent lawyer and the most eloquent lecturer and orator in the United States, has made the name more conspicuous than any other member of the family. Ernest Ingersoll, of New lla- ven, is also a naturalist and popular author and maga- zine contributor of high repute.

The father of Judge Ingersoll, Rev. William Inger- soll, was born at Lee, Massachusetts, December 22,

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1801; married at Lee ; was a farmer, and an evangelist of the Congregational church. He moved to Oberlin, Ohio, as a pioneer of that place, in 1838, and died in May, 1873. He was a man of singular purity, np- rightness and piety of character ; a man of very decided convictions and positive views, but of great charity and sweetness of temper. He inherited his character, moral and intellectual, from his mother, who was a grand- daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, the distin- guished Calvinist divine and author, and president of Princeton College, New Jersey.

The grandfather, David Ingersoll, was also a native of Lee, Massachusetts, born about 1760; married Miss Sarah Parsons, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and died at Lee, a farmer, about eighty years of age, leaving thirteen children.

The great-grandfather was known as Esquire William Ingersoll, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, Hle was the settler of the town of Lee, founder of the church at that place, and a magistrate of that town for many years. On his gravestone, at Lee, is inscribed : "Satisfied with living and rejoicing in hope of glory, he died August 10, 1815, aged ninety-one years and four months, leaving behind him, in this dying world, one hundred and forty-nine descendants."

Judge Ingersoll's mother, nee Semantha Bassett, was born at Lee, Massachusetts, July 10, 1805, and died at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 12, 1882. Her father, Ansel Bassett, was a native of Massachusetts, a carpenter. Iler mother was Mary Dimmock, daughter of old Maj. Dimmock, of Barnstable, Massachusetts, an officer in, the Revolutionary war. Judge Ingersoll's brothers are Rev. Edward P. Ingersoll, D. D., pastor of the Church of the Puritans, Brooklyn, New York, and Ansel B. Ingersoll, of Sidney, Ohio. Judge Ingersoll's sisters are, Julia, wife of William B. Wordin, esq., Ridgeville, Ohio ; Mary Jane, wife of J. HI. Drew, St. Louis, Mis- souri, and Abbie, wife of W. W. Roberts, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Judge Ingersoll has a good constitution, inherited from his parents, a first-class education, self-reliance, persistent industry, tireless energy, and a devoted ap- plication to his profession, together with the use of strong common sense and judgment in the every day affairs of life. Books he has studied very much, men more. Added to these factors of his success, must be mentioned his characteristic honesty of purpose, sin - cerity and frankness in dealing with men, whereby he has gained and hold their confidence. He has always cherished in a high degree a feeling of self-respect, without which no man can maintain a high charac- ter. Three writers have most largely influenced his character and conduct in life. After the teachings of Jesus in the four Gospels, he has most read for moral instruction the writings of Carlyle and Emerson.

He recommends to his young friends to study the teachings of the Proverbs of Solomon, the advice which Polonius gives to Laertes in " Hamlet," and Bobby Burns' " Epistle to a Young. Friend." These have greatly influenced him. Besides, temperance in habit and in speech, in thought and in conduct, and self' control, have contributed no little to the success he has achieved, the foundation of which has been firmly laid in intelligence, integrity and industry.

AsJudge Ingersoll has been frequently in the local lecture field, this sketch of his life may be appropri ately concluded with a short extract from his lecture on " Children" :

"I think it not strange that the old Persians were sun worshipers. Men must worship something. They always have worshiped Power. And what form of force so potent, what energy so persistent, as the blessed sun- beam, dispensing its gracious light and heat?

" It sprouts the seed, swells the bud, bursts the blos- som, and ripens the fruit. It gilds the dawn and glad- dens the day, which, even dying, rejoices in its Hespe- rian beams. It paints with beauteous tints the sweet check of the ripening fruit, and the sweeter face of the laughing girl. It gives the gaudy, leonine beauty to the sunflower, and the perfect loveliness to the lily. It clothes the meadow in a richer green than Lyons fac- tor or Brussels weaver can give- his fabric, and spreads upon the flower garden a robe of more gorgeous variety than was ever seen in far-famed Gobelin tapestry.

" It wakens alike the melody of the song-bird, and the chorus of the chanticleers, the joyous prattle of the babe and the lusty call of the herdsman. It dances in the sparkling rivalet, and shimmers in the smooth sur- face of the lake. It startles you in

the Borealis race

That flit ere you can point their place.

It gladdens you in

the rainbow's lovely form, Evanishing amid the storm.

" It hath separated the light from the darkness, and the water from the dry land; and in the ages gone it hath prepared the coal and the diamond, and stored them away in mountain and river for the use of men and women to-day. It shines upon the mountain, and it crumbles; upon the blade of grass, and it grows. It. gives health to the sick and strength to the weak, cour- age to the timid and hope to the despairing. It vivifies all nature, and maketh glad the heart of man.

" Love is the sunlight of society. Open the windows of the soul, and it cheers and gladdens all within. This sunlight of love I bespeak for the children. It is their birth-right -their heavenly heritage."

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D. M. HENNING, M.D.

HENNING.

D R. HENNING was born in Clarke county, Geor- gia, August 24, 1813, and was brought up there, doing work on his father's farm and going to school at intervals until grown to manhood, when his father moved to Madison county, Tennessee, in 1833, and there he worked three years more on the farm. Among his classmates in Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, which he attended about two years, were Hon. Alexander II. Stephens, Gov. Howell Cobb, Gen. Robert Toombs and Bishop Pierce-a quartette of Georgia's ablest and most distinguished sons.

After coming to Tennessee, young Henning took charge of his father's farm three years, and then began the study of medicine in the office of Drs. John and Thomas Ingram, at Denmark, Madison county, Tennes- see. In 1835-6, he took a course of lectures in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and in 1836-7, a second course, graduating, in 1837, under Profs. Robert Dan- glison, Patterson, McClellan (father of Gen. George B. Mcclellan), Sam MeClellan, Green and Revere.

When he went to Philadelphia to study medicine, upon his arrival there, he opened his trunk and found a small Bible, in which was placed a piece of paper, containing advice in his mother's handwriting, request- ing him to meet her at the throne of grace, at an hour named, and if he would not do that, to at least remem- ber that at that bour-at the hour he had left-his mother was praying for her son. This incident led to the conversion of the son, and shaped his entire future life. The editor deems a record of this fact as of more importance as an incentive to mothers who would influ- ence their children for good and for all time, than would be a story of battles, sieges; and " hair-breadth escapes in the imminent deadly breach."

After graduating, he returned home and practiced physie in Haywood county two years, in partnership with Dr. Allen J. Barbee, but not making much money for some years. Indeed, his beginning was not promis ing in a financial point of view. In 1838, he moved to Lauderdale county, purchased some town property in Durhamville, and has been a citizen of that county ever since, accumulating property year by year by his practice, but mostly by buying and selling lands in that county, and now owns five thousand five hundred and thirty- seven acres in ten separate tracts, on two tracts of which are towns, Gates on one tract, and Henning, named by the railroad company for himself, on another and on eight others he has farms in cultivation. He practiced medicine from the time of his graduation up to the war, since when he has not been in the regular practice. During his practice, which extended from Brownsville to the Mississippi river, it took four horses

to supply him, and he had often to stay in negro cabins at night, the country then being new and thinly settled. He never had a spell of sickness that amounted to any- thing, except an occasional chill, and still looks the picture of health, at the age of seventy-one. His habits have not been irregular except what was open to his profession, but he has never been intoxicated, and has lived in all respects a prudent life.

He belongs to only one secret institution, to-wit, Ma- sonry, with which he has been connected from his young manhood, and which he served as Master of the lodge, at Durhamville, for several years. He was an old line Whig until the war, but since that time has voted the Democratic ticket, but never held an office or asked for one. In 1838, he joined the Methodist church, and has served as financial officer of that denomination.

Dr. Henning married, in Haywood county, Tennessee, December -- , 1839, Miss Ann Balloune Greaves, who was born in South Carolina, the daughter of Bennett Greaves, a rice planter in that State, but a cotton planter in Tennessee after 1833, when he moved to Hay- wood county, where he died. Her mother was a Miss Rachel Davis, also of South Carolina, of Scotch descent. ITer sister, Addie, is the wife of William Shaw, form . erly sheriff of Haywood county. Mrs. Henning was educated at Lagra ge, Fayette county, and Brownsville, Haywood county, Tennessee. She lived a modest, re- tired, religious life, without attempt at show or desire to make herself prominent in any way; except by her Christian principles of virtue and fidelity, and in all the relations of life was devoted to her God and her family. Her peculiar character was so excellent in all directions, and made so deep an impression on her sur- viving husband, that he has not contemplated a second marriage. She died in September, 1878, at the age of sixty.

By his marriage with Miss Greaves, Dr. Henning has three children living : (1). Frances A. Henning, educated at Lauderdale Female Institute, at Durham - ville; married William H. Moorer, a farmer, who had served as a soldier in the Confederate army, under Gen. Forrest. She has six children living, Willie, Charles, " "Tee," Annie, Frances and " Judge." (2). Bennett G. Henning, a physician at Memphis, whose sketch appears in another part of this volume. He married a daugh- ter of Dr. Frayser, of Memphis, whose sketch also ap pears in another part of this book, and by her has three children living. David M., Emma and Bennett. (3). Ella Henning, educated at Jackson (Tennessee; Female College, and married Dr. Henry B. Moorer, brother of William 11. Moorer, above mentioned, and has one child living, Henry B.

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Dr. Henning has had nine children, six of whom are dead ; five of them died in infancy. One, Addie Hen- ning, married Dr. James Hall, of Clinton, Mississippi, and died suddenly, two years after her marriage, leav- ing one child, David Meriwether, now being raised by his grandfather, Dr. Henning, who makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Frances Moorer, at Henning, Tennessee.

Dr. Henning's father, John Henning, was born in South Carolina. In that State he married a Miss Greene, who died, leaving him two children, both of whom are now dead. His second wife, Judith Burnley Meriwether (mother of Dr. Henning), was the daugh- ter of Gen. David Meriwether, of Georgia, of Revolu- tionary fame. By this lady he had nine children, five sons, Joseph, David, (subject of this sketch), James, William and Francis, and four daughters, Eliza Jane, Frances Ann, Sarah Thomas, and Henrietta. Of the sons, all are dead except Dr. Henning. Of the daugh- ters, only two survive.

Dr. Henning's father, Rev. John Henning, was a farmer and a Methodist preacher, belonging to the South Carolina conference, and afterward to the Geor- gia conference. He died in Haywood county, Tennes- see, sixty-seven years old, leaving a spotless reputation as an heirloom to his church and family. He was mar- . ried three times, his last wife being Mrs. Loftin, who still survives him. . He was a Welshman by birth, and came to America from Wales, with his brother, Thomas, and settled in South Carolina. Thomas Henning mar- ried and settled in that State.

For five years Dr. Henning was a director, and two years of that time was vice-president, of the Mississippi Valley railroad, afterward called the Paducah and Mem- phis railroad, and now the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern railroad -- an important link in the great " Huntingdon system." He has been a stern, fixed and undeviating friend of the Chesapeake, Ohio and South- western road from its inception, and paid the first dollar that was advanced to mark out its line. In 1873, he resigned his position as vice president of the Paducah and Memphis railroad, since which time he has held no official position with the road. But in 1883, the county court of Lauderdale county appointed him and Dr. Wardlow to adjust the indebtedness of the county to the railroad, amounting to two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, which they did to the satisfaction of the tax-payers of the county, and of the railroad company.

When Dr. Henning came to Tennessee to practice physic, he settled on the borders of emigration, without money, and his success is attributable to the fact that, in all his speculations in life he adhered to this princi- ple : That if he borrowed money, he would pay it back on the exact day promised. On this rule, his veracity being at stake, his character as a gentleman being at stake, he has often borrowed money at twenty-five per

cent. to pay a debt drawing six per cent. This method of his becoming known, he won the unlimited confi- dence of the people, and his promise circulated as cur- rent money with the merchant. Of old time it was said, " A good name is rather to be preferred than great riches." And certainly a good name is a power. It opens all the avenues to men's hearts, and to all depart- ments of trade and business. It is worth more than ready money in hand, for it represents values, and when transmitted, it is a letter of introduction and credit to sons and grandchildren, opening to them the doors into society and into the great commercial centers and circles which control the markets of the world. This gentleman, having from the start set a value on his good name, has won a reputation for honor, truth and conscience that has given him a place among the stand- ard men of the country, such that men speak of it as an honor that he is among their friends and they among his associates.

Dr. Henning stands five feet eleven inches in height ; weighs one hundred and ninety pounds ; has blue eyes, fair complexion, and an expression of kindliness and benignity. His conversation is a continuous flow of ani- mated narrative, abounding in anecdote and personal mention of characters who have figured in the history of the country, and with whom he has been more or less connected. For instance, he voted for the celebrated Davy Crockett for congress, and delights to tell of the peculiarities of that uncouth, yet able and celebrated back woods statesman. In his manners Dr. Henning is very plain and unpretentious, and without the appear- ance of that pride which is akin to arrogance. Yet he is a man of positive character and influences, such as attach strong friendships and tend to build up commu- nities in material and moral prosperity.

Since the above sketch was prepared, Dr. D. M. Hen- ning has passed away, having died at the residence of his son-in-law, Henry B. Moorer, in Henning, on Fri- day, May 21, 1886, in the seventy-third year of his age. The following obituary is taken from the columns of a local newspaper :

" The lives of but few men have been more inti- mately associated with the growth and prosperity of this section than the one whose name heads this notice. He was born in Georgia, in 1813, and his parents removed to Madison county, Tennessee, at a very carly day, where Mr. Henning resided until after he graduated as a physician. He then settled near Durhamville, in 1839, and practiced his profession there for many years.

"Of strong common sense and excellent judgment, he early saw the advantages which this section nat- urally possessed, and his life was spent in efforts to increase its material wealth. A.brusque and appi rently austere manner covered the kindest of hearts, and no

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one ever appealed to him for aid in vain. Without os- tentation he gave liberally to every charity. A shrewd business man, his simple word was a guarantee, binding as any bond.

"Since the death of his wife, which occurred in 1878, Dr. Henning resided with his children, and at the time of his death was living with his daughter. Mrs. Henry

Moorer. Ile sat down to the dinner table on Friday last in apparently good health, but became unconscious and died in a few moments after sitting down. He was a member of the Methodist church, and was buried a Trinity church, in Haywood county, where rest his wife and several children. He leaves a son and daughter --- Dr. B. G. Henning, of Memphis, and Mrs. Moorer."

ETHELBERT BARKSDALE WADE.

MURFREESBOROUGH.

A LTHOUGHI comparatively a young man, the sub- ject of this sketch will be recognized as a conspicuous personage, oftentimes seen in the capital building at Nashville during legislative sessions, while his face has been a familiar one in nearly all the State Democratic conventions covered by post bellum politics.

It does not often happen that a teacher lives to be- come the biographer of one of his pupils, as in the present instance, and those of Hon. James D. Richard- son and Dr. John HI. White, whose sketches will be found elsewhere in this volume. The first two of these gentlemen, when mere lads, were for a time under the editor of this volume, while he had charge of Central Academy, in their fathers' neighborhood, and it is with the greater pleasure that he writes their sketches, be- cause of their personal merit and the excellence of their respective families. Both had a good send-off, their fathers being wealthy, distinguished and representative men, and each son having inherited the leading and peculiar traits of his father. Some one has wittily said that if he were called on to advise a boy how to succeed in life, he would tell him first to select a good father and mother to be born of. In the case of Mr. Wade, as also of Maj. Richardson, they had a good induction, their respective parents ranking among the very first people of their county. Their fathers have passed away, but live again and are worthily represented in the sons.

The subject of this sketch was born in Rutherford county, Tennessee, where he still resides, September 24, 1813. Ethelbert was educated at the "old brick acad- emy " (Central Academy), in Rutherford county, under several teachers, but the war coming on when he was seventeen, his education was cut short, and he has never been to school since.

In August, 1861, he enlisted in the Eighteenth Ten- nessee Confederate infantry regiment, under Col. (after- ward Gen.) Joseph B. Palmer, a soldier and officer of distinction, and served with that regiment in Tennessee and Kentucky as a private. He was captured at Fort Donelson in February, 1862, taken to Springfield, Illi nois, and imprisoned in Camp Butler till the following

summer, when he made his escape and joined Bragg's army at Sparta. Tennessee, on its way into Kentucky. He served through the Kentucky campaign in the Fifth Arkansas regiment (Cof. Featherston), and was in the battle of Perryville. When the army returned to Ten- nessee, his old regiment ( Eighteenth Tennessee), which had been exchanged, participated in the battle of Mur- freesborough, and when the army retreated to Tulla- homa, January, 1863, he received an appointment in the regular army of the Confederate States, and was as-" signed to duty ou Gen. John B. Hood's staff, as an aid- de-camp, and served in that capacity with that distin- guished soldier in all his victories and defeats, till the end of the war, surrendering at Albany, Georgia, where he was on leave of absence awaiting orders, after Gen. Hood was relievel of the command of the army of Tennessee.

After the war he returned to Rutherford county, and has been engaged in farming ever since. In the mean- time he has been elected assistant clerk of the Tennes- see house of representatives two terms, and principal clerk four terms. From January to December, 1884, he was clerk to the committee on mines and mining of the United States house of representatives, resigned that position to accept the chief clerkship of the Ten- nessee house of representatives, session of 1885. In 1885-6. he received an appointment in the lower house of congress, and also acted as Washington corres- pondent of the Nashville Daily American.

In polities he is a thorough Democrat. Besides the offices above named he has served two terms (three years a term) as school director of his home district. In 1884, he was alternate delegate from the Fifth con- gressional district to the national Democratie conven- tion at Chicago that nominated Cleveland and Heu- dricks. He belongs to no secret society, but is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Wade married, in Forsyth, Georgia, September 21, 1864, Miss Dora L. Cochran, who was born August 20, 1845, daughter of Hon. Allen Cochran, for several terms a member of the Georgia Legislature, a leading citizen of Monroe county, Georgia, and a large planter.

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 127

Author: Speer, William S Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Nashville, A. B. Tavel Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Speer, William S
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Nashville, A. B. Tavel
Number of Pages: 1278