Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 77

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

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Ile attended the great celebration at Memphis, in May, 1857, of the completion of the Memphis and Charleston railroad, and was so pleased with the pros- pects of Memphis and its great future, and desiring a larger field to operate in, having exhausted the field already occupied, he determined to move there. Re- turning home and selling out in August, he commenced 'preparing for a newspaper which he was anxious to commence on the first of January, and had already ordered materials, but had not issued a prospectus, because he was perplexed as to the name of the new paper, having a contempt for old worn-out and insig- nificant names and wanting something new and attract- ive. Out of a list of about a dozen new names thought of, he had nearly made up his mind to select " Sesame." but a friend pronouncing it "Se-same," he rejected it. At a church meeting he heard a preacher use the words, "The great avalanche of public opinion," and thereupon he determined, after some thought, and discussing it with his wife, to adopt for the title of his new paper, the word Acalanche, and that night issued his pros- pectus. The novelty of the name attracted universal attention. When he started the paper, he deposited ten thousand dollars in Wicks' bank, which he proposed to risk in the enterprise. Although there were three morning papers then in Memphis -- the Appeal, Eagle and Enquirer, and Bulletin-at the end of three months, the Avalanche was paying expense and a half

interest was sold to Colin Campbell, of Columbia, Ten- nessee, for a large advance on the cost. Campbell soon afterward dying, his interest was purchased by Col. M. W. Cluskey, author of " (luskey's Political Text Book," and a brilliant and able journalist. The paper grew in popularity and value, having taken a prominent part in the contest which brought about the war, and being regarded as the exponent of extreme southern sen- timent. On the night South Carolina seceded from the Union, thirty thousand dollars was offered for the paper.

In the meantime, in 1860, Col. Callaway was appointed postmaster at Memphis, by President James Buchanan, He was not an applicant for the office, and was aston- ished when he received official notice of his appoint- ment. He served as postmaster, still editing the Ava- lanche, until the surrender of Memphis, June 6, 1862.

When that event came, Col. Gallaway joined Forrest's cavalry as aide-de-camp on Gen. Forrest's staff, and served with him till the end of the war. He served in East Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi, taking part in the battles of Chickamauga, Bryson's Cross- roads, the raid into Memphis in August, 1864, and was in the battles of Nashville and Murfreesborough; at the storming of Fort Pillow, and on many raids, cap- turing troops, etc. At Chickamauga, he was slightly wounded, and his horse was shot in the head, while in the charge upon the enemy at Pulaski. He was also in the fight at Sehna, and in numerous other engage- ments. For a fuller account of Col. Gallaway's military career, see " Forrest's Life and History of the War," by. Gen. Jordan.

The war over, he returned to Memphis, in May, 1865. When Memphis fell he had disposed of the Acalanche, and the parties who purchased becoming bankrupt, he was forced to commence life over again without a dollar. . Hle determined to revive the Icalanche, and for this purpose, went on to Washington and procured a pardon from Andrew Johnson, returned to Memphis and ap- plied to his friends, Capt. Dan Able and Col. Samuel Tate, who were then doing a prosperous business, mak- ing known to them his desires and wants. They asked him how much money he would require? He told them he could start the paper with three thousand dollars. They told him to call next morning, when they gave him. a letter of credit . for ten thousand dollars, only three thousand of which, however, he used. Through this aid, the Icalanche was revived in Jan- uary, 1866, with W. H. Rhea as his partner. The paper was more successful than ever before. The money borrowed was paid back at maturity, and the Avalanche was more prosperous than any paper had ever been in Memphis. The Acalanche fought a bitter fight against the objectionable men put in office, and controlling the negroes there, who were enfranchised, while the white citizens were disfranchised. Gallaway's articles were terrific in their personality, and for some of them he was

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arrested-probably a dozen times-and confined in jail one night, only for utterances in a free and unshackled press, which, however, the judge, a carpet-bagger, re- zarded as contempt of court. The citizens of Memphis came to tear the jail down, but Gallaway forbade them. These events, and the fierce and bitter tone of his arti- eles, made the Acalanche the most noted paper of the South for the time. This war of the Acalanche con- timed till August, 1869, when Hon. D. W. C. Senter, having been elected governor with the avowed purpose of enfranchising the rebels, the tone of the Avalanche was modified, having gained the important point for which it had so persistently contended, the enfranchise- ment of the rebel soldiers and their sympathisers.

In the meantime, Col. A. J. Kellar, who had become a part owner in the Alcalanche, seemed disposed to go too far in the opposite extreme. This produced a dis- agreement between Gallaway and Kellar, resulting in the latter purchasing the former's interest in the fra- lanche, in April, 1870.

Col. Gallaway then bought stock in the Memphis Appeal, and became connected with that paper in May, : 1870, at which time there were thirty stockholders. He and Col. J. M. Keating, his present partner, began par- chasing the interests of the other stockholders, and these two now own the entire paper and edit it. To show the success of this paper, reference need only be made to the fact that, in 1868, the Appeal sold at pub- lie auction for twenty-one thousand dollars, and that in August, 1883, one hundred thousand dollars was offered for it and refused.

Col. Gallaway has become celebrated in the South as authority on the code duello, and has acted as second in two affaires du honeur. He has favored and still advocates duelling as a peace measure, believing that when the code is established and punctiliously observed, it prevents instead of causing the shedding of blood. He was second in the celebrated duel in which II. C. Chambers killed Col. W. II. Lake, both of Mississippi ; was also second in the duel between George R. Phelan and James Brazzallaire, in which the latter was badly wounded. On account of his recognized familiarity with the code, he has been selected as referee during the last twenty years in scores of personal difficulties, which were all satisfactorily settled, except in the two eases named, and which were considered impossible to adjust amicably. Col. Gallaway is an extremist in everything-friendships, enmities and charities, but is very magnanimous and forgiving, and without malice. As long as the cause exists he is pugnacious, but as soon as that is removed, he relents and shows an unbounded generosity.

In politics, he has always been a Democrat without variation, and though he has made more office-holders than any man in the South, has never sought or held office himself, except that of postmaster, before men- tioned. He has been a delegate to nearly all the party

State conventions, and twice a delegate to national Dem- ocratie conventions. He has never been a public speaker, for the reason that he can never think con- secutively on his feet, becoming bewildered as soon as he rises to speak. On this account, as well as for other reasons, he has never been a candidate for office, and declined nomination for the Legislature.

As an evidence of his generosity and kindness, he and his wife, though they have no children of their own, have raised, during the forty years of their married life, some thirty children, who needed protectors, orphan kin, either on his or her side. Col. Gallaway joined the Odd Fellows when a young man, but has not taken any interest in secret societies. Though a firm be- liever in the Christian religion, he belongs to no church, entertaining liberal views, and opposing sectarianism. In his younger days, he lived a stormy life that led to excesses, but for several years past has been living in quietness and tranquillity. 4 The conflicts which he used formerly to engage in, and which were suited to his na- ture, are now abhorrent to him in his anxiety for peace and a serene old age.

When the war began, he had, as postmaster, ten thous- and dollars belonging to the United States govern- ment. . This amount was seized by military force of .the Confederate government, but so soon as peace was declared, he was sued for the recovery of this money by the United States government and judgment obtained, which was subsequently paid by him. Per contra, the Federal forces used his house in Memphis as headquar- ters for nearly two years after the war, took about two thousand dollars' worth of furniture and silverware when they left, and did him other damage, but for all this he has never received anything.

The episode in his life, when his father disinherited him, marks the beginning of the manhood of Col. Gal- laway. From that day, he resolved to be a man, and by energy and close attention to business, has succeeded in every newspaper with which he has been connected, until now he is half owner of one of the finest newspa- per properties in the South, and is classed among the solid men of his city. His caustic style of writing has given him his success, for it gave notice to all the world that the editor is a man true to himself, swearing in no man's word, fibrate suis ponderibus.

The following extract from a biographical work, re- cently published in Memphis, shows how he is estimated as an editor in that city : "Col. M. C. Gallaway com- menced his editorial career in 1837, when only seven- teen years of age, and has been connected with the press ever since, and during that time has written- more than any southern journalist now living. In May, 1870, he purchased an interest in the Appeal, which, outside of Louisville, is regarded as the ablest and most popular of all the southern Democratic newspapers, as is at- tested by its large circulation. Col. Gallaway is ardent and enthusiastic in his temperament, and is therefore

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extreme in his friendships and his enmities. Hle de- fends his friends with the same energy that he attacks his opponents. Without the wit of Prentice, he more nearly approaches the great Kentucky editor in with- ering sarcasm, biting irony, and crushing ridicule, than any writer of the South.

Mrs. Gallaway was educated at Huntsville, Alabama, and was teaching school when Col. Gallaway married her. She is a lady of extraordinary character, of strong, vigorous intellect, judgment almost infallible, and is consulted, not only by her husband, but by friends, for her advice in important matters. She is a strong advo- cate of woman's rights, but has never gone to the ex- treme of woman suffrage, which she thinks would sink rather than elevate her sex. In her own vigorous mind, she believes woman intellectually the equal of man, and consequently ought to have the same rights. Her charity has been unbounded. She was elected presi- dent of the Home for the Homeless prior to the war, and bought a lot on which to build a charitable institution, which was not constructed, on account of the war coming on. After the war. she converted this institution into a refuge for maimed Confederate soldiers, which, for several years, she kept up by soliciting contributions from the public, and often from her own means. The first few years after the conflict between the States, her door was the hammering place for maimed Confederate soldiers, their orphans and widows. In order to benefit this class, she got up what was called the " Fanny

Thruston Society," and invited distinguished lecturers throughout the South to address the public, and from the proceeds of these lectures, she raised thousands of dollars, which were appropriated for the benefit of this class, In 1866, she conceived the idea of creating a monument-to the Confederate soldiers, and by persistent importunities, succeeded in raising about five thousand dollars, which built the splendid monument now in Khuwood cemetery, Memphis, erected to the memory of those noble men.

Mrs. Gallaway is first and foremost in all works of charity in Memphis; is the oldest communicant of the Cumberland Presbyterian church in that city; when able, has been a regular teacher in the Sunday-school; and has always been president or controller of societies for the benefit of the church. Justice is the star that directs her footsteps, and her regard for truth and her aversion for falsehood, are leading traits in her charac- ter. Her sensesof duty controls her in everything. Every one who knows her-so implicit is their faith in her sense of justice and her fine judgement-refers to her for opinions. But the highest praise of all is, that though married forty-two years, she has never given her husband a cross word. Her motto seems to have been, " Beware of the first quarrel." No woman in the South is better known or more respected than she for a char- acter which all who know her regard as faultless, and in Memphis she is treasured as one of the jewels of the city.

MAJ. GILBERT V. RAMBAUT.

MEMPHIS

M AJ. GILBERT V. RAMBAUT was born in Petersburg. Virginia, February 13, 1837, and lived there until his twenty-first year. He never at- tended college, but took a thorough course in the acad- emies of Petersburg, beginning his education under Prof. MeGhee, continuing it under Prof. Thomas D. Davidson, now of Abingdon, Virginia, and finishing at a military school under Lieut. Bass, at the age of seven- teen. His tastes all ran in the direction of a mercantile life, and as soon as he left school, he went into the to- bacco business with his father at Petersburg. Wishing to get into a newer and wider field of enterprise, he concluded to take the advice of Horace Greeley to " go west and grow up with the country." In February, 1858, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and engaged in the tobacco business, which he followed for one year. lle then sold out and went into the hotel business as clerk at the Worsham House, and shortly afterward bought out the proprietor and formed the firm of Ram- baut & Cox, who carried on the hotel until the begin-

ning of the war. In the meantime, he had become en- gaged in railroading, in company with the firm of Hopper & Co., and had taken a contract to build a rail- road through Attala county, Mississippi, the road being an extension of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern railroad, which was projected from Canton, Mississippi, to Tuscumbia, Alabama.

When the war broke out, he left Mr. Cox in charge of the hotel and enlisted for the Confederate service, en- tering Forrest's old regiment as a private in company H, commanded by Capt. McDonald. He served through the war with Forrest, and took part in all his battles and campaigns, with two brief exceptions ; once during the Fort Pillow raid, when he had been left in counnand at Columbus, Mississippi, and the other time at the Mem- phis fight, when, having been ordered back to Macon, Mississippi, from Oxford, Mississippi, on business, and though telegraphed by his general, failed to join his command before they left.

After the battle of Fort Donelson, when Forrest, who

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had cut through the enemy's lines and escaped with his regiment, was called upon by the war department to make a report, it was written by Maj. Rambaut, at the dictation of Forrest. After the battle of Shiloh, where he was slightly wounded in the hand, he was one of ten men who went with Forrest, who had been brevetted brigadier-general and sent into Middle Tennessee, and when Forrest was put in command of a brigade of cay- alry and sent with Bragg on his Kentucky campaign, he acted as commissary of the brigade. He and his friend, Maj .. John P. Strange, and Gen. Forrest were all promoted for gallantry in the battle of Murfreesbo- rough, which was fought on Gen. Forrest's birth-day July 21, 1862-but their commissions were not received before going into the Kentucky campaign, and after the the return to Murfreesborough, Strange and Rambaut were offered commissions as colonel and lieutenant-col- onel, respectively, in the field, in the new command which Forrest was forming. On the morning that they were to be assigned to duty, they were about to part from Gen. Forrest, in the office of Gen. Joseph B. Palmer, at Murfreesborough, when Forrest, who had become deeply attached to them while they had served on his staff, expressed with great feeling his regret that their rela- tions were to be severed. Moved by this, they threw up their appointments as field officers, and continued on the staff, Maj. Rambaut starting for Richmond that night to bring out the commissions for the whole staff, his, Strange's and Forrest's bearing date July 21, 1862.

In February, 1863, while returning from the second fight at Fort Donelson, he was captured near Kinder- hook, Tennessee, by the command of Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, whom he had known at Fortress Monroe, Vir- ginia, when Davis was a lieutenant in the regular United States army. He was treated with great kind- ness, and after being kept at Nashville on parole for about three weeks, was sent to Camp Chase and thence to Fort Delaware. After two weeks at Fort Delaware, he was exchanged at City Point, Virginia, reported to the war department at Richmond, and rejoined his com- mand during the Streight raid. having been in the hands of the enemy about three months. Maj. Strange, who was his most intimate friend before, during and since the war, was with him in prison.

In a skirmish at Dillard's plantation, between Pon- totoe and Harrisburg, July 12, 1864, Maj. Rambaut was wounded in the knee, but did not leave the field. Dur- ing the campaign in the " western district," he was in seventeen fights in thirteen days. On one occasion, he was in command, with Gen. Forrest serving on his staff. Forrest had left him at Trenton, Tennessee, in command of one company, a lot of dismounted men, and Morton's battery of four guns and seven ammuni- tion wagons, the whole force amounting to about one hundred and twenty-five men, with orders to proceed to Kenton station, while he, with the rest of the com mand, was engaged in tearing up the railroad. When

within about two miles of Kenton, he was informed by a citizen that it was occupied by the enemy, two hundred and fifty strong, entrenched in a stockade. Having his orders to camp at the place, and being con- vinced that Gen. Forrest was aware of the fact that it was in possession of the enemy, he concluded to make an attack and dislodge them, if possible. Having made his plans, he was advancing to the attack, having driven in the Federal skirmishers, when Gen. Forrest galloped up and called to him to know what he had done, and being informed, told him to carry out his designs, but instead of taking command himself, acted as a member of Maj. Rambaut's staff during the light. This was a very neat compliment from a gallant commander to an equally gallant subordinate. Maj. C. S. Seay, of Gen. Forrest's staff, acted as Maj. Rambaut's adjutant. The enemy were driven in, and fire from the artillery being opened upon them, they surrendered at the second dis- charge.

He served through the Hood campaign in Tennessee, in 1864, and when Gen. Forrest, commanding the rear guard on the retreat from Nashville, after holding the town of Columbia for five days, had fallen back and routed the enemy between the Tennessee river and Pu- laski, thus putting an end to the pursuit, he sent Maj. Rambaut to bear the dispatch to Gen. Hood.

Surrendering at Gainesville, Alabama, on the 13th of May, 1865, he returned to Memphis with the intention of going at once to Mobile, Alabama, to enter into bus- iness with Mr. Weaver, of Columbus, Mississippi. Changing his plans, he went into the grocery and cotton business with his father-in-law, Mr. E. M. Apperson, at Memphis, and remained with him up to June 1, 1885, and is now devoting his time to the management of the Union Stock Yard and Fertilizer Company, of which company he is the largest stock holder.

Previous to the war, Maj. Rambant was a Whig, and twice voted against secession, but went into the war in defense of his adopted State. . Since the war, he has voted with the Democrats, but has never sought or held political office.

He has been actively connected with the public inter- ests and public education in Memphis, and has served as a member of the city school board for the past twelve years. He served as president of the board for two years, under the old system, and when the. charter was amended, in 1883, vacating all the offices, he was one of five commissioners appointed by the governor, was elected by them president, and served until Janu- ary, 1884, when he was elected by the people, and again made president. He was re-elected a commisjoner by the people. in January, 1886, with the present taxing district officers, for a term of four years. He was a di- rector in the Planters Insurance Company of Memphis, from its organization till 1882. He has been president of the Mechanics' Building and Loan Association from its organization. in 1877, to the present time. He is one

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of the originators of the Memphis Union Stock Yard and Fertilizer company, which has a capital stock of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and is com- posed of the solid men of Memphis, having in its board of directors seven of the presidents of the leading cor- porations of the city. He is also president of the North American Holstein Cattle Registry and Breeders' Asso- ciation, and he is a stockholder of various other corpo- rations. He has been for several years president of the Mozart Musical Society of Memphis, having been elected to the position without solicitation on his part; and not knowing of the action of the society until told of it by a friend the next day. This society is now one of the in- stitutions of Memphis. It is conducted in connection with the conservatory of music, and has an associate membership of two hundred and fifty, composed of the leading business men of the city, who keep it up, while an active membership of one hundred and seventy-five gentlemen and ladies compose the chorus. Here the peo- ple of Memphis receive at their doors the best musical instruction which the country affords, and in the festi- vals which are given by the society, the best musical talent of Europe and America is employed. When Maj. Rambaut was elected its president, there were only eighteen members and a class of eleven. In sixty days, there were two hundred members and a class of one hundred. He became a Mason in Leila Scott Lodge, Memphis, in 1860, and has filled nearly all the subordi- nate offices, served one term as Master of the lodge, and is now Eminent Commander of St. Elmo Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also a member of the Knights of Honor and the Royal Arcanum.

Maj. Rambaut was married at Memphis, March 5, 1860, to Miss Sue Apperson, daughter of E. M. Apper. son. Her father was born in Charles City county, Vir- ginia, and moved to Memphis nearly fifty years ago, and is now about the oldest merchant in the city. He is well and widely known in business circles, and has been connected with most of the principal banks and insur- ance companies of the city, and is also largely engaged in planting in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas. The family of Apperson is of Welsh descent. Mrs. Rambaut's mother, Miss Moorcock, a lady of Scotch- English descent, was born at Berkley, Virginia, the daughter of a Methodist minister. Mrs. Rambaut was born in Halifax county, North Carolina, in February, 1839, and was educated at Memphis and at Somerville, Tennessee. She is domestic in her tastes, and devoted to her home and her children. She is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, of which Maj. Ram baut is also a communicant. To this union have been born six children : (1). Susie, born February 10, 1861, now wife of JJ. Monroe Williamson, a planter near Helena, Arkansas. They have two children ; a son, Vincent R., born November 11, 1879, and a daughter, Irene, born January 1, 1881. (2). Maggie Elise, born August 6, 1865; a young lady of rare accomplishments, ,

who graduated in two institutions of learning before attaining her seventeenth year. (3). Edna, born No- vember 3, 1867. (4). Vinnie, born August, 5, 1870. (5). Maybelle, born May 9, 1872. (6). G. V. Rambaut, jr., born September 6. 1873.

The Rambaut family is of French descent. Maj. Rambaut's father was Capt. G. V. Rambaut, a tobacco merchant at Petersburg, Virginia. He was born at Bates' Spring, near Petersburg, in 1799, and died No- vember 21, 1874, being at the time of his death the oldest native-born citizen of Petersburg. He was the first and only commander of the Petersburg Guards, a prominent military organization forty years ago, and at the beginning of the war of secession, though more than sixty years of age, entered the Confederate service as a captain of artillery. In 1867, he moved to Mem- phis and remained five years, and then returned to Petersburg, Virginia, where he died. He left five chil- dren : (1). Mrg. William E. Morrison of Petersburg, Virginia, a lady of remarkable culture and literary at- tainments, particularly in history. (2). Gilbert V. Ram- baut, subject of this sketch. (3). Robert D. Rambaut, of Memphis. (4.) Mrs. Louis Warrington, of Baltimore. (5). Mrs. Nannie Hill, of Richmond, Virginia,

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Sketches of prominent Tennesseans. Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee, Part 77

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