The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 74

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > Vermont > Washington County > The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer: > Part 74

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sleeps in our new Green Mount Cemetery, which he took so much pride in planning and ornamenting.

THE HONORABLE WILLIAM UPHAM,

son of Captain Samuel Upham, was born in Leicester, Mass., Aug. 5, 1792. In 1802, his father and family removed to Vermont, and settled on a farm near the Centre of Montpelier, where, from 10 to about 15 years of age, he worked on the farm, only attending the winter schools of the common school district in which he resided ; when he met with an accident, which apparently gave a new turn to his destinies for life :- while engaged about a cider mill, his hand so caught in the ma- chinery, and all the fingers of the right hand, were so crushed that they had to be amputated even with the palm. This, un- fitting him for manual labor, led his father to consent to what had before been his wish, the commencement of a course of education, preparatory to the study of the law. Accordingly he attended the old academy, at Montpelier, a few terms, and then, with the late Reverend William Per- rin of Berlin for a fellow student, pursued the study of Latin and Greek, about one year, with the Reverend James Hobart of Berlin. In 1808, he entered the office of the Hon. Samuel Prentiss, in Montpelier, as a law student ; and, after pursuing his legal studies there about three years, he was admitted to the bar, and soon went in- to partnership in the practice of the law with the Hon. Nicholas Baylies. After continuing in partnership with Mr. Baylies a few years, he opened an office alone in Montpelier ; and from that time, until his election to the United States Senate, he, either alone or with temporary partners, continued in the constant and successful practice of his profession, the business of which was always more than ample enough to require his whole time and attention. For the firsi thirty years of his professional career, Mr. Upham, with the exception of only one instance, steadily declined the many profers of his friends for his promo- tion to civil office, though his opportunities for holding such offices included the chance

for a seat on the bench of our Supreme Court. The excepted instance was in- volved in his consent to run as candidate for town representative, in 1827; when, though the majority of his party was a matter of much doubt, he was triumphant- ly elected. In 1828, he was re-elected, and in 1830, received a third election, serving throug all the three terms to the entire satisfaction of his constituents, and therein exhibiting talents as a public de- bator which gave him a high position in the Legislature. In the presidential cam- paign, 1840, he, for the first time, took an active part in politics, and, to use a mod- ern phrase, stumped nearly the whole State, making himself everywhere known to the people by the peculiar traits of his popular eloquence, and by doing efficient political service in favor of the election of General Harrison. In 1841, he was elect- ed to a seat in the United States Senate ; and in 1847, was re-elected to the same distinguished office, and died, at Washing- ton, before the completion of his last term, Jan. 14, 1853.

In his professional career, to which the main energies of his life were devoted, he became widely known as one of the best advocates in the State. He was, indeed. what might be called a natural lawyer, and the practice of his profession seemed to amount to almost a passion with him ; and, even in his youth, even before he com- menced his legal studies, he would often, it was said, leap up from his dreama in his bed, and go to pleading some imaginary law case. And, what he determined to be, that, he became, one of the most success- ful jury lawyers to be found in any country. Never hesitating for word, and fluent almost beyond example, the style of his speaking was rapid, thoroughly earnest. and often highly impassioned, and so mag- netic was that earnestness and seeming confidence in his case, and so skilfully wrought up were his arguments, that bad indeed must have been his side of the question, if he did not command the sym- pathies and convictions of a good part, if not all, of the jury.

As a statesman it ill befits us to judge

FORRES CO BOSTON

William Mepham

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him, while those, who spoke by more authority, and from better opportunities, have so well and fully done so. At the time the customary resolutions, on the occasion of his death, were introduced in Congress, Senator Foot, in his obituary address, said of him :

" His impaired health, for some years past, has restrained him from participating so generally and so actively in the discus- sions of this body, as his inclination might otherwise have induced him to do, or his ability as a public debator might perhaps have demanded of him. Nevertheless his speeches on several important and excit- ing public questions, have the peculiar im- press of his earnestness, his research, his ability and his patriotic devotion to the best interests of his country. A striking example is furnished of his fidelity to the trust committed to him, and his constant and patient attention to his public duties here, in the fact, which I had from his own mouth, that during the ten years of his service in this body, he never absented himself from the City of Washington for a single day, while Congress was in session, and never failed, while the condition of his health would permit, of daily occupying his seat in the Senate."

Senator Seward said :

"WILLIAM UPHAM was of Vermont : a consistent exponent of her institutions. He was a man of strong and vigorous judg- ment, which acted always by a process of sound, inductive reasoning, and his com- peers here will bear witness that he was equal to the varied and vast responsibilities of the Senatorial trust. He was a plain, unassuming, unostentatious man. He nev- er spoke for display, but always for con- viction. He was an honest and just man. He had gotten nothing by fraud or guile ; and so he lived without any fear of losing whatever of fortune or position he had attained. No gate was so strong, no lock so fast and firm, as the watch he kept against the approach of corruption, or even undue influence or persuasion. His na- tional policy was the increase of industry,

of improvement. He adopted his opinions without regard to their popularity, and never stifled his convictions of truth, nor suppressed their utterance, through any fear or favor, or of faction ; but he was, on the contrary, consistent and constant

As pilot well expert In perilous wave,

That to a steadfast starre his course hath bent."

Mr. Upham's best known speeches in the Senate are his speech on Three Million Bill, delivered March 1, 1847; on The Ten Regiment Bill, and the Mexican War, de- livered Feb. 15, 1848; on the Bill to es- tablish Territorial Governments of Oregon, New Mexico and California, delivered Ju- ly 28, 1848; on the Compromise Bill, de- livered July 1 and 2, 1850.

These were all published in pamphlet form, as well as in all the leading political papers of the day, and at once received the stamp of public approbation as elabo- rate and able efforts. But besides these, and besides also the numerous written and published reports he made during his Con- gressional career, as chairman of commit- tee on Revolutionary Claims, on the Post Office and Post Roads, and of other com- mittees, Mr. Upham made many other speeches on various subjects, which, though less extensively circulated perhaps, than those above enumerated, yet received almost equal praise from high quarters.

Of the latter may be cited, as an instance, his speech in opposition to the Tariff bill of 1846; and to show the approbation with which it was received, at the time, among distinguished men, we are permitted to copy a characteristic note from Mr. Web- ster, which was sent Mr. Upham, the even- ing after the speech was delivered, and which, after his death, was found among his private papers :

THURSDAY EVE., July 26, 1846. My Dear Sir :- If you could convenient- ly call at my house, at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, I should be glad to see you for five minutes. I wish to take down some of your statements respecting the market abroad, for our wool. Following in your track, my work is to compare the value of the foreign and home markets.

Yours truly, DANIEL WEBSTER.

If I had the honor of being a corre- the cultivation of peace, and the patronage [ spondent of Mrs. Upham, I should write

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to her to say, that you had made an excel- lent speech. The point, of the duty of government to fulfil its pledges, so fre- quently and solemnly made, was exhibited in a very strong light. D. W.

A friend wrote that the Senator "was keenly sensible of the dignity of his office, and careful in the discharge of its duties, and from his constancy, industry, and in- tegrity, he was one of the most useful members of the senate."

MRS. SARAH UPHAM.

Sarah Keyes, wife of the Hon. Senator, was born in Ashford, Conn. She was a sister of Mrs. Thomas Brooks of Montpelier, the grandmother of Gen. W. T. Brooks, the distinguished commander of the Vermont Brigade through part of the war of the Re- bellion, and while with 'her sister here, became acquainted with Mr. Upham, with whom, at the early age of 19, she united her destinies for life. Many a public man has been left to regret that he had not a partner who, by her personal attractions, wit and conversational powers, was fitted to sustain herself in the social circles into which his high position brought him. Not so Mr. Upham ; his wife, who usually at- tended him to Washington, readily and gracefully sustained herself among the best society congregated at the National Capi- tal, and was ever, at home or abroad, the cordial, sparkling, intelligent woman, and eminently popular. Each successive season for years, and after her own family had grown up, the young people of Montpelier were indebted to her, more than to any other lady at the Capital, for her inexclu- sive hospitalities, and efforts that never wearied, to promote their happiness and culture ; for the numerous pleasant parties at which, with the approbation of her lib- eral, warm-souled and congenial husband, she delighted to gather them at her house, within her beautiful home, under her charm- ing influence. Her very presence was re- fining and a delight. A lady so charitable, magnetic and influential is a great gift to society. Such was Mrs. Upham, as still remembered by numerous friends, and what to her surviving daughters is more pre- cious, and for the example of women more beautiful, she was no less marked and ex-

cellent in her every-day life of family duties and cares and affections-the wise and able woman in her own house. The rich- est fruit must ripen and fall. After her husband died, though of a buoyant disposi- tion, and striving hard to bear her loss with Christian resignation, she soon began to droop, and on the 8th of May, after, 1856, followed him to the grave, mourned by her children and many friends. The por- trait of Mrs. Upham in this volume was copied from a painting done shortly after her marriage, while that of the Senator was taken many years later. E. P. W.

WILLIAM KEYES UPHAM,

oldest son of Senator Upham, was born in Montpelier, April 3, 1817, admitted to the bar there, and soon thereafter removed to Ohio, where he gained a large and lucra- tive practice, and ultimately rose to the head of his profession in that State, rank- ing, wrote a biographer, "with Chase, Stanton, Corwin, Vinton, John. A. Bing- ham, and others." This statement has been confirmed to the writer of this note by a judge of an Ohio court, in which Mr. Upham practiced. He died Mar. 22, 1865, and a handsome monument was erected to him by the bar of Stark Co., O. E. P. W.

MAJ. CHARLES C. UPHAM,

the second son of Senator Upham, was born in Montpelier, April 3, 1819, and was educated there. In 1852, he entered the U. S. Navy as Paymaster, and by his con- duct so far won the confidence of the de- partment that he was assigned to duties of a confidential character. He died sud- denly at Montpelier, June 10, 1868. His wife, Mrs. Abbie E .- Upham, did not long survive him. E. P. W.

MRS. GEORGE LANGDON,

who was Sarah Sumner, oldest daughter of Senator Upham, was born in Mont- pelier, and MARY ANNETTE, youngest daughter of Senator Upham, resides with her. Both of these ladies have inherited all the beautiful graces and the remarkable characteristics of their mother, and are favorites as well in the Capitals of Ver- mont and the Nation, as elsewhere. They are both still living, [1881.] E. P. W.

Sarah Wp ham

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COL. JONATHAN PECKHAM MILLER was born in Randolph, Feb. 24, 1797. His father, who died in 1799, had given him to his uncle, Jonathan Peckham, who, dying about 1805, appears to have commended the boy to the care of Capt. John Granger, of the same town, and with that gen- tleman he resided till 1813, when he went to Woodstock to learn the tanner's trade. He did not remain long there, however, before sickness compelled him to return ; and his illness settling into protracted feeble health, he made Mr. Granger's house his home for the next 4 years. But during this time the invasion of Plattsburgh by the British occurring, and Capt. Lebbeus Egerton, of that town, having raised a company of volunteers to go to the rescue, young Miller, sick or well, determined on joining the expedition, which, neverthe- less, turned out to be a bloodless one ; for the company had not quite time to reach the scene of action before the battle was over, and the enemy had beat a retreat ; when they all returned to Randolph, with no other glory than that which arose from this good showing of their patriotic inten- tions. Whether this incident started in Miller a taste for military affairs, or whether he began to feel farming would prove too tame an occupation for him, is not fully known ; but certain it is, as early as 1817, he resolved to change his mode of life, and went to Marblehead, Mass., where a com- pany of United States troops were sta- tioned, and enlisted as a common soldier in the army. He continued in the service about 2 years, being a part of the time sta- tioned on our northern frontier, when, his health again failing, he procured a dis- charge, and returned to Randolph, where he attended the academy of that town, and soon began to fit for college. After dili- gently prosecuting his studies here till the summer of 1821, he entered Dartmouth College ; but, for some reason, left in the course of a few weeks, and joined a class, of like standing as the one he had been in at Dartmouth, in the University of Ver- mont. At Burlington College, he steadily pursued his studies, advancing with the rest of his class, to almost the last year of

the prescribed course of collegiate require- ments, when, May 24, 1824, the college buildings accidentally caught fire and were totally. consumed, and with them a portion of the public library and the private books of the students, among which were those of Mr. Miller.

He was now afloat again ; but does not appear to have long hesitated in making up his mind upon a course of action for his immediate future. The struggles of Greece for liberty had by this time become the theme of every American fireside, and the appalling woes her people were suffer- ing from the remorseless cruelties of their turbaned oppressors, had already enlisted the sympathies of every American heart that could feel for anything. As might be expected of one of Miller's warm and pat- riotic nature, his feelings had been among those of the first to be aroused at the re- cital of these tales of outrage. But here- tofore he had been engaged in the accom- plishment of the task before him-the com- pletion of his college course. He thought it hardly worth his while now, however, at his age, to enter a new college for this pur- pose, and, if not, his time was on his own hands. Why, then, should he not go to succor the oppressed, as well as other pat- riotic Americans who had already sailed for Greece, or were intending shortly to do so? With the question, came the decision.

He knew there was in Boston an asso- ciation of wealthy and influential gentle- men, styled the Greek Committee, who had been selected to receive and appropriate contributions for the Greek cause, by pur- chasing needed munitions, or by furnish- ing the means of transit to those who, without such means, were willing to volun- teer their personal services in behalf of the oppressed. But he must first obtain an introduction to them ; and for this purpose he went to Gov. Van Ness, at the destruc- tion of whose house by fire, a short time before, he knew he had performed an im- portant and dangerous service in rescuing valuable property from the flames. The Governor, who never forgota benefit, wrote a letter, not only of introduction, but of warm recommendation of Mr. Miller, to

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the Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, and the Hon. Edward Everett, the President and Secretary of the Greek Association, who, in their turn, gave him letters to the Pres- ident and leading members of the Greek Government, at Missolonghi, and furnish- ed him withal, with over $300, to enable him to pay his passage, equip himself with a good personal outfit, and have money left for exigencies that might arise after he had reached his destination ; when he, with other American volunteers, sailed for Malta, Aug. 21, 1824. After reaching that place, and spending a few weeks, and at some other of the neighboring islands, he pro- ceeded to the fated Missolonghi, and en- quired out the house which Lord Byron, then very late deceased, had made his headquarters, and which had been retained for the ordinary meetings of the members of the government of Western Greece. Here he encountered Dr. Mayer, who was a root of the fighting stock of William Tell, of Switzerland, and had, for several of the last years, been one of the bravest and most useful of the European volunteers in Greece. Mr. Miller presented his creden- tials to the Doctor, and was promised an early presentation to members of the gov- ernment. He was also invited to take up his quarters in that house, and having been shown a room where he might take a little of the repose he so much needed, he wrapped his cloak around him, threw him- self down on the floor, and was soon asleep. Before long, however, he was awakened by the entrance of a man already widely known through Europe and America. This was Gen. George Jarvis, a son of Benjamin Jarvis, of New York, who held a situation under the U. S. Government in Germany, where the son was born, educated and reared to manhood. He entered the Greek service in 1821, and continued in it through the whole of that memorable struggle, passing through every grade of military office to the rank of brigadier general of Lord Byron's brigade, and seeing, prob- ably, more fighting, and undergoing more suffering and hardship than any one of all the heroes of Greece. He and Mr. Miller appear to have almost at once' made the

discovery that they were congenial spirits, and a mutual friendship and respect sprang up between them, which soon resulted in Mr. Miller's appointment as one of the General's staff officers, with the rank of colonel in the Greek service.

It is not our purpose to follow Colonel Miller through the various hardships he endured through the next 2 years of that wild and bloody conflict, nor enumerate those feats of arms which seem so to have awakened the admiration of the Greeks, and caused him to be known among them by the peculiar name of The American Dare Devil. Let an instance or two, which we have had from his own lips, serve as a specimen of his many personal risks and escapes, as well as of his individual daring.

On one occasion, when he was stationed in command of a small band of soldiers in a walled garden, a few miles from Napoli, he suddenly discovered the place to be surrounded by a force of some thousand Turkish troops. Knowing that the instant the weakness of his band was discovered they would all be sacrificed on the spot, Col. Miller at once resolved on the des- perate expedient of a sally right into the mouth of the lion, and calling on his band to follow at his heels, he dashed out into the midst of the closely investing foe, firing his girdle full of pistols, and slash- ing about him with his sword as he went, with such fury as to astonish the Turks, who supposing, of course, the garden to be full of Greeks, about to scatter death among them from behind the walls, in- stantly became panic struck and fled.

Another instance of a similar character occurred in a different part of the peninsula, when Gen. Jarvis and Col. Miller, with a small force, being unexpectedly beset by a large body of Turkish cavalry, were wholly cut off from their companions, and, as their only chance of escaping with life, were compelled to run for a piece of woods at the top of a hill a fourth of a mile dis- tant. But this only resort came near prov- ing a fatal one. A large squad of the mounted fiends pursued them, and were all within pistol shot, while the woods were yet too far distant to be reached by them.

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They supposed there was but a moment more for them in this world ; but they re- solved that that moment should not be passed unimproved. They suddenly wheel- ed round, drew up their pieces, and fired directly into the faces of their pursuers, who, in surprise at the strange act, came to a dead halt, and the next instant turned and fled, doubtless believing that they would not take such a stand unless there lay concealed in the borders of the woods a force of their foes, from whom it was their wisdom to escape while they could.

The first of these instances we find in substance related in Post s Visits to Greece and Constantinople in 1827, and also in Dr. Howe's History of Greece, and the latter, not before named in history, is doubtless an equally veritable incident.

Besides the many personal encounters and skirmishes with the foes of Greece, of the character of those just described, Col. Miller was an active participant in several important engagements, in which his gal- lantry appears to have attracted favorable notice. Among these we find one hand- somely alluded to in the lately published volume of "Travels in Greece and Russia," by Bayard Taylor :

At the end of the Argive plain is the little village of Miles, where Ypsilanti gained a splendid victory over the troops of Ibrahim Pacha, and Col. Miller greatly distinguished himself.

But the most continuous, the hardest and most important of Col. Miller's mil- itary services in Greece were in the terri- ble twelve months' siege of the ill-fated Missolonghi, one of the most wealthy and populous towns of the Grecian peninsula. We have space only to give a general idea of the character of this siege ; and this idea will perhaps be the best given by a letter from Dr. Mayer, of whom we have before spoken, and who was one of the 130 per- sons perishing in the last defense of the place, written within three days before his death ; and in another letter from Colonel Miller himself to Edward Everett, after Missolonghi had fallen, and he had es- caped with the remnant of the besieged, as he has described, out of the city, but not out of danger :

DR. MAYER'S LETTER.

The labors which we have undergone, and a wound I have received in the shoul- der, which I am in expectation is one which will be my passport to eternity, have prevented me till now from bidding you my last adieus. We are reduced to feed on the most disgusting animals ; we are suffering horribly from hunger and thirst. Sickness adds much to the calamities that overwhelm us. More than 1740 of our brothers are dead. More than 100,000 bombs and balls, thrown by the enemy, have destroyed our bastions and our houses. We have been terribly distressed by cold, and we have suffered great want of food. Notwithstanding so many privations, it is a great and noble spectacle to witness the ardor and devotedness of the garrison. A few days more, and these brave men will be angelic spirits, who will accuse before God the indifference of christendom for a cause which is that of religion. All the Albanians who deserted from the standard of Reschid Pacha have now rallied under that of Ibrahim. In the name of all our brave men, among whom are Noto Bot- zaris, Travellas, Papodia Mautopolas, and myself, whom the government has ap- pointed generals to a body of its troops, I announce to you the resolution, sworn to before Heaven, to defend, foot by foot, the land of Missolonghi, and bury ourselves, without listening to any capitulation, under the ruins of this city. History will render us justice ; posterity will weep over our misfortunes. I am proud to think that the blood of a Swiss, of a child of William Tell, is about to mingle with that of the heroes of Greece. May the relation of the siege of Missolonghi, which I have written, survive me. I have made sev- eral copies of it. Cause this letter, dear S-, to be inserted in some public jour- nal.

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The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer:, Part 74

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890, [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt., Vermont watchman and state journal press
Number of Pages: 1066