The Whig Party (anti-slavery), also called conscience whigs faction of the Whig political party some from Massachusetts that was opposed to slavery on moral grounds.  Was opposed to “Cotton Whigs,” who supported the cotton manufacturing industry in the North.  Separated from Whig party in 1848.  Conscience Whigs aided in the creation and founding of the Free Soil Party in 1848.  Charles Francis Adams was the Free Soil candidate for president in 1848. (References)

• Chapter by Henry Wilson: “Slavery Aggressions. – ‘Conscience’ Whigs. – ‘Barnburners,’” in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.
• Officers, members and supporters of the anti-slavery Whigs - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

Chapter by Henry Wilson: "Slavery Aggressions. - 'Conscience' Whigs. - 'Barnburners,'" in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

But though resolutions could be forced through the legislature and conventions of the party, it was very evident ·that there was little harmony of feeling and purpose between the two sections. While the " Cotton " Whigs, who were determined to adhere to the national organization, and to sacrifice, if need be, any claim of freedom for that purpose, regarded the action of the " Conscience " Whigs, as the antislavery men were called, factious and disorganizing, the latter began more clearly to comprehend the drift of things; and the position to which the party was tending, and to realize the hollowness of many of the professions that had been made. They saw that many of the resolutions which were often crowded through the one or the other of these bodies were rather strategical than hearty or honest, more for show than use; not fitted, and never intended, to bind the party or to resist the strain of political necessity.

The Whig State convention was held at Springfield in September, 1847. George Ashmun of that city presided, and Joseph Bell of Boston was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions. The leaders of both sections were there in force, and a severe struggle ensued. Mt. Palfrey moved, as an amendment to the resolutions of the committee, one declaring that the Whigs would support no candidate for the Presidency not known by his acts and declared opinions to be opposed to the extension of slavery. It gave rise to an exciting debate; Mr. Winthrop sturdily opposing it, and Mr. Adams, Mr. Sumner, Mr. Allen, and Mr. Dwight as earnestly supporting it. Mr. Adams declared that he would rather vote for a Democrat opposed to the extension of slavery than for a Whig in favor of it. The amendment was rejected; though, as a partial compensation, Mr. Phillips secured by a small majority a vote that the convention should not put in nomination a candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Webster was present, and made a speech, in which he took strong ground against slavery extension, claiming the Wilmot proviso as his own. “Sir," said he, “I feel something of a personal interest in this. I take the sentiment of the Wilmot proviso to be that there shall be no annexation of slave territory to this Union. Did I not commit myself to that in the year 1838 fully, entirely? And have I ever departed from it in the slightest degree? I must be permitted, sir, to say that I do not consent that more recent discoverers shall take out a patent for the discovery. I do not quite consent that they shall undertake to appropriate to themselves all the benefit and honor of it. Allow me to say, sir, it is not their thunder." The, antislavery Whigs were again defeated. They, however, went away from that convention more determined and resolute than ever. They felt that a rupture was inevitable, and that it was but a question of time.

As the time for the convention drew near, indications increased that General Taylor would receive the nomination, and that the policy of slavery restriction would be abandoned. Some of the friends of freedom took the alarm, and at once entered upon the adoption of measures to prevent, if possible, such a result, and, in case of failure, to mark out such a course as the exigencies of the case might demand. Charles Allen and Henry Wilson were chosen as delegates to the convention. Their antecedents and generally recognized proclivities made it probable and a matter of popular belief that they would not vote for. General Taylor unless he were pledged to the principles of the Wilmot proviso.

Conferences were at once held by those Whigs who had striven to the last to prevent, the annexation of Texas and the adoption of a reactionary policy. On the 27th of May a meeting was held at the office of Charles Francis Adams. There were present Mr. Adams, Stephen C. Phillips, Charles Sumner, E. Rockwood Hoar, Edward I. Keyes, Francis W. Bird, Edward Walcutt, and Henry Wilson. Though they were not ignorant of the sacrifices implied and involved in their action, they resolved at any and every hazard to abide by their principles. It was unanimously determined, if the convention nominated General Taylor, or any candidate not known by his acts and declared opinions to be opposed to the extension of slavery, that “an organized opposition " should be made and at once begun in Massachusetts. It was agreed to call a State convention of Whigs and of all others who would co-operate in such an effort. On the 5th of June a call, which had been prepared by E. Rockwood Hoar was agreed upon, and held for signature in the event of General Taylor's nomination.

The State of New York had generally exerted a powerful influence on national affairs. Imperial in extent and resources, ably represented by its strong men, occupying a commanding position in the commercial and political world, its voice and. votes had ever exerted a large, if not a controlling influence, sometimes for good, but oftener for evil. This was always and necessarily true. But in 1848, and in connection with the presidential election of that year, there were special reasons therefor. Certain causes had produced disaffection with the national Democracy; and a tendency to revolt, which for a long time had been gathering strength, culminated during that year.

In addition to general reasons was the special motive afforded by the treatment which Mr. Van Buren had received from the national convention of 1844, and the gross ingratitude of those States to whose interests and institutions he had given such evidences of fealty. Mr. Van Buren had made great sacrifices for the South. Though he signalized the earlier years of his public life by giving his voice and vote, in the legislature of his State, against the admission of Missouri as a slave State, he soon yielded to the reactionary movement which followed that violation of the ordinance of '87, and devoted himself so faithfully to slaveholding interests as to merit and receive the name of "a Northern man with Southern principles." And yet, because he faltered in the single matter of Texan annexation, he was abandoned and deprived of the nomination, which not only he, but a decided majority of his party, desired and expected. This was neither forgotten nor forgiven. It intensified the bitter feud then raging between the " Hunker" and'" Barnburner" wings of the New York Democracy, and resulted in the defeat of Silas Wright, whose candidacy for-the gubernatorial chair in 1844 had unquestionably secured the electoral vote of the State for Mr. Polk. His death, occurring soon afterward, added to the indignation already felt in view of his defeat and of the means through which that defeat had been accomplished.

It was under such circumstances that the primary meetings were held at which delegates were chosen for the Democratic State convention to meet in Syracuse in October, 1847. On the assembling of the convention, it was found that there was a large number of contested seats. An informal agreement was entered into between the leaders of the radical and conservative wings of the party that a temporary organization should be effected, for the purpose of disposing of the “frivolously contested" cases, which, it was understood, were to be forced upon the convention. But that agreement was disregarded by the conservatives, a breach of faith that embittered the minority, and led such men as Preston King, James S. Wadsworth, and other leading “Barnburners” to refuse to act as officers of the convention. Indeed, it was claimed by the New York "Evening Post" that it was only this determination to ignore the agreement that gave the conservatives the control of the convention.

The Wilmot proviso was the exciting and controlling issue. The discussion was conducted with great spirit, and ability. A resolution, prepared by James R. Doolittle, afterward United States Senator from Wisconsin was offered by David Dudley Field as an amendment to the report of the Committee on Resolutions. This amendment, while promising fidelity to + '' the compromises of the Constitution" and to “the reserved rights of the States," pledged " uncompromising hostility to the extension of slavery into territory now free."' Mr. Field made' a powerful speech in its support. '"I am willing," he said," that our victorious standard should  be borne to the Isthmus of Darien or planted on the highest peak of the Polynesian Islands.; but the soil on which it advances must be free! Ay, as free as the untrammeled soil on which we stand!"

The amendment was rejected and the resolutions were adopted, though it was, claimed that the latter and the nominations were carried not only by an irregularly organized convention, but by a convention without a quorum. Defeated at Syracuse, the radical Democrats met in convention on the 26th of October, at Herkimer, “to avow their principles and consult as to future action." It was strong in numbers, in talent, and in character, both personal and political. Churchill C. Cambreling was made president, John Van Buren was appointed chairman of the Committee on the Address to the People, and David Dudley Field chairman of the Committee on Resolutions.

The address began by a recital and condemnation of the action of the Syracuse convention, which, it averred, after “its unjust and arbitrary decisions, sustained by partial reports,..shrunk to a little more than a third of its original size and expired." Adverting to its repression of the true sentiments of the people, and also alluding to the early antislavery history of New York, it claimed that, while that great State was “loyal to the Constitution," it was” true to freedom." It also referred to the great change which had taken place in public sentiment since the days of the Fathers; and it entered its protest against the promulgation of opinions so abhorrent in themselves so aggressive in their influence, and leading to "the extension of an institution which is a source of insecurity and poverty in peace and of embarrassment and danger in war." Referring to the fidelity of the Democratic party of New York to the "real rights of the South" as an evidence of its devotion to the Constitution, it proclaimed its purpose to resist aggression from the opposite direction.  

Having discarded the action at Syracuse, the convention declined to nominate candidates for the ensuing election, leaving the matter in the hands of the people. Mr. Field reported a series of resolutions, which were unanimously adopted. Among them was one which had been rejected at Syracuse, and which pledged the uncompromising hostility of the Democracy of New York to the extension of slavery into free territory, then or thereafter to be acquired.

Though defeat followed these dissensions, proceedings equally uncompromising marked the action of that section of the party in regard to the presidential election, then close at hand. Two sets of delegates were chosen to attend the national nominating convention at Baltimore, each claiming to be the sole representatives of the party, and the contest was transferred to the wider theatre of the national organization.

Source:  Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 2.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 123-128.

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Officers, Members and Supporters - Part 1

Adams, Charles Francis, 1807-1886, Vice President, Anti-Slavery Free Soil Party, newspaper publisher and editor.  Son of former President John Quincy Adams.  Grandson of President John Adams.  Opposed annexation of Texas, on opposition to expansion of slavery in new territories.  Formed “Texas Group” within Massachusetts Whig Party.  Formed and edited newspaper, Boston Whig, in 1846.

(Adams, 1900; Duberman, 1961; Goodell, 1852, p. 478; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 32-33; Pease, 1965, pp. 445-452; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 51, 298; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 12-13. Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 40-48).

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

ADAMS, Charles Francis, diplomatist, son of John Quincy Adams, born in Boston, 18 August, 1807; died there, 21 November, 1886. When two years old he was taken by his father to St. Petersburg, where he learned German, French, and Russian. Early in 1815 he travelled all the way from St. Petersburg to Paris with his mother in a private carriage, a difficult journey at that time, and not unattended with danger. His father was soon afterward appointed minister to England, and the little boy was placed at an English boarding-school. The feelings between British and Americans was then more hostile than ever before or since, and young Adams was frequently called upon to defend with his fists the good name of his country. When he returned after two years to America, his father placed him in the Boston Latin school, and he was graduated at Harvard College in 1825, shortly after his father's inauguration as president of the United States. He spent two years in Washington, and then returned to Boston, where he studied law in the office of Daniel Webster, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1828. The next year he married the youngest daughter of Peter Chardon Brooks, whose elder daughters were married to Edward Everett and Reverend Nathaniel Frothingham. From 1831 to 1836 Mr. Adams served in the Massachusetts legislature. He was a member of the Whig Party, but, like all the rest of his vigorous and free-thinking family, he was extremely independent in politics and inclined to strike out into new paths in advance of the public sentiment. After 1836 he came to differ more and more widely with the leaders of the Whig Party with whom he had hitherto acted. In 1848 the newly organized Free-Soil Party, consisting largely of Democrats, held its convention at Buffalo and nominated Martin Van Buren for president and Charles Francis Adams for vice-president. There was no hope of electing these candidates, but this little party grew, six years later, into the great Democratic Party. In 1858 he was elected to Congress by the Republicans of the 3d District of Massachusetts, and in 1860 he was reelected. In the spring of 1861 President Lincoln appointed him minister to England, a place which both his father and his grandfather had filled before him. Mr. Adams had now to fight with tongue and pen for his country as in school-boy days he had fought with fists. It was an exceedingly difficult time for an American minister in England. Though there was much sympathy for the U. S. government on the part of the workmen in the manufacturing districts and of many of the liberal constituencies, especially in Scotland, on the other hand the feeling of the governing classes and of polite society in London was either actively hostile to us or coldly indifferent. Even those students of history and politics who were most friendly to us failed utterly to comprehend the true character of the sublime struggle in which we were engaged— as may be seen in reading the introduction to Mr. E. A. Freeman's elaborate "History of Federal Government, from the Formation of the Achaean League to the Disruption of the United States" (London, 1862). Difficult and embarrassing questions arose in connection with the capture of the Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell, the negligence of Lord Palmerston's government in allowing the "Alabama" and other Confederate cruisers to sail from British ports to prey upon American commerce, and the ever manifest desire of Napoleon III, to persuade Great Britain to join him in an acknowledgment of the independence of the confederacy. The duties of this difficult diplomatic mission were discharged by Mr. Adams with such consummate ability as to win universal admiration. No more than his father or grandfather did he belong to the school of suave and crafty, intriguing diplomats. He pursued his ends with dogged determination and little or no attempt at concealment, while his demeanor was haughty and often defiant. His unflinching firmness bore clown all opposition, and his perfect self-control made it difficult for an antagonist to gain any advantage over him. His career in England from 1861 to 1868 must be cited among the foremost triumphs of American diplomacy. In 1872 it was attempted to nominate him for the presidency of the United States, as the candidate of the liberal Republicans, but Horace Greeley secured the nomination. He was elected in 1869 a member of the board of overseers of Harvard College, and was for several years president of the board. He has edited the works and memoirs of his father and grandfather, in 22 octavo volumes, and published many of his own addresses and orations. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 12-13.


Andrew, John Albion, 1818-1867, reformer, anti-slavery advocate, lawyer, Governor of Massachusetts, member Conscience Whig, Free Soil Party, Republican Party.  Opponent of slavery.  In Boston, he took a prominent part in the defense of fugitive slaves Shadrach, Burns and Sims.  Supported John Brown in legal defense.  (American National Biography, Vol. 1, 2002, p. 489; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, p. 279; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 72-73)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

ANDREW, John Albion, statesman, born in Windham, Maine, 31 May, 1818; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 30 October, 1867. His father, descended from an early settler of Boxford, Massachusetts, was a prosperous merchant in Windham. John Albion was graduated at Bowdoin in 1837. He was a negligent student, though fond of reading, and in his professional life always felt the lack of training in the habit of close application. He immediately entered on the study of the law in the office of Henry H. Fuller, in Boston, where in 1840 he was admitted to the bar. Until the outbreak of the war he practised his profession in that city, attaining special distinction in the fugitive-slave cases of Shadrach Burns and Sims, which arose under the fugitive-slave law of 1850. He became interested in the slavery question in early youth, and was attracted toward many of the reform movements of the day. After his admission to the bar he took an active interest in politics and frequently spoke on the stump on behalf of the Whig Party, of which he was an enthusiastic member. From the year 1848 he was closely identified with the anti-slavery party of Massachusetts, but held no office until 1858, when he was elected a member of the state legislature from Boston, and at once took a leading position in that body. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Republican Convention, and, after voting for Mr. Seward on the early ballots, announced the change of the vote of part of the Massachusetts delegation to Mr. Lincoln. In the same year he was nominated for governor by a popular impulse. Many feared that the radicalism of his opinions would render him unsafe in action, and the political managers regarded him as an intruder and opposed his nomination; yet he was elected the twenty-first governor of Massachusetts since the adoption of the constitution of 1780 by the largest popular vote ever cast for any candidate. He was energetic in placing the militia of Massachusetts on a war footing, in anticipation of the impending conflict between the government and the seceded states. He had announced this purpose in his inaugural address in 1861, and, upon being inducted into office, he sent a confidential message to the governors of Maine and New Hampshire, inviting their cooperation in preparing the militia for service and providing supplies of war material. This course of action was not regarded with favor at the time by a majority of the legislature, although his opponents refrained from a direct collision. On receiving the president's proclamation of 15 April, 1861, he despatched five regiments of infantry, a battalion of riflemen, and a battery of artillery to the defence of the capital. Of these, the Massachusetts 6th was the first to tread southern soil, passing through New York while the regiments of that state were mustering, and shedding the first blood of the war in the streets of Baltimore, where it was assailed by the moborn Governor Andrew sent a telegram to Mayor Brown, praying him to have the bodies of the slain carefully sent forward to him at the expense of the common wealth of Massachusetts. He was equally active in raising the Massachusetts contingent of three years' volunteers, and was laborious in his efforts to aid every provision for the comfort of the sick and wounded soldiers. He was four times reëlected governor, holding that office till January, 1866, and was only then released by his positive declination of another renomination, in order to attend to his private business, as the pecuniary sacrifice involved in holding the office was more than he was able to sustain, and his health was seriously affected by his arduous labors. In 1862 he was one of the most urgent of the northern governors in impressing upon the administration at Washington the necessity of adopting the emancipation policy, and of accepting the services of colored troops. In September, 1862, he took the most prominent part in the meeting of governors of the northern states, held at Altoona, Pennsylvania, to devise ways and means to encourage and strengthen the hands of the government. The address of the governors to the people of the north was prepared by him. Governor Andrew interfered on various occasions to prevent the federal authorities from making arbitrary arrests among southern sympathizers in Massachusetts previous to the suspension of the habeas-corpus act. In January, 1863, he obtained from the Secretary of War the first authorization for raising colored troops, and the First Colored Regiment (54th Massachusetts Infantry) was despatched from Boston in May of that year. Governor Andrew was particular in selecting the best officers for the black troops and in providing them with the most complete equipment. Though famous as the war governor of Massachusetts, he also bestowed proper attention on the domestic affairs of the commonwealth. In his first message he recommended that the provision in the law preventing a person against whom a decree of divorce has been granted from marrying again, should be modified; but the proposition met with strong opposition in the legislature, especially from clergymen, and it was not till 1864 that an act was passed conferring power upon the supreme court to remove the penalty resting upon divorced persons. He also recommended a reform in the usury laws, such as was finally effected by an act passed in 1867. He was strongly opposed to capital punishment, and recommended its repeal. A law requiring representatives in Congress to be residents of the districts from which they are elected was vetoed by him on the ground that it was both unconstitutional and inexpedient, but was passed over his veto. Of the twelve veto messages sent by Governor Andrew during his incumbency, only one other, in the case of a resolve to grant additional pay to members, was followed by the passage of the act over the veto. His final term as governor expired 5 January, 1866. In a valedictory address to the legislature he advocated a generous and conciliatory policy toward the southern states, “demanding no attitude of humiliation; inflicting no acts of humiliation.” Governor Andrew was modest and simple in his habits and manner of life, emotional and quick in sympathy for the wronged or the unfortunate, exceedingly joyous and mirthful in temperament, and companionable with all classes of persons. The distinguished ability that shone out in his administration as governor of Massachusetts, the many sterling qualities that were summed up in his character, his social address, and the charm of his conversational powers, together with his clear and forcible style as an orator, combined to render him conspicuous among the state governors of the war period, and one of the most influential persons in civil life not connected with the federal administration. Soon after the expiration of his last term as governor he was tendered, but declined, the presidency of Antioch College, Ohio. He presided over the first national Unitarian Convention, held in 1865, and was a leader of the conservative wing of that denomination—those who believed with Channing and the early Unitarians in the supernaturalism of Christ's birth and mission, as opposed to Theodore Parker and his disciples. After retiring from public life Mr. Andrew entered upon a lucrative legal practice. In January, 1867, he represented before the general court about 30,000 petitioners for a license law, and delivered an argument against the principle of total prohibition. His death, which occurred suddenly from apoplexy, was noticed by public meetings in various cities. He married, 25 December, 1848, Miss Eliza Jane Hersey, of Hingham, Massachusetts, who with their four children survived him. See “Memoir of Governor Andrew, with Personal Reminiscences,” by Peleg W. Chandler (Boston, 1880), “Discourse on the Life and Character of Governor Andrew,” by Reverend E. Nason (Boston, 1868), and “Men of Our Times,” by Harriet Beecher Stowe. A life of Governor Andrew, by Edwin P. Whipple, was left unfinished at the time of Mr. Whipple’s death in 1886. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888.  pp.72-73.


Andrews, Sherlock James

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

ANDREWS, Sherlock James, jurist, born in Wallingford, Connecticut, 17 November, 1801; died in Cleveland, Ohio, 11 February, 1880. He was graduated at Union College in 1821, after which he continued his studies at Yale, where he followed the lectures on science as assistant to Professor Silliman, and also the lectures on law. In 1825 he moved to Ohio, and from that time devoted himself to the profession of law, and was constantly engaged in important litigation before the state and federal courts. He was elected to Congress in 1840 as a Whig, and served for a single term. He became in 1848 a judge of the superior court of Ohio, and he was a member of the Constitutional Conventions of 1849 and 1873, where his influence was felt upon important committees. He was urged at one time to allow himself to be a candidate for governor, but declined this distinction, as well as others for which his name was mentioned, because he preferred to remain in private life. For a time he shared with Thomas Corwin the leadership of the Ohio bar. His wit, his eloquence, his sympathy, his good sense, and his integrity gave him great power before a jury or before the public. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 75-76.


Anthony, Henry Bowen, 1815-1884, Republican, statesman, newspaper editor, Governor of Rhode Island, U.S. Senator 1859-1884, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 81-82; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 316-317; Anthony, Henry Bowen, A Memoir, 1885; Congressional Globe)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

ANTHONY, Henry Bowen, statesman, born of Quaker parents, in Coventry, Rhode Island, 1 April, 1815; died in Providence, 2 September, 1884. He was descended in a direct line from John Anthony, who came from England about 1640 and settled on the island of Rhode Island. He was graduated at Brown University in 1833, and devoted himself to literary pursuits. He became editor of the Providence "Journal" in 1838, and in 1840 was admitted into partnership, the paper being published under the name of Knowles, Vose & Anthony till the death of  Mr. Vose in 1848, when it was continued under the name of Knowles & .Anthony till 1 January, 1863, when it became Knowles, Anthony & Danielson.  Mr. Anthony gave himself up to his newspaper with all the energy and enthusiasm of his nature. No amount of work staggered him; early and late he was in his office, and for many years he had around him a brilliant circle of young men. He early developed poetical taste, and there are several pieces of merit that bear his name. His mind was quick and accurate, and he had a wonderful memory; and his editorial labors contributed largely to the growth of the art of journalism in New England. He had many offers to go to other cities and take charge of newspapers, but declined them all. In 1837 he married Sally Rhodes (daughter of the late Christopher Rhodes, of Pawtuxet), who died in 1854. In 1849, and again in 1850, he was elected governor of Rhode Island. As a Whig at the first election he had a majority of 1,556; at the second, fewer than 1,000 votes were cast against him. He declined a third election, and gave himself once more entirely to his editorial work. This continued till 1859, when he was elected, as a Republican, to the U. S. Senate, where he remained by reelections till his death. During his service in the Senate he still contributed largely to his paper. Three times he was elected president protem of the Senate—in March, 1863, in March, 1871, and in January, 1884; but the last time his failing health prevented him from accepting. He was exceedingly popular in Washington, and often spoken of as "the handsome senator." He served on many important committees, and was twice the chairman of the committee on printing, his practical knowledge of that subject enabling him to introduce many reforms in the government printing. He was at different times a member of the committees on claims, on naval affairs, on mines and mining, and on post-offices and post-roads. On the trial of President Johnson he voted for impeachment. He was not a frequent or brilliant speaker in the Senate, but always talked to the point, and commanded attention. He shone more as a writer than as a speaker. His memorial and historical addresses were models of composition. A volume of these addresses, printed privately in 1875, contains a tribute to Stephen A. Douglas, delivered 9 July. 1861; one to John R. Thompson, 4 December, 1862; one to William P. Fessenden, 14 December, 1869; and three different addresses on Charles Sumner-the first on the announcement of his death in the Senate; the second when Mr. Anthony, as one of the committee appointed by the Senate, gave up the body of Mr. Sumner to the governor of Massachusetts; and the third when Mr. Boutwell presented in the Senate resolutions of respect for Mr. Sumner's memory. Mr. Anthony also spoke in the Senate on the death of William A. Buckingham, and on 21 January, 1876, delivered a short address on the death of Henry Wilson, Vice-President of the United States. When the statues of General Greene and Roger Williams were presented to Congress by the state of Rhode Island, Mr. Anthony made the addresses, and he also made a short address at the presentation of the statues of Trumbull and Sherman. One of his best efforts was when he introduced the bill providing for repairing and protecting the monument erected in Newport, Rhode Island, to the memory of the Chevalier de Tiernay, commander of the French naval forces sent out in 1780 to aid the American Revolution. Mr. Anthony had a warm and affectionate nature, genial manner, a commanding figure, and was a perfect specimen of a man. In his last days, with manly courage, he calmly waited for the end. As soon as his death was known, Governor Bourn and Mayor Doyle issued proclamations to that effect, and called upon the people to attend the funeral, which took place from the first Congregational Church in Providence on Saturday, 6 September It was the largest funeral ever known in Rhode Island. Mr. Anthony bequeathed a portion of his library, known as the "Harris Collection of American Poetry," to Brown University. It consists of about 6,000 volumes, mostly small books, and many of them exceedingly rare. It was begun half a century ago by the late Albert G. Greene, continued by Caleb Fiske Harris, and, after his death, completed by his kinsman, the late senator. The Reverend Dr. J. C. Stockbridge, a member of the board of trustees of the university, is preparing an annotated catalogue of the collection. Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 81-82


Appleton, William

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

APPLETON, William, merchant, born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, 16 November, 1786; died in Longwood, near Boston, 20 February, 1862. He was a son of the Reverend Joseph Appleton, of Brookfield, received an academic education, and at the age of fifteen became a clerk in a country store at Temple. In 1807 he went to Boston, where for over fifty years he was a successful merchant, giving also much attention to banking and financial operations. He was president of the U. S. Branch Bank from 1832 to 1836, and was also president of the Provident Institution for Savings and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He gave $30,000 to the last named institution, and was noted for his benevolence. He was elected as a Whig to Congress, serving from 1851 to 1855, and again was a member in the special session from 4 July to 6 August, 1861, after which he resigned. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 85.


Arnold, Samuel Greene

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

ARNOLD, Samuel Greene, historian, born in Providence, Rhode Island 12 April 1821; died there 13 February, 1880. He was graduated at Brown in 1841, spent two years in a Providence counting-house, and visited Europe. On his return he studied law, being graduated at Harvard Law School in 1845, and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar; but before practising he again travelled extensively in Europe, the east, and South America. In 1852 he was chosen lieutenant-governor of his state, the only man elected on the Whig ticket, and he again occupied that office in 1861 and 1862. On the breaking out of the Civil War he was for a few weeks in command of a battery of artillery and aide to Governor Sprague. From 1 December, 1862, to 3 March, 1863, he served in the U. S. Senate, having been chosen to fill out the term of J. F. Simmons, resigned. He published a valuable “History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” (2 vols., New York, '' He was the author of “The Spirit of Rhode Island History,” a discourse delivered on 17 January, 1853, before the Rhode Island historical Society, of which he was for some time the president, an address before the American Institute in New York in October, 1850, and numerous other addresses, and articles in Periodicals. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 97.


Arthur, Chester Alan

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

ARTHUR, Chester Alan, twenty-first president of the United States, born in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont, 5 October, 1830; died in New York City, 18 November, 1886. His father was Reverend William Arthur (given below). His mother was Malvina Stone. Her grandfather, Uriah Stone, was a New Hampshire pioneer, who about 1763 migrated from Hampstead to Connecticut River, and made his home in Piermont, where he died in 1810, leaving twelve children. Her father was George Washington Stone. She died 16 January, 1869, and her husband died 27 October, 1875, at Newtonville, New York Their children were three sons and six daughters, all of whom, except one son and one daughter, were alive in 1886.

Chester A. Arthur, the eldest son, prepared for college at Union Village in Greenwich, and at Schenectady, and in 1845 he entered the sophomore class of Union. While in his sophomore year he taught school for a term at Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, and a second term at the same place during his last year in college. He joined the Psi-Upsilon Society, and was one of six in a class of one hundred who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the condition of admission being high scholarship. He was graduated at eighteen years of age, in the class of 1848. While at college he decided to become a lawyer, and after graduation attended for several months a law school at Ballston Spa, returned to Lansingburg, where his father then resided, and continued his legal studies. During this period he fitted boys for college, and in 1851 he was principal of an academy at North Pownal, Bennington County, Vermont In 1854, James A. Garfield, then a student in Williams College, taught penmanship in this academy during his winter vacation.

In 1853, Arthur, having accumulated a small sum of money, decided to go to New York City. He there entered the law office of Erastus D. Culver as a student, was admitted to the bar during the same year, and at once became a member of the firm of Culver, Parker & Arthur. Mr. Culver had been an anti-slavery member of Congress from Washington county when Dr. Arthur was pastor of the Baptist Church in Greenwich in that county. Dr. Arthur had also enjoyed the friendship of Gerrit Smith, who had often been his guest and spoken from his pulpit. Together they had taken part in the meeting convened at Utica, 21 October, 1835, to form a New York anti-slavery Society. This meeting was broken up by a committee of pro-slavery citizens; but the members repaired to Mr. Smith's home in Peterborough, and there completed the organization. On the same day in Boston a women's anti-slavery society, while its president was at prayer, was dispersed by a mob, and William Lloyd Garrison was dragged through the streets with a rope around his body, threatened with tar and feathers, and for his protection lodged in jail by the mayor. From these early associations Arthur naturally formed sentiments of hostility to slavery, and he first gave them public expression in the Lemmon slave case. In 1852 Jonathan Lemmon, a Virginia slave-holder, determined to take eight of the slaves of his wife, Juliet — one man, two women, and five children — to Texas, and brought them by steamer from Norfolk to New York, intending to re-ship them from New York to Texas. On the petition of Louis Napoleon, a free colored man, on 6 November, a writ of habeas corpus was issued by Judge Elijah Paine, of the superior court of New York City, and after arguments by Mr. Culver and John Jay for the slaves, and H. D. Lapaugh and Henry L. Clinton for the slave-holder, Judge Paine, on 13 November, released the slaves on the ground that they had been made free by being brought by their master into a free state. The decision created great excitement at the south, and the legislature of Virginia directed its attorney-general to appeal to the higher courts of New York. The legislature of New York passed a resolution directing its governor to defend the slaves. In December, 1857, the supreme court, in which a certiorari had been sued out, affirmed Judge Paine's decision (People v. Lemmon, 5 Sandf., 681), and it was still further sustained by the court of appeals at the March term, 1860 (Lemmon v. People, 20 New York Rep., 562). Arthur, as a law student, and after his admission to the bar, became an earnest advocate for the slaves. He went to Albany to secure the intervention in their behalf of the legislature and the governor, and he acted as their counsel in addition to attorney-general Ogden Hoffman, E. D. Culver, Joseph Blunt, and (after Mr. Hoffman's death) William M. Evarts. Charles O'Conor was employed as further counsel for the slave-holder, and argued his side before the court of appeals, while Mr. Blunt and Mr. Evarts argued for the slaves. Until 1855 the street-car companies of New York City excluded colored persons from riding with the whites, and made no adequate provision for their separate transportation. One Sunday in that year a colored woman named Lizzie Jennings, a Sabbath-school superintendent, on the way home from her school, was ejected from a car on the Fourth avenue line. Culver, Parker & Arthur brought a suit in her behalf against the company in the supreme court in Brooklyn, the plaintiff recovered a judgment, and the right of colored persons to ride in any of the city cars was thus secured. The Colored People's Legal Rights Association for years celebrated the anniversary of their success in this case. Mr. Arthur became a Henry Clay Whig, and cast his first vote in 1852 for Winfield Scott for president. He participated in the first Republican state Convention at Saratoga, and took an active part in the Fremont Campaign of 1856. On 1 January, 1861, Governor Edwin D. Morgan, who on that date entered upon his second term, and between whom and Mr. Arthur a warm friendship had grown up, appointed him on his staff as engineer-in-chief, with the rank of brigadier-general. He had previously taken part in the organization of the state militia, and had been judge-advocate of the second brigade. When the Civil War began, in April, 1861, his active services were required by Governor Morgan, and he became acting quartermaster-general, and as such began in New York City the work of preparing and forwarding the state's quota of troops. In December he was called to Albany for consultation concerning the defences of New York Harbor. On 24 December he summoned a board of engineers, of which he became a member; and on 18 January, 1862, he submitted an elaborate report on the condition of the national forts both on the sea-coast and on the inland border of the state. On 10 February, 1862, he was appointed inspector-general, with the rank of brigadier-general, and in May he inspected the New York troops at Fredericksburg and on the Chickahominy. In June, 1862, Governor Morgan ordered his return from the Army of the Potomac, and he acted as secretary of the meeting of the governors of the loyal states, which was held at the Astor House, New York City, 28 June. The governors advised President Lincoln to call for more troops; and on 1 July he called for 300,000 volunteers. At Governor Morgan's request, General Arthur resumed his former work, resigned as inspector-general, and 10 July was appointed quartermaster-general. In his annual report, dated 27 January, 1863, he said: “Through the single office and clothing department of this department in the City of New York, from 1 August to 1 December, the space of four months, there were completely clothed, uniformed, and equipped, supplied with camp and garrison equipage, and transported from this state to the seat of war, sixty-eight regiments of infantry, two battalions of cavalry, and four battalions of artillery.” He went out of office 31 December, 1862, when Horatio Seymour succeeded Governor Morgan, and his successor, Quartermaster-General S. V. Talcott, in his report of 31 December, 1863, spoke of the previous administration as follows: “I found, on entering on the discharge of my duties, a well-organized system of labor and accountability, for which the state is chiefly indebted to my predecessor, General Chester A. Arthur, who by his practical good sense and unremitting exertion, at a period when everything was in confusion, reduced the operations of the department to a matured plan, by which large amounts of money were saved to the government, and great economy of time secured in carrying out the details of the same.”

Between 1862 and 1872 General Arthur was engaged in continuous and active law practice — in partnership with Henry G. Gardner from 1862 till 1867, then for five years alone, and on 1 January, 1872, he formed the firm of Arthur, Phelps & Knevals. He was for a short time counsel for the department of assessments and taxes, but resigned the place. During all this period he continued to take an active interest in politics; was chairman in 1868 of the central Grant club of New York; and became chairman of the Executive Committee of the Republican state Committee in 1879.

On 20 November, 1871, he was appointed by President Grant collector of the port of New York, and assumed the office on 1 December; was nominated to the Senate 6 December, confirmed 12 December, and commissioned for four years 16 December On 17 December, 1875, he was nominated for another term, and by the Senate confirmed the same day, without reference to a committee — a courtesy never before extended to an appointee who had not been a senator. He was commissioned 18 December, and retained the office until 11 July, 1878, making his service about six and two thirds years.

The New York Republican state Convention, held at Syracuse, 22 March, 1876, elected delegates to the national convention in favor of the nomination of Senator Conkling for president. The friends of Mr. Conkling in the state convention were led by Alonzo B. Cornell, then naval officer in the New York custom-house. A minority, calling themselves reform Republicans, and favoring Benjamin H. Bristow for president, were led by George William Curtis. At the national convention at Cincinnati, 14 June, sixty-nine of the New York delegates, headed by Mr. Cornell, voted for Mr. Conkling, and one delegate, Mr. Curtis, voted for Mr. Bristow. At the critical seventh ballot, however, Mr. Conkling's name was withdrawn, and from New York sixty-one votes were given for Rutherford B. Hayes, against nine for James G. Blaine; and the former's nomination was thus secured. At the New York Republican state Convention to nominate a governor, held at Saratoga, 23 August, Mr. Cornell and ex-Governor Morgan were candidates, and also William M. Evarts, supported by the reform Republicans led by Mr. Curtis. Mr. Cornell's name was withdrawn, and Governor Morgan was nominated. In the close state and presidential canvass that ensued, Messrs. Arthur and Cornell made greater exertions to carry New York for the Republicans than they had ever made in any other campaign; and subsequently General Arthur's activity in connection with the contested countings in the southern states was of vital importance. Nevertheless, President Hayes, in making up his cabinet, selected Mr. Evarts as his secretary of state, and determined to remove Messrs. Arthur and Cornell, and to transfer the power and patronage of their offices to the use of a minority faction in the Democratic Party. The president had, however, in his inaugural of 5 March, 1877, declared in favor of civil service reform — “a change in the system of appointment itself; a reform that shall be thorough, radical, and complete; that the officer should be secure in his tenure so long as his personal character remained untarnished, and the performance of his duties satisfactory.” In his letter of acceptance of 8 July, 1876, he had used the same words, and added: “If elected, I shall conduct the administration of the government upon these principles, and all constitutional powers vested in the executive will be employed to establish this reform.” It became necessary, therefore, before removing Arthur and Cornell, that some foundation should be laid for a claim that the custom-house was not well administered. A series of investigations was thereupon instituted. The Jay commission was appointed 14 April, 1877, and during the ensuing summer made four reports criticising the management of the custom-house. In September, Secretary Sherman requested the collector to resign, accompanying the request with the offer of a foreign mission. The newspapers of the previous day announced that at a cabinet meeting it had been determined to remove the collector. The latter declined to resign, and the investigations were continued by commissions and special agents. To the reports of the Jay commission Collector Arthur replied in detail, in a letter to Secretary Sherman, dated 23 November On 6 December, Theodore Roosevelt was nominated to the Senate for collector, and L. Bradford Prince for naval officer; but they were rejected 12 December, and no other nominations were made, although the Senate remained in session for more than six months. On 11 July, 1878, after its adjournment, Messrs. Arthur and Cornell were suspended from office, and Edwin A. Merritt was designated as collector, and Silas W. Burt as naval officer, and they took possession of the offices. Their nominations were sent to the Senate 3 December, 1878. On 15 January, 1879, Secretary Sherman communicated to the Senate a full statement of the causes that led to these suspensions, mainly criticisms of the management of the custom-house, closing with the declaration that the restoration of the suspended officers would create discord and contention, be unjust to the president, and personally embarrassing to the secretary, and saying that, as Collector Arthur's term of service would expire 17 December, 1879, his restoration would be temporary, as the president would send in another name, or suspend him again after the adjournment of the Senate. On 21 January, 1879, Collector Arthur, in a letter to Senator Conkling, chairman of the committee on commerce, before which the nominations were pending, made an elaborate reply to Secretary Sherman's criticisms, completely demonstrating the honesty and efficiency with which the custom-house had been managed, and the good faith with which the policy and instructions of the president had been carried out. A fair summary of the merits of the ostensible issue is contained in Collector Arthur's letter of 23 November, 1877, from which the following extract is taken: “The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand to be: first, permanence in office, which of course prevents removals except for cause; second, promotion from the lower to the higher grades, based upon good conduct and efficiency; third, prompt and thorough investigation of all complaints, and prompt punishment of all misconduct. In this respect I challenge comparison with any department of the government under the present, or under any past, national administration. I am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this statement on any fair investigation.” In a table appended to this letter Collector Arthur showed that during the six years he had managed the office the yearly percentage of removals for all causes had been only 2¾ per cent. as against an annual average of 28 per cent. under his three immediate predecessors, and an annual average of about 24 per cent, since 1857, when Collector Schell took office. Out of 923 persons who held office when he became collector, on 1 December, 1871, there were 531 still in office on 1 May, 1877, having been retained during his entire term. In making promotions, the uniform practice was to advance men from the lower to the higher grades, and all the appointments except two, to the one hundred positions of $2,000 salary, or over, were made in this method. The expense of collecting the revenue was also kept low; it had been, under his predecessors, between 1857 and. 1861, 59/100 of one per cent. of the receipts; between 1861 and 1864, 87/100; in 1864 and 1865, 1 30/100; between 1866 and 1869, 74/100; in 1869 and 1870, 85/100; in 1870 and 1871, 60/100; and under him, from 1871 to 1877, it was 62/100 of one per cent. The influence of the administration, however, was sufficient to secure the confirmation of Mr. Merritt and Mr. Burt on 3 February, 1879, and the controversy was remitted to the Republicans of New York for their opinion. Mr. Cornell was nominated for governor of New York 3 September, 1879, and elected on 4 November; and Mr. Arthur was considered a candidate for U. S. Senator for the term to begin 4 March, 1881.

On retiring from the office of collector, General Arthur resumed law practice with the firm of Arthur, Phelps, Knevals & Ransom. But he continued to be active in politics, and, in 1880, advocated the nomination of General Grant to succeed President Hayes. He was a delegate at large to the Chicago Convention, which met 2 June, and during the heated preliminary contest before the Republican National Committee, which threatened to result in the organization of two independent conventions, he conducted for his own side the conferences with the controlling anti-third term delegates relative to the choice of a temporary presiding officer, and the arrangement of the preliminary roll of delegates in the cases to be contested in the convention. The result of the conferences was an agreement by which all danger was avoided, and when, upon the opening of the convention, an attempt was made, in consequence of a misunderstanding on the part of certain Grant delegates, to violate this agreement, he resolutely adhered to it, and insisted upon and secured its observance. After the nomination, 10 June, of General Garfield for president, by a combination of the anti-third term delegates, a general desire arose in the convention to nominate for vice-president some advocate of Grant and a resident of New York state. The New York delegation at once indicated their preference for General Arthur, and before the roll-call began the foregone conclusion was evident: he received 468 votes against 283 for all others, and the nomination was made unanimous. In his letter of acceptance of 5 July, 1880, he emphasized the right and the paramount duty of the nation to protect the colored citizens, who were enfranchised as a result of the southern rebellion, in the full enjoyment of their civil and political rights, including honesty and order, and excluding fraud and force, in popular elections. He also approved such reforms in the public service as would base original appointments to office upon ascertained fitness, fill positions of responsibility by the promotion of worthy and efficient officers, and make the tenure of office stable, while not allowing the acceptance of public office to impair the liberty or diminish the responsibility of the citizen. He also advocated a sound currency, popular education, such changes in tariff and taxation as would “relieve any overburdened industry or class, and enable our manufacturers and artisans to compete successfully with those of other lands,” national works of internal improvement, and the development of our water-courses and harbors wherever required by the general interests of commerce. During the canvass he remained chairman of the New York Republican state Committee. The result was a plurality for Garfield and Arthur of 21,000 in the state, against a plurality of 32,000 in 1876 for Tilden and Hendricks, the Democratic candidates against Hayes and Wheeler.

Vice-President Arthur took the oath of office 4 March, 1881, and presided over the extra session of the Senate that then began, which continued until 20 May. The Senate contained 37 Republicans and 37 Democrats, while Senators Mahone, of Virginia, and Davis, of Illinois, who were rated as independents, generally voted, the former with the Republicans and the latter with the Democrats, thus making a tie, and giving the vice-president the right to cast the controlling vote, which he several times had occasion to exercise. The session was exciting, and was prolonged by the efforts of the Republicans to elect their nominees for secretary and sergeant-at-arms, against dilatory tactics employed by the Democrats, and by the controversy over President Garfield's nomination, on 23 March, for collector of the port of New York, of William H. Robertson, who had been the leader of the New York anti-third term delegates at the Chicago Convention. During this controversy the vice-president supported Senators Conkling and Platt in their opposition to the confirmation. On 28 March he headed a remonstrance, signed also by the senators and by Postmaster-General James, addressed to the president, condemning the appointment, and asking that the nomination be withdrawn. When the two senators hastily resigned and made their unsuccessful contest for a reelection by the legislature of New York, then in session at Albany, he exerted himself actively in their behalf during May and June.

President Garfield was shot 2 July, 1881, and died 19 September His cabinet announced his death to the vice-president, then in New York, and, at their suggestion, he took the oath as president on the 20th, at his residence, 123 Lexington avenue, before Judge John R. Brady, of the New York supreme court. On the 22d the oath was formally administered again in the vice-president's room in the capitol at Washington by Chief-Justice Waite […]

He died suddenly, of apoplexy, at his residence, No. 123 Lexington avenue. New York, Thursday morning, 18 November, 1886. The funeral services were held on the following Monday, at the Church of the Heavenly Rest. President Cleveland and his cabinet, Chief-Justice Waite, ex-President Hayes, James G. Blaine, Gens. Sherman, Sheridan, and Schofield, and the surviving members of President Arthur's cabinet, were in attendance. On the same day a special train conveyed his remains to Albany, where they were placed by the side of his wife in the family burial-place in Rural cemetery. [Appleton’s 1900]   


Babcock, James Francis

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BABCOCK, James Francis, journalist, born in Connecticut in 1809; died in New Haven, Connecticut, 18 June, 1874. He began newspaper work at an early age, and in 1830 became editor of the New Haven " Palladium," which soon began to issue a daily edition and which he conducted for thirty-one years. He controlled the nominations of the Whig Party for many years, and, though hostile to the Free-Soil Party at its inception, he finally gave it a hearty welcome in 1854. He retained his prestige with the Republican Party for some years, took an active part in furthering the national cause during the war, and, shortly after his resignation as editor of the " Palladium," was appointed, by President Lincoln, collector of the port of New Haven. He retained that office under President Johnson, whose policy he supported; and, after the rupture between the president and the Republicans, Mr. Babcock acted with the Democratic Party, and, after an angry and excited contest, was nominated by them for Congress, but was defeated by the Republican nominee. He was elected by the Democrats to the state legislature in 1873. The legislature of 1874 elected him judge of the Police Court of New Haven. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 125.


Baker, Edward Dickenson

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BAKER, Edward Dickenson, soldier, born in London, England, 24 February, 1811; killed at the battle of Ball's Bluff, 21 October, 1861. He came to the United States at the age of five with his father, who died in Philadelphia while Edward was yet a youth. The boy supported himself and his younger brother by working as a weaver, and occupied his leisure hours in study. Impelled to seek his fortune in the far west, he moved with his brother to Springfield, Illinois, where he studied and soon began the practice of law. His genius for oratory rapidly gained him distinction and popularity, and, entering the political field as a Whig. He was elected a member of the legislature in 1837, of the state senate in 1840, and representative in Congress in 1844. When the Mexican War began he raised a regiment in Illinois and marched to the Rio Grande. Taking a furlough to speak and vote in favor of the war in the U.S. House of Representatives, he returned and overtook his regiment on the march from Vera Cruz. He fought with distinction in every action on the route to Mexico, and after the wounding of General Shields at Cerro Gordo commanded the brigade and led it during the rest of the war. On his return to Galena, Illinois, he was again elected to Congress; but, becoming interested in the Panama Railroad, he declined a renomination in 1850. In 1851 he settled in San Francisco, where he took rank as the leader of the California Bar and the most eloquent orator in the state. The death of Senator Broderick, who fell in a duel in 1859, was the occasion of a fiery oration in the public square of San Francisco. He received a Republican nomination to Congress, but failed of election. Moving to Oregon, he was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1860 by a coalition of Republicans and Douglas Democrats. The firing upon Fort Sumter prompted him to deliver a passionate address in Union Square, New York, in which he pledged his life and his declining strength to the service of the union. He raised the California regiment in New York and Philadelphia, but declined a commission as general of brigade. In the disastrous assault at Ball's Bluff he commanded a brigade, and, exposing himself to the hottest fire, fell mortally wounded while leading a charge. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 144.


Bartley, Mordecai

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BARTLEY, Mordecai, governor of Ohio, born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 16 December, 1783; died in Mansfield, Ohio, 10 October, 1870. He attended school, and worked on his father's farm until 1809, when he moved to Ohio. In the war of 1812 he served in the northwest, under General Harrison, as captain and adjutant. He settled in Richland County in 1814, and remained there till 1834, when he moved to Mansfield and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Mr. Bartley was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1817, and in 1818 was chosen, by the legislature, registrar of the land-office of Virginia Military District school lands. He resigned his registrar ship in 1823, having been elected member of Congress, where he remained until 3 March, 1831. In 1844 he was elected governor of Ohio on the Whig ticket. During the Mexican War, when the president issued his call for troops, Governor Bartley, though opposed to the war, promptly responded, superintending their organization in person. In 1846 he retired to private life, declining a renomination. He remained a Whig until the disruption of that party, and subsequently acted with the Republicans. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 187.


Bashford, Coles

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BASHFORD, Coles, governor of Wisconsin, born near Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York, 24 January, 1816; died 25 April, 1878. He was educated at the Wesleyan Seminary (now Genesee College), Lima, New York, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. He was elected district attorney for Wayne County, in 1847, and in 1850 resigned and moved to Algonia, now a part of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He was a member of the Whig State Convention in 1851, and in 1852 was chosen for the state senate, from which he resigned in 1855. He was the first Republican governor of the state, serving from 1855 to 1857, and declining a renomination. He practised law in Oshkosh till 1863, when he moved to Tucson, Arizona. From 1864 till 1867, he was president of the First Territorial Convention, and in 1866 was elected delegate and was attorney-general of the territory to Congress, serving from March, 1867, to March, 1869. He was appointed secretary of the territory in 1869, and served till 1876, when he resigned, and resumed the practice of his profession. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 190


Bates, Edward, 1793-1869, Virginia, statesman, lawyer, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Whig Party Congressman.  U.S. Attorney General, Lincoln’s cabinet.  Member, Free Labor Party, Missouri.  Anti-slavery activist. Opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 193; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, pp. 48-49)


Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BATES, Edward, statesman, born in Belmont. Goochland County, Virginia, 4 September, 1793; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 25 March, 1869. He was of Quaker descent, and received most of his education at Charlotte Hall, Maryland, finishing under the care of a private tutor. In 1812 he received a midshipman's warrant, and was only prevented from going to sea by his mother's influence. From February till October, 1813, he served in the Virginia Militia at Norfolk. His elder brother, Frederick Bates, having been appointed secretary of the new territory of Missouri, Edward emigrated thither in 1814, and soon entered upon the practice of law. As early as 1816 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the St. Louis Circuit, and in 1820 was elected a delegate to the state constitutional convention. Toward the close of the same year he was appointed attorney-general of the new state of Missouri, which office he held for two years. He was elected to the legislature in 1822, and in 1824 became state attorney for the Missouri District. About this time he became the political friend of Henry Clay. In 1826, while yet quite a young man, he was elected a representative in Congress as an anti-democrat, serving but one term. For the next twenty-five years he devoted himself to his profession, but served in the legislature again in 1830 and 1834. In 1847 Mr. Bates was a delegate to the convention for internal improvement, held in Chicago, and here made a favorable impression upon the country at large. In 1850 President Fillmore offered him the portfolio of Secretary of War, which he declined. Three years later he accepted the office of judge of the St. Louis Land Court. In 1836 he presided over the Whig Convention held in Baltimore. When the question of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was agitated, he earnestly opposed it, and thus became identified with the “free-labor” party in Missouri, opposing with them the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution. Mr. Bates became more and more prominent as an anti-slavery man, until in 1859 he was mentioned as a candidate for the presidency. He was warmly supported by his own state, and for a time it seem that the opposition to Governor Seward might concentrate upon him. In the National Republican Convention of 1860 he received 48 votes on the 1st ballot; but when it became apparent that Mr. Lincoln was the favorite, his name was withdrawn. When Mr. Lincoln, after his election, decided upon selecting for his cabinet the leading men of the Democratic Party, including those who had been his principal competitors, Mr. Bates was appointed Attorney-General. In the cabinet he played a dignified, safe, and faithful, but not conspicuous, part. In 1864 he resigned his office and returned to his home in St. Louis. From this time he never again entered into active politics. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 193.


Bell, John

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BELL, John, statesman, born near Nashville, Tennessee, 15 February, 1797; died at Cumberland Iron Works, Tennessee, 10 September, 1869. His father was a farmer in fair circumstances. He was graduated at Cumberland College (now the University of Nashville) in 1814, studied law, settled at Franklin, Tennessee, and was elected to the state senate in 1817. Declining a re-election, he adhered to his profession until 1827, when, after an excited canvass, he was elected to Congress over Felix Grundy, by a thousand majority, although Grundy had the support of General Jackson, then a presidential candidate. Bell was re-elected six times, serving in the House of Representatives until 1841, and for ten years he was chairman of the Committee on Indian affairs. He was at first a free- trader, but changed his views and became an earnest protectionist. He was opposed to nullification, and, although voting against the bill to charter the United States bank in 1832, he protested against the removal of the deposits, and this course led to a breach between him and President Jackson. He was one of the founders of the Whig Party. This change was marked by his election in 1834 to the speakership of the house, in opposition to James K. Polk, whom the Democrats supported. He joined with Judge White in the anti-Van Buren movement in Tennessee, which completed his sins in the estimation of President Jackson, who could not, however, prevent his return to Congress, as his popularity in his district remained unshaken. When petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia were resented in the House of Representatives in 1836, Mr. Bell voted to receive them, and he also opposed the “Atherton gag” in 1838. In this course he was supported by his constituents, though assailed in his position. President Harrison made him Secretary of War in 1841, but he resigned with the rest of the cabinet (Mr. Webster only excepted) when President Tyler separated from the Whigs. Declining the U. S. senatorship, offered him by the Tennessee legislature, he remained in retirement until 1847, when he was chosen to the state senate and immediately afterward to the national senate, where he remained until 3 March, 1859. He was prominent in his opposition to the policy of annexation. When the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was brought forward, in 1854, Mr. Bell opposed its passage with all his power, not only as violating the Missouri compact, to which the honor of the south was pledged, but as unsettling the compromise of 1850 to which both the great parties had solemnly subscribed. Four years later he was equally earnest in his opposition to the Lecompton constitution that had been framed for Kansas. In 1860. Mr. Bell was nominated for the presidency of the “constitutional union” party, Edward Everett receiving the nomination for the vice-president. This ticket had no chance of success, but it was well supported, receiving the electoral votes of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. At the beginning of the Civil War, Mr. Bell was one of those who condemned secession, but were also opposed to all “coercion.” On 18 April, 1861, with seven other citizens of Tennessee, he issued an address recommending his state to preserve an armed neutrality, and on 23 April, in a speech at Nashville, he favored standing by the southern states. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 226-227.


Bell, Luther Vose

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BELL, Luther Vose was born in Chester, New Hampshire, 20 December, 1806; died in camp near Budd's Ferry, Maryland, 11 February, 1862. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1823, and, after studying medicine with his elder brother John in New York City, received his diploma from Dartmouth in 1826. He began to practice in New York, but returned to New Hampshire after his brother's death in 1830. He became noted as a practitioner and writer, taking two Cambridge Boylston prizes by his essays before he was thirty years of age. One of his earlier operations, the amputation of the femur, was successfully performed, in default of any other accessible instruments, with the patient's razor, a tenon-saw, and a darning-needle for a tenaculum. Dr. Bell early became interested in the establishment of hospitals for the insane, and was elected twice to the legislature for the defence of his favorite plan. Although he was not successful, he brought himself into public notice, and in 1837 was chosen superintendent of the McLean Insane Asylum at Charlestown, Massachusetts In 1845, at the request of the trustees of the Butler hospital for the insane, at Providence, Rhode Island, he visited Europe for the purpose of  recent improvements in lunatic asylums, and, after three months' absence, completed the plan of their present building. While at Charlestown, he brought to notice a form of disease peculiar to the insane, which is now known as “Bell's disease,” and was also called upon frequently to testify in the courts as an expert. In 1850 he was a member of the state council, and in 1853 of the convention for revising the state constitution. In 1852 he was nominated by the Whigs for Congress, and in 1856 for governor of the state, but was defeated both times. In 1856 he resigned his place in Charlestown, and when the Civil War began he entered the army as surgeon of the 11th Massachusetts Volunteers. At the time of his death he was medical director of Hooker's division. Dr. Bell published “An Attempt to investigate some Obscure Doctrines in Relation to Small-Pox” (1830), and “External Exploration of Diseases” (1836), and also described is investigations of alleged spiritual manifestations. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 228.


Benton, Jacob

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BENTON, Jacob, Congressman, born in Waterford, Vermont, 14 August, 1819. He received an academic education, and, after teaching for several years, studied law with Chief-Justice Bellows, and was He began practice at Lancaster, New Hampshire, made a high reputation as a successful advocate, and early became an earnest member of the Whig Party, and was elected to the legislature in 1854, 1855, and 1856. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention of 1860, and afterward commanded the state volunteers as brigadier-general. He was elected to Congress from New Hampshire, serving two terms, from 4 March, 1867, till 8 March, 1871. While in Congress, Mr. Benton favored all efforts to reduce the expenses of the government and to equalize taxation. Although a clear and convincing public speaker, Mr. Benton rarely addressed the house. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 239-240.


Bird, Francis William, 1809-1894, anti-slavery political leader, radical reformer.  Member of the anti-slavery “Conscience Whigs,” leader of the Massachusetts Free Soil Party.  Led anti-slavery faction of the newly formed Republican Party.  Supported abolitionist Party leader Charles Sumner.  Opposed Dred Scott decision.  “Bird Club” greatly influenced radical Republican politics in Massachusetts and in the U.S. Senate.  Organized Emancipation League.  Supported enlistment of African Americans in the Union Army and emancipation of Blacks in the District of Columbia.  Supported women’s rights, Indian rights, suffrage rights for Chinese, and other causes. (American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 2, p. 805).


Botts, John Minor

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BOTTS, John Minor, statesman, born in Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia, 16 September, 1802; died in Culpepper, Virginia, 7 January, 1869. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Fredericksburg, and thence to Richmond, where they perished in the great theatre fire in 1811. Young Botts received a good education, began early to read law, and was admitted to the bar at the age of eighteen. After he had practised for six years he retired to a farm in Henrico County, and established himself as a gentleman farmer. In 1833 he was elected as a Whig to represent his county in the legislature, where he at once became prominent, and several times reelected. In 1839 he was elected to Congress, and there stood earnestly and ably by Henry Clay, zealously advocating most of the points of the leader's programme, including a national  protective tariff, and the distribution among the states of the proceeds of the public lands. He was one of the few southern members that supported John Quincy Adams in his contest against the regulations of the house infringing the right of petition, adopted by the majority in order to exclude appeals from the abolitionists. After serving two terms, from 2 December, 1839, till 3 March, 1843, he was defeated by Mr. Seddon, but in 1847 re-elected, and sat from 6 December, 1847, till 3 March, 1849. In 1839 he was a delegate to the national Whig Convention, which nominated Harrison and Tyler. He had been a warm personal friend of John Tyler, elected vice-president in November, 1840, and who, by the death of General Harrison, in April, 1841, became president of the United States; but, soon after Mr. Tyler's accession to office, Mr. Botts, in a conversation with him, learned his intention of seceding from the party that had elected him, and he at once denounced him, and opposed him as long as he was president. In the campaign of 1844 he labored earnestly for the election of Mr. Clay. In 1852 Mr. Botts resumed the practice of his profession in Richmond. He earnestly opposed the repeal of the Missouri compromise in 1854, and was in sympathy with those southern representatives who resisted the passage, in 1858, of the bill admitting Kansas as a state under the Lecompton constitution. On the disruption of the Whig Party, he joined the American Party, and in 1859 an attempt was made by that political organization to nominate him for the presidency. He continued his practice, and remained in Richmond till the beginning of the Civil War; but, being devoted to the union, and having used all his efforts, without avail, to prevent Virginia from seceding, he retired to his farm near Culpepper Court-House, where he remained most of the time during the war, respected by the secessionists yet subjected to a great  of trial and inconvenience. One night, in March, 1862, a squad of a hundred men, under the orders of General Winder, came to his house, took him from his bed, and carried him to prison, where he was held in solitary confinement for eight weeks. His arrest was caused by the well-founded suspicion that he was writing a secret history of the war. Search was made for the manuscript, but nothing was found. After the close of the war, this missing manuscript, of which a portion had been, in 1862, confided to the Count de Mercier.   French minister at Washington, formed the basis of a volume prepared by Mr. Botts, “The Great Rebellion, its Secret History, Rise, Progress, and Disastrous Failure!” (New York 1866). After his release from prison Mr. Botts returned to his home at Culpepper, where he was continually by the enemy. His farm was repeatedly overrun by both armies, and dug over at various times for military operations. When the war had closed, Mr. Botts again took a deep interest in political matters. He labored earnestly for the early restoration of his state to the union, but without success. He was a delegate to the National Convention of Southern Loyalists in Philadelphia in 1866, and in 1867 signed his name on the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 325-326.


Bradford, Augustus W.

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BRADFORD, Augustus W., governor of Maryland, born in Maryland about 1805; died 1 March, 1881. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and became an active Whig politician. He was an earnest unionist during the Civil War. In 1861 he was a delegate to the Peace Congress, and in 1862 was elected governor of the state, serving until 1866. In July, 1864, Confederate raiders burned his house. In 1864 he was influential in securing the adoption of the new constitution of Maryland, by which slavery was abolished, and under President Johnson was Surveyor of the port of Baltimore. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 348.


Bradley, Joseph P.

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BRADLEY, Joseph P., jurist, born in Berne, Albany County, New York, 14 March, 1813. He is of English descent. […] In 1859 Lafayette College conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. In 1870, he was appointed by President Grant a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was designated circuit justice for the large southern circuit. Subsequently, on the resignation of Justice Strong, he was assigned to the third circuit, embracing the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. During his member-ship of the Supreme Court a very large number of cases have been brought into it, involving questions arising out of the Civil War, the Reconstruction and other acts of Congress, the constitutional amendments, the difficulties and controversies of railroad companies, and other subjects. In no former equal period have as many cases of supreme importance been decided by that court. Many of them were not only novel,  intricate and difficult of solution. In the investigation and decision of all of them Judge Bradley has borne a distinguished part. His mind is remarkably analytical, capable of discovering and appreciating occult though important distinctions. Added to this, his legal learning is so large and accurate, his acquaintance with English and American decisions so extensive, and his habit of looking beyond the rule for the reason or principle upon which it is founded so constant, that his opinions have been of high value. Those opinions appear in more than forty volumes of the supreme court reports, beginning with 9th Wallace. Many of them are notable alike for the importance of the subject discussed and for the manner of the discussion. In patent cases Judge Bradley has exhibited marked ability, his natural aptitude for comprehending mechanical devices qualifying him unusually for such cases. His opinions in maritime cases, in cases relating to civil rights and habeas corpus, in suits upon policies of insurance, and in cases in which statutory or constitutional construction has been required, are especially noteworthy as able and instructive. When in January, 1877, in pursuance of an Act of Congress, an electoral commission was constituted to consider and report upon the controversies that had arisen over the counting of the votes of presidential electors, Judge Bradley was a member, and, as such, concurred in the conclusions reached by the majority of the commissioners, supporting those conclusions by elaborate arguments, which were published with the other proceedings of the commission. Judge Bradley was never what is called a politician, though always holding decided opinions respecting constitutional and other public questions, and occasionally giving those opinions to the press. In his earlier years he was attached to the Whig Party, and later be a Republican. To the government he has uniformly given a steady and efficient support. When the southern states attempted secession, he devoted his power and in- fluence to sustaining the government against disunion, and, as counsel and director of the New Jersey Railroad Companies, he assisted very materially in forwarding troops and military supplies. On several occasions he accompanied new regiments to the field, and addressed them on the pending issues. In 1862, with much reluctance, he accepted the Republican nomination for Congress in the Sixth Congressional District of New Jersey; but so strongly Democratic was the district that he was defeated. In 1868 he headed the New Jersey Republican electoral ticket. He is an accomplished mathematician, familiar with the higher and more abstruse processes of mathematical investigation and not infrequently amuses himself by indulgence in such pursuits. In 1844 he married Mary, daughter of Chief Justice Hornblower, of New Jersey by whom he has two sons and two daughters. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 352-353.


Briggs, George Nixon

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BRIGGS, George Nixon, governor of Massachusetts, born in Adams, Massachusetts, 13 April, 1796; died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 12 September, 1861. His father served under Stark and Allen at Bennington. In 1809 he was apprenticed to a hatter at White Creek, New York, but was taken from the shop in 1811 by an elder brother and given a year's schooling. He then began the study of law, and in October, 1818, was admitted to the bar of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he soon became prominent, practising in Adams, Lanesborough, and Pittsfield. In 1827, by his defence of a Stockbridge Indian, who was tried for murder at Lenox, he established his reputation as one of the best criminal lawyers in the state. From 1824 till 1831 he was register of deeds for his county, and in 1830 was elected to Congress as a Whig, serving six successive terms, and being at one time chairman of the post-office committee. He was known as an eloquent debater. From 1843 till 1851 he was governor of Massachusetts. During his administration the murder of Dr. Parkman by Professor Webster occurred, and the most extraordinary efforts were made to induce the governor either to pardon the offender or to commute his sentence; but, believing that the good of the community required the execution of the murderer, he refused to interpose. Governor Briggs was appointed one of the judges of the court of common pleas in 1851, which office he continued to fill till the reorganization of the courts of the state in 1856. In 1853 he was a member of the state constitutional convention. In 1861 he was one of a commission to adjust the claims between the United States and New Granada; but his death, which resulted from the accidental discharge of a fowling-piece, occurred before he had entered upon his duties. He had taken a deep interest in the great struggle  which the nation had just entered, and one of his last public acts was to address a regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, of which his son was the colonel. Governor Briggs had taken through life an active interest in religious and benevolent enterprises, and at the time of his death was president of the American Baptist Missionary Union, of the American Tract Society at Boston, the American Temperance Union, and the Massachusetts Sabbath-School Union, and director in several other benevolent societies. He was also, for sixteen years, a trustee of Williams College. A memoir of him, with the title “Great in Goodness,” was published by the Reverend William C. Richards (Boston, 1866)  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 375.


Brownlow, William Gannaway

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BROWNLOW, William Gannaway, journalist, born in Wythe County, Virginia, 29 A'. 1805; died in Knoxville, Tennessee, 29 April, 1877. He was left an orphan at the age of eleven, but, having earned enough by hard work as a carpenter to give himself a fair English education, he entered the Methodist ministry in 1826, and labored for ten years as an itinerant preacher. He began to take part in politics in 1828 by advocating, in Tennessee, the reelection of John Quincy Adams to the presidency; and while travelling the South Carolina circuit, in which John C. Calhoun lived, made himself unpopular by publicly opposing nullification. He afterward published a pamphlet in vindication of his course. He became editor of the Knoxville “Whig” in 1838, and from his trenchant mode of expression became known as “the fighting parson.” He was a candidate for Congress against Andrew Johnson in 1843, and in 1850 was appointed by President Fillmore one of several commissioners to carry out the provisions made by Congress for the improvement of navigation on the Missouri. Although an advocate of slavery, he boldly opposed the secession movement, taking the ground that southern institutions were safer in the union than out of it. His course subjected him to much persecution. For a time his house was the only one in Knoxville where the union flag was displayed; but all efforts to make him haul it down were unsuccessful. His paper was finally suppressed by the Confederate authorities, and in the last issue, that of 24 October, 1861, he published a farewell address to his readers, in which he said that he preferred imprisonment to submission. Refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate government, he was at last persuaded by his friends to leave Knoxville for another district. During his absence he was accused of burning railway bridges in east Tennessee, and a company of troops was sent out with orders to shoot him on sight; but he escaped by secreting himself among the loyalists on the North Carolina border. He was finally induced, by the promise of a free pass to Kentucky, to return to Knoxville, but was arrested there, 6 December, 1861, on charge of treason, and thrown into jail, where he was confined without fire, and suffered much during his imprisonment. He was released at the close of the month, but was detained at his own house under guard. Hearing that Judah P. Benjamin had called him a “dangerous man,” and had wished him out of the confederacy, Brownlow wrote him a characteristic letter, in which occur the words, “Just give me my port, and I will do more for your confederacy t'. the devil has ever done—I will leave the country.” Benjamin advised his release, to relieve the government from the odium of having entrapped him. Brownlow was taken at his word '' sent inside the union lines at Nashville, on 3 March, 1863. After this he made a tour through the northern states, speaking to immense audiences in the principal cities, and at Philadelphia was joined by his ally, who had also been expelled from Knoxville. He returned to Tennessee in 1864, and, on the reconstruction of the state in 1865, was elected governor, serving two terms. In his me of October, 1865, he advocated the removal of the Negro population to a separate territory, and declared it policy to give them the ballot. In that of November, 1866, he reiterated these sentiments, but recognized the fact that the blacks had shown greater aptitude for learning than had been expected, and, although confessing to “caste prejudice,” said he desired to act in harmony with the great body of loyal people throughout the union. In 1867 Governor Brownlow came into conflict with Mayor Brown, of Nashville, over the manner of appointing judges of election under the new franchise law. The U.S. troops were ordered to sustain the governor, and the city authorities finally submitted. During the ku-klux troubles Governor Brownlow found it necessary to proclaim martial law in nine counties of the state. In 1869 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and resigned the office of governor. In 1875 he was succeeded in the Senate by ex-President Johnson. After the close of his term he returned to Knoxville, bought a controlling interest in the “Whig,” which he had sold in 1869, and edited it until his death. He published “The Iron Wheel Examined, and its False Spokes Extracted,” a reply to attacks on the Methodist Church (Nashville, 1856); “Ought American Slavery to be Perpetuated?” a debate with Reverend A. Prynne, of New York, in which Mr. Brownlow took the affirmative (Philadelphia, 1858); and “Sketches of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Secession, with a Narrative of Personal Adventures among the Rebels” (1862). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 415-416.


Buckland, Ralph Pomeroy

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BUCKLAND, Ralph Pomeroy, soldier, born in Leyden, Massachusetts, 20 January, 1812. His father moved to Ohio when Ralph was but a few months old. He was educated at Kenyon College, but was never graduated, afterward studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He was a delegate to the Whig National Convention of 1848, served as state senator from 1855 till 1859, and in 1861 was appointed colonel of the 72d Ohio Infantry. He commanded the 4th Brigade of Sherman's division at the battle of Shiloh, and was made a brigadier-general 29 November, 1862. He also commanded a brigade of the 15th Army Corps at Vicksburg and the District of Memphis during the year 1864. During an absence from the field, in 1864, he was elected to Congress, and served two terms. He resigned from the army, 9 January, 1865, and on 13 March was brevetted major-general of volunteers. He was a delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists’ Convention of 1866, to the Pittsburgh Soldiers' Convention, and to the Republican National Convention of 1876. General Buckland was president of the managers of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors' Orphans' Home from 1867 till 1873, and government director of the Pacific Railroad from 1877 till 1880. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 439. Everett,


Burchard, Charles, 1810-1879, New York, Wisconsin, political leader, opposed slavery.  Member of the Whig and Liberty Parties.  Major in the Civil War.

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References

(Blue, 2005, pp. 9, 52, 52n33, 53, 196, 198, 204; Drake, 1950, p. 137; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 20, 22, 32-34, 37, 40-41, 43, 47-49, 54, 61, 67, 72, 136; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 513-514; Wilson, 1872, pp. 123-128; Braver, Kinney J. Cotton versus Conscience: Massachusetts Whig Politics and Southwestern Expansion, 1843-1848. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1967; Formisano, Ronald P. The Transformation of Political Culture: Massachusetts Parties 1790’s-1840’s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983; O’Connor, Thomas. Lords of the Loom: The Cotton Whigs and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Scribner’s, 1968)