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HEROES AND STATESMEN 
 
 AMERICA, 
 
 BEING A POPULAR BOOK OF 
 
 American Biography 
 
 EMBRACING THE LIVES OF THE REPRESENTATIVE 
 
 GREAT MEN OF THE NATION. 
 
 By JAMES D. McCABE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATBS.' 
 
 UL-LXISTRA-TKID. 
 
 P. W. ZIEGLER & CO., PUBLISHERS, 
 
 518 ARCH ST., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 180 E. ADAMS ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 620 OLIVE STREET, ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
 ODD fellows' BUILDING, CINCINNATI, O. 
 
 1878. 
 
gTirr/ 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1877, by 
 
 JAMES D. McCABE, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE close of the First Century of our National existence has 
 naturally directed the attention of the American people to an 
 examination of the progress of our country during this period. We 
 look back, with pride, over the record of what has been accomplished, 
 and each event of our history acquires new interest and importance 
 in the light which the experience of one hundred years sheds upon it. 
 We behold our country grown from a narrow, thinly-peopled strip 
 of territory along the Atlantic sea-board, to a mighty Republic, 
 stretching from the frozen regions of the North to the sunny waters 
 of the Mexican Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, its wilder- 
 nesses converted into thriving towns and smiling farms, and its hand- 
 ful of widely-scattered people increased to a powerful nation, strong 
 at home and feared abroad. We see the rapid and steady improve- 
 ment of the Republic in civilization and material prosperity. In the 
 place of the few struggling towns of a century ago, we behold mag- 
 nificent cities connected by a network of railways and telegraphs; 
 our navigable rivers and lakes are plowed by noble steamers; and the 
 sails of our commerce whiten every sea. The weak, dependent, and 
 scarcely united Colonies have become a powerful, compact confed- 
 eracy of States, peopled by an intelligent, educated and energetic 
 race, who have made it a land where God is honored, where all men 
 are endowed with equal rights before the law, and where the humblest 
 citizen may attain the highest honors and dignities within the gift of 
 the State ; a land in which education and refinement are more gen- 
 eral, and the average comfort of the individual greater than in any 
 country upon the globe. It is both right and needful, therefore, that 
 we should give our earnest attention to the consideration of these 
 
 remarkable achievements of our country, in order that we may learn 
 
 (iii) 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 from them the lessons they impart and the warnings they hold out to 
 the future. 
 
 But this wonderful story of progress is not all that should engage 
 our attention at this period of national rejoicing. It is fitting that 
 we should remember the great men of our history, to wliose labors 
 we owe all that we now enjoy, and that we should know the story of 
 their lives and the means by which they accomplished the task allotted 
 to them. America has no prouder record than that of the lives of 
 her great men — none from which her children may draw greater in- 
 spiration, or learn more useful lessons. Not one of them owed his 
 success to fortune or social position, but all were eminently self-made 
 men; and their lives are full of hope and encouragement to those 
 who would emulate their glorious examples. 
 
 The writer of these pages has thought the present a proper time to 
 offer to his countrymen this collection of brief biographies of the 
 great men whose deeds illustrate the First Century of American 
 Independence. There never was a time when such a work was more 
 needed; there never was a time when our people needed, as they do 
 now, to be taught that enduring success in public life can be attained 
 only by honesty, disinterested patriotism, and fitness for the task 
 assumed, and that he oniy is the truest lover and best servant of his 
 country who is willing to sink all considerations of self in his desire 
 to promote the welfare of his fellow-citizens. Such was the spirit that 
 animated the men whose lives are recorded in these pages. They 
 were often mistaken as to the means to be employed, or the course to 
 be pursued, but never as to the end to be attained. They were will- 
 ing to spend life and fortune in the effort to benefit their country, 
 and faithfully and patiently sought to qualify themselves for the great 
 work to which they were called. They have their reward in the 
 grateful love and honor with which their country cherishes their mem- 
 ory, and their lives are lessons which each American should take 
 deeply to heart. 
 
 Of course, in the preparation of a work like this, it was not possible 
 to include all the great men of America. It therefore seemed best to 
 the writer to select only those who may be considered the represen- 
 tative men of the various periods of our history. In the selection of 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 subjects, choice was made only of those who were natives of the 
 country ; the only exception to this rule being the case of Alexander 
 Hamilton, who, being a native of the West Indies, may be properly 
 regarded as an American in the sense in which that term is used in 
 this work. Choice was made also of the dead alone, inasmuch as, 
 their work being finished, a juster and more complete estimate may 
 be formed of their character than in the case of living men. It is 
 believed that a sufficient number of biographies is herein presented 
 to the reader to accomplish the object of this work, and to familiarize 
 him with the representative men of each distinctive period of our 
 history ; and that the candid reader will admit the claim that each 
 one whose name is herein mentioned, truly merits the title of " great." 
 
 " The fame that a man wins himself is best ; 
 That he may call his own : honors put on him 
 Make him no more a man than his clothes do, 
 Which are as soon ta'en off; for in the warmth 
 The heat comes from the body, not the weeds ; 
 So man's true fame must strike from his own deeds." 
 April igth, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 25 
 
 Ancestry of Washington — His Parents — Birth — Childhood — Death of his 
 Father — Lawrence Washington — The Mother of George Washington — 
 She Prevents him from Going to Sea — Lord Fairfax — He Engages 
 George Washington to Survey his Lands — Washington's Life as a Sur- 
 veyor — His Visits to Greenway Court — The English and French on the 
 Ohio — Washington is made a Major — Visits the West Indies — Death of 
 Lawrence Washington — Gov. Dinwiddie sends Washington on a Mission 
 to the Ohio — His Journey — Reaches the French Forts — Delivers his Let- 
 ter — Sets out on his Return — A Perilous Journey — Narrow Escapes — 
 Successful Accomplishment of his Mission — Washington in Command of 
 the Virginia Regiment — Beginning of the French and Indian War — 
 Washington Crosses the Mountains — Defeats Jumonville — Fort Necessity 
 — Surrender of the Fort — Washington Resigns his Commission — Ap- 
 pomted Aide-de-camp to Gen. Braddock — Braddock Neglects his Advice 
 — Advance of the Army Beyond the Mountains — Defeat of Braddock's 
 Army — Heroic Conduct of Washington — His Remarkable Escape — He 
 is made Commander-in-Chief of all the Virginia Forces — His Meeting 
 with Mrs. Custis — Capture of Fort Duquesne — Close of the War — Mar- 
 riage of Washington — Enters the Assembly — Life as a Planter — Mount 
 Vernon — The Troubles with England — The Stamp Act — Washington 
 Embraces the Cause of America — Supports the Non-Intercourse Plan — 
 His Course in the Assembly — A Member of Congress — Patrick Henry's 
 Opinion of him — Elected to the Virginia Convention — Favors Resist- 
 ance — Battle of Lexington — Washington in the Second Colonial Con- 
 gress — Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army — Accepts 
 the Position — His Disinterestedness — Letters to his Wife — Sets out for 
 Cambridge — Battle of Bunker Hill — Washington Takes Command of the 
 Army — The Siege of Boston — Its Difficulties and Trials — Invasion of 
 Canada — Its Failure — Arrival of Artillery in Washington's Camp — He 
 Seizes Dorchester Heights — Evacuation of Boston by the British — Decla- 
 ration of Independence — Washington at New York — The British Occupy 
 Staten Island — Arrival of Lord Howe — His Letters to Washington — Bat- 
 tle of Long Island — Retreat from Long Island and New York — Loss of 
 Fort Washington — Retreat Across New Jersey — Confidence of Washing- 
 ton — Washington Dictator — He Recrosses the Delaware — Battle of Tren- 
 ton — Battle of Princeton — The Briti-sh Expelled from New Jersey — The 
 Campaign of 1777 — Battles of the Brandy wine and Germantown — The 
 
 (vii) 
 
VIU CONTENTS. 
 
 British in Philadelphia— Advance of Burgoyne — Battles of Bennington 
 and Behnius' Heights — Surrender of Burgoyne — The Winter at Valley 
 Forge — The Conway Cabal — Intrigues Against Washington — Baron Steu- 
 ben — The Alliance with France — Battle of Monmouth — Washington 
 Crosses the Hudson — Labors of Washington in Behalf of the Cause — 
 Events of 1779 — The War in the South — Generosity of Washington to- 
 wards Gates — The French at Newport — Arnold's Treason — Execution of 
 Andre — The French on the Hudson — A Change of Plans — Siege of 
 Yorktown — Surrender of Lord Cornwallis — Last Years of the War — 
 Washington Rebukes an Offer to Make him Dictator — Close of the War — 
 Washington's Farewell to his Officers — Resigns his Commission — Life at 
 Mount Vernon — Presides Over the Federal Convention — Adoption of the 
 Constitution — Washington Elected President of the United States — His 
 Journey to New York — Inauguration — Organizes the New Government 
 — Removal of the Capital to Philadelphia — How Washington Received 
 the News of St. Clair's Defeat — Political Quarrels — Reelection of Wash- 
 ington — Events of his Second Term — Citizen Genet — Firmness of the 
 President — The "Whisky Insurrection" — Jay's Treaty — The Farewell 
 Address — Its Reception by the Countiy — Washington Retires from the 
 Presidency — Returns to Mount Vernon — The Quarrel with France — 
 Washington Commander-in-Chief of the Army — Last Illness — Death of 
 Washington — Tributes to his Memory. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 145 
 
 The Father of Thomas Jefferson — Birth of Jefferson — Childhood — Death of 
 his Father — Enters William and Mary College — His Real Instructors — 
 Jefferson Studies Law — Admitted to the Bar — Success as a Lawyer — The 
 Quarrel with England — Jefferson in the Assembly — First Efforts Against 
 Slavery — His Marriage — " A Summary View of the Rights of America" 
 — Relinquishes his Law Practice — Elected to the Continental Congress — 
 Drafts the Declaration of Independence — Resigns his Seat in Congress — 
 A Member of the Virginia Legislature — His Reforms for Virginia — Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia — His Course as Governor — Narrow Escape from Cap- 
 ture — End of his Term — His Vindication — Death of Mrs. Jefferson — Mr. 
 Jefferson Elected to Congress — Appointed an Envoy to France — Arrival 
 in Paris — Appointed Minister to France — His Services to his Country 
 while Abroad — Returns to the United States — Appointed Secretary of 
 State by President Washington — His Services in the Cabinet — Quarrel 
 with Hamilton — Resigns his Office — Elected Vice President — Elected 
 President of the United States — Events of his First Term — Purchase of 
 Louisiana — Jefferson Reelected President — Outrages of England and 
 France on American Commerce — Attack on the Chesapeake — The Em- 
 bargo — Retirement of Mr. Jefferson from the Presidency — Life at Monti- 
 cello — Founds the University of Virginia — Pecuniary Troubles — Last 
 Years — Death of Mr. Jefferson — His Epitaph. 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 NATHANIEL GREENE. 178 
 
 Birth — Early Life — Favors Resistance to Great Britain— Expelled from the 
 Society of Friends— Outbreak of the Revolution— Greene a Brigadier- 
 General — Attachment to Washington— Siege of Boston— Illness — Loss 
 of Fort Lee— Battle of Trenton— Greene Saves the Army at the Brandy- 
 wine— Battle of Germantown — Greene made Quartermaster-General — 
 Washington's Opinion of Him— A Quaker's Tribute to the Fighting 
 General— Greene Resigns Tlis Office of Quartermaster- General— Advises 
 the Execution of Andre— Appointed to the Chief Command in the 
 South — Collects an Army in the Carolinas— Advance of Cornwallis — 
 Battle of the Cowpens— Greene Joins Morgan— Brilliant Retreat of 
 Greene into Virginia— Cornwallis's Opinion of Greene— Battle of Guil- 
 ford Court House— Extraordinary Endurance of General Greene— Battle 
 of Hobkirk's Hill— Siege of Ninety-Six— Battle of Eutaw Springs- 
 Redemption of the Carolinas— Close of the War— Last Years and Death 
 of General Greene. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 196 
 
 Birth of John Adams— Education— Designed for the Ministry— Teaches 
 School— Studies Law— Admitted to the Bar— Early Struggles— His First 
 Office — Marries— Takes Part in the Controversy with England— Defends 
 the British Soldiers Engaged in the Boston Massacre— Elected to the 
 General Court— Becomes One of the Leaders of the Patriot Party— Pro- 
 poses the Impeachment of the Chief Justice— Elected to the First Colo- 
 nial Congress— Endeavors to Secure the Aid of the other Colonies for 
 Massachusetts— Mr. Adams in the Second Colonial Congress— Labors for 
 Independence — Nominates Washington to be Commander-in- Chief- 
 Unpopularity of Mr. Adams— Causes of It— Is made Chief Justice of 
 ' Massachusetts — Organizes the Courts of the Province— Bancroft's Picture 
 of John Adams— He declares Independence Inevitable— His "Thoughts 
 on Government" — Supports the Declaration of Independence — His Ser- 
 vices in Congress — Appointed an Envoy to France — Sails for Europe — 
 Reaches France after the Conclusion of the Alliance— Returns Home — 
 Appointed a Commissioner to Treat for Peace— Quarrel with the Count 
 de Vergennes— Minister to Holland— Success of His Mission— Returns 
 to Paris— His Share in the Peace Negotiations— Visits England— Returns 
 to France— Is Joined by Mrs. Adams— Appointed Minister to the Court 
 of St. James— A Tiying Duty— Returns Home— Elected Vice-President 
 of the United States— Elected President— His Great Error— Quarrel with 
 France— The Alien and Sedition Laws — Mr. Adams's Connection with _ 
 Them— Hostilities with France— Hamilton Endeavors to bring on War- 
 Firmness of President Adams— Settlement of the Quarrel— Resentment 
 of Hamilton— Defeat of Mr. Adams for a Second Term— Death of Mrs, 
 Adams — Last Years and Death of John Adams. 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 HENRY KNOX. 227 
 
 Birth — Becomes a Bookseller — Embraces the Patriot Cause — Ordered to Re- 
 main in Boston — Escapes to the American Camp — Is Given a Com- 
 mand — Attracts the Attention of Washington — Is Recommended for 
 Colonel of Artillery — Brings Cannon from Ticonderoga to Cambridge — 
 Is Made Chief of Artillery — Brigadier-General — At Monmouth — Wash- 
 ington's Friendship for Knox — Seige of Yorktown — General Knox Pro- 
 poses the Founding of the Order of the Cincinnati — Is Made Secretary of 
 War — Retires from the Cabinet — Last Years and Death. 
 
 PATRICK HENRY. 234 
 
 John Henry Settles in Virginia — Birth of Patrick Heniy — Early Life — An 
 Unpromising Childhood — Singular Traits — Patrick Becomes a Merchant 
 — How He Kept a Store — Failure — His Marriage — Tries Farming — 
 Becomes a Student — Meets Thomas Jefferson — Studies Law — Admitted 
 to the Bar — The Parson's Cause — Triumph of Patrick Henry — Mr. Henry 
 a Successful Lawyer — Removes to Louisa County — Astonishes the Vir- 
 ginia Assembly — The Quarrel with England — Patrick Henry in the As- 
 sembly — Assumes the Leadership of the Patriot Party — His Warning to 
 King George — The Five Resolutions — Predicts Independence — Elected 
 to the\ Continental Congress — His First Speech in That Body — Patrick 
 Henry in the Virginia Convention — Proposes to Arm the Province — His 
 Great Speech — Lord Dunmore Begins the War — March of the Hanover 
 Troop — Patrick Henry Elected to the Command of the Virginia Forces 
 — Bad Treatment by the Convention — Resigns His Commission — Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia — Opposes the Constitution of the United States — Re- 
 tires from Public Life — Letter to His Daughter — Death. 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM. 258 
 
 Birth — Early Life — Chivalrous Conduct — Marries — Becomes a Farmer — Put- 
 nam and the She-wolf — The French and Indian War — Putnam Raises a 
 Company of Rangers — A Daring Adventure — Major Putnam — Loss of 
 Fort William Henry — Putnam Saves Fort Edward — A Narrow Escape — 
 Putnam Captured by the Indians — Is Saved from Death by Molang — Is 
 Exchanged — Made Lieutenant-Colonel — Captures French Vessels of War 
 — Close of the War — Putnam Serves in the West Indies — Advises Re- 
 sistance to the Injustice of Great Britain — His Letter to the Boston Pa- 
 triots — The News of Lexington — Putnam Sets off for Cambridge — Is 
 Made a Brigadier-General — Putnam at Bunker Hill — Congress Makes 
 Putnam a Major-General — The Siege of Boston — Putnam at New York 
 — Battle of Long Island — Evacuation of New York — Putnam in Com- 
 mand at Philadelphia — His Kindness to a Wounded Officer — His Ruse 
 — Is Placed in Command of the Highlands — His Mode of Dealing with 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 Spies — Loss of the Highland Forts — Putnam Removed — Mutiny of the 
 Connecticut Troops — Putnam's Address — His Adventure at Horseneck 
 — A Perilous Ride — Is Stricken with Paralysis — Leaves the Army — Last 
 Years, and Death. 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS. 273 
 
 Birth — Educated at Harvard — Tries Commercial Life — Does Not Succeed at 
 It — Made Tax Gatherer — Engages in Politics — His Plan of Resistance 
 — Bancroft's Picture of Him — " The Last of the Puritans" — Mr. Adams 
 Elected to the Assembly — Leads Massachusetts Towards Resistance to 
 the King — Bold Course of Mr. Adams — The Boston Massacre — The 
 Town Meeting — The People of Boston Demand the Removal of the 
 King's Troops — Samuel Adams Conquers Governor Hutchinson — An 
 Impressive Scene — Samuel Adams Organizes Committees of Correspond- 
 ence — His Share in the Destruction of the Tea — George III. Attempts 
 to Buy The Last of the Puritans — Mr. Adams Secures the Election of 
 Delegates to Congress — His Influence In the Congress — Escape from 
 Lexington — April 19th, 1775 — Mr. Adams in Congress — Labors for In- 
 dependence — His Services in Congress — Aids in Preparing a Constitution 
 for Massachusetts — Delegate to the State Convention — Governor of Mas- 
 sachusetts — Death. 
 
 ANTHONY WAYNE. 287 
 
 Birth — Early Life — Outbreak of the Revolution — Wayne Raises a Regiment 
 of Pennsylvania Troops — Takes Part in the Invasion of Canada — Briga- 
 dier-General — Ordered to Washington's Army — Gallantry of Wayne — 
 Captain Graydon's Sketch of Him — " Mad Anthony" — Battle of the 
 Brandywine — The Affair at Paoli — Wayne at Germantown — Battle of 
 Monmouth — Wayne Complimented by Washington — The Storming of 
 Stony Point — A Brilliant Affair — " Mad Anthony" in Virginia — His 
 Presence of Mind — Close of the War— Wayne Given the Command of 
 the Western Army — Defeats the Indians — Last Sickness and Death. 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 297 
 
 Birth — Childhood — Early Promise — Becomes a Printer's Apprentice — First 
 Attempts at Authorship — Released from His Apprenticeship — Runs 
 away from Boston — Arrival in Philadelphia Deceived by Governor 
 Keith — His Journey to England — Returns to Philadelphia — Sets up in 
 Business — Marriage — Founds the Philadelphia Library- — Poor Richard's 
 Almanac — Rapid Success of Franklin — He Engages in Politics — 
 Elected to the Assembly — Appointed Post-master — The Albany Con- 
 gress — Franklin's Plan of Union — His Philosophical Siudies — His Dis- 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 coveries in Electricity — Is Appointed the Agent of Pennsylvania in 
 England — His Residence Abroad — Opposes the Stamp Act — His Exam- 
 ination before the House of Commons — Exposes Governor Hutchinson's 
 Treachery — Resentment of the Court — Franklin Insulted by the Privy 
 Council — His Warnings to the Ministers — Franklin Sails for America — 
 His Arrival in Philadelphia — Elected to the Continental Congress — 
 Supports the Declaration of Independence — Is Appointed Envoy to 
 France — Sails for Europe — His Arrival in France — Reaches Paris — In- 
 terview with Count de Vergennes — France Grants Assistance to the 
 Colonies — Popularity of Franklin — France Recognizes the Independence 
 of the United States — Treaty of Alliance Negotiated — Franklin at Court — 
 Opens Negotiations with the British Ministry for Peace — Progress of the 
 Negotiations — Conclusion of the Treaty — Franklin Leaves Passy — Sails 
 for America — Arrival in Philadelphia — Governor of Pennsylvania — Last 
 Years and Death — Honors to His Memory. 
 
 FRANCIS MARION. 325 
 
 The Huguenot Refugees — Birth of Marion — His First Sea Voyage — Serves 
 Against the Indians — Outbreak of the Revolution — Marion Elected a 
 Captain in the Carolina Forces — Takes Part in the Defense of Fort 
 Moultrie — Breaks His Leg — Goes Home to Recover — Capture of Charles- 
 ton and Conquest of South Carolina — Marion Joins DeKalb — Arrival of 
 Gates — Marion Sent on Detached Duty — Battle of Camden — Marion's 
 Resolve — Formation of the Light Brigade — Brilliant Exploits of the 
 Brigade — Effect of Marion's Successes— Testimony of Cornwallis — Char- 
 acter of Marion — The General and the British Officer — A Hero's Dinner 
 — Siege of Fort Motte — A Revolutionary Matron — Close of the War — 
 Marion in the Legislature — His Marriage — His Views on Religion — Last 
 Illness — Death — His Epitaph. 
 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 338 
 
 Birth and Parentage — Early Ambition — A Hard Student — First Literary At- 
 tempt — Enters King's College, New York — Takes Sides with the Colo- 
 nies in the Quarrel with England — Raises a Company of Artillery — 
 Meeting with General Greene — Joins the Army with His Battery — Retreat 
 Across New Jersey — Hamilton Appointed Aide-de-camp to the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief — Washington's Affection for Him — Tact and Ability of 
 Hamilton — Treason of Arnold — Washington's Opinion of Hamilton- 
 Hamilton Leaves the Staff — Letter to Mr. Duane — Siege of Yorktown — 
 Gallantry of Hamilton — He Leaves the Army — Studies Law — Elected 
 to Congress — In the Federal Convention — His Labors in Behalf of the 
 Constitution — " The Federalist" — Appointed Secretary of the Treasury 
 by President Washington — Character of Hamilton — The Financial Prob- 
 
CONTENTS. XIU 
 
 lem — Hamilton's Measures of Relief^The Funding Bill — The Change 
 of the Seat of Government — The Bank of the United States — Influence 
 of Hamilton in the Cabinet — He Denounces the French Revolution — 
 Quarrel Between Hamilton and Jefierson — Hamilton Leaves the Cabinet 
 — His Influence Over the Federalist Party — His Responsibility for the 
 Alien and Sedition Laws — Endeavors to Precipitate a War with France 
 ^Is Checked by President Adams — His Revenge — Destroys the Fed- 
 eralist Party — His Proposition to Governor Jay — Personal Character- 
 istics of Hamilton — Death of Philip Hamilton — The Quarrel with Burr 
 — The Duel — Death of Hamilton. 
 
 GEORGE CLINTON. 362 
 
 Ancestry — Birth — Studies Law — Serves in the French and Indian War — 
 Advocates Resistance to England — Elected to the Continental Congress 
 — Outbreak of the Revolution — Clinton Appointed a Brigadier-General 
 in the New York Forces — In Command of the Highlands — Fortifies the 
 Highlands — British Ships in the Hudson — Clinton a Brigadier-General in 
 the Continental Army — Elected Governor of New York — Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton Ascends the Hudson — Capture of Forts Montgomery and Clinton 
 by the British — Heroic Defense of the Forts — Escape of Governor Clin- 
 ton — His Services During the War — Elected Vice-President of the United 
 States — Death of Governor Clinton. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. 371 
 
 Birth — Education — Becomes a Merchant — His Success — Takes Part in the 
 Quarrel with England — A Leader of the Patriot Party — His Influence — 
 Seizure of the Liberty — British Troops in Boston — Hancock Advises Re- 
 sistance — President of the Provincial Congress — Hancock Elected to the 
 Continental Congress — Is Chosen President of that Body — Hancock Pro- 
 scribed by the King — Proposal to Burn Boston — Patriotic Speech of Han- 
 cock — Letter to Washington — Signs the Declaration of Independence — 
 Elected Governor of Massachusetts — Last Years — Death. 
 
 CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY. 378 
 
 Birth — Educated in England — Admitted to the Bar — Returns to Charleston — 
 Is made Colonel of the First Regimpnt — Joins Washington's Army — Re- 
 turn to the South — The Campaign Under General Lincoln — Siege of 
 Charleston — Surrender of the City — Pinckney a Prisoner of War — Close 
 of the War — Flattering Offers to Colonel Pinckney — Minister to France — 
 Treatment of Pinckney by the Directory — His Services Abroad — Returns 
 Home — War with France — Pinckney a Major-General — His Letter to 
 Washington — The War Averted — Professional Life of Gen. Pinckney — 
 His Death. 
 
Xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 384 
 
 The Founder of the Jay Family — Birth of John Jay — Education — Studies Law 
 — Admitted to the Bar — Marriage — The Quarrel with England — Jay the 
 Leader of the Conservatives of New York— Hopes for a Peaceful Settle- 
 ment—A Member of the Continental Congress— Character of Jay — His 
 Conservative Measures— The Second Petition to the King— Its Fate — ^Jay 
 Embraces the Cause of Independence — A Member of the Foreign Com- 
 mittee of Congress— Carries New York for Independence— Jay's Services 
 in the New York Convention — Prepares the State Constitution — Ap- 
 pointed Chief Justice of New York— Returns to the Continental Congress 
 —Minister to Spain— A Courageous Act— Jay Goes to Paris— His Share 
 in the Peace Negotiations— Close of the War — Jay Returns Home — Sec- 
 retary of Foreign Affairs- His Share in "The Federalist"— The "Doctor's 
 Mob" Jay Wounded — His Services in Behalf of the Federal Constitu- 
 tion His Preference for a Stronger Government — Appointed Chief Jus- 
 tice of the United States— Political Views— The Mission to England — 
 " Jay's Treaty" — Elected Governor of New York— Retires from Public 
 Life — Last Years — Death. 
 
 JOHN MARSHALL. 400 
 
 Birth— Early Life— Col. Thomas Marshall— John is sent to School— Studies 
 Law— Outbreak of the Revolution— Marshall joins the Culpepper Minute 
 Men Battle of Great Bridge— His Services in the Revolution — Popular- 
 ity with the Troops— Wins the Friendship of Washington— Returns to 
 Virginia— Reads Law— Failure of the Plan to Raise New Troops— Mar- 
 shall Returns to the Army— Resigns his Commission— Admitted to the 
 Bar— Marriage— Rapid Success— Removes to Richmond—" The Omni- 
 potence of a Powdered Wig and a Black Coat"— Marshall in the Virginia 
 Convention— Advocates the Adoption of the Federal Constitution— 
 A Member of the Legislature— His Defense of Jay's Treaty— Declines 
 the Attorney-Generalship— Envoy to France— Returns to the United 
 States— His Reception— Elected to Congress— His Career in Congress— 
 His Defense of the Alien and Sedition Laws— Case of Jonathan Robbins 
 —Appointed Secretary of State— Chief Justice of the United States— His 
 Career as Chief Justice— The Virginia Convention of 1829— The "Life 
 of Washington"— Characteristic Anecdotes of Judge Marshall— Failure 
 of his Health — His Death. 
 
 JAMES MADISON 413 
 
 Birth— Early Education— At Princeton— Injures His Health by Study— Studies 
 Law— Admitted to the Bar— Denounces Religious Proscription— Elected 
 to the Virginia Convention — Becomes Acquainted with Thomas Jefferson 
 -Jefferson's Opinion of Madison— Madison in the Legislature— A Mem- 
 
CONTENTS, XV 
 
 ber of the Executive Council — Elected to Congress — His Services in 
 that Body — Efforts to Secure a Better System of Government — Returns 
 to the Virginia Legislature — The Convention at Annapolis — Call for a 
 Federal Convention — Madison in the Convention of 1787 — His Plan for a 
 Federal Government — Labors in Behalf of the Constitution — His Record of 
 Debates — His Share in "The Federalist" — Madison in the Virginia Con- 
 vention — Secures the Ratification of the Constitution — Elected to Congress 
 — Marriage — Services in Congress — Breaks with Hamilton — Supports Mr. 
 Jefferson — Resolutions of 1798 — Jefferson, President — Appoints Madison 
 Secretary of State — Madison Elected President of the United States — 
 The Second War with England — The Return of Peace — The African 
 Pirates Humbled — Close of Mr. Madison's Administration — Retires to 
 Private Life — The Virginia Convention of 1829 — Mr. Madison a Mem- 
 ber of It — Characteristic Anecdote — Last Years and Death of Mr. 
 Madison. 
 
 JAMES MONROE. 433 
 
 Birth — Early Life — Enters College — Joins the Continental Army — Battle of 
 Trenton — Gallantry of Monroe — Is Promoted — Appointed Aide-de-camp 
 to Lord Sterling — Resigns His Commission — Studies Law — Admitted to 
 the Bar — Elected to the Legislature — In Congress — Endeavors to Secure 
 a Better System of Government^His Marriage — In the Virginia Con- 
 vention — Opposes the Federal Constitution — Elected to the U. S. Senate 
 — Minister to France — His Popularity with the French — Secures the 
 Release of Paine — Recalled by President Washington — Elected Governor 
 of Virginia — Appointed Envoy to France by President Jefferson — Secures 
 the Cession of Louisiana — Minister to England — Secretary of State — The 
 Second War with England — Mr. Monroe Assumes the Duties of Secretary 
 of War — The Treaty of Ghent — End of the War — Resumes His Place 
 as Secretary of State — Elected President of the United States — Leading 
 Measures of His Administration — "The Monroe Doctrine" — Retires 
 from Public Life — A Member of the Virginia Convention of 1829 — Last 
 Years and Death of Mr. Monroe. 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 444 
 
 Birth — Education — Letter to His Father — Accompanies his Father to France 
 — The Second Visit to Europe — At School Abroad — Secretary to Mr. 
 Dana — Returns from Russia — Close of the Revolution — Mr. Adams Re- 
 turns to the United States — Graduates at Harvard — Admitted to the Bar 
 — His Success as a Political Writer — Attracts the Attention of President 
 Washington — Mr. Adams Appointed Minister to Holland — Services 
 Abroad — Marriage — Minister to Berlin— Residence in Germany— Recalled 
 — Elected to the Senate of the United States — His Independence — Re- 
 signs His Seat— A Professor in Harvard College— Minister to Russia — The 
 
3jyi CONTENTS. 
 
 Second Wnr with England-The Russian Offer of Mediation-The Treaty 
 of Ghent— Mr. Adams Appointed Minister to England— Election of Mr. 
 Monroe to the Presidency— Mr. Adams Secretary of State-Mr. Adams 
 Elected President, of the United States-Letter to His Father- Measures 
 of His Administration-Personal Traits-Close of His Term of Office 
 — Electe<l to Congress— His Course in the House-An Exciting Scene- 
 Triumph of Mr. Adams— His Defense of the Captured Africans— A 
 Thrilling Spectacle-Failure of His Health— Stricken Down on the 
 Floor of the House— Death of Mr. Adams. 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON. 462 
 
 The Jackson Family-Settlement in South Carolina-Birth of Andrew Jack- 
 son—His Boyhood— Fondness for Manly Sports— Outbreak of the Revo- 
 lution-The Waxhaw Massacre-The Jacksons take Refuge in North 
 Carolina-Andrew Joins the Army-The Return of the Waxhaw Settlers 
 —Surprised by the Enemy— Capture of Andrew and Robert Jackson- 
 Andrew and the British Officer— Brutal Treatment of the Prisoners by 
 the British— Release of the Jacksons— Death of Robert Jackson— An- 
 drew Loses His Mother— Close of the Revolution— Andrew Removes to 
 Salisbury, North Carolina— Studies Law— Admitted to the Bar— Re- 
 moves to Nashville— Appointed State's Attorney— Marries Mrs. Robards 
 —An Unpleasant Discovery— Re-Marriage— Formation of the State of 
 Tennessee— Jackson Elected to Congress— Appointed Judge of the Su- 
 preme Court— His Administration of Justice— Major-General of Militia 
 —Solicits the Governorship of Louisiana— A Bad Investment— Honor- 
 able Conduct of Jackson-Begins Life Afresh-The Second War with 
 England— Jackson Takes the Field— Protects His Troops Agamst the 
 Injustice of the Government— The Creek War— Jackson Marches Agamst 
 the Indians— Defeats Them at Tallasehatche— The Indian Babe— Battle 
 of Talladega— Jackson Quells a Mutiny— Battles of Emuckfaw and 
 Enotchhopo— Decisive Victory over the Indians at Horseshoe Bend- 
 Jackson a Major-General in the Regular Army of the U. S.— Invades 
 Florida— Seizes Pensacola— Hastens to New Orleans— Arrival of the 
 British Army and Fleet— Battle of New Orieans— Withdrawal of the 
 British—Jackson Arrests Judge Hall— Close of the War— Jackson Fined 
 by Judge Hall for Contempt of Court— The Seminole War— Jackson 
 Seizes St. Mark's in Florida— Is Sustained by President Monroe— Re- 
 signs His Commission— Elected to the Senate of the United States- 
 Death of Mrs. Jackson— Jackson Elected President— His Opposition to 
 the U. S. Bank— Defeats It— The Nullification Troubles— Firmness of 
 President Jackson— Settlement of the Difficulty— Removal of the De- 
 posits—Payment of the National Debt— Farewell Address— Jackson's 
 Second Choice— Retires from Public Life— Personal Appearance— Death 
 of General Jackson— His Epitaph. 
 
CONTENTS. XVn 
 
 HENRY CLAY. 492 
 
 Birth and Parentage — The Rev. Charles Clay — Henry Clay's First School — 
 Becomes a Drug Clerk — Enters the Office of the Court of Chancery — 
 Secretary of Chancellor Wythe — Admitted to the Bar — Emigrates to 
 Kentucky — Rapid Success — Favors Emancipation — Defeats Aaron Burr 
 
 Elected to the U. S. Senate — In the Kentucky Legislature — His First 
 
 Duel Returns to the Senate — Elected to the House of Representatives — 
 
 Speaker of the House — His Share in the Second War with England — 
 Peace Commissioner — Returns to Congress — Becomes the Advocate of 
 the National Bank — The Compensation Bill — Henry Clay and the Hun- 
 ter The Champion of the " American System" — Secures the Success of 
 
 the Missouri Compromise — Retires from Congress — Candidate for the 
 Presidency — Secures the Election of J. Q. Adams — Is Made Secretary of 
 State — Charges of "Bargain and Corruption" — Duel \i\\h Randolph — 
 Hostility of President Jackson to Henry Clay — Clay Takes up the Chal- 
 lenge — Returns to the Senate — Negotiates the Tariff Compromise of 
 1833 — Moral Heroism of Henry Clay — Predicts the Panic of 1837 — De- 
 nounces President Tyler's Vetoes — Opposes the Annexation of Texas — 
 Defeated for the Presidency in 1844— Opposes the Mexican War — Death 
 of Henry Clay, Jr. — Mr. Clay Joins the Church — Urges Emancipation 
 upon the Kentucky Convention — Failure of His Health — Returns to the 
 Senate — His Course in the Compromise of 1850 — A Patriot's Last Ser- 
 vice — Declares Himself for the Union — His Last Speech — Death. 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER. 516 
 
 A New England Father— Childhood of Daniel Webster— His Early Schools 
 — Intended for a Schoolmaster — His Father Concludes to Send him 
 to College — Preparation for College— A Student at Andover — Brother 
 Ezekiel— A Devoted Family— Ezekiel goes to College— Daniel Web- 
 ster as a School Master — Studies Law — Enters Mr. Gore's Office in 
 Boston — A Narrow Escape — Admitted to the Bar — Death of Judge 
 Webster — Daniel Webster Removes to Portsmouth — His Remarkable 
 Success — Marries — Elected to Congress — Takes a Leading Position 
 in the House — His First Speech — Judge Marshall's Opinion of It — 
 Career in Congress — Retires from Congress — Mr. Webster Removes to 
 Boston — His Success as a Lawyer — The Dartmouth College Case — The 
 Great Steamboat Monopoly Destroyed— Mr. Webster's Reputation as a 
 Constitutional Lawyer — Wins Fame and Prosperity — His National Ora- 
 tions—Returns to Congress — Supports John Q. Adams — Elected to the 
 U. S. Senate— Advocates the Protective Policy— Mr. Foote's Resolution 
 — Great Debate in the Senate between Webster and Hayne — Triumph of 
 Mr. Webster — Oppose the Compromise of 1833 — Opposes the Sub-Trea- 
 sury Scheme— Appointed Secretary of State in Mr. Tyler's Cabinet — 
 Settles the Disputes with England — Withdraws from the Cabinet — Re- 
 turns to the Senate — Opposes the Mexican War — Advocates the Com- 
 2 
 
Xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 promise Measures of 1850— Fails to Receive the Whig Nomination for 
 
 the Presidency Personal Appearance — Characteristic Anecdotes — Last 
 
 Years and Death— His Funeral. 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 54i 
 
 The Calhoun Family— Settlement in South Carolina— Patrick Calhoun— Birth 
 of John C. Calhoun— Childhood and Early Life— Enters Dr. Waddell's 
 Academy— At Yale College— Studies Law— Returns to South Carolina— 
 His First Public Appearance— Admitted to the Bar— Elected to the Leg- 
 islature—Elected to Congress— His Marriage— Mr. Calhoun in the House 
 of Representatives— His Success— Chairman of the Committee of Foreign 
 Affairs— Supports the War with Great Britain— Opposes the National 
 Bank Scheme in 1 814— Fortunate Prediction— Supports the Bank and 
 Tariff of 181 6— Reports a General Plan for Internal Improvements— It is 
 Vetoed by the President— Enters the Cabinet of President Monroe— His 
 Course as Secretary of War— Favors the Missouri Compromise— Elected 
 Vice President of the United States— Reelected on the Ticket with Gen- 
 eral Jackson— Becomes the Advocate of Free Trade— Proposes Nullifica- 
 tion—The South Carolina Exposition— Inconsistency of his Position- 
 Quarrel Between Calhoun and Jackson— Resigns the Vice Presidency and 
 Returns to the Senate— The Nullification Troubles— Calhoun Supports 
 Mr. Clay's Compromise— Miss Martineau's Opinion of Mr. Calhoun— 
 He Acts with the Whig Party in Opposition to the Administration- 
 Wishes to Exclude Anti-Slavery Publications from the Mails— Supports 
 the Sub-Treasury— Denounced by the Whigs— Alone in the Senate— His 
 Defiance of his Enemies— Defends Tyler's Vetoes— Appointed Secretary 
 of State— Secures the Annexation of Texas— Opposes the Mexican War 
 —Failure of his Health— Last Appearance in the Senate— His Death- 
 Tribute to his Memory by Daniel Webster. 
 
 STEPHEN DECATUR. 562 
 
 The First Commodore Decatur— Birth of Stephen Decatur— Enters the Navy 
 Rapid Promotion— Services in the Mediterranean — Loss of the Phila- 
 delphia—The Plan to Burn Her— Decatur Entrusted with the Attempt 
 —Departure of the Expedition— The Intrepid— Burning of the Philadel- 
 phia—Brilliant Success of the Enterprise— Attack on the Tripolitan Gun- 
 boats—Heroism of Decatur— He makes Two Prizes— Promoted to a 
 Captaincy— Returns to America— The War of 181 2-1 5— Appointed to 
 Command the Frigate United States— Captures the Macedonian— Block- 
 aded in New London— Appointed to the President— Sails from New York 
 —Capture of the President— Humbles the Barbary Powers— Decisive 
 Conduct— Duel with Commodore Barron— Death of Decatur. 
 
CONTENTS. Xix 
 
 WINFIELD SCOTT. 575 
 
 Ancestry — Birth and Childhood — Studies Law — Becomes a Volunteer — Ad- 
 mitted to the Bar — Visits South Carolina — Obtains a Commission in the 
 Army — Captain of Artillery — Court-martialed — Suspended — Appointed 
 Aide-de-camp to General Hampton — Promoted to the Rank of Lieuten- 
 ant-colonel — Battle of Queenstown — A Prisoner of War — Exchanged — 
 Colonel and Adjutant-General — Capture of Fort George — Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral — Disciplines the Army — Battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane — 
 Scott Wounded — A Major-General — Visits Europe — Military Institutes 
 and Tactics — The Black Hawk War — Ordered to Charleston During the 
 Nullification Troubles — The Creek War— Scott Persecuted by President 
 Jackson — His Acquittal — Settles the Troubles on the Canada Border — 
 Commanding General of the Army — The Mexican War — The Expedition 
 to Vera Cruz — Reduction of Vera Cruz — Battle of Cerro Gordo — The 
 Halt at Puebla — Difficulty with Mr. Trist — Advance upon Mexico — Bat- 
 tles of Contreras and Churubusco — Capture of Molino del Rey and Cha- 
 pultepec — Capture of the City of Mexico — Scott Relieved of his Command 
 — A Political Persecution — Return of Scott to the United States — His 
 Reception at New York — Made Lieutenant-General — Nominated for the 
 Presidency — Secession of the Southern States — Scott Adheres to the 
 Union — His Plan for Defeating Secession — Resigns the Command of the 
 Army — Last Years and Death. 
 
 HORACE GREELEY. 596 
 
 Birth and Early Life — A Poor Boy's Childhood — Early Education — Becomes 
 a Printer — Experience as a Journeyman — Arrival in New York — Obtains 
 Work — Sets up in Business for Himself — The New Yorker — Edits The 
 yeffersonian — Publishes The Log Cabin — Its Remarkable Success — 
 Founds The New York Tribune — Early Struggles and Success of the 
 Paper — Forms a Partnership with Tiiomas McElrath — Aspirations of 
 Mr. Greeley as a Journalist — Elected to Congress — Literary Labors — 
 His Visits to Europe — The Tribune Becomes an Independent Journal — 
 Its Great Influence — The Chicago Convention — Horace Greeley Secures 
 the Nomination of Abraham Lincoln — His Support of the War — Favors 
 Kind Measures Towards the South at the Close of the War — Becomes 
 Surety for Jeff. Davis — Personal Traits — Opposes Grant's Administration 
 — The Liberal Republican Movement — Greeley Nominated for the Presi- 
 dency — Death of His Wife — He Becomes Insane — His Death. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 608 
 
 Birth — Education — Studies Law — Admitted to the Bar — Removes to Auburn 
 — Marriage — Rapid Success — Engages in Politics — Opposes the Albany 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Regency— He is Elected to the State Senate— Visits Europe— Joins the 
 Whig Party— Elected Governor of New York— Refuses to Surrender 
 Negro Sailors to Virginia and Georgia— The Case of Alexander McLeod 
 —Firmness of Governor Seward— Resumes His Practice of Law— Great 
 Success— Generous Defense of an Insane Negro— Elected to the United 
 States Senate— Opposition to Slavery— His " Higher Law Doctrine"— 
 His Position in the Senate — Supports Fremont and Dayton for the Presi- 
 dency—Opposes the Efforts to Force Slavery upon Kansas— Services in 
 
 the Senate — Proclaims the « Irrepressible Conflict" — Visits Europe De- 
 
 feateil in the Chicago Convention— Supports Mr. Lincoln— Appointed 
 Secretary of State— His Services in the Cabinet— Accident to Mr. 
 Seward— Attempt to Assassinate Him— His Recovery— Sustains the 
 " Policy" of President Johnson— Retires from Public Life— Travels 
 Around the World — Death of Mr. Seward. 
 
 SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 620 
 
 Ancestry— Birth— Death of His Father— Goes to Ohio— Enters the Family of 
 Bishop Chase— Earns His Living— Success at School— Returns to New 
 Hampshire— Graduates at Dartmouth College— Goes to Washington— 
 His School— Studies Law— Admitted to the Bar— Removes to Cincinnati 
 —The "Statutes of Ohio"— Professional Success— Anti-Slavery Senti- 
 ments—Courageous Defense of James G. Birney— Defense of Fugitive 
 Slaves— Organizes the Anti-Slavery Party of Ohio— Delegate to the Lib- 
 eral Convention— Intentions with Respect to Slavery— Acts with the 
 Ohio Democracy— Elected to the United States Senate— Opposes the 
 Compromise Measures of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill— Services 
 in the Senate— Breaks with the Ohio Democracy— Elected Governor of 
 Ohio— Course as Governor— Reelected to the U. S. Senate— Supports Mr. 
 Lincoln— His Speech in the Peace Congress— Appointed Secretary of the 
 Treasury— Successful Negotiation of Loans— Mr. Chase's Great .Ser- 
 vices as Finance Minister— Resigns His Secretaryship— Appointed Chief 
 Justice— His Career as Chief Justice— Last Years— Death. 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 6^6 
 
 Birth— Education— A Brilliant Young Manhood— Literary Labors— Enviable 
 Reputation of Mr. Sumner— Admitted to the Bar— Lecturer to the Law 
 School— Opinion of Judge Story— Visits Europe— Flattering Reception 
 Abroad— Returns Home and Resumes His Practice— Vesey's Reports- 
 Public Addresses— Becomes a Leader of the Anti-Slavery Party— Elected 
 to the U. S. Senate— His Course in the Senate— Opposes the Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill— Denounces the Effort to Force Slaveiy upon Kansas- 
 Attack on Mr. Sumner by Preston S. Brooks— He is Injured for Life- 
 Goes Abroad— Recovers His Health— Returns to the Senate— Sustains 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 Mr. Lincoln in His War Measures — Appointed Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee of Foreign Relations — Opposes Grant's St. Domingo Scheme — 
 Removed from His Chairmanship of the Foreign Committee — Speech on 
 the Alabama Claims — Opposes the Administration of President Grant — 
 His Health Gives Way — His Resolution Against Continuing the Memo- 
 ries of the Civil War — Censured by the Massachusetts Legislature — His 
 Vindication — Failure of His Health — Last Sickness and Death. 
 
 GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 645 
 
 Birth — Educated at West Point — Enters the Army — Promoted for Services in 
 the Mexican War — A Professor at West Point — The Secession Troubles 
 — Thomas Adheres to the Union — Brigadier-General — Ordered to Ken- 
 tucky — Battle of Mill Spring — Major-General of Volunteers — Declines 
 the Command of the Army of the Ohio — Conduct at Stone River — Battle 
 of Chickamauga — Splendid Fighting of Thomas's Corps — The Second 
 Day's Battle — Thomas Forced Back — Takes up a New Position — Saves 
 the Army by His Firmness — Brigadier-General in the Regular Army — 
 Commands the Army of the Cumberland — The Battle of Mission Ridge 
 — The Campaign under Sherman — The Capture of Atlanta — Hood Ad- 
 vances into Alabama — Thomas sent to Nashville — Hood begins His 
 March into Tennessee — Battle of Franklin-:-Siege of Nashville — Defeat 
 of Hood's Army — Thomas made a Major-General in the Regular Army 
 of the United States — Close of the War — Last Years and Death. 
 
 DAVID GLASGOE FARRAGUT. 659 
 
 Parentage— Birth— Enters the Navy— His First Cruise— With Commodore 
 Porter in the Essex— Farragut's First Battle— Cruise of the Essex in the 
 Pacific — Cupture of the Essex — Farragut Wounded — A Young Hero — 
 His Career After the War— A Captain— The Civil War— Farragut Ad- 
 heres to the Union— Leaves the South— The Expedition Against New 
 Orleans — Farragut in Command — Bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. 
 Philip— Passage of the Forts— Defeat of the Confederate Fleet— Capture 
 of New Orleans — Attack on Vicksburg — Running the Batteries of Pbrt 
 Hudson — Farragut made Rear-Admiral — Expedition Against Mobile — 
 Battle of Mobile Bay — The Admiral in the Shrouds — Obtains Leave of 
 Absence — Reception at New York — Made Vice-Admiral — Close of tke 
 War — Made Admiral — European Cruise — Death. 
 
 ROBERT E. LEE. 672 
 
 Parentage — "Light-Horse Harry" — Birth — Educated at West Point— Mar- 
 riage — Promotion— Mexican War — Chief Engineer to Scott— Gallantry 
 
XXll CONTENTS. 
 
 at Ceiro Gordo, Contreras and Churubusco — " Lee is the Greatest Mili- 
 tary Genius in America" — Superintendent of West Point — Fights the In- 
 dians in Texas — Captures John Brown at Harper's Ferry — Breaking Out 
 of the Civil War — Lee Goes with his Native State — Is Appointed a Gen- 
 eral in the Confederate Army — West Virginia Campaign — Becomes Com- 
 mander of the Army of Northern Virginia — Attacks McClellan on the 
 Chickahominy — The " Seven Days' Battles" — Cold Harbor — Malvern 
 Hill — Moves to the Rappahannock, and Defeats Pope at Second Bull 
 Run — Invades Maryland — Battle of South Mountain — Capture of Har- 
 per's Ferry — Battle of Antietam — Fredericksburg — Chancellorsville — In- 
 vasion of Pennsylvania — Repulsed at Gettysburg, and Retreats to the 
 Rapidan — Grant Takes Command of the Army of the Potomac — " The 
 Wilderness " — Spottsylvania Court House — Seige of Petersburg — Evac- 
 uation of Petersburg and Richmond — Surrender at Appomattox — Lee 
 Counsels Submission — Accepts the Presidency of Washington College at 
 Lexington, Va. — Testifies before Reconstruction Committee — His Last 
 Hours and Death. 
 
 ■'-^ THOMAS J. JACKSON. 688 
 
 Parentage — Birth — Death of his Parents — Applies for a Vacancy at West 
 Point and Succeeds — Graduates, and Enters the Mexican War — Promo- 
 tion for Gallant Conduct — Impaired Health — Becomes a Professor in Vir- 
 ginia Military Institute, at Lexington — Joins Presbyterian Church — Mar- 
 riage — Remarkable Memory— Opening of the Civil War — Offers his 
 Services to the Governor of Virginia — Harper's Ferry — Martinsburg — 
 Falling Waters — Bull Run — " There is Jackson Standing Like a Stone 
 Wall" — In the Valley — Defeats Milroy and Banks — Defeats Shields at 
 Port Republic — Cold Harbor, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill — 
 Second Bull Run — Harper's Ferry — Antietam — Fredericksburg — Prayer 
 During the Battle — Chancellorsville — Jackson's Flank Movement — Fired 
 Upon by his Own Troops and Severely Wounded — Amputation of his 
 Arm — Attacked with Pneumonia — Last Hours and Death. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 704 
 
 Parentage — Thomas Lincoln — Birth of Abraham Lincoln — Childhood — Re- 
 moval to Indiana — Death of his Mother — Abe Goes to School — Learns to 
 Read — Becomes a Flat-boat Hand — Voyage to New Orleans — Removal 
 to Illinois — Lincoln Becomes a Storekeeper — " Honest Abe" — The Black 
 Hawk War — Elected to the Legislature — Studies Law — Admitted to the 
 Bar — His First Five Hundred Dollars — What he Did with It — Engages 
 in Politics — Elected to Congress — Career in Congress — Marriage — Do- 
 mestic Life — Joins the Republican Party — Declines the U. S. Senatorship 
 — Great Debate with Judge Douglas — Lincoln is Nommated for the 
 
CONTENTS. XXm 
 
 Presidency — Interview with the Committee — Elected President — Seces- 
 sion of the Southern States — Letter to Mr. Stephens — ^Journey to Wash- 
 ington — Inauguration — The Civil War — Mr. Lincoln's Course as President 
 — The Emancipation Proclamation — Speech at the Dedication of the Get- 
 tysburg Cemetery — Offers Pardon to the Southern People — Reelection to 
 the Presidency — The Second Inauguration — A Striking Scene — Close of 
 the War — Assassination of President Lincoln — His Death — The Funeral 
 Journey — Burial. 
 
A POPULAR BOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 American Biography. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 FIRST PRESIDKNT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 THE Washington family is of ancient English descent, and 
 appears, during the century immediately following the 
 Norman Conquest, in possession of " landed estates and man- 
 orial privileges" in the County of Durham, estates and privi- 
 leges which were held at that time only by those who had 
 come over from Normandy with William the Conqueror, or 
 by their descendants. When William divided among his fol- 
 lowers the lands north of the Humber, which he had ravaged 
 with fire and sword in punishment of the last effort of the 
 Northumbrians to maintain their freedom, he erected the Dio- 
 cese of Durham into a Palatinate, and placed over it a learned 
 Norman noble as Bishop and Count Palatine, thus giving him 
 temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction over the province. 
 The bishop lived in a state of splendor which rivalled that of 
 the King, to whom alone he owed allegiance. He kept a bril- 
 liant court, and was more a warrior than a priest, having for 
 his vassals the landed gentry of the diocese, who were bound 
 by their feudal oaths to rally to his side whenever he displayed 
 the great banner of St. Cuthbert, the patron saint of the 
 diocese. 
 
 Among the knights holding estates in the Palatinate by 
 feudal tenure, was William de Hertburn, the ancestor of the 
 
 (25) 
 
26 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Washingtons, a Norman by descent, who took his surname of 
 De Hertburn from the village of that name, which he held of 
 the bishop in knight's fee, it being the custom of that day for 
 Norman families of rank to take their names from their estates. 
 We find from an entry in the " Bolden Book," a record of the 
 lands of the diocese, made in 1 183, that William de Hertburn 
 had, some time previous to this, exchanged his village of De 
 Hertburn for the manor and village of Wessyngton, also in the 
 diocese of Durham, which he also held of the Bishop in feudal 
 tenure. With this change of estate, the family also changed 
 its name, and thenceforward took that of De Wessyngton. 
 The family continued to hold an honorable and prominent 
 position in the Palatinate, being noted among other things for 
 its martial tendencies, to which the almost constantly hostile 
 condition of affairs on the Scotch border gave ample opportu- 
 nity for indulgence. It also won credit in the wars of the barons ; 
 and among the knights who took part under the royal standard 
 in the disastrous battle of Lewes was "William Weshington 
 of Weshington." At a tournament held at Dunstable in 1334, 
 in the reign of Edward HI., among the "noble knights" en- 
 gaged, we find the name of "Sir Stephen de Wessyngton," 
 who also bore himself gallantly in the battle of Nevil's Cross, 
 near Durham, in which King David of Scotland was made 
 prisoner. "Sir William de Weschington," who succeeded to 
 the estate in 1 367, was the last of the male line. At his death 
 the estate passed out of the family by the marriage of his only 
 daughter and heir, Dionisia, with Sir William Temple, of 
 Studley. By the year 1400, the manor was in the hands of the 
 Blaykeston family. 
 
 Though no longer in possession of the old estate, the family 
 name was well maintained by John de Wessyngton, the prior 
 of the Benedictine convent of Durham, who stoutly upheld 
 against the bishop and the secular clergy the claims of his 
 order, one of which was that the prior of Durham should en- 
 joy all the liberties, rights, and honors of a mitred abbot, and 
 should take rank next to the bishop. The prior carried his 
 cause to a triumphant issue, and won for himself one of the 
 most noted names in Durham. 
 
 In the course of time the family became scattered in various 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 2/ 
 
 parts of England, and their name underwent several changes, 
 dropping the title of de, and varying from Wessyngton to 
 Wassington, Wasshington, and finally to Washington. 
 
 At the head of one of these branches was John Washington, 
 of Warton, in Lancashire. His son Lawrence Washington, of 
 Gray's Inn, was for some years Mayor of Northampton, and 
 upon the dissolution of the monasteries was given by Henry 
 VIIL the Manor of Sulgrave, in Northamptonshire, together 
 with other confiscated lands that had formerly belonged to the 
 Monastery of St. Andrews. This manor remained in the family 
 until 1620. One of the descendants of Lawrence Washington 
 was Sir William Washington, of Packington, in the County of 
 Kent, who married a sister of the Duke of Buckingham, the 
 ill-starred favorite of Charles L The Washingtons fought loy- 
 ally for the King in the Civil War ; one of them, Lieut. Col. 
 James Washington, was killed under the royal standard at the 
 siege of Pontefract Castle; and another. Sir Henry, the son and 
 heir of Sir William Washington, already mentioned, served 
 with great credit under Prince Rupert, and by his efforts brought 
 the storming of Bristol, in 1643, to a triumphant issue. Being 
 placed in command of Worcester, in 1646, he held it against 
 the Parliamentary army until ordered by the King to surrender. 
 His gallant defense soon won him honorable terms from the 
 besiegers. In 1655, a general insurrection was attempted by the 
 partisans of the Stuarts. It failed, and left them at the mercy 
 of Cromwell. Many of the Royalists fled to America, and 
 found congenial homes in the "loyal colony" of Virginia. 
 Among these were John and Andrew Washington, uncles of 
 the gallant Sir Henry, and great-grandsons of the grantee of 
 Sulgrave. They reached Virginia in 1657, and purchasing 
 lands in the " Northern Neck," between the Potomac and Rap- 
 pahannock rivers, established their home in that fertile and de- 
 lightful region. John became an extensive planter, and marry- 
 ing Miss Anne Pope, of the same county, built him a residence 
 near the junction of Bridges Creek with the Potomac river. 
 He took a prominent part in the affairs of the colony, and was 
 a magistrate and a member of the House of Burgesses. In 
 1675, war having broken out with the Indians on the borders 
 of Virginia and Maryland, Colonel John Washington crossed 
 
28 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the Potomac at the head of a body of Virginia troops, to help 
 the people of Maryland against the savages. 
 
 The family continued to hold the estate on Bridges Creek, 
 and there was born in 1694 Augustine Washington, the grand- 
 son of Col. John Washington. He was a man of strong, earnest 
 character, noble qualities, and engaging disposition. " One 
 who knew him personally has described him as a man of un- 
 common height, noble appearance, manly proportions and 
 extraordinary muscular powers. * * * Yet this gigantic 
 might of muscle never tempted him to take any part in the 
 frequent combats which occurred in Virginia in his day, except 
 to stay savage violence by separating combatants. And such 
 was his character for magnanimity, justice, and moral worth, 
 that he commanded wherever he appeared, and in whatever he 
 engaged, universal and unhesitating deference." 
 
 Augustine Washington was twice married. On the 20th of 
 April, 17 1 5, he married Jane, the daughter of Caleb Butler, 
 Esq., of Westmoreland, by whom he had four children. But 
 two of these, Lawrence and Augustine, lived to manhood. 
 Their mother died on the 24th of November, 1728. On the 
 6th of March, 1730, Mr. Washington was married to his second 
 wife, Mary, the daughter of Colonel Ball, a young and beauti- 
 ful girl, " the belle of the Northern Neck." She bore him four 
 sons, George, Samuel, John Augustine and Charles, and two 
 daughters, Elizabeth and Mildred, the latter of whom died in 
 infancy. 
 
 George Washington, the eldest son by the second marriage, 
 was born at the family homestead on Bridges Creek, on the 
 22d of February, 1732. Scarcely a vestige of the house remains 
 to-day. A ruined chimney, a few decayed fruit trees, and a 
 stone inscribed with an appropriate legend, mark the spot, which 
 has long since relapsed into its native solitude. 
 
 When George was about seven years old, his father removed 
 from the old homestead on Bridges Creek to an estate in Staf- 
 ford county, opposite the town of Fredericksburg. The loca- 
 tion was delightful, lying in the midst of a region noted for its 
 fertility and healthfulnes, and abounding in the loveliest scenery. 
 The house stood on a rising ground, overlooking the river and 
 surrounding country for a long distance, with the land sloping 
 
GBORGE WASHINGTON. 29 
 
 from it to the Rappahannock. Here the subject of this memoir 
 passed his boyhood. 
 
 Although a man of means, Augustine Washington was not 
 able to give to all of his sons the advantages of education en- 
 joyed by Lawrence, the eldest. In accordance with the custom 
 of the day, he sent Lawrence to England at the age of fifteen, 
 to complete his education. The young man returned home at 
 the age of twenty-two or three, regarded by all, and regarding 
 himself, as the future head of the family. Inheriting a share of 
 the old martial spirit of the family, Lawrence obtained a cap- 
 tain's commission in a regiment raised in the colonies for ser- 
 vice against the Spaniards in the West Indies, and sailed with 
 it for that region in 1740. He served in the joint expedition 
 commanded by Admiral Vernon and General Wentworth, and 
 won the friendship and confidence of both of these officers. He 
 was present at the gallant but unsuccessful attack upon Cartha- 
 gena, and returned home in the autumn of 1742, after the close 
 of the expedition. In the summer of 1743 he married Anne, 
 the eldest daughter of Colonel William Fairfax, of Fairfax 
 County. 
 
 In the meantime the education of George was of the simplest 
 character, and was conducted at a country school. He was 
 quick to learn, and rapidly acquired all the knowledge it was 
 in the power of his instructor to impart. The letters of his 
 brother Lawrence inflamed his imagination with descriptions of 
 the stirring scenes through which the latter was passing, and 
 evidently gave to his boyish sports the martial character which 
 distinguished them. " He made soldiers of his schoolmates ; 
 they had their mimic parades, reviews, and sham fights; a boy 
 named William Bustle was sometimes his competitor, but 
 George was commander-in-chief of Hobby's school." 
 
 On the 1 2th of April, 1743, Augustine Washington died, 
 leaving a large estate to be divided among his children. To 
 Lawrence, the eldest, he left the estate on the banks of the 
 Potomac, with other property; to Augustine, the second son, 
 the old family homestead in Westmoreland. The children by , 
 the second marriage were liberally provided for, and to George 
 was left the house and farm on the Rappahannock where his 
 boyhood was passed. He was to have possession of it upon 
 
30 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 coming of age. The marriage of Lawrence to Miss Fairfax 
 took place after his father's death, and the young couple estab- 
 lished their home upon the estate to which Lawrence succeeded, 
 and which he named Mount Vernon, in honor of his friend the 
 admiral. 
 
 George remained with his widowed mother, who addressed 
 herself bravely to the task of rearing her children and fitting 
 them for the duties of life. Though deprived of the care of 
 his father at such an early age, it was the good fortune of 
 George Washington to possess in his mother a guide well 
 qualified to fill the place of both parents to her fatherless chil- 
 dren. She was a woman of rare good sense, of great decision 
 of character, and one whose life was shaped by the most ear- 
 nest Christian principle. Her tenderness and sweet womanly 
 qualities won her the devoted love of her children, and her 
 firmness enforced their obedience. From her George inherited 
 a quick and ardent temper, and from her he learned the lessons 
 of self-control which enabled him to govern it. He was also 
 happy in the warm affection of his brother Lawrence, who 
 directed his studies. Soon after his father's death George was 
 sent to reside with his brother Augustine at the old family 
 homestead on Bridges Creek, while he attended an academy in 
 the neighborhood, kept by a Mr. Williams. It was the object 
 of his family to fit him for the ordinary business of life, and his 
 education was plain and practical. 
 
 As a boy, Washington was noted for his truthfulness, his 
 courage and his generosity. He was both liked and respected 
 by his schoolmates, and such was their confidence in his fair- 
 ness and good judgment that he was usually chosen the arbiter 
 of their boyish disputes. He joined heartily in their sports, 
 and was noted for his skill in athletic exercises. He was a 
 fearless rider and a good hunter, and by his fondness for manly 
 sports developed in his naturally vigorous system a remarkable 
 degree of strength. He was cheerful and genial in disposition, 
 though reserved and grave in manner. He early acquired 
 habits of scrupulous industry and order. " Before he was thir- 
 teen years of age," says Irving, "he had copied into a volume 
 forms for all kinds of mercantile and legal papers; bills of ex- 
 change, notes of hand, deeds, bonds and the like. This early 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 3 I 
 
 self-tuition gave him throughout life a lawyer's skill in drafting 
 documents, and a merchant's exactness in keeping accounts; 
 so that all the concerns of his various estates; his dealings with 
 his domestic stewards and foreign agents; his accounts with 
 government, and all his financial transactions, are to this day to 
 be seen posted up in books, in his own handwriting, monu- 
 ments of his method and unwearied accuracy." 
 
 At the age of fourteen it was decided that he should enter 
 the navy, and his brother Lawrence readily obtained for him a 
 midshipman's warrant. The ship he was to join lay in the 
 Potomac, and his trunk was sent on board; but at the last mo- 
 ment his mother, dreading the effect of a seaman's life upon a 
 boy so young, appealed to him by his affection for her, to re- 
 main with her. Washington was sorely disappointed, but he 
 yielded cheerfully to his mother's wish. 
 
 The marriage of his brother Lawrence gave to the young 
 man a second home at Mount Vernon, where he passed a large 
 part of his time. There he was brought into constant and 
 familiar intercourse with the most refined and cultivated society 
 of Virginia, an association which had a happy influence upon 
 the formation of his character. There also he formed the 
 acquaintance of Lord Fairfax, the grandson of Lord Culpepper, 
 and the inheritor of Culpepper's vast estates in Virginia, which 
 comprised about one-seventh of the area of the State of Virginia, 
 as it existed prior to the separation of the western counties in 
 1 86 1 . Lord Fairfax conceived a warm friendship for the young 
 man, and took a deep interest in his future welfare. Upon 
 leaving school Washington had chosen the profession of a sur- 
 veyor as his future avocation, and Lord Fairfax soon gave him 
 his first employment. His lordship had come to Virginia to 
 reside upon his estates, and he found them unsurveyed, and in 
 many cases occupied by persons who had settled on them with- 
 out permission from him or any of his predecessors. He de- 
 termined to arrange his affairs on a more systematic footing, 
 and therefore employed Washington to survey his lands and 
 lay them off with regularity. It was an arduous and responsi- 
 ble task, and Washington, who was just entering his seven- 
 teenth year, seemed scarcely old enough for it; but "Lord 
 Thomas" had satisfied himself of his young friend's capacity for 
 
32 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the undertaking, and the result justified the opinion he had 
 formed. The work was done with care and accuracy, and the 
 measurements of the young surveyor were so exact that they 
 are still relied upon with implicit confidence in the region in 
 which they were made. So satisfactory was his work that he 
 was appointed, doubtless through the influence of Lord Fair- 
 fax, public surveyor, in which capacity he continued three 
 years. He was constantly engaged in the duties of his office, 
 which, owing to the limited number of public surveyors and 
 the great quantity of land to be surveyed, proved extremely 
 profitable. 
 
 His life as a surveyor was in many respects a hard one, but 
 he enjoyed it. It gave new vigor to his naturally robust con- 
 stitution, developed his splendid figure, so that while yet a 
 youth he acquired the appearance and habits of mature man- 
 hood. He also learned forest life in all its various phases, and 
 by his constant intercourse with the hunters and Indians gained 
 an intimate knowledge of the character and habits of these 
 wild men, which in after years was of infinite value to him. 
 
 Though the heir to a considerable estate, Washington sup- 
 ported himself during this period by his earnings as a sur- 
 veyor. As yet he had derived no benefit from his landed 
 property, into the possession of which he was not to enter until 
 he had attained his majority. His habits of life were simple 
 and economical, and he indulged in no riotous or expensive 
 pleasures. 
 
 During his surv^eying expeditions, Washington was a fre- 
 quent visitor at Greenway Court, the seat of Lord Fairfax, 
 situated in the Valley of Virginia, near Winchester. In addi- 
 tion to the other attractions of the place, there was a well- 
 selected library, of which the young man regularly availed 
 himself His reading was of a solid and useful character; 
 "Addison's Spectator," and the " History of England," were 
 among his favorite works. There was also a strong bond of 
 union between " Lord Thomas" and his young friend in their 
 ardent love for the chase, and much of Washington's leisure 
 time was passed in following the hounds in the company of the 
 master of Greenway Court. Lord Fairfax was a man of fine 
 education and scholarly tastes, and had mingled with the most 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 33 
 
 brilliant men of Europe. His conversation, was, therefore, full 
 of interest and instruction to Washington. 
 
 While Washington was employed in his surveys, the rival 
 claims of England and France to the Valley of the Ohio had 
 brought those powers to the verge of a war for its possession. 
 The French trusted to their superior promptness in seizing the 
 region in dispute, and prepared to occupy it with a chain of 
 forts extending; from the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Ohio. 
 English traders in the meantime crossed the mountains and 
 established themselves in the Ohio Valley, and Christopher 
 Gist, an intrepid trader, explored the entire region by order of 
 the Colonial Government of Virginia, and returned with such 
 flattering reports of it that the Governor and Council were 
 convinced that the country was worth fighting for. An asso- 
 ciation was chartered in 1749 by the name of the " Ohio Com- 
 pany," for the purpose of colonizing the lands west of the moun- 
 tains, and the Governor of Virginia was ordered by the King 
 to assign to this company a tract of five hundred thousand 
 acres of land, lying between the Monongahela and Kanawha 
 rivers and along the Ohio. 
 
 In order to supply the traders who had established them- 
 selves beyond the mountains with the articles needed for their 
 traffic with the Indians, the Ohio Company built a trading post 
 at Wills' Creek, within the limits of Maryland, on the site of 
 the present city of Cumberland. Here one of the easiest of 
 the passes through the Alleghanies begins. By means of it 
 the traders could readily transport their goods west of the 
 mountains, and return with the furs their wares had purchased 
 from the savages. The post at Wills' Creek became a base 
 from which operations were pushed steadily into the Ohio 
 Valley. 
 
 The French were fully aware of the purposes of the English, 
 and viewed them with alarm, as the successful occupation of 
 the Ohio Valley by the latter would cut off the communication 
 established by the French between Canada and the Mississippi, 
 a communication essential to the integrity of their possessions 
 in America. They, therefore, strengthened their hold upon the 
 lakes, and prepared to occupy the Ohio Valley with a line of 
 
 forts. Three of these were at ©nee erected — one at Presque 
 3 
 
34 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Isle, now Erie, in Pennsylvania; another on French Creek, on 
 the site of the present town of Waterford; and a third on the 
 site of the present town of Franklin, at the junction of French 
 Creek with the Alleghany. 
 
 The government of Virginia had kept a vigilant eye upon 
 the measures of the French; and in 1751, before the erection of 
 the forts alluded to above, in order to prepare for any emer- 
 gency to which the hostility of the French and Indians, the 
 latter of whom were being incited against the English by the 
 French, might give rise, divided the Colony into militar)^ dis- 
 tricts. Each district was placed in charge of an adjutant and 
 inspector, with the rank of major, whose duty it was to keep 
 the militia in readiness for instant service. Washington's boy- 
 ish fondness for military sports had not left him, but had grown 
 with his growth. As he advanced towards manhood, his 
 brother Lawrence, Adjutant Muse, of Westmoreland, and 
 Jacob Vanbraam, a fencing master, and others, had given him 
 numerous lessons in the art of war and in the use of the sword. 
 He was now nineteen years old, and though so young, was 
 regarded by his acquaintance as one of the best informed per- 
 sons upon military matters in the Colony. At their earnest 
 desire he was commissioned a major in the Colonial forces, and 
 given the command of one of the military districts. He 
 exerted himself with such zeal and success to prepare the mili- 
 tia for service, that when the province was divided into four 
 militaiy districts by Governor Dinwiddie in 1 75 2, Major Wash- 
 ington was placed in command of the northern district. "The 
 counties comprehended in this division he promptly and statedly 
 traversed, and he soon effected the thorough discipline of their 
 militia for warlike purposes." 
 
 While holding this appointment Washington accompanied 
 his brother Lawrence on a voyage to the West Indies, the deli- 
 cate health of the latter rendering such a change necessary to 
 him. They passed the winter of 1757 at Barbadoes, where 
 they were the constant recipients of the hospitalities of the 
 principal inhabitants and the officers of the garrison. George 
 was seized with a severe attack of small-pox soon after his arri 
 val, but recovered after an illness of about three weeks. Early 
 in 1752, he was sent home by Lawrence to bring Mrs. Wash- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 35 
 
 ington out to Barbadoes. Before this could be done, however, 
 Lawrence, despairing of recovery, returned to Virginia to die. 
 He expired at Mount Vernon on the 26th of July, 1752, at the 
 early age of thirty-four. By the terms of his will Mount 
 Vernon and his other property were, in case his infant daughter 
 should die without issue, to be held by his widow during her 
 lifetime, and at her death to pass to his brother George. The 
 management of all the affairs of Lawrence was entrusted by his 
 widow to George, and this sacred duty was discharged with 
 characteristic skill and faithfulness. In the course of a few 
 years the death of his infant niece placed him in possession of 
 his brother's estate. 
 
 In the meantime, the rapid advancement of the French to 
 the eastward alarmed the English Government, which instructed 
 the Governor of Virginia to address a remonstrance to the 
 French authorities, and warn them of the consequences which 
 must result from their intrusion into the territory of Great 
 Britain. To do this it was necessary for the Governor to 
 despatch his communication to the nearest French post by the 
 hands of some messenger of sufficient resolution to overcome 
 the natural dangers of the undertaking, and of intelligence 
 enough to collect information respecting the strength and 
 designs of the French. Washington was recommended to the 
 Governor as the person best qualified for this difficult mission, 
 and although he was not yet twenty-two years old, the Gov- 
 ernor decided to entrust him with it. 
 
 Governor Dinwiddle gave to his 3/oung envoy a letter ad- 
 dressed to the commander of the French forces on the Ohio, 
 in which he demanded of him his reasons for invading the 
 territory of England while Great Britain and France were at 
 peace with each other. Washington was instructed to observe 
 carefully the numbers and positions of the French, the strength 
 of their forts, the nature of their communications with Canada 
 and with their various posts, and to endeavor to ascertain the 
 real designs of the French in occupying the Ohio Valley, the 
 probability of their being vigorously supported from Canada, 
 and the extent to which their efforts to array the Indian tribes 
 against the English had been carried. " Ye're a braw lad," 
 said the Governor, as he delivered his instructions to the young 
 
36 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 major, "and gin ye play your cards weel, my boy, ye shall hae 
 nae cause to rue your bargain." 
 
 Washington received his instructions on the 30th of October, 
 1753, and on the same day set out for Winchester, then a fron- 
 tier post, from which he proceeded to Wills' Creek, where he 
 was to cross the mountains. Having secured the services of 
 Christopher Gist as guide, and of two interpreters and four 
 others, W^ashington left Wills' Creek about the middle of No- 
 vember. They crossed the mountains and journeyed through 
 an unbroken country in which the Indian trails we're the only 
 paths, across rugged ravines, over steep hills, and across streams 
 swollen with recent heavy rains, until in nine days they reached 
 the point where the Alleghany and Monongahela unite and 
 form the Ohio. Washington carefully examined the place, 
 and was greatly impressed with the advantages offered for the 
 location of a fort by the point of land at the junction of the two 
 rivers. The judgment expressed by him at the time was sub- 
 sequently confirmed by the choice of the spot by the French 
 for one of their most important posts — Fort Duquesne. 
 
 In accordance with his instructions, Washington proceeded 
 to Logstown, where he was to meet the Delaware chiefs in 
 council, to acquaint them with the nature of his mission, and 
 to ascertain their disposition towards the English. He reached 
 this place on the 24th of November, but found Tanacharisson, 
 or the Half King, as he was more commonly called, absent on 
 a hunting expedition. Runners were despatched for him, and 
 also to summon the neighboring chiefs to the council. While 
 awaiting their arrival, Washington met several deserters from 
 the French posts on the lower Ohio, who had just come in, 
 and from them learned the number, location, and strength of 
 the French posts between Quebec and New Orleans, by way of 
 the Wabash and the Maumee. They informed him of the in- 
 tention of the French to occupy the Ohio from its head to its 
 mouth with a similar chain efforts. The Half King upon his 
 arrival confirmed the report of the deserters. He had heard 
 that the French were coming with a strong force to drive the 
 English out of the land. 
 
 On the 26th a "grand talk" was had with the chiefs in coun- 
 cil by Washington, who informed them of the nature of his 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON, 37 
 
 mission, and that he was ordered by the Governor of Virginia 
 to ask their advice and assistance, and some of their young 
 men to accompny him as a protection on the way agamst the 
 "French Indians," who had taken up the hatchet. The chiefs 
 answered him through the Half King, that what he had said 
 was true ; they were brothers, and would guard him on his 
 way to the nearest French post. They wished neither the 
 English nor the French to settle in their country; but as the 
 French were the first intruders, they were willing to aid the 
 English in their efforts to expel them. They agreed to break 
 off friendly relations with the French; but Washington, who 
 knew the Indian character well, was not altogether satisfied 
 with their promises. 
 
 He was detained several days at Logstown by the chiefs, and 
 did not leave that place until the 30th of November. He was 
 attended by the Half King and three other Indians, and on the 
 4th of December reached the French fort at Venango. Cap- 
 tain Joncaire, the officer in command of this fort, was without 
 authority to receive the letter borne by Washington, and re- 
 ferred him to the Chevalier St. Pierre, the commandant of the 
 next post. In the meantime he treated the English with cour- 
 tesy, and invited Washington to sup with him. When the 
 wine was passed around the French officers drank deeply, and 
 soon lost their discretion. The sober and vigilant Washington 
 noted their words with great care, and recorded them in his 
 diary. "They told me," he writes, "that it was their absolute 
 design to take possession of the Ohio, and, by G — d, they 
 would do it; for that, although they were sensible the English 
 could raise two men to their one, they knew their motions 
 were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of 
 theirs." The French officers then informed Washington of 
 their strength south of the lakes, and the number and location 
 of their posts between Montreal and Venango. 
 
 The French exerted every strategem to detach the Indians 
 from Washington's party, and they met with enough success 
 to justify his distrust of his savage allies. The latter had come 
 to deliv^er up the French speech-belts, or, in other words, to 
 break off friendly relations with the French. They wavered 
 and failed to fulfil their promise, "but the Half King clung 
 
3^ AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to Washington as a brother, and dehVered up his speech-belt, 
 as he had promised." 
 
 The party left Venango on the 7th of December, and reached 
 Fort Le Boeuf, the next post, situated on French Creek, on the 
 nth. having made the journey through snow, rain, mire and 
 swamp. The fort was a strong work, defended by cannon ; and 
 near by Washington saw a number of canoes and boats, and 
 materials for building others— sure indications that an expedi- 
 tion down the river was soon to be attempted. St. Pierre, "an 
 ancient and silver-haired chevalier of the military order of St. 
 Louis," the commander of the fort, was an officer of experience 
 and integrity, and was greatly beloved as well as feared by the 
 savage tribes of the neighboring country. He received the 
 young envoy with stately courtesy, but refused to discuss ques- 
 tions of right with him. "I am here," he said, "by the orders 
 of my general, to which I shall conform with exactness and 
 resolution." 
 
 The envoy was detained four days at the fort, and in the 
 meantime occupied himself in taking notes of the plan and 
 dimensions of the fort and its means of defense, and in acquaint- 
 mg himself with the designs of the French, which were unmis- 
 takably hostile to the English in the Ohio Valley. On the 
 14th, St. Pierre delivered to Washington a sealed reply to the 
 letter of the Governor of Virginia, and on the i6th the party 
 set out on its return. They descended French Creek in canoes, 
 at considerable risk, as the stream was full of floating icei 
 which constantly threatened to crush their frail vessels. Ve- 
 nango was not reached until the 22d. There it was found that 
 the horses were so feeble that it was doubtful whether they 
 would be able to make the journey home. One of the Indians 
 fell ill, and the others resolved to remain with him at Venango. 
 The English accordingly set out for home without them, Wash- 
 ington canying Mith him the assurance of the Half King that 
 nothing should shake his friendship for the English, or make 
 him the ally of the French. The party made slow 'progress. 
 " I put myself in an Indian walking dress," says Washingtr n, 
 " and continued with them three days, until I found there was 
 no possibility of their getting home in any reasonable time. 
 The horses became less able to travel every day ; the cold in- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 39 
 
 creased very fast, and the roads were becoming much worse by 
 a deep snow continually freezing ; therefore, as I was uneasy to 
 get back to make report of proceedings to his honor the Gov- 
 ernor, I determined to prosecute my journey the nearest way 
 through the woods on foot." 
 
 Taking Gist as his only companion, and directing their way 
 by the compass, Washington set out on foot, on the 26th, by 
 the nearest way across the country, for the head of the Ohio- 
 The next day an Indian who had joined them at "Murdering 
 Town," and had undertaken to guide them through the woods, 
 suddenly wheeled upon Washington and fired at him at a dis- 
 tance of but fifteen steps. He missed his aim, and was at once 
 secured. Gist was anxious to kill the savage on the spot, but 
 Washington would not allow this, and they kept the fellow 
 until dark and then released him. Fearful that the Indian 
 would set others on their trail, they waited until he was fairly 
 out of sight, and then set off and traveled all night and all the 
 next day, directing their course by the compass. 
 
 At dark on the 28th they reached the banks of the Alle- 
 ghany, which they had expected to find frozen over. It was 
 full of floating ice, and they passed an anxious night on its 
 banks. The next morning they set to work with one poor 
 hatchet to construct a raft, their only means of reaching the 
 opposite bank. They completed their raft about sunset, and 
 launched it upon the stream. It was caught in the floating ice, 
 and in the effort to free it Washington was hurled into the 
 water and nearly drowned. Unable to reach the opposite 
 shore, they made for an island in mid-stream, and passed the 
 night there. The cold was intense, and Gist had all his fingers 
 and all his toes frozen. The next morning the river was frozen 
 over sufficiently hard to bear their weight. They at once 
 crossed to the opposite bank, resumed their journey, and by 
 nightfall were in comfortable quarters at the house of Frazier, 
 an Indian trader, at the mouth of Turtle Creek, on the Monon- 
 gahela. Continuing his journey from this point, Washington 
 reached Williamsburg on the i6th of January, and reported to 
 the Governor the result of his mission. 
 
 " The prudence, sagacity, resolution, firmness, and self-devo- 
 tion manifested by him throughout ; his admirable tact and 
 
40 AMERICAN BIOGIL\PHY. 
 
 self-pcssession in treating with fickle savages and crafty white 
 men ; the soldier's eye with which he had noticed the com- 
 manding and defensible points of the country, and everything 
 that would bear upon military operations ; and the hardihood 
 with which he had acquitted himself during a wintry tramp 
 through the wilderness, through constant storms of rain and 
 snow — often sleeping on the ground without a tent in the open 
 air, and in danger from treacherous foes — all pointed him out, 
 not merely to the Governor, but to the public at large, as one 
 eminently fitted, notwithstanding his youth, for important trusts 
 involving civil as well as military duties. It is an expedition 
 that may be considered the foundation of his fortunes. From 
 that moment he was the rising hope of Virginia."* 
 
 The French commander on the Ohio returned a courteous 
 but evasive answer to Governor Dinwiddie's communication, 
 and referred him for a definite settlement of the matter to the 
 Marquis Duquesne, the Governor of Canada. It was clear from 
 the tone of his letter that he meant to hold on to the territory 
 he had occupied, and the Governor of Virginia was satisfied 
 from Major Washington's report of his observations that St. 
 Pierre was only waiting for the opening of navigation to extend 
 the line of French posts down the Ohio. The authorities of 
 Virginia resolved to anticipate him, and in the early spring of 
 1/54 the Ohio Company sent a force of forty men to build a 
 fort at the head of the Ohio, on the site to which Washington 
 had called their attention. In order to arouse the nation to a 
 sense of the danger which threatened it from the French move- 
 ments, Washington's journal was printed and widely circulated 
 throughout the Colonies and England. It was generally read, 
 and won universal favor for its heroic young author. 
 
 Measures were promptly taken in Virginia for the protection 
 of the frontiers. A regiment of troops was ordered to be raised, 
 and it was the general wish that Major Washington should be 
 appointed to the command. He declined the commission ten- 
 dered him, alleging his youth and inexperience; but accepted 
 the post of lieutenant-colonel. The command of the regiment 
 was conferred upon Colonel Joshua Fr}'. Washington was 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 4I 
 
 ordered to repair to the west and take charge of the defense of 
 the frontiers. He took the field promptly, and in April, 1754, 
 reached Wills' Creek with three companies of his regiment. 
 The rest of the command was to follow under Colonel Fry. 
 
 Almost at the moment of his arrival at the fort at Wills' 
 Creek, came the news that the party sent to build the fort at 
 the head of the Ohio had been surrounded by a French force 
 of one thousand men, with artillery, and compelled to surrender, 
 upon condition of being allowed to retire east of the mountains. 
 Immediately upon the withdrawal of the English, the French 
 forces had occupied the unfinished work, completed it upon a 
 more formidable scale, and named it Fort Duquesne. This was 
 an act of war, and was attended with more important conse- 
 quences than either party at the time supposed would be the 
 case. It began the final struggle by which the power of France 
 in America was broken. The war which ensued is known in 
 European history as the Seven Years' War ; in our own as the 
 French and Indian War. It began on the banks of the Ohio, 
 and for nearly two years was confined to the New World. 
 
 Colonel Fry having fallen sick at Winchester, the direction 
 of affairs on the frontier was left exclusively in the hands of the 
 young Lieutenant-Colonel, who at once resolved to push for- 
 ward, and upon reaching the junction of Red Stone Creek with 
 the Monongahela, the site of the present town of Brownsville, 
 to build a fort there, and hold it until he could be reinforced 
 from Virginia. He took with him about 160 men, and set out 
 from W^iils' Creek on the 29th of April. His force was poorly 
 provided with clothing and tents, and was deficient in military 
 supplies of all kinds. The country to be traversed was a wild, 
 unbroken region, without roads or bridges, and through it ar- 
 tillery and wagons were to be transported. The little band 
 moved slowly and with difficulty, and Washington pushed on 
 in advance with a small detachment, intending to secure the 
 position on the Monongahela, and await the arrival of the main 
 body. 
 
 On the 20th of I\Iay he reached the Youghiogheny, and 
 there received a message from his ally the Half King, telling 
 him that the French were in heavy force at Fort Duquesne. 
 This report was confirmed at the Little Meadows by the trad- 
 
42 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ers, and by another message from the Half King on the 25th 
 of May, warning Washington that a force of French and 
 Indians had left Fort Duquesne on a secret expedition. Wash- 
 ington was confident that this expedition was directed against 
 him, and advanced to the Great Meadows, and took position 
 there. On the morning of the 27th Gist arrived at the camp, 
 and reported that he had seen the trail of the French within 
 five miles of the Great Meadows. In the evening of the same 
 day a runner came in from the Half King, with a message that 
 the French were close at hand. Taking with him forty men, 
 Washington set off for the Half King's camp, and by a difficult 
 night march through a tangled forest, in the midst of a driving 
 ram, reached it about daylight. The runners of the Half King 
 reported the French encamped in a deep glen not far distant, 
 and it was decided to attack them at once. The Half King and 
 his warriors placed themselves under Washington's orders, and 
 the march was resumed towards the French camp. The French 
 were surprised, and an action of about a quarter of an hour en- 
 sued. The enemy lost ten men killed, among whom was their 
 commander Jumonville, and twenty-one prisoners. 
 
 Washington was very anxious to follow up the advantage he 
 had gained, and had already appealed to the Governors of 
 Maryland and Pennsylvania for assistance, but no aid reached 
 him. Unable to advance in the face of the rapidly increasing 
 forces of the French, he threw up a stockade fort at the Great 
 Meadows, which he named Fort Necessity, from the fact that 
 his troops were almost in a starving condition. Somewhat 
 later there arrived at Fort Necessity an independent company 
 of South Carolina volunteers under Captain Mackay. Wash- 
 ington, by the death of Colonel Fry a short time before, had 
 succeeded to the command of the regiment. He held his com- 
 mission, however, from the Governor of Virginia, while that of 
 Captain Mackay had been granted him by the King; the latter 
 therefore refused to obey the orders of Washington, whom he 
 regarded as a mere provincial officer, or to consider himself 
 under his command. In order to put an end to the annoyance, 
 Washington left Mackay and his company to guard Fort Neces- 
 sit)^, while with his own regiment he advanced on the iith of 
 June towards Redstone Creek. Upon reaching Gist's trading- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 43 
 
 post, about thirteen miles from Fort Necessity, he received in- 
 telligence that the French at Fort Duquesne had been heavily 
 reinforced, and that a large force would be at once despatched 
 against him. He therefore resolved to retreat at once to Fort 
 Necessity, and as there was a deficiency of horses, set the exam- 
 ple to his officers by relinquishing his own horse to aid in 
 transporting the baggage. The South Carolina company had 
 been ordered up from Fort Necessity, and had joined the main 
 force, but refused to take any part in the labors of the retreat, 
 fancying that their being " King's soldiers " exempted them from 
 this duty. Upon reaching Great Meadows the Virginia troops, 
 exhausted with fatigue and hunger, and indignant at the con- 
 duct of the South Carolinians, refused to proceed any further; 
 and Washington, who had intended to retreat to a point nearer 
 Wills' Creek, was obliged to halt at Fort Necessity, which he 
 at once set to work to strengthen. 
 
 His retreat to the Great Meadows was a timely and prudent 
 move. A force of over five hundred well-equipped French 
 troops and several hundred Indians had been despatched 
 against Washington from Fort Duquesne, under command of 
 Captain de Villiers. Failing to find him at Gist's plantation, 
 De Villiers pushed on to the Great Meadows, encouraged by the 
 report of a deserter that the English were starving. On the 
 3d of July the French and Indians suddenly appeared before 
 Fort Necessity, and occupied the hills surrounding it. The 
 attacking party were able to shelter themselves behind trees, 
 and could command the fort from their safe position, while the 
 English were greatly exposed, and it became evident to the 
 most inexperienced that the fort was untenable. Nevertheless, 
 the work was held for nine hours under a heavy fire, and amid 
 the discomforts of a severe rain-storm. At length, De Villiers, 
 the French commander, fearing that his ammunition would be 
 exhausted, proposed a parley and offered terms to Washington. 
 The English had lost thirty killed, the French but three. The 
 terms of capitulation proposed by De Villiers were interpreted 
 to Washington, who did not understand French, by Jacob Van- 
 braam, Washington's old fencing-master, who was serving as a 
 captain in his regiment, and who was "a Dutchman, little ac- 
 quainted with the English tongue." In consequence of this 
 
44 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 imperfect interpretation, Washington and his officers " were 
 betrayed into a pledge which they would never have consented 
 to give, and an act of moral suicide which they could never 
 have deliberately committeed. They understood from Van- 
 braam's interpretation that no fort was to be built beyond the 
 mountains on lands belonging to the King of France ; but the 
 terms of the articles are, neither in this place nor beyond the 
 mountains ?" The capitulation was signed, and the Virginians 
 were allowed to march out of the fort with the honors of war, 
 retaining their arms and all their stores, but leaving their artil- 
 lery. This they did on the morning of July 4th, 1754. The 
 march across the mountains was rendered painful by the lack 
 of provisions, but the troops at length reached the post at Wills* 
 Creek, which was now called Fort Cumberland. Although the 
 expedition had been unsuccessful, the conduct of Washington 
 had been marked by so much prudence and good judgment 
 that he received the thanks of the General Assembly of Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Governor Dinwiddle had already thrown many obstacles in 
 the way of the defence of the colony, and he now refused to 
 reward the provincial officers with the promotions they had so 
 well earned. In order to avoid this, he dissolved the Virginia 
 regiment, and reorganized it into independent companies, no 
 officer of which was to have a rank higher than that of captain. 
 It was also ordered that officers holding commissions from the 
 King should take precedence of those holding commissions 
 from the colonial government. Washington, feeling that he 
 could not remain in the service with self-respect upon these con- 
 ditions, resigned his commission, and retired to Mount Vernon. 
 Soon afterwards Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, having been 
 appointed by the King commander-in-chief of the forces of the 
 Southern colonies, proposed to Washington, through a friend, 
 to return to the army with the rank of Colonel, but with the 
 actual authority of a captain. Washington declined the offer 
 with characteristic dignity. " If you think me," he wrote, 
 " capable of holding a commission that has neither rank nor 
 emolument annexed to it, you must maintain a very contempti- 
 ble opinion of my weakness, and believe me more empty than 
 the commission itself." 
 
GEORGE WASHIXGTOy. 45 
 
 While Washington was in retirement at Mount Vernon, vig- 
 orous measurers were put in force for the prosecution of the 
 war. Great Britain decided to send a royal army to the as- 
 sistance of the Colonies, but was anxious that they should 
 bear the brunt of the struggle themselves. General Edward 
 Braddock, who was regarded as one of the most accomplished 
 officers in the royal service, was sent over to take command of 
 the troops in America. He reached Alexandria, Virginia, in 
 February, 1755, and was soon followed by two regiments of in- 
 fantry of five hundred men each, the largest force of regulars 
 Great Britain had ever assembled in America. A conference of 
 the Governors of the various Colonies with the new command- 
 er-in-chief was held at Alexandria, and a plan of campaign 
 was decided upon. Four expeditions were to be despatched 
 against the French. The first, under Braddock in person, was 
 to advance upon Fort Duquesne; the second was to be sent 
 against Fort Niagara, under Governor Shirley of Massachu- 
 setts; the third was to attack Crown Point; and the fourth 
 was to expel the French from Nova Scotia. As we can relate 
 here only the events of the first expedition, we may say that 
 Shirley's expedition proved a failure; Johnson never reached 
 Crown Point; the fourth expedition succeeded in expelling the 
 French settlers from Nova Scotia, and stained its triumph with 
 inexcusable cruelties to those unhappy people. 
 
 General Braddock was thoroughly proficient in the theory of 
 his profession, but his experience in the field was limited to a 
 single campaign. He possessed the confidence of his superiors 
 in England, and his faith in himself was boundless. He be- 
 lieved his regulars capable of accomplishing any task assigned 
 them, and was imbued with a most sovereign contempt for the 
 provincial troops that were to form a part of his command. 
 
 The preparations for the campaign were made at Alexandria, 
 but a few miles from Mount Vernon. The river was alive 
 with ships of war and transports, and the thunder of cannon 
 often echoed through the peaceful groves of that quiet home. 
 Washington was deeply interested in these preparations, and 
 often rode into Alexandria to witness the manoeuvres of the 
 troops. He was eager to join the expedition as a volunteer, 
 and his desire was reported to General Braddock, who upon 
 
46 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 being informed of his personal merits and his former services 
 in the country soon to be the scene of war, offered him the 
 position of volunteer Aide-de-camp on his staff. Washington 
 at once accepted the place. It brought him no compensation 
 or command, and required him to defray his expenses out of 
 his own private purse. In order to accept it he was also obliged 
 to leave his private affairs "to take care of themselves" during 
 his absence, as he had no one in whom he had confidence to 
 manage them for him. 
 
 Had General Braddock been a more reasonable man, the 
 presence of Colonel Washington in his military family might 
 have been of the greatest service to him ; for the experience of 
 the young colonel in a field in which the General had never 
 served would have made him an invaluable counsellor. Brad- 
 dock was in a strange country, and was charged with the con- 
 duct of a campaign in which the ordiriary rules of warfare as 
 practiced in Europe could not be adhered to. He knew no- 
 thing of the difficulties of marching his army through a tangled 
 wilderness and over a mountain range of the first magnitude, 
 without roads and bridges ; nothing of the peculiar mode of 
 warfare against which he would have to contend. Unfortunately 
 for him, he was not aware of his ignorance, and would neither 
 ask nor listen to information or advice upon the subject. Wash- 
 ington did venture to offer suggestions based upon his knowl- 
 edge of the necessities of the campaign, but his advice was 
 coldly received, and he soon ceased to proffer it. 
 
 The army assembled at Wills' Creek, and, encumbered with 
 a heavy train, moved slowly across the mountains, cutting a 
 road as it advanced. It was June before it set out, and such 
 little progress was made from day to day that Braddock, 
 greatly disheartened, privately asked Washington to advise 
 him what to do. As it was known that the garrison of Fort 
 Duquesne was small, Washington urged him to detach a light 
 corps from the main body, unencumbered with baggage or 
 tents, and make a dash at the fort before reinforcements could 
 arrive from Canada. Braddock accordingly detached a division 
 of twelve hundred men and ten pieces of cannon, with a train 
 of pack-horses to carry the baggage, and pushed on in ad- 
 vance with them, leaving Colonel Dunbar to bring up the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 47 
 
 main division as rapidly as possible. He refused, however, to 
 employ a band of trained scouts, who offered their services to 
 him, and who would have been invaluable in such a march. 
 He moved so slowly with his advanced division that it was the 
 8th of July before it reached the east bank of the Mononga- 
 hela, about fifteen miles above Fort Duquesne. Washington, 
 who had been ill for some days, and had been left behind at 
 Dunbar's camp, rejoined Braddock on the same day, though 
 far from well. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 9th of July the march was re- 
 sumed. By noon the troops were but ten miles distant from 
 Fort. Duquesne. Washington was well convinced that the 
 French and Indians were aware of the movements of the army, 
 and would seek to attack it before it could reach the fort. He 
 therefore urged Braddock to throw in advance the Virginia 
 Rangers, three hundred strong, as they were experienced Indian 
 fighters. Braddock angrily rebuked his Aid, and to make the 
 rebuke more pointed, ordered the Virginia troops and other 
 provincials to take position in the rear of the regulars. The 
 latter made a gallant show as they marched along with their 
 gay uniforms, their burnished arms and flying colors, and their 
 drums beating a lively march. Washington could not repress 
 his admiration at the brilliant sight, nor his anxiety for the 
 result. 
 
 His forebodings were not without cause. The French had 
 been informed by their scouts of the approach of the English 
 army, and early on the morning of the 9th a force of about two 
 hundred and thirty French and Canadians and six hundred and 
 thirty-seven Indians, under De Beaujeu, set out to harass the 
 English on their march. They concealed themselves along the 
 sides of a ravine, through which the route of the latter lay; and 
 about two o'clock in the afternoon, as the head of the English 
 column entered this defile, a heavy fire was opened upon it by 
 the force in ambush. The assailants, concealed among the 
 trees, were almost invisible to the English, who were fully ex- 
 posed to their fire, as they occupied a broad ravine, covered 
 with low shrubs, immediately below the eminence held by the 
 French. 
 
 The regulars were quickly thrown into confusion by the 
 
48 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 heavy fire and the fierce yells of the Indians, and their losses 
 were so severe and sudden that they became panic-stricken. 
 The advance of the English was driven back, and it crowded 
 upon the second division in disorder. A reinforcement of eight 
 hundred men under Colonel Burton arrived at this moment, 
 but only to add to the confusion. The French now pushed 
 their lines forward and increased the disorder of the English, 
 who had by this time lost nearly all their officers. Braddock 
 now came up, and gallantly exerted himself to restore order, 
 but "the King's regulars and disciplined troops" were so utterly 
 demoralized that not one of his commands was obeyed. 
 
 The only semblance of resistance maintained by the English 
 was by the Virginia Rangers, whom Braddock had insulted at 
 the beginning of the day's march. Immediately upon the com- 
 mencement of the battle they had adopted the tactics of the 
 Indians, and had thrown themselves behind trees, from which 
 shelter they were rapidly picking off the savages. Washington 
 entreated Braddock to allow the regulars to follow the example 
 of the Virginians; but the latter refused, and stubbornly endea- 
 vored to form them in platoons under the fatal fire that was 
 being poured upon them by their hidden assailants. Thus 
 through his obstinacy many useful lives were thrown away 
 The officers did not share the panic of their men, but behaved 
 with the greatest gallantry. They were the especial marks of 
 the Indian sharp-shooters, and many of them were killed or 
 wounded. Two of Braddock's aids were seriously hurt, and 
 their duties devolved upon Washington in addition to his own. 
 He passed repeatedly over the field, carrying the orders of the 
 commander and encouraging the men. When sent to bring up 
 the artillery, he found it surrounded by Indians, its com.mander. 
 Sir Peter Halket, killed, and the men standing helpless from 
 fear. Springing from his horse, he appealed to the men to save 
 the guns, pointed a field-piece and discharged it at the enemy, 
 and called on the men to rally. He could accomplish nothing 
 either by his words or example; the men deserted the guns and 
 fled. In a letter to his brother, Washington wrote, "I had four 
 bullets through my coat, two horses shot under me, yet escaped 
 unhurt, though death was levelling my companions on every 
 side around me." 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 49 
 
 Braddock had five horses shot under him, and at length re- 
 ceived a mortal wound. His fall saved the army from destruc- 
 tion. He was conveyed to the rear, and the order was given to 
 fall back. The "regulars fled like sheep before the hounds;" 
 the French and Indians pressed forward in pursuit, and all 
 would have been lost had not the Virginia Rangers thrown 
 themselves in the rear and covered the flight of the regulars 
 with a determination that checked the pursuers. The artillery, 
 wagons, and all the camp train were abandoned, and the sav- 
 ages, stopping to plunder these, allowed the fugitives to reach 
 a point of safety. 
 
 Having seen the wounded general as comfortable as circum- 
 stances would permit, Washington rode all that night and the 
 next day, though still suffering from the effects of his illness, 
 to Dunbar's camp, to procure wagons for the wounded and sol- 
 diers to guard them. With these he hurried back to the fugi- 
 tives. 
 
 Braddock was borne in a litter as far as the Great Meadows. 
 He seemed heart-broken by his reverse, and rarely spoke. It 
 is said that he thanked Captain Stewart, of the Virginia Ran- 
 gers for his care of him since his fall, and apologized to Wash- 
 ington for the manner in which he had received his advice. He 
 had no wish to live, and died at Fort Necessity on the night of 
 the 13th of July. He was buried the next morning before day- 
 break, as secretly as possible, for fear the savages might find and 
 violate his grave. The chaplain having been wounded, Wash- 
 ington read over the lonely grave the burial service of the 
 English Church. 
 
 Dunbar, who succeeded Braddock in the command of the 
 expedition, at once broke up his camp, destroyed his stores and 
 retreated beyond the mountains. Disregarding the entreaties 
 of the colonists not to leave the frontiers exposed to the sav- 
 ages, he continued his retreat to Philadelphia, and went into 
 winter quarters there. 
 
 The effect of these reverses upon the people of America was 
 most marked. When they understood that Braddock's splen- 
 did force of disciplined regulars had been routed by a mere 
 handful of French and Indians', their respect for the invincibility 
 of British troops was destroyed ; and their confidence in their 
 4 
 
5^ AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 own prowess was greatly increased by the proud reflection that 
 the only thing that had been done to save the army of Brad- I 
 dock from total destruction had been accomplished by the Dro- 
 vincials. ^ 
 
 Washington's conduct was a subject of praise in all the 
 colonies, and brought his name conspicuously before the whole 
 people of America. In a sermon preached a few months after 
 the battle, the Rev. Samuel Davies, a learned clergyman, spoke 
 of him as that heroic youth, Colonel Washington whom I 
 cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in'so signal 
 a manner for some important service to his country " Wa<-h 
 ington himself attributed his wonderful escape from even a 
 wound to the overruling providence of God. The Indians 
 opposed to him regarded it in the same light. About fifteen 
 years after the battle, while examining some lands near the 
 mouth of the Great Kanawha River, Washington was visited 
 
 the battle o the Monongahela, among the Indian allies of the 
 l^rench ; that he singled him out and repeatedly fired his rifle 
 at him • that he had also ordered his young warriors to make 
 
 tur'ned "h'k'^ ""^' ' '"' '''''' °" '""'"^ ^" ^^-- bullets 
 turned aside by some invisible and inscrutable interposition he 
 was convinced that the hero at whom he had so often and so 
 truly aimed must be, for some wise purpose, specially protected 
 by the Great Spirit. He now came, therefore, to testify his 
 veneration. ' ^ 
 
 The retreat of Dunbar left the frontiers of Virginia and 
 Pennsylvama at the mercy of the savages, who niaintained a 
 desultory but destructive warfare along the entire border In 
 V,rgm,a a force was raised for the defense of the frontier, and 
 Colonel Washington was appointed commander-in-chief " of all 
 the forces raised or to be raised for the defense of the colony " 
 He was g,ven so few men, however, that his undertaking was a 
 hopeless one The laws for the government of the militia were 
 uiefficent and there was no means of compelling them to serve 
 agamst the.r will. Through the efforts of Washington th 
 General Assembly of Virginia was mduced to enact more 
 stnngent measures for this purpose. The question of prece- 
 dence was also revived and occasioned him great annoyance 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 5^ 
 
 A Captain Dagworthy of Maryland, who had held a king's 
 commission and had commuted it for half pay, had raised a 
 company of Maryland volunteers, and was stationed at Fort 
 Cumberland. Regarding himself as a " King's officer," he 
 refused to obey the orders of Washington, who, though com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Virginia forces, was a provincial officer. 
 To settle this vexed question Washington, in February, 1756, 
 accompanied by two of his officers, made a journey on horse- 
 back to Boston, five hundred miles distant, to consult Major- 
 General Shirley, who had succeeded Braddock in command of 
 the royal forces in America. The question was settled in 
 Washington's favor as regarded Dagworthy, but the former was 
 not able to have himself and his officers put upon the regular 
 establishment with commissions from the King, as he had 
 hoped. Washington remained ten days in Boston, and was the 
 recipient of the cordial hospitality of some of the leading citi- 
 zens of the place, for his reputation had preceded him, and he 
 was well and favorably known in the metropolis of New Eng- 
 land. Returning through New York he spent a short time 
 there with Beverly Robinson, an old friend and schoolmate, 
 who had married and settled in that city. Tradition has it that 
 he became deeply enamored of Miss Mary Philipse, the beauti- 
 ful sister of his friend's wife ; that he addressed her and was 
 refused. This was not his first love affair; and he did not take 
 his rejection very deeply to heart, as we shall see. 
 
 Returning to Winchester, Washington resumed his com- 
 mand, but was unable with the means at hand to save the valley 
 of the Shenandoah from the savages, who ravaged it with mer- 
 ciless fury. The more protected regions were also kept in a 
 state of constant uneasiness and alarm. Governor Dinwiddie 
 was repeatedly appealed to by the young commander to furnish 
 more men, but refused to do so, alleging the necessity of retam- 
 ing a strong force in the eastern counties to keep the negro 
 slaves in subjection. The Virginia newspapers in their discus- 
 sions of the troubles on the frontier endeavored to throw the 
 responsibility upon the army, and especially upon its commander. 
 Washington's indignation was aroused by this unjust censure, 
 and he was prevented from throwing up his commission in dis- 
 gust only by the earnest entreaties of his friends in the colonial 
 
52 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 government. He urged upon the Governor and Couneil the 
 estabhshment of a fort at Winehester, the central poin o a 
 w,de d,str,ct of country, as a place of deposit for the a ms and 
 supphes for the nj.Htia of the border, and a'refuge for the : „ „ 
 and ch,Idren m the event of a savage inroad upon their homes 
 It was also to be the headquarters of the commander-m-cWef 
 He at length had the satisfaction of receiving in the summer o 
 .756 orders to begm the construction of this fortress It re- 
 ce,ved the name of Fort Loudon, in honor of the Earl of Lou- 
 don, the new commander of the royal forces in America 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie had been anxious to appoint Colonel 
 
 forces, but had been obhged to yield to the popular wish and 
 
 confer that post upon Colonel Washington. He avenged h m 
 
 elf by g,vmg the latter all the annoyance be could, and thwart- 
 
 ng h,s measures as far as poss.ble. "So much an, I kept in 
 
 the dark • wrote Washington, "that I do not know whether to 
 
 sa.d. The orders I receive are full of ambiguity. I am left 
 l.ke a wanderer in the wilderness, to proceed^at hazard. I am 
 answerable for consequences, and blamed without the privileJ 
 of defense." The Governor also misrepresented the measurS 
 of Washmgton to the Earl of Loudon, and in order to place 
 ZTr,Vr "T "g'"- Washington obtained leave to repa 
 
 hief H " '°, °" ' ~"-"^«™ -th the commande,!r 
 ch.ef. He was well received by Lord Loudon, and his visit had 
 the happy effect of removing the wrong impressions under which 
 the Earl had been placed by the Governor. His lordship f^e 
 quently consulted h,m on points of front.er service durin. h s 
 stay .n Ph.Iade^hia, and his advice was generally adopted. 
 
 After a bnef v,s,t to Philadelphia Washington returned to 
 Wmchester, and spent the year ,757 in the arduous task of 
 defendmg the frontier. He was thus engaged while Earl of 
 Loudon made his unfortunate attempt upon' Loui burg I„ 
 Januan. ,758, Governor Dinwiddie was recalled to England o 
 the great advantage of the public service in Virginia 
 
 mi^SZT ""r"' °''" ''""'«'' °f great importance. 
 Wdham P tt came mto power in England at the head of the 
 new mmrsto^, and at once infused fresh vigor into the meas 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 53 
 
 ures of the government. He appreciated and sympathized 
 with the Americans more perfectly than any of his predecessors 
 in office, and exerted himself to encourage and develop their 
 patriotism by a generous and systematic assistance of their 
 efforts. He caused the government of Great Britain to assume 
 the expenses of the war, and while the colonies were each 
 required to furnish troops, he "stipulated that the colonial 
 troops raised for this purpose should be supplied with arms, 
 ammunition, tents and provisions, in the same manner as the 
 regular troops, and at the King's expense; so that the only 
 charge to the colonies would be that of levying, clothing, and 
 paying the men. The Governors were also authorized to issue 
 commissions to provincial officials, from colonels downwards, 
 and these officials were to hold rank in the united army accord- 
 ing to their commissions." Lord Loudon was recalled, and 
 three expeditions were organized under as many separate 
 officers. The first of these was dispatched against Louisburg 
 under General Amherst, assisted by General James Wolfe, and 
 captured that fortress ofter a siege of twenty days. The second, 
 under General Abercrombie, was sent to capture Ticonderoga, 
 and Crown Point. Lord George Howe, who was greatly be- 
 loved by the army and people, was the second in command in 
 this expedition. Unhappily he was killed in a skirmish near 
 the foot of Lake George, and Abercrombie ruined his army by 
 a disastrous and ill-advised attack upon the works at Ticonder- 
 ogo. He abandoned the enterprise, which he was incompetent 
 to conduct, and returned to the head of Lake George. A 
 detachment of provincials from his army, under Colonel Brad- 
 street, of New York, marched to Oswego, and crossing Lake 
 Ontario in open boats, captured Fort Frontenac at the head of 
 that Lake, and destroyed it, together with its stores. This 
 capture was of the highest importance, and led to the aban- 
 donment of the French forts on the Ohio, which drew their sup- 
 plies from it. 
 
 The third expedition was destined for the capture of Fort 
 Duquesne, and was placed under the command of Brigadier- 
 General Forbes, a veteran officer of the English army. To this 
 expedition the Virginia troops under Washington were attached. 
 They numbered less than nineteen hundred men, and were 
 
54 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 without arms, tents, field equipage and the other necessities of 
 a military force. They had been brought into the field by the 
 extraordinary exertions of Washington, who endeavored, with- 
 out success, to supply their wants. While Forbes was assem- 
 bling the bulk of his troops in Pennsylvania, Colonel Washing- 
 ton was ordered by Sir John St. Clair, the quarter-master 
 general of the forces, to repair to Williamsburg and lay the staie 
 of his command before the Governor and Council. He at once 
 set out from Winchester on horseback, accompanied by his 
 servant Bishop, who had been bequeathed to him by General 
 Braddock. Little did he imagine what the journey would bring 
 forth. 
 
 At the crossing of the Pamunkey River, a branch of the 
 York, he met a Mr. Chamberlayne, a planter residing in the 
 neighborhood, who insisted that he should accompany him 
 home, and dine with him. He would take no excuse, and 
 Washington, though pleading the importance of reaching 
 Williamsburg that night, was fain to accept the hospitality of 
 the warm-hearted planter. 
 
 Among the guests at the planter's niansion was a young 
 widow, Mrs. Martha Custis, daughter of Mr. John Dandridge, 
 a prominent citizen of the colony. Her husband, John Parke 
 Custis, had been dead about three years, and had left her with 
 two young children and a large fortune. She was in the flush 
 of her youth, and was handsome in person, engaging in man- 
 ner, and lovely in character. Washington, always susceptible 
 to female beauty, fell in love with her at once. In the charm 
 of her society he forgot his impatience to reach Williamsburg, 
 and when Bishop, faithful to his orders, brought the horses to 
 the door, he was left to wait, and to speculate upon the cause 
 of his master's unusual delay. Finally the horses were sent 
 back to the stable, and Washington yielded a ready consent to 
 Mr. Chamberlayne's invitation to pass the night under his 
 roof The next morning he was in the saddle again, and on 
 the road to Williamsburg. The White House, the residence of 
 Mrs. Custis, was not far distant from the capital, and Washing- 
 ton improved his opportunities so well, that when his brief visit 
 was ended, he set out on his return to Winchester, carrying 
 with him the promise of the blooming young widow to become 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 55 
 
 his wife at the close of the campaign against Fort Duquesne. 
 Soon after his arrival at his post, he was ordered to repair with 
 his command to Fort Cumberland. He reached that post on 
 the 2d of July, and proceeded to open a road between the fort 
 and Raystown, Pennsylvania, thirty miles distant, where Forbes 
 was assembling his forces. 
 
 As his troops were but poorly supplied with regimental 
 clothing, Washington caused them to be equipped in the light 
 hunting dress of the Indians. " Convenience, rather than show, 
 should be consulted," he declared. This measure received the 
 warm approval of Colonel Bouquet, who commanded Forbes' 
 advanced forces. "Their dress," wrote the veteran, "should 
 be one pattern for this expedition." 
 
 As it was his intention to retire from the army at the close 
 of the campaign, Washington proposed himself to the elec- 
 tors of Frederick county as their representative in the House 
 of Burgesses. He was elected by a large majority over several 
 competitors, during his absence with the troops in the field. 
 
 The force assembled under General Forbes for tlie reduction 
 of Fort Duquesne numbered seven thousand men. Washing- 
 ton urged upon Forbes the advantages of adopting the old road 
 by the Monongahela cut by Braddock's army, but the General 
 decided to construct a new road farther to the north. While 
 this road was being constructed, Colonel Bouquet, with the ad- 
 vanced guard, crossed Laurel Hill and established a post at 
 Loyal Hanna. The new road progressed very slowly, only 
 forty-five miles being constructed in six weeks. Bouquet had 
 with him a force of about 2,ooo men, chiefly Highlanders and 
 Virginians. Learning from his scouts that Fort Duquesne was 
 held by a garrison of only eight hundred men, of whom three 
 hundred were Indians, Bouquet, without orders from General 
 Forbes, resolved to attempt the capture of the fort by a sudden 
 blow. He detached a force of eight hundred Highlanders and 
 a company of Virginians, under Major Grant, to reconnoitre 
 Fort Duquesne. The French were fully informed of Grant's 
 movements, but allowed him to approach unmolested, intending 
 to disarm his vigilance, and then attack him. Grant affected 
 the usual contempt for the provincial troops, and upon arriving 
 before the fort, placed Major Lewis with the Virginians to 
 
56 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 guard the baggage, and sent his regulars forward to reconnoi- 
 tre the fort, and make a sketch of it. He was greatly encour- 
 aged by the fact that the French allowed him to approach 
 without firing a shot at him, and in his self-complacency 
 marched right into an ambush which the enemy had prepared 
 for him. The French commander had posted the Indians 
 along the sides of a defile by which the English were advanc- 
 ing, and at a given signal the garrison made a sudden sally 
 from the fort against the Highlanders, while the Indians 
 opened a hea\y fire upon them from their place of conceal- 
 ment. The regulars were quickly thrown into confusion, and 
 their officers were found incapable of conducting such an en- 
 counter. Attracted by the firing, Major Lewis, with a com- 
 pany of Virginians, hastened to the scene of the encounter, and 
 engaging the enemy hand to hand, enabled the regulars to save 
 themselves from a general massacre. The detachment was 
 routed with heavy loss, and both Grant and Lewis were taken 
 prisoners. The fugitives retreated to the point where the bag- 
 gage had been left. It was guarded by Captain Bullit, whom 
 Lewis had left there with one company of Virginians. By the 
 gallant and skillful resistance of this little force, the French and 
 Indians were checked, and finally driven back in confusion. 
 The English then continued their retreat with all speed to 
 Loyal Hanna. Again the provincials had saved the regulars 
 from total destruction. General Forbes had the magnanimity 
 to acknowledge and compliment the services of the Virginians, 
 and Captain Bullit was promoted to the rank of Major. 
 
 General Forbes was greatly disheartened by Grant's disaster. 
 A council of war was called to deliberate upon the future opera- 
 tions of the army, and decided, much to Washington's disgust, 
 that, as it was now November, and they were still fifty miles 
 from Fort Duquesne, with an unbroken country between them 
 and the Ohio, nothing morq^ could be accomplished until the 
 spring. The enterprise was on the point of being abandoned 
 when fortunately three prisoners were brought in, from whom 
 Washington drew the information that the garrison of Fort Du- 
 quesne was reduced to a very small force, that the Indians had 
 deserted the French, and that the expected reinforcements and 
 supplies from Canada had not arrived. He was confident from 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 57 
 
 the reports of the deserters that a well executed effort would 
 result in the capture of the fort. 
 
 This information decided General Forbes to continue the 
 expedition. A force of twenty-five hundred picked troops was 
 placed under Washington's command, and he was ordered to 
 p_ush forward as rapidly as possible, and prepare the road for 
 the advance of the main army. Washington was ably seconded 
 by the energetic Armstrong of Pennsylvania, and the march was 
 pressed with such vigor that in ten days the army arrived in 
 the vicinity of Fort Duquesne. The French now saw that the 
 fall of the fort was inevitable. They had but five hundred men 
 for its defense, and Bradstreet's capture of Fort Frontenac had 
 cut them off from the reinforcements and supplies they had ex- 
 pected from Canada. They abandoned Fort Duquesne on the 
 night of the 24th of November, and embarking m flat boats 
 floated down the Ohio to join their countrymen in the valley 
 of the Mississippi. On the 25th the English army arrived be- 
 fore the fort, and finding it deserted and in ruins, occupied it. 
 In accordance with the unanimous wish of the army. General 
 Forbes changed the name of the place to Fort Pitt. The .splen- 
 did city of Pittsburgh now marks the site. 
 
 Washington's services throughout this campaign were ac 
 knowledged with pride in all the colonies, but the British Gov- 
 ernment took no notice of them. Not even Pitt, with all his 
 appreciation of America, thought it worth while to offer him 
 any promotion or reward. At the close of the campaign he 
 resigned his commission, and retired to civil life. He took no 
 part in, but was an interested observer of the events of the cam- 
 paign of 1759, which witnessed the capture of Quebec by Wolfe, 
 and the final expulsion of the French from Canada, and the 
 triumphant close of the war. 
 
 Shortly after his withdrawal from the army, the marriage of 
 Washington to Mrs. Custis was celebrated at the White House, 
 the home of the bride, on the 6th of January, 1759. It was 
 witnessed by a goodly company of relatives and friends, and 
 the festivities were conducted with genuine old Virginian hospi- 
 tality. 
 
 During the three months following his marriage, Wash- 
 ington resided at the White House, and durincf this time took 
 
58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 his seat in the House of Burgesses as the representative of 
 Frederick county. The house had determined to mark the 
 occasion of his entrance into that body by a signal testimonial 
 of its appreciation of his services. After he had taken the 
 oath of office, and had repaired to his seat, Mr. Robinson, the 
 speakei, in an eloquent address, returned him the thanks of the 
 Colony of Virginia, for the distinguished services he had ren- 
 dered his country in the field. At the close of the speaker's 
 remarks, Washington rose to reply, but was so abashed that 
 he could not utter a word. Seeing his modest confusion, the 
 speaker gracefully came to his relief "Sit down, Mr. Wash- 
 ington," he said, smiling, "Your modesty equals your valor, 
 and that surpasses the power of any language I possess." 
 
 At the close of the session of the House, Washington returned 
 with his bride to his own home at Mount Vernon. There he 
 hoped to pass the remainder of his days in peace. In a letter 
 to a friend, soon after his return to Mount Vernon, he wrote : 
 " I am now, I believe, fixed in this seat, with an agreeable part- 
 ner for life, and I hope to find more happiness in retirement 
 than I ever experienced in the rude and bustling world." He 
 was sincere in his assertion. Rural life was always the most 
 fascinating to him, and he indulged no ambitious dreams of 
 worldly greatness. Nothing but the strongest sense of public 
 duty could tempt him to leave his beloved home. 
 
 It was indeed a charming home. It was situated on a com- 
 manding height which rose from the shore of the broad Poto- 
 mac, long stretches of which could be seen in both directions, 
 up and down, from the grounds and verandah. The grounds 
 were well laid out, and the mansion, though simple, was com- 
 fortable and tasteful ; the estate was large and was divided into 
 several farms, each of which had its own laborers and overseer, 
 and was devoted to a particular kind of culture. The river 
 abounded in fish of the choicest kinds, and the estate had 
 several valuable fisheries reserved to it. To the management 
 of this property Washington gave his especial and unremitting 
 care, and his account books, which are models of their kind, 
 show that he was a most systematic manager. His marriage 
 had added about one hundred thousand dollars to his already 
 large fortune, and he was enabled to live in a style of elegant 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 59 
 
 and dignified comfort most congenial to his tastes. He also 
 assumed the guardianship of the children of his wife by her 
 first marriage, and the administration of their property, a trust 
 which it is needless to say he executed with the most scrupu- 
 lous fidelity. He was a man of sincere and unaffected piety, and 
 was a member of the "established" or Episcopal Church. He 
 was a vestryman of two parishes, Fairfax and Truro. The 
 parish church of Fairfax was at Alexandria, ten miles from 
 Mount Vernon ; that of Truro at Pohick, seven miles distant. 
 The Pohick church was rebuilt on a plan designed by him, and 
 almost entirely at his expense. He was a regular attendant at 
 one or the other of these churches every Sunday when the 
 weather and the roads permitted. " His demeanor was rever- 
 ential and devout. Mrs. Washington knelt during prayers ; he 
 always stood, as was the custom at that time. Both were com- 
 municants." 
 
 "The products of his estate," says Irving, "also became so 
 noted for the faithfulness, as to the quality and quantity with 
 which they were put up, that it is said any barrel of flour that 
 bore the brand of George Washington, Mount Vernon, was 
 exempted from the customary inspection in the West India 
 ports." 
 
 " He was an early riser," continues the same writer; "often 
 before day-break in the winter when the nights were long. 
 On such occasions he lit his own fire, and wrote or read by 
 candle-light. He breakfasted at seven in summer, at eight in 
 winter. Two small cups of tea and three or four cakes of In- 
 dian meal (called hoe-cakes), formed his frugal repast. Imme- 
 diately after breakfast he mounted his horse and visited those 
 parts of the estate where any work was going on, seeing to 
 everything with his own eyes, and often aiding with his own 
 hand. Dinner was served at two o'clock. He ate heartily, 
 but was no epicure, or critical about his food. His beverage 
 was small beer or cider, and two glasses of old Madeira. He 
 took tea, of which he was very fond, early in the evening, and 
 retired for the night about nine o'clock. If confined to the 
 house by bad weather, he took that occasion to arrange his 
 papers, post up his accounts, or write letters; passing part of the 
 time in reading and occasionally reading aloud to the family. 
 
6o AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 " He treated his negroes with kindness ; attended to their 
 comforts; was particularly careful of them. in sickness; but 
 never tolerated idleness, and exacted a faithful performance of 
 all their alloted tasks. He had a quick eye at calculating each 
 man's capabilities. An entry in his diary gives a curious in- 
 stance of this. Four of his negroes, employed as carpenters, 
 were hewing and shaping timber. It appeared to him, in 
 noticing the amount of work accomplished between two suc- 
 ceeding mornings, that they had loitered at their labor. Sitting 
 down quietly, he timed their operations ; how long it took them 
 to get their cross-cut saw and other implements ready ; how 
 long to clear away the branches from the trunk of a fallen tree ; 
 how long to hew and saw it ; what time was expended in con- 
 sidering and consulting; and after all, how much work was 
 effected during the time he looked on. From this he made his 
 computation how much they could execute in the course of a 
 day, working entirely at their ease. 
 
 "At another time we find him working for a part of two days 
 with Peter, his smith, to make a plough on a new invention of 
 his own. This, after two or three failures, he accomplished. 
 Then, with less than his usual judgment, he put his two chariot 
 horses to the plough, and ran a great risk of spoiling them, in 
 giving his new invention a trial over ground thickly swarded. 
 Anon, during a thunder-storm, a frightened negro alarms the 
 house with word that the mill is giving way, upon which there 
 is a general turnout of all the forces, with Washington at their 
 head, wheeling and shoveling gravel, during a pelting rain, to 
 check the rushing water'" 
 
 At Mount Vernon Washington had also abundant opportun- 
 ity to indulge his love of the chase; and his diary abounds in 
 entries of stirring fox-hunts with the Fairfaxes and other friends. 
 In the height of the season he would be out with the hounds 
 two or three times a week. On such occasions there would be 
 a hunting dinner at Mount Vernon, or at the residence of some 
 other member of the party, "at which convivial repasts Wash- 
 ington is said to have enjoyed himself with unwonted hilarit}-." 
 
 His marriage was unblessed with children, but he lavished 
 
 1 Irving's Life of Washington. Vol. I., pp. 289-290. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 6 1 
 
 a father's affection and care upon those of his wife, earnestly- 
 striving to rear them so as to fit them for the stations they 
 would be called upon to fill in after years, should they live. 
 The hopes he had formed for them were not destined to be ful- 
 filled. The daughter, Miss Custis, was of a fragile constitution, 
 and, after a long period of failing health, died at Mount Vernon 
 on the 19th of June, 1773, in the seventeenth year of her age. 
 Washington was deeply afflicted, and for a time his usual forti- 
 tude seemed to have deserted him. 
 
 Sixteen years of peaceful, though busy life, were passed at 
 Mount Vernon. Though devoted to his rural pursuits, Wash- 
 ington was not permitted to remain in strict privacy. During 
 this period he served as judge of the county court and mem- 
 ber of the House of Burgesses, discharging every public duty 
 with characteristic exactness and promptness. In 1770 he made 
 a journey to the Ohio, in company with his friend and physi- 
 cian. Dr. Craik, for the purpose of locating the lands granted 
 to the Virginian troops for their services in the French war. 
 Proceeding to Fort Pitt, around which a trading village of 
 twenty log houses, the germ of the future city, had sprung up, 
 the voyagers embarked in a canoe, and descended the Ohio to 
 the mouth of the Great Kanawha, their only companions being 
 two Indians, who managed the boat. The journey was not 
 without danger, for the Indians of the Ohio Valley were rest- 
 less and discontented, and some of them had taken up the 
 hatchet. Washington was enabled to select some excellent 
 lands on behalf of the soldiers' grant, and to these affixed his 
 mark to prevent their appropriation by other parties. This 
 accomplished, he returned home as he had come, by way of 
 Fort Pitt. 
 
 The peacefulness of Washington's life at Mount Vernon was 
 at length disturbed by the growing troubles between the colo- 
 nies and the mother country. He took a deep interest in them, 
 and while he was sincerely anxious for a settlement which 
 should leave the ties that bound the Colonies to England un- 
 broken, he was from the first convinced that the only safety of 
 the Colonies lay in asserting their rights with firmness. 
 
 In this brief memoir we have neither the time nor the space 
 to relate the causes which produced the separation between the 
 
62 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Colonies and Great Britain. We can only mention them inci- 
 dentally as they occur in the course of the narrative. 
 
 Great Britain never regarded her American Colonies with 
 either motherly kindness or wisdom. Jealous of their growing 
 commercial and manufacturing wealth, she sought in numerous 
 ways to cripple their industry. Among other measures designed 
 for this purpose, it was proposed by the British Government to 
 levy a direct tax by parliament upon the Colonies, and to apply 
 the proceeds of this tax to the payment of a standing army 
 which it was proposed to quarter upon them. An Act for this 
 purpose, generally called the Stamp Act, was passed by the 
 Commons on the 2 2d of March, 1765, by a majority of nine to 
 one, and on the ist of April by the House of Lords with 
 scarcely a dissenting voice. The King at once signed the bill. 
 The Act required that every written or printed paper used in 
 trade, in order to be valid, should have affixed to it a stamp of 
 a denomination to be determined by the character of the paper, 
 and that no stamp should be for a less sum than one shilling. 
 The Colonies had earnestly protested against this measure 
 while it was being discussed in Parliament, but the only notice 
 which the Government took of these protests was to send over 
 a body of troops for the purpose of enforcing obedience to the 
 Stamp Act, and the ministers were authorized by Parliament 
 to compel the Colonies to find " quarters, fuel, cider or rum, 
 candles and other necessaries for these troops." 
 
 These measures were denounced in all the Colonies. On 
 the 29th of May, Patrick Henry introduced into the House of 
 Burgesses of Virginia, of which Washington was a member, 
 his famous resolutions declaring that the right and power to 
 levy taxes upon the inhabitants of Virginia rested in the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of that Colony alone, and with no other body, 
 or person, and that whoever maintained the contrary should 
 be deemed an enemy to the colony. The resolutions were 
 adopted by a decisive majority. The General Court of Massa- 
 chusetts authorized the courts of that province to proceed to 
 transact their business without the use of stamps. In the other 
 Colonies the opposition was strong, and associations called 
 " Sons of Liberty" were formed all over the country, consist- 
 ing of men who pledged themselves to oppose the Stamp Act, 
 
" GEORGE WASHINGTON. 63 
 
 and defend the rights of the Colonies when assailed. The de- 
 termination not to use the stamps was general, and when the 
 1st of November, 1765, the day on which the hated law was to 
 go into operation, arrived, it was found that all the officials ap- 
 pointed to distribute the stamps had resigned their places. 
 The bells in all the Colonies were tolled, and the flags lowered 
 in mourning for the death of liberty in America. The merchants 
 pledged themselves to import no more English goods, and the 
 })eople agreed to discontinue the use of all articles of English 
 manufacture, until the law was repealed. 
 
 In June, 1765, the Legislature of Massachusetts issued a call 
 for a General Congress of delegates from all the colonies to 
 meet in New York on the first Tuesday in October, to consider 
 the state of affairs. Nine of the colonies were represented in 
 this body, which met at the appointed time. The Congress 
 drew up a declaration of rights for the colonies, a memorial to 
 Parliament and a petition to the King, in which, after asserting 
 their loyalty to the Crown and laws of England, they in- 
 sisted upon their right to be taxed only by their own repre- 
 sentatives. These documents were submitted to and approved 
 by the provincial legislatures, and were laid before the British 
 Government in the name of the United Colonies. 
 
 These measures brought up the subject in Parliament, and 
 the friends of America urgently demanded a repeal of the Act. 
 Pitt and Burke advocated the appeal with mgichless eloquence. 
 Parliament was at length brought to its senses, and on the i8th 
 of March, 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed. The repeal was 
 celebrated with great rejoicings in both America and England, 
 the latter country having become alarmed by the decrease of 
 its trade with colonies. 
 
 The British government, however, did not relinquish its 
 determination to tax America, and on the 29th of June, 1767, 
 the King signed an Act of Parliament imposing duties on 
 glass, tea, paper, and some other articles imported into the 
 Colonies. The Americans met this new aggression with a 
 revival of their societies for discontinuing the importation of 
 English goods. Massachusetts led this opposition, and in 
 Boston the custom-house officials were mobbed for demanding 
 duties on the cargo of a schooner owned by John Hancock. 
 
64 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The ofificers sought refuge from the mob in the fort in the 
 harbor, and in September, 1768, the Royal Government ordered 
 General Gage to occupy " the insolent town of Boston " with a 
 strong military force. This measure but increased the dis- 
 affection of the Bostonians, and on the 5th of March a collision 
 occurred between the citizens and the troops, in which three of 
 the former were killed and five wounded. This " massacre," as 
 it was called, produced intense excitement and indignation in 
 all the Colonies. 
 
 The feeling of the Americans was so unmistakable that Par- 
 liament resolved to remove the obnoxious duties. The King, 
 however, expressly ordered that at least one nominal duty 
 should be retained, as he did not mean to surrender his right 
 to tax the Colonies. In accordance with this command. Par- 
 liament retained a duty of three per cent, on tea, but removed 
 all the other duties. The Americans, however, objected to the 
 principle of taxation without representation, and not to the 
 amount of the tax, and resolved to discontinue the use of tea 
 until the duty should be repealed. Meetings for this purpose 
 were held in the principal sea-ports of the country. In the 
 meantime several ships loaded with tea were despatched from 
 British ports to America. When the news of their sailing 
 reached this country, meetings were held in the principal cities, 
 and it was resolved that the tea should not be landed. Three 
 ships loaded with tea reached Boston soon after. It was de- 
 termined to send them back to England without permitting 
 them to discharge their cargoes. Their owners, in compliance 
 with the public demand, consented to order them back to Eng- 
 land, if Governor Hutchinson would allow them to leave the 
 harbor. The Governor refused to grant them the necessary 
 passports, and on the night of the i8th of December a band of 
 citizens, disguised as Indians, seized the ships, emptied the tea 
 into the harbor and then quietly dispersed without harming the 
 vessels. This bold act greatly incensed the British Govern- 
 ment, and Parliament adopted severe measures for the punish- 
 ment of the Colonies. The harbor of Boston Avas closed to all 
 commerce ; the seat of government was to be removed to Salem ; 
 soldiers were to be quartered upon the people of all the Colo- 
 nies : and it was enacted that all officers who should be indicted 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 65 
 
 for enforcing the measures of Parliament should be sent to 
 England for trial. 
 
 The excitement in the Colonies over these acts was tremen- 
 dous. Boston was everywhere regarded as the victim of British 
 tyranny, and was in constant receipt of assurances of sympathy 
 and of aid in money and provisions from all the Colonies. Even 
 in London the sum of ^^^30,000 was subscribed for the relief of 
 the " insolent city." The excitement continued to increase 
 throughout the countr)-', and the breach between America and 
 England widened daily. At the instance of the General Court 
 of Massachusetts and the General Assembly of Virginia, it was 
 agreed by the various provincial Assemblies that a General 
 Congress of delegates from all the Colonies should be held in 
 Philadelphia on the 5th of September, 1774. 
 
 Though he was a deeply interested observer of these events, 
 Washington did not at first take an active part in them. Two 
 things held him back — his native modesty and his love of 
 retirement. As the contest deepened, however, he found it 
 impossible to remain an idle spectator of it, and his sense of 
 public duty led him to take his place among the foremost 
 champions of his country's rights. He gave his hearty support 
 to the non-importation measures of the northern Colonies. In 
 a letter written on the 5th of April, 1769, to his friend George 
 Mason, of Virginia, he said : " The northern Colonies, it appears, 
 are endeavoring to adopt this scheme. In my opinion it is a 
 good one, and must be attended with salutary effects, provided 
 it can be pretty generally carried into execution." The result 
 of his correspondence with Mason was the draft by the latter 
 of a plan of association, the members of which were to pledge 
 themselves not to import or use any articles of British merchan- 
 dise or manufacture subject to duty. Washington undertook 
 to submit this paper to the House of Burgesses at the next 
 session, which would commence in May. 
 
 The General Assembly of Virginia took up the cause of 
 Massachusetts with great warmth. A petition was addressed 
 to the King, urging him not to enforce the law of Parliament 
 for the removal of offenders to England for trial, but to preserve 
 to his subjects the inalienable privileges of Englishmen — the 
 right to be tried by a jury from the vicinage, and the right to 
 
^6 AMERICAN BIGRAPHY. 
 
 produce witnesses on such trial. For this bold action the 
 House of Burgesses was dissolved by Lord Botetourt, the 
 Governor. The members met at a private house, and elected 
 Peyton Randolph, their late speaker, moderator. Washington 
 brought forward the articles of association prepared by Mason 
 and himself They were amended to suit the views of the 
 members present, and were signed in this form by all the dele- 
 gates. The articles were subsequently offered to the whole 
 Colony, and the scheme of non-exportation became as popular, 
 and was as faithfully observed, in Virginia as in the Northern 
 Colonies. In 1770, Lord Botetourt died, and his successor, 
 Lord Dunmore, a man of a very different stamp, was but ill- 
 suited to quiet the discontents of the Virginians. 
 
 Dunmore endeavored to postpone the meeting of the General 
 Assembly as long as possible, but was at length compelled to 
 summon it to convene on the ist of March, 1773. Washington 
 was prompt in his attendance, and took a prominent part in its 
 measures, one of the earliest of which was the appointment of a 
 committee of eleven persons to correspond with the other Colo- 
 nies concerning matters affecting the common interest. The 
 example of Virginia was followed by Massachusetts, and soon 
 met with general concurrence. "These corresponding com- 
 mittees," says Irving, " in effect, became the executive power of 
 the patriot party, producing the happiest concert of design and 
 action throughout the Colonies." 
 
 The news of the passage of the Boston Port bill reached 
 Virginia through the committee of correspondence, and was 
 announced to the House of Burgesses, by which it was received 
 with a burst of indignation. All other business was cast aside, 
 and the House at once adopted a protest against the action of 
 the Royal Government. On the 24th of May, 1774, a resolu- 
 tion was adopted setting apart the ist of June — the day 
 appointed for the closing of Boston harbor — as a day of fasting 
 and prayer. The next day the House was dissolved by Lord 
 Dunmore. The members at once repaired to the long room 
 of the Raleigh Tavern, and passed resolutions denouncing the 
 Boston Port bill as a most dangerous attack upon the liberties 
 of America; declaring that an attack upon the Colony of Mas- 
 sachusetts to enforce arbitrary taxation was an attack on the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 6/ 
 
 liberties of all the Colonies; and ordering the committee of 
 correspondence to communicate with all the Colonies, with a 
 view to bringing about the meeting of a General Congress, for 
 the purpose of devising such measures as the united interests 
 of the Colonies might require. This call for a General Con- 
 gress was issued previous to that of Massachusetts, the legis- 
 lature of which Colony proposed the meeting of the Congress 
 a little later, and before it had received the Virginia resolutions 
 to that effect. On the ist of June, Washington, who was still 
 detained at Williamsburg, faithfully observed the day of fasting 
 and prayer, both by a rigid abstinence from food and by attend- 
 ing the services appointed in the church. 
 
 Returning to Mount Vernon in the latter part of June, he 
 was called upon a little later to preside at a meeting of the citi- 
 zens of Fairfax county. At this meeting the recent acts of 
 Parliament were discussed, and a committee, with Washington 
 as its chairman, was appointed to draw up resolutions expressive 
 of the sentiments of the people of the county, and to report the 
 same at a general meeting to be held in the court-house on the 
 1 8th of July. The resolutions were reported in due time, and 
 clearly expressed the sentiments of Washington and his neigh- 
 bors. The arbitrary measures of Parliament were sternly con- 
 demned as violative of the rights of the Colonists, and the 
 people of America were recommended to act in concert in all 
 their efforts at resistance. The meeting also recommended the 
 General Congress to address a dutiful remonstrance and petition 
 to the King, in which his Majesty should be solemnly urged 
 "not to reduce his faithful subjects of America to desperation, 
 and to reflect, that from our sovereign there can be but one 
 appeal." 
 
 On the 1st of August, Washington was agam in Williams- 
 burg, to attend a convention of the members of the General 
 Assembly. He presented the resolutions adopted by the people 
 of Fairfax county, and "is said, by one who was present, to 
 have spoken in support of them in a strain of uncommon elo- 
 quence, which shows how his latent ardor had been excited on 
 the occasion, as eloquence was not in general among his attri- 
 butes. It is evident, however, that he was roused to an unusual 
 pitch of enthusiasm, for he is said to have declared that he was 
 
68 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ready to raise one thousand men, subsist them at his own ex- 
 pense, and march at their head to the reHef of Boston." ' The 
 Convention appointed him a delegate to represent Virginia in 
 the General Congress. His colleagues were Peyton Randolph, 
 Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjarrin 
 Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton. When the time came to 
 set out for Philadelphia, Washington was joined at Mount 
 Vernon by Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton, and the 
 three made the journey from the Potomac to Philadelphia to- 
 gether, on horseback. 
 
 Congress assembled in Carpenter's Hall, on Monday, 5th of 
 September, 1774. Fifty-five delegates were present, represent- 
 ing every Colony save Georgia, whose royalist Governor had 
 prevented an election. It was composed of the ablest men in 
 America, among whom were Washington, Patrick Henry, 
 Richard Henry Lee, Edward Rutledge, John Rutledge, Chris- 
 topher Gadsden, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Roger Sher- 
 man, Philip Livingston, William Livingston, John Jay, Dr. 
 Witherspoon, Peyton Randolph, and Charles Thomson. The 
 deliberations of the Congress were held in secret, but resulted 
 in measures of the highest importance ; this body, after con- 
 sidering the grievances of the Colonies, adopted a declaration 
 setting forth their rights, as subjects of the British Crown, 
 to a just share in the making of their own laws and in imposing 
 their own taxes ; to the right to a speedy trial by jury in the 
 community in which the offence should have been committed ; 
 and to the right to hold public meetings, and petition for re- 
 dress of grievances. A protest against the unconstitutional 
 acts of the British Parliament was adopted, as well as a peti- 
 tion to the King, an appeal to the British people, and a 
 memorial to the people of the Colonies. The Congress pro- 
 posed, as a means of redress, the formation of an " American 
 Association," the members of which should pledge themselves 
 not to trade with Great Britain or the West Indies, or with 
 any persons engaged in the slave trade, and to refrain from 
 using British goods or tea. The papers draw up by the Con- 
 gress were transmitted to England. The Earl of Chatham 
 
 1 Irvitig. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 69 
 
 (William Pitt), was deeply impressed by them, and urged the 
 Government to grant the just demands of the Americans, 
 declaring that "all attempts to impose servitude upon such a 
 mighty Continental nation must be vain." The English peo- 
 ple, as a general rule, were sincerely anxious that the demands 
 of the Americans should be complied with ; and even Lord 
 North, the Prime Minister, who had carried the obnoxious 
 measures through Parliament, was in his heart averse to them, 
 and upheld them merely at the express command of the King, 
 who meant to force his American subjects into submission. 
 Having forwarded these papers to England, the Congress, on 
 the 26th of October, adjourned to meet on the loth of May. 
 
 In consequence of the secrecy of the proceedings of Con- 
 gress, we do not know the exact part taken in them by Wash- 
 ington. That it was a leading one, we are warranted in believ- 
 ing from the impression he made upon his fellow-members. 
 Upon his return to Virginia, Patrick Henry was asked whom 
 he considered the greatest man in Congress. He replied : " If 
 you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, is 
 by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid informa- 
 tion and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestiona- 
 bly the greatest man on that floor." 
 
 Returning to Mount Vernon, Washington watched the 
 course of affairs with anxious eyes. Among his visitors 
 were two veteran soldiers. General Charles Lee and Horatio 
 Gates ; and occasionally his old friend. Dr. Craik, and Captain 
 Hugh Mercer, who was disciplining the militia about Freder- 
 icksburg, would come to the mansion to discuss the state of 
 affairs with him. Washington had a sincere respect for Gen- 
 eral Lee's abilities and experience, and gave great weight to 
 his views concerning the military situation. Like most of his 
 compatriots, Washington had not yet begun to wish for a total 
 separation from Great Britain, but desired merely to secure 
 substantial guarantees for the preservation of the rights and 
 liberties of the Colonies. " I am well satisfied," he wrote to a 
 friend about this time, " that no such thing (as independence) 
 is desired by any thinking man in North America; on the 
 contrary, that it is the ardent wish of the warmest advocates 
 for liberty, that peace and tranquillity, upon constitutional 
 
70 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 grounds, may be restored, and the horrors of civil discord pre- 
 vented." At the same time he was convinced that his coun- 
 trymen would maintain their rights even at the cost of fight- 
 ing for them, and in the letter from which we have just quoted, 
 he said : " Give me leave to add, as my opinion, that more 
 blood will be spilt on this occasion, if the ministry are deter- 
 mined to push matters to extremity, than history has ever yet 
 furnished instances of in the annals of North America; and 
 such a vital wound will be given to the peace of this great 
 country, as time itself cannot cure or eradicate the remem- 
 brance of" 
 
 In March, 1775, the second Virginia Convention met at 
 Richmond. Washington was present as a delegate from Fair- 
 fax county. Patrick Henry, in a speech of matchless eloquence, 
 expressed the sentiment of the people. " It is useless," he de- 
 clared, " to address further petitions to government, or to await 
 the effect of those already addressed to the throne. The time 
 for supplication is past; the time for action is at hand. We 
 must fight, Mr. Speaker ; I repeat it, sir, we must fight ! An 
 appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us !" 
 
 Washington was entirely convinced that Henry was right, 
 and joined him heartily in carr>ang out the measures he pro- 
 posed. He was one of a committee appointed to prepare the 
 Colony for defense. " It is my full intention, if needful," he 
 wrote to his brother, John Augustine, " to devote my life and 
 fortune to the cause." 
 
 Few of the Colonial leaders now doubted the speedy com- 
 mencement of hostilities, and in all the Colonies measures were 
 taken for raising troops, arming them, and placing them in the 
 field at a moment's warning. These preparations were espe- 
 cially vigorous in Massachusetts, and alarmed General Gage, 
 who fortified Boston Neck, and prepared to seize all the arms 
 and ammunition in the province. The Colonial authorities of 
 Massachusetts had established small depots of arms and other 
 supplies at Worcester and Concord. General Gage resolved to 
 secure these, beginning with the stores at Concord. On the 
 night of the i8th of April he sent a strong force to destroy 
 these stores. It was his design that the movement should be 
 secret ; but he was so closely watched by the patriots that the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. /I 
 
 march of his troops was instantly discovered, and the alarm 
 was spread through the country by messengers. The people 
 at once flew to arms ; and when the troops reached Lexington, a 
 village half way between Boston and Concord, at sunrise on 
 the morning of the 19th of April, they found a number of the 
 villagers assembled on the common under arms. Major Pit- 
 cairn, the commander of the British advanced guard, ordered 
 his men to fire upon this force. The order was obeyed, and 
 the citizens were driven off with a loss of eight killed and 
 several wounded — the first blood shed in the Revolution. The 
 troops then proceeded to Concord, where they destroyed some 
 stores. They were soon assailed by the militia, who had 
 assembled from the surrounding country to the number of 
 several hundred, and were obliged to retreat to Boston. The 
 Colonists followed closely in pursuit, their numbers increasing 
 at every step from the fresh arrivals of Minute Men from the 
 surrounding country. A running fire was kept up upon the 
 British troops during the whole retreat, and caused them a 
 heavy loss in killed and wounded. Nothing but the arrival of 
 Lord Percy with reinforcements saved the regulars from cap- 
 ture or total destruction. As it was, all that Lord Percy could 
 do was to secure the hasty flight of the regulars within the lines 
 of Boston. The total loss of the British on this occasion was 
 273 men killed and wounded. 
 
 The battles of Lexington and Concord — if such they can be 
 called — put an end to the long dispute between America and 
 Great Britain, and inaugurated the Revolution. Previous to 
 this, no one ever heard, as Jefferson remarks, "a whisper of a 
 disposition to separate from Great Britain ;" but now that the 
 shock had come, there were not wanting bold spirits who de- 
 clared that the war must of necessity be waged for independ- 
 ence. It was now necessary to act with decision. On the 
 22d of April the Massachusetts authorities ordered that a New 
 England army of 30,000 men should be put in the field, and 
 that Massachusetts should furnish 13,000 of these. Troops 
 were raised with rapidity under this authority, and by the ist 
 of May an army of 20,000 men was encamped before Boston. 
 
 In the other Colonies equally important measures were be- 
 gun. The fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point were 
 
72 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 seized by a force of volunteers from Vermont, led by Ethan 
 Allen. The cannon and stores captured with them were of the 
 greatest service to the Americans, who were sadly lacking in 
 such supplies. In Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, the 
 people took up arms as soon as the news from the North was 
 received ; and in North Carolina a Convention was held at 
 Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, which body, in May, 1775, 
 proclaimed the independence of North Carolina, and prepared 
 to resist the authority of Great Britain by force of arms. 
 
 When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Mount 
 Vernon, Washington was preparing to go to Philadelphia as a 
 delegate to the second Congress. Major Horatio Gates and 
 Bryan Fairfax, the latter of whom had resolved to adhere to 
 the royal cause, were his guests at the time. Fairfax sincerely 
 deplored the outbreak, which he knew must separate him from 
 his friends. Gates was not displeased with the turn affairs had 
 taken, as he was a soldier by profession. Washington's feel- 
 ings are well expressed in the following extract from a letter 
 written at the time to a friend in England : " Unhappy it is to 
 reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's 
 breast; and that the once happy and peaceful plains of Amer- 
 ica are to be either drenched with blood or inhabited by 
 slaves. Sad alternative! But can a vbtuons man hesitate in his 
 choice?" He at once set out for Philadelphia. 
 
 On the loth of May, 1775, the second Colonial Congress 
 met at Philadelphia. Among its members were Washington, 
 Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel 
 Adams, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, 
 John Jay, George Clinton, and others. The measures of this 
 body were eminently moderate. The first step taken was to 
 elect John Hancock President of the Congress. A petition to 
 the King was drawn up and forwarded to him, denying any 
 intention to separate from Great Britain, and asking only for 
 redress of the wrongs of which the Colonies complained. A 
 Federal Union of the Colonies was formed, and the Congress 
 assumed and exercised the general government of the country, 
 leaving each Colony free to manage its own affairs in its own 
 way. Measures were taken to provide an army, to procure 
 military supplies, and to fit out a navy. A loan of $2,000,000 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 73 
 
 was authorized, and the faith of the "United Colonies" pledged 
 for its payment. The troops before Boston were adopted as a 
 Continental army, and were placed under the control of Congress. 
 
 The next step was to appoint a Commander-in-chief for the 
 army. The post would be one of the greatest responsibility, 
 and would require not only military skill and experience, but 
 the exercise of the highest qualities of statesmanship. There 
 were several aspirants to the office, but the majority of the 
 best men in Congress were convinced that there was but one 
 man in their body perfectly suited to it, and they instinctively 
 turned to Washington. He did not solicit the office, nor did 
 any clique advocate his claims. A considerable number of the 
 delegates at first opposed his nomination, and even some of the 
 Virginia delegation regarded it with disfavor. 
 
 At length John Adams, whose confidence in Washington's 
 fitness above all others for the post increased as his acquaint- 
 ance with him became more intimate, determined to bring the 
 matter to a decisive issue. He was one of those broad-souled 
 men, who looked beyond the limits of his own section, and re- 
 garded the interests of the whole country. Rising in his place 
 in Congress one day, he called the attention of that body in 
 earnest and forcible language to the necessity of appointing a 
 commanding general for the army. "As I had reason," he 
 says in his diary, "to believe that this was a point of some dif- 
 ficulty, I had no hesitation to declare, that I had but one gen- 
 tleman in my mind for that important command, and that was 
 a gentleman from Virginia, who was among us, and very well 
 known to all of us; a gentleman whose skill and experience 
 as an officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and ex- 
 cellent universal character, would command the approbation of 
 all America, and unite the cordial exertions of all the Colonies 
 better than any other person in the Union. Mr. Washington, 
 who happened to sit near the door, as soon as he heard me 
 allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into the library 
 room. * * When the subject came under debate, several 
 delegates opposed the appointment of Washington ; not from 
 personal objections, but because the army were all from New 
 England, and had a general of their own. General Artemas 
 Ward, with whom they appeared well satisfied, and under 
 
74 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 whose command they had proved themselves able to imprison 
 the British army in Boston, which was all that was to be ex- 
 pected or desired." The consideration of the subject was post- 
 poned to a future day, and in the meantime the delegates 
 friendly to the appointment of Washington exerted themselves 
 to remove the objections of their colleagues. They succeeded 
 so well that when the subject was called up again on the 15th 
 of June, "Washington was chosen Commander-in-chief by the 
 unanimous vote of Congress. The result was formally com- 
 municated to him in his seat the next day by the President of 
 Congress. He arose and returned his thanks to Congress for 
 the high honor conferred upon him. He had not sought it, 
 but his sense of public duty would not permit him to decline 
 it. " But," he added, "lest some unlucky event should happen 
 unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered 
 that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not 
 think myself equal to the command I am honored with. As 
 to pay, I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no pecu- 
 niary consideration could have tempted me to accept this ardu- 
 ous employment, at the expense of my domestic ease and hap- 
 piness, I do not wish to make any profit of it. I will keep an 
 exact account of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will 
 discharge; and that is all I desire." 
 
 The necessities of the situation required that the new Com- 
 mander-in-chief should at once set out for the army, and 
 Washington resolved to lose no time, though his promptness 
 would prevent him from visiting home and arranging his 
 affairs. He was chiefly concerned at the thought of the distress 
 this would give his wife, and he wrote to her as follows : " You 
 may believe me when I assure you, in the most solemn man- 
 ner, that, so far from seeking this appointment, I have used 
 every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only from my 
 unwillingness to part with you and the family, but from a con- 
 sciousness of its being a trust too great for my capacity ; and I 
 should enjoy more real happiness in one month with you at 
 home than I have the most distant prospect of finding abroad, 
 if my stay were to be seven times seven years. But as it has 
 been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service, I 
 shall hope that my undertaking it is designed to answer some 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 75 
 
 good purpose. * * * I shall rely confidently on that Provi- 
 dence which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to 
 me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to you in the fall. 
 I shall feel no pain from the toil or danger of the campaign ; 
 my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you will 
 feel from being left alone. I therefore beg that you will sum- 
 mon your whole fortitude, and pass your time as agreeably as 
 possible. Nothing will give me so much sincere satisfaction as 
 to hear this, and to hear it from your own pen." 
 
 On the 20th of June the President of Congress delivered to 
 him his commission, and the next day he set out for Cambridge 
 to take command of the army. He was now in the prime of 
 life, forty-three years old, stately and noble in appearance, a 
 magnificent rider, and calm and dignified in manner. He was 
 the very beau ideal of a commander, and along his whole route 
 he was received with delight by the crowds which poured out 
 to meet him at every town. On his way he was met by in- 
 telligence from Boston of the highest importance. 
 
 Alarmed by the presence of the American forces before Bos- 
 ton, General Gage determined to strengthen his position by 
 seizing and fortifying Bunker Hill, in Charlestown. His plan 
 was known to the Americans, who determined to anticipate 
 him. A force under Colonel William Prescott was sent to 
 seize and fortify Breed's Hill, which, though lower than, and 
 commanded by, Bunker Hill, was much nearer Boston, and 
 commanded the harbor more perfectly. Prescott threw up a 
 slight fortification on the night of the i6th of June, on Breed's 
 Hill, which was discovered on the morning of the 17th by the 
 British. The ships of war in the harbor at once opened fire 
 upon the unfinished work, and a force of 3,000 regulars was 
 detailed to carry it by storm, assisted by the fire of the ship- 
 ping. The American force was scarcely more than half as 
 strong, and consisted of raw and undisciplined provincials. 
 The British made their attack early in the afternoon, but were 
 twice driven back by the fire of the Americans. The third 
 assault was more successful, and, the ammunition of the patriots 
 having given out, they were driven from their works, and 
 forced to retreat towards Cambridge. The British retained the 
 hill, which they subsequently fortified. The American loss was 
 
76 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 449 men killed, wounded, and prisoners. Among the killed 
 was General Joseph Warren, of Boston, one of the most gifted 
 of the patriot leaders. The British loss was 1,054, a large pro- 
 portion being officers. The battle of Bunker Hill, though a 
 defeat for the patriots, was in its effects equivalent to a victoiy 
 for them, inasmuch as it demonstrated their ability to hold 
 their ground against the regular troops of Great Britain, and 
 inspired them with a confidence which was all-essential to their 
 cause. 
 
 It was the news of this battle that reached Washington on 
 his way to Cambridge. When he heard how the provincials 
 had reserved their fire and delivered it with the coolness of 
 veterans at the word of command, and how they had stood 
 their ground until their ammunition was exhausted, he felt 
 that a weight of anxiety had been lifted from his heart. " The 
 liberties of the country are safe," he exclaimed joyfully. On 
 the 2d of July he reached Cambridge, and was received with 
 appropriate honors. The next day he took formal command 
 of the army, which was drawn up for the occasion on the Com- 
 mon, about half a mile distant from his headquarters. A ven- 
 erable elm tree, under which he took his position at the mo- 
 ment of assuming the command, is still standing. 
 
 Congress had appointed four major-generals and eight brig- 
 adiers. The major-generals were Charles Lee of Virginia, 
 Artemas Ward of Massachusetts, Philip Schuyler of New 
 York, and Israel Putnam of Connecticut. The brigadiers 
 were Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, 
 William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, 
 and Nathaniel Greene. At the official request of Washington, 
 his old acquaintance, Horatio Gates, was appointed Adjutant 
 General, with the rank of brigadier. 
 
 The first duties of the new commander were the organiza- 
 tion and equipment of the army, and the reduction of Boston, 
 or the expulsion of the British from that city. The first was a 
 task of uncommon difficulty. The army consisted of fourteen 
 thousand men, drawn suddenly from the pursuits of peace, 
 and was without discipline, badly armed, badly clothed, and 
 lacking in artillery and supplies of all kinds. In the organi- 
 zation of the army, Washington received considerable assist- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 77 
 
 ance from Gates, whose practical knowledge of military 
 matters made his aid invaluable. He promised himself great 
 pleasure in the friendship of Gates, who owed his appointment 
 to him ; but the latter, now that he had a general's commission, 
 had his own ends to serve, and regarded his commander with 
 a mean jealousy, which was, ere long, to make itself conspicu- 
 ous in his conduct. By extraordinary exertions, Washington 
 at length succeeded in bringing his force to a tolerably effect- 
 ive condition, and Boston was at once closely and regularly 
 invested. The army was arranged in three grand divisions. 
 One, forming the right wing, was stationed on the heights of 
 Roxbury, and was commanded by General Ward ; the centre, 
 under General Putnam, was at Cambridge ; while the left wing, 
 under General Charles Lee, held Winter and Prospect Hills. 
 The winter was passed in the work of organizing the army. 
 The want of ammunition prevented Washington from assum- 
 ing the offensive, though he greatly desired to do so. It was 
 necessary to observe the greatest care to prevent this state of 
 affairs from becoming known to the British, and at the same 
 time every effort was made to supply the deficiency. During 
 the winter, Henry Knox, a bookseller of Boston, who had 
 entered the military service, volunteered to transport from 
 Ticonderoga to Boston a sufficient number of cannon for the 
 purpose of the siege. His offer was accepted, and Washington 
 secured his appointment as Colonel of the regiment of artil- 
 lery. He proved one of the most efficient officers in the 
 service. Towards the last of March, Knox returned, bringing 
 with him the ammunition and cannon from Ticonderoga, 
 which he had transported across the country between Lake 
 Champlain and Boston in sledges. The newly-arrived guns 
 were immediately placed in position on the lines, and put an 
 end to the long delay which had prevailed in the American 
 camp. 
 
 In the meantime an effort, which had received Washington's 
 sanction, had been made to conquer Canada. It was entrusted 
 to General Schuyler, who collected a large force on Lake Cham- 
 plain. Being unable, on account of illness, to accompany the 
 invading army, Schuyler relinquished the command of it to 
 General Richard Montgomery, and returned to Albany. Mont- 
 
78 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 gomery pushed forward, captured St. John's on the Sorel River, 
 on the 3d of November, and on the 13th compelled Montreal 
 to surrender. His force numbered but 300 men, poorly clad, 
 and lacking almost every kind of supplies. The capture of 
 Montreal enabled Montgomery to supply his men with woolen 
 clothing. From Montreal he descended the St. Lawrence to 
 join Arnold at Quebec. 
 
 While Montgomery was entering Canada from Lake Cham- 
 plain, Washington had sent another expedition under Colonel 
 Benedict Arnold to march across the country from the borders 
 of Massachusetts to Quebec, and attempt the capture of that 
 city, Arnold set out from the camp at Cambridge with a force 
 of 1,100 men. His march occupied two months, and was ac- 
 companied by the most intense suffering, against which the 
 men bore up with wonderful fortitude. On the 9th of October, 
 Arnold, with 650 effective men, half naked and half starved 
 reached Point Levi on the St. Lawrence, opposite Quebec. 
 Could he have crossed the river at once, the city must have 
 fallen into his hands; but he had no boats, and in a few days 
 Sir Guy Carleton arrived from Montreal, and began to put 
 Quebec in a state of defense. A little later Arnold managed to 
 convey his force across the river, and to plant it on the Heights 
 of Abraham. The garrison declined to come out and fight him, 
 and finding it impossible to beseige the city without artillery, 
 he moved to a point twenty miles up the river, where he was 
 joined by Montgomery, from whom he obtained clothing for 
 his men. 
 
 Montgomery now assumed the command of the united 
 forces, which numbered less than a thousand men, and on the 
 5th of December laid siege to Quebec. On the 31st he at- 
 tempted to carry the place by assault, but was killed and his 
 troops were repulsed. Arnold greatly distinguished himself, 
 and was wounded in the assault. He fell back to a point about 
 three miles from Quebec to await reinforcements. He was 
 joined in April, 1776, by General Wooster with fresh troops. 
 Wooster assumed the command, but was soon succeeded by 
 General Thomas. Sir Guy Carleton having been reinforced, ad- 
 vanced upon Thomas, forced him back to the Sorel, and in- 
 flicted a severe defeat upon a portion of his army at Three 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 79 
 
 Rivers. Thomas died of the small pox, and the wreck of his 
 army joined General Sullivan on the Sorel. Carleton continu- 
 ing to advance, Sullivan fell back to Crown Point. Thus 
 ended the invasion of Canada, the most disastrous enterprise 
 undertaken by the Americans during the war. 
 
 In the meantime, the guns brought from Ticonderoga had 
 been mounted on the American lines before Boston. The 
 British force shut up in that city consisted of about twelve 
 thousand regulars. General Gage, whose conduct had failed to 
 give satisfaction at home, had been recalled to England, and 
 had been succeeded by Sir William Howe, an experienced 
 commander. The troops and their officers were indignant at 
 being shut up within their lines, by a force of provincials but 
 little superior to themselves in numbers, but Howe wisely 
 declined to risk an attempt to compel Washington to raise the 
 siege. Washington, on his part, resolved to force the enemy to 
 attack him or to evacuate the city. For this purpose he 
 determined to seize the eminence on the south of Boston 
 known as Dorchester Heights, which commanded both the 
 city and the harbor. 
 
 On the evening of the 2d of March, 1776, a heavy cannonade 
 was opened upon Boston by the American batteries, which did 
 considerable damage to the place. It was renewed the next 
 night. At dark on the evening of the 4th of March, the Ameri- 
 cans resumed their fire with increased vigor, and were replied 
 to with spirit by the British batteries. Under the cover of this 
 fire a strong column led by General Thomas seized Dorches- 
 ter Heights, and threw up a series of earthworks. They were 
 discovered by the British the next morning, and Howe, seeing 
 the danger with which he was threatened, resolved to recover 
 the heights. The attack was ordered for that night, but was 
 prevented by a furious storm. When the weather became 
 favorable again, the works had been rendered too strong to be 
 attacked with safety. There was nothing left to General Howe, 
 therefore, but to evacuate the city. This he did on the 17th 
 of March, and on the same day the Americans entered Boston. 
 On motion of John Adams, Congress unanimously voted its 
 thanks to Washington and the army, and ordered a gold 
 medal to be struck in commemoration of the deliverance of 
 
80 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Boston. This success was regarded as an offset to the failure 
 of the invasion of Canada, news of which arrived about a 
 month later. 
 
 The enemy now spread themselves along the coast. A 
 British fleet attacked and burned Falmouth, now Portland, 
 Maine, and another force under Lord Dunmore ravaged the 
 coast of Virginia. A powerful fleet under Sir Peter Parker, 
 and a land force under Sir Henry Clinton, attacked Fort Moul- 
 trie, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, for the pur- 
 pose of forcing their way up to the city, but were repulsed with 
 heavy loss. The Americans managed, during the year, to fit 
 out several cruisers, which were fortunate enough to capture a 
 number of prizes loaded with arms and military stores for the 
 royal army. 
 
 Congress took measures for the active prosecution of the 
 war. Supplies were drawn from the West Indies, and a regular 
 system inaugurated for that purpose ; powder mills and cannon 
 foundries were established ; thirteen frigates were ordered to 
 be built (a few of which eventually got to sea) ; a Committee 
 of War, a Committee of Finance, and a secret Committee for the 
 management of negotiations with foreign powers, were ap- 
 pointed, and a better system of government for the United 
 Colonies was inaugurated. Finally, on the 4th of July, 1776, 
 Congress adopted a declaration on behalf of the Colonies, as- 
 serting their independence of British rule, and proclaiming 
 that the thirteen Colonies were free and independent States. 
 This declaration changed the entire nature of the war. Until 
 now it had been in defense of the rights of the Americans as 
 British subjects. Henceforth it was to be waged for national 
 independence. 
 
 As he supposed that New York would be the next point as- 
 sailed by the British, Washington transferred his army to that 
 place immediately after the evacuation of Boston. He was cor- 
 rect in this supposition, for Sir William Howe, after proceeding 
 from Boston to Halifax to land the refugees who had escaped 
 from that city with him, sailed from the latter place for New 
 York. He arrived within Sandy Hook on the 28th of June, 
 and landed his forces on Staten Island. A little later he was 
 joined by Sir Henry Clinton, who had been repulsed at 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 8 I 
 
 Charleston, and about the middle of July Admiral Lord Howe 
 arrived with his fleet, bringing reinforcements, which brought 
 the strength of the British in New York Bay to 30,000 men. 
 A large part of these were German mercenaries, who had been 
 hired by the King of England from the Duke of Hesse Cassel, 
 and who were generally termed by the Americans " Hessians." 
 
 Lord Howe brought with him full powers to settle the trou- 
 bles upon the basis of the submission of the Americans, and 
 was sincerely anxious to restore peace to the country. He 
 issued a proclamation to the people of America, offering a full 
 and free pardon to all who would lay down their arms and 
 accept the King's clemency; but the proclamation failed to 
 awaken the response he had expected, though Congress gave 
 it the widest circulation. 
 
 Lord Howe also addressed a letter to the American Com- 
 mander-in-chief, styling him "George Washington, Esquire." 
 No notice was taken of this communication by Washington, 
 and Howe sent him another letter addressed to " George Wash- 
 ington, etc., etc." Washington rightly considered that the 
 omission of his official title was an insult to his country, and 
 refused to receive the letter. His course was warmly approved 
 by Congress. 
 
 Washington's force was greatly inferior to that of the enemy, 
 and there was much uncertainty as to their intentions. To be 
 prepared at all points he was obliged to divide his forces. For 
 the defense of Brooklyn, which commanded the city of New 
 York, he caused a line of works to be erected on a range of 
 hills a short distance south of Brooklyn, and established there 
 an intrenched camp. General Greene was placed in command 
 of this important position, but just as he had perfected his plans 
 for its defense, was taken ill, and was obliged to relinquish the 
 command to General Sullivan. Washington retained the re- 
 mainder of his troops on Manhattan Island. He erected two 
 forts on the island; one which he named Fort Washington, just 
 above Kingsbridge; the other, called Fort Independence, just 
 below it. Kingsbridge furnished the only communication be- 
 tween New York and the mainland, and these works were 
 erected for its defense, as well as to prevent the enemy's ships 
 from ascending the Hudson. A third work was erected on the 
 6 
 
82 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 New Jersey shore, immediately opposite Fort Washington, and 
 was called Fort Lee. Other works were built higher up the 
 Hudson to hold the river against the enemy, and maintain the 
 communication between the Northern and Southern States. 
 One of these. Fort Montgomery, was located at the entrance 
 to the Highlands, opposite the promonitory of Anthony's Nose ; 
 another was built six miles higher up, and was known as Fort 
 Constitution. It soon became evident that the enemy's first 
 blow would be struck at the force on Long Island, and General 
 Putnam was ordered to take command of it. 
 
 On the night of the 26th of August, the British crossed over 
 from Staten Island to Long Island, and the next morning at- 
 tacked the Americans, defeated them after a stubborn fight, with 
 a loss of 2,000 men, and pushed their advance to the intrenched 
 camp which they prepared to invest. Washington hastened to 
 the scene of action as soon as informed of the attack. He ar- 
 rived only in time to see his troops outflanked and surrounded 
 by the enemy, and bayoneted by the merciless Hessians, in 
 sight of their comrades, who were powerless to save them. As 
 he beheld the piteous sight, he wrung his hands in agony. 
 "My God !" he exclaimed with tears: " What brave fellows 
 must I lose this day !" He was fearful that the enemy would 
 follow up their advantage by an assault upon the intrenched 
 camp, and was well pleased to see them halt, and break ground 
 for their approaches. The 28th was wet and stormy, and both 
 armies remained inactive. On the 29th the British began their 
 siege operations. 
 
 It was plain to Washington that the position of the force on 
 Long Island was one of great danger. The enemy's fleet 
 might at any time enter the East River, and cut off all escape. 
 He therefore determined to retreat from Long Island without 
 delay. To withdraw a force of nine thousand men across a 
 wide, deep river, in the face of the enemy's army and fleet, was 
 a task which required the greatest skill and discretion. It was 
 successfully accomplished, however, between midnight of the 
 29th and sunrise of the 30th. The entire force, with its artil- 
 lery, wagons, cattle and stores, was by eight o'clock on the 
 30th safely landed in the city of New York. 
 
 Howe was greatly mortified at the escape of the American 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 83 
 
 army, which he had regarded as his certain prize, and prepared 
 to seize the upper part of Manhattan Island and cut off Wash- 
 ington's retreat from New York. In anticipation of some such 
 movement, Washington left Putnam with the rear guard to hold 
 New York, and with his main body occupied Harlem Heights 
 at the northern end of the island, thus securing his line of 
 retreat to the mainland. On the 15th of September the enemy 
 landed in strong force at Kipp's Bay, three miles above the 
 city, and drove in the American left. Washington held them 
 in check until Putnam could evacuate the city and join him, 
 after which he fell back to a new line, extending across the 
 island, about four miles below Kingsbridge. On the i6th of 
 September the British attacked the American advanced posts, 
 but were repulsed. This affair, though unimportant, did much 
 to revive the spirits of the army, which had been greatly 
 lowered by the defeat on Long Island and the subsequent re- 
 treats. 
 
 After a delay of several weeks, Howe moved his army to the 
 mainland, by way of Long Island Sound. Leaving 3,000 men 
 to hold Fort Washington, the American commander evacuated 
 Manhattan Island, crossed to the mainland and occupied the 
 line of the Bronx, near the village of White Plains. Here he 
 was attacked on the 28th of October by General Howe, who 
 was advancing from the direction of New Rochelle, but held 
 his ground. That night the Americans withdrew to a strong 
 position on the heights of North Castle, five miles distant. 
 Howe, unwilling to follow them further, marched to Dobb's 
 Ferry, on the Hudson, and encamped. 
 
 Fearful that Howe meant to cross over to New Jersey, 
 Washington left a portion of his army under General Charles 
 Lee to hold the position at North Castle and watch the enemy, 
 and detached a column under General Heath to occupy 
 Peekskill, and another under General Putnam to hoM the west 
 side of the Hudson and defend the passes of the Highlands. 
 With the remainder he crossed the river, and joined General 
 Greene at Fort Lee on the 13th of November. He was anx- 
 ious to withdraw the garrison from Fort Washington, but 
 yielded to the views of General Greene and Colonel Magraw, 
 the commander of the fort, who believed it could be held. On 
 
84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the 1 6th a force of 5,000 Hessians carried Fort Washington by- 
 storm, and made prisoners of its defenders. Washington wit- 
 nessed the capture from Fort Lee, without the ability to aid 
 the garrison. 
 
 Fort Lee was no longer of use, and orders were given for its 
 evacuation. Before the stores could be removed. Lord Corn- 
 wallis with 6,000 men crossed the Hudson below Dobb's 
 Feny, and marched across the country to seize the bridge over 
 the Hackensack. An immediate retreat from Fort Lee was 
 begun, and by a forced march the passage of the Hackensack 
 was secured before the arrival of the enemy. The army then 
 began its memorable retreat across New Jersey, closely fol- 
 lowed by the enemy under Cornwallis. On the 8th of Decem- 
 ber, Washington reached the Delaware and crossed it at Tren- 
 ton, and went into camp in Pennsylvania. He had scarcely 
 3,000 men with him, the enlistments of a large part of the 
 troops having expired on the first of the month. Nothing 
 would induce these men to remain with the army. The British 
 reached the Delaware just after its passage by the Americans, 
 but were unable to cross, as the latter had secured all the boats. 
 It was decided to wait until the river should freeze, and pass it 
 on the ice. In the meantime the Hessians were stationed at 
 Trenton, and held the river above and below the town. 
 
 During the retreat Washington exerted himself to call in the 
 detachments of his army. Gen. Lee was ordered to cross the 
 Hudson and march to his assistance, and Schuyler was directed 
 to send him the New Jersey and Pennsylvania ti-oops in his 
 army. Schuyler at once despatched these troops, but Lee 
 made such an inexcusable delay in obeying his orders that he 
 did not reach Morristown until the 8th of December. On the 
 i^th he was captured, while lying apart from his forces. His 
 troops then joined Washington without delay. 
 
 Disasters now came thick and fast, and the fortunes of 
 America were at their lowest ebb. The people were disheart- 
 ened, and the cause seemed hopeless. A fleet under Sir Peter 
 Parker entered Newport Harbor, and landed a force on the 
 island of Rhode Island. As this occupation of Newport was a 
 constant menace to New England, no aid could be sent to 
 Washington from that quarter. Believing that all was lost, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 85 
 
 large numbers of the people of the Middle States began to make 
 their peace with the British authorities. The Royalists in 
 Philadelphia commenced to show such strength that Congress 
 adjourned on the 12th of December to meet at Baltimore. 
 
 Washington was fully alive to the danger which threatened 
 the cause, but he was calm and cheerful. During the retreat 
 through New Jersey he said to Colonel Reed, " Should we re- 
 treat to the back parts of Pennsylvania will the Pennsylvanians 
 support us ?" " If the lower counties are subdued and give up, 
 the back counties will do the same," was the disheartening 
 reply. Washington passed his hand across his throat, and said, 
 with a smile : " My neck does not feel as though it was made 
 for a halter. We must retire to Augusta county, in Virginia. 
 Numbers will be obliged to repair to us for safety; and we must 
 try what we can do in carrying on a predatory war, and if over- 
 powered we must cross the Alleghany Mountains." Such was 
 the indomitable spirit which animated the great leader of the 
 patriot cause. He had expected reverses, and they did not 
 dismay him. He did what lay in his power to cheer and 
 encourage the little band of heroes that remained faithful to 
 their colors, and watched with sleepless vigilance for the oppor- 
 tunity to strike a telling blow at the enemy. 
 
 The opportunity soon presented itself The Hessians lay 
 along the Delaware from Trenton to Burlington, with their 
 front exposed, and he resolved to attack them. A failure could 
 not make his situation much worse than it was, while a victory 
 would go far to revive the hopes and spirits of his countrymen. 
 He crossed the Delaware on the night of the 25th of December, 
 in open boats, in the midst of snow and floating ice, and the 
 next morning inflicted a stinging defeat upon the Hessians at 
 Trenton, taking 1,000 prisoners, 1,000 stand of arms, six can- 
 non, and four standards. He then recrossed the Delaware a'fid 
 returned to his camp in Pennsylvania. 
 
 The effect of this victory was most happy. It proved to the 
 world that the American cause was not hopeless. Congress on 
 the 27th of December, before the arrival of the news of the vic- 
 tory at Trenton, formally invested Washington with dictatorial 
 powers, wisely trusting to his wisdom and firmness to lead the 
 country safely through its troubles. " Happy is it for this 
 
86 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 country," wrote the committee, "that the general of their forces 
 can safely be intrusted with the most unlimited power, and 
 neither personal security, liberty or property, be in the least 
 degree endangered thereby." The reply of Washington to this 
 communication was characteristic, and worthy of the study of 
 every American. "I find," he wrote, " Congress have done me 
 the honor to intrust me with powers, in my military capacity, 
 of the highest nature and almost unlimited extent. Instead of 
 thinking myself freed from all civil obligations by this mark of 
 their confidence, I shall constantly bear in mind that, as the 
 sword was the last resort for the preservation of our liberties, 
 so it ought to be the first thing laid aside when those liberties 
 are firmly established." 
 
 He now resolved to follow up his success at Trenton, and, his 
 force being increased to about five thousand men fit for duty, 
 crossed the Delaware again on the 29th and 30th of December, 
 and took post at Trenton. 
 
 The astonishment of Sir William Howe upon learning of the 
 battle of Trenton was very great. He at once sent a column 
 of seven thousand men under Lord Cornwallis to attack Wash- 
 ington. This force arrived before Trenton, on the afternoon of 
 the 2d of January, 1777. Feeling sure that Washington could 
 not escape him, Cornwallis deferred his attack until the next 
 morning. During the night Washington skillfully drew off his 
 army, marched around the left flank of the British, and on 
 the morning of the 3d attacked and defeated a British detach- 
 ment at Princeton, and marched off to a strong position at 
 Morristown before Cornwallis, who had discovered his retreat 
 at sunrise, could overtake him. Cornwallis fell back to New 
 Brunswick. For six months neither party made any movement 
 of importance; but Washington, in spite of his inferiority in 
 force, displayed such activity in cutting off the foraging parties 
 of the British that they were unable to .draw any supplies from 
 the country beyond their lines, and rarely ventured out of their 
 camps. Thus was New Jersey almost redeemed from the 
 enemy. The militia of the State recovered from their former 
 despondency, and warmly seconded the efforts of Washington. 
 Confidence was fairly returning to the country. 
 
 Nor was this the only effect of the brilliant victories of 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 8/ 
 
 Trenton and Princeton. The war had been watched with the 
 deepest interest in Europe, especially by the Government and 
 people of France, who were eager to cripple Great Britain by 
 the loss of her Colonies. The news of the disaster on Long 
 Island and the retreat from New York filled the friends of 
 America with serious alarm, and it was generally believed in 
 Europe that the patriot cause was lost. In the early spring of 
 1777, however, it became known in Europe that the American 
 army, which it was supposed had been driven in hopeless dis- 
 order over the Delaware, had suddenly rallied, beaten a veteran 
 force in two battles, and had recovered New Jersey from the 
 enemy. This intelligence produced the most profound aston- 
 ishment in Europe, and was received in France with genume 
 satisfaction. The Americans were extolled as a race of heroes, 
 and the prudence and good generalship of Washington were 
 spoken of with the highest praise. The French Government 
 was encouraged to grant secret assistance to the Americans, 
 and arms and military stores, which were greatly needed, were 
 shipped to America. 
 
 Washington spared no pains during the winter and spring 
 of 1777 to reorganize his army. He endeavored to persuade 
 Congress to discontinue its policy of short enlistments, and to 
 institute a longer term. Great efforts were also made to pro- 
 cure recruits, but they came in slowly. 
 
 During the fall of 1776 Sir Guy Carleton endeavored to 
 follow up the expulsion of the Americans from Canada by 
 an invasion of New York. His ascent of Lake Champlain was 
 gallantly resisted by Arnold with a fleet of galleys. Gates, 
 who had been placed in command of the forces on Lake Cham- 
 plain, strengthened Fort Ticonderoga to such an extent that 
 Carleton found it too formidable to be attacked, and abandoned 
 his undertaking and returned to Canada. This was the con- 
 dition of affairs in Schuyler's department at the close of the 
 year. 
 
 During the year 1777, a number of foreign officers ar- 
 rived in the States, to solicit employment in the American 
 army. They came expecting to receive important commis- 
 sions, as it was well known that there were but few officers in 
 the patriot service who had had experience in regular war- 
 
88 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 fare. Washington advised a cautious policy in employing 
 them. He was convinced, and urged his views upon Con- 
 gress, that important posts should be reserved to native-born 
 Americans, who, if lacking in experience, had a deeper stake 
 in the struggle than any foreigner could have. He also argued 
 that to appoint foreigners over the native officers would create 
 dissatisfaction in the army, and do more harm than good. 
 Congress, therefore, resolved to employ but few foreign officers, 
 and that the commissions of such as should be received into 
 the service should bear date on the day of their being filled up 
 by Washington. 
 
 When the campaign of 1777 opened, the prospects of the 
 country had so far improved that Washington found himself 
 at the head of an effective army of 7,000 men. Early in June 
 Sir William Howe advanced into New Jersey, and made 
 several efforts to draw Washington from his strong position 
 on the hills, and bring him to a general engagement. The 
 American commander, however, was convinced that it was the 
 part of wisdom not to risk a general action with his inferior 
 force, but held his army in readiness to profit by any error of 
 his adversary. Baffled by the superior prudence and caution 
 of Washington, Sir William Howe at length embarked his 
 army on board of his fleet, and put to sea from New York 
 bay. Washington was convinced that the destination of the 
 British was Philadelphia, but it was necessary to be certain of 
 this before making any movement in that direction with his 
 own army. Sir Henry Clinton was at New York with a 
 strong garrison, and Burgoyne was advancing from Lake 
 Champlain. At length, being convinced that his belief was 
 correct, Washington moved his army towards the Delaware. 
 On the 31st of July, he was informed that the British fleet was 
 off the Capes of Delaware. He at once wrote to Schuyler 
 that the Eastern States had nothing to fear from Howe, and 
 might bend all their efforts against Burgoyne. At the same 
 time he moved his army to Germantown, six miles from Phila- 
 delphia. The next day he learned that the enemy's fleet had 
 left the Delaware, and had put to sea again. This movement 
 filled him with the gravest apprehension, and he began to fear 
 that Howe had really sailed for New England to co-operate 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 89 
 
 with Burgoyne. He was about to return to the Hudson with 
 his army, when he was informed that the British fleet was 
 steering southward. He halted to await further intelHgence. 
 
 During his encampment near Philadelphia, Washington re.- 
 peatedly visited that city, and on one of these occasions became 
 acquainted with the youthful Marquis de Lafayette, who had 
 recently arrived from France to serve as a volunteer in the 
 patriot army. Grateful for his sympathy, Congress, on the 31st 
 of July, 1777, commissioned him a Major-general in the Conti- 
 nental army. Washington met the young hero at a public 
 dinner, at the close of which he took him aside, complimented 
 him warmly on his generous and disinterested zeal for the 
 cause, and invited him to make headquarters his home. " I 
 cannot promise you the luxuries of a court," he said, " but as 
 you have become ^n American soldier, you will, doubtless, ac- 
 commodate yourself to the fare of an American army." A 
 warm friendship sprang up between the two, and ended only 
 with their lives. 
 
 News came at length that the British fleet was at the head 
 of the Chesapeake Bay. Howe had avoided the Delaware be- 
 cause of the obstructions and fortifications below Philadelphia, 
 and had ascended the Chesapeake as the most convenient ap- 
 proach south of the Delaware. He landed his troops at the 
 Head of Elk, now Elkton, about sixty miles from Philadelphia, 
 and prepared to march across the country to Philadelphia. 
 Washington advanced to the Brandywine, and took position to 
 dispute the passage of that stream. He was attacked there by 
 the British on the nth of September, and was defeated with 
 a loss of 1,000 men. He then fell back to Chester, and on 
 the 1 2th recrossed the Schuylkill and took position at Ger- 
 mantown. Congress again conferred dictatorial powers upon 
 Washington, and adjourned to meet at Lancaster, from which 
 place it removed to York, beyond the Susquehanna. Wash- 
 ington fell back to Pott's Grove on the Schuylkill, and on the 
 26th of September Howe occupied Philadelphia. The city was 
 held by a small detachment, and the bulk of his army was 
 stationed at Germantown. 
 
 Lord Howe, after landing his brother's troops, descended the 
 Chesapeake and sailed around to the Delaware to attack the 
 
90 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 American works below Philadelphia. These consisted of Fort 
 Mifflin, built on a low mud island, and Fort Mercer, on the 
 New Jersey shore, immediately opposite. Both works were 
 armed with heavy guns, and commanded the river perfectly. 
 The channel was obstructed between them. Sir William 
 Howe, upon the occupation of Philadelphia, detached a part 
 of his force to aid in the attack upon these forts. 
 
 As soon as he was informed of the march of this detachment, 
 Washington advanced to Germantown, and on the morning of 
 the 4th of October attacked the British force at that place. The 
 British were being driven back at all points, and the victory 
 seemed complete, when the Americans were suddenly seized 
 with an unaccountable panic, and fled from the field. The at- 
 tack on the forts was made by the British fleet and land force 
 on the 2 2d of October. It was repulsed. The British then 
 threw up batteries on a small island in the Delaware, and there, 
 aided by the fleet, opened fire on Fort Mifflin on the loth of 
 November. The work was held until it was in ruins, when it 
 was abandoned on the night of the i6th. On the i8th Fort 
 Mercer was also abandoned. The obstructions were then re- 
 moved from the channel, and the British fleet ascended to 
 Philadelphia. Howe threw up a line of strong works above 
 Philadelphia, extending from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, 
 and went into winter quarters behind these defences. Wash- 
 ington withdrew to Valley Forge, on the Schuylkill, about 
 twenty miles above Philadelphia, and passed the winter there. 
 
 In the meantime events of the highest importance had 
 occurred in the Northern Department. Sir Guy Carleton was 
 succeeded in the command of the British forces in Canada by 
 General Burgoyne, an officer of ability and integrity. He was 
 strongly reinforced, and soon had under his command an army 
 of 10,000 men, splendidly equipped and plentifully supplied 
 with artillery. Of these 2,000 were Canadians and Indians, 
 the remainder British regulars and Hessians. Burgoyne ad- 
 vanced into New York by way of Lake Champlain, and sent a 
 detachment under General St. Leger to reduce Fort Stanwix on 
 the Mohawk. Burgoyne's object was to reach Albany, open 
 communication with Sir Henry Clinton at New York, capture 
 the forts in the Highlands, gain possession of the Hudson, and 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 9 1 
 
 cut off the South from New York and New England. To op- 
 pose him, General Schuyler had a weak army between Albany 
 and Lake Champlain, and a strong garrison under General St. 
 Clair in Fort Ticonderoga. Washington endeavored to rein- 
 force Schuyler from every available quarter, and urged the 
 Eastern States to strengthen his army by all possible means. 
 
 On the 2d of July, Burgoyne appeared before Ticonderoga, 
 and prepared to invest the fort. He seized Mount Defiance, 
 which commanded the American works and had been left 
 unguarded, and threw up a battery on its summit. St. Clair, 
 seeing that this battery would render his works untenable, 
 sent his baggage and stores up the lake to Skenesborough, 
 and abandoned the works and retreated. The movement was 
 discovered by the enemy while in progress, and pursuit was 
 made. The retreating Americans were overtaken, scattered 
 in confusion, and Burgoyne pushed on to Fort Edward on 
 the Upper Hudson, which he reached on the 29th of July. 
 Schuyler took position at Stillwater, on the Hudson, near the 
 mouth of the Mohawk, and not far from Saratoga. 
 
 The loss of Ticonderoga and the northern forts was regarded 
 as evidence of the incapacity of Schuyler and his subordinates, 
 and brought to a crisis the prejudice which had long and un- 
 justly existed against the former general. His removal from 
 his command was resolved upon. Washington declined to 
 relieve him of his command, as his confidence in him was 
 unshaken. Schuyler was therefore removed by Congress, and 
 Gates was appointed his successor. 
 
 In the meantime St. Leger had advanced to the Mohawk, 
 and had laid siege to Fort Schuyler. The fort was defended 
 by Col. Gansev^oort. Gen. Herkimer, with the New York 
 militia, attempted to relieve it, but was mortally wounded in the 
 attempt. Fort Schuyler was left in a critical condition, and 
 Arnold was sent at his own request to its relief He succeeded 
 by means of a stratagem in inducing St. Leger to raise the 
 siege and retreat ; and this important enterprise of the British 
 resulted in a failure. 
 
 The Indians belonging to Burgoyne's army committed 
 many outrages on the people of the country, and roused the 
 entire East against them. Recruits came in to Gates' army 
 
92 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 rapidly. Early in August, Burgoyne sent a force of Hessians 
 to Bennington, Vermont, to seize the stores collected there by 
 the Americans, and to secure such horses as could be found on 
 the march. This force was defeated by the Vermont and New 
 Hampshire militia under General Starke, on the i6th. The 
 Americans took 6oo prisoners, i,ooo stand of arms, and 4 
 cannon. 
 
 Burgoyne's situation was now critical. The American army 
 in his front was growing stronger every day, and was soon 
 superior to his own in strength. The militia of New Hamp- 
 shire and Massachusetts were t'hreatening his communications 
 with Canada. His own army was now reduced to 6,000 men. 
 With these troops he resolved to try to force his way to Albany, 
 and on the 1 3th of September he attacked Gates' army at Beh- 
 mus' Heights, near Saratoga, but was repulsed. On the 17th 
 the Massachusetts militia seized his communications with Can- 
 ada, and captured three hundred boats at the outlet of Lake 
 George, loaded with supplies for his army. After waiting three 
 weeks in inaction, he again attacked Gates, on the 7th of Octo- 
 ber. The American army now numbered 11,000 men. The 
 British were driven back and forced within their intrenched 
 camp, a portion of which was captured. During the night 
 Burgoyne retreated to a point within two miles of Saratoga. 
 Here he was surrounded and compelled to surrender. On the 
 17th of October about 6,000 British troops laid down their arms. 
 Over 5,000 muskets, 42 cannon, and a large amount of military 
 stores, fell into the hands of the victors. It was the most im- 
 portant success of the war, and Gates was the hero of the hour. 
 That commander flattered himself that the capture was due to 
 his skill. It was really the result of Washington's carefully 
 arranged plans, and Schuyler's extraordinary efforts to oppose 
 a determined resistance to the invaders. Gates reaped the fruits 
 of their labors. He imagined himself the great leader of the 
 war, and sent his report of the surrender to Congress direct, 
 and not through the Commander-in-chief, as his duty required; 
 thus offering a grave insult to Washington. 
 
 The sufferings of the army at Valley Forge during the winter 
 were very great. Many of the men were barefooted, and their 
 marches through the snow could be traced by the blood from 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 93 
 
 their feet. They were scantily supplied with clothing, almost 
 without food, and were utterly unable to keep the field. Con- 
 gress did little or nothing to relieve the sufferings of the army. 
 It promised the troops one month's extra pay, but made no 
 effort to provide food or clothing for them. It authorized 
 Washington to impress whatever supplies were needed ; but he 
 remonstrated against this arbitrary use of power, which he was 
 sure would fail to supply the wants of the army, and would 
 certainly anger the people of the country. Congress towards 
 the close of the winter manifested so much hostility to the army 
 because of its appeals for food and clothes, that V/ashington 
 earnestly remonstrated against this feeling, and reminded that 
 body that the troops were "citizens, having all the ties and 
 interests of citizens." It is not not too much to say that, apart 
 from their patriotism, the personal influence of Washington 
 was the only power that kept the troops together during this 
 long and trying winter. Under any other commander they 
 would most likely have dispersed. 
 
 The patriotism of Washington was not appreciated by all 
 parties. A number of discontented members of Congress and 
 officers of the army were anxious that he should be removed or 
 forced to resign, in order that their favorite. General Gates, 
 might be promoted to the chief command of the army. One 
 of the prime movers of the intrigue for this purpose was an 
 Irish adventurer named Conway, who was a brigadier and In- 
 spector-Geneial of the army. From his connection with it the 
 plot is known as the " Conway Cabal." The exact and entire 
 truth concerning this conspiracy will never be known, for after its 
 failure the actors in it were eager to disavow their connection 
 with it. The conspirators did not dare to make an attack upon 
 the Commander-in-chief, but undertook, by means of anony- 
 mous letters, underhanded appeals to the officers and men of 
 the army, and comparisons between Gates' success and what 
 they termed Washington's failure, to destroy the confidence of 
 the troops in their leader, and to disgust him with his com- 
 mand, and so drive him to resign it. Generals Mifflin and 
 Gates were very active in this conspiracy, and even Sullivan 
 and Wayne were in favor of the scheme of making Gates Com- 
 manding General. Dr. Benjamin Rush, another conspirator, 
 
94 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 wrote a letter, to which he did not dare to sign his name, to 
 Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, representing the 
 army as without a head, and disparaging Washington as no 
 general. " A Gates, a Lee, or a Conway," he added, " would 
 in a few weeks render them an irresistible body of men. Some 
 of the contents of this letter ought to be made public in order 
 to enlighten, awaken and alarm our country." Patrick Henry 
 took no notice of the letter, save to forward it to Washington. 
 A similar anonymous letter was sent to Henr^' Laurens, the 
 President of Congress, who also sent it to Washington. Great 
 efforts were made to win Lafayette over to the plot, but with- 
 out the least success. 
 
 Washington was to a great extent aware of the plot against 
 him, but took no public notice of it. He Avas deeply pained 
 by the unjust censure to which he was subjected, but he never 
 for a moment harbored the thought of laying down the great 
 work he had assumed. He knew that his conduct would bear 
 the most rigid inspection ; that the capture of Burgoyne's 
 army, which had made Gates the hero of the hour, was due to 
 no skill on the part of that officer, but was the result of the 
 plan of defence W^ashington had long before arranged with 
 General Schuyler. In his efforts to contend with General 
 Howe he was under many disadvantages, not the least of which 
 was the fact that his army was encamped in a region abound- 
 ing in Tories, who refused him any support, and systematically 
 aided the British. His army was not equal to the task of 
 driving Howe from his intrenchments before Philadelphia. 
 Washington knew that the salvation of the country demanded 
 his presence at the head of the army. He trusted to time for 
 his vindication, and was chiefly anxious that the enemy should 
 not learn of the dissensions in the councils and camp of the 
 Americans. 
 
 In a little while the action of the conspirators became known 
 to the public, and aroused such a storm of indignation from 
 the officers and men of the army, from the legislatures of the 
 States, and from the great mass of the people, that Gates and 
 Conway and their associates cowered before it, and Congress 
 became heartily ashamed of having given the plot any encour- 
 agement. The only effect of the conspiracj^ was to raise 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 95 
 
 Washington higher in the confidence and affection of his coun- 
 try-men. The members of the conspiracy were ever afterwards 
 anxious to deny their share in it, and exerted themselves to 
 prevent the truth concerning it from becoming known. 
 
 The punishment of Gates came as soon as he was entrusted 
 with a command which threw him upon his own resources. 
 As for Conway, he was despised by the better part of the offi- 
 cers of the army, and found his position so unenviable that he 
 addressed a note to Congress complaining that he had been 
 badly treated, and threatening to resign his commission. Con- 
 gress was by this time ashamed of having bestowed upon him 
 such undeserved honors, and gladly interpreted his letter as 
 an actual resignation of his rank, and at once ended the diffi- 
 culty by promptly accepting his resignation. Conway was 
 profoundly astonished, as he had expected that he would be 
 urged by Congress to remain in the service. He hastened to 
 explain his letter, but was not listened to. Sometime after 
 this, he ventured to denounce the Commander-in-Chief, and 
 was challenged to a duel by General Cadwallader, who had pre- 
 viously charged him with cowardice at the battle of German- 
 town. Conway was wounded, and believing himself near 
 death, wrote to Washington, apologizing for his conduct to- 
 wards him. "You are," he said, "in my eyes the great and 
 good man. May you long enjoy the love, veneration, and 
 esteem of these States, whose liberties you have asserted by 
 your virtues." His wound was not mortal, as he had sup- 
 posed, and he soon recovered and left the country. 
 
 The winter was passed by Washington in an effort to improve 
 the condition of the army. It was an almost hopeless task, 
 and at every step he found his efforts hampered and thwarted 
 by the opposition to him in Congress. The efforts of the oppo- 
 sition to him, says Irving, " harassed Washington in the latter 
 part of his campaign; contributed to the dark cloud that hung 
 over his gloomy encampment at Valley Forge, and might have 
 effected his downfall had he been more irascible in his temper, 
 more at the mercy of impulse, and less firmly fixed in the affec- 
 tions of the people. As it was, they only tended to show 
 wherein lay his surest strength. Jealous rivals he might have 
 in the army, bitter enemies in Congress; but the soldiers loved 
 
g6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 him, and the large heart of the nation always beat true to 
 him." 
 
 During the winter Baron Steuben, a Prussian officer, who 
 had served under Frederick the Great, arrived and sought employ- 
 ment from Congress. He had been induced by the friends of 
 the cause in Europe to resign his important and lucrative posts 
 in his own army, and repair to America in order that the Conti- 
 nental army might enjoy the benefit of his experience and skill 
 as a disciplinarian. He came as a volunteer, and Washington, 
 appreciating the value of his sacrifices and the importance of 
 his services, induced Congress to appoint him Inspector-Gen- 
 eral of the army, with the rank of Major-general. He intro- 
 duced into the army the drill and discipline of the Prussian 
 service, and made it an efficient force. Congress proposed to 
 increase the strength of the army to 60,000 men, but was never 
 able to bring it to more than half that number. 
 
 A great improvement was made in the work of providing 
 provisions for the army by the appointment of Gen. Greene to 
 the post of quartermaster general, which had been held by 
 General Mifflin, who had paid but little attention to its duties. 
 At the urgent solicitation of the Commander-in-chief, Greene 
 assumed the distasteful position for one year, and discharged its 
 difficult duties with a skill and precision which kept the army 
 so well supplied with provisions and ammunition that it was 
 never, during his administration, obliged to abandon a move- 
 ment because of the lack of these necessities. 
 
 In April, 1778, Gen. Chas. Lee was exchanged for Gen. 
 Prescott, and soon after returned to duty with the army. 
 
 Washington's personal cares were lightened to a great extent 
 during the winter, by the presence of his wife. Since the 
 siege of Boston, it had been the habit of Mrs. Washington to 
 pass the winter at the headquarters of the army. Her presence 
 was eagerly looked for every winter by the officers, who en- 
 joyed the charm which it threw over the military family of the 
 General. 
 
 In the meantime the war had assumed a new phase. The 
 success of the Americans, and especially the capture of Bur- 
 goyne's army, had greatly encouraged their friends in Europe, 
 and had, to a corresponding degree, discouraged the British 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON, 9/ 
 
 Government. A determined effort was made in Parliament, 
 by the opposition, to force the Government to grant the just 
 demands of the Americans, and was so far successful, that 
 early in 1788 Lord North presented two bills to Parliament by 
 which his Majesty hoped to maintain his authority in America, 
 and conciliate his revolted subjects. The first of these re- 
 nounced all intention on the part of Great Britain to levy 
 taxes in America ; the other appointed five commissioners to 
 negotiate with the Americans for the restoration of the au- 
 thority of England and the close of the war. These bills in- 
 volved a direct surrender of the whole ground of the war; but 
 they came too late. 
 
 The conciliatory disposition of Great Britain alarmed France, 
 which had been greatly encouraged by the capture of Bur- 
 goyne's army. The French Government resolved to lose no 
 time in concluding an alliance with the United States, and so 
 prevent Great Britain from ever recovering her lost power in 
 America. On the 6th of February, 1788, a treaty of friend- 
 ship and commerce, and a second treaty of defensive alliance, 
 were concluded between the United States and France. The 
 latter instrument bound the United States to support France in 
 case Great Britain should declare war against her. The King 
 of France acknowledged the independence of the United States 
 of America, and agreed to support them with his fleets and 
 armies. No peace was to be made without the mutual consent 
 of the contracting parties, nor until the independence of the 
 United States should be acknowledged by Great Britain. 
 These treaties were promptly ratified by Congress, and the 
 news of the alliance was proclaimed to the army and people, 
 and was everywhere received with joy. Public confidence was 
 revived by the assurance of the assistance of one of the most 
 powerful nations on the globe. In March, 1788, France for- 
 mally communicated to England her treaties with America. 
 This was regarded by England as equivalent to a declaration 
 of war, and the British ambassador was at once recalled from 
 Paris. 
 
 In June, the Commissioners appointed by Great Britain 
 to treat with the Americans under Lord North's concilia- 
 tory bills, arrived in America, and opened negotiations. Con- 
 7 
 
98 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 gress refused to treat upon any other ground than the recogni- 
 tion of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, 
 and the withdrawal of her fleets and armies from the country. 
 The Commissioners having no authority to treat upon any such 
 basis, returned to England, having first endeavored, without 
 success, to bribe several prominent Americans to desert their 
 cause. 
 
 On the nth of May, 1788, Sir William Howe, whose course 
 had not pleased his government, was removed from his com- 
 mand, and was succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton. About the 
 same time Clinton was informed by his government that a 
 large French fleet was soon to sail for America, and was 
 ordered to evacuate Philadelphia, and concentrate his forces at 
 New York. He accordingly sent his sick and stores to New 
 York by water, with his fleet; and with his army, 1 2,000 strong, 
 evacuated Philadelphia on the i8th of June, crossed the Dela- 
 ware and began his retreat across New Jersey to New York. 
 
 As soon as Washington was informed of Clinton's move- 
 ment, he broke up his camp on the 24th of June, and crossed 
 the Delaware in pursuit of the British army. The intense 
 heat of the weather, and the heavy train with which the British 
 were encumbered, caused them to move very slowly, and 
 Washington soon overtook them in the open country of Mon- 
 mouth county. He resolved to attack the enemy at once and 
 bring them to a general engagement. General Charles Lee 
 opposed this decision, and at first declined to take any com- 
 mand in the approaching battle. 
 
 On the 27th of June, Washington sent Lafayette with 2,000 
 men to occupy the hills near Monmouth Court House and 
 confine the enemy to the plains. On the morning of the 28th, 
 Lee, having reconsidered Ws determination, asked for a com- 
 mand, and was sent forward with two brigades to attack the 
 enemy. Upon coming up with Lafayette, who was his junior, 
 Lee assumed the command of the whole advanced force, and 
 marched in the direction of the enemy, who had encamped on 
 the previous night near Monmouth Court House, and had re- 
 sumed their march early on the 28th. Clinton, learning of 
 Lee's approach, determined to drive him back, and wheeled 
 upon him with his whole rear division, and made a sharp attack 
 
MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 99 
 
 upon him. Lee at once fell back to higher ground. A mis- 
 understanding of his orders caused one of his subordinates to 
 abandon his position, and Lee's whole force fell back in some 
 confusion. In the excitement of the movement, Lee neglected 
 to inform Washington of his retreat, and the Commander-in- 
 chief, who was advancing with the main body to his support, 
 was astounded at meeting the right wing of Lee's command in 
 a rapid and disorderly retreat. Riding up to the fugitives, he 
 asked them why they were retreating, and was answered that 
 they had been ordered to do so. Suspecting that the retreat 
 had been ordered for the purpose of ruining the plan of battle, 
 Washington hastened forward until he met General Lee, and 
 sternly demanded of him, "What is the meaning of all this, 
 sir?" Lee hesitated for a moment, and Washington demanded 
 still more vehemently, " I desire to know the meaning of this 
 disorder and confusion." 
 
 Lee answered that the retreat was made without his orders, 
 his troops having been thrown into confusion by contradictory 
 intelligence, and that he did not wish to encounter the whole 
 British army with his troops in such a condition. 
 
 " I am sorry," said Washington, " that you undertook the 
 command, unless you meant to fight the enemy." 
 
 " I did not think it prudent to bring on a general engage- 
 ment," said Lee. 
 
 " Whatever your opinion may have been," replied Wash- 
 ington, sternly, " I expected my orders would have been 
 obeyed." 
 
 This parley took but a few seconds. No time was to be 
 lost, for the enemy were close at hand. Washington's appear- 
 ance had stopped the retreat, and he at once reformed Lee's 
 troops on a commanding eminence, and hurried the main body 
 forward to their support. The British soon appeared in force, 
 and endeavored to dislodge the Americans from their position. 
 Failing in this, they attempted, but without success, to turn 
 the American left flank. The battle lasted until nightfall, 
 and the American army bivouacked on the field, expecting to 
 renew the engagement the next morning ; but during the 
 night Clinton silently withdrew and continued his retreat. 
 The weather was so warm that Washing-ton did not deem it 
 
lOO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 safe to continue the pursuit, and the British were allowed to 
 regain New York without further effort to check them. 
 
 A few days after the battle General Lee addressed an insult- 
 ing note to Washington, and met the reply of the Commander- 
 in-chief with a still more offensive communication, in which he 
 demanded a court of inquiry into his conduct at Monmouth. 
 He was tried in accordance with his wish, and the court found 
 him guilty of disobedience of orders and of disrespect to the 
 Commmander-in-chief, and sentenced him to one year's sus- 
 pension from his rank. Towards the close of his term of 
 punishment he addressed an insulting letter to Congress, in 
 consequence of some fancied neglect, and was dismissed from 
 the army. A few years later he died in Philadelphia. 
 
 A few days after the battle of Monmouth, Washington 
 marched to the Hudson, crossed that stream and took posi- 
 tion at White Plains to be able to co-operate with the P>ench 
 fleet, which was daily expected, in an attack upon New York. 
 This fleet, under Count D'Estaing, reached the mouth of the 
 Delaware on the 8th of July. Finding the British gone, the 
 French Admiral sailed for New York. Lord Howe withdrew 
 his vessels within Raritan Bay, and the French Admiral found 
 it impossible to attack him, in consequence of the greater 
 draught of his own ships. The contemplated attack upon New 
 York was therefore abandoned, to the great regret of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 It was resolved to attack Newport and drive the British out 
 of Rhode Island. The French fleet forced its way into New- 
 port harbor, in spite of the fire of the British batteries, on the 
 8th of August ; but as the American land force destined to co- 
 operate with it had not arrived, several valuable days were lost. 
 On the 9th Lord Howe appeared off Newport harbor with his 
 fleet, and on the loth D'Estaing sailed out to meet him. The 
 two squadrons were separated by a sudden squall, and both 
 were badly crippled. Howe made his way back to New York, 
 and D'Estaing returned to Newport harbor. The American 
 contingent, under General Sullivan, had arrived in the mean- 
 time, and had laid siege to Newport. D'Estaing informed 
 Sullivan of his intention to sail at once to Boston to refit his 
 ships. He declined to land the French troops he had brought 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. lOI 
 
 with him, and proceeded to Boston with his whole force. Sulli- 
 van was therefore obliged to abandon the siege and retreat to 
 the mainland, which he did on the night of the 30th of August. 
 The French fleet remained at Boston until November ist, when 
 it withdrew to the West Indies. 
 
 During the summer of 1778, the Tory and Indian allies of 
 Great Britain ravaged the beautiful Wyoming and Cherry Val- 
 leys with fire and the knife, sparing neither age nor sex. In 
 the fall of the same year, a British force under General Grey 
 ravaged the southern coast of Massachusetts with great bar- 
 barity. On the 29th of December the town of Savannah, in 
 Georgia, was captured by the enemy, who overran Georgia with 
 great rapidity during the month of January, 1779. 
 
 The winter of 1778-79 was passed by the American army in 
 a series of cantonments extending from the eastern end of Long 
 Island Sound to the Delaware. This disposition enabled Wash- 
 ington to oppose a force to the British at every important point. 
 He fixed his headquarters at Middlebrook, New Jersey, near 
 the centre of his line. The winter passed away without any 
 military event of importance. 
 
 During the winter it was proposed in Congress to undertake 
 in concert with the French the conquest of Canada. Lafayette 
 favored the scheme, but Washington opposed it with firmness 
 and far-seeing wisdom. He pointed out to Congress the diffi- 
 culties of the undertaking, and declared his conviction that it 
 was not to the interest of the United States that a power difter- 
 ent in race, language, and religion, from the people of this 
 republic, should have a footing upon this Continent. " I do not 
 like," he said, "to add to the number of our national obligations. 
 I would wish as much as possible to avoid giving a foreign 
 power new claims of merit for services performed to the United 
 States, and would ask no assistance that is not indispensable." 
 
 It was an anxious winter for Washington, and much of it 
 was passed by him in Philadelphia, in consultation with Con- 
 gress. The Canadian scheme was abandoned, but there were 
 other matters equally threatening. Not the least of these was 
 the effect which had been produced, even upon Congress, by 
 the French alliance. Men appeared to regard it as conclusive 
 of the war, and were disposed to relax their efforts to carry the 
 
I02 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 cause to a successful issue. Sectional jealousies were also 
 causing much trouble. Congress had been deprived of its abler 
 members, who had resigned their seats to accept appointments 
 in their own States, or to enter the army, or were serving the 
 country abroad. Their places had been filled with weaker men, 
 and many dissensions mark the Congressional proceedings of 
 this period. Washington exerted all his influence to heal these, 
 and to impress upon his countrymen the conviction that the 
 welfare of the common country at this critical period was a 
 matter vastly superior to the interest of any State or States. 
 "Our political system," he declared, "is like the mechanism of 
 a clock; it is useless to keep the smaller wheels in order, if the 
 greater one, the prime mover of the whole, is neglected." He 
 was anxious that each State should compel its ablest men to 
 attend Congress, with instructions to investigate and reform the 
 abuses from which the country was suffering. 
 
 The currency was almost worthless, and the troops were not 
 paid. Congress had so little specie that the cause must have 
 gone to ruin had not Robert Morris, a member of Congress 
 from Pennsylvania and a leading merchant of Philadelphia, 
 borrowed large sums of money on his own credit, and loaned 
 them to the government. This he continued to do through- 
 out the war. 
 
 General Lincoln had been appointed to the command of the 
 American army in the Southern States. In the early summer 
 of 1779, he repulsed an attack on Charleston by General Pre- 
 vost. In September the French fleet under D'Estaing arrived 
 off the coast of Georgia, and an effort was made in concert 
 with it to wrest Savannah from the British. It was unsuccess- 
 ful, and after a siege of a fortnight the Americans were forced 
 to withdraw with heavy loss. The French fleet then sailed for 
 the West Indies, having a second time failed to render any 
 real assistance to the Americans. 
 
 In May 1779, Sir Henry Clinton sent an expedition up the 
 Hudson, and captured the fort at Stony Point. The works at 
 Verplanck's Point, immediately opposite, surrendered early in 
 June. Both were garrisoned by the British. The loss of 
 these works was a serious blow to Washington, as they com- 
 manded the direct crossing of the Hudson, and compelled him 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. IO3 
 
 to establish a more tedious line of communication between the 
 two sides of the river, through the passes of the Highlands. 
 He resolved to attempt the recapture of the fort at Stony 
 Point, and also to drive the British from the work at Ver- 
 planck's Point by the guns of Stony Point, and an attack of a 
 force sent down from Peekskill. He proposed the capture of 
 Stony Point to General Wayne, who at once agreed to under- 
 take it. The place was carried by a brilliant assault with the 
 bayonet on the night of the 15th of July. It was not possible 
 to drive the enemy from Verplanck's Point, however, and Clin- 
 ton, as soon as he heard of its danger, moved to its aid with a 
 strong force. Wayne was therefore obliged to evacuate Stony 
 Point. On the i8th of August, Major Henry Lee captured a 
 British fort at Paulus Hook (now Jersey City), opposite New 
 York, and brought off the garrison. 
 
 Having resolved to punish the Indians for their warfare upon 
 the Americans in aid of the British, Washington sent a force 
 of 5,000 men under Gen. Sullivan into the country of the 
 Six Nations, in the Summer of 1779. Sullivan defeated the 
 Indians and Tories in a battle near Elmira, on the 29th of 
 August, and burned their villages, and laid waste the beautiful 
 valley of the Genesee. The Indians and their Tory allies were 
 obliged to emigrate to Canada to avoid starvation. 
 
 The winter of 1779-80 was passed by the bulk of the army 
 at Morristown, New Jersey. The rest of the troops were sta- 
 tioned under Gen. Heath, in the Highlands, for the protection 
 of West Point and the neighboring posts. Washington's head- 
 quarters were at Morristown. The winter was excessively 
 cold, and the sufferings of the troops at Morristown were very 
 great. 
 
 The most important events of the war were now transferred 
 to the South. In December, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton, leaving 
 a garrison in New York, under Gen. Knyphausen, sailed south- 
 ward with the remainder of his force, and in April, 1780, laid 
 siege to Charleston, which was defended by a force of 2,000 
 regulars and 5,000 militia under Gen. Lincoln. The siege was 
 pressed with vigor : and the American works having been re- 
 duced by the British bombardment, Charleston surrendered on 
 the 1 2th of May. Clinton followed up this success by a series 
 
I04 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of vigorous measures, which were so successful that South 
 Carolina was almost completely subjugated by the beginning of 
 the summer. Early in June, Clinton returned to New York, 
 leaving Lord Cornwallis to complete the conquest of the Caro- 
 linas. The efforts of this commander were on the whole so 
 successful, that Congress resolved to send Gen. Gates, " the 
 conqueror of Burgoyne," to oppose him. Gates accordingly 
 set out for his new command with high expectations. On the 
 1 6th of August, he was badly beaten by Cornwallis, at Cam- 
 den, in South Carolina, and his army was broken up in small 
 parties, and scattered through the country. This was the most 
 disastrous defeat experienced by the Americans during the 
 whole war. They lost i,8oo men, including the Baron de 
 Kalb, and all their artillery and stores. It completely demon- 
 strated Gates's incapacity for such an important command. He 
 retreated northward, and managed to rally about i,ooo men. 
 Cornwallis advanced into North Carolina, but his movement 
 was brought to an end by the defeat of one of his columns, at 
 King's Mountain, by the militia of the surrounding country. 
 The British army at once fell back into South Carolina, and 
 took position between the Broad and Saluda rivers, where it 
 remained during the winter. Gates took advantage of this re- 
 treat to advance to Charlotte. 
 
 The reverses of Gates utterly destroyed the popularity which 
 his northern campaign had won for him. Congress resolved 
 to remove him, and at the instance of Washington, Gen. 
 Greene was appointed his successor. While at Charlotte, 
 " Gates received the melancholy intelligence of the death of an 
 only son, and, while he was yet writhing under the blow, came 
 official dispatches informing him of his being superseded in 
 command. A letter from Washington, we are told, accom- 
 panied them, sympathizing with him in his domestic misfor- 
 tunes, adverting with peculiar delicacy to his reverses in bat- 
 tle, assuring him of his undiminished confidence in his Zealand 
 capacity, and his readiness to give him the command of the 
 left wing of his army as soon as he could make it convenient 
 to join him. The effect of this letter was overpowering. Gates 
 was found walking about his room in the greatest agitation, 
 pressing the letter to his lips, breaking forth into ejaculations 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. IO5 
 
 of gratitude and admiration, and when he could find utterance 
 to his thoughts, declared its tender sympathy and considerate 
 dehcacy had conveyed more consolation and delight to his 
 heart than he had believed it possible ever to have felt again."^ 
 
 General Greene arrived at Charlotte on the 2d of December, 
 and the next day assumed the command of the Southern army. 
 The events of his campaign will be related in another part of 
 this work, and we pass them by here. 
 
 As the spring opened, the sufferings of the army under 
 Washington increased. Provisions became so scarce that the 
 troops were driven to desperation. Two regiments of Connec- 
 ticut troops declared their intention to abandon the army and 
 march home, or seize food by force from the people of the sur- 
 rounding country. It required all of Washington's influence 
 and authority to restore order, and it was with great difficulty 
 that provisions were procured, and the wants of the troops 
 supplied. The danger caused by this state of affairs was so 
 great that Congress authorized Washington to declare martial 
 law in similar emergencies. 
 
 The news of these troubles in Washington's camp reached 
 New York, and induced Gen. Knyphausen to undertake an ex- 
 pedition into New Jersey. He landed at Elizabethtown with 
 5,000 men, on the 6th of June, and marched towards Spring- 
 field. His advance was warmly contested by the militia of that 
 region, but he succeeded in getting as far as the village of Con- 
 necticut Farms. Being unable to advance beyond this point, 
 he caused the village to be sacked and burned ; and Mrs. Cald- 
 well, the wife of the minister of the village, who was absent with 
 the army as a chaplam, was murdered by some of the British 
 troops. The militia of the country assembled in such force, 
 that Knyphausen was obliged to make a hasty retreat to 
 Elizabethtown. The murder of Mrs. Caldwell aroused an in- 
 tense desire for vengeance among the people of New Jersey. 
 A few weeks later, Sir Henry Clinton, who had returned from 
 the South, made a feint of ascending the Hudson, in the hope 
 of drawing Washington's attention towards the Highlands, and 
 thus enabling Knyphausen to capture Morristown, and drive the 
 Americans from their strong position in its vicinity. Knyp- 
 
 ^ Irving' s Life of Washington. Vol. IV., p. 184. 
 
I06 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 hausen was met by a force under Gen. Greene, near Rahway, 
 on the 23d of June, and his advance was checked. Finding it 
 impossible to advance further, he burned the village of Spring- 
 field, and retreated to Elizabethtown. 
 
 In April 1780, Lafayette, who had spent the winter in 
 France, returned to the United States, bringing with him the 
 gratifying intelligence that a French fleet and a strong body 
 of French troops might be expected during the latter part of 
 the spring. The first division of the fleet, consisting of seven 
 ships of the line, two frigates, and two bomb vessels, with 
 transports on board of which were 5,000 troops, reached New- 
 port on the loth of July. The second division might be ex- 
 pected at any moment. The fleet was commanded by the 
 Chevalier de Ternay, the troops by the Count de Rocham- 
 beau, who was ordered by his government to place himself 
 under the orders of General Washington, in order to avoid 
 disputes that might arise from military etiquette. Soon after 
 their arrival, the French ships were blockaded at Newport by 
 a superior British fleet under Admiral Arbuthnot. 
 
 A few weeks later Washington invited the French com- 
 manders to meet him at Hartford, Connecticut, to arrange a 
 plan for an attack upon New York. The meeting took place 
 on the 2 1st of September, but as the French fleet was not 
 strong enough to make such an attempt, the plan was aban- 
 doned. Washington therefore set out at once for his head- 
 quarters. On his return to the Highlands he Avas met by 
 news of the most startling character. 
 
 In the summer of 1780, General Benedict Arnold, at his 
 urgent request, was appointed to the important command of 
 West Point, which included the posts from Fishkill to King's 
 Ferry, and the corps of infantry and cavalry advanced towards 
 the enemy on the east side of the Hudson. He had been dis- 
 abled by wounds received at Quebec and Saratoga, and after 
 the evacuation of Philadelphia by Clinton in 1788, had been 
 placed at Washington's suggestion in command of that city. 
 There his extravagant style of living soon involved him in 
 debt. In the hope of raising the money to free himself, he 
 engaged in a number of mercantile speculations, which were 
 generally unsuccessful, and merely increased his difficulties. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. IO7 
 
 His haughty manner involved him in a quarrel with the au- 
 thorities of Pennsylvania, who accused him before Congress of 
 abusing his official position and misusing the public funds. 
 He was tried by a court martial, and was sentenced to be 
 reprimanded by the Commander-in-chief This disagreeable 
 duty was performed by Washington as delicately as possible, 
 but he did not lose confidence in Arnold. He did not know 
 much of him except in his official capacity, and though he 
 knew him to be an able and gallant soldier, he was ignorant of 
 his faults of character, which were well known to the members 
 of Congress from Connecticut, who had no confidence in him. 
 Arnold had long been brooding over the wrongs he had re- 
 ceived at the hands of Congress, and the sentence of the 
 court martial and his own pecuniary difficulties had driven 
 him to the desperate resolve of selling himself to the enemy. 
 He sought and obtained the command of West Point with the 
 deliberate intention of betraying it to the British. Previous to 
 this appointment he had opened a correspondence with Sir 
 Henry Clinton, under the assumed name of " Gustavus." It 
 was some time before Clinton knew the true name of his cor- 
 respondent, and it was not until Arnold obtained the com- 
 mand of West Point, the most important fortress in America, 
 that the British general held out much inducement to him to 
 desert. The man was not worth buying; the fortress was 
 worth almost any price. 
 
 The correspondence was conducted on the part of Sir 
 Henry by Major John Andr^, of the British army, a young 
 man of amiable character and more than ordinary accomplish- 
 ments. He was an especial favorite of Sir Heniy Clinton, and 
 was beloved by the whole army in which he served. He 
 wrote under the assumed name of John Anderson. When 
 Arnold had entered upon his command at West Point, Andr^ 
 offered to go up the Hudson, and have an interview with the 
 traitor, for the purpose of arranging a plan for the betrayal of 
 that fortress. Clinton accepted his offer, and sent him up the 
 river as high as Haverstraw, in the sloop of war Vulture. He 
 was set ashore on the west bank, near Haverstraw, and was 
 met there by Arnold on the 22d of September. The meeting 
 took place at night, and the morning dawned before the 
 
108 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 arrangements were completed. Much against his will, Andr^ 
 was compelled to pass the 23d in concealment within the 
 American lines, and during the morning the bargain was com- 
 pleted. Andr^ was furnished with plans of the works at West 
 Point, and the exact sum was agreed upon, which Arnold was 
 to receive for his treason. During the 23d, the Vulture was 
 driven down the river by the fire of an American batteiy, and 
 the man who had brought Andre ashore was afraid to row 
 him back to the sloop. He was obliged to return to New 
 York by land, and at night crossed over to the east side of the 
 Hudson, and set out, provided with a pass from General 
 Arnold, under the assumed name of John Anderson. He 
 changed his uniform for a citizen's dress. 
 
 As he reached the neighborhood of Tarrytown, he was 
 stopped by three young men, John Paulding, David Williams, 
 and Isaac Van Wart, who demanded his name and destination. 
 Supposing them to be Tories, he did not use the pass given 
 him by Arnold, but avowed himself a British officer traveling 
 on important business. The young men then informed him 
 that they were Americans, and that he was their prisoner. He 
 was disconcerted, but endeavored to repair his mistake by pro- 
 ducing the pass given him by Arnold, and declaring himself a 
 Continental officer. He offered his captors his watch and 
 purse to allow him to proceed on his way; but they refused to 
 be bribed, and compelled him to dismount, and searched his 
 person. They found the plans and papers given him by Arnold 
 concealed in his boots. Paulding glanced over them, and ex- 
 claimed, "My God ! He is a spy!" Andre was conducted by 
 his captors to North Castle, the nearest American post, and 
 was delivered to Colonel Jameson. 
 
 Jameson, recognizing the handwriting of Arnold, and see- 
 ing that the papers were of a dangerous nature, sent them off 
 by express to Washington at Hartford. Andre was placed 
 under guard, and Jameson wrote to Arnold, informing him of 
 his capture and of the papers found on his person. Arnold 
 fled down the river as soon as he received this letter, and suc- 
 ceeded in reaching the Vulture, which received him on board. 
 From his place of safety he wrote to Washington, asking him 
 to protect his wife, who he declared was innocent of any share 
 in the plot. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. IO9 
 
 Washington having failed to come to an understanding with 
 the French commanders at Hartford, had set out on his return 
 two days earlier than he had expected. He reached West 
 Point, and repaired to the headquarters of Arnold, with whom 
 he had expected to breakfast. He was in ignorance of the 
 plot, and arrived at Arnold's quarters shortly after the flight of 
 the traitor. Being told that Mrs. Arnold was indisposed, and 
 that the general had gone to West Point to receive him, he 
 partook of a hasty breakfast, and repaired to the fortress. He 
 noticed as he crossed the river that no salute was fired, and 
 was met at the landing by Colonel Lamb, the commander of 
 the fort, who apologized for the neglect to pay him the proper 
 military honors by saying that he had not been informed of 
 the general's projected visit. Washington then inquired for 
 Arnold, and learned that he had not been at the fort for two 
 days. Still he did not suspect Arnold. He remained at the 
 fort during the morning, and towards noon returned to 
 Arnold's quarters. As he was ascending the hill from the 
 river, he was met by Colonel Hamilton, who had been 
 overtaken by Jameson's messenger with the papers cap- 
 tured with Andr^. Hamilton had opened these and had 
 learned their nature. Taking Washington aside, he informed 
 him of the plot, its discovery, and the traitor's flight. Wash- 
 ington at once despatched Hamilton on horseback to the bat- 
 teries at Verplanck's Point, with orders to intercept Arnold 
 should he not have passed that point. It was too late, how- 
 ever; the traitor had passed the battery before Hamilton's 
 arrival, and was safe on board the Vulture. Having failed to 
 intercept Arnold, Washington prepared to offer a stubborn re- 
 sistance in case the enemy should attempt the capture of 
 West Point. He was filled with a painful anxiety, for he knew 
 not whether Arnold's treason had embraced any, or hov/ many, 
 of the garrison. He treated Mrs. Arnold with the greatest 
 consideration, and soon sent her to her friends in Philadelphia. 
 
 Upon learning of Arnold's safety, Andr^ wrote to W^ashing- 
 ton, confessing the whole plot. He was at once brought to 
 trial as a spy. General Greene was the president of the court- 
 martial, and Lafayette and Steuben were among its members. 
 Andrd was sentenced upon his own confession to be hanged. 
 
I lO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Clinton made great exertions to save him, and Washington, 
 who sincerely pitied him, would have spared his life, had his 
 duty permitted him to do so. The circumstances of the case 
 demanded that the law should be enforced, and Andrd was 
 hanged at Tappan, near the Hudson, on the 2d of October, 
 1780, 
 
 The plot of Arnold was discovered by the merest chance. 
 Had it been successfully carried out, the American cause 
 would have sustained a disaster which might have been fatal 
 to it. "That overruling Providence, which has so often and so 
 remarkably interposed in our favor," wrote Washington to 
 Governor Reed, of Pennsylvania, " never manifested itself more 
 conspicuously than in the timely discovery of his horrid inten- 
 tion to surrender the post and garrison of West Point into the 
 hands of the enemy." 
 
 The American army passed the winter of 1780-81 in canton- 
 ments east and west of the Hudson. Their sufferings were 
 severe, and they were neglected by Congress, which was too 
 much occupied with its dissensions to care for the wants of the 
 soldiers. The Pennsylvania troops, who were quartered at 
 Morristown, had an especial cause of complaint. They had 
 enlisted "for three years, or for the war." They claimed that 
 as they had understood " for the war," to mean that the en- 
 listments should expire in case the war closed in less than 
 three years, they were now entitled to their discharge, as the 
 three years had expired. The Government, on the other hand, 
 held that the enlistments were for the whole term of the war, 
 no matter how long it should last, and refused to discharge the 
 troops. The dispute was brought to an end by a mutiny of 
 1,300 of these troops, at Morristown, on the ist of January, 
 1 78 1. It was quelled only by a compromise. All who had 
 served three years were allowed by Congress to retire from the 
 army, and provision was made for the payment of the money 
 due the troops. The disaffection spread to the other troops, 
 and on the 20th of January, the New Jersey troops mutined at 
 Pompton. This outbreak was put down by a detachment of 
 troops sent by Washington from West Point. These mutinies 
 had the good effect of awakening the country to the necessity 
 of providing for the wants of the army, and vigorous efforts 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 1 1 
 
 were inaugurated for this purpose. People now began to un- 
 derstand that to starve the army was to ruin the cause. 
 
 In January, 1781, the British commander sent a marauding 
 expedition to the Chesapeake and its tributaries, under the 
 traitor Arnold. Richmond was captured, plundered, and the 
 public buildings burned. Arnold then descended the James, 
 and took position at Portsmouth, where he was soon relieved 
 of his command, and succeeded by Gen. Philips. 
 
 During the early months of the year 1781, the principal 
 interest of the war centred in the South, where Greene and 
 Cornwallis were engaged in an active campaign. On the 20th 
 of April, Cornwallis advanced from Wilmington, and succeeded 
 in reaching Petersburg, Virginia, without serious opposition. 
 He entered the latter place on the 20th of May, and was 
 joined by the troops under General Philips, who had been 
 plundering the country along the lower James. A force of 
 about 4,000 men had been collected in Virginia, under La- 
 fayette and Steuben, to oppose him, and Washington was 
 seriously considering the propriety of reinforcing it from his 
 own army. 
 
 While still deliberating, he was informed of the arrival of a 
 French frigate at Newport, bringing the good news that a fleet 
 of twenty ships of the line, under the Count de Grasse, with a 
 considerable body of troops on board, had sailed for America, 
 and might be expected in the course of a few weeks. Wash- 
 ington held a conference with the Count de Rochambeau, at 
 Weathersfield, Conn., on the 22d of May, and it was agreed 
 between them that the long contemplated attack on New York 
 should be made immediately upon the arrival of the fleet of the 
 Count de Grasse. The French army was to march from New 
 York, and join Washington on the Hudson, and a French 
 frigate was dispatched from Newport to the West Indies, to 
 inform the Count de Grasse of this arrangement. The French 
 army joined Washington on the Hudson in July, and prepara- 
 tions were made to attack New York. 
 
 Clinton learned the intention of the American commander 
 by means of an intercepted letter. He ordered Cornwallis, 
 who had crossed the James river, and was at Williamsburg, to 
 send him a reinforcement of troops. Cornwallis prepared to 
 
112 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 comply with this order, and for that purpose marched towards 
 Portsmouth, followed cautiously by Lafayette. A slight en- 
 gagement occurred between their forces near Westover, in 
 which the Americans narrowly escaped a defeat. The British 
 army crossed to the south side of the James, and a detach- 
 ment was embarked, and was about to sail for New York, 
 when a second order was received from Clinton, who had been 
 reinforced from England, directing him to retain all his troops, 
 and to choose some central position in Virginia, from which 
 he could move northward if necessary, fortify it, and await the 
 development of the American plans. Cornwallis thereupon 
 crossed the James a third time, and took position at the towns 
 of Yorktown and Gloucester, near the mouth of York river. 
 He had with him an army of 8,000 effective men, and pro- 
 ceeded to fortify his position with strong intrenchments. His 
 communication between Yorktown and Gloucester was secured 
 by a number of war vessels which were anchored in the river 
 between those points. 
 
 In the meantime, Washington continued his preparations for 
 the attack upon New York. In the midst of them he re- 
 ceived a letter from the Count de Grasse, informing him that 
 he would sail for the Chesapeake, and not for Newport as he 
 had intended. This decision of the French Admiral put an 
 end to all hope of an early attack upon New York. That 
 effort must be abandoned, and an attempt must be made, with 
 the aid of the French fleet, to capture the army of Cornwallis 
 at Yorktown. It was now the month of August, and the 
 French fleet might be expected in the Chesapeake at any day. 
 Orders were sent to Lafayette to prevent Cornwallis from 
 retreating into North Carolina, and he was instructed to call 
 on General Greene for assistance, if necessary. Washington's 
 plan was to blockade Cornwallis in the York river, by means 
 of the French fleet, and at the same time to besiege him with 
 the allied armies, and force him to surrender. 
 
 In order to confirm Sir Henry Clinton in the belief that an 
 attack upon New York was intended, the defences of that city 
 were reconnoitred in force, and an extensive encampment was 
 marked out in New Jersey. The troops were gotten in readi- 
 ness to march, but were kept in ignorance of their destination. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. II3 
 
 On the 19th of August the movement was begun, and between 
 the 20th and 22d the American and French armies crossed the 
 Hudson, and on the 25th began their march across New Jersey. 
 When the troops learned that the South was their destination, 
 considerable dissatisfaction began to manifest itself; but their 
 good humor was restored at Philadelphia, where they received 
 a part of their pay in coin, and a supply of clothing, arms, and 
 ammunition, which had just arrived from France. From Phil- 
 adelphia the combined armies marched to the head of the 
 Chesapeake. Washington and his suite accompanied by a 
 number of French officers, proceeded overland to Mount Ver- 
 non. Washington rode on in advance, and reached his home 
 on the evening of the 9th. The next day he was joined by his 
 suite and the French officers. On the 12th, the party bade 
 adieu to Mount Vernon, and rode on to Williamsburg to join 
 Lafayette. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton was not aware of Washington's destina- 
 tion, until the latter was beyond the Delaware. The first 
 positive intimation he had of the change in the American 
 plans, was the sailing of the French fleet from Newport on the 
 28th of August. Supposing that the object of De Barras, its 
 commander, was to unite with another fleet in the Chesapeake, 
 Clinton sent Admiral Graves to prevent the junction. Upon 
 reaching the Capes, the British Admiral was astonished to find 
 the fleet of the Count de Grasse, consisting of twenty ships of 
 the line, anchored within the bay. De Grasse at once put to 
 sea, as if to engage the enemy, but really to draw them off, and 
 allow De Barras, who was hourly expected, to enter the 
 Chesapeake. For five days he skirmished with the English. 
 De Barras at length appeared, passed within the Capes, and 
 was followed by De Grasse. Admiral Graves was not willing 
 to attack this combined force, and returned to New York. 
 Clinton, in the hope of drawing Washington back to the Hud- 
 son, sent an expedition under Arnold, the traitor, to ravage the 
 shores of Long Island Sound. On the 6th of September, New 
 London was captured and burned. The militia of Connecticut 
 flew to arms, and Arnold was obliged to retreat. Washington 
 wisely left New England to defend herself, and continued his 
 
 movement against Cornwallis. 
 8 
 
114 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Cornwallis was very slow to realize his danger. He believed 
 that he would not be called on to oppose any force but the 
 small one under Lafayette in his front, and on the loth of Sep- 
 tember wrote to Clinton, that he could spare him 1,200 men for 
 the defense of New York. It was not until the French fleet had 
 anchored within the Chesapeake, and cut off his escape by sea, 
 that he perceived his error. He then attempted to retreat to 
 North Carolina, as Washington had foreseen, but Lafayette, 
 who had been reinforced by 3,000 French troops, under the 
 Marquis de St. Simon, from the fleet of De Grasse, effectually 
 barred his way. Finding a retreat impossible, Cornwallis 
 strengthened his fortifications, and wrote urgently to Clinton for 
 aid. 
 
 In the meantime, the American and French armies had been 
 transported from the head of the Chesapeake to Yorktown, in 
 vessels provided by the Count de Grasse. The French fleet 
 closed the mouth of the river, and the allied troops proceeded 
 to invest the town. Sixteen thousand men were present under 
 Washington's orders. The siege was begun on the 28th of 
 September. Works were erected completely enclosing those 
 of the British, and on the 9th of October the cannonade was 
 begun. It was continued for four days, and the British out- 
 works were greatly damaged, and several of their vessels in the 
 river were burned by means of red hot shot thrown into them 
 by the French vessels. On the 14th, two of the advanced re- 
 doubts of the enemy were carried by storm, one by the 
 Americans, the other by the French. From the positions thus 
 gained a destructive fire was maintained upon the English 
 lines, which reduced their works to ruins, and dismounted 
 many of their guns. On the 15th Cornwallis found his ammu- 
 nition nearly exhausted. Without assistance he could not 
 hold his position more than a few days longer. 
 
 In the extremity to which he was reduced, the British com- 
 mander resolved upon a desperate movement. He determined 
 to cross his whole force to the Gloucester side of the York, 
 leaving his wounded and baggage behind, and to endeavor to 
 cut his way northward to New York. On the night of the 
 i6th of October he crossed a part of his army from Yorktown 
 to Gloucester, but the second division was prevented from 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I I 5 
 
 crossing by a sudden storm, which delayed it until daylight. 
 The movement being thus defeated, Cornwallis was obliged to 
 bring the first division back to Yorktown. He accomplished 
 this with difficulty, as the boats were exposed to the fire of the 
 American batteries while crossing the river. The situation of 
 the British army was now hopeless; its works were in no con 
 dition to withstand an assault, and nothing was left to it bui 
 a capitulation. Cornwall is submitted to Washington an offer to 
 surrender, and the terms were soon arranged. On the 19th of 
 October, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army of seven 
 thousand men to General Washington, as Commander-in-chief 
 of the allied army, and his shipping, seamen, and naval stores 
 to the Count de Grasse, as the representative of the King of 
 France. 
 
 On the 19th of October, the day of the surrender of Corn- 
 wallis, Sir Henry Clinton sailed from New York to his assist- 
 ance with a force of 35 ships and 7,000 picked troops. Off the 
 Capes he learned of the surrender of the British army at York- 
 town, and as his fleet was not strong enough to encounter that 
 of the French, he returned to New York. 
 
 After the surrender at Yorktown, Washington urged the 
 Count de Grasse to co-operate with General Greene in an 
 attack upon Charleston. The French Admiral declined to do 
 this, urging the necessity of his immediate return to the West 
 Indies. The French troops were quartered for the winter at 
 Williamsburg, Virginia, and the American army returned to 
 the North and resumed its old positions on the Hudson. 
 
 The news of the capture of Cornwallis was received with 
 enthusiasm throughout the Union. A National thanksgiving 
 was ordered by Congress, and in all parts of the land rejoicings 
 went up to God in gratitude for the great success which all 
 men felt to be decisive of the war. Washington, though con- 
 vinced that peace was close at hand, did not relax his vigilance. 
 He urged upon Congress the importance of preparing for a 
 vigorous campaign the next year, but so thoroughly was that 
 body carried away by the prospect of peace that his recommen- 
 dations were unheeded. 
 
 The news of Cornwallis' capture caused the most intense 
 mortification in England. It was the second time an Encflish 
 
Il6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 army had been forced to surrender to the Americans, and the 
 efforts of Great Britain to conquer America were further off 
 from success than ever. The Enghsh people had never re- 
 garded this attempt with favor, and they now demanded of the 
 King and the aristocracy the cessation of the war. On the 
 20th of March, 1782, Lord North and his colleagues were 
 driven from power, and a new ministry was formed under the 
 Marquis of Rockingham. Sir Henry Clinton was recalled from 
 New York, and was succeeded in his command by Sir Guy 
 Carleton. A resolution to bring the war to a close having 
 been adopted by Parliament, Carleton came with full power to 
 open negotiations for peace. He at once began a correspond- 
 ence with Washington, which resulted in an informal suspen- 
 sion of hostilities during the pending negotiations in Europe. 
 In order to be prepared for a resumption of the war in case the 
 peace negotiations were unsuccessful, Washington induced the 
 Count de Rochambeau to move with the French army to the 
 Hudson and form a junction with the American forces. The 
 junction was effected in September. 
 
 During the year 1782 great discontent prevailed among the 
 American troops, who were unpaid and neglected by Congress 
 and by their respective State governments. Washington 
 warned Congress of the danger of further neglect of the army, 
 but his warning was unheeded. 
 
 While matters were in this state. Colonel Nicola, of the 
 Pennsylvania line, at the instance of a number of officers, wrote 
 to Washington in May, 1782, proposing the creation of a mon- 
 archy, and offering him the crown. Washington at once saw 
 that Nicola was but the organ of a military faction, which was 
 disposed to make the army the basis of an energetic govern- 
 ment, and to place him at the head. " The suggestion, backed 
 by the opportunity, might have tempted a man of meaner am- 
 bition." It drew from him an indignant rebuke to the writer 
 of the letter. " I am much at a loss to conceive," he wrote, 
 " what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to 
 an address, which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs 
 that can befall my country. If I am not deceived in the 
 knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to 
 whom your schemes are more disagreeable. * * * Let me 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 11/ 
 
 conjure you, then, if you have any regard for your country, 
 concern for yourself, or posterity, or respect for me, to 
 banish these thoughts from your mind, and never communi- 
 cate, as from yourself, or any one else, a sentiment of the like 
 nature." 
 
 The discontents continued to increase, and in March, 1783, 
 a series of anonymous addresses to the army were circulated in 
 the camp, advising the officers and men to take their griev- 
 ances into their own hands, and compel Congress to do them 
 justice. A meeting of the officers was held on the 15th of 
 March. Washington had previously urged the officers in pri- 
 vate to a moderate course, and he now appeared at the meeting 
 and appealed to them to be patient a little longer, and pledged 
 himself to use his influence with Congress to fulfil its neglected 
 promises. His appeal was successful, and it was resolved by 
 the meeting to trust to the justice of Congress. Washington 
 transmitted the resolutions of the meeting to Congress, and 
 urged that body to make good the promises he had made in 
 its name. Congress agreed to advance full pay to the troops 
 for four months, and to commute the half pay of the officers 
 into a sum equal to five years' whole pay. Thus did the wis- 
 dom of Washington rescue the country once more from grave 
 peril. 
 
 In the spring of 1783, news arrived of the conclusion of the 
 preliminary treaties of peace between the United States and 
 France, and Great Britain. On the 19th of April, 1783, just 
 eight years from the commencement of the war at Lexington, 
 the cessation of hostilities was proclaimed in general orders to 
 the army. The war was over, and independence was won. 
 
 Congress authorized the Commander-in-chief to grant fur- 
 loughs to the troops, and Washington freely availed himself 
 of this authority to enable the men to return home. This was 
 a wise measure, as it reduced the army slowly, and returned 
 the troops to the pursuits of peace so gradually, that the 
 country scarcely perceived the change. At Washington's sug- 
 gestion, also, the men were allowed to retain their arms as 
 trophies of the noble service they had rendered the country in 
 her hour of trial. On the 2d of November, the army was for- 
 mally disbanded by order of Congress. Washington addressed 
 
Il8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to it an eloquent and feeling farewell order. A small force 
 was retained in the service, with which Washington occupied 
 New York on the 25th of November, on which day the British 
 evacuated that city, and sailed to their own country. 
 
 On the 4th of December, Washington set out from New 
 York for Annapolis, where Congress was in session. At the 
 hour of his departure, the principal officers of the army assem- 
 bled at Fraunces' Tavern, near Whitehall Ferry, to take leave 
 of him. As he entered the room, the sight of his old compan- 
 ions in arms for a moment overcame his firmness. Filling a 
 glass of wine, he turned to them, and said with a voice un- 
 steadied by emotion : " With a heart full of love and gratitude, 
 I now take leave of you, most devoutly wishing that your lat- 
 ter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones 
 have been glorious and honorable." He drained the glass to 
 the bottom, and then added, " I cannot come to each of you 
 to take my leave, but shall be obliged if each of you will come 
 and take me by the hand." 
 
 For a moment no one stirred. Then General Knox, who 
 was nearest, stepped forward. Washington, with tears, clasped 
 him in his arms, and in the same manner took leave of each 
 one present. Not a word was spoken ; each heart was full ; 
 and the veterans did not think their manhood shamed by the 
 tears that moistened their bronzed cheeks. When the last 
 embrace had been given, Washington left the room, followed 
 by all present, and passing through a corps of light infantry, 
 proceeded on foot to Whitehall Ferry, where a barge was 
 waiting to convey him to the Jersey shore. He entered it, and 
 as it put off from the shore waved a silent adieu to his old 
 comrades, who watched the boat until it was far out in the 
 stream. 
 
 From New York Washington proceeded to Philadelphia, 
 where he stopped a few days to adjust his accounts with the 
 Comptroller of the Treasury. They extended from the com- 
 mencement of the war to the 13th of the actual month of De- 
 cember. " They were all in his own handwriting, and kept in 
 the cleanest and most accurate manner, each entry being 
 accompanied by a statement of the occasion and object of the 
 charge. The gross amount was about fourteen thousand five 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I I9 
 
 hundred pounds stei'ling. * * All this, it must be noted, was 
 an account of money actually expended in the progress of the 
 war — not for arrearages of pay; for it will be recollected 
 Washington accepted no pay. Indeed, on the final adjustment 
 of his accounts, he found himself a considerable loser, having 
 frequently, in the hurry of business, neglected to credit him- 
 self with sums drawn from his private purse in moments of 
 exigency. The schedule of his public account furnishes not 
 the least among the many noble and impressive lessons 
 taught by his character and example. It stands a touchstone 
 of honesty in office, and a lasting rebuke of that lavish expen- 
 diture of the public money, too often heedlessly, if not willfully, 
 indulged in by military commanders."^ 
 
 From Philadelphia Washington hastened to Annapolis, 
 where Congress was in session, and on the 20th of December 
 addressed a letter to the President of Congress, asking in what 
 manner it would be most proper to offer his resignation; 
 whether in writing or at an audience. Congress adopted the 
 latter method, and appointed the 23d as the time. 
 
 At noon on the appointed day, a brilliant assemblage 
 gathered in the hall of Congress to witness the scene. The 
 members of Congress were present, seated and covered, as 
 representatives of the sovereignty of the Union. The gentle- 
 men present as spectators were standing and uncovered. The 
 galleries were filled with ladies. Washington was introduced 
 by the Secretary of Congress, and was conducted to a seat ap- 
 pointed for him. After a slight pause, the President informed 
 him that "the United States in Congress assembled were pre- 
 pared to receive his communication." 
 
 Washington then rose, and in an impressive manner stated 
 the reasons which impelled him to the action he was about to 
 take. " Having now finished the work assigned me," he said 
 in conclusion, "I retire from the great theatre of action; and 
 bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under 
 whose orders I have long acted, I here offer my commission, 
 and take leave of all the employments of public life." 
 
 He then delivered his commission into the hands of the 
 President, who in a reply to his address, bore witness to the 
 
 ^ Irvinz. 
 
I20 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 faithful and able manner in which he had discharged the diffi- 
 cult duties of his august station. "You retire," he said, 
 "from the theatre of action with the blessings of your fellow 
 citizens; but the glory of your virtues will not terminate with 
 your military command; it will continue to animate remotest 
 ages." 
 
 The next day Washington left Annapolis, and by nightfall 
 was once more in the peaceful retirement of his beloved Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 He had ceased to be a "public character," and was once 
 more a simple citizen. The change was grateful to him, but 
 he could hardly realize it at first. " Strange as it may seem," 
 he wrote to General Knox, "it is nevertheless true, that it was 
 not until very lately I could get the better of my usual cus- 
 tom of ruminating as soon as I waked in the morning on the 
 business of the ensuing day; and of my surprise at finding, 
 after revolving many things in my mind, that I was no longer 
 a public man, nor had anything to do with public transactions." 
 
 The expenses to which he had been put during the war, and 
 his long absence from home, had considerably impaired his 
 fortune, and upon his return to Mount Vernon it was expe- 
 dient for the General to practise a more careful economy than 
 he had found necessary before. While he was engaged in 
 arranging his plans for this purpose, he received a communica- 
 tion from the Representatives in Congress from Pennsylvania, 
 informing him that the Supreme Council of their State, in 
 view of his disinterested conduct during the war, and of the 
 fact that his distinguished services would attract many visitors 
 to Mount Vernon to pay their respects to him, had instructed 
 them to urge upon Congress the propriety of tendering him 
 some national reward. The Representatives were instructed to 
 ask if such a step would be agreeable to him. Washington 
 was deeply touched by this delicate effort to assist him in his 
 pecuniary troubles, but he at once gratefully and respectfully, 
 but firmly, declined it. It was his pride to serve his country at 
 the sacrifice of his own interests. 
 
 For the first few months after Washington's return home he 
 was confined to his estate by a severe winter, but when the 
 spring returned he devoted himself with all his old ardor to 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON, 121 
 
 the improvement of his estate and to his favorite agricultural 
 schemes. In the autumn of 1784 he crossed the Alleghanies 
 in company with his old friend Dr. Craik, and visited some of 
 his lands which lay beyond the mountains. He left Mount 
 Vernon on the ist of September, and returned on the 4th of 
 October, having traveled on horseback six hundred and eighty 
 miles, the greater part of the distance in an unsettled region, 
 where he was obliged to encamp at night. 
 
 This journey convinced him of the importance of putting 
 in execution a scheme he had long contemplated, namely : the 
 construction of a series of canals from the headwaters of the 
 Potomac and James rivers to the Ohio, and from that river to 
 the great lakes. He was confident that great advantages would 
 result from such a means of communication with the West, 
 and he was anxious that Virginia and Maryland should secure 
 them. Such an undertaking he believed to be necessary in 
 order to retain the West as a part of the Union. Upon his 
 return home he communicated his views to the Governors and 
 Legislatures of Virginia and Maryland. The result of his 
 efforts was the formation of the James River and the Potomac 
 Canal Companies. He was appointed president of both com- 
 panies, and the Legislature of Virginia gratefully voted him 
 fifty shares in the Potomac and one hundred in the James River 
 Company, worth in all about forty thousand dollars.- Washing- 
 ton declined to receive the shares, except as a trust to be 
 applied to the use of some public institution or object. They 
 were ultimately applied by him to institutions of learning. 
 
 A large correspondence had to be attended to, much of 
 which he would gladly have dispensed with. He delighted in 
 writing to and hearing from his old friends and comrades, but 
 there were other numerous demands upon his pen. From 
 much of this drudgery he was relieved by his secretary, Mr. 
 Tobias Lear, who was also the tutor of his adopted children— - 
 the son- and daughter of the late Mr. Parke Custis, Mrs. Wash- 
 ington's son by her first marriage. He was devotedly attached 
 to these little ones, and drew much of his most genuine happi- 
 ness from their society. " I have sometimes," said Miss Custis 
 in after years, " made him laugh most heartily from sympathy 
 with my joyous and extravagant spirits." 
 
122 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 His mode of life was exact. He rose before dawn and de- 
 voted himself to his correspondence until breakfast, which took 
 place at half-past seven. After breakfast he mounted his horse, 
 which was in waiting at the door, and rode over the estate to 
 superintend the labors of the day. At half-past two dinner was 
 served. If there was no company he would write until dark, 
 or, if very busy, until nine in the evening. At other times he 
 read in the evening or joined in a game of whist. At ten 
 o'clock he retired to bed. 
 
 He was simple and unostentatious in his manner. " He 
 spoke little generally," says Miss Custis, " never of himself I 
 never heard him relate a single act of his life during the war." 
 His private secretary, Mr. Lear, wrote of him : " General 
 Washington is, I believe, almost the only man of exalted 
 character, who does not lose some part of his respectability by 
 an intimate acquaintance. I have never found a single thing 
 that could lessen my respect for him. A complete knowledge 
 of his honesty, uprightness and candor in all his private trans- 
 actions, has sometimes led me to think him more than a man." 
 Mr. Elkanah Watson, who visited Mount Vernon in the winter 
 of 1785, wrote of him: "I found him kind and benignant in 
 the domestic circle; revered and beloved by all around him; 
 agreeably social ; without ostentation ; delighting in anecdote 
 and adventures ; without assumption ; his domestic arrange- 
 ments harmonious and systematic. His servants seemed to 
 watch his eye and to anticipate his every wish ; hence a look 
 was equivalent to a command. His servant Billy, the faithful 
 companion of his military career, was always at his side. 
 Smiling content animated and beamed on eveiy countenance 
 in his presence." 
 
 " The reverential awe which his deeds and elevated position 
 threw around him," says Irving, " was often a source of annoy- 
 ance to him in private life ; especially when he perceived its 
 effect upon the young and gay. We have been told of a case 
 in point, where he made his appearance at a private ball where 
 all were enjoying themselves with the utmost glee. The mo- 
 ment he entered the room the bouyant mirth was checked ; 
 the dance lost its animation ; every face was grave ; every 
 tongue was silent. He remained for a time, endeavoring to 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 23 
 
 engage in conversation with some of the young people, and to 
 break the spell ; finding it in vain, he retired sadly to the com- 
 pany of the elders in an adjoining room, expressing his regret 
 that his presence should operate as such a damper. After a 
 little while light laughter and happy voices again resounded 
 from the ball room ; upon which he rose cautiously, ap- 
 proached on tip-toe the door, which was ajar, and there stood 
 for some time a delighted spectator of the youthful revelry." 
 
 Though habitually grave and quiet in manner, he could 
 laugh as heartily as the merriest when his keen sense of humor 
 was excited, and many instances are on record of his being 
 surprised into sudden and hearty fits of laughter, even when 
 the weighty cares of the war were hanging over him. 
 
 In the retirement of his home, Washington was a close and 
 anxious observer of the events which followed the return of 
 peace. He was soon convinced that the Union could not hold 
 together under the Articles of Confederation. The state of the 
 country was very bad indeed, and was growing worse. The 
 country was exhausted by the sacrifices and burdens imposed 
 upon it by the War of Independence, and it was staggering un- 
 der the enormous debt of $170,000,000; a sum vastly out of 
 proportion to its resources. Two-thirds of these debts had 
 been contracted by Congress ; the remainder by the States. 
 The Articles of Confederation were found inadequate to the 
 task of enforcing the authority of the general government, and 
 the States treated the orders of Congress with neglect. Com- 
 merce was in confusion for lack of a uniform system. The 
 States entered into competition with each other for the trade 
 of foreign nations, and articles were admitted free of duty in 
 some of the States which were subjected to heavy imposts m 
 others. Some of the States were unable to enforce the collec- 
 tion of taxes within their own limits. The British merchants, 
 at the close of the war, flooded the markets of America with 
 their manufactures at reduced prices ; and the result was that 
 the domestic manufactures which had sprung up in the States 
 during the struggle, were ruined ; the country was drained of 
 its specie ; and the merchants and people of the Union were 
 involved in heavy debts. A general poverty prevailed in the 
 Eastern States, and gave rise to much discontent. In Massa- 
 
124 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 chusetts, in December, |i 786, a thousand men under Daniel 
 Shays took up arms to prevent the courts from issuing writs 
 for the collection of debts. The militia were called out, and 
 " Shays' rebellion" was put down ; but it was plain that the 
 sympathies of the people were largely with the insurgents. 
 These troubles brought home to the whole country the neces- 
 sity of a more perfect system of government, and measures 
 were begun for bringing about the changes needed. It was 
 finally decided to call a Convention to revise the Articles of 
 Confederation. This Convention was to meet in Philadelphia 
 in May, 1787. 
 
 Washington was placed at the head of the Virginia delega- 
 tion to the Convention. He endeavored to decline the honor, 
 but was finally induced to accept it. Having made up his 
 mind to attend, he prepared himself for his new duties by a 
 course of reading " on the history and principles of ancient and 
 modern Confederacies." 
 
 The Convention began its sessions on the 25th of May, 1787, 
 and by a unanimous vote chose General Washington as its 
 President. The deliberations of the Convention extended over 
 a period of four months, and were held with closed doors. 
 Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation, the delegates 
 proceeded to frame an entirely new Constitution. Each article 
 of this Constitution was discussed with care and minuteness, 
 and with great feeling. The proceedings were so far from har- 
 monious that there were several occasions when it seemed 
 likely that the Convention would break up in confusion and 
 leave its work unfinished. At length, however, through the 
 exercise of a patriotic forbearance, the Convention brought its 
 labors to a close, and the " Constitution of the United States " 
 was perfected and presented to Congress, which body submitted 
 it to the several States for their approval. The State govern- 
 ments submitted the Constitution to Conventions of their 
 respective people. By the end of 1788 it was ratified by eleven 
 States. North Carolina did not ratify it until November, 1789 ; 
 Rhode Island accepted it in May, 1790. 
 
 Washington's influence in the Convention had been used in 
 behalf of the Constitution. He was not altogether satisfied 
 with it, but accepted and advocated it as the best result attain- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 25 
 
 able; and the subsequent history of the countiy has vindicated 
 the wisdom of his views. He watched its fate after it was sub- 
 mitted to the States with great anxiety, though he never for a 
 moment doubted that they would accept it. 
 
 The Constitution having been adopted, an election for Presi- 
 dent was ordered by Congress for the first Wednesday in Jan- 
 uary, 1789. The electors chosen on this occasion by the 
 people were to meet on the first Wednesday in the following 
 February, and ballot for President and Vice-President. The 
 new Congress was to meet in New York on the first Wednes- 
 day in March. 
 
 It was the general desire of the country that Washington 
 should be the first President. He was aware of the popular 
 wish, which was too outspoken for him to be ignorant of it, 
 and in his confidential letters to his friends expressed his un- 
 feigned reluctance to accept the office. "You will, I am sure," 
 he wrote to Alexander Hamilton, "believe the assertion, though 
 I have little expectation it would gain credit from those who 
 are less acquainted with me, that, if I should receive the ap- 
 pointment, and if I should be prevailed upon to accept it, the 
 acceptance would be attended with more diffidence and reluct- 
 ance than I ever experienced before in my life. It would be, 
 however, with a fixed and sole determination of lending what- 
 ever assistance might be in my power to promote the public 
 weal, in hopes that, at a convenient and early period, my ser- 
 vices might be dispensed with, and that I might be permitted 
 once more to retire, to pass an unclouded evening, after the 
 stormy day of life, in the bosom of domestic tranquillity." 
 
 The election was held at the appointed time, and resulted in 
 the unanimous choice of Washington as President. John 
 Adams was chosen Vice-President. Washington had ^y this 
 time been led to see that his duty required that he should sac- 
 rifice his private wishes to the desire of his countrymen, and 
 he now prepared to leave Mount Vernon as soon as he should 
 be officially notified of his election. He repaired to Freder- 
 icksburg, and took a touching leave of his invalid mother, 
 whose last years were cheered by seeing her son enjoying the 
 highest honors within the gift of his grateful country. On 
 
126 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 the 14th of April, Washington received official notice of his 
 election, and on the i6th set out from Mount Vernon for New 
 
 York. 
 
 His progress was a continual ovation. The citizens of 
 Alexandria, his old friends and neighbors, took leave of him 
 at a public dinner. Baltimore welcomed him with a joyous 
 procession and with thunders of artillery. Arriving at Chester, 
 he was met by a grand procession, and thus escorted, entered 
 Philadelphia, under triumphal arches, and amid the ringing 
 cheers of the citizens. At Trenton, where, twelve years before, 
 he had led his little band of heroes through ice and snow, 
 across the half frozen Delaware, to strike the decisive blow 
 that rolled back the tide of defeat, and saved his countr^^ he 
 was met by crowds of enthusiastic citizens, who hailed him as 
 their deliverer. He entered the town under an arch entwined 
 with evergreens and laurels, and inscribed with the words, 
 "The defender of the mothers will be the protector of the 
 daughters." The matrons of the city assembled at this arch 
 to meet him, and young girls walked before him, scattering 
 roses in his pathway and singing an ode of gratitude and wel- 
 come. 
 
 " At Elizabethtown Point, a committee of both Houses of 
 Congress, with various civic functionaries, waited by appomt- 
 ment to receive him. He embarked on board of a splendid 
 barge, constructed for the occasion. It was manned by thir- 
 teen branch pilots, masters of vessels, in white uniforms, and 
 commanded by Commodore Nicholson. Other barges fan- 
 cifully decorated followed, having on board the heads of 
 departments and other public officers, and several distinguished 
 citizens. As they passed through the strait between Staten 
 Island and the Jerseys, called the Kills, other boats, decorated 
 with flags, fell in their wake, until the whole, forming a nauti- 
 cal procession, swept up the broad and beautiful bay of New 
 York, to the sound of instrumental" music. On board of two 
 vessels were parties of ladies and gentlemen, who sang congrat- 
 ulatory odes as Washington's barge approached. The ships at 
 anchor in the harbor, dressed in colors, fired salutes as it 
 passed. One alone, the Galveston, a Spanish man-of-war, dis- 
 played no signs of gratulation until the barge of the General 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 27 
 
 was nearly abreast ; when suddenly, as if by magic, the yards 
 were manned, the ship burst forth, as it were, into a full array 
 of flags and signals, and thundered a salute of thirteen guns. 
 
 " He approached the landing place of Murray's wharf, amid 
 the ringing of bells, the roaring of cannonry, and the shouting 
 of multitudes collected on every pier head. On landing, he 
 was received by Governor Clinton. General Knox, too, who 
 had taken such affectionate leave of him on his retirement from 
 military life, was there to welcome him in his civil capacity. 
 Other of his fellow soldiers of the Revolution were likewise 
 there, mingling with the civil dignitaries. At this juncture, an 
 officer stepped up and requested Washington's orders, an- 
 nouncing himself as commanding his guard. Washington 
 desired him to proceed according to the directions he might 
 have received in the present arrangements, but for the future 
 the affection of his fellow citizens was all the guard he wanted. 
 
 " Carpets had been spread to a carriage to convey him to 
 his destined residence, but he preferred to walk. He was at- 
 tended by a long civil and military train. In the streets 
 through which he passed the houses were decorated with flags, 
 silken banners, garlands of flowers and evergreens, and bore 
 his name in every form of ornament. The streets were 
 crowded with people, so that it was with difficulty a passage 
 could be made by the city officers. Washington frequently 
 bowed to the multitude as he passed, taking off his hat to 
 the ladies, who thronged every window, waving their hand- 
 kerchiefs, throwing flowers before him, and many of them 
 shedding tears of enthusiasm. That day he dined with his old 
 friend Governor Clinton, who had invited a numerous company 
 of public functionaries and foreign diplomatists to meet him, 
 and in the evening the city was brilliantly illuminated."^ 
 
 The inauguration took place on the 30th of April. At half- 
 past twelve o'clock Washington proceeded from his residence 
 to the town hall, where Congress was in session. The oath 
 was administered by Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of the 
 State of New York, on a balcony in front of the Senate Cham- 
 ber, in the presence of an immense multitude gathered in the 
 
 ^Irving's Life of Washington. Vol. IV., pp. 471-472. 
 
128 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Street below. After taking the oath of office the new President 
 returned to the Senate Chamber, where he delivered to both 
 Houses of Congress his inaugural, address. This done the 
 whole assemblage, headed by the President, proceeded on foot 
 to St. Paul's Church, where appropriate religious services were 
 held by Dr. Prevost, the Episcopal Bishop of New York. 
 
 For some months Congress delayed the organization of the 
 Executive Departments of the Government, and Washington was 
 left to meet the early difficulties of his position without any con- 
 stitutional advisers. He had the benefit of the advice of Mr. Jay, 
 who had for some time been in charge of the foreign office, and 
 of his old friend. General Knox, who had discharged the duties 
 of Secretary of War since the close of the Revolution. On the 
 loth of September the bills creating the Departments of For- 
 eign Affairs (afterwards called the State Department), the 
 Treasury and War were passed by Congress. Washington at 
 once appointed General Knox Secretary of War, and Alex- 
 ander Hamilton, of New York, Secretary of the Treasury; 
 John Jay, of New York, was appointed Chief Justice of the 
 United States, as he preferred the Bench to a seat in the Cabi- 
 net; and Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, was made Attorney 
 General. The Department of State remained vacant for some 
 time. Mr. Jay consented to remain in charge of it until it 
 could be filled to Washington's satisfaction. The President 
 thereupon offered it to Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, then 
 absent from the country as Minister to France. After some 
 hesitation Mr. Jefferson accepted it, and returning home entered 
 upon his duties in March, 1790. 
 
 In May the President was joined by Mrs. Washington and 
 her grandchildren, and his household was complete. It was 
 conducted in the simplest manner, but upon an ample and 
 dignified scale. A steward had charge of it, and was required 
 to render a weekly account of receipts and expenses, and was 
 charged to guard against waste and extravagance. On Friday 
 evening of each week Mrs. Washington held a general recep- 
 tion from eight to ten o'clock, at which the President was 
 always present. These receptions were attended by the fash- 
 ionable and official society of New York, and were open to 
 all persons of respectability who chose to attend. These public 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 129 
 
 receptions were distinct from the private intercourse of the 
 President and his family with their friends. Sunday was strictly 
 observed by the President. He attended church in the morn- 
 ing and passed the afternoon in retirement. The evening was 
 spent with his family, all visitors, save perhaps an intimate 
 friend, being refused admittance. 
 
 In the early summer of 1789 Washington was prostrated by 
 a virulent attack of anthrax, which for a time threatened to 
 prove fatal. While recovering from his illness, which lasted 
 nearly two months, he received intelligence of the death of his 
 mother, which took place on the 25th of August. Although 
 it was not unexpected, Washington was deeply moved by it. 
 
 The new government was called upon to face many difficul- 
 ties, the principal of which was the settlement of the financial 
 affairs of the country, which was burdened with debt. The 
 national debt had been contracted on Account of the Revolu- 
 tion, and was in the form of notes of the government, or 
 promises to pay. In addition to this, the States had each a 
 heavy debt, generally in the same form and contracted on the 
 same account. In January, 1790, Alexander Hamilton, as 
 Secretary of the Treasury, proposed to pay all these debts 
 in full, and advised the General Government to assume 
 the war debts of the States. The plan met with considerable 
 opposition at first, but was at length adopted. It was also 
 arranged that the revenues of the country should be divided 
 between the Federal and State governments as follows : As the 
 control of commerce had passed into the hands of Congress, the 
 revenue derived from the duties levied upon articles imported 
 into the Union was to be applied to the uses of the General 
 Government. The proceeds of the direct taxes upon real 
 estate and other property, which could be levied only by the 
 respective States within their own limits, was to be used for 
 the expenses of those States. 
 
 It had been for some time considered desirable to remove the 
 seat of the Federal Government to some point more central 
 than New York, and which could be placed under the supreme 
 control of Congress. A number of sites for the new Capital 
 were proposed. The South had earnestly desired that it should- 
 be located on the Potomac, near Georgetown, and in order to 
 9 
 
130 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 obtain this settlement, the Southern delegates acceded to Ham- 
 ilton's plan for the assumption of the State debts by Congress; 
 the Northern delegates, in return for this support, voting in 
 favor of the location of the Federal Capital on the Potomac. 
 In 1 790 it was resolved by Congress that the seat of govern- 
 ment be fixed at Philadelphia for ten years, and that in 1800 
 it be removed to a new city, to be built on the banks of the 
 Potomac. A Federal District, ten miles square, was obtained 
 by cession from Virginia and Maryland, and was placed under 
 the sole control of Congress. It was called the District of 
 Columbia — the foundations of a new city, named " Washing- 
 ton," were laid on the left bank of the Potomac, a short distance 
 below the falls of that river, and buildings for the accommoda- 
 tion of the General Government were begun and were pushed 
 forward as rapidily as possible. 
 
 The General Governiiient was removed to Philadelphia in 
 1 79 1, and in December of that year the second Congress began 
 its sessions in that city. The principal measure of this year 
 was the establishment of the Bank of the United States, in 
 accordance with the recommendations of Alexander Hamilton. 
 The bank was chartered for twenty years, and its capital was 
 $10,000,000, of which the Government took two millions, and 
 private individuals the remainder. The measure was approved 
 by Washington, but was not carried through Congress without 
 considerable opposition. The establishment of the Bank was 
 very beneficial to the Government, as well as to the general 
 interests of the country. The notes of the Bank were payable 
 in gold and silver upon presentation at its counter. 
 
 The Indians of the Northwest had been very troublesome 
 for .some time. They committed innumerable outrages along 
 the Ohio, and almost put a stop to trade upon its waters by 
 attacking and plundering the flat-boats of the emigrants and 
 traders which were constantly descending the river. Washing- 
 ton resolved to put a stop to their outrages, and General 
 Harmer was sent against them with a considerable force in 
 1790, but was defeated with great loss. In 1791, General St. 
 Clair, the Governor of the Northwest territory was placed by 
 Washington in command of an expedition against the savages. 
 Summoning him to a personal interview, the President gave 
 
he Bronze Door in the National Capitol Connmemorating the Events of the 
 ■ Life of George Washington. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I3I 
 
 St. Clair his final instructions. "You have your instructions 
 from thj Secretary of War," said the President. "I had a 
 strict eye to them, and will add but one word — Beware of a 
 surprise. You know how the Indians fight. I repeat it — 
 Beware of a surprise." St. Clair departed, and about the mid- 
 dle of September set out from Fort Washington, now Cincin- 
 nati, with a force of 2,000 men. Near the headwaters of the 
 Wabash he was surprised and defeated by an Indian force 
 under Little Turtle, a famous chief of the Miamis. The wreck 
 of his army fled to Fort Washington, and the frontier was once 
 more defenseless. 
 
 The news of St. Clair's defeat reached Washington while he 
 was entertaining a number of guests at dinner. He retained 
 his calmness until his guests had departed, and he was left 
 alone with his secretary, Mr. Lear. " Taking a seat on the 
 sofa, he told Mr. Lear to sit down. The latter had scarce time 
 to notice that he was extremely agitated, when he broke out 
 suddenly : ' It's all over ! St. Clair's defeated — routed ; the offi- 
 cers nearly all killed, the men by wholesale ; the rout complete; 
 too shocking to think of — and a surprise into the bargain !' 
 Then pausing and rising from the sofa he walked up and down 
 the room in silence, violently agitated, but saying nothing. 
 When near the door he stopped short, stood still for a few 
 moments, when there was another terrible explosion of wrath. 
 ' Yes,' exclaimed he, ' here, on this very spot I took leave 
 of him ; I wished him success and honor. "You have your in- 
 structions from the Secretary of War," said I ; " I had a strict eye 
 to them, and will add but one word, Beivare of a surprise ! You 
 know how the Indians fight us. I repeat it, Beivare of a sur- 
 prise" He went off with that, my last warning, thrown into his 
 ears. And yet ! ! To suffer that army to be cut to pieces, 
 hacked, butchered, tomahawked, by a surprise, the very thing 
 I guarded him against — O, God! O, God!' exclaimed he, 
 throwing up his hands, while his very frame shook with emo- 
 tion, ' he's worse than a murderer ! How can he answer it to 
 his country ! The blood of the slain is upon him — the curse of 
 widows and orphans — the curse of heaven !' 
 
 " Mr. Lear remained speechless ; awed into silence by the 
 appalling tones in which this torrent of invective was poured 
 
132 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 forth. The paroxysm passed by. Washington again sat down 
 on the sofa ; he was silent — apparently uncomfortable, as if 
 conscious of the ungovernable burst of passion which had over- 
 come him. ' This must not go* beyond this room,' said he at 
 length in subdued and altered tone ; — there was another and a 
 longer pause — then, in a tone quite low : * General St. Clair 
 shall have justice,' said he, * I looked hastily through the dis- 
 patches ; saw the whole disaster, but not all the particulars. I 
 will receive him without displeasure ; I will hear him without 
 prejudice ; he shall have full justice.' "^ 
 
 Washington kept his word. He removed St. Clair from his 
 command; but, having investigated the disaster, did justice to 
 his bravery and his misfortunes. A Committee of Congress 
 having made a similar investigation, returned a report explicitly 
 exonerating General St. Clair. Washington continued to 
 honor him with his friendship and confidence. 
 
 After St. Clair's defeat. General Anthony Wayne was placed 
 in command of the Western army. In the summer of 1794 he 
 marched into the Indian country, laid it waste, and defeated the 
 Indian tribes in the battle of the Maumee on the 20th of 
 August. In the summer of 1795 the savages, cowed by their 
 defeat, entered into a treaty with the United States, by which 
 they ceded all the southern and eastern part of Ohio to the 
 whites, and withdrew further westward. 
 
 The Cabinet was not harmonious. Jefferson and Hamilton 
 had quarreled. The former was sustained by the Attorney 
 General ; the latter by his old comrade, the Secretary of War. 
 The quarrel had spread to the country, and the rival secretaries 
 had become the heads of the two parties which divided the 
 country. Hamilton's party was known as the Federalist ; Jef- 
 ferson's supporters were becoming known as Republicans. The 
 quarrel took an exceedingly bitter form, both in the Cabinet 
 and out of it, and caused Washington the greatest annoyance. 
 He was weary of public life, and looked forward with eagerness 
 to the close of his term, when he meant to retire from office 
 and seek the repose of his beloved Mount Vernon. Jefferson 
 and Madison, the latter then a prominent member of Congress, 
 
 ^Irw'mg's Life of IVashinglon. Vol. V., pp. I02-103 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 33 
 
 earnestly entreated Washington to reconsider his determination, 
 and serve another term, urging upon him the importance to the 
 country of his continuing in the presidency. Hamilton and 
 Randolph added their entreaties, and other friends joined in the 
 appeal; and after a long and painful hesitation, Washington 
 consented to be a candidate for re-election. He had no oppo- 
 nent to divide the popular vote, and received the unanimous 
 vote of the Electors. He entered upon his second term on the 
 4th of March, 1793. 
 
 Shortly after the commencement of Washington's presidency, 
 the French Revolution broke out, and drew upon France the 
 attention of the whole civilized world. The events of the great 
 struggle were watched with the deepest interest in America, for 
 the nation cherished the warmest sentiments of gratitude to 
 France for her aid in the war of independence. The Republi- 
 can party favored an alliance with the French Republic, but 
 Washington and the greater part of the Cabinet were resolved 
 to take no part in European quarrels. As time passed on, the 
 excesses of the revolutionists shocked the public sentiment of 
 America, and the events of the Reign of Terror cooled the zeal 
 of many of the most ardent friends of the French Republic. 
 Party feeling ran high upon the subject, however, and the 
 discussions were still very bitter, when M. Edmond Charles 
 Genet, or " Citizen Genet," as he was generally styled, arrived 
 in the United States, in 1793, as Minister from the French 
 Republic. He brought the news that France had declared war 
 against Great Britain. He was well received by a large part 
 of the people, who were anxious that the United States should 
 form a new alliance with France, and engage in a new war with 
 England. The President and his Cabinet were unmoved by 
 this demand, and a proclamation was issued declaring the neu- 
 trality of the United States in the war between Great Britain 
 and France, and warning the American people to refrain from 
 the commission of acts inconsistent with this neutrality. The 
 firmness of Washington saved the country from a new and 
 most disastrous war, which it was its duty as well as its interest 
 to avoid. 
 
 Genet, encouraged by the .sympathy of the friends of France, 
 was resolved to embroil the United States with Great Britain to 
 
134 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 such an extent that they would be compelled to make common 
 cause with France. He therefore began to fit out privateers 
 from American ports against the commerce of England. He 
 was warned by the Government that he was transcending his 
 privileges as the Minister of a friendly power, but paid no 
 attention to this rebuke. His partisans now took a more 
 determined stand against the policy of the Government, and 
 the determination of President Washington not to interfere in 
 the quarrels of Europe was vehemently assailed. His personal 
 motives were traduced, and he was subjected to an amount of 
 personal misrepresentation and abuse which disgusted him with 
 his office. 
 
 Genet was greatly deceived by these clamors, which he mis- 
 took for the sentiments of the American people, and had the 
 folly to suppose that they would sustain him against their own 
 government. He now took the bold step of authorizing the 
 French Consuls in American ports to receive and sell prizes 
 taken by the French cruisers from the English, with whom the 
 United States were at peace. He also contemplated the raising 
 of a force in Georgia and the Carolinas for the purpose of seiz- 
 ing Florida, and another in Kentucky for the conquest of 
 Louisiana, both of which regions were held by Spain, a power 
 friendly to the United States. Finally his insolence induced 
 him to declare his intention to appeal from the President to the 
 people. This audacity aroused a storm of popular indignation, 
 and meetings were held all over the country endorsing the 
 course of the President. At length, Washington brought the 
 matter to a close by demanding of the French Government the 
 recall of M. Genet. His successor was appointed in 1794. 
 Genet did not return to France, but became a citizen of the 
 United States. 
 
 The impunity with which Genet had braved the Federal 
 Government gave rise to a fear that it was not strong enough 
 to enforce its authority, although it had compelled the insolent 
 minister to confine his action to his proper sphere. An out- 
 break now occurred which showed that the Government was 
 possessed of sufficient power to preserve internal peace. The 
 western part of Pennsylvania had been settled chiefly by a 
 hardy population of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who had by 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 35 
 
 their determined efforts converted the wilderness into a region 
 of thriving farms and orchards. Grain, apples and peaches 
 were the staple products. The grain was distilled into whisky, 
 and the fruits into brandies. One of Hamilton's favorite 
 schemes for raising a revenue was the imposition of an excise 
 duty upon whisky. This tax was generally unpopular through- 
 out the country, but was especially so in the four western 
 counties of Pennsylvania. The settlers of this region organized 
 themselves in secret societies, for the purpose of resisting the 
 tax, and at length, in 1792, encouraged by the embarrassments 
 with which the Federal Government was contending, rose in 
 open rebellion against the Government, refused to pay the tax, 
 and drove off the excise officers. The best men in the western 
 counties were engaged in the rebellion, and it was proposed to 
 separate from Pennsylvania and form a new State. Nearly 
 seven thousand men assembled under arms. Matters remained 
 in this troubled condition for about two years. Washington 
 was keenly alive to the necessity of maintaining the power of the 
 Government, and at the same time was anxious to settle the 
 difficulty without a resort to force, if possible. At last, finding 
 his efforts in vain, he assembled a strong body of troops and 
 directed it towards the insurgent counties to compel submission. 
 At the same time he set out from Philadelphia to join the army, 
 to conduct its operations. Upon the appearance of the troops, 
 the leaders of the movement fled, and the " Whisky Insurrec- 
 tion " suddenly came to an end. This vigorous action of the 
 President greatly added to the strength of the Federal Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The British Government failed to appreciate the fidelity with 
 which Washington sought to discharge his duty of neutrality. 
 Its conduct toward the United States was of such a character 
 that there was constant danger of a new war between the two 
 countries. By the Treaty of Paris which closed the Revolution, 
 Great Britain had agreed to surrender the frontier posts held by 
 her forces within the limits of the United States. Thus far she 
 had failed to do so, and they were still held by British garri- 
 sons, and constituted so many centres for the hostile operations 
 of the Indians against the American settlements. The English 
 Governm.ent now proceeded to another act of aggression. 
 
136 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Orders were issued to the British Naval officers to seize and 
 detain all vessels laden with French goods, or with provisions 
 for any of the French colonies. As American ships were 
 largely engaged in trade with France and her colonies, this 
 order threatened the commerce of the States with ruin, which 
 was plainly the end designed by Great Britain. These acts 
 aroused a feeling of bitter hostility on the part of the Ameri- 
 cans towards their old enemy, and the country was ripe for 
 war. The Republic was yet too young and feeble to engage in 
 another war; and peace was of vital importance to it. Wash- 
 ington appreciated this necessity, and his constant policy was 
 to avoid as far as possible all dangerous complications with 
 foreign nations. The conduct of Great Britain could not be 
 ignored, however, and if an amicable and honorable settlement 
 of the disputes with her could not be had, war was inevitable. 
 
 In order that all peaceful means might be tried, the President 
 induced the Chief Justice, Mr. Jay, to resign his high office and 
 undertake the mission to England, for the purpose of settling 
 the disputes with that country by treaty. Mr. Jay was emi- 
 nently qualified for the task by his high and conservative 
 character, as well as by his great talents and experience in 
 political matters. He was received in England with great 
 respect, and in the course of a few months succeeded in nego- 
 tiating a treaty, which was forwarded to America and submitted 
 by the President to the Senate for ratification. By the terms 
 of this treaty Great Britain agreed to give up the western posts 
 within two years, to grant to American vessels the privilege of 
 trading with the West Indies upon certain conditions, and to 
 admit American ships free of restrictions to the ports of Great 
 Britain and the English East India possessions. On the other 
 hand, provision was made by the United States for the collection 
 of debts due British merchants by American citizens. 
 
 The treaty pleased no party, and gave great offence to the 
 enemies of the Administration. Mr. Jay himself was not sat- 
 tisfied with it, but both he and Washington saw that it was all 
 that could be gained from Great Britain at the time, and for 
 this reason the President threw all his influence in favor of its 
 adoption. The treaty met with very great opposition in the 
 Senate, and subjected the President to a great deal of adverse 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 37 
 
 criticism throughout the country. The Senate, after a fort- 
 night's debate in secret session, advised the adoption of the 
 treaty. It was promptly ratified by the President, and, 
 imperfect as it was, secured a number of years of peace to 
 the country at this critical period of its history. 
 
 The close of the President's second term was now rapidly 
 approaching, and Washington looked forward to it with feel- 
 ings of the greatest longing. He was wearied with the quarrels 
 of political life which raged around him, and anxious for repose. 
 Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox and Randolph had resigned from 
 the Cabinet. Their successors were not to the President what 
 they had been. Though deeply pained by the denunciations 
 which were leveled at him by the press and speakers of the 
 opposition, Washington had pursued with firmness the course 
 he had marked out for himself, trusting to the good sense of 
 his countrymen to do him justice in the end. He now felt 
 that he had given to his country all that she had the right to 
 demand of him, and that he was entitled to claim his remaining 
 years for himself There was ^eat anxiety that he should 
 consent to serve a third term, but he was firm in the resolution 
 he had taken; and, in September, 1796, issued a Farewell Ad- 
 dress to the people of the United States, in which he announced 
 his intention to retire from public life at the close of his second 
 term of office, and delivered to his countrymen such counsels 
 and admonitions as he deemed suited to their present needs 
 and future guidance. It was the warning of a father to his 
 children engaged in a difficult and all-important undertaking 
 
 The publication of the Address had a most happy effect. It 
 put an end to the partisan hostility which had pursued the 
 President, recalled to the people of the Union the great and 
 unselfish services of Washington, and enabled them to see him 
 in his true character. The gratit^^de of the nation burst forth 
 in a mighty stream, and from every quarter came evidences of 
 the affection and veneration of the American people for their 
 great leader. Both Houses of Congress adopted replies to the 
 farewell address, expressing their unshaken confidence in the 
 wisdom and integrity of Washington, and during the winter of 
 1796-97 nearly all the State legislatures adopted similar reso- 
 lutions. 
 
138 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 At the elections in the fall of 1796, John Adams was chosen 
 President. He was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1797, 
 and immediately afterwards Washington set out from Phila- 
 delphia for Mount Vernon, accompanied by Mrs. Washington, 
 Miss Nellie Custis and George Washington Lafayette, who 
 had been sent over from France and placed in the care of his 
 father's friend during the captivity of the Marquis. 
 
 From the retirement of his beloved home Washington could 
 look back with pride over his administration of the Presidency. 
 It had been eminently successful. When he entered upon the 
 duties of the office the Government was new and untried, and 
 its best friends doubted its ability to maintain its existence ; the 
 finances were in confusion and the country was burdened with 
 debt ; the disputes with Great Britain threatened to involve the 
 country in a new war ; and the authority of the General Govern- 
 ment was uncertain and scarcely recognized at home. When 
 he left office the state of affairs was very different. The 
 government had been severely tested, and had been found equal 
 to any demand upon it ; the'^nances had been placed upon a 
 safe and healthy footing, and the debt of the country had been 
 adjusted to the satisfaction of all the parties concerned in it. 
 The disputes with England had been arranged, and the country, 
 no longer threatened with war, was free to devote its energies 
 to its improvement. Industry and commerce were advancing 
 rapidly. The exports from the United States had grown from 
 nineteen millions to over fifty-six millions of dollars per annum, 
 and the imports had increased proportionately. The rule of 
 non-interference in European quarrels and of cultivating friendly 
 relations with all the world, had become the settled policy of 
 the Republic, and its wisdom had been amply vindicated. 
 
 Washington turned with delight to the tasks which awaited 
 him at Mount Vernon, thoiigh he did not cease to watch the 
 course of public affairs with deep interest. The homestead had 
 come to need extensive repairs during the long absence of the 
 master, and immediately upon his arrival the masons, joiners, 
 plasterers and painters were set to work to make the necessary 
 changes. " To make and sell a little flour annually," he writes 
 in a happy vein to his friend Oliver Wolcott, " to repair houses 
 fast going to ruin, to build one for the security of my papers of 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 139 
 
 a public nature, and to amuse myself in agricultural and rural 
 pursuits, will constitute employment for the k\v years I have 
 to remain on this terrestrial globe. If, also, I could now and 
 then meet the friends I esteem, it would fill the measure and 
 add zest to my enjoyments ; but, if ever this happens, it must 
 be under my own vine and fig-tree, as I do not think it probable 
 that I shall go beyond twenty miles from them." 
 
 The retirement for which Washington so much longed he was 
 not permitted to enjoy in its fullest sense. Visitors were con- 
 stantly arriving at Mount Vernon. "At dinner," wrote Washing- 
 ton to Mr. McHenry, "I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come, 
 as they say, out of respect to me. Pray, would not the word 
 curiosity answer as well? And how different this from having 
 a few social friends at a cheerful board." The number oi" these 
 visitors soon became so great as to seriously interfere with the 
 daily duties of the host, and he brought his nephew Lawrence 
 Lewis to Mount Vernon to relieve him of a part of his hospit- 
 able burden. The young man was much attached to his uncle, 
 but Mount Vernon had a greater attraction for him in the 
 young and blooming Miss Nellie Custls, who subsequently 
 became his wife. 
 
 In the autumn of 1797 young Lafayette left the family at 
 Mount Vernon and sailed for Europe to rejoin his father, who 
 had been liberated from his prison at Olmutz. 
 
 The retirement of Washington was disturbed by the quarrel 
 with France, which threatened to embroil the country in a war 
 with that power. The French Republic had by a series of 
 steady aggressions driven the United States to take up arms 
 for the defence of its commercial rights. Congress autliorized 
 the President to raise an army and equip a navy, and while a 
 final effort was made to settle the troubles peaceably the coun- 
 try prepared to take up the sword should it be necessary. 
 There was a universal desire that Washington should assume 
 the command of the army. President Adams and his old 
 comrades urged him to comply with the popular wish. With 
 great reluctance he consented to do so in case of actual invasion. 
 On the 3d of July, 1798, the Senate confirmed his nomination to 
 be Lieutenani-General and Commander-in-Chief of all the 
 armies raised or to be raised for the defence of the country. 
 
140 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Washington accepted the commission, on the understanding 
 that he was not to be called upon to take the field until the 
 army was in a condition to need his presence, or it should 
 become indispensable by the urgency of circumstances. " In 
 making this reservation," he wrote to President Adams, " I beg 
 it to be understood that I do not mean to withhold any assist- 
 ance to arrange and organize the army, which you may think 
 I can afford. I take the liberty, also, to mention that I must 
 decline having my acceptance considered as drawing after it 
 any immediate charge upon the public; or that I can receive 
 any emoluments annexed to the appointment before entering 
 into a situation to incur expense." 
 
 Three Major-generals were appointed under Washington. 
 They were Hamilton, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Knox. 
 Knox declined to serve under Hamilton and Pincknj}-, who 
 had been his juniors in the Revolution, but asked permission to 
 serve as an aide-de-camp to the Commander-in Chief 
 
 In November, 1798, Washington set out from Mount Vernon 
 for Philadelphia, where he spent five weeks with the Secretary 
 of War and Hamilton and Pinckney, in arranging the organi- 
 zation of the army. Upon his return home he was obliged to 
 give much of his time and correspondence to the same object. 
 Fortunately the determined attitude of the United States had 
 produced a happy effect in France. The Directory, impressed 
 by the firm attitude of the Americans, re-opened the negotiation 
 with the United States, by expressing a desire to receive Com- 
 missioners with authority to make a treaty. After some 
 hesitation President Adams despatched the Commissioners in 
 November, 1799. The work of organizing the army continued 
 in the meantime. Washington at Mount Vernon retained 
 the general direction of it.* 
 
 The winter of 1799 had now set in, and Washington gave 
 himself up in a great measure to the formation of a plan for the 
 proper management of his estate, the cultivation of the various 
 farms, &c., in order that his death, should it occur soon, might 
 not cause any confusion or change in the affairs of the estate. 
 He reduced this plan to writing, drawing it up with great 
 
 *The seltlement of the French dispute did not occur until after the death of 
 Washington, who was Commander-in-Cliief of the army at tlie time of his demise. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I4I 
 
 exactness and clearness. He finished this task on the loth of 
 December. 
 
 His last public act was performed on the morning of the 12th. 
 He wrote to Hamilton cordially approving of the plan for the 
 establishment of a military academy, which the latter had sub- 
 mitted to the Secretary of War. " The establishment of an 
 institution of this kind upon a respectable and extensive basis," 
 he wrote, " has ever been considered by me an object of pri- 
 mary importance to this country ; and while I was in the chair 
 of government I omitted no proper opportunity of recom- 
 mending it in my public speeches, and otherwise, to the atten- 
 tion of the legislature." 
 
 At ten o'clock ^n the morning of the 12th of December, he 
 mounted his horse and rode out to make the usual round of the 
 estate. At one " it began to snow, soon after to hail, and then 
 turned to a settled cold rain. As he wore his overcoat the 
 General did not turn back, but completed his ride, and returned 
 to the house after three. As dinner had been waiting for him, 
 he sat down to table without changing his dress. During the 
 evening he appeared as well as usual. The next day the snow 
 was three inches deep, and the General was obliged to relin- 
 quish his usual ride. He complained of a sore throat, and it 
 was evident that he had taken cold on the previous day. The 
 storm passed away in the afternoon, and Washington went out 
 on the grounds between the house and the river to mark some 
 trees that were to be cut down. In the evening he was very 
 hoarse, but was cheerful and conversed with the family, and 
 read aloud to them from the newspapers as well as his hoarse- 
 ness would permit. Upon retiring, Mr. Lear urged him to take 
 something for his cold. " No," he replied, " you know I never 
 take anything for a cold. Let it go as it came." 
 
 In the night he was taken with a severe chill and experienced 
 great difficulty in breathing. Between two and three o'clock 
 in the morning he awoke Mrs. Washington, who wished to rise 
 and call a servant; but he prevented her for fear she should 
 take cold. At daybreak a female servant entered the chamber 
 to make the fire, and was sent for Mr. Lear, who came at once. 
 He found the General very ill, breathing with difficulty, and 
 scarcely able to speak. Dr. Craik, the family physician, who 
 
142 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 resided at Alexandria, was at once sent for, and at the General's 
 request, Rawlins, the overseer, was called in to bleed him. 
 Half a pint of blood was taken by Washington's orders. Exter- 
 nal applications were made to the throat, and his feet were 
 bathed in hot water, but no relief was experienced by the suf- 
 ferer. 
 
 Dr. Craik arrived shortly before nine on the morning of the 
 14th, and summoned Drs. Dick and Brown. Various remedies 
 and fresh bleeding were tried, but without success. 
 
 " About half-past four o'clock," says Mr. Lear, " he desired 
 me to call Mrs. Washington to his bedside, when he requested 
 her to go down into his room and take from his desk two wills, 
 which she would find there, and bring them to him, which she 
 did. Upon looking at them, he gave her one, which he ob- 
 served was useless, as being superseded by the other, and 
 desired her to burn it, which she did, and took the other and 
 put it in her closet. 
 
 " After this was done, I returned to his bedside and took his 
 hand. He said to me, ' I find I am going ; my breath cannot 
 last long. I believed from the first that the disorder would 
 prove fatal. Do you arrange and record all my late military 
 letters and papers. Arrange my accounts and settle my books, 
 as you know more about them than any one else ; and let Mr. 
 Rawlins finish recording my other letters, which he has begun.' 
 I told him this should be done. He then asked if I recollected 
 anything which it was essential for him to do, as he had but a 
 very short time to continue with us. I told him that I could 
 recollect nothing ; but that I hoped he was not so near his end. 
 He observed, smiling, that he certainly was, and that, as it was 
 the debt which we must all pay, he looked to the event with 
 perfect resignation." 
 
 During the afternoon his breathing was difficult and painful, 
 and Mr. Lear endeavored to raise him in order to afford him 
 relief. " I am afraid I fatigue you too much," said the General. 
 Mr. Lear assured him that such was not the case. "W^ell," 
 said the dying man, gently, "it is a debt we must pay to each 
 other, and I hope when you want aid of this kind you will 
 find it." 
 
 Somewhat later, seeing his old servant Christopher, who had 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I43 
 
 been standing all through the day, he spoke to him kindly, and 
 told him to sit down. 
 
 About five o'clock he said to his old friend, Dr. Graik, who 
 was standing by his bed, "Doctor, I die hard, but I am not 
 afiaid to go. I believed from my first attack that I should not 
 surviv'C it — my breath cannot last long." The Doctor, unable 
 to reply, pressed his hand in silence, and took a seat by the fire 
 plunged in grief Towards six o'clock the other physicians 
 that had been summoned by Dr. Craik, arrived. The Qeneral 
 was assisted to sit up in his bed. "I feel I am going," he said; 
 "I thank you for your attentions, but I pray you to take no 
 more trouble about me; let me go off quietly; I cannot last long." 
 He lay down again, and all but Dr. Craik retired from the room. 
 During the evening further remedies were tried, but without 
 avail. The General was restless and in pain, and frequently 
 asked what time it was. 
 
 "About ten o'clock," says Mr. Lear, "he made several efforts 
 to speak to me before he could effect it. At length he said, ' I 
 am just going. Have me decently buried, and do not let my 
 body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am 
 dead.' I bowed assent, for I could not speak. He then 
 looked at me again, and said, ' Do you understand me ?' I 
 replied, 'Yes.' "Tis well,' said he. 
 
 "About ten minutes before he expired (which was between 
 ten and eleven o'clock) his breathing became easier. He lay 
 quietly; he withdrew his hand from mine and felt his own 
 pulse. I saw his countenance change. I spoke to Dr. Craik, 
 v/ho sat by the fire. He came to the bedside. The General's 
 hand fell from his wrist. I took it in mine and pressed it to 
 my bosom. Dr. Craik put his hands over his eyes, and he 
 expired without a struggle or a sigh. 
 
 " While we were fixed in silent grief, Mrs. Washington, who 
 was seated at the foot of the bed, asked, with a firm and col- 
 lected voice, ' Is he gone ?' I could not speak, but held up my 
 hand as a signal that he was no more. * 'Tis well,' said she in 
 the .same voice. 'AH is over now ; I shall soon follow him ; I 
 have no more trials to pass through.' " 
 
 The funeral of Washington took place at Mount Vernon on 
 the afternoon of the i8th of December The people of Alex- 
 
144 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 andria, the mayor and corporation of that city, the Free Ma- 
 sons, and the militia, with eleven pieces of cannon, arrived a 
 little after noon. About three o'clock the procession began to 
 move, and passing down the lawn, halted at the family vault at 
 the right of the house, minute guns being fired all the while. 
 The Rev. Mr. Davis read the funeral service at the vault, and 
 pronounced a short address. Then the Masons performed 
 their ceremonies and the services, which were simple, in 
 accordance with Washington's own wishes, came to an end. 
 
 When the will of Washington was opened, it was found that 
 he had bequeathed the boon of freedom to all his negro slaves 
 after the death of his wife ; and he expressly forbade the sale or 
 transportation out of Virginia of any negro slave of whom he 
 died possessed. 
 
 The news of the death of Washington was received with 
 j^rofound sorrow throughout the Union. Congress immediately 
 adjourned and ordered suitable mourning to be observed. All 
 the States, and every city and town of the Union, paid appro- 
 priate honors to his memory, and the whole land bore witness 
 by its sorrow to his illustrious character. 
 
 Nor were these testimonials confined to his own country. 
 Napoleon, then First Consul of France, announced the death 
 of Washington to the French army in a masterly order of the 
 day, and caused the standards of the troops to be shrouded in 
 crape for ten days. Lord Bridport, commanding the Channel 
 fleet of England, consisting of sixty sail of the line, immedi- 
 ately upon receipt of the sad news, lowered his flag half-mast, 
 and his example was followed by every ship in the fleet. But 
 the proudest tribute of all to the memory of Washington is the 
 unceasing and ever-increasing love with which his name is 
 cherished by his countrymen. 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 \ MONG the first settlers of the Colony of Virginia was 
 l\. the founder of the Jefferson family. He was of Welsh 
 extraction, and came to the Colony before it had surmounted 
 its early trials. He was a member of the Virginia Assembly 
 of 1619, the first legislative body ever convened in America. 
 He must have been a man of merit, for he established for him- 
 self a goodly estate south of the James, and his descendants 
 occupied a good social position in the aristocratic province of 
 Virginia. One of these descendants, Peter Jefferson by name, 
 being a younger son, had his own way to make in the world, 
 and adopted the profession of a surveyor. He prospered, for 
 he was a hard and systematic worker, and soon won for himself 
 a farm of a thousand acres, on the banks of the Rivanna, at 
 the foot of the Blue Ridge. He was a man of unusually large 
 stature, and of extraordinary physical strength. " He had the 
 strength of three strong men. Two hogsheads of tobacco, 
 each weighing a thousand pounds, he could raise at once from 
 their sides, and stand them upright. When surveying in the 
 wilderness, he could tire out his assistants, and tire out his 
 mules; then eat his mules, and still press on, sleeping alone by 
 night in a hollow tree to the howling of wolves, till his task 
 was done. He loved mathematics. He managed his affairs so 
 well, that, in twenty years, he was master of a competent 
 estate, and could assign a good plantation to his younger son, 
 after leaving the bulk of his estate to his eldest." His bodily 
 strength was well nigh matched by the vigor of his mind, and 
 he was a dear lover of Shakespeare. The Spectator was also 
 among his literary treasures, and he relished Swift as only a 
 man of brains can. He took a high place in his county. He 
 was one of the three justices of the peace appointed when the 
 County of Albemarle was first laid off; was County Surveyor, 
 and Colonel of the militia — the last no empty honor then, as 
 upon him depended the direction of the defence of the frontiei 
 
 against the savages. 
 
 10 (145) 
 
146 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In 1738, while still engaged in his earlier efforts to establish 
 a home, Peter Jefferson married Jane, the daughter of Isham 
 Randolph, Esq., by whom he had eight children. She was a 
 woman of fine intelligence and great sweetness of disposition. 
 From her the subject of this memoir inherited the exquisite 
 tenderness and lovableness which so endeared him to his 
 friends in after life. 
 
 Colonel Peter Jefferson gave to his estate in Albemarle the 
 name of Shadwell, as it was in that parish that his wife had 
 been born during a visit of her parents to the city of London. 
 It lay at the foot of the Blue Ridge, a few miles from the 
 present town of Charlottesville. There, on the 13th of April, 
 1743, Thomas Jefferson was born. He was the third child of 
 his parents, and their eldest son. He passed his infancy and 
 childhood in this delightful region, and grew up a hardy, 
 healthy lad, with a stout frame and a vigorous constitution. 
 He was passionately fond of music, and from both parents in- 
 herited a love for the beautiful. He learned at an early age to 
 play on the violin, and through life found this instrument an 
 unfailing source of pleasure and relaxation. 
 
 Colonel Jefferson was resolved that his son should possess the 
 best education that could be obtained in the Colony; and when 
 the boy was old enough, he was sent to board in the family of 
 the Rev. Mr. Douglass, a Scottish clergyman, who taught him 
 Greek, Latin and French. He spent five years under this 
 excellent teacher. In 1757 Colonel Jefferson died at the age 
 of fifty years. His last injunction was that his son's education 
 should be completed, and that those who had it in charge 
 should not permit him to neglect the bodily exercise necessary 
 to keep his physical strength in full vigor, for the good father 
 was convinced that a vigorous and healthy mind must have a 
 body to match it. 
 
 After his father's death Thomas Jefferson changed his school, 
 and placed himself under the instruction of the Rev. James 
 Maury, of Huguenot descent, genuine scholarship, and — what 
 was notable in all Virginia clergymen of that day — a man of 
 blameless life and liberal opinions. He was noted here, says 
 one of his companions, for his studiousness and his shyness. 
 He was fond of hunting, though he never neglected his studies 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I47 
 
 for it, and would come in from a day's tramp over the moun- 
 tains, fresh and sound of wind, the envy of his worn-out com- 
 panions. He remained with Mr. Maury for two years, and at 
 the age of sixteen repaired to Williamsburg, the capital of the 
 province, and entered the College of William and Mary. On 
 the journey he made the acquaintance of Patrick Henry, then 
 a jovial young blade, noted for his fiddling and love of fun. 
 
 Jefferson spent two years within the walls of William and 
 Maiy. The standard of the college was not high, but it had 
 among its professors no less a personage than Dr. Small, who 
 subsequently became the famous Dr. Small, of Birmingham, in 
 England. He taught him mathematics, " ethics, belles-lettres 
 and rhetoric," and better still, thoroughly imbued him with 
 his own liberal opinions. " He, most happily for me," said 
 Jefferson in after years, " soon became attached to me, and 
 made me his daily companion when not engaged in the school ; 
 and from his conversation I got my first views of the expan- 
 sion of science, and of the system of things in which we are 
 placed." Under the instruction of this wise teacher, Jefferson 
 became as much enamored of mathematics as his father had 
 been, and his love for this study ended only with his life. He 
 worked hard, giving fifteen hours to his studies, yet managed 
 to take at least a portion of the exercise necessary to his health. 
 His habits were excellent ; he did not use tobacco in any form, 
 and neither gambled nor drank — vices common to the young 
 men of this day. 
 
 His residence at Williamsburg was of the greatest value to 
 the young student. The town was the centre of fashionable 
 as well as of political life in the Old Dominion, and young 
 Jefferson had the opportunity of acquiring those courtly graces 
 for which he was afterwards noted, as well as of studying the 
 men and measures of the time by immediate contact with them. 
 He was an especial favorite of the brilliant Governor Fauquier, 
 and was a daily visitor at the " Palace." There he met with 
 George Wythe, one of the wisest men of his day, who con- 
 ceived a warm friendship for the young student some seven- 
 teen years his junior. In the society of these gifted men Jef- 
 ferson found himself drawn along into the intellectual pursuits 
 they loved ; his mind was awakened, his ambition aroused, and 
 
148 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 he gained broader and deeper views of life and its duties than 
 are common to young men of his age. " Such was the party 
 oftenest gathered about the governor's ' famihar table :' Pro- 
 fessor Small, the mathematician and man of science ; George 
 Wythe, the moralist, learned in law and Greek ; Francis Fau- 
 quier, the man of the world of the period ; Thomas Jefferson, 
 a shy, inquisitive young man, quick to take in all these accom- 
 plished men had to give, and contributing his share of the 
 entertainment by the intelligent sympathy with which he 
 listened. These men were his teachers ; this table his uni- 
 versity." 
 
 This delightful party was broken up in 1762, by the removal 
 of Professor Small to England. Jefferson was not sufifilciently 
 well off to remain unemployed longer than was necessary, and 
 as he had mastered about all that William and Mary had to 
 impart, he resolved to commence at once his preparation for the 
 profession of the law, to which he had determined to devote 
 himself Accordingly he began his legal studies in 1763, 
 enjoying the rare good fortune of having for his preceptor the 
 good and wise George Wythe, who was also the instructor of 
 John Marshall and Henry Clay. 
 
 Jefferson came of age in 1764, and at once took his posi- 
 tion as his father's successor in his native county, giving 
 faithful attention to the practical duties of life, while he 
 pursued his law studies with vigor and zeal. He was not 
 satisfied with mastering the ordinary text-books, though Coke 
 was his favorite, and taught him those deep lessons of liberty 
 and the rights of humanity that were the guiding principles of 
 his after life. He traced the spirit of English law to its sources, 
 and "conned with the keenest scrutiny" the legislation of King 
 Alfred, the abrogation of which by the Conqueror the English 
 so deeply lamented. He made copious notes of his studies, 
 and subjected all his reading to a thorough and systematic 
 digest. He was exact in all things, and there still remain the 
 records which he kept during his early life. Until his death he 
 continued this habit of minute record. " Nor did he ever con- 
 tent himself with the mere records of items. These were 
 regularly reviewed, added, compared, and utilized in every 
 possible way. It was the most remarkable of all his habits." 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I49 
 
 His law studies were carried on at Williamsburg during the 
 winter, and at home, in Albemarle, during the remainder of 
 the year. 
 
 While he was still a student of the law, stirring events were 
 transpiring which he watched with an eager eye, and which 
 served to attach him all the more to the principles he had 
 drawn from his books. In 1765 the Stamp Act set the seal to 
 the policy of injustice with which Great Britain had treated her 
 American Colonies; and in the same year the First Colonial 
 Congress assembled at New York. In 1766 the Stamp Act 
 was repealed, and the next year, when the legal studies of 
 Jefferson came to a close, the effort to tax America was fairly 
 inaugurated. Jefferson was a regular attendant upon the 
 sessions of the Assembly. His old friend, Patrick Henry, 
 who had won fame as the people's lawyer in the Parsons' 
 cause, came to Williamsburg in May, 1765, as a member of the 
 Assembly, to take his place as the champion of American 
 liberty, and to electrify the country with his celebrated Five 
 Resolutions, which joined the great issue squarely with the 
 King. Jefferson stood at the door of the lobby, thrilled in 
 every nerve by the masterly eloquence with which his friend 
 supported his resolutions. His studies had been deep enough 
 already to show him the justice of his country's cause, and he 
 never doubted which side he should take if the worst came to 
 the worst. 
 
 In the spring of 1766 the student made a journey in a one- 
 horse chaise to the North, visiting Annapolis, Baltimore, Phila- 
 delphia and New York. In the last-named place he made the 
 acquaintance of a young gentleman of his own age from 
 Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry by name, a man destined like 
 himself to be a stout defender of the liberties of America. 
 
 Early in 1767, about the time of his twenty-fourth birthday, 
 Jefferson's legal studies came to an end, and he was admitted 
 to the bar. He at once began the practice of his profession in 
 his own county. He already enjoyed the reputation of being 
 one of the most thoroughly learned men in Virginia, and busi- 
 ness came to him at once. Besides his office and county busi- 
 ness, he was engaged in sixty-eight cases before the General 
 Court of the Province during the first year of his practice. 
 
150 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 These paid him a Httle more than two hundred pounds sterling, 
 for in those days the fees of lawyers were limited by statute. 
 Cases were plentiful, however. Almost every man had a law- 
 suit, for Virginia had begun to pay the penalty of her early 
 extravagance and her disregard of the fundamental conditions 
 of a country's prosperity. The young lawyer was keeniy 
 aware of the causes of the troubles of his native province, and 
 his practice impressed them deeply upon him, thus giving to 
 him a special education which admirably fitted him for the 
 part he was to play in after years. He worked hard, and by 
 1 77 1 his income from his profession amounted to about five 
 hundred pounds sterling per annum. Besides this, he had four 
 hundred pounds more from his farm. As his habits were sim- 
 ple and inexpensive, he was able to lay by something every 
 year. He made constant additions to his estate, and in 1774 
 found himself master of a number of farms, amounting in the 
 aggregate to five thousand acres, " all paid for." He did not, 
 however, invest any of his money in slaves, as was the custom 
 of the time. He had learned to abhor the system of slavery, 
 and in 1774 the thirty negroes who had been bequeathed to 
 him by his father, had increased to but fifty-four. He was no 
 orator, but he spoke with fluency and force, and his cases were 
 so thoroughly prepared that it was very difficult for his oppo- 
 nents to pick a flaw in them. As for his legal knowledge, his 
 preceptor was, perhaps, the only man in Virginia who was his 
 superior. His industry was wonderful, and he possessed the 
 peculiar gift of finding at once exactly what he wanted in the 
 books to which he made reference. His temper was serene 
 and thoroughly under his control, and his courtesy al the bar 
 proverbial. He despised sharp practice. The late Col. Ran- 
 dolph, of Albemarle, his grandson, once asked an old man who, 
 in his younger days, had heard him plead causes, how he ranked 
 as a speaker. " Well," replied the old man, " it is hard to tell, 
 because he always took the right side." 
 
 In the meantime the decision of the British Government to 
 tax the Colonies had been taken, and in 1767, the year in 
 which Jefferson entered upon the practice of his profession, the 
 Bill imposing duties upon certain articles imported into the 
 Colonies was passed by Parliament, and was met with a fir.n 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I5I 
 
 resistance by Massachusetts. In the midst of the exciting 
 discussions which followed, Jefferson was elected, in the winter 
 of 1768-9, to represent his county in the General Assembly of 
 the Province. He marked his entrance upon public life by a 
 resolution for his own guidance, which we of to-day can par- 
 ticularly appreciate, and which he thus states in his own words : 
 " When I first entered on the stage of public life I came to a 
 resolution never to engage, while in public office, in any kind 
 of enterprise for the improvement of my fortune, nor to wear 
 any other character than that of a farmer. I have never de- 
 parted from it in a single instance ; and I have, in multiplied 
 instances, found myself happy in being able to decide and to 
 act as a public servant, clear of all interest, in the multiform 
 questions that have arisen, wherein I have seen others em- 
 barrassed and biased by having got themselves in a more 
 interested situation. Thus have I thought myself richer in 
 contentment than I should have been with any increase of for- 
 tune. Certainly I should have been much wealthier had I 
 remained in that private condition which renders it lawful and 
 even laudable to use proper efforts to better it." 
 
 The House of Burgesses began its session by making a 
 hearty response to the invitation of Massachusetts to the other 
 Colonies to tDiite in constitutional opposition to the injustice of 
 Great Britain, and on the third day of the session adopted the 
 Four Resolutions which declared, ist. That taxation without 
 representation was unlawful ; 2d, That the Colonies had a right 
 to unite in seeking redress of grievances ; 3d, That the trans- 
 portation of accused persons to England for trial was unconsti- 
 tutional and a grievous wrong ; and, 4th, that an address to the 
 King be adopted, asking for redress of the wrongs complained 
 of The resolutions were adopted by an almost unanimous 
 vote, and the speaker was ordered to send a copy of them to 
 every legislative assembly " on this continent." The next day 
 the address to the King was adopted, and ordered to be for- 
 warded to England and published there. On the day follow- 
 ing the Governor, Lord Botetourt, dissolved the Assembly for 
 its boldness, and Jefferson was once more a private citizen. 
 He took part in and gave his hearty support to the resolves of 
 the meeting held the next day in the guest room of the 
 
152 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Raleigh Tavern, which bound Virginia to the non-importation 
 
 scheme of the Northern Colonies. 
 
 A few months later the Assembly was again convened by 
 Lord Botetourt, and during this session Jefferson met with a 
 rebuff which must have taught him how far he was in advance 
 of his associates. He had learned, as we have said, to abhor 
 slavery, and he induced Colonel Bland to introduce a bill 
 repealing the law which forbade manumitted slaves to reside in 
 the province, and extending to the slaves, to use his own words, 
 " certain moderate extensions of the protection of the laws." 
 The introduction of the bill aroused a storm of anger in the 
 slaveholding Assembly. " I seconded his motion," says 
 Jefferson, " and, as a younger member, was more spared in 
 the debate ; but he was denounced as an enemy to his country, 
 and was treated with the greatest indecorum." And this, 
 although Colonel Bland was " one of the oldest, ablest and 
 most respected members " of the Assembly. The author of 
 the scheme was almost a century ahead of his time. 
 
 In 1770 Jefferson's residence was destroyed by fire, and he 
 began the erection of a new house on the summit of his 
 beloved Monticello. He meant that this should be the best- 
 planned residence in Virginia. It took him nearly a quarter of 
 a century to carry out his design, but he succeeded, at last, and 
 realized his hopes in the stately mansion that is inseparably 
 connected with his name. On the ist of January, 1772, he 
 married Martha Skelton, the widowed daughter of his friend 
 John Wayles. She was a woman in all respects worthy to be 
 the partner of such a man, and brought him a fortune equal to 
 his own. He took his bride to his home at Monticello, and in 
 her society passed his happiest days. 
 
 The growing troubles with the Mother Country did not 
 permit him to enjoy his home in peace. His public duties 
 called him to Williamsburg, where he took his true place 
 among the foremost opponents of British injustice. He took 
 an active part in the proceedings of the Assembly, and in the 
 summer of 1774 drew up a long series of instructions to the 
 delegates to be appointed from Virginia to the General Con- 
 gress at Philadelphia. The instructions were not adopted by 
 the nominating Convention, but were published in pamphlet 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 153 
 
 form under the title of "A Summary View of the Rights of 
 America." The pamphlet was extensively circulated in Amer- 
 ica, and was reprinted in England at the instance of Edmund 
 Burke, and ran through edition after edition. It made a marked 
 impression upon the people of both countries, and drew upon 
 Jefferson the hostility of the British Government, as it was one 
 of the boldest and most forcible statements of the history and 
 the true nature of the connection between Great Britain and 
 the Colonies that had yet appeared. 
 
 In 1774, at the age of thirty-one, after seven years' success- 
 ful practice of his profession, Jefferson withdrew from the 
 practice of law, and turned over all his business to his kinsman, 
 Edmund Randolph. He was unable to attend the Convention 
 which appointed the delegates to the General Congress, during 
 its first session at Williamsburg, but was present at the 
 adjourned session at Richmond, and was appointed one of the 
 Committee of Thirteen charged with superintending the arming 
 of Virginia. There was a probability of the General Assembly 
 of the Province being convened by Lord Dunmore, and this 
 measure would compel Peyton Randolph, the Speaker of the 
 House of Burgesses, to return home. The Convention there- 
 fore ordered that in such an event Mr. Jefferson should proceed 
 to Philadelphia and take Mr. Randolph's place in the Congress. 
 The course of events compelled the Governor to call the Bur- 
 gesses together,*and the first of June was appointed for the 
 meeting. Mr. Randolph returned to Virginia, but asked Mr. 
 Jefferson to delay his departure for Philadelphia for a few days, 
 and in the meantime the latter held his seat in the Assembly, 
 and drew up the reply of Virginia to the measures by which 
 Lord North hoped to settle the difficulty. As soon as this 
 was done, he left Williamsburg, on the morning of the iith. 
 for Philadelphia, which he reached on the morning of the 20th 
 of June — the day on which Washington received his commis- 
 sion as Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. He 
 brought with him the cheering news that Virginia was firm in 
 her resolve to stand by her Northern Sisters to the bitter end. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson at once took his seat in the Continental Con- 
 gress. He was not unknoAvn to that body, but brought with 
 him, as John Adams declares, "a reputation for literature, 
 
154 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 science, and a happy talent for composition." " He was so 
 prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive upon committees and in 
 conversation," says the same writer — " not even Samuel Adams 
 was more so — that he soon seized upon my heart." On the 
 day that he took his seat news was received of the battle of 
 Bunker Hill; three days later the new member was appointed 
 a member of the Committee charged with drawing up a paper 
 setting forth the reasons for taking up arms. His draught was 
 rejected by the Committee, which accepted one prepared by 
 John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, who took Jefferson's glowing 
 paper and toned it down to suit his own timidity. Towards 
 the close of the session Mr. Jefferson drew up an answer on 
 behalf of the Congress to Lord North's conciliatory proposi- 
 tions. 
 
 Returning to Richmond at the close of the session of 
 Congress, Mr. Jefferson had the gratification of being re- 
 elected to Congress by the Convention. Obtaining leave of 
 absence from the latter body he returned home, which he 
 reached on the 19th of August. As Congress was to meet 
 again on the 5th of September, he had but ten days to remain 
 at Monticello, " where he had a house enlarging, a family of 
 thirty-four whites and eighty-three blacks to think for, half a 
 dozen farms to superintend, and a highly complicated and 
 extensive garden to overlook." When the fifth of September 
 arrived, it found Jefferson watching by the* sick bed of his 
 second child, who died in this month of September, 1 775. 
 When his little one was laid in the ground, the bereaved 
 father set out for his post of duty, and traveled with such 
 energy that he reached Philadelphia in six days. 
 
 Congress sat with closed doors. Jefferson was regular in 
 his attendance, and indefatigable in his service on Committees 
 and in the other duties of his position. His absence from 
 home cost him a great sacrifice, for his wife was in delicate 
 health, and the whole management of his affairs depended 
 upon himself The efforts of Dunmore to excite a revolt of 
 the slaves filled him with anxiety. As only four of the seven 
 Virginia delegates were required to be constantly in attendance 
 upon the sessions of Congress, the members of the delegation 
 took turns in going home. Jefferson's turn came in January, 
 
nCITB BBOS , Kf aa , PHILA 
 
 COPVRIOHT BEOV&SD* 
 
 THE HOUSE IN WHICH THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS WRITTEN. 
 
 
 ^'^/Jl; 
 
 
 tc-uTG-n 
 
 SIGNATiniES TO THE DECLAKATION OP INDEPENDENCE. 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I 55 
 
 1776, and he eagerly availed himself of it. He passed the 
 rest of the winter in Virginia, where he exerted himself to raise 
 supplies for the people of Boston, and in collecting money for 
 the purchase of powder. In March, 1776, his mother died, at 
 the age of fifty-five. Early in May he returned to Philadel- 
 phia, and on the 13th of that month resumed his seat in Con- 
 gress. 
 
 A little later the Virginia delegates received the instructions 
 of that province directing them to move that Congress declare 
 the Colonies independent of British rule. On the 7th of June, 
 Rfchard Henry Lee offered a resolution in Congress in accord- 
 ance with these instructions, declaring " that the United Colo- 
 nies are, and ought to be, free and independent States, and 
 that their political connection with Great Britain is, and ought 
 to be, dissolved." The resolution was seconded by John 
 Adams, of Massachusetts, which province had instructed her 
 delegates to take this stand. After two days' debate the sub- 
 ject was postponed for twenty days, and a Committee of five 
 was appointed to prepare a declaration of independence. They 
 were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger 
 Sherman and R. R. Livingston. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was regarded by his associates on the Com- 
 mittee as the one most fitted for the preparation of the decla- 
 ration, and was urged to prepare it. The task was not very 
 difficult, for all that was required was a clear and concise state- 
 ment of the grievances which had driven the Colonies to 
 separation from England ; and these had been so thoroughly 
 discussed for the past eleven years, that they were on every 
 tongue. Jefferson was thoroughly conversant with them, and 
 readily acceded to the request of his associates. He was lodg- 
 ing, at the time, in a new house on the suburbs of Philadelphia, 
 near the present corner of Market and Seventh streets, and in 
 his sitting room in this house, he wrote the draft of the Decla- 
 ration of Independence. The Committee made very few 
 changes in the paper, and it was reported to the House in 
 nearly the same shape that it came from Jefferson's pen. It 
 was subjected to a three days' debate in Congress, and was 
 ver>' much changed and altered. This discussion terminated 
 on the afternoon of Thursday, the 4th of July, 1776, when the 
 
156 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Declaration of Independence was adopted in its present form 
 by Congress, by a majority of the votes of all the Colonies. 
 The delegates at once affixed their signatures to it, and on the 
 following Monday it was publicly read to the people in Inde- 
 pendence Square. 
 
 The declaration was received by all the States, and by the 
 army with enthusiasm. The thirteen United Colonies took 
 their place in the family of nations as the thirteen United 
 States. The declaration did not make the Colonies inde- 
 pendent States, or States in any sense. It was simply their 
 announcement to the world that they had, each for itself, by 
 the exercise of its own sovereign power, assumed the inde- 
 pendence which rightfully belonged to it. The declaration 
 entirely changed the character of the war. It was now for 
 independence, and could end only in the triumph or the subju- 
 gation of the States. 
 
 F'amily affairs and the need of his presence in Virginia now 
 induced Mr. Jefferson to resign his seat in Congress. Upon 
 the appointment of his successor he left Congress, in Septem- 
 ber, 1776, and returned to Virginia. He had been elected a 
 member of the legislature of the State, and after spending a 
 few days at home proceeded to Williamsburg to attend the 
 sessions of that body. A few days after his arrival he received 
 a communication from the President of Congress informing him 
 of his appointment as one of the Commissioners to France. 
 The delicate state of Mrs. Jefferson's health prevented him 
 from taking her with him, and he could not think of leaving 
 her in her feeble condition. The appointment was therefore 
 declined. 
 
 In the Legislature of Virginia Mr. Jefferson was the acknowl- 
 edged leader of the liberal party. He had the support of such 
 men in the Assembly as George Mason, his old preceptor 
 George Wythe, and a new member, James Madison by name, 
 a young man of twenty-five, and just entering upon the career 
 which Jefferson's influence was to do so much towards shaping. 
 The Virginia radicals were resolved that Virginia should be 
 rid of her old, narrow-minded and unjust laws. They saw the 
 need of reform, and they went to work bravely to effect it. 
 The Governor, Patrick Henry, was with them, but a strong 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I 57 
 
 party, ably led by such men as Edmund Pendleton and R. C. 
 Nicholas, clung to the old system, and opposed every effort to 
 change it. 
 
 Jefferson's first blow was struck at the root of all the evils — 
 the system of entail and primogeniture. After a three weeks' 
 struggle, the old laws were abolished and a new bill adopted, 
 making the ownership of all real estate and every negro in 
 Virginia in fee simple, and rendering them liable to seizure for 
 debt. Thus was the basis of the old aristocratic system 
 destroyed, and the work of reform fairly begun. The next 
 step was not so easy. Jefferson offered a bill repealing the 
 laws requiring conformity to the Episcopal Church under severe 
 penalties. It took nearly ten years to bring about the complete 
 establishment of religious freedom in Virginia, and it was not 
 until 1786 that Mr. Jefferson's bill for this purpose became the 
 law of Virginia. His industry during this session of the Legis- 
 lature was remarkable. " Never, perhaps," says Mr. Parton, 
 " since the earliest historical times, has one mind so incorporated 
 itself with a country's laws and institutions as Jefferson's with 
 those of new-born Virginia. In this first month of October, 
 1776, besides actually accomplishing much, he cut out work 
 enough to keep the best heads of Virginia busy for ten years." 
 He drew the bill for establishing courts of law in the State, and 
 for defining the powers, jurisdiction and methods of each of 
 them. He induced the Legislature to remove the seat of 
 government from Williamsburg to Richmond, and thus origi- 
 nated the plan which nearly every State has followed, of locat- 
 ing its capital near its geographical centre. In the same 
 month he introduced a bill, which has in effect become the 
 policy of the National Government, providing that a residence 
 of two years in the State, a declaration of intention to live in 
 the State, and an oath of fidelity to it, should entitle a foreigner 
 to the privileges of citizenship of Virginia. The children of 
 naturalized parents were, by the terms of this bill, to become 
 citizens upon coming of age, without any legal formalities. He 
 also secured the passage of a bill which he reported, appointing 
 a committee of five to collect and revise the antiquated statutes 
 of Virginia, and report to the house a body of law suited to the 
 new conditions of the State. He was appointed chairman of 
 
158 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 this committee, and his associates were Edmund Pendleton^ 
 George Wythe, George Mason and Francis Lightfoot Lee. 
 The work was actually done by the first three. Jefferson's 
 portion was arduous, and occupied his leisure time for two 
 years. The work was well done, and gave to Virginia the best 
 code of laws she had ever enjoyed. Jefferson's reforms were 
 won in the teeth of a fierce opposition from the old aristocratic 
 class, and aroused a hatred of him and his measures upon their 
 part which ended only with their lives. 
 
 In January, 1779, Mr. Jefferson was elected by the legisla- 
 ture Governor of Virginia, to succeed Patrick Henrj^, and on 
 the 1st of June entered upon the duties of his ofifice. Wil- 
 liamsburg was still the capital, and thither he repaired. Until 
 now his public duties had been easily discharged ; he was now 
 to attempt a task of greater difficulty. The finances of Vir- 
 ginia were in confusion, the paper money of the time was 
 worthless, and the State without credit. There was constant 
 need for money, however, as the Virginia troops had to be 
 supplied with arms, clothing and other necessities, the gov^ern- 
 ment of the State carried on, the Western frontier held against 
 the attacks of the British and their savage allies, and the 
 eastern coast protected against the inroads of the British fleet. 
 The work in the West was well done by the heroic George 
 Rogers Clarke, a native of Jefferson's own county, and a 
 handful of men, and the hold of Virginia upon her immense 
 territory beyond the Ohio was firmly maintained. The eastern 
 counties were always exposed to the attacks of the enemy, 
 whose fleet gave them the means of striking at any point of 
 the Chesapeake coast. Jefferson gave to Colonel Clarke all 
 the support in his power, but was not able to do much for the 
 eastern counties. In the spring of 1780, the capital of the 
 State was removed from Williamsburg to Richmond, then a 
 village of nine hundred inhabitants. 
 
 Matters now became gloomy enough. Charleston was taken 
 and South Carolina was quickly overrun. The British army 
 was preparing for an advance northward, and Virginia was 
 threatened from a new quarter. All the while urgent appeals 
 were being made to the Governor to forward everything that 
 could be spared to the army under Washington. Jefferson 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1 59 
 
 labored with more than his usual energy to meet all these 
 demands upon the State. A new army was formed in the 
 Carolinas, under General Gates, to resist the northward advance 
 of the British, and Jefferson sent Gates every man, horse, 
 wagon, and all the supplies he could raise. He silenced the 
 complaints of those who cried out that he was stripping Vir- 
 ginia of her means of defense by declaring that the only way 
 to save Virginia was to prevent Cornwallis from reaching the 
 State. All his energetic efforts were in vain, however, for the 
 defeat of Gates at Camden, on the i6th of August, 1780, lost 
 everything he had been able to send the southern army. Jef- 
 ferson was keenly alive to the dangers of the situation, but he 
 addressed himself bravely to the task of repairing the dis- 
 aster. Every nerve was strained to accumulate fresh supplies, 
 raise new troops, and collect wagons, horses and arms, to 
 enable the southern army to make a new stand. 
 
 In the midst of these preparations an expedition, under the 
 traitor Arnold, ascended the James, landed at Westover, and 
 made a dash at Richmond. Jefferson was promptly informed 
 of the danger. He was alone ; not a member of the Council 
 or Assembly was in Richmond ; but he set to work with en- 
 ergy to save the public property. With great exertion he suc- 
 ceeded in securing the removal of the archives and the gi;eater 
 part of the stores of the State to a place of safety, and at the 
 same time summoned the militia of the surrounding country 
 to arms. Arnold occupied Richmond on the 5th of January, 
 1 78 1, but everything of value had been removed. He held 
 the town but twenty-three hours, as the militia were responding 
 zealously to the Governor's call. So energetic was the action 
 of Jefferson, and so prompt the response of the militia, that in 
 five days 2,500 men were on the traitor's path. He managed 
 to escape by means of his vessels. 
 
 From this time the counties along the Chesapeake and its 
 tributaries were at the mercy of the enemy, and were con- 
 stantly harried by them. Virginia had a plenty of men willing 
 to serve, but she had no arms for them. Jefferson constantly 
 urged upon Washington and upon Congress the necessity of 
 giving the State a supply of arms, but none could be obtained. 
 Everything devolved upon the Governor. Richmond was so 
 
l60 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 much exposed that the Legislature met only in brief, hurried, 
 sessions, at one of which almost dictatorial powers were con- 
 ferred upon the Governor. He was authorized to call out the 
 whole militia, to impress anything necessary to the public 
 defence, and to issue State treasury notes to the amount of 
 fifteen million dollars. He was powerless, however, and though 
 he w^orked with untiring energy, he accomplished little, and 
 aroused a storm of opposition. The old aristocratic class had 
 not forgiven him for his reforms, and now avenged itself by 
 denouncing him vigorously for what they termed his abuse of 
 power. Finally the Legislature adjourned from Richmond to 
 meet at Charlottesville on the 24th of May, 1781. On the ist 
 of June Mr. Jefferson's term expired, and Virginia found her- 
 self without a Governor._ The Legislature met on the 24th, 
 but there was no quorum until the 28th. Even then an 
 election for Governor could not be held. Cornwallis was 
 rapidly advancing into the State, and a British force under 
 General Leslie was already in possession of the counties South 
 of the James from Portsmouth to Petersburg. At this juncture 
 a bold dash was made by Colonel Tarleton with his dragoons 
 at Charlottesville. On the 4th of June both Monticello and 
 Charlottesville were occupied by the dragoons. A timely 
 warni^ig enabled Jefferson and his family to escape, and the 
 Legisla.ture being also informed of their danger, met hastily 
 and adjourned to meet at Staunton, beyond the Blue Ridge. 
 They met at Staunton on the 7th of June, and, sore from their 
 rough handling, several of the members endeavored to cast the 
 blame of the frequent invasions of the State upon Governor 
 Jefferson. Jefferson's friends met these charges by a demand 
 for their investigation, and the Governor himself succeeded in 
 putting an end to the interregnum by inducing his friends, who 
 were a majority of the house, to elect Thomas Nelson, who had 
 been his main stay during his administration, Governor of Vir- 
 ginia. A few months later the war was brought to a practical 
 close by the capture of Cornwallis' army at Yorktown. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was elected to the Legislatnre after the close 
 of his term, and on the 19th of December, 1781, rose in his 
 place in the House and reminded that body of the intimated 
 censure of his conduct while Governor, and demanded that 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. l6l 
 
 charges should be brought against him. The answer of the 
 Council and Assembly was a unanimous joint resolution thank- 
 ing him for his " impartial, upright, and attentive administration." 
 Even this resolution did not heal the wound which had been 
 inflicted upon the sensitive statesman. He was disgusted with 
 public life, and withdrawing from it, retired to Monticello, to 
 repair the ravages which the war and his devotion to the 
 service of his country had made in his fortune, and to devote 
 himself to the care of his family and the cultivation of intel- 
 lectual pursuits. His dream of happiness was rudely broken 
 by the death of his wife on the. 6th of September, 1782. The 
 blow crushed him for awhile, and it was a relief to his tortured 
 mind to enter, in November, 1783, upon public life again. In 
 that month he took his seat in Congress, then sitting at 
 Annapolis, as a representative from Virginia. As a member of 
 this Congress he signed the Treaty of Peace, which acknowl- 
 edged the independence of the United States. He rendered an 
 additional service to the country by recommending the simple 
 and excellent system which was adopted for the national 
 currency. He also drew the plan for the government of the 
 Northwest Territory ceded by Virginia to the common country, 
 and inserted the clause prohibiting slavery in that magnificent 
 domain, which was defeated, however, by the votes of the 
 Southern members of Congress. On the 7th of May, 1784, Con- 
 gress appointed Mr. Jefferson an envoy to France, to co-operate 
 with Dr. Franklin and John Adams in the work of negotiating 
 commercial treaties with the leading nations of Europe. After 
 making provision for the care of his family, he set out from 
 Annapolis on the nth of May, and sailed from Boston on the 
 4th of July. Early in August he was in Paris. He performed 
 his duties as a member of this commission with zeal and 
 ability, and on the lOth of March, 1785, was appointed by 
 Congress Minister Resident at the Court of Versailles. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson remained abroad five years — a period full of 
 the most useful service to his country. Dr. Franklin had won 
 the cordial regard of the French nation for America, but 
 France knew little or nothing of the country it had helped to 
 independence. Jefferson exerted himself to remove this ignor- 
 ance, and to introduce his country, and make known its mag- 
 
1 62 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 nificent capacity for improvement to the European world. He 
 endeavored, during the whole of his residence in France, to 
 inaugurate free trade between that country and America, and 
 though he was unsuccessful in this effort, gained many advan- 
 tages for America. Trade was fettered by too many monopo- 
 lies at that time for his far-seeing policy to prevail. He 
 negotiated a treaty with France, placing the Consular service 
 upon a more reasonable footing than formerly. He exerted 
 himself to spread information concerning America, its geogra- 
 phy, climate, resources and capabilities for improvement. He 
 corresponded with learned men and scientific societies, wrote 
 communications for various publications, and contributed sev- 
 eral articles on Amercan subjects to the Encyclopedic. He 
 was regarded as the best source of information on American 
 topics, and was consulted on all sides by those desiring infor- 
 mation. His " Notes on Virginia " were published in English 
 and French during his residence in Europe, and had a marked 
 effect. He also exerted himself to procure information in 
 Europe for his countrymen at home. " He kept four colleges — 
 Harvard, Yale, William and Mary and the College of Phila- 
 delphia — advised of the new inventions, discoveries, conjectures, 
 books, that seemed important." Congress was regularly in- 
 formed of such mechanical and other inventions and improve- 
 ments as seemed to promise good to the industry of the young 
 republic. Mr. Jefferson made a journey into Piedmont and 
 obtained samples of the fine rice of that country, which he 
 forwarded to South Carolina. It was carefully planted and 
 nourished, and from these samples dates the improvement in 
 the quality of American rice. Agricultural information was 
 carefully collected by him and forwarded, together with seeds, 
 roots and bulbs, to his correspondents in America. " There 
 was no end of his services to the infant unskilled agriculture 
 of his country." He traveled through France, England and 
 a part of Italy, enjoying with a keen relish the artistic treasures 
 and natural beauties of those countries, and carefully noting 
 down and sending home accounts of whatever he thought could 
 be useful to his fellow citizens. 
 
 The result of his travels and residence in Europe was to 
 make him a better Republican than ever. He watched the 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1 63 
 
 growing troubles of France with the deepest interest, and wit- 
 nessed the opening events of the French Revolution. He was 
 intimate with the leaders of the patriot party, and his advice 
 went far tc shape their course. This was the purer era of the 
 great struggle, when it had not degenerated into the madness 
 of the Reign of Terror. A Republican to the heart's core, 
 his sympathies were with the Revolutionists, and this friendship 
 gave coloring to his whole subsequent career. " His sympathy 
 with that supreme effort of France to escape the oppression of 
 outgrown institutions Avas entire and profound, but it was also 
 considerate and wise. * * To the last, his constant advice was. 
 Save the monarchy ; France is not ripe for a republic ; get a 
 Constitution that will secure substantial liberty and essential 
 rights, and wait for the rest." 
 
 In November, 1788, Mr. Jefferson applied for leave of absence, 
 as he wished to take his daughters back to Virginia, and late 
 in August, 1789, received permission to return home. As he 
 expected to be back in Paris in a few months, he left his affairs 
 unsettled. His five years' residence abroad had been of the 
 greatest benefit to him, and had completed his education as a 
 public man. " He had become a swift, cool, adroit, thoroughly 
 trained, and perfectly accomplished minister ; and this, with- 
 out ceasing to be a man and a citizen, without hardening and 
 narrowing into the professional diplomatist, without losing his 
 interest or his faith in mankind." 
 
 On the 1 8th of November, 1789, he landed at Norfolk with 
 his daughters. They were ten days in reaching Richmond, 
 where Mr. Jefferson was cordially received by the Legislature 
 of the State. 
 
 In the meantime, the old Articles of Confederation had been 
 superseded by the Constitution of the United States, and the 
 new Government had been inaugurated with Washington at its 
 head. On the day that he landed at Norfolk, Mr. Jefferson 
 read the announcement in the newspapers that President Wash- 
 ington had appointed him Secretary of State. From Richmond 
 Mr. Jefferson went with his daughters to the residence of his 
 brother-in-law, Mr. Eppes, in Chesterfield, where he received 
 the letter of President Washington, enclosing his commission 
 as Secretary of State, and urging him to accept the place. 
 
164 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Jefferson's wish was to return to Paris, and he so wrote to the 
 President, but stated that he would be guided by his decision. 
 Washington decided that he should take his place in the Cabi- 
 net, and he consented to sacrifice his own wishes. Having 
 answered the President's first letter, Jefferson and his daugh- 
 ters returned to Monticello. He remained at home nearly two 
 months to arrange his affairs, and to be present at the marriage 
 of his daughter Martha to Thomas Mann Randolph, and then 
 set out for New York, where he arrived on Sunday, March 
 2 1st, 1790. He at once entered upon his duties as Secretary 
 of State in the Cabinet of President Washington. 
 
 The business of his office was greatly in arrears, and he 
 went at it with such energy that his health began to suffer. 
 He had accepted the office solely from a sense of public duty, 
 and he was homesick all the time he held it. The relations 
 between the President and himself were of the most cordial 
 nature. Each possessed the perfect confidence of the other. 
 His position was not pleasant to him, however. The tone of 
 New York society was eminently aristocratic, and there were 
 not wanting those who wished to give to the new Government 
 a character suited to this feeling. Thomas Jefferson never 
 forgot that the Federal Government was a government by 
 and for the people, and he had no patience with any wish to 
 change its popular form. Besides, he was fresh from France, 
 where he had seen the miseries springing from aristocratic 
 rule. He was especially sensitive upon this point — perhaps 
 unnecessarily so. He recognized Hamilton as the leader of 
 the aristocratic party, and became suspicious of him; and so 
 these two great men and true patriots became forever separated 
 and hostile. Yet the rivalry which sprang up between them was 
 unavoidable. Jefferson was the natural leader of the people; 
 Hamilton was a born aristocrat. Mr. Jefferson did not favor 
 Hamilton's scheme for the assumption of the State debts by 
 Congress ; but the situation was so grave, and the contest had be- 
 come so bitter in Congress, that he consented to act as mediator 
 between the opposing parties, and brought about the compro- 
 mise by which the Southern men in Congress consented to the 
 assumption of the State debts, and the Northern delegates voted 
 to locate the capital of the nation on the banks of the Potomac. 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 165 
 
 The duties of the Secretary of State were not very clearly 
 defined at first, and for awhile the affairs of the post-office and 
 patent-office were in his hands. The question of establishing 
 a Mint was referred to him by Congress for his opinion, and he 
 urged the prompt establishment of such an institution. A 
 Mint was thereupon located at Philadelphia. In the fall of 1 790, 
 the seat of Government was removed from New York to Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 As Secretary of State it was Mr. Jefferson's business to con- 
 duct the negotiations with England for the compliance of that 
 power with the terms of the Treaty of Paris. He was not able 
 to bring England to an honest performance of her engagements, 
 and went out of office before Jay's Treaty was arranged. 
 Another source of anxiety to him was the relations of the coun- 
 tiy with France. He was the faithful friend of the French 
 Republic, and though he bitterly deplored the excesses of the 
 Revolutionists, he did not, like many of his countrymen, re- 
 gard these crimes as inseparable from the great work in which 
 France was engaged. He did justice to the French people, 
 saw clearly that the excesses of the ultra radicals must be short 
 lived, and believed that out of all this trouble great good would 
 result to France and to the world. His opponents, however, 
 charged him with sympathizing with the barbarities of the 
 Terrorists, and painted him to the people of this country, who 
 had been shocked by the excesses of the French, as the em- 
 bodiment of Atheistic and Socialistic principles. Even the red 
 waistcoat which he wore was denounced as a badge of his horrid 
 creed. When M. Genet was sent to the United States as the 
 Envoy of the French Republic, Jefferson warmly favored his 
 reception, and maintained that the treaties with France were 
 with the nation, and not with the King, and were not annulled 
 by the changes that had taken place. Hamilton, on the 
 contrary, maintained that they were with the King. Upon 
 Genet's arrival, Mr. Jefferson endeavored to restrain him 
 within the bounds of moderation, and gave no encouragement 
 to the extravagance and insolence of that minister. On the 
 contrary he consistently supported the President in his deter- 
 mination to preserve the neutrality of the country, and one 
 of his last official acts was to administer to Genet a dignified 
 
1 66 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 rebuke which made the wily Frenchman writhe with mortifi- 
 cation. 
 
 The antagonism between Jefferson and Hamilton deepened 
 into an open quarrel, and their continued warfare gave the 
 President no little trouble. Had Hamilton possessed the 
 moderation of his rival, Washington's efforts at mediation might 
 have been successful. As it was, the quarrel became more 
 bitter every' day. The National Gazette, published at Phila- 
 delphia by Philip Freneau, who was a translator in the State 
 Department, had come to be the organ of the Republican party. 
 The Federalist party charged that this paper was Jefferson's 
 organ, and attributed its utterances to him. In this they were 
 wrong. " I never did," said Mr. Jefferson subsequently, " by 
 myself or any other, or indirectly, say a syllable, nor attempt 
 any kind of influence, * * * nor write, dictate, or procure any 
 one sentence to be inserted in Freneau's or any other gazette, to 
 which my name was not affixed, or that of my office." Hamilton 
 took the articles in Freneau's paper, as coming from Jefferson, 
 who had already offended him by his opposition to his policy 
 in the Cabinet. He therefore attacked him in a series of bitter 
 articles published under fictitious names in Fenno's Gazette of 
 the United States. The President attempted to make peace 
 between the Secretaries, but without success. 
 
 The quarrel spread beyond the Cabinet, and Jefferson found 
 himself, through no act of his own, acknowledged as the chief 
 of the party which was resolved to preserve the popular form 
 of the Government, and which called itself the Republican party. 
 Among the leaders of this party were Madison and Monroe. 
 In the heat of the controversy Jefferson believed that Hamilton 
 and his party designed to bring about the downfall of the Re- 
 public and the establishment of a monarchy. Washington, 
 calmer and more sagacious, set him right in a few words. 
 " Desires there may be, bnt not designs," he said. 
 
 At last there came a season of relief to the hard-worked 
 Secretary of State. He determined to withdraw from the 
 Cabinet. His most powerful reason was that he was not able 
 to live upon the salary of his office and not rich enough to 
 make up the deficiency from his private purse. His private 
 affairs demanded his attention. Besides, he was tired of the 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1 6/ 
 
 false position in which he was placed. " Before he had been a 
 year in office the Secretary of State had enough of it. Scrupu- 
 lously avoiding all interference with the departments of his col- 
 leagues, never lobbying, immersed in the duties of his place, he 
 found himself borne along by Hamilton's restless impetuosity, 
 and compelled to aid in the execution of a policy which he 
 could as little approve as prevent. He was nominally the head 
 of the Cabinet, without possessing the ascendency that belonged 
 to his position. He seemed to himself at once responsible and 
 impotent ; and he believed the sway of Hamilton over public 
 affairs to be illegitimate, and to be upheld by illegitimate 
 means." He had meant to resign his office at the close of 
 Washington's first term, but yielded to the entreaty of the 
 President to remain; but his private affairs now leaving him no 
 choice, he resigned his Secretaryship on the ist of January, 
 1794. The President, in accepting his resignation, wrote: 
 " The opinion which I had formed of your integrity and talents 
 and which dictated your original nomination, has been con- 
 firmed by the fullest experience, and both have been eminently 
 displayed in the discharge of your duty." 
 
 He had the good fortune to withdraw from the Cabinet 
 under the happiest circumstances. His correspondence with 
 the French and English ministers was published at the meeting 
 of Congress, and showed his patriotic and upright course in 
 his negotiations with them so clearly that his enemies were 
 conciliated for the moment; his friends were in raptures. 
 
 Returning to Monticello, Mr. Jefferson resumed the manage- 
 ment of his estate, which had been almost allowed to go to 
 ruin by the overseers during the ten years' absence of the 
 master. He soon brought affairs to a better condition, and 
 once more devoted himself to the completion of his mansion. 
 He proved an excellent farmer, and was so successful in his 
 efforts that two years after his return his estate was in such 
 capital order that it seemed to a visitor a model farm. 
 
 In 1796 he was nominated by the Republican party for the 
 Presidency. His opponent was John Adams, the candidate .of 
 the Federalist party. At the election Mr. Adams received the 
 highest number of votes, and was declared elected President of 
 the United States. Mr. Jefferson receiving the next highest 
 
1 68 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 number, became the Vice-President. The vote in the Electoral 
 College stood as follows: Adams, 71 ; Jefferson, 68. As Vice- 
 President, Mr. Jefferson supported the President's determination 
 to seek to adjust the quarrel with France by peaceful means. 
 He stoutly opposed the Alien and Sedition laws and the other 
 repressive measures, which he deemed violative of the Consti- 
 tution. He became the leader of the opposition, and worked 
 with energy to enlighten the public mind upon the questions 
 at issue. He was bitterly denounced by the Federalist party, 
 whose measures for the subversion of the Constitution found 
 no mercy at his hands; but he did not shrink from his duty. 
 In 1800 Mr. Jefferson was nominated for the Presidency by the 
 Republicans, and was once more the object of the slanders 
 with which his opponents deluged the country. He was 
 denounced by the Federalists as an atheist, a libertine, a 
 socialist, and an enemy to all government; but the Federalist 
 party had so outraged the nation by their sins against the Con- 
 stitution that it was clear to the public that the only weapon 
 they had left was slander, and Mr. Jefferson had shown himself 
 too great and pure a man for these "campaign lies" to injure 
 him. In the Electoral College Jefferson and Aaron Burr 
 received an equal number of votes. The election therefore 
 passed into the House of Representatives, by which Mr. Jeffer- 
 son was elected President and Burr Vice-President. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was the first President inaugurated in the new 
 Federal city of Washington, and entered upon his duties on 
 the 4th of March, 1801. We have only space here to sketch 
 the leading events of his administration. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson's first act as President was to pardon and release 
 all prisoners under the Alien and Sedition laws. When Con- 
 gress met in December, 1801, the President found a strong 
 majority of his own party in each house, on whose support he 
 could rely. The obnoxious measures of the last administra- 
 tion, such as the internal taxes, the taxes on stills, distilled 
 spirits, refined sugars, carriages, stamped paper, etc., were re- 
 pealed. Measures were set on foot for the reduction of the pub- 
 lic debt, and the President inaugurated the reign of economy 
 by reducing the number of public employees to the minimum. 
 "As soon as his election was known, some of his friends urged 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1 69 
 
 him to conciliate the Federalists by appointing a few of their 
 leaders to office. His answer was, No ; the mass of the party- 
 being Republican at heart, will be conciliated by a consistent 
 adherence to Republican principles. * * Besides, every office 
 in the country, in the gift of the President was already filled 
 by a Federalist, * * * and he thought it only right that all 
 vacancies should be given to Republicans, until there should 
 be at least as many of them in office as Federalists. * * Jef- 
 ferson took great care to get the right man for the right place. 
 * * * He would not give an appointment to a relative. * * 
 He turned no man out of office because he was opposed to 
 him in politics. And yet he did, during the first two years of 
 his first term, remove twenty-six Federalists, and appoint Re- 
 publicans in their stead. After that there were scarcely any 
 removals ; and Republicans were only appointed to vacancies 
 created by death or resignation." The twenty-six persons 
 mentioned were removed from office for good and sufficient 
 reasons. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was utterly opposed to the Court etiquette 
 that had grown up during the first two administrations of the 
 Government, and promptly abolished it. He discontinued the 
 weekly levee and retained only the public receptions of the ist 
 of January and the 4th of July. He was always accessible 
 to those who had business with him, or who were entitled to 
 attention at his hands, but never permitted mere social visits to 
 consume the time which belonged to his public duties. He 
 also inaugurated the custom which has since prevailed, of 
 sending a written message to the two Houses of Congress at 
 the opening of each session. 
 
 While Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson had been called upon 
 to oppose a firm and successful resistance to the schemes for 
 placing the mouth of the Mississippi and New Orleans under 
 British control. He had always regarded the possession of 
 Louisiana by the United States as of vital importance to the 
 prosperity of this country, and he now had an opportunity of 
 carrying out his views with reference to it. He instructed R. 
 R. Livingston, the American Minister at Paris, to open negoti- 
 ations with the French Government for the purchase of the 
 province of Louisiana. This was an easier task than he had 
 
I/O AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 supposed it would be. Napoleon was in need of money, and was 
 anxious to be relieved of the necessity of defending so large 
 and distant a possession, and readily sold the whole region of 
 Louisiana to the United States for the sum of ;^ 1 5 ,000,000. 
 The purchase was made in April, 1803. It was of the highest 
 importance ; it about doubled the territory of the Union, and 
 placed the whole of the Mississippi Valley within the limits of 
 the Republic. 
 
 While Minister to France, Mr. Jefferson had been obliged to 
 conduct the humiliating negotiations with the Barbary powers 
 of Africa, by which the United States purchased exemption 
 from their piracies. In 1 801, as President, he resolved to treat 
 these States as the enemies of mankind. He despatched a fleet 
 of vessels of war to the Mediterranean and compelled the Bey 
 of Tripoli to sue for peace in 1805. 
 
 In the fall of 1804 Mr. Jefferson was elected President a 
 second time, but this time Colonel Burr was dropped by his 
 party, which elected George Clinton, of New York, Vice Presi- 
 dent. Burr had at last experienced the reward of his insin- 
 cerity ; both parties had come to distrust him. After his 
 defeat for the Vice Presidency, he was nominated for Governor 
 of New York, but was defeated mainly through the influence 
 of Alexander Hamilton. He avenged himself by challenging 
 Hamilton and killing him in a duel. This put an end to his 
 own political career. Mr. Jefferson declined to appoint him to 
 any important office under the Government, for he had never 
 trusted him. A little later Burr became involved in the 
 western schemes, which caused his arrest and trial for treason. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson continued the policy of neutrality in the quar- 
 rels of Europe inaugurated by President Washington. As the 
 struggle in the Old World deepened, the efforts of the principal 
 combatants to draw the United States into it increased. The 
 general character of the European war had thrown the com- 
 merce of the world into the hands of the few nations which 
 had not engaged in the struggle. The principal of these was 
 the United States. England viewed with alarm the rapid 
 growth of the commercial prosperity of this country. By its 
 "Orders in Council" that Government declared all vessels 
 engaged in conveying West India produce from the United 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I/I 
 
 States to Europe, legal prizes. A number of American vessels 
 were captured and condemned upon this pretext. In May, 
 1 806, Great Britain declared the coast of Europe, from Brest to 
 the mouth of the Elbe, in a state of blockade, and forbade 
 neutral vessels to trade with any port within these prescribed 
 limits on pain of capture and confiscation. This high-handed 
 measure was a direct blow at the commerce of America. It 
 was met by an act on the part of France equally unjust and 
 destructive to that commerce. Napoleon issued his famous 
 " Berlin decree," by which he declared the whole coast of Great 
 Britain in a state of blockade, and forbade the introduction of 
 British goods into the French Empire, and the admission into 
 French ports of any neutral vessel that should first touch at 
 an English port. Great Britain thereupon forbade all neutral 
 nations to trade with France; and Napoleon issued his "Milan 
 decree," ordering the confiscation of all vessels that should 
 disobey the " Berlin decree," and also of those which should 
 submit to be searched by an English cruiser. Thus was the 
 commerce of the world placed at the mercy of these powers. 
 The Americans were the chief sufferers by these outrages. 
 Their ships were captured by both British and French cruisers, 
 and their remonstrances produced no effect. Unfortunately, 
 Mr. Jefferson, in his desire for economy in the Government, had 
 pursued a most unfavorable policy towards the navy, and the 
 country had not ships of war enough to protect its commerce. 
 The European powers were encouraged by this helplessness, 
 and their outrages upon American property increased. The 
 popular feeling in America was stronger against Great Britain 
 than against France, partly because of the old attachment to 
 the latter power, and partly because England, being the stronger 
 power at sea, was the principal and the original aggressor. The 
 British Government claimed the right to stop American vessels 
 on the high seas and search them for deserters. Under this 
 head they included all persons born within the British domin- 
 ions, whether naturalized American citizens or not. When 
 found on American vessels, these persons were removed by 
 force, and compelled to serve in the English navy. The British 
 officers also seized large numbers of native-born American 
 seamen, and forced them into their navy. 
 
172 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Government of the United States addressed urgent re- 
 monstrances to that of Great Britain against these outrages, 
 and finally, in the spring of 1806, sent William Pinckney as 
 joint commissioner with James Monroe, then Minister to Eng- 
 land, for the purpose of negotiating a treaty which should put 
 a stop to the acts complained of The Commissioners suc- 
 ceeded in negotiating a treaty which was, on the whole, more 
 favorable to the United States than Jay's treaty, but as it did 
 not provide for the discontinuance of the searching of Ameri- 
 can vessels or the impressment of their seamen by British 
 cruisers, Mr. Jefferson assumed the responsibility of rejecting 
 it in the spring of 1807, without submitting it to the Senate. 
 
 Matters were now brought to a crisis by the insolence of a 
 British naval commander. The frigate Chesapeake, 38, Com- 
 modore Barron, sailed from Norfolk for the Mediterranean. 
 She put to sea before her preparations for sailing were com- 
 pleted, and while her crew were unused to their duties. In this 
 helpless condition she was stopped off the mouth of the Chesa- 
 peake Bay by the British frigate Leopard, of fifty guns, fired 
 upon, and compelled to surrender. Four of her crew were 
 removed to the Leopard, on the pretense that they were de- 
 serters, and the British frigate sailed for Halifax, leaving the 
 crippled Chesapeake to return to Norfolk. 
 
 The news of this outrage excited the profoundest indigna- 
 tion throughout the United States. " I had only to open my 
 hand," said Mr. Jefferson, afterwards, " and let havoc loose." 
 The moderation and firmness of the President were now shown 
 in a conspicuous light. He was opposed to war, if a peaceful 
 settlement could be had, and while he did not intend to shrink 
 from the former, he resolved to make an effort to secure the 
 latter. He at once despatched a frigate to England with in- 
 structions to the American Minister to demand reparation for 
 the outrage; and on the 2d of July, 1807, issued a proclama- 
 tion forbidding all naval vessels of England from entering 
 American waters, excepting only those in distress and those 
 bearing despatches. Two thousand militia were posted along 
 the coast to prevent the British vessels from obtaining supplies. 
 A special session of Congress was summoned; every available 
 vessel of the navy was made ready for active service, and De- 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1/3 
 
 catur, commanding at Norfolk, was ordered to attack the British 
 fleet then anchored within the capes of the Chesapeake, if it 
 should attempt to pass higher up the bay. The President ex- 
 pected war, and he meant to make it a vigorous one if it could 
 not be avoided honorably. The British Government, however, 
 received information of the affair before the arrival of the 
 American demand. The action of the commander of the Leo- 
 pard was disavowed, and a special messenger was sent to the 
 United States to arrange the matter. Great Britain disclaimed 
 the right to search vessels of war, and the excitement was 
 quieted for a time. 
 
 In December, 1806, as the outrages upon American com- 
 merce were continued by the European powers, Congress, 
 at the recommendation of the President, passed the " Embargo 
 Act," by which all merchant vessels of the United States were 
 prevented from leaving the ports of this country. This measure 
 entirely put an end to the intercourse between the United States 
 and Europe. It was hoped by the President and his supporters 
 that the measure would compel Great Britain and France, by 
 the loss of our manufactures and supplies, which were very 
 necessary to both, to put a stop to their arbitrary course. The 
 measure was regarded by both Napoleon and the Edinburgh 
 Reviciv as a statesmanlike act, and Mr. Jefferson, to the day of 
 his death, believed that if it had been faithfully carried out it 
 would have accomplished its object and have saved us the 
 second war with England. It was utterly unpopular in the 
 Eastern and Middle States, yet it was in the end a benefit to 
 them. Thousands of persons were thrown out of employment 
 by the enforced idleness of the ships, and many of these turned 
 their attention to manufacturing pursuits, which thus received a 
 decided impetus. The loss caused to the shipping interests was 
 considerable, and the disaffection became so great that just 
 before the expiration of his term of office Mr. Jefferson recom- 
 mended to Congress the repeal of the Embargo Act, as a 
 measure of conciliation. The law was repealed on the ist of 
 March, 1809, and in the same month Congress passed an act 
 prohibiting trade with France and England. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson declined to be a candidate for a third term, and 
 upon the inauguration of Mr. Madison, his successor, withdrew 
 
174 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 from Washington and retired to Monticello. He retired from 
 office with undiminished popularity, and with the respect and 
 confidence of the nation. His great services in the Revolution, 
 his draft of the Declaration of Independence, his acquisition of 
 Louisiana, and the purity and grandeur of his character, placed 
 him, notwithstanding the malice of his enemies, next to Wash- 
 ington in the public estimation. 
 
 The last seventeen years of Mr. Jefferson's life were spent 
 in retirement at Monticello. He was still the principal person- 
 age in the United States, and did not by any means lose his 
 interest in public affairs. Mr. Madison, whose education he 
 had in a measure directed, consulted him constantly, and his 
 counsels largely shaped the policy of the Government. " When 
 there was dissension in the Cabinet, it was Mr. Jefferson who 
 restored harmony." 
 
 Monticello was overrun with guests during these years. 
 "They traveled," says Mr. Bacon, Mr. Jefferson's manager, "in 
 gangs ; sometimes a whole family, with carriage and riding 
 horses, and servants ; sometimes three or four such gangs at a 
 time." These guests, many of whom were entire strangers to 
 Mr. Jefferson, entailed a heavy expense upon their host. " He 
 knew," continues Mr. Bacon, "that it more than used up all his 
 income from the plantation and everything else; but he was so 
 kind and polite that he received all his visitors with a smile, 
 and made them welcome." 
 
 He never permitted his visitors to interfere with his work. 
 His mornings were given to his correspondence, the manage- 
 ment of his estate, and such other business as was to be 
 attended to, and his evenings were spent in the society of 
 his friends. " Mr. Jefferson was the most industrious man I 
 ever saw," says Mr. Bacon. "I never saw him sitting idle in 
 his room but twice. * * At all other times he was either 
 reading, writing, talking, working upon some model, or doin^ 
 something else. * * * j h^ve rode over the plantation, I 
 reckon, a thousand times with Mr. Jefferson; and when he was 
 not talking, he was nearly always humming some tune, or 
 singing in a low tone to himself" 
 
 One of the pleasantest of the tasks which occupied his time 
 was the direction of the education of a number of young men, 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1/5 
 
 who had asked him to do them this service. "They place 
 themselves," he »wrote to a friend, "in the neighboring village, 
 and have the use of my library and counsel, and make a part 
 of my society. In advising their course of reading, I endeavor 
 to keep their attention fixed on the main object of all science, 
 the freedom and happiness of man ; so that, coming to bear a 
 share in the councils and government of their country, they 
 will keep ever in view the sole objects of all legitimate govern- 
 ment." 
 
 It had long been one of Mr. Jefferson's dearest wishes to 
 introduce into Virginia the free school system of New England, 
 but he found that the time had not yet come for such a step. 
 For many years he had been desirous of establishing a Uni- 
 versity in the State, at which the young men of Virginia could 
 obtain a thorough and liberal education. He devoted the last 
 fifteen years of his life to this object. His friend, Joseph C. 
 Cabell, a member of the State Senate, entered cordially into his 
 scheme, and labored for it in the Legislature with ability and 
 success. It required all of Mr. Jefferson's popularity and all 
 of Mr. Cabell's energy and skill to induce the State to appro- 
 priate a sum sufficient to establish the proposed school, but 
 by hard work they carried the scheme through both Houses, 
 and it received the Governor's approval, and at last the corner- 
 stone of the University of Virginia was laid. The site was 
 chosen by Mr. Jefferson, and was within five miles of Monti- 
 cello. Mr. Jefferson gave his personal superintendence to the 
 erection of the buildings — in short, every detail of the work 
 passed through his hands — and when it was completed was 
 appointed Rector, and was mainly instrumental in establishing 
 the peculiar and excellent system upon which this noble insti- 
 tution is conducted. At last he had the happiness of seeing 
 the end of his work, and in March, 1825, the University was 
 opened with forty students. 
 
 The last years of Mr. Jefferson were passed under the pres- 
 sure of heavy debt. His salary had not supported him during 
 his Presidency, and he had been obliged to pay a large part of 
 his expenses out of his private means. He left Washington 
 owing twenty thousand dollars. The war of 181 2-1 5, which 
 followed so soon, rendered the products of his farm almost 
 
1/6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 worthless. He could not bear the sense of debt, and at the 
 close of the war relieved himself of it by the greatest sacrifice 
 he could make. The Library of Congress had been burned by 
 the British. He offered Congress his own library, which was 
 estimated by the committee to be worth $23,000 — about half of 
 its cost. Mr. Jefferson accepted this beggarly sum, in order 
 that his enemies might not make the purchase an occasion of 
 injury to his friends; and Congress did not have the honesty to 
 afford him substantial relief by paying the real value of this 
 magnificent collection. The loss of his library was a hard blow 
 to him, but he bore it with characteristic cheerfulness. He was 
 not at the end of his troubles, however, for he had endorsed 
 for one of his old friends and connections to the amount of 
 ^20,000. His friend became bankrupt, and Mr. Jefferson had 
 to assume the crushing debt. After vainly seeking to pay it, 
 he sought relief by asking authority of the Legislature to dis- 
 pose of one of his farms by means of a lottery. The desired 
 permission was granted, but in the meantime it had become 
 rumored throughout the country that the author of the Decla- 
 ration of Independence was about to lose Monticello. A feel- 
 ing of generous sympathy was aroused, and voluntary sub- 
 scriptions for Mr. Jefferson's relief were begun. New York 
 sent him $8,500; Philadelphia, $5,000; and Baltimore $3,000. 
 The lottery was abandoned, and Mr. Jefferson accepted the 
 relief tendered him by his countrymen with gratitude and with 
 pride. 
 
 Up to the spring of 1826, Mr. Jefferson had enjoyed such 
 good health that his family had not noticed the gradual decay 
 of his bodily vigor. His mind remained vigorous until the 
 end; but in the early summer of 1826 he was confined to his 
 bed by growing weakness. " I am like an old watch," he said, 
 " with a pinion worn out here and a wheel there, until it can go 
 no longer." He grew weaker steadily, but suffered no pain, 
 and conversed calmly and cheerfully with those about him. 
 He was satisfied that his end was at hand, but he felt no 
 "solicitude about the result." During the third of July he 
 slept a great deal, under the influence of opiates. He was 
 anxious to live until the next day — the day he had helped to 
 render immortal. Towards midnight Mr. N. P. Trist, the hus- 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I// 
 
 band of one of his granddaughters, sat by his bed watching 
 him. " This is the fourth ?" asked the dying man, rousing 
 himself Mr. Trist made him no answer, as he could not bear 
 to tell him "no." A little later Mr. Jefferson repeated his 
 question — " This is the fourth ?" Mr. Trist nodded affirmatively 
 this time. "Ah!" sighed the dying patriot, an expression of 
 relief settling over his features. He sank into a deep sleep, and 
 remained tranquil through the night. He lingered until the 
 next day, and at twenty minutes to one in the afternoon on the 
 4th of July, 1826, the well-spent life of Thomas Jefferson was 
 ended. 
 
 At the same time, in his far-off home in Massachusetts, John 
 Adams, who had seconded the motion for a Declaration of 
 Independence, and had been its best champion, was dying. He 
 passed away with the setting sun, 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was buried at Monticello. A granite obelisk 
 was erected over his grave, bearing the following inscription, 
 which was found among his papers : — 
 
 HERE WAS BURIED 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 THE DECLARATION OF 
 
 AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATUTE OF VIRGINIA 
 
 FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, 
 
 AND 
 
 FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 12 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. 
 
 NATHANIEL GREENE was born in the town of Warwick, 
 Kent county, Rhode Island, on the 26th day of May, 1742. 
 His father was an anchor smith, and a member of the Society 
 of Friends. Young Greene followed the plough during his 
 boyhood, and occasionally worked at his father's forge. He 
 received only a common school education, but being possessed 
 of a genuine thirst for knowledge, gave all his spare time, after 
 leaving school, to reading and study. He earned his own liv- 
 ing from a very early age, and invested all his spare money in 
 books. He was fond of mathematics, and Plutarch's Lives and 
 Caesar's Commentaries were his delight. He applied himself 
 to military studies, and pored with eagerness over the cam- 
 paigns of the great masters of the art of war — a strange taste in 
 one bred in the peaceful community to which he belonged. 
 
 He was a great favorite with his fellow townsmen, and when 
 quite a young man was elected to a seat in the Assembly of 
 his native Colony. He entered upon his public career when 
 the troubles between the Colonies and the Mother Country 
 were rapidly approaching a crisis. From the first he had no 
 hesitation as to the course he should pursue if the worst came 
 to the worst. He was an American first, a Quaker afterwards; 
 and laying aside his peaceful principles as unsuited to the times, 
 he declared himself in favor of armed resistance to Great Bri- 
 tain. This patriotic decision cost him his fellowship in the 
 religious body in which he had been bred, and was followed by 
 his immediate dismission from the Society of Friends. 
 
 In 1774 he became a private in a military company, com- 
 manded by James M. Varnum, afterwards a brigadier-general. 
 He did not remain in this humble capacity long, for he was 
 regarded as the best informed military man in his province, and 
 when Rhode Island, in May, 1775, raised three regiments of 
 
 militia as her contingent to the army before Boston, Greene 
 
 (178) 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. 1 79 
 
 was appointed to the chief command of them, and marched 
 them at once to Cambridge. They were regarded as the best 
 disciplined and equipped troops in the army. Upon the arrival 
 of Washington in the camp, to assume the command of the 
 army, he was received in the camp of the Rhode Island brigade 
 with a soldier-like address of welcome from Greene. 
 
 Washington was deeply impressed with the frank and manly 
 bearing of Greene. " His appearance and manner were calcu- 
 lated to make a favorable impression. He was about thirty-nine 
 years of age, about six feet high; well-built and vigorous, with 
 an open, animated, intelligent countenance, and a frank, manly 
 demeanor." A mutual friendship was thus begun between 
 these truly great men, which never wavered, but grew stronger 
 with the lapse of time. Greene regarded the Commander-in- 
 chief with an enthusiastic reverence, and Washington's confi- 
 dence in and affection for him were unlimited. It was his wish 
 that, in the event of his death during the war. General Greene 
 should be appointed his successor in the chief command. 
 
 Greene was appointed a brigadier-general by Congress, and 
 during the siege of Boston his command formed a part of the 
 left wing, under Major General Charles Lee. During the 
 difficulties and trials of this investment, he gave to Washington 
 not only his cordial and intelligent co-operation in the efforts 
 to organize the army upon an effective footing, but also his 
 sympathy in his trials and disappointments. " No one drew 
 closer to Washington in this time of his troubles and perplexi- 
 ties," says Irving, " than General Greene." He had a real 
 veneration for his character, and thought himself happy in the 
 opportunity to serve under so good a general. He grieved at 
 Washington's annoyances, but attributed them in part to his 
 being somewhat of a stranger in New England. He was one 
 of tliL' few officers of rank who supported the plan of the 
 Commander-in-chief for carrying Boston by assault. 
 
 During the season of relaxation which followed the evacua- 
 tion of Boston, Greene employed himself with his military 
 studies. He was placed by Washington in charge of the 
 important line of works which had been thrown up beyond 
 Brooklyn on Long Island, and set to work to mature a plan of 
 defense. Unfortunately, in the midst of his preparations, and 
 
l80 AiMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 just before the advance of the British, he was seized with a 
 raging fever, and was obliged to relinquish his command to 
 General Sullivan. On the 26th of August, 1776, the day 
 before the battle of Long Island, he was promoted by Congress 
 to the rank of major-general in the regular army. He returned 
 to duty as soon as he was able to mount his horse, and was 
 given command of all the troops in New Jersey. He was 
 charged to keep up a communication with the m.ain army east 
 of the Hudson, so as to secure a retreat for Washington in 
 case of necessity. Pie established his headquarters at Fort 
 Lee, on the Hudson, and kept a sharp lookout upon the British 
 at the mouth of the river. 
 
 Upon the withdrawal of the American army across the 
 Hudson, Washington left it to General Greene's discretion to 
 hold or evacuate Fort Washington. Greene committed the 
 error of believing that the work could be held, an opinion in 
 which he was sustained by Colonel Magaw, the commander of 
 the fort. He believed that if the fort should be found unten- 
 able, the garrison could at any time be drawn off under the 
 guns of Fort Lee, on the Jersey shore, immediately opposite. 
 He perceived his error too late. On the i6th of November 
 Fort Washington was captured, and the loss of this work com- 
 pelled the evacuation of Fort Lee. Before the latter operation 
 was completed, Lord Cornwallis landed above Fort Lee with a 
 strong force, and made a push to secure the line of retreat of 
 the American army. Washington by a rapid march threw his 
 force in advance of the British, and the memorable retreat 
 across New Jersey began. 
 
 During this dark and trying period Greene was cheerful and 
 even hopeful. He did not believe that such a cause could be 
 lost so easily. He had nothing but brav^e and encouraging 
 words for his troops, and he rendered a hearty and zealous 
 support to every measure of the Commander-in-chief. He 
 cordially endorsed the plan of Washington for re-crossing the 
 Delaware and striking a blow at the Hessians at Trenton and 
 in the battle which ensued bore a distinguished and honorable 
 part. He favored the re-occupation of Trenton at the close of 
 the year 1776, and endorsed the plan of Washington for the 
 flank march to Princeton on the night of the 2d of January, 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. 1 1 
 
 1777. He executed his part of the movement with daring and 
 skill, and bore himself with his usual credit in the battle of 
 Princeton. Indeed, during the whole of this trying period, he 
 was Washington's chief reliance and most confidential associate. 
 Duiing the winter Washington sent him to Philadelphia to lay 
 before Congress such matters as he could not trust to a letter. 
 "He is an able and good officer," wrote the Commander 
 in-chief, "who has my entire confidence, and is intimately 
 acquainted with my ideas." 
 
 When the American army took position at Chadd's Ford to 
 dispute the passage of the Brandywine, Greene's division, 
 which consisted of Weedon's and Muhlenburg's brigades of 
 Virginia troops, was held in reserve, and kept in readiness to 
 support either wing of the army. In the battle of the Brandy- 
 wine, on the nth of September, 1777, the British succeeded in 
 gaining the rear of the right wing of the Americans, which was 
 commanded by General Sullivan. They attacked with vigor, 
 and succeeded in driving back both wings of the American 
 army. 
 
 Greene was preparing to go to the assistance of the left wing, 
 when he received urgent orders from Washington to support 
 the right under Sullivan, which was in danger of being sur- 
 rounded. He moved forward with his troops at a run, and 
 marched a distance of five miles in less than fifty-five minutes. 
 He found the battle lost, and the broken masses of Sullivan's 
 troops in full retreat. Not a moment was to be lost, and 
 throwing his command between the enemy and his beaten 
 countrymen, he checked the advance of the pursuers by a sharp 
 and well-directed fire of artillery. Falling back slowly, Greene 
 was met by an order from Washington to occupy a second 
 position about a mile beyond Dilworth, and cover the retreat 
 of the army. Sending his artillery to the rear to ensure its 
 safety, he held his new line with small arms until the army 
 had gotten off in safety. He then fell back slowly and in good 
 order in the face of the enemy, who were unable to gain any 
 advantage over him. His firmness alone saved the army from 
 a total rout. 
 
 Greene was justly proud of the splendid conduct of his 
 troops, and was very much vexed when Washington failed to 
 
1 82 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 notice it in the general orders issued after the battle. He went 
 to the Commander-in-chief and remonstrated against what he 
 deemed an injustice to his men. 
 
 " You, sir," said Washington in reply, " are considered my 
 favorite officer. Weedon's brigade, like myself, are Virginians. 
 Should I applaud them for their achievement, under your com- 
 mand, I should be charged with partiality ; jealousy will be 
 excited, and the service injured." 
 
 " Sir," broke in Greene, with great warmth, " I trust your 
 Excellency will do me the justice to believe that I am not 
 selfish. In my own behalf, I have nothing to ask. Act towards 
 me as you please ; I shall not complain. However richly I 
 prize your Excellency's good opinion and applause, a con- 
 sciousness that I have endeavored to do my duty, constitutes 
 at present my richest reward. But do not, sir, let me entreat 
 you, on account of the jealousy that may arise in little minds, 
 withhold justice from the brave fellows I had the honor to 
 command." 
 
 Washington refused to grant Greene's request, as he was 
 convinced that prudence required such a course on his part, 
 Greene, upon reflection, saw that the Commander-in-chief was 
 right, and at once went to him and apologized frankly for his 
 intemperate manner, if not for his expressions. Washington, 
 delighted with this exhibition of the inborn nobleness of his 
 friend, held out his hand, and said with a smile, "An officer, 
 tried as you have been, who errs but once in two years, deserves 
 to be forgiven." 
 
 This was their nearest approach to a misunderstanding during 
 the entire war. 
 
 At the battle of Germantown, on the 4th of October, 1777, 
 Greene commanded the left wnng of the American army. He 
 drove the enemy rapidly before him, and had reached the 
 centre of the town with his own division, when the army was 
 suddenly seized with an unaccountable panic, and retreated from 
 the victory that was within its grasp. He covered the retreat 
 of the army with his division, and displayed such good gen- 
 eralship in holding the enemy at bay, that he won the cordial 
 praise of the Commander-in-chief Thanks to him, the Ameri- 
 cans were able to carry off all their artillery and wounded. 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. 1 83 
 
 During the winter of 1777-78, the American army experi- 
 enced the greatest difficulty in obtaining suppHes of all kinds. 
 A great deal of this was due to the inefficient management of 
 the Quartermaster's Department. A reform in this branch of 
 the service was imperative, and Washington prevailed upon 
 Congress to confer the office of Quartermaster-General upon 
 General Greene, whose great executive ability he wished to 
 secure for it. He knew that Greene was devoted to his pro- 
 fession, and that to ask him to withdraw from the field would 
 be to demand a great sacrifice of him. Nevertheless, he be- 
 lieved that Greene would accept the post under the circum- 
 stances. He thus stated his reason for this belief, in a conver- 
 sation with a member of Congress. " There is not," he said, 
 " an officer of the army, nor a man in America, more sincerely 
 attached to the interests of his country. Could he best pro- 
 mote their interests in the character of a corporal, he would 
 exchange, as I firmly believe, without a murmur, the epaulet for 
 the knot. For although he is not without ambition, that am- 
 bition has not for its object the highest rank, so much as the 
 greatest good!^ 
 
 When the appointment was offered to General Greene, he 
 declined it. Washington summoned him to his headquarters, 
 however, and laid before him the necessity for his assuming the 
 disagreeable position. Greene thereupon consented to accept 
 the appintment, on condition that he should retain his place m 
 the line and his right to command in action. He entered upon 
 the duties of his office in March, 1778. He declined to receive 
 any compensation for his services, as he would do nothing 
 that might complicate his position in the line. He held the 
 office until the summer of 1780. He found it in great disorder 
 and confusion, but by extraordinary exertions and excellent 
 system, so arranged as to put the army in a condition to take 
 the field and move with rapidity the moment it should be 
 required. 
 
 While acting as Quartermaster-General, Greene took part in 
 the battle of Monmouth on the 28th of June, 1778. He com- 
 manded the right wing, and did much to repair the damage 
 caused by the failure of General Charles Lee to execute his 
 orders. In July of the same year he was placed in command 
 
184 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of one of the divisions of Sullivan's expedition to Rhode 
 Island. The expedition was a failure, owing to the refusal of 
 the French commander to co-operate with Sullivan. 
 
 General Greene's return to his native State was the occasion 
 of his receiving many tokens of the affection and esteem with 
 which he was regarded by his own people. Among those who 
 were prominent in these demonstrations, were several leading 
 members of the Society of Friends. They had dismissed him 
 with regret from their communion, and had not lost their 
 esteem for him. His well won success was a sincere pleasure 
 to them. A young officer jestingly asked a Quaker visitor at 
 the General's quarters how he could reconcile it with his prin- 
 ciples to associate with a man whose trade was war. " Friend," 
 replied the Quaker promptly, " it is not a suit of uniform that 
 can either make or spoil a man. True, I do not approve of 
 this many colored apparel, but whatever may be the form or 
 color of his coat, Nathaniel Greene still retains the same sound 
 head and virtuous heart that gained him the love and esteem 
 of our Society." 
 
 When Knyphausen advanced into New Jersey, to seize the 
 passes of the Highlands, in June, 1780, Gen. Greene checked 
 his advance in a sharp engagement near Springfield, on the 
 23d of June, and compelled him to retreat. 
 
 In the summer of 1780, General Greene, unable to agree 
 with Congress upon the management of his department, ten- 
 dered his resignation. It was at once accepted, and as his 
 independent conduct was displeasing to Congress, there was 
 talk in that body of suspending him from his command in the 
 line. Washington at once interposed in his behalf, against this 
 intended outrage, and by pointing out the evil consequences to 
 the army of such an arbitrary use of power, induced Congress 
 to refrain from executing its unwise design. 
 
 In the early fall of 1780, Greene was called upon to discharge 
 the most painful duty of his life. He was appointed, by Wash- 
 ington, President of the Board of Officers convened for the 
 trial of Major Andre. Andre was found guilty, and was sen- 
 tenced to be hanged as a spy. A strong appeal was made by 
 the unfortunate young man, that he might be shot. The Com- 
 mander-in-chief referred the matter to his greneral officers. All 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. 1 85 
 
 but General Greene advised him to grant Andre's request. 
 Greene, " who was well versed in military law, and was a man 
 of sound head and kind heart," replied as follows to the Com- 
 mander-in-chief: "Andre is either a spy or an innocent man. 
 If the latter, to execute him in any way would be murder ; if 
 the former, the mode of his death is prescribed by law, and 
 you have no right to alter it. Nor is this all. At the present 
 alarming crisis of our affairs, the public safety calls for a solemn 
 and impressive example. Nothing can satisfy it short of the 
 execution of the prisoner as a common spy ; a character of 
 which his own confession has clearly convicted him. Beware 
 how you suffer your feelings to triumph over your judgment. 
 Indulgence to one may be death to thousands. Besides, if you 
 shoot the prisoner, instead of hanging him, you will excite sus- 
 picion which you will be unable to allay. Notwithstanding all 
 your efforts to the contrary, you will awaken public compas- 
 sion, and the belief will become general that, in the case of 
 Major Andre, there were exculpatory circumstances, entitling 
 him to lenity beyond what he received — perhaps entitling him 
 to pardon. Hang him, therefore, or set him free." 
 
 Greene's reasoning was conclusive, and the sentence of the 
 court was carried out. 
 
 The chief interest of the struggle was now transferred to the 
 Southern States, and the disastrous defeat of Gates at Camden, 
 on the i6th of August, 1780, rendered it of the highest impor- 
 tance that the little army gathering in the South to resist the 
 advance of Cornwallis should be commanded by a general of 
 tried skill and experience. Congress therefore removed General 
 Gates from his command, and ordered the Commander-in-chief 
 to appoint an officer to succeed him. Washington at once 
 selected Greene for the important post, and his appointment 
 was confirmed by Congress. In his letter of instructions to 
 General Greene, Washington left him substantially free to 
 conduct the campaign according to his own judgment. "I am 
 aware," he said, "that the nature of the command will offer you 
 embarrassments of a singular and complicated nature; but I 
 rely upon your abilities for everything your means will enable 
 you to effect." 
 
 General Greene at once set out for his new command, and 
 
1 86 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 reached Charlotte, North CaroHna, on the 2d of December 
 The next day he assumed the command of the Southern army. 
 Gates was very sore over his reverses, and was not disposed to 
 regard his successor with kindness; but he was treated by 
 Greene with so much generosity and sympathy that he was 
 completely subdued. "The coldness, if not ill will, with which 
 he had hitherto regarded Greene, was at an end ; and, in all his 
 subsequent correspondence with him, he addressed him in 
 terms of affection." 
 
 The advance of Cornwallis into North Carolina had been 
 checked by the defeat of Ferguson's detachment at King's 
 Mountain, but the war in the South had only begun. Greene 
 found himself at Charlotte, at the head of an army of a little 
 over twenty-three hundred men, half of whom were militia. 
 The troops were disheartened and cowed by their recent defeat, 
 and the officers were careless and inefficient. The whole force 
 was badly clothed and fed, and was without tents or camp 
 equipage. On his journey from the North, Greene had left 
 Baron Steuben in Virginia to collect reinforcements and sup- 
 plies and forward them to him. Without waiting for these he 
 applied himself to the task of reorganizing his army. " He 
 went to work quietly, but resolutely; called no councils of war; 
 communicated his plans and intentions to few, and such only as 
 were able and willing to aid in executing them. * * His 
 efforts were successful ; the army soon began to assume what 
 he termed a military complexion. He was equally studious to 
 promote harmony among his officers, of whom a number were 
 young, gallant, and intelligent. It was his delight to have them 
 at his genial but simple table, where parade and restraint were 
 banished, and pleasant and instructive conversation was pro- 
 moted; which, next to reading, was his great enjoyment. The 
 manly benignity of his manners diffused itself round his board, 
 and a common sentiment of affection for their chief united the 
 young men in a kind of brotherhood," 
 
 Until now General Greene's success had been won while 
 executing the orders of Washington. He was now to be tried 
 by the most difficult of tests — an independent command —and 
 under the most unfavorable circumstances. He was to oppose 
 a greatly superior army, led by a commander of ability, and 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. 1 8/ 
 
 that with a force which he could never arm, clothe, or feed 
 properly. He was constantly under the apprehension that his 
 unpaid, ill-clothed, and almost starving army would disband, 
 and he was obliged to confess that in such a case he should 
 not be able to blame the men. In order to subsist his force 
 more easily, he divided it into two columns. One of these, 
 about one thousand strong, he placed under command of Gen- 
 eral Morgan, and threw it forward to a position in South Caro- 
 lina between the Broad and Catawba Rivers, with orders to as- 
 semble the militia of that district. With the other division 
 he advanced into Chesterfield District, on the east side of 
 the Pedee, opposite the Cheraw Hills. 
 
 The task before him was one of immense difficulty. The 
 war was conducted with a savage fury by the British, and the 
 country was divided between the Patriots and Tories, who pur- 
 sued each other with merciless determination. The nature of 
 the country also added to his embarrassments. " War here," he 
 wrote in one of his letters, " is upon a very different scale to 
 what it is at the Northward. It is a plain business there. The 
 geography of the countiy reduces its operations to two or 
 three points. But here it is everywhere ; and the countiy is 
 so full of deep rivers and impassable creeks and swamps, that 
 you are always liable to misfortunes of a capital nature." 
 
 Cornwallis, with a superior force, was encamped at Winns- 
 borough, South Carolina, about seventy miles south of Greene's 
 position. Feeling himself strong enough for such a movement, 
 he determined to leave Lord Rawdon with a sufficient force at 
 Camden, and by rapid marches throw his army between Greene 
 and Virginia. He hoped by this movement to compel Greene 
 either to fight him with his present force or to retreat in dis- 
 grace from North Carolina. The British commander counted 
 upon a general uprising of the royalists and the re-establish- 
 ment of the King's authority, upon his occupation of North 
 Carolina, after which he meant to overrun Virginia and Mary- 
 land. 
 
 In order to prevent Morgan from uniting his forces with 
 Greene, Cornwallis sent Colonel Tarleton to attack him with a 
 force of i,ioo picked troops and two pieces of artillery. With 
 his main force the British commander moved towards the fords 
 
l88 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of the Broad and Catawba rivers. Tarleton endeavored by 
 forced marches to come up with Morgan, and the latter, upon 
 learning of his approach, retreated towards the Catawba. Find- 
 ing that he could not escape, Morgan halted at the Cowpens, 
 where, on the 17th of January, 1781, he was attacked by Tarle- 
 ton. The British were routed with a loss of over 300 killed 
 and wounded, and 625 prisoners, and their artillery. Tarle- 
 ton saved himself only by the speed of his horse. 
 
 Cornwallis moved towards Morgan's line of retreat as soon 
 as he heard of Tarleton's defeat, believing that he could over- 
 take him while he was still laden with the spoils of his victory. 
 Morgan was too good a soldier to be caught in this way. 
 Leaving Colonel Pickens under the protection of a flag of truce 
 to bury the dead and to attend to the wounded of both armies, 
 he resumed his retreat, with his prisoners and spoils, an hour 
 or two after the battle, and hurried towards the Catawba, 
 which he crossed in safety. Two hours after he had passed 
 that stream, the advanced guard of Cornwallis's army appeared 
 on the opposite bank, but a sudden rise had so swollen the 
 river that the British were unable to ford it. The freshet con- 
 tinued several days, and gave Morgan an opportunity to send 
 off his prisoners to a place of safety and rest his men. 
 
 As soon as he heard of Morgan's victory at the Cowpens, 
 Greene put his troops in motion with orders to join Morgan by 
 forced marches, and rode on in advance to the camp of the lat- 
 ter. On the last day of January he reached Morgan's camp on 
 the east side of the Catawba. The enemy occupied the oppo- 
 site bank of the river, which was subsiding. Upon his arrival 
 Greene learned that Cornwallis, in order to make sure of over- 
 taking the American army, had burned all his heavy baggage 
 and stores, and had reduced his army to the strictest light march- 
 ing order. He now resolved to retreat into Virginia, where he 
 hoped to receive reinforcements, and to wear out the British by 
 constantly tempting them with the prospect of a battle, and as 
 constantly avoiding one. "It was the Fabian policy he had 
 learned under Washington, of whom he prided himself on being 
 a disciple." 
 
 Morgan was ordered to move off silently, on the evening of 
 the 31st of January and to march rapidly all night so as to 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. I 89 
 
 gain a good start in advance, while Greene remained to check 
 the enemy as long as possible and bring off the militia. 
 
 On the night of the 31st, the British army passed the Ca- 
 tawba and dispersed the militia that had been left to guard the 
 fords. At daylight the next morning, Greene learned of the 
 defeat of the militia, and apprehensive of a rapid advance on 
 the part of Cornwallis, set off at once to rejoin Morgan. He 
 rode all day through a heavy rain and roads almost impassable 
 on account of the mire. As he had sent off all his aides-de- 
 camp in different directions, to collect the scattered militia, he 
 rode the most of the way alone. At midday he reached Salis- 
 bury. As he alighted at the door of the inn, he was met by 
 an army surgeon, who inquired after his health. " Fatigued, 
 hungry, alone and penniless," answered Greene, sadly. Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Steele, the hostess of the inn, chanced to overhear 
 these words ; she said nothing, but when he was seated at the 
 table, she entered the room, closed the door, and took from 
 under her apron two bags of coin which she had saved for 
 emergencies. " Take these," said the noble woman, offering 
 them to him ; " you will want them, and I can do without them." 
 Greene accepted the money with thanks, and continued his 
 journey with a lighter heart. Such was the patriotism of the 
 women of the Revolution. 
 
 Rejoining Morgan, Greene urged his men on towards the 
 Yadkin as rapidly as the wretched roads would permit. He 
 passed that stream on the 3d of February, and his rear guard 
 was still engaged in crossing when the British reached the 
 river. A skirmish ensued on the banks of the Yadkin, and 
 night coming on, the British commander deferred the attempt 
 to force a passage until the next day. During the night a 
 heavy rain swelled the river so high that it could not be forded. 
 Greene profited by this delay to push on to Guilford Court 
 House, where he was joined on the 9th by his other division 
 under General Huger. 
 
 Greene now resolved to continue his retreat into Virginia, and 
 Cornwallis determined to strain every nerve to intercept him 
 before he could reach the Dan. The two armies now entered 
 upon a race for that river. Greene entrusted the task of cover- 
 ing his retreat to General Morgan, but that officer falling ill, the 
 
190 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 command of the rear guard passed to Colonel Otlio H. Wil- 
 liams. Cornwallis supposed that the Dan could not be passed 
 at the lower ferries, and that Greene would seek to reach the 
 upper fords. He moved rapidly in that direction to cut him 
 off. Greene, however, had long contemplated the passage of 
 the river at the lower ferries, and his agents had collected a 
 large number of boats for that purpose. He therefore moved 
 in that direction while Cornwallis was aiming for the upper 
 fords. The retreat was conducted with masterly ability. " It 
 was a long and severe march for both armies, through a wild and 
 rough country, thinly peopled, cut up by streams, partly covered 
 by forests, along deep and frozen roads, under drenching rains, 
 without tents at night, and with a scanty supply of provisions. 
 The British suffered the least, as they were well equipped and 
 comfortably clad ; whereas the poor Americans were badly off 
 for clothing, and many of them without shoes." Perceiving 
 Cornwallis's error, Colonel Williams retreated towards the upper 
 fords, and so confirmed that commander's delusion, while 
 Greene with the main body pushed on to the lower ferries, 
 which he reached and passed in safety in the course of the 14th 
 of February. He at once sent back word to Williams, who, 
 with his covering party, was far in the rear. That excellent 
 officer encamped as usual no the night of the 14th in front of 
 the enemy, but a few hours later withdrew his men, leaving his 
 camp-fires still burning, and by a forced march all night 
 reached the ferries on the morning of the 15th, crossed the 
 river and rejoined Greene. An hour or two later, Cornwallis, 
 who had discovered his mistake too late, reached the Dan; but 
 was compelled to halt. The river could not be forded, and 
 all the boats were in Greene's possession. The British com- 
 mander was deeply mortified by his failure to intercept the 
 American army. He had pursued it for over two hundred 
 miles and had made great exertions to come up with it ; but 
 Greene had managed to elude him at every step, and had 
 safely accomplished one of the most brilliant retreats on record. 
 After resting his men a few days on the banks of the Dan, 
 Cornwallis fell back to Hillsborough. 
 
 Having received a slight reinforcement, General Greene re- 
 crossed the Dan about the last of February, and advanced 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. I9I 
 
 into North Carolina to put a stop to Cornwallis's efforts to raise 
 the Loyalists of that region. His prompt advance put an end 
 to the recruiting of the British army, and caused many Tories, 
 on their way to join it, to return home. Cornwallis, being 
 short of supplies, abandoned Hillsborough and slowly retreated 
 southward. Greene followed him cautiously, too weak to risk 
 a battle if it could be avoided, but ready to take advantage of 
 the first error on the part of his adversary. His movements 
 were conducted with the utmost circumspection, and in order 
 to guard againt a surprise, he never remained in the same 
 place more than one day, and kept secret, until the last mo- 
 ment, the places he selected for his encampments. Cornwallis 
 thoroughly appreciated the merits of his adversary. " Greene," 
 he said, " is as dangerous as Washington. He is vigilant, 
 enterprising, and full of resources. With but little hope of 
 gaining any advantage over him, I never feel secure when 
 encamped in his neighborhood." 
 
 In the meantime reinforcements from Virginia, Maryland and 
 North Carolina brought Greene's army up to about four thousand 
 men. In numbers it was now superior to the enemy, but in 
 other respects was greatly inferior to them. Greene was aware 
 of this inferiority, but he determined, nevertheless, to accept 
 the battle which the enemy had so long offered. Sending his 
 baggage to a place of safety, he marched to Guilford Court 
 House, about eighteen miles distant, and took position there. 
 As soon as he learned of this movement Cornwallis, trusting 
 in the superior qualities of his veterans, advanced on the 15th 
 of March, to attack the American army. A severely contested 
 battle ensued ; the American army was defeated, and compelled 
 to retreat. Greene retired in good order, and Cornwallis 
 was so severely crippled by his victory that he withdrew to 
 Wilmington, on the Cape Fear River. By the time he reached 
 that place his army had been so much weakened by desertions 
 and losses in battle that he had but 1,400 men with him. 
 
 Washington thoroughly approved the course of General 
 Greene. "Although the honors of the field do not fall to your 
 lot," he wrote to him, " I am convinced that you deserve them. 
 * * * The motives which induced you to risk an action with 
 Lord Cornwallis are supported upon the best military principle. 
 
192 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and the consequence, if you can prevent the dissipation of your 
 troops, will no doubt be fortunate." The retreat of Cornwallis 
 to Wilmington, as we have seen, justified the course of Greene. 
 
 The activity of General Greene during this memorable cam- 
 paign was remarkable. He gave his personal supervision to 
 everything. He could never'depend upon the militia, and was 
 obliged to incur many fatigues that a better regulated army 
 would have saved him. After the battle of Guilford Court 
 House, he wrote: "I have never taken off my clothes since I 
 left the Pedee. I was taken with a fainting last night, owing, 
 I suppose, to excessive fatigue and constant watching." After 
 the battle of Eutaw Springs, he wrote to the Committee of 
 War, " I have been seven months in the field without taking off 
 my clothes." 
 
 Greene had followed Cornwallis some distance on his retreat, 
 but finding that the latter was moving towards Wilmington, 
 he turned off, and marched towards Camden to crush Lord 
 Rawdon. He advanced to Hobkirk's Hill, about two miles 
 from Camden, where he was attacked by Lord Rawdon on the 
 25th of April. After a sharp engagement Greene was defeated. 
 He fell back in good order, having inflicted upon the enemy a 
 loss about equal to his own. Lord Rawdon was unable to 
 derive any advantage from his victory, as he could not bring 
 Greene to another general engagement. At the same time the 
 American partisan troops were so active in his rear that the 
 situation of his Lordship became dangerous. He therefore set 
 fire to Camden and fell back to Monk's Corner. 
 
 In the meantime Lee, Marion, Pickens, and the other patriot 
 leaders, had broken up the fortified posts of the British with 
 such success that by the month of June, 1781, only three 
 positions of importance remained to the British in South Caro- 
 lina — Charleston, Nelson's Ferry and Fort Ninety Six, near the 
 Saluda. The last named position was of the greatest import- 
 ance, and was held by a force of Carolina Tories. Lee and 
 Pickens were sent against Augusta, Georgia, and captured it 
 after a close investment of seven days. General Greene himself 
 marched against Ninety Six and laid siege to it. Being in- 
 formed that Lord Rawdon was hurrying to its relief, he at- 
 tempted to carry the fort by assault on the i8th of June, but 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. I93 
 
 was repulsed with severe loss. Greene then raised the siege 
 and retreated across the Saluda. 
 
 Early in July the excessive heat put an end to active oper- 
 ations on the part of the two armies. Greene withdrew to the 
 high hills of the Santee, and the British went into camp on the 
 Congaree. A bitter partisan warfare now sprang up between 
 the Patriots and Tories, in which neither age nor sex was 
 spared. Lord Rawdon added to the horrors of the war by 
 hanging Colonel Hayne, a distinguished citizen of Charles- 
 ton, on the pretext that he had broken his parole. The execu- 
 tion was so unjust that General Greene felt himself obliged to 
 retaliate by executing as deserters all those prisoners who had 
 formerly served in his own army. So bitter was the feeling of 
 the American troops that they could scarcely be prevented 
 from shooting the British officers who fell into their hands. 
 
 Lord Rawdon sailed for England and left the command of 
 his army to Colonel Stewart, an officer of ability and experi- 
 ence. At the close of the summer of 1781, General Greene, 
 whose army had been increased, by the arrival of the com- 
 mands of Marion and Pickens, to 2,500 men, resumed the 
 offensive. He attacked the British at Eutaw Springs on the 
 8th of September, and after a severely fought battle the left 
 wing of the British was routed. In the moment of victory the 
 American army stopped to plunder the enemy's camp, and the 
 British, taking advantage of the delay, rallied and made a stand 
 in a large stone house, from which they could not be driven. 
 Greene was forced to draw off his troops and leave the field to 
 the enemy .^ Both sides claimed the victory, but the advantage 
 certainly lay with the Americans. The British lost a third of 
 their army, and immediately fell back to the vicinity of Charles- 
 ton. Greene followed them as far as Monk's Corner, and then 
 returned to the Hills of Santee. The American commander 
 had abundant reason to be satisfied with the result of his oper- 
 
 1 " At the battle of Eutaw Springs Greene says, ' that hundreds of my men were 
 naked as they were born.' Posterity will scarcely believe that the bare loins of 
 many brave men who carried death into the enemy's ranks at the Eutaw, were 
 galled by their cartouch boxes, while a folded rag or a tuft of moss protected the 
 shoulders from sustaining the same injury from the musket. Men of other times 
 will inquire, 'By what magic was the army kept together?' " — Johnson^ s Life of 
 General Greene. 
 13 
 
194 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ations in South Carolina. He had rescued the greater part of 
 the State from the British, and had confined them to the 
 region between the Santee and the Lower Savannah. He had 
 repeatedly engaged the enemy with the most inadequate 
 means, and under the most unfavorable circumstances; but 
 had never failed, even though defeated, to accomplish the object 
 for which he fought. He had baffled the English comman- 
 ders over again, and, like William of Orange, had managed to 
 derive greater advantages from his reverses than his adversaries 
 were able to draw from their victories. 
 
 The battle of Eutaw Springs was the last fight of General 
 Greene. It was followed by the abandonment by the British 
 of the whole of South Carolina save Charleston. A period of 
 rest followed, during which a plot was formed by some muti- 
 nous soldiers of the army to seize their General and deliver 
 him to the British. The plot was detected in time, and the 
 ringleader was shot. It was found that not a single native 
 born American was connected with it. Greene retained his 
 command in the South until the close of the war, when he 
 resigned his commission and returned to his home in Rhode 
 Island, where he met with an enthusiastic welcome from his 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 The Southern States, which his genius had so well defended, 
 were prompt, after the close of the war, to show their gratitude 
 in a most substantial manner. South Carolina presented him 
 with an . estate valued at over fifty thousand gold dollars ; 
 Georgia bestowed upon him an estate near Savannah worth 
 over twenty-five thousand gold dollars ; and North Carolina 
 gave him twenty-five thousand acres of land in Tennessee. 
 
 General Greene decided to make his home on his estate near 
 Savannah, and after spending two years in Rhode Island in 
 arranging his affairs, sailed for Georgia, with his family, in Oc- 
 tober, 1785. Establishing himself in his new home, he de- 
 voted himself with enthusiasm to agricultural pursuits. As 
 he was a man of vigorous health, and but forty-five years old, 
 he naturally looked forward to many years of peaceful enjoy- 
 ment with his family. His hopes were not to be realized, 
 however. On the afternoon of the 15th of June, 1786, he was 
 prostrated by a sunstroke while walking over his grounds. 
 
NATHANIEL GREENE. I95 
 
 He lingered until the 19th of the month, when he died. At 
 the request of the citizens of Savannah, his body was conveyed 
 to that city, and was buried in a cemetery adjoining it with 
 public honors. 
 
 The news of the death of General Greene was received by 
 his countrymen with unaffected grief Congress, by a unani- 
 mous resolution, on the 12th of August, 1786, ordered that a 
 monument be erected to his memory at the seat of the Federal 
 Government — an order that has never been carried out. " He 
 was a great and good man," wrote Washington to Lafayette, 
 announcing his death. He was the model of an American 
 soldier and patriot, and his name and fame are among the most 
 precious possessions of his countrymen. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, on the 
 30th of October, 1735. His father was a farmer, in plain 
 circumstances ; but as he had received a college education as 
 his only legacy from his father, he determined that his son 
 should be equally fortunate, and after considerable trouble, pre- 
 vailed upon John to prepare at an early age for college. He 
 was noted at college as the best scholar of his class, and in the 
 summer of 1755, when not quite twenty, took his degree of 
 bachelor of arts, and entered upon the duties of life. 
 
 He had his own way to make in the world, and began by 
 taking charge of the public school in the town of Worcester. 
 It was a position which barely supported him, and he adopted 
 it merely as an expedient to obtain the means of supplying the 
 most pressing wants of nature until he could make choice of 
 and enter upon a profession. His small income required of him 
 the utmost carefulness, and he thus learned the habits of thrift 
 and frugality, which distinguished him through life. He did 
 not acquire the fault of niggardliness which usually accom- 
 panies these qualities — the inborn generosity of the man was 
 too sound for this. 
 
 It was the wish of young Adams's parents and friends that he 
 should become a preacher — then the most honorable calling in 
 New England ; but the naturally liberal mind of the young 
 man revolted against the close, hard theology of the time. " I 
 saw," he said in after years, " such a spirit of dogmatism and 
 bigotry in clergy and laity, that, if I should be a priest, I must 
 take my side, and pronounce as positively as any of them, or 
 never get a parish ; or getting it, must soon leave it. Very 
 strong doubts arose in my mind whether I was made for a pulpit 
 in such times ; and I began to think of other professions." His 
 most intimate friends were fortunately men of broader and more 
 liberal views than commonly prevailed in New England at the 
 
 (196) 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 1 97 
 
 time, and he had the good fortune to read at this critical junc- 
 ture of his hfe the works of Lord Bohngbroke — and he read 
 them, too, with a nice discrimination very rare in so young a man. 
 The result of the matter was that he threw aside the idea of the 
 ministry, and entered upon the study of the law, under the 
 guidance of his friend Mr. Putnam. He was eminently quali 
 fied for this profession, by the peculiar cast of his mind, hi:, 
 quick perception and discriminating judgment, and by his clear, 
 sonorous voice, and readiness as a speaker. He pursued his 
 studies for three years under the direction of Mr. Putnam, sup- 
 porting himself during this period by teaching school. Six 
 hours of each day were regularly given to the duties of the 
 school, and the remainder of his time to the study of the law. 
 He was a close, diligent student, and as a consequence became 
 one of the most thoroughly informed members of his profession 
 in New England. In October, 1758, his legal studies and 
 school teaching came to an end, and he was sworn in as an 
 attorney in the Superior Court. 
 
 Mr. Adams now removed to his father's house in Braintree, 
 where he resided for the next six years. In 1761 his father 
 died, and he remained with his mother until his marriage, three 
 years later. During the first years of this period his lot was 
 that of all young members of his profession. He was un- 
 known, a resident of a small New England town, and he had 
 to wait for practice. He had plenty of leisure, and he em- 
 ployed it in continuing his professional studies and general 
 reading upon a more extensive scale than had been possible at 
 Worcester. He knew that he was to be the architect of his 
 own fortunes, that he had neither wealth, family nor influence 
 to sustain him, and he neglected nothing that could fit him for 
 an honorable and enduring success in life. He had formed at 
 an early day the habit of keeping a diary, in which he noted 
 down his acts, his comments on the people with whom he 
 associated, his opinions on the topics of the day, and his in- 
 most feelings. These journals are invaluable in assisting us 
 to a proper understanding of his efforts and character. Slowly 
 and by degrees he struggled into practice, and was admitted 
 as a barrister in the Superior Court. During his attendance at 
 the session of this court in 1761, he heard the splendid argu- 
 
198 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ment of James Otis against the " Writs of Assistance." It 
 made an indelible impression upon his mind, and fifty-seven 
 years after the event he wrote the most vivid account of it that 
 has come down to us. 
 
 The great grandfather, grandfather and father of John Adams 
 had been town officers in their day. The same mark of confi- 
 dence was conferred upon him by his fellow townsmen, and 
 soon after his settlement in Braintree he was elected surveyor 
 of the highways, the duties of which office he discharged with 
 vigor and fidelity. 
 
 On the 25th of October, 1764, Mr. Adams married Abigail, 
 second daughter of William Smith, the minister of the First 
 Congregational Church at Weymouth. " By this marriage Mr, 
 Adams became allied with a numerous connection of families, 
 among the most respectable for their weight and influence in 
 the province, and it was immediately perceptible in the con- 
 siderable increase of his professional practice." Better than all 
 this, the young man obtained as a wife " a woman whose 
 character was singularly fitted to develop every good point of 
 his," and to whom, more than to any one else, he owed the 
 success of his after life. In the same year Mr. Adams was 
 chosen a selectman and assessor and overseer of the poor in 
 the town of Braintree. 
 
 Until now Mr. Adams' life had been quiet and uneventful. 
 He had watched the growing troubles between the Colonies 
 and the Mother Country, and though he had deeply sympa- . 
 thized with his native land, he had taken no part in the politi- 
 cal questions of the day. The passage of the Stamp Act 
 aroused such a determined opposition in the Colonies that he 
 was drawn, in spite of himself, into the discussion which it ex- 
 cited. He drew up a petition to the selectmen of Braintree, 
 and obtained the signatures of a number of the leading towns- 
 men, to call a meeting of the people, and at this meeting pre- 
 sented a draft of instructions to the representatives of the town 
 in the General Court in relation to the stamps. The instructions 
 were adopted by the meeting without a dissenting voice, and 
 being published were adopted by forty other towns of Massa- 
 chusetts as instructions to their respective representatives. But 
 though firm and outspoken in his resistance to the injustice 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 1 99 
 
 of Great Britain, Mr. Adams sincerely deplored the violence 
 of the people of Boston towards the stamp officials of that town. 
 Mob law never found favor in his eyes. 
 
 The Courts of Massachusetts disregarded the Stamp Act in 
 the despatch of their business, but Hutchinson, who was Chief 
 Justice of the Superior Court, and Judge of the Probate Court 
 of Suffolk county, refused to hold either Court. A meeting of 
 the town of Boston was held, and James Otis, Jeremiah Gridley 
 and John Adams were appointed to present a memorial to the 
 Governor and Council, praying that the Courts should resume 
 their sittings. The duty of opening the argument in favor of 
 this petition devolved upon Mr. Adams. He delivered his 
 argnament on the 20th of December, 1765, and grounded it, he 
 says, " on the invalidity of the Stamp Act, it not being in any 
 sense our act, having never consented to it." This bold doctrine 
 went to the root of the whole matter, and from this time Mr. 
 Adams was regarded as one of the leaders of the patriot party. 
 The Governor and Council, however, refused to order the 
 reopening of the Courts, as they decided that the matter was a 
 question of law to be settled by the Courts themselves. Hutch- 
 inson was therefore triumphant for the time. 
 
 In the spring of 1768, Mr. Adams removed his residence from 
 Braintree to Boston. During the year he was offered, by Gov- 
 ernor Bernard, the appointment of Advocate General of the 
 Court of Admiralty, then vacant. The Governor expressly de- 
 declared that Mr. Adams' acceptance of the office would not 
 necessitate any sacrifice of his political sentiments or opinions ; 
 but the office was promptly and firmly declined. Mr. Adams 
 would hold no position that might even seem to commit him 
 to a support of the unjust treatment of his country by England. 
 During the two or three years which succeeded the repeal of 
 the Stamp Act, he devoted himself with energy to his profes- 
 sion, and the result was a steady and marked increase of his 
 practice and reputation. 
 
 Mr. Adams shared the resentment of the people of Boston at 
 the occupation of their town by the British troops, and in May, 
 1769, as chairman of a committee of his fellow citizens, drafted 
 a series of instructions to the representatives of Boston, in the 
 General Court, to investigate the conduct of the troops since 
 
200 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 their occupation of the city. He was prompt and outspoken 
 in his views, and his opinions were well known in New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 On the night of the 5th of March, 1770, occurred the conflict 
 between the troops and a number of citizens, known as " the 
 Boston Massacre." The affair threw the town into a fever ol 
 excitement, and came near precipitating an open conflict be- 
 tween the troops and the citizens. To pacify the latter, the 
 troops were withdrawn from the city, and the officer and soldiers 
 engaged in the " Massacre," were arrested and held for trial. 
 They applied to John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., to defend 
 them, and these gentlemen conducted their defense at their 
 subsequent trial, though in the face of considerable popular 
 opposition. The prisoners were acquitted of the charge of 
 murder, but two of the soldiers were convicted of manslaugh- 
 ter. The calmness and deliberation with which this trial was 
 conducted had a happy effect in England, and exhibited the 
 fairness and moderation of the Colonists in the most favorable 
 light. 
 
 In June, 1770, Mr. Adams was elected a delegate from Bos- 
 ton to the General Court. This election was largely due to the 
 desire of the leaders of the patriot movement to draw him into 
 political activity in behalf of their cause. Until now Mr. 
 Adams had been a sympathizer with the cause, but had not 
 engaged in it as a manager, as had his relative, Samuel Adams. 
 He was wanted now in a different capacity. " The patriot 
 party stood in need of a legal adviser at all times ; but never 
 more than now, that they were summoned to contend with the 
 shrewdness and skill of Hutchinson, just transferred from the 
 highest judicial to the highest civil post of the province. * * * 
 Otis, long an energetic, though not uniformly a consistent 
 counsellor, had just sunk a victim to his own irregularities and 
 the vindictiveness of his enemies. Joseph Hawley, the pillar 
 of the party in Western Massachusetts, was not always at 
 hand, nor did his temperament, ever prone to melancholy, 
 incline him to assume undivided responsibility. Both he and 
 Samuel Adams saw in John Adams the person now wanted 
 to step into the vacant place. * * It is certain that, from this 
 date, whether in or out of public station, John Adams was 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 201 
 
 looked to as a guide in those measures in which questions in- 
 volving professional knowledge w-ere to be discussed with the 
 authorities representing the crown." ^ 
 
 Mr. Adams bore an important important part in the strug- 
 gles of the General Court with Governor Hutchinson, but at 
 the close of the year retired from the House. The year had 
 been one of great labor to him, and his health had become so 
 seriously threatened that he determined to bid adieu to politics 
 and retire to his rural home. His sense of his duty to the 
 public, however, prevented him from carrying out the first part 
 of his determination, and he soon became involved in the fierce 
 dispute which was aroused by the discovery of Governor 
 Hutchinson's secret letters to the British Ministry. It was 
 owing to his splendid handling of the controversy that the 
 efforts of the Governor to vindicate himself met with a most 
 humiliating defeat. In May, 1773, the popular party endea- 
 vored to elect him to a seat in the Council, but his election 
 was negatived by the Governor because of " the very con- 
 spicuous part he had taken in the opposition." 
 
 One of the most active partisans of the royal cause in 
 Massachusetts was Peter Oliver, Chief Justice of the Superior 
 Court. Hutchinson relied upon him more than upon any one 
 else in his efforts to destroy the liberties of the Colony. The 
 General Court demanded his removal, but the Governor re- 
 fused to comply with the request. The Legislature then 
 passed a bill adjourning the meeting of the Superior Court for 
 three days later than the usual term, but the Governor refused 
 to take notice of the measure. The Chief Justice was confident 
 that the effort to remove him would fail, when he was suddenly 
 brought to a realization of his mistake. John Adams ended 
 the controversy b}/ proposing the impeachment of the Chief 
 Justice by the House of Representatives before the Council. 
 The House, after due consideration, acted upon this propo- 
 sition, and the impeachment was ordered by a vote of 92 to 8. 
 The action of the House was sustained by the people of the 
 Colony, who refused to acknowledge the right of the Chief 
 Justice to hold court while under impeachment. Not a jury 
 
 1 Life vf John Adams. By jf. Q. and C. F. Adams. Vol. I. p. 148. 
 
202 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 could be obtained, and the sentiment of the province was so 
 unanimous that even Oliver quailed before it. The Superior 
 Court, which he had sought to corrupt, was closed. 
 
 Mr. Adams was one of the principal sufferers by the closing 
 of the Courts. His means of support were destroyed by this 
 measure, and the closing of the port of Boston and the growing 
 disorder of the affairs of the province left it very uncertain 
 whether there would be any improvement in his prospects. 
 Yet what seemed to be a misfortune was in the end to prove a 
 gain to both himself and his country. He was now in his 
 thirty-ninth year, and " had hitherto been only a private man, 
 honored with few marks of the confidence of his fellow citizens. 
 Indeed, he had rather sought to avoid than win them." The 
 necessities of the patriot party made it imperative that they 
 should secure him as one of their most active leaders. He was 
 the first man in the Colony in learning ; he was calm, cool, 
 courageous, devoted to the cause and absolutely incorruptible. 
 
 When the Assembly of Massachusetts, just before its dis- 
 solution by Governor Gage, elected the delegates from that 
 province to the General Congress, Mr. Adams was chosen one 
 of them. He accepted the appointment, and was in his place 
 in Philadelphia at the opening of the Congress in September, 
 1774. His position in that body was difficult from the first. 
 He was one of the recognized leaders of the Congress, but the 
 circumstances in which he was placed required him to keep 
 this character in the background. There was a feeling abroad 
 that the New England Colonies had gone too far, and were 
 aiming at a separation from the Mother Country. The con- 
 servative element of the Southern and Middle Colonies was not 
 yet prepared for this decisive step. Redress of grievances was 
 all they aimed at at present, and in order to secure union and 
 harmony, the New England leaders were compelled to carry 
 out the wishes of their associates from these Colonies, and the 
 Congress confined its action simply to protesting against the 
 injustice of Great Britian, petitioning for a redress of the 
 -wrongs complained of, and the formation of an association, 
 pledging the Colonies to non-intercourse with Great Britain, 
 until the aggressions of the Mother Country should cease. 
 Mr. Adams had no faith in the efficacy of these matters. He 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 203 
 
 was convinced that they would fail, and that the injustice of 
 Great Britain would drive the Colonies into war. His own 
 province he knew had no retreat, and he was anxious above 
 all to secure for her the support of her sister Colonies. He 
 was not satisfied with the work of the Congress, but looked to 
 the reassembling of that body, in May, 1775. with more hope. 
 He was returned as a delegate to the Second Congress, and 
 was promptly at his post. His views had by this time been 
 largely vindicated by the result. Gage had precipitated the 
 struggle in Massachusetts, blood had been shed at Lexington 
 and Concord, and the Colonies must either make common 
 cause with Massachusetts, or submit unconditionally to the 
 King. The war had come, and there was "no retreat, but in 
 submission and slavery." Mr. Adams' mind was clear as to 
 what would be the character of the war. He had studied the 
 question too deeply to believe that it could result in a mere 
 accommodation of the quarrel with England. Its natural 
 result was independence, and he was convinced that it could 
 have no other issue, apart from the subjugation of the country. 
 Independence was to his far-seeing mind the natural destiny of 
 the Colonies, and from the reassembling of the Congress, he 
 devoted himself to the task of preparing that body for the sep- 
 aration of the Colonies from Great Britain, and the assertion of 
 their independence. There were a few members, whose views 
 coincided with his own, but the Congress was as yet under the 
 influence of the timid counsels of John Dickinson and his sup- 
 porters, who were anxious to try the effect of one more peti- 
 tion to the King. Nevertheless, Mr. Adams and his friends 
 succeeded in pledging the Congress to the support of Massa- 
 chusetts, and in inducing that body to adopt the New England 
 forces before Boston as a Continental army, and to appoint a 
 Commander-in-Chief for it. This was a great gain, and Mr. 
 Adams was enabled to render his country another service of 
 the first importance, by nominating Washington as the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Continental army, and securing his 
 election by Congress. He did this because of his conviction 
 of Washington's peculiar fitness for the post, and because of 
 his earnest desire to unite the Southern Colonies more firmly 
 with New England. 
 
204 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In the first Congress the two Adamses had been regarded 
 as persons of extreme and treasonable opinions. This reputa- 
 tion followed them into the second Congress. Shortly after 
 the meeting of the latter body, some letters of John Adams 
 to his wife and friends in New England were betrayed into the 
 hands of the enemy at Newport, and were published. They 
 showed that their author was far in advance of the great ma- 
 jority of his colleagues, and " displayed him as drawing the 
 outlines of an independent State, the great bugbear in the eyes 
 of numbers, who still clung to the hope that the last resort 
 might be avoided." The result was that Mr. Adams fell into 
 temporary disfavor with the Congress. " It is stated by more 
 than one witness that Mr. Adams was avoided in the street by 
 many, as if it were contamination to speak with such a traitor. 
 Even of his friends, several become infected with the general 
 panic, and looked coldly upon him. At no time, and he had 
 repeated trials of the kind, did he stand more in need of all 
 his fortitude and self-control than upon the occasion of this 
 sudden and unlocked for influx upon him of the general dis- 
 approbation." 
 
 Congress took a recess during the month of August, and 
 Mr. Adams returned home. He had been chosen a member 
 of the Provincial Congresss, of Massachusetts, and spent the 
 recess in the arduous task of getting a proper government to 
 work in the province. At the end of the recess he was back 
 at his post in Congress. Letters from home for many weeks 
 filled him with the keenest anxiety for his family. His child- 
 ren were ill, his wife overburdened with the cares of her 
 household, and there was everything to induce him to return 
 home. He could not leave his post, however. He was a 
 marked, man and formed, with Samuel Adams, the Lees of 
 Virginia, and a few others, a minority whose duty it was to 
 guide the country towards the final separation from England, 
 to which it was steadily advancing. Be the consequences to 
 himself what they might, he must remain .to advocate openly 
 the principles he had so long held in private. His labors were 
 energetic, and his services on the various committees to which 
 he was assigned were arduous. At length he had the satisfac- 
 tion of seeino- his views become more common in Conq-ress. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 205 
 
 The Southern Colonies came at last to see that their depend- 
 ence upon the justice of the King was in vain ; that they must 
 fight, and that their only hope of safety lay in making common 
 cause with the Northern Colonies. 
 
 Towards the close of the year, Mr. Adams determined to re- 
 turn home to accept the post of Chief Justice of Massachusetts, 
 which had been recently conferred upon him. He went back 
 to Massachusetts in December, 1775, and gave several months 
 to the work of arranging the civil and military affairs of the 
 Colony. He was a member of the Provincial Council also, and 
 its most active member. Early in 1776 the Council elected 
 him a delegate to Congress to serve during the year, and 
 February found him once more in Philadelphia. Bancroft 
 draws this splendid picture of him upon his return to Congress: 
 
 " His nature was robust and manly ; now he was in the 
 happiest mood of mind for asserting the independence of his 
 country. He had confidence in the ability of New England to 
 drive away their enemy ; in Washington, as a brave and pru- 
 dent commander ; in his wife, who cheered him with the forti- 
 tude of womanly heroism ; in the cause of his country, which 
 seemed so bound up with the welfare of mankind that Provi- 
 dence could not suffer its defeat; in himself, for his convictions 
 were clear, his will fixed, his mind prepared to let his little 
 property and his life go, sooner than the rights of his country. 
 
 " Looking into himself he saw weakness enough, but neither 
 meanness, nor dishonesty, nor timidity. His overweening self- 
 esteem was his chief blemish ; and if he compared himself with 
 his great fellow-workers, there was some point on which he 
 was superior to any one of them ; he had more learning than 
 Washington, or any other American statesman of his age ; 
 better knowledge of freedom as grounded in law than Samuel 
 Adams; clearer insight into the constructive elements of gov- 
 ernment than Franklin ; more power of debate than Jefferson ; 
 more courageous manliness than Dickinson ; more force in 
 action than Jay ; so that, by varying and confining his compari- 
 sons, he could easily fancy himself the greatest of them all. 
 He was capable of thinking himself the centre of any circle to 
 which he had been no more than a tangent ; his vanity was in 
 such excess that in manhood it sometimes confused his judg- 
 
206 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ment, and in age bewildered his memoiy ; but the stain did not 
 reach beyond the surface ; it impaired the lustre, not the hardy 
 integrity of his character. He was humane and frank, gener- 
 ous and clement; yet he wanted that spirit of love which 
 reconciles to being outdone. He could not look with com- 
 placency on those who excelled him, and regarded another's 
 bearing away the palm as a wrong to himself; he never sat 
 placidly under the shade of a greater reputation than his own, 
 and could try to jostle aside the presumptuous possessor of 
 recognized superiority ; but his envy, though it laid open how 
 deeply his self-love was wounded, had hardly a tinge of malig- 
 nity, and never led him to direlictions for the sake of revenge. 
 He did his fame injustice when, later in life, he represented 
 himself as suffering from persecutions on account of his early 
 zeal for independence ; he was no weakling to whine about in- 
 jured feelings ; he went to his task bright, and cheery, and 
 brave ; he was the hammer, and not the anvil ; and it was for 
 others to fear his prowess and to shrink under his blows. His 
 courage was unflinching in debate and everywhere else ; he 
 never knew what fear is ; and had he gone into the army, as 
 once he had longed to do, he would have taken there the vir- 
 tues of temperance, decision and intrepidity. To his latest old 
 age his spirit was robust, buoyant and joyous ; he saw ten 
 times as much pleasure as pain in the world ; and after his arm 
 quivered and his eye grew dim, he was ready to begin life anew 
 and fight its battles over again. 
 
 " In his youth he fell among skeptics, read BoHngbroke's 
 works five times through, and accustomed himself to reason 
 freely and think boldly ; he esteemed himself a profound meta- 
 physician, but only skimmed the speculations of others ; 
 though at first destined to be a minister, he became a rebel to 
 Calvinism, and never had any very^ fixed religious creed ; but 
 for all that, he was a staunch man of New England, and his 
 fond partiality to its people, its institutions, its social conditions 
 and its laws, followed him into Congress and its committees, 
 and social life, tinctured his judgment and clinched his pre- 
 possessions ; but the elements in New England that he loved 
 most were those which were eminently friendly to universal 
 culture and republican equality. A poor farmer's son, bent on 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 20/ 
 
 making his way in the world, at twenty years old beginning 
 to earn his own bread, pinched and starved as master of a 
 stingy country school, he formed early habits of order and fru- 
 gality and steadily advanced to fortune ; but though exact in 
 his accounts, there was nothing niggardly in his thrift, and his 
 modest hospitality was prompt and hearty. He loved homage, 
 and it made him blind ; to those who flattered him he gave his 
 confidence freely, and often unwisely; and while he watched 
 the general movement of affairs with comprehensive sagacity, 
 he was never a calm observer of individual men. He was of 
 the choleric temperament; though his frame was compact and 
 large, yet from physical organization he was singularly sensi- 
 tive ; could break out into uncontrollable rage, and with all 
 his acquisitions, never learned to rule his own spirit; but his 
 anger did not so much drive him to do wrong as to do right 
 ungraciously. No man was less fitted to gain his end by arts 
 of indirection ; he knew not how to intrigue, was indiscreetly 
 talkative, and almost thought aloud ; whenever he sought to 
 win an uncertain person to his support, his ways of courtship 
 were uncouth, so that he made few friends except by his 
 weight of character, ability, public spirit and integrity ; was 
 unapt as the leader of a party, and never appeared so well as 
 when he acted from inspirations of his own. 
 
 " Hating intolerance in all its forms, an impassioned lover 
 of civil liberty, as the glory of man and the best evidence and 
 the best result of civilization, he, of all men in Congress, was 
 incomparable as a dogmatist ; essentially right-minded ; loving 
 to teach with authority ; pressing onward unsparingly with his 
 argument; impatient of contradiction; unequalled as a posi- 
 tive champion of the right. He was the Martin Luther of 
 the American Revolution, borne on to utter his convictions 
 fea:rlessly by an impulse which forbade his acting otherwise. 
 He was now too much in earnest, and too much elevated by 
 the greatness of his work to think of himself; too anxiously 
 desiring aid, to disparage those who gave it. In the fervor of 
 his activity, his faults disappeared. His intellect and public 
 spirit, all the noblest parts of his nature, were called into the 
 fullest exercise, and strained to the uttermost of their healthful 
 power. Combining more than any other, farness of sight and 
 
208 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 fixedness of belief with courage and power of utterance, he 
 was looked up to as the ablest debater in Congress. Pre- 
 serving some of the habits of the lawyer, he was redundant in 
 words and cumulative in argument ; but his warmth and sin- 
 cerity kept him from the affectations of a pedant or a rheto- 
 rician. Forbearance was no longer in season ; the irrepressible 
 talent of persevering, peremptory assertion was wanted ; the 
 more he was hurried along by his own vehement will the bet- 
 ter ; now his country, humanity, the age, the hour, demanded 
 that the right should be spoken out; his high excitement had 
 not the air of passion, but appeared, as it was, the clear per- 
 ception of the sublimity of his task. When, in the life of a 
 statesman, were six months of more importance to the race 
 than these six months in the career of John Adams ?" ^ 
 
 Mr. Adams and his colleagues from Massachusetts were 
 charged, by their province, to take such measures as should 
 seem good to them " for the establishment of right and liberty 
 to the American Colonies upon a basis permanent and secure, 
 against the power and art of the British administration." In 
 his judgment, there had been from the first but one way to 
 accomplish this — by a total separation from England. " I saw 
 from the beginning," he says in a letter to his wife, written 
 some time before this, " that the controversy was of such a 
 nature that it never would be settled, and every day convinces 
 me more and more." He was fully alive to the necessity of se- 
 curing the good will of foreign powers, and especially of 
 France, but was not at first disposed to favor an alliance with 
 her or to ask her for direct aid. He came at length, however, 
 to see the necessity of her assistance, and lent his abilities to 
 the task of persuading Congress to attempt to secure it. He 
 failed, however, for the members were not yet prepared to take 
 so decisive a step. When the Committee was formed to c6r- 
 respond with foreign powers, he was carefully excluded from 
 it, lest he should commit the Congress to an open bid for 
 French aid. 
 
 The influence of Mr. Adams could not be confined to Con- 
 gress. It spread beyond the walls of Independence Hall, and 
 
 1 History of tke United States. By Geo. Bancroft. Vol. VIII., pp. 308-12. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 209 
 
 did much to prepare the people of the whole country for the 
 decisive step which he saw, though they did not, was close at 
 hand. About this time George Wythe, of Virginia, chanced 
 to .spend an evening with him, and was so impressed with his 
 vigorous remarks upon the constitution best suited to a free 
 state, that he asked him to give him his ideas in writing. Mr. 
 Adams complied with the request, and wrote for him his 
 " Thoughts on Government." This document was published 
 in Virginia, which was then on the point of reconstructing its 
 government, and was hailed with delight by Jefferson, Henry, 
 the Lees and other Liberals. Its result was to preserve to 
 Virginia a republican form of government. 
 
 To Patrick Henry Mr. Adams wrote, defining his idea of the 
 true policy of the Colonies. " It has ever appeared to me," 
 he said, " that the natural course and order of things was this ; 
 for every Colony to institute a government ; for all the Colo- 
 nies to confederate, and define the limits of the Continental 
 Constitution ; then, to declare the Colonies a sovereign State, 
 or a number of confederated States ; and, last of all, to form 
 treaties with foreign powers." " Confederation among our- 
 selves or alliances with foreign nations," he wrote to his wife, 
 " are not necessary to a perfect separation from Britain. That 
 is effected by extinguishing all authority under the crown, par- 
 liament and nation." In accordance with this view, and to 
 make the separation complete, he set himself to work to induce 
 Congress to advise the Colonies to institute governments of 
 their own, in place of the royal governments which had ceased 
 to exist. He was successful in this effort, and on the 15th of 
 May, 1776, a resolution for this purpose was adopted by Con- 
 gress. It was a great triumph for Mr. Adams, and a gain for 
 the country. The action of Congress destroyed the founda- 
 tions of British authority in America, and left the people the 
 only source of power. 
 
 On this very 15th of May, the Convention of Virginia in- 
 structed its delegates in Congress to move a declaration by the 
 latter body of the independence of the Colonies. The news 
 was communicated to Mr. Adams, by Richard Henry Lee„and 
 was received by him with delight. On the 7th of June, Mr. 
 Lee, in obedience to the orders of his province, offered a reso- 
 14 
 
2IO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 lution in Congress, "that the United Colonies are, and ought 
 to be, free and independent States, and that their political con- 
 nection with Great Britain is, and ought to be dissolved." The 
 resolution was seconded by John Adams, and after considera- 
 ble debate, was adopted by a bare majority of one. A com- 
 mittee was appointed to prepare a declaration, and Mr. Adams 
 was placed upon it. When the declaration was reported to 
 Congress, and called up for debate, upon Mr. Adams devolved 
 the task of defending it, and saving it from the hands of the 
 timid members, who sought to rob it of its force and spirit. 
 The masterly manner in which he performed this task, so im- 
 pressed Jefferson, that he styled him "the colossus of independ- 
 ence" on the floor of Congress. Thanks to his efforts, the 
 substance of the Declaration, as it came from Jefferson's hand, 
 was saved, and on the 4th of July, the great Charter of Ameri- 
 can freedom was signed by all the members present. The 
 point at which Mr. Adams had aimed from the first, was now 
 attained, and the whole country was pledged to a war for in- 
 dependence. 
 
 Mr. Adams was a member of the Committee appointed to 
 conduct the negotiations of Congress with foreign powers, and 
 was appointed also on the Committee which conducted the 
 affairs of the war office. The duties of both Committees were 
 important ; those of the latter were very heavy. Mr. Adams 
 was at the head of the Board of War, and throughout his con- 
 nection with it, exerted all his powers to give an efficient 
 support to the army. These were not his only services. He 
 served as a member of over one hundred different committees, 
 and was chairman of at least twenty-five. "As the head of the 
 committee already mentioned, which reported the rules con- 
 cerning allegiance, he was instructed to draw up, anew, the 
 articles of war. He took a leading part in that which was 
 directed to pave the way for alliances with foreign States. He 
 shared in the discussions upon the proposed form of confedera- 
 tion between the States, and bore record against some of the 
 defects which ultimately brought it to nothing. He animated the 
 organization of a naval force, which from that day to the end 
 of his life, was ever a cherished feature of his national system." 
 He seemed never to tire of his labors. During the dark hours 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 211 
 
 of the struggle, when all prospect of success appeared to have 
 vanished, he was for a time discouraged, but he did not relax 
 his efforts. He was for fighting the struggle out to the bitter 
 end, and in his deepest despondency, never entertained a 
 thought of yielding. 
 
 At length these labors began to tell upon even this robust 
 patriot. He needed rest, and his private affairs demanded his 
 presence at home. He therefore resigned his seat in Congress, 
 and on the nth of November, 1777, set out for home. A few 
 days after his departure he was appointed by Congress to 
 replace Silas Deane in the commission sent to procure an alli- 
 ance with France. " Dr. Franklin's age alarms us," wrote 
 James Lovell, a member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, 
 to Mr. Adams. " We want one man of inflexible integrity on the 
 embassy!' Mr. Adams at once accepted the appointment, 
 though at a considerable sacrifice. Mrs. Adams was anxious 
 to accompany him, but it was decided, after mature consider- 
 ation, that she should remain at homo. 
 
 Mr. Adams sailed from Massachusetts Bay, in the frigate 
 Boston, on the 13th of February, 1778, taking with him his 
 eldest son, John Quincy Adams, a lad of ten years. It was an 
 anxious voyage, for the risk of capture was very great, and 
 John Adams knew that he could expect no mercy at the hands 
 of Great Britain. All went well, however. Near the close of 
 the voyage, an English privateer was sighted. Captain Tucker, 
 with the consent of Mr. Adams, gave chase to her, but feeling 
 his responsibility for the safety of the Commissioner, stipulated 
 that Mr. Adams should remain below, out of danger. The 
 privateer was overtaken and was captured after a short engage- 
 ment. In the midst of the battle, Captain Tucker, to his hor- 
 ror, saw Mr. Adams, whom he had supposed safe below, among 
 the marines, musket in hand, engaged in the fight. The 
 French coast was reached in safety, and Mr. Adams was landed 
 at Bordeaux, from which port he hastened to Paris, where he 
 arrived on the 8th of April, 1778. 
 
 The defeat of Burgoyne had put an end to the hesitation of 
 the French Cabinet, and before Mr. Adams reached Paris a 
 treaty of friendship and alliance had been concluded between 
 the United States and France. There was nothing for him to 
 
212 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 do but to avoid taking sides in the quarrels in which he found 
 his brother Commissioners engaged. He did this, and resolved 
 to return home at once. " I cannot eat pensions and sine- 
 cures," he wrote to his wife, " they would stick in my throat." 
 After a considerable delay, he was offered a passage home in 
 the French frigate Sensible, which was to convey M. de la Lu- 
 zerne, the newly appointed French envoy to the American 
 Republic. On the 17th of June, 1779, the frigate sailed, carry- 
 ing the French Minister and Mr. Adams and his son, John 
 Quincy. Boston was reached in safety on the 2d of August, 
 and Mr. Adams rejoined his family at Braintree. 
 
 He was at once elected a delegate from Braintree to the 
 Convention called for the purpose of framing a new Consti- 
 tution for Massachusetts, and rendered valuable service in this 
 body. These labors were cut short by his appointment by 
 Congress, on the 26th of September, as a member of the Com- 
 mission ordered to proceed to Europe to be in readiness to 
 negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain when that power 
 should be willing to treat. He accepted the position and 
 sailed from Boston in the Sensible, on her return, taking with 
 him his son John Quincy. He reached Paris on the 5th of 
 February, 1780. 
 
 While awaiting in France an opportunity to enter upon his 
 duties, Mr. Adams began an unofficial correspondence with the 
 Count de Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 and proposed to him that a knowledge of his powers to treat 
 should be brought to the attention of the British Government. 
 Vergennes, who was perpetually haunted by the fear that the 
 United States would make a separate peace with England, and 
 so break faith with France, refused Mr. Adams' proposal in the 
 coldest possible manner. Mr. Adams submitted to this refusal 
 cheerfully, but, in order that he might render some service to 
 his country, prepared regularly an account of affairs in America 
 for the Mercure de Frajice, conducted under the supervision of 
 the French Government. Vergennes informed Mr. Adams 
 that he would be glad to receive from him direct such infor- 
 mation as he should obtain from America. This led to an 
 unofficial communication with the Count, in which Mr. Adams 
 regularly laid before him the desired information. Interpret- 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 213 
 
 ing an act of Congress with regard to the redemption of the 
 Continental money as an effort to wrong the French creditors 
 of the Repubhc, Vergennes addressed a note to Mr. Adams, 
 whom he knew to be in no way accredited to the Court of 
 France, complaining of what he termed the injustice of Con- 
 gress towards French citizens, and urging him to use his efforts 
 to induce Congress to reverse its policy, or at least exempt 
 French citizens from its operation. Mr. Adams, feeling bound 
 by his obligations to his country to do so, replied to the note 
 of the Count, defending the policy of Congress, which he 
 claimed did no injustice to Frenchmen. The Count, instead of 
 replying to him, addressed a note to Franklin, the accredited 
 Minister of the United States, urging him to make the appeal 
 to Congress to exempt Frenchmen from the measure referred 
 to, and to transmit the correspondence with Mr. Adams to 
 Congress, with an expression of his disapproval of Mr. Adams' 
 reasoning. Franklin was induced by the Count's misrepre- 
 sentations to regard Mr. Adams' part in the transaction as an 
 interference with his own privileges, and readily disavowed all 
 disposition to uphold Mr. Adams' defence of Congress, and 
 wrote to that body complaining of Mr. Adams' interference 
 with his province. The truth was that Mr. Adams was too 
 zealous an American to suit the Count de Vergennes. Fortu- 
 nately he had friends in Congress who were too devoted to 
 him to permit him to be sacrificed to the prejudices of the 
 French minister. Congress, by a formal vote, approved his 
 course. 
 
 Finding himself of no use in Paris, Mr. Adams left that city 
 on the 27th of July, 1780, and repaired to Amsterdam. He 
 went to Holland for the purpose of forming an opinion for him- 
 self of the probability of obtaining a loan in that country for the 
 United States. He came to the conclusion that it was possible, 
 and so wrote to Congress. Fortunately, six weeks before this. 
 Congress had despatched authority to him, in the absence of 
 Mr. Laurens, to make the attempt. Before this authority 
 arrived, he set to work to prepare the Dutch for his proposal, 
 by causing accounts of the war in America, and of the 
 resources of the United States, to be published and circulated 
 in Holland. He found friends and sympathizers among the 
 
214 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 cultivated citizens of Amsterdam, and received their cordial 
 assistance in these efforts. 
 
 Fortunately for the American Republic, Mr. Laurens was 
 captured at sea, together with his papers, among which was a 
 copy of a treaty between the United States and Holland, drawn 
 up by parties who had no authority on the part of the Dutch 
 to negotiate. The British Government, however, made the 
 treaty a pretext for an attack upon Holland, and by its dicta- 
 torial demands made war inevitable. Mr. Adams, perceiving 
 the gain to his country from this state of affairs, quietly sus- 
 pended his efforts in Holland until the panic consequent upon 
 the rupture with England should subside. On the ist of Janu- 
 ary, 1 78 1, Congress appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary to 
 the United Provinces, with authority to negotiate a treaty of 
 alliance with them whenever such a measure should be practi- 
 cable. Immediately upon the receipt of his commission he set 
 to work with energy to procure the recognition of his countiy's 
 independence by Holland. He succeeded so well that on the 
 19th of April, 1782, the United Provinces formally recognized 
 the independence of the United States, and received Mr. Adams 
 as the accredited Minister from the Government of that country. 
 The American Minister followed up this success by negotiating 
 a loan of five millions of guilders from the bankers of Amster- 
 dam, which he forwarded to America. From this time until 
 his return home, in 1788, he continued his relations with the 
 Dutch bankers, and was instrumental in effecting several other 
 loans, by which the Government of the Union was enabled to 
 tide over this most critical period of its history. 
 
 In the meantime negotiations for peace had been begun at 
 Paris, and Mr. Adams's presence was needed there. He re- 
 turned to France as soon as he had finished his work in Hol- 
 land, and reached Paris on the 26th of October, 1782. He 
 came back thoroughly distrustful of the Count de Vergennes, 
 and to his great satisfaction found that his colleague, Mr. Jay, 
 had been driven by the Count's dubious policy into the con- 
 viction that American interests were safest in American hands. 
 Dr. Franklin, though more disposed than either of the others 
 to trust in the good faith of the French Court, gave his support 
 to his colleagues, and it was decided by the Commissioners to 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 215 
 
 conduct the negotiations with Great Britain directly, and with- 
 out consulting the French Court. The truth was that France 
 had entered upon the struggle chiefly from her desire to cripple 
 England, and not from any very deep sympathy with America. 
 She was tired of the war and anxious for peace, and Vergennes 
 was willing, if the independence of the States could be secured, 
 to sacrifice their interests in other respects in order to obtain 
 peace. Mr. Adams had long been convinced of this, and he 
 was doubly vigilant. 
 
 The negotiations with Great Britain were begun and carried 
 on by the American Commissioners without consulting the 
 French Government. Mr. Adams's energy and determination 
 saved to the United States the Northeastern boundary, which 
 Great Britain was anxious to push back to the Penobscot, and 
 he demanded for his country a share in the fisheries as a right. 
 England was willing to concede this as a p^dvilege, but Mr. 
 Adams insisted upon it as a right, and carried his point. The 
 other articles of the treaty were arranged satisfactorily, and on 
 the 30th of November, 1782, the preliminary treaty of peace 
 between the United States and Great Britain was signed. The 
 matter was concluded without the knowledge of the French 
 Court, but the treaty was made contingent upon the conclusion 
 of a general peace for which England, France, and Spain were 
 now in full treaty. The French Prime Minister professed to 
 regard this action as a breach of the treaty of alliance between 
 France and America, though he had purposely refrained from 
 communicating the progress of his own negotiations to the 
 American Commissioners. The American Congress was dis- 
 posed to sustain the action of the Commissioners. The matter 
 was happily brought to an end by the preliminary treaty be- 
 tween Great Britain, France, and Spain, signed on the 21st of 
 January, 1783. In September, 1783, the definite treaty of peace 
 was signed by all the parties to the war. 
 
 The long struggle was now over, and Mr. Adams was anxious 
 to return home. Congress desired him to remain in Europe, 
 however, and assist in negotiating commercial treaties between 
 the United States and the different nations of Europe. He 
 consented to do this, but was immediately taken down with a 
 severe illness. As soon as he was able to travel, he set out 
 
2l6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 with his son for England. He spent a couple of months in 
 visiting the various places of interest in London and the sur- 
 rounding country, and had the rare satisfaction of listening to 
 the speech of King George, in which that monarch announced 
 to Parliament his recognition of the independence of the United 
 States. Before his health was entirely restored, he made a 
 winter voyage to Holland, which caused him much suffering. 
 In the summer of 1784, he was joined by Mrs. Adams and 
 their only daughter. He took a house near Paris, and happy 
 in the society of his family, devoted himself to his duties as a 
 member of the Commission for negotiating treaties of com- 
 merce, to which Mr. Jefferson had been recently added in the 
 place of Mr. Jay. Now that his country was free, Mr. Adams 
 was relieved of the crushing anxiety which had formerly pre- 
 vented him from enjoying the brilliant and cultivated society 
 into which he was thrown. " Paris was just then in that stage 
 of transition from the old to the new, which is apt to quicken 
 whatever there may be of sprightly in society, without having 
 yet materially impaired its stability. Literature and philosophy 
 had become the rage, even in fashionable circles. And the 
 flippant ridicule of all things, sacred and profane, of which 
 Voltaire had set a fascinating example, had supplied in zest 
 what was subtracted from the dignified proprieties of ancient 
 France. Mr. Adams saw something of the literary men of the 
 day — of Marmontel, and Raynal, and DeMably — and he became 
 quite intimate with the Abb^s Chalut and Arnoux, and Count 
 Sarsfield, men who lived for society, and who were fully able 
 to open to him a view of its springs, ordinarily little obvious to 
 foreigners. Deriving great enjoyment, as he unquestionably 
 did, from these opportunities, his quick sagacity was not, how- 
 ever, less active in determining for himself how far the nation 
 he saw before him would be fitted for any other form of gov- 
 ernment than the one it had. From the opinion then formed 
 he never changed." 
 
 On the 14th of Februaiy, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. 
 Adams Minister to the Court of St. James, and in May he re- 
 moved with his family to England. The position was not only 
 one of honor, but also of heavy responsibility. He was the 
 first Minister of his country to its former sovereign, who had 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 217 
 
 never forgiven or become reconciled to the loss of the Colo- 
 nies, and he must shape his conduct so as not to offend Great 
 Britain nor humiliate his own countiy. No better man could 
 have been chosen for this delicate task. 
 
 Mr. Adams was formally presented to the King. The inter- 
 view was embarrassing to both parties. The King knew that 
 the new Minister had been one of the most determined workers 
 for American independence, and his feelings towards him were 
 naturally not of the most cordial character. He was courteous 
 therefore to the Minister, but restrained. Mr. Adams bore 
 himself with dignity and independence, and made it evident 
 that he was fully equal to the situation in which he was placed. 
 The position of the American Minister was unpleasant and 
 very delicate. The King, though civil to him, treated him 
 with frigid politeness only, and the Court and society gener- 
 ally took their cue from the monarch, and Mr. Adams found 
 himself neglected. England committed one of her character- 
 istic mistakes in her treatment of the new Republic and its 
 Minister. A generous policy would have won her the cordial 
 friendship of a people proud of their English descent, and 
 have gained for her important commercial advantages. She 
 chose, however, to treat the United States with cold distrust, 
 to take every advantage of the stipulations of the treaty, to 
 evade her own compliance with them to the last moment, and 
 to keep on the alert to take advantage of the distresses into 
 which the new nation was being plunged. 
 
 Mr. Adams found his duties limited to constant and fruitless 
 solicitations to Great Britain to comply with the conditions of 
 the Treaty of Peace. He quickly perceived that he could 
 accomplish nothing for his country that could compensate 
 him for the painfulness of his position, and he resigned his 
 post and sailed for home on the 20th of April, 1788. He 
 arrived in Massachusetts after the formation of the Constitution 
 of the United States, and while it was still under discussion by 
 the States. He gave his cordial support to the Constitution. 
 " His bitter experience of the want of a government to sustain 
 the national honor in Europe, and his life-long attachment to 
 the tripartite or English theory, combined, on his return, to 
 place him warmly on the side of its friends." In the elections 
 
2l8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of 1789, he was unanimously chosen Vice-President of the 
 United States. 
 
 The position of Mr. Adams was of too negative a character 
 to permit him, as Vice-President, to exercise a controlHng in- 
 fluence upon public affairs. " My country," he wrote, " has, in 
 its wisdom, contrived for me the most insignificant office that 
 ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination con- 
 ceived." He was naturally impatient of the restraint imposed 
 upon him, and his mental activity found relief in literary labors. 
 The French Revolution was the all-absorbing topic of the day, 
 and was exercising a powerful influence upon the course of 
 affairs in America. Mr. Adams thoroughly distrusted it, and 
 was anxious that his countrymen should see it in the light in 
 which it appeared to him. For upwards of a year he published 
 a series of articles in " Fenno's Gazette of the United States," 
 entitled " Discourses upon Davila," which were devoted to an 
 analysis of Davila's history of the Civil War of France in the 
 i6th Century. It was Mr. Adams's aim " to point out to his 
 countrymen the dangers to be apprehended from powerful 
 factions in ill balanced forms of government ; but his aim was 
 mistaken, and he was charged with advocating monarchy, and 
 laboring to prepare the way for an hereditary presidency." 
 This misconception of his object subjected him to a great deal 
 of abuse, and caused him considerable pain. In 1792, Mr. 
 Adams was chosen Vice-President for a second term. He gave 
 his support to the general policy of Washington's administra- 
 tion, and though he did not regard Jay's Treaty as a fair settle- 
 ment of the disputes with England, he sustained it because he 
 was convinced that it was the best peaceful adjustment that 
 could be had. In May, 1794, he had the happiness of seeing 
 his eldest son, John Quincy Adams, nominated by the Presi- 
 dent and confirmed by the Senate to be Minister from the 
 United States to Holland. It was a peculiar gratification to the 
 father that his son should be sent to earn his laurels in the same 
 field in which he himself had won his "greatest triumph." 
 
 President Washington having declined to serve a third term, 
 Mr. Adams was the candidate of the Federalist party in the 
 elections of 1796. His opponent was Mr. Jefferson. The con- 
 test was bitter, and resulted in the election of Mr. Adams. He 
 was inaugurated at Philadelphia on the 4th of March, 1797. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 2I9 
 
 Mr. Adams made no change in the Cabinet of his prede- 
 cessor, and in retaining the Secretaries appointed by Washing- 
 ton committed an error which was a source of constant trouble 
 to him throughout his administration. The Secretaries were 
 not in sympathy with his pohcy, and were men chosen by 
 Washington, on the ground, as he himself expressed it, " that 
 he had Hobson's choice." As they owed their advancement to 
 no preference of Mr. Adams, they felt under slight obligations 
 to defer to his authority or to labor to carry out his policy. 
 Three of the four had been taken from the section of the 
 Federal party with which Mr. Adams had the least sympathy. 
 They regarded Alexander Hamilton as their chief, and gave 
 their assistance to his efforts to control the policy of the 
 administration, and sustained him in his resentment of Mr. 
 Adams's refusal to submit to his control. 
 
 The relations of the United States with France had for some 
 time been of an unfriendly nature. Jay's treaty had given 
 great offense to the French Government, and the insolent con- 
 duct of M. Addt, the French Minister to the United States, had 
 led to a suspension of diplomatic intercourse between the two 
 Republics. The French Directory gave unmistakable evidence 
 of its disregard of the rights of America by causing the seizure 
 of all American vessels in the ports of France laden with 
 British manufactured goods. At the same time the American 
 Minister to France, Mr. Charles C. Pinckney, was treated with 
 such studied indignity that he demanded his passports and 
 withdrew to Holland. Privateers went to sea from French 
 ports, seized American vessels and treated their crews as 
 prisoners. France also exerted her influence with Spain and 
 Holland to induce those powers to pursue a similar course 
 towards the United States. The cause of her anger was the 
 alleged partiality shown by the American Government for 
 England in Jay's Treaty. In spite of these acts there was a 
 considerable party in the United States which favored a close 
 alliance with France, and could not or would not see the 
 deliberate purpose of that country to treat the United States as 
 a dependent republic. 
 
 In May, 1797, President Adams laid before the two Houses 
 of Congress, convened in extra session, a statement of the re- 
 
220 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 lations of the country with France. The announcement of the 
 insults received by the American Minister at the hands of the 
 Directory, and the increased aggressions upon American com- 
 merce, aroused a feehng of deep indignation throughout the 
 country, and drew upon the partisans of France in America a 
 considerable amount of odium. 
 
 Wishing to exhaust all peaceful means of settlement, the 
 President directed John Marshall, a leading Federalist, and 
 Elbridge Gerry, one of the Republican leaders, to repair to 
 Paris, and unite with Mr. Pinckney in an effort to arrange a 
 treaty with France which should amicably and honorably adjust 
 the disputes between the two countries. Marshal and Gerry, 
 joined Pinckney in France in October, 1798, and made known 
 their mission to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, the 
 famous Talleyrand. The Minister refused to. receive the Ameri- 
 can envoys in an official capacity, but employed secret agents 
 to communicate with them. It soon transpired that the object 
 of these secret interviews was to extort money from the Com- 
 missioners. They were informed that the payment by them of 
 a certain sum of money to the members of the Directory for 
 their personal use, and the pledge by them of a loan from the 
 United States to France, would remove all obstacles to negoti- 
 ations. The Commissioners indignantly refused to entertain 
 this insulting proposal, whereupon Marshal and Pinckney were 
 ordered to quit France at once. Mr. Gerry was invited to re- 
 main and negotiate a treaty. He consented to do so, but was 
 unable to accomplish anything. The correspondence between 
 the Commissioners and Talleyrand's agents was published in 
 the United States, and aroused such a storm of indignation that 
 the French party disappeared. 
 
 A large emigration of Frenchmen had set in towards the 
 United States since the outbreak of the Revolution. These 
 persons sustained their own country in the quarrel with the 
 United States, and were constantly intriguing to make the 
 Government depart from its policy of neutrality. It was be- 
 lieved that some were acting as spies for the Directory, and it 
 was known that many had abused the hospitality extended 
 to them by seeking to carry out hostile expeditions against 
 Florida and Louisiana, then territories of Spain. They were 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 221 
 
 amongst the most active in their abuse of the President and his 
 policy. In the spring of 1798, Congress attempted to check 
 these evils by passing the measures known as the "Alien and 
 Sedition Acts." The Alien Act empowered the President to 
 send out of the country " any foreigner whom he might believe 
 to be dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States," 
 This Act was never executed, but it caused a general alarm 
 among the class at which it was aimed, and a number of them 
 left the United States soon after its passage. By the Sedition 
 Act, it was made a crime, punishable with severe penalties, for 
 any one to " write, utter, or publish," any " false, scandalous, or 
 malicious writing, against either House of the Congress of 
 the United States or the President of the United States, with 
 intent to defame, or bring them, or either of them, into con- 
 tempt and disrepute." The Alien Act was executed in a num- 
 ber of instances, but gave great offense to the country, as it was 
 regarded as an effort on the part of the Government to strike 
 down freedom of speech and of the press. Both measures were 
 roundly denounced as subversive of the principles of the Con- 
 stitution. They were among the greatest blunders of the 
 administration, and the chief cause of Mr. Adams's rejection for 
 a second term. 
 
 The connection of the President with these laws, is thus 
 stated by his grandson : "That he had no hand in suggesting 
 them is very certain. That he declined to insert in his 
 speeches recommendations, submitted by his officers, to re- 
 strict the rights of aliens, and of naturalization, is likewise 
 certain. Yet when they had been once passed upon by the 
 two Houses of Congress, he had no such constitutional doubts 
 as would justify his declining to affix his official signature to 
 them, nor any scruples about putting them in execution, in an 
 emergency. On the other hand, he had no confidence in their 
 value as effective measures, and very little inclination to at- 
 tempt experiments. It was this well understood state of his 
 mind, that caused great dissatisfaction among those Federal- 
 ists who had favored their adoption. * * * * There was in 
 this respect a radical difference of opinion between these per- 
 sons and Mr. Adams, which shows itself incidentally in other 
 acts of his administration. * * * From all these circum- 
 
222 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 stances, joined to the fact of an almost total absence of allusion 
 to them in his private correspondence, it is fair to infer that 
 Mr. Adams's participation in the Alien and Sedition Laws was 
 confined to his official act of signature. So far as this goes, 
 he is responsible for them, but no farther."* 
 
 In the summer of 1798, Mr. Marshall returned from Europe, 
 and his report confirmed the statements that had been made of 
 the hostile intentions of the French Government. The Presi- 
 dent submitted to Congress a statement of the disputes between 
 the two countries, and Congress, recognizing the danger of 
 war, began to prepare for it. It was resolved to create a navy ; 
 the three frigates just completed were fitted for sea, and the 
 President was instructed to have built, or to purchase or hire, 
 twelve twenty-gun ships. An army was ordered to be raised, 
 and the prominent points on the coast were placed in a state 
 of defense. Washington was made Commander-in-chief of the 
 army, and Alexander Hamilton its senior major-general. In 
 the winter of 1798-99, Congress ordered six seventy-four gun 
 ships, and six sloops of war to be built for the navy. 
 
 The President was determined to maintain the national 
 honor with firmness, and at the same time to settle the matter 
 peaceably if it could be done. The wing of the Federalist 
 party, led by Hamilton, was anxious to go to war with France, 
 and form an alliance with Great Britain. Mr. Adams had to 
 prevent this party from plunging into war, and at the same 
 time prevent the party friendly to France from weakening the 
 measures of the Government to protect the rights of the 
 country. His task was a difficult one, and subjected him to a 
 merciless attack from Hamilton and his friends, in which his 
 own Cabinet joined. 
 
 The determination evinced by the Americans opened the 
 eyes of Talleyrand, who had not believed they would fight. 
 A new war would merely add to the embarrassments of France, 
 and he now signified to Mr. Van Murray, the American Min- 
 ister to Holland, the desire of his government to renew diplo- 
 matic intercourse with the United States. Mr. Adams was 
 promptly informed of this, and resolved to embrace the oppor- 
 tunity of averting the war. He sent Oliver Ellsworth, Chief 
 
 1 Life of John Adams. By J. Q. and C. F. Adams. Vol. 2., p. 301. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 223 
 
 Justice of the United States, William R. Davie and William 
 Van Murray, Minister to Holland, to treat with the French 
 Republic for the settlement of the differences between the two 
 countries. The Commissioners were ordered by the President 
 not to enter France unless they were assured that they would 
 be received in a " manner befitting the Commissioners of an 
 mdependent nation." The Hamilton wing of his party, and 
 the members of his Cabinet, made great exertions to prevent 
 the sending of this embassy; but Mr. Adams adhered with 
 firmness to his convictions, and by refusing to yield to the 
 schemes of the war party, saved the country from much suffer- 
 ing. 
 
 Upon reaching Paris, the Commissioners found that the Di- 
 rectory had been overthrown, and that a successful revolution 
 had placed Napoleon Bonaparte at the head of affairs as First 
 Consul. Bonaparte received the Commissioners with courtesy 
 and cordiality, and negotiations were entered upon and carried 
 forward with such success that on the 30th of November, 
 1800, a treaty of peace and friendship was signed between the 
 United States and France. 
 
 The treaty came none too soon, for the two countries had 
 already come to blows. More than three hundred merchant 
 vessels were licensed to carry arms for their defense. On the 
 9th of February, 1799, the American frigate Constellation 
 captured the French frigate L'Insurgente, of equal force, after 
 a severe engagement. Somewhat later the Constellation en- 
 gaged the French frigate La Vengeance, of superior force, and 
 silenced her fire after an engagement of five hours. The French 
 vessel succeeded in making her escape. 
 
 Before the news of the treaty arrived, the death of Washing- 
 ton plunged the country into mourning. During the summer 
 of 1 800, the seat of Government was removed to the new Fed- 
 eral city of Washington. 
 
 In the Presidential campaign of 1800, Mr. Adams was the 
 candidate of the Federalist party for reelection. The Alien 
 and Sedition laws, for which the President was generally held 
 responsible, had sealed the doom of the Federalist party, 
 which was also divided upon the French quarrel, and the op- 
 position was strong enough to prevent a choice by the people. 
 
224 AMERICAN BIOGILAPHY. 
 
 The election was thrown into the House of Representatives, 
 and resulted in the choice of Thomas Jefferson as President, 
 and Aaron Burr as Vice President. 
 
 One of the last official acts of President Adams, was to ap- 
 point John Marshall, of Virginia, Chief Justice of the United 
 States, in the place of Oliver Ellsworth, who resigned his office. 
 
 Mr. Adams retired from office and from public life in March, 
 1 80 1. The Presidency had been a long trial to him, and his 
 firmness in adhering to his convictions of right, though vindi- 
 cated by the subsequent course of events, had destroyed his 
 popularity, and broken up the Federalist party. He had done 
 his duty faithfully, but his very fidelity had made him for the 
 time, as his grandson declares, "disgraced in the popular esti- 
 mation." His inflexible courage, however, though it had 
 drawn upon him the denunciation of his party, "had saved the 
 neutral policy, and had removed the obstacles which had 
 threatened the prosperity of the nation at the moment that he 
 took the helm." Never, in his whole career, had he given a 
 more splendid exhibition of the great qualities of his nature. 
 
 Mr. Adams survived his retirement from the Presidency for 
 twenty-five years, and this period was spent in the peaceful 
 seclusion of his home. He felt keenly the attacks that had 
 been made upon him, and passed a portion of his time in the 
 preparation of a reply to them. He devoted himself to the 
 cultivation of the estate he had won by his labors in earlier life, 
 and which constituted his only means of support. As the time 
 passed on, he came to look upon the strife through which he 
 had passed with calmer and kindlier feelings. After the retire- 
 ment of Mr. Jefferson from the Presidency, the cordial relations 
 which had once existed between Mr. Adams and himself, and 
 which had been interrupted by the party struggles of their 
 official life, were resumed through the mediation of an intimate 
 friend. Time, the great trier of all men's actions, brought to 
 Mr. Adams some reward for his sufferings. As the passion of 
 the times died away, men came to do justice to his motives 
 and acts, and his old popularity returned, and he became the 
 constant recipient of gratifying attentions from his country- 
 men. His life was peaceful, and his seclusion was unbroken 
 except once, when he became a delegate to the Convention 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 225 
 
 which met to form a new Constitution for Massachusetts, after 
 the erection of Maine into a State, m 1820. 
 
 On the 28th of October, 181 8, Mr. Adams sustained his 
 greatest affliction in the death of his wife, who had been the 
 faithful partner and strong support of his Hfe for over half a 
 century. He was eighty-thfee years old, and knew that he 
 could not long survive her A gentle sadness settled over 
 him, and his manner lost the cheerfulness that had hitherto 
 marked it. He was comforted and in part rewarded for his 
 sorrows in his country's cause by the election of his son, John 
 Quincy Adams, as President of the United States in 1825, by 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 Mr. Adams survived this event a little more than a year. 
 He had reached the age of ninety, and was infirm in body, and 
 unable to read, or to write. His mental vigor did not fail him 
 and he " retained so much interest in present objects as fully to 
 employ the services of members of his immediate family, both 
 in reading to him and writing after his dictation." He would 
 listen with eagerness to anything that was read to him, for he 
 dreaded to fall into the mental torpidness of old age. He took 
 his daily walk until unable to bear the fatigue of exercise, and 
 then substituted a ride for the walk. In this way he glided 
 tranquilly to his end. 
 
 In the spring of 1826 it was evident that he was rapidly 
 approaching that end. He was growing steadily weaker. The 
 fourth of July of that year would close the half century of 
 American independence, and there was manifested all over the 
 country the greatest anxiety that Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson 
 might live to take part in the rejoicings of the occasion. Mr. 
 Adams, it was well known, would not be able to attend a dis- 
 tant celebration, but his fellow townsmen hoped to have him 
 with them at their festivities in Quincy. On the 30th of June 
 a gentleman called upon him to propose a toast to be presented 
 as coming from him. " I will give you," said the venerable 
 patriot, " Independence forever f He was asked if he would not 
 add anything to it. " Not a word," he answered. 
 
 Mr. Adams grew weaker rapidly. He suffered no pain ex- 
 cept from the difficulty of respiration, but this increased so 
 steadily that he was obliged to take to his bed. On the morn- 
 >5 
 
226 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ing of the 4th of July, his attendant physician informed his 
 family that he could not live beyond sunset. The celebrations 
 at Quincy went on, and late in the afternoon the banquet be- 
 gan. The toast presented by Mr. Adams was received with 
 ringing cheers, which were plainly heard by those watching 
 by the bed of the dying man, and while they were still rending 
 the air the spirit of John Adams passed away from earth. 
 
 The watchers around his bed heard him murmuring faintly, 
 a short while before his death, and bending over him, caught 
 these words : " Thomas Jefferson still survives !" It was not 
 as he supposed, however. A few hours before, at his home in 
 Virginia, Mr. Adams's fellow-laborer in the great cause of 
 independence had ended his work, and had preceded him in 
 the journey to the spirit land. 
 
HENRY KNOX. 
 
 HENRY KNOX was of Scottish descent, and was born at 
 Boston, on the 25th of July, 1750. He received a fair edu- 
 cation and began hfe as a bookseller. He manifested a great 
 fondness for military matters, and read all the works relating to 
 them that he had in his shop, or could borrow. His reading 
 was not confined to military literature entirely, but was exten- 
 sive upon other subjects. In 1774, he became a member of 
 one of the volunteer companies formed in Massachusetts in 
 anticipation of war with England, and was elected an officer. 
 He was noted for his activity in behalf of his company, and 
 his vigor in enforcing its discipline. He gave more than usual 
 attention now to military engineering and artillery, and gained 
 the reputation of being one of the most thoroughly informed 
 men in Boston upon these subjects. This fact, and his known 
 zeal in behalf of the Colonial cause, drew upon him the at- 
 tention of Governor Gage, who, in order to prevent the Ameri- 
 cans from enjoying the benefit of his talents, ordered him, after 
 the battle of Lexington, to remain in Boston. 
 
 Previous to this Knox had married a lady belonging to a 
 prominent family which warmly supported the measures of the 
 British Ministry, and tempting promises of honor and distinc- 
 tion were made to him on condition that he would adhere to 
 the cause of the King. The patriotism of Henry Knox was 
 too pure to be tempted by such offers. He was already pros- 
 pering in a marked degree in his business, and was happily 
 married to an attractive young wife. His heart was with his 
 country, however, and he counted no sacrifice too great to 
 make for her. In June, 1775, he found an opportunity of 
 escaping from Boston, and promptly embraced it. Turning his 
 back on his home, he left the city, and repaired to the patriot 
 camp at Cambridge. He was received with delight, for his 
 patriotism and his military knowledge were well known. The 
 
 (227) 
 
228 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. • 
 
 Provincial Congress, then in session at Watertown, at once sent 
 for him, and charged him with the construction of such works 
 as should be necessary to protect the army from a sudden at- 
 tack from Boston. Knox attended to these duties with energy 
 and skill, but declined to accept any definite commission. The 
 army was too disorganized and insubordinate to render service 
 in it attractive to one of his habits. He served, therefore, as a 
 v'olunteer, and in the capacity of aide-de-camp to General Arte- 
 mas Ward took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 When Washington arrived at Cambridge to take command 
 of the army, Knox was delighted with him. Washington, on 
 his part, recognized the skill with which Knox had planned 
 the defenses of the American camp, and the ability with which 
 he had on several occasions handled the few cannon on the 
 American lines. He was anxious to make the best use of this 
 promising volunteer, and recommended him to Congress for 
 the command of the regiment of artillery in place of the veteran 
 Gridley, who was too old for active employment. 
 
 In the meantime the cold season was approaching, when the 
 waters around Boston would be frozen and military operations 
 might be conducted upon the ice. Washington keenly felt his 
 lack of artillery, and was fearful that Howe would learn his 
 weakness in this respect and attack him. Besides this, he was 
 well aware that the enemy could not be driven from Boston 
 except with artiller}^ He was sorely perplexed to know where 
 to obtain the cannon he needed. Fortunately, Knox had been 
 quietly investigating the matter also, and he now came forward 
 and offered to proceed to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and 
 bring all the artillery that could be spared from those posts to 
 Cambridge. Washington gratefully accepted his offer, and 
 instructed him to inform himself carefully as to the state of the 
 artillery in camp, ascertain what was wanting, and then pro- 
 ceed to New York, procure and forward all he could obtain 
 there ; and thence repair to the headquarters of General Schuy- 
 ler, to whom Washington wrote, requesting him to aid Knox 
 in procuring whatever supplies were needed from the forts on 
 Lake Champlain. Knox set off promptly, and a few days after 
 his departure the commission of Colonel of the regiment of 
 artillery, which Washington had requested of Congress for 
 
HENRY KNOX. 229 
 
 him, arrived at headquarters, and was forwarded to him by 
 the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 Knox received the cordial cooperation of Schuyler, and 
 worked with energy to provide the means for transporting the 
 cannon and ammunition he obtained on Lake Champlain to 
 Boston. It was easy enough to procure the cannon ; the diffi- 
 culty was to get them to the camp. By almost superhuman 
 efforts he succeeded in transporting them to the head of Lake 
 George, and on the 17th of December, 1775, wrote to Wash- 
 ington these cheering w^ords, which were truly welcome to the 
 harassed Commander-in-Chief: "Three days ago it was 
 very uncertain whether we could get them over until next 
 spring ; but now, please God, they shall go. I have made 
 forty-two exceedingly strong sleds, and have provided eighty 
 yoke of oxen to drag them as far as Springfield, where I shall 
 get fresh cattle to take them into camp." Late in February, 
 1776, Knox arrived in the camp at Cambridge with his long 
 train of sledges drawn by oxen, and laden with more than 
 fifty cannon, mortars and howitzers, and a large supply of flints 
 and lead. "The zeal and perseverance which he had displayed 
 in his wintry expedition, across frozen lakes and snowy w^astes, 
 and the intelligence with which he had fulfilled his instruc- 
 tions, won him the entire confidence of Washington. His 
 conduct in this enterprise was but an earnest of that energy 
 and ability which he displayed throughout the war." The ar- 
 rival of the cannon brought by Knox enabled Washington to 
 push the siege of Boston with vigor, and bring it to a success- 
 ful close. 
 
 After his return from Lake Champlain, Colonel Knox was 
 placed in command of the entire artillery corps of the army, 
 and retained 'it throughout the war. He gave to this arm of 
 the service the efficiency it obtained, and kept it throughout 
 the struggle a model of good discipline and skillful execution. 
 He superintended the transportation of the artillery over the 
 half frozen Delaware, on the night before the battle of Trenton, 
 and gave his personal direction to it in that memorable en- 
 gagement. On the morning after the battle of Trenton, Knox 
 was promoted' to the rank of brigadier-general at the recom- 
 mendation of Washington. After the victory at Princeton, 
 
230 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Knox strongly advised the Commander-in-chief to move to 
 Morristown ; his advice was acted upon, and the American 
 army occupied the strong position in which it passed the 
 winter. 
 
 Knox commanded the artillery at the battle of Germantown, 
 but his guns were too light to batter down the strong walls of 
 Chew's house, which the enemy had converted into a fortress. 
 At Monmouth, he was more successful. The failure of Gen- 
 eral Lee to execute his orders, and his sudden retreat before 
 the enemy, threatened the whole army with destruction. 
 Washington hastily formed his men on a new line, and to the 
 artillery, which was served under the personal direction of 
 General Knox, was confided the task of checking the advance 
 of the British. The American batteries nobly executed their 
 part in the battle, and were rewarded by the following compli- 
 ment in the general orders of the Commander-in-chief: "He 
 can with pleasure inform General Knox and the officers of the 
 artillery, that the enemy have done them the justice to ac- 
 knowledge that no artillery could be better served than ours." 
 
 General Knox enjoyed the warm friendship and entire confi- 
 dence of Washington throughout the war. He regarded the 
 Commander-in-chief with enthusiasm, and was never so happy 
 as when by his side. He accompanied Washington on his 
 visit to Hartford in September, 1 780, to concert measures with 
 the French officers for an attack upon New York. He was one 
 of the first whom Washington informed of the treason of Ar- 
 nold, which was discovered on his return. 
 
 In November. 1 780, the Marquis de Chastelleux, an officer of 
 rank and distinction in the French contingent, visited the 
 American camp. He has left an interesting account of his 
 visit. In the camp of the artillery, he says, he found every- 
 thing in perfect ordei and conducted in European style. 
 " Knox, with his genial aspect and cordial manners, seems to 
 have won De Chastellux's heart. ' He is thirty-five years of 
 age,' writes he, * very stout, but very active ; a man of talent 
 and intelligence, amiable, gay, sincere and loyal. It is impos- 
 sible to know him without esteeming him, and to see him 
 without loving him.' " 
 
 At the sie^e of Yorktown the artillen' Wc.s directed bv Gen- 
 
HENRY KNOX. 23 I 
 
 eral Knox, and how well he performed his task is shown by 
 the steady and rapid reduction of the British works by the 
 fire of his guns. When the assault on the British redoubts 
 was begun on the night of the 14th of October, Washington 
 took his stand with Generals Knox and Lincoln and their staffs 
 in the grand battery to watch the result. The position was 
 very much exposed, and Knox was in great uneasiness lest a 
 chance shot should strike the Commander-in-chief In a few 
 minutes a musket ball struck the cannon in the embrasure 
 through which Washington was watching the fight, and rolled 
 at his feet. Knox seized him by the arm to draw him back. 
 " My dear General," he exclaimed, " we can't spare you yet." 
 " It is a spent ball," replied Washington, calmly ; " no harm is 
 done." 
 
 As the time for the dissolution of the army drew near, the 
 officers who had stood by each other through the eight years 
 of the struggle were moved with a profound regret at their 
 approaching separation. " Prompted by such feelings. General 
 Knox, ever noted for generous impulses, suggested, as a mode 
 of perpetuating the friendships thus formed, and keeping alive 
 the brotherhood of the camp, the formation of a society com- 
 posed of the officers of the army." The suggestion met with 
 the universal concurrence of the officers, and the cordial ap- 
 proval of Washington, and out of it grew the Society of the 
 Cincinnati, which was organized on the 13th of May, 1783, at 
 the headquarters of Baron Steuben. 
 
 Knox commanded the detachment of American troops which 
 occupied .the city of New York upon its evacuation by the 
 British. At the parting of Washington from his officers, he 
 was the first to respond to the invitation of the Commander- 
 in-chief to bid him adieu. 
 
 In October, 1783, upon the resignation of General Benjamin 
 Lincoln, Knox was appointed to succeed him as Secretary of 
 War, and held that position until the close of the old govern- 
 ment of the Confederation. Upon the organization of the Ex- 
 ecutive departments of the new government, under the Consti- 
 tution, he was appointed Secretary of War by President Wash- 
 ington. As the Chief of Artillery of the Continental army 
 he had made a brilliant reputation, and his administration of 
 
232 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the War Department was able and satisfactory. His talents 
 fitted him to shine in the field, however, more brilliantly than 
 in the Cabinet. " His mind," says Irving, " was ardent and 
 active ; his imagination vivid, as was his language. He had 
 abandoned the military garb, but still maintained his soldier- 
 like air. He was large in person, above the middle stature, 
 with a full face, radiant and benignant, bespeaking his open, 
 buoyant and generous nature. He had a sonorous voice, and 
 sometimes talked rather grandly, flourishing his cane to give 
 effect to his periods. He was cordially appreciated by Wash- 
 ington, who had experienced his prompt and efficient talent 
 in time of war, had considered him one of the ablest officers 
 of the Revolution, and now looked to him as an energetic man 
 of business, capable of giving practical advice in time of peace, 
 and cherished for him that strong feeling of ancient compan- 
 ionship in toil and danger, which bound the veterans of the 
 Revolution firmly to each other." In the quarrel between the 
 Secretaries of State and the Treasury, Knox sided with his old 
 friend Hamilton, and was consequently no favorite with Jeffer- 
 son, whose strong feeling led him to do injustice to the abili- 
 ties and character of the Secretary of War. 
 
 In December, 1794, General Knox resigned his seat in the 
 Cabinet, and retired to private life. "After having served my 
 country nearly twenty years," he wrote to Washington, " the 
 greatest portion of which under your immediate auspices, it is 
 with extreme reluctance that I find myself constrained to with- 
 draw from so honorable a station. But the natural and power- 
 ful claims of a numerous family will no longer permit me to 
 neglect their essential interests. In whatever situation I shall 
 be, I shall recollect your confidence and kindness with all the 
 fervor and purity of affection of which a grateful heart is sus- 
 ceptible." 
 
 " I cannot suft'er you," wrote Washington in reply, " to close 
 your public service, without uniting with the satisfaction which 
 must arise in your own mind from a conscious rectitude, my 
 most perfect persuasion that you have deserved well of your 
 country. My personal knowledge of your exertions, whilst 
 it authorizes me to hold this language, justifies the sincere 
 friendship which I have ever borne for you, and which will 
 accompany vou in every situation of life." 
 
HENRY KNOX. 233 
 
 Soon after resigning his office, General Knox removed, with 
 his family, to Thomaston, on St. George's River, in the district 
 of Maine, about two hundred miles from Boston. He was the 
 owner of large tracts of land in that region which had come 
 to him from General Waldo, the maternal grandfather of his 
 wife. He was appointed a member of the Council of Massa- 
 chusetts, and filled this position for several years. He was very 
 much beloved by his fellow citizens for his sympathy with the 
 poor, his ready aid to those in distress, and his genial and 
 courteous bearing to all persons could not fail to receive their 
 reward. He was a sincere and unassuming Christian, and his 
 virtues were in keeping with his profession. He lived to see 
 his country fairly on the way to prosperity and power. His 
 death was occasioned by the accidental swallowing of the 
 bone of a chicken. He died at Thomaston on the 25th of 
 October, 1 806, at the age of fifty-six years. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 SOMETIME previous to the year 1730, John Henry, a native 
 of Aberdeen, in Scotland, emigrated to the Colony of Vir- 
 ginia. He was a man of liberal education and fair abilities, 
 and is said to have been a friend of Governor Dinwiddie. The 
 Governor is said to have introduced him to Colonel Syme, of 
 Hanover, in whose family he became domesticated. After the 
 death of Colonel Syme, Mr. Henry married the widow of that 
 gentleman, and continued to reside on the estate. He was a 
 man of irreproachable integrity and exemplary piety. " It is 
 considered as a fair proof of the merit of Mr. John Henry, 
 that, in those days, when offices were bestowed with peculiar 
 caution, he was the Colonel of his regiment, the principal sur- 
 veyor of his county, and for many years the presiding magis- 
 trate of the county court." His brother, Patrick, a clergyman 
 of the established Church, followed him to Virginia, and be- 
 came rector of St. Paul's parish in Hanover. The wife of 
 Colonel John Henry was a native of Hanover County, and of 
 the family of Winstons, a family noted for its intellectual gifts 
 and its " easy elocution." 
 
 Patrick Henry, the second son of this worthy couple, was 
 born on the 29th of May, 1736, at the family seat called Stud- 
 ley, in Hanover county, Virginia. " His parents," says Mr. 
 Wirt, " though not rich, were in easy circumstances ; and, in 
 point of personal character, were among the most respectable 
 inhabitants of the Colony." 
 
 As soon as he was old enough, Patrick was sent to a school 
 in the neighborhood, where he learned to read and write, and 
 mastered a little of arithmetic. At the age of ten he was 
 taken home by his father, who had opened a grammar school 
 in his own house. Here he was taught a little Latin and a 
 little Greek, and made some progress in mathematics. Study 
 of all kinds was distasteful to him, and he passed the most of 
 his time in idleness. He avoided the school whenever he 
 
 ( 234 ) 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 235 
 
 could; and as his father rarely compelled his attendance, he 
 seldom made his appearance in the school-room. He was pas- 
 sionately devoted to hunting and fishing, and would spend 
 days, and even weeks, tramping over the fields gun in hand, or 
 sitting beside his fishing rod. It mattered little to him whether 
 he was successfijl in his sport or not; the principal charms 
 which these expeditions had for him, were the opportunities 
 they afforded him for solitude and communion with nature. 
 He was cheerful and bright in his disposition, but never cared 
 to mingle in the noisy gayety of children of his own age, " but 
 sat quiet and demure, taking no part in the conversation, giv- 
 ing no responsive smile to the circulating jest, but lost, to all 
 appearance, in silence and abstraction. This abstraction, how- 
 ever, was only apparent ; for on the dispersion of a company, 
 when interrogated by his parents as to what had been passing, 
 he was able not only to detail the conversation, but to sketch, 
 with strict fidelity, the character of every speaker. * * This 
 propensity seems to have been born with him, and to have 
 exerted itself, instinctively the mciment that a new subject 
 was presented to his view. Its action was incessant, and it be- 
 came, at length, the only intellectual exercise in which he 
 seemed to take delight. To this cause may be traced that con- 
 summate knowledge of the human heart which he finally at- 
 tained, and which enabled him, when he came upon the public 
 stage, to touch the springs of passion with a master hand, and 
 to control the resolutions and decisions of his hearers with a 
 power almost more than mortal."^ This was the only mental 
 trait that distinguished him from his fellows in childhood. He 
 grew up idle, utterly averse to study or work, slovenly in his 
 dress and careless in his habits, and awkward in appearance 
 and manner. He was overflowing^ with good nature, and was 
 popular with his companions. 
 
 At the age of fifteen Patrick was set to work to earn his liv- 
 ing, as his father's family was large and his means limited. 
 He was given a situation in a country store, and at the end of 
 the year his father, thinking him sufficiently qualified, pur- 
 chased a small stock of goods, and set his two sons, William 
 and Patrick, up in business on their own account. It was a 
 
 "^Wirfs Life of Patrick Henry, p. 24. 
 
236 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 helpless nrm, for William was even more idle than his younger 
 brother, and left the management of the store entirely to Pat- 
 rick, who found the drudgery of such a life insupportable. His 
 natural kindness of heart was another obstacle to success 
 in business. He could never refuse credit to any one who 
 asked it, and though he foresaw that such a course would re- 
 sult in the failure of his enterprise, he was never able to dis- 
 continue it. His store was his prison, and he sought relief 
 from its confinement by learning to play on the violin and 
 flute, in which accomplishments he became quite proficient. 
 
 He also found relief from the irksomeness of his life in his 
 favorite study of the human character. The character of every 
 customer was subjected to the most minute scrutiny, " not," 
 says Mr. Wirt, "with reference either to the integrity or sol- 
 vency of the individual, * * but in relation to the structure 
 of his mind, the general cast of his mind, the motives and 
 principles which influenced his actions, and what may be called 
 the philosophy of character. * * Whenever a company of his 
 customers met in the slbre, * * and were themselves suffi- 
 ciently gay and animated to talk and act as nature prompted, 
 without concealment, without reserve, he would take no part 
 in their discussions, but listen with a silence as deep and at- 
 tentive as if under the influence of some potent charm. If, on 
 the contrary, they were dull and silent, he would, without be- 
 traying his drift, task himself to set them in motion, and excite 
 them to remark, collision, and exclamation. He was peculiarly 
 delighted in comparing their characters, and ascertaining how 
 they would severally act in given situations. With this view 
 he would state an hypothetic case, and call for their opinions, 
 one by one, as to the conduct which would be .proper in it. 
 If they differed, he would demand their reasons, and enjoy 
 highly the debates in which he would thus involve them. By 
 multiplying and varying those imaginary cases at pleasure, he 
 ascertained the general course of human opinion, and formed 
 for himself, as it were, a graduated scale of the motives and 
 conduct which are natural to man. Sometimes he would en- 
 tertain them with stories gathered from his reading, or, as was 
 more frequently the case, drawn from his own fancy, composed 
 of heterogeneous circumstances, calculated to excite, by turns, 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 237 
 
 pity, terror, resentment, indignation, contempt, pausing, in the 
 turns of his narrative, to observe the effect; to watch the 
 different modes in which the passions expressed themselves, 
 and learn the language of emotion from those children of 
 nature." 
 
 The business of the store ran its course of ruin within the 
 year. Patrick spent the next two or three years in winding up 
 the affairs of the concern. Undaunted by his hard experience, 
 Patrick, at the age of eighteen, married Miss Shelton, the 
 daughter of a plain farmer, of Hanover. By the joint assist- 
 ance of their parents, the young couple were settled on a small 
 farm which Patrick, too poor to hire laborers, was obliged to 
 till with his own hands. His lack of agricultural skill and his 
 idle habits, drove him, at the end of two years, to abandon his 
 farm. He sold all his possessions, and with the proceeds 
 opened a new store. His second mercantile venture, however, 
 proved no more successful than the first, and he found that his 
 old habits were too strong to permit him to devote himself to 
 steady and persistent labor. He let the store take care of 
 itself, and would often close it and betake himself off to the 
 fields with his gun, or to the river with his rod and line. He 
 gave much of his time to his books, and his reading was now 
 of a more solid and useful character. He studied geography, 
 anc^ soon became master of it. Works of history possessed 
 the deepest interest for him. Livy was his favorite, and he 
 read it through at least once a year for many years. His won- 
 derful memory and strong judgment enabled him to master 
 and digest what he read with rapidity and ease. In a few 
 years the mercantile venture proved a failure, and Mr. Henry 
 found himself a ruined man, with a young family dependent 
 upon him. It was a most pitiable situation in which he was 
 placed, and one which sorely tried the natural manly cheerful- 
 ness of his nature. He did not despair, however, but retained 
 his hope in the future. 
 
 At this juncture Mr. Henry made the acquaintance of 
 Thomas Jefferson, then a youth of seventeen, on his way to 
 the College of William and Mary. " We became well ac- 
 quainted," says Mr. Jefferson, " although I was much his junior, 
 and he a married man. His manners had something of coarse- 
 
238 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ness in them ; his passion was music, dancing and pleasantry. 
 He excelled in the last, and it attached every one to him." 
 
 At last, in sheer despair, Mr. Henry seized hold of the pro- 
 fession to which he was best suited, and resolved to study law. 
 None of his friends believed him capable of success in so 
 laborious a calling, and he himself did not expect to do more 
 than earn a bare subsistence in it. His studies embraced a 
 period of six weeks, during which time he read Coke upon 
 Littleton, and the Virginia laws. With this scanty preparation, 
 he obtained a license in the winter of 1760, and at the age of 
 twenty-four entered upon the practice of his profession. Dur- 
 ing the first two or three years of his practice he and his family 
 resided with his father-in-law, Mr. Shelton, who kept a tavern 
 at Hanover Court House. While there Mr. Henry assisted his 
 father-in-law in the task of carrying on the tavern. He was too 
 indolent to continue his legal studies with anything like vigor, 
 and was so ignorant of the most common business of his pro- 
 fession that he could not draw up the simplest law paper with- 
 out assistance. He obtained barely enough business during 
 these years to supply the most ordinary wants of his family, 
 and their poverty and distress were very great. The affection- 
 ate nature of Mr. Henry was subjected to constant suffering in 
 consequence of this; but he retained his serenity and cheerful- 
 ness, and struggled on in the firm conviction that he would ^et 
 win comfort and ease for his dear ones. It was not until he 
 had been at the bar three years that an opportunity to display 
 his natural powers occurred. 
 
 The lawful currency of the Colony of Virginia was tobacco. 
 The price of this commodity varied so much from year to year 
 that payments in tobacco were often very burdensome. In the 
 winter of 1758 the Legislature passed a law authorizing the 
 people of the province to pay their taxes and other public dues 
 in money at the rate of two pence per pound for the tobacco 
 due. As the clergymen of the Established Church had each a 
 fixed salary due in so many pounds of tobacco, which at this 
 time commanded a high price, this law inflicted such heavy 
 losses upon them that they refused to submit to it, and urged 
 the Bishop of London to persuade the King to refuse the law 
 his signature. The Bishop complied with the request, and the 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 239 
 
 royal assent being refused, the law became inoperative. It had 
 already been carried into effect in Virginia, however, and the 
 clergy found themselves unable to collect their salaries in to- 
 bacco. They resolved to bring the matter to a judicial test, 
 and this was made in a suit instituted by the Rev. James Maury, 
 of Hanover, against the Collector of that county and his sure- 
 ties. Mr. Maury based his claim upon the Act of Assembly 
 assigning salaries to the clergy. The defendants pleaded 
 specially the Act of 1758, which commuted the salary into 
 money at two pence per pound of tobacco. The plaintiff de- 
 murred to this plea, on the grounds that the act having failed 
 to receive the royal assent was inoperative, and that it had been 
 declared by the King, in Council, null and void. The case was 
 argued on the demurrer at the November term, 1763, of the 
 County Court, by Mr. Lyons for the plaintiff, and Mr. John 
 Lewis for the defendants. It was popularly known as " The 
 Parsons' Cause," and excited the most profound interest 
 throughout the Colony. The Court, faithful to its sense of 
 justice, sustained the demurrer, and there was nothing left but 
 to argue the question of damages. Mr. Lewis, feeling that the 
 case was lost, retired from it, and the defendants, in despair, 
 applied to Patrick Henry, who agreed to argue the question at 
 the December, 1763, term. 
 
 With many misgivings, Mr. Henry repaired to the court 
 house on the 7th day of December. He found it crowded, for 
 people had come from all the surrounding counties to hear the 
 arguments in a case in which all were deeply interested. The 
 clergy, believing their triumph assured, were present in large 
 force. 
 
 The case was called soon after the opening of the court. Mr. 
 Henry had never before spoken in public, and the scene before 
 him was enough to appall even his stout heart. On the bench 
 sat more than twenty clergymen, the most learned men in the 
 Colony, and the most capable, as well as the severest critics 
 before whom it was possible for him to have made his debut. 
 The court house was crowded with an overwhelming multi- 
 tude, and surrounded with an immense and anxious throng, 
 who, not finding room to enter, were endeavoring to listen with- 
 out in the deepest attention. But- there was something still 
 
240 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 more awfully disconcerting than all this; for in the chair of 
 the presiding magistrate, sat no other person than his own 
 father. Mr. Lyons opened the cause veiy briefly; in the way 
 of argument he did nothing more than explain to the jury, that 
 the decision upon the demurrer had put the act of 1758 entirely 
 out of the way, and left the law of 1748 as the only standard of 
 their damages; he then concluded with a highly wrought 
 eulogium on the benevolence of the clergy. 
 
 When it came Patrick Henry's turn to speak, he rose 
 awkwardly, amid a profound silence. No one had ever heard 
 him speak, and all were anxious to see how he would acquit 
 himself He clutched nervously at his papers, and faltered out 
 his opening sentences with a degree of confusion which threat- 
 ened to put a speedy end to his effort. The people watched 
 their champion in sorrow and indignation; the clergy ex- 
 changed glances of triumph, and eyed the speaker with con- 
 tempt; while his father hung his head in shame. But suddenly 
 a change came over the young advocate. Warming with his 
 subject, he threw off his embarrassment and awkwardness, and 
 stood erect and confident. His look of timidity gave place to 
 one of command; his countenance glowed with the fire of 
 genius, and startled the gazers by the aspect of majesty which 
 it assumed for the first time. His tones grew clear and bold, 
 his action graceful and commanding, and the astounded jury 
 and audience were given a display of eloquence without a 
 parallel in the history of the province. Henry knew that the 
 case was against him, but he pleaded the natural right of Vir- 
 ginia to make her own laws, independently of the King and 
 Parliament. He proved the justness of the law; he drew a 
 striking picture of the character of a good King, who should 
 be the father of his people, but who becomes their tyrant and 
 oppressor, and forfeits his claim to obedience when he annuls 
 just and good laws. At this bold declaration, the opposing 
 counsel cried out, " He has spoken treason," but was silenced 
 by the excited throng. 
 
 "They say," says Mr. Wirt, "that the people, whose counte- 
 nances had fallen as he arose, had heard but a very few sen- 
 tences before they began to look up ; then to look at each 
 other in surprise, as if doubting the evidence of their own 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 24 1 
 
 senses ; then, attracted by some gesture, struck by some ma- 
 jestic attitude, fascinated by the spell of his eye, the charm of 
 his emphasis, and the varied and commanding expression of 
 his countenance, they could look away no more. In less than 
 twenty minutes they might be seen in every part of the house, 
 on every bench, in every window, stooping forward from their 
 stands, in deathlike silence ; their features fixed in amazement 
 and awe, all their senses listening and riveted upon the speaker, 
 as if to catch the last strain of some heavenly visitant. The 
 mockery of the clergy was soon turned into alarm, their tri- 
 umph into confusion and despair; and at one burst of his rapid 
 and overwhelming invective, they fled from the bench in pre- 
 cipitation and terror. As for the father, such was his surprise, 
 such his amazement, such his rapture, that, forgetting where he 
 was, and the character which he was filling, tears of ecstasy 
 streamed down his cheeks without the power or inclination to 
 repress them." 
 
 The jury brought in a verdict of one penny damages for the 
 " parsons," and the court overruled the motion of their coun- 
 sel for a new trial. 
 
 This remarkable effort was the commencement of a new era 
 in the life of Patrick Henry. It placed him in the front rank 
 of his profession in the part of the Colony in which he prac- 
 ticed. His eloquence was the common topic of conversation. 
 The people were proud of their champion; but the aristocratic 
 portion of the Colony from the first regarded him with cold- 
 ness, recognizing, by an intuitive perception, their natural 
 enemy. Mr. Henry's evenness of disposition was not disturbed 
 by his triumph. He entertained no extravagant hopes of the 
 future, and was wise enough to see that his chances of perma- 
 nent success rested upon the people's favor. He never, in all 
 his career, forgot that he was sprung from the great body of 
 the people, and he adhered to them with fidelity. When his 
 fame had filled two continents, he was the same simple, unaf- 
 fected man of the people as on the day when he rose to defend 
 them in the Parsons' Cause. He dressed plainly, lived simply, 
 and mingled with the humblest, on a footing of the most un- 
 affected equality. He was the natural enemy of aristocracy in 
 every form. Government he regarded as rightfully proceeding 
 i6 
 
242 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 from the people, and existing for their benefit, and he scouted 
 the idea that any particular class had the right to rule — very 
 radical opinions for a lawj^er in the aristocratic Colony of Vir- 
 ginia. He made no secret of his views, and openly declared 
 that he " bowed to the majesty of the people." " Nor did the 
 people, on their part, ever desert him. He was the man to 
 whom they looked in every crisis of difficulty, and the favorite 
 on whom they were ever ready to lavish all the honors in their 
 gift." 
 
 Mr. Henry's business increased rapidly, and now he began 
 to pay the penalty of his habits of idleness and neglect of his 
 early opportunities. His aversion to steady labor was uncon- 
 querable, and he never acquired a thorough knowledge of the 
 law. He was therefore compelled to make special studies of 
 the law for each particular case, and even then was at the 
 mercy, on points of law, of his more learned competitors. 
 " The reasoning of the law," says Mr. Wirt, " was too artificial 
 and too much cramped for him. While unavoidably engaged in 
 it, he felt as if manacled. His mind was perpetually struggling 
 to break away. His genius delighted in liberty and space, in 
 which it might roam at large, and feast on every variety of in- 
 tellectual enjoyment. Hence he was never profound in the 
 learning of the law. On a question merely legal, his inferiors, 
 in point of talent, frequently embarrassed and foiled him ; 
 and it required all the resources of his extraordinary mind to 
 support the distinction he had now gained." 
 
 In the year 1764 he removed to the county of Louisa, hop- 
 ing to better his condition. He still kept up his fondness for 
 hunting, and would often appear in court in his rough hunting 
 costume, and take up his cases. 
 
 In the fall of 1764 he repaired to Williamsburg as counsel for 
 Mr. N. W. Danbridge, who contested the seat of Mr. James Lit- 
 tlepage in the General Assembly. His coarse, threadbare dress, 
 his awkward habits and abstracted manner, caused him to be 
 treated with almost open discourtesy by the Committee charged 
 with the investigation of the case. The chairman, Colonel 
 Bland, alone treated him with civility. A general smile passed 
 around the Committee as he rose and faltered out his opening, 
 but it was soon changed to a look of amazement as he launched 
 
PATRICK HENRY, 243 
 
 into the most brilliant argument on the great question of the 
 right of suffrage that had ever bt^n heard within those walls. 
 After this he had no occasion to complain of a lack of respect 
 from the Assembly or people of Williamsburg. 
 
 The year 1764 witnessed the opening of the great struggle 
 between England and America by the origination, on the part 
 of the former, of the measures which resulted in the Stamp Act, 
 and in Januaiy, 1765, the Stamp Act itself was passed by Par- 
 liament. The measures of the Ministry produced the greatest 
 alarm in America. The majority of the leading men were un- 
 willing to submit to what they regarded as injustice, and at the 
 same time feared to counsel open resistance. Only a few far- 
 seeing ones contemplated forcible resistance to the tyranny of 
 the Mother Country. Among these was Patrick Henry. His 
 convictions were clear and firm from the very first, and during 
 the year 1764 he repeatedly advised an uncompromising resist- 
 ance to the Acts of the British Ministry. His opinions were 
 eagerly repeated among the people of Virginia, and had such a 
 marked effect upon them that Mr. Jefferson afterwards declared 
 that " Mr. Henry certainly gave the first impulse to the ball of 
 the Revolution." It was considered essential that Mr. Henry 
 should be placed in a position which would secure to him the 
 influence to which he was entitled in the councils of the coun- 
 try, and the delegate from Louisa resigned his seat to make a 
 vacancy for him, and he was elected to the General Assembly 
 in May, 1765. 
 
 Mr. Henry now found himself in an Assembly composed of 
 the most brilliant men in the Colony, such as John Robinson, 
 Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, and 
 Richard Henry Lee. It was an Assembly with which he had 
 little in common ; for apart from the quarrel with the Mother 
 Country, it was bent on maintaining the aristocratic constitu- 
 tion of the province, and perpetuating class rule — a system he 
 hoped to destroy. The Assembly was noted for its elaborate 
 and formal courtesy, and its members were elegant and polished 
 men of society. Great was the outward contrast between them 
 and the plain, unassuming, awkward, unpolished member from 
 Louisa. He was personally unknown to the majority of the 
 House, and few expected him to exercise much influence upon 
 its deliberations. 
 
244 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Virginia had by this time entered upon the retribution which 
 was to punish her early neglect of her true interests, and her 
 landed gentry were nearly all, more or less, embarrassed with 
 debt. A scheme was set on foot in the Assembly to establish 
 a loan office, from which the public money to a certain amount 
 might be loaned to individuals on good landed security. By 
 means of this scheme the aristocracy of the Colony hoped to 
 mend their broken fortunes, and the whole of that element in 
 the House regarded it with favor. Mr. Henry at a glance saw 
 that it would not remedy the evil, but would merely impose a 
 new burden upon the people, and he opposed it in a bold, elo- 
 quent address which caused its defeat. The members of the 
 upper counties voted in a body against it; and the only votes 
 in its favor were those of the aristocratic members from the 
 lower counties. This triumph made Mr. Henry the leader of 
 the popular party in the Assembly, and won for him the in- 
 creased confidence of the people. It also gained him the bitter 
 and abiding hatred of the aristocracy, who were "indignant at 
 the presumption of an obscure and unpolished rustic, who 
 without asking the support or countenance of any patron 
 among themselves, stood upon his own ground, and bearded 
 them even in their den." They were forced to acknowledge his 
 wonderful gifts, but sought to avenge themselves by ridiculing 
 his plainness of person and awkwardness of manner. 
 
 The news of the passage of the Stamp Act reached Virginia 
 in May, 1765. The Royalist leaders of the Assembly were 
 amazed at the folly of the Ministry, but agreed that nothing 
 but submission was left them. Not so with Mr. Henry. He 
 saw in the occasion the proper time for joining the issue 
 squarely between the King and the Colonies, and rising in his 
 place offered his famous Five Resolutions, in which it was de- 
 clared that the people of Virgmia were bound to pay only such 
 taxes as were levied by their own Assembly, and that all at- 
 tempts to impose taxes upon them without their consent had " a 
 manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American free- 
 dom." The resolutions provoked an exciting debate, in which 
 Mr. Henry, in a magnificent oration, exposed the tyranny of the 
 British Government, and stirred the hearts of the burgesses to 
 resist. Closing his address with one of his loftiest flights, he 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 245 
 
 exclaimed in electric tones, " Caesar had his Brutus, Charles 
 the First his Cromwell, and George the Third " The As- 
 sembly was in an uproar. " Treason ! treason !" cried the 
 Speaker, and the cry of "treason!" was re-echoed not only 
 from the royalists, but from others who were alarmed by the 
 bold words. Henry never quailed, but raising himself to his 
 full height and fixing his eye upon the Speaker, added in atone 
 peculiar to himself — " may profit by their example. If that be 
 treason, make the most of it." Mr. Henry held his ground in 
 the debate, and carried the resolutions by a majority of a single 
 vote. When the result of the vote was announced, Peyton 
 Randolph, the King's Attorney-General, left the house, ex- 
 claiming bitterly as he went, " By God, I would have given five 
 hundred guineas for a single vote !" 
 
 The next day, during Mr. Henry's absence, the timid Assem- 
 bly rescinded the fifth resolution and modified the others. For 
 daring to pass the resolves, however, it was dissolved by the 
 Governor, but too late to prevent its action from producing its 
 effect. Copies of Henry's resolutions as originally passed were 
 forwarded to Philadelphia, where they were printed and circu- 
 lated throughout the Colonies. They aroused the drooping 
 spirits of the people, and gave birth to a general determination 
 that the stamps should not be used in America. 
 
 By his bold action, Mr. Henry took the leadership of the 
 Assembly out of the hands which had hitherto controlled it. 
 His fame spread beyond the limits of his province, and he be- 
 came known to the whole country as one of the most deter- 
 mined leaders of the Colonial cause. 
 
 Mr. Henry continued a member of the Assembly until the 
 outbreak of the Revolution, and it was owing to him, more 
 than to any other person, that that body maintained its firm, 
 determined, but respectful tone of resistance to the King. In 
 1767 or 1768, Mr. Henry removed from Louisa to Hanover 
 county, and was returned from that county to the Assembly 
 immediately afterwards. When the Assembly was dissolved 
 by Lord Botetourt in May, 1769, on account of its adoption of 
 the Four Resolutions, Mr. Henry was prominent in urging the 
 meeting of delegates in the Coffee Room of the Raleigh Tavern, 
 and in bringing about the non-intercourse resolutions which 
 
246 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 that meeting adopted. The same body appointed him one of 
 the Committee of Correspondence with the other Colonies. 
 
 There was no probability that the Committee would fail in 
 its duty with Patrick Henry on its list. He clearly perceived 
 the issue of the struggle, and was only anxious to prepare the 
 country for it. He had faith in her ability to make a success- 
 ful resistance, and was confident of the result. Mr. Wirt 
 relates the following instance in proof of his remarkable pre- 
 science : " I am informed by Colonel John Overton that before 
 one drop of blood was shed in our contest with Great Britain, 
 he was at Colonel Samuel Overton's, in company with Mr. 
 Henry, Colonel Morris, John Hawkins and Colonel Samuel 
 Overton, when the last mentioned gentleman asked Mr. 
 Henry, ' whether he supposed Great Britain would drive her 
 Colonies to extremities ? And if she should, what he thought 
 would be the issue of the war ?' When Mr. Henry, after look- 
 ing round to see who were present, expressed himself confi- 
 dentially to the company in the following manner : ' She will 
 drive us to extremities — no accommodation will take place — 
 hostilities will soo7i commence, and a desperate and bloody 
 touch it will be.* ' But,' said Col. Samuel Overton, ' do you 
 think, Mr. Henry, that an infant nation, as we are, without dis- 
 cipline, arms, ammunition, ships of war, or money to procure 
 them — do you think it possible, thus circumstanced, to oppose 
 successfully the fleets and armies of Great Britain ?' ' I will be 
 candid with you,' replied Mr, Henry. ' I doubt whether we 
 shall be able, alone, to cope with so' powerful a nation. But,' 
 continued he, rising from his chair with great animation, 
 * where is France ? Where is Spain ? Where is Holland ? — the 
 natural enemies of Great Britain — where will they be all this 
 while ? Do you suppose they will stand by, idle and indiffer- 
 ent spectators to the contest ? Will Louis XVI. be asleep all 
 this time ? Believe me, no ! When Louis XVI. shall be satis- 
 fied by our serious opposition, and our Declaration of Indcpen- 
 dejice, that all prospect of reconciliation is gone, then, and not 
 till then, will he furnish us with arms, ammunition and cloth- 
 ing ; and not with these only, but he will send his fleets and 
 armies to fight our battles for us ; he will form with us a treaty 
 offensive and defensive against our unnatural mother. Spain 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 24/ 
 
 and Holland will join the confederation. Our independence 
 will be established, and we shall take our stand among the na- 
 tions of the earth.' Here he ceased ; and Col. John Overton 
 says he shall never forget the voice and prophetic manner in 
 which these predictions were uttered, and which have been 
 since so literally verified. Col. Overton says, at the word inde- 
 pendence, the company appeared to be startled, for they had 
 never heard anything of the kind before even suggested."^ 
 
 As we have related elsewhere in this work the events which 
 preceded the Revolution, it is not necessary to repeat them 
 here. The quarrel with England deepened rapidly, and at 
 length a general Congress of the Colonies was summoned to 
 meet in Philadelphia on the 5th of September, 1774. Mr. 
 Henry had maintained his place as the leader of the cause in 
 Virginia, and in addition to his labors as a member of the Com- 
 mittee to correspond with the other Colonies, had exerted 
 himself to prepare the people of Virginia for the coming strug- 
 gle. He was chosen by the Virginia Convention one of the 
 delegates to the Congress. He made the journey on horse- 
 back, in company with Washington and Edmund Pendleton, 
 and was in his seat at the opening of the Congress. 
 
 The session was opened with prayer, at the close of which 
 a deep silence prevailed throughout the hall. The members 
 looked around upon each other with anxiety, each one being 
 unwilling to begin the proceedings which were to be so full of 
 moment to the countiy. At last Patrick Henry rose slowly, 
 and began to speak hesitatingly, "as if borne down with the 
 weight of his subject." As he proceeded, he rose grandly to 
 the duties of the occasion, and in his eloquent manner recited 
 the wrongs suffered by the Colonies at the hands of Great 
 Britain. He declared that all government in America was dis- 
 solved, and urged upon the Congress the duty of providing 
 for the emergency by uniting the Colonies in a common sys- 
 tem of resistance. " British oppression," he exclaimed, " has 
 effaced the boundaries of the several Colonies ; the distinctions 
 between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers and New 
 Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an Amer- 
 can." The deputies were astonished at his eloquence, as well 
 
 ^ Wirfs Life of Patrick Henry. Pp. 1 1 i-l 1 2. 
 
248 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 as at the magnitude of the interests with which they were en- 
 trusted. " He sat down amidst murmurs of astonishment and 
 applause ; and as he had been before proclaimed the greatest 
 orator of Virginia, he was now, on every hand, admitted to be 
 the first orator of America." 
 
 Mr. Henry was appointed a member of the Committee on 
 the Address to the King adopted by the Congress. He gave 
 his hearty support to the measures of the Congress, although 
 they did not go far enough to suit him, and was rejoiced to 
 meet with such kindred spirits as the Adamses, of Massachu- 
 setts. Congress adjourned in October, and Mr. Henry returned 
 to Virginia. In reply to the questions of his neighbors as to 
 who was the greatest man in Congress, he uttered the v/ords 
 which we have quoted elsewhere, and which shows how fully 
 he had mastered the character of his associates in that body : 
 " If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, 
 is by far the greatest orator ; but if you speak of solid infor- 
 mation and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unques- 
 tionably the greatest man on that floor." 
 
 The Virginia Convention met again at Richmond, on the 
 20th of March, 1775, and its sessions were held in the parish 
 church of St. John's, the only building capable of accommo- 
 dating so large a body. Mr. Henry, who had been elected a 
 member of the Convention, repaired to Richmond to render 
 with his colleagues a report of the proceedings of Congress, 
 and to take part in the deliberations of the Convention. He 
 soon found that the members were disposed to temporize, and 
 were clinging to the hope that a peaceable settlement was yet 
 possible. It was necessary to bring them to a realization of 
 the situation of affairs, and to a determination to abide the 
 consequences of their resistance. On the 23d of March, Mr. 
 Henry rose in his place, and offered a series of resolutions, 
 setting forth the conviction of the Assembly that a well regu- 
 lated militia was the only proper defense for a free State, de- 
 nouncing the employing of standing armies in America, and 
 ordering the Colony to be put in a state of defense at once. 
 
 The resolutions were received by the Convention in profound 
 and painful astonishment, for that body had not contemplated 
 any more serious resistance than petition, non-importation, and 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 249 
 
 protests against the injustice of England. The resolutions 
 were opposed by the ablest men in the Convention, such as 
 Bland, Harrison and Pendleton, " as not only rash in policy, 
 but as harsh and well nigh impious in point of feeling." They 
 urged that a resort to arms was unnecessary, and declared that 
 matters were now in such a position that a peaceful settlement 
 was sure and close at hand. They declared that America 
 could not hope to make even a respectable struggle against 
 such a power as Great Britain. It was clear that the resolu- 
 tions had drawn upon Mr. Henry the displeasure of the Con- 
 vention, and it required more than ordinary courage to defend 
 them. 
 
 He heard his opponents in silence, and then rose calmly, 
 and with more self-possession than was usual with him at the 
 first, began his reply. He commenced by saying that he 
 highly respected the views and patriotism of the gentlemen op- 
 posed to him, but took leave to differ with them. This was 
 not a time for ceremony, and he should speak his sentiments 
 plainly. " He had," he said, " but one lamp by which his feet 
 were guided ; and that was the lamp of experience. He knew 
 of no way of judging the future but by the past. And judging 
 by the past, he wished to know what there had been in the 
 conduct of the British Ministry for the last ten years to justify 
 those hopes with which the gentlemen had been pleased to 
 solace themselves and the House ? Is it that insidious smile 
 with which our petition had been lately received? Trust it 
 not, sir ; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not your- 
 selves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this 
 gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike 
 preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are 
 fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? 
 Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that 
 force must be called in to win back our love ? Let us not de- 
 ceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and 
 subjugation — the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, 
 gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array if its purpose be 
 not to force us to submission ? Can gentlemen assign any 
 other possible motive for it ? Has Great Britain any enemy in 
 tliis quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of 
 
250 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 navies and armies ? No, sir, she has none. They are meant 
 for us ; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to 
 bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British Ministry 
 have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to 
 them ? Shall we try argument ? Sir, we have been trying 
 that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer 
 upon the subject ? Nothing. We have held the subject up in 
 every light of which it is capable ; but it has been all in vain. 
 Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication ? What 
 terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted ? 
 Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, 
 we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm 
 that is now coming on. We have petitioned — we have remon- 
 strated — we have supplicated — we have prostrated ourselves 
 before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest 
 the tyrannical hands of the Ministry and Parliament. Our 
 petitions have been slighted ; our remonstrances have produced 
 additional violence and insult ; our supplications have been 
 disregarded ; and we have been spurned with contempt from the 
 foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge 
 the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer 
 any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to pre- 
 serve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have 
 been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon 
 the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and 
 which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the 
 glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must 
 fight! I repeat it, sir," he continued with a calmness of tone 
 that thrilled through the assembly, ^' ive must fight ! An ap- 
 peal to arms, and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left us. 
 
 " They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with 
 so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger ? 
 Will it be the next week, or the next year ? Will it be when 
 we are totally disarmed, and a British guard shall be stationed 
 in every house ? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and 
 inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance 
 by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive 
 phantom of hope until our enemies shall have bound us hand 
 and foot ? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 25 I 
 
 those means which the God of nature hath placed in our 
 power. Three milhons of people, armed in the holy cause of 
 liberty, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send 
 against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. 
 There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, 
 and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The 
 battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the 
 active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we 
 were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from 
 the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and 
 slavery. Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be 
 heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is inevitable — and let 
 it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!! 
 
 " It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may 
 cry peace, peace —but there is no peace. The war is actually 
 begun. The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring 
 to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are 
 already in the field. Why stand we here idle ? What is it that 
 gentlemen wish? What would they have ? Is life so dear 
 or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and 
 slavery? Forbid it. Almighty God! I know not what course 
 others may take; but as for me," cried he, with both arms ex- 
 tended aloft, his brows knit, every feature marked with the 
 resolute purpose of his soul, and his voice swelled to its bold- 
 est note of exclamation, "give me liberty, or give me 
 
 DEATH !" 
 
 He sat down in the midst of a profound silence. Not a 
 member could trust himself for a moment. Then several of 
 the members sprang to their feet, and the cry "to arms!" 
 seemed to quiver on every lip, and gleam from every eye. 
 The painful silence was broken by Richard Henry Lee, who 
 rose and supported Mr. Henry's resolutions in a speech of 
 polished eloquence. The members listened to him with im- 
 patience, and calls were made for the question. The resolu- 
 tions were adopted, and a committee of which Mr. Henry was 
 chairman, was appointed to prepare a plan for arming the 
 Colony. The plan was reported, adopted, and put in force in 
 due time. 
 
 Matters now came to a crisis in Virginia. Lord Dunmore 
 
252 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the Governor, seized the powder belonging to the Colony, and 
 removed it from the magazine at Williamsburg, to an armed 
 schooner in* the James. The municipal authorities of Wil- 
 liamsburg protested against this act, and the citizens threat- 
 ened to recover the powder by force. A few days later news 
 arrived of the attempt of Gage to seize the military stores of 
 Massachusetts, and of the battles of Lexington and Concord. 
 It was plain that there was a general plan to disarm the Colo- 
 nies. The volunteer companies of Virginia flew to arms in 
 every county. Seven hundred men assembled at Fredericks- 
 burg to march to the capital, but were turned back by an ex- 
 press from Peyton Randolph, conveying the assurance that the 
 Governor had promised to pay for the powder. 
 
 Mr. Henry was resolved that the matter should not end thus. 
 The conflict must come soon, and it was better, in his judg- 
 ment, to strike a blow which should put an end to the submis- 
 sion of the people to the royal power at once, than to wait 
 until an armed British force should be thrown into Virginia. 
 He therefore summoned the independent company of Hanover, 
 and appealed to the members to sustain him. They made hiui 
 their commander, and he set off at their head for Williams- 
 burg, to compel the Governor to restore the powder. He was 
 joined by similar organizations at every step, and it is believed 
 that at le.ast five thousand men were under arms and hastening 
 to join him. The news of his approach threw Williamsburg 
 into great alarm. Lord Dunmore tried to turn him back with 
 a proclamation, but in vain. Captain Montague, of the Fowey, 
 man of war, sent a detachment of marines to garrison the 
 palace at Williamsburg, and threatened to fire upon the de- 
 fenceless and unoffending town of York, if this detachment 
 were molested. Still the force under' Henry continued to 
 advance, and the Governor, in great alarm, caused Richard 
 Corbin, the Receiver General of the province, to meet Mr. 
 Henry at Doncastle's Ordinary, in New Kent County, and pay 
 him the sum of .^330 for the powder that had been seized. 
 This surrender on the part of the Governor acccmplished the 
 object of the expedition, and the volunteers dispersed to their 
 homes. The money paid by Lord Dunmore was forwarded 
 by Mr. Henry to the Virginia delegates in Congress. The 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 253 
 
 bold action of Mr. Henry was hailed with enthusiasm by the 
 Virginians, and resolutions of thanks came pouring in upon 
 him from every county. 
 
 Mr. Henry attended the Second Congress which met in May, 
 1775, but his presence being necessaiy in Virginia, he soon re- 
 turned to his native province. The Convention, after the flight 
 of Lord Dunmore, proceed to put the Virginia forces in the 
 field. Two regiments of regulars were raised, and Mr. Henry 
 was elected by the Convention " Colonel of the First Regiment, 
 and commander of all the forces raised and to be raised for the 
 defence of the Colony." Mr. William Woodford was made 
 Colonel of the Second Regiment. Williamsburg was selected 
 as the place of rendezvous, and Col. Henry was at his post by 
 the 20th of September. The Virginians were delighted with 
 the prospect of having him for a commander, and his popularity 
 enabled him soon to fill up the regiments. He had been so 
 active in bringing the Colony to resistance that he was anxious 
 to make good his words by serving his country in the field. 
 The Committee of Safety, however, manifested a most singular 
 distrust of his military capacity, and treated him with the most 
 undeserved and annoying slights. When the Virginia troops 
 were taken by Congress as a part of the Continental army, Mr. 
 Henry, who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia 
 forces, had the mortification of seeing several of his juniors 
 promoted over his head. He thereupon resigned his commis- 
 sion. His resignation produced an uproar in the camp, as the 
 troops were devoted to him, and resented the shameful manner 
 in which he had been treated. Serious consequences might 
 have ensued, but he begged them to remain faithful to their 
 cause, and to refrain from resenting his wrongs, and succeeded 
 in inducing them to continue in the service. 
 
 Immediately upon resigning his command, Mr. Henry was 
 elected to the Virginia Convention from Hanover county. On 
 the 29th of June, 1776, Virginia adopted a State Constitution, 
 and on the same day Patrick Henry was elected by the Con- 
 vention Governor of the State of Virginia. The palace at Wil- 
 liamsburg was refurnished and prepared for his use, and on the 
 fifth of July Governor Henry took the oath of office, and 
 entered upon the discharge of his duties. On the 30th of May, 
 
254 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 1777, he was unanimously re-elected Governor by the Legis- 
 lature, and again unamimously elected in the spring of 1778. 
 These repeated proofs of the confidence of his fellow citizens 
 were most gratifying to him, and were well deserved. The 
 three years of his administration extended over one of the most 
 trying periods of the war, and he could do little more than 
 endeavor to keep up the courage of his fellow citizens, and 
 strengthen the hands of Washington. In 1778 he received a 
 letter from an anonymous writer, the object of which was to 
 win him over to the plot against the Commander-in-Chief of 
 the army. He at once forwarded the letter to Washington, 
 with one from himself expressing his friendship for and trust in 
 him and warning him of his danger. 
 
 The Constitution rendered the Governor ineligible for a 
 fourth term, and in May, 1779, Mr. Henry retired from office 
 with increased popularity, having given universal satisfaction 
 in the discharge of his duties. 
 
 In 1875, Mrs. Henry died after having suffered from ill 
 health and loss of mind for several years ; and after this Mr. 
 Henry sold his farm called Scotch Town, in Hanover, and 
 purchased eight or ten thousand acres of valuable land in 
 Henry county, which had been so called in honor of him. In 
 1777 he married Dorothea, the daughter of Mr. Nathaniel W. 
 Dandridge, and at the expiration of his term of office removed 
 to his new estate, and resumed the practice of law. In 1780 
 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature, and 
 proved one of the most active and useful members of that 
 body. 
 
 As Governor of Virginia Mr. Henry gave a hearty support 
 to the reforms which Jefferson and Wythe and their fellow 
 workers carried through the Legislature, and as a member of 
 that body he was governed by the same wise and liberal prin- 
 ciples. " He had a rooted aversion," says Mr. Wirt, "and even 
 abhorrence, to every thing in the shape of pride, cruelty, and 
 tyranny; and could not tolerate that social inequality from 
 which they proceeded, and by which they were nourished. 
 The principle which he seems to have brought with him into 
 the world, and which certainly formed the guide of all his 
 public actions, was, that the whole human race were one 
 family, equal in their rights, and their birth-right liberty." 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 255 
 
 On the 17th of November, 1784, Mr. Henry was again 
 elected Governor of Virginia, to commence his service on the 
 30th of the same month. His style of living was simple and 
 temperate, but the salary of the office was inadequate to the 
 support of his family; and he found himself so much involved 
 in debt at the end of two years, that he resigned the office in 
 1786. He then removed to Prince Edward County, and at 
 the age of fifty, was compelled to resume the practice of law 
 to rid himself of debt. His pecuniary difficulties prevented 
 him from accepting the post of delegate from Virginia to the 
 Federal Convention which framed the Constitution of the 
 United States. He did not approve the work of the Conven- 
 tion, and regarded the Constitution as dangerous to the liber- 
 ties of the States. He therefore consented to represent the 
 County of Prince Edward in the Virginia Convention, in the 
 hope of defeating the ratification of the Constitution by the 
 State. 
 
 The Convention met at Richmond in June, 1788. It was 
 the weightiest body in point of intellectual ability that ever 
 assembled in Virginia. Mr. Henry found himself matched 
 against the ablest men of the State, many of whom were his 
 fellow-workers in the Revolution. He fully sustained his 
 splendid reputation as a master of debate, and his speeches 
 against the Constitution are among his best efforts. His labors 
 were in vain, however. The Convention ratified the Constitu- 
 tion, and he submitted to its decision. His opposition had not 
 cost him any of his popularity, and he was able to secure the 
 election of the gentlemen nominated by him to the Senate of 
 the United States. 
 
 Mr. Henry continued the practice of his profession some 
 years longer, but would not engage in unimportant cases, or 
 for the ordinary fees. In 1794, he retired from his practice, 
 and gave up the remainder of his life to domestic enjoyment. 
 He had spent thirty years in public, and had been always open 
 and independent in his conduct and the expression of his 
 convictions. His countrymen had been able to read his very 
 heart, and he retired to private life with a character untar- 
 nished, and carrying with him the devoted affection of the 
 people. He had paid his debts, had acquired a comfortable 
 
256 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 fortune, and was in a fair condition to pass the remainder of 
 his days in peace. In 1796, he was a third time elected Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, but decHned the office. In 1799, having 
 become alarmed by the controversy which was going on be- 
 tween the Federalists and the Democrats, he determined to 
 return to the Legislature, and throw the weight of his influence 
 in that body in behalf of Mr. Adams's administration. He 
 was triumphantly elected, but never took his seat, 
 
 " It was in the bosom of his own family," says Mr. Wirt, 
 "where the eye of every visitor and even every neighbor was 
 shut out — where neither the love of fame, nor the fear of cen- 
 sure, could be suspected of throwing a false light on his char- 
 acter — it was in that very scene in which it has been said that 
 'no man is a hero,' that Mr. Henry's heroism shone with the 
 most engaging beauty. It was to his wife, to his children, to 
 his servants, that his true character was best known ; to this 
 grateful, devoted, happy circle, were best known the patient 
 and tender forbearance, the kind indulgence, the forgiving 
 mildness and sweetness of his spirit, those pure and warm 
 affections, which were always looking out for the means of 
 improving their felicity, and that watchful prudence and cir- 
 cumspection which guarded them from harm. What can be 
 more amiable than the playful tenderness with which he joined 
 in the sports of his little children, and the boundless indulgence 
 with, which he received and returned their caresses ? ' His 
 visitors,' says one of my correspondents, ' have not unfrequently 
 caught him lying on the floor with a group of these little ones 
 climbing over him in every direction, or dancing around him 
 with obstreperous mirth, to the tune of his violin, while the 
 only contest seemed to be who should make the most noise.' " 
 
 Mr. Henry was an unassuming, but sincere Christian. 
 " Amongst other strange things said of me," he wrote to his 
 daughter, Mrs. Aylett, a few years before his death, " I hear it 
 is said by the deists that I am one of their number ; and indeed 
 that some good people think I am no Christian. This thought 
 gives me much more pain than the appellation of Tory, be- 
 cause I think religion of infinitely higher importance than 
 politics ; and I find much cause to reproach myself that I have 
 lived so long, and have given no decided and public proofs of 
 
PATRICK HENRY. 25/ 
 
 my being a Christian. But indeed, my dear child, this is a 
 character which I prize far above all this world has or can 
 boast. And amongst all the handsome things I hear said of 
 you, what gives me the greatest pleasure, is to be told of your 
 piety and steady virtue." 
 
 In the year 1797 Mr. Henry's health began to fail, and con- 
 tinued to decline gradually until the day of his death. Towards 
 the close of the spring of 1799, the disease from which he had 
 been suffering for the past two years hastened to a crisis, and 
 he died, surrounded by his family, on the 6th of June, 1799. 
 »7 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
 OF all the generals of the Revolution, Putnam is pm 
 excellence the hero of romance, and was next to Washing- 
 ton the most popular with the army and people. 
 
 Israel Putnam was born at Salem Village, now Danvers, in 
 Massachusetts, on the 7th of January, 17 18. His parents were 
 in plain but comfortable circumstances, and were able to give 
 him the ordinary education afforded by the New England 
 common schools of the day. He grew up on the farm and be- 
 came a stout, hearty, active boy, noted for his sturdy indepen- 
 dence, his unflinching courage, and his generous and impulsive 
 character. He was frank and manly, full of the love of fun, and 
 very affectionate. He was quick to resent an affront to himself, 
 and as prompt in the defense of others. 
 
 When a very young lad, he visited Boston for the first time. 
 As he passed along the street he was taunted by a boy twice 
 his size, and much older, because of the awkward and country- 
 fied appearance of his clothes. He bore these taunts patiently 
 for a while, but finally turned upon his tormentor, and, in the 
 presence of a crowd of delighted spectators, gave him a sound 
 thrashing. When he was nearly grown, he chanced to hear a 
 neighbor's son speak most insultingly of a young girl of the 
 village. He at once demanded of the speaker proof of his as- 
 sertion, but the latter refused to comply with his demand, say- 
 ing, " It's none of your business." " It's anybody's business to 
 defend a good girl," cried young Putnam, indignantly, as he 
 confronted the defamer. " I knoiv you have slandered Nelly 
 
 P . You think because she is a poor girl, and has no 
 
 father, that you may say what you please about her. Twice 
 
 you've done the same thing. Now own to Charley D , 
 
 here, that you've lied about Nelly, or I'll thrash you." 
 
 Before he had attained his majority, Putnam married a 
 daughter of John Pope, of Salem. She bore him ten children, 
 and died just as the troubles which led to the Revolution were 
 
 (258) 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 259 
 
 beginning. Soon after his marriage he removed to Pomfret, 
 in Connecticut, and settled on a tract of land he had purchased. 
 He set to work to clear it up, and labored manfully to over- 
 come the difficulties in his way. He was successful, and in the 
 course of a few years brought his rough land under control, 
 and had converted it into a smiling and pleasant home for his 
 little family. He was accounted one of the best, as well as one 
 of the most thrifty and prosperous farmers in his neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 He was much annoyed, and put to considerable loss, by the 
 depredations of a she-wolf and her young, which for several 
 years infested the neighborhood. In a single night in the 
 spring of 1 743, seventy sheep and goats belonging to Put- 
 nam were killed by these animals. The whelps were de- 
 stroyed by the hunters, and the dam was at last chased by the 
 hounds into a deep rocky cavern about three miles from Put- 
 nam's house. The neighbors collected about the cave, and 
 endeavored to drive out the wolf with smoke and the fumes of 
 sulphur; but in vain. The dogs were then sent in after her, 
 but were driven out, maimed and howling. Finding that no 
 one would venture into the cave, Putnam, gun in hand, de- 
 scended into it, shot the wolf, and brought her out in triumph. 
 From this time he was the hero of his community. 
 
 When the New England Colonies became engaged in the 
 French War, Putnam was among the first to volunteer for 
 service in the army. He was given a captain's commission by 
 General Lyman, with orders to raise a company. This was an 
 easy task for him, and he was soon on his way to Fort Edward 
 with a company of rangers, composed of the flower of the 
 young men of his neighborhood. His company was from the 
 first employed on detached duty, and was constantly engaged 
 in reconnoissances and similar expeditions. Putnam performed 
 many daring and perilous exploits, and several times narrowly 
 escaped with his life. After the defeat of Dieskau, Johnson 
 built Fort William Henry at the head of Lake George, gar- 
 risoned that work and Fort Edward, and dismissed the rest of 
 the troops to their homes. Putnam returned to Pomfret. 
 
 In May, 1756, England formally declared war against France, 
 and in the spring of this year Putnam was again in the field. 
 
260 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 His company formed a part of General Webb's command, in 
 Abercrombie's army. On one occasion, while reconnoitring 
 near Ticonderoga, with a single companion, Putnam found 
 himself far within the French lines before either he or his com- 
 panion were aware of it. They were discovered and fired upon 
 by the French sentinels, who slightly wounded Putnam's com- 
 panion. They made their escape in the darkness, followed by a 
 shower of bullets, one of which cut a hole in Putnam's canteen, 
 and fourteen of which passed through the blanket he wore 
 strapped to his back. He was engaged in several hard-fought 
 skirmishes during the year. In the winter of 1756 the Con- 
 necticut troops returned home, and Putnam was rewarded by 
 the Assembly of Connecticut with a major's commission. 
 
 In the spring of 1757 he returned to Fort Edward, and was 
 once more under Webb's command. The latter had with him 
 a force of 7,000 efficient troops, and when Montcalm laid siege 
 to Fort William Henry, Putnam was anxious to go to the relief 
 of that post. He was prevented by the cowardly Webb, who 
 despatched a letter to Colonel Monroe, advising him to sur- 
 render to the French. Putnam was indignant at the dastardly 
 conduct of his commander, and a few days later, when visiting 
 the ruins of Fort William Henry, which had been destroyed by 
 the French, he wept like a child on beholding the bodies of the 
 garrison and the women and children that had been massacred 
 by the Indians. 
 
 Late in August Webb was succeeded in the command at Fort 
 Edward by General Lyman, an officer more to Putnam's liking. 
 Putnam's command was stationed on an island in the Hudson, 
 known as Rogers's Island. He was engaged in several sharp 
 encounters with the Indians. One of these was fought in diso- 
 bedience of Lyman's orders, for the purpose of saving a detach- 
 ment of British regulars. He accomplished his object, and 
 Lyman was too true a soldier to reprimand him. He spent 
 this winter with his command on the island. Early one 
 morning in February, 1758, a fire broke out in Fort 'Edward, 
 and made considerable progress before it was discovered. The 
 garrison turned out and endeavored to check the flames, but 
 without success. Putnam and a detachment of his men crossed 
 the river on the ice as soon as they saw the fire, and reached 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 26 1 
 
 the fort just as the flames were nearing the magazine. The 
 water gate was thrown open, and the men formed a hne to pass 
 up buckets of water from the river. Putnam mounted to the 
 roof, and as the buckets were passed up to him dashed them 
 upon the flames. His position was one of imminent danger, 
 but he held it until ordered down by the commander of the fort. 
 He leaped to the ground just as the roof fell in with a crash. 
 
 The fire was now but a few feet from the magazine, and the 
 danger of an explosion was imminent. Unmindful of it, Put- 
 nam sprang between the flames and the magazine, which was 
 already charred by the heat, and dashed bucketful after bucket- 
 ful of water upon the magazine. The example of his splendid 
 courage was contagious. The garrison joined him heartily in 
 the effort to save the magazine, and Colonel Haviland, the 
 commander, exclaimed : " If we must be blown up, we will go 
 all together." At last the flames were subdued, and the fort 
 saved from destruction. When the danger was over Putnam 
 withdrew, amid the cheers of the garrison, to have his severe 
 burns dressed. His injuries were so serious that he was con- 
 fined to the hospital for a month. 
 
 Putnam was with Abercrombie's army in the advance upon 
 Ticonderoga, in the spring of 1758, and commanded the de- 
 tachment engaged on the side of the English in the skirmish 
 in which Lord Howe lost his life. He and his Rangers per- 
 formed gallant service in this campaign, and after the return of 
 the army from Lake Champlain, moved back to their camp on 
 Rogers's Island, at Fort Edward. 
 
 A few days after his return. Major Putnam went on a visit 
 to Fort Miller, on the Hudson, about nine miles below Fort 
 Edward. He crossed the river in a bateau, and was about 
 to land, when he was surprised by a large number of Indians, 
 some rushing along the shore, and others bearing down upon 
 him in canoes. He saw that to attempt to cross the river 
 would be to fall into their hands, and that his only chance of 
 escape lay in trusting himself to the mercy of the rapids, which 
 were roaring over the rocks a short distance below him. He 
 did not hesitate, but headed his boat at once for the rapids, 
 down which it shot in safety, to the amazement of the savages, 
 who had never ventured to descend them in their canoes. 
 
262 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Arrived at the foot of the rapids, Putnam made for the shore, 
 and efifected his escape. The Indians, beheving that he was 
 under the especial protection of the Great Spirit, abandoned 
 the chase. 
 
 Early in August Putnam and Rogers, with their commands, 
 amounting to about 500 men, were sent to South Bay to watch 
 the enemy. Learning that a French and Indian force undei 
 Molang was trying to cut them off, they fell back towards Fort 
 Edward. Near Fort Ann they fell into an Indian ambuscade, 
 and a desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued. Putnam became 
 separated from his men, and slew several Indian warriors with 
 his own hand. At length he encountered a stalwart savage, 
 and presented his musket to his breast. The gun missed fire, 
 and the savage, seizing Putnam, bound him to a tree, and in 
 this perilous situation he remained exposed to the fire of both 
 parties until the close of the engagement. Several balls went 
 through his clothing and a number struck the tree. 
 
 The French and Indians were finally repulsed, and retreated, 
 carrying Putnam with them. On the march he suffered many 
 insults and cruelties from the Indians. At length, the savages 
 prepared to put their prisoner to death with cruel torments. 
 They tied him to a tree, and heaping dried fagots around him, 
 set fire to the pile. Just at this moment the flames were extin- 
 guished by a sudden shower of rain, accompanied with severe 
 thunder and lightning. The savages for a moment hesitated 
 whether to continue the murder of one who seemed to be pro- 
 tected by the Great Spirit; but their ferocity got the better of 
 thfeir superstition, and the pile was lighted again. Putnam now 
 believed his fate inevitable, and resigned himself to it, but res- 
 cue came from a sudden and unexpected quarter. Molang, the 
 French commander of the party, having been informed by an 
 Ind'an of the intended execution of Putnam, hastened to pre- 
 vent it. He dashed into the throng of savages, knocking them 
 right and left, and, tossing away the burning fagots, cut the 
 cords of the prisoner, and rescued him from the horrible death 
 that had been his fate had Molang been a few moments later. 
 He severely rebuked the savages for their cruelty, and taking 
 Putnam under his protection, sent him to Ticonderoga, where 
 he was kindly treated by Montcalm, who forwarded him to 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 263 
 
 Montreal. Upon his arrival at that place, he was in a wretched 
 plight. His coat, vest and stockings were gone, what little 
 clothing he had was dirty and ragged, and he was cut and 
 gashed with wounds, and swollen from his numerous bruises. 
 His most pressing necessities were relieved by Colonel Peter 
 Schuyler, a fellow prisoner, and he was soon after exchanged 
 and permitted to return home. 
 
 The spring of 1759 found him with the army again, and as 
 Lieutenant-Colonel he accompanied Amherst in his campaign 
 against Crown Point and Ticonderoga. The next year he was 
 with him in the invasion of Canada, and was considered by the 
 Commander-in-Chief his most reliable officer. Upon the ap- 
 proach of the English army to Fort Oswegatchie (now Ogdens- 
 burg), they found the river which they must pass before 
 reaching the fortress, defend ed by two armed French vessels 
 Amherst was in great perplexity, as he could see no means at 
 hand of overcoming this formidable obstacle. At this juncture 
 Putnam volunteered to capture the vessels, and was placed in 
 command of a thousand men in fifty bateaux. He led the way 
 with his boat, manned by a picked crew, provided with wooden 
 wedges and mallets. His plan was first to disable the vessels 
 by fastening their rudders with the wooden wedges, which 
 would prevent them from manoeuvring so as to bring their 
 broadsides to bear upon the boats. The French were seized 
 with alarm at the approach of the boats, and one of the vessels 
 surrendered. The other was driven ashore and deserted by her 
 crew. The passage of the river was thus left free, and the army 
 crossed over, and in a few days compelled the surrender of the 
 fort. Montreal and the other French posts in Canada were 
 forced to surrender, and the power of France in America was 
 forever ended. 
 
 After the surrender of Montreal Putnam returned home. In 
 1762, Great Britain having declared war against Spain, a 
 powerful armament of regular and provincial troops sailed from 
 the Colonies to attack Havana. Putnam accompanied this ex- 
 pedition as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Connecticut forces. 
 When General Lyman was given the chief command of the 
 provincial forces, Putnam became the commander of all the 
 Connecticut troops. He bore himself gallantly in the siege of 
 
264 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Havana, and especially distinguished himself by his gallant 
 conduct during a storm, which wrecked a large part of the 
 fleet. He returned home at the close of the campaign, having 
 greatly added to his well-earned reputation. He also took part 
 in Pontiac's War as Colonel of the Connecticut forces, but had 
 very little opportunity to distinguish himself 
 
 His nine years of military service had made him one of the 
 most noted and deservedly popular men in Connecticut, and 
 soon after his return home he was chosen a member of the 
 General Assembly of Connecticut. He became noted in this 
 body as one of the boldest and most independent of its mem- 
 bers, as well as for his strong good sense and sound judgment. 
 He was one of the first in his province to propose measures of 
 resistance to the injustice of Great Britain, and when the 
 Stamp Act was passed in 1765 urged his neighbors not to sub- 
 mit to it, and to prevent the stamps from being used. At his 
 instigation the people of the eastern counties of Connecticut 
 assembled, and marched to Hartford, where they compelled Mr. 
 Ingersoll, who had been appointed to distribute the stamps, to 
 resign his office. Putnam was not able to take part in this 
 enterprise, but sympathized heartily with it. He continued his 
 efforts to prepare the people of his province for resistance, and 
 his opinions were eagerly sought by them, and deeply influ- 
 enced them throughout the whole controversy which preceded 
 the Revolution. 
 
 During this time he frequently visited Boston, where he had 
 many old friends among the British officers, who had served 
 with him in the French war. On one occasion, during a con- 
 versation with General Gage, Lord Percy and others, he was 
 asked what he intended doing if the controversy should result 
 in the armed resistance of the people to the authority of the 
 King. Putnam answered promptly that he would be found on 
 the side of the people. They expressed their surprise that one 
 so well acquainted with the power and resources of Great 
 Britain should be willing to embrace a cause doomed to certain 
 defeat. " Well," said Putnam, coolly, " if the united forces of 
 Great Britain and the Colonies required six years to conquer 
 Canada, it would not be easy for British troops alone to subdue 
 a country with which Canada bears no comparison." General 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 26$ 
 
 Gage scouted such an idea, and declared that five thousand 
 veteran troops might march from one end of the continent to 
 the other unharmed. " So they might," answered Putnam, 
 " if they behaved themselves properly, and paid for what they 
 wanted ; but should they attempt it in a hostile manner, the 
 American women would knock them on the head with their 
 ladles." 
 
 When Gage seized the Massachusetts powder at Quarry 
 Hill on the ist of September, 1774, the news spread rapidly 
 through New England, and the people everywhere got under 
 arms to go to the assistance of Boston. When the news 
 reached Connecticut it was accompanied by a rumor that the 
 people of Boston had been fired upon by the royal troops and 
 shipping. Putnam at once summoned the militia of his neigh- 
 borhood to accompany him to Boston. His call was answered 
 by thousands, but the march was prevented by the arrival of 
 more accurate information from Massachusetts. " But for 
 counter intelligence," wrote Putnam to the patriot leaders at 
 Boston, " we should have had forty thousand men, well 
 equipped and ready to march this morning. Send a written 
 express to the foreman of this Committee when you have occa- 
 sion of our martial assistance ; we shall attend your summons, 
 and shall glory in having a share in the honor of ridding our 
 country of the yoke of tyranny which our forefathers have not 
 borne, neither will we. And we much desire you to keep a stnct 
 guard over the remainder of your poivder, for that miist be the 
 great means, iinder God, of the salvation of otir cou7itry!' 
 
 Putnam had now removed from Pomfret, and was residing at 
 Brooklyn, a short distance south of that place, and on the east- 
 ern border of Connecticut. On the morning of the 20th of 
 April, 1775, he was ploughing in his fields preparatory to 
 planting his wheat and Indian corn. Towards noon a mes- 
 senger dashed up at full speed to the farm, and informed him 
 of the conflicts on the previous day at Lexington and Concord. 
 The news was not unexpected to Putnam. He had constantly 
 urged others to be ready at a moment's warning, and he did 
 not hesitate for an instant as to his own course. Unyoking the 
 the cattle from the plough, he called to the lad who had been 
 driving them, "Run to the house for my coat," and hastened 
 
266 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to the stable and saddled his fleetest horse. Without stopping 
 to change his clothes, he mounted and rode to Cambrido;e, 
 where he arrived late that night. The next day he took part 
 in a council of war presided over by General Ward, at which 
 the plan of campaign was arranged. 
 
 The Assembly of Connecticut at once recalled Putnam from 
 Cambridge, in order to have the benefit of his skill and experi- 
 ence in putting the troops from that Colony in the field. He 
 was commissioned a brigadier-general, and measures were set 
 on foot to raise troops for the army before Boston. Putnam 
 was too impatient to await the slow process of recruiting, but 
 returned at once to Cambridge, where he was soon joined by 
 three thousand Connecticut troops. 
 
 When the detachment sent to occupy Breed's Hill marched 
 from Cambridge, Putnam followed them during the night, and 
 though the senior officer present, did not assume the com- 
 mand. His object was simply to encourage the Connecticut 
 troops by his presence, and he took his position with them at 
 the rail fence breastwork on the morning of the 17th of June. 
 As the British advanced to their first attack, Putnam called to 
 the men in the breastwork, " Wait till you see the whites of 
 their eyes ; aim at their waistbands ; pick off the handsome 
 coats." Upon the repulse of the enemy, Major Small, a British 
 officer with whom Putnam had formerly been intimate, was left 
 alone by his men exposed to the fire of the Americans. A 
 score of guns were levelled at him, when suddenly Putnam, 
 seeing his danger, sprang upon the breastwork and called out, 
 " Don't fire ; he's a friend of mine." Every gun was lowered, 
 and Small, raising his hat in acknowledgement of the act, 
 walked down the hill. 
 
 Putnam now hurried off to the rear to collect reinforcements 
 and hasten them to the line on Breed's Hill. On his return he 
 met the retreating Americans, who had been driven from their 
 position, passing over Bunker Hill. He at once endeavored to 
 rally them. Seizing the Connecticut flag in one hand and 
 waving his sword in the other, he shouted, " Make a stand 
 here; we can stop them yet. In God's name, fire; give them one 
 shot more !" His efforts were in vain ; he shouted, he com- 
 manded, he pleaded, he cursed the men, and swore at them 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 26/ 
 
 like a madman, but he was unable to bring them to a stand. 
 He was the last man to leave Bunker Hill, and finally suc- 
 ceeded in rallying a part of the troops, and uniting them with a 
 detachment which had arrived fi-om Cambridge too late to take 
 part in the battle, took position at Prospect Hill and fortified it. 
 At the close of the war the old hero, then an invalid on 
 crutches, rose in the little church of Brooklyn, of which he was 
 a member, and made a public confession of his profanity at 
 Bunker Hill. " But," he added naively, " it was almost enough 
 to make an angel swear to see the cowards refuse to secure a 
 victory so easily won." 
 
 On the 19th of June, two days after the battle, Putnam was 
 appointed by Congress one of the four major-generals of the 
 Continental army. He did not receive the commission until 
 the 3d of July. In the meantime. General Gage, through his 
 friend, Major Small, had conveyed to Putnam the assurance 
 that if he would embrace the royalist cause he should receive 
 a major-general's commission in the British army, and a con- 
 siderable reward in money. The offer was indignantly refused. 
 
 General Putnam bore an important part in the siege of Bos- 
 ton, and commanded the centre of the Continental army, which 
 was at Cambridge. No works on the line were thrown up with 
 such rapidity as those under his superintendence. " You seem, 
 general," said Washington to him, "to have the faculty of 
 infusing your own spirit into all the workmen you employ." 
 Towards the close of the year 1775 one of the officers, writing 
 from Boston, observed, " Everything thaws here except old 
 Put. He is still as hard as ever, crying out for powder, pow- 
 der, powder. Ye gods, give us powder !" 
 
 After the evacuation of Boston, General Putnam was placed 
 by Washington in command of New York, and put the city 
 under rigid military rule. He effectually stopped the com- 
 munication that had been going on between the British fleet in 
 the harbor and the city. Two days before the battle of Long 
 Island he was placed in command of the American force on 
 that island, in place of General Greene, who had been taken ill. 
 "He was made happy," says Colonel Reed, "by obtaining 
 leave to go over. The brave old man was quite miserable at 
 being kept here." Putnam, new to the command, did not have 
 
268 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 time to acquaint himself with the position before the British 
 made the attack which resulted in the disastrous defeat of Lord 
 Stirling's command, and the loss of the fortified posts beyond 
 the lines. After the retreat from Long Island, Putnam was in 
 favor of abandoning New York at once. He was overruled, 
 however, and was left with five thousand men to hold the city, 
 while the army withdrew to the upper part of the island. On 
 the 15th of September, the enemy having landed on the upper 
 part of the island, he was ordered by Washington to evacuate 
 New York at once. He conducted the difficult retreat of his 
 division with success. " It was a forced march, on a sultry 
 day, under a burning sun and amid clouds of dust. His army 
 was encumbered with women and children, and all kinds of 
 baggage." " Without his extraordinary exertions," says Col. 
 Humphreys, " the guards must have been inevitably lost, and 
 it is probable the entire corps would have been cut in pieces." 
 In November, 1776, General Putnam was sent by Washing- 
 ton to take command at Philadelphia, and was ordered to for- 
 tify that city, the retention of which was of the highest import- 
 ance to the Americans. He was also charged to overawe the 
 Tories of that region, who were becoming dangerous. He 
 performed his duties with his customary zeal and with success. 
 While he was thus engaged the battles of Trenton and Prince- 
 ton were fought. He rejoined the army after it went into 
 winter quarters at Norristown, and was stationed by Washing- 
 ton at Princeton, on the extreme right of the line. His position 
 was perilous, but he induced the enemy to think his force was 
 much stronger than it was. " A British officer, Captain Mac- 
 pherson, was lying desperately wounded at Princeton, and Put- 
 nam, in the kindness of his heart, was induced to send in a flag 
 to Brunswick in quest of a friend and military comrade of the 
 dying man, to attend him in his last moments and make his 
 will. To prevent the weakness of the garrison from being dis- 
 covered, the visitor was brought in after dark. Lights gleamed 
 in all the college windows, and in the vacant houses about the 
 town ; the handful of troops capable of duty were marched 
 hither and thither, and backward and forward, and paraded 
 about, with such effect that the visitor, on his return to the 
 British camp, reported the force under the old general to be at 
 least five thousand strong." 
 
•*• ISRAEL PUTNAM. 269 
 
 The passes of the Highlands of the Hudson were of the 
 utmost importance to the Americans, as upon their retention 
 depended the hold of the Americans upon the river and the 
 preservation of the communication between the Eastern and 
 Southern States. It was essential that the command of this 
 important region should be given to an officer on whose fidelity 
 and abilities the Commander-in-chief could absolutely rely. 
 Washington, therefore, conferred the post upon General Put- 
 nam, who, in the summer of 1777, established his headquarters 
 near Peekskill. 
 
 During this summer the Tories of the region in which Put- 
 nam was encamped were especially active, and gave the gen- 
 eral considerable trouble. One of them, a lieutenant in a Tory 
 company, was caught in Putnam's camp, and was tried and 
 condemned as a spy. As he was connected with the most 
 respectable families of that region, great efforts were made to 
 save his life, but Putnam, believing that a stern warning was 
 needed, refused to interfere with the sentence of the court. Sir 
 Henry Clinton sent a flag to Putnam on the morning of the 
 day appointed for the execution, claiming the spy as a British 
 officer, and threatening vengeance if he was not surrendered. 
 Putnam returned him the following answer: 
 
 Headquarters, August 7th, 1777. 
 Sir: — Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was taken as a spy, 
 lurking within our lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and 
 shall be executed as a spy; and the flag is ordered to depart immediately. 
 
 •* Israel Putnam. 
 "P. S. He has been accordingly executed." 
 
 Putnam was not troubled with spies after that. 
 
 On the 6th of October Sir Henry Clinton, who had ascended 
 the Hudson with a considerable force, captured Forts Clinton 
 and Montgomery at the entrance to the Highlands. At the 
 commencement of the attack a messenger was despatched to 
 General Putnam for aid; but he proved treacherous, and Putnam 
 knew nothing of the attack until the forts had fallen. The loss 
 of these forts compelled Putnam to withdraw from the moun- 
 tains and leave the Hudson open to Clinton. Finding that the 
 latter did not venture to improve his success, he recrossed the 
 mountains with reinforcements and again occupied the High-' 
 land passes, while Clinton, having learned of Burgoyne's sur- 
 
2/0 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. * 
 
 render, fell back to New York. Putnam was soon strongly 
 reinforced from Gates's army. 
 
 While thus engaged, General Putnam was informed of the 
 death of his second wife, to whom he was devotedly attached. 
 She had died at the house of Beverly Robinson, and he has- 
 tened there at once, saw her buried, and stifling his grief went 
 back promptly to his post. He was not the man to let his 
 private woes interfere with his public duties. 
 
 Early in January, 1778, Putnam was ordered by Washington 
 to fortify the Highlands securely, and to push the work with 
 vigor. He selected West Point as the most suitable place for 
 the proposed works. Forts Clinton and Putnam were built 
 under the direction of Kosciusko. The greater part of the work 
 was done after Putnam's removal from his command. 
 
 The loss of the Highland forts had given rise to such a strong 
 demand for the removal of Gen. Putnam, that Washington felt 
 obliged to comply with it. He wrote to the veteran, "General 
 McDougall is to take the command of the army in the High- 
 lands. My reason for making this change is owing to the 
 prejudices of the people, which, whether well or ill-grounded, 
 must be indulged; and I should think myself wanting injustice 
 to the public, and candor toward you, were I to continue you 
 in a command after I have been in almost direct terms informed 
 that the people of New York will not render the necessary 
 support and assistance while you remain at the head of that 
 department." 
 
 Putnam cheerfully submitted to the decision of the Comman- 
 der-in-chief, and returned to Connecticut, where he passed the 
 spring of 1778 in raising and forwarding the new levies which 
 enabled W^ashington to follow Clinton on his withdrawal from 
 Philadelphia, and to fight him at Monmouth. In the summer 
 of 1778, Putnam returned to the army, and resumed the com- 
 mand of the right wing. 
 
 The winter of 1778-79 was passed by the Connecticut and 
 New Hampshire troops at Reading, in Connecticut. It was a 
 season of trial and suffering, and at last the fortitude of the 
 Connecticut men gave way. They rose in open mutiny, and 
 resolved to march to Hartford and compel the Assembly of 
 their State to supply their wants. As soon as Putnam heard 
 
ISRAEL PUTNAM. 2/1 
 
 of the mutiny, he sprang on his horse, and galloped to the 
 scene. He arrived in the camp just as the men were assem- 
 bling under arms. Reining in his horse, he addressed them 
 earnestly. "My brave lads," he exclaimed, "where are you 
 going? Do you intend to desert your officers, and to invite 
 the enemy to follow you into the country? Whose cause have 
 you been fighting and suffering so long in? Is it not your 
 own? Have you no property, no parents, wives, or children? 
 You have behaved like men so far; all the world is full of 
 your praise, and posterity will stand astounded at your deeds. 
 But not if you spoil all at last. Don't you consider how much 
 the country is distressed by the war, and that your officers 
 have not been better paid than yourselves? But we all expect 
 better times, and that the country' will do us ample justice. 
 Let us stand by one another, then, and fight it out like brave 
 soldiers. Think what a shame it would be for Connecticut 
 men to run away from their officers." The sight of their old 
 general, and his rough eloquence, completely conquered the 
 men. They gave him three hearty cheers, and dispersed to 
 their quarters, resolved to bear their sufferings with patience. 
 During the same winter General Putnam was visiting at the 
 house of a friend near Horseneck, now West Greenwich. He 
 had just dressed himself, and was standing at the mirror in his 
 room, shaving himself While thus engaged he saw reflected 
 in the glass a body of British dragoons marching up the road. 
 He dropped his razor, seized his sword, and mounting his horse, 
 hastened to prepare his small escort to meet the enemy. The 
 British force consisted of a body of about 1500 men, under 
 General Tryon, on their way to destroy the salt works at Horse- 
 neck Landing. Putnam endeavored to check them with one 
 hundred and fifty men, but his little band was soon routed, and 
 he was obliged to put spurs to his horse and fly towards Stam- 
 ford. He was closely pursued by a party of British dragoons. 
 Perceiving that they were gaining upon him, he wheeled his 
 horse, and dashed at a full gallop down a rocky declivity, 
 reached the bottom in safety, and escaped. The dragoons did 
 not dare to follow him down such a breakneck precipice, but 
 sent a volley of bullets after him. Reaching Stamford, he col- 
 lected a party of militia, pursued Tryon, captured forty of his men, 
 and recovered a large part of the plunder he was carrying away 
 
2/2 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 In the summer of 1779, Putnam rejoined the army and again 
 commanded the right wing. When the army went into winter 
 quarters he paid a visit to his family at Brooklyn, in Connecti- 
 cut. In December, 1779, he set out on his return to camp, 
 and, while on his journey, was seized at the house of his friend 
 Colonel Wadsworth, in Hartford, with a paralysis of the right 
 side. All attempts to conquer the disease being in vain, the 
 old soldier was obliged to bid adieu to the army and retire to 
 his home. Fortunately he was sufficiently well off in worldly 
 goods to be able to pass the rest of his days in comfort. His 
 activity, as well as his military life, was at an end, however, and 
 the balance of his life was spent in peaceful retirement. 
 
 General Putnam lived for eleven years after his retirement 
 from the army, receiving many gratifying evidences of the 
 affection of his countrymen. On the 27th of May, 1790, he 
 was seized with an acute inflammatoiy disease, and on the 
 29th expired peacefully. He was buried in the cemetery of 
 the town of Brooklyn, and was followed to the grave by a 
 vast concourse of the people of the surrounding country. A 
 simple monument marks his grave, bearing this inscription : 
 " This monument is erected to the memory of the Honorable 
 Israel Putnam, Esq., Major General in the Armies of the United 
 States of America, who was born at Salem, in the province of 
 Massachusetts, on the 7th of January, 17 18, and died at Brook- 
 lyn, in the State of Connecticut, on the 29th day of May, 
 A. D., 1790." 
 
 To this brief inscription nothing better can be added than 
 the brief but eloquent tribute of Irving: "A yeoman warrior 
 fresh from the plow, in the garb of rural labor ; a patriot brave 
 and generous, but rough and ready, who thought not of him- 
 self in time of danger, but was ready to serve in any way, and 
 to sacrifice official rank and self-glorification to the good of 
 the cause. He was eminently a soldier for the occasion. His 
 name has long been a favorite one with young and old ; one 
 of the talismanic names of the Revolution, the very mention 
 of which is like the sound of a trumpet. Such names are the 
 precious jewels of our history, to be garnered up among the 
 treasures of the nation, and kept immaculate from the tarnish- 
 ing breath of the cynic and the doubter." 
 
SAMUEL C. ADAMS. 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 IF the Revolution could have been the work of one man, that 
 one would have been Samuel Adams. He wa.s the first man 
 in America to conceive of national independence, the first to 
 propose it openly, and the first to labor and scheme for its 
 accomplishment. 
 
 Samuel Adams was born at Boston on the 22d of Septem- 
 ber, 1722. His ancestors were among the first settlers of New 
 England, and his family one of the most respectable in the 
 province. His father was a man of means, and represented 
 the town of Boston in the lower house of the General Court for 
 many years, and until his death. 
 
 Young Adams was carefully educated, and after le^ing the 
 grammar school entered Harvard College, where he became 
 noted as one of the most diligent and laborious students in the 
 establishment. He became proficient in classical learning, 
 logic and natural philosophy. Being destined for the ministry, 
 his studies were particularly directed to systematic divinity. In 
 1740 he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1743 that 
 of Master of Arts. On the latter occasion he chose for discus- 
 sion the significant question, " Whether it be lawful to resist 
 the supreme magistrate, if the commonwealth cannot be other- 
 wise preserved ?" and maintained the affirmative of this propo- 
 sition. 
 
 For some reason unknown, Mr. Adams did not carry out his 
 intention of entering the ministry, and upon leaving school 
 was apprenticed to Mr. Thomas Cushing, a leading merchant 
 of Boston. He was not suited to mercantile life, however, and 
 gave but little attention to it. The study of politics was his 
 delight, and he began the practice of contributing articles on 
 political subjects to the newspapers of Boston. His father now 
 set him up in trade for himself with a considerable capital, but 
 his imperfect knowledge of business brought him to a failure 
 in the course of a few years. When he was twenty-five years 
 18 ( 273 ) 
 
274 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 old his father died, and, as he was the oldest son, the care of 
 the family and management of the estate devolved upon him. 
 He gave signal proof of his ability now by saving the estate 
 from the loss of a troublesome suit in which it had become in- 
 volved. 
 
 About this time Mr. Adams was elected to the office of tax 
 gatherer, and in this capacity made his formal entrance upon 
 public life. His political adversaries humorously called him 
 " Samuel the Publican." The office was one which required 
 considerable financial ability, which he did not possess, and he 
 did not hold it long. He gave most of his time to political 
 discussion, and was recognized as one of the most powerful 
 writers and speakers on the popular side. By devoting himself 
 so much to these matters, he became embarrassed in his pecu- 
 niary affairs, and his friends were obliged to assist him. 
 
 Samuel Adams was a true New Englander, and therefore was 
 a firm believer in the power of association. His plan from the 
 first w^to combine the Colonies in a powerful organization for 
 the protection of their rights, and he began by forming a private 
 political club in Boston, of which he was the ruling spirit. 
 This club became the secret source from which proceeded the 
 steady and persistent resistance to British aggression, which, 
 beginning in Boston, soon embraced all New England, and 
 finally the whole country. Under his influence the club de- 
 termined to resist every act of British injustice. Mr. Adams 
 was well fitted to be the leader of such a movement. " His 
 vigorous and manly will resembled in its tenacity well-tempered 
 steel, which may ply a little, but will not break. In his reli- 
 gious faith he had from childhood been instituted a Calvinist of 
 the straitest sect; and his riper judgment and acuteness in dia- 
 lectics confirmed him in its creed. In his views on Church 
 government he adhered to the Congregational forms, as most 
 friendly to civil and religious liberty. He was a member of the 
 Church, and in a rigid community was an example in severity 
 of morals and the scrupulous observance of every ordinance. 
 Evening and morning his house was a house of prayer; and no 
 one more revered the Christian Sabbath. The austere purity 
 of his life witnessed the sincerity of his profession. He was a 
 tender husband, an affectionate parent, and relaxing from severer 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 2/5 
 
 Cares, he could vividly enjoy the delights of conversation with 
 triends ; but the walls of his modest mansion never witnessed 
 dissipation, or levity, or frivolous amusements, or anything in- 
 consistent with the discipline of the man whose incessant prayer 
 for his birthplace was, that 'Boston might become a Christian 
 Sparta,' 
 
 " He was at this time near two and forty years of age ; poor, 
 and so contented with poverty, that men censured him as 
 'wanting wisdom to estimate riches at their just value.' But 
 he was frugal and temperate ; and his prudent and industrious 
 wife, endowed with the best qualities of a New England woman, 
 knew how to work with her own hands, so that the small 
 resources, which men of the least opulent class would have 
 deemed a very imperfect support, were sufficient for his simple 
 wants. Yet such was the union of dignity with economy that 
 whoever visited him saw around him every circumstance of 
 propriety. Above all, he combined with poverty a stern and 
 incorruptible integrity. 
 
 " His nature was keenly sensitive, yet he bore with mag- 
 nanimity the neglect of friends and the malignity of enemies. 
 Already famed as a political writer, employing wit and sarcasm, 
 as well as eulogy of language and earnestness, no one had 
 equal influence over the popular mind. No blandishments of 
 flattery could lull his vigilance, no sophistry deceive his pene- 
 tration. Difficulties could not discourage his decision, nor 
 danger appal his fortitude. He had also an affable and per- 
 suasive address, which could reconcile conflicting interests and 
 promote harmony in action. He never, from jealousy, checked 
 the advancement of others ; and in accomplishing great deeds 
 he took to himself no praise. Seeking fame as little as for- 
 tune, and office less than either, he aimed steadily at the good 
 of his country and the best interests of mankind. Of despond- 
 ency he knew nothing ; trials only nerved him for severer 
 struggles ; his sublime and unfaltering hope had a cast of 
 solemnity, and was as much a part of his nature as if his confi- 
 dence sprung from insight into the divine decrees, and was as 
 firm as a sincere Calvinist's assurance of his election. For 
 himself and for others he held that all sorrow and losses were 
 to be encountered, rather than liberty should perish. Such 
 
276 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 was his deep devotion, such his inflexibility and courage, he 
 may be called the last of the Puritans."^ 
 
 When the Stamp Act was proposed it was resolved by Mr. 
 Adams and his associates to oppose it. A town meeting was 
 held in Boston in May, 1764, at which the matter was dis- 
 cussed, and at his motion resolutions were adopted denying the 
 right of Great Britain to impose taxes upon the Colonies, and 
 urging all the Colonies to unite in opposing the measures of 
 Parliament. " If our trade may be taxed," said the meeting in 
 the words of Samuel Adams, " why not our lands and every- 
 thing that we possess ? If taxes are laid upon us in any shape, 
 without having a legal representation where they are laid, are 
 we not reduced from the character of free subjects to the 
 miserable state of tributary slaves ? This annihilates our 
 charter right to govern and tax ourselves. We claim British 
 rights not by charter only ; we are born to them." 
 
 Mr. Adams, in September, 1765, was elected to the house 
 of Assembly of the General Court as a representative from 
 the town of Boston. In October of the same year he pre- 
 pared the answer of the Assembly to Governor Bernard, in 
 which the position of Massachusetts was formally taken in 
 opposition to the injustice of the Crown. Mr. Adams did not 
 confine his opposition to the Stamp Act to resolutions and 
 protests, however. He heartily endorsed the course of the 
 people in destroying the stamps and stamp office in Boston, 
 but severely condemned the riots and public disturbances which 
 followed, and gave his personal assistance to the civil authori- 
 ties in their efforts to suppress them. 
 
 He opposed the taxes upon tea, oil, colors, etc., as even more 
 objectionable than the Stamp Act, and as a clearer evidence of 
 the design of England to reduce the Colonies to abject sub- 
 jection. He was elected clerk of the Assembly shortly after 
 his entrance into that body, and his influence over it soon be- 
 came all-powerful. He remained a member of the Colonial 
 Legislature for nearly ten years, and was regarded by the people 
 as their especial champion, whose business it was to begin and 
 to lead the opposition to the acts of the Crown. They were 
 not disappointed in him. He was bold, ardent, and determined 
 
 ^History of the Lnited States. By George Bancroft. Vol. V., pp. 195-197- 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 2// 
 
 in their behalf, and at the same time so prudent that he risked 
 nothing by undue haste. He met the imposition of duties 
 upon the articles enumerated above, which occurred in 1767, 
 by proposing a non-importation agreement of the merchants. 
 The measure was at once accepted and the agreement signed 
 by nearly all the merchants in the province, who bound them- 
 selves not to import or order any but certain specified articles 
 from England, after the 1st of January, 1769, until the duties 
 were repealed. These associations spread rapidly throughout 
 the other Colonies, and thus another step was made towards 
 the union so ardently desired by Mr. Adams. 
 
 It was very plain to him that that the scheme of the Ministry 
 could not be enforced without the assistance of the troops pro- 
 vided for by the Quartering Act. He had studied the question 
 too deeply, and his instincts were too true, not to be convinced 
 that the employment of force must result in the total enslave- 
 ment of the Colonies if not resisted ; and he saw too clearly 
 into the future not to know that successful resistance must end 
 in American independence. From this moment he set himself 
 to work diligently and unremittingly to bring about that glori- 
 ous end. " To promote that end he was ready to serve, and 
 never claim a reward for service ; to efface himself and put for- 
 ward others ; seeking the greatest things for his country, and 
 the humblest for himself" He was quick to detect the pur-, 
 pose of the Governor and Commissioners of Customs to em- 
 ploy force, and urged the people of Boston to resist the troops 
 when they should come. He was not content with addressing 
 the people at the public meetings ; he sought them out at their 
 places of business, in their homes, and stopped them on the 
 streets to converse with them upon the subject. He declared 
 that every soldier who set foot in Massachusetts ought to be 
 shot down. " The King," he said, " has no right to send 
 troops here to invade the country ; if they come, they will come 
 as foreign enemies." " We will not submit to any tax," he 
 declared, " nor become slaves. We will take up arms and 
 spend our last drop of blood before the King and Parliament 
 shall impose on us, or settle Crown officers independent of the 
 Colonial Legislature to dragoon us." He boldly asserted that 
 the institutions of the Colony of Massachusetts were superior 
 
2/8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to those of Greft Britain, and reminded his hearers that their 
 ancestors had fled from England to escape kings and bishops, 
 and looked up only to the King of Kings. " We are free, 
 therefore, and want no king. * * The times were never better 
 in Rome than when they had no king and were a free State." 
 No wonder that Hutchinson should style this man "the all in 
 all " of the Patriot party ; or that the cold-blooded Bernard 
 should pronounce him " one of the principal and most des- 
 perate chiefs of the faction." 
 
 The troops arrived at Boston on the ist of October, 1768. 
 Their presence was bitterly resented by the people, and it re- 
 quired considerable tact and forbearance on the part of the 
 patriot leaders to delay a conflict. It came at last, in the 
 affair of the 5th of March, 1770, known as "the Boston massa- 
 cre." The excitement was intense. On the morning of the 
 6th a town meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, and was ad- 
 dressed by Samuel Adams and others. A Committee was 
 appointed to wait on the Governor and demand the removal of 
 the troops from the town. At the head of this Committee was 
 Samuel Adams. As Faneuil Hall was too small to hold all 
 the citizens present, the meeting adjourned to the Old South 
 Church, and overflowed it, and thronged the street between the 
 church and the State House. Hutchinson endeavored to 
 evade the demand. " The people," said Samuel Adams sternly, 
 " not only in this town, but in all the neighboring towns, are 
 determined that the troops shall be removed." " An attack on 
 the King's troops," replied Hutchinson, "would be High 
 Treason, and every man concerned would forfeit his life and 
 estate." The Committee paid no attention to this warning, 
 and repeated their peremptory demand. The Governor, there- 
 upon, replied that the Twenty-Ninth Regiment, which was 
 chiefly concerned in the affair of the previous night, should be 
 removed at once to the Castle, but that the Fourteenth must 
 remain in the city. He then cut short the interview by ad- 
 journing the Council to the afternoon. 
 
 As Adams and his associates left the State House, there was 
 a shout from the throng in the street, " Make way for the Com- 
 mittee!" He, "baring his head, which was already becoming 
 gray, moved through their ranks, inspiring heroic confidence." 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 2/9 
 
 Proceeding to the church, he made the report o£ the Committee 
 to the meeting, and declared the answer of the Governor insuf- 
 ficient. In a speech of solemn earnestness, he urged the meet- 
 ing to persist in its demand. A new Committee, composed of 
 Adams and six others, was appointed to wait on the Governor 
 and bear the final demand of the people. 
 
 The Committee repaired to the State House, and were ad- 
 mitted to the presence of Governor Hutchinson. He was sur- 
 rounded by his Council, and by the commanding officers of the 
 British land and naval forces on the station. Hutchinson had 
 exerted every means in his power to have Samuel Adams ar- 
 rested as a traitor, and sent to England for trial. It required, 
 therefore, no ordinary intrepidity in the latter to head the Com- 
 mittee on this occasion. Looking his adversary calmly in the 
 face, Mr. Adams said, with dignity: "It is the unanimous opin- 
 ion of the meeting that the reply made to the vote of the inhab- 
 itants in the morning is unsatisfactory; nothing less will satisfy 
 than a total and immediate removal of all the troops." 
 
 "The troops are not subject to my authority," answered 
 Hutchinson. " I have no power to remove them." 
 
 Mr. Adams' indignation was aroused by the Governor's 
 falsehood. Fixing his eyes sternly upon him, and stretching 
 forth his arm, which "trembled at the energy of his soul," he 
 said firmly and distinctly: "If you have power to remove one 
 regiment you have power to remove both. It is at your peril 
 if you do not. The meeting is composed of three thousand 
 people; they are become very impatient. A thousand men are 
 already arrived from the neighborhood, and the country is in 
 general motion. Night is approaching; an immediate answer 
 is expected." 
 
 Hutchinson quailed before those calm, stern eyes, which 
 never left his face, and when the Committee withdrew from the 
 room, asked the advice of his Council. That body knew better 
 than he that the people were ready to enforce their demand, 
 and that the first shot fired in Boston would arouse all New 
 England in revolt. The Council therefore advised the Governor 
 to comply with the demand of the people. He did so, and the 
 Committee were assured that the troops should be removed to 
 the Castle the next morninsf. 
 
280 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 We have stated that Mr. Adams' plan of resistance looked to 
 a union of the Colonies. As a means of accomplishing that 
 end, he at an early period of the contest became convinced of 
 the necessity of establishing in each Colony a Committee, the 
 duty of which it should be to correspond with the other Colo- 
 nies with respect to the wrongs complained of and the best 
 means of redress. As early as 1766 he suggested such a plan 
 to a friend in South Carolina, but it was not possible to carry 
 it out then, and he did not return to it until 1771. It was then 
 not only more feasible, but a necessity. He did not venture 
 to propose it to his associates until October 1772, and even 
 then they attempted to dissuade him from it. Hancock pro- 
 nounced the measure rash and insufficient. Adams persisted, 
 however, and at a town meeting at Boston on the 2d of No- 
 vember, 1772, moved that a Committee of Correspondence be 
 appointed, to consist of twenty-one persons, to correspond with 
 the other towns of the province. His plan was to engage all 
 the towns in this correspondence, and then to get the Assem- 
 bly to confirm the scheme and invite the other Colonies to join 
 in it. The resolution was adopted, and a Committee appointed, 
 which began its labors the next day under the guidance of 
 Samuel Adams. Before the plan of Mr. Adams could be en- 
 dorsed by the Provincial Assembly, the General Assembly of 
 Virginia on the 12th of March, 1773, adopted a resolution pro- 
 posing a general correspondence between the Colonies, thus 
 carrying out the design which Mr. Adams had intended to ef- 
 fect through Massachusetts. The plan was put in execution 
 at once, and in the spring of 1773 Committees of Correspond- 
 ence were established in each Colony. Samuel Adams was 
 enabled through these Committees to speak to all the Colonies 
 as well as to his own province, and the Massachusetts Com- 
 mittee sent forth the stirring appeals to the other Colonies to 
 be prepared to defend their rights to the utmost and to be sat- 
 isfied with no half-way settlement. 
 
 Mr. Adams took an active part in the resistance of Boston 
 to the landing of the taxed tea, and gave the signal for its 
 destruction on the i6th of December, 1773. He then drew up 
 an account of the proceeding which was forwarded by the Com- 
 mittee of Correspondence to the other Colonies. 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 28 1 
 
 Repeated efforts were made by the royal authorities to in- 
 duce Mr. Adams to abandon the cause of his country. He 
 was threatened with especial punishment, and it was intimated 
 to him that the royal favor and considerable pecuniary advan- 
 tage would reward his desertion to the side of the King ; but 
 neither threats nor bribes could shake his fidelity. Soon after 
 General Gage was made Governor of Massachusetts, he was 
 authorized to make an effort to draw Mr. Adams from the 
 popular cause. Colonel Fenton waited upon Mr. Adams, and 
 expressed to him the great desire of the British Government 
 to settle the troubles in the Colonies peacefully. He said to 
 him that he had been authorized by Governor Gage to assure 
 him that he was instructed by the home government to confer 
 upon him such rewards as would be satisfactory, on condition 
 that he would engage to cease his opposition to the measures 
 of the government. He added, that it was the advice of Gov- 
 ernor Gage to Mr. Adams not to incur the further displeasure 
 of the King, as his conduct had already made him liable to 
 the penalties of an act of Henry the Eighth, by which offend- 
 ers could be sent to England for trial of treason, or misprision 
 of treason, at the discretion of the governor of a province ; 
 but if he would change his political course he would not only 
 receive great personal advantage, but would make his peace 
 with the King. 
 
 Mr. Adams listened quietly, and then asked the Colonel if 
 he would report his answer literally to Governor Gage. The 
 Colonel gave his word of honor that he would. Mr. Adams 
 thereupon rose from his chair, and said to him impressively : 
 " I trust I have long since made my peace with the King of 
 Kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon 
 the righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage it is 
 the advice of Samuel Adams to him, no longer to insult the 
 feelings of an exasperated people." 
 
 The Ministry resolved to punish Boston severely for the de- 
 struction of the tea. On the 30th of March, 1774, the Boston 
 Port Bill was passed, by which that harbor was closed to com- 
 merce of all kinds. Gage was given a force sufficient to enable 
 him to execute his orders, and was informed by the Ministers 
 that acts of High Treason had been committed in Boston, and 
 
282 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 was ordered to take measures to bring the leaders to condign 
 punishment. Samuel Adams was especially designated as one 
 who should be speedily apprehended and punished. Gage did 
 not think it prudent to attempt to seize him just yet, and the 
 unjust measures with which the closing of the harbor of Boston 
 was connected roused the stern patriot to fresh exertions in be- 
 half of his country. 
 
 Mr. Adams was anxious for a meeting of the Colonies in a 
 General Congress, and when such a meeting was proposed by 
 Virginia, threw all his influence in favor of the cooperation of 
 Massachusetts in the scheme. The Assembly met at Salem in 
 June, and its first act was to protest against the arbitrary order 
 which had removed it from Boston. Mr. Adams was resolved 
 that the Assembly should at once accept the invitation to join 
 in the Congress and appoint delegates to it. Philadelphia was 
 the place proposed for the Congress. It was central to all the 
 Colonies, and there was no army there to overawe the delegates. 
 The plan suited him admirably. He sounded the members of 
 the Assembly privately, and found a sufficient number favorable 
 to the scheme. 
 
 On the morning of the 17th of June, 129 members being 
 present, he caused the house to give orders to the doorkeeper 
 to lock the door and to let no one pass in or out without per- 
 mission of the house. He then offered a series of resolutions 
 appointing delegates to a general Congress to be convened at 
 Philadelphia in September to consult upon the safety of the 
 country. The resolutions were received with surprise and dis- 
 may by the administration members. The doorkeeper became 
 alarmed, and seemed on the point of disobeying the orders of 
 the House. The moment was critical in the extreme. Mr. 
 Adams, seeing the hesitation of the doorkeeper, walked over to 
 him, took the key from him, and put it in his own pocket. 
 The resolutions were adopted, and Samuel Adams, Thomas 
 Gushing, Robert Treat Paine, John Adams, and James Bowdoin 
 were appointed delegates to the Congress, and provision was 
 made for defraying their expenses. 
 
 Before the business of the House was concluded, a member 
 obtained leave to withdraw on plea of illness. He went at 
 once to Governor Gage, and informed him of the action of the 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 283 
 
 Assembly. Gage immediately despatched his Secretary with 
 an order dissolving the Assembly. The Secretary found the 
 door of the hall locked. He knocked and demanded admit- 
 tance, but was refused. Finding it impossible to enter the hall, 
 he read the message of dissolution on the stairs. Without 
 heeding this, the House proceeded with its business, at the close 
 of which it quietly submitted to the fiat of the Governor. 
 
 Mr. Adams took part in the Congress at Philadelphia. He 
 found congenial spirits there in Patrick Henry and the Lees of 
 Virginia. He was under the necessity that we have spoken of 
 in our account of his relative, John Adams, of appearing to 
 give up the leadership to others, in order to win them over to 
 a support of New England. Yet his influence in the Congress 
 was marked. " He was," says Galloway, " the man who, by 
 his superior application, managed at once the faction in the 
 Congress at Philadelphia and the faction in New England." 
 The main thing was to secure the support of the whole coun- 
 try for New England ; that gained, he could afford to wait, for 
 he knew the rest of his desires were sure of accomplishment. 
 
 Returning home, Mr. Adams gave himself with more than 
 his usual energy to the work of preparing his native province 
 for the struggle which was now close at hand. In October the 
 Provincial Congress of Massachusetts met, and that body took 
 measures for the formation of a New England army, and com- 
 panies of Minute Men were organized. Mr. Adams was ap- 
 pointed a member of the Committee of Safety, charged with 
 the conduct of the defense of the Colony. It was deemed best 
 for John Hancock and himself, who had been marked as the 
 especial objects of British vengeance, to remain absent from 
 Boston during the winter and spring. In April, 1775, they 
 were lodging at Lexington. 
 
 On the night of the i8th of April, 1775, Gage despatched a 
 column of troops to Lexington and Concord, for the purpose 
 of seizing the persons and papers of Adams and Hancock at 
 Lexington, and of destroying the stores at Concord. He sup- 
 posed the movement to be secret, but it was detected by the 
 patriot leaders in Boston, and messengers were despatched to 
 warn Adams and Hancock of their danger, and to rouse the 
 country. 
 
284 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The message reached the patriot leaders at Lexington about 
 one o'clock on the morning of the 19th of April. The alarm 
 was at once given, and the messenger sped on to Concord. 
 Adams and Hancock tarried to watch the Minute Men assem- 
 ble on the Common, and then set out across the fields to Wo- 
 burn, accompanied by several friends. A couple of hours 
 later a British volley at Lexington began the Revolution for 
 which Adams had toiled so long. It was a lovely morning. 
 The day dawned brightly and peacefully, the air was heavy 
 with the scent of the growing grass and the sweet spring flow- 
 ers, and not a cloud obscured the sky above. The notes of 
 birds were heard in the budding trees, and the morning breeze 
 was soft and balmy. As Adams and his companions walked 
 across the fields, the former was thoughtful, but not cast down. 
 " It is i fine day," he said at length. " Very pleasant," replied 
 one of his companions, thinking that he referred to the beauty 
 of the morning. " I mean," said Mr. Adams, earnestly, ''tliat 
 this is a glorious day for Ameticay 
 
 He was satisfied as to what would be the result of Gage's 
 ill-advised expedition. The Revolution had come. He did 
 not expect that it would be an easy struggle, and he knew that 
 it would bring with it hardship and suffering for the whole 
 country ; but he was convinced that the Americans would suc- 
 ceed if they but remained true to the cause. The end would 
 be worth any sacrifice. " For my own part," he had written 
 long before this, "I have been wont to converse with poverty; 
 and however disagreeable a companion she may be thought to 
 be by the affluent and luxurious, who never were acquainted 
 with her, I can live happily with her the remainder of my 
 days, if I can thereby contribute to the redemption of my 
 country." 
 
 Immediately after the battles of Lexington and Concord, Mr, 
 Adams hastened to Philadelphia and took his seat in the Con- 
 tinental Congress, which met on the 19th of May, 1775. His 
 services in this body were important. He supported the pro- 
 posal of his relative and colleague, John Adams, to appoint 
 Washington Commander-in-chief of the Continental army. 
 On the I2th of June, 1775, he had the honor, together with 
 John Hancock, of being exempted by Gage from the general 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 285 
 
 pardon offered by that commander to the people of Massachu- 
 setts on condition of their submission. Mr. Adams was firm 
 in his behef that the Colonies ought to declare their independ- 
 ence of Great Britain, and was consequently regarded with 
 distrust by the more conservative members, who still hoped 
 for a peaceful settlement. He came in for his share of the 
 odium from which, as we have seen, John Adams suffered, but 
 he did not possess the sensitiveness of his kinsman, and con- 
 tinued his course unmoved. He believed that the Declaration 
 of Independence "should have been made immediately after 
 the 19th of April, 1775," and when that measure was proposed 
 in Congress, gave it his hearty and powerful support. He had 
 the happiness of signing the Declaration on the 4th of July, 
 1776. 
 
 Mr. Adams remained in Congress throughout the war, and 
 was one of the most influential and active members of that 
 body. He was also one of the most hopeful. Even amidst the 
 gloom which marked the close of the year 1776, he did not 
 despond. He opposed the resolution of Congress on the 12th 
 of December to adjourn from Philadelphia to Baltimore. "I 
 do not regret," he wrote in one of his letters at this time, "the 
 part I have taken in a cause so just and interesting to mankind. 
 The people of Pennsylvania and the Jerseys seem determined 
 to give it up, but I trust that my dear New England will main- 
 tain it at the expense of everything dear to them in this life." 
 His sole mistake lay in his hasty condemnation of the cautious 
 policy of Washington, into which he was led by his ardent 
 temperament. He did not at the time make sufficient allow- 
 ance for the difficulties of the Commander-in-Chief, but after- 
 wards did him full justice. 
 
 In 1779, Mr. Adams was a member of the Convention of 
 Massachusetts, and was appointed one of the Committee to 
 prepare a State Constitution. This Committee appointed Sam- 
 uel and John Adams a sub-committee to draft the Constitution. 
 Their report was accepted by the Convention, with some 
 amendments. 
 
 In 1787 he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Con- 
 vention for the ratification of the Federal Constitution. He 
 was not altogether satisfied with the Constitution, which he 
 
286 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 feared would destroy the independence of the States, and con- 
 sented to support it only on condition that certain amendments, 
 which he prepared, should be proposed by the Convention to 
 the other States. His amendments were accepted with some 
 slight changes by the Convention, and some of them have been 
 adopted by Congress and the States, and form a part of the 
 "fundamental law of the nation." 
 
 In 1789 Mr. Adams was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the 
 State of Massachusetts, and was regularly chosen to that office 
 until 1794, when he was elected Governor of the State. He 
 was re-elected annually until 1797, when, feeling himself too 
 old and feeble to continue in public life, he declined a reelec- 
 tion, and retired to private life. 
 
 His last years were passed in great pecuniary distress. He 
 had the patriotic satisfaction of seeing his country free and 
 entering upon its great success, and he met with what is too 
 often a patriot's reward, in being left in his old age to bear 
 hardships which he might have avoided had his love of country 
 been less ardent. He died in Boston on the 3d of October, 
 1803, in the 82d year of his age. 
 
 At the close of the first century of the independence he did 
 so much to win, his native State has sought to commemorate 
 his services by placing his statue in the Capitol of the Repub- 
 lic. His countrymen have not been so tardy in doing him jus- 
 tice, but have long since carried out the injunction of Clymer, 
 of Pennsylvania, who declared, a century ago, that " All good 
 Americans should erect a statue to him in their hearts." 
 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 
 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 
 
 \ NTHONY WAYNE was one of the most brilliant generals 
 t\ of the Revolution. He was born in Chester county, 
 Pennsylvania, on the 1st of January, 1745. His father was a 
 respectable farmer, and represented the county of Chester in the 
 Assembly of the Province for many years before the Revolu- 
 tion, and his grandfather had distinguished himself as a captain 
 in King William's army at the battle of Boyne. Anthony 
 Wayne passed his early life on his father's farm, and received a 
 fair common school education. He succeeded his father as 
 representative from Chester in the Provincial Assembly, to 
 which he was elected in 1773. He warmly espoused the cause 
 of his country, and took a prominent part in the decisive 
 measures with which Pennsylvania met the injustice of the 
 Mother Country and placed herself on the side of freedom. 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities Wayne was appointed a 
 Colonel of the Pennsylvania forces with authority to raise a 
 regiment. This he speedily accomplished, as his influence in 
 his native county was very great. He joined the Continental 
 army with his regiment, and was sent with it, as a part of 
 General Thompson's force, to Canada. He distinguished him- 
 self by his gallantry and good conduct in this expedition, and 
 was wounded in the disastrous engagement in which General 
 Thompson was defeated and taken prisoner. In spite of his 
 Avound, Colonel Wayne remained on the field, and by his exer- 
 tions collected and brought off in safety the broken and scat- 
 tered fragments of the troops. 
 
 In the campaign of 1776, his regiment formed a part of the 
 force under Gates at Ticonderoga. That commander regarded 
 him as one of his most efficient officers, and had a high opinion 
 of his engineering skill. At the close of the campaign he 
 was rewarded by Congress with the commission of Brigadier- 
 general in the Continental army. He was assigned to duty 
 with the army under Washington, and remained with it through- 
 
 (287) 
 
205 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 out the war. He soon became noted among the troops for 
 his daring bravery, which won him tne name of " Mad An- 
 thony," by which he is popularly known. Captain Graydon, 
 who visited the army in the summer of 1777, thus speaks of 
 him : " He entertained the most sovereign contempt for the 
 enemy. In his confident way he affirmed that the two armies 
 had interchanged their original mode of warfare. That for 
 our part, we had thrown away the shovel, and the British had 
 taken it up ; as they dared not face us without the cover of an 
 intrenchment. I made some allowance for the fervid manner 
 of the General, who, though unquestionably as brave a man as 
 any in the army, was nevertheless somewhat addicted to the 
 vaunting style of Marshal Villars, a man who, like himself, 
 could fight as well as brag." 
 
 The army at this period suffered greatly from lack of cloth- 
 ing, and Graydon testifies that Wayne endured the privations 
 of his men. " Even in General Wayne himself," he says, 
 "there was in this particular a considerable falling off His 
 quondam regimentals as Colonel of the 4th battalion were, I 
 think, blue and white, in which he had been accustomed to 
 appear with exemplary neatness ; whereas he was now dressed 
 in character for Macheath or Captain Gilbert, in a dingy red 
 coat, with a black rusty cravat and a tarnished hat." 
 
 At the battle of the Brandywine, Wayne's brigade, with Proc- 
 tor's artillery, was stationed in the centre to dispute the pass- 
 age of the river by the enemy at Chadd's Ford. The British 
 made no serious effort to pass the river at this point until their 
 attack on the American right flank had fairly begun. As soon 
 as the turning movement was discovered, Wayne was left to 
 hold Knyphausen in check, while Greene, with the reserve, 
 was sent to save the right wing. When Knyphausen heard 
 the sound of Cornwallis' guns on the American right, he made 
 a determined effort to force the passage of Chadd's Ford. He 
 was held in check by Wayne until the latter was informed of 
 the defeat of the right wing. Wayne then withdrew his troops 
 and retreated to Chester. Profiting by the delay of the British, 
 Washington withdrew beyond the Schuylkill, and took position 
 near Philadelphia. 
 
 As it was the intention of Washington to attack the enemy 
 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 289 
 
 as soon as a favorable opportunity should offer, he detached 
 Wayne, with his division, to get in the rear of the British and 
 harass them as much as possible, and cut off their train should 
 an occasion for doing so present itself Wayne set off in the 
 night, and by a circuitous march reached a point within three 
 miles of the left wing of the British encamped at Tredyffrin. 
 Here he halted and concealed his men in the wood to await 
 the arrival of Smallwood and his militia, who had been ordered 
 to join him. The weather was severe, and the British army 
 continued in camp. Wayne remained all day in his place of 
 concealment, his force being too weak to attack the enemy. 
 He was in a country abounding in Tories, and information of 
 his presence was conveyed by some of these to Sir William 
 Howe. On the afternoon of the 20th of September, a strong 
 detachment of picked troops, under Major General Grey was 
 sent to surprise him. Grey deferred his attack until after 
 nightfall. Wayne was warned by a countryman of the in- 
 tended attack, but doubted the accuracy of the information. 
 Nevertheless he doubled his pickets and patrols, and ordered 
 his men to sleep on their arms. At eleven o'clock that night 
 Grey made his attack, his men advancing in column with un- 
 loaded guns, trusting to the bayonet to do their work. Col. 
 Humpton, Wayne's second in command, foolishly exposed his 
 men, instead of retreating promptly in accordance with Wayne's 
 orders, and the British charged him silently and with fury. 
 The bayonet and the cutlass did their deadly work, and nearly 
 three hundred of Humpton's men were killed and wounded. 
 The rest were routed. Wayne poured a few well directed vol- 
 leys into the enemy's ranks, and then retreating a short dis- 
 tance, reformed his line. The British did not advance upon 
 him, however, but, satisfied with their night's work, retired, 
 taking with them about eighty prisoners and eight baggage- 
 wagons heavily loaded. 
 
 General Wayne was keenly mortified at the result of this 
 affair, and as he was sharply criticised for it by some of the 
 officers of the army, he demanded a court martial. The court 
 acquitted him of all blame for the disaster, and pronounced his 
 conduct all that could be expected of a brave and vigilant 
 officer. 
 19 
 
290 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On the 4th of October, Washington attacked the British 
 army at Germantown. Wayne's division formed a part of the 
 right wing, and opened the battle by a sharp attack upon the 
 British hght infantry, which it drove steadily before it. After 
 a stubborn resistance the light infantry broke and ran, hotly 
 pursued by Wayne's division. The massacre of their comrades 
 on the night of the 20th of September was fresh in the minds 
 of Wayne's men. They remembered how the British had 
 turned a deaf ear to the cries of their victims for mercy, and 
 "they pushed on with the bayonet," says Wayne, "and took 
 ample vengeance for that night's work." Their officers tried 
 to save those of the enemy who cried for mercy, but the men 
 were determined to give no quarter. 
 
 General Wayne won great credit by his gallant conduct in 
 this engagement. He had two horses shot under him, and 
 was wounded in the left foot and left hand. 
 
 In the council of war called by Washington previous to the 
 battle of Monmouth, W^ayne warmly urged an attack upon 
 Clinton. It was a matter of principle with him always to sup- 
 port the most active and daring measures. In the battle which 
 ensued, Wayne's division was especially distinguished, and 
 bloodily repulsed the bayonet charge of the British grenadiers, 
 led by the veteran Colonel Monckton. In his report of the 
 battle to Congress, Washington said : " The catalogue of those 
 who distinguished themselves is too long to admit of particu- 
 larizing individuals. I cannot, however, forbear mentioning 
 Brigadier-general Wayne, whose good conduct and bravery, 
 throughout the whole action, deserve particular commenda- 
 tion." 
 
 The capture of the Highland forts by the British put the 
 Americans to considerable inconvenience, and Washington re- 
 solved to attempt their recapture. He reconnoitred the works 
 at Stony Point and Verplanck's Point in person; spies were 
 sent into them, and information was collected from deserters. 
 It was ascertained that the enemy had rendered the fort at 
 Stony Point the more important work of the two. It was 
 built on a rocky promontory, jutting far out into the Hudson, 
 which bounded it on three sides. Between it and the main- 
 land was a morass, covered at high water, which could be 
 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 29 1 
 
 crossed at low tide by a low causeway and a bridge. The fort 
 was built on the summit of the promontory, and was armed 
 with heavy guns, which commanded the morass and the cause- 
 way. The shore at the foot of the hill could be swept by the 
 fire of the vessels of war anchored in the river. The fort was 
 held by a garrison of 600 men, under Lieutenant-colonel 
 Johnson. 
 
 There was only one way in which this strongly fortified post 
 could be taken, and that was by a surprise. Washington, after 
 weighing well the dangers and difficulties of the undertaking, 
 proposed it to General Wayne. It was an enterprise well suited 
 to this daring commander, and he is said to have replied to the 
 Commander-in-Chief, " General, I'll storm hell itself if yoifll 
 only plan the assault." 
 
 The plan was soon arranged. The attack was to be made at 
 night by a force of twelve hundred men in two columns, each 
 of which was to be preceded by a storming party of between 
 one and two hundred picked men of the light infantry. In ad- 
 vance of the whole was to move a forlorn hope of forty men — 
 twenty in front of each column — commanded by officers of 
 resolution and experience, who were to secure the sentries, 
 drive in the guards and remove obstructions. The whole force 
 was to advance with unloaded muskets, and to trust to the 
 bayonet for success. The storming party was to be followed 
 at a short distance by a strong reserve, to support it in case of 
 need and to cover its retreat in the event of a defeat. " The 
 usual time for exploits of this kind," wrote Washington to 
 Wayne, " is a little before day, for which reason a vigilant offi- 
 cer is then more on the watch. I therefore recommend a mid- 
 night hour." 
 
 After securing the works at Stony Point, Wayne was to turn 
 the guns of the fort upon Fort Lafayette at Verplanck's Point, 
 on the opposite side of the river, which was also to be as- 
 saulted at the same moment by a force to be sent down from 
 Peekskill. 
 
 For several days the fort at Stony Point was carefully 
 watched, and every dog in the neighborhood was privately 
 killed, lest the barking of one of these animals should betray 
 the march of the detachment. 
 
292 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 About midday on the 15th of July, 1779, Wayne began his 
 march across the mountains to Stony Point. At eight o'clock 
 in the evening the troops halted within a mile and a half of the 
 fort, and Wayne and his principal officers cautiously advanced 
 nearer, and carefully reconnoitred the works and their ap- 
 proaches. At half-past eleven o'clock the order was given to 
 advance. The troops were guided by a negro man, who was 
 well known to the garrison, to which he was in the habit of 
 selling fruit, and who had for some time acted as a spy of the 
 Americans. He was accompanied by two soldiers disguised 
 as farmers. The first sentinel was encountered on the high 
 ground west of the morass. The countersign was given by the 
 negro, and while he talked with the sentinel, the soldiers 
 seized the man and gagged him. The next sentinel was met 
 at the head of the causeway, and was served in the same man- 
 ner. The tide was in, however, and it did not ebb sufficiently 
 to allow a passage of the causeway until after twelve o'clock. 
 Three hundred men were left as a reserve under General Muh- 
 lenberg, on the western side of the causeway, and the remainder 
 crossed the morass and gained the foot of the promontory in 
 safety. 
 
 Wayne now divided his men into two columns, for simultan- 
 eous assaults upon opposite sides of the fort. One hundred 
 and fifty volunteers under Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury and 
 Major Posey formed the advance of the right column, and an 
 equal force under Major Stewart the advance of the left column. 
 In advance of the first moved a forlorn hope of twenty men, led 
 by Lieutenant Gibbon ; and an equal force under Lieutenant 
 Knox preceded the left column. Wayne led the right column 
 in person. 
 
 The troops mounted the hill in silence, and were close upon 
 the outworks before they were discovered. A sharp struggle 
 took place there with the pickets, who discharged their mus- 
 kets. The garrison, aroused by these reports, turned out 
 promptly, the works were manned, and a heavy fire of grape- 
 shot and musketry was opened upon the advancing columin. 
 The Americans never paused, but pressed forward steadily, and 
 forced their w-ay into the work at the point of the bayonet 
 Colonel Fleury was the first man within the works, and pulled 
 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 293 
 
 down the British flag with his own hands. Wayne, moving at 
 the head of the right column, was struck on the head by a 
 musket ball. His aid-de-camp caught him as he was falling. 
 Thinking for the moment that the wound was mortal, he ex- 
 claimed to them, " Carry me into the fort, and let me die at the 
 head of my column." He was borne into the work between his 
 aids, and soon regained his self-control. The two columns, 
 sweeping all before them, burst into the works, and reached the 
 centre about the same moment. The garrison immediately 
 surrendered and the fort was won. 
 
 The Americans were flushed with victory, and might have 
 been pardoned had they inflicted still greater losses upon the 
 enemy. They accepted the surrender of the garrison on the 
 instant, however. " The humanity of our brave soldiery," says 
 General Wayne, in words which do him honor, "who scorned 
 to take the lives of a vanquished foe, when calling for mercy, 
 reflects the highest honor on them, and accounts for the few 
 of the enemy killed on the occasion," 
 
 "The conduct of the Americans upon this occasion," says 
 the British historian, Stedman, "was highly meritorious; for 
 they would have been fully justified in putting the garrison to 
 the sword; not one man of which was put to death but in fair 
 combat." 
 
 General Charles Lee, then in disgrace, generously wrote to 
 Wayne, " I do most sincerely declare that your assault of Stony 
 Point is not only the most brilliant, in my opinion, throughout 
 the whole course of the war on either side, but that it is the 
 ip.ost brilliant I am acquainted with in history^; the assault of 
 Schweidnitz, by Marshal Laudon, I think inferior to it." 
 
 The Americans did not fire a musket during the assault. 
 Their loss was fifteen killed and eighty-three wounded. The 
 British lost sixty -three killed; and five hundred and fifty-three, 
 including a lieutenant-colonel, four captains and twenty-three 
 subalterns, were made prisoners. 
 
 Wayne immediately despatched the following letter to Wash- 
 ington: 
 
 " Stony Point, July 16, lyjg, \ 
 2 o'clock, A.M. I 
 
 "Dear General : — The fort and garrison, with Col. Johnson, are ours : our offi- 
 cers and men behaved lilce men determined to be free. Yours most sincerely, 
 
 "Anthony Wayne. 
 ^^ General Washington.'" 
 
294 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 At daybreak Wayne turned the guns of Stony Point upon 
 the British vessels in the river and the works at Verplanck's 
 Point. The ships dropped down the river, but owing to the 
 failure of the force from Peekskill to co-operate properly, the 
 attack upon Fort Lafayette was unsuccessful. In consequence 
 of this and of the advance of Sir Henry Clinton up the river, 
 Washington removed the guns and stores from Stony Point, 
 and evacuated that post on the i8th. 
 
 In the summer of 1781, Wayne was sent to Virginia with a 
 body of 900 Pennsylvania troops to reinforce Lafayette, who 
 was endeavoring to oppose the force under Cornwallis. On 
 the morning of the 6th of July, Lafayette was induced to be- 
 lieve that the main force had passed the James, and that only 
 the rear guard remained on the north side of the river. He 
 determined to attack it, and sent Wayne with a body of rifle- 
 men, dragoons and Continental infantry, to open the engage- 
 ment, while he prepared to support him with the remainder of 
 his force. Cornwallis had caused the information upon which 
 the attack was based to be conveyed to Lafayette, and stood 
 ready with his whole army to crush him. 
 
 The British pickets fell back, according to orders, before 
 Wayne's advance. That general moved forward rapidly with 
 the Pennsylvania line, 800 strong, and three cannon. He had 
 just opened with his field pieces, when the British emerged 
 from their concealment in the woods, and he found himself in 
 presence of Cornwallis's whole army. It was a moment of ex- 
 treme peril, but Wayne did not lose his presence of mind. 
 With that sublime audacity which had gained him the name of 
 Mad Anthony, he threw his whole force forward with a ringing 
 cheer upon the enemy, with whom he became at once hotly 
 engaged. At this moment orders arrived from Lafayette, who 
 had discovered the true strength of the British, to fall back at 
 once. Wayne did so in good order, leaving behind him his 
 three pieces of cannon, the horses of which had been killed. 
 The whole army then withdrew to a point of safety. Corn- 
 wallis declined to follow. The audacity of Wayne's attack 
 caused him to believe that the Americans were stronger than 
 they really were, and the sudden retreat of Wayne made him 
 fearful that the movement was merely a feint to draw him into 
 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 295 
 
 an ambuscade. Night was near at hand, and he remained in 
 his position, and thus allowed the Americans to escape the 
 consequence of their error. 
 
 General Wayne participated in the siege of Yorktown, and 
 was present at the surrender of Cornwallis's army. He was 
 then despatched to Georgia by Washington to take command 
 of the American forces in that State. He defeated the British 
 and Tories in several well fought engagements, and restored 
 order in the State. In recognition of these services, he was 
 presented with a farm by the Legislature of Georgia. 
 
 When the army was disbanded. General Wayne retired to 
 private life. In 1789, he was elected a member of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Convention, in which body he warmly advocated the 
 ratification, by the State, of the Federal Constitution. 
 
 Upon the defeat of General St. Clair, in November, 1791, 
 that officer resigned the command of the Western army. Pres- 
 ident Washington appointed General Wayne as his successor. 
 Wayne established his headquarters at Pittsburg, where he col- 
 lected his force, and soon brought it to a high state of disci- 
 pline. He then advanced into the Indian country, and passed 
 the greater part of the year 1793 in pressing back the Indians 
 and occupying their country with a chain of forts. The winter 
 of 1793-94 was passed by him in camp on the site of the pres- 
 ent city of Cincinnati. He had conducted his measures with 
 such prudence and skill as to give entire satisfaction to Wash- 
 ington. In the spring of 1794 he again moved forward into 
 the country of the Indians, who assembled in heavy force to 
 oppose him. On the 20th of August he inflicted a crushing 
 defeat upon the savages in the battle of the Maumee, and fol- 
 lowed up this victory by burning their towns and laying waste 
 their lands. In the summer of 1795, the savages, cowed by 
 their defeat, and alarmed by the withdrawal of the British from 
 the frontier posts, met General Wayne at his camp on the 
 Miami, and entered into a treaty with the United States by 
 which they ceded all the Eastern and Southern part of Ohio to 
 the whites, and withdrew farther westward. 
 
 This was the last service General Wayne was destined to 
 render to his country. He advanced with his force to Lake 
 Erie, and was seized with his last illness, of which he died at 
 
29^ AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Presque Isle, in December, 1796, having nearly completed his 
 fifty-first year. He was buried on the shore of Lake Erie. 
 Some years ago his son Isaac Wayne, Esq., caused his re- 
 mains to be removed to his native county. His grave is now 
 marked by a tasteful monument, erected by the Pennsylvania 
 Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was born at Boston, Massachu- 
 setts, on the 17th of January, 1706. His father was a na- 
 tive of England, and was a soap boiler and tallow chandler by 
 trade. At the age of eight years, young Franklin was sent to 
 a grammar school in Boston, where he remained two years, 
 studying hard and mastering the rudiments of an English edu- 
 cation. When he was ten years old, his father took him into 
 his chandlery to teach him his own trade, but it was so dis- 
 tasteful to the boy, that he was permitted, two years later, to 
 become an apprentice to his brother James, a printer. This 
 employment was thoroughly congenial to him, and he soon 
 became a proficient in the printer's art. His natural fondness 
 for knowledge now manifested itself in a marked degree. He 
 read all the books he could borrow, and such was his zeal in 
 his quest of learning, that he would often pass the greater part 
 of the night in reading or study. He thus acquired at an 
 early age a remarkable fund of information, and manifested a 
 decided fondness for the Socratic mode of reasoning by asking 
 questions. 
 
 In 1 72 1, James Franklin began to print the New England 
 Courant, the fourth newspaper published in America. Soon 
 after its appearance, Benjamin Franklin contributed several 
 articles to it anonymously, which were so well received that 
 he determined to continue his efforts at literary composition. 
 To improve his style he read TJic Spectator, and endeavored to 
 imitate it. He was careful and laborious in his writings, and 
 in the end acquired a style noted for its singular purity and 
 simplicity. His brother, discovering who his anonymous cor- 
 respondent was, made constant use of the young man's talents, 
 and it must be confessed that the success of the paper was 
 chiefly owing to the labors of Benjamin Franklin, who not 
 only contributed his modest articles to its columns, but worked 
 at the case and the press, and then distributed the copies of 
 
 (297) 
 
298 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the paper to its patrons. "The little sheet satirized hypocrisy, 
 and spoke of religious knaves as of all knaves the worst." 
 This was regarded by the authorities and by the more ortho- 
 dox people of Boston as tending "to abuse the ministers of 
 religion in a manner which was intolerable." The paper soon 
 got into trouble, and for this Benjamin was in a great measure 
 responsible ; for young as he was he had read Shaftesbury ind 
 Collins, and had imbibed a large share of their skepticism. 
 He was fortunately able to get the better of this influence in 
 after years, but now it was all-powerful with him. In Januar}^ 
 1723, the General Court ordered that James Franklin's paper 
 should not be published "except it be first supervised." In 
 order to evade this prohibition, James surrendered to Benjamin 
 his indentures of apprenticeship, and issued the paper in the 
 name of Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 Young Franklin had no wish to remain in Boston. His 
 liberal opinions had brought him into disfavor with the good 
 people of that town, and his brother used him harshly and 
 often beat him. He therefore resolved to bid adieu to his na- 
 tive town, and seek his fortune elsewhere. In October 1723, 
 being then but seventeen years old, he made a bargain with 
 the captain of a sloop to take him to New York, and sailed 
 clandestinely from Boston. Upon reaching New York he was 
 unable to procure employment, and resolved to continue his 
 journey to Philadelphia. He went to Amboy in a sailing ves- 
 sel, and from that place walked to the Delaware at Burlington. 
 Embarking in a small boat for Philadelphia, he was compelled 
 for want of a wind to assist in rowing the boat, and reached 
 Philadelphia with his hands sorely blistered from this hard 
 labor. He set foot in that city with but a dollar in his pocket, 
 and without a friend. He had a rich capital, though, in his 
 youth, his robust health, his habits of sobriety, frugality, and 
 industry, and his indomitable purpose to succeed, and above 
 all in the profound genius which burned within him, though he 
 was yet unconscious of its force. 
 
 Leaving his boat, Franklin stepped ashore and purchased 
 some rolls at a baker's shop, with which to stay his hunger. 
 With one under each arm and eating a third; he set out in search 
 of a lodging and employment. There were but two printers 
 
BEN'JAMIN FRANKLIN. 299 
 
 in Philadelphia at the time, Andrew Bradford and Mr. Keimer. 
 The latter employed the young man, and soon found him a 
 valuable acquisition to his establishment. Franklin pursued 
 his studies with ardor, and his excellent habits and love of 
 knowledge made him many friends in his new home. Sir 
 William Keith, the Governor of Pennsylvania, took a great 
 liking to him, invited him to his house, and gave him the use 
 of his library. This was a great gain to the young man, as it 
 not only placed the governor's books at his service, but 
 enabled him to enjoy the benefit of the views of a cultivated 
 man of the world. 
 
 Although Franklin was so young, the Governor advised him 
 to set up a printing office of his own, and urged him to make 
 a voyage to London to purchase the necessary articles. As 
 Franklin had neither money nor such connections as would 
 enable him to procure credit in England, the Governor 
 promised to assist him. Franklin, therefore, made ready for 
 the voyage, and just before sailing applied to the Governor for 
 the letters he had promised him. He was told they would be 
 sent on board, but when the letter-bag was opened as the ship 
 sailed, he found that the Governor had neglected his promise, 
 and had confined his assistance simply to liberal offers which 
 he never carried out. He was obliged to continue his voyage, 
 and reached London in the spring of 1724 in as destitute a 
 plight as he had landed in Philadelphia. He lost no time in 
 idleness, but at once obtained employment as a journeyman 
 printer, and by practising close economy saved a considerable 
 part of his wages. 
 
 He remained in London a little more than two years, and in 
 October, 1726, returned to Philadelphia, as clerk to a merchant 
 named Denham. Mr. Denham died in 1727, and Franklin 
 went back to his old trade, obtaining employment with his for- 
 mer employer, Mr. Keimer, as foreman of his office. He 
 proved very useful in this position, for his ingenuity was such 
 that he could engrave signatures on copper, make wood cuts, 
 design letters and make printer's ink. After remaining with 
 Mr. Keimer for some time, he began business for himself in 
 partnership with a Mr. Meredith. In 1729 he withdrew from 
 this connection and continued the business on his own account. 
 
300 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 He worked early and late, laboring steadily with his own 
 hands ; and avoided no toil, however humble, that could con- 
 tribute to his success. He purchased a paper which had been 
 conducted by Mr. Keimer in a wretched manner, and gave to 
 it a sprightliness and vigor which attracted much attention. It 
 did not yield him a profit, however, but soon involved him in 
 debt, in spite of his economy and careful habits of business. 
 He was relieved of his embarrassments by the generous as- 
 sistance of two of his friends. He now added to his printing 
 business a small stationer's shop, and from this time began to 
 prosper. A few years before this he had married Miss Read, 
 an excellent lady of Philadelphia, by whom he had two chil- 
 dren, a son and a daughter. 
 
 Though devoting himself with all his ability to his business, 
 Franklin did not give up his literary pleasures. He pursued 
 his studies with enthusiasm, and extended them beyond the 
 field of literature into the domain of science. He organized a 
 club called " The Junto," composed of acquaintances of con- 
 genial tastes. The Junto met every Friday evening, and ques- 
 tions of morality, politics, or philosophy, were discussed with 
 ardor. The members frequently brought their books to the 
 meeting for reference and discussion, and Franklin conceived 
 the idea of founding a public library, to be supported by the 
 subscriptions of its patrons. He soon carried this idea into 
 effect, and established the noble institution which has since 
 grown into the " Philadelphia Library." 
 
 In 1732 Franklin began the publication of Poor Richard's 
 Almanac. Its quaint maxims of frugality, industry, temper- 
 ance, and integrity, won for it from the first a great popularity, 
 which proved more lasting than is common with such publica- 
 tions. He continued to issue it regularly for twenty-five years, 
 and sold an annual edition of over ten thousand copies. In the 
 last number of the almanac the maxims were collected in the 
 form of an address entitled " The Way to Wealth," which has 
 been published in numerous works since then. He sug- 
 gested the establishment of an academy in Philadelphia, an 
 institution which has expanded into the well-known University 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In the course of a few years he was appointed printer to the 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 3OI 
 
 General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and in 1736 was elected 
 clerk of that body. In 1737 he was appointed postmaster of 
 Philadelphia, and soon established in that office the excellent 
 system with which he managed all his affairs. Impressed with 
 the necessity of providing some systematic method for the 
 protection of property from fire, he organized in 1738 a fire 
 company, the first ever established in this country. In 1744, 
 the savages spread terror along the frontier of Pennsylvania 
 during King George's War. An effort was made to induce the 
 Assembly to pass a proper militia law, but proved a failure. 
 Franklin thereupon proposed a volunteer association for the 
 defense of the province. In a short time ten thousand volun- 
 teers offered their services. Franklin accompanied two expe- 
 ditions to the west, and at one time held the command of the 
 Pennsylvania Volunteers, In 1747 he was elected to the As- 
 sembly of Pennsylvania, and continued a member of that 
 body for ten years. He had now become master of a com- 
 fortable property, and was one of the leading men of his pro- 
 vince. In the legislature his influence was most marked. He 
 seldom spoke, and gained no reputation as an orator ; but his 
 views upon the questions before the house were eagerly sought, 
 and he frequently, by a short, pithy sentence, decided the fate 
 of a bill. He took an active part in the discussions with the 
 proprietaries and their governors, and warmly defended the 
 libert}- of the people. He had in his newspaper constantly 
 advocated the most absolute freedom of speech and of the 
 press, and defended popular government as the best form known 
 to man. " The judgment of a whole people," he declared, " if 
 unbiased by faction, undeluded by tlie tricks of designing men, 
 IS infallible." 
 
 So well did he manage the affairs of the Philadelphia post- 
 office that in 1753 he was appointed Deputy Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral of the British Colonies. The postal system had proved a 
 wretched failure up to this time, but Franklin infused his own 
 energy into it, and reorganized it upon an excellent basis. He 
 made frequent visits to the prominent points of the Eastern and 
 Middle States, and brought the service to a state of efficiency 
 which earned him the gratitude of his countrymen. In 1754 
 he was sent to the Congress at Albany as a Commissioner 
 from Pennsylvania. 
 
302 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 This was the most important assemblage that had yet been 
 convened in America, and met for the purpose of devising some 
 plan for the common defense of the Colonies against the 
 French and Indians. Franklin had long been of the opinion 
 that the true interests of the Colonies required their union in 
 all measures relating to their common welfare. Believing that 
 the force of circumstances would soon drive them into such a 
 union, he sought to accomplish that end through the medium 
 of this Convention. Accordingly he presented to the Congress 
 a plan for the union of all the American Colonies, which union 
 he meant should be perpetual. He proposed that while each 
 Colony should retain the separate and independent control of 
 its own affairs, all should unite in a union or confederation for 
 the management of their common interests. This confederacy 
 was to be controlled by a general government, to be com- 
 posed of a Governor-general and a Council. The seat of the 
 federal government was to be at Philadelphia, which city he 
 regarded as central to all the Colonies. The Governor-general 
 was to be appointed and paid by the King, and was to have the 
 power of vetoing all laws which should seem to him objection- 
 able. The members of the Council were to be elected trienni- 
 ally by the Colonial Legislatures, and were to be apportioned 
 among the Colonies according to their respective population. 
 " The Governor-general was to nominate military officers, sub- 
 ject to the advice of the Council, which, in turn, was to nomi- 
 nate all civil officers. No money was to be issued but by theii 
 joint order. Each Colony was to retain its domestic consti- 
 tution ; the federal government was to regulate all relations of 
 peace or war with the Indians, affairs of trade and purchases 
 of lands not within the bounds of particular Colonies ; to estab- 
 lish, organize, and temporarily to govern new settlements ; to 
 raise soldiers and equip vessels of force on the seas, rivers or 
 lakes ; to make laws, and levy just and equal taxes. The 
 Grand Council were to meet once a year, to choose their own 
 speaker, and neither to be dissolved nor prorogued, nor con- 
 tinue sitting longer than six weeks at any one time, but by 
 their own consent." 
 
 This plan met with considerable opposition, was thoroughly 
 discussed and was finally adopted by the Convention. It was 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 3O3 
 
 not altogether acceptable to any of the Colonies, each of 
 which dreaded that the establishment of a central government 
 would result in the destruction of the liberties of the individual 
 provinces. Connecticut promptly rejected it, Massachusetts 
 actively opposed it, and New York received it with coldness. 
 Upon its reception in England it was at once thrown out by the 
 royal government. The union proposed by the plan was too 
 perfect, and would make America practically independent of 
 Great Britain. The Board of Trade did not even bring it to 
 the notice of the King. 
 
 Franklin regarded the failure of his plan of union with great 
 regret. In after years he wrote : " The Colonies so united 
 would have been sufficiently strong to defend themselves. 
 There would then have been no need of troops from England ; 
 of course the subsequent pretext for taxing America, and the 
 bloody contest it occasioned, would have been avoided. But 
 such mistakes are not new ; history is full of the errors of 
 States and princes." 
 
 During all these years Franklin had steadily pursued his 
 philosophical and scientific studies. He devoted a considerable 
 part of his time to experiments in electricity, of which he pub- 
 lished an account. He conceived the idea that the electric 
 fluid and lightning were identical, and his experiments were 
 directed to verifying this theory. In the summer of 1752 they 
 were crowned with success. He made him a kite of silk, to the 
 upright stick of which he attached an iron point. The string 
 used was of hemp, except the part which he held in his hand, 
 which was of silk, and a key was tied where the hempen string 
 ended. Taking his little son with him, he went out in the 
 fields, and on the approach of a thunderstorm raised his kite. 
 A cloud soon passed over it, but no signs of electricity ap- 
 peared, and the philosopher began to despair. At this mo- 
 ment he saw the loose fibres of the hempen string move sud- 
 denly and then stand upright. He immediately presented his 
 knuckles to the key, and received a strong spark. The experi- 
 ment was entirely successful, and the truth of his theory was 
 established beyond the possibility of doubt. He published an 
 account of his discovery, which made him at once famous in 
 both ^merica and Europe. A practical use of his discovery 
 
304 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 soon suggested itself to him, and he invented the Hghtning rod, 
 which has since come into common use. He was the first to 
 suggest " the explanation of thundergusts and the northern 
 lights on electrical principles. * * Nor did he cease till he had 
 made the lightning a household pastime, taught his family to 
 catch the subtle fluid in its inconceivably rapid leaps between 
 the earth and the sky, and compelled it to give warning of its 
 passage by the harmless ringing of bells." His accounts of 
 his experiments, written in the simplest and most accurate 
 manner, were read eagerly by the cultivated classes on both 
 sides of the Atlantic, and brought him into correspondence 
 with the learned men and societies of Europe ; and he soon be- 
 came the best known man in America. His writings on other 
 subjects were largely read, and his influence became even more 
 marked in the Old World than among his own countrymen. 
 His mental activity was very great. His experiments in caloric 
 led him to the invention of the fireplace stove which bears his 
 name. 
 
 The affairs of Pennsylvania required that province to keep 
 an agent in London to manage them, and in 1757, Dr. Frank- 
 lin, as he was now generally called, was appointed agent for 
 Pennsylvania and sent to England. No better choice could 
 have been made. Franklin was now fifty-one years old, in the 
 prime of life and intellectual vigor. He was in many respects 
 the most remarkable man his country had produced. " With 
 placid tranquillity, Benjamin Franklin looked quietly and deeply 
 into the secrets of nature. His clear understanding was never 
 perverted by passion, or corrupted by the pride of theory. 
 The son of a rigid Calvinist, the grandson of a tolerant Quaker, 
 he had, from boyhood, been familiar not only with theological 
 subtleties, but with a catholic respect for freedom of mind. 
 Skeptical of tradition as the basis of faith, he respected reason 
 rather than authority ; and, after a momentary lapse into fatal 
 ism, escaping from the mazes of fixed decrees and free will, he 
 gained, with increasing years, an increasing trust in the over- 
 ruling providence of God. Adhering to none of all the reli- 
 gions in the Colonies, he yet devoutly, though without form, 
 adhered to religion. But, though famous as a disputant, and 
 having a natural aptitude for metaphysics, he obeyed tlje ten- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 305 
 
 dencies of his age, and sought, by observation, to win an in- 
 sight into the mysteries of being. Loving truth, without 
 prejudice and without bias, he discerned intuitively the identity 
 of the laws of nature with those of which humanity is con- 
 scious ; so that his mind was Hke a mirror, in which the uni- 
 verse, as it reflected itself, revealed her laws. He was free from 
 mysticism, even to a fault. His morality, repudiating ascetic 
 severities, and the system which enjoins them, was indulgent 
 to appetites of which he abhorred the sway : but his affections 
 were of a calm intensity; in all his career, the love of man 
 gained the mastery over personal interest. He had not the 
 imagination which inspires the bard or kindles the orator; but 
 an exquisite propriety, parsimonious of ornament, gave ease 
 of Expression and- graceful simplicity even to his most careless 
 writings. In life, also, his tastes were delicate. Indifferent to 
 the pleasures of the table, he relished the delights of music 
 and harmony, of which he enlarged the instruments. His 
 blandness of temper, his modesty, the benignity of his man- 
 ners, made him the favorite of intelligent society; and, with 
 healthy cheerfulness, he derived pleasure from books, from 
 philosophy, from conversation — now calmly administering con- 
 solation to the sorrower, now indulging in the expression of 
 light-hearted gayety. In his intercourse, the universality of 
 his perceptions bore, perhaps, the character of humor; but, 
 while he clearly discerned the contrast between the grandeur 
 of the universe and the feebleness of man, a serene benevo- 
 lence saved him from contempt of his race, or disgust at its 
 toils. To superficial observers he might have seemed as an 
 alien from speculative truth, limiting himself to the world of 
 the senses ; and yet, in study, and among men, his mind always 
 sought, with unaffected simplicity, to discover and apply the 
 general principles by which nature and affairs are controlled, — 
 now deducing from the theory of caloric improvements in fire- 
 places and lanterns, and now advancing human freedom by 
 firm inductions from the inalienable rights of man. Never 
 professing enthusiasm, never making a parade of sentiment, 
 his practical wisdom was sometimes mistaken for the offspring 
 of selfish prudence; yet his hope was steadfast, like that hope 
 which rests on the Rock of Ages, and his conduct was as un- 
 20 
 
306 , AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 erring as though the light that led him was a light from heaven. 
 He never anticipated action by theories of self-sacrificing vir- 
 tue; and yet, in the moments of intense activity, he, from the 
 highest abodes of ideal truth, brought down and applied to 
 the affairs of life the sublimest principles of goodness, as noise- 
 lessly and unostentatiously as became the man who, with a 
 kite and hempen string, drew the lightning from the skies. 
 He separated himself so little from his age that he has been 
 called the representative of materialism; and yet, when he 
 thought on religion, his mind passed beyond reliance on sects 
 to faith in God: when he wrote on politics, he founded the 
 freedom of his country on principles that knew no change: 
 when he turned an observing eye on nature, he passed always 
 from the effect to the cause, from individual appearances to 
 universal laws: when he reflected on history, his philosophic 
 mind found gladness and repose in the clear anticipation of the 
 progress of humanity."^ 
 
 Franklin remained abroad for nearly eighteen years. His 
 official position brought him in constant contact with the pub- 
 lic men of Great Britain, and enabled him to study them and 
 their aims more clearly than was possible to his compatriots at 
 home; and his reputation as a scientist made him the associate 
 of the learned men of England. He was among the first to 
 detect the purpose of the English aristocracy to destroy the 
 liberties of the colonies. He sent information of the course of 
 affairs to his countrymen at home, and warned them to be on 
 the alert, and at the same time exerted himself to draw the 
 Ministers from their purpose. He was firmly opposed to the 
 Stamp Act, and warned Grenville and his associates of the con- 
 sequences of that measure. He induced the other Colonial 
 agents to unite with him in his representations to the Ministry, 
 but in vain. "We might as well have tried to hinder the sun's 
 setting," said Franklin. The Ministers were resolved upon 
 taxing America, and nothing could move them from their pur- 
 pose. "We have power to tax them," said one of the Ministers, 
 "and we will tax them." 
 
 The Stamp Act was passed, and the result was as Franklin 
 
 1 Bancroft. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 3O7 
 
 had warned the Ministers. The non-intercourse poHcy of the 
 Colonies met with his hearty approval, and he was a witness to 
 its good effect in the growing uneasiness and alarm with which 
 the English merchants viewed the falling off of their American 
 trade. 
 
 The demand for the repeal of the Stamp Act came soon, and 
 was supported by Pitt, Burke, and the other friends of the Col- 
 onies in Parliament, and without the walls of St. Stephen's by 
 the merchants of all England. The Ministers and Parliament 
 had already begun to waver ; but before yielding, they wished 
 to ascertain from competent witnesses the exact temper and 
 disposition of the Americans. All turned to Dr. Franklin as 
 the one most capable of supplying this information, and he was 
 summoned to appear at the bar of the House of Commons. He 
 appeared in answer to the summons on the 13th of February, 
 1766. His position was trying and delicate. He was to speak 
 for his country, and he must make the sentiment of America 
 so plain that Parliament could not mistake it. At the same 
 time, he must beware of uttering a word that could offend the 
 dignity of the British Government, or injure the cause of his 
 country. He had need of all his firmness and self-possession, 
 and of his courage also, as his answers might bring upon him 
 the anger of the Government. He was questioned by Gren- 
 ville and Charles Townsend, and several friends of the adminis- 
 tration, and answered readily and calmly. 
 
 In answer to the questions asked him, Franklin told the 
 Commons that the Colonists could not pay for the stamps, as 
 there was not gold and silver enough in America for that pur- 
 pose; that they had incurred more than their share of the 
 expenses of the last war, for which Great Britain had not re- 
 imbursed them ; that they were still burdened with heavy 
 debts contracted in the prosecution of this war; that they were 
 well disposed towards Great Britain prior to 1763, and consid- 
 ered Parliament as "the great bulwark and security of their 
 liberties and privileges ; but that now their temper was much 
 altered, and their respect for it lessened ; and if the act is not 
 repealed, the consequence would be a total loss of the respect 
 and affection they bore to this country, and of all the com- 
 merce that depended on that respect and affection." 
 
308 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 "Do you think it right," asked Grenville, "that America 
 should be protected by this country, and pay no part of the 
 expense ?' "That is not the case," answered Frankhn ; "the 
 Colonies raised, clothed, and paid during the last war twenty- 
 five thousand men, and spent many millions." "Were you not 
 reimbursed by Parliament ?" asked Grenville. "Only what in 
 your opinion," replied Franklin, " we had advanced beyond 
 our proportion ; and it was a very small part of what we spent. 
 Pennsylvania, in particular, disbursed about five hundred thou- 
 sand pounds, and the reimbursement, in the whole, did not 
 exceed sixty thousand pounds." 
 
 "Do you think the people of America would submit to pay 
 the Stamp Duty if it was moderated ?" "No ; never. They 
 will never submit to it." "May not a military force," asked one 
 of the Ministers, "carry the Stamp Act into execution ?" 
 "Suppose a military force sent to America," answered Frank- 
 lin ; "they will find nobody in arms ; what are they then to do ? 
 They cannot force a man to take stamps who chooses to do 
 without them. They will not find a rebellion: they may in- 
 deed make one." 
 
 "How would the Americans receive a future tax, imposed on 
 the same principle with that of the Stamp Act ?" "Just as they 
 do this ; they would not pay it." "What will be the opinion 
 of the Americans on the resolutions of this House and the 
 House of Lords, asserting the right of Parliament to tax the 
 people there ?" "They will think the resolutions unconstitu- 
 tional and unjust." "How would they receive an internal reg- 
 ulation connected with a tax ?" "It would be objected to. 
 When aids to the crown are wanted, they are, according to the 
 old established usage, to be asked of the Assemblies, who will, 
 as they have always done, grant them freely. They think it 
 extremely hard that a body in which they have no representa- 
 tives should make a merit of giving and granting what is not 
 its own, but theirs ; and deprive them of a right which is the 
 security of all their other rights." 
 
 " But if the Legislature should think fit to ascertain its right 
 to lay taxes, by any act laying a small tax, contrary to their 
 opinion, would they submit to pay the tax ?" " An internal 
 tax," said Franklin, " how small soever, laid by the Legislature 
 
BANJAMIN FRANKLIN. 3O9 
 
 here, on the people there, will never be submitted to. They 
 will oppose it to the last." " The people," he answered again 
 to the same question under many forms, " the people will pay 
 no internal tax by Parliament." 
 
 " Is there any kind of difference," asked Grenville, " between 
 external and internal taxes, to the Colony on which they may 
 be laid?" "The people may refuse commodities, of which the 
 duty makes a part of the price ; but an internal tax is forced 
 from them without their consent. The Stamp Act says, we 
 shall have no commerce ; make no exchange of property with 
 each other ; neither purchase, nor grant, nor record debts ; nor 
 marry, nor make our wills, unless we pay such and such sums ; 
 and thus it is intended to extort our money from us, or ruin us 
 by the consequences of refusing to pay it." " But suppose," 
 continued the Ministry, " the external duty be laid on the 
 necessaries of life." The answer of Franklin startled the 
 house. " I do not know," he said, " a single article imported 
 into the Northern Colonies, but what they can either do with- 
 out, or make themselves. The people will spin and work for 
 themselves, in their own houses. In three years there may be 
 wool and manufactures enough." 
 
 " Does the distinction between internal and external taxes 
 exist in the charter of Pennsylvania ?" asked a friend of Gren- 
 ville. " No," said Franklin, " I believe not." " Then," con- 
 tinued the interrogator, " may they not, by the same interpre- 
 tation of their common rights as Englishmen, as declared by 
 Magna Charta and the Petition of Right, object to the Parlia- 
 ment's right of external taxation ?" " They never have hitherto," 
 answered Franklin quickly. " Many arguments have been 
 lately used here to show them that there is no difference, and 
 that, if you have no right to tax them internally, you have 
 none to tax them externally, or to make any other law to bind 
 them. At present they do not reason so ; but in time they 
 may be convinced by these arguments." ^ 
 
 Franklin's testimony was conclusive. The Stamp Act was 
 repealed. 
 
 The conduct of Franklin and his answers during his examin- 
 ation were warmly endorsed by his countrymen. They drew 
 
 "^ Bancroft' s History of the United States. Vol. V., pp. 428-433. 
 
3IO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 upon him the hostility of the Ministers and their supporters, 
 however, as it was very plain that his sympathies were with his 
 oppressed country. In October, 1770, the Massachusetts As- 
 sembly elected him the agent of the Colony. " The difficult 
 service demanded of him by the Colony of his nativity was 
 rendered with exemplary fidelity and disinterestedness, amidst 
 embarrassments of all kinds." 
 
 Three years later Franklin's fidelity to his trust cost him a 
 sharp and painful trial. He was most energetic in his efforts to 
 turn the British Government from its suicidal course respecting 
 America. In the autumn of 1772, a member of Parliament in- 
 formed him that his opposition to the policy of the Govern- 
 ment was very strange, because every " measure and every 
 grievance complained of took their rise, not from the British 
 Government, but were projected, proposed to the Administra- 
 tion, solicited and obtained by some of the most respectable 
 among the Americans themselves, as necessary for the welfare 
 of that country." Franklin was naturally incredulous, and 
 the member obtained the letters written by Hutchinson, the 
 Governor, Oliver, the Chief Justice, of Massachusetts, and 
 others, urging coercion as the only means of dealing with the 
 Americans. Franklin gave his word not to name the parties 
 from whom the letters were conveyed to him. He was author- 
 ized to send them to America, to be submitted there to the 
 Corresponding Committee of the Massachusetts Assembly, and 
 such others as the Chairman of that Committee might think 
 proper. A perusal of these documents showed Franklin that 
 nearly all the arbitrary measures of the British Government 
 had been suggested by Hutchinson and his colleagues. He at 
 once forwarded the correspondence in an official letter to the 
 Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, in which he publicly 
 accused Hutchinson and the others of attempting to betray the 
 liberties of America. He concealed nothing but the source 
 from which he had obtained the letters. 
 
 The letters were read in the Assembly in secret session, and 
 the House requested the Governor to furnish copies of them. 
 Hutchinson's reply was taken by the House as permission to 
 publish the originals. The letters were thereupon printed and 
 circulated throughout the Colonies. They raised a storm of 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 3II 
 
 indignation before which Hutchinson quailed. Both Houses 
 of the General Court, by a unanimous vote, adopted a petition 
 to the King praying the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver 
 from the Government. The petition was forwarded to Frank- 
 lin, who was ordered to present it to the King. 
 
 The petition reached England in December, 1773, and was 
 delivered by Franklin to Lord Dartmouth, who promised to 
 lay it before the King. The publication of the letters had 
 created no little excitement in England. Hutchinson was un- 
 wearied in his efforts to screen himself from the just reward of his 
 villainy by charging Franklin with having dishonestly obtained 
 the correspondence. He had friends and supporters in Eng- 
 land, who readily joined in the cry, and the press was employed 
 to accuse certain persons of having aided Franklin in his efforts 
 to obtain the letters. The Court, which had all along resented 
 Franklin's firm defense of his country's liberties, viewed the 
 exposure of Hutchinson's treachery to Massachusetts with such 
 open disfavor that no one ventured to uphold the act. The 
 member of Parliament who had given him the letters refused 
 to allow his name to be disclosed ; and to put a stop to the 
 quarrels which were growing out of the act, Franklin assumed 
 the entire responsibility of the exposure, which every one else 
 was anxious to deny. " I alone am the person," said he, "who 
 obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters in question." 
 
 This bold assumption drew upon him the rage of the entire 
 Court party, which had now an opportunity to punish him for 
 his opposition to their unjust treatment of his country. He 
 was openly threatened with dismissal from his office, arrest, 
 imprisonment at Newgate, and a prosecution for treason 
 Even the public sentiment, which had been greatly embittered 
 by the refusal of the Americans to allow the tea to be landed, 
 turned against him. All this because he had merely done his 
 duty in exposing a conspiracy against the liberties of the prov- 
 ince of which he was the sworn agent. 
 
 The hearing of the petition was set down for the 29th of Jan- 
 uary. On that day Franklin, accompanied by counsel, ap- 
 peared before the Privy Council in behalf of the petition 
 Hutchinson and Oliver were represented by Mauduit, and by 
 Wedderburn, the Solicitor General. The case was opened by 
 
312 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Dunning and Lee, the counsel of Franklin, who showed the 
 cause of the petition, and when they closed, it was the opinion 
 of the Council that Hutchinson ought to be removed. Wed- 
 derburn, who sought only the favor of the King, adroitly 
 changed the issue, and embarked in a denunciation of Frank- 
 lin. His speech was a tissue of falsehood and coarse abuse, 
 and he so thoroughly aroused the prejudices of the Lords of 
 Council, that he was openly encouraged by the laughter and 
 plaudits of this body, "which professed to be sitting in 
 judgment as the highest Court of Appeal for the Colonies." 
 "Meantime the gray-haired Franklin, whom Kant, the noblest 
 philosopher of that age, had called the modern Prometheus, 
 stood conspicuously erect, confronting his vilifier and the 
 Privy Council, compelled to listen while calumny, in the ser- 
 vice of lawless force, aimed a death-blow at his honor." As 
 he left the chamber, the outraged statesman said to Dr. Priestly, 
 who was one of the audience, "I have never been so sensible 
 to the power of a good conscience ; for if I had not considered 
 the thing for which I have been so much insulted as one of 
 the best actions of my life, and what I should certainly do 
 again in the same circumstances, I could not have supported 
 it." The Royal Government followed up its brutal treatment 
 of Franklin by dismissing him from his office of Deputy Post- 
 master General for the Colonies. The American postal ser- 
 vice "had yielded no revenue till he organized it, and yielded 
 none after his dismissal." The King refused to entertain the 
 petition of Massachusetts. 
 
 Rising superior to all personal considerations, Franklin de- 
 cided to retain his place in England. During his whole 
 residence in that country, he had labored earnestly for concili- 
 ation, and all the trouble that had occurred had grown out of 
 the Government's neglect of his advice. The introduction of 
 the Boston Port Bill, and the other measures which accompa- 
 nied it, showed him that the crisis was at hand in the contro- 
 versy between the Colonies and the Crown. He would make 
 one more effort to effect a peaceful settlement, though he had 
 little hope of being able to do so. He sincerely desired the 
 continuance of the connection between America and Great 
 Britain, but only upon terms consistent with the freedom and 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 313 
 
 honor of his country. He was constantly appealed to by 
 Lord North and his supporters to know the demands and sen- 
 timents of the Americans. He made these so clear that there 
 was no excuse for the Ministiy if they failed to understand 
 them. He received and presented the petition addressed to 
 the King by the Continental Congress' in 1774, which was 
 coldly received and thrown aside by the sovereign. His con- 
 tinued residence in London was not without personal risk. He 
 was regarded by the aristocratic party as one of the most reso- 
 lute of the "rebellious Americans," and had no certainty how 
 long he might continue to enjoy his liberty. It was believed 
 by the Ministry that he had secret instructions to modify 
 the conditions proposed by the Congress for reconciliation, and 
 Lord Howe undertook to ascertain the extent of his powers. 
 "If you will indulge me with your ideas," said Howe, "I may 
 be the means of bringing on a good understanding." Tears 
 of joy started from Franklin's eyes at this prospect of a settle- 
 ment. "With firmness, candor, and strict fidelity to Congress, 
 he explained the measures by which alone tranquility could 
 be restored. * * The repeal of the acts complained of; 
 the removal of the fleet and the troops from Boston ; and a 
 voluntary recall of some oppressive measures which the Col- 
 onists had passed over in silence ; leaving the questions which 
 related to aids, general commerce, and reparation to the India 
 Company, to be arranged at the next general Congress." 
 Nothing came of this interview. The offers of Congress were 
 rejected, and the British Government proceeded to drive the 
 Colonies into armed resistance. 
 
 Franklin continued to labor in behalf of an equitable settle- 
 ment, long after the harsh treatment of Massachusetts, the 
 military occupation of Boston, the closing of that port and 
 other repressive measures had destroyed in his breast all hope 
 of a peaceful adjustment. Lord North shrank from carrying 
 out measures from which his better nature revolted, and vainly 
 sought to draw Franklin into a compromise. The American 
 knew that his countrymen would not abate their claims. In 
 February, 1775, he said to the agents of Lord North, "While 
 Parliament c;laims the right of altering American constitutions 
 at pleasure, there can be no agreement, for we are rendered 
 
314 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 unsafe in every privilege." "An agreement is necessary for 
 America," said the agents of the Prime Minister ; "it is so 
 easy for Britain to burn all your seaport towns." "My little 
 property," said Franklin calmly, " consists of houses in those 
 towns. You may make bonfires of them whenever you please; 
 the fear of losing them will never alter my resolution to resist 
 to the last the claim of Parliament." 
 
 At last, satisfied that he could no longer serve his country in 
 England, and that his presence was now needed in America, 
 he determined to go home. He passed a large part of his last 
 day in London with Edmund Burke, and in his conversation 
 with him sincerely lamented the approaching separation of 
 America from England, which he saw was inevitable. "Burke 
 revered Franklin to the last, foretold the steady brightening of 
 his fame, and drew from his integrity the pleasing hope of ulti- 
 mate peace." Hastening to Portsmouth, he embarked on the 
 2 1st of March for Philadelphia, and was at sea before his de- 
 parture from London was known. He reached Philadelphia 
 early in May, 1775, and was met by the news that the war he 
 had so long foreseen, and had labored so anxiously to avert, 
 had begun. He was received with the honors due to his fame 
 and services, and the day after his arrival was elected by the 
 Assembly a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Continental 
 Congress. 
 
 He was a most valuable and timely acquisition to that body, 
 which was deluding itself with the vain hope that an honorable 
 settlement might even yet be effected. He knew, no man bet- 
 ter, that every means of peaceful entreaty had been exhausted ; 
 that the British Ministry had deliberately chosen its part, and 
 that America must choose between armed resistance and inde- 
 pendence and abject submission and slavery. He was decided 
 in his opinions and frank in expressing them ; yet he made no 
 effort to hasten the decision of Congress, " wishing rather to 
 leave that body to pursue its own plans, unbiased by his com- 
 plaints or persuasions. Yet he never hesitated to support the 
 boldest measures, and to reprove irresoluteness and delay." 
 He saw that independence was certain, and he wished it to 
 come as " the spontaneous action of a united people." The 
 resolution and steadiness shown by the troops at Bunker Hill 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 315 
 
 removed his last fear. " Americans will fight," he wrote to his 
 friends in London ; " England has lost her Colonies forever." 
 He warmly approved the plan of Samu^ Adams for a confeder- 
 ation of the Colonies. " If none of the rest will join," said 
 Adams, " I will endeavor to unite the New England Colonies 
 in confederating." " I approve your proposal," said Franklin, 
 " and if you succeed, I will cast in my lot among you." He 
 formed one of the Committee sent by Congress in October, 
 1775, to induce the troops before Boston to continue their en- 
 listments. His mission was successful, and his presence was 
 hailed with delight by the army. 
 
 Franklin earnestly supported the proposition for a Declara- 
 tion of Independence, and was placed on the Committee 
 appointed to prepare that instrument. He sustained it in Con- 
 gress, voted for it, and affixed his signature to it on the 4th of 
 July, 1776. 
 
 He was one of the Committee appointed by Congress to 
 confer with Lord Howe. The meeting took place on the i ith 
 of September, 1776, but it resulted only in making plainer the 
 determination of the Ministry to subjugate America. 
 
 In July, 1776, Dr. Franklin was called upon to preside over 
 the Convention which met to organize a government for the 
 State of Pennsylvania. His influence over the Convention in- 
 duced that body to adopt his favorite theory of a plural execu- 
 tive ; but the subsequent experience of the State compelled it 
 to abandon it, and substitute a single governor. 
 
 Franklin had believed from the first that it would be neces- 
 sary for the United States to seek the assistance of some for- 
 eign power. He turned to Holland, as the natural enemy of 
 Great Britain, and as the power whose own example of success- 
 ful resistance was calculated to afford the greatest encourage- 
 ment to America. In the winter of 1775, with the approval of 
 Congress, he opened a correspondence with that country, 
 which he conducted with great ability and judgment. By the 
 close of the year 1776, the affairs of America had assumed so 
 desperate a condition that Congress resolved to make an ap- 
 peal to France for aid. It was well known that the French 
 Government desired the separation of America from Britain as 
 the best means of crippling the latter, and secret hopes of assist- 
 
3l6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ance had already been held out to Congress. Franklin was 
 regarded as of all others the man best fitted for the difficult task 
 of sustaining the American cause abroad, and was appointed by 
 Congress Commissioner Plenipotentiary to the Court of France. 
 He was nearly seventy-one years old, and had reached a time 
 of life when most men are anxious lay aside the cares and toils 
 of the world. He did not hesitate to accept the appointment ; 
 he regarded his life, his fortune, all that he possessed as his 
 country's, and was willing that she should use him and them 
 as she thought best. Silas Deane and Arthur Lee were associ- 
 ated with him as Commissioners. 
 
 Franklin soon made his preparations for his voyage, and 
 before setting out deposited in the hands of Congress all the 
 money he could raise, amounting to between three and four 
 thousand pounds, as his contribution towards the expenses of 
 the contest, and as an example to his countrymen. In Octo- 
 ber, 1776, he set sail in the privateer " Reprisal." The voyage 
 consumed thirty days, and was very stormy; the ship was 
 several times chased by British cruisers, and captured two 
 British brigantines as prizes. On the 7th of December the 
 Reprisal entered the port of Nantes, and landed her illustrious 
 passenger. 
 
 The news of Franklin's arrival in France took all Europe 
 by surprise. No notice of his intended voyage had preceded 
 him, and no one knew the nature of his mission. It was ru- 
 mored in England that he had given up the struggle in despair, 
 and had sought safety in France. Edmund Burke indignantly 
 denounced the report. " I will never believe," he said, " that 
 he is going to conclude a long life, which has brightened every 
 hour it has continued, with so foul and dishonorable a flight." 
 Franklin remained for a week or two at the residence of a 
 friend near Nantes, resting from the fatigues of his voyage, 
 and during this period curiosity respecting the object of his 
 visit was at its height. He declared that, in spite of their re- 
 verses, his countrymen were firm in their determination to 
 continue the war, and that they would persevere until inde- 
 pendence crowned their efforts. These sayings were repeated 
 enthusiastically by the French, who had for sometime been 
 apprehensive of the effect of their disasters upon the patriots. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 31/ 
 
 On the 2 1st of December Franklin reached Paris. With 
 characteristic good sense he forbore to embarrass the French 
 Court by assuming a public character at first, and for the time 
 appeared to give himself up to pursuits congenial to his tastes. 
 His welcome was cordial and gratifying from all classes. His 
 fame as a philosopher, his genial disposition, his easy and dig- 
 nified manners, his simple attire, and his habit of wearing his 
 straight, thin, gray hair without powder, made him a marked 
 man even in the brilliant society of the French capital. " The 
 venerable impersonation of the republics of antiquity seemed 
 to have come to accept the homage of the gay capital." He 
 was overwhelmed with attentions from the learned, the no- 
 bility, and the common people. He became the most popular 
 man in Paris, and the cordial friendship which the French 
 people conceived for him went beyond him, and embraced also 
 the cause for which he had come to 'f)lead. It became fashion- 
 able to sympathize with the "insurgents," as the Americans 
 were called by the French, and those Frenchmen who had 
 begun already to dream of liberty declared that the cause of 
 America was the cause of France, since it was the cause of all 
 mankind. 
 
 On the morning of the 28th of December, the three Com- 
 missioners waited, by appointment, upon the Count de Ver- 
 gennes, the Prime Minister. He assured them of the sympa- 
 thy of France with their cause, and held out a hope that active 
 aid would be extended to the States at the proper time. He 
 desired that their intercourse might be strictly secret for the 
 present, but added that, as France and Spain were perfectly in 
 accord, they might communicate with the Spanish Ambassa- 
 dor. The next day the Commissioners had an interview with 
 the Count de Aranda, the Spanish Ambassador. The Count 
 hated England most bitterly, and warmly approved of active 
 measures in favor of the Americans, but his views were un- 
 heeded at Madrid. Franklin's sagacity comprehended the 
 whole matter, and he viewed, with no favor, the departure o^ 
 Arthur Lee, early in 1777, for Madrid. 
 
 The confidence inspired by Franklin soon induced the 
 French Government to grant substantial aid to the Commis- 
 sioners. On the 1 6th of January the sum of half a million of 
 
3l8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 livres was paid to the bankers of the Commissioners, and was 
 expend*ed by the latter in fitting out ships loaded with military 
 supplies for America. A similar sum was paid quarterly to 
 the Commissioners, and applied in the same way. These ad- 
 vances Congress was to return in shipments of tobacco and 
 other American produce. Still the French Court acted with 
 reserve and discretion. American privateers were permitted 
 to bring their prizes into the ports of the kingdom, and ves- 
 sels were allowed to depart constantly with supplies for the 
 American army. The Government ardently wished the dis- 
 memberment of the British empire, but it shrank from going 
 to war with its old enemy in this cause. The American cause 
 seemed too hopeless yet, and open assistance could not be given 
 until it was plain that Great Britain could never recover her 
 Colonies. 
 
 Meantime Franklin, while continuing his secret intercourse 
 with Vergennes, devoted himself to the society of learned 
 men, and to scientific pursuits. The attention which was paid 
 him and the popularity he enjoyed, gratified him very much, 
 but did not change "the even tenor of his way." The sterling 
 virtues of his character, as they became better known, deep- 
 ened his hold upon the French, and confirmed their attach- 
 ment to him. 
 
 In a short while came the news of the brilliant victories of 
 Trenton and Princeton. It was received with delight in France, 
 and Washington was extolled as the American Fabius. " No- 
 thing," said the Count de Vergennes, -later on, "has struck me 
 so much as General Washington's attacking and giving battle 
 to General Howe's army. To bring troops raised within the 
 year to this, promises everything." Early in December the 
 news of the capture of Burgoyne and his army reached Paris, 
 and threw that city into transports of joy. Together with the 
 evidences of the determination of the British Government to 
 hold out the olive branch to the Americans, this success put 
 an end to the hesitation of the French Court. The Ameri- 
 cans had shown themselves fully able to maintain their posi- 
 tion, and if France was to help them at all, she must do so at 
 once. On the I2th of December, 1777, the American Com- 
 missioners had an interview with the Count de Vergennes, and 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 3I9 
 
 were informed by hirs that the King of France had concluded 
 to acknowledge and support the independence of the United 
 States. On the 6th of February, 1778, a treaty of friendship 
 and commerce, and a second treaty of defensive alliance, were 
 concluded between the King of France and the United States. 
 
 While the British Government was laboring under the em- 
 barrassment of proposing conciliatory measures to the Ameri- 
 cans, Franklin, in this same month of February, won another 
 triumph for his country in gaining for it the powerful sympathy 
 of Voltaire, and so "placed the public opinion of philosophi- 
 cal France conspicuously on the side of America. No man 
 of that century so embodied the idea of toleration as Voltaire; 
 for fame he was unequalled among living men of letters; for 
 great age he was venerable; he, more than Louis the Sixteenth, 
 more than the cabinet of the King, represented France of that 
 day; and now he was come up to Paris, bent with years, to 
 receive before his death the homage of the people. Wide 
 indeed was the difference between him and America. ' I have 
 done more in my day than Luther or Calvin,' was his boast; 
 and America, which was reverently Protestant, and through 
 Protestantism established not the toleration, but the equality 
 of all churches and opinions, did not count him among her 
 teachers. He had given out that if there was not a God, it 
 would be necessary to invent him; and America held that any 
 god of man's invention is an idol ; that God must be worshiped 
 in truth as well as in spirit. But for the moment America and 
 Voltaire were on one side; and before he had been a week in 
 Paris, Franklin claimed leave to wait upon him. We have 
 Voltaire's own account of the interview. Franklin bade his 
 grandson demand the benediction of the more than octoge- 
 narian, and in the presence of more than twenty persons, he 
 gave it in these words : ' God and Liberty !' Everywhere 
 Voltaire appeared as the friend of America." 
 
 On the 20th of March, 1778, the American Commissioners 
 were presented to the King at Versailles, The colleagues of 
 Franklin appeared in the elaborate court dress of the day, but 
 the philosopher was clad in a plain dress coat of Manchester 
 velvet, with white stockings, and a round white hat under his 
 arm, his spectacles on his nose, and his thin gray hair in its 
 
320 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 natural state. The courtiers hailed him with delight, but the 
 King, who regarded his assistance to America as a wrong done 
 to the cause of monarchy, and had consented to it only in 
 deference to the judgment of his ministers, was merely polite 
 to the Commissioners. At heart he resented the influence exer- 
 cised by Franklin upon his people, and the praises showered 
 upon the philosopher fretted him and provoked him to out- 
 bursts of peevishness. 
 
 " The official conduct of Franklin and his intercourse with 
 persons of the highest rank," says Bancroft, " were marked by 
 the most delicate propriety, as well as by perfect self respect. 
 His charm was simplicity, which gave grace to his style and 
 ease to his manners. No life-long courtier could have been 
 more free from vulgarity ; no diplomatist more true to his 
 position as minister of a republic ; no laborer more consistent 
 with his former life as a working man ; and thus he won re- 
 spect and love from all. When a celebrated case was to be 
 heard before the Parliament of Paris, the throng which filled 
 the house and its approaches opened a way on his appearance, 
 and he passed through to the seat reserved for him amidst the 
 acclamations of the people. At the opera, at the theatre, simi- 
 lar honors were paid to him. * * * Throughout Europe there 
 was scarcely a citizen or a peasant of any culture who was not 
 familiar with his name, and who did not consider him as a 
 friend to all men. At the academy D'Alembert addressed 
 him as the man who had wrenched the thunderbolt from the 
 clould, the sceptre from tyrants ; and both these ideas were of 
 a nature to pass easily into the common mind. From the part 
 which he had taken in the emancipation of America, imagin- 
 ation transfigured him as the man who had separated the Colo- 
 nies from Great Britain, had framed their best constitutions of 
 government, and by counsel and example would show how to 
 abolish all political evil throughout the world. Malesherbes 
 spoke of the excellence of the institutions that permitted a 
 printer, the son of a tallow chandler, to act a great part in 
 public affairs ; and if Malesherbes reasoned so, how much more 
 the workmen of Paris and the people. Thus Franklin was the 
 venerable impersonation of democracy, yet so calmly decorous, 
 so free from a disposition to quarrel with the convictions of 
 
BEN"JAMIN FRANKLIN. 321 
 
 others, that, while he was the dehcrht of free-thinking philoso- 
 phers, he escaped the hatred of the clergy, and his presence ex- 
 cited no jealousy in the old nobility, though sometimes a 
 woman of rank might find fault with his hands and skin, which 
 toiled had imbrowned. * * * He conciliated the most opposite 
 natures ; yet not for himself Whatever favor he met in so- 
 ciety, whatever honor he received from the Academy, whatever 
 respect he gained as a man of science, whatever distinction 
 came to him through the good will of the people, whatever 
 fame he acquired throughout Europe, he turned all to account 
 for the good of his country." 
 
 On the 14th of September, 1778, Congress, tired of the quar- 
 rels of the rival Commissioners, abolished the joint commission 
 of which Franklin had been a member, and appointed him sole 
 minister plenipotentiary at the court of France. In this capac- 
 ity he served the country with ability throughout the remain- 
 der of the war, keeping a watchful eye upon the designs of 
 Spain, and upholding the dignity and honor of his own coun- 
 try. Towards the close of the war Mr. Jay, the unrecognized 
 minister to Spain, Mr. Adams, the minister to Holland, and 
 Henry Laurens, just released from the Tower of London, were 
 appointed with Franklin commissioners to negotiate a peace 
 with Great Britain. 
 
 The growing hostility of the British House of Commons to 
 the war, after the fall of Lord North's Ministry, and the strong 
 leanings of the administration of the Marquis of Rockingham 
 toward peace convinced Franklin that his old friend Lord 
 Shelburne must be a member of the new Cabinet. On the 22d 
 of March, 1782, he sent a letter to Shelburne, who was the 
 Home* Secretary, assuring him of his own undiminished re- 
 spect for his talents and virtues, and expressing the hope that 
 negotiations for a close of the war might be begun. This let- 
 tei led to the opening of negotiations, which were conducted 
 on the part of the United States by Franklin, and on the part 
 of England by Shelburne, whose department still embraced 
 America. The English minister had been one of the earliest 
 and firmest friends of America, and was as sincerely desirous 
 of peace as Franklin. He was satisfied that the time had 
 
 come for England to accept the results of the war, and knew 
 21 
 
322 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 that peace could be had only upon the basis of the independ- 
 ence of the United States. The intermediary between the two 
 statesmen was a Mr. Oswald, an able and upright man and a 
 friend of Shelburne. The negotiations were conducted satisfac- 
 torily for some weeks, and were then interrupted for a time by 
 the efforts of Fox, the British Foreign Secretary, to get the 
 matter under the control of his department. At this juncture 
 the Marquis of Rockingham died, and Shelburne became 
 Prime Minister. On the loth of July, he announced in the 
 House of Lords his intention to make peace with America. 
 
 The negotiations now went on with great activity. Frank- 
 lin stated to Mr. Oswald the conditions which his country 
 would not depart from. They were the recognition of the 
 absolute independence of the thirteen States, and the with- 
 drawal of all the British forces from them ; for boundaries, the 
 Mississippi on the west, and on the east the Canada frontier as 
 it existed before the Quebec act of 1774 ; and the freedom of 
 fishing off Newfoundland, as before the war. The British con- 
 ditions included the payment by the Americans of the debts 
 due by them to British merchants, and the compensation of the 
 American loyalists for the seizure of their property by the 
 American authorities. Franklin was not disposed to grant 
 either of these demands, and would have carried his point had 
 he been sustained by his colleagues ; but Jay and Adams, who 
 arrived in Paris near the close of the negotiation, were in favor 
 of paying the debts contracted before the war, and Franklin 
 finally submitted to their decision. Franklin was more dis- 
 posed than his colleagues to trust to the friendship of France, 
 but was as much determined as either to conduct the negotia- 
 tions directly with Great Britain, and independent 6f the 
 French Government. The progress of the negotiations was 
 not communicated to the Count de Vergennes, and in this res- 
 olution Franklin and Jay were supported by Mr. Adams upon 
 his arrival at Paris. The leading spirit in the negotiation was 
 Franklin. He was firm in his determination to exclude Spain, 
 who wished to use America simply to gain her own ends, alto- 
 gether from the conferences. His general policy was sustained 
 by Adams and Jay, and by Mr. Laurens, who came in at the 
 last moment, and on the 30th of November, 1782, the prelimi- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 323 
 
 nary treaty of peace was signed by the commissioners of the 
 United States and Great Britain. It was made conditional upon 
 a pacification between Great Britain and France. This condi- 
 tion was soon fulfilled by the treaty between the European 
 parties to the war, and the final Treaty of Peace was signed 
 between the United States, France, Spain, and Holland, and 
 Great Britain, on the 30th of September, 1783. 
 
 The war was over, and the great objects for which it had 
 been waged were successfully attained. To this great end none 
 had contributed in a more marked degree than Franklin. "My 
 friend," said he, in his simple, straight-forward way to the 
 Duke of Rochefoucauld, who congratulated him upon the con- 
 clusion of the preliminary treaty, "could I have hoped, at such 
 an age, to have enjoyed so great a happiness?" 
 
 Franklin was now anxious to return to America. His great 
 age and his faithful service entitled him to a season of rest, 
 and now that his country had emerged safely from her trials, 
 he was anxious to withdraw to the peaceful retirement of his 
 own home. He therefore requested Congress to appoint his suc- 
 cessor. Congress answered him by appointing him a member 
 of the Commission, which included John Adams and Thomas 
 Jefferson, to negotiate treaties of commerce with the European 
 powers. He devoted himself with great industry to this task, 
 and at the same time renewed his request for a recall. Con- 
 gress at length granted it, and on the loth of March, 1785, 
 appointed Thomas Jefferson his successor as Minister to France. 
 
 Franklin at once prepared to return home. The news of his 
 intended departure was received with deep regret by the na- 
 tion which had become so much attached to him. On the 12th 
 of July the venerable statesman set out from Passy, where he 
 had resided for some years, on his homeward journey. All 
 the village assembled to bid the noble old man farewell, and 
 to these were added a considerable number of his friends from 
 Paris. When Franklin emerged from the house to enter the 
 traveling litter, which the Queen, with a tender consideration 
 of his age and infirmities, had sent to convey him to Havre, 
 he was received by the assembled throng with an homage as 
 touching as it was sincere. With grateful words he uttered his 
 farewell, and was assisted into the litter, and began his journey, 
 
324 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 followed by the benedictions of his friends and neighbors. 
 " It seemed," said Mr. Jefferson, who witnessed the scene,." as 
 if the village had lost its patriarch." 
 
 Sailing from Havre, Franklin reached Philadelphia in Sep- 
 tember, 1785, and was joyfully welcomed by his fellow citizens. 
 He was soon after elected President of the Supreme Executive 
 Council of Pennsylvania, the chief executive office of the State. 
 He was twice re-elected, his last term expiring in October, 
 1788. He was a delegate to the Federal Convention of 1787, 
 which framed the Constitution of the United States. He did 
 not altogether approve that instrument, but when he found the 
 Convention in favor of its adoption, he decided to sign it, say- 
 ing to his colleagues, " We ought to have but one opinion ; the 
 good of our country requires that the resolution should be 
 unanimous." 
 
 After his withdrawal from office in 1788, he passed the brief 
 remainder of his life in retirement. His family had been 
 broken up by death and by the war. His wife had died some 
 years before, and his only son, who had been the last royalist 
 governor of New Jersey, had adhered to the cause of the King 
 during the Revolution, and was now in England. His remain- 
 ing child, a daughter, married a Mr. Bache of Philadelphia. 
 Her descendants still reside in that city. 
 
 On the 17th of April, 1790, the venerable statesman and 
 philosopher died at Philadelphia, at the age of eighty-four years 
 and three months. Four days later he was interred with pub- 
 lic honors in the northwest corner of Christ churchyard. His 
 grave is marked by a simple slab of marble, bearing the names 
 of himself and his wife. 
 
 The death of Dr. Franklin was deeply lamented on both sides 
 of the Atlantic. Congress ordered a general mourning for him 
 throughout the Union for one month. Funeral orations were 
 pronounced in Paris by order of the municipality. The Na- 
 tional Assembly listened to an eloquent eulogy upon his vir- 
 tues, and ordered that its members should wear mourning for 
 three days, " in commemoration of the event." It was decreed 
 also by the Assembly that a letter of condolence for the irre- 
 parable loss sustained by the United States should be addressed 
 to Congress — an honor never before paid by France to the 
 memory of a citizen of a foreign country. 
 
GENERAL FRANCIS MARION. 
 
FRANCIS MARION. 
 
 AT the repeal of the Edict of Nantes, Gabriel and Louise 
 Marion, a newly married pair, were residing upon their 
 own farm near Rochelle. They were Huguenots of the most 
 uncompromising kind, and no sooner had the Edict been 
 repealed than the husband was warned by the Bishop of the 
 diocese to leave France within ten days, on pain of being pun- 
 ished as a heretic. Converting his property into cash, he fled 
 with his wife to America. Settling in South Carolina, he pur- 
 cased a plantation at Winyah, near Georgetown. By his indus- 
 try and energy he soon built up a comfortable home. His wife 
 bore him several children, the eldest of which was named 
 Gabriel also. This son married a Miss Charlotte Cord^, and 
 by her had six children, all of whom were born on the family 
 estate at Winyah. 
 
 Francis Marion, the youngest of these, was born at Win- 
 yah in the year 1732. His boyhood was passed on the plan- 
 tation, and his education was limited. He manifested such a 
 strong desire to become a sailor that at the age of sixteen he 
 was permitted to ship before the mast on board a vessel bound 
 for the West Indies. The vessel was capsized in a gale, and 
 the crew took to the boat for safety without either food or 
 water. A dog swam off from the vessel and was taken into the 
 boat. He was killed, and his raw flesh furnished the crew with 
 food for seven days, during which all but Marion died of thirst. 
 The boy was rescued by a passing vessel, and soon returned 
 home completely cured of his desire to be a sailor. He now 
 devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, and grew up a planter 
 as his father and grandfather had been. 
 
 In 1759, being then twenty-seven years old, he accepted a 
 lieutenant's commission in a company organized for service 
 against the Cherokees. His captain was William Moultrie, 
 afterwards a general of the Revolution. The troops in this 
 campaign were commanded by Governor Lyttleton. This ex- 
 
 325 
 
326 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 pedition was followed in 1761 by an invasion of the Cherokee 
 country by a force under Colonel Grant. Marion served in this 
 force as a captain. Grant ravaged the Indian country with 
 merciless severity, and Marion's tender sympathies were 
 warmly aroused for the savages. At the close of the campaign 
 the troops were disbanded, and Marion returned to his planta- 
 tion. 
 
 During the controversy between the Colonies and England 
 which preceded the Revolution, Marion's sympathies were 
 with his native country. When the legislature of South Caro- 
 lina, in the spring of 1775, ordered two regiments to be raised, 
 Marion was among the first to volunteer. He was unani- 
 mously chosen a captain in the second regiment, which was 
 commanded by Col. Moultrie. His friend and biographer, 
 Gen. Horry, says that his election was due to his popularity, 
 "for though he was neither handsome, nor witty, nor wealthy, 
 he was universally beloved." He was soon made major of the 
 regiment, which, in the spring of 1776, was sent to Sullivan's 
 Island and ordered to fortify it. In obedience to these orders 
 a strong fort was constructed of palmetto logs, armed with 
 heavy guns, and was named Fort Moultrie, in honor of its 
 commander. On the 2d of June, 1776, the fort was attacked 
 by the British fleet under Sir Peter Parker, and after a stubborn 
 fight repulsed it. Marion was greatly distinguished by his 
 good conduct upon this occasion, and was soon after made 
 Lieutenant Colonel of his regiment, in which capacity he took 
 part in the unfortunate attack upon Savannah by the combined 
 American and French forces under General Lincoln and the 
 Count D'Estaing, in September, 1779. 
 
 Shortly before the investment of Charleston by the British 
 forces. Colonel Marion was dining at the house of a friend in 
 that city. The party at table were drinking so deeply that the 
 Colonel found himself in a fair way to become intoxicated. He 
 determined to withdraw, but his friends would not hear of such 
 a thing. There was but one way to escape, and that was Dy 
 leaping from the window of the room, which was in the second 
 story of the house. Without a moment's hesitation Marion 
 threw up the sash and sprang to the ground, and in so doing 
 fractured his ankle. He was very much laughed at, but the 
 
FRANCIS MARION. 32/ 
 
 accident proved of the greatest benefit to him. Being unfit for 
 duty, he was allowed to retire to his plantation to recover, and 
 during his confinement to his house Charleston was reduced 
 by Sir Henry Clinton. The broken ankle alone saved Marion 
 from sharing the captivity of the garrison. 
 
 The capture of Charleston was followed by the rapid subju- 
 gation of South Carolina. The State was overrun by the 
 British, who established a number of fortified posts within its 
 limits. Tarleton swept rapidly over the State with his splendid 
 cavalry, attacking and mercilessly sabring the small bands of 
 patriots which he encountered. Clinton issued a proclamation 
 threatening to visit the severest punishments upon those who 
 refused to submit to the royal authority, and a little later 
 offered pardon to all who would return to their allegiance and 
 assist in restoring the authority of the King. The measures of 
 the British commander were so successful, and South Carolina 
 was so completely subjugated, that early in June Sir Henry 
 Clinton sailed for New York, leaving Lord Cornwallis to com- 
 plete the work of conquest. The country abounded in Tories, 
 who rendered active assistance to the British, and large num- 
 bers of negroes deserted their masters and went over to the 
 enemy. All active opposition on the part of the Americans 
 ceased, and the people prepared to make their peace with the 
 royal authorities. The patriot cause seemed hopelessly lost in 
 South Carolina. 
 
 Matters were in this desperate state when Colonel Marion, 
 still suffering from his hurt, set out from his plantation, accom- 
 panied by a negro servant, to join the little army collecting in 
 North Carolina under DeKalb. On his way he fell in with his 
 friend, Colonel Peter Horry, with whom he continued his jour- 
 ney. Neither had a farthing in his pocket, but Marion was full 
 of hope. " Our happy days are not all gone," he said to his 
 friend. " On the contrary the victory is still sure. The enemy, 
 it is true, have all the trumps in their hands, and if they had but 
 spirit to play a generous game, would certainly ruin us. But they 
 have no idea of that game ; but will treat the people cruelly. 
 And that one thing imll ruin them and save America!' Reaching 
 Hillsborough they were met by the news that Gates was com- 
 ing to take command of the army, and would bring reinforce- 
 
328 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ments and supplies with him. They were presented by a friend 
 to the Baron DeKalb, who offered them positions on his staff 
 as supernumerary aides-de-camp. 
 
 As Gates prepared to advance upon the enemy, Marion and 
 Horry were despatched by him to break up aU the boats on 
 the Santee river. Gates, vain of his triumph at Saratoga, never 
 learned how little he was responsible for that success, and now 
 imagined that an easy victory over Cornvvallis was in store for 
 him. In vain DeKalb remonstrated with him upon the folly 
 of assuming the offensive with an army so utterly unsuited to 
 such a course, and so greatly inferior to the enemy. Gates 
 would take no advice from any one, and in his self-conceit im- 
 agined his victory sure. His object in sending Marion and 
 Horry to break up the boats on the Santee was to destroy 
 Cornwallis's means of escaping across that river. 
 
 Marion and his friend set out on the morning of the 15th of 
 April, 1780, and that night the army began its advance to- 
 wards Camden. They were joined along the route by a number 
 of gentlemen who had been driven, as Marion had predicted, 
 by the cruelty of the British, to take up arms, and were busily 
 engaged in their boat burning, when they were met by an 
 uncle of Colonel Horry, who informed them of the disastrous 
 defeat of Gates at Camden, and the death of the heroic Baron 
 DeKalb. He also warned them that a force of Tories was 
 collecting in the neighborhood for the purpose of attacking 
 them. 
 
 Without a moment's hesitation Marion ordered the troops 
 to move forward at a gallop, and dashed into the swamp. 
 Having reached a place of safety, he halted the men, and in 
 one of those brief but eloquent appeals for which he was fa- 
 mous, informed them of his determination to fight to the bit- 
 ter end. " I want to know your minds," he said in conclusion. 
 " As to my own, that has long been made up. I consider my 
 life as but a moment. But I also consider that to fill that 
 moment with duty, is my all. To guard my innocent country 
 against the evils of slavery, seems now my greatest duty ; and, 
 therefore, I am determined that, while I live, she shall never 
 be enslaved. She may come to that wretched state for what I 
 know, but my eyes shall never behold it. Nevea shall she 
 
FRANCIS MARION. 329 
 
 clank her chains in my ears, and pointing to the ignominious 
 badge, exclaim, 'it was your cowardice that brought we to this.' " 
 With enthusiasm the warm-hearted Carolinians swore they 
 would stand by him to the last, and with the same impulse 
 declared him their leader. They were thirty in all, men of the 
 best families of the State, armed with muskets and swords, 
 and well mounted, but almost without powder and ball. Such 
 was the origin of the famous " Light Brigade," as true a band 
 of heroes as ever drew a sword. 
 
 A rendezvous was appointed at Snow's Island, in the deep 
 recesses of the swamps between the Pedee and the Santee. 
 It was easily reached by the members of the band, who were 
 well acquainted with the mazes of the swamps, but was inac- 
 cessible to the enemy and easily defended against them, 
 Marion knew that everything depended upon his activity, and 
 he had scarcely organized his band when he dealt the enemy 
 a sudden and unexpected blow. 
 
 His scouts reported that a British force of ninety men, with 
 a large number of American prisoners, was on its way from 
 Camden to Charleston, and he resolved to rescue the prisoners. 
 He surprised the enemy in a night attack, made prisoners of 
 all but three, who were killed, and restored the captive Ameri- 
 cans to liberty. He was in hopes that the men whom he had 
 rescued would join his band, but to his disgust not a man of 
 them was willing to take up arms again. All regarded the 
 cause as lost. 
 
 This success enabled Marion to arm his men with the wea- 
 pons and equipments taken from the enemy, and to have a 
 surplus from which to provide for recruits who might join him. 
 A few days later he surprised and captured a company of forty- 
 nine Tories, without their firing a shot. Over thirty were 
 killed or captured by his men, and the arms, ammunition and 
 horses of the whole party fell into his hands. He now pro- 
 ceeded to remedy his deficiency in swords by buying up all 
 the old saw-blades from the mills, from which the smiths made 
 a supply of formidable broad-swords, which did good execu- 
 tion upon the enemy. 
 
 The news of these daring exploits astounded the British 
 commanders, who had supposed that all resistance was at 
 
330 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 an end, and as greatly encouraged the patriots, who began to 
 take heart. Governor Rutledge sent Marion a commission as 
 Brigadier-General in the State forces. Recruits were attracted 
 to the brigade by its daring and brilliant exploits, and Marion 
 ere long found himself at the head of a force of two hundred 
 men. 
 
 From this time Marion's activity was unceasing. One day 
 he would deal the enemy a staggering blow in one part of the 
 State, and the next day would fall like a thunderbolt upon 
 another force of British or Tories in another part of the country, 
 miles away from the scene of the former attack. The enemy 
 never knew when to expect him, and his movements were so 
 secret and rapid that it was useless to attempt to surprise him. 
 He seemed to be everywhere, and his men performed prodigies 
 of valor. Greatly superior forces were sent against him, but 
 were surprised and driven back with heavy loss. A strong 
 party under Major Gainey was once sent after him, but was 
 routed by an inferior force, and Gainey fled into Georgetown 
 with the bayonet of Sergeant Macdonald, of Marion's brigade, 
 sticking in his back. Not a week passed without one or more 
 encounters between the Light Brigade and the enemy, in 
 which success was invariably with the former. Marion's men 
 were nearly all members of the better class of Carolinians, and 
 were splendidly mounted and well armed, though generally in 
 rags and often half starved. As a rule, however, they were 
 well fed ; for the patriotic planters kept open house for the 
 Light Brigade, and the Tories were forced to contribute liber- 
 ally to the commissariat of the brigade. The splendid example 
 of Marion caused others to take heart, and armed bands sprang 
 up in every quarter of the State. " Colonel Marion," says 
 Cornwallis, " so wrought up the minds of the people that there 
 was scarcely an inhabitant between the Pedee and the Santee 
 that was not in arms against us. Some of the parties even 
 crossed the Santee and carried terror to the gates of Charles- 
 ton." 
 
 Marion was a man of strong, kindly feelings, of pure morals 
 and great humanity. He compelled his men to scrupulously 
 respect private property, and no planter ever had cause to com- 
 plain of violence or injury at the hands of the Light Brigade. 
 
FRANCIS MARION. 331 
 
 He never allowed his prisoners to be treated unkindly, and dis- 
 countenanced the refusal of his men to give quarter to the Tor- 
 ies. His nephew, who was a lieutenant in his command, was 
 taken prisoner in a skirmish, and was brutally murdered after 
 his capture. Not long afterwards a mulatto fellow was taken 
 by Marion's men, and as he was supected of being one of those 
 who had murdered the General's nephew, he was shot. Marion 
 sternly rebuked the killing of the man. He said " he truly 
 lamented the untimely death of his nephew ; and that he had 
 been told this poor man was his murderer; but that, as a 
 prisoner, his life ought to have been held most sacred — especi- 
 ally as the charge against him was without evidence, and, 
 perhaps, no better than conjecture. As to my nephew," he 
 continued, " I believe he was cruelly murdered ; but living 
 virtuously, as he did, and then dying fighting for the rights of 
 man, he is no doubt happy ; and this is my comfort." He se- 
 verely reprimanded the sergeant of the guard for not having 
 killed the man who shot the mulatto. 
 
 Though brave as a lion, full of resources, and the first par- 
 tisan officer of his day, Marion was as simple and unpretend- 
 ing as a child in his manner and habits. He was enthusiasti- 
 cally beloved by his men, who willingly followed wherever he 
 chose to lead. He was prudent as well as daring, and was 
 exceedingly careful of his men. 
 
 General Horry relates the following anecdote, which shows 
 the character of the patriot soldier in its happiest light: "About 
 this time we received a flag of truce from the enemy in George- 
 town ; the object of which was to make some arrangements 
 about the exchange of prisoners. The flag, after the usual 
 ceremony of blindfolding, was conducted into Marion's en- 
 campment. Having heard great talk about General Marion, 
 his fancy had, naturally enough, sketched out for him some 
 stout figure of a warrior, such as O'Hara or Cornwallis him- 
 self, of martial aspect and flaming regimentals. But what was 
 his surprise when led into Marion's presence, and the bandage 
 was taken from his eyes, he beheld in our hero a swarthy, 
 smoke-dried little man, with scarce enough of threadbare home- 
 spun to cover his nakedness; and in place of tall ranks of 
 gaily dressed soldiers, a handful of sunburnt, yellow-legged 
 
332 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 militia men ; some roasting potatoes, and some asleep with 
 their black firelocks and powder-horns lying by them on the 
 logs. Having recovered a little fi^om his surprise, he presented 
 his letter to General Marion, who perused it, and soon settled 
 everything to his satisfaction. The officer took up his hat to 
 retire. 
 
 " ' Oh no !' said Marion ; ' it is now about our time of dining ; 
 and I hope, sir, you will give us the pleasure of your company 
 to dinner.' 
 
 "At mention of the word dinner, the British officer looked 
 around him; but to his great mortification, could see no sign 
 of a pot, pan, Dutch oven, or any other cooking utensil that 
 could raise the spirits of a hungry man. 
 
 '"Well, Tom,' said the General to one of his men, 'come, 
 give us our dinner.' 
 
 "The dinner to which he alluded was no other than a heap 
 of sweet potatoes that were very snugly roasting under the 
 embers, and which Tom, with his pine-stick poker, soon liber- 
 ated from their ashy confinement; pinching them every now 
 and then with his fingers, especially the big ones, to see whether 
 they were well done or not. Then having cleansed off the 
 ashes, partly by blowing them with his breath, and partly by 
 brushing them with the sleeve of his old cotton shirt, he piled 
 some of the best on a large piece of bark, and placed them 
 between the British officer and Marion, on the trunk of the 
 fallen pine on which they sat. 
 
 " ' I fear, sir,' said the general, ' our dinner will not prove so 
 palatable to you as I could wish ; but it is the best we have.' 
 
 " The officer, who was a well-bred man, took up one of the 
 potatoes and affected to feed, as if he had found a great dainty ; 
 but it was very plain that he ate more from good manners than 
 good appetite. Presently he broke out into a hearty laugh. 
 Marion looked surprised. ' I beg your pardon. General,' said 
 he ; ' but one cannot, you know, always command his conceits. 
 I was thinking how drolly some of my brother officers would 
 look if our government were to give them such a bill of fare 
 as this.' 
 
 " ' I suppose,' said Marion, ' it is not equal to theis style of 
 dining-.' 
 
FRANCIS MARION. 333 
 
 " ' No, indeed,' quoth the officer ; ' and this, I imagine, is one 
 of your accidental Lent dinners ; a sort of ban yan. In general, 
 no doubt, you live a great deal better.' 
 
 " ' Rather worse,' answered the General ; ' for often we don't 
 get enough of this.' 
 
 " ' Heavens !' rejoined the officer. ' But, probably, what you 
 lose in vical you make up in malt ; though stinted in provis- 
 ions, you draw noble pay.' 
 
 " ' Not a cent, sir,' said Marion ; ' not a cent.' 
 
 " ' Heavens and earth ! then you must be in a bad box. I 
 don't see, General, how you can stand it' 
 
 " ' Why, sir,' replied Marion, with a smile of self approbation, 
 * these things depend on feeling.' 
 
 " The Englishman said he ' did not believe it would be 
 an easy matter to reconcile his feelings to a soldier's life on 
 General Marion's terms — all fighting and no pay, and no pro- 
 visions but potatoes.' 
 
 " * Why, sir,' answered the General, ' the heart is all ; and, 
 when that is much interested, a man can do anything. Many a 
 youth would think it hard to indent himself a slave for fourteen 
 years. But let him be over head and ears in love, and with 
 such a beauteous sweetheart as Rachel, and he will think no 
 more of fourteen years of servitude than Jacob did. Well, now, 
 this is exactly my case. I am in love, and my sweetheart is 
 Liberty. Be that heavenly nymph my companion, and these 
 wilds and woods shall have charms beyond London and Paris 
 in slavery. To have no proud monarch driving over me with 
 his gilt coaches ; nor his host of excisemen and tax gatherers 
 insulting and robbing me; but to be my own master, my own 
 prince and sovereign, gloriously preserving my national dig- 
 nity, and pursuing my true happiness ; planting my vineyards 
 and eating their luscious fruits ; and sowing my fields, and 
 reaping the golden grain ; and seeing millions of brothers all 
 around me, equally free and happy as myself This, sir, i.« 
 what I long for.' 
 
 "The officer replied, that both as a man and a Briton, he 
 must certainly subscribe to this as a happy state of things. 
 
 "'Happy,' quoth Marion; 'yes, happy indeed; and I had 
 rather fight for such blessings for my country, and feed on 
 
334 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 roots, than keep aloof, though wallowing in all the luxuries of 
 Solomon. For now, sir, I walk the soil that gave me birth, 
 and exult in the thought that I am not unworthy of it. I look 
 upon these venerable trees around me, and feel that I do not 
 dishonor them. I think of my own sacred rights, and rejoice 
 that I have not basely deserted them. And when I look for- 
 ward to the long ages of posterity, I glory in the thought that 
 I am fighting their battles. The children of distant genera- 
 tions may never hear my name ; but still it gladdens my heart 
 to think that I am now contending for their freedom, and all 
 its countless blessings.' 
 
 " I looked at Marion as he uttered these sentiments, and 
 fancied I felt as when I heard the last words of the brave 
 DeKalb. The Englishman hung his honest head, and looked, 
 I thought, as if he had seen the upbraiding ghosts of his illus- 
 trious countrymen, Sidney and Hampden. 
 
 "On his return to Georgetown, he was asked by Colonel 
 Watson why he looked so serious. 
 
 *"I have cause, sir,' said he, 'to look serious.' 
 
 "'What! has General Marion refused to treat?' 
 
 "'No, sir.' 
 
 "'Well, then, has old Washington defeated Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton, and broken up our army?' 
 
 '"No, sir, not that, neither; but worse.' 
 
 "'Ah ! what can be worse?' 
 
 '"Why, sir, I have seen an American general and his offi- 
 cers, without pay, and almost without clothes, living on roots 
 and drinking water ; and all for Liberty. What chance can 
 we have against such men?' 
 
 " It is said Colonel Watson was not much obliged to him 
 for this speech. But the young officer was so much struck 
 with Marion's sentiments, that he never rested until he threw 
 up his commission and retired from the service." 
 
 Marion was very successful in his management of the mili- 
 tia, who often acted with him. His plan is thus stated by 
 himself: " It will not do to expect too much from that sort of 
 soldiers. If on turning out against the enemy you find your 
 men in high spirits, with burning eyes ^11 kindling around you, 
 that's your time ; then in close columns, with sounding bugles 
 
FRANCIS MARION. 335 
 
 and shining swords, dash on, and I'll warrant your men will 
 follow you. * * But on the other hand, if by any unlooked 
 for providence they get dismayed, and begin to run, you are 
 not to fly in a passion with them, and show yourself as mad 
 as they are cowardly. No ! you must learn to run, too ; and 
 as fast as they; noy, faster, that you may get into the front 
 and encourage them to rally." 
 
 While he was firm in his management of his men, and re- 
 quired and received prompt and perfect obedience to his orders, 
 he rarely resorted to the rigors of military discipline. He 
 trusted chiefly to the sense of honor of the troops, and did not 
 trust in vain. He made no effort to recover or punish desert- 
 ers. Those who wished to leave the brigade were free to do 
 so at any time, and their punishment lay in the contempt with 
 which they were regarded by all good men. 
 
 Marion gave to General Greene his hearty cooperation, and 
 rendered good service to the main army by keeping it informed 
 of the movements of the enemy and cutting off" the supplies 
 of the British. 
 
 In the spring of 1781, Marion was reinforced by Lee's Le- 
 gion of Light Horse, and the combined force laid siege to and 
 captured the strong fort at Wright's Bluff, the principal British 
 post on the Santee, garrisoned by 120 men. "The Americans 
 were without cannon, and the bluff" was forty feet high ; but 
 the forest stretched all around them ; in the night the troops 
 cut and hauled logs, and erected a tower so high that the gar- 
 rison could be picked off by riflemen." The fort capitulated 
 on the 26th of April. This success was followed by the cap- 
 ture of Fort Motte by Marion and Lee, on the nth of May. 
 Fort Motte was a work of considerable strength, erected on 
 the plantation of Mrs. Rebecca Motte, a widow. The fine 
 mansion of this lady stood in the midst of the British works, 
 and was used by them as their quarters, Mrs. Motte and her 
 family having been turned out of their home into one of the 
 negro cabins of the plantation. Marion saw that he could 
 compel the surrender of the garrison by setting fire to the 
 house, but he hesitated to inflict such a loss upon his coun- 
 trywoman. Upon learning this, Mrs. Motte hastened to him 
 and begged him to carry out his plan. " Burn it, burn it. 
 
336 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 General Marion," she exclaimed. " God forbid that I should 
 bestow a thought on my little concerns, when the independ- 
 ence of my country is at stake. No, sir, if it were a palace it 
 should go." She then handed him a bow and arrow which 
 had been brought from Africa and presented to her, saying to 
 him, " Here, General, is what will serve your purpose to a 
 hair." The arrows were tipped with iron points, and to them 
 pieces of tow dipped in turpentine were fastened. They were 
 then discharged at the roof, to which they stuck, and quickly 
 set it afire. The guns of the Americans prevented all efforts 
 to extinguish the flames, and the garrison, between two and 
 three hundred in number, at once surrendered. Marion now 
 attacked the British at Georgetown, and about the middle of 
 May compelled them to evacuate that place and retreat to 
 Charleston. The Light Brigade also took part in the bloody 
 battle of Eutaw Springs, and won the warm praise of General 
 Greene by its splendid conduct. 
 
 After the close of the war Marion retired to his plantation, 
 but his countrymen would not let him withdraw entirely from 
 their service. He was elected to the Legislature of South 
 Carolina by the unanimous vote of his fellow citizens. His in- 
 fluence in that body was very great. He opposed the measures 
 for the confiscation of the estates of the Tories, declaring that 
 all hostility should cease with the war, and that the people of 
 the State should cultivate friendly relations with each other. 
 " We ought to remember," he said, " that God has given us the 
 victory, for which we owe Him eternal gratitude. But cruelty 
 to man is not the way to show our gratitude to Heaven." 
 
 Soon after the passage of the Confiscation Act, he was dining 
 with Governor Matthews and a large and brilliant company. 
 " Come, General," said the Governor, " give us a toast." " Will- 
 ingly," said Marion, smiling ; and raising his glass, while all 
 eyes were fixed upon him, he said emphatically, " Gentlemen, 
 here's damnation to the Confiscation Act." 
 
 While he was a member of the Legislature, a petition was 
 presented, praying for the act to grant a general amnesty to the 
 officers and men of the American army for all the arbitrary 
 measures they had been obliged to resort to during the war. 
 Marion listened attentively to the reading of the petition and 
 then rose and said, " He had no manner of objection to the 
 
FRANCIS MARION. 337 
 
 petition ; on the contrary, he most heartily approved of it, and 
 meant to vote for it ; for well did he know that, during the war, 
 we had among us a world of ignoramuses, who, for lack of 
 knowing their danger, did not care a fig how the war went, but 
 were sauntering about in the woods, popping at the squirrels, 
 when they ought to have been in the field fighting the British ; 
 that such gentlemen, since they did not choose to do anything 
 for their country thegiselves, might well afford to let their 
 cattle do something; and as they had not shed any of their 
 blood in the public service, they might certainly spare a little 
 corn to it ; at any rate, he had no notion of turning over to the 
 mercy of these poltroons some of the choicest spirits of the 
 nation, to be prosecuted and torn to pieces by them ; but that, 
 nevertheless, he did not like to have his name to the petition, 
 for, thank God, he had no favors to ask of them. And if, dur- 
 ing the war for his country, he had done any of them harm, 
 there was he, and yonder his property, and let them come for- 
 zvard, if they dare, and demand satisfaction^ 
 
 After the war he married Miss Mary Videau, who brought 
 him a considerable fortune. The short remnant of his life was 
 passed in the happy retirement of his home, and amidst the 
 affectionate admiration of his countrymen. 
 
 He was a sincere Christian, inheriting the strong religious 
 feelings which had distinguished his Huguenot ancestors. 
 When he was once told that the Methodists and Baptists were 
 making great progress in South Carolina, he replied, " Thank 
 God for that; that is good news." "General," continued his 
 friend, " what is the best religion ?" " I know but one religion," 
 he answered earnestly, " and that is hearty love of God and 
 man. This is the only true religion, and I would to God our 
 country was full of it." 
 
 Early in February, 1795, he was seized with his last illness. 
 Seeing his wife weeping beside his bed, he said to her tenderly : 
 " My dear, weep not for me. I am not afraid to die ; for, thank 
 God, I can lay my hand on my heart and say, that since I came to 
 man's estate I have never intentionally done wrong to any one." 
 
 They were his last words. Shortly after uttering them " he 
 closed his eyes in the sleep of death." 
 
 " As a partisan officer," said General Greene, " the page of 
 history never furnished his equal." 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 A LEXANDER HAMILTON was born in the Island of 
 tx. Nevis, in the British West Indies, on the i ith of January, 
 1757. He was of Scotch descent, and was left an orphan at an 
 early age. He was reared by distant relatives, and passed the 
 greater part of his childhood and youth in the Danish Island 
 of Santa Cruz, where he was educated by the Rev. Mr. Hamil- 
 ton, a Presbyterian clergyman. When about twelve years of 
 age he was placed in the employment of Mr. Cruger, a mer- 
 chant of Santa Cruz, in which position he became noted for his 
 quickness and remarkable intelligence in the despatch of busi- 
 ness. He had been but a short time in this situation when he 
 wrote to a schoolfellow, " I contemn the grovelling condition of 
 a clerk, to which my fortune condemns me, and I would will- 
 ingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my sta- 
 tion ; I mean to prepare the way for futurity." 
 
 These were promising words from so young a lad, and he 
 meant to make them good. He fully understood the con- 
 ditions of success in life — fitness for the task and hard work — 
 and determined to prepare himself thoroughly for the struggle 
 with fortune. All his spare time was given to study. He 
 taught himself mathematics and chemistry, and manifested a 
 great fondness for literature. In the meantime he applied him- 
 self faithfully to the business in which he was engaged ; and 
 such was the remarkable maturity of his judgment and his apt- 
 ness at accounts, that when he was but fourteen years of age 
 he was left, during a brief absence of his employer, in charge 
 of the entire business. 
 
 In 1772 a terrible hurricane, long remembered for the de- 
 struction it caused, swept over the West Indies. Young Ham- 
 ilton wrote and published anonymously an account of it. The 
 description was so vivid and the style so chaste, that the article 
 attracted universal attention, and the young author was discov- 
 ered. His friends were delighted, and determined to give him 
 
HAMILTON. 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 339 
 
 the opportunity to secure a college education. Accordingly, 
 in the autumn of 1772, he was sent to Elizabethtown, in New 
 Jersey, to prepare himself by a course of studies for admission 
 into King's (now Columbia) College in New York. He en- 
 tered King's College in the latter part of 1773, and directed his 
 studies towards a preparation for the profession of medicine. 
 
 He came to New York in the midst of the controversy be- 
 tween the Colonies and Great Britain, and with all the ardor 
 of his nature embraced the American cause. Young as he 
 was, he did good service for it with his pen. He wrote several 
 elaborate pamphlets and some minor tracts upon the questions 
 of the day, in which he took the boldest and broadest ground 
 in defense of the Colonies. He urged the policy of building 
 up the manufactures of the Colonies, and of encouraging the 
 growth of cotton in the South, that the country might be able 
 to clothe itself These writings were published anonymously 
 at first, and involved their author in a controversy with Dr. 
 Cooper, the learned President of the college, and other able 
 writers on the royalist side. He maintained the controversy 
 with such ability that Dr. Cooper would never believe that his 
 opponent was a mere boy of eighteen. The patriots of New 
 York were well pleased with their young champion, and 
 heartily applauded his performances. He did not remain sat- 
 isfied with the labors of his pen, however. In July, 1774, 
 when but seventeen years old, he was one of the speakers at a 
 great public meeting held in the "Fields" — now the City Hall 
 Park — and astounded the vast audience by the eloquence and 
 force of his remarks. 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities, while still at college, he 
 began a series of military studies, especially in pyrotechnics 
 and gunnery, and organized a volunteer corps composed of the 
 students of the college and the young men of the city. In 
 March, 1776, he was made captain of the company of artillery 
 raised by authority of the province of New York, and at once 
 entered upon active service. He soon brought his command 
 to a high state of discipline and efficiency. One day, after the 
 occupation of New York by the American army, General 
 Greene was passing through the "Fields" on his way to Wash- 
 ington's headquarters. Hamilton was engaged in drilling his 
 
340 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 batteiy at the time, and Greene stopped to watch him. Ham- 
 ilton was "a mere youth, about twenty years of age ; small in 
 person and stature, but remarkable for his alert and manly 
 bearing." Greene, who was a thorough tactician, was delighted 
 with the proficiency and tact with -vhich the young captain 
 managed his men, and entered into conversation with him. 
 He quickly discovered that the young man was a person of no 
 ordinary power of mind, and invited him to his quarters. 
 Thus began a friendship which remained unbroken. 
 
 Hamilton was sent with his battery to join the army on Long 
 Island, and in the disastrous battle of the 27th of August lost one 
 of his field pieces and all his baggage. With the remainder of 
 his guns he brought up the rear of the army in the withdrawal 
 across the East River. His battery held a part of the fortified 
 line below King's Bridge after the evacuation of New York by 
 the American army. Washington, in making his rounds of in- 
 spection, was very much struck with the skill and science dis- 
 played in the construction of the works thrown up by Hamil- 
 ton, and complimented him upon them. He was as much 
 impressed with the young captain as Greene had been, and 
 invited him to his headquarters. At the battle of White 
 Plains, on the 28th of October, 1776, Hamilton's gallant con- 
 duct attracted the attention of the Commander-in-Chief Dur- 
 ing the retreat through New Jersey his batter)^ was frequently 
 engaged in skirmishing with the enemy, and took part in the 
 battles of Trenton and Princeton. 
 
 In April, 1777, Washington, who had conceived a warm 
 friendship for Hamilton, appointed him his aid-de-camp, with 
 the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. " Strangers," says Irving, 
 " were surprised to see a youth, scarce twenty years of age, 
 received into the implicit confidence and admitted into the 
 gravest counsels of a man like Washington. While his un- 
 common talents commanded respect rarely inspired by one of 
 his years, his juvenile appearance and bouyant spirit made him 
 a universal favorite. Harrison, ' the old secretary,' much his 
 senior, looked upon him with an almost paternal eye, and re- 
 garding his diminutive size and towering spirit, used to call 
 him 'the little lion;' while Washington would now and then 
 speak of him by the cherishing appellation of ' my boy.' " 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 34 1 
 
 Hamilton remained upon the staff of General Washington 
 until the year 1781. He was during this time the "principal 
 and most confidential aid " of the Commander-in-Chief, and 
 discharged his duties with great ability. His talents, as has 
 been said, won him the respect of the general officers of the 
 army, who regarded his opinions with the consideration they 
 merited. His knowledge of the French language was of the 
 greatest service to Washington after the arrival of the French 
 contingent, and the cordial manner in which he devoted him- 
 self to the comfort of the French officers made him as great a 
 favorite with them as he was with his own countrymen. His 
 ability to speak French with fluency won him the friendship 
 of Baron Steuben, whose merits he quickly detected. Hamil- 
 ton strongly urged Washington to secure for the Baron the 
 rank of Inspector-general, and had the happiness of seeing his 
 recommendation carried out by the Commander-in-Chief 
 
 In November, 1777, Colonel Hamilton was entrusted with a 
 mission which put his tact and firmness to a severe trial, but 
 which he successfully accomplished. The army of Burgoyne 
 had surrendered, and Gates had been ordered to reinforce the 
 Commander-in-Chief from his army. He put off compliance 
 with this order so long that it was decided in council at head- 
 quarters to send an officer of Washington's staff to him to 
 represent the critical state of affairs, and urge him to send on 
 the reinforcements. Hamilton was chosen for this mission. 
 He found Gates very much indisposed to part with any of his 
 troops. That general had designs of his own, to which the 
 plans of the Commander-in-chief must give way. Hamilton 
 felt great embarrassment in dealing with an officer who had 
 just won the most considerable success of the war, and who 
 was in consequence the idol of the hour ; but, by the exercise 
 of considerable tact, succeeded at length in inducing Gates to 
 order two brigades to the assistance of Washington. Gates 
 gave this order with the greatest reluctance. Reinforcements 
 falling short from this quarter, Hamilton was obliged to 
 draw them from Putnam's command in the Highlands, and 
 displayed equal good management in inducing the old hero to 
 forego his fondly planned attack upon New York, and send a 
 part of his troops to Washington. 
 
342 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In the spring of 1778, Washington suggested to General 
 Parsons, then commanding at West Point, a plan for the sur- 
 prise and seizure of Sir Henry Clinton at his quarters in New 
 York. Upon being informed of the plan, Hamilton agreed 
 that it was very sure of success. "But sir," said he, "have you 
 examined the consequences of it ?" "In what respect ?" asked 
 Washington. "Why," replied Hamilton, "we shall rather lose 
 than gain by removing Sir Henry from the command 
 of the British army, because we perfectly understand his char- 
 acter ; and by taking him away, we only make way for some 
 other, perhaps an abler officer, whose character and disposi- 
 tions we have to learn." Washington was convinced, upon 
 reflection, that his aid-de-camp was right in his view of the 
 matter, and his project to abduct Sir Henry was abandoned. 
 
 When the majority of the Council of War held previous to 
 the battle of Monmouth, advised against an attack upon the 
 enemy, Hamilton earnestly urged Washington to give the pre- 
 ference to the views of Greene, Wayne, and Lafayette, who 
 composed the minority and were in favor of attacking the 
 British without delay. In the battle which ensued, Hamilton 
 greatly distinguished himself 
 
 Hamilton was the first to receive the papers revealing Ar- 
 nold's treason, captured upon Major Andrd, which Colonel 
 Jameson had forwarded to Washington, and being the confi- 
 dential aid-de-camp of the Commander-in-chief, opened and 
 read them. He maintained silence as to their contents until 
 the return of Washington from West Point, when he commu- 
 nicated the startling intelligence to the General. He was at 
 once despatched by Washington to Verplanck's Point, with 
 orders to the commander of the batteiy at that place to fire 
 upon Arnold if he had not already passed that point. Hamil- 
 ton rode at breakneck speed in his eagerness to intercept the 
 traitor, but Arnold's barge had passed the battery some time 
 before his arrival, and the traitor was safe on board the Vul- 
 ture. 
 
 In 1 78 1, when it was decided by Congress to appoint Secre- 
 taries of Foreign Affairs, of War and of Marine, and a Super- 
 intendent of Finance, General Sullivan, who was in Congress, 
 and was a warm friend of Hamilton, was anxious that the 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 343 
 
 young colonel, then but twenty-nine years old, should be 
 placed at the head of the treasury department, and wrote to 
 Washington to ascertain his opinion of Hamilton's qualifica- 
 tions. "I am unable to answer," replied Washington, "because 
 I never entered upon a discussion with him, but this I can ven- 
 ture to advance, from a thorough knowledge of him, that there 
 are few men to be found of his age, who have more general 
 knowledge than he possesses ; and none whose soul is more 
 firmly engaged in the cause, or who exceeds him in probity 
 and sterling virtue," 
 
 A few days after this warm tribute was written, Hamilton 
 ceased to be a member of Washington's military family in con- 
 sequence of a misunderstanding with the Commander-in-Chief, 
 in which the colonel was clearly in the wrong. In a letter to 
 General Schuyler, whose daughter Hamilton had married, the 
 colonel thus states the reasons which induced him to quit the 
 staff: "I always disliked the office of an aid-de-camp, as having 
 in it a kind of personal dependence. I refused to serve in this 
 capacity with two Major-generals, at an early period of the 
 war. Infected, however, with the enthusiasm of the times, an 
 idea of the general's character overcame my scruples, and in- 
 duced me to accept his invitation to enter into his family. * * 
 It has been often with great difficulty that I have prevailed on 
 myself not to renounce it ; but while, from motives of public 
 utility, I was doing violence to my feelings, I was always de- 
 termined, if there should ever happen a breach between us, 
 never to consent to an accommodation. I was persuaded that 
 when once that nice barrier which marked the boundaries of 
 what we owed to each other should be thrown down, it might 
 be propped again, but could never be restored." 
 
 " Hamilton," says Irving, " in fact, had long been ambitious 
 of an independent position, and of some opportunity, as he said, 
 ' to raise his character above mediocrity.' When an expedition 
 by Lafayette against Staten Island had been meditated in the 
 autumn of 1780, he had applied to the Commander-in-Chief, 
 through the Marquis, for the command of a battalion, which 
 was without a field officer. Washington had declined, on the 
 ground that giving him a whole battalion might be a subject of 
 dissatisfaction, and that should any accident happen to him in 
 
344 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the actual state of affairs at headquarters, the Commander-in- 
 Chief M'ould be embarrassed for want of his assistance. He 
 had next been desirous of the post of Adjutant-general, which 
 Colonel Alexander Scammel was about to resign, and was 
 recommended for that office by Lafayette and Greene, but, be- 
 fore their recommendations reached Washington, he had 
 already sent into Congress the name of Brigadier-general 
 Hand, who received the nomination. These disappointments 
 may have rendered Hamilton doubtful of his being properly 
 appreciated by the Commander-in-Chief; impaired his devq- 
 tion to him, and determined him, as he says, ' if there should 
 ever happen a breach between them, never to consent to an 
 accommodation.' It almost looks as if, in his high-strung and 
 sensitive mood, he had been on the watch for an offence, and 
 had grasped at the shadow of one." ^ 
 
 A temporary coolness between Washington and Hamilton 
 succeeded their parting ; but it was only temporary. " The 
 friendship of these two illustrious men was destined to survive 
 the Revolution, and to signalize itself through the many event- 
 ful years." 
 
 In September, 1780, Hamilton, who had taken a deep inter- 
 est in the efforts to draw the States into a more perfect union, 
 addressed a letter to Mr. Duane, of New York, urging the 
 meeting of a Convention of delegates from all the States, with 
 full powers to form a general confederation. " He traced the 
 causes of the want of power in Congress, and censured that 
 body for its timidity in refusing to assume authority to pre- 
 serve the republic from harm." " Undefined powers," he said, 
 "are discretionary powers, limited only by the object for which 
 they were given. * * * Wc must, at all events, have a strong 
 confederation if we mean to succeed in the contest, and be 
 happy thereafter. Internal police should be regulated by the 
 legislatures. Congress should have complete sovereignty in 
 all that relates to war, peace, trade, foreign affairs, finance, 
 armies, fleets, fortifications, coining money, establishing banks, 
 imposing a land tax, poll tax, duties on trade, and the unoccu- 
 pied lands. * * * The Confederation should provide certain 
 perpetual revenues, productive and easy of collection — a land 
 
 ^ Iniing s Life of Washington. Vol. V., pp. 212-13. 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 345 
 
 tax, poll tax, or the like ; which together with the duties on 
 trade and the unlocated lands, would give Congress a substan- 
 tial existence. * * While the public good is evidently the ob- 
 ject, more may be effected in governments like ours than in 
 any other. It has been a constant remark that free countries 
 have ever paid the heaviest taxes. The obedience of a free 
 people to general laws, however hard they bear, is even more 
 perfect than that of slaves to the arbitrary will of a prince. 
 * * As to the plan of confederation which Congress had pro- 
 posed, it is defective, and requires to be altered. It is neither 
 fit for war nor peace. The idea of an uncontrollable sover- 
 eignty in each State will defeat the powers given to Congress, 
 and make our Union feeble and precarious." 
 
 He also recommended the appointment of Secretaries in 
 place of the Committees of Congress to take charge of the 
 departments of Foreign Affairs, War, the Navy, and the Trea- 
 sury. He left the executive power in the hands of Congress, 
 however. He also proposed the establishment of a National 
 Bank, modeled upon the plan of the Bank of England. 
 
 Hamilton was but twenty-three years old at the time this 
 remarkable letter was written, in which the general features of 
 the system finally adopted in the Constitution of the United 
 States, were outlined. The letter attracted general attention, 
 and did much to establish the reputation of the writer. 
 
 After withdrawing from the staff. Colonel Hamilton was as- 
 signed the command of a corps of light infantry in the division 
 of General Lafayette. In this capacity he took part in the 
 siege of Yorktown, and led the night attack upon the British 
 redoubts on the 14th of October. He was the first to mount 
 the parapet, and carried the work at the point of the bayonet 
 without firing a shot. His humanity was displayed in this 
 engagement as conspicuously as his courage. He saved 
 the life of Major Campbell, the commander of the redoubt, who 
 was about to be despatched by a New Hampshire captain in 
 revenge for his friend Colonel Scammel, who had been put to 
 death by the British. Not a man was killed on this occasion 
 save in a fair combat. 
 
 Hamilton was convinced that the surrender of Cornwallis was 
 decisive of the war, and after the siege of Yorktown repaired to 
 
346 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Albany, where he at once began the study of law in order to 
 be able to enter upon the practice of it at the close of the war. 
 At the same time he held himself in readiness to return to the 
 army in case of the renewal of the war. He was appointed by 
 Robert Morris, then at the head of the Treasury Department 
 of the Confederation, receiver of taxes for New York, which 
 position he held while pursuing his legal studies. He wrote 
 the resolutions which General Schuyler, his father-in-law, 
 offered in the Senate of New York on the 19th of July, 1782, 
 declaring that the General Government ought to have power 
 to provide a revenue for itself, and expressing the conviction 
 of New York " that the foregoing important ends can never be 
 attained by partial deliberations of the States separately ; but 
 that it is essential to the common welfare that there should be 
 as soon as possible a conference of the whole on the subject; 
 and that it would be advisable for this purpose to propose to 
 Congress to recommend, and to each State to adopt, the meas- 
 ure of assembling a general convention of the States, specially 
 authorized to revise and amend the Confederation, reserving a 
 right to the respective Legislatures to ratify their determin- 
 ations." The resolutions were adopted by a unanimous vote 
 of both Houses of the Legislature, and Hamilton was elected 
 one of the delegates from New York to Congress. 
 
 Colonel Hamilton at once took rank as one of the leading 
 members of Congress, and imparted to the proceedings of that 
 body a firmer and more vigorous tone than had marked them 
 of late. It was the impulse of the young statesman to com- 
 mand ; and he readily found a party in Congress which made 
 him its chief "If you were but ten years older and twenty 
 thousand pounds richer," said a member of Congress to him, 
 "Congress would give you the highest place they have to be- 
 stow." Nor was he a leader in name only. His activity was 
 incessant, and his measures bore the stamp of his daring and 
 untiring genius. 
 
 He was elected a member of the Federal Convention of 
 1787, which formed the Constitution of the United States, and 
 was the recognized leader of the New York delegation to that 
 body. He was now thirty years old, and was looked up to by 
 the State of New York as her most gifted adviser. He 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 347 
 
 brought with him to the Convention a carefully arranged and 
 well digested plan for a Federal Government, which he meant 
 should take the place of the old Articles of Confederation. It 
 was so perfectly arranged in all its details that Mr. Madison 
 has declared it was capable of being put in instant operation, 
 without alteration or addition. 
 
 In making this plan of government, Hamilton had not 
 sought to carry out his own preferences entirely. He knew 
 that the people were determined to try the experiment of a 
 Federal Republic, and his plan was arranged to meet their 
 wishes. The only thing in w^hich he sought to please himself 
 was his effort to make this Republic as much like the British 
 monarchy as possible. He made no secret of his conviction 
 that republicanism was a mere dream, and was destined to 
 certain and speedy failure. His avowed preference was for a 
 limited monarchy, and he regarded the British Constitution as 
 the most perfect system of government ever invented by man. 
 Nevertheless, the people were determined that republican in- 
 stitutions should be tried, and he was equally determined that 
 this trial should be fair and thorough as far as he was con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Hamilton's plan did not suit the Convention, which was more 
 in sympathy with the spirit of America than he. All that he 
 valued was cut out of it, and only the features that he deemed 
 the least important were incorporated in the system adopted by 
 the Convention. He took an active part in the debates, and 
 fully sustained his reputation as an orator and a statesman. 
 
 Colonel Hamilton gave his hearty support to the Constitu- 
 tion as finally adopted by the Convention, and urged its ratifi- 
 cation by the States. It did not satisfy him ; far from it ; but 
 he saw that it was the only result possible at the time, and that 
 its rejection by the States would simply leave them weak and 
 divided. He admitted that the Constitution was an improve- 
 ment upon the Articles of Confederation, but he thought it a 
 "shilly-shally thing" after all. He thought that it might tide 
 the country over the present crisis, but did not believe it would 
 stand the test of time. One result he was sure would be to 
 disgust the people with republicanism and hasten the establish- 
 ment of that limited monarchy which was the end of all his 
 
348 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 dreams. Still he recognized the absolute necessity of its adop- 
 tion by the States, and he set to work with all his great energy 
 and ability to urge it upon them. He made himself its cham- 
 pion, and did more than any other man in America to secure 
 its adoption. In October, 1787, while on his way down the 
 Hudson from Albany to New York, he wrote a powerful essay 
 in its behalf for the press. This was followed by sixty-four 
 other articles of a similar nature during the winter. These 
 sixty-five essays, with twenty others by Madison and Jay, have 
 since been collected and published under the general title of 
 "The Federalist." Hamilton's articles were written during 
 the time he could snatch from a busy and growing law prac- 
 tice. 
 
 After the organization of the Executive Departments of the 
 new government, Colonel Hamilton was appointed by Presi- 
 dent Washington, in September, 1789, Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury. So well was Hamilton's fitness for this position under- 
 stood, that his nomination was confirmed by the Senate on the 
 day it was made. The views of the President and the Senate 
 were shared by the whole nation. Even those who doubted 
 his fidelity to the new system acknowledged his great genius. 
 He was in all respects a man of extraordinary powers. " Of 
 Scotch and Celtic origin, he had something of proneness to the 
 exercise of authority. His nature and temperament demanded 
 a strong and well organized government of ever active and 
 enduring power. Though still so young, his creative mind 
 was, and remained for his lifetime, the wellspring of ideas for 
 the conservative politicians of New York, and of an ever in- 
 creasing circle in other States. From his childhood he was 
 unbounded in his admiration of the English Constitution, and 
 did not utterly condemn its methods of influence in the con- 
 duct of public affairs; yet in his own nature there was nothing 
 mean or low ; he was disinterested, and always true to his 
 sense of personal integrity and honor. The character of his 
 mind and his leaning to authority, combined with something 
 of a mean opinion of his fellow men, cut him off from the sym- 
 pathy of the masses, so that he was in many ways unfit to lead 
 a party ; and the years of his life wnich were most productive 
 of good were those in which he acted with Washington, who 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 349 
 
 was the head, the leader and the guide of a nation in a manner 
 which he was not only incapable of, but could never even fully 
 comprehend. While the weightiest testimony that has ever 
 been borne to the ability of Hamilton is by Washington, there 
 never fell from Hamilton's pen, during the lifetime of the latter, 
 one line which adequately expressed the character of Washing- 
 ton, or gave proof that he had the patience to verify the im- 
 mense power that lay concealed beneath the uniform moder- 
 ation and method of his chief He had a good heart, but with 
 it the pride and the natural arrogance of youth, combined with 
 an almost overweening consciousness of his powers, so that he 
 was ready to find faults in the administrations of others, and to 
 believe that things might have gone better if the direction had 
 rested with himself Bold in the avowal of his own opinions, 
 he was fearless to provoke and prompt to combat opposition. 
 It was not his habit to repine over lost opportur^ties ; his na- 
 ture inclined him rather to prevent what seemed to him com- 
 ing evils by timely action. 
 
 "The England of that day had its precocious statesmen. 
 For stateliness of eloquence, and consummate skill in managing 
 a legislative assembly, the palm must be given to Pitt, whom 
 Hamilton excelled in«v'igor, consistency and versatility. There 
 were points of analogy between Hamilton and Fox. Both 
 were of warm and passionate natures ; but Hamilton became 
 the father of a family, while Fox wasted life as a libertine. It 
 was remarkable of both of them, that, with glowing natures, 
 their style in debate and in writing was devoid of ornament, 
 attractive only by strength of thought and clearness of expres- 
 sion." ' 
 
 Immediately upon entering upon his new position, Hamilton 
 addressed himself with his usual energy to the difficult duties 
 before him. The condition of the country was very critical. It 
 was burdened with debt, and the currency of the United States 
 was worthless. Ths national debt, which had been forty-two 
 millions of dollars at the close of the war, had swollen through 
 arrears of interest to upwards of fifty-four millions. Of this 
 amount, nearly twelve millions were due to creditors in France, 
 
 ^Bancroft's History of the United States. Vol. X., pp. 410-11. 
 
350 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Holland and Spain; the remainder to the officers and soldiers 
 of the armies of the Revolution ; to the farmers who had sold 
 supplies to the Government, or whose property had been taken 
 for the public service; and to capitalists who had advanced 
 money to the Government at critical periods. The larger part 
 of the domestic debt had been parted with by the original 
 holders, and was now due to speculative purchasers, who had 
 bought it at a depreciation of over seventy per cent. There 
 was a strong feeling throughout the country that these specu- 
 lative purchasers should receive only the amount they had 
 paid for the certificates of the Government. They, on their 
 part, argued that by buying the certificates even at their de- 
 preciated value, they had relieved the immediate wants of the 
 original holders, and had assumed the entire risk of the failure 
 of the Government to pay them, and were therefore entitled 
 to the profit 'that would accrue to them by a payment of the 
 certificates in full. 
 
 Besides the national debt, the States individually were in- 
 volved in liabilities contracted on account of the war to the 
 aggregate amount of about twenty-five millions of dollars. Thus 
 the whole debt due by the country on account of the Revolution 
 was nearly eighty millions of dollars. 
 
 In this state of affairs the credit of the General Government 
 disappeared. It was imperatively necessary that some system 
 of finance should be devised at once which should revive the 
 national credit, place the public debt in a condition to be paid 
 off, and secure the funds necessary for the proper and energetic 
 administration of the General Government. The administra- 
 tion of Washington was pledged to bring about such a result ; 
 the very life of the Republic depended upon it. At the open- 
 ing of the session of 1789-90, Congress requested the Secretary 
 of the Treasury to prepare during its recess a plan for accom- 
 plishing this great object. 
 
 At the reassembling of Congress in January, 1790, Hamiltor. 
 submitted his plan to Congress. He insisted, as the basis of 
 all efforts to bring about a healthy financial condition, that the 
 foreign debt should be paid in full according to its terms. The 
 debt due to American holders of the Government certificates, 
 he declared, should be paid in full also, whether those certifi- 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 35 I 
 
 cates were held by the original creditors, or by persons who 
 had purchased them at their depreciated value. The faith of 
 the nation, he declared, was pledged to the payment of the 
 debt regardless of the character of the creditors, and he repu- 
 diated the distinction which some were inclined to make 
 between them, as unwise, impolitic, unjust, and impracticable. 
 He urged Congress to assume the debts of the States, as they 
 were all contracted forthe common cause of national independ- 
 ence and not for the benefit of any particular section. No 
 more money would be required to be raised by this transfer, 
 and the process of payment would be expedited, as it was 
 easier for the Federal Government to raise money than for the 
 States to do so. He recommended, therefore, that the whole 
 mass of the debt be funded, that the United States be made 
 responsible for it, and taxes be levied for its payment. In 
 order that the debt might be made secure, he suggested that 
 the domestic creditors should consent to an abatement of 
 accruing interest. A reason for urging the assumption by 
 Congress of the State debts "which, no doubt, had great 
 weight with him, though he did not bring it under considera- 
 tion in his report, for fear, probably, of offending the jealousy 
 of State sovereignty, dormant, but not extinct, was, that it 
 would tend to unite the States financially, as they were united 
 politically, and strengthen the central government by rallying 
 capitalists around it, subjecting them to its influence, and ren- 
 dering them agents of its will." 
 
 The plan of the Secretary of the Treasury was called up for 
 discussion in Congress on the 8th of February. It was opposed 
 with great vehemence, particularly the proposed assumption of 
 the State debts, which was denounced as tending to consoli- 
 dation in the Government, as giving too much influence to the 
 Federal Government, and as unconstitutional. The opposition 
 was not confined to Congress, but extended throughout the 
 country. The Northern States generally approved the plan, 
 but the South, with the exception of South Carolina, opposed 
 it. It was the most intricate problem that had yet been pre- 
 sented to the country for solution, and it was not strange that 
 it should occasion profound and radical differences of opinion. 
 The most alarming feature of the discussion was the sectional 
 
352 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 division which it occasioned. The Northern and Eastern 
 States were to be chiefly benefited by the proposed assumption, 
 and were unanimously in its favor. The Southern States, with 
 but the single exception noted above, opposed it. The success 
 of the scheme was very doubtful. 
 
 There was another question before the public which was at- 
 tracting great attention. It had been resolved by Congress to 
 remove the seat of the Federal Government from New York, 
 and to acquire a Federal District, which should be free from 
 the control of the States and under the supreme authority of 
 Congress. The North and the South were each anxious that 
 the proposed district should be situated within their respective 
 limits, and the quarrel over this question had become almost as 
 bitter as that over the proposition for the assumption of the 
 State debts. 
 
 At this juncture, Hamilton, who had almost begun to 
 despair of the success of his plan, resolved to combine the two 
 questions of the assumption of the State debts and the removal 
 of the seat of government, in the hope of effecting a compro- 
 mise upon them. Mr. Jefferson had just arrived in New York 
 to assume his position as Secretary of State, and Hamilton de- 
 termined to secure his influence in favor of the scheme, as he 
 was looked up to by the Southern members of Congress with 
 unbounded confidence. At his urgent solicitation, Mr. J^erson 
 agreed to assemble the leading Southern members at a dinner 
 at his house, and induce them to give their votes in favor of the 
 assumption. Hamilton declared that if they would support this 
 measure the Northern members would vote in favor of the lo- 
 cation of the National Capital on the banks of the Potomac. 
 The dinner was given, and a sufficient number of votes was 
 pledged for the assumption bill on the terms proposed by 
 Hamilton. 
 
 The measure was finally adopted in a somewhat modified 
 form. The State debts, to the amount of $ 2 1,5 00,000, were as- 
 sumed by Congress, and this sum was divided specifically 
 among the States. The bill in this form passed the Senate 
 on the 22d of July, and the House on the 24th. It was promptly 
 signed by the President and became a law. 
 
 The promise of Hamilton respecting the transfer of the seat 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 353 
 
 of government was carried out in good faith, the Northern 
 members being won over to it by his influence. A bill was 
 passed by Congress establishing the seat of government at 
 Philadelphia for ten years. In the year 1 800 it was to be trans- 
 ferred to the new city of Washington, on the banks of the Po- 
 tomac. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson afterwards regretted the part he took in this 
 transaction, as upon further investigation of the subject, (which 
 he frankly told Hamilton at the time of the latter's appeal to 
 him, he did not understand,) he was of the opinion that the 
 States should have paid their own debts. From this time he 
 became suspicious of Hamilton, a feeling which deepened as he 
 became better acquainted with the viev/s of his fellow-secretary. 
 
 Having carried his scheme for the funding of the debt, • 
 Hamilton now proposed to Congress another measure over 
 which he had brooded since before the close of the war. In 
 his first report to Congress he had urged the establishment of 
 a Bank of the United States, modeled upon the Bank of Eng- 
 land. In his report to Congress in December, 1791, he urged 
 the immediate adoption of this suggestion. A bill establishing 
 a national bank was introduced in the Senate and passed. It 
 was warmly opposed in the House on constitutional grounds 
 and for other reasons, but was finally passed by a majority of 
 nineteen votes. When the bill was presented to the President 
 for his action, the Cabinet was evenly divided. Jefferson and 
 Randolph opposed it as unconstitutional ; Hamilton and Knox 
 sustained it, Washington maturely weighed the objections to 
 the measure, and then gave the bill his signature. 
 
 The Bank of the United States was established at Philadel- 
 phia with a charter for twenty years and a capital of ten mil- 
 lions of dollars, of which the Government took two millions, 
 and private individuals the remainder. The establishment of 
 the Bank was very beneficial to the Government, as well as to 
 the general business of the country. The notes of the Bank 
 were payable in gold and silver on presentation at its coun- 
 ters. 
 
 Hamilton was closely identified with the measures of Wash- 
 ington's administration. The confidence of the President in 
 his abilities and integrity was unbounded, and the influence of 
 23 
 
354 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the Secretary over Washington was very great, so that Ham- 
 ilton may be said to have controlled the general policy of the 
 administration. He advised the President to issue his Procla- 
 mation of Neutrality in 1793, during the struggle between 
 France and England, and firmly supported the neutral policy 
 of the Government during this war. He regarded the earlier 
 stages of the French Revolution with favor, so long as the 
 efforts of the French Liberals were directed to limiting the 
 power of the crown and confirming the liberties of the subject; 
 but he denounced, with all the energy of his nature, the at- 
 tempts to overthrow the monarchy, and regarded the excesses 
 of the Revolutionists as a natural result of republicanism. 
 
 In 1794, when it was decided to send a minister to England 
 to negotiate a treaty which should put an end to the causes 
 which threatened to involve the two countries in war, Colonel 
 Hamilton was the President's choice for that position. Con- 
 siderable opposition was expressed to this appointment, and 
 Hamilton advised the President to send John Jay, Chief Jus- 
 tice of the United States, on the mission. Mr. Jay was nomi- 
 nated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Hamilton 
 had retired from the Cabinet before the treaty negotiated by 
 Jay was received, but defended it in a series of able papers 
 published during the summer of 1795. 
 
 The opposition of Mr, Jefferson to Hamilton's plan for a 
 national bank brought the two secretaries in direct conflict with 
 each other, and from this time the war between them was open 
 and declared. "Hamilton and myself," writes Jefferson, "were 
 daily pitted in the Cabinet like two cocks." General Knox, in 
 these differences, sustained his old comrade in arms, and Ran- 
 dolph adhered to Mr. Jefferson. The President constantly en- 
 deavored to harmonize the differences of the secretaries, but 
 without success. The quarrel was the result of a mutual mis- 
 conception of the true purposes of the opposing parties, as well 
 as an inevitable conflict between principles naturally hostile. 
 Jefferson was a born republican ; Hamilton a natural aristocrat. 
 Jefferson believed that government was for the people, should 
 be by the people, and should be conducted on the most genu- 
 ine principles of political equality. Hamilton distrusted and 
 misunderstood the people, and believed only in a limited mon- 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 355 
 
 archy which should embrace his poHtical trinity of King, 
 Lords, and Commons. To Hamilton Jefferson appeared as a 
 full-blooded Radical, who sought to break down all govern- 
 ment and inaugurate the reign of communism. Jefferson 
 looked upon Hamilton as a plotter against the republic he had 
 sworn to uphold, and mistook his preference for monarchical 
 institutions for a determination to force them upon the country. 
 He looked upon all Hamilton's measures for remedying the 
 financial difficulties of the country as having a deeper motive, and 
 as being designed to change by degrees the system of government 
 to an extent that the final transition to a monarchy would be sim- 
 ple. In his own mind, Mr. Jefferson did full justice to the vir- 
 tues of Hamilton's character, and, in his "Anas," speaks of 
 him as a man "of acute understanding, disinterested, honest, 
 and honorable in all private transactions ; amiable in society, 
 and duly valuing virtue in private life. Yet so bewitched and 
 perverted by the British example, as to be under thorough 
 conviction that corruption was essential to the government of 
 a nation." Hamilton was not so ready to do justice to his 
 rival. He could not bear opposition to his plans, and resented 
 it as an attack upon himself Entertaining a profound con- 
 tempt for mankind in general, the bitterness of his wrath was 
 reserved for those whom he considered his enemies. 
 
 The quarrel between the two Secretaries spread to the coun- 
 try, and each soon found himself the leader of a powerful and 
 devoted following. We have already given the outline of this 
 quarrel in its later stages, and need not repeat it here. It gave 
 the President no little annoyance and pain, and was seriously 
 detrimental to the best interests of the country. 
 
 In January, 1795, Hamilton resigned his Secretaryship. The 
 salary of his office was not sufficient to enable him to support 
 his family in comfort, and there were other reasons which in- 
 duced him to return to the practice of his profession. Wash- 
 ington accepted his resignation with regret, and in parting with 
 him, wrote to him : "After so long an experience of your pub- 
 lic services, I am naturally led, at this moment of your depar- 
 ture from office (which it has always been my wish to prevent), 
 to review them. In every relation which you have borne to 
 me, I have found that my confidence in your talents, exertions, 
 
356 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and integrity has been well placed. I the more freely render 
 this testimony of my approbation, because I speak from op- 
 portunities of information which cannot deceive me, and which 
 furnish satisfactory proof of your title to public regard." 
 
 After retiring from the Cabinet, Colonel Hamilton devoted 
 himself to the practice of his profession. He remained the 
 acknowledged leader of the Federalist party in New York, and 
 was by far the most influential man in that State. He sup- 
 ported Mr. Adams for the Presidency, and did much to secure 
 his election. 
 
 To the earlier measures of Mr. Adams's administration, Colo- 
 nel Hamilton gave his approval and support, and some of the 
 most objectionable features of that administration are directly 
 traceable to his influence. He inspired the Alien and Sedition 
 laws, which were a disgrace to the American statute book, and 
 which we have discussed in our sketch of John Adams. These 
 measures were passed by the votes of the party over which 
 his influence was all powerful. His share in these transactions 
 rendered him the object of the bitter hatred of the Republi- 
 cans. He saw no harm in them, however, and regarded them 
 as but a means of giving to the Federal Government the char- 
 acter he desired it to possess. 
 
 When the troubles in France began, Hamilton became the 
 leader of the party which desired war with that country. When 
 the raising of a provisional army was ordered by Congress, 
 with Washington as Commander-in-Chief, Hamilton was made 
 the senior Major-general of the new organization. He was 
 virtually the Commander-in-Chief, for Washington, unwilling to 
 leave his home unless required by the necessities of the case, 
 left the management of military affairs very much in the hands 
 of Hamilton, in whom he had perfect confidence. 
 
 Hamilton had long regarded the French Revolution with in- 
 tense hatred, and was delighted at the prospect of dealing a 
 blow to Revolutionary France. He hoped also to secure the 
 alliance of England, and to induce the Government of the 
 United States to aid the South American States to throw off 
 the rule of Spain. Thus far he had been able to carry things 
 his own way. As we have seen, the members of the Cabinet 
 were devoted to him, and were prepared to aid him in his efforts 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 357 
 
 to dragoon President Adams in submitting to his will. So 
 much was he elated by the success of his measures, and so 
 little did he anticipate an independent course on the part of the 
 President, that he deemed the war with France certain ; he had 
 no doubt that the struggle would be one of sufficent magnitude 
 to enable him to win all the military renown he coveted. 
 
 He was rudely j-oused from his dreams of glory by the de- 
 cisive course of President Adams, which we have related else- 
 where, in meeting the French overtures for peace in a friendly 
 manner, and in bringing the quarrel to a peaceful and honor- 
 able settlement. John Adams never did a nobler deed than 
 this, but it cost him his popularity. Hamilton never forgave 
 him, and resolved to destroy him. " For my individual part," 
 he wrote to Theodore Sedgwick, " my mind is made up. I 
 will never more be responsible for Adams by direct support, 
 even though the consequence should be the election of Jeffer- 
 son. If we must have an enemy at the head of the govern- 
 ment, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we 
 are not responsible, and who will not involve our party in the 
 disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." By his intrigues to 
 defeat Mr. Adams he destroyed his own party. The election 
 of 1800 was thrown into the House of Representatives, and re- 
 sulted in the choice of Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 In Hamilton's own State of New York, the election went 
 against him, and the people elected a Legislature pledged to 
 choose Republican electors. Hamilton had so little sym- 
 pathy with the true spirit of republicanism that he was not 
 willing to submit to this decision of the people. " He instantly 
 wrote to Governor Jay, urging him to summon at once the cx- 
 isthig Legislature (whose time had still seven weeks to run,) 
 and get it to pass a law depriving the Legislature of power to 
 elect electors, and devolving it upon the people by districts. 
 This manoeuvre would give the beaten Federalists a second 
 chance. It would rob the Republicans of their victory. * * ■* 
 
 " To a person unacquainted with Hamilton's peculiar charac- 
 ter, this advice to the Governor seems simply base. But the 
 error, like millions of others of our short-sighted race, was not 
 half so much moral as mental. It w'as ignorance and inca- 
 pacity, rather than turpitude. He said to the Governor in sub- 
 
358 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHV. 
 
 stance : ' I own that this measure is not regular, nor delicate, 
 nor, in ordinary circumstances, even decent; but scruples of 
 delicacy and propriety ought not to hinder the taking of a 
 legal and constitutional step to prevent an atheist in religion and 
 a fanatic in politics from getting possession of the helm of state. 
 You don't know these Republicans as I do,' he continued, ' the 
 party is a composition, mdeed, of very incongruous materials, 
 but all tending to mischief; some of them to the overthrow of 
 the government by stripping it of its due energies, others of 
 them to a revolution, after the manner of Bonaparte. I speak 
 from indubitable facts, not from conjectures and inferences. 
 Now. ray dear sir, these people call to their aid " all the re- 
 sources which vice can give ;" can we, then, hope to succeed, 
 we virtuous, if we confine ourselves "within all the ordinary 
 forms of delicacy and decorum ?" No, indeed. But, of course, 
 we must " frankly avow " our object. You must tell the Legis- 
 lature that our purpose is to reverse the result of the late elec- 
 tion, in order to prevent the General Government from falling 
 into hostile hands, and to save the great cause of social order.' 
 
 " To us, this long epistle to Mr. Jay reads more like mania 
 than wickedness. This man had lived in New York twenty 
 years without so much as learning the impossibility of its 
 people being made to submit to an outrage so gross. Governor 
 Jay was at no loss to characterize the proposal aright. Instead 
 of plunging the State into civil war by adopting the measure, 
 he folded Hamilton's letter and put it away among his most 
 private papers, bearing this indorsement : ' Proposing a measure 
 for party purposes which I think it ivould not become me to 
 adopt.' " ^ 
 
 And yet Hamilton was not a bad man. He was scrupu- 
 lously faithful to his political convictions ; but those convic- 
 tions were not such as a good American should hold. He held 
 that a long stretch of power was lawful in politics. He was 
 honorable and upright in his dealings with his fellow-men, and 
 exceedingly kind-hearted and amiable in disposition. " What 
 a pleasant picture we have of the breakfast scene at his house, 
 No. 24 Broadway, the mother seated at the head of the table, 
 
 1 Life of Thomas yefferson. By Jiimes Parton, pp. 562-563. 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 359 
 
 with a napkin in her lap, cutting slices of bread from a great 
 family loaf of the olden time, and spreading them with butter 
 for the younger boys, who stood round her, reading in turn 
 from the Bible or Goldsmith's History of Rome; while the 
 father, in the room adjoining, was seated at the piano playing 
 an accompaniment to his daughter's new song, or singing it to 
 her accompaniment. When the lessons were finished, and a 
 stately pile of bread and butter was ready, all the eight child- 
 ren came to breakfast; after which the younger ones were 
 packed off to school, and the father went to his office 
 
 "Who more amiable than that father? There is a portrait 
 of Mrs. Hamilton, as one of her sons relates, bearing the name 
 of the painter, 'T, Earle, 1787,' which attests his goodness of 
 heart. Earle was in the debtor's prison at the time, and Ham- 
 ilton induced his wife to go to the prison and sit for her por- 
 trait. She persuaded other ladies, and thus the artist gained 
 money enough to pay his debts and get out of jail. No man 
 was more ready than Hamilton to set on foot such good- 
 natured schemes, though himself never too far from the debtor's 
 prison. At this very time — 1791 to 1794 — he was pinched 
 severely in his effort to live upon his little salary. ' If you 
 can lend me conveniently twenty dollars for a few days,' he 
 wrote to a friend in September, 1 791, 'be so good as to send 
 it by the bearer.' The friend sent a check for fifty dollars. 
 And Talleyrand said, in 1794, coming from Hamilton's house, 
 ' I have beheld one of the wonders of the world — a man who 
 has made the fortune of a nation laboring all night to support 
 a family." ^ 
 
 In November, 1801, General Hamilton's eldest son, Philip, 
 a young man of twenty, became involved in a quarrel with a 
 Mr. Eacker, of New York. Hamilton challenged Eacker to 
 mortal combat. The parties met on the shores of the Hudson, 
 and young Hamilton was mortally wounded. He died the 
 next day. The untimely end of his son was a cruel blow to 
 General Hamilton, and for the time seemed to crush him. 
 
 In the campaign of 1804, the Republican party declined to 
 renominate Colonel Aaron Burr for the Vice Presidency, and 
 
 ^ Par ton. 
 
360 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 nominated George Clinton in his place. Burr received the 
 Republican nomination for Governor of New York, but was 
 opposed during the canvass with great warmth by General 
 Hamilton, and was defeated. He deeply resented Hamilton's 
 exertions against him, and resolved to be revenged upon him. 
 He soon found a pretext, and at once seized upon it. One of 
 the newspapers of the day published a letter written by Dr. 
 Cooper to a friend, in which the following passage occurred : 
 "Gen. Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared in substance 
 that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and 
 one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government. 
 / conld detail to you a still more despicable opinion winch General 
 Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr^ 
 
 As this was as good a cause of quarrel as he was likely to 
 find, Burr's resolution was taken. On the 17th of June, 1804, 
 he despatched his friend, Mr. Van Ness, with a letter to Hamil- 
 ton, in which he said : " You must perceive, sir, the necessity 
 of a prompt and unqualified acknowledgement or denial of the 
 use of any expressions which could warrant the assertions of 
 Dr. Cooper." 
 
 Hamilton, on the 20th of June, replied to this communica- 
 tion. He declared his readiness to avow or deny any particu- 
 lar opinion or expression attributed to himself, but declined to 
 be responsible for, or to be questioned about the assertions or 
 inferences of third parties. Considerable correspondence fol- 
 lowed, in which Hamilton showed the most conciliatory spirit, 
 though it was evident that Burr meant to force him into an 
 encounter. Burr had deliberately resolved upon the death of 
 Hamilton, and he left him no opportunity of avoiding a hostile 
 meeting with credit. Such was the barbarous spirit of the 
 times that Hamilton was driven, in order to avoid public dis- 
 grace, to consent to his own murder. The correspondence was 
 brought to a close by a challenge from Burr to a mortal com- 
 bat, and against his better judgment, Hamilton consented to the 
 meeting. The seconds agreed that the encounter should take 
 place on the shore of the Hudson, at Weehawken, on the nth 
 of July, at an early hour of the morning. 
 
 On the 9th of July Hamilton made his will. He desired 
 that his debts should be paid, and left the residue of his 
 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 361 
 
 property, if any should remain after such payment, to his wife, 
 whom he tenderly committed to the care of his sons. He 
 deeply regretted the necessity of the meeting with Burr, but 
 could see no alternative consistent with his honor. Public 
 opinion had not then condemned the barbarous code, as it has 
 since. He had no wish to injure Burr, and declared to his 
 second his intention to throw away his fire. 
 
 At the appointed time the parties with their seconds crossed 
 over from New York in hired boats to the Jersey shore, and 
 repaired to the designated spot on the river shore at the foot of 
 the heights of Weehawken, the spot where, three years before, 
 young Philip Hamilton had fallen in a similar encounter. The 
 preliminaries were soon arranged, and the principals took their 
 positions. The word of command was given, and Burr taking 
 deliberate aim at his antagonist fired. Hamilton fell, but true 
 to his resolution^ threw away his fire, and his pistol was acci- 
 dentally discharged as he was falling. Burr glanced at him 
 with a look of pity, but was hurried away by his second, 
 Hamilton was partially stunned by the shock of his injury, but 
 recovered as his second and surgeon hastened to him. His 
 eye rested for a moment on his pistol which lay upon the ground, 
 and of the discharge of which he was ignorant. Anxious for 
 the safety of his friends, he said, faintly : " Take care of that 
 pistol. It is undischarged and still cocked ; it may go off, and 
 do harm. Pendleton (his second) knows that I did not mean 
 to fire at him." 
 
 He was carried to the boat and rowed across to New York, 
 and conveyed to the house of his friend, Mr. Bayard. His 
 wife was sent for, and the sad news broken gently to her. 
 Hamilton was aware that his hurt was mortal; but bore his 
 sufferings with fortitude, and endeavored to comfort his heart- 
 broken wife. He sank rapidly, and died on the 12th of July, 
 in the forty-eighth year of his age. 
 
 His death was universally lamented in all parts of the coun- 
 try, and even his political enemies, touched by the suddenness 
 of his fate, joined in the tributes to his memory. Burr was 
 regarded with such horror that he found it best to retire to 
 Georgia, until the indignation he had excited, by the murder 
 of his victim, had subsided. 
 
GEORGE CLINTON. 
 
 ONE of the most devoted adherents of the Stuarts during 
 the great civil war in England was General James Clinton. 
 At the fall of the King he passed over to Ireland, where he estab- 
 lished his family. In 1729, his grandson, Charles Clinton, 
 emigrated to America, and settled in Ulster, now Orange 
 County, New York, just above the Highlands of the Hudson. 
 Charles Clinton's new home was not more than fifty miles 
 distant from New York, but was on the extreme frontier. Be- 
 yond it were the wilderness and the savage. The house was 
 built with a view to protection from assault, as well as to se- 
 curing the comforts of a home, for it was oftentimes necessary 
 to convert these border mansions into fortresses to resist the 
 attacks of the Indians. Charles Clinton was, of necessity, a 
 soldier. He took an active part in the wars with the Indians 
 and the French, and commanded a regiment of provincial 
 troops stationed at Fort Herkimer. His regiment formed a 
 part of Bradstreet's expedition against Fort Frontenac, and 
 he was present at the capture of that post. His two sons, 
 James and George, served in the same campaign, the one as a 
 captain and the other as a lieutenant. After the close of hostili- 
 ties, Charles Clinton was for many years Judge of the Court 
 of Common Pleas. He was an ardent sympatliizer with his 
 adopted countiy in the controversy with Great Britain, and died 
 in 1773, just on the eve of the Revolution. On his death-bed 
 he charged his sons "to stand by the liberties of their coun- 
 try." 
 
 George Clinton, the second son of this worthy sire, was 
 born at the family seat in Ulster County, New York, on the 
 26th of July, 1739. He received a fair education, and having 
 manifested a desire for the profession of the law, began the 
 study of it at an early age. Before he had been long engaged 
 in his studies, however, he laid aside his books to accept a 
 lieutenant's commission in the force raised in New York to 
 
 (362) 
 
GEORGE CLINTON. 363 
 
 operate against the French and Indians. He took part in the 
 campaign which resulted in the capture of Fort Frontenac ; 
 and two years later served under Amherst at the capture of 
 M itreal. In the latter year (1760), when but twenty-one 
 years old, he distinguished himself in an engagement on the 
 St. Lawrence, when with four gunboats he captured a French 
 brig of eighteen guns after a severe engagement. 
 
 Upon the return of peace George Clinton went back to the 
 study of the law, placing himself under the tuition of Chief Jus- 
 tice Smith. One of his fellow-students was Governeur Morris. 
 He passed the next two or three years in study, and then en- 
 tered upon the practice of his profession. He was not to con- 
 tinue it in peace, for in 1765 the passage of the Stamp Act 
 joined the issue squarely between the Colonies and Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Clinton promptly espoused the cause of his countiy. He 
 was quick and ardent in his nature, and firm in his opinions 
 He believed that the controversy with the Mother Country 
 would require the best services of every true American, and 
 he relinquished his hopes of gaining a fortune by his profes- 
 sion to devote himself to the defence of the liberties of Amer- 
 ica. He was elected to the Assembly of New York, in which 
 he soon took rank as one of its most gifted and patriotic mem- 
 bers. He was prompt in the discussion of the hostile measures 
 of the British Government, and firm in the defense of the 
 rights of his country. He was a man of pure life, and was 
 greatly beloved by the Whig or Patriot party, of which he was 
 the acknowledged leader. 
 
 In 1775 he was elected a delegate from New York to the 
 Continental Congress. In that body he was an advocate of 
 decisive measures, and was a worthy co-worker with the 
 Adamses, the Lees, and the determined minority of patriots 
 who were resolved that the freedom of the country should be 
 established. He warmly supported the proposal for a Declara- 
 tion of Independence, and cast his vote for that measure when 
 it was put on its final passage in Congress. He was deprived 
 of the pleasure of signing the Declaration, as he was com- 
 pelled to hasten away from Philadelphia the moment his vote 
 was given. He had been appointed a Brigadier-General in the 
 
364 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 provincial forces of New York, and the necessities of the mili- 
 tary situation required his immediate presence in the field. 
 
 Hastening from Congress to New York, which was then 
 held by the Americans, General Clinton proceeded from that 
 city to New Windsor, in Ulster County, just above the High- 
 lands. Some months before, Washington had caused two 
 works to be erected in the Highlands for the purpose of holding 
 the river against the enemy. These were Fort Montgomery 
 and Fort Constitution. The former was situated on the west 
 bank of the river, north of the Dunderberg, and opposite the 
 promontory of Anthony's Nose. Fort Constitution was situated 
 six miles higher up the river, "on a rocky island of the same 
 name, at a narrow strait where the Hudson, shouldered by 
 precipices, makes a sudden bend round West Point." The 
 forts were garrisoned by five companies of the regiment of 
 Colonel James Clinton, the elder brother of the subject of this 
 memoir, who was placed by Washington in command of both 
 posts. 
 
 The command of General George Clinton embraced the 
 militia of the counties of Ulster and Orange, a region in which 
 his influence was all-powerful. He was fully alive to the im- 
 portance of holding the Highlands against the enemy, and 
 during the war remained the constant and sleepless guardian 
 of this important region, the loss of which would have broken 
 the communication between the Eastern and Southern States, 
 and would have been well nigh, if not entirely, fatal to tlie 
 cause. 
 
 On the 1 2th of July, 1776, two British ships of war left their 
 anchorage in New York Bay, and passing the batteries of the 
 city, and at Paulus Hook on the Jersey shore, ascended the 
 Hudson. Washington, fearful that their object might be to 
 capture the yet unfinished works in the Highlands, sent off an 
 express to Gen. Clinton, urging him to call out the militia for 
 their defense. Clinton did not receive the letter until the 14th. 
 On the morning of the 13th he was notified of the approach 
 of the enemy by an alarm gun from Fort Constitution, and a 
 little later was informed by the captains of two river sloops 
 that the enemy had attacked New York and were ascending 
 the river with their ships. Clinton at once summoned the 
 
GEORGE CLINTON. 365 
 
 militia to arms, and they responded with a will to his sum- 
 mons. One regiment was sent to each of the forts, and a 
 third was held in reserve at Newburgh. All the other regi- 
 ments under his command were ordered to be ready for instant 
 service. He also collected a number of river craft with which 
 to obstruct the river at Fort Constitution. He then hastened 
 to that work, and after a conference with his brother, repaired 
 to Fort Montgomery, where he fixed his headquarters on the 
 night of the 13th, well satisfied with his day's work. The 
 next morning he received Washington's letter. The instruc- 
 tions of the Commander-in-Chief had been anticipated. Early 
 on the morning of the 14th, two fresh regiments arrived at 
 Fort Montgomery, and reported parts of two other regiments 
 on the march. Clinton had roused the whole country. 
 
 The enemy's ships ascended the river to Haverstraw Bay, 
 where they lay for several weeks, taking soundings of the 
 river, and frequently shifting their anchorage to avoid the fire 
 of the Americans from the shore. Clinton continued his 
 preparations for disputing the passage of the Highlands. A 
 chain was to be stretched across the river from Fort Mont- 
 gomery to Anthony's Nose, and the channel was to be ob- 
 structed by sinking vessels in it. Fire-ships were prepared, 
 and a number of row-galleys armed with nine-pounders col- 
 lected. These galleys, early in August, made an attack upon 
 the British vessels, and, though compelled to retreat, infllicted 
 considerable damage upon them. The whole country along 
 the Hudson was in arms, and the most enthusiastic spirit was 
 everywhere displayed. About the middle of August an at- 
 tempt was made to destroy the Phoenix and Rose by means of 
 fire-ships, and came near succeeding. The British vessels at 
 once dropped down the Hudson and rejoined the fleet in the 
 bay, suffering considerably from the fire of the American bat- 
 teries on their way down the river. 
 
 As soon as relieved of his anxiety for the safety of the High- 
 lands, Washington ordered General Clinton to leave a sufificient 
 force there, under his brother, and to join him with the rest of 
 his command at King's Bridge. Clinton at once obeyed the 
 order, and took part in the campaign which followed the evacu- 
 ation of New York. His idea of war was " straightforward 
 
366 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 fighting," and his patience was sorely tried by the cautious 
 strategy by which Washington outgeneraled Sir William Howe 
 and saved his army. 
 
 Upon transferring the bulk of his army to the west side of 
 the Hudson, Washington sent Clinton and his militia back to 
 the Highlands to keep watch over them, and directed General 
 Heath, with his brigade of Connecticut and Massachusetts 
 troops, to co-operate with him. Heath took position at Peek- 
 skill at the entrance of the Highlands, and Clinton repaired to 
 the forts higher up the river. He remained there during the 
 trying retreat of the army across New Jersey, full of the keenest 
 apprehension for the safety of the river. His fears were at 
 length relieved by the victories of Trenton and Princeton, and 
 the occupation by the army of the position near Morristown. 
 
 In 1777 General Clinton was commissioned a Brigadier- 
 general in the Continental army, at the urgent request of the 
 Convention of New York. He was continued in his command 
 of the Highland forts, with his headquarters at New Windsor. 
 " My precarious state of health," he wrote to Washington upon 
 the receipt of his new commission, " and my want of military 
 knowledge, would have rather induced me to have led a more 
 retired life than that of the army, had I been consulted on the 
 occasion ; but as, early in the present contest, I laid it down as 
 a maxim not to refuse my best, though poor services, to my 
 country, in any way they should think proper to employ 
 me, I cannot refuse the honor done me in the present appoint- 
 ment." 
 
 " He was perfectly sincere in what he said," says Irving. 
 " George Clinton was one of those soldiers of the Revolution 
 who served from a sense of duty, not from military inclination 
 or a thirst of glory. A long career of public service in various 
 capacities illustrated his modest worth and devoted patriotism." 
 
 On the 23d of March, 1777, the enemy sent an expedition 
 up the Hudson and captured Peekskill, where a considerable 
 quantity of stores was destroyed by them. The New York 
 Convention ordered Clinton to call out the militia of the sur- 
 rounding country, and he exerted himself to strengthen the 
 obstructions to the river at Fort Montgomery. In May the 
 Highland forts were inspected by Generals Greene, Knox, Mc- 
 
GEORGE CLINTON. 36/ 
 
 Dougall and Wayne, by order of General Washington. These 
 officers approved Clinton's measures for obstructing the river, 
 and advised the completion of the obstructions. 
 
 In April, 1777, the Convention of New York adopted a State 
 Constitution, and at the first election under it George Clinton 
 was chosen Governor of New York. He was regularly re- 
 elected for eighteen years, filling the longest term of office 
 ever held by any of the Chief Magistrates of the Empire State. 
 He continued to hold his command of the Highland forts, and 
 at the same time to discharge his duties as Governor of New 
 York. Washington was well pleased when informed of Clin- 
 ton's determination to continue in the field. "There cannot 
 be a more proper man on every account," he wrote. Clinton 
 kept a vigilant eye upon the Hudson during Burgoyne's inva- 
 sion. The chief command of the Highland region was held 
 by General Putnam, but he stood ready to move with the 
 militia to the assistance of the latter whenever summoned. 
 
 It was the intention of Sir Henry Clinton to force his way 
 through the Highlands and reach Albany, from which point he 
 expected to cooperate with Burgoyne in the subjugation of 
 New York. In the autumn of 1777, he was reinforced by 
 2,000 fresh troops from England, and at once entered upon the 
 execution of his plan. A force of about 4,000 men, with ar- 
 tillery, was embarked, and about the 1st of October, Clinton 
 began his ascent of the Hudson. 
 
 The Highland defences consisted of Forts Montgomery, 
 Clinton and Constitution. Fort Clinton had been erected 
 within rifle range of Fort Montgomery, and on a point which 
 commanded that work. It was complete, while Fort Mont- 
 gomery was still unfinished. The garrisons of the two forts 
 did not exceed six hundred men. The obstructions in the 
 river had been seriously weakened by the pressure of the tide, 
 but were believed to be sufficient. Two frigates and two 
 armed galleys were anchored above them. 
 
 On the 5th of September Sir Henry Clinton reached Ver- 
 planck's Point, where he landed his troops. He completely de- 
 ceived Putnam into believing that his object was to attack 
 Peekskill and Fort Independence. Putnam took position in 
 the rear of Peekskill to resist him, and sent to Governor Clin- 
 
368 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ton for all the militia he could spare. Having outwitted Put- 
 nam, Sir Henry Clinton crossed his troops to the west side of 
 the Hudson under the cover of a heavy fog, on the morning 
 of the 6th of October, and dividing them into two columns, set 
 off through the mountain passes to surprise Forts Montgomery 
 and Clinton, and carry them by a coup dc main. He found the 
 Governor more vigilant than Putnam. Governor Clinton, upon 
 the approach of the enemy's ships, had thrown his scouts out 
 beyond the Dunderberg to watch their movements. Early on 
 the morning of the 6th, he was informed of the landing of the 
 British at Stony Point, and at once penetrated their design. 
 He prepared to defend the forts to the last extremity, and 
 despatched a messenger to Putnam for assistance. The mes- 
 senger turned traitor, and deserted to the enemy, and Putnam 
 knew nothing of the attack upon the forts until it was decided. 
 
 Several detached parties with a field-piece were thrown out 
 to check the advance of the British, but were driven in by the 
 enemy after a sharp encounter. By four o'clock in the after- 
 noon the Americans were driven within their works, and both 
 forts were attacked. They were defended with spirit, for Gov- 
 ernor Clinton meant to hold on to them as long as he could, 
 and, ignorant of the treachery of his messenger, still had hopes 
 of aid from Putnam. At five o'clock he was summoned by the 
 British commander to surrender in five minutes. He refused 
 to comply with the demand, and both forts were simultaneously 
 assaulted. The battle continued until dark, the British ships, 
 which had ascended the river, joining in it. The defense of 
 the forts was desperate, but the garrison was too small to man 
 such extensive works, and the enemy entered them at several 
 points and carried them with the bayonet. Every inch of 
 ground was stubbornly contested ; the Americans fought from 
 redoubt to redoubt, losing heavily in killed and wounded. 
 "The garrison," said the Governor bluntly, "had to fight their 
 way out as many as could, for we had determined not to sur- 
 render." By dark the works were in full possession of the 
 enemy, the garrison having retreated to the river and to the 
 mountains. 
 
 Gen. James Clinton, the brother of the Governor, was 
 wounded, and in this condition slid down a precipice one hun- 
 
GEORGE CLINTON. 369 
 
 dred feet high into a ravine between the forts and escaped 
 The Governor sprang down the rocks to the river, which he 
 reached just as a boat was putting off with a number of the 
 fugitives. They returned to the shore to take him on board, 
 but he generously refused to enter the boat until assured that 
 it would bear his additional weight. The party then crossed 
 to the opposite shore, and the Governor hastened to join Put- 
 nam, who was at Continental village. Putnam had been 
 informed of Sir Henry's true intention by the firing at the 
 forts, and had despatched reinforcements, but they came too 
 late to take part in the fight, and were forced to retreat. The 
 defense of the Highland forts reflected great credit upon their 
 commander and his troops, and it is acknowledged by British 
 writers that the Americans never showed greater resolution and 
 gallantry in any engagement of the war. The enemy's loss 
 was heavy, amounting to 250 killed, wounded, and missing. 
 
 The capture of the forts was followed by the removal of the 
 obstructions from the river. Nothing lay now between the 
 British and Albany ; but the news of Burgoyne's surrender, 
 which reached the enemy shortly after, caused them to blo\v 
 up the captured forts and retreat down the river to New York, 
 after devastating and plundering the country along the Hudson. 
 
 Governor Clinton continued to keep guard over the High- 
 lands until the presence of the main body of the American 
 army in that region, in the latter years of the war, rendered 
 such an effort on his part unnecessary. He gave a hearty 
 support to the measures of Washington, and exerted himself 
 to keep New York true to her duty of sustaining the army in 
 the great struggle. Washington cordially testified to the en- 
 ergy and value of his assistance during the war. Upon the 
 evacuation of the city of New York by the British, on the 
 25th of November, 1783, Governor Clinton entered the city at 
 the head of the American troops, and took possession of it 
 in the name of the State of New York. 
 
 Governor Clinton was elected to the State Convention which 
 ratified the Constitution of the United States, and gave his 
 earnest support to the adoption of that instrument by the 
 State. 
 
 Acting in his official capacity, he received Washington upon 
 24 
 
370 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 his arrival in New York as President elect, and entertained him 
 at dinner that day. 
 
 When the people of the Union were divided by the political 
 quarrels of the administrations of Washington and Adams into 
 the Federalist and Republican parties, Governor Clinton's sym- 
 pathies and convictions allied him with the latter. In 1804, 
 upon the reelection of .Mr. Jefferson, he was chosen Vice- 
 President of the United States, and was again elected to that 
 position, under Mr. Madison as President, in 1808. He sup- 
 ported the policy of the Republican party with great earnest- 
 ness, ably seconding Jefferson and Madison to bring back the 
 Government to its true standard of Republican simplicity. 
 
 He died in Washington on the 20th of April, 18 12, in the 
 73d year of his age, sincerely lamented by the whole country. 
 
JOHN HANCOCK. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, 
 in the year 1737. He received a common school educa- 
 tion, after which he was sent to Harvard College, where he 
 graduated in 1754. He then entered the counting house of 
 his uncle, Thomas Hancock, a prominent merchant of Boston, 
 who died some years later, leaving him the heir of his fortune 
 and his successor in business. Mr. Hancock thus became one 
 of the leading merchants of Boston. He w^as exceedingly 
 prosperous in his business, and greatly increased the fortune 
 he had inherited from his uncle. 
 
 He took a prominent part in the public measures of the 
 times, and was for several years Selectman of the town. He 
 earnestly opposed the Stamp Act, as violative of the rights of 
 the Colonies, and gave to Samuel Adams and his fellow- 
 patriots his hearty cooperation, assisting the Colonial cause 
 wnth his wealth, as well as by his services. In 1766, the year 
 of the repeal of the Stamp Act, he was elected to the Assem- 
 bly as a representative from Boston, and held that position 
 until the commencement of the war. 
 
 Mr. Hancock's cooperation was of the greatest service to 
 the patriots at this time. He was one of the most popular 
 and influential citizens of Boston, and his name was sure to 
 carry weight with it in any cause he might espouse. He was 
 one of the solid men of the city, and it gave people confidence 
 in the patriot cause to see Hancock risk his great wealth in it. 
 
 Hancock was very much pleased with the popularity he 
 enjoyed. He was a handsome man, of attractive appearance, 
 graceful and engaging in manner, and veiy fond of social 
 pleasures. He was much addicted to lavish display, and 
 dressed richly, conducted his household upon an elaborate and 
 ostentatious plan, and his splendid coach was usually drawn 
 by six handsome bays, and was attended by servants in showy 
 liveries Beneath all these foibles, however, lay a rich, gencr- 
 
 (371 ) 
 
3/2 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ous heart, quick to sympathize with and ready to reheve mis- 
 fortune. His loyalty to his country's cause was deep and true, 
 and he was justly regarded as one of the most trustworthy 
 leaders of the patriot party of Boston. He did not possess 
 the far-seeing wisdom of Samuel Adams, and to the last hoped 
 that an accommodation might be had with the Mother Coun- 
 try. He deprecated what he regarded as the rashness of 
 Adams in forcing the controversy to a definite issue; but he 
 w^as as much determined as Adams himself to sustain the 
 cause of freedom with his life and fortune when the crisis did 
 come. His sentiments, and his activity in sustaining the mea- 
 sures of resistance, were well known to the Royalist authori- 
 ties of the Province, and he was classed by them with Samuel 
 Adams, as one of the most dangerous and resolute of the 
 patriot leaders. He was chosen captain of the Boston Cadets, 
 a volunteer company, composed of the elite of the young men 
 of the city. They were in full sympathy with him in his po- 
 litical opinions, and sustained him in his refusal to order them. 
 on escort duty at the general election in the spring of 1768. 
 This, together with his open and repeated denunciations of the 
 Revenue Acts, increased the hatred with which the Royalist 
 officials regarded him. 
 
 The Commissioners of Customs, in order to annoy him, 
 accused him of having made a false entry of the cargo of his 
 sloop, named Liberty. The vessel had recently come in from 
 a voyage with a cargo of Madeira wine, and had discharged 
 her cargo, had taken in another, and was about to sail on a 
 new voyage, when on the loth of June, 1768, she was seized by 
 the Commissioners on the pretext mentioned above. " The 
 collector thought she might remain at Hancock's wharf after 
 she had received the broad arrow ; but the Comptroller had 
 concerted to moor her under the guns of the Romney, which 
 lay a quarter of a mile off, and ' made a signal for the man-of- 
 war's boats to come ashore.' 
 
 "'You had better let the vessel lie at the wharf,' said Mal- 
 colm to the officer. ' I shall not,' answered Hallowell, the 
 Comptroller, and gave directions to cut the fasts. ' Stop, at 
 least, till the owner comes/ said the people who crowded 
 round. ' No, damn you,' cried Hallowell, ' cast her off.' ' I'll 
 
JOHN HANCOCK. 373 
 
 split out the brains of any man that offers to reeve a fast, or 
 stop the vessel,' said the master of the Romney ; and he 
 shouted to the marines to fire. 'What rascal is that, who dares 
 to tell the marines to fire ?' cried a Bostoneer ; and turning 
 to Harrison, the Collector, a well-meaning man, who disap- 
 proved of the violent manner of the seizure, he added, ' The 
 owner has been sent for ; you had better let the vessel lie at 
 the wharf till he conies down.' ' No, she shall go,' insisted the 
 Comptroller ; ' and show me the man who dares oppose it.' 
 ' Kill the damned scoundrel,' cried the Master. ' We will 
 throw the people from the Romney overboard,' said Malcolm, 
 stung with anger. * By God, she shall go,' repeated the Mas- 
 ter, and he more than once called to the marines, 'Why don't 
 you fire ?' and ' bade them fire.' So they cut her moorings, 
 and with ropes in the barges, the sloop was towed away to the 
 Romney. 
 
 " A crowd ' of boys and negroes' gathered at the heels of the 
 Custom House officers, and threw stones, bricks and dirt at 
 them, alarming them, but doing no serious mischief; and 
 while Samuel Adams, Hancock, and Warren, with others, 
 were deliberating what was to be done, a mob broke the win- 
 dows in the house of the Comptroller and of an Inspector, and 
 failing to find a boat belonging to the Romney, seized on the 
 Collector's pleasure boat, dragged it in triumph to Boston 
 Common, and burnt it. After this, at about one o'clock, they 
 dispersed, and the town resumed its quiet." 
 
 The Governor and the Commissioners made this affair a pre- 
 text for bringing British troops to Boston. Hancock and the 
 other patriot leaders advised that the introduction of the troops 
 be met with a refusal to provide them with quarters or any of 
 the articles required from the people by the Act of Parliament. 
 When the troops arrived, the Commissioners of Customs grati- 
 fied their malice against Hancock and Malcolm by arresci ng 
 them upon charges which were so frivolous that they could not 
 be proved. The prisoners were released on bail, and the pros- 
 ecution ended in a miserable failure. In May, 1769, Hancock 
 was again returned to the Assembly by an almost unanimous 
 vote, and was instructed, together with his colleagues, by the 
 town of Boston, to insist upon the removal of the British 
 
374 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 troops, and not to pay anything toward their support. He 
 formed one of the Committee, of which Samuel Adams was the 
 head, which demanded of Governor Hutchinson the withdrawal 
 of the troops from the town after the Boston massacre, and was 
 fully prepared to go to the extent of blows in case of a refusal 
 of the demand. 
 
 Yet, all this while, he hoped that the British Government 
 would see the folly of its course, and agree to treat the Colo- 
 nies with justice ; and he hoped that a peaceful and honorable 
 settlement of the quarrel might be effected. This feeling in- 
 duced him to decline to serve on the Boston Committee of 
 Correspondence, which was established by the efforts of Sam- 
 uel Adams. He regarded that measure as too bold and re- 
 volutionary, and he was averse to such extreme steps as long 
 as a chance of settlement remained. He subsequently took an 
 active part in this Committee. He was a prime mover in the 
 resistance to the introduction of the taxed tea in 1773, and was 
 the moderator of the town meeting held at Faneuil Hall on 
 the 5th of November, to concert measures for that purpose. 
 On Sunday the 28th of November, the Dartmouth, the first 
 of the tea ships, arrived. On the next day a town meeting, at- 
 tended by the largest concourse ever assembled in Boston, was 
 held at the Old South Church, and it was resolved that the 
 tea should be sent back to England without being landed. 
 It was ordered that a watch should be set over the ship dur- 
 ing the night, and Hancock, who had taken a prominent part 
 in the meeting, volunteered to become one of the party for that 
 purpose. " I should be willing to spend my fortune and life 
 itself in so good a cause," he said the next day. In the events 
 of the 1 6th of December, he was a prominent actor, cordially 
 cooperating with Samuel Adams and others. He encouraged 
 the people to undertake the destruction of the tea, and accom- 
 panied them to the wharf where the vessels lay and cheered 
 them on in the patriotic task. 
 
 His course in this affair greatly surprised Governor Hutch- 
 inson, who had supposed that the great wealth of Hancock 
 would render him timid, and make him shrink from active re- 
 sistance. Hutchinson never comprehended the true character 
 of the patriot leaders, who were resolved to risk both fortune 
 and life in the attempt to maintain their rights as freemen. 
 
JOHN HANCOCK. 375 
 
 On the ist of September, 1774, General Gage, who had suc- 
 ceeded Hutchinson as Governor of Massachusetts, issued writs 
 for the election of an Assembly to meet at Salem in October. 
 Alarmed by the aspect of affairs, he subsequently counter- 
 manded his order, but the election was held in spite of his pro- 
 hibition, and ninety of the new members thus elected met at 
 Salem at t^e appinted time. After waiting a day for the Gov- 
 ernor to attend, administer the oaths, and open the session, they 
 organized themselves as a Provincial Congress, and elected 
 John Hancock President, after which they adjourned to Con- 
 cord, and quietly assumed the supreme direction of the Pro- 
 vince, Gage's authority being at an end beyond the lines of 
 Boston. Hancock had taken a long step forward, for the meet- 
 ing of this Congress was Revolution in its broadest sense. 
 
 Towards the close of 1774, he was elected a delegate to the 
 Continental Congress, which was to reassemble at Philadelphia 
 in the following May, 
 
 General Gage had orders from the British Government to 
 arrest and bring to punishment the leaders of the Patriot party 
 in Massachusetts, and Samuel Adams and John Hancock were 
 particularly designated as the objects of the Ministerial ven- 
 geance. Gage feared to put his orders into execution at once, 
 but watched for an opportunity to arrest Hancock and Adams, 
 and those gentlemen deemed it best to remain away from Bos- 
 ton. As has been stated elsewhere, one of the objects of the 
 expedition of the British to Lexington and Concord was the 
 arrest of Hancock and Adams, who were lodging at Lexing- 
 ton. They were warned of their danger on the morning of 
 the 19th of April, 1775, and escaped to Woburn. An hour or 
 two later the fight at Lexington began the Revolution. 
 
 When the Second Continental Congress reassembled at 
 Philadelphia, in May, 1775, Mr. Hancock took his seat in that 
 body as a delegate from Massachusetts. Peyton Randolph, 
 the President, having been recalled to Virginia, Congress, on 
 the 24th of IMay, by a unanimous vote, elected John Hancock 
 its President. Its action was significant of its determination to 
 sustain Massachusetts in the quarrel with England. He was 
 conducted to the chair by Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, who said 
 "We will show Britain how much we value her proscriptions.' 
 
3/6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Mr. Hancock was well fitted for his new position by the ex- 
 perience he had acquired as Moderator of the town meetings 
 of Boston, and in the Presidency of the Provincial Congress 
 of Massachusetts ; and the elegance and dignity of his man- 
 ners enabled him to fill the post now assigned him with grace- 
 ful ease. 
 
 On the 1 2th of June, General Gage issued a proclamation 
 offering pardon and protection to all the people of Massachusetts 
 who would seek the protection of the King. From this offer 
 Samuel Adams and John Hancock were specially exempted by 
 name, and it was declared that they were reserved for con- 
 dign punishment as rebels and traitors. 
 
 In December, 1775, when the siege of Boston had dragged 
 through many weary months without any apparent prospect 
 of success, Washington addressed to Congress a letter upon 
 the propriety of bombarding the city. The letter was read in 
 Congress, with Mr. Hancock in the chair. A solemn silence 
 ensued, and at length a member rose and proposed that the 
 subject be considered by the House in Committeeof the whole, 
 in order that Mr. Hancock, who was so deeply concerned, in 
 consequence of having all his estate in Boston, might give his 
 opinion of the measure. The House thereupon resolved itself 
 into a Committee of the whole, and Mr. Hancock, having left 
 the chair, spoke as follows: "It is true, sir, nearly all the 
 property I have in the world is in houses and other real estate 
 in the town of Boston; but if the expulsion of the British army 
 from it, and the liberties of our country, require their being 
 burnt to ashes, issue the orders for that purpose immediately." 
 Congress authorized Washington to conduct the siege as in 
 his judgment should seem best, with the single object of ex- 
 pelling the British army, regardless of the fate of Boston. In 
 communicating these instructions to Washington, Hancock 
 wrote to him : " May God crown your attempt with success. 
 I most heartily wish it, though individually I may be the great- 
 est sufferer." 
 
 Mr. Hancock supported the proposition for a Declaration of 
 Independence. He had become convinced that all hope of an 
 honorable settlement with England was at an end, and that the 
 Colonies must choose between independence and slavery. His 
 
INDEPENDENCE HALL 
 
JOHN HANCOCK. 377 
 
 magnificent signature appears at the head of the Signers of the 
 Declaration ; and it is related that when he had affixed it to 
 the paper, he said with a smile, as he laid down the pen, 
 " There, John Bull may read my name without spectacles." 
 
 In 1779 Mr. Hancock resigned his seat in Congress. He 
 was elected to the Convention which formed the first; State 
 Constitution of Massachusetts, and in 1780, was elected the 
 first Governor of the State. He was annually chosen to this 
 position until 1785, when he declined a reelection. He was 
 succeeded by the Hon. James Bowdoin, during whose admin- 
 istration Shays' Rebellion occurred. The Governor did all 
 that could be done to put down the trouble, but his course 
 failed to give satisfaction to the people, and the next year 
 Mr. Hancock was again chosen Governor of the State. 
 
 He was a delegate to the Convention which ratified the Fed- 
 eral Constitution. The opposition to the Constitution was 
 very great in Massachusetts, and it was claimed that the Gov- 
 ernor was of this party. He was chosen President of the 
 Convention, but did not attend its sessions until during the last 
 week. He then threw the whole of his influence in favor of 
 the ratification of the Constitution with certain amendments, 
 and aided in securing its adoption by the State. 
 
 About two or three years before the outbreak of the Revo- 
 lution, Mr. Hancock married Miss Quincy, the daughter of a 
 prominent citizen of Boston. She bore him a son, who died in 
 his youth. Having no children to inherit his fortune, he be- 
 stowed a large part of his wealth upon charitable and benevo- 
 lent objects. He gave liberally to Harvard College, which to 
 this day counts him among its chief benefactors. 
 
 On the 8th of October, 1793, Mr. Hancock died suddenly at 
 his residence in Boston, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. His 
 body lay in state for several days, and his funeral was con- 
 ducted with great pomp, amid the sincere regret of the people 
 of Boston, to many of whom he had proved a kind and liberal 
 friend. 
 
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY. 
 
 /^HARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY was born at 
 V^ Charleston, South Carolina, in February, 1746. He was 
 sent to England at an early age to receive his intellectual train- 
 ing, and was educated at the Westminster School, after which 
 he spent several years at the University of Oxford. In both 
 institutions he was highly esteemed for his personal character, 
 as well as for his proficiency in his studies. Upon leaving 
 Oxford, he read law at the Temple, and in 1769, at the age of 
 twenty-three, returned to South Carolina, and began the prac- 
 tice of his profession. 
 
 He returned home in the midst of the controversy between 
 the Colonies and Great Britain, and at once entered into it 
 with ardor on the side of his native country. His residence in 
 England had taught him that the safety of the Colonies lay in 
 firm, uncompromising action, and he was always an advocate 
 of the boldest measures. At the outbreak of hostilities, he 
 was one of the first to volunteer for the defence of his Province, 
 and was commissioned a captain in the forces of South Caro- 
 lina, and soon after received the same rank in the Continental 
 line. Somewhat later he was made Colonel of the first regi- 
 ment of South Carolina infantry. During the defense of Fort 
 Moultrie, his regiment was stationed at Fort Johnson, from 
 which he witnessed, but took no part in the gallant resistance 
 of his countrymen to the British fleet. 
 
 Seeing no prospect of active service in the South, Colonel 
 Pinckney hastened to the North, and, joining the army of Wash- 
 ington, was appointed an aide-de-camp to the Commander-in- 
 chief In this capacity he served through the campaign of 
 1777, and was present at the battles of the Brandywine and 
 Germantown. 
 
 The fall of Savannah and the gathering of a British army in 
 the South, induced him to return to South Carolina in 1778 
 
 378 
 
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY. 379 
 
 His regiment formed a part of the little army of General Lin- 
 coln. In the spring of 1779, a considerable detachment of 
 Lincoln's army was defeated by a British force under Colonel 
 Campbell, and the British General Prevost, encouraged by this 
 success, moved from Savannah to Charleston, in the hope of 
 compelling the city to surrender before the American army, 
 which was in a distant part of the State, could arrive to its as- 
 sistance. As soon as Lincoln heard of this movement, he set 
 out for Charleston, and by a forced march, in which his army 
 suffered considerably from fatigue and sickness, arrived before 
 Charleston and compelled Prevost to fall back from that city. 
 In this march Colonel Pinckney greatly distinguished himself 
 He acquired still greater distinction by his gallant conduct in 
 the unfortunate attack upon Savannah in September, 1779. 
 
 Upon the approach of the British fleet under Admiral Ar- 
 buthnot and the army under Sir Henry Clinton, Colonel 
 Pinckney was placed in command of Fort Moultrie. By care- 
 ful soundings the British Admiral discovered that he could 
 force his way by Fort Moultrie and enter the harbor without 
 being obliged to reduce that work ; and early in April he 
 stood into the harbor with seven ships of war and two trans- 
 ports. Colonel Pinckney opened a heavy fire upon the vessels 
 from Fort Moultrie, but was not able to turn back the British 
 ships, which passed the batteries, entered the harbor, and 
 anchored just out of range of the American guns. Fort Moul- 
 trie was now useless, and Colonel Pinckney withdrew a part 
 of the garrison and threw himself with it into Charleston, to 
 aid in the defence of that city. Clinton pressed the siege of 
 the city with vigor, and the garrison was soon reduced to ex- 
 tremities. Colonel Pinckney was in favor of continuing the 
 defense to the bitter end, and of compelling the enemy to 
 carry the place by assault. He did not delude himself with 
 the hope that they would be able to repulse the British, but 
 "we shall so cripple the army before us," he said, "that although 
 we may not live to enjoy the benefits ourselves, yet to the 
 United States they will prove incalculably great." More pru- 
 dent counsels prevailed, however, and on the 12th of May, 
 1780, the city and its defenders w^ere surrendered to Sir Henry 
 Clinton. Pinckney thus became a prisoner of war, and re- 
 mained in captivity until the return of peace. 
 
380 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 After the return of peace Colonel Pinckney resumed the 
 practice of his profession, and was placed in command of the 
 militia of the lower districts of South Carolina. He was a 
 member of the Convention of 1787 which framed the Consti- 
 tution of the United States, and a member of the Convention 
 of South Carolina which ratified that Constitution. In both 
 these bodies he warmly advocated the adoption of the Con- 
 stitution, and by his eloquent appeals and profound arguments 
 in its behalf laid the foundation of his great reputation as an 
 orator and a statesman. 
 
 Upon the organization of the Federal Government under 
 the Constitution, Colonel Pinckney was offered by President 
 Washington, who highly esteemed his abilities, a seat on the 
 Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States; but the ap- 
 pointment was declined for reasons of a private nature. Upon 
 the resignation of General Knox, Colonel Pinckney was urged 
 by the President to enter his Cabinet as Secretary of War, 
 and the post of Secretary of State was also offered him upon 
 the resignation of Mr. Randolph. Both these flattering offers 
 were declined for the same reasons that had compelled him to 
 refuse the seat in the Supreme Court. 
 
 In 1796, having come to the conclusion that the interests of 
 the country required the recall of Mr. Monroe from France, 
 President Washington appointed Colonel Pinckney to succeed 
 Monroe as Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Republic. 
 This appointment was made in July, 1796, and was accepted 
 by Colonel Pinckney, who promptly sailed for Europe. He 
 reached Paris after the retirement of Washington from the 
 Presidency. 
 
 Colonel Pinckney was a member of the Federalist party, 
 Mr. Monroe a Republican. The Federalists were regarded by 
 the French Government in the light of enemies, while the Re- 
 publicarts were considered friends. The Directory took leave 
 of Mr. Monroe with great cordiality when he went to announce 
 his recall. Pinckney presented himself a few days later, as the 
 successor of Mr. Monroe. The Directory refused to receive 
 him, as they had some time before announced their intention 
 not to receive any new Minister from the United States until 
 the American Republic had redressed the grievances of which 
 
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY. 38 1 
 
 the French Government had complained. We have already, 
 in another part of this work, discussed the causes of the quar- 
 rel between the United States and France, and have shown 
 the injustice of the position assumed by the Directory. We 
 need not reopen the question here. While Mr, Pinckney was 
 considering what course to pursue in consequence of the re- 
 fusal of the French Government to receive him, his conduct 
 was decided for him by a peremptory order from the Directory 
 to quit the French territory immediately. He accordingly 
 withdrew to Holland to await the orders of his Government. 
 
 President Adams having resolved to attempt a settlement of 
 the dispute with France by negotiation, associated John Mar- 
 shall and Elbridge Gerry with Colonel Pinckney as envoys ex- 
 traordinary to the French Republic, with orders "to dissipate 
 umbrages, remove prejudices, rectify errors, and adjust all 
 difficulties by a treaty between the two powers." 
 
 The three envoys met at Paris on the 4th of October, 1797, 
 and made their business known to the French Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs, the famous Talleyrand. He at first refused 
 to receive them in an official capacity, and afterwards employed 
 secret agents to communicate with them, in order that he might 
 be free to disavow any engagement entered into with them. 
 It soon transpired that the object of these secret interviews 
 was to extort money from the United States. The Commis- 
 sioners were given to understand that if they would pay Tal- 
 leyrand a certain sum of money for the use of himself and 
 the Directory, and would pledge the United States to make a 
 loan to France, negotiations would be begun without delay. 
 The answer of the American Commissioners was well ex- 
 pressed in the indignant words of Pinckney: "Millions for 
 defence, not one cent for tribute." The secret agent insisted 
 on this point, and the Commissioners replied, " We will not 
 give you one farthing; and before coming here, we should 
 have thought such an offer as you now propose, would have 
 been regarded as a mortal insult." Pinckney and Marshall 
 were ordered to quit France at once; but Mr. Gerry was in- 
 vited to remain and negotiate a treaty. He failed to accom- 
 plish anything. Marshall left France on the i6th of April, 
 1798; Gerry on the 26th of July. Colonel Pinckney was 
 
382 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 detained by the illness of his daughter, and did not take his 
 departure until later in the year. He reached the United 
 States in October, 1798. 
 
 Before his arrival the Federal Government had begun its 
 preparations for war with France, and he had been appointed 
 one of the three Major-generals in the army to be raised 
 under the Acts of Congress. He was placed second on the 
 list, and was thus made subordinate to Hamilton, who had 
 been his inferior in rank in the Revolution. Knox resented 
 the appointment of Hamilton and Pinckney over him, and re- 
 fused to accept the commission tendered him. Some of Pinck- 
 ney's friends urged him to take a similar course; but he 
 answered that he had no doubt that Washington had Satisfac- 
 tory reasons for placing him under Hamilton. " Let us first 
 dispose of our enemies," he said; "We shall then have leisure 
 to settle the questions of rank." " General Pinckney," says 
 Irving, "cheerfully accepted his appointment, although placed 
 under Hamilton. * * j|- -^^ls with the greatest pleasure he 
 had seen that officer's name at the head of the list of Major 
 generals, and applauded the discernment which placed him 
 there. He regretted that General Knox had declined his ap- 
 pointment, and that his feelings should be hurt by being out- 
 ranked. * If the authority,' adds he, ' which appointed me to 
 the rank of second major in the army, will review the arrange- 
 ment, and place General Knox before me, I will neither quit 
 the service nor be dissatisfied. ' " 
 
 Fortunately the services of neither of the generals were re- 
 quired. The quarrel was settled by negotiation, as we have 
 related elsewhere, and the country was spared a vexatious and 
 exhausting war. 
 
 Returning to South Carolina, General Pinckney devoted 
 himself to the practice of his profession, in which he was very 
 successful, and was enabled to acquire a comfortable fortune 
 sufficient to allow him to pass the remainder of his days in 
 ease. In 1 804 he was the candidate of the Federalist party for 
 the Vice-Presidency of the United States. Hamilton, in his 
 determination to be revenged upon Mr. Adams for preventing 
 the war with France, and so putting an end to all his ambi- 
 tious hopes, exerted all his great power and influence to in- 
 
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY. 383 
 
 duce the Federalists to throw Mr. Adams overboard, and cast 
 their votes in favor of General Pinckney, whom he thus 
 hoped to make President. Had his plan succeeded, he would 
 have saved his party and gratified his revenge. The result 
 was that he destroyed the Federalist party and elected Mr. 
 Jefferson. 
 
 The remainder of General Pinckney's life was chiefly de- 
 voted to his private affairs. He did not cease to take a deep 
 interest in the concerns of his country, and devoted himself 
 with especial earnestness to the advancement of the interests 
 of his native State. He was possessed of a fine education, and 
 his literary attainments were extensive. Knowing the value of 
 knowledge, his efforts to promote the cause of learning in his 
 State were unceasing. Everything that could better the State 
 found a ready and constant friend in him. As a lawyer he was 
 noted for the ingenuity, strength and profundity of his reason- 
 ing, and the accuracy and wide range of his learning. " In his 
 practice he was high-minded and liberal, never receiving any 
 compensation from the widow and orphan." He was a sincere 
 and earnest Christian, though he made no parade of his piety. 
 For the last fifteen years of his life he was the President of the 
 Charleston Bible Society, in which capacity he gained the 
 affection and confidence of all denominations of Christians. 
 
 He lived to see his country prosperous and powerful at home 
 and respected abroad, and died at his home in Charleston, in 
 August, 1825, in the eightieth year of his age. 
 
JOHN JAY. 
 
 THE founder of the Jay family in this country was a Hugue- 
 not, who fled from France at the revocation of the Edict 
 of Nantes, and emigrated to America. He settled first in South 
 Carolina, from which place he soon removed to New York. 
 Peter Jay, a descendant of this Huguenot, was a merchant of 
 prominence in New York, and married Mary Van Cortlandt, a 
 member of the well-known family of that name. 
 
 John Jay, the son of this worthy couple, was born in the 
 city of New York on the 1 2th of December, 1745. Soon after 
 his birth his father removed to his country seat near New Ro- 
 chelle, on the shore of Long Island Sound, and there young 
 Jay passed his childhood and a part of his youth. He was 
 educated at a boarding school in the neighborhood, and by 
 private tutors, and at the age of fourteen entered King's (now 
 Columbia) College, at New York. He was an industrious stu- 
 dent, quick to learn, and of unusual native talent. He took 
 a high rank in his classes, and in 1764, at the age of nineteen, 
 received his degree of Bachelor of Arts. 
 
 Having chosen the law for his profession, he lost no time in 
 beginning his studies, and two weeks after, leaving college, 
 became a student in the office of Benjamin Kissam, a leading 
 member of the New York bar. Lindley Murray, the gramma- 
 rian, was a fellow-pupil. In his Autobiography, he thus speaks 
 of Jay at this period of his life : "His talents and virtues gave, 
 at this period, pleasing indication of future eminence ; he was 
 remarkable for strong reasoning powers, comprehensive views, 
 indefatigable application, and uncommon firmness of mind." 
 
 Mr. Jay's legal studies were ended in 1768, and in that year 
 he was admitted to the bar, and forming a partnership with 
 Robert R. Livingston, afterwards the Chancellor of the State 
 of New York, began the practice of his profession. He was 
 successful from the first, and was soon in possession of an 
 amount of business which yielded him a comfortable income. 
 
 (384) 
 
JOHN JAY. 385 
 
 In 1774 he married Sally, the daughter of William Livingston, 
 afterwards and for many years Governor of New Jersey. 
 
 The controversy with the Mother Country was now at its 
 height, and Mr. Jay could not avoid being drawn into it. He 
 was sincerely attached to his country, and warmly sympathized 
 with her in her troubles. His connections were entirely with 
 the aristocratic class of New York, and he naturally desired a 
 continuance of the connection between the Colonies and Great 
 Britain. He was keenly alive to the injustice with which the 
 former were treated by the British Government, and had no 
 wish to continue the connection on terms inconsistent with the 
 honor and freedom of his native country. He cordially ap- 
 proved of the efforts of the Colonies to obtain redress of their 
 grievances, but discountenanced all measures that seemed to 
 have for their object a final separation of the Colonies from 
 Great Britain. He was one of the last to give up the hope of 
 a peaceful and honorable settlement. 
 
 In May, 1774, he was appointed a member of the New York 
 Committee of Correspondence, and took an active part in its 
 communications with the other Colonies. He warmly favored 
 the proposal for the meeting of the General Congress at Phila- 
 delphia, and was elected one of the delegates from New York to 
 that Congress, which assembled on the 5th of September, 1774. 
 In this body Mr. Jay, who was the acknowledged leader of 
 the Conservative party of New York, took a prominent part. 
 He was now thirty years old, and was regarded by the 
 party in New York who did not desire independence as their 
 mainstay. He was well qualified to be the leader of this party. 
 "He joined the dignity of manhood," says Bancroft, "to the 
 energy of youth. He was both shy and proud, and his pride, 
 though it became less visible, suffered no diminution from 
 time. Tenacious of his purposes and his opinions, sensitive to 
 indignities and prone to sudden resentments, not remarkable 
 for self-possession, with a countenance not trained to conceal- 
 ment, neither easy of access, nor quick in his advances, gifted 
 with no deep insight into character, he had neither talents nor 
 inclination for intrigue ; and but for his ambition, which he 
 always subjected to his sense of right, he would have seemed 
 formed for study and retirement." 
 25 
 
386 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Jay had desired the meeting of the Congress as the best 
 means of uniting the Colonies in one course of action. He 
 hoped that the Colonies thus united would be able to secure 
 justice at the hands of Great Britain, and maintain their union 
 with her. He repudiated the claim of England, that her do- 
 minion over America was founded upon the discoveries of her 
 subjects, and declared that Americans had a natural and un- 
 alienable right to form their own governments and manage 
 their institutions themselves, subject to the general authority 
 of the King of England. He regarded the arbitrary acts of 
 Parliament and the Ministers as unjust and destructive of the 
 liberties of his country, and earnestly advocated the united re- 
 sistance of the Colonies. He desired that this resistance 
 should be made in the character of British subjects, and as late 
 ae January, 1775, declared that he "held nothing in deeper ab- 
 horrence than the malignant charge of aspiring after independ- 
 ence." The idea of separating from Great Britain was painful 
 to him, and he failed to comprehend the deliberate purpose of 
 the King to compel his American subjects to submit abjectly 
 to the loss of their liberties. 
 
 Mr. Jay warmly supported the measures of Congress, which 
 were all of a conservative nature, and prepared the Address to 
 the People of Great Britain adopted by Congress, which was 
 one of the ablest papers issued by that body. 
 
 The expedition to Lexington and Concord, which showed 
 too plainly to be doubted the purpose of the Ministry to dis- 
 arm the Colonies, shook Mr. Jay's faith in the possibility of 
 effecting a peaceful settlement ; but he was not yet ready to 
 abandon the effort. On the 5th of May, 1775, the New York 
 Committee addressed an appeal to the Lord Mayor and Cor- 
 poration of London, and through them to the people of the 
 British capital. " Born to the bright inheritance of English 
 freemen," said the Committee, "the inhabitants of this exten- 
 sive continent can never submit to slavery. The disposal of 
 their own property with perfect spontaneity is their indefeasible 
 birthright. This they are determined to defend with their 
 blood, and transfer to their posterity. The present machina- 
 tions of arbitrary power, if unremittedly pursued, will, by a 
 fatal necessity, terminate in the dissolution of the Empire. 
 
JOHN JAY. 387 
 
 This country will not be deceived by measures conciliatory in 
 appearance. We cheerfully submit to a regulation of com- 
 merce by the legislature of the parent State, excluding in its 
 nature every idea of taxation. When our unexampled griev- 
 ances are redressed, our prince will find his American subjects 
 testifying by as ample aids as their circumstances will permit, 
 the most unshaken fidelity to their sovereign. America is 
 grown so irritable by oppression, that the least shock in any 
 part is, by the most powerful sympathetic affection, instanta- 
 neously felt through the whole continent. This city is as one 
 man in the cause of liberty; our inhabitants are resolutely 
 bent on supporting their Committee and the intended Provin- 
 cial and Continental Congresses ; there is not the least doubt 
 of the efficacy of their example in the other counties. In 
 short, while the whole continent are ardently wishing for peace 
 upon such terms as can be acceded to by Englishmen, they 
 are indefatigable in preparing for the last appeal. We speak 
 the real sentiments of the Confederated Colonies from Nova 
 Scotia to Georgia, when we declare that all the horrors of 
 civil war will never compel America to submit to taxation by 
 authority of Parliament." To this appeal the name of Mr. 
 Jay was signed at the head of the Committee. It well ex- 
 pressed his views: he desired peace, but only " upon such terms 
 as could be acceded to by Englishmen." 
 
 Soon after the assembling of the Second Continental Con- 
 gress in May, 1775, Mr. Jay, anxious to make yet another eftbrt 
 for an adjustment of the quarrel, moved the adoption of a 
 second petition to the King, and succeeded in carrying his 
 measure through Congress. The fate of this petition, and the 
 purpose of the King to employ German mercenaries to reduce 
 the Colonies to submission, at length opened Mr. Jay's eyes to 
 the real designs of England. He did not hesitate as to his 
 course. He saw that a separation was necessary, and that the 
 Colonies had been driven by the Mother Country to choose 
 between independence and subjugation. As a good citizen 
 and patriot he unhesitatingly threw the weight of his influence 
 from this time in favor of independence. 
 
 On the 29th of November, 1775, Mr. Jay was appointed a 
 member of the Committee organized by Congress for the pur- 
 
388 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 pose of " Corresponding with friends in Great Britain, Ireland, 
 and other parts of the world." Previous to this M. de Bon- 
 vouloir, a secret agent of the French King, had visited Phila- 
 delphia, and had vaguely hinted that France might help the 
 Colonies under certain circumstances. The result of this hint 
 was the sending of Silas Deane to Paris as the secret agent of 
 the Colonies. Deane's letters were addressed to Jay, who, in 
 addition to his labors in Congress, conducted this important 
 correspondence in person. 
 
 In April, 1776, Mr. Jay was elected a member of the Provin- 
 cial Congress of New York, and at the urgent request of that 
 body returned from Philadelphia to take part in its delibera- 
 tions. He was now aware of the fate of the last petition of 
 Congress, and he exerted himself to prepare New York to dis- 
 charge her duty with vigor and firmness in the contest for the 
 liberties of the country. He was opposed to the separate 
 action of the Colonies, and earnestly desired them to present a 
 solid and unbroken front to the King. "Vigor and unanimity," 
 he said, "are our only means of safety." 
 
 In June, 1776, the proposition of the Virginia Convention 
 for a declaration of independence of the Mother Country was 
 laid before the Congress of New York. Mr. Jay advocated 
 the support of the proposal by New York. "This was the mo- 
 ment," says Bancroft, "that showed the firmness and the purity 
 of Jay; the darker the hour, the more he stood ready to cheer; 
 the greater the danger, the more promptly he stepped forward 
 to guide. He had insisted on the doubtful measure of a second 
 petition to the King, with no latent weakness of purpose or 
 cowardice of heart. The hope of obtaining redress was gone ; 
 he could now, with perfect peace of mind, give free scope to the 
 earnestness of his convictions. Though it had been necessary 
 for him to perish as a martyr, he could not and he would not 
 swerve from his sense of duty. Joining a scrupulous obedience 
 to his idea of right with inflexibility of purpose, he could not 
 admit that the Provincial Congress then in session had been 
 vested with the power to dissolve the connection with Great 
 Britain, and he therefore held it necessary first to consult the 
 people themselves. For this end, on the eleventh of June, the 
 New York Congress, on his motion, called upon the freehold- 
 
JOHN JAY. 389 
 
 ers and electors of the Colony to confer upon the deputies 
 whom they were about to choose full powers of administering 
 government, framing a Constitution, and deciding the great 
 question of Independence. In this manner the unanimity of 
 New York was insured; her decision did not remain a mo- 
 ment longer in doubt, though it could not be formally an- 
 nounced until after the election of its Convention." By his 
 departure from Philadelphia to take part in the sessions of the 
 New York Congress, Mr. Jay was prevented from voting for 
 or signing the Declaration of Independence, which he cor- 
 dially approved, and was prepared to support with his life and 
 fortune. 
 
 Mr. Jay was chosen a member of the Convention of New 
 York, which succeeded the Provincial Congress. He took the 
 leading part in this body, and his exertions were unremitting 
 and of the highest value to his country. The Tories, encour- 
 aged by the loss of the city of New York and the disasters of 
 the American army, were becoming very troublesome, and 
 Mr. Jay favored and succeeded in carrying through the Con- 
 vention a series of energetic measures for the suppression and 
 punishment of their traitorous opposition to the American 
 cause. He was also indefatigable in his efforts to offer a 
 proper resistance to the expeditions of the enemy which as- 
 cended the Hudson and ravaged its shores. When the Amer- 
 ican army had retreated beyond the Delaware, and the patriot 
 cause seemed about to go down in ruin, Mr. Jay did not 
 despair. He wrote the admirable and cheering Address to 
 the People of New York issued by the Convention on the 23d 
 of December, 1776. This Address was endorsed by the Con- 
 tinental Congress, was translated into German, and was printed 
 and circulated throughout the country, by order of Congress. 
 
 In the same year he was appointed on the Committee charged 
 by the Convention with the preparation of a State Constitution 
 for New York. The report of the Committee, which was writ- 
 ten by him, was presented to the Convention on the 12th of 
 March, 1777. The Constitution, as adopted by the Conven- 
 tion, was principally his work. The labors of the Convention 
 being now at an end, that body passed out of existence on 
 the 13th of May, 1777. Just before its dissolution, it appointed 
 
390 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Jay Chief Justice of New York, in order that the adminis- 
 tration of justice might not be discontinued. He was to hold 
 this office until the Legislature could meet and make appoint- 
 ments in a constitutional way. The Convention also appointed 
 a Council of Safety, of fifteen members, which was invested 
 with almost dictatorial powers, and which was to exercise au- 
 thority until the State Government could be organized under 
 the Constitution. Mr. Jay was a member of this Committee. 
 
 In November, 1778, Mr. Jay was appointed a delegate from 
 New York to the Continental Congress, and took his seat in 
 that body on the 7th of December. Three days later he was 
 elected President of Congress in the place of Mr. Laurens, who 
 had resigned. He continued to preside over fhe deliberations 
 of Congress until the fall of 1779. It was then proposed to 
 send him to France as an Envoy from the United States, but 
 John Adams was chosen for that post, and, on the 27th of 
 September, 1779, Mr. Jay was appointed Minister to Spain. 
 He sailed from America in the frigate Confederacy, on the 
 26th of October, but as that vessel was obliged to put into 
 Martinique from stress of weather, he continued his voyage in 
 the French frigate Aurora, and reached Cadiz on the 22d of 
 January, 1780. On the 4th of April he was at Madrid. 
 
 The objects of Mr. Jay's mission were to procure from Spain 
 the recognition of the independence of the United States, to 
 negotiate a treaty of alliance, aiid to obtain pecuniary aid for 
 the United States. Congress was of the opinion that the inti- 
 macy of the alliance between France and Spain would induce 
 the latter power to assist the United States as thoroughly as the 
 former had done. Spain, however, had no sympathy for the 
 American cause. The successful resistance to tyranny in 
 America only alarmed her, for she feared that her own Colo- 
 nies would follow the example of the United States, throw off" 
 her rule, and assert their independence. She was willing to 
 use the American States to further her own ends againt Great 
 Britain ; but was resolved to use all her influence to defeat 
 their plans of independence. Throughout the War of the 
 Revolution she set her face firmly against independence for the 
 United States, and endeavored to sacrifice them to her own 
 objects. 
 
JOHN JAY. 391 
 
 Mr. Jay found himself regarded with coldness and almost 
 open hostility from the time of his arrival at Madrid. The 
 King of Spain refused to receive him as an envoy, and he was 
 treated with studied neglect. He very soon saw that the hope 
 of obtaining aid or encouragement from Spain was a vain one, 
 but his orders from Congress did not permit him to be dis- 
 couraged. He was to continue his efforts in the hope that the 
 Spanish Government would at length give a favorable response 
 to them. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in Madrid, he was placed in a most 
 embarrassing situation by the action of Congress. That body, 
 reduced to desperation by the need of money, and the difficulty 
 of obtaining it, resolved to draw on Mr. Jay for the sum of 
 one hundred thousand pounds sterling. When the bills ar- 
 rived at Madrid, Jay was sorely perplexed. The Spanish 
 Government had refused to receive him, and he had no re- 
 sources from which to supply the demands of Congress. To 
 allow the bills to go to protest would be to inflict an almost 
 irreparable injury upon the credit of his country, and rather 
 than permit this, he resolved to accept the bills at his own 
 risk. .He did so, and was able to pay them as they came due, 
 partly with sums received through the assistance of Franklin 
 in Paris, and partly with small sums reluctantly advanced by 
 Spain. 
 
 The course pursued by Spain towards the United States 
 disgusted the straightforward American envoy. He was not a 
 man of intrigue, and he saw through the disingenuous policy 
 of that Government at a glance. It was a relief to him there- 
 fore, to receive, in April, 1782, a summons from Franklin to 
 come to Paris and assist in the negotiation of a treaty of peace 
 with England. "Spain," wrote Franklin, "has taken four years 
 to consider whether she should treat with us or not. Give her 
 forty, and let us in the meantime mind our own business." 
 Mr. Jay left Madrid on the 20th of May, 1782, and reached 
 Paris on the 23d of June. 
 
 Negotiations had been begun between Franklin and the 
 British Cabinet, and were in progress when he reached Paris. 
 His arrival was most opportune, for Franklin was the only 
 American Commissioner in Paris. Adams was in Holland 
 
392 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 perfecting the arrangements with the Dutch Government for 
 the recognition of the independence of the United States, and 
 negotiating a loan with the Amsterdam bankers, and Laurens 
 was a prisoner in the Tower of London. 
 
 Mr. Jay was not satisfied with the course affairs had taken 
 before his arrival. His illusions as to the good faith of the 
 European allies towards the United States had been rudely 
 dispelled by his experience in Spain, and he came to Paris full 
 of distrust. He doubted the sincerity of the French Court. 
 "The Count de Vergennes," he said to Franklin, "does not 
 wish to see our independence acknowledged by Britain until 
 they have made all their uses of us." He positively refused to 
 treat with Oswald, the intermediary of Lord Shelburne, under 
 the commission by virtue of which that gentleman had con- 
 ducted the negotiations with Franklin, and demanded that 
 Oswald should be given a new commission to treat with the 
 United States as an independent power. 
 
 The great obstacle to a general negotiation was Spain, which 
 power insisted that the American claim to the left bank of the 
 Mississippi and the free navigation of that stream should be 
 surrendered to her as the price of peace. On this point Jay 
 was inflexible. The claim of his country was just and beyond 
 question, and he would not even allow it to be discussed. He 
 was satisfied that France was prepared to support the claim of 
 Spain, and was resolved that she should obtain no advantage 
 at the expense of the United States. He was fully a match for 
 the Spanish ambassador. On the 26th of September, 1782, he 
 was in company with Lafayette at Versailles, when he met the 
 Count de Aranda, the Spanish Ambassador. "When shall we 
 proceed to business ?" asked Aranda. "When you communi- 
 cate your powers to treat," replied Jay. "An exchange of 
 commissions cannot be expected," said Aranda, "for Spain has 
 not acknowledged your independence." "We have declared 
 our independence," said Jay ; "and France, Holland, and Britain 
 have acknowledged it." "Lafayette came to his aid, and told 
 the ambassador that it was not consistent with the dignity of 
 France that an ally of hers like the United States should 
 treat otherwise than as independent. Vergennes pressed upon 
 Jay a settlement of the claims with Spain. Jay answered, 
 
JOHN JAY. 393 
 
 'We shall be content with no boundaries short of the Missis- 
 sippi.'"^ 
 
 Upon the arrival of Oswald's new commission, the nego- 
 tiations with Great Britain were resumed by Jay and Frank- 
 lin. Both were of the opinion that the conferences had better 
 be conducted directly with Great Britain, and not through 
 France, and that American interests were safest in American 
 hands. They therefore resolved not to communicate the pro- 
 gress of the negotiations to the Count de Vergennes. "At 
 the request of Franklin, Jay drew up the articles of peace. 
 They included the articles relating to boundaries and fisheries, 
 which Franklin had settled with Oswald in July; to these Jay 
 added a clause for reciprocal freedom of commerce, which was 
 equally grateful to Franklin and Oswald, and a concession to 
 the British of the free navigation of the Mississippi. * * * 
 Shelburne had hoped to make a distinction between the juris- 
 diction over the western country and property in its un- 
 granted domain, so that the sales of wild lands might yield 
 some compensation to the loyal refugees; but Jay insisted that 
 no such right of property remained to the King. Oswald 
 urged upon him the restoration of the loyalists to their civil 
 rights; but Jay answered that the subject of pardon was one 
 with which ' Congress could not meddle. The States being 
 sovereigns, the parties in fault were answerable to them, and 
 to them only.' Oswald yielded on both points." 
 
 Upon the arrival of Mr. Adams in Paris on the 20th of Oc- 
 tober, he most cordially united with his colleagues in their 
 determination to conduct the negotiations without reference to 
 the Count de Vergennes, for he had, as we have seen, good 
 cause to doubt the friendship of that Minister for America. 
 He sustained the general policy of Jay and Franklin, but in- 
 sisted that the i-iglit of the United States to a share in the fish- 
 eries and the settlement of the question of the Northeastern 
 boundary between the United States and Canada should be in- 
 cluded in the Treaty. Both Jay and Adams favored the 
 insertion of a clause providing for the collection of the debts 
 due British merchants by American citizens before the com- 
 mencement of the war, and finally won Franklin's consent to 
 that provision. 
 
 ^Bancroft. 
 
394 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The treaty was signed on the 30th of November, 1782, and 
 was made contingent upon a general pacification between all 
 the parties to the war. This was accomplished, as we have 
 stated, and the final treaty was signed on the 3d of September, 
 1783. Mr. Jay's part in bringing about this settlement was of 
 the highest importance, as we have seen. John Adams gives 
 him full credit for it. He says he found his colleagues in the 
 Commission able and attentive, "especially Mr. Jay, to whom 
 the French, if they knew as much of his negotiations as they 
 do of mine, would very justly give the title with which they 
 have inconsiderately decorated me, that of le Washington de la 
 negociation ; a very flattering compliment, indeed, to which I 
 have not a right, but sincerely think it belongs to Mr. Jay." 
 
 In May, 1784, Mr. Jay, having resigned his commission, left 
 Paris and sailed for the United States. He reached New York 
 on the 24th of July. It had been eight years since he had set 
 foot in his native city, and nearly five years since he had sailed 
 from America to Spain. He was received with public honors 
 and with great enthusiasm by the people of New York. It 
 was his intention to return to the practice of law, but he found 
 upon his arrival that he had been once more elected to Con- 
 gress by New York, and that Congress had appointed him 
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He took his seat in that body 
 on the 6th of December, and held it until the 21st of that 
 month, when, with great reluctance, and yielding only to a 
 sense of public duty, he accepted the Secretaryship to which 
 he had been appointed. He held this position until after the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and the in- 
 auguration of the Federal Government. 
 
 Mr. Jay sided with Hamilton in the discussions which pre- 
 ceded the adoption of the Constitution, and wished to see the 
 United States adopt a strong, centralized government. He 
 supported the Constitution when finally adopted, and by his 
 voice and pen, urged its acceptance by the States. He contri- 
 buted the second, third, fourth, and fifth numbers to The Fed- 
 eralist^ and was then disabled by a misfortune now to be re- 
 lated, and was prevented from continuing his contributions. 
 The only other article in TJie Federalist from his pen is the 
 sixty-fourth, on the treaty-making power. 
 
JOHN JAY. 395 
 
 In April, 1788, a serious disturbance occurred in New York, 
 which is known as "The Doctor's Mob." A number of graves 
 had been violated in order to procure subjects for dissection 
 in the medical schools. These outrages aroused the most 
 intense excitement in the city, and several physicians were 
 arrested and committed to prison on the charge of being 
 concerned in the violation of the graves. A mob collected and 
 endeavored to force the doors of the prison, and hang the 
 prisoners. Jay deeply abhorred mob violence, and in the earlier 
 stages of the Revolution had sternly discountenanced it. He 
 and Hamilton now placed themselves at the head of a body of 
 citizens, drove the mob back, and protected the prisoners. In 
 the melee Jay received a deep and dangerous wound in the 
 temple, which confined him to his bed for some months, and 
 put a stop to his labors on The Federalist. 
 
 Upon his recovery he was chosen a member of the New 
 York State Convention, which met at Poughkeepsie on the 
 17th of June, 1778, to consider the ratification of the Consti- 
 tution. The Convention was largely opposed to the Constitu- 
 tion, but Jay advocated it with such force and effect that he 
 completely reversed the majority, and the Constitution was 
 adopted by a handsome vote. 
 
 Upon the inauguration of the Federal Government, with 
 Washington at its head, Mr. Jay consented, at the urgent re- 
 quest of Washington, to remain in charge of the Foreign 
 Office until the Executive Departments could be properly or- 
 ganized by Congress. Mr. Jay was very doubtful of the suc- 
 cess of the new Government. He had wished to see it much 
 stronger, and more like the British monarchy. It was an open 
 question with him whether a Republican form of government 
 could succeed. He most earnestly desired its success, and was 
 prepared to sacrifice his own preferences to the general wish, 
 but he was very dubious as to the experiment. " Whether any 
 people," he said, " could long govern themselves in an equal, 
 uniform and orderly manner, was a question of vital impor- 
 tance to the cause of liberty, but a question which, like others, 
 whose solution depends on facts, could be only determined by 
 experience — now, as yet, there had been very few opportuni- 
 ties of making the experiment." Time has shown that the 
 American people were wiser than this truly great man. 
 
396 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Upon the organization of the executive departments of the 
 Government, President Washington offered Mr. Jay his choice 
 of them. He accepted the post of Chief Justice of the United 
 States, and was confirmed by the Senate on the 26th of Sep- 
 tember, 1789. In this position he fully sustained the splendid 
 reputation he had acquired by his Revolutionary services. 
 His decisions as Chief Justice, says Mr. Flanders, " do not 
 enable us to judge of the extent of his juridical acquirements; 
 nevertheless they evince a juridical facility, a power of analy- 
 sis, an aptitude for logical processes, and a ready apprehension 
 of principles." 
 
 Mr. Jay was a Federalist, both by nature and conviction, and 
 in 1792 was the candidate of that party for Governor of New 
 York. He was beaten by George Clinton. It was claimed by 
 the Federalists that he was- fairly elected, and that his defeat 
 was caused by the action of the Republican Legislature in 
 throwing out the votes of counties in which Jay had large mar 
 jorities. Considerable excitement prevailed throughout the 
 State, and threats of open resistance were indulged in by the 
 Federalists. Mr. Jay counseled calmness and moderation. 
 He declared his determination to abandon the contest rather 
 than it should end in civil war. "A kw years," he wrote to 
 his wife, "will put us all in the dust, and then it will be of 
 more importance to me to have governed myself than to have 
 governed the State." 
 
 The unwillingness of Great Britain to comply with the terms 
 of the Treaty of Peace, and the selfish and narrow-minded policy 
 pursued by that country towards the United States, of which 
 we have spoken in our account of Washington, was rapidly 
 embroiling the two nations in a fresh war. Washington was 
 anxious to avoid this, as the country's best interests demanded 
 peace, and he determined to make an effort to settle the quar- 
 rel by negotiation. He at first thought of sending Hamilton 
 to England for this purpose, but the latter advised him to ap- 
 point Mr. Jay. Washington decided to act upon this advice, 
 and in the spring of 1794 appointed Mr. Jay Envoy to Eng- 
 land. The nomination was confirmed by the Senate, and Mr. 
 Jay sailed at once upon his mission. He was not inclined to 
 accept the appointment at first, but yielded to the entreaties 
 
JOHN JAY. 397 
 
 of the President. "No appointment," he wrote to his wife, 
 "ever operated more unpleasantly upon me ; but the public 
 considerations which were urged, and the manner in which it 
 was pressed, strongly impressed me with the conviction that to 
 refuse it would be to desert my duty for the sake of my ease 
 and domestic concerns and comforts." 
 
 Mr. Jay found that the indisposition of Great Britain to do 
 justice to America was ingrained, and though he was flatter- 
 ingly received, and the Ministers professed great willingness to 
 come to a just and honorable settlement, he saw that an ar- 
 rangement that would satisfy the just demands of his country 
 could not be effected. A failure to come to some sort of un- 
 derstanding would be most deplorable, as war was the only 
 alternative. Jay had seen war, and knew what it was, and was 
 moreover convinced that it would be the most terrible misfor- 
 tune that could befall his country in her weak and almost 
 helpless condition. He therefore decided to accept the best 
 settlement he could obtain from England, and trust to the 
 future for the rest. In the course of a few months he succeeded 
 in negotiating a treaty by the terms of which Great Britain 
 agreed to give up the western posts within two years, and to 
 grant certain important commercial privileges to American 
 ships trading with her East and West Indian possessions. On 
 the other hand provision was made for the collection of debts 
 due British merchants by American citizens. The Treaty was 
 signed by Mr. Jay and the British commissioners, and was sent 
 to the United States for ratification. 
 
 Mr. Jay was not satisfied with the Treaty. He never pre- 
 tended that it was a fair settlement, but he knew that it em- 
 bodied all that Great Britain was willing to concede on the 
 subject. The publication of the Treaty raised a storm of in- 
 tense excitement in the United States, and both Mr. Jay and 
 the President were denounced as plotting to betray the country 
 into the hands of Great Britain. The President supported the 
 Treaty* however, as he agreed with Mr. Jay that it was the best 
 England was willing to give, and the Senate, after a fortnight's 
 consideration of it in secret session, advised its ratification. Im- 
 perfect as the settlement was, it secured to the country a num- 
 ber of years of peace when war might have proved fatal to it. 
 
398 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Jay returned home immediately after the conclusion of 
 the Treaty, and reached New York on the 28th of May, 1795. 
 He was given an enthusiastic reception by the citizens of his 
 native town, and found that during his absence he had been 
 elected Governor of New York by a handsome majority. This 
 was done without his knowledge, but he concluded to accept 
 the office, and resigned the Chief Justiceship. The term of 
 office of the Governor of New York at that time was three 
 years. Mr. Jay was elected a second time in 1798, and his 
 two terms thus covered a period of six years. He gave great 
 satisfaction, and was one of the best chief magistrates New 
 York has ever seen. During his administration he removed 
 no one from office because of his political opinions. He was 
 once advised to remove an office-holder of his own party and 
 appoint a very influential member of the Republican party to 
 the place, as it was believed that such a course would secure 
 the influence and wealth of the person designated for the Fed- 
 eralists. "Do you, sir," said the Governor sternly, to his 
 counsellor, " advise me to sell a friend, that I may buy an 
 enemy?" 
 
 In 1799, he gave his approval to an Act of the Legislature 
 for the gradual abolition of slavery in the State. He had 
 urged such a measure upon the New York Convention in 1777, 
 and was one of the most active men of his time in seeking to 
 remove the evil of slavery from the country. He wished to 
 accomplish this end in a constitutional way. 
 
 Governor Jay declined a third term as Governor of New 
 York. In November, 1800, President Adams appointed him 
 Chief Justice, in the place of Oliver Ellsworth, who had re- 
 signed, but he declined the appointment. He was anxious to 
 retire to private life, and considered that he had given to his 
 country all that she was entitled to demand of him. In 1801, 
 at the expiration of his term of office as Governor, he took 
 leave of all the employments of public life, and retired to his 
 paternal estate of Bedford, in Westchester County, abdut fifty 
 miles from New York. 
 
 Mr. Jay passed the next twenty-nine years in his rural re- 
 tirement. In 1802, his wife died. His children remained to 
 him, however, and in their midst he passed the remainder of 
 
JOHN JAY. 39Q 
 
 his life. He was very regular in his habits. " He rose with 
 the sun," says Mr. Flanders, "had his meals served with punc- 
 tuality, and passed most of the day in the open air and on 
 horseback. Family worship was regularly observed, morning 
 and evening, and was neither postponed nor suspended from 
 the presence of company. He usually retired to rest about 
 ten." 
 
 Although he had withdrawn from public life, Mr. Jay did 
 not lose his interest in political affairs, but watched them with 
 the calmness of a philosopher. He was scrupulous in his per- 
 formance of his duties as a citizen. "I attend every election," 
 he wrote to a friend ; " even for town officers ; and having de- 
 livered my ballot, return home without having mingled in the 
 crowd or participated in their altercations." 
 
 Mr. Jay was a sincere Christian. He was a member of the 
 Episcopal Church, but his sympathies were too catholic to be 
 confined to his own denomination. He gave liberally to other 
 Churches, and was always ready to help forward to the extent 
 of his ability any scheme for the advancement of Christianity. 
 
 His health was good up to the last few years of his life, but 
 in 1827 he was seized with a severe illness, which left him very 
 feeble. In this condition he lingered until the 14th of May, 
 1829, when he was smitten with a stroke of paralysis. He 
 never rallied from it, and on the 17th of May, died in the 
 eighty-fourth year of his age. 
 
JOHN MARSHALL. 
 
 JOHN MARSHALL was born in Fauquier County, Vir- 
 ginia, on the 24th of September, 1755. His father was a 
 planter of moderate means, and his family consisted of fifteen 
 children, of which the subject of this memoir was the oldest. 
 Colonel Thomas Marshall was a man of education and culture, 
 and a leading citizen of his county. During the Revolution he 
 commanded a regiment of Virginia troops, and won considera- 
 ble credit by his conduct in the battles of the Great Bridge, the 
 Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. 
 
 Fauquier was at this time one of the frontier counties of 
 Virginia. It was thinly settled, and its people were plain and 
 rough in their habits and mode of life. The schools of this 
 region were so few and worthless that Colonel Marshall deter- 
 mined to keep his children at home and educate them himself 
 He applied himself to this task with earnestness and devotion, 
 and was richly rewarded for his efforts by the progress they 
 made under his instruction. He was particularly anxious that 
 they should acquire a thorough knowledge of the English lan- 
 guage and of history, and sought to cultivate in them a love 
 for the masterpieces of the English tongue, which were his own 
 favorites. John Marshall did ample justice to his father's 
 labors, and when only fourteen years old had read Shakespeare, 
 Milton, Dryden, and Pope, and could repeat nearly the whole 
 of the "Essay on Man." He not only read these poets, but 
 learned to love them, and they remained throughout his life 
 his favorite authors. He appreciated his father's labors in his 
 behalf, and long after, when at the height of his fame, said of 
 that father, with an emotion which showed how deep was his 
 gratitude, "To him I owe the solid foundation of all my success 
 in Hfe." 
 
 Delighted with the promise of his oldest son. Colonel Mar- 
 shall resolved to secure for him better advantages of education 
 than his own unaided labors offered, and accordingly sent him 
 
 (400) 
 
^ ^^^ 
 
 JOHN MARSHALL 
 
JOHN MARSHALL. 4OI 
 
 for a year to the school of the Rev. Mr. Campbell, of West- 
 moreland County, where he was taught English and Latin. 
 At this school he became intimate with a fellow pupil named 
 James Monroe, who, like himself, was destined to play a prom- 
 inent part in the future career of his country. Returning home 
 at the end of the year, he continued his studies under the Rev 
 Mr. Thompson. 
 
 He studied hard, and was a constant reader. He was fond 
 of poetry and romance, but read history and biography with 
 the deepest interest. He was quiet and thoughtful in manner, 
 and full of a dreamy, poetic enthusiasm. He loved to wander 
 in the thick woods, and would pass many of his leisure hours 
 in studying the beauties of nature. His constitution was a 
 sound and vigorous one, and he was not only fond of manly 
 and athletic sports, but excelled in them. He had no vices, 
 and was simple in his habits, unaffected in his manners, and 
 fond of his home, the pure and healthy life of which was ad- 
 mirably suited to the development of his^ character and his 
 physical health. Colonel Marshall and his wife were practical 
 Christians, and reared their children in the simple straightfor- 
 ward piety which was a characteristic of our ancestors of that day. 
 Young Marshall was destined for the bar, and began his 
 legal studies at the age of eighteen. He was not permitted to 
 continue them in peace, for the controversy with Great Britain, 
 which was now at its height, drew all Virginia into it. A vol- 
 unteer company was organized in the neighborhood, and young 
 Marshall became a member of it. He was enthusiastic in his 
 sympathy with the cause of his country, and with the natural 
 ardor of youth declared himself in favor of armed resistance to 
 Great Britain. 
 
 In 1775, Patrick Henry roused the people of Virginia to a 
 determination to drive the Royalist Governor, Lord Dunmore, 
 out of the Province, and called for volunteers to assist him in 
 that work. A regiment, of which Marshall's father was made 
 Major, was raised in the counties of Fauquier and Culpeper. 
 A part of this force consisted of the famous "Culpeper Minute 
 Men," of which company young Marshall was made a lieuten- 
 ant. The regiment hastened to the rendezvous at Williams- 
 burg, and was soon despatched to the south side of the James, 
 26 
 
402 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 under Col. Woodford. It took a prominent part in the battle 
 of the Great Bridge. In July, 1776, Marshall's company was 
 transferred to the Eleventh Virginia Regiment of the Conti- 
 nental Line, and was ordered to the North. In May, 1777, he 
 was made Captain of his company, in the command of which 
 he took part in the fight at Iron Hill, and in the battles of the 
 Brand)nvine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He remained 
 with the army during the memorable winter at Valley Forge, 
 and shared the hardships and sufferings of his men. He was 
 constantly in active service until the close of 1779. He was 
 always patient, hopeful and cheerful, and amid the sharpest 
 trials to which the army was subjected, was never cast down. 
 One of his comrades has declared that he did more than any 
 other man to keep alive the hopes and courage of his regi- 
 ment during that terrible winter, and that his example was 
 not lost upon the army at large. Another states that "the 
 officers of the Virginia line appeared to idolize him." Wash- 
 ington's attention was drawn to him by his patriotic conduct, 
 and the Commander-in-Chief conceived for the young man a 
 warm friendship, which was as warmly returned by Marshall. 
 Washington frequently appointed him deputy judge advocate 
 in the courts-martial held during his continuance with the army, 
 and in this capacity he gave the first evidences of his remarka- 
 ble legal abilities. 
 
 At the close of the year 1779, Marshall returned to Virginia 
 to take command of a new corps which was about to be raised 
 by an Act of the Legislature. The project was discussed for 
 several months, and finally resulted in failure. During the 
 time it was under discussion, he remained at Williamsburg and 
 attended a course of lectures upon the law delivered by George 
 Wythe, and a course of lectures upon natural philosophy de- 
 livered by the Rev. Dr. Madison, afterwards Bishop of Vir- 
 ginia, at William and Mary College. The next summer he 
 received his license to practice law. The project for raising 
 troops having failed, he set out on his return to the army. He 
 was too poor to pay his passage to the North, or to hire a 
 conveyance, and he walked the entire distance from Williams- 
 burg to Philadelphia, more than three hundred and fifty miles. 
 Reaching Philadelphia at last, he repaired to one of the inns 
 
JOHN MARSHALL. 4O3 
 
 of the town, but he was so travel-stained and shabby that the 
 landlord refused to admit him. He rejoined the army, and 
 remained with it until the spring of 1 781, when he resigned 
 his commission. 
 
 Returning to Virginia, he entered upon the practice of the 
 law. The surrender of Cornwallis in October, 1781, brought 
 the war to a practical close, and as it became more evident 
 every day that peace was at hand, the courts were thrown 
 open, and our young lawyer began that brilliant career which 
 has made his name the most prominent in our judicial history. 
 His success was rapid, for his natural and professional abilities 
 were of the first order, and his great popularity enabled him 
 to acquire a certain amount of business from the first. In 1782 
 he was elected to the Legislature of the State, as a representa- 
 tive from the county of Fauquier. In the fall of that year he 
 was appointed by the Governor of the State one of the Execu- 
 tive Council. In January, 1783, he was married to Miss Mary 
 Willis Ambler, a lady of great personal beauty, with whom 
 he lived happily for more than fifty years. 
 
 Mr. Marshall now decided to establish himself in Richmond, 
 the new and growing capital of the State, where his opportu- 
 nities of professional success would be much greater than in 
 Fauquier. In spite of this determination, his old friends and 
 neighbors in Fauquier reelected him to the General Assembly. 
 In 1787 he was elected to that body from the county of Hen- 
 rico. 
 
 He was now a rising man, and was much noticed by the 
 people of the community in which he had established himself 
 He was very plain and even careless in his dress, and many 
 amusing anecdotes are told of his peculiarities in this respect. 
 Soon after he began the practice of law in Richmond, he was 
 passing through the streets one morning clad in a suit of brown 
 linen. His straw hat, which he carried under his arm, was 
 filled with ripe cherries, which he ate as he walked along. 
 As lis passed the Eagle Hotel, he stopped to exchange saluta- 
 tions with the landlord, and then resumed his walk. A witness 
 
 to this meeting was Mr. P , an elderly gentleman from the 
 
 country, who had come to Richmond to engage counsel in an 
 important lawsuit in which he was interested, and which was 
 
404 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to be tried in a few days. The landlord pointed out Mr. Mar- 
 shall, and advised him to retain him, as he was the best lawyer 
 in the city. The careless appearance of the young advocate, 
 
 however, had so much prejudiced Mr. P against him, that 
 
 he refused to retain him. On entering the court house, Mr. 
 
 P applied to the clerk, who also recommended him to 
 
 engage Marshall, but the old gentleman would not hear of it. 
 As they were speaking, Mr. V , a venerable-looking attor- 
 ney, with a black coat and a powdered wig, entered the court 
 house. Mr. P was so much impressed with his appear- 
 ance, that he retained him on the spot. In the first cause that 
 
 was called both Marshall and Mr. V addressed the court. 
 
 "The vast inferiority of his advocate was so apparent that at 
 
 the close of the case Mr. P introduced himself to young 
 
 Marshall, frankly stated the prejudice which had caused him, 
 in opposition to advice, to employ Mr. V ; that he ex- 
 tremely regretted the error, but knew not how to remedy it. 
 He had come to the city with one hundred dollars as his law- 
 yer's fee, which he had paid, and had but five left, which, if 
 Marshall chose, he would cheerfully give him for assisting in 
 the case. Marshall, pleased with the incident, accepted the 
 offer, not, however, without passing a sly joke at the omnipo- 
 tence of a powdered wig and a black coat." 
 
 In 1788 Mr. Marshall was elected to the Virginia Conven- 
 tion, which met to consider the ratification of the Constitution 
 of the United States. This Convention was one of the ablest 
 bodies that has ever assembled in America, and its debates are 
 famous in our history. Marshall warmly advocated the adop- 
 tion of the Constitution, and is believed to have done more 
 than any other person, Mr. Madison excepted, to secure its 
 ratification. His efforts in its behalf did much to establish 
 his reputation, and his practice increased rapidly from this time. 
 He was extremely anxious to avoid all public trusts and devote 
 himself to his profession ; but at the urgent request of his 
 fellow citizens he consented to represent them in the lower 
 House of the General Assembly. He was elected as a dele- 
 gate from the city of Richmond in 1789, and held his seat until 
 1 79 1. In the famous contests between the Federalists and 
 Republicans, which marked those sessions, he took a deter- 
 
JOHN MARSHALL. 405 
 
 mined stand in support of the former party, and was regarded 
 as its mainstay. The poHtical questions of the day were dis- 
 cussed with great bitterness, but Marshall made no enemies. 
 
 Quitting the Legislature in 1791, he devoted himself exclu- 
 sively to his profession for the next three years, appearing in 
 public once to defend, with masterly eloquence, the course of 
 President Washington with reference to the insolent conduct 
 of Citizen Genet. In 1795, he was again elected to the Legis- 
 lature, and this time "not only without his approbation, but 
 against his known wishes." He yielded at length to the en- 
 treaties of his friends, and took his seat. The great question 
 of the day was the adoption of Jay's Treaty with Great Britain. 
 In Virginia the opposition to the Treaty was intensely bitter 
 and very great. Meetings were held in Richmond and other 
 parts of the State, and the Treaty and all who upheld it were 
 roundly denounced. Even the great influence of Washington 
 was powerless to allay the excitement. Marshall, who had 
 mastered the situation, and had seen that the Treaty, imper- 
 fect and unsatisfactory as it was, was the only escape from a 
 war which the country was in no way prepared to engage in, 
 now came to the support of the President. He addressed a 
 meeting of the citizens of Richmond, and made such a power- 
 ful and unanswerable argument in favor of the adoption of the 
 Treaty, that the men who had been foremost in assailing it, 
 now united in passing resolutions indorsing the course of the 
 President with reference to it. He made a similar effort in the 
 Legislature, and effectually broke down the opposition to the 
 Treaty. President Washington attached so much importance 
 to these services that he offered his old friend and comrade 
 the position of Attorney-General of the United States, which 
 was then vacant. Marshall declined the offer, as he was unwill- 
 ing to give up his practice, which had now become very lucra- 
 tive. He continued to hold his seat in the Legislature, which 
 did not interfere with his private business, and remained the 
 constant and vigilant friend of Washington's administration. 
 In 1796, the President wished to appoint him Minister to 
 France, to succeed Mr. Monroe, but he declined the offer for 
 the reason that had made him refuse the Attorney-Generalship. 
 In 1797, in the midst of the difficulties with France, President 
 
406 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Adams requested him to serve on the embassy to that coun- 
 try, with Pinckney and Gerry. He yielded to the entreaties 
 of Washington, and went to France as an Envoy Extraordi- 
 nary from the United States. As we have related elsewhere, 
 the mission was a failure, but the spirited conduct of the 
 American Envoys was a source of great gratification to their 
 countrymen, and raised them still higher in the esteem and 
 confidence of the people. Marshall reached New York in the 
 summer of 1798, on his return, and was given a public recep- 
 tion by the citizens of that place, " as an evidence of affection 
 for his person, and of their grateful approbation of the patri- 
 otic firmness with which he had sustained the dignity of 
 his country during his important mission." Upon reaching 
 Philadelphia, he was honored with a public dinner by the two 
 Houses of Congress. He subsequently took a prominent part 
 in the discussions of the times in support of the measures of 
 the administration with respect to France. Returning to 
 Richmond, he resumed the practice of his profession, but in a 
 short while was summoned to Mount Vernon by Washington, 
 who urged him to accept a seat in Congress, where his abilities 
 and influence were needed by his party. He yielded with re- 
 luctance to the entreaties of his old chieftain, and in 1 799 was 
 elected to the House of Representatives in Congress, from the 
 Richmond district. Just before the election. President Adams 
 offered him a seat in the Supreme Court, but he declined it. 
 
 Though he remained in Congress but a short time, his career 
 in that body was honorable and brilliant. He took his stand 
 as the uncompromising champion of the Administration of 
 President Adams. He defended the Alien and Sedition Laws 
 — the only time in all his career when he was found on the 
 side of a bad cause — and he did so with such force of logic that 
 his opponents, though they had the right on their side, were 
 scarcely able to answer him. Mr. Binney says of him that, in 
 the debates on the great constitutional questions, "he was con- 
 fessedly the first man in the House. When he discussed them 
 he exhausted them ; nothing more remained to be said ; and 
 the impression of his argument effaced that of every one else." 
 His greatest triumph in the House was won in a better 
 cause than that of the Alien and Sedition Laws. Jonathan 
 
JOHN MARSHALL. 4O7 
 
 Robbins, an English sailor, committed a murder on board of 
 a British man-of-war, and fled to the United States for safety. 
 The British Government, in accordance with one of the provis- 
 ions of Jay's Treaty, demanded his surrender on the ground 
 that he was a British subject, and he was accordingly surren- 
 dered by President Adams. The opposition in Congress made 
 this act of the President a pretext for a determined assault upon 
 the Administration, and a resolution was introduced into the 
 House of Representatives by Mr. Livingston, of New York, 
 censuring the course of the President. The Resolution was 
 debated at great length, and Marshall defended the President 
 in a speech of great force. "This speech," says Judge Story, 
 "was reponse sans repliqiie — an answer so irresistible that it ad- 
 mitted of no reply. It silenced opposition, and settled then and 
 forever the points of national law upon which the controversy 
 hinged." 
 
 In May, 1800, Mr. Marshall was appointed by Mr. Adams 
 Secretary of War, but before he could enter upon the duties 
 of that office was made Secretary of State. In this capacity 
 he conducted several diplomatic negotiations, and his State 
 papers are regarded as among the ablest in our archives. 
 The post of Chief Justice of the United States having become 
 vacant, Mr. Marshall advised Mr. Adams to confer it upon a 
 gentlemen who was distinguished for his great abilities as well 
 as by his devotion to the administration, but the President in- 
 formed Marshall that, as he regarded him as the man of all 
 others best qualified for the position, he had sent his name to 
 the Senate for confirmation. The appointment thus came to 
 him entirely unsolicited. It was made on the 31st of January, 
 1 80 1, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. It was 
 unquestionably one of the wisest acts of Mr. Adams's public 
 life. 
 
 Marshall accepted the appointment, and at once entered 
 upon his duties. He held the office of Chief Justice for over 
 thirty-four years, and this period marks, perhaps, the most 
 brilliant portion of our judicial history. His office was emi- 
 nently suited to him, and he to it. It removed him from the 
 arena of politics, and enabled him to devote himself to pur- 
 suits entirely congenial to his tastes. His administration of 
 
408 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 his office was successful in the highest degree. It was marked 
 by great wisdom, impartiality and firmness ; it established his 
 own fame on the surest foundations; and gave to the Supreme 
 Court an authority which it had never enjoyed before. " The 
 decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States," says 
 an eminent jurist, referring to Marshall's administration of it, 
 " have raised the renown of the country not less than they 
 have confirmed the Constitution. In all parts of the world its 
 judgments are spoken of with respect. Its adjudications of 
 prize law are a code for all future time. Upon commercial law 
 it has brought us nearly to one system, befitting the probity 
 of a great commercial nation. Over its whole path, learning 
 and intelligence and integrity have shed their combined lustre." 
 
 Judge Marshall continued to take a warm interest in the 
 affairs of his native State, to the close of his life. In 1828, 
 he was a delegate to a convention which met at Charlottes- 
 ville, to consider and recommend to the Legislature a plan of 
 internal improvements best suited to the needs of the State. 
 In 1829, he was a member of the Convention which met at 
 Richmond to revise the Constitution of Virginia. Though he 
 was now quite old and feeble, he took part in the debates with 
 his accustomed vigor, and gave to the work of revision his 
 great wisdom and vast experience. He was mainly instrumen- 
 tal in effecting the settlement of the disputes between the East- 
 ern and Western sections of the State. 
 
 In 1805 he published, in five volumes, his "Life of Wash- 
 ington," which is still considered the best work on the subject 
 in existence. The first volume was devoted to an admirable 
 history of the Colonies from their settlement to the commence- 
 ment of the Revolution. This work at once placed Judge- 
 Marshall in the front rank of American writers. 
 
 The sterling integrity, which was the basis of Judge Mar- 
 shall's character, was exemplified in every action of his life. 
 He would never argue in behalf of a cause he even suspected 
 to be unjust, and he scorned to take a legal advantage at the 
 expense of moral honesty. His promises were faithfully kept, 
 no matter what the inconvenience to himself He became 
 surety on one occasion for a friend to the amount of several 
 thousand dollars. His friend failed, and Marshall paid the 
 
JOHN MARSHALL. 409 
 
 debt, although he knew he could avoid payment, as the holder 
 had forfeited his claim, in law, by requiring more than legal 
 interest. 
 
 He was a simple and earnest Christian, and held in the 
 deepe. t abhorrence the fashionable skepticism of his time. His 
 day opened and closed with the simple prayer he had learned 
 at his mother's knee, and his daily life was an exemplification 
 of his principles. He made no parade of his piety, for he was 
 as modest and unassuming in this respect as in everything else; 
 but it entered into all his acts, and governed him in every rela- 
 tion of life. 
 
 His generosity was proverbial. On one occasion, he stopped 
 at the house of his old friend and comrade in arms. Captain 
 Slaughter, of Culpeper. He found his friend in deep dejection 
 and upon inquiring the cause, was told by Captain Slaughter, 
 that his farm was burdened with a mortgage for ;^3,ooo which 
 would soon be due, and that as he had not the means to pay 
 it, he saw nothing before him but ruin. The next morning, 
 upon taking his departure, Marshall handed the negro who 
 brought him his horse, a note, which he told him to take to 
 his master. This was done as Marshall was riding away, and 
 upon opening the note Captain Slaughter found in it a cheque 
 for ^3,000, the amount of the mortgage. Springing on his 
 horse, he soon overtook Marshall, and though he thanked him 
 warmly for his assistance, refused to accept it. Marshall was 
 in great distress, and finally suggested a compromise. He 
 took up the original mortgage and accepted a new one from 
 his friend; but as the latter was never prosperous, he never 
 asked for the payment of the debt. 
 
 William Wirt has left us the following description of Judge 
 Marshall as he appeared late in life, and at the height of his 
 fame : "He is tall, meagre, emaciated ; his muscles relaxed, and 
 his joints so loosely connected as not only to disqualify him 
 apparently for any vigorous exertion of body, but to destroy 
 everything like harmony in his air or movements. Indeed, in 
 his whole appearance and demeanor — dress, attitudes, gestures, 
 sitting, standing, or walking — he is as far removed from the 
 idolized graces of Lord Chesterfield as any other gentleman 
 on earth." 
 
4IO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 His memory is cherished with the deepest affection by the 
 people of Richmond, which was so long his home. "In spite 
 of his ungainly person, no one was a greater social favorite 
 than the Chief Justice. The people of Richmond regarded his 
 eccentric figure with strong personal affection as well as re- 
 spect. The black eyes, under their bushy gray brows, beamed 
 with good nature, and the lips were habitually smiling. The 
 courtesy of the Judge was one of his most beautiful traits. It 
 was the spontaneous exhibition of the simple and kindly emo- 
 tions of his heart. Pure benevolence and philanthropy dis- 
 played itself in every word which he uttered. He gave his 
 hand to the plain yeoman clad in homespun as courteously 
 and sincerely as to the greatest personage in the country. He 
 had the same simple and good-humored jest for both, and 
 seemed to recognize no difference between them. It was in- 
 structive to estimate in the good Chief Justice the basis and 
 character of true politeness. John Randolph, one of the most 
 fastidious and aristocratic of men, left his opinion that Mar- 
 shall's manner was perfect good breeding. In dress and bear- 
 ing it would be difficult to imagine any one more simple than 
 Judge Marshall. He presented the appearance of a plain 
 countryman, rather than a Chief Justice of the United States. 
 He had a farm in Fauquier County, and another near Rich- 
 mond, and he would often return from the latter to take his 
 seat on the bench with burrs sticking to his clothes. His 
 great passion was the game of quoits, and he was a member of 
 the club which met at Buchanan's Spring, near the city, to 
 play at this game. Here the Governor of Virginia, the Chief 
 Justice, and the most eminent lawyers of the Court of Appeals, 
 were found by a French gentleman, Baron Quinet, with their 
 coats off, gayly pitching quoits, with the ardor of a party of 
 urchins. In these simple amusements passed the hours of 
 leisure which Judge Marshall could steal from exhausting 
 judicial toil. At such times he seemed to become a boy 
 again, and to forget the ermine. His fondness for other social 
 enjoyments was great. He was the centre of a brilliant circle 
 of men, many of whom were famous, and the tradition of their 
 dinner parties, and the jests which they circulated, is still pre- 
 served." 
 
JOHN MARSHALL. 4II 
 
 It was his custom, when at home, always to attend to his 
 marketing in person, and he might be seen every morning at 
 the Old, or Shockoe Hill Markets, with his basket on his arm, 
 making his purchases. One morning he noticed a fashionably 
 dressed young man, swearing violently because he could not 
 find any one willing to carry home for him a turkey which he 
 had just purchased, and which his foolish pride would not 
 permit him to car/y himself Approaching him quietly, the 
 Judge asked where he lived, and upon being told, said, " I am 
 going that way, and will carry it for you." Taking the turkey, 
 he placed it in his basket, set out, and soon reached the young 
 man's door. Upon receiving the turkey, the young man 
 thanked him for his trouble, and asked, " How much shall I 
 pay you?" "Nothing," replied the Judge, smiling; "you are 
 welcome. It was on my way, and no trouble." So saying, 
 the Judge departed, and the young man, with a faint suspicion 
 of the truth, turned to a gentleman standing by and asked, 
 "Who is that polite old man who brought home my turkey 
 forme?" "That is John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the 
 United States," was the reply. " Why, then, did he bring home 
 my turkey?" stammered the abashed fop. "To give you a 
 deserved rebuke," said the gentleman, " and to teach you to 
 conquer your silly pride." 
 
 The careless appearance of the Judge often led to amusing 
 occurrences. A wager was once laid among his friends in 
 Richmond that he could not dress himself without showing in 
 his appearance some mark of his carlessness. The Judge, good- 
 humoredly, accepted the wager. A supper was to be given to 
 him upon these conditions : if his dress was found faultless 
 upon that occasion, the gentlemen were to pay for the enter- 
 tainment ; but if any carelessness could be detected in his 
 dress or appearance, the expense was to fall upon him. Upon 
 the appointed evening the Judge and his friends met at the 
 place agreed upon, and to the surprise of all present, the 
 Judge's dress seemed faultless. He appeared the very perfec- 
 tion of neatness and taste. The supper followed, the Judge 
 being in high glee over his victory. Near the close of the 
 repast, however, one of the guests who sat next to Judge 
 Marshall, chanced to drop his napkin, and stooping down to 
 
412 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 pick it up, discovered that the Judge had put on one of his 
 stockings with the wrong side out. The announcement of the 
 discovery at once changed the state of affairs, and amid roars 
 of laughter, the Judge acknowledged his defeat. 
 
 Judge Marshall was a great sufferer for many years before 
 his death from an affection of the bladder, and was at length 
 compelled to submit to a surgical operation for relief Shortly 
 after this operation, which was successful, he was seized with 
 an affection of the liver, and repaired to Philadelphia for medi- 
 cal treatment. He grew rapidly worse after his arrival in that 
 city, and died in Philadelphia on the 6th of July, 1835. His 
 remains were conveyed to Richmond, and were buried in the 
 Shockoe Hill Cemetery, by the side of his wife. His grave is 
 marked by a plain slab, bearing a simple inscription dictated 
 by himself, recording the date of his birth, his marriage, and 
 his death. 
 
JAMES MADISON. 
 
 THE father of Mr. Madison was a planter of ample means, 
 and resided at Montpelier.in Orange County, Virginia. He 
 was a descendant of John Madison, an Englishman, who had 
 settled in Virginia about the year 1653. He married Eleanor 
 Conway, by whom he had seven children. 
 
 James Madison, the eldest of these, was born at the seat of 
 his maternal grandmother, near the village of Port Royal, on the 
 Rappahannock River, in King George County, Virginia, on the 
 15th of March, 1751. At the age of twelve years he was sent 
 to school in King and Queen County, to Donald Robertson, a 
 Scotchman, with whom he remained three or four years. Here 
 he learned some Latin, some Greek, some French, and the rudi- 
 ments of mathematics. After leaving this school he spent 
 about two years at home, pursuing his studies under the 
 direction of the Rev. J. Martin. In 1769 he was sent to the 
 College of New Jersey at Princeton, in preference to Wil- 
 liam and Mary, the climate of Williamsburg being considered 
 unhealthy for young men from the upper counties. 
 
 Young Madison was a close, hard student, and gave himself 
 up to his studies to a degree which seriously interfered with 
 his health. For months together he allowed himself only three 
 hours sleep out of the twenty-four. His constitution, never 
 very strong, gave way under such severe labor, and he was 
 obliged to increase his hours of sleep, but even then limited 
 them to the shortest possible time consistent with his health. 
 He thus inflicted upon himself an injury from which he never 
 entirely recovered. In the summer of 1772 he took his degree 
 of Bachelor of Arts, but remained another year at Princeton, 
 pursuing a course of reading under Dr. Witherspoon, the Pres- 
 ident of the College, for whom he conceived a warm regard. 
 
 He returned to Virginia in 1773, and entered upon the study 
 of the law, to the practice of which he had determined to de- 
 vote himself He was soon drawn from his studies by the 
 
 (413) 
 
414 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 controversy between the Colonies and Great Britain, in which 
 he took an active part, defending the cause of his country and 
 advocating the most decided measures of resistance. He es- 
 pecially distinguished himself by his exertions in behalf of 
 religious freedom. At that time the Baptists were at the mercy 
 of the Established Church, which persecuted them, and annoyed 
 them in many ways, throwing their ministers into jail, and 
 breaking up their meetings for religious worship. "In Virginia 
 the Established Church had become more intolerant as the 
 Colony increased in population. It seemed so hostile to liberty, 
 that James Madison, after coming home from Princeton * * 
 expressed the opinion that, if the Church of England had been 
 established and endowed in all the Colonies as it was in Virginia, 
 the King would have had his way, and gradually reduced all 
 America to subjection." Madison deeply abhorred the man- 
 ner in which the Baptists were treated. In 1774, he wrote to 
 a friend in the North, "I want again to breathe your free air. 
 * * * That diabolical, hell-conceived principle of persecu- 
 tion rages among some ; and, to their eternal infamy, the clergy 
 can furnish their quota of imps for such purposes. There are 
 at this time, in the adjacent county, not less than five or six 
 well-meaning men in close jail for publishing their religious 
 sentiments, which, in the main, are very orthodox." 
 
 In the spring of 1776, Mr. Madison was elected a member 
 of the Virginia Convention, which framed the first Constitution 
 of the State. He did not acquire much reputation as a 
 speaker in this body, for he was, as yet, too modest and diffi- 
 dent to take more than a nominal part in the debates. " He 
 never shone resplendent in debate, he never wrote or spoke 
 anything that was striking or brilliant ; but few countries have 
 possessed so useful a citizen as he. From 1776 to 18 17, look 
 where you will in the public affairs of the United States, you 
 find this little man doing, or helping to do, or trying to get a 
 chance to do, the thing that most wanted doing. He was the 
 willing horse who is allowed to draw the load. His heart was 
 in the business of serving his country. He was simply intent 
 on having the right thing done, not to shine in doing it." ^ 
 In this Convention Mr. Madison made the acquaintance of 
 
 1 Parton's Life of Jefferson, p. 208. 
 
JAMES MADISON. 415 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, with whom he was destined to cooperate so 
 cordially in after life, and to whom he was to owe so much of 
 the eminence he was to achieve. They remained life-long 
 friends and allies. Mr. Jefferson has left on record this tribute 
 to his friend: "Mr. Madison came into the House in 1776, a 
 new member and young; which circumstances, concurring with 
 his extreme modesty, prevented his venturing himself in de- 
 bate before his removal to the Council of State in November, 
 1777. From thence he went to Congress, then consisting of a 
 few members. Trained in three successive schools, he acquired 
 a habit of self-possession which placed at ready command the 
 rich resources of his luminous and discriminating mind, and 
 of his extensive information, and rendered him the first of 
 every assembly afterwards of which he became a member. 
 Never wandering from his subject into vain declamation, but 
 pursuing it closely, in language pure, classical, and copious, 
 soothing always the feelings of his adversaries by civilities and 
 softness of expression, he rose to the eminent station which he 
 held in the great national convention of 1787; and in that of 
 Virginia which followed, he sustained the new Constitution in 
 all its parts, bearing off the palm against the logic of George 
 Mason and the fervid declamation of Mr. Henry. With these 
 consummate powers were united a pure and spotless virtue, 
 which calumny in vain attempted to sully." 
 
 In 1777, upon the organization of the State Legislature, Mr. 
 Madison was elected a member of that body. He was a can- 
 didate for reelection the next year. It was the custom in those 
 days, in Virginia, for candidates for public offices to canvass 
 their districts, visiting from house to house, and soliciting, in 
 person, the votes of their constituents, and, if possible, keeping 
 open house and a full punch bowl during the canvass. On the 
 three days of the election, at which every citizen was compelled 
 to vote under penalty of a heavy fine, "the candidates supplied 
 unlimited punch and lunch, attended personally at the polls, 
 and made a low bow as often as they heard themselves voted 
 for." Mr. Madison did not approve of this method of con- 
 ducting a political campaign, and in 1778 refused to conform 
 to it. He was therefore defeated by the indignant citizens, who 
 ascribed his failure to treat to stinginess, and his refusal to can- 
 
4l6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 vass for votes to pride. Although defeated for the lower 
 House, the Legislature, soon after assembling, elected him a 
 member of the Executive Council, in which body he retained 
 his seat until 1780, when he was elected to Congress as a dele- 
 gate from Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Madison took his seat in Congress in March, 1780. 
 There was a law in Virginia at the time rendering a delegate 
 ineligible to reelection after three years' service in Congress, 
 but Mr. Madison's services in that body were of such impor- 
 tance, and were so highly appreciated by the State of Virginia, 
 that the law was repealed in order that he might serve a fourth 
 year. He took a leading part in the deliberations of Congress, 
 and the constant aim of all his measures was to draw the States 
 nearer together. He favored the adoption of the Articles of 
 Confederation as a step toward the Union which he saw was so 
 necessary to the welfare of the common country, but the effort 
 to conduct the government under these Articles soon revealed 
 the defects of the system. In April, 1781, a committee of Con- 
 gress, of which he was the chairman, presented a report drafted 
 by him "proposing by an amendment to the Articles of Con- 
 federation to give to the United States full authority to employ 
 their force as well by sea as by land, to compel any delinquent 
 State to fulfil its Federal engagements; and the reason for the 
 measure as assigned in the preamble was to cement and invig- 
 orate the Federal Union, that it might be established on the most 
 immutable basis." " From that day," says Bancroft, " Madison 
 never ceased his efforts till a better system was established." 
 In his opinion it was absolutely indispensable that Congress 
 should have power to raise as well as to disburse a revenue, 
 and in the summer of 1782 he endeavored to induce Virginia to 
 give her consent to the proposal to endow Congress with power 
 to levy a duty of five per cent, on imports. " Congress," he 
 said, "cannot abandon the plan as long as there is a spark of 
 hope. Nay, other plans, on a like principle, must be added. 
 Justice, gratitude, our reputation abroad and our tranquillity at 
 home, require provision for a debt of not less than fifty millions 
 of dollars; and I pronounce that this provision will not be ade- 
 quately met by separate acts of the States. If there are not 
 revenue laws which operate at the same time through all the 
 
JAMES MADISON. 417 
 
 States, and are exempt from the control of each, the mutual 
 jealousies which begin already to appear among them will 
 assuredly defraud both our foreign and domestic creditors 
 of their just claims." The measure was defeated through the 
 opposition of the States. 
 
 Among the important services rendered in Congress by Mr. 
 Madison was his preparation of the instructions of that body to 
 Mr. Jay, Minister to Spain, in October, 1780, maintaining the 
 right of the United States to the navigation of the Mississippi 
 River ; and the address issued by Congress to the States at the 
 close of the war, urging them to adopt some plan to enable 
 the Federal Government to fulfil its promises of payment to the 
 army and its other creditors. 
 
 Returning to Virginia, in 1784, Mr. Madison resumed his 
 legal studies and also devoted himself to miscellaneous reading. 
 Philosophy and Science received considerable attention at his 
 hands. His favorite study was Natural History, which he pur- 
 sued with eagerness whenever he had leisure to do so. 
 
 In 1784 Mr. Madison was again elected to the Legislature of 
 Virginia, in which he served through the years 1785 and 1786. 
 His influence and exertions in this body were all in favor of a lib- 
 eral policy on the part of the State. He drew up the memorial 
 and remonstrance against the project for a compulsory support 
 of religion, which was perhaps made with a view to permanent 
 establishment, and succeeded in defeating the scheme. When 
 the plan for the separation of Kentucky from Virginia was 
 proposed, he favored it, as he saw that Kentucky was resolved 
 upon the separation, and he aided materially in securing its 
 adoption. He gave his support to the adoption of the Code of 
 Laws for Virginia as prepared by Jefferson, Wythe and Pendle- 
 ton ; he opposed the attempt to introduce paper money into the 
 State ; and favored measures for the recovery of the debts due 
 British creditors. He was one of the most active members of 
 the Legislature, yet amid all his engagements found time to 
 carry on an extensive correspondence with four or five friends; 
 and these letters give us perhaps the best picture of the State 
 of Virginia at that time that can be found. 
 
 In January, 1786, he secured the adoption by the Virginia 
 Legislature of a resolution inviting Commissioners from all 
 27 
 
41 8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 the States to meet at Annapolis, in Maryland, to devise new 
 regulations for the management of the commerce of the coun- 
 try. As there was considerable jealousy of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment on the part of the States, Mr. Madison did not venture 
 to offer this resolution, having been himself a member of Con- 
 gress. He confided it to a member of the Legislature not open 
 to the suspicion of being inclined to strengthen the Federal 
 power, a design which he himself constantly advocated. In 
 response to the invitation of Virginia, five of the States sent 
 Commissioners to the proposed Convention, which met at 
 Annapolis in September, 1786. Mr. Madison was one of the 
 Commissioners from Virginia. This Convention accomplished 
 nothing, but recommended the assembling of a Convention 
 of all the States at Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to revise the 
 Articles of Confederation. 
 
 Mr. Madison was chosen one of the five delegates from Vir- 
 ginia to the Federal Convention. He took a leading part in 
 the deliberations of that body, and contributed so largely to 
 the shaping of the Constitution as adopted by the Convention, 
 that he has been justly called " the Father of the Constitution." 
 He entered the Convention with the determination that the 
 Articles of Confederation should be swept away and replaced 
 by a new Constitution, which should secure a more perfect 
 union of the States, and give them a better form of govern- 
 ment. He favored a strong national government, and labored 
 to secure it. Before the meeting of the Convention he ad- 
 dressed a letter to General Washington, giving his views as to 
 the proper Constitution to be adopted. From this letter 
 Washington made the following summary of Madison's plan 
 of government : 
 
 " Mr. Madison thinks an individual independence of the 
 States utterly irreconcilable with their aggregate sovereignty, 
 and that a consolidation of the whole into one simple republic 
 would be as inexpedient as it is unattainable. He therefore 
 proposes a middle ground, which may at once support a due 
 supremacy of the national authority, and not exclude the local 
 authorities whenever they can be subordinately useful. 
 
 "As the groundwork, he proposes that a change be made 
 in the principle of representation, and thinks there would be 
 no great difficulty in effecting it. 
 
JAMES MADISON. 4I9 
 
 " Next, that in addition to the present Federal powers, the 
 national government should be armed with positive and com- 
 plete authority in all cases which require uniformity ; such as 
 regulation of trade, including the right of taxing both exports 
 and imports, the fixing the terms and forms of naturalization, 
 etc. 
 
 " Over and above this positive power, a negative in all cases 
 whatever on the legislative acts of the States, as heretofore 
 exercised by the kingly prerogative, appears to him absolutely 
 necessary, and to be the least possible encroachment on the 
 State jurisdictions. Without this defensive power, he conceives 
 that every positive law which can be given on paper will be 
 evaded. 
 
 " This control over the laws would prevent the internal 
 vicissitudes of State policy, and the aggressions of interested 
 majorities. 
 
 " The natural supremacy ought also to be extended, he 
 thinks, to the judiciary departments; the oaths of the judges 
 should at least include a fidelity to the general as well as local 
 constitution ; and that an appeal should be made to some 
 national tribunal in all cases to which foreigners or inhabitants 
 of the States may be parties. The admirality jurisdictions 
 to fall entirely within the purview of the national government. 
 
 " The national supremacy in the executive departments is 
 liable to some difficulty, unless the officers administering them 
 could be made appointable by the supreme government. The 
 militia ought entirely to be placed, in some form or other, 
 under the authority which is intrusted with the general pro- 
 tection and defence. 
 
 " A government composed of such extensive powers should 
 be well organized and balanced. 
 
 "The legislative department might be divided into two 
 branches, one of them chosen every — years, by the people 
 at large, or by the legislatures ; the other, to consist of fewer 
 members, and to hold their places for a longer term, and to go 
 out in such rotation as always to leave in office a large ma- 
 jority of old members. 
 
 " Perhaps the negative on the laws might be most conve^ 
 niently exercised by this branch. 
 
420 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 "As a further check, a council of revision, inckiding the 
 great ministerial officers, might be superadded. 
 
 "A national Executive must also be provided. He has 
 scarcely ventured, as yet, to form his own opinion, either of 
 the manner in which it ought to be constituted, or of the au- 
 thorities with which it ought to be clothed. ■ 
 
 "An article should be inserted, especially guaranteeing the 
 tranquillity of the States against internal as well as external 
 dangers. 
 
 " In like manner, the right of coercion should be expressly 
 declared. With the resources of commerce in hand, the na- 
 tional administration might always find means of exerting it 
 either by sea or land ; but the difficulty and awkwardness of 
 operating by force on the collective will of a State, render 
 it particularly desirable the necessity of it might be pre- 
 cluded. Perhaps the negative on the laws might create such a 
 mutual dependence between the general and particular authori- 
 ties as to answer ; or perhaps some defined objects of taxation 
 might be submitted along with commerce to the general au- 
 thority. 
 
 " To give a new system its proper validity and energy, a 
 ratification must be obtained from the people, and not merely 
 from the ordinary authority of the legislature. This will be 
 more essential, as inroads on the existing constitutions of the 
 States will be unavoidable." 
 
 The reader can ascertain, by a perusal of the Constitution 
 of the United States, how far the views of Mr. Madison are 
 carried out in it. 
 
 During the sessions of the convention, Mr. Madison kept a 
 faithful record of the debates of that body, the only complete 
 or authentic account of its proceedings in existence. It was 
 his habit to write out at night what had been said during the 
 day. He would never permit this record to be published dur- 
 ing his life-time, but after his death it was purchased by 
 Congress from his widow, for the sum of thirty thousand 
 dollars, and published by order of Congress. 
 
 After the formation of the Constitution, Mr. Madison united 
 with Hamilton and Jay, in the preparation of the series of 
 essays in advocacy of it, known as The Federalist. His articles 
 
JAMES MADISON. 421 
 
 were signed " Publius," and were among the ablest of the 
 series. 
 
 Mr. Madison was elected to the Convention of Virginia, to 
 which the Constitution was submitted for ratification. This, as 
 has been said elsewhere, was one of the ablest assemblies that 
 ever met in America. Mr. Madison was regarded as in a great 
 measure responsible for the adoption of the Constitution by the 
 Federal Convention, and upon him devolved chiefly the task 
 of carrying it through the Convention of his own State. There 
 was a powerful opposition to it in the Virginia Convention, 
 ably led by George Mason and Patrick Henry, who made such 
 a determined fight against it that it required all the ability 
 and tact of its friends to secure its adoption. The struggle in 
 Virginia had more of a national interest than in any other 
 State, and was watched with the deepest anxiety by the whole 
 country; for it was well understood that the failure of the Con- 
 stitution in the Virginia Convention would seal its fate in the 
 other States. Mr. Madison proved himself equal to the task 
 he had assumed, and by his cool and powerful reasoning, broke 
 down the eloquent opposition of Mr. Plenry and his colleagues, 
 and secured the ratification of the Constitution by a decisive 
 majority. 
 
 He was mainly instrumental in obtaining the cession by Vir- 
 ginia to the General Government of her Northwest Territory, 
 now comprising the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, which 
 the State claimed by royal grants and by her conquests during 
 the Revolution. 
 
 The Constitution having been adopted, Mr. Madison was 
 elected to the Lower House of Congress, and remained a mem- 
 ber of that body until 1 797. In 1794 he married Mrs. Todd, a 
 widow of Philadelphia, but of Virginian parentage. He was 
 very anxious after his marriage to withdraw from public life, 
 and devote himself to his private affairs and to study, but his 
 friends would not hear of his leaving Congress. He was needed 
 there, and he came at length to see this, and became reconciled 
 to the sacrifice of his inclinations demanded of him by his 
 country. 
 
 He was regarded as one of the leading men in Congress, and 
 no one in that body had more weight than he in influencing its 
 
422 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 decisions. In the work of framing and securing the adoption 
 of the Constitution he had cordially cooperated with Hamilton ; 
 but after the formation of the government he found himself 
 compelled to differ from his former ally on many points. He 
 favored a strict construction of the Federal Constitution, and 
 regarded Hamilton's financial measures as violative of that 
 instrument. He therefore opposed the unqualified assumption 
 of the State debts by Congress, and the establishment of a Na- 
 tional Bank. When the public debt was funded he made an 
 unsuccessful attempt to secure to the soldiers of the Revolution 
 and other original creditors of the country the benefits of the 
 rise in the value of the public claims which speculators, as we 
 have elsewhere stated, had purchased at about one-eighth of 
 their nominal value. By his opposition to the financial policy 
 of the government he became one of the minority in Congress 
 from which sprang the Republican party, of which he was to be 
 one of the leaders. His opposition was conducted in such a 
 manner that the friendly relations existing between himself and 
 the President were never disturbed. Washington always cher- 
 ished a warm friendship for Madison, who, on his part, regarded 
 the Father of his Country with affectionate reverence. As the 
 close of his first term drew near, Washington, who was anxious 
 to retire from office, conceived the idea of issuing a farewell 
 address to his countrymen, and having made an outline of this 
 document, sent it to Mr. Madison with a request to fill it up for 
 him. Madison did as requested, but at the same time urged the 
 President to serve a second term. When the close of the second 
 term approached, Washington took Madison's draft of the fare- 
 well address, enlarged it and sent it to Hamilton to put in final 
 shape. The address, as issued, contains many portions as 
 they came from Mr. Madison's pen. 
 
 Hamilton had not the magnanimity of Washington. He re- 
 sented opposition to his policy as an injury to himself "I will 
 not give him up yet," he said when he first heard of Madison's 
 opposition to his financial schemes, " as though it were a moral 
 aberration in his friend to object to his measures ; and when it 
 became clear that Madison was fixed in his opposition, he 
 had the immeasurable insolence to say, 'Alas, poor human 
 nature !' " 
 
JAMES MADISON. 423 
 
 Mr. Madison, years afterwards, when he had passed out of 
 the arena of politics into the retirement of his peaceful old age 
 once gave the following reason for his separation from Hamil- 
 ton: "I abandoned Colonel Hamilton," he said, "or Colonel 
 Hamilton abandoned me — in a word, we parted — upon its 
 plainly becoming his purpose and endeavor to adnimistration 
 the government into a thing totally different from that which 
 he and I knew perfectly well had been understood and mtended 
 by the Convention which framed it, and by the people in 
 adopting it." 
 
 The retirement of General Washington from the Presidency 
 opened the floodgates of political passion. In the campaign of 
 1796, Mr. Madison supported Mr. Jefferson for the Presidency. 
 He was warmly attached to him, had found him his best coun- 
 sellor in many difficult portions of his life, and owed to his 
 advice much of the success he had won. He was also in close 
 sympathy with him in his political convictions. Both were 
 republicans in the truest sense of the word, and both were in 
 favor of a strict construction of the Constitution. The French 
 Revolution had entered largely into American politics, as we 
 have seen, and Mr. Madison, like Jefferson, was a warm sym- 
 pathizer with the Revolutionists. He deplored their excesses 
 and cruelties; but as he was confident that the movement 
 would in the end be beneficial to the cause of freedom, he 
 wished it God speed. 
 
 Mr. Adams was elected President, and in 1797 entered upon 
 the duties of his office. In the same year Mr.' Madison retired 
 from Congress, and returned to Montpelier. He hoped he 
 would now be permitted to carry out his plan of withdrawing 
 from public life ; but the country could not spare him yet. The 
 passage of the Alien and Sedition Laws alarmed him, and he 
 consented to enter the Virginia Legislature in order to oppose 
 them more effectively. During the session of 1798 he prepared 
 and carried through the Legislature the resolutions which 
 denounced the Alien and Sedition Laws as violations of the 
 Constitution, and invited the other States to take similar ground. 
 The resolutions produced considerable discussion in pamphlets 
 and in the newspapers throughout the country. Mr. Madison, 
 in 1799, prepared the famous Virginia resolutions of that year, 
 
424 AMERICAN' BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 with a preamble in which he examines the whole subject. This 
 preamble is regarded as the most concise and powerful exposi- 
 tion of the relative rights of the States and the General Govern- 
 ment ever written, and as one of the closest and most perfect 
 pieces of reasoning in the English language. It is believed to 
 have done more than anything else on the Republican side to 
 destroy the Federalist party. 
 
 In the campaign of i8oo Mr. Jefferson was elected President. 
 He was inaugurated in March, 1801, and placed Mr. Madison 
 at the head of his Cabinet as Secretary of State. In this capacity 
 Madison prepared the papers in defence of the claim of the United 
 States to the right of deposit at New Orleans, and conducted 
 the discussion with respect to the true boundary of Louisiana. 
 He carried on the correspondence with Mr. Rose and Mr. 
 Jackson, the British Ministers, with reference to the outrage 
 upon the frigate Chesapeake, and won great credit by his firm 
 and decided course. He drew up the instructions to Mr. Mon- 
 roe for negotiating a treaty with England, and wrote the state- 
 ment of the reasons which induced the President to reject the 
 treaty when arranged. He also wrote the protests of the United 
 States against the British Orders in Council and the French 
 Decrees. While Secretary of State, he also wrote an " Exami- 
 nation of the Doctrines of National Law," which is regarded as 
 the ablest production of his pen, and one of the clearest expo- 
 sitions of the relative rights of neutrals and belligerents in exist- 
 ence. 
 
 In 1808, Mr. Jefferson having declined a third term, Mr. Mad- 
 ison was nominated for the Presidency by the Republican party, 
 and received one hundred and twenty two of the one hundred 
 and seventy votes of the Electoral College. 
 
 Mr. Madison inherited the quarrel with England which had 
 been gathering force during the administration of Mr. Jefferson. 
 He was fully aware how poorly prepared the country was for 
 war, and was anxious to postpone hostilities to the last moment 
 consistent with the honor and dignity of the nation. He entered 
 heartily into the proposal of Mr. Erskine, the British Minister, 
 for a settlement of the dispute, and upon the assurances of that 
 gentleman that his Government would rescind the obnoxious 
 " Orders in Council" as far as they applied to the commerce of 
 
JAMES MADISON. 425 
 
 the United States, issued his proclamation on the 19th of April, 
 1 8 10, suspending the Non-intercourse Act, as regarded Eng- 
 land, after the loth of the following June. In the course of a 
 few weeks over one thousand vessels, laden with American pro- 
 ducts, put to sea for foreign ports. They were scarcely at sea 
 when the President was notified that Mr. Erskine had exceeded 
 hi-; powers, and that Minister was re-called and a Mr. Jackson 
 appointed in his place. The President and his Cabinet were 
 deeply mortified by the failure of the negotiation, and a procla- 
 mation was at once issued applying the terms of the Non-inter- 
 course Act once more to Great Britain. Mr. Jackson was 
 coldly received by both the Government and the nation, and 
 was so insolent in his correspondence and conduct that the 
 President refused to communicate with him, and demanded his 
 recall. The British Government declined to appoint a successor 
 to Mr. Jackson, and diplomatic intercourse between the two 
 countries came to an end. 
 
 The outrages upon American commerce continued, and the 
 quarrel between the two countries deepened. The sentiment 
 of the American people was rapidly settling in favor of war, 
 for they could see little difference between the existing state 
 of affairs and open hostilities. The Indians of the Northwest 
 were becoming very troublesome, and were instigated to hos- 
 tilities by the agents of the British Government. The Repub- 
 lican party was anxious for war, and Henry Clay, the brilliant 
 leader of that party, was resolved that England's arrogant 
 aggressions should not go unpunished. He was now Speaker 
 of the House of Representatives, one of the most influential 
 officers of the Government. " Such was the temper of the 
 public in those months, that the eloquence of Henr}^ Clay, 
 seconded by the power of the Speaker, rendered the war un- 
 avoidable." The struggle came at length. On the i8th of 
 June, 1 81 2, Congress declared war against Great Britain and 
 her dependencies. 
 
 It is not our purpose to relate here the events of the second 
 war with England. Our task is to tell the story of Mr. Madi- 
 son's life, and we shall refer to the events of the war only as 
 they concern him. It is conceded that he made serious mis- 
 takes at the outset in his appointment of the commanding 
 
426 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 officers of the Army, and in the plan of campaign resolved 
 upon. Fortunately he was a friend to the Navy, and the 
 infant marine of the Republic, by its victories over England in 
 her native element, in a great measure atoned for the disasters 
 of the army, and maintained the reputation of the country. 
 
 While determined to preserve the national honor untarnished, 
 and to accomplish, if possible, the objects of the war, Mr. 
 Madison was anxious to bring the conflict to a close at the 
 earliest practicable moment, and in the spring of 181 3 readily 
 accepted the Russian offer of mediation, and appointed Gal- 
 latin, Bayard, and John Quincy Adams commissioners to nego- 
 tiate a peace. As the offer was declined by Great Britain, 
 nothing came of it. 
 
 In spite of the early disasters of the war, Mr. Madison was 
 reelected President by a majority of forty-two electoral votes 
 over his competitor, De Witt Clinton, and the Republican party 
 retained its majority in Congress. 
 
 During the winter of 181 3-14, a communication was received 
 from the British Government, stating that, although Great 
 Britain had declined the Russian offer of mediation, she was 
 willing to enter into direct negotiations with the United States 
 for the close of the war. The President at once met this over- 
 ture of England, and added Henry Clay and Jonathan Russell 
 to the Commissioners already in Europe. Gottenburg, in 
 Sweden, was at first chosen as the place for holding the peace 
 conferences, but the Commissioners shortly after adjourned to 
 Ghent, in Belgium. 
 
 The last year of the war brought many compensations for 
 the earlier disasters of the struggle. The fall of Napoleon 
 left England free to direct her whole strength against the 
 United States, and a large number of the veterans who had 
 followed Wellington were sent across the Atlantic. Washing- 
 ton was captured by a raid of the British troops under General 
 Ross, in August, 18 14, as there was no force at hand to defend 
 it. The President and officers of the Government were forced 
 to fly from the capital, and the public buildings were burned 
 by the enemy. In spite of this disaster, however, the year was 
 one of general success to the Americans. The earlier incom- 
 petents had been weeded out of the army, and the troops were 
 
JAMES MADISON. 42/ 
 
 commanded by officers of ability, such as Brown, Scott, Gaines, 
 Jackson and Ripley. The victories of Chippewa, Lundy's 
 Lane, Fort Erie, Plattsburgh and Baltimore, showed that the 
 American troops would fulfil the expectations of their coun- 
 trymen when properly commanded, and revived the confidence 
 of the nation in the Army. With the new year the brilliant 
 victory of New Orleans, won by American militia over the 
 splendid veterans of Wellington, sent a thrill of pride through 
 the whole country. The Navy continued successful through- 
 out the entire war. The Indian power in the Northwest had 
 been broken by General Harrison in the victory of the Thames, 
 and the Northwestern frontier had been kept intact by Perry's 
 splendid victory on Lake Erie. The United States were there- 
 fore in a condition to come out of the war with credit. 
 
 In the meantime the negotiations for peace had been going 
 on at Ghent. The American Commissioners had been in- 
 structed to demand the settlement of the impressment question, 
 and at the same time to give assurance that upon the relin- 
 quishment of that claim by England, Congress would enact a 
 law forbidding the enlistment of English sailors in either the 
 navy or the merchant service of the United States. On the 
 14th of December, 1814, the labors of the Commissioners were 
 brought to a close, and a treaty of peace between the United 
 States and Great Britain was signed. The treaty was silent 
 about impressments — the cause of the war. Nevertheless, as 
 Great Britain did not afterwards exercise this claim as far as 
 this country was concerned, this question may also be regarded 
 as having been settled by the war. The treaty was unanimously 
 ratified by the Senate, and on the i8th of February, 181 5, peace 
 was proclaimed by the President. A few days later the Presi- 
 dent recommended to Congress the passage of a law forbidding 
 the enlistment of foreign seamen in American vessels. 
 
 Immediately after the close of hostilities with P.ngland, the 
 President dispatched a fleet of ten vessels of war, under Com- 
 modore Decatur, to the Mediterranean, to punish the Dey of 
 Algiers for his outrages upon the commerce of the American 
 States. Decatur captured the two best ships of the Algerine 
 service on his voyage out, and compelled the Dey to indemnify 
 the Americans from whom he had extorted ransoms, to surren- 
 
428 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 der his American prisoners unconditionally, to renounce his 
 claim to tribute from the United States, and to pledge himself 
 to cease to molest American vessels in future. Tunis and Tri- 
 poli were then served in the same way, and compelled to give 
 pledges for their future good behavior. 
 
 The close of the war with England found the United States 
 suffering from the evils inseparable from such a struggle. The 
 finances of the countr)-' were in a wretched condition ; all the 
 banks but those of New England had suspended specie pay- 
 ments, and none were now in a condition to return to a specie 
 basis. The public debt was over ;$ 1 00,000,000, and there was 
 a general lack of confidence throughout the countr}'. In view 
 of the general distress, Mr. Dallas, the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, proposed to abolish a number of the internal taxes which 
 had been levied for the support of the war. In their place he 
 advised the imposition upon imports from foreign countries of 
 duties sufficiently high not only to afford a revenue, but also 
 to protect the manufactures of the country which had sprung 
 up during the war, and which were threatened with ruin by the 
 competition of English goods. The President, in a message 
 to Congress, warmly endorsed this plan. Another important 
 measure was also enacted. The Charter of the first Bank of the 
 United States expired in 181 1. Efforts had been made, with- 
 out success, to obtain its renewal. In January, 18 14, a bill for 
 this purpose, which had passed both Houses of Congress, was 
 vetoed by the President. In the Spring of 18 16, a bill was 
 passed by Congress chartering a new Bank of the United 
 States for twenty years, with a capital of $35,000,000. This 
 bill was approved by the President on the loth of April, and 
 became a law. It gave the people of the Union a uniform paper 
 currrency, good in all parts of the country, and redeemable on 
 demand in gold and silver, and did much to remedy the finan- 
 cial difficulties of the times. 
 
 Mr. Madison declined to be a candidate for a third term in 
 the campaign of 18 16, and supported the claims of his friend, 
 Mr. Monroe, who was nominated and elected by the Republi- 
 can party. In March, 18 17, Mr. Madison retired from the Pres- 
 idency, upon the inauguration of Mr. Monroe, glad to lay down 
 at length the cares of office, and seek once more the repose of his 
 
JAMES MADISON. 429 
 
 beloved Montpelier. The remainder of his Hfe was passed in 
 pleasant retirement, which was broken only once. He con- 
 sented to serve in the Virginia Convention of 1 829, which met 
 at Richmond for the purpose of revising the Constitution of the 
 State. He was the leading member of this body, and was 
 looked up to by his colleagues with a respect and veneration 
 that were peculiarly gratifying to him, and that were in every 
 way deserved. Mr. A. J. Stansbury, Author of " Reminiscences 
 of Public Men," thus sketches Mr. Madison's appearance in 
 this Convention : 
 
 " I saw Mr. Madison for the first time. * * You may im- 
 agine the intense curiosity with which I gazed on an individual 
 so illustrious. Among a crowd of gentlemen who entered the 
 hall of the old House of Burgesses, in the capitol, where the 
 Convention was about to open, I saw one of lower stature than 
 any of his compeers, slender and delicate in form — dressed in a 
 suit of black, not new, and now dusty from travel, with a 
 hat distinguished by the width of its brim, and its total es- 
 trangement from the fashionable block of the day ; in aspect 
 grave, yet mild; in air and carriage perfectly simple and unas- 
 suming; of light, elastic step, and possessing, altogether, what 
 might be called a winning address. I observed that he was 
 approached by every one with an instinctive respect (though 
 not with that expression of awe which was inspired by Wash- 
 ington), and I soon learned from eveiy mouth that it was ex- 
 President Madison. Many members of the Convention then 
 saw him, like myself, for the first time. He looked to me like 
 a gentleman farmer, emerging from retirement to give his vote 
 at some important election, and then purposing to return home. 
 
 " He met his friends with courtesy, but with an unmoved 
 calmness of manner, differing, as it seemed to me, from that 
 warmth and cordiality which usually marks the intercourse of 
 Virginians, and Southern people generally. Indeed, were I 
 asked to point out Mr. Madison's distinguishing trait — I speak 
 of his constitutional organization — I should say it was this 
 very quality of dignified calmness. His tone of mind seemed 
 pleasant, even cheerful, but totally undisturbed — ever self- 
 possessed, self-balanced. Whenever I met him afterwards, 
 this original impression remained unaltered. He was, in all 
 
430 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 situations, gentlemannly, modest, retiring, and for so distin- 
 guished a character, more silent than I had expected. He 
 never assumed the lead in conversation, and appeared always 
 more disposed to listen than to speak. Nothing can be con- 
 ceived more remote from all assumption and display. During 
 the whole duration of the Convention (and it sat for sixteen 
 weeks), although of all present he was best entitled to speak 
 on subjects such as those which occupied that body, he spoke 
 but twice. When he did speak, however, the effect of such 
 retiring merit was at once obvious. While other members of 
 the body, even the most distinguished among the elite of Vir- 
 ginia, were listened to with respectful attention, but without 
 any special outward demonstration of interest, no sooner was 
 Mr. Madison upon his feet, than there was in one moment a 
 simultaneous rush from every part of the hall ; the ordinary 
 decorum of the body seemed forgotten ; regardless of all ob- 
 stacles, every man made a straight line to the spot, and he was 
 at once so completely hemmed in by the crowd that thronged, 
 around to hear, that his small figure could scarce be seen 
 There was, indeed, one reason for this movement besides the 
 homage which his character commanded. 
 
 " His voice, never very strong, was then very slender, and 
 even feeble, (he was in his seventy-eighth year,) although his 
 enunciation was perfectly distinct, and the universal eagerness 
 not to lose a syllable that fell from him, may have quickened 
 the effort to be as near him as possible. My professional oc- 
 cupation opened an avenue to me, since it was my duty to take 
 down the speech ; but such was the interest I felt, in common 
 with all around me, to hear the speech, that it was with diffi- 
 culty I could prevent my attention from being drawn from my 
 task, leaving me a listener merely. I have still the MS. notes 
 of that speech (the last he ever delivered), with corrections 
 of it in his own hand. * * Connected with it is a little anec- 
 dote, characteristic in the highest degree of the meekness of 
 wisdom which so eminently distinguished the author of ' Tlie 
 Federalist! When I had finished writing out the speech, I left 
 it with him for his revision. Next day, as there was a great 
 call for it, and the report had not been returned for publication, 
 I sent my son, with a respectful note, requesting the MS. My 
 
JAMES MADISON. 43 I 
 
 son was a lad of about sixteen, (whom I had taken with me 
 to act as an amanuensis,) and on deHvering my note he was 
 received with the utmost poHteness, and requested to come up 
 to Mr. Madison's chamber, and wait while he ran his eye over 
 the paper; as company had, till that moment, prevented his 
 attending to it. He did so: and Mr. Madison, pen in hand, 
 sat down to correct the report. The lad stood near him, so 
 that his eye fell on the paper. Coming to a certain sentence 
 in the speech, Mr. Madison struck out a word, and substituted 
 another; but hesitated, and not feeling quite satisfied with the 
 second word, drew his pen through that also. My son was 
 young, ignorant of the world, and unconscious of the solecism 
 of which he was about to be guilty, when, in all his simplicity, 
 lie suggested a word. Yes, he ventured, boy that he was, to 
 suggest to James Madison an improvement in his own speech! 
 Probably no other individual then living would have taken such 
 a liberty. But the sage, instead of regarding the intrusion 
 with a frown, raised his eye to the boy's face with pleased sur- 
 prise, and said, 'Thank you, sir, it is the very word,' and im- 
 mediately inserted it. I saw him the next day, and he men- 
 tioned the circumstance with a compliment on the young 
 critic. 
 
 " I was forcibly struck, while discharging my daily duty in 
 the Convention, with the deportment of Mr. Madison. Punc- 
 tual and unfailing in his attendance, he always occupied the 
 same seat, and I do not think that in the hall there was an- 
 other individual who paid as uniform and unremitted attention 
 to the proceedings of the body. Whoever occupied the floor 
 was sure of at least one attentive listener. John Marshall 
 himself did not listen with more steadiness and condescension 
 to the argument of a young member of the bar (and who 
 was ever a young member there, and did not feel with the 
 deepest gratitude that admirable trait in the character of the 
 great jurist ?) than did Mr. Madison to the speeches of every 
 grade, from men of every calibre, on subjects of which none 
 was so complete a master as himself" 
 
 Returning to Montpelier after the close of the Convention, 
 Mr. Madison passed the rest of his life in retirement. He was 
 one of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, in 
 
432 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 which institution he took a deep interest, and after the death 
 of Mr. Jefferson was elected its Rector. Except in the dis- 
 charge of these duties, he never quitted his retirement. Al- 
 though his constitution was exceedingly delicate, and he never 
 enjoyed good health, he lived to the age of eighty-five. His 
 last years were full of bodily suffering, which he bore with 
 patience and cheerfulness. He died on the 28th of June, 1836. 
 
 Mr. Madison was small in stature and plain in appearance. 
 His manner was reserved except among his intimate friends, 
 when he was genial and bright. His disposition was sweet 
 and winning, and his temper was kept under the most perfect 
 control, his anger rarely manifesting itself in anything beyond 
 a flush of the cheek or a flash of the eye. He was a devoted 
 and tender husband ; but his marriage was childless. He 
 owned slaves, though he abhorred slavery, and was satisfied 
 that the evil would be removed some day. He was a kind and 
 indulgent master, and his slaves were more than ordinarily 
 attached to him. He would never sell them save at their own 
 wish to allow them to be with their families, though by dispos- 
 ing of them he might have relieved himself of the debts which 
 always hampered him. He always said that his slaves were a 
 pecuniary loss to him, but he kept them from motives of the 
 purest philanthropy. 
 
 As a public man Mr. Madison was surpassed in brilliancy by 
 many of the statesmen of this country ; but for solid abilities 
 and attainments, for disinterested usefulness, and in the amount 
 of good he accomplished for his country, he was excelled by 
 none. He was perhaps the best political writer this country 
 has ever produced. Mr. Jefferson said of him : " From three and 
 thirty years' trial I can say conscientiously that I do not know 
 in the world a man of purer integrity, more dispassionate, dis- 
 interested and devoted to pure Republicanism ; nor could I in 
 the whole scope of America and Europe point out an abler 
 head." 
 
 Mrs. Madison long survived her husband, and died in Wash- 
 ington on the 1 2th of July, 1849. 
 
JAMES MONROE. 
 
 JAMES MONROE was born in Westmoreland County, 
 Virginia, on the 28th of April, 1758. His father was 
 Colonel Spence Monroe, a planter of ample means, who was 
 descended from Captain Monroe, an officer in the army of 
 Charles I., who emigrated to Virginia about the year 1652. 
 His family was one of the oldest and most esteemed in 
 Virginia. 
 
 At an early age young Monroe was sent to school to the 
 Rev. Mr. Campbell, of Westmoreland. One of his fellow pupils 
 at this school was a tall, awkward lad from Fauquier, named 
 John Marshall, afterwards the great Chief Justice of the 
 United States. From Mr. Campbell's school, Monroe passed 
 to William and Mary College at Williamsburg. He had been 
 a student at college a little more than a year when the Decla- 
 ration of Independence was signed. Though but eighteen 
 years old he was full of patriotic ardor, and resolved to give up 
 his hopes of obtaining a collegiate education, and devote his 
 best efforts to the cause of his country. He therefore left 
 college, and hastening northward, entered the army as a cadet. 
 It was a trying and gloomy period in the fortunes of America. 
 The enemy were preparing for an attack in overwhelming force 
 upon New York, and the early enthusiasm of the country was 
 dying out before the difficulties which were crowding upon it. 
 Soon after joining the army Monroe was appointed a lieutenant 
 in Captain William Washington's company, with which he 
 made the campaign of the Hudson, He was present at the 
 engagements of Harlem Heights and White Plains, and took 
 part in the trying retreat of the American army across New 
 Jersey. He was with the army at the crossing of the Dela- 
 ware, and distinguished himself at the battle of Trenton. In 
 hat engagement the advanced guard was led by Captain Wil- 
 liam Washington, with Monroe as his second in command. 
 The enemy's pickets were surprised and driven in, and a way 
 28 ( 433 ) 
 
434 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 was opened for the American artillery, which at once unlim- 
 bered and began firing. Early in the engagement the enemy 
 attempted to plant a battery of two guns in the main street of 
 the town, from which a raking fire would soon have been 
 directed upon the Americans. Perceiving this. Captain Wash- 
 i'lgton and Lieutenant Monroe dashed forward with their com- 
 pany, drove the British from their guns, and took the two 
 pieces when on the point of being fired. In this affair Captain 
 Washington was wounded in the wrist, and Monroe in the 
 shoulder. Captain Washington was promoted for his gallant 
 conduct, and Monroe was rewarded with the command of his 
 company. He was soon after appointed aide-de-camp to Lord 
 Stirling, with the rank of major, and won fresh distinction by 
 his gallant and efficient services at the Brandywine, German- 
 town and Monmouth. 
 
 By his transfer to the staff Monroe lost his chance of pro- 
 motion, and in order to regain it decided to return to the line. 
 lie went to Virginia, where he endeavored to raise a regiment 
 under authority from General Washington and the Legislature 
 of Virginia. He was unsuccessful in his efforts, and having 
 lost his place in the army resolved to devote himself to the 
 study of the law under Mr. Jefferson, who was then Governor 
 of Virginia. He continued his studies until Cornwallis entered 
 Virginia in his northward advance from Wilmington, when he 
 again took the field as a volunteer, and continued with the 
 army until the surrender of the British forces at Yorktown, in 
 1 78 1. He then went back to his law studies, and in 1782 
 received his license to practice. 
 
 In 1782, Mr. Monroe was elected to the Legislature of Vir- 
 ginia, from the county of King George. He was but twenty- 
 four years old; but such was his ability and tact as a legislator, 
 that in 1783 the Legislature elected him a delegate from Vir- 
 ginia to the Congress of the United States. In that body he 
 was regarded as one of the working members, and fully justi- 
 fied his reputation by his industry and zeal. In 1785, having 
 become satisfied that the powers of Congress, under the Con- 
 federation, were far too limited to allow it to conduct the gov- 
 ernment of the country properly, he endeavored to enlarge 
 them by offering a resolution that Congress should be given 
 
JAMES MONROE. 435 
 
 the power to regulate trade. When the proposal for a Federal 
 Convention to amend the Articles of Confederation was made, 
 he gave it his hearty support. While in attendance upon 
 Congress, Mr. Monroe married Miss Kortw right, a beautiful 
 and accomplished lady of New York. His term of office ex- 
 pired in 1786, and in the latter part of that year he established 
 himself at Fredericksburg, Virginia, with the intention of com- 
 mencing the practice of law. 
 
 He was not allowed to withdraw from political life, however, 
 and in 1787 was elected to the Legislature. The next year 
 he was sent to the Convention of Virginia, which was to de- 
 cide the ratification of the Federal Constitution. As much as 
 he desired a closer and more perfect union of the States, Mr. 
 Monroe did not approve the Constitution without certain radi- 
 cal amendments. He feared that the great powers committed 
 to the General Government would destroy the independence 
 of the States and the liberties of the people. He therefore 
 sided with Patrick Henry and George Mason in opposing the 
 Constitution, and voted against its ratification. 
 
 Though the Constitution was accepted by the Convention, 
 its opponents, as we have stated in the sketch of Mr. Henry, 
 had sufficient strength to control the elections for members of 
 the two Houses of Congress under it. Mr. Grayson, one of 
 the United States Senators from Virginia, died within a short 
 time of the organization of the Government, and Mr. Monroe 
 was elected to fill his unexpired term. He took his seat in 
 the Senate of the United States in 1790, and remained a mem- 
 ber of that body until 1794. 
 
 In 1794, the French Government, having complied with the 
 demand of the United States for the removal of M. Genet, re- 
 quested, as an act of reciprocity, the recall of Gouverneur Morris, 
 the American Minister at Paris, whose political .sympathies 
 were with the defeated aristocratic party of France. President 
 Washington promptly complied with this request, and at the 
 instance of Mr. Jefferson, appointed Mr. Monroe to succeed 
 Morris. Mr. Monroe accepted the appointment, and, resigning 
 his seat in the Senate, proceeded at once to his post. He 
 arrived in Paris a few days after the execution of Robespierre 
 and his associates had brought the Rei<jn of Terror to an end. 
 
436 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 He was given a public reception by the National Convention, 
 and was welcomed with an enthusiasm peculiarly French. He 
 found himself one of the most popular men in Paris, and the 
 first use he made of his popularity was to procure the release 
 of Thomas Paine from his captivity in the Luxembourg. " He 
 wrote consolingly to Paine in his prison, claiming him as an 
 American citizen, concerning whose welfare Americans could 
 not be indifferent, and for whom the President cherished a 
 grateful regard. He received the sick and forlorn captive into 
 his house, and entertained him for a year and a half" 
 
 Monroe got on very well in France until the negotiation of 
 Jay's Treaty gave rise to the misunderstanding between the 
 United States and France, which resulted in hostilities in 
 the next administration. " Mr. Monroe, when sent envoy tc 
 France, had been especially instructed to explain the views and 
 conduct of the United States in forming the treaty with Eng- 
 land; and had been amply furnished with documents for the 
 purpose. From his own letters it appeared, however, that he 
 had omitted to use them. Whether this arose from undue at- 
 tachment to France, from mistaken notions of American inter- 
 ests, or from real dislike to the treaty, the result was the very 
 evil he had been instructed to prevent. The French Govern- 
 ment misconceived the views and conduct of the United States, 
 suspected their policy in regard to Great Britain, and when 
 aware that the House of Representatives would execute the 
 treaty made by Jay, became bitter in their resentment. Symp- 
 toms of this appeared in the capture of an American mer- 
 chantman by a French privateer. Under these circums)tances 
 it was deemed expedient by Washington and his Cabinet, to 
 recall Mr. Monroe, and appoint another American citizen in 
 his stead." ^ Mr. Monroe was therefore recalled in 1796, and 
 Mr. Pinckney was appointed to succeed him. "Immediately 
 after this appointment, which took place in July, despatches 
 were received from Mr. Monroe, communicating complaints 
 which had been addressed to him, against the American Gov- 
 ernment, by M. de la Croix, French Minister of Exterior Rela- 
 tions, and his reply to the same. His reply, though it failed 
 to change the policy of the French Directory, was deemed 
 able and satisfactory by the Executive." 
 
 1 Irving's Life of Washington. Vol. V., pp. lif\-'2\2. 
 
JAMES MONROE. 437 
 
 On his return from Europe Mr. Monroe published a vindica- 
 tion of his course while Minister to France, and censured the 
 Administration. He was elected to the Virginia Legislature 
 immediately upon his arrival, and in 1799, was chosen by that 
 body Governor of Virginia, which office he held for three 
 years. 
 
 President Jefferson, soon after his inauguration, began his 
 efforts to purchase Louisiana from France. In 1802 Mr. Liv- 
 ingston, the American Minister at Paris, was charged to open 
 negotiations with the First Consul for that purpose. He could 
 accomplish but little, however, and despaired of ultimate suc- 
 cess. There was danger that the people of Kentucky and 
 the western country would take forcible possession of New 
 Orleans, and thus precipitate a fresh war with France. It was, 
 therefore, of the highest importance that the negotiations 
 should be brought to a speedy close, and Mr. Jefferson resolved 
 to appoint another envoy to France to assist Mr. Livingston, 
 and decided to send Mr. Monroe upon that mission. On 
 the loth of January, 1803, he wrote to his friend: "I have but 
 a moment to inform you that the fever into which the western 
 mind is thrown by the affairs at New Orleans (denying the right 
 of deposit), stimulated by the mercantile and generally Federal 
 interest, threatens to overbear our peace. * * * * j 
 shall to-morrow nominate you to the Senate for an extraordi- 
 nary mission to France. * * * Pray work night and day 
 to arrange your affairs for a temporary absence, perhaps a long 
 one." Mr. Monroe's nomination was confirmed by the Senate, 
 and by the middle of April he was in Paris. He was empowered 
 to purchase the whole of Louisiana, if possible ; but, if not, to 
 give two million dollars in cash for the island of New Orleans 
 alone. 
 
 When Mr. Monroe reached Paris, Napoleon had entirely 
 abandoned the scheme he had formed of colonizing Louisi- 
 ana upon a grand scale, and was applying all his energies to 
 preparing for the new war with England which followed the 
 rupture of the peace of Amiens. He was aware that he would 
 have his hands full at home, and would be unable to defend 
 the distant province of Louisiana, which would quickly fall a 
 prize to the superior naval power of England. "The English," 
 
438 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 he said, "shall not have the Mississippi, which they covet, I 
 have not a moment to lose in putting it out of their reach. I 
 think of ceding it to the United States. * * If, however, I 
 leave the least time to our enemies, I shall only transmit an 
 empty title to those republicans whose friendship I seek. They 
 only ask of me one town in Louisiana: but I already consider 
 the colony as entirely lost; and it appears to me that in the 
 hands of this growing power, it will be more useful to the 
 policy, and even to the commerce of France, than if I should 
 attempt to keep it." 
 
 Such was the frame of mind in which Mr. Monroe found 
 Napoleon. The First Consul wanted money, however, and 
 instructed his Minister to demand one hundred million 
 francs for Louisiana. Mr. Monroe lost no time in carr}ang the 
 negotiation throilgh, and eighteen days after his arrival in 
 Paris, a convention was signed by which the whole of Louisi- 
 ana was purchased by the United States for the sum of fifteen 
 millions of d ollars. The happy manner in which the negotia- 
 tion was conducted reflected the highest credit upon Mr. Mon- 
 roe's diplomatic abilities. 
 
 Soon after the completion of the Louisiana purchase, Mr. 
 Monroe was appointed by President Jefferson to succeed Rufus 
 King as Minister to the Court of St. James. The relations 
 between the United States and England at this time were any- 
 thing but friendly, as we have stated elsewhere ; and the Presi- 
 dent being anxious to settle the differences between the two 
 countries amicably, associated Mr. Pinckney with Mr. Monroe 
 for the negotiation of a treaty for this purpose. These gentle- 
 men succeeded in arranging a treaty with Great Britain in 1807, 
 which they regarded as favorable to the United States. Presi- 
 dent Jefferson, as we have already stated, was not satisfied with 
 it, and took the responsibility of rejecting it without sending it 
 to the Senate. Mr. Canning, the British Foreign Minister, 
 refused to continue the negotiation, and the efforts of Monroe 
 and Pinckney therefore came to naught. Mr. Monroe at first 
 resented the course of the President in rejecting the treaty, but 
 a friendly correspondence removed his resentment, and restored 
 the pleasant relations which had always existed between Mr. 
 Jefferson and himself. 
 
JAMES MONROE. 439 
 
 Upon the announcement of Mr. Jefferson's determination to 
 retire from the Presidency, Mr. Monroe's claims to that office 
 were advocated by a portion of the RepubHcan party. Mr. 
 Madison was the choice of the majority of the party, how- 
 ever, and was elected Mr. Jefferson's successor. Mr. Monroe 
 considered himself badly treated by his party, and a coolness 
 sprang up between Mr. Madison and himself Mr. Jefferson, 
 however, succeded in healing the breach between them, and 
 so prevented one in the Republican party. 
 
 In 181 1 Mr. Monroe was again elected Governor of Vir- 
 ginia, bift shortly after his election resigned that office to enter 
 the Cabinet of President Madison, who had appointed him his 
 Secretary of State. In September, 18 14, General Armstrong 
 resigned the post of Secretary of War, and Mr. Monroe was 
 temporarily transferred to the head of the War Department. 
 In his new position he displayed an energy and vigor which 
 did much to render the close of the war as creditable to the 
 country as its opening had been disgraceful. He urged Con- 
 gress to increase the army to a strength of lOO,oDO men, and 
 to raise troops by a draft from the whole able-bodied male 
 population. This proposal was very unpopular, but as he was 
 convinced that it was the only way to put an efficient army in 
 the field, he adhered to it with firmness. Fortunately the close 
 of the war soon followed, and rendered the measure unneces- 
 sary. He gave an efficient and determined support to the 
 measures of the commanders of the army, and strained every 
 facility of his department to supply their needs. Towards the 
 close of 1 8 14, the question of the defence of New Orleans was 
 presented to the consideration of the War Department. Mr. 
 Monroe was for defending the city to the "last ditch," and in 
 order to raise the funds necessary to enable General Jackson 
 to cany out his measures for that purpose, pledged his private 
 property. This patriotic act saved to the country not only 
 New Orleans, but the whole of the lower Mississippi, and was 
 rewarded by the brilliant victory of General Jackson over the 
 British army on the 8th of January, 181 5. In August, 181 5, 
 the war having been ended, Mr. Monroe resumed his place 
 as Secretary of State, and held it until the close of Mr. Madi- 
 son's administration. 
 
440 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In iSi6 Mr. Monroe received the nomination of the Repub- 
 Hcan party for the Presidency, and was elected by a handsome 
 majority. He was inaugurated at Washington on the 4th of 
 March, 1817. The administration of Mr. Monroe covered a 
 period generally known in our history as "the era of good 
 feeling." Party lines were almost blotted out, and the people, 
 in their support of the national measures of the country, were 
 more united than at any previous or subsequent time. A few 
 months after his inauguration, President Monroe made a tour 
 through the Eastern States. He was everywhere received with 
 marked attention, and Boston, a strong Federalist city, did itself 
 honor by the heartiness of the welcome it gave him. 
 
 During the first term of Mr. Monroe, Florida was added to 
 the territory of the Union by purchase from Spain, and he had 
 thus the good fortune of being instrumental in removing the 
 last traces of foreign dominion from the country which natur- 
 ally belonged to the Republic. The other important measures 
 of this administration were the perfecting of the National 
 Bank, the gradual discharge of the public debt, the construc- 
 tion of fortifications at prominent points along the coast, the 
 increase of the navy, and the encouragement, by protective 
 duties, of the manufactures of the country. During this ad- 
 ministration also the General Government began to give its 
 aid to the public works of the country, a policy which it has 
 since pursued. Mr. Monroe was at first opposed to such grants 
 by the Government, basing his objections upon Constitutional 
 reasons; but gradually became more favorable to them, yielding 
 his own views to the plainly expressed wishes of the people. 
 
 In 1820 Mr. Monroe was reelected President of the United 
 States, receiving every electoral vote but one. The great 
 question of his second term was the Slavery contest, which 
 was settled for the time, in 1820, by the Missouri Compromise. 
 It agitated the country profoundly, and aroused grave fears for 
 the perpetuity of the Union. The Compromise was effected 
 mainly by the exertions of Henry Clay. By its terms Slavery 
 was forever prohibited in the territories of the Union north of 
 the line of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude. 
 
 During Mr. Monroe's second administration, the Spanish 
 Provinces of Mexico and South America succeeded in bringing 
 
JAMES MONROE. 44 1 
 
 their struggle against their Mother Country to a triumphant 
 close. Some time before this Henry Clay had exerted him- 
 self to procure the recognition of their independence by the 
 United States, but his efforts had been regarded as premature. 
 In March, 1822, he succeeded, and a bill was passed by Con- 
 gress in accordance with a recommendation of the President, 
 recognizing the independence of Mexico and the South Amer- 
 ican States, and providing for the establishment of diplomatic 
 relations with them. The next year President Monroe, in his 
 annual message to Congress, laid down the principle that "the 
 American Continents, by the free and independent position 
 they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be 
 considered as subjects for future colonization by any European 
 Power." This claim that America belongs to Republicanism, 
 and is not to be the scene of European schemes of territorial 
 aggrandizement, has since then been known as the " Monroe 
 Doctrine," and has been regarded as one of the cardinal points 
 of the policy of the American Government. 
 
 In the last year of Mr. Monroe's Presidency, the venerable 
 General Lafayette arrived in the United States on his second 
 and last visit to this country. 
 
 As President of the United States, Mr. Monroe firmly ad- 
 hered to his own policy. He was accustomed to hear, with 
 respect and attention, the opinions of his Cabinet, and the ar- 
 guments by which they were supported; but after all made up 
 his own mind, and carried out his decisions with firmness and 
 vigor. His manner was generally placid and good-natured, 
 but he often startled his associates by sudden bursts of pas- 
 sion. 
 
 " I recollect," says Mr. Stansbury, "an instance of this that 
 is highly characteristic of the man. He had issued an order 
 of some kind, I forget its particular nature, to Commodore 
 Porter, while on a distant station, which that ardent and some- 
 what independent officer took the liberty, for reasons deemed 
 by him sufficient, to disregard. When the despatch came 
 bearing this intelligence, the Secretary of the Navy himself 
 waited on the President to communicate it. Monroe's face 
 turned crimson; his eyes flashed fire; and starting up and 
 pacing the room, he exclaimed, 'The fellow! does he dispute 
 
442 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 my orders? He shall fight me. I'll call him out the moment 
 he gets home.' There spoke out the man. It was not the 
 President of the United States who spoke, but it was James 
 Monroe. Taking Porter's conduct as a personal affront, his 
 very first idea was to call him to the field, and make him abide 
 the issue at the pistol's mouth. A curious interview they 
 would have had of it, had not the prudence of the Chief Magis- 
 trate checked the fiery ardor of the soldier. Monroe's public 
 conduct was eminent for prudence, and was always marked by 
 good sense." 
 
 As the close of his second term drew near, Mr. Monroe, in 
 accordance with what had now become the recognized custom 
 of the President, announceci his intention to retire from office. 
 He was succeeded by John Quincy Adams, who was inaugur- 
 ated on the 4th of March, 1825. 
 
 Upon retiring from the 'Presidency, Mr. Monroe withdrew 
 to his residence in Loudon County, Virginia. He was chosen 
 a member of the Virginia Convention of 1827, and was unani- 
 mously elected President of that body. A gentleman who 
 was present thus speaks of his appearance in the Convention : 
 "The want of the habit of public speaking was very conspicu- 
 ous in several of the older members of the Convention, and in 
 none more than Mr. Monroe. It was well known that he was 
 never a very eloquent speaker; but in former days his speeches 
 were said to be remarkable for plain common sense, expressed 
 in clear and intelligible language. He had lost all this, no 
 doubt from long disuse, before he came to the Convention. 
 His ideas appeared to be confused, his delivery awkward, his 
 manner perplexed, and his whole demeanor that of a man 
 overwhelmed by the magnitude of his subject. To have 
 judged from his speeches on the floor, one might very well 
 have supposed that he had no clear perceptions upon any sub- 
 ject, and that he had not mastered the particular one upon 
 which he was engaged for the time being. 
 
 " Yet those who know the histoiy of Mr. Monroe, are well 
 aware that such was not the character of his mind. He was 
 eminently a man of action; he saw his way clearly in every 
 difficulty, political or diplomatic, and though he might not be 
 able to point it out to others, he never lost it himself * * 
 
JAMES MONROE. 443 
 
 Though no orator, Mr. Monroe was, nevertheless, listened to 
 with great respect by the Convention. And he was entitled to 
 be thus listened to. He had filled the highest offices, had 
 been twice elected President of the United States, and had 
 conducted one of the most successful administrations the 
 country had ever known." • 
 
 Mr. Monroe was compelled, by sickness, to withdraw from 
 the Convention before its adjournment. In the summer of 
 1830, having lost his wife, he removed to New York and took 
 up his residence with his son-in-law, Mr. Gouvernor. He died 
 in that city on the 4th of July, 1 831, at the age of seventy-two 
 years, being the third ex-President who had died upon the 
 anniversary of the nation's independence. His remains were 
 interred in a cemetery on Second Street, in New York, but in 
 the summer of 1859 were removed to Virginia, and were 
 buried with imposing military ceremonies in Hollywood Ceme- 
 tery, at Richmond. A tasteful mausoleum, erected by his na- 
 tive State, marks his grave, which is situated in one of the 
 loveliest portions of this beautiful cemetery. From it one 
 looks down on the capital of Virginia, and upon the broad and 
 majestic James bursting over its rocky falls and stretching 
 away in the distance in a calm, deep flood. 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 THE Adams family enjoys the exclusive honor of having 
 furnished two of its members to the Presidency of the 
 United States; and apart from this distinction we may add that, 
 since the Colonial period of our history, its members have 
 been eminent for their great abilities and for their public ser- 
 vices. 
 
 John Adams, whose history we have sketched in another 
 part of this work, married Abigail Smith, and had surmounted 
 his early difficulties, and was a rising young lawyer, when his 
 oldest son, John Quincy Adams, was born at Boston, on the 
 nth of July, 1767. He was named in memory of one of his 
 great-grandfathers, who had been a man of eminence in Massa- 
 chusetts about the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
 
 The education of John Quincy was begun by his mother, 
 who taught him the rudiments of English, and directed his 
 attention to history and biography. In one of her letters to her 
 husband, written while he was absent at his post in Congress, 
 Mrs. Adams says: "I have taken a very great fondness for 
 reading Rollin's 'Ancient History' since you left me. I am 
 determined to go through with it, if possible, in these my days 
 of solitude. I find great pleasure and entertainment from it, 
 and I have persuaded Johnny to read me a page or two every 
 day, and hope he will, from his desire to oblige me, entertain a 
 fondness for it." 
 
 When "Johnny" had almost completed his tenth year, he 
 wrote the following letter to his father, which will show the 
 progress he had made: 
 
 " Braintree, June 3, 1777. 
 
 " Dear Sir : I love to receive letters very well; much better than I love to write 
 them. I make but a poor figure at composition. My head is much too ficklt,-. 
 My thoughts are running after birds' eggs, play and trifles, till I get vexed wilii 
 myself. Mamma has a troublesome task to keep me a studying. I own I am 
 ashamed of myself. I have just entered the third volume of Rollin's History, but 
 designed to have got half through it by this time. I am determined this week 
 
 (444) 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 445 
 
 l»i be more diligent. Mr. Thaxter is absent at Court. I have set myself a stint 
 tliis week to read the third volume half out. If I can but keep my resolution, I 
 may again at the end of the week give a better account of myself. I wish, sir, you 
 would give me, in writing, some instructions with regard to the use of my time, and 
 advise me how to proportion my studies and play, and I will keep them by me, and 
 endeavor to follow them. 
 
 " With the present determination of growing better, I am, dear sir, your son, 
 
 "John Quincy Adams. 
 
 " P. S. — Sir : If you will be so good as to favor me with a blank book, I will tran- 
 scribe the most remarkable passages I meet with in my reading, which will serve 
 to fix them upon my mind." 
 
 In 1778 John Adams was appointed one of the American 
 Commissioners to France in the place of Silas Deane,and sailed 
 from Massachusetts Bay in the frigate Boston on the 13th of 
 February of that year. He took John Quincy with him, in 
 order to give him the advantages of education abroad. They 
 remained in Paris about a year and a half, and during this time 
 the boy attended a public school in that city. His leisure 
 hours were passed mainly in the society of his father and Dr. 
 Franklin, from whom he took his first lessons in statesmanship 
 He was a faithful student, and advanced rapidly in his studies, 
 to the great delight of his father, who was very anxious that 
 his son should prepare himself to be of service to his countiy. 
 The progress of the boy was highly commended by Franklin 
 who was much attached to him. 
 
 John Quincy returned to America with his father in the sum- 
 mer of 1779. In November of that year Mr. Adams sailed on 
 his second mission to Europe, taking passage in the French 
 frigate that had brought him home. He was again accom- 
 panied by John Quincy. On the voyage from France to 
 America, the "Sensible" had brought the new French legation 
 to the United States. Barbe de Marbois was the Secretary of 
 this legation, and on the voyage out had taken a great interest 
 in John Quincy, and "had been so much impressed by wha 
 he saw of this youth, then only ten years old, that he sent hi.s 
 father a special injunction to carry him back, to profit by the 
 advantages of a European education." Upon reaching Paris 
 John Quincy was placed at an academy, where he devoted him- 
 self with diligence to his studies. 
 
 When Mr, Adams left Paris in the summer of 1780, and 
 repaired to Holland, he took his son with him, and placed him 
 
446 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 at school in Amsterdam. Soon after this he entered the Uni- 
 versity of Leyden. 
 
 In July, 178 1, John Quincy Adams may be said to have 
 entered upon his public life. Francis Dana having been 
 appointed Minister from the United States to Russia, was so 
 much impressed with the young man that he appointed him his 
 private secretary, though he was but fourteen years old, and 
 took him with him to St. Petersburg. He held this position for 
 fourteen months, discharging his duties to the entire satisfaction 
 of Mr. Dana, and at the end of that time returned from Russia 
 to Holland alone, and resumed his studies at the Hague. He 
 went with his father to Paris in the autumn of 1782, and was 
 present in that city at the signing of the preliminary and defi- 
 nitive Treaties of Peace between the United States and Great 
 Britain. He accompanied his father in the visit of the latter to 
 England in the winter of 1783-4, and was with him in his try- 
 ing voyage on his return to Holland in the early spring of 
 1784. Mrs. Adams having joined her husband in the summer 
 of 1784, John Quincy again had the advantage of his mother's 
 society. The young man was apprehensive that his studies 
 were being neglected, and in 1785 obtained leave to return to 
 Massachusetts. He entered Harvard College, where he re- 
 mained three years, graduating in 1788, with high honors, at 
 the age of twenty-one. 
 
 Having chosen the profession of his father, Mr. Adams, 
 after leaving college, repaired to Newburyport, and began the 
 study of the law under Theophilus Parsons, one of the most 
 learned lawyers this country has ever produced. In due time 
 he completed his studies, received his license to practice, and 
 opened an office at Boston. He found it hard to struggle into 
 business enough to support him, and for three or four years had 
 an abundance of leisure time. 
 
 The French Revolution, as we have stated elsewhere, en- 
 tered largely into American politics, and this circumstance 
 gave to Mr. Adams an opportunity of bringing himself more 
 prominently and speedily before the public than he could hope 
 to do in the exercise of his profession. With admirable skill 
 he availed himself of the opportunity. In 1791 he published 
 in the Boston Sentinel a series of papers over the signature of 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 44/ 
 
 " Publicola," in which he discussed with great abiHty the events 
 and ideas of the French Revolution, taking strong ground 
 against the extreme views and acts of the Revolutionists. 
 These articles were widely copied and extensively read in the 
 United States, and were reprinted in England, where they 
 received the especial praise of Fox and Windham. They were 
 generally attributed both at home and abroad to the elder 
 Adams. "They were not his, however," says Charles Francis 
 Adams, " excepting so far as the son may have imbibed with his 
 growth the principles which animated his father through life." 
 In 1973 Mr. Adams published another series of articles in the 
 Sentinel, under the signature of "Marcellus," in which he 
 advocated a strict and impartial neutrality between the parties to 
 the European struggle as the only course consistent with the 
 interests of the United States. These papers were even more 
 widely read than those of " Publicola," and did much towards 
 inducing the people to support the policy of neutrality subse- 
 quently resolved upon by Washington. The President was 
 much impressed with them, and inquired for their author. 
 They were in keeping with his own ideas on the subject, but 
 were opposed to the prevailing sentiment of the countr^^ and 
 he recognized the service thus rendered by the younger Adams. 
 Somewhat later, Mr. Adams published another series of essays 
 over the signature of " Columbus," reviewing the violent and 
 insolent course of M. Genet, the French Minister to the 
 United States. 
 
 These writings made Mr. Adams a prominent man in the 
 eyes of the public, and drew upon him the favorable considera- 
 tion of the Federal Government. Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary 
 of State, was so well pleased with the ability displayed by the 
 younger Adams that he advised the President to employ him 
 in the diplomatic service of the country. President Washing- 
 ton readily accepted Jefferson's advice, having himself already 
 formed a high opinion of Mr. Adams's talents, and on the 29th 
 of May, 1794, appointed him Minister of the United States at 
 the Hague. The appointment was confirmed the next day by 
 the Senate. It was in the highest degree flattering to Mr. 
 Adams. He was but twenty-seven years old at the time, and 
 the appointment came to him entirely unsought. 
 
448 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Adams at once repaired to his post at the Hague. Hoi 
 land was a prey to confusion and disorder in consequence of 
 the French invasion, and in the course of a few months Mr. 
 Adams, finding that he could accomplish nothing for his coun- 
 try, became discouraged, and expressed a desire to resign. 
 Upon learning of this wish, the President wrote to the elder 
 Adams, begging him to use his influence to induce his son to 
 remain at his post, and expressing his own belief that the 
 young Minister, if patient, would one day enjoy the highest 
 honors of the diplomatic service of his country. Encouraged 
 by these sentiments so generously expressed, Mr. Adams 
 abandoned all thought of relinquishing his post, and remained 
 in Holland until the close of Washington's administration, dis- 
 charging his duties with ability and discretion. 
 
 Upon the accession of John Adams to the Presidency, in 
 1796, he was perplexed to know what course to pursue toward 
 his son, and consulted Washington upon the subject. The 
 latter advised him not to think of withholding the promotion 
 to which John Quincy Adams's services in Holland richly 
 entitled him. He declared that he considered him the most 
 valuable representative the country had abroad, and that the 
 relationship between the President and the Minister should 
 have no influence in depriving him of advancement when fairly 
 won. President Adams thereupon appointed his son Minister 
 to the Court of Berlin. 
 
 During his residence at the Hague, Mr. Adams visited Lon- 
 don to assist in the ratification of a commercial treaty with 
 Great Britain. While in that city he met Miss Louisa Cath- 
 erine Johnson, daughter of Joshua Johnson, United States 
 Consul at London. This acquaintance resulted in his marriage 
 to the young lady on the 26th of July, 1797. A few months 
 later, he repaired to Berlin and entered upon the discharge of 
 the duties of his new position. 
 
 Mr. Adams's residence in Berlin was both pleasant and pro- 
 fitable to him. He was enabled to perfect his knowledge of 
 German, and translated Wieland's "Oberon" into English 
 verse. He made the acquaintance of many eminent German 
 scholars and poets, whose society he enjoyed keenly. In the 
 summer of 1800, he made a pleasant tour through Silesia, and 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 449 
 
 in a series of letters to a younger brother communicated his 
 impressions of the country. These letters were published 
 without his knowledge, and were reprinted in Europe. They 
 contained much valuable information, and added considerably 
 to the writer's literary reputation. 
 
 Mr. Adams was eminently successful in his public services 
 in Prussia. In 1798 he negotiated a commercial treaty with 
 Sweden, and in 1801 concluded a similar treaty between the 
 United States and Prussia. In these negotiations he held his 
 own against the veteran diplomatists of those countries, and 
 by his prudence, vigilance and penetration, added greatly to 
 his growing fame. 
 
 In March, 1801 John Adams retired from the Presidency, 
 and with him the Federalist party passed out of power. As 
 he wished to leave Mr. Jefferson unhampered by the presence 
 of a son of the retiring President in one of the most important 
 posts under the Government, one of his last official acts was 
 to recall John Quincy Adams from Berlin. Mr. Adams there- 
 fore returned to the United States in the summer of 1801. 
 
 Mr. Adams had been absent from the country for eight 
 years, and had consequently taken no part in the formation of 
 either of the political parties into which the American people 
 were divided. On his return he attached himself to neither, 
 preferring to act with independence in any position he might 
 assume. His reputation was too great, however, for him to 
 remain in private life, and in 1802 he was elected to the Senate 
 of Massachusetts, from the city of Boston. His course in 
 that body was marked by a bold independence of party spirit 
 which was thoroughly characteristic of him. In this case, it 
 served to increase the esteem in which he was held by the 
 people of his native State, and in 1803 he was elected to the 
 Senate of the United States mainly by the votes of the Fed- 
 eralist party. He was but thirty-six years old at the time, and 
 was one of the youngest Senators in Congress. 
 
 As he had been elected by Federalist votes, it was supposed 
 that he would act with that party in Congress ; but from the 
 first he gave evidence of his intention to follow his judgment 
 and conscience rather than the will of any party in the dis- 
 charge of his public duties. He supported the Embargo meas- 
 29 
 
450 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ures of President Jefferson, because he thought such a poHcy 
 warranted by the course of England and France, and beheved 
 that if faithfully carried out it would be efficacious in remedy- 
 ing the evils from which the country was suffering. The Em- 
 bargo, however, was bitterly opposed by the Federalist party, 
 and Mr. Adams's support of it subjected him to a storm of abuse 
 from that party. He was charged with acting from interested 
 motives, and the Legislature of Massachusetts passed resolutions 
 disapproving his course, and to make its displeasure still more 
 marked, elected a Senator to succeed him at the expiration of 
 his term. Mr. Adams was not the man to retain his seat un- 
 der these conditions, and in March, 1808, resigned his Sena- 
 torship, and became once more a private citizen. 
 
 In the meantime he had been solicited to accept the Presi- 
 dency of Harvard College, his literary fame being equal to his 
 reputation as a statesman, but he declined the honor. In 1805 
 he was elected Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at Har- 
 vard, and accepted the position on condition that it should not 
 mterfere with his duties as a Senator of the United States. He 
 entered upon his professorship in June, 1806, and held it for 
 nearly three years, winning considerable credit by his lectures 
 on rhetoric and eloquence. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was succeeded by Mr. Madison as President 
 of the United States, on the 4th of March, 1809. The new 
 President, among his first acts, appointed Mr. Adams Minister 
 from the United States to Russia. Mr. Adams sailed for St. 
 Petersburg in the summer of 1809, and was received with great 
 friendliness by the Emperor Alexander, and was admitted to a 
 personal intimacy with that monarch. During his absence 
 abroad he was nominated by Mr. Madison to a seat on the 
 Bench of the Supreme Court, made vacant by the death of 
 Judge Gushing, and the nomination was confirmed by the Sen- 
 ate, but was declined, Mr. Adams preferring to remain in the 
 diplomatic service. 
 
 Mr. Adams endeavored to turn the friendship with which the 
 Russian Emperor regarded him to the advantage of his coun- 
 try, and the Emperor Alexander was induced to offer his medi- 
 ation between the United States and Great Britain, with a view 
 to terminating the war between those powers, which had bro- 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 45 I 
 
 ken out in the summer of 1812. The Russian offer was ac- 
 cepted by President Madison, as we have related, and a Com- 
 mission, with Mr. Adams at its head, was appointed to con- 
 duct the negotiation. The offer was decHned by Great Britain, 
 and nothing resulted from it. The British Government, how- 
 ever, during the winter of 1813-14, notified the President of the 
 United States that though it had declined the Russian offer, it 
 was willingly to conduct direct negotiations with the United 
 States. President Madison promptly responded to this over- 
 ture, and to the Commission already in Europe, which con- 
 sisted of Messrs. Adams, Bayard and Gallatin, added Henry 
 Clay and Jonathan Russell. The negotiations were conducted 
 at Ghent. Mr. Adams took a leading part in them, and con- 
 tributed in a great measure to closing the war and securing the 
 ends for which it was fought. His course was warmly ap- 
 proved by the people and Government of the United States. 
 
 In the spring of 181 5, after the return of peace, Messrs. 
 Adams, Gallatin, and Clay were sent to London to conclude a 
 commercial Treaty with Great Britain. This was speedily 
 accomplished, and Mr. Adams was appointed by the President 
 Minister to the Court of St. James. The prediction of Wash- 
 ington was verified; John Quincy Adams now held the most 
 important diplomatic post within the gift of his country. 
 
 In March, 18 17, James Monroe was inaugurated President of 
 the United States. He had been Secretary of State under Mr. 
 Madison, and had had ample opportunity to observe the abili- 
 ties of Mr. Adams, as displayed by his services abroad, and he 
 at once offered him the important position of Secretary of 
 State in his Cabinet. Mr. Adams accepted the position, and 
 returned home in June, 18 17. His appointment gave general 
 satisfaction, and the able and successful manner in which he 
 conducted the intercourse of this country with foreign nations 
 during the eight years of the Presidency of Mr. Monroe showed 
 that the high opinion which his countrymen entertained of his 
 powers as a statesman was well founded. 
 
 In the campaign of 1824 all the candidates for the Presidency 
 were taken from the Republican party, the Federalist party 
 having disappeared from the political field. Mr. Adams was 
 nominated and supported by the Eastern and Middle States. 
 
452 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHV. 
 
 He was very reluctant to enter upon the contest, but consented 
 to accept the nomination at the urgent request of a large body 
 of devoted friends. His competitors were Henry Clay and 
 Andrew Jackson, who divided the support of the West between 
 them, and William H. Crawford, whose claims were supported 
 by the South. Mr. Adams's friends embraced a large and pow- 
 erful party. "The qualifications on which his supporters 
 depended," says Mr. Seward, "and to which they called the 
 attention of the American people, as reasons for elevating him 
 to the head of the general government, may be summarily 
 enumerated as follows: i. The purity of his private character 
 — the simplicity of his personal habits — his unbending integ- 
 rity and uprightness, even beyond suspicion. 2. His com- 
 manding talents, and his acquirements both as a scholar and a 
 statesman. 3. His love of country, his truly American feelings, 
 in all that concerned the welfare and the honor of the United 
 States. 4. His long experience in public affairs, especially his 
 familiarity with our foreign relations, and his perfect knowledge 
 of the institutions, the internal condition and policy of Euro- 
 pean nations. 5. His advocacy of protection to domestic man- 
 ufactures, and of a judicious system of internal improvements. 
 
 The campaign of 1824 was marked by the most intense 
 excitement, and the election failed to result in a choice by 
 the people. The contest was thus thrown into the House of 
 Representatives. On the 9th of February, 1825, that body 
 proceeded to vote by States for President of the United States. 
 The first ballot stood as follows : For John Quincy Adams, 13 
 votes; for Andrew Jackson, 7 votes; for Wm. H. Crawford, 4 
 votes. Mr. Adams was therefore declared elected President of 
 the United States for four years from the 4th of March, 1825. 
 
 The result of the ballot in the House of Representatives was 
 announced to Mr. Adams in the following note from his friend. 
 Senator King, of New York : 
 
 " Senate Chamber, g February, 182J. 
 " My Dear Sir : We have this moment heard the issue of the election, and I 
 send you and your venerable father my aifectionate congratulations upon your 
 choice as President of the United States on the first ballot of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. I include your father, as I consider your election as the best amends 
 for the injustice of which he was made the victim. 
 
 " To me and mine, the choice has been such as we have cordially hoped for and 
 expected, Rufus King." 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 453 
 
 Mr. Adams at once enclosed this note in the following letter 
 to his father — then ninety years of age : 
 
 " Washington, g February, 1825. 
 " My Dear and Honored Father : The enclosed note from Mr. King wiU 
 inform vou of the event of this day, upon which I can only offer you my congratu- 
 lations, and ask your blessings and prayers. 
 
 " Your affectionate and dutiful son, 
 
 "John QuiNcy Adams." 
 
 The choice of Mr. Adams by the House was bitterly 
 resented by the friends of General Jackson, who had received 
 fifteen more votes in the Electoral College than his successful 
 competitor; but as Mr. Adams had received the largest popu- 
 lar vote, the House, in its action, simply gave effect to the ex- 
 pression of the will of the people. John C. Calhoun had been 
 chosen Vice-President by the Electoral College. 
 
 Mr. Adams was inaugurated President of the United States, 
 with imposing ceremonies, at Washington, on the 4th of March, 
 1826. His administration was one of remarkable prosperity. 
 The country was growing wealthier by the rapid advance of 
 its agriculture, manufactures, and commerce ; and abroad it 
 commanded the respect of the world. The Erie Canal was 
 completed during this administration, and the construction of 
 our magnificent railway system was begun. Mr. Adams was 
 a constant and energetic advocate of governmental aid to the 
 internal improvements of the country, and supported the Pro- 
 tective system by which our manufactures were built up. His 
 ceaseless aim was to conciliate all parties, and to secure their 
 support for the measures best calculated to make the Union 
 strong and prosperous at home and respected abroad. 
 
 The opposition in Congress was very strong and very ac- 
 tive throughout this administration. The Tariff and the Pro- 
 tective policy were the great questions of the day. The East- 
 ern and Middle States were overwhelmingly in favor of a 
 Protective Tariff; the South was a unit against that measure. 
 The Tariff Bill of 1828 was approved by the President, and 
 his course was bitterly denounced by the opposition. The 
 President's schemes of internal improvement were also ardently 
 opposed by this party. 
 
 Mr. Adams displayed, as President, the same independence 
 
454 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of thought and action that had marked his previous career. 
 While this quahty won him the praise of thoughtful and disin- 
 terested citizens, it rendered him unpopular with the great 
 mass of the people, who were nevertheless forced to accord 
 him their profound respect. " Mr. Adams's temperament," 
 says Mr. Stansbury, "was peculiar, his manner and address 
 cold, if not repulsive, and his mode of shaking hands espe- 
 cially, so much so that it attained an unenviable celebrity as 
 'the pump-handle shake.' He had been much abroad, had 
 seen mankind, and appeared not to trust them. He flattered 
 no man, and was not to be controlled by flattery from others. 
 An old diplomatist himself, he was proof against all the 
 approaches of the diplomatists of other governments. They 
 could make nothing of him. He listened to their polite 
 speeches, smiled and coldly bowed, but then went to business. 
 His keen and piercing eye was kept steadily nd rem. Beneath 
 the coldest manners, he possessed a depth and a power of pas- 
 sion as great as I ever witnessed in any human being. It 
 seemed as if his soul glowed with an intensity precisely pro- 
 portioned to the icy exterior which he presented to a stranger. 
 This, it is true, was not so fully developed during his Presi- . 
 dency as afterwards, when he came into the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. There his passions were called out into open play, 
 and they often rose into a perfect storm. * * When attacked, 
 or reflected on, he kept it in memory; and the first moment the 
 occasion presented, never failed to repay, and with a fearful 
 accumulation of interest. He was one of the last men a pru- 
 dent man would assail in a deliberative body. He was a most 
 able debater ; skilled in dialectics, a practised, ready and forci- 
 ble speaker, with a piercing voice, an iron memory, and such 
 an array of facts on every subject he handled, as rendered 
 him one of the most formidable adversaries any man could 
 provoke. Staunch to his purpose, not to be baffled, not to be 
 wearied, he pressed his point with a pertinacity and persevering 
 vigor, both of intellect and passion, that was rarely withstood. 
 "One thing which powerfully helped him in the duties of 
 his office was his habits of indefatigable application. So far as 
 it was practicable, he read over all the papers connected with 
 every question submitted to him. He trusted to no man's rep- 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 455 
 
 resentations where he could see with his own eyes. I have 
 seen, in his business-room, in the Presidential mansion, a table 
 at least twenty feet long and ten feet wide, covered thickly with 
 papers, in bundles, to the depth of a foot, all of which he would 
 at least look at, and the more important of which he would 
 read through. To get time for this, he rose before the sun, and 
 sat up late at night. He had two excellent preparations for 
 business: One was his constant habit of bathing in the Poto- 
 mac by dawn of day ; the other, and far better one, was to read 
 a chapter of the Bible before he touched a paper. Gentlemen 
 have told me that they have often tried to anticipate the Presi- 
 dent in his morning bath, but never could succeed; come as 
 early as they would, the old man was in the river, his bald 
 head ducking and diving like a sea-fowl, and all of his motions 
 indicating the lively enjoyment he experienced from a play in 
 his favorite element. He was an excellent swimmer, and as 
 much at home in the water as a duck." 
 
 In 1828, Mr. Adams was a candidate for reelection to the 
 Presidency. The contest was very determined, and resulted 
 in the election of Andrew Jackson by a large majority. Gen. 
 Jackson entered upon his duties on the 4th of March, 1829, 
 and Mr. Adams retired to his home at Quincy, which he had 
 inherited from his father. 
 
 Mr. Adams now devoted himself to literary and scientific 
 labors, and hoped to continue a private citizen. His hope was 
 not to be realized, however, and he was to spend the remainder 
 of his days in the service of his country. In 1830 the people 
 of the Plymouth District nominated him for the House of Rep- 
 resentatives in the Congress of the United States. It was gen- 
 erally supposed that having held the highest office in the gift 
 of the nation, he would decline this nomination, but to the sur- 
 prise of the whole country, he accepted it. It was his convic- 
 tion that a citizen's services belong to his country in whatever 
 capacity she may choose to claim them, and he was willing to 
 serve her in any position in which he could do good. He was 
 elected by a handsome majority, and was regularly returned 
 by his constituents until the close of his life, seventeen years 
 later. 
 
 By his course in Congress Mr. Adams fully sustained his 
 
456 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 splendid reputation. He was bold and independent in the pur- 
 suit of the thing he believed to be right, and no man was less 
 influenced by party ties. He was universally respected, and 
 even his enemies did justice to his ability and integrity. He 
 generally acted with the Whig party in opposing the adminis- 
 trations of Jackson and Van Buren, but when he thought the 
 measures of the Government deserving of his support, did not 
 hesitate to give it. He was a ready and able debater, and his 
 remarkable powers won him from Congress and from the 
 country the title of "the old man eloquent." He was a stern 
 and uncompromising opponent of slavery, and was the leader 
 of the anti-slavery party of the House. This feeling led him 
 to oppose the annexation of Texas. His course with regard to 
 slavery drew upon him a storm of denunciation from the advo- 
 cates of that system, and he was threatened with expulsion 
 from the House, and even with assassination ;■ but he never 
 swerved from what he regarded as the line of his duty. On all 
 other subjects he was listened to by the House with respect 
 and attention. One of the most striking instances of his influ- 
 ence over that body is thus related by "An Old Colony Man" 
 in his "Reminiscences of John Quincy Adams:" 
 
 "On the opening of the 26th Congress, in December, 1839, 
 in consequence of a two-fold delegation from New Jersey, the 
 House was unable, for some time, to complete its organization, 
 and presented to the country and to the world the perilous and 
 discreditable aspect of the assembled representatives of the 
 people, unable to form themselves into a constitutional body. 
 On first assembling, the House has no officers, and the clerk of 
 the preceding Congress acts, by usage, as chairman of the body 
 till a Speaker is chosen. On this occasion, after reaching the 
 State of New Jersey, the acting clerk declined to proceed in 
 calling the roll, and refused to entertain any of the motions 
 which were made for the purpose of extricating the House 
 from its embarrassment. Many of the ablest and most judi- 
 cious members had addressed the House in vain, and there was 
 nothing but confusion and disorder in prospect. 
 
 "The fourth day opened, and still confusion was triumphant. 
 * * Mr. Adams, from the opening of this scene of confusion 
 and anarchy, had maintained a profound silence. He appeared 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 457 
 
 to be engaged most of the time in writing. To a common 
 observer, he seemed to be reckless of everything around him — 
 but nothing, not the sHghtest incident, escaped him. The 
 fourth day of the struggle had now commenced ; Mr. Hugh 
 H. Garland, the clerk, was directed to call the roll again. 
 
 " He commenced with Maine, as was usual in those days, and 
 was ])roceeding towards Massachusetts. I turned and saw that 
 Mr. Adams was ready to get the floor at the earliest moment 
 possible. His keen eye was riveted on the clerk; his hands 
 clasped the front edge of his desk, where he always placed 
 them to assist him in rising, 
 
 '"New Jersey!' ejaculated Mr. Hugh H. Garland, 'and the 
 clerk has to repeat that — 
 
 " Mr. Adams sprang to the floor. 
 
 "'I rise to interrupt the clerk,' was his first ejaculation. 
 
 "'Silence! silence!' resounded through the hall; 'hear him, 
 hear him. Hear what he has to say! Hear John Quincy 
 Adams!' was the unanimous ejaculation on all sides. In an 
 instant the most profound silence reigned throughout the hall 
 — you might have heard a leaf of paper drop in any part of it 
 — and every eye was riveted on the venerable Nestor of Massa- 
 chusetts. He paused for a moment; and, having given Mr. 
 Garland a 'withering look,' he proceeded to address the multi- 
 tude. 
 
 "'It was not my intention,' said he, 'to take any part in these 
 extraordinary proceedings. I had hoped that this House would 
 succeed in organizing itself; that a speaker and clerk would be 
 elected, and that the ordinary business of legislation would be 
 progressed in. This is not the time, or place, to discuss the 
 merits of the conflicting claimants for seats from New Jersey; 
 that subject belongs to the House of Representatives, which, 
 by the Constitution, is made the ultimate arbiter of the qualifi- 
 cations of its members. But what a spectacle we here present! 
 We degrade and disgrace ourselves; we degrade and disgrace 
 our constituents and the country. We do not, and cannot 
 organize; and why? Because the clerk of this House, the mere 
 clerk, whom we create, whom we employ, and whose existence 
 depends upon our will, usurps the throne, and sets us, the rep- 
 resentatives, the vicegerents of the whole American people, at 
 
458 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 defiance, and holds us in contempt ! And what is this clerk of 
 yours ? Is he to control the destinies of sixteen millions of 
 freemen ? Is he to suspend, by his mere negative, the func- 
 tions of government, and to put an end to this Congress ? He 
 refuses to call the roll ! It is in your power to compel him to 
 call it, if he will not do it voluntarily,' (Here he was inter- 
 rupted by a member, who said that he was authorized to say 
 that compulsion could not reach the clerk, who had avowed 
 that he would resign rather than call the State of New Jersey.) 
 'Well, sir, then let him resign,' continued Mr. Adams, 'and we 
 may possibly discover some way by which we can get along 
 without the aid of his all-powerful talent, learning, and genius. 
 If we cannot organize in any other way — if this clerk of yours 
 will not consent to our discharging the trusts confided to us by 
 our constituents — then let us imitate the example of the Vir- 
 ginia House of Burgesses, which, when the Colonial Governor 
 Dinwiddle ordered it to disperse, refused to obey the imper- 
 ious and insulting mandate, and like men ' 
 
 " The multitude could not contain or repress their enthusi- 
 asm any longer, but saluted the eloquent and indignant speaker, 
 and interrupted him with loud and deafening cheers, which 
 seemed to shake the capitol to its centre. * * 
 
 " Having, by this powerful appeal, brought the yet unorgan- 
 ized assembly to a perception of its hazardous position, he 
 submitted a motion requiring the acting clerk to proceed in 
 calling the roll. This and similar motions had already been 
 made by other members. The difficulty was that the acting 
 clerk declined to entertain them. Accordingly, Mr. Adams 
 was immediately interrupted by a burst of voices demanding, 
 'How shall the question be put?' 'Who will put the ques- 
 tion ?' The voice of Mr. Adams was heard above the tumult, 
 'I intend to put the question myself!' That word brought 
 order out of chaos. There was the master mind. 
 
 "As soon as the multitude had recovered itself, and the ex- 
 citement of irrepressible enthusiasm had abated, Mr. Richard 
 Barnwell Rhett, of South Carolina, leaped upon one of the 
 desks, waved his hand, and exclaimed: 
 
 "'I move that the Honorable John Quincy Adams take the 
 chair of the Speaker of this House, and officiate as presiding 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 459 
 
 officer, till the House be organized by the election of its con- 
 stitutional officers ! As many as are agreed to this will say 
 ay ; those' 
 
 " He had not an opportunity to complete the sentence, for 
 one universal ay responded to the nomination. 
 
 " Hereupon, it was moved and ordered that Lewis Williams, 
 of North Carolina, and Richard Barnwell Rhett, conduct John 
 Quincy Adams to the chair. 
 
 " Well did Mr. Wise, of Virginia, say, ' Sir, I regard it as the 
 proudest hour of your life; and if, when you shall be gathered 
 to your fathers, I were asked to select the words which, in my 
 judgment, are best calculated to give at once the character of 
 the man, I would inscribe upon your tomb this sentence, ' I 
 will put the question myself!' " 
 
 A few years before his death it was the good fortune of Mr. 
 Adams to render a great service to humanity, and to afford a 
 striking illustration of his devotion to the rights of man. A 
 ship-load of Africans had been stolen from their native land 
 and smuggled into Cuba, in defiance of the law of nations. 
 Thirty-six of them were purchased from their captors by two 
 Spanish planters named Ruiz and Montes, who embarked them 
 in the schooner "Amistad," and sailed for Guanaja, Cuba. On 
 the third day out from Havana, the negroes rose in an attempt to 
 recover their liberty, and murdered the master and crew of the 
 vessel, sparing only the lives of Ruiz and Montes, their pur- 
 chasers, whom they compelled to navigate the vessel. The 
 negroes ordered the Spaniards to direct the course of the ves- 
 sel to the coast of Africa, but the latter brought her to the 
 coast of the United States, which they reached off the eastern 
 end of Long Island. They were overhauled by the U. S. 
 Coast Survey brig Washington, Lieut. Gedney, and carried 
 into New London. The two Spaniards claimed the negroes as 
 their property, and the Spanish Minister at Washington de- 
 manded of the President their surrender in order that they 
 might be carried back to Havana and tried for piracy and 
 murder. The case was submitted to the District Court of Con- 
 necticut, and in the meantime President Van Buren ordered a 
 Government schooner to be held in readiness at New Haven 
 to convey the negroes back to Havana, should such be the 
 decision of the Court. The Court, however, decided that the 
 
460 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Government of the United States had no authority to return 
 them to slavery, and ordered that they should be conveyed to 
 their native country in a vessel of the United States. The case 
 was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States by 
 the District Attorney. 
 
 The matter excited great interest throughout the country. 
 In the Northern States there was a general sympathy with the 
 Africans, and the hope was universally expressed that the 
 Supreme Court would confirm the decision of the lower tri- 
 bunal. The Government would, of course, be represented by 
 its own counsel ; but who would plead the cause of the poor 
 negroes? At this juncture they found a champion in John 
 Quincy Adams, who volunteered to defend them. " At the age 
 of seventy-four," says Mr. Seward, "he appeared in the Supreme 
 Court of the United States to advocate their cause. He entered 
 upon this labor with the enthusiasm of a youthful barrister, and 
 displayed forensic talents, a critical knowledge of law, and of 
 the inalienable rights of man, which would have added to the 
 renown of the most eminent jurists of the day." 
 
 "When he went to the Supreme Court," says Theodore 
 Parker, "after an absence of thirty years, and arose to defend 
 a body of friendless negroes, torn from their home and most 
 unjustly held in thrall — when he asked the judges to excuse 
 him at once for the trembling faults of age and the inexperience 
 of youth, having labored so long elsewhere that he had for- 
 gotten the rules of court — when he summed up the conclusion 
 of the whole matter, and brought before those judicial but yet 
 moistening eyes, the great men he had once met there — Chase, 
 Gushing, Martin, Livingston, and Marshall himself; and while 
 he remembered that they were 'gone, gone, all gone,' re- 
 membered also the eternal Justice that is never gone — the 
 sight was sublime. It was not an old patrician of Rome, who 
 had been Consul, Dictator, coming out of his retirement at the 
 Senate's call, to stand in the Forum to levy new armies, mar- 
 shal them to victory afresh, and gain thereby new laurels for his 
 brow; but it was a plain citizen of America, who had held an 
 office far greater than that of Consul, King, or Dictator, his 
 hand reddened by no man's blood, expecting no honors, but 
 coming in the name of justice, to plead for the slave for the 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 46 1 
 
 poor barbarian negro of Africa, for Cinque and Grabbo, for 
 their deeds comparing them to Harmodius and Aristogeiton, 
 whose classic memory made each bosom thrill. That was 
 worth all his honors — it was worth while to live fourscore years 
 for that." 
 
 Mr. Adams won his case. The Supreme Court decided that 
 the negroes were entitled to their freedom, and ordered their 
 unconditional release. Shortly afterwards they were aided by 
 charitable persons to return to their native country. 
 
 The vigorous health of Mr. j^dams at length began to give 
 way. On the morning of the 20th of November, 1846, while 
 at Boston, he was stricken down with a paralytic stroke. He 
 was confined to his bed for several weeks, but recovered at 
 length sufficiently to enable him to proceed to Washington, 
 to take his place in Congress. He did not take as active a 
 part in the debates as formerly, but was in his seat with his 
 usual regularity. On the 21st of February, 1848, a resolution 
 was offered in the House returning the thanks of Congress to 
 several Generals of the army who had distinguished them- 
 selves in the war with Mexico. Mr. Adams had just given his 
 vote in favor of the resolution, when he was again stricken 
 with paralysis. The members crowded around his insensible 
 form, and the House adjourned. He was conveyed to the 
 Speaker's room, and laid upon a sofa. The Senate adjourned 
 as soon as informed of the sad event. The deepest anxiety was 
 manifested on all sides. Mr. Adams lingered for two days, and 
 expired on the evening of the 23d of February, 1848, in the 
 eighty-first year of his age. Just before his death he mur- 
 mured, "This is the end of earth — I am content," He died 
 as he had lived, at the post of duty. 
 
 After appropriate ceremonies in Washington, the remains 
 of the dead statesman were conveyed to Massachusetts, and 
 were buried by the side of his father and mother in the family 
 buiying ground at Quincy. All along the route the people 
 of the Union testified, by their public demonstrations, their 
 sorrow for the loss of him who had proved himself one of the 
 ablest statesmen, as well as one of the most disinterested, faith- 
 ful and incorruptible public sei-vants the country has ever 
 known. 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 ABOUT the year 1765 Andrew Jackson emigrated from 
 Carrickfergus in Ireland, and settled in what was then 
 called the Waxhaw district, about forty-five miles above Cam- 
 den in South Carolina. He brought with him his wife and two 
 sons, Hugh and Robert. The family were of the humblest 
 condition in life, and the little farm upon which they settled 
 barely afforded them a subsistence. It was there that Andrew 
 Jackson, the youngest son and the subject of this memoir, was 
 born on the 15th of March, 1767. Soon after the birth of 
 young Andrew the elder Jackson died, leaving his widow to 
 provide for her children by her own exertions. She was a 
 woman of great strength of character, and executed the diffi- 
 cult task which devolved upon her with success. Her elder 
 sons were set to earning their own living as soon as possible ; 
 but as she destined Andrew for the Presbyterian ministry, she 
 determined to give him the advantages of an education. For 
 this purpose he was sent to an old field school in the neighbor- 
 hood. " Reading, writing, and arithmetic, were all the branches 
 taught in that early day. Among a crowd of urchins seated on 
 the slab benches of a school like this, fancy a tall, slender boy, 
 with bright blue eyes, a freckled face, an abundance of hair, 
 and clad in coarse copperas-colored cloth, with bare feet dang- 
 ling and kicking, and you have in your mind's eye a picture of 
 Andy as he appeared in his old field school days in the Wax- 
 haw settlement." He gave no signs of future greatness, and 
 the amount of learning within his reach was not such as to 
 tax his brain too heavily. 
 
 Andrew soon acquired the reputation of being the most 
 mischievous boy in the neighborhood. He was always playing 
 pranks, and always getting into trouble. He was daring and 
 reckless, and generous to a fault; passionate and quick, and 
 never willing to submit to a defeat. He was fond of athletic 
 sports, and especially of running, leaping, and wrestling. Being 
 
 (462) 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 
 
/ 
 
 y; 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 463 
 
 slight of frame he was often thrown. " I could throw him 
 three times out of four," one of his old schoolmates said in 
 after years, "but he would never stay throwed. He was dead 
 game, even then, and never would give up." He was a gener- 
 ous friend and protector to younger boys, who acknowledged 
 him as a leader, and would take any personal risk in their 
 defense. "His equals and superiors found him self-willed, 
 somewhat overbearing, easily offended, very irascible, and, upon 
 the whole, 'difficult to get along with.' One of them said, 
 many years after, in the heat of controversy, that of all the 
 boys he had ever known, Andrew Jackson was the only bully 
 who was not also a coward." 
 
 Andrew remained at school until the war closed the "Acad- 
 emy." When the Declaration of Independence was signed he 
 was nine years old, and being rather a precocious boy, would 
 listen eagerly to the accounts of the struggle with England 
 which were related by his elders. His eldest brother, Hugh, 
 joined the American army at an early period of the war, and 
 was killed at the battle of Stono. Undiscouraged by this, 
 Robert and Andrew Jackson, the latter now about fourteen, 
 determined to take up arms in behalf of their country. Re- 
 ceiving the permission of their mother, who was no less enthu- 
 siastic in the cause, they joined a band of patriots. 
 
 Just before they set out from home, occurred the Waxhaw 
 Massacre, on the 29th of May, 1780, in which Tarleton, with 
 300 British horsemen, surprised and cut to pieces a detach- 
 ment of militia, killing 1 13 and wounding 150. The wounded, 
 after the departure of the British, were collected in the Wax- 
 haw meeting-house, which was used as a hospital, and were 
 cared for by the settlers. Mrs. Jackson was very active in 
 nursing the poor fellows, and her sons, Robert and Andrew, 
 assisted her for three or four days. They thus had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing war in its sternest aspect, but it did not dis- 
 courage them. 
 
 The outrages of the British and Tories obliged the Wax- 
 haw settlers to fly from their homes and seek refuge in North 
 Carolina. Mrs. Jackson and her sons were among the number. 
 Seeing their mother in a place of safety, Andrew and his 
 brother joined a party of Waxhaw settlers under Colonel 
 
464 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Davie, and took part in Sumpter's attack on the British post 
 at Hanging Rock on the 6th of August, 1780. 
 
 The war in South CaroHna was a fierce partisan contest, 
 waged with merciless fury on both sides. Father was arrayed 
 against son,'and brother against brother, and neither party 
 asked nor gave quarter. Andrew and Robert Jackson took 
 their share in this strife, joining small parties that went out on 
 single enterprises of retaliation, mounted on their own horses, 
 and carrying their own guns. 
 
 Shortly after the departure of Lord CornwalHs, from South 
 Carolina, the Waxhaw settlers returned home from North Car- 
 olina, the Jacksons among the number. Upon learning of this, 
 Lord Rawdon, who was at Camden, despatched a force of 
 British infantry and dragoons, and a detachment of Tories un- 
 der Major Coffin, to capture them. The settlers determined to 
 stand their ground this time, and fight for their homes. The 
 Waxhaw meeting-house was appointed as the place of rendez- 
 vous. On the designated day about forty of the settlers, includ- 
 ing the two Jacksons, assembled there, in the expectation of 
 being joined by a reinforcement under Captain Nesbit. They 
 mistook the British and Tories, who wore the usual dress of the 
 country, for this force, and did not perceive their error until they 
 were attacked by the enemy. Eleven of the settlers were taken 
 prisoners, and the rest escaped. Andrew and Robert Jackson 
 were among the fugitives. They succeded in reaching a place 
 of concealment in a neighboring swamp, but the next day 
 were driven by hunger to a friend's house in search of food. 
 There they were surprised and captured by the British and 
 Tories, who also sacked the house in which the young men 
 were taken, and insulted the lady and children who occupied 
 it. While his men were pillaging the house, the British officer 
 in command of the party ordered Andrew Jackson to clean 
 the mud from his boots. The young hero indignantly refused 
 to perform the menial service, and the enraged officer made a 
 savage cut at him with his sword, which Andrew parried with 
 his left hand, receiving a cut the scar of which he carried with 
 him through life. The Briton then turned to Robert Jackson, 
 and ordered him to clean his boots. Robert also refused, and 
 the officer cut him over the head, inflicting a wound which 
 subsequently proved fatal. 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 465 
 
 The Jackson boys, with about twenty other prisoners, were 
 now mounted on captured horses, and sent on to Camden, and 
 on the road were denied both food and water. Upon reaching 
 Camden they were thrown into prison, and were treated with 
 y^reat cruelty, their wounds being allowed to remain undressed 
 and their food being of the coarsest quality and barely suffi- 
 cient to sustain them. To add to the horrors of their captivity 
 the small-pox broke out among the prisoners, and the brothers 
 became infected with it. 
 
 Shortly after the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, the two Jacksons, 
 through the exertions of their mother, were exchanged with 
 five other American prisoners. They reached their mother 
 nearly naked, emaciated, hungry, and so feeble as to be scarcely 
 able to stand. The wound in Robert's head had never been 
 dressed, and the small-pox was just breaking out upon him. 
 He was placed on one of the two horses which accompanied 
 the party, and was held on it by his companions, and the other 
 horse was given to his mother. In this way the party set out 
 from Camden to the Waxhaws, forty miles distant. It was a 
 melancholy journey, and when their home was nearly reached 
 the party was overtaken by a severe rain storm which drenched 
 them. Robert and Andrew Jackson both took cold; the for- 
 mer died in two days, and Andrew, upon whom the small-pox 
 had also broken out, became delirious. He was saved from 
 death only by the careful and patient nursing of his mother. 
 He recovered slowly, and had scarcely regained his health 
 when his mother set out for Charleston with four or five other 
 ladies to minister to the wants of the suffering American priso- 
 ners on board the Charleston prison ship. While engaged in 
 this noble work she was seized with the fever prevailing among 
 the prisoners, and died. 
 
 Andrew Jackson was now alone in the world, with no one to 
 counsel or restrain him. He lingered at the Waxhaws until 
 he had thoroughly recovered his health, and then took part in 
 some of the partisan encounters which marked the close of the 
 war in the South. The return of peace found him in posses- 
 sion of a small farm, inherited from his father, without slaves, 
 and without the means of working it properly. He was a wild, 
 hair-brained lad, and was fond of cock-fighting and horse- 
 30 
 
466 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 racing. At last he came to the conclusion that it was time to 
 fit himself for the business of life, and having determined to 
 study law, he converted what was left of his little property into 
 money, and removed to Salisbury, North Carolina, where he 
 became a student in the office of Spruce McCay, afterwards an 
 eminent judge of that State. He was now eighteen years old, 
 and he began to take a more serious view of life and its duties 
 than he had yet done. "Nothing is more likely," says Mr. 
 Parton, "than that he zvas a roaring, rollicking fellow, over- 
 flowing with life and spirits, and rejoicing to engage in all the 
 fun that was going; but I do not believe that he neglected his 
 duties at the office to the extent to which Salisbury says he 
 did. There are good reasons for doubting it. At no part of 
 Jackson's career when we can get a look at him through a pair 
 of trustworthy eyes, do we find him trifling with life. We find 
 him often wrong, but always earnest. He never so much as 
 raised a field of cotton which he did not have done in the best 
 manner known to him. It was not in the nature of this young 
 man to take a great deal of trouble to get a chance to study 
 law, and then entirely throw away that chance. Of course he 
 never became, in any proper sense of the word, a lazvyer; but 
 that he was not diligent and eager in picking up the legal 
 knowledge necessary for practice at that day will become less 
 credible to the reader the more he knows of him." His legal 
 studies were completed in 1786, when he received his license 
 to practice. He devoted himself to his profession with indus- 
 try and energ)^, and made many friends. He remained in 
 North Carolina until 1788, winning the increased regard of his 
 friends by his excellent qualities. 
 
 He was now twenty-one years old, and had become satisfied 
 that the eastern part of North Carolina offered but few induce- 
 ments to a young man who wished to rise in the world. He 
 therefore determined to emigrate beyond the mountains. The 
 western part of North Carolina, which afterwards became the 
 State of Tennessee, was recommended to him as offering many 
 advantages to a young man in his position. Judge McNairy 
 was about to start for the western counties to hold the first 
 term of Supreme Court that had ever sat in that section of the 
 State, and Jackson determined to accompany him. He reached 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 46/ 
 
 Nashville in October, 1786, and was so well pleased with the 
 place and the opportunities it offered, that he determined to 
 to make it his home. He applied himself with industry 
 his profession, and so won the regard of the people among 
 whom he had cast his lot that he was soon in possession of 
 a comfortable practice. Shortly after his settlement in Nash- 
 ville, the Governor of the State, without any solicitation on his 
 part, appointed him State's Attorney for the western district, 
 in which capacity he served for several years. 
 
 Nashville was at this time but a village of log cabins, and 
 the western border was still exposed to the attacks of the In- 
 dians. Jackson greatly increased his popularity with the 
 people of the western district by his gallant conduct in one 
 or two expeditions against the savages in which he took part. 
 He boarded in the family of Mrs. Donelson, a widow. Residing 
 with Mrs. Donelson was her daughter, Rachel, "who had 
 married a man by the name of Robards, in Kentucky, but had 
 separated from him on account of his violent temper and 
 vicious habits. Judge Overton and Jackson occupied another 
 cabin, a few steps distant from that in which Mrs. Donelson 
 lived, but met with her family at the same table. Mrs. Robards 
 was as distinguished for her beauty, her sweetness of temper, 
 and her winning deportment, as was her husband for the pos- 
 session of the opposite qualities. Through the mediation of 
 Judge Overton, Robards was at one time reconciled to his 
 wife, rejoined her at Mrs. Donelson's, and commenced prepara- 
 tions for erecting a cabin, on a tract of land that he had 
 purcliased, in which he intended to reside. 
 
 "Jackson was then a young man, frank and engaging in his 
 manners, and fond of female society. He undoubtedly paid 
 Mrs. Robards many flattering attentions, which — neither think- 
 ing aught of evil, or cherishing an impure thought — were 
 reciprocated as they deserved, with kindness and friendly 
 esteem, but nothing more. So far from rendering her husband 
 more morose and ill-tempered, this should only have led him to 
 appreciate better her charms and social virtues, and encouraged 
 him to become more pleasing and agreeable. But lagos were 
 not wanting to instill the doubts and suspicions of jealousy, had 
 not his gloomy and distrustful temperament predisposed him 
 
468 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to such impressions. She was, in consequence, rendered very 
 unhappy. On being made acquainted with this fact, Jackson 
 sought an interview with her husband, and remonstrated with 
 him, in a manly and honorable way. This was of no avail, and 
 he then left Mrs. Donelson's, and took board at Mansker's 
 Station. 
 
 "The excited jealousy of the husband could not be allayed, 
 however; and, in a few months, he abandoned his wife a second 
 time, and started for Kentucky — declaring to a companion on 
 the road, that he designed never to return. Mrs. Robards now 
 determined that the separation should be final ; and on being 
 afterwards informed that he intended to visit Tennessee, and 
 take her back with him to Kentucky, under the advice of her 
 friends, accompanied the family of Colonel Stark to Natchez, 
 in the spring of 1791. Stark was an elderly man, and fearing 
 that the Indians might attack him, he invited Jackson to make 
 one of the party. The latter, perhaps unwisely — though he 
 certainly never regretted it — accepted the invitation, and de- 
 scended the rivers with them to Natchez. 
 
 "Robards had previously applied to the Legislature of Vir- 
 ginia for a divorce, and soon after the return of Jackson to 
 Nashville, the intelligence was received that his application had 
 been granted. Desirous of testifying to the world in the 
 highest and most solemn manner, his confidence in her purity 
 and innocence — pleased alike with the charms of her person and 
 the graces of her mind, and deeming her at perfect liberty to 
 form a new connection, Jackson forthwith repaired to Natchez, 
 and tendered his hand to Mrs. Robards. She at first hesitated 
 but finally accepted him. They were married in the fall, and 
 she returned with him to the Cumberland, where she was 
 greeted with the warm and affectionate congratulations of her 
 relations and friends. 
 
 "Two years after this marriage — in December, 1793 — Jack- 
 son was on his way to Jonesborough with Judge Overton, 
 when he learned for the first time, equally to his chagrin and 
 surprise, that the intelligence received in 1791, and upon which 
 he had acted, was incorrect. Robards had, in 1791, procured 
 the passage of an act by the Virginia Legislature, authorizing 
 a suit to be brought for a divorce in a court in Kentucky, which 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 469 
 
 suit had just been determined in his favor — no opposition of 
 course being made to the proceedings. Communications be- 
 tween the Atlantic country and the interior were then very irreg- 
 ular, and the exact particulars of the affair were not known or 
 inquired into, as it was universally supposed in Tennessee that 
 the divorce had been actually granted. On his return home, 
 in January, 1794, Jackson took out a license, and was now 
 regularly married." 
 
 The circumstances of this marriage were afterwards tortured 
 by Jackson's political enemies into the grossest calumnies, 
 which gave him inexpressible pain. The testimony of all par- 
 ties who were witnesses to the affair is, however, that neither 
 Jackson nor Mrs. Robards had any cause of regret save for the 
 mistake which led them into a marriage which they regarded as 
 legal, before the lady was entirely free from her first husband. 
 His passion for her was pure and lofty, and had nothing base 
 in it, and he would have died to shield her good name. She 
 made him an excellent wife, and was always regarded with 
 respect and affection by all her associates. 
 
 After his marriage, Jackson devoted himself with redoubled 
 ardor to his profession. About this time he discovered that 
 extensive frauds had been committed in the North Carolina 
 Land-office, and although he was no longer the District Attor- 
 ney, he exposed them, and had the perpetrators tried and 
 punished. Some of the most influential citizens of the Western 
 District were concerned either directly or indirectly in these 
 frauds, and Jackson's course drew upon him their powerful 
 enmity. They endeavored in many ways to injure him; but 
 heedless of them, he pursued his course, and by his firmness 
 and independence greatly increased the number of his friends. 
 
 In 1790, the Western district was formally ceded by North 
 Carolina to the United States, and in 1794 the Territory of 
 Tennessee was organized. The next year the preliminary 
 steps were taken to secure its erection into a State, and Jack- 
 son was chosen a delegate to the Convention which met at 
 Knoxville for the purpose of framing a State Government in 
 January, 1796. On the 1st of June, 1796, Tennessee was ad- 
 mitted into the Union. The new State was entitled to one 
 Representative in Congress, and Jackson was unanimously 
 
470 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 chosen to that position. He took his seat in the House of 
 Representatives in December, 1796. The next year, having 
 just reached the age prescribed by the Constitution, he was 
 chosen a Senator from Tennessee, and took his seat in the 
 Senate of the United States on the 22d of November, 1797. 
 This was the session at which the Alien and Sedition Laws 
 were passed. Jackson earnestly opposed them, and acted 
 throughout his entire term with the Republican party. He 
 became so much displeased with the measures of the adminis 
 tration, that he resigned his seat in the Senate and returned to 
 Tennessee in April, 1798. 
 
 Upon his return home Jackson was appointed by the Legis- 
 lature of Tennessee Judge of the Supreme Court of Law and 
 Equity. He had not sought the appointment, and accepted it 
 with diffidence. He held his first court at Jonesborough in 
 the same year. Among the persons indicted by the grand 
 jury was a man named Russell Bean, charged with cutting off 
 the ears of his infant child. The fellow was a notorious des- 
 perado, and the Sheriff was afraid to arrest him, though the 
 wretch had the audacity to present himself in the court yard. 
 The Sheriff made his return to the court that Bean would not 
 be taken. Judge Jackson sternly told the Sheriff that such a 
 return was absurd, and that he must arrest the man if he had 
 to summon the posse comitatus to assist him. The Sheriff ac- 
 cording summoned a posse, in which he included Judge Jack- 
 son and his colleagues. As it was plain that the Sheriff de- 
 sired to evade the performance of his duty, Jackson decided 
 to accompany him, and learning that Bean was armed, took 
 with him a loaded pistol. As soon as Bean caught sight of 
 the Judge among \)!\q posse, he attempted to make his escape; 
 but Jackson, presenting his pistol, sternly ordered him to halt 
 and submit to the law, or take the conseqences. The fellow 
 hesitated for a moment, and then threw down his arms and 
 surrendered himself After that no one attempted to disregard 
 the processes of Judge Jackson's Court. 
 
 In 1 80 1 Jackson was appointed a Major-general by the 
 Governor of the State, and was assigned the command of the 
 division of militia made vacant by the death of General Con- 
 way. In July, 1804, he resigned his position as Judge, and 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 4/1 
 
 retired to private life on a plantation he had purchased near 
 Nashville. 
 
 Previous to this, he had been anxious to be appointed Gov- 
 ernor of the Territoiy of Louisiana, which had just been 
 purchased from France. His claims were strongly urged for 
 the place, but he would not consent to make the request in 
 person of President Jefferson, although a firm supporter of the 
 policy of the President. "Andrew Jackson," says Mr. Parton, 
 in his " Life of Jefferson," " who was then getting tired of 
 serving as Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, was 
 strongly urged for the place; and because he had been urged, 
 and because he would have liked the appointment, he refrained 
 from calling upon the President when he was in Washington in 
 April, 1804. So I gathered in Nashville from a yellow and 
 musty letter of the learned judge — which was, perhaps, the 
 worst spelled and most ungrammatical letter a judge of the 
 Supreme Court ever wrote. He said that if he should call 
 upon the President, it would be regarded as 'the act of a cour- 
 teor ;' and, therefore, he 'traviled on, enjoying his own feelings.' 
 He confessed, too, that the Governor of Louisiana ought to be 
 acquainted with the French language. People can forgive bad 
 spelling when it expresses sentiments so honorable ; and happy 
 the President when expectants of office behave in so consider- 
 ate a manner." 
 
 General Jackson greatly enjoyed the retirement of his plan- 
 tation. His fortune was moderate, but was sufficient for his 
 wants. He superintended the labors on the plantation, often 
 guiding the plow with his own hands, and conducting his 
 affairs with a precision and method thoroughly characteristic 
 of the man. He was very fond of society, and his house was 
 always full of visitors. He was not to enjoy his good fortune 
 long, however. He had formed a partnership with a merchant 
 in Nashville, but took no part in the business, leaving every- 
 thing to the management of his partner. Their affairs pros- 
 pered for a while, but at length Jackson's suspicions were 
 aroused. He examined the books of the firm, and found that 
 they were not only insolvent, but that their liabilities exceeded 
 their assets by a very considerable amount. To a man of his 
 character, there was but one course to be pursued, and he did 
 
4/2 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 not hesitate to adopt it. He closed the business at once, sold 
 his plantation, paid the debts of the firm, and removing to a log 
 cabin on another plantation, began the world anew. Such a 
 man could not long remain poor, and a few years of industry 
 and economy placed him once more upon a prosperous footing. 
 
 In 1812 war was declared by Congress against England. 
 Jackson had expected it, for he had been an eager observer of 
 the course of affairs. As may be supposed, he had not forgot- 
 ten the wrongs he had suffered at the hands of the British in 
 the Revolution, and he was not one of those who regarded the 
 war with regret. He at once issued a stirring appeal to his 
 division, and 2,500 of his men volunteered to serve under his 
 orders wherever he might see fit to carry them. The services 
 of this body were offered to the President, through the Gov- 
 ernor of Tennessee, and were accepted. 
 
 On the 1st of November, 1813, General Jackson was ordered 
 by the Governor, in compliance with a requisition from the 
 War Department, to equip a force of 1,500 infantry and rifle- 
 men and descend the Mississippi and reenforce Gen. Wilkinson 
 at New Orleans. He at once issued his call for volunteers, and 
 by the loth of December over two thousand men had assem- 
 bled at Nashville. Jackson promptly descended the Cumber- 
 land and Mississippi rivers to Natchez, where he was met 
 by an order from Gen. Wilkinson to halt and await further 
 instructions from him. The order was complied with, and 
 Jackson's command remained at Natchez until the middle of 
 March, 18 13, when instructions were received from the Secre- 
 tary of War to dismiss his troops, and turn over all the public 
 property to Gen. Wilkinson. The execution of the mandate 
 of the Secretary of War would have thrown the Tennessee 
 troops helpless upon the world, far from their homes, and 
 without the means of reaching them or of supplying the ordi- 
 nary necessities of life. General Jackson determined to disobey 
 the orders of the Government, to march his command back to 
 the country where it was raised, and that too at the expense of 
 the United States. General Wilkinson and others endeavored 
 to persuade him from such a course, but he was inflexible. He 
 obliged the quartermaster to provide transportation for the 
 sick, and set out with his command for Tennessee, which was 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 473 
 
 reached after a fatiguing march. The troops were then dis- 
 missed to their homes. Jackson's conduct was approved by 
 President Madison, who ordered the expenses of the homeward 
 march to be paid out of the Federal treasury. 
 
 Toward the close of 1813 Jackson was again in the field. 
 In the spring of 1813 Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee chief, 
 visited the Creek tribes in the southwest and induced them to 
 take up the hatchet against the Americans. His appeals were 
 sustained by the representations of British agents, who pro- 
 mised the savages assistance from England. In August seven 
 hundred Creeks, led by Weatherford, their principal chief, 
 attacked and captured Fort Mims, on the west bank of the 
 Alabama, near the mouth of the Tombigbee. The garrison 
 and between three and four hundred settlers, who had taken 
 refuge in the fort, were massacred. This disaster spread a 
 general alarm throughout Alabama. The settlements north of 
 Mobile were abandoned, and the settlers fled down the river to 
 that place for safety. 
 
 The States of Tennessee and Georgia and the Territory of 
 Mississippi promptly took measures to crush the savages. 
 Tennessee placed a force of five thousand men in the field, and 
 the command was conferred upon General Jackson. Though 
 he was still suffering from a painful wound received in a duel 
 with Colonel Thomias H. Benton, Jackson promptly assembled 
 his troops, and marched into the Creek country, entering it 
 before the troops from Georgia or Mississippi. The principal 
 villages of the hostile Creeks lay on and near the Coosa and 
 Tallapoosa rivers, and their hunting grounds extended much 
 farther north. A number of unimportant encounters occurred 
 between Jackson's troops and the Indians, and on the 3d of 
 November he inflicted a stunning defeat upon them in the 
 bloody battle of Tallasehatche. 
 
 Among the prisoners taken in this engagement was an Indian 
 babe, found clinging to the breast of his dead mother. Jack- 
 son, touched with pity at the sight of the little one, endeavored 
 to induce some of the captive women to take it and care for it ; 
 but they refused. " All his people are dead," they said; "kill 
 him too." Jackson caused the child to be fed, and subsequently 
 sent it to Huntsville, where it was nursed at his expense. At 
 
474 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the close of the campaign he took it with him to the Hermi- 
 tage, where the httle orphan was tenderly raised and educated. 
 When old enough, he was apprenticed to a saddler, but he 
 pined for his native woods. Civilization was fatal to him, and he 
 died of consumption before reaching manhood ; nursed during 
 his last illness by Jackson and his wife, who mourned him with 
 genuine affection. 
 
 General Jackson established a post at the Ten Islands, on 
 the right bank of the Coosa, which he named Fort Strother. 
 His supplies began to run short, and the contractors were so 
 remiss in their duty that " the army could not be furnished 
 with regular rations, and it was hardly known one day what 
 they were to subsist on the next." While matters were in this 
 state, Jackson was informed that Fort Talladega, about thirty 
 miles south of Fort Strother, which was occupied by a force of 
 friendly Indians and their families, was threatened by a strong 
 body of hostile Creeks. He at once marched to its relief, and 
 on the 8th of November defeated the Creeks at Talladega, and 
 pursued them hotly for several miles. This was a hard won 
 victory for the Americans, and a terrible blow to the Creeks. 
 
 The victorious army was obliged to retreat at once to Fort 
 Strother, as its provisions were exhausted, and no supplies were 
 to be had at Talladega. Fort Strother was reached on the i ith 
 of November, but the contractors had failed to furnish pro- 
 visions, and the troops were in danger of starvation. In con- 
 sequence of this they became dissatisfied and mutinous, and 
 were continually on the point of deserting their colors and 
 returning home. Jackson was full of anxiety, but kept up a 
 brave and determined spirit. He declared he would remain at 
 Fort Strother if only two of his men would stand by him. The 
 troops at last determined to abandon the post, and seek Fort 
 Deposit, where they hoped to find provisions. Jackson argued 
 with them, entreated them to return to their duty, and threat- 
 ened them ; but without avail. At last, in sheer desperation, 
 he seized a musket, threw it across his horse's neck, and plac- 
 ing himself before the column, declared that he would shoot 
 down the first man that moved a step in advance. The musket 
 was too much out of order to be fired, and Jackson's wounded 
 arm would not have allowed him to use it, but the mutineers 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 475 
 
 were not aware of this. They were awed by the stern and 
 determined manner of their commander, and after a moment's 
 hesitation returned to duty. During the winter the expiration 
 of the enhstments of the men reduced Jackson's force to six 
 hundred mihtia, two companies of spies, one of artillery, and a 
 few volunteers. By urgent appeals to the Governor of Ten- 
 nessee he succeeded in obtaining a force of eight hundred and 
 fifty mounted men, who had volunteered for sixty days. They 
 reached him on the 13th of January, 18 14. 
 
 It was necessary to strike with promptness at the Indians, 
 as the enlistments of these troops were for so brief a period. 
 The Creeks had assumed the offensive, undaunted by their 
 reverses of the previous year, and were concentrating in a bend 
 of the Tallapoosa River, near the mouth of Emuckfaw Creek. 
 Leaving a force to hold Fort Strother, Jackson set out with 
 750 men on the i6th of January, 18 14, to attack the savages. 
 At Talladega he was joined by 250 friendly Creeks and Chero- 
 kees. On the 21st the army encamped in front of the Indian 
 position at Emuckfaw, and was attacked by the savages before 
 daybreak the next morning, the 22d. Jackson had anticipated 
 such an attack, and was prepared for it. The Creeks met with 
 a bloody defeat, and were pursued for over two miles. In 
 spite of his victory, Jackson was obliged, by the failure of his 
 provisions, to fall back to Fort Strother. On the 25th his 
 army was again attacked at Enotchhopo, but repulsed the 
 savages with heavy loss. Upon reaching Fort Strother the 
 sixty days' men were dismissed with thanks for their good 
 conduct. 
 
 The brilliant successes of General Jackson in the Creek 
 countiy had made him one of the most famous men in the 
 Union, and volunteers were now found ready and anxious to 
 serve under him. Early in February, he was joined by rein- 
 forcements from Tennessee, amounting to about 5,000 men, 
 and at the same time the Choctaws offered their services to 
 him. 
 
 The Creeks had their principal settlement at the Horseshoe 
 Bend of the Tallapoosa. It was defended by a series of strong 
 intrenchments garrisoned by a thousand picked warriors. Here 
 they had rallied for a final stand against the whites. On the 
 
4/6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 1 6th of March, 1814, Jackson set out from Fort Strother, and 
 advanced into the Indian country with a force of 4,000 Ten- 
 nesseeans. On the march he detached a force to build Fort 
 Wilhams, at the mouth of Cedar Creek, and with about 2,000 
 men advanced to Horseshoe Bend. On the 26th of March he 
 attacked the Indian camp at this place, and carried it after a 
 desperate struggle, in which nearly 800 Indian warriors were 
 slain. This victory utterly destroyed the Creeks as a tribe. 
 They became a band of wretched fugitives, and were hunted 
 and destroyed like wild beasts. 
 
 Knowing that the Indian power was broken, Jackson con- 
 tinued to advance into their country, and destroyed a number 
 of their towns. In April he encamped at Hickory Ground, 
 and many of the hostile chiefs and Indians came in and 
 submitted to his terms of peace. Among these was Weather- 
 ford. Jackson compelled the Indians to purchase peace by the 
 surrender of more than two-thirds of their hunting grounds. 
 They were required to retire to the country north of Fort 
 William, and were informed that if their conduct was good 
 they would be allowed to remain there unmolested, but that if 
 they again became troublesome, they would be exterminated. 
 
 The war being now ended, Jackson returned to Tennessee to 
 recruit his health and strength, which had suffered considerably 
 during the campaign. The remarkable endurance he had dis- 
 played under the hardships demanded of him in his enfeebled 
 condition, had won for him from his men the soubriquet of 
 "Old Hickory," which he retained through life. He had 
 entered upon the war an almost unknown man, and he now 
 emerged from it with a national reputation. He had been one 
 of the most successful, as well as one of the ablest and most 
 energetic officers engaged in the struggle. 
 
 The General Government, to mark its appreciation of his 
 services, now appointed him a brigadier-general in the regular 
 army of the United States, with the brevet rank of Major- 
 General. Shortly afterwards General Harrison's resignation of 
 his commission having created a vacancy in the list of major- 
 generals, Jackson was given the full rank of Major-General. 
 
 In the summer of 18 14 he was placed in command of the 
 Seventh Military District, and established his headquarters at 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 477 
 
 Mobile. During the summer, he, together with Colonel Haw- 
 kins, negotiated a favorable treaty with the Creek Nation, by 
 which the latter pledged themselves not to take up arms against 
 the United States during the continuance of the war with 
 England. A small portion of the Nation, however, had taken 
 refuge in Florida, and were not included in the Treaty. 
 
 Reconnoisances made by trustworthy officers revealed the 
 fact that the British had taken possession of Pensacola in 
 Florida, which was Spanish territory. Several British vessels 
 of war were in the harbor. Fort Barrancas was held by about 
 three hundred British troops, a considerable quantity of arms 
 and ammunition had been landed, and a large force of Indians 
 was being organized and drilled by the British officers, and all 
 this with the knowledge and consent of the Spanish Governor 
 of Pensacola. On the 29th of August, Colonel Nicholls, the 
 British commander at Pensacola, issued a proclamation ad- 
 dressed to the people of the Southern and Southwestern 
 States, calling upon them to join his standard against their 
 countrymen, and informing them that he was "at the head of a 
 large body of Indians well armed, disciplined, and commanded 
 by British officers ; a good train of artillery, with every requi- 
 site; seconded by the powerful aid of a numerous British and 
 Spanish squadron of ships and vessels of war." 
 
 Jackson was determined to put a stop to this movement as 
 soon as possible. He despatched an express to the Governor 
 of Tennessee, asking him to put the whole quota of the militia 
 of that State in the field without delay, and in the meantime 
 determined to drive the British from Pensacola. Before he 
 could put this plan in operation. Colonel Nicholls, with four 
 ships and a strong force of troops, appeared before Fort Bow- 
 yer at the entrance to Mobile Bay, on the 15th of September, 
 and attacked that work. The fort was defended by a garrison 
 of 120 men, under Major Lawrence, and was defended with 
 such spirit that the enemy were repulsed with the loss of one 
 of their ships and over 200 men. They returned to Pensa- 
 cola. 
 
 In the meantime Jackson had continued his preparations for 
 breaking up the band of British, Spanish, and Indians at Pen- 
 sacola. He had no authority from the Federal Government 
 
478 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 for such a step, and, as Spain was nominally friendly to the 
 United States, was aware that he was assuming a serious re- 
 sponsibility in invading her territory; but as the Spanish Gov- 
 ernor at Pensacola had sanctioned the violation of the neutrality 
 of his country by the British, Jackson regarded himself as 
 fully justified in attacking the place. He assumed a grave 
 personal responsibility also, for his own Government might 
 disavow his act, and dismiss him from the service. Neverthe- 
 less, it was of the first importance to drive the British from 
 Pensacola, which furnished them with a safe and convenient 
 base for operations against either Mobile or New Orleans ; and 
 he resolved to accomplish this without delay. 
 
 Having received about 2,000 fresh troops from Tennessee, 
 Jackson set out on the 2d of November, 18 14, with a force of 
 over 3,000 men. A small part of these were regulars; the 
 remainder were militia from Tennessee and Mississippi. On 
 the 6th the American army arrived before Pensacola. The 
 British and Spaniards had made preparations to resist. Jack- 
 son sent a flag of truce to the Spanish Governor, informing 
 him that he had come to drive the British from Pensacola, and 
 demanding his cooperation in the attempt. The flag was fired 
 upon and driven back by the batteries of the town. Jackson 
 now made his dispositions to carry the town, which was done 
 the next day after a short conflict, in which the British troops 
 and their vessels in the bay participated. The Spanish Gov- 
 ernor was forced to surrender Pensacola and its defences to 
 General Jackson. The British withdrew to Fort Barrancas, 
 which they evacuated and blew up a little later, and sailed 
 away from the harbor. The Indians fled to the Everglades, 
 and were pursued by a detachment from the American army. 
 
 Having broken up the rendezvous at Pensacola, General 
 Jackson returned to Mobile, which he feared would be the 
 next object of attack. Upon reaching that city he began to put 
 it in a state of defence. Late in November General Winches- 
 ter arrived. Jackson placed this officer in command at Mobile, 
 and transferred his own headquarters to New Orleans, having 
 previously sent forward the Tennessee troops under General 
 Coffee. 
 
 New Orleans was at this time a city of about twenty thous- 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 479 
 
 and inhabitants, less than one half of whom were whites. The 
 whites were principally of French birth or parentage, and cared 
 little for the United States. They could not be relied upon to 
 hold the city against the British, and were demoralized and 
 insubordinate, and spies and traitors abounded among them. 
 The defences of the city were in a miserable state. Jackson 
 was aware that his only reliance was upon the few regulars he 
 had with him — the Tennessee volunteers under General Coffee, 
 and such troops as the States along the Mississippi and Ohio 
 might be able to send him. His health was feeble at the time, 
 and he was greatly oppressed with the difficulty of the task 
 before him. At heart he was anxious and depressed, but to 
 the public he presented a cheerful and determined front, and 
 prepared with vigor to put the city in a state of defence. He 
 proclaimed martial law, and put down with a firm hand the 
 opposition to his measures for the safety of the city. He called 
 for volunteers, and urged the freemen of color to enroll them- 
 selves. They responded in great numbers. The prisons were 
 were emptied, and the prisoners took their places in the ranks 
 of the army. The services of Lafitte, a noted smuggler chief 
 of Barataria bay, and of his band, were accepted. The British 
 had endeavored to secure the aid of this band as pilots, as they 
 knew the coast thoroughly, but Lafitte and his men refused to 
 hold any communication with them. 
 
 Jackson was right in believing that the next blow of the 
 enemy would be struck at New Orleans, and w^hile he was en- 
 gaged in his preparations, a British fleet arrived on the coast 
 of Louisiana, and cast anchor off Lake Borgne, the shortest 
 passage by water to New Orleans. It had on board a force of 
 12,000 veteran troops, just released from the wars against Na- 
 poleon, and 4,000 marines and sailors. The British army was 
 commanded by Sir Edward Pakenham, the brother-in-law of 
 the Duke of Wellington, and an officer of tried ability, and 
 under him were Generals Gibbs, Keene and Lambert, veterans 
 of the Peninsular War. 
 
 The Americans had a small flotilla in Lake Borgne, and 
 General Jackson, by extraordinary exertions, managed to col- 
 lect a force of five thousand troops, only one thousand of whom 
 were regulars. On the 14th of December, the British sent 
 
480 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 their boats into Lake Borgne, and after a severe engagement 
 captured the American flotilla and opened the way to the city. 
 On the 22d of December they landed twenty-four hundred 
 men, under General Keene, who advanced to a point on the 
 shores of the Mississippi, about nine miles below New Orleans. 
 Jackson, unwilling to allow this force to obtain a lodgment so 
 close to the city, attacked it on the night of the 23d with the 
 regulars, and Coffee's Tennesseans dismounted, and drove the 
 enemy a mile or two and forced them to take shelter behind 
 the levee of the river, which served them as a breast work. 
 The success of the Americans in this engagement greatly en- 
 couraged them. 
 
 The next day Jackson took a position on solid ground be- 
 hind a broad and deep trench that extended across the Plain 
 of Chalmette, from the Mississsippi, to an impassable swamp, 
 and covered his position with intrenchments. The enemy, 
 supposing his force to be much stronger than it really was, 
 made no attempt to interfere with him for several days, and he 
 employed this delay in strengthening his line. The British, 
 on their part, pushed their advance, to a point opposite the 
 American lines, and erected several batteries of heavy guns, 
 from which, on the 28th of December, they opened a severe 
 cannonade upon the American position. Jackson replied with 
 his artillery, and the firing was continued for several hours with- 
 out any definite result. On the ist of January, 1 8 1 5, the enemy 
 attempted a second cannonade, but the American guns soon 
 silenced their fire. On the 4th of January, a body of 2,200 
 Kentucky riflemen, who had descended the Mississippi to his 
 assistance, reached Jackson's camp. Only one-half of them 
 were armed. As he could not supply the remainder with 
 arms, Jackson set them to work to construct a second line of 
 defences in the rear of his first position. 
 
 Having finished his preparations, the British commander 
 ordered a general assault to be made upon the American lines 
 on the morning of the 8th of January. The attack was made 
 in gallant style at the time appointed. The British centre was 
 led by General Pakenham in person, and their right and left by 
 Generals Gibbs and Keene. Jackson's force consisted of a lit- 
 tle more than 5,000 men, and 16 pieces artillery. The enemy's 
 
ANDREW JACKSON, 48 1 
 
 storming columns amounted in the aggregate to between six 
 and seven thousand men, exclusive of their reserves. The open 
 space over which the enemy were obliged to pass was com- 
 pletely commanded by Jackson's guns. The British advanced 
 m splendid style, suffering heavily from the rapid and accurate 
 fire of the American batteries, but closed up their ranks and 
 pressed on with firmness. As they came within musket shot 
 of the works, the Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen opened a 
 fatal fire upon them, which literally mowed them down. They 
 bore up against it for awhile, but at length wavered and broke. 
 General Pakenham attempted to rally them, but was shot down. 
 Generals Gibbs and Keene were wounded while engaged in the 
 same attempt, the latter mortally. The command then passed 
 to General Lambert, who, seeing that the day was lost, made no 
 further effort to storm the works, but withdrew his men to a 
 place of safety, and sent in a flag of truce to General Jackson 
 proposing an armistice until noon the next day, in order to 
 attend to the work of burying the dead and relieving the 
 wounded. This was granted. The American loss in the 
 battle was seven killed and six wounded. The British lost two 
 thousand men killed and wounded. 
 
 The two armies held their position for several days after the 
 8th, and the American batteries kept up a steady fire of balls 
 and shells upon the British camp. On the nth the British 
 squadron made an attempt to pass the forts on the lower 
 Mississippi, but was driven back. General Lambert, now 
 thoroughly disheartened, abandoned his position below New 
 Orleans and fell back to the shore of the Gulf. Apprehensive 
 that the enemy might renew the attack from another quarter, 
 Jackson marched to New Orleans and occupied the city with 
 his forces. His reception was enthusiastic by the citizens. 
 The enemy made no further demonstrations against the city. 
 
 In March one of the New Orleans papers announced that 
 peace had been concluded between the United States and Great 
 Britain. As he had not been officially informed of the treaty, 
 General Jackson regarded this statement as an effort to intro- 
 duce discontent among his troops. The journal referred to, at 
 the same time, published other statements which were notor- 
 iously false and dangerous, and Jackson demanded of the editor 
 31 
 
482 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the retraction of all of them. As he refused to comply with 
 this demand, the city being still under martial law he was 
 arrested. Judge Hall, of New Orleans, issued a y^xxt oi habeas 
 corp7is, but Jackson, instead of regarding it, arrested the Judge 
 and sent him out of the city. " I have thought proper to send 
 you beyond the limits of my encampment," he wrote to the 
 Judge, "to prevent a repetition of the improper conduct with 
 which you have been charged. You will remain without the 
 line of my sentinels, until the ratification of peace is regularly 
 announced, or until the British have left the Southern coast." 
 
 Under the circumstances General Jackson was justified in 
 this arbitrary action. The enemy were still on the coast, and 
 though peace had been made, neither he nor the British com- 
 mander had been informed of it, and it behooved him to watch 
 over the safety of the city with the utmost vigilance. He had 
 been obliged to proclaim martial law, and the safety of the 
 country demanded that he should maintain it with the utmost 
 strictness. He could not permit any interference with his 
 orders. 
 
 On the 13th of March, 181 5, the ofificial announcement of 
 the close of the war was received at New Orleans, and was 
 immediately proclaimed to the citizens. Judge Hall returned 
 to the city, and issued an order for the arrest of General Jack- 
 son for a contempt of Court in imprisoning the Judge. Jackson 
 promptly submitted to the order, but was not allowed to make 
 any defence, and was fined by the Judge in the sum of one 
 thousand dollars. The Court room was filled with citizens, 
 who manifested their disapproval of this order in a turbulent 
 manner. They were silenced by Jackson, who promptly paid 
 the fine, and refused the solicitations of the citizens of New 
 Orleans to allow them to reimburse him. Shortly before the 
 death of General Jackson, Congress refunded the fine, and thus 
 did justice to him. 
 
 At the close of the war Jackson returned to his home at 
 Nashville, though he still retained the command of the South- 
 ern Division. He was rewarded for his brilliant services by a 
 gold medal voted him by order of Congress in honor of his 
 victory at New Orleans, and by the thanks of Congress and of 
 the Legislatures of many of the States. 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 483 
 
 After the close of the war with England, the Seminole In- 
 dians of Florida began to be troublesome, and committed many- 
 outrages along the American frontier. They were joined by 
 the Creeks, and the Federal Government was compelled to 
 interfere. General Gaines was sent by the War Department to 
 protect the frontier. He built three forts, and endeavored to 
 make peace with the Indians, but without success. Early in 
 1818, a party of forty men, under Lieut. Scott, was attacked by 
 the Seminoles at the mouth of the Flint river, and all but six, 
 who escaped, were massacred. As soon as he was informed of 
 this outrage, General Jackson raised a force of 2,500 men, and 
 marched into the Indian country. On the 1st of April he 
 reached the Mickasucky villages, which he found deserted. 
 He burned them, laid waste the countiy, and killed or carried 
 off the cattle. 
 
 Being satisfied that the Indians were incited to their hostile 
 acts by the Spaniards in Florida, Jackson now marched into 
 Florida and seized St. Mark's on Appalachee Bay, the only 
 fortified town of the Spaniards in that part of Florida. An 
 armed American vessel, cruising off the Florida coast, hoisted 
 the British colors, and two prominent hostile Creek chiefs were 
 decoyed on board, and were suirimarily hanged by order of 
 Jackson. Two British traders, Ambrister and Arbuthnot, by 
 name, were captured by Jackson about the same time. They 
 were accused of aiding the Indians against the United States, 
 were tried and found guilty by a court martial, and were 
 hanged. The Spanish Governor indignantly protested against 
 the invasion of Florida, but Jackson, unmoved by his protest, 
 advanced in May to Pensacola, the seat of thJfcSpanish provin- 
 cial government, which place was immediately surrendered to 
 him. The Spanish Governor fled to Fort Barrancas, below the 
 town. Jackson attacked the fort, and compelled it to surrender 
 after a brief resistance, and the Governor continued his flight 
 to Havana. The invasion of Florida by Jackson drew forth an 
 indignant protest from the Spanish Government, but his con- 
 duct was sustained by a decisive majority in both Houses of 
 Congress. The Spanish Government did not press the matter, 
 and negotiations were entered upon which finally resulted in 
 the purchase of Florida by the United States in 1821. 
 
484 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On the 2d of June, 1818, General Jackson informed the 
 Secretary of War that the hostilities of the Seminoles were at 
 an end. A little later he returned to Nashville, and soon after 
 resigned his commission in the regular army. 
 
 In June, 1821, General Jackson was appointed by President 
 Monroe Governor of Florida, which had just been purchased 
 by the United States. In August he took possession of the 
 territory in accordance with the terms of the cession. He 
 held this position but a few months, and then resigned it and 
 returned to Nashville. 
 
 In the fall of 1823, he was elected by the Legislature of 
 Tennessee to the Senate of the United States, and took his 
 seat in that body in December. He cast his vote for the Pro- 
 tective Tariff of 1824. In the campaign of 1824 General Jack- 
 son was a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. 
 There was no choice by the people, and the election passed 
 into the House of Representatives, by which John Quincy 
 Adams was chosen President. 
 
 In 1825, having been nominated by the Legislature of Ten- 
 nessee as Mr. Adams' successor. General Jackson resigned his 
 seat in the Senate and withdrew to his home. In 1828 he 
 was elected President by a handsome majority over Mr. Adams. 
 
 Early in 1829 Mrs. Jackson died. This was a severe blow 
 to the General, but he bore it with firmness and resignation. 
 On the 4th of March, 1829, he was inaugurated President of 
 the United States. Although he had been elected by an over- 
 whelming majority of the votes of his countrymen, his entrance 
 upon his office was regarded with no little anxiety, for while 
 his merits as a s0dier were conceded by all, it was feared that 
 his imperious temper would seriously disqualify him for the 
 delicate duties of the Presidency. Nature had made him a 
 statesman as well as a soldier, however, and his administration 
 was marked by the fearless energy that characterized every act 
 of his life, and was on the whole successful, and was satisfac- 
 tory to the great body of his countrymen. 
 
 The first indication of the determined will with which the 
 new President meant to conduct his administration, was given 
 in his first annual message to Congress in 1829, in which he 
 declared his opposition to a renewal of the Charter of the 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 485 
 
 Bank of the United States, which was about to expire. The 
 bank was the most powerful institution in the Union, and to 
 oppose it so decidedly indicated no little moral courage on the 
 part of the President. Undismayed by this declaration, the 
 stockholders applied to the Twenty-Second Congress at its 
 first session, which began in December, 183 1, for a renewal of 
 their charter, and in the spring of 1832, a bill renewing this 
 charter was passed by both Houses of Congress. The Presi- 
 dent was opposed to the bank on constitutional grounds. He 
 held that Congress had no power to charter such an institution, 
 and regarded its existence as detrimental to the best interests 
 of the country. He therefort returned the bill to Congress 
 with his objections. As the friends of the bill could not com- 
 mand the two-thirds vote necessary to pass it over the Presi- 
 dent's veto, it failed to become a law. The Bank was there- 
 fore obliged to suspend operations at the expiration of its 
 charter in 1836. The President's course arrayed a powerful 
 opposition against him. 
 
 During the last session of the Twenty-first Congress, Presi- 
 dent Jackson learned that Mr. Calhoun, the Vice-President, 
 while Secretary of War under Mr. Monroe, had endeavored 
 to prevent the President from sustaining him in his invasion 
 of Florida in 181 8. General Jackson deeply resented this, 
 and a marked coldness sprang up between the Vice-President 
 and himself Soon after this Mr. Calhoun resigned the Vice- 
 Presidency, and was elected a Senator from South Carolina in 
 
 1831. 
 
 In 1832 the Asiatic cholera scourged the country; and in 
 the same year occurred the Black Hawk War, which was 
 brought to a speedy and successful close by General Atkinson. 
 In the fall of 1832 occurred the Presidential election. Gen- 
 eral Jackson was the candidate of the Democratic party for 
 reelection, and was chosen by a large majority over Henry 
 Clay, the candidate of the Whig party. The contest was ex- 
 ceedingly bitter, for the President's opposition to the Bank had 
 made him many enemies. 
 
 Another question had arisen to increase the opposition to 
 the President. During the year 1832 the Tariff was revised by 
 Congress, and that body, instead of diminishing the duties, 
 
486 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 increased many of them. The Southern States were in favor 
 of free trade, and resented the Protective Tariff as a great 
 wrong done to them. They were willing to submit to a Tariff 
 for revenue, but were utterly opposed to the one adopted. 
 The States of Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina were the 
 most energetic in their opposition to the Tariff, but upon its 
 passage the first two submitted to it, hoping to enforce their 
 views by Constitutional means at some future time. 
 
 The State of South Carolina determined to resist the Tariff, 
 as it held that any State, in the exercise of its sovereign power, 
 had the right to declare null and void, within its own limits, 
 any act of Congress which it» deemed unconstitutional. A 
 convention of the people of the State was held, which adopted 
 a measure known as the " Nullification Ordinance." This ordi- 
 nance declared that the Tariff Act of 1832, being based upon 
 the principle of protection, and not upon the principle of rais- 
 ing a revenue, was unconstitutional, and was therefore null and 
 void. Provision was made by another clause for testing the 
 constitutionality of the Act before the courts of the State. 
 The convention forbade the collection of the duties imposed by 
 the Tariff within the limits of the State ; and, in the event of an 
 effort of the General Government to enforce the Tariff, the State 
 of South Carolina was declared no longer a member of the 
 Union. The ordinance was to take effect on the 12th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1833, unless in the meantime the General Government 
 should abandon its policy of protection, and return to a Tariff 
 for revenue only. 
 
 Matters were at this stage when the presidential election of 
 1832 occurred. The country at large was utterly opposed to 
 the course of South Carolina, and denied the right of that 
 State to nullify a law of Congress, or to withdraw from the 
 Union on such a pretext. Intense excitement prevailed 
 throughout the country, and the course of the President was 
 watched with the gravest anxiety. He was known to be 
 opposed to the protective policy; but it was generally believed 
 that he was firm in his intention to enforce the laws, however 
 he might disapprove of them. This conviction did much to 
 swell the majority by which he was chosen for a second term. 
 
 President Jackson had determined upon his course. He 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 48/ 
 
 meant to enforce the laws, and to put down the resistance in 
 South CaroHna. He was anxious at the same time to remove 
 the cause of the trouble, and at the meeting of Congress, in 
 December, 1832, recommended, in his annual message, a reduc- 
 tion of the Tariff On the loth of December the President 
 issued his famous proclamation against nullification. It was 
 moderate in language, but firm and decided in tone. He de- 
 clared that the course of South Carolina was unlawful and 
 wrong, and that he would exert the power entrusted to him to 
 compel obedience to the constitution and laws of the United 
 States. He appealed to the people of South Carolina not to 
 persist in the enforcement of their ordinance, as such a course 
 on their part must inevitably bring them in collision with the 
 forces of the Federal Government ; and told them plainly that 
 any citizen of any of the States who should take up arms 
 against the General Government in such a conflict would be 
 guilty of treason against the United States. 
 
 The leaders of the South Carolina movement were Robert 
 Y. Hayne, the Governor of the State, and John C. Calhoun, 
 then a Senator of the United States. Governor Hayne replied 
 to the President with a counter proclamation, in which he 
 warned the people of the State against "the dangerous and 
 pernicious doctrines" of the President's proclamation, and 
 called upon them to disregard "those vain menaces" of military 
 force, and "to be fully prepared to sustain the dignity and de- 
 fend the liberties of the State, if need be, with their lives and 
 fortunes." The State prepared to maintain its position by force. 
 Troops were organized, and arms and military stores were col- 
 lected. 
 
 The President, on his part, took measures promptly to en- 
 force the law, and was sustained in his course by the sentiment 
 of the better part of the country. He ordered a large body 
 of troops to assemble at Charleston, under General Scott, and 
 a ship of war was sent to that port to assist the Federal officers 
 in collecting the duties on imports. Civil war seemed for a 
 time inevitable. The President was firmly resolved to compel 
 the submission of South Carolina, and to cause the arrest of 
 Mr. Calhoun and the other leading nullifiers, and bring them 
 to trial for treason. The issue of such a conflict could not be 
 
488 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 doubtful. Fortunately, through the intervention of the State 
 of Virginia and the efforts of Henry Clay, a peaceful settle- 
 ment was effected. South Carolina receded from its hostile 
 attitude to the Union, and the Tariff was modified. The firm- 
 ness of the President was generally approved by his country- 
 men, and won him great credit. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1833, General Jackson entered upon 
 his second term of ofifice. The troubles which had disquieted 
 the country had been satisfactorily settled, and the President 
 took advantage of the peaceful condition of affairs to visit New 
 York and the New England States. He was everywhere re- 
 ceived with such enthusiasm that his journey was a continuous 
 ovation. 
 
 Returning to the Capital the President took a step which 
 plunged the country into great excitement once more. The 
 Charter of the Bank of the United States made that institution 
 the legal depository of the funds of the United States. As 
 the Bank was now approaching the end of its career, the 
 President believed that the public funds were not safe in its 
 keeping. The Secretary of the Treasury, under the sanction 
 of Congress, alone had power to remove them. In his annual 
 message to Congress in December, 1832 the President had 
 recommended the removal of the public funds from the custody 
 of the Bank, and the sale of the stock of the Bank belonging 
 to the United States. Congress, by a decided vote, refused to 
 authorize the measure, and the President, after his return from 
 his New England tour, resolved to assume the responsibility. 
 He accordingly ordered William J. Duane, the Secretary of the 
 Treasury, to withdraw the funds, then amounting to nearly 
 ;^io,ooo,000; but the Secretary refused to obey the order. He 
 was at once removed from his position by President Jackson, 
 who appointed Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, his successor. 
 Mr. Taney issued an order to the collectors of the revenue, 
 forbidding them to deposit the public moneys paid them in the 
 Bank of the United States. As for the funds already in the 
 possession of the Bank, they were withdrawn as they were 
 needed to pay the current expenses of the Government, the 
 whole amount being withdrawn in about nine months. 
 
 The effect of the removal of the funds was a sudden and 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 489 
 
 universal prostration of the business of the country, " because 
 its intimate connection with the National Bank rendered any 
 paralysis of the operations of that system fatal to commercial 
 activity. * * The fact that the connection of the Bank with 
 the business of the countr}' was so vital, confirmed the Presi- 
 dent in his opinion of the danger of such an enormous moneyed 
 institution." 
 
 Intense excitement prevailed throughout the country. The 
 President was waited upon by numerous committees of mer- 
 chants, manufacturers and mechanics, who urged him to take 
 some measures to afford them relief He was firm, and to all 
 of them answered, in effect, that "the Government could give 
 no relief, and provide no remedy; that the banks were the 
 occasions of all the evils which existed, and that those who 
 suffered by their great enterprise had none to blame but them- 
 selves; that those who traded on borrowed capital ought to 
 break." The State banks received the Government funds on 
 deposit and loaned freely. Confidence gradually returned, and 
 the country settled down upon a prosperous basis. 
 
 The President's course produced open war between the 
 Senate and himself He was opposed by Clay, Calhoun, and 
 Webster, and was defended by Benton and Forsyth. In spite 
 of the efforts of his friends, the Senate adopted a resolution 
 severely censuring his course as unconstitutional. The Presi- 
 dent submitted an able protest against this resolution of censure. 
 He was sustained in his acts by the House of Representatives, 
 and by the aid of that body was able to defeat the Bank on 
 every point. The Senate subsequently recognized the propriety 
 of the President's action, and of its own motion expunged its 
 resolution of censure from its journal. 
 
 In 1835 the Seminole war, which proved so troublesome to 
 the Government, broke out in Florida. It was prosecuted with 
 vigor during General Jackson's term of office. 
 
 In the last years of his administration General Jackson 
 brought to a close the vexatious disputes with France, Spain, 
 Naples, and Denmark, by a series of treaties which pledged 
 those countries to make restitution for their spoliation of Amer- 
 ican vessels and property during the wars of Napoleon. 
 
 One of the most important acts of President Jackson's 
 
490 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 administration was the payment of the national debt. He not 
 only left the nation free from debt, but handed over to his suc- 
 cessor a surplus of forty millions of dollars in the national 
 treasury. 
 
 At the close of his second term of office, President Jackson 
 issued a farewell address to his countrymen, reviewing the pro- 
 gress of the nation, and warning them of the perils that lay in 
 their path. Having declined to be a candidate for re-election. 
 General Jackson gave his support to Martin Van Buren, of 
 New York, who accordingly received the Democratic nomina- 
 tion for the Presidency, and was elected. It is related that a 
 committee of Mr. Van Buren's friends called upon the Presi- 
 dent previous to the assembling of the nominating convention, 
 to ascertain his wishes as to the selection of his successor. He 
 was asked who was his first choice, and answered promptly, 
 " Martin Van Buren." " Who is your second choice, Mr. Presi- 
 dent ?" asked one of the committee. " By the Eternal, sir," ex- 
 claimed the President quickly, " I never had a second choice in 
 my life." 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1837, after witnessing the inauguration 
 of his successor, General Jackson withdrew from Washington 
 to his home at the Hermitage, near Nashville. The remainder 
 of his life was passed in retirement. Late in life he connected 
 himself with the Presbyterian Church, and remained an earnest 
 and consistent Christian to his death. A gentleman, who 
 called on him by appointment early one winter morning, at the 
 White House, near the close of his term of office, relates that 
 he found him, up and dressed, though it was still dark. Lights 
 were burning on his table, on which lay an open Bible which 
 he had been reading, and a small portrait of his dead wife. 
 
 "Jackson's face and figure," says Mr. Stansbury, "were so re- 
 markable that nothing could be an easier task to an artist than 
 to get a likeness of him. His face confirmed every dictinn of 
 the physiognomist. It was long and narrow, and prominent 
 below. A mouth and chin more expressive of stern decision 
 can scarce be imagined ; the nose high and long, and a little 
 drooping, indicating the strength of character, with a mixture 
 of shrewdness. This quality was also strongly marked in the 
 large folds of skin about the eyes, (often called a-ow'sfect ;) his 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 49 1 
 
 cheeks were hollow, the eye itself was the eye of an eagle — 
 cold, gray, piercing in the highest degree, and when contracted 
 by rage, darting like fire ; the brow was fretful, serious, and 
 lowering. His figure was tall and commanding, but thin and 
 sinewy ; his hair, of iron gray, was stiff and unyielding, very 
 abundant, and stood erect upon his head. He looked well 
 when standing, still better when on horseback, and his appear- 
 ance was much improved by a splendid uniform. When sit- 
 ting he usually crossed one knee over the other. His hands 
 were long and bony ; towards the close of life he had a little 
 stoop in the back, when seated." 
 
 The close of his life was peaceful. He retained possession 
 of his faculties until the last, and died at the Hermitage on the 
 8th of June, 1845, at the age of seventy-eight. 
 
 Perhaps his best epitaph was spoken by a rough, unlettered 
 Tennessean, who, upon being asked what sort of a man Gen- 
 eral Jackson was, answered readily: "He was this kind of a 
 man — if Andrew Jackson had joined a party of strangers trav- 
 eling in the woods, and, half an hour after, they should be 
 attacked by Indians, he would instantly take command, and all 
 the rest would obey him." 
 
HENRY CLAY. 
 
 HENRY CLAY was born in that part of Hanover County, 
 Virginia, known as "The Slashes," on the I2tli of April, 
 1777. His father, the Rev. Charles Clay, was a Baptist 
 preacher. At that time the great majority of the people of 
 Virginia, and all the better classes, were members of the Epis- 
 copal Church, and the Baptists were poor and struggling, just 
 beginning to enjoy the precious equality won for them by Jef- 
 ferson and his brother Radicals. Consequently they were in 
 no condition to do much for their preachers, and were scarcely 
 able to give them a bare subsistence. This was the lot of the 
 Rev. Charles Clay, who managed, however, to struggle along 
 until 1782, when he died, leaving a small and encumbered 
 property to his widow and seven children. 
 
 Of these children Henry was the fifth. He was a bright, 
 cheerful, intelligent lad, but gave no special indication of supe- 
 riority to the children by whom he was surrounded. When 
 quite young he was sent to one of. the old field schools of the 
 country. The teacher was an Englishman, good-natured, but 
 fond of his bottle, and allowed his pupils to do pretty much as 
 they pleased. Under him Henry learned to read and write, 
 and to cipher as far as Practice. This was the only school he 
 ever attended, for his widowed mother was not able to do more 
 for him, and as soon as he was old enough he was obliged to 
 take his place on the farm to assist in cultivating it. He did 
 not like this life of drudgery, however, and in 1791, when he was 
 fourteen years old, his mother obtained for him a situation in a 
 drug store in Richmond, where he served as errand boy and 
 clerk of all work for a year. 
 
 In i792Mrs. Clay married Mr. Henry Watkins, and removed 
 to Kentucky. Previous to their departure, Mr. Watkins ob- 
 tained for Henry a place as copying clerk in the office of Mr. 
 Peter Tinsley, clerk of the High Court of Chancery, It was 
 decided that Henry should remain in this situation. His 
 
 (492) 
 

 HENRY CLAY. 
 
HENRY CLAY. 493 
 
 mother went to Kentucky with her new husband, and Henry 
 never saw her again. He applied himself with diligence to 
 the duties of his position. "The young gentlemen then em- 
 ployed in the office of the Court long remembered the entrance 
 among them of their new comrade. He was fifteen at the 
 time, but very tall for his age, very slender, very awkward, and 
 far from handsome. His good mother had arrayed him in a 
 suit of pepper and salt figginy, an old Virginia fabric of silk 
 and cotton. His shirt and shirt-collar were stiffly starched, 
 aud his coat tail stood out boldly behind him. The dandy 
 law clerks of metropolitan Richmond exchanged glances as 
 this gawky figure entered and took his place at a desk to begin 
 his work. There was something in his manner which pre- 
 vented their indulgence in the jests that usually greet the ar- 
 rival of country youth among city blades; and they afterwards 
 congratulated one another that they had waited a little before 
 beginning to tease him, for they soon found that he had brought 
 with him from the country an exceedingly sharp tongue." 
 
 Young Clay attended faithfully to his duties, and soon lost 
 his "country manner." His position enabled him to catch 
 glimpses of the great men of Virginia, as they often came into 
 the Court and the clerk's office, and he determined to emulate 
 their example. In order to supply his deficiencies in education, 
 he devoted the better part of his leisure time to reading and 
 study. While his companions were bent on enjoying them- 
 selves, he was preparing himself for the place in life to which 
 he had already begun to aspire. He had no low vices. He 
 was sound and healthy in body and soul, and was "a clean, 
 temperate and studious young man." 
 
 His faithful attention to his business drew upon him the 
 favorable regard of Chancellor Wythe, one of the wisest and 
 best men America has ever produced. The Chancellor's hand 
 had now begun to tremble so that it was with difficulty he 
 could write, and he was compelled to seek a copyist in the 
 office of the clerk of his Court. He chose Henry Clay for 
 this purpose, chiefly because of his remarkably neat and clear 
 handwriting, and, perhaps, because he discerned in the young 
 man such a character as the good Chancellor loved to mould 
 for future greatness. He had already done his work well upon 
 
496 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 While he devoted himself to his profession, Mr. Clay gave 
 considerable attention to politics. In 1798 a Convention was 
 summoned to meet the next year for the purpose of remodel- 
 ing the Constitution of the State. Henry Clay, in 1798, began, 
 in a series of newspaper articles, to urge upon the State the 
 wisdom of adopting a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery 
 in Kentucky, and subsequently made a number of addresses In 
 favor of the same object. He was regarded as the leader of 
 the party in favor of this measure; but his efforts were in vain, 
 for the proposition was voted down in the Convention by a 
 decisive majority. Thirty years later, when opposing the nul- 
 lification schemes of Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Clay declared that it 
 was among the proudest memories of his life that he had, at 
 the very outset of his career, striven to free Kentucky from 
 the curse of slavery. 
 
 "Young Clay came to the Kentucky stump just when the 
 country was at the crisis of the struggle between the Old and 
 the New. But in Kentucky it was not a struggle ; for the 
 people there, mostly of Virginian birth, had been personally 
 benefited by Jefferson's equalizing measures, and were in the 
 fullest sympathy with his political doctrines. When, therefore, 
 this brilliant and commanding youth, with that magnificent 
 voice of his, and large gesticulation, mounted the wagon that 
 usually served as platform in the open-air meetings of Ken- 
 tucky, and gave forth, in fervid oratory, the Republican prin- 
 ciples he had imbibed in Richmond, he won that immediate 
 and intense popularity which an orator always wins who gives 
 powerful expression to the sentiments of his hearers. * * * 
 At thirty he was, to use the language of the stump, 'Ken- 
 tucky's favorite son,' and incomparably the finest orator in the 
 Western countiy. Kentucky had tried him, and found him per- 
 fectly to her mind. He was an easy, comfortable man to asso- 
 ciate with, wholly in the Jeffersonian taste. His wit was not of 
 the highest quality, but he had a plenty of it ; and if he said a 
 good thing, he said it in such a way as to give it ten times its 
 natural force. He chewed tobacco and took snuff — practices 
 which lowered the tone of his health all his life. In familiar 
 conversation he used language of the most Western description ; 
 and he had a singularly careless, graceful way with him, that 
 
HENRY CLAY. 49; 
 
 was in strong contrast with the vigor and dignity of his public 
 efforts. He was an honest and brave young man, altogethei 
 above lying, hypocrisy, and meanness — full of the idea of Re- 
 publican America and her great destiny. The splendor of hi? 
 talents concealed his defects and glorified his foibles ; and Ken 
 tucky rejoiced in him, loved him, trusted him."* 
 
 In 1803 Mr. Clay was elected to the Legislature of Kentucky. 
 While a member of this body he was applied to by Aaron Burr 
 to defend him against the prosecution which Colonel Daviess 
 had instituted against him by order of President Jefferson. 
 Though an ardent supporter of Jefferson, Clay consented to do 
 so upon Burr's solemn assertions as a man of honor that he 
 was guiltless of the charges against him. Burr was acquitted, 
 but Clay would accept no fee. In 1806, after his election to 
 the Senate, Mr. Jefferson sent for Clay and showed him the 
 cipher letters of Burr which convinced him that Burr was cer- 
 tainly a liar and might be a traitor. On his return from Ghent, 
 in 181 5, Mr. Clay met Burr on the street in New York, but, 
 disgusted with his duplicity, turned his back upon him. 
 
 In 1806, Mr. Clay was elected to the Senate of the United 
 States to fill the unexpired term of one of the Kentucky Sena- 
 tors. He was warmly welcomed to the Capital by Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, who cherished a cordial regard for him. In the Senate 
 Mr. Clay gave the first indications of his adhesion to the sys- 
 tem of protecting and assisting American interests by the 
 power of the General Government, of which he was the cham- 
 pion throughout his life. His first speech in Congress was in 
 support of the bill to authorize the General Government to 
 build a bridge over the Potomac. A little later he introduced 
 a bill for the construction of a canal around the falls of the 
 Ohio at Louisville; and later still, submitted a resolution di- 
 recting the Secretary of the Treasury to report a system of 
 canals and roads for the consideration of Congress. 
 
 In 1807, his term in the Senate having expired, he returned 
 home and was elected to the lower House of the Kentucky 
 Legislature, of which body he was chosen speaker in 1808. 
 In this capacity he was mainly instrumental in defeating a prop- 
 
 ^Famous Americans of Recent Times. By Jas. Parton, pp. 1 6, 1 7. 
 32 
 
498 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 osition for the repudiation of the Common law and all British 
 decisions in the Courts of Kentucky. In the Legislature he 
 supported the policy of Mr. Jefferson. The non-intercourse 
 policy of the President found him a hearty champion, and he 
 proposed that the members of the Legislature should bind 
 themselves not to wear anything that was not of American 
 manufacture. Mr. Humphrey Marshall, a leading Federalist, 
 ignorant of the good use the men of the Revolution had made 
 of this policy, denounced Mr. Clay's proposition as the trick 
 of a shameless demagogue. Clay at once challenged him, 
 and a duel ensued. Two shots were exchanged, and Marshall 
 was wounded at the first, and Clay at the second fire. 
 
 In 1809 Mr. Clay was again elected to the Senate of the 
 United States, this time to fill an unexpired term of two years. 
 During this term he was the constant advocate of the non- 
 intercourse policy, and urged upon the nation the establish- 
 ment of a system of manufactures which should render it inde- 
 pendent of foreign countries. He also opposed the re-charter 
 of the first Bank of the United States. His speech upon this 
 subject was often quoted against him after his change of views 
 in 1816. 
 
 In 181 1 Mr. Clay was elected to the House of Representa- 
 tives in Congress, from the Lexington District. The troubles 
 with Great Britain caused President Madison to summon the 
 Twelfth Congress to convene on the 3d of November, 181 1, a 
 month earlier than usual. Mr. Clay took his seat in the House, 
 and upon its organization was chosen Speaker by a decisive 
 majority. 
 
 Mr. Clay had watched the course of the quarrel between the 
 United States and Great Britain with the deepest interest, and 
 had come to the conclusion that war was inevitable, and that 
 the honor and interests of his country demanded it. He was 
 resolved that the insolence and injustice of Great Britain should 
 not go unpunished, and in arranging the Committees of the 
 House constituted them with especial reference to a vigorous 
 support of the President in the event of war. He was but 
 thirty-four years old, but he was already one of the most influ- 
 ential men in America. His voice was for war ; he used the 
 whole power of the Speaker to bring about that end ; and 
 
HENRY CLAY. 
 
 499 
 
 urged the President to a vigorous and determined course to- 
 wards England. When the President wavered, Clay infused 
 fresh courage into him, and when the House hesitated, he de- 
 scended from the speaker's chair to the floor, and reassured it 
 with his matchless eloquence. On the ist of April President 
 Madison, who had been visited by a Committee of the war 
 party in Congress, and urged to an early declaration of war, 
 submitted a message to Congress proposing an embargo for 
 sixty days. The proposition was bitterly denounced by John 
 Randolph, of Virginia, and Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, 
 but the effect of their opposition was neutralized by the unan- 
 swerable reply of Clay. War was declared at length, and 
 mainly through the influence of Henry Clay. This much being 
 gained. Clay gave a powerful support to the President, who 
 thought so highly of him that, when the first year was about 
 to close in disaster, he proposed to appoint Clay Commander- 
 in-chief of the army. Gallatin changed the President's inten- 
 tion by the well-timed question, "What shall we do without 
 him in the House of Representatives ?" 
 
 Upon the receipt of the offer of Great Britain to conduct ne- 
 gotiations directly with the United States, Mr. Clay and Jona- 
 than Russell were added by President Madison to the commis- 
 sion already in Europe, and at once sailed upon their mission. 
 
 The negotiations for peace were conducted at Ghent, in Bel- 
 gium. Mr. Clay proved himself a match for the British Com- 
 missioners, and added greatly to his reputation by his part in 
 the conferences. He refused to concede to England the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi, and thus removed a dangerous 
 commercial rival from the path of the infant inland trade of the 
 Union. 
 
 After the treaty was signed, Mr. Clay made a visit to Paris, 
 where he spent some weeks. He left for London in March, 
 1815, just before the return of Napoleon from Elba. Though 
 he abhorred his principles, Mr. Clay could never rid himself 
 of a lurking regard for the great Emperor. Upon reaching 
 London, Mr. Clay was received with distinguished honor by ' 
 the leading men of Great Britain, especially by the Prime Min- 
 ister, Lord Castlereagh, for whom the :\merican statesman 
 cherished a warm admiration. Dining one day with the 
 
498 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 osition for the repudiation of the Common law and all British 
 decisions in the Courts of Kentucky. In the Legislature he 
 supported the policy of Mr. Jefferson. The non-intercourse 
 policy of the President found him a hearty champion, and he 
 proposed that the members of the Legislature should bind 
 themselves not to wear anything that was not of American 
 manufacture. Mr. Humphrey Marshall, a leading Federalist, 
 ignorant of the good use the men of the Revolution had made 
 of this policy, denounced Mr. Clay's proposition as the trick 
 of a shameless demagogue. Clay at once challenged him, 
 and a duel ensued. Two shots were exchanged, and Marshall 
 was wounded at the first, and Clay at the second fire. 
 
 In 1809 Mr. Clay was again elected to the Senate of the 
 United States, this time to fill an unexpired term of two years. 
 During this term he was the constant advocate of the non- 
 intercourse policy, and urged upon the nation the establish- 
 ment of a system of manufactures which should render it inde- 
 pendent of foreign countries. He also opposed the re-charter 
 of the first Bank of the United States. His speech upon this 
 subject was often quoted against him after his change of views 
 in 1 8 16. 
 
 In 1811 Mr. Clay was elected to the House of Representa- 
 tives in Congress, from the Lexington District. The troubles 
 with Great Britain caused President Madison to summon the 
 Twelfth Congress to convene on the 3d of November, 18 11, a 
 month earlier than usual. Mr. Clay took his seat in the House, 
 and upon its organization was chosen Speaker by a decisive 
 majority. 
 
 Mr. Clay had watched the course of the quarrel between the 
 United States and Great Britain with the deepest interest, and 
 had come to the conclusion that war was inevitable, and that 
 the honor and interests of his country demanded it. He was 
 resolved that the insolence and injustice of Great Britain should 
 not go unpunished, and in arranging the Committees of the 
 House constituted them with especial reference to a vigorous 
 support of the President in the event of war. He was but 
 thirty-four years old, but he was already one of the most influ- 
 ential men in America. His voice was for war; he used the 
 whole power of the Speaker to bring about that end ; and 
 
HENRY CLAY, 
 
 499 
 
 urged the President to a vigorous and determined course to- 
 wards England. When the President wavered, Clay infused 
 fresh courage into him, and when the House hesitated, he de- 
 scended from the speaker's chair to the floor, and reassured it 
 with his matchless eloquence. On the ist of April President 
 Madison, who had been visited by a Committee of the war 
 party in Congress, and urged to an early declaration of war, 
 submitted a message to Congress proposing an embargo for 
 sixty days. The proposition was bitterly denounced by John 
 Randolph, of Virginia, and Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, 
 but the effect of their opposition was neutralized by the unan- 
 swerable reply of Clay. War was declared at length, and 
 mainly through the influence of Henry Clay. This much being 
 gained. Clay gave a powerful support to the President, who 
 thought so highly of him that, when the first year was about 
 to close in disaster, he proposed to appoint Clay Commander- 
 in-chief of the army. Gallatin changed the President's inten- 
 tion by the well-timed question, "What shall we do without 
 him in the House of Representatives ?" 
 
 Upon the receipt of the offer of Great Britain to conduct ne- 
 gotiations directly with the United States, Mr. Clay and Jona- 
 than Russell were added by President Madison to the commis- 
 sion already in Europe, and at once sailed upon their mission. 
 
 The negotiations for peace were conducted at Ghent, in Bel- 
 gium. Mr. Clay proved himself a match for the British Com- 
 missioners, and added greatly to his reputation by his part in 
 the conferences. He refused to concede to England the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi, and thus removed a dangerous 
 commercial rival from the path of the infant inland trade of the 
 Union. 
 
 After the treaty was signed, Mr. Clay made a visit to Paris, 
 where he spent some weeks. He left for London in March, 
 1815, just before the return of Napoleon from Elba. Though 
 he abhorred his principles, Mr. Clay could never rid himself 
 of a lurking regard for the great Emperor. Upon reaching 
 London, Mr. Clay was received with distinguished honor by 
 the leading men of Great Britain, especially by the Prime Min- 
 ister, Lord Castlereagh, for whom the .\merican statesman 
 cherished a warm admiration. Dining one day with the 
 
500 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Premier, the conversation turned upon the second abdication 
 and flight of Napoleon, who was then supposed to have sailed 
 for America. "Will he not make you a great deal of trouble 
 should he reach your country?" asked Lord Liverpool. "Not 
 the least, my Lord," promptly responded Mr. Clay. "We 
 shall be very glad to receive him, shall treat him with all hos- 
 pitality, and very soon make him a good Democrat." 
 
 Mr. Clay reached New York, on his return home, in Sep- 
 tember, 1815, and was enthusiastically welcomed. He has- 
 tened to his home, and on the 7th of October, was entertained 
 at a public dinner by the people of Lexington. He had been 
 elected to Congress during his absence; but as some doubts 
 were entertained of the validity of an election while the can- 
 didate was out of the country, he resigned, and was at once 
 reelected. On the meeting of Congress he was chosen Speaker 
 of the House on the 14th of December, 1815. 
 
 The country had suffered severely from the war, and it was 
 now called upon to build again its destroyed prosperity. Mr. 
 Clay was of the opinion that Congress should give such pro- 
 tection to American industry as would save it from the compe- 
 tition of the cheaper markets of Europe, and enable it to place 
 itself on a firm basis. The war had taught him many lessons, 
 and its financial experiences had entirely reversed his views 
 upon the subject of a National Bank. He now avowed him- 
 self in favor of such an institution, and supported the Bank 
 of 1 8 16. Though his enemies charged him with interested 
 motives in this change, there can be no question that he was 
 sincere and disinterested in his convictions and action. He 
 held these views throughout his life. He gave his cordial 
 support to the Protective Tariff of 18 16, though the chief 
 credit of defending that measure belongs to John C. Calhoun. 
 
 At the close of the Fourteenth Congress, a measure was 
 adopted by that body, which, in spite of Mr. Clay's popularity 
 in Kentucky, came near costing him his seat in the House. 
 Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, introduced a bill 
 ♦ changing the compensation of members of Congress from $8 
 per day during the session to $1,500 per annum. The bill was 
 passed and Mr. Clay gave it his support. The country, ex- 
 hausted by the losses of the war, deeply resented the action of 
 
HENKV CLAY. 5OI 
 
 Congress as an effort to better its own condition at the expense 
 of the people, and would listen to no argument in favor of the 
 measure. In Kentucky the opposition was very great. Mr. Clay, 
 at the next election, found himself opposed by Mr. John Pope, 
 an able and popular man. His own popularity had been greatly 
 injured by his support of the Compensation Bill, and though 
 he made extraordinary efforts he managed to secure his election 
 only by a m_ajority of six hundred votes. 
 
 In the heat of this canvass Mr. Clay met an old hunter, who 
 had always been one of his warmest supporters. The old man 
 told him with sorrow that he utterly disapproved of his course 
 in supporting the Bill, and should withdraw his support, and do 
 all he could to elect Mr. Pope. Mr. Clay looked at him for a 
 moment, and then laying his hand on his shoulder, said with 
 that winning grace which few men could resist : " My friend, 
 have you a good rifle ?" " Yes," answered the hunter in sur- 
 prise. "One that you have tried, and know you can rely 
 upon ?" " Yes." " Did it ever flash ?" " Only once." "What 
 then; did you throw it away?" " No," said the hunter, " I 
 picked the flint, and tried it again." " Did I ever flash but on 
 the Compensation Bill ?" "No." "Will you throw me away?" 
 " No ! no !" exclaimed the old man, seizing his hand with en- 
 thusiasm. " I'll try you again." 
 
 At the next session, the House made haste to repeal the Com- 
 pensation Bill. 
 
 In recognition of his services during the war of 181 2, Mr. 
 Madison tendered to Mr. Clay the Mission to Russia and a 
 place in his Cabinet, but each offer was declined. 
 
 In 1 8 17 Mr. Monroe was inaugurated President. During 
 the eight years of his administration, with the exception of an 
 interval of two years which he spent in retirement, endeavor- 
 ing to restore his fortune, which had become somewhat im- 
 paired by his devotion to public affairs, Mr. Clay was regu- 
 larly returned to Congress, and as regularly chosen Speaker of 
 the House. In a certain sense he was opposed to the Admin- 
 istration, as he was anxious to go farther in his support of the 
 policy of internal improvements and a protective tariff than the 
 President was willing to venture. He contemplated the build- 
 ing up of a vast system of American manufactures, which 
 
502 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 should render this country a formidable rival to the LAiropean 
 nations, and draw skilled workmen from abroad. This he knew 
 could be done only by imposing upon articles of foreign manu- 
 facture duties which should render competition with American 
 products impossible. Mr. Monroe was not prepared to go so 
 far. Although Speaker of the House, Clay was still the leader 
 of that body, for the House was very fond of hearing him 
 speak, and was constantly affording him opportunities of doing 
 so by going into the Committee of the Whole. 
 
 "At Washington, during the thirteen years of his Speakership, 
 he led the gay life of a popular hero and drawing-room favor- 
 ite ; and his position was supposed to compel him to entertain 
 much company. As a young lawyer in Kentucky he was 
 addicted to playing those games of mere chance which alone at 
 that day were styled gambling. He played high and often, as 
 was the custom then all over the world. It was his boast, 
 even in those wild days, that he never played at home, and 
 never had a pack of cards in his house ; but when the lawyers 
 and judges were assembled during court sessions, there was 
 much high play among them at the tavern after the day's work 
 was done. In 1806, when Mr. Clay was elected to the Senate, 
 he resolved to gamble no more, that is, to play at hazard and 
 'brag' no more; and he kept his resolution. Whist, being a 
 game depending partly on skill, was not included in this reso- 
 lution ; and whist was thenceforth a very favorite game with 
 him, and he greatly excelled in it. It was said of him, as it 
 was of Charles James Fox, that, at any moment of a hand, he 
 could name all the cards that remained to be played. He dis- 
 countenanced high stakes, and we believe he never, after 1806, 
 played for more than five dollars ' a corner.' These, we know, 
 were the stakes at Ghent, where he played whist for many 
 months with the British Commissioners during the negotiations 
 for peace in 1815." 
 
 Mr. Clay was an ardent advocate of the recognition of the 
 independence of the Spanish Republics of South America. 
 
 In 1820 and 1821 occurred the famous controversy between 
 the North and the South on the slavery question, which arose 
 out of the application of Missouri for admission into the Union 
 as a slaveholding State. The struggle between the sections 
 
HENRY CLAY. 5O3 
 
 was fierce and exciting, and it seemed for a time that the Union 
 would be destroyed by the violence of the contending parties. 
 It was a period of extreme peril to the Republic, and there was 
 grave reason to fear that our institutions would not survive this 
 decisive trial of their strength. Mr. Clay had been absent 
 from Congress during the earlier attempts to admit Missouri 
 and returned in January, 1821, in the midst of the struggle. 
 He at once perceived the danger to the country, and threw 
 his whole soul into the effort to effect a settlement. As neither 
 patty would withdraw from its position, he saw that the con- 
 troversy could be settled only by a compromise. Senator 
 Thomas, of Illinois, had proposed in the Senate to consent to 
 the admission of Missouri with her slaveholding constitution 
 on condition that slavery should be excluded from all the terri- 
 tory of the Union north of the line of 36 degrees 30 minutes 
 north latitude. Mr. Clay determined to take this proposition 
 as the basis of his Compromise. It was almost impossible to 
 accomplish anything, for the question had been debated in Con- 
 gress with such fierceness that the members were well nigh 
 incapable of hearing it mentioned with calmness. 
 
 Mr. Clay did not despair, however, and for six weeks worked 
 night and day to secure the acceptance of the plan he had 
 adopted. He procured the appointment of a joint Committee 
 of the two Houses, and succeeded in inducing the House to 
 elect the members selected by himself His strong personal 
 influence and his patriotic exertions secured a unanimous ac- 
 ceptance of his plan by the Committee, and he carried it 
 through Congress by a decisive majority. The Missouri Com- 
 promise gained for the Union a respite of thirty years, and put 
 an end for the time to the dangers which threatened it. For 
 this great achievement the country was indebted to Henry 
 Clay. As for Mr. Clay himself, he was so worn out by his 
 efforts that he declared that if the struggle in Congress had 
 been protracted for two weeks longer, it would have killed 
 him. 
 
 In the fall of 1821, Mr. Clay declined a reelection to Con- 
 gress and devoted the next two years to a successful effort to 
 repair his shattered fortunes. In 1823 he returned to the 
 House, and was chosen its speaker by an overwhelming ma- 
 
504 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 jority. In this Congress he seconded the efforts of Webster 
 and others to procure the recognition of the independence of 
 Greece, and delivered a thrilling appeal in behalf of that coun- 
 try. In 1824, upon the occasion of the visit of Lafayette to 
 Washington City, Mr. Clay, as Speaker, welcomed him in the 
 name of the House of Representatives in a speech of matchless 
 beauty. 
 
 Mr. Clay's great services in securing the Missouri Compro- 
 mise caused him to be nominated by a large party as a candi- 
 date for the Presidency in the campaign of 1824. His opponents 
 were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William H. 
 Crawford. Mr. Clay, in the debate in the House in 18 19, upon 
 General Jackson's course in executing the British traders Ar- 
 buthnot and Ambrister in 18 18, to which we have referred 
 elsewhere, had felt called upon to severely condemn the course 
 of the General, while doing full justice to his motives, and 
 passing a high eulogium upon his previous services. Jackson 
 could never bear opposition, and he never forgave Clay for 
 this speech. There never lived a better hater than Andrew 
 Jackson, and in his wrath he attributed Clay's opposition to 
 him to interested and unworthy motives. At the earnest re- 
 quest of his friends, he consented to a nominal reconciliation 
 with Mr. Clay, but the hatred he had conceived for him was 
 not extinguished. It was only covered over by the mask of 
 friendliness. The events of the Presidential contest were to 
 cause it to burst forth again with increased fury. 
 
 The popular vote at the elections of 1824 failed to secure the 
 choice of either of the candidates, and it became the duty of 
 the House of Representatives to choose the President. Mr. 
 Clay had received ly electoral votes, the lowest number on the 
 list. Had he received eight more, which he had a right to ex- 
 pect from New York, he would have been the third candidate, 
 and his name would have gone before the House. In such a 
 case his election would have been sure, for the House was de- 
 voted to him, and would have been only too glad to seat him 
 in the Presidential chair. By the terms of the Constitution but 
 three names — those possessing the highest number of electoral 
 votes — can be presented to the House. Mr. Clay being the 
 fourth in the number of votes received, was therefore dropped 
 from the contest. 
 
HENRY CLAY. 505 
 
 It now became necessary for Mr. Clay to decide which of his 
 rivals he would support for the Presidency, and it was well 
 known that his decision would settle the question, as he would 
 be sure to carry the House with him. He was convinced that 
 Mr. Adams was the best qualified for the Presidency, and gave 
 him his support and secured his election. Mr. Clay was sin- 
 cere in his conviction, and was influenced entirely by public 
 considerations in his act, but he aroused the furious wrath of 
 General Jackson. He was made suddenly aware of this by the 
 attacks of Jackson and his friends, who denounced him as hav- 
 ing plotted with Adams to defeat the wishes of the people, and 
 with having sold his influence to Adams for the place of Secre- 
 tary of State. Mr. Adams had determined to offer Clay the 
 Secretaryship of State, and did so imrriediately upon his inaugu- 
 ration. Clay, indignant at the slanders of the Jackson party, 
 accepted the position. He regarded the calumny which had 
 anticipated his acceptance of the office as a defiance. He knew 
 he had acted conscientiously and from the purest motives, and 
 with characteristic boldness accepted the position tendered him 
 by the President. It required an immense amount of moral 
 courage to do this, for his assailants at once triumphantly 
 pointed to his presence in Mr. Adams' Cabinet as proof of their 
 charges. They were in a measure successful, and a blow was 
 dealt at the popularity of Mr. Clay from which he never en- 
 tirely recovered. Seventeen years later he said to his fellow 
 citizens at Lexington (in September 1842) : " My error in ac- 
 cepting the office arose out of my underrating the power of de- 
 traction and the force of ignorance, and abiding with too sure 
 a confidence in the conscious integrity and uprightness of my 
 own motives." 
 
 The violence with which the charges of " bargain and cor- 
 ruption" were hurled at him, astonished and wounded him 
 deeply. He had not believed that his countrymen would do 
 him such injustice. While smarting under his wrongs, he 
 issued a card daring his defamers to come forward and give 
 him an opportunity to refute their charges, and declared his 
 readiness to meet them "on the field of honor." Somewhat 
 later he addressed a " letter" to his constituents, in which he 
 said, " I ought not to have put in it (the card) the last para- 
 
506 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 graph; because, though it does not necessarily imply the re- 
 sort to a personal combat, it admits of that construction ; nor 
 will I conceal that such possible issue was within my contem- 
 plation. I owe it to the community to say, that, whatever I 
 may heretofore have done, or, by inevitable circumstance may 
 be forced to do, no man in it holds in deeper abhorrence than 
 I do that pernicious practice. Condemned as it must be by 
 the judgment and philosophy, to say nothing of the religion, 
 of every thinking man, it is an affair of feeling, about which 
 we cannot, though we should, reason. Its true corrective will 
 be found when all shall unite, as all ought to unite, in its un- 
 qualified proscription." 
 
 Not long after this letter was written, John Randolph, of 
 Virginia, denounced Mr. Clay's support of Mr. Adams as "the 
 coalition of Puritan with blackleg." Clay at once demanded 
 an explanation, which was refused. He then challenged Ran- 
 dolph, who accepted the defiance. The meeting took place on 
 the 8th of April, 1826, Randolph having previously declared 
 to his second that he would receive Clay's shot, but would not 
 fire at him. Two shots were exchanged, but to the great joy 
 of the principals, were without effect. The seconds then inter- 
 fered, and put a stop to the affair. Randolph and Clay re- 
 mained unreconciled for seven years. At last the former, then 
 on the verge of the grave, was carried into the Senate to hear 
 his rival speak once more. Clay was speaking on the Tariff 
 question at the time, and when he had concluded, crossed over 
 to the dying Virginian and greeted him cordially. 
 
 As Secretary of State, Mr. Clay greatly added to his repu- 
 tation as a statesman. He pursued a thoroughly disinterested 
 policy, and in his selection of newspapers for the publication 
 of the laws, would not consider their political character. He 
 gave an efficient support to the resolve of President Adams 
 not to remove any man from office because of his political 
 opinions. He negotiated a number of treaties with foreign 
 powers, and endeavored to secure the acceptance of the doc- 
 trines that paper blockades are not to be regarded, and that 
 private property at sea, in time of war, shall be safe from 
 seizure. He won the cordial regard of the Diplomatic Corps 
 at Washington by his frank and hospitable treatment of its 
 members. 
 
HENRY CLAY. 507 
 
 In 1828 Mr. Adams was a candidate for reelection, and was 
 defeated by General Jackson. The next March, Mr. Clay 
 withdrew from office, and returned to Kentucky. His journey 
 home was a continuous ovation. For the next two years he 
 remained in retirement, devoting himself to the care of his 
 farm and the raising of blooded animals. He enjoyed this 
 mode of life very greatly, and his health improved rapidly. 
 Occasionally he made a business journey to some distant city, 
 and eveiywhere was received with an enthusiasm which showed 
 him that the people still loved and trusted him. 
 
 " The President, meanwhile," says Mr. Parton, " was paying 
 such homage to the farmer of Ashland as no President of the 
 United States had ever paid to a private individual. General 
 Jackson's principal object — the object nearest to his heart — 
 appears to have been to wound and injure Henry Clay. His 
 appointments * * seem to have been chiefly inspired by re- 
 sentment against him. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, who had 
 taken the lead in that State in giving currency to the ' bargain' 
 calumny, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. Eaton, 
 who had aided in the original concoction of that foul slander, 
 was appointed Secretary of War. Branch, who received the 
 appointment of Secretary of the Navy, was one of the few 
 Senators who had voted and spoken against the confirmation 
 of Henry Clay to the office of Secretary of State in 1825 ; 
 and Berrien, Attorney General, was another. Barry, appointed 
 Post Master General, was the Kentuckian who had done most 
 to inflict upon Mr. Clay the mortification of seeing his own 
 Kentucky siding against him. John Randolph, Clay's recent 
 antagonist in a duel, and the most unfit man in the world for 
 a diplomatic mission, was sent Minister to Russia. Pope, an 
 old Kentucky Federalist, Clay's opponent and competitor for 
 half a life-time, received the appointment of Governor of the 
 Territory of Arkansas. General Harrison, who had generously 
 defended Clay against the charge of bargain and corruption, 
 was recalled from a foreign mission on the fourth day after 
 General Jackson's accession to power, though he had scarcely 
 reached the country to which he was accredited. In the place 
 of General Harrison was sent a Kentuckian peculiarly obnox- 
 ious to Mr. Clay. In Kentucky itself there was a clean sweep 
 
508 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHV, 
 
 from office of Mr. Clay's friends ; not one man of them was 
 left. His brother-in-law, James Brown, was instantly recalled 
 from a diplomatic post in Europe. Kendall, the chief of the 
 Kitchen Cabinet, had once been tutor to Mr. Clay's children, 
 and had won the favor of Jackson by lending a dextrous hand 
 in carrying Kentucky against his benefactor. Francis Blair, 
 editor of the Globe, had also been the particular friend and 
 correspondent of Mr. Clay, but had turned against him. From 
 the Departments in Washington, all of Mr. Clay's known 
 friends were immediately removed, except a iew who had made 
 themselves indispensable, and a few others whom Mr. Van 
 Buren contrived to spare. In nearly every instance, the men 
 who succeeded to the best places had made themselves con- 
 spicuous by their vituperation of Mr. Clay. He was strictly 
 correct when he said, ' Every movement of the President is 
 dictated by personal hostility toward me.' 
 
 " It was not only the appointments and removals that were 
 aimed at Mr. Clay. The sudden expulsion of gray hairs from 
 the offices they had honored, the precipitation of hundreds of 
 families into poverty — this did not satisfy the President's ven- 
 geance. He assailed Henry Clay in his first Message. In 
 recommending a change in the mode of electing the President, 
 he said that, when the election devolves upon the House of 
 Representatives, circumstances may give the power of deciding 
 the election to one man. 'May he not be tempted,' added the 
 President, ' to name his reward ?' He vetoed appropriations 
 for the Cumberland Road, because the name and honor of 
 Henry Clay were peculiarly identified with that work. He de- 
 stroyed the Bank of the United States, because he believed its 
 power ^nd influence were to be used in favor of Mr. Clay's 
 elevation to the Presidency. He took care, in his Message 
 vetoing the recharter of the Bank, to employ some of the argu- 
 ments which Mr. Clay had used in opposing the recharter of 
 the United States Bank in 1811. Miserably sick and infirm as 
 he was, he consented to stand for reelection, because there was 
 no other candidate strong enough to defeat Henry Clay ; and 
 he employed all his art, and the whole power of the administra- 
 tion during his second term, to smooth Mr. Van Buren's path 
 to the Presidency, to the exclusion of Henry Clay."^ 
 
 '^Famous Americans of Recent Times. By Jas, Parton, pp. 41, 42. 
 
HENRY CLAY. 5O9 
 
 The course of President Jackson made it impossible for Mr. 
 Clay to remain in his retirement, and he consented to become a 
 candidate for the Senate of the United States. He was elected 
 by a handsome majority, and in December, 1831, took his seat 
 in the Senate after an absence from it of twenty years. His 
 journey from Ashland to Washington was a triumphal pro- 
 gress, and he was greeted all along the route by enthusiastic 
 multitudes. In the Senate he was the recognized leader of the 
 Whig Party, as the opposition to the Administration had come 
 to be called. Congress was strongly Jacksonian, and Mr. Clay 
 found himself in the minority. He supported the bill for the 
 re-charter of the Bank of the United States, and carried it 
 through by a handsome majority. It was vetoed by the Presi- 
 dent, and Mr. Clay found that he could not command the ne- 
 cessary two-thirds vote to pass it over the President's veto. 
 He had supposed the people of the Union would follow iiim 
 with enthusiasm, but he found that they could not be made 
 enthusiastic in behalf of a moneyed corporation. 
 
 In 1832 it became necessary to revise the Tariff. The coun- 
 try was very prosperous, and the National Debt was within a 
 year or two of being paid. To keep the Tariff at its existing 
 rate would be, in the course of a few years,* to burden the Gov- 
 ernment with a considerable surplus in the Treasury. It was 
 argued that it was a proper time to decrease the rate of duties ; 
 but Mr. Clay maintained that no duty should be lessened which 
 protected an American interest. He was willing to see the 
 others diminished. His views prevailed, and the Tariff of 
 1832 was adopted by Congress. 
 
 The Tariff gave great offence to the Southern States, and 
 South Carolina undertook to nullify it, as we have related in 
 our account of General Jackson. For a while it seemed that 
 a conflict between the State and the General Government was 
 inevitable. Henry Clay once more gave himself to the effort 
 to save the country. He came forward with a compromise in 
 the Senate, which, he hoped, would save the dignity of the 
 Government and put an end to the danger. His compromise 
 involved the surrender of his protective system, for which he 
 had labored so long; but he did not hesitate to make the sacri- 
 fice, as the welfare of the country demanded it. He introduced 
 
510 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 a bill providing for the gradual reduction in ten years of all the 
 duties to a revenue standard. This measure, with some modi- 
 fications, was adopted by both Houses of Congress, and was 
 approved by the President on the 2d of March, 1833, and the 
 quarrel was settled. 
 
 " Mr. Clay, on this occasion," says Alexander H. Stephens, 
 ■' had to break with his old political friends, while he was offer- 
 ing up the darling system of his heart upon the altar of his 
 country. Whatever else may be said of him, no one can deny 
 that Henry Clay was a patriot — every inch of him — a patriot 
 of the highest standard. It was said that when he was impor- 
 tuned not to take the course he had resolved upon, for the 
 reason amongst others that it would lessen his chances for the 
 Presidency, his reply was : ' I would rather be right than be 
 President' This showed the material he was made of It was 
 worthy a Marcellus or a Cato." 
 
 In 1832 Mr. Clay was nominated by the Whigs for the Pres- 
 idency, and committed the error of accepting the nomination. 
 He had not the remotest chance of success, for General Jack- 
 son's popularity had been greatly increased by his veto of the 
 Bank bill, and the slave-holding States, with the exception of 
 Kentucky, Marylancf and Delaware, were unanimous in their 
 support of him. As President he wielded a patronage unpre- 
 cedented in our history, and every species of power in the 
 hands of the Administration was exerted to secure his reelection. 
 Mr. Clay was overwhelmingly defeated. 
 
 The removal of the Public Funds from the Bank of the 
 United States by the President, was warmly opposed by Mr. Clay. 
 On the 26th of December, 1833, he introduced into the Senate the 
 resolutions censuring the course of the President, and carried 
 them through that body by a vote of 28 yeas to 18 nays. 
 Three years later, when Colonel Benton moved to expunge the 
 resolutions, Mr. Clay opposed the motion with more than his 
 usual warmth. 
 
 The system adopted by the President of depositing the funds 
 in the State banks was also opposed by Mr. Clay. " He argued 
 the unsoundness of the system," says Horace Greeley, " the 
 flimsiness of the securities and safe-guards relied on by the 
 Secretary of the Treasury (who had just reported, March 17th, 
 
HENRY CLAY. 5II 
 
 1836, that all was as it should be), and insisted that a failure of 
 the cotton crop, or any occurrence which should create a neces- 
 sity for large exportations of specie to Europe, would compel 
 a general contraction of loans, and a consequent panic and 
 crash, in which the public moneys would disappear or become 
 unavailable. To the superficial observer, nothing seemed less 
 probable than this anticipation, the whole country being then 
 in the high tide of seeming prosperity; yet a little more than a 
 year saw his worst apprehensions fully realized." 
 
 In the autumn of 1836 Mr. Clay was chosen President of the 
 Colonization Society, in the place of Mr. Madison, who had 
 recently died. 
 
 In the campaign of 1836 Mr. Clay refused to allow his name 
 to be presented for the Presidency by the Whig party, and 
 Mr. Van Buren was elected without difficulty. Had Mr. Clay 
 consented to enter the field upon this occasion, it is probable 
 that he would have been successful. 
 
 He led the opposition to the Administration of Mr. Van 
 Buren, and endeavored, but without success, to prevent the 
 adoption of the sub-Treasury scheme. 
 
 In the Whig Convention of 1840 Mr. Clay was passed by, 
 and General Harrison received the nomination for the Presi- 
 dency. Mr. Clay's friends, believing that he was badly treated, 
 threatened to oppose the action of the Convention ; but he 
 promptly prevented them from doing so, and induced them to 
 side with him in supporting the nomination. 
 
 The death of General Harrison, within a month after his 
 inauguration, changed the entire character of the Administra- 
 tion. Mr. Clay's influence in Congress was now very great, 
 and he secured the repeal of the sub-Treasury Act, and the 
 incorporation of a new Bank of the United States. To his sur- 
 prise President Tyler vetoed the Bank bill, and Mr. Clay found 
 that, in spite of his great influence, he could not command 
 votes enough to pass the bill over the veto. The action of 
 President Tyler split the Whig party into two fragments. Mr. 
 Clay was the recognized leader of the opposition to the Presi- 
 dent. He succeeded in 1842 in securing the passage of a new 
 Tariff Bill, in which the principles of the Compromise of 1833 
 were altogether set aside, and the Protective Policy restored. 
 
512 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On the 31st of March, 1842, Mr. Clay resigned his seat in the 
 Senate, and returned to his home in Kentucky. In 1844 he 
 was again the candidate of the Whig party for the Presidency. 
 The leading question of the day was the annexation of Texas. 
 Mr. Clay, while in the Senate, had supported the recognition 
 of the independence of Texas by the United States, and was 
 not now opposed to annexation per se, nor on account of ex- 
 tending the area of slavery, which he regarded as a temporary 
 institution destined to fall before the increasing civilization of 
 the country. He zaas opposed to the annexation of Texas, 
 however, under the existing circumstances, as he thought it an 
 act of bad faith to Mexico, and calculated to embroil the 
 United States in a war with that country. Thus, his views 
 suited neither party. His opposition to slavery did not go far 
 enough to satisfy the North, and the South resented his oppo- 
 sition to the annexation scheme, which was a favorite measure 
 with that section. The consequence was that Mr. Clay was 
 again defeated, and Mr. Polk, the Democratic candidate was 
 elected President. At the last moment before the election Mr. 
 Polk declared himself in favor of the protective policy, and by 
 so doing carried the States of Pennsylvania and New York. 
 Had he withheld this declaration those States would have 
 preferred Mr. Clay, and their electoral votes would have 
 ensured his success. 
 
 Mr. Clay remained in retirement until 1849, speaking only 
 twice during that time, once at New Orleans, in behalf of the 
 effort to send relief to the sufferers by the famine in Ireland, 
 and once at Lexington in opposition to the war with Mexico. 
 He was much opposed to that war, and regarded its outbreak 
 with regret. It brought him a sore affliction, for among the 
 officers who fell in the arms of victory at Buena Vista was his 
 favorite and most promising son, Henry Clay, Jr. " My life 
 has been full of afflictions," wrote the father to a friend, "but 
 this last is one of the severest of them." 
 
 " Henry Clay's last years were his best ; he ripened to the 
 very end. His friends remarked the moderation of his later 
 opinions, and his charity for those who had injured him most. 
 During the last ten years of his life no one ever heard him 
 utter a harsh judgment of an opponent. Domestic afflictions, 
 
HENRY CLAY. 513 
 
 frequent and severe, had chastened his heart; his six affection- 
 ate and happy daughters were dead ; one son was a hopeless 
 lunatic in an asylum; another was not what such a father had 
 a right to expect." Just after the death of his son Henry, Mr. 
 Clay was baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church 
 He remained a faithful and earnest member of that commu- 
 nion until his death. 
 
 In 1848 the Whig Convention had it in its power to reward 
 their great leader with the Presidency ; but the fear that he 
 could not be elected, as he had so been often defeated, caused 
 his rejection and the selection of General Taylor in his place. 
 Mr. Clay keenly felt the wrong done him by his party, but 
 cheerfully sustained the action of the Convention. 
 
 In 1849 3- State Convention assembled for the purpose of 
 changing the constitution of Kentucky. Mr. Clay took ad- 
 vantage of the occasion to address a long letter to the people 
 of the State, in which he urged them to make provision for the 
 gradual abolition of slavery in Kentucky. The proposition was 
 rejected by the Convention. 
 
 The effort to organize the territory won from Mexico brought 
 on a fierce revival of the slavery question. The struggle was 
 much more threatening than it had been during the Missouri 
 Compromise contest, and the danger to the Union was much 
 greater. Though in feeble health, Mr. Clay, who was thor- 
 oughly alarmed for his country, consented to be returned to 
 the Senate of the United States, and in 1849 was chosen for the 
 full term of six years from March 4, 1 849. He took his seat in 
 the Senate in December of that year, and devoted himself with 
 all his energy to the task of bringing about a settlement of the 
 slavery contest. During this session of Congress he addressed 
 the Senate seventy times. He introduced into the Senate, on 
 the 29th of January, 1850, a series of resolutions designed to 
 settle the points in dispute, and was the chairman of the Com- 
 mittee which reported the " Omnibus Bill," which embodied 
 the Compromise of 1850. While the Compromise was under 
 discussion, he was never absent from the Senate a day, though 
 he was often so sick and feeble that even with assistance he 
 could scarcely reach his seat. In reply to the proposition of 
 
 Senator Jefferson Davis to extend the Missouri Compromise 
 33 
 
514 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 line to the Pacific, and thus throw open to slavery the country 
 south of that line obtained from Mexico, Mr. Clay declared 
 that " no earthly power can induce me to vote for a specific 
 measure for the introduction of slavery where it has not 
 existed, either north or south of that line. * * * I am un- 
 willing that the posterity of the present inhabitants of Califor- 
 nia and of New Mexico should reproach us for doing just what 
 we reproach Great Britain for doing to us. * * If the citizens 
 of those Territories come here with constitutions establishing 
 slavery, I am for admitting them into the Union ; but then it 
 will be their own work, and not ours, and their posterity will 
 have to reproach them, and not us." 
 
 His last great speech on the Compromise subjected him to 
 a physical strain which he was not able to endure, and from 
 which he never recovered. On the morning it was to be de- 
 livered, as he alighted from his carriage at the foot of the long 
 flight of steps which led up the Capitol, he said to a friend who 
 accompanied him : "Will you lend me your arm, my friend? 
 for I find myself quite weak and exhausted this morning." 
 " Had you not better defer your speech ?" asked his companion. 
 " My dear friend," said the dying statesman, " I consider our 
 country in danger, and if I can be the means, in any measure, 
 of averting that danger, my health or life is of little conse- 
 quence." When he rose to address the Senate he was so weak 
 as to be hardly able to stand, and was so much interrupted by 
 his cough that he could scarcely proceed. Rallying all his 
 force, however, he continued ; his cough left him, and he spoke 
 with all the fervor and eloquence of old, and with more effect, 
 as all who heard him knew it was the last effort of his genius. 
 On the second day he was so much exhausted that his friends 
 repeatedly proposed an adjournment until the next day; but he 
 persisted in speaking until he had closed his address, as he felt, 
 he afterwards declared, that had he given way to an adjourn- 
 ment, he would never have been able to resume his speech. 
 
 In this speech he declared that any one who should raise the 
 flag of disunion and seek to follow it up by corresponding acts 
 would be a traitor, " and I hope," he added, " he will meet a 
 traitor's fate." " If Kentucky to-morrow should unfurl the 
 banner of resistance unjustly," he declared, "I will never fight 
 
HENRY CLAY. 515 
 
 under that banner. I owe a paramount allegiance to the whole 
 Union — a subordinate one to my own State. * * If any one 
 State, or a portion of the people of any State, choose to place 
 themselves in military array against the Government of the 
 Union, I am for trying the strength of the Government. I am 
 for ascertaining whether we have a Government or not. * * * 
 The Senator speaks of Virginia being my country. This 
 Union, sir, is my country; the thirty States are my country, 
 Kentucky is my country, and Virginia no more than any State 
 in the Union. * * * There are those who believe that the 
 Union must be preserved by an exclusive reliance upon love 
 and reason. That is not my opinion. I have some confidence 
 in this instrumentality ; but, depend upon it, no human govern- 
 ment can exist without the power of applying force, and the 
 actual application of it in extreme cases." 
 
 Mr. Clay's efforts were at last crowned with success, and in 
 September, 1850, the Compromise measures were adopted by 
 Congress, and received the approval of the President. The 
 course of Mr. Clay in securing the passage of these measures 
 was justly regarded as the crowning glory of his life. It won 
 for him the love and confidence of the whole country, without 
 regard to party, and the man who " had rather be right than be 
 President," had the proud satisfaction of seeing all the faults 
 and mistakes of his earlier years forgotten in the confidence 
 and gratitude with which his countrymen regarded him. 
 
 Mr. Clay now ceased to take an active part in the questions 
 of the day, for it was fitting that his life should close with this 
 great service to his country. His health failed rapidly, but he 
 continued to hold his seat in the Senate. He died at Wash- 
 ington on the 29th of June, 1852, at the age of seventy-five. 
 He was honored with a public funeral at Washington, and his 
 remains were conveyed to Ashland, and interred in his family 
 burying ground on his farm. Honors were showered upon his 
 memory in all parts of the Union, and he was laid to his rest 
 amid a nation's unaffected mourningf. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 EBENEZER WEBSTER was a native of New Hampshire, 
 and a farmer, as his fathers had been before him. He had 
 served in the French War, entering the struggle as a private, 
 and coming out of it a Captain. For his services in this war 
 he received a grant of land in the mountainous region at the 
 head of the Merrimack River. He settled on this grant, and 
 by hard work and true New England energy, converted it into 
 a farm capable of yielding him a support for his family. He 
 took up arms for his country at the outbreak of the Revolution, 
 and commanded his company in the battles of White Plains 
 and Bennington, and returned home only at the close of the 
 war. The hardships he encountered in his two wars greatly 
 impaired his physical vigor, and afflicted him with rheumatism. 
 His little farm afforded him a small dependence, and his salary 
 as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, to which office he was 
 appointed soon after the close of the Revolution, was but four 
 hundred dollars. He was a man of strong, earnest character, 
 of independent views, and pure life. He was a Federalist by 
 nature as well as from conviction, and was much respected and 
 looked up to by his neighbors. His second wife was Abigail 
 Eastman. He had ten children, and as he was a poor man 
 throughout his life, it taxed his resources sorely to provide for 
 them during their childhood and start them in their several 
 callings in the world. 
 
 Daniel Webster, the youngest son of Judge Webster and 
 his second wife, was born at Salisbury, on his father's farm, 
 on the 1 8th of January, 1782. He grew up on the farm, and 
 was a delicate, sickly boy, incapable of hard work, and very 
 fond of play. This delicacy of constitution induced his father to 
 decide upon giving him an education which would enable him 
 to earn his living in one of the professions, as it was evident 
 he would never be fit for the rough manual labor of a farmer. 
 
 The schools of the mountainous region of New Hampshire 
 
 (516) 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 517 
 
 were poor at that day, but it was at one of these that Daniel 
 gained the rudiments of his education. He became a noted 
 reader at an early age, a gift which he inherited from his father, 
 but he gave no other indications of unusual talent. He was 
 fond of fishing, and always had strength enough to tramp over 
 the hills, gun in hand, after squirrels ; and was an adept in the 
 art of cock-fighting. He was obliged to assist in running his 
 father's saw mill, and this he used to say was the best school 
 he ever attended. He would take his book with him, and when 
 the saw had been set and the water turned on, he was sure of 
 fifteen mmutes of quiet before the log would again need his at- 
 tention, and this period he gave to his book. " We had so few 
 books," he said, in after life, " that to read them once or twice 
 was nothing. We thought they were all to be got by heart." 
 He derived considerable benefit from the small town library, 
 founded at Salisbury by his father, the clergyman of the town, 
 and Mr. Thompson, the lawyer of the place. "The Spectator" 
 was a favorite, and he read it over and over again. ' It was to 
 it that he doubtless owed the simple and straightforward style 
 he was noted for in after life. 
 
 Judge Webster at first intended to make a school-master of 
 Daniel, and finding that he had passed far beyond the reach 
 of the rustic schools of the vicinity, sent him to the Academy at 
 Exeter in 1796. He made rapid progress while at this school, 
 but could never conquer the shyness which prevented him 
 from taking part in the declamation exercises of the pupils. 
 In other respects he gave great promise. Mr. Nicholas Emery, 
 afterwards a distinguished lawyer and judge of Massachusetts, 
 was an assistant tutor at the Exeter Academy. He relates 
 that when Daniel Webster was first placed under him he as- 
 signed him to one of the lowest classes. At the end of the 
 first month, he said to him, "Webster, you will pass into the 
 other room, and join a higher class. Boys," he added to the 
 rest of the class, "you will take a final leave of Webster; you 
 ^v^ill never see him again." 
 
 Judge Webster was not able to bear the expense of keeping 
 his son at Exeter, and in February, 1797, Daniel was called 
 home, and was placed in the family of the Rev. Samuel Wood, 
 of the neighboring town of Boscawen, whose whole charge 
 
5l8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 for board and tuition was one dollar per week. Judge Web- 
 ster had been so much pleased with Daniel's progress at Exeter 
 that he had determined to strain his resources to the utmost, 
 and send him to college. His object in placing him under 
 Mr. Wood was to prepare him for college. On the ride to 
 Boscawen, he informed Daniel of his intention concerning him. 
 "I remember," says Mr. Webster, "the very hill which we 
 were ascending through deep snows, in a New England sleigh, 
 when my father made known this purpose to me. I could not 
 speak. How could he, I thought, with so large a family and 
 such narrow circumstances, think of incurring so great an ex- 
 pense for me ? A warm glow ran all over me, and I laid my 
 head on my father's shoulder and wept." 
 
 Daniel spent a year and a half under Mr. Wood, studying 
 manfully, and in the autumn of 1797, entered the Freshman 
 class of Dartmouth College, engaging to make up his deficien- 
 cies by extra study. He spent four years at college, and 
 studied faithfully. He was fond of Latin and learned it so 
 well that in after years he read the Roman authors with plea- 
 sure. Greek he had no liking for, or mathematics either. He 
 was an indefatigable reader, and it was from the college library, 
 rather than from his text books, that he derived most of his 
 learning. He read largely in history and English literature, a 
 practice which he continued throughout life. Biography was 
 also a favorite study with him. While at Dartmouth he suc- 
 ceeded in overcoming his shyness, and engaged with ardor in 
 the debates of the College Societies. He won the distinction 
 of being the first speaker in the college, and in 1800, while a 
 Junior, and but eighteen years of age, delivered the Fourth of 
 July Oration, which was spoken of as an admirable effort for 
 so young a man. 
 
 The vacations of the young student were passed in teaching 
 school. Though the expense of his college career averaged 
 but one hundred and fifty dollars a year, it put his father to 
 great straits to raise that sum, and Daniel was very willing to 
 lighten his father's load by his own exertions whenever possi- 
 ble. His earnings were also devoted to another purpose. He 
 was deeply attached to his brother Ezekiel, and he was anxious 
 that he too should enjoy the advantages of a collegiate educa- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 519 
 
 tion. A part of his earnings went therefore to assist in paying 
 Ezekiel's expenses. Daniel won his father's consent to the 
 arrangement, but with some little difficulty. " His father, now 
 advanced in years, infirm, 'an old man before his time' through 
 hardship and toil, much in debt, depending chiefly upon his 
 salary of four hundred dollars a year as Judge of the Court of 
 Common Pleas, and heavily taxed to maintain Daniel in col- 
 lege, had seen all his other sons married and settled except 
 Ezekiel, upon whom he leaned as the staff of his declining 
 years, and the main dependence of his wife and two maiden 
 daughters. Nevertheless, Daniel, after a whole night of con- 
 sultation with his brother, urged the old man to send Ezekiel to 
 college also. The fond and generous father replied, that he had 
 but little property, and it would take all that little to carry 
 another son through college to a profession; but he lived only 
 for his children, and, for his own part, he was willing to run the 
 risk ; but there were the mother and the two unmarried sisters, 
 to whom the risk was far more serious. If they consented, he 
 was willing. The mother said: *I have lived long in the world 
 and have been happy in my children. If Daniel and Ezekiel 
 will promise to take care of me in my old age, I will consent 
 to the sale of all our property at once, and they may enjoy the 
 benefit of that which remains after our debts are paid.' Upon 
 hearing this, all the family dissolved in tears, and the old man 
 gave his consent." Fortunately, it did not require such a sac- 
 rifice on the part of the parents. In due time Ezekiel was sent 
 to prepare for college at the cost of one dollar per week, an 
 expense which Daniel's earnings kelped to lighten. 
 
 Daniel was universally regarded in the college as the first 
 man in his class, but in graduating he took a very low position. 
 He left college in 1801, and returning home entered the office 
 of Mr. Thompson, the lawyer of the town, as a student of law. 
 His father had abandoned the plan of making a teacher of 
 him, and had entered readily into his son's desire to embrace 
 the more promising profession of the law. Here he remained 
 until he began to perceive that his duty to his father required 
 that he should support himself 
 
 He obtained the place of principal of the Academy at Frey- 
 burg, Maine, at a salary of ^350 per annum, and entered upon 
 
520 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 his new duties in January, 1802. He boarded with the Regis- 
 ter of Deeds at Freyburg, at a cpst of $2 per week. In order 
 to increase his slender income he devoted his evenings to 
 copying deeds, a labor which he detested, and earned sufficient 
 money in this way to enable him to lay by the greater part of 
 his salary to pay a part of the expenses of his professional 
 education, and help Brother Ezekiel through college He was 
 very poor^ and says he was generally threadbare and out at the 
 heels, but managed to send a part of his earnings to his father, 
 to whom the assistance was most grateful. In the midst of his 
 poverty and struggles, however, he was an innocent-hearted, 
 merry lad, always ready to enjoy a joke or to perpetrate one, 
 and quick to see and relish the humorous side of his own 
 troubles. This abundance of animal spirits was a part of his 
 nature, and distinguished him through life. 
 
 In September, 1802, Daniel's school teaching came to a close, 
 and he went back to his legal studies at Salisbury. The little 
 money he had saved was exhausted at length, and in the winter 
 of 1804 he went to Boston to try to get something to do. He 
 had but one acquaintance in the town. Dr. Cyrus Perkins, then 
 a struggling young physician, who had opened a private school 
 to enable him to live while he was establishing himself in his 
 profession. Dr. Perkins now considered himself sufficiently 
 established to enable him to dispense with the school, and he 
 was willing to give it up. Daniel saw in it a capital opening for 
 Ezekiel, and hastened home with the good news. Ezekiel, who 
 had now been some time at Dartmouth, obtained permission 
 from the Faculty of the College to assume the charge of the 
 school without severing his connection with the college, on 
 condition of keeping up with his class by private study, a con- 
 dition which he faithfully fulfilled. He at once hastened to 
 Boston and relieved Dr. Perkins of his school. He did so well 
 with it that he not only supported himself, but found himself 
 able to send for Daniel to come to Boston and finish his legal 
 studies. 
 
 Daniel gladly obeyed the summons, and on the 17th of July, 
 1 804, arrived in Boston. He had no acquaintances there but his 
 brother and Dr. Perkins, and was well-nigh penniless. For a 
 little while he hesitated what to do, but as he could not afford to 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER, 521 
 
 lose any time in idleness, soon made up his mind. Mr. Chris- 
 topher Gore, an eminent lawyer of Massachusetts, who was 
 afterwards Governor of the State and United'States Senator, had 
 just returned to Boston from London, where he had been re- 
 siding as the agent of the United States under Jay's Treat)'', 
 and had resumed the practice of his profession. Daniel Webster 
 resolved to ask him to take him as a law student and clerk. 
 " A young man as little known to Mr. Gore as myself," he says, 
 " undertook to introduce me. In logic this would have been 
 bad ; ignotum perignoUim. Nevertheless it succeeded here. We 
 entered Mr. Gore's rooms, and my name was pronounced. I 
 was shockingly embarrassed, but Mr. Gore's habitual courtesy 
 of manner gave me courage to speak. I had the grace to be- 
 gin with an unaffected apology ; told him my position was very 
 awkward, my appearance there like an intrusion, and that if I 
 expected anything but a civil dismission, it was only founded on 
 his known kindness and generosity of character. I was from the 
 country, I said, had studied law for two years, and had come 
 to Boston to study a year more ; had some respectable acquaint- 
 ances in New Hampshire, not unknown to him, but had no in- 
 troduction ; that I had heard that he had no clerk, and thought 
 it possible he might receive one ; that I came to Boston to 
 work and not to play ; was most desirous on all accounts to be 
 his pupil, and all I ventured to ask at present was, that he 
 would keep a place for me in his office till I could write to New 
 Hampshire for proper letters showing me worthy of it. I de- 
 livered this speech trippingly on the tongue, though I suspect 
 it was better composed than spoken. Mr. Gore heard me with 
 much encouraging good nature. He evidently saw my embar- 
 rassment, spoke kind words, and asked me to sit down. My 
 friend had already disappeared. Mr. Gore said what I had sug- 
 gested was very reasonable and required little apology ; he did 
 not mean to fill his office with clerks, but was willing to receive 
 one or two, and would consider what I had said. He inquired 
 of me and I told him what gentlemen of his acquaintance 
 knew me and my father in New Hampshire. He talked to me 
 pleasantly for half an hour, and when I rose to depart, he said : 
 ' My friend, you look as though you might be trusted. You say 
 you came to study, and not to waste time. I will take you at 
 
522 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 your word. You may as well go hang up your hat at once, go 
 into the other room, take your book, and sit down to reading it, 
 and write at your convenience to New Hampshire for your 
 letters.' " 
 
 Mr. Webster very justly regarded his admission to Mr. Gore's 
 office, as "a good stride onward." He remained in Mr. Gore's 
 office from July 20th, 1 804, to March, 1805, and during this 
 period devoted himself with energy to his studies, and was 
 regular in his attendance upon the Courts. During this time 
 he read, besides the strictly professional works laid down for 
 him by Mr. Gore, " Ward's Law of Nations," Vattel for the 
 third time. Lord Bacon's " Elements," and Pufendorfs Latin 
 Compendium of the History of Europe. His miscellaneous 
 reading was also extensive. His studies were mainly in the 
 Common Law, which he traced back to its sources, studying 
 it in the old Latin and Norman-French writers. 
 
 While he was with Mr. Gore, his brother Ezekiel went back 
 to Dartmouth to graduate, and during his absence from Bos- 
 ton, Daniel took charge of his school. 
 
 Just before his legal studies were completed, Daniel was 
 offered the clerkship of his father's Court, with a salary of 
 $1500 per annum. Judge Webster was very anxious that his 
 son should accept this offer, as it would not only give him a 
 competence, but enable him to do something for the assistance 
 of his family. Daniel made up his mind to give up his legal 
 studies and take the clerkship, and hastened to Mr. Gore, and 
 exultingly told him of his good fortune. Mr. Gore had a 
 thorough appreciation of the capabilities of Daniel Webster's 
 character, and was resolved that this promising young man 
 should not forsake his true destiny for so insignificant a career 
 as that of the clerk of a country court. He met Daniel's joy 
 with a coldness which thoroughly checked it, and then set to 
 work to reason seriously with him, and finally succeeded in 
 inducing him to reject the clerkship, and continue his legal 
 studies. Judge Webster was sorely disappointed by his son's 
 decision; but in an interview with him, in which Daniel stated 
 the reasons for his course, acknowledged that the young man 
 had acted wisely. 
 
 In the spring of 1 805, Daniel Webster was admitted to the 
 bar in the Court of Common Pleas of Boston. Mr. Gore pre- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 523 
 
 sented his application, and in the brief address customary on 
 such occasions, predicted that his pupil would rise to an un- 
 usual eminence at the bar. He lived to see his prediction 
 more than verified. 
 
 After receiving his license, Daniel Webster went back home, 
 and opened an office at Boscawen, close by, resolved to devote 
 himself to his father's support for the balance of the old man's 
 life. His first case was tried before his father as judge, and his 
 success was sufficient to give him a moderate but fair start in 
 business. He remained at Boscawen for a little more than a 
 year, and in the spring of 1 806, was admitted to the Bar of the 
 Superior Court of New Hampshire. In the same year his 
 father died, and the incentive to his remaining at his old home 
 being thus removed, Mr. Webster resolved to seek a wider 
 field of action. Towards the close of 1806 he resigned his 
 practice to his brother Ezekiel, and removed to Portsmouth. 
 
 Portsmouth was then, as now, the largest town and principal 
 seaport of New Hampshire, and enjoyed then the additional 
 honor of being the capital of the State. Among the lawyers 
 practicing at its bar were many of the most superior men of 
 New England. At the head of the New Hampshire bar stood 
 Jeremiah Mason, whose gigantic frame was matched by a mas- 
 sive intellect, and around him gathered a score or more of able 
 men. The courts of Portsmouth were regularly attended by 
 the best men at the Massachusetts bar also, such as Samuel 
 Dexter, who shared with Theophilus Parsons the leadership of 
 his profession in New England, and Joseph Story. These were 
 the men who were Mr. Webster's associates in his new field of 
 labor ; and though so young, he from the first took his place 
 among them, and was recognized by them as a worthy co- 
 laborer. He was regarded from the first by the people of New 
 Hampshire as the only man in the State capable of contending 
 successfully with Jeremiah Mason. " Mason was a vigilant, vig- 
 orous opponent, sure to be well up in the law and the facts of 
 a cause, sure to detect a flaw in the argument of opposing 
 counsel. It was in keen encounters with this wary and learned 
 man that Daniel Webster learned his profession ; and this he 
 always acknowledged. ' If,' he said once in conversation, ' if 
 anybody thinks I am somewhat familiar with the law on some 
 
524 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 points, and should be curious to know how it happened, tell 
 him that Jeremiah Mason compelled me to study it. He was 
 my master.' It is honorable, too, to both of them, that rivals 
 as they were, they were fast and affectionate friends, each valu- 
 ing in the other the qualities in which he was surpassed by him, 
 and each believing that the other was the first man of his time 
 and country." 
 
 Mr. Webster settled in Portsmouth at a critical time in the 
 history of the country. The British Orders in Council and the 
 French Decrees were subjecting the United States to constant 
 and heavy losses, and the whole country was intent upon find- 
 ing a way to put an end to the evil. President Jefferson had 
 resolved upon the Embargo, a measure which was particularly 
 odious to Federalist New England. Mr. Webster was a 
 thorough Federalist, and was heartily opposed to the policy of 
 the President, He took part in the public demonstrations at 
 Portsmouth against the President's policy, and by his speeches 
 and resolutions won considerable credit from his party. 
 
 He did not take a very active part in politics just yet, how- 
 ever; for in 1808 he married Grace Fletcher, the daughter of a 
 clergyman of Hopkinton, an elegant and accomplished lady, 
 who bore him three sons and a daughter. But one of these, 
 Fletcher Webster, survived him. He fell at the head of his 
 regiment at the second battle of Bull Run, August 29th, 1862. 
 The necessity of providing for his wife and his children, as they 
 came, caused Mr. Webster to devote himself to his practice 
 with more than his ordinary energy. He soon acquired a 
 comfortable support, and his practice increased as rapidly as he 
 could desire. 
 
 In the summer of 1812 the quarrel with England culminated 
 in war with that country. The Federalist party now had need 
 of its best talent in Congress, and Mr. Webster was induced to 
 enter that body. He was elected to the House of Representa- 
 tives in November, 18 12, and took his seat at the special ses- 
 sion in May, 1 81 3. Mr. Cl^y, the Speaker, appointed him on 
 the Committee of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 The Thirteenth Congress is conspicuous in our history for 
 the number of great men who served in the Lower House — 
 such men as Clay, Calhoun, Lowndes, Pickering, Gaston, and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 525 
 
 Forsyth. Among these giants Mr. Webster at once took his 
 place as an equal. He had opposed the policy of President 
 Madison in declaring war, but now that the conflict had come, 
 he was in favor of carrying it on with energy and decision. He 
 was especially anxious that the Navy, which had already shown 
 its ability to cope with England, should be strengthened, in 
 order that the war might be waged as vigorously at sea as on 
 land. 
 
 Early in September, 18 13, he introduced the resolutions 
 offered in the House upon the repeal of the Berlin and Milan 
 Decrees of France, and took this occasion to deliver his first 
 important speech in Congress. The House was taken by sur- 
 prise, and Mr. Webster was regarded from this time as one of 
 its ablest members. Chief Justice Marshall was present, and 
 was delighted with the orator. " At the time when this speech 
 was made," he wrote to Judge Story, " I did not know Mr. 
 Webster; but I was so much struck with it, that I did not 
 hesitate then to state that Mr. Webster was a very able man, 
 and would become one of the very first statesmen in America, 
 perhaps the very first." 
 
 After this speech Mr. Webster took a very active part in the 
 proceedings of the House. He remained the constant friend 
 of the Navy, and insisted that the money spent in the fruitless 
 invasions of Canada would be better used if applied to the 
 building of first-class frigates and ships of the line. He advo- 
 cated with all his powers the repeal of the Embargo. His 
 speeches in Congress displayed such remarkable resources of 
 learning, and such familiarity with international and parliamen- 
 tary law and usage, that Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, said 
 of him, " the North had not his equal nor the South his super- 
 ior." Mr. Webster had the good fortune to make no enemies 
 in Congress. He expressed his views with independence and 
 vigor, but with the most courteous deference to his opponents. 
 As a consequence he made friends in the ranks of the Republi- 
 cans, as well as among his own party. 
 
 In August, 1 8 14, Mr. Webster was re-elected to Congress. 
 He opposed the proposition made before the close of the war 
 to charter a new Bank of the United States, on the ground that 
 the proposed bank was relieved by the Act of incorporation 
 
526 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of the obligation to redeem its notes in specie. The same 
 course was pursued by Lowndes and Calhoun. Mr. Webster's 
 speeches on the subject showed him to have mastered the diffi- 
 cult questions of banking, finance, and currency. The ease and 
 self-possession with which he conducted the debate were na- 
 tural to him, and were the result of his confidence in his own 
 powers. 
 
 During the recesses of Congress Mr. Webster devoted 
 himself to his profession, and his practice increased yearly. 
 Had he been more careful in money matters, he would soon 
 have been independent. In December, 181 3, a large part of 
 Portsmouth was destroyed by fire. Among the buildings 
 burned was Mr. Webster's office, and with it went his library, 
 his papers, and all the accumulation of his professional labors. 
 It was a severe blow to him, but he bore it without flinching. 
 
 The Fourteenth Congress was called upon to inaugurate 
 measures for restoring to the country the prosperity of which 
 the war had deprived it. As a member of the little band which 
 still clung to the name of Federalist, though the party that had 
 borne it was no more, Mr. Webster opposed the policy of the 
 administration. He opposed the scheme for the revival of the 
 Bank of the United States in 18 16, and voted against the bill 
 for that purpose. He introduced and secured the passage of 
 an amendment to the bill requiring the payment of deposits as 
 well as the notes of the bank in specie, and his speeches against 
 the bank compelled its friends to strip it of some of its most 
 objectionable features. He also opposed the Protective Tariff 
 of 18 16, and in the debate with Mr. Clay upon the subject had 
 decidedly the advantage, though he did not succeed in defeat- 
 ing the Tariff. He introduced the bill requiring all payments 
 into the Treasury of the United States, after February 20th, 
 18 1 7, to be made in specie or its equivalent. He carried the 
 measure through Congress, and had the satisfaction of seeing 
 it restore the value of the depreciated currency of the United 
 States. 
 
 Having decided to leave Portsmouth and seek a field of labor 
 which should afford him the opportunity of earning a more 
 ample support for his family, Mr. Webster hesitated for some 
 time whether to settle in Boston or Albany, but at last decided 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 52/ 
 
 in favor of the former place, and removed there from Ports- 
 mouth in the summer of 1816. His professional life in New 
 Hampshire, and his career in Congress, had already made him 
 one of the most noted men in New England, and he at once 
 took a prominent position at the Massachusetts Bar. He was 
 cordially" welcomed by his professional brethren in Boston, and 
 was regarded as a decided acquisition to the social circles of 
 the New England metropolis. 
 
 He now withdrew from politics, and for the next seven years 
 devoted himself entirely to his profession. He worked hard, 
 and always had as much as he could do. Besides earning a 
 handsome income, he established his great professional reputa- 
 tion upon an enduring basis. " He took a position as a coun- 
 sellor and an advocate," says Edward Everett, " above which 
 no one has ever risen in this country. A choice of the best 
 business of New England, and of that of the whole country 
 which was adjudicated at Washington, passed into his hands. 
 Besides the reputation which he acquired in the ordinary rou- 
 tine of practice, Mr. Webster, shortly after his removal to Bos- 
 ton, took a distinguished lead in establishing what might be 
 called a sch©ol of constitutional law. It fell to his lot to per- 
 form a prominent part in unfolding a most important class of 
 constitutional doctrines, which, either because occasion had 
 not, as yet, drawn them forth, or the jurists of a former period 
 had failed to deduce and apply them, had not yet grown into a 
 system. It was reserved for Mr, Webster to distinguish him- 
 self before most, if not all, of his contemporaries in this branch 
 of the profession." 
 
 The first of these causes was that of Dartmouth College, his 
 Alma Mater. In June and December, 1816, the Legislature 
 of New Hampshire passed a series of laws altering the char- 
 ter of the college, and changing its name to Dartmouth Uni- 
 versity. The number of trustees was enlarged and the corpo- 
 ration entirely reorganized. The trustees of the college entered 
 a formal protest against these acts, but it was disregarded by 
 the Legislature, and the objectionable laws were enacted in 
 spite of it and received the Governor's sanction. The new 
 Board of Trustees appointed under these laws took possession 
 of the college, and assumed the management of the institution. 
 
528 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The old trustees had all been named members of the new 
 Board, but they refused to serve, and determined to test the 
 constitutionality of the action of the Legislature. In order to 
 accomplish this, they brought suit against the Treasurer of the 
 new Board for the record books, original charter, the common 
 seal, and other corporate property of the college. The general 
 issue was pleaded by the defendants and joined by the plain- 
 tiffs. The case turned upon the points whether the acts of the 
 Legislature above referred to were binding upon the old cor- 
 poration without their assent, and were not repugnant to the 
 Constitution of the United States. It was argued twice in the 
 New Hampshire Courts, and at the second trial Mr. Webster, 
 Jeremiah Mason, and Judge Smith appeared for the plaintiffs, 
 and argued the case before the Court of Appeals. Chief Jus- 
 tice Richardson, of New Hampshire, decided that the acts of 
 the Legislature were constitutional and valid. The case was 
 appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, and was 
 argued before that body on the loth of March, i8i8. Mr. 
 Webster and Mr. Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, appeared for the 
 plaintiffs; the defendants in error were represented by Wm. 
 Wirt, the Attorney General of the United States, and John 
 Holmes, of Maine. 
 
 One of the judges, as the case was called, glanced over the 
 record, and declared to one of his associates that he did not 
 see what could be said on the side of the plaintiffs. Mr. 
 Webster, however, took the broad ground that the acts of the 
 Legislature of New Hampshire were not only in violation of 
 common right and of the Constitution of the State, but were 
 also — and this was his main point — in violation of the Article 
 of the Constitution of the United States which forbids the in- 
 dividual Slates to pass laws impairing the obligation of con- 
 tracts. He argued his case with such force and effect, and dis- 
 played such great learning in the principles of the English and 
 American law that he held the attention of the court through- 
 out. His arguments proved conclusively that the endowment 
 of a college is private property ; and that the charter of a col- 
 lege is that which constitues its endowment private property. 
 His views were accepted by the Supreme Court, and at the 
 term of 1819, Chief Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 529 
 
 the court, to which there was but one dissenting voice, declar- 
 ing the acts of the New Hampshire Legislature unconstitutional, 
 and reversing the decision of the court below. By this decision, 
 the law of the United States with reference to collegiate insti- 
 tutions was firmly established on a basis of common right and 
 justice. From his time American colleges have held their 
 property and franchises by the same tenure as private individ- 
 uals, and have been freed from the capricious interference of 
 State Legislatures. 
 
 Another case of this kind in which Mr. Webster acquired 
 considerable fame was the suit of Livingston against certain 
 citizens of New Jersey for a violation of the monopoly of the 
 navigation of the waters of New York granted to Fulton and 
 Livingston by the Legislature of New York. Mr. Webster 
 went to the bottom of the controversy in a brief sentence. 
 " The commerce of the United States, under the Constitution 
 of 1787," he said, " is a unit," and " what we call the waters of 
 the State of New York are, for the purposes of navigation and 
 commerce, the waters of the United States," and he held that 
 no State could grant exclusive privileges in such waters. The 
 Supreme Court held that this was the true doctrine ; Mr. Web- 
 ster won his case ; and the inland waters of the Union were 
 thrown open to the enterprise of the whole nation. 
 
 These cases established Mr. Webster's reputation as a jurist, 
 and from this time he was acknowledged as the equal of Emmet, 
 Pinckney and Wirt, the great leaders of the American Bar. He 
 never lacked for business of the most honorable and profitable 
 nature after this, and was retained in almost every case of im- 
 portance tried before the Supreme Court. After his return to 
 Congress his residence at Washington for the greater part of 
 the year enabled him to continue his practice in the Supreme 
 Court, and attend to his Congressional duties at the same time. 
 
 During his retirement from politics, Mr. Webster served as 
 a member of the Convention which met to revise the Constitu- 
 tion of the State of Massachusetts. He was regarded as its 
 ablest member, and rendered valuable service in framing the 
 new Constitution. 
 
 During the session of this Convention, Mr. Webster was 
 selected to deliver the address at Plymouth, on the 22d of 
 34 
 
530 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 December, 1820, the two hundredth anniversary of the Land- 
 ing of the Pilgrim Fathers. His address was a noble effort, 
 and was read with deep interest in all parts of the Union. It 
 was the first of a series of similar orations which were in them- 
 selves enough to establish his fame as an orator, and which 
 constitute a peculiar school of their own, to which Mr. Everett 
 applies the name of "patriotic eloquence." The other addresses 
 of this series were delivered at the laying of the corner-stone of 
 the Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1825 ; at the completion 
 of the Monument, June 17, 1843; the Eulogy upon Adams and 
 Jefferson in 1826; and at the laying of the corner-stone of the 
 new Capitol at Washington in 185 1. 
 
 At this time the elections in Massachusetts for members of 
 Congress were held a year or two in advance, and in the fall 
 of 1822 Mr. Webster was elected to the i8th Congress, in 
 which he took his seat at its opening in December, 1823. Early 
 in the session he delivered an eloquent address in favor of the 
 recognition of the independence of Greece, in which he de- 
 nounced the Holy Alliance, and the efforts of that league to 
 quench the spirit of popular freedom in Europe. During this 
 session also he opposed the Tariff of 1824, and declared that 
 the Protective system was not only wrong, but unnecessary. 
 As chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House he re- 
 ported and secured the passage of a bill for the revision of the 
 entire criminal code of the United States. 
 
 It became the duty of the House of Representatives at the 
 second session of the i8th Congress, in 1825, to elect a Presi- 
 dent of the United States. The Massachusetts delegation na- 
 turally supported Mr. Adams. Mr. Webster threw the whole 
 weight of his influence in Mr. Adams's behalf, and did much to 
 win for him the votes of other States. The election of Mr. 
 Adams took Mr. Webster out of the ranks of the opposition, 
 and made him a supporter of the Administration. He was 
 returned to the 19th Congress in 1825, but the next year was 
 elected by the Legislature of Massachusetts to the Senate of 
 the United States to succeed Mr. Mills, who had resigned on 
 account of ill health. 
 
 In the debate of the Tariff of 1828, which was far more pro- 
 tective than that of 1824, Mr. Webster supported the Tariff 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 531 
 
 and advocated the protective policy as warmly as he had op- 
 posed it in 1824. The opponents of the measure taunted him 
 with his sudden change of opinion, and he replied that New 
 England having been compelled by the act of 1824 to transfer 
 the better part of her capital from commerce to manufactures, 
 he was bound, as her representative, to demand the continuance 
 of the system. It must be confessed that while this answer 
 may have satisfied Mr. Webster's New England friends, it will 
 add nothing to his fame as a statesman. 
 
 In the 2 1st Congress occurred the famous debate between 
 Mr. Webster and Senator Hayne, of South Carolina. On the 
 29th of December, 1829, Senator Foote introduced into the 
 Senate a resolution of inquiry concerning the sales and surveys 
 of the public lands in the West. The resolution was debated at 
 some length, but the debate did not attract much attencion 
 until the 19th of January, 1830, when Senator Hayne, of South 
 Carolina, delivered an elaborate speech in the Senate, calling 
 in question the conduct of the New England States towards the 
 West, and accusing them of a selfish desire to retard the growth 
 of the new States — a design, he said, originating in the policy 
 of the Tariff, which required the New England States to keep 
 their population from emigrating to the West. He endeavored 
 to show that there existed a natural sympathy between the 
 Western and Southern States upon the questions of the distri- 
 bution and sale of the public lands, which ought to make those 
 sections natural allies against the tendencies and consequences 
 of the Tariff policy of New England. 
 
 Mr. Webster was very busy in the Supreme Court at this 
 time, and merely chanced to walk into the Senate chamber as 
 Mr. Hayne was speaking. He had no intention of taking any 
 part in the debate, but seeing the drift of Mr. Hayne's remarks, 
 stopped and heard him out. Thinking that the speech de- 
 manded a reply, he arose to answer Mr. Hayne when the latter 
 sat down. Col. Benton, however, moved an adjournment, to 
 which Mr. Webster consented. This of course gave him the 
 right to the floor the next day — the 20th — on which occasion 
 he delivered a powerful reply to Mr. Hayrie, effectually repell- 
 ing the charges of the latter against New England. The next 
 day, the 21st, Mr. Hayne replied to Mr. Webster, but, owing 
 
532 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to an adjournment of the debate, did not finish the speech until 
 the 25th. He touched upon a great many topics in the course 
 of his remarks, assailed New England with great bitterness, 
 attacked Mr. Webster in the most personal manner, called in 
 question the patriotism of Massachusetts, and concluded by 
 repeating in terms of warm eulogium the doctrine he had an- 
 nounced in his first speech, that a State in the exercise of its 
 sovereign power might render inoperative, or nullify, within its 
 limits, any act of Congress which it deemed unconstutional. 
 Apart from its personalities, Mr. Hayne's speech was able and 
 argumentative, and calculated to do much harm if left un- 
 answered. As the Senator from South Carolina resumed his 
 seat, Mr. Webster rose to reply to him, but gave way to an ad- 
 journment. 
 
 The debate had now aroused the greatest interest in Wash- 
 ington, and on the 26th the Senate Chamber was crowded to 
 its utmost capacity. The galleries were filled with a brilliant 
 and distinguished throng, and every available place on the floor 
 of the Senate was occupied. Mr. Webster was deeply im- 
 pressed with the importance of the occasion, and never ap- 
 peared to better advantage than he did on this memorable day. 
 He was in his forty-eighth year, his hair still retained its raven 
 blackness, his form was stately, his eye clear and bright, and 
 his massive forehead unwrinkled by time. He rose amid a 
 profound silence, and throughout held his audience spell-bound. 
 He spoke for two days, and his speech was in all respects the 
 grandest outburst of eloquence ever heard within the walls of 
 the capitol. He denied the doctrine that the Union was merely 
 a compact of sovereign, independent States, from which any 
 one of them could withdraw at pleasure ; and argued that the 
 Constitution was the work of the people themselves, not as 
 separate States, but as members of a great nation, and was 
 designed to make the Union perpetual ; that the controversies 
 between the States and the General Government were to be 
 decided by the Supreme Court, the tribunal created for that 
 purpose by the Constitution, and not by the States themselves; 
 and that any attempt on the part of the people of a State to 
 withdraw from the Union was treason. He vindicated Massa- 
 chusetts from Mr. Hayne's assult upon her, and met his per- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 533 
 
 sonal attacks with good-natured sarcasm. In conclusion he 
 dwelt upon the necessity of the Union to the people of America, 
 and closed his address with a noble peroration which affected 
 his hearers profoundly. 
 
 "I have not allowed myself, sir," he said, "to look beyond 
 the Union to see what might lie hidden in the dark recesses 
 behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving 
 liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken 
 asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the 
 precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I 
 can fathom the depth of the abyss below ; nor could I regard 
 him as a safe counsellor in the affairs of this Government, 
 whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how 
 the Union may be best preserved, but how tolerable might be 
 the condition of the people when it should be broken up and 
 destroyed. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, 
 gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our chil- 
 dren. Beyond that, I seek not to penetrate the veil. God 
 grant that in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise. God 
 grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind ! 
 When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the 
 sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and 
 dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States 
 dissevered, discordant and belligerent; on a land rent with 
 civil feuds, and drenched, it may be, with fraternal blood ! Let 
 their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gor- 
 geous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored 
 throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and 
 trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased 
 or polluted, nor a single star obscured; bearing for its motto 
 no such miserable interrogatory as ' What is all this worth ?' nor 
 those other words of delusion and folly, ' Liberty first, and Union 
 afterwards;' but everywhere, spread all over in characters of 
 living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the 
 sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole 
 heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart, 
 ' Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.' " * 
 ^ "The whole of his previous life had been an unconscious preparation for these 
 
534 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Hayne delivered a rejoinder, which was answered by 
 Mr. Webster; but the great oration of the latter was unan- 
 swerable. It utterly overturned the doctrine of Nullification, 
 and brought home to the country the value and importance of 
 the Union. From that time Daniel Webster was incompara- 
 bly the first man in the North. He had made himself the 
 champion of the Union, and his ringing words had found an 
 echo in every patriotic heart in the country. 
 
 During the Administrations of Jackson and Van Buren, Mr. 
 Webster acted generally with the Whig party. He opposed 
 Mr. Clay's Compromise on the Tariff question, as he held that 
 the Government should make no concession to South Carolina 
 until that State had submitted unqualifiedly to the law. He 
 also opposed the sub-Treasury scheme of Mr. Van Buren, and 
 delivered one of his most famous addresses upon this subject. 
 Mr. S. Lloyd Jones, afterwards Lord Overstone, the highest 
 authority in England at that day on financial questions, de- 
 clared to a committee of the House of Commons that this 
 
 great debates. It was one of the recollections of his childhood, that in his eighth 
 year, he had bought a handkerchief upon which was printed the Constitution of 
 1787, which he then read through; and while he was a farmer's boy at home, the 
 great question of its acceptance or rejection had been decided. His father's party 
 was the party for the Constitution, whose only regret concerning it was that it was 
 not so much of a Constitution as they wished it to be. The Republicans dwelt 
 upon its defects and dangers; the Federalists, upon its advantages and beauties; 
 so that all this receptive lad heard of it at his father's fireside was of its value and 
 necessity. We see in his youthful orations that nothing in the history of the con- 
 tinent struck his imagination so powerfully as the spectacle of thirty-eight gentle- 
 men meeting in a quiet city, and peacefully settling the terms of a national union 
 between thirteen sovereign States, most of which gave up, voluntarily, what the 
 sword alone was once supposed capable of extorting. In all his orations on days 
 of national festivity or mourning, we observe that his weightiest eulogy falls upon 
 those who were conspicuous in this great business. Because Hamilton aided in it, 
 he revered his memory ; because Madison was its best interpreter, he venerated his 
 name, and deferred absolutely to his judgment. * * His own triumphs at the bar 
 — those upon which he plumed himself — were all such as resulted from his lonely 
 broodings over, and patient study of, the Constitution of his country. A native 
 of one of the smallest of the States, to which the Union was an unmixed benefit 
 and called for no sacrifice of pride, he grew up into nationality without having to 
 pass through any probation of States' rights scruples. Indeed it was as natural for 
 a man of his callibre to be a national man, as it is for his own Monadnock to be 
 there thousand feet above the level of the sea." — James Parton. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 535 
 
 speech was the ablest and most satisfactory discussion of these 
 questions that he had ever seen. 
 
 Mr. Webster rendered sufficient aid to the effort to overthrow 
 the Democratic administration, which was successfully accom- 
 plished in the election of General Harrison to the Presidency 
 in 1840. General Harrison was anxious that Mr. Webster 
 should be the Secretary of the Treasury in his Cabinet, but Mr. 
 Webster preferred the Secretaryship of State, and was appointed 
 to that position by the President. The death of General Har- 
 rison so soon after his inauguration raised Vice-President John 
 Tyler to the Chief Magistracy. The first act of the new Presi- 
 dent was to retain the Cabinet of his predecessor in their posi- 
 tions. The course of President Tyler with regard to the Bank 
 of the United States, however, caused all the Cabinet officers, 
 with the exception of the Secretary of State, to tender their 
 resignations in the summer of 1841. 
 
 Mr. Webster would have united with his colleagues in this 
 action, but regarded it as his dut)^ to retain his office until he 
 could bring to a close the negotiations he had begun with 
 Great Britain for the settlement of the North-eastern boundary 
 of the United States; for the rendition of fugitives from justice 
 escaping from the territory of one natio;i into that of the other ; 
 and for the co-operation of the two countries in the suppression 
 of the African slave trade. Until these negotiations were 
 brought to a successful close he felt that he had no right to 
 indulge his personal feelings by resigning his office. The 
 Treaty of Washington was concluded in 1842, and was accepted 
 by both nations as a settlement of the questions at issue be- 
 tween them. With this treaty the American Republic formally 
 took its place among the great powers of the world. The 
 negotiations being completed, Mr. Webster, who had greatly 
 added to his reputation by his able conduct of them, resigned 
 his place in the Cabinet of President Tyler in May, 1843. 
 
 During the remainder of Mr. Tyler's administration, Mr. 
 Webster remained in private life, devoting himself to the prac- 
 tice of his profession, and to the management of his farm at 
 Marshfield, near Plymouth. In the autumn of 1844 he made a 
 number of speeches in support of Henry Clay for the Presi- 
 dency; but accomplished nothing, as Mr. Polk was elected. 
 
53^ AMERICAN BIOGRAPHV. 
 
 In 1845 Mr. Webster was once more elected to the Senate 
 of the United States; this time as the successor of Rufus 
 Choate. He took his seat in the Senate at the opening of the 
 29th Congress, in December, 1845. He opposed the annexation 
 of Texas (though he had favored the recognition of the inde- 
 pendence of that Repubhc), basing his opposition upon consti- 
 tutional grounds. He also opposed the Mexican War, but 
 when it had been fairly begun gave the Government his support 
 in its efforts to carry it through with credit to the countiy. 
 Like Mr. Clay, he was a personal sufferer by this war, for his 
 second son Edward, a promising young man, a Major in the 
 army under General Scott, died in the City of Mexico shortly 
 after its capture. He voted against the ratification of the Treaty 
 of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, as he regarded it as full of future evils 
 to the country. 
 
 Mr. Webster's friends were in hopes that he would receive the 
 nomination of the Whig Convention of 1848 for the Presidency, 
 but the Convention nominated General Taylor, who was elected. 
 
 Mr. W^ebster gave his earnest support to the Compromise 
 Measures of 1850. On the 7th of March, 1850, he began his 
 " great Union speech," which occupied three days in its delivery. 
 It was one of his most powerful efforts, and contributed in a 
 marked degree to the success of the Compromise Measures. 
 
 Upon the death of General Taylor in July, 1850, Mr. Fill- 
 more, the Vice-President, became President of the United 
 States. The members of General Taylor's Cabinet tendered 
 their resignations to the new President, who accepted them, 
 and proceeded to appoint a new Cabinet, at the head of which 
 he placed Mr. Webster as Secretary of State. 
 
 Mr. Webster's friends were confident that the Whig Con- 
 vention of 1852, which met at Baltimore, would nominate him 
 for the Presidency, but were again doomed to disappointment, 
 for the Convention passed him by and nominated General 
 Scott. Mr. W^ebster keenly felt the injustice of his party, for 
 he earnestly desired the Presidency, and had done some things 
 in the hope of securing it of which his truest friends could 
 not approve. He felt that he had a right, after the services he 
 had rendered to and the sacrifices he had made for his party, 
 to expect this reward at their hands ; but he was destined to 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 537 
 
 learn that gratitude is not among the virtues of a political or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Mr. Webster was large and stout in frame, of swarthy com- 
 plexion, and slow and heavy movement — a man of noble and 
 commanding presence. He was fond of social pleasures, and 
 dearly loved his ease. He was extremely generous, and could 
 never resist an application for aid from a person he had reason 
 to believe needed it. He was also distressingly careless about 
 money matters, and while he constantly earned large sums in 
 the exercise of his profession, was always more or less in debt. 
 His fees sometimes amounted to twenty or twenty-five thou- 
 sand dollars; but he died forty thousand dollars in debt. As 
 a matter of course, he was subjected to repeated duns, and these 
 distressed him very much if he was not able to pay them. 
 He often relieved himself of these annoyances in a manner 
 thoroughly characteristic of himself 
 
 He once owed a considerable bill to a furniture dealer in one 
 of the New England towns. The dealer wrote repeatedly for 
 his money, but could obtain no satisfaction. Finally he re- 
 solved to go to Washington, and present his bill to Mr. Web- 
 ster in person. He arrived in the Federal City determined to 
 press his claim with all the sternness he was master of, and in 
 this frame of mind presented himself at Mr. Webster's house. 
 He was told that Mr. Webster was entertaining a party of 
 gentlemen at dinner, but insisted upon the servant taking his 
 card in to him. Mr. Webster recognized the name, and sus- 
 pected the business of his visitor. He was equal to the emer- 
 gency, however. Excusing himself to his guests, he hastened 
 to the hall, where his creditor was in waiting, and seizing him 
 by the hand, greeted him cordially. 
 
 " My old friend B , how do you do ? How good it is in 
 
 you to remember me in your visit to the Capital." 
 
 " But, Mr. Webster," said Mr. B , somewhat nonplussed 
 
 by this cordial greeting, " I have come on a little matter of 
 business ." 
 
 "Yes, yes, I know," said Mr. Webster, still shaking his hand, 
 "I know. We'll talk of that after awhile. You must go in 
 and dine with me, and we'll talk of business when that is over." 
 
 "I really haven't the time," said Mr. B , "and besides 
 
 my business is ." 
 
538 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 "Never mind about your business just now," said Mr. Web- 
 ster. " Dine with me you must. I have a party of the first 
 men in the country in there, and I'll introduce you to them." 
 
 "But, Mr. Webster ." 
 
 "Oh, nonsense, B ," said Mr. Webster, laughing. "Do 
 
 you think I would let an old fi"iend like you come to my house 
 at my dinner hour, and go away without dining with me ? 
 Here, John," he continued to the servant, who had been look- 
 ing on in surprise, "take Mr. B 's hat and coat." 
 
 Mr. B was quickly divested of his hat and overcoat, and 
 
 was led by Mr. Webster into the brilliantly-lighted dining- 
 room, where were gathered around the table a number of 
 members of Congress and of the Cabinet, and one or two 
 Governors. To each one Mr. Webster presented the new 
 
 comer, as " Mr. B , of Massachusetts, one of my oldest and 
 
 most valued friends." Of course Mr. B was cordially re- 
 ceived by the distinguished company, and was made much of 
 During the evening Mr. Webster was especially attentive to 
 
 him, and when the company broke up Mr. B took his 
 
 leave with the rest, without having hinted a word more on the 
 subject of his business. The next day he went back home. 
 Upon his return some of his neighbors, curious to know how 
 he had prospered, asked him if he had collected any money 
 
 from Mr. Webster. "I didn't ask him, sir," said Mr. B . 
 
 " When I got to his house he was at dinner, but he came out 
 and met me as if I had been his brother. He made me go in 
 and dine with him, introduced me to a dozen Senators, mem- 
 bers of the Cabinet, and Governors — the first men in the land, 
 sir — and treated me like I was a prince. He asked my opinion 
 on political matters before the whole lot of them, and made me 
 feel like I was as good as any of them. Why, sir, I'd have 
 died before I'd have asked such a man for a cent. Let him 
 take his time about my bill." 
 
 Mr. Lanman, his Secretary, says of him : " He made money 
 with ease, and spent it without reflection. He had accounts 
 with various banks, and men of all parties were glad to ac- 
 commodate him with loans, if he wanted them. He kept no 
 record of his deposits, unless it were on slips of paper hidden 
 in his pockets; these matters were generally left with his Sec- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 539 
 
 retary. His notes were seldom or never regularly protested, 
 and when they were, they caused him an immense deal of 
 mental anxiety. When the writer has sometimes drawn a 
 check for a couple of thousand dollars, he has not even looked 
 at it, but packed it away in his pockets, like so much waste 
 paper. During his long professional career, he earned money 
 enough to make a dozen fortunes, but spent it liberally, and 
 gave it away to the poor by hundreds and thousands. Begging 
 letters from women and unfortunate men were received by him 
 almost daily, at certain periods; and one instance is remem- 
 bered where, on six successive days, he sent remittances of 
 fifty and one hundred dollars to people with whom he was en- 
 tirely unacquainted. He was indeed careless, but strictly and 
 religiously honest, in all his money matters. He knew not 
 how to be otherwise. The last fee which he ever received for 
 a single legal argument was $i i,ooo. 
 
 "A sanctimonious lady once called upon Mr. Webster, in 
 Washington, with a long and pitiful story about her misfor- 
 tunes and poverty, and asked him for a donation to defray her 
 expenses to her home in a western city. He listened with all 
 the patience he could manage, expressed his surprise that she 
 should have called upon him for money, simply because he was 
 an officer of the Government, and that, too, when she was a total 
 stranger to him ; reprimanded her in very plain language for her 
 improper conduct, and handed her a note of fifty dollars!' 
 
 " He had called," says the same writer, " upon tlie cashier 
 of the bank where he kept an account, for the purpose of get- 
 ting a draft discounted, when that gentleman expressed some 
 surprise, and casually inquired why he wanted so much money? 
 'To spend; to buy bread and meat,' replied Mr. Webster, a 
 little annoyed at this speech. 
 
 "'But,' returned the cashier, 'you have already upon deposit 
 in the bank no less than three thousand dollars, and I was only 
 wondering why you wanted so much money.' 
 
 " This was indeed the truth, but Mr. Webster had forgotten it." 
 
 Mr. Webster's health had been failing for some time, and by 
 the opening of the year 1852 he had become a constant suf- 
 ferer. On the 4th of July, 185 1, he delivered the oration at 
 the laying of the corner-stone of the new Capitol at Washing- 
 
540 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ton. He was so much exhausted that it was with difficulty 
 that he could get through with his address. This was his last 
 appearance on a public occasion. Early in May, 1852, he was 
 thrown from a carriage near Marshfield, and was considerably 
 injured. His health grew rapidly worse after this. In June he 
 managed to get back to Washington, to resume the duties of 
 his office, but was compelled to return to Marshfield in August. 
 Having but little hope of recovery, he resigned his office to- 
 wards the end of August, and spent his last days in quiet and 
 in the retirement of his home. He failed rapidly, and on the 
 the 24th of October, 1852, died at his home at Marshfield, sur- 
 rounded by his family and a number of devoted friends, at the 
 age of seventy. 
 
 The President of the United States was anxious that the dead 
 statesman should be honored with a public funeral at the ex- 
 pense of the nation; but Mr, Webster had left instructions that 
 his burial should be simply that of a private citizen, and his 
 wishes were respected. 
 
 At noon on Friday, the 29th of October, the remains of the 
 dead man were laid in an open coffin under the old elm tree, 
 under whose branches he had loved to sit in life. It was a 
 glorious autumn day. "Around him," says Mr. Hillard, "was 
 the landscape that he had loved, and above him was nothing 
 but the dome of the covering heaven. The sunshine fell upon 
 the dead man's face, and the breeze blew over it. A lover of 
 nature, he seemed to be gathered into her maternal arms, and 
 to lie like a child upon a mother's lap." A vast crowd from 
 all parts of the Union within reach had assembled to take part 
 in the ceremonies, and passed in silence by the body, to look 
 for the last time upon the face New England had loved so well, 
 " In that crowd there came one unknown man, in a plain and 
 rustic garb, who truly and fitly, because in homeliest words, 
 interpreted the thoughts that silently oppressed them all, when, 
 looking down upon the face of the dead, he said, as if for him- 
 self alone, ' Daniel Webster, the world, without you, will seem 
 lonesome.' " 
 
 When the funeral services were over, six sturdy New England 
 farmers bore the coffin on their shoulders to the grave, and laid 
 the dead statesman down to his eternal rest. 
 
JOHN C. CALHOUN. 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 
 
 ABOUT the year 1732, a Presbyterian family by the name 
 of Calhoun, consisting of the parents, four sons and a 
 daughter, emigrated from the North of Ireland to America, and 
 settled in Pennsylvania. Somewhat later the family removed 
 to Western Virginia, but were soon driven from their new 
 home by the Indians after the defeat of General Braddock. In 
 1755 they passed Southward, hoping to find a securer place, 
 and settled in the extreme West of South Carolina, in what is 
 now Abbeville District, but then an unbroken wilderness. 
 
 The youngest of the four sons was Patrick Calhoun, who was 
 twenty-nine years old at the time the Calhoun settlement was 
 founded. He was an earnest, impulsive man, and as stubborn 
 as only a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian can be. He was also a 
 man of sterling integrity and of great personal bravery. In 
 1760 the Calhoun settlement was attacked by the Cherokees, 
 who broke it up, killed one-half the settlers, and drove the 
 others to the lower counties, where they were obliged to remain 
 until the peace of 1763 made it safe for them to return to their 
 forest home. A company of mounted rangers was organized 
 to protect the frontiers against the Indians, and Patrick Calhoun 
 was elected to the command. He performed his task with he- 
 roic fidelity. In 1770 he married Martha Caldwell, a native of 
 Virginia, but the daughter of an Irish Presbyterian. During 
 the interval which elapsed between the close of the French and 
 Indian War, and the outbreak of the Revolution, the Calhoun 
 settlement prospered, and Patrick with it. He set himself to 
 work to correct the deficiencies of his early education, and 
 became a surveyor. The Revolution brought severe suffering 
 to the settlement, for it exposed it to the attacks of the British, 
 the Tories and the Cherokees. Patrick Calhoun embraced the 
 Colonial cause with enthusiasm, and bore his part in many a 
 hard-fought encounter with the savages and the Tories. He 
 
 (541) 
 
542 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 was rewarded by the triumphant close of the war, and the 
 establishment of the independence of his adopted country. 
 
 The Calhoun family belonged to the class of poor, plam, 
 hardworking people who settled the upper country of South 
 Carolina. There was a wide difference between this class and 
 the wealthy aristocratic settlers of the low country. " In the 
 lower country, the estates were large, the slaves numerous, the 
 white inhabitants few, idle and profuse. The upper country 
 was peopled by a sturdier race, who possessed farms of moder- 
 ate extent hewn out of the wilderness by their own strong arms, 
 and tilled by themselves, with the aid of few slaves. Between 
 the upper and lower country there was a vast region of sandy 
 hills and'rocky acclivities, uninhabited, which rendered the two 
 sections of one Province separate communities, scarcely known 
 to one another. Down almost to the beginning of the Revolu- 
 tionary War, the farmers of the upper country were not repre- 
 sented in the Legislature of South Carolina, though they were 
 then as numerous as the planters of the lower country. Be- 
 tween the people of the two sections, there was little unity of 
 feeling. The lordly planters of the lower country regarded 
 their Western fellow-citizens as plebeian; the farmers of the 
 upper country had some contempt for the planters as effemin- 
 ate, aristocratic and Tory. The Revolution abased the pride, 
 lessened the wealth and improved the politics of the planters ; 
 a revised Constitution, in 1790, gave preponderance to the up- 
 country farmers in the popular branch of the Legislature ; and 
 thenceforth South Carolina was a sufficiently homogeneous 
 commonwealth. ************ 
 
 " Patrick Calhoun was the most radical of Democrats ; one 
 of your despisers of conventionality; an enemy of lawyers, 
 thinking the common sense of mankind competent to decide 
 what is right without their aid ; a particular opponent of the 
 arrogant pretensions of the low-country aristocrats. When the 
 up-country people began to claim a voice in the Government, 
 long since due to their numbers, the planters, of course, op- 
 posed their demand. To establish their right to vote, Patrick 
 Calhoun and a party of his neighbors, armed with rifles, 
 marched across the State to within twenty-three miles of 
 Charleston, and there voted in defiance of the plantation lords. 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 543 
 
 Events like this led to the admission of members from the up- 
 country ; and Patrick Calhoun was the first to represent that 
 section in the Legislature. It was entirely characteristic of him 
 to vote against the adoption of the Federal Constitution, on the 
 ground that it authorized other people to tax Carolinians ; 
 which he said was taxation without representation."^ 
 
 John Caldwell Calhoun, the third son and fourth child of 
 this sturdy Democrat, was born on his father's farm in Abbe- 
 ville District, South Carolina, on the i8th of March, 1782. He 
 was grave and thoughtful as a child, and inherited his father's 
 ardent nature and persevering habits, and also his love of poli- 
 tics. He was early taught to read, and was set when quite 
 young to read the Bible, his parents striving, though without 
 success, to implant in him their own strong Calvinistic views. 
 He took more readily to his father's politics, and in after life 
 declared that he could distinctly remember standing by his 
 father's side, when only five years old, listening to a political 
 conversation, and that he remembered hearing his father say, 
 when he was only nine years old, that the best government is 
 that "which allows to each individual the largest liberty com- 
 patible with order and tranquillity, and that improvements in 
 political science consist in throwing off needless restraints." 
 He was fond of reading, and history and metaphysics were his 
 favorites. By the time he was thirteen he had read them with 
 such industry as seriously to impair his health. 
 
 In 1795 Patrick Calhoun died, leaving his widow with but a 
 small property for the support of herself and her children. 
 Young Calhoun continued to reside with his widowed mother, 
 his life being that of a farmer's boy of the middle class. Though 
 he was very anxious to obtain an education, he was resolved to 
 make no effort to do so, until he was in a position to pursue 
 his studies without impairing his mother's comfort by the ex- 
 pense she would be subjected to in order to send him to school. 
 He spent the next five years on the farm, working hard and 
 giving a good part of his leisure time to hunting and fishing. 
 In the spring of 1800, his eldest brother, who held a situation in 
 a mercantile house in Charleston, came home on a visit. He 
 
 ^Famous Americans of Recent Times. Pp. 1 15, 118. 
 
544 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 was struck with the inteUigence of his younger brother, and 
 urged him to prepare himself for the study of the law. Young 
 Calhoun consented to to do this, but not until he had arranged 
 with his mother and brother for the means of pursuing his 
 studies for seven years. He said he would be content with no 
 half-way preparation — that he preferred to pass his life as a 
 plain planter rather than a half-educated professional man. 
 
 His only sister had married Dr. Waddell, a Presbyterian 
 clergyman, who taught an academy in Columbia County, 
 Georgia, a school long considered the best in the South. It 
 was decided that John should enter this school and prepare 
 himself for college. He entered Dr. Waddell's Academy in 
 June, 1800, and applied himself with such diligence to his 
 studies, that in the fall of 1802 he was able to enter the Junior 
 Class at Yale College. Yale was then a stronghold of Feder- 
 alism, and Patrick Calhoun's son had an excellent opportunity 
 of learning the other side of the political questions of the day, 
 and of imbibing new ideas on the subject. He was a close 
 student, and among his other studies cultivated the art of 
 extempore speaking. In his Senior year he was one of a class 
 of seventy, and of this number only two or three besides him- 
 self were Republican in their views. At one of his recitations. 
 Dr. Dwight, the distinguished President of the College, asked 
 him, "What is the legitimate source of power ?" " The peo- 
 ple," at once answered young Calhoun. Dr. Dwight denied 
 the truth of this answer, and the hour that should have been 
 given to the recitation was passed in an argument upon this 
 question between the professor and his pupil. Dr. Dwight was 
 so much impressed with the ability displayed by Calhoun that 
 he declared to a friend that the young man possessed talent 
 enough to be President of the United States, and would doubt- 
 less attain that eminence in due time. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun graduated at Yale in 1804, and spent the next 
 eighteen months in study at the law school at Litchfield, Con- 
 necticut, then the only institution of the kind in the country. 
 He is said to have studied hard and to have acquired the repu- 
 tation of an excellent debater at this school, and was noted as 
 a young man of good moral character and pure habits. In 
 1806, he returned to South Carolina, and after continuing his 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 545 
 
 studies in a law office at Charleston, returned to his home in 
 Abbeville District, and completed his preparation for the bar, 
 to which he was admitted in 1807. 
 
 In June, 1807, shortly before he had completed his legal 
 studies, occurred the outrage upon the frigate Chesapeake by 
 the British frigate Leopard. It aroused a storm of indignation 
 in all parts of the country, and especially in the South. A 
 meeting was held at Abbeville to denounce the outrage, and 
 to urge the Government to take measures to uphold the national 
 honor. Mr. Calhoun drew up the resolutions on this occasion, 
 and supported them in a brilliant speech. He made such a 
 happy impression upon his neighbors that he was nominated 
 and elected to the Legislature of the State. He was a bril- 
 liant and engaging young man, grave, dignified, and earnest, 
 and his manner was marked, as it was through life, with a 
 winning courtesy that was irresistible. He served two sessions 
 in the Legislature, in which he took a leading position. In 
 national affairs he gave his hearty sympathy to the policy of 
 Mr. Jefferson, and supported Mr. Madison for the Presidency. 
 The intervals between the sessions of the Legislature he de- 
 voted to the practice of law at Abbeville. He was very popu- 
 lar, and gave such satisfaction to the people of his district that 
 in the fall of 18 10 he was elected to Congress from the Abbe- 
 ville District. 
 
 In May, i8i i, Mr. Calhoun married his second cousin, Flor- 
 ide Calhoun, by whom he obtained considerable property. 
 Soon after his marriage he removed from the old homestead to 
 Bath, on the Savannah River, a few miles distant. 
 
 In November, i8i i, Mr. Calhoun took his seat in the Twelfth 
 Congress, and was appointed by Mr. Clay, the Speaker, a mem- 
 ber of the Committee of Foreign Affairs. He had now, at the 
 age of twenty-nine, fairly entered upon his political life. He 
 soon took a prominent position in Congress, and before the 
 close of the session was regarded as one of the leading mem- 
 bers from the South. He was known to be in ardent sympathy 
 with the war party, and for this reason was appointed on the 
 Committee of Foreign Affairs by Mr. Clay. He is believed to 
 have prepared the report of this Committee on the relations of 
 the United States with Great Britain, which indicated the deter- 
 35 
 
54^ AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 mi nation of the majority in Congress to go to war with Eng- 
 land. The Chairman of the Committee withdrew about this 
 time, and Mr. Calhoun succeeded to his place. In this capacity 
 he reported the bill for the Sixty Days' Embargo, gave a vig- 
 orous support to President Madison's war message, and reported 
 the bill declaring war between the United States and Great 
 Britain. The speeches by which he supported these measures 
 were able and brilliant, and placed him next to Mr Clay in the 
 advocacy of the war. He defended President Madison's course 
 in proceeding with the war in spite of the withdrawal of the 
 British Orders in Council, and declared that the refusal of Great 
 Britain to relinquish her claim to the right to impress Ameri- 
 can seamen was a sufficient justification of the war. He also 
 urged a liberal increase of the navy. Throughout the war he 
 gave an efficient support to the Administration, and urged that 
 every resource of the country should be drawn upon to carry 
 the contest through to a successful issue. 
 
 Just before the close of the war a bill was introduced into 
 the House to charter a new National Bank. Mr. Calhoun op- 
 posed it on the ground that the bank was not obliged to redeem 
 its notes in specie. He declared that if news of the close of 
 the war should arrive that day, the bill would not receive fifteen 
 votes. News of the treaty of peace did unexpectedly arrive 
 that very day, and the next day the Bank bill was overwhelm- 
 ingly defeated, receiving about as many votes as Mr. Calhoun 
 had predicted. This instance of political sagacity won him 
 much credit. 
 
 In the Fourteenth Congress the proposition for a National 
 Bank was revived, and Mr. Calhoun reported the bill charter- 
 ing the Bank of the United States of i8i6, and carried it 
 through the House. 
 
 The Tariff of 1816 received Mr. Calhoun's unqualified sup- 
 port, as he was at this time a firm believer in and an ardent 
 advocate of protection to the infant manufactures of the country 
 that had sprung up during the war. He was mainly instru- 
 mental in carrying the Tariff through the House. 
 
 Mr. Madison, in his annual message, recommended to Con- 
 gress the construction of a system of roads and canals by the 
 General Government. The need of rapid and easy communi- 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 547 
 
 cation between the distant parts of the country had been so 
 keenly felt during the war that the President declared that 
 Congress could engage in no more " wise and patriotic consid- 
 eration" than the discussion of a plan to supply this great want 
 of the nation. Mr. Calhoun took up the scheme with enthu- 
 siasm, and at the next session of Congress reported a bill 
 appropriating a million and a half dollars due the Govern- 
 ment by the United States Bank, and also all dividends that 
 should be declared on the stock in that Bank held by the Gov- 
 ernment, as a permanent fund for internal improvements. He 
 proposed that each State should be entitled to a share in the 
 expenditures of this fund, in proportion to its representation in 
 Congress. The bill was carried through the House and Senate 
 by a close vote, and sent to the President. To the surprise 
 and chagrin of Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Madison vetoed the bill, on 
 the ground that Congress had no constitutional power to make 
 such appropriations. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was one of the members who voted for the 
 Compensation Bill in 1816. His course was severely denounced 
 by his opponents at home, and a formidable opposition was 
 organized against him. He at once took the stump, justified 
 his vote, and carried his re-election by a handsome majority. 
 At the next session, when the motion to repeal the Compensa- 
 tion Bill was made, he opposed it with all his energy. 
 
 With the administration of President Madison, Mr. Calhoun's 
 six years in Congress came to an end. He withdrew from the 
 House on the 4th of March, 18 17, and accepted the position 
 of Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Monroe. He 
 soon after removed his family from South Carolina to Wash- 
 ington, and resided permanently at the Capitol for the next 
 seven years. These years were perhaps the most peaceful and 
 unclouded of his whole life. 
 
 Immediately after the inauguration of Mr. Monroe, the House 
 of Representatives resolved by a vote of 90 to 75 that Congress 
 has constitutional power to appropriate money for the construc- 
 tion of post roads and canals, and the improvement of the 
 rivers, lakes and harbors of the country. By the same resolu- 
 tion, the Secretaries of War and of the Treasury were directed 
 to report to Congress, at its next session, a plan for appropria- 
 
548 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 tions in aid of these works. Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of 
 the Treasury, was known to be opposed to the scheme, and 
 its friends looked to Mr. Calhoun as their champion in the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun found the, affairs of the War Department in a 
 most disorganized condition. A vast amount of unfinished 
 business had been turned over to him by his predecessor; 
 every branch of the service was in confusion, and deferred 
 claims to the amount of fifty million dollars were to be settled. 
 The new Secretary, by a series of vigorous and able measures, 
 soon restored order in the Department. A code of rules for 
 the management of the business of the War office was drawn 
 up by him, and put in operation. They remained in force until 
 the vast increase of the Department at the outbreak of the 
 Civil War compelled the substitution of a new code. The 
 unsettled claims were speedily adjusted, and a law for the re- 
 organization of the staff of the army was carried through Con- 
 gress. In the despatch of the business of the Department Mr. 
 Calhoun was prompt, punctual, energetic, firm and courteous. 
 He gave great care to the instruction and drill of the army, 
 secured the fortification of the coast of the United States, and 
 reduced the expenses of his office to the lowest sum consistent 
 with the proper discharge of the public business. He made no 
 removals from his Department for political reasons. During 
 the seven years he held the Secretaryship but two clerks were 
 removed, and both of these for good cause. 
 
 Shortly after the opening of Mr. Monroe's administration 
 occurred the invasion of Florida, the seizure of the Spanish 
 post at St. Mark's, and the execution of Arbuthnot and Am- 
 brister by General Jackson. The matter was considered in a 
 series of Cabinet Councils. Mr. Calhoun urged the President 
 to repudiate the action of Jackson, and to arrest him and bring 
 him to trial for exceeding his orders. He was the only mem- 
 ber of the Cabinet, however, who took this view of the case, 
 and it was resolved by the President to sustain Jackson, and 
 approve his course. The discovery of Mr. Calhoun's action by 
 Gen. Jackson, after the latter had become President, some years 
 later, produced the quarrel between them to which we have 
 referred elsewhere. 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 549 
 
 When the Missouri Compromise Bill was submitted to the 
 President for his signature, he requested the advice of his 
 Cabinet upon the subject. Mr. Calhoun advised him to sign 
 the bill, as he regarded it as a Constitutional measure, inas- 
 much as, he said. Congress has power to prohibit slavery in 
 the Territories. He was of the opinion, however, that such 
 prohibition would be bi|iding upon the Territories only while 
 they remained such, and would have no authority over them 
 after their entrance into the Union as States. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was prominent among the distinguished men 
 spoken of at this time as Mr. Monroe's successor in the Presi- 
 dency. His ability as Secretary of War, was conceded on all 
 sides, and he was regarded, especially by the powerful State of 
 Pennsylvania, as a statesman of broad, national views, and free 
 from sectional prejudices. As the contest deepened, however, 
 his friends deemed it most prudent not to risk his future pros- 
 pects by a nomination for the Presidency. He was therefore 
 nominated for the Vice-Presidency, and Avas chosen by a hand- 
 some majority in the elections of 1824. The contest for the 
 Presidency was thrown into the House of Representatives, and 
 resulted in the choice of Mr. Adams in the spring of 1825. 
 
 In March, 1825, Mr. Calhoun entered upon his new duties 
 as Vice-President of the United States. Previous to his with- 
 drawal from the War Department he removed his family to 
 South Carolina, and established them at Fort Hill, in Pendle- 
 ton, now Pickens District, an estate which Mrs. Calhoun had 
 inherited from her mother. He continued to reside there for 
 the remainder of his life. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was again nominated for the Vice-Presidency 
 on the ticket with General Jackson in 1828, and was elected. 
 During his first term he took no part in the political struggles 
 of the times, but his participation in politics after his re-election 
 was more active. In the twelve years that had elapsed since 
 the passage of the Tariff of 1816, the position of the sections 
 with reference to the question of Protection had changed. 
 The Northern States, whose capital was now invested in manu- 
 factures, were in favor of a Protective Tariff; the South, whose 
 interests, as an agricultural section, demanded Free Trade, 
 opposed the Tariff. Mr. Calhoun had come to hold the South- 
 
550 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ern view of the matter, and in 1828 was as much opposed to 
 the Protective system as he had formerly been in favor of it. 
 He began to manifest this difference of sentiment in 1824, and 
 his political opponents taunted him with changing his views 
 from interested motives ; he himself declared that his change 
 was sincere, and the result of his twelve years of deeper study 
 ol the subject. Be this as it may, the year 1824 saw him a 
 fiery opponent of the Protective system, and in 1828 he was the 
 recognized leader of the Free Trade party of the South. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was thoroughly distrustful of General Jackson's 
 willingness to oppose the Protective policy, and saw that with 
 the Administration in sympathy with that policy the South 
 would have no means of escaping its evils. He therefore began 
 to look about him for a remedy, and at length hit upon one in 
 the sovereignty of the States. He declared that the several 
 States had each the right to prevent the execution of, within its 
 own limits, or to nullify, any law of Congress it might deem 
 unconstitutional. Here, he imagined, lay the remedy for the 
 Tariff — in its nullification within their hmits by the Southern 
 States. Had he been as deep a student of the Constitution as 
 his admirers have claimed, Mr. Calhoun would have seen at a 
 glance that this singular doctrine was utterly incompatible with 
 any sound view of that instrument, and must simply result in 
 the destruction of the Constitution and the overthrow of the 
 Union. Mr. Calhoun, however, was like his father in the 
 tenacity with which he clung to his opinions. Having thought 
 out a proposition, and having arrived at a conclusion satisfac- 
 tory to himself, he was convinced that he was absolutely and 
 unqualifiedly right, and could not possibly be wrong, and no 
 force of reasoning could drive him from his conclusion. He 
 was a man sufificient unto himself in all things ; and yet an 
 honest man, sincerely desiring his country's good. His coun- 
 try, however, was, first of all, and in the highest sense, the 
 State of South Carolina, next the Southern States, and last of 
 all the Union. He never learned to take a broad, national view 
 of public affairs. When the interests of his State and the 
 Union coincided, he was for the Union. When they differed, 
 he regarded his first duty as due to his State. 
 
 In the summer of 1828, Mr. Calhoun embodied his nuUifica- 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 55 1 
 
 tion doctrines in an elaborate paper, which he placed in the 
 hands of a committee of the South CaroHna Legislature. This 
 document was reported with some modifications to the Legis- 
 lature, and though it was never formally adopted, was published 
 by order of that body, and extensively circulated, and became 
 generally known as "The South Carolina Exposition." The lead- 
 ing assertions of this exposition are thus aptly summed up: " i. 
 Every duty imposed for protection is a violation of the Con- 
 stitution, which empowers Congress to impose taxes for rev- 
 enue only. 2. The whole burden of the protective system is 
 borne by agriculture and commerce. 3. The whole of the 
 advantages of protection accrue to the manufacturing States. 
 4. In other words, the-South, the South-west, and two or three 
 commercial cities, support the Government, and pour a stream 
 of treasure into the coffers of the manufacturers. 5. The re- 
 sult must soon be, that the people of South Carolina will have 
 either to abandon the culture of rice and cotton, and remove 
 to some other country, or else to become a manufacturing com- 
 munity, which would only be ruin in another form." The 
 remedy proposed by the Exposition was nullification. The 
 State of South Carolina was, after giving due warning to the 
 General Government, to declare the protective acts "null and 
 void," and then if Congress refused to repeal them, to prevent 
 their execution within her limits. 
 
 We have stated our belief in Mr. Calhoun's sincerit}^ in ac- 
 cepting the doctrines enunciated in this Exposition. He was 
 guilty of a gross inconsistency, however, which he has never 
 satisfactorily explained, and which admits of but one explana- 
 tion, namely, his ambition to be President. While the cham- 
 pion of the Free Trade policy, and willing to go to the extent 
 of destroying the Union in its vindication, he was in the Presi- 
 dential campaign of 1828, the energetic supporter of General 
 Jackson, zvho was fully committed to the policy of Protection. 
 
 The South Carolina Exposition did not attract much atten- 
 tion at the time of its publication. Its doctrines obtained a 
 wider celebrity when repeated by Mr. Hayne in the Senate of 
 the United States in his speech on Senator Foote's resolution. 
 Mr. Webster, in his famous reply, though answering him, struck 
 over his head sharply at Mr. Calhoun, who was in the chair of 
 
552 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the Senate, and whom he supposed to be the father of the 
 obnoxious doctrines. 
 
 In consequence of this temporary failure of the Exposition, 
 Mr. Calhoun's responsibility for the nullification doctrine was 
 not generally known, and it was seriously proposed by some 
 of the leaders of the Democratic party to drop General Jackson 
 at the end of his first term and nominate Calhoun as his suc- 
 cessor. This plan coming to the knowledge of General Jack- 
 son, was deeply resented by him, and a coldness ensued between 
 the President and Vice-President. A little later the President 
 learned the part taken by Mr. Calhoun in Mr. Monroe's Cabi- 
 net, with reference to his invasion of Florida. He had been 
 ignorant of this until now, but at once gave way to furious 
 anger against Calhoun, and the coldness between them deep- 
 ened into a bitter quarrel. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun now gave his aid to the old opposition to the 
 Administration, led by Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, and 
 succeeded in defeating Martin Van Buren's nomination to be 
 Minister to England. General Jackson thereupon succeeded 
 in procuring Van Buren's nomination as Vice President, on 
 the ticket with himself This triumph made it clear to Mr. 
 Calhoun that he had no hope of becoming Gen. Jackson's suc- 
 cessor at the end of his second term, and that that honor was 
 destined for Mr. Van Buren. Although his term of office had 
 not yet expired, he at once resigned the Vice Presidency, and 
 was about the same time elected by the Legislature of South 
 Carolina to the Federal Senate, in the place of Mr. Hayne, 
 who had just been chosen Governor of the State. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun returned to the Senate in 1832. He took his 
 seat under peculiar circumstances. The Tariff of 1832 had 
 been passed, and the Legislature of South Carolina, having 
 resolved to apply the nullification remedy, was passing laws to 
 cany it into effect. Mr. Calhoun was the inspiring source of 
 the acts of South Carolina, and came back to the Senate with 
 the full determination to support his State against the General 
 Government. We have already related the history of the Nul- 
 lification excitement, and have shown the course of the General 
 Government and of South Carolina, and need not repeat the 
 story here. When Congress, in response to the President's 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, 553 
 
 appeal for additional legislation to enable him to execute the 
 laws, passed the measure known as the " Force Bill," Mr. Cal- 
 houn warmly opposed it, but without success. He accepted 
 and voted for Mr. Clay's compromise as a settlement of the 
 trouble, in preference to the administration bill for the imme- 
 diate reduction of the Tariff to a revenue standard. He was 
 human enough to be unwilling that the President, whom he 
 hated, should have the glory of giving peace to the country. 
 It cost him a bitter struggle to accept this settlement, which 
 consigned him to a lower place than he had usually held in the 
 public estimation. He appears to have recognized the fact that 
 his hopes of obtaining the Presidency, which he greatly desired, 
 must be forever laid aside. His cup was full when he reflected 
 that he must give way to Martin Van Buren, who, of all men, 
 he despised most cordially. He still remained the chief of the 
 extreme Southern party, but his influence with the North and 
 even with the Conservative class of the South was at an end. 
 From this time there was nothing national about him ; he was 
 the leader of a section. He had formulated his system, and 
 henceforth was incapable of learning anything new.^ 
 
 1 Miss Martineau, who met and conversed with him about this time, thus speaks 
 of him in her "Retrospect of Western Travel:" 
 
 " Mr. Calhoun, the cast-iron man, who looks as if he had never been bom and 
 could never be extinguished, would come in to keep our understandings on a pain- 
 ful stretch for a short while, and leave us to take to pieces his close, rapid, theoret- 
 ical, illustrated talk, and see what we could make of it. * * * His speech abounds 
 in figures, truly illustrative, if that which they illustrate were true also. But his 
 theories of government (almost the only subject upon which his thoughts are 
 employed), the squarest and compactest that ever were made, are composed out of 
 limited elements, and are not, therefore, likely to stand service very well. It is at 
 first extremely interesting to hear Mr. Calhoun talk; and there is a never-failing 
 evidence of power in all that he says and does, which commands intellectual rever- 
 ence ; but the admiration is too soon turned into regret, into absolute melancholy. 
 It is impossible to resist the conviction that all this force can be at best but useless, 
 and is but too likely to be very mischievous. His mind has long lost all power of 
 communicating with any other. I know of no man who lives in such utter intel- 
 lectual solitude. He meets men and harangues by the fii'eside as in the Senate; 
 he is wrought like a piece of machinery, set going vehemently by a weight, and 
 stops while you answer ; he either passes by what you say, or twists it into a suita- 
 bility with what is in his head, and begins to lecture again. Of course, a mind 
 like this can have little influence in the Senate, except by virtue, perpetually wear 
 ing out, of what it did in its less eccentric days ; but its influence at home is to be 
 
554 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun joined with Clay and Webster in denouncing 
 the President for the removal of the deposits from the United 
 States Bank, and voted for the resolutions of censure. 
 
 The Bank controversy led to the formation of a new party, 
 known as Whigs. Mr. Calhoun, although strictly speaking 
 the chief of the nullification party, for the next four years acted 
 with the Whigs in national questions. He declined to be con- 
 sidered a Whig, however. 
 
 The Slavery agitation had never been quieted, and the anti- 
 slavery party had for some time been using the United States 
 mails to circulate their publications in the Southern States. In 
 his last annual message. President Jackson urged upon Con- 
 gress the necessity of passing laws excluding such publications 
 from the mails. The administration party in the Senate wished 
 to refer this part of the message to the Post-Office Com- 
 mittee ; but Mr. Calhoun obtained its reference to a special 
 committee, of which he was made chairman. This committee 
 reported a bill subjecting to severe pains and penalties any 
 Postmaster who should knowingly receive and put into the 
 mails any publication or picture touching the abolition of 
 Slavery, to go into any State or Territory in which the circula- 
 tion of such publication or picture should be forbidden by the 
 local laws. This preposterous measure was rejected by a vote 
 of 25 to 19. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun opposed the reception of the petitions that 
 were constantly being presented to Congress for the abolition 
 
 dreaded. There is no hope that an intellect so cast in narrow theories will accom- 
 modate itself to varying circumstances; and there is every danger that it will 
 break up all that it can in order to remould the materials in its own way. Mr. 
 Calhoun is as full as ever of his nullification doctrines ; and those who know the 
 force that is in him, and his utter incapacity of modification by other minds (after 
 having gone through as remarkable a revolution of political opinion as perhaps any 
 man ever experienced), will no more expect repose and self- retention from him 
 than from a volcano in full force. Relaxation is no longer in the power of his 
 will. I never saw any one who so completely gave me the idea of possession. 
 Half an hour's conversation with him is enough to make a necessitarian of any- 
 body. Accordingly, he is more complained of than blamed by his enemies. His 
 moments of softness by his family, when recurring to old college days, are hailed 
 by all as a relief to the vehement working of the intellectual machine — a relief 
 equally to himself and others. These moments are as touching to the observer as 
 tears on the face of a soldier." 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 555 
 
 of slavery in the District of Columbia and in the Territories. 
 He declared that as Congress had no power over the subject, 
 the petitions should not be heard ; the Senate decided, how- 
 ever, to receive the petitions and reject their prayers. In the 
 latter part of 1836, Mr. Calhoun renewed his attack upon the 
 anti-slavery petitions. He insisted that the abolitionists must 
 be silenced by prompt and efficient measures, or the Union 
 could not last. In this speech he declared slavery to be an 
 unmixed good morally and economically, and pronounced it 
 the only basis on which free political institutions could be 
 reared. 
 
 As deeply as he detested Mr. Van Buren, Mr. Calhoun ap- 
 proved his sub-Treasury scheme, and gave it his support. The 
 Whigs, who could not afford to lose his vote at this critical 
 time, resented his defection. As he was not a member of the 
 Whig party, however, they had no good ground for their anger. 
 Henry Clay, in his speech on the Independent Treasury, at- 
 tacked Mr. Calhoun with all the invective he was master of, 
 and taunted him with deserting his principles. This led to a 
 sharp debate, the speeches of which, apart from their rhetorical 
 ability, are of great value for the insight they give us into the 
 secret history of the Compromise of 1833. Mr. Calhoun re- 
 garded his as the vindication of his public life. 
 
 "Previous to this debate," says Mr. Hildreth, "he had been 
 involved in another, in which he had almost the whole Senate 
 upon him. It was equally the policy of both the political par- 
 ties to keep the slavery question out of Congress, as a subject 
 upon which it was only difficult to speak or act without offend- 
 ing either the North or the South. With this intent both 
 Houses had adopted rules, the result of which was that all 
 petitions and memorials on that subject were at once laid 
 upon the table without being read or debated. The Northern 
 Whigs had indeed voted against this, contending that all peti- 
 tions ought to be received and referred to their appropriate 
 committees, but still they were as well satisfied as their op- 
 ponents to avoid or escape debate. Mr. Calhoun did not sym- 
 pathize in this feeling. Unlike the leaders of the two great 
 political parties, he had no friends to be placed in an awkward 
 predicament, nor any apprehensions of compromising himself 
 
556 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 He had already declared his conviction that slavery was a 
 positive political and social good. It appears by a letter of 
 his, written in 1847, to a member of the Alabama Legislature, 
 and published since his death, that he was from the beginning 
 in favor of ' forcing,' as he expressed it, the slavery issue on 
 the North, believing that delay was dangerous, and that the 
 South was relatively stronger, both morally and politically, 
 than she would ever be again. 
 
 "Not discouraged by the failure of the South, and even of 
 his own State, of which he complained in the letter above re- 
 ferred to, to back up sufficiently his former attempts, he had 
 offered a series of resolutions having the same object in view. 
 The chief debate was on the fifth, which declared that the in- 
 termeddling of any State or States, or their citizens, to abolish 
 slavery in the Territories or the District of Columbia, on the 
 ground that it was immoral or sinful, or the passage of any 
 measure by Congress with that view, would be a direct and 
 dangerous attack on the institutions of all the slave-holding 
 States. Mr. Clay moved as a substitute two resolutions, one 
 applying to the District, the other to the Territories. These 
 resolutions omitted all reference to the moral or religious 
 character of slavery. For 'intermeddling' they substituted 
 'interference.' The abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
 lumbia was pronounced a violation of the faith implied by the 
 cessions of Maryland and Virginia, and its abolition in any 
 Territory, a breach of good faith towards the inhabitants who 
 had been permitted to settle with their slaves therein, and in 
 both cases a ground of just alarm to the slave-holding States, 
 tending to disturb and endanger the Union. 
 
 " Mr. Calhoun, though not favoring this amendment, per- 
 ceiving that the Senate would go no further, voted for it. In 
 the course of this debate, he stated, in reference to the Mis- 
 souri Compromise, that when it was made he was in favor of 
 it, but that he had since been led entirely to change his opinion, 
 and to regard it as a dangerous measure. He had condemned 
 Mr. Randolph's opposition to it as too uncompromising, too 
 impracticable, but was now fully satisfied that if the Southern 
 members had acted and voted in the spirit of Mr. Randolph, 
 abolition mieht have been crushed forever in the bud. He 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 557 
 
 rejected, with scorn, Mr. Buchanan's ofifer to support the 
 amended resolutions, with a view to soothe and tranquihze the 
 feehngs of the South. The South was calm and collected, and 
 could take care of herself He was anxious — and such was 
 his object in offering these resolutions — to present some com- 
 mon ground on which the reflective and patriotic of every 
 quarter of the Union might rally to arrest the approaching 
 catastrophe — an object in which the North was at least as much 
 interested as the South. To the new charges made against 
 him by Mr. Clay, of being a partisan of the Administration, 
 he indignantly replied that he was no partisan of any man or 
 any Administration. He supported the Constitutional Trea- 
 sury because it accorded with his principles and views of 
 policy; and he stood prepared to oppose or support, on the 
 same ground, other measures which the Administration might 
 propose. It was, he said, his fortune to stand in the Senate 
 alone, with no other guide but God and his conscience. He 
 sought neither office nor popular favor. He also denied ex- 
 plicitly any connection with or knowledge of the existence of 
 any party aiming at disunion. On the contrary, he was seek- 
 ing to preserve the Union, by opposing injustice and oppres- 
 sion against the weakest and most exposed section of it, in 
 which it was his lot to be cast." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun supported Mr. Van Buren for reelection to the 
 Presidency in 1840. The success of General Harrison, and 
 the entrance of the Whig party into power in 1841, threw 
 Calhoun once more into the opposition. Shortly after the in- 
 auguration of General Harrison, Mr. Calhoun renewed his 
 connection with the Democratic party, and attended the formal 
 caucus of that party, the first time he had done so since his 
 breach with President Jackson. 
 
 The veto of the Bank Bill by President Tyler was bitterly 
 resented, as we have stated, by the Whigs, and Henry Clay, in 
 his speech on the subject, denounced it as an abuse of the veto 
 power. Mr. Calhoun, in an elaborate speech, defended the 
 President's course and justified his use of the veto power. 
 Mr. Calhoun opposed the Tariff of 1842, and denounced it as 
 a violation of the principles of the Tariff Compromise of 1833, 
 as indeed it was. He supported the Treaty of Washington^ 
 
558 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 negotiated by Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton, between 
 the United States and Great Britain, and declared his prefer- 
 ence for a peaceful settlement of disputes between nations. 
 He opposed the occupation of Oregon because he believed it 
 would lead to a quarrel with Great Britain, and he was con- 
 vinced that the rapid westward movement of our population 
 would give us Oregon in due time without fighting for it. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1843, Mr. Calhoun's Senatorial term 
 expired, and he retired from the Senate. His great opponents 
 were no longer members of that body. Webster was in the 
 Cabinet and Clay was in private life. 
 
 In ^March, 1844, upon the death of Judge Upshur, Mr. Cal- 
 houn was appointed Secretary of State by President Tyler. 
 In this capacity he conducted the negotiations which led to 
 the annexation of Texas. He was in reality the father of the 
 annexation scheme, and was resolute in his determination to 
 carry it through to success. He was anxious to win for the 
 South the great accession of power which the addition of 
 Texas to the Union would give it, and worked with more than 
 his customary great energy to secure the success of his plans. 
 He was the author of nearly every step by which the annexa- 
 tion was accomplished, and the country owes him its thanks 
 for this valuable addition to the area and power of the Republic. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was offered the English mission by President 
 Polk, but declined it. He was immediately returned to the 
 Senate, one of the Senators from South Carolina resigning to 
 make a vacancy for him. He resumed his seat in December, 
 1845. He gave his assistance to the peaceable settlement of 
 the Oregon question, and opposed the Mexican War as unne- 
 cessary and unjust. He declared his utter disapproval of the 
 policy of conquering or absorbing any part of the Mexican 
 territory. He opposed the Wilmot Proviso with all the 
 strength of his great intellect, and in this struggle was the able 
 leader of the South. He took the ground that Congress had 
 no right to interfere with Slavery in any State or Territory of 
 the Union, and that any law of Congress for that purpose 
 would be unconstitutional and subversive of the Union. He 
 declared, however, that, for the sake of peace, he was willing 
 to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific. 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUX. ^^g 
 
 In a speech on the 27th of June, 1848, upona bill to organized 
 Oregon Territory, Mr. Calhoun warmly opposed the extension 
 to that bill of the anti-slavery provision of the Ordinance of 1787 
 He declared that the Constitution of its own force established 
 slaveiy in the Territories, and that Congress had no power to in- 
 terfere with it. The anti-slavery clause of the bill was supported 
 by Senators Benton, of Missouri, and Houston, of Texas who 
 voted for it. Mr. Calhoun thereupon denounced them in the 
 Senate as traitors to the South. 
 
 He took little interest in the Presidential campaign of 1848 
 but supported General Cass for the Presidency. In the brief 
 session of Congress which followed the Presidential election 
 Mr. Calhoun made energetic efforts to unite the Southern 
 members in opposition to the North upon the basis of slaverv 
 Several meetings of the Southern members were held but he 
 was not able to accomplish anything. In the debates' on the 
 organization of the Territories of Utah and New Mexico he 
 maintained his doctrine that the Constitution established and 
 protected slavery in the Territories. 
 
 He had long been a sufferer from a pulmonary complaint 
 and to this was now added an affection of the heart. His health 
 failed rapidly, and became so feeble that he was not able to 
 take an active part in the debates upon the Compromise of 
 1850. On the 4th of March, 1850, an elaborate speech which 
 he had prepared, but was not well enough to deliver, was read 
 for him in the Senate by Mr. Mason, of Virginia. It was his 
 last important utterance. In it he declared that the slavery 
 agitation, if not checked, would result before long in the dis- 
 solution of the Union, and that the Union could be preserved 
 only by maintaining an equilibrium bet^veen the North and the 
 South in the General Government. He did not elaborate this 
 Idea in his speech, but it appears from his writings, published 
 since his death, that he favored an amendment to the Consti- 
 tution placing the Executive power in the hands of t^vo Presi- 
 dents, one from the North and one from the South whose 
 assent should be necessaiy to all acts of Congress before they 
 could become laws. He declared in his speech that the equili- 
 brium could be preserved only by making the number of the 
 slave States equal to that of the free States, that their power in 
 the Senate might be equal. • 
 
560 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 The speech attracted great attention, and was answered by 
 Webster and Cass. In some brief rephes to Mr. Cass, on the 
 13th of March, Mr. Calhoun spoke for the last time in the 
 Senate. He fell back in his seat exhausted, at the close of his 
 remarks, and was carried to his lodgings. He never left his 
 bed again, and died on the 31st of March, 1850, at the age of 
 sixty-eight. His remains were conveyed to South Carolina 
 and interred there. 
 
 Daniel Webster, who had been his ablest antagonist in the 
 Senate, and whose views of our system of Government were 
 the most widely opposite to those of Mr. Calhoun, said of him, 
 upon the announcement of his death in the Senate: "The 
 eloquence of Mr. Calhoun was a part of his intellectual char- 
 acter. It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, 
 strong, wise, condensed, concise ; sometimes impassioned, al- 
 ways severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking illustra- 
 tion, his power consisted in the plainness of his propositions, 
 the closeness of his logic, and the earnestness and energy of 
 his manner. Those are the qualities, as I think, which have 
 enabled him, through such a long course of years, to speak 
 often, and yet always to command attention. His demeanor, 
 as a Senator, is known to all — is appreciated and venerated by 
 us all. No man was more respectful to others, no man car- 
 ried himself with greater decorum, no man with superior dig- 
 nity. ^ I think there is not one of us but felt, when he last 
 addressed the Senate, his form still erect, with a voice by no 
 means indicating such a degree of physical weakness as did in 
 fact possess him, with clear tones, and an impressive manner, I 
 may say an imposing manner, who did not feel that we might 
 
 1 "At every period of his life," says Mr. Parton, who can see but little good in 
 him, and utterly fails to appreciate his character, " his manners, when in company 
 with his inferiors in age or standing, were extremely agreeable, even fascinatin^r. 
 We have heard a well-known editor, who began life as a 'page' in the Senaie 
 Chamber, say that there was no Senator whom the pages took such delight in serv- 
 ing as Mr. Calhoun. 'Why?' 'Because he was so democratic' ' How demo 
 cratic ?' ' He was as polite to a page as to the President of the Senate, and as con • 
 siderate of his feelings.' We have heard another member of the press, whose 
 first employment was to report the speeches of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, bear 
 similar testimony to the frank, engaging courtesy of his intercourse with the corps 
 of reporters." 
 
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 56 1 
 
 imagine that we saw before us a Senator of Rome, when Rome 
 survived. I have not, in pubhc nor in private life, known a 
 more assiduous person in the discharge of his duty. He 
 seemed to have no recreation but the pleasure of conversation 
 with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress he was 
 either devoting himself to the acquisition of knowledge per- 
 taining to the immediate subject of the duty before him, or 
 else he was indulging in those social interviews in which he so 
 much delighted. * * * He had the basis, the indisputable 
 basis, of all high character, unspotted integrity, and honor un- 
 impeached. If he had aspirations, they were high, honorable 
 and noble; nothing grovelling, low, or meanly selfish came 
 near his head or his heart. Firm in his purposes, patriotic and 
 honest, as I am sure he was in the principles he espoused and 
 in the measures he defended, I do not believe that, aside from 
 his large regard for that species of distinction that conducted 
 him to eminent stations for the benefit of the Republic, he had 
 a selfish motive or a selfish feeling." 
 36 
 
STEPHEN DECATUR. 
 
 THE grandfather of Commodore Decatur was a French 
 Huguenot, who emigrated from La Rochelle, and settled in 
 .Rhode Island. He married a lady of that colony, by whom he 
 had several children. Stephen Decatur, his son, and the father 
 of the subject of this memoir, was born at Newport, in 175 i, 
 and was bred a sailor. Soon after becoming of age he re- 
 moved to Philadelphia, where he obtained the command of a 
 merchant vessel belonging to that port, and married a young 
 lady of Irish descent, named Pine. During the Revolution he 
 commanded several privateers, and captured a number of Eng- 
 lish ships, winning considerable credit by these successes. After 
 the war he returned to the merchant service. On the outbreak 
 of hostilities with France he was commissioned by President 
 Adams a captain in the Navy, and was assigned the command 
 of the sloop of war Delaware, of twenty guns. He cruised 
 in this vessel during the greater part of the years 1798 and 1799, 
 and at different times captured the French privateers Le Croy- 
 able, 14, and Marsuin, 10. In 1800, he was placed in com- 
 mand o^the frigate Philadelphia, 38, at the particular request 
 of the merchants that had built and presented that vessel to 
 the Government. He was ordered to the Guadaloupe station, 
 and given command of a squadron of 13 vessels. In 1801 he 
 was honorably discharged from the service upon the reduction 
 of the Navy to a peace footing. From this time until his death, 
 in 1808, he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. 
 
 Stephen Decatur, the eldest son of Commodore Decatur, 
 was born on the 5th of January, 1779, on the Eastern Shore of 
 Maryland, where his parents had taken refuge upon the occu- 
 pation of Philadelphia by the British. After the evacuation of 
 that city by the enemy. Captain Decatur returned home with 
 his family, and young Stephen was brought up and educated 
 in Philadelphia. 
 
 In July, 1798, when at the age of nineteen, his father's friend 
 
 (562) 
 
STEPHEN DECATUR. 563 
 
 Commodore Barry obtained a midshipman's warrant for him, 
 and he joined the frigate United States, the Commodore's flag- 
 ship. In 1799 he was promoted to the grade of Lieutenant. 
 He served under Commodore Barry's orders in both capacities, 
 in the West Indies, during the hostihties with France. 
 
 In 1 80 1 Decatur was ordered to the frigate Essex, Capt. 
 Wm. Bainbridge, as first Heutenant. This vessel formed a part 
 of the squadron sent to the Mediterranean in the spring of 1801, 
 under Commodore Dale, to blockade the harbor of Tripoli. 
 The squadron returned home in December, 1801, and early in 
 the spring of 1802, a force of six ships of war, under Commo- 
 dore Morris, was despatched to the Mediterranean to conduct 
 the operations against Tripoli. Decatur went out with this 
 squadron as first lieutenant of the frigate New York, Capt. 
 Jas. Barron. While the vessels were lying at Malta a duel 
 occurred between Midshipman Bainbridge and a British officer. 
 Decatur acted, on this occasion, as Bainbridge's second. The 
 English officer was killed, and the Governor of Malta de- 
 manded the surrender of the parties concerned in the affair. 
 It was deemed prudent for Decatur to return home to avoid 
 trouble, and he was sent back to the United States in a home- 
 ward-bound ship. 
 
 Upon his arrival in the United States, Lieutenant Decatur 
 was placed in command of the brig Argus, and sent back with 
 her to the Mediterranean in November, 1803. He was or- 
 dered, upon joining the squadron of Commodore Preble, to 
 resign the command of the Argus to Lieutenant Hull, and 
 take the schooner Enterprise, 12, then commanded by Hull. He 
 obeyed his orders upon reaching the Mediterranean early in 
 December, and, on the 23d of that month, soon after taking 
 command of the Enterprise, he fell in with and captured a 
 ketch, or small coasting vessel, called the Mastico, which was 
 afterwards appraised, taken into the service as a tender, and 
 called the Intrepid. 
 
 In the meantime the American squadron in the Mediterra- 
 nean had met with a heavy loss. The frigate Philadelphia, 
 Captain Bainbridge, while engaged in chasing a vessel that was 
 endeavoring to break the blockade and get into the harbor of 
 Tripoli, ran on the rocks at the entrance to that harbor, on the 
 
564 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 31st of October, 1803, and in this helpless condition was cap- 
 tured by the Tripolitans with all her officers and crew. She 
 was subsequently gotten off the rocks, taken into the harbor, 
 and moored under the guns of the castle and batteries of the 
 town. The loss of the Philadelphia was a source of the deep- 
 est mortification to the whole squadron, though all understood 
 that it was the result of an accident. 
 
 Decatur reached the rendezvous of the squadron at Syracuse 
 shortly after Commodore Preble had learned the fate of the 
 Philadelphia, and while he was still chafing at her loss. Some- 
 what later, having been informed that the Tripolitans were 
 fitting out the Philadelphia to send her to sea as a cruiser, 
 Preble determined to destroy her. He mentioned his plan to 
 Lieutenant Decatur, who at once asked permission to enter 
 the harbor with his schooner, and make the attempt. The 
 Commodore refused to allow him to do this, but promised him 
 the command of the expedition when the proper time for it 
 should arrive. 
 
 The Commodore now caused the Intrepid to be prepared for 
 the attempt, and placed her under the command of Lieut. De- 
 catur, who was given a picked crew of sixty-two petty officers 
 and seamen, taken from the Enterprise, the whole crew of 
 which had volunteered, to which were added Lieuts. Lawrence, 
 Bainbridge and Thorn, Midshipman McDonough and Surgeon 
 Heerman, all of the Enterprise, and Midshipmen Izard, Morris, 
 Laws, Davis and Rowe of the Constitution, the flagship, and 
 Salvatore Catalano, the pilot of the fleet. The Intrepid was 
 amply provided with combustibles, and Decatur was ordered 
 to proceed with her at once to Tripoli, enter the harbor, run 
 alongside the Philadelphia, board her and burn her, instead of 
 trying to bring her out of the harbor. Everything being in 
 readiness, he sailed from Syracuse on the afternoon of the 3d 
 of February, 1804, accompanied by the Siren, 16, Lieut. Stew- 
 art. Tripoli was reached on the 9th, but that night a heavy 
 gale set in and lasted with great violence for six days. There 
 was constant danger that the Intrepid, which was of less than 
 fifty tons burthen, would founder ; but Decatur managed to keep 
 her afloat, and also to keep company with the Siren. Both ves- 
 sels were driven far up the Gulf of Sydra before the gale subsided. 
 
STEPHEN DECATUR. 565 
 
 On the 15th of February, the gale being over, the vessels 
 started on their return to Tripoli, and arrived off the harbor 
 the next afternoon. Lieut. Stewart insisted upon reinforcing 
 Decatur with Mr. Anderson, a midshipman, and seven men 
 from the Siren, thus bringing the force on board the Intrepid 
 to eighty-two souls. The Intrepid proceeded some distance in 
 advance of the Siren, and soon came in sight of the town. The 
 Philadelphia was seen riding at anchor about a mile from the 
 entrance to the harbor, and immediately in front of the castle. 
 Her guns had been replaced by the Turks, and she was in 
 excellent condition for an engagement. Two corsairs, three or 
 four gunboats and some galleys, were lying near her. 
 
 The evening was beautiful and the wind fair. Decatur 
 hovered off the harbor until long after dark, and at ten o'clock 
 that night, February i6th, 1804, stood in for the harbor and 
 entered it through the eastern channel, and made towards the 
 frigate. The new moon shed a faint glimmer over the harbor, 
 concealing the character of the ketch, but giving light enough 
 to the Americans to see what they were about. The town and 
 the harbor were silent, only the lookouts on the vessels and at 
 the batteries on shore being awake. The wind died down, 
 and the Intrepid, with scarcely breeze enough to force her 
 along, approached the frigate slowly and silently. 
 
 Decatur had arranged his plan with great care. A party of 
 fifteen men was to remain in the Intrepid, to guard her, but the 
 remainder were to board the frigate as soon as she should be 
 reached. The Turks were to be driven from the spar and gun- 
 decks before anything else was to be attended to. This ac- 
 complished, Decatur, with Messrs. Izard and Rowe and fifteen 
 men, were to keep possession of the spar-deck and prevent any 
 force from the shore from coming aboard, while the remainder 
 of the men were to be divided into three parties, under Messrs. 
 Lawrence, Bainbridge and Morris, respectively, and were to fire 
 the ship in three designated places. The men were instructed 
 to trust to their cutlasses, and not to use firearms except in the 
 last extremity. 
 
 As the Intrepid passed into the harbor all but ten or twelve 
 of her people lay flat on the deck, to avoid being seen from the 
 frigate or the shore. Mr. Decatur and Mr. Catalano, the pilot. 
 
566 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 went forward, the latter to act as interpreter, and the quarter- 
 master in charge of the helm was ordered to make for the 
 bows of the frigate and lay the ketch aboard of her at that 
 point, as such a movement would keep the little vessel com- 
 paratively out of the range of the ship's guns. 
 
 As the Intrepid approached the Philadelphia she was hailed 
 from the latter, and ordered to anchor near her. The pilot 
 answered that the ketch was a Maltese trader, and that as she 
 had lost her anchors in the recent gale, in which she had suf- 
 fered heavily, it was impossible to obey the order from the 
 frigate. He therefore asked permission to make fast to the 
 frigate and ride by her until morning. To gain time, Decatur 
 told the pilot to describe the supposed cargo of the ketch to 
 the people in the frigate, and while this conversation was going 
 on the little vessel slowly neared her antagonist at the very 
 point desired. Suddenly, however, the wind shifted, and 
 brought the Intrepid directly under the frigate's broadside, 
 about forty yards distant, where she lay exposed to nearly all 
 the larboard guns of the Philadelphia. The situation was 
 critical, but not a sound or a movement on board the Intrepid, 
 which slowly drifted astern of the frigate, betrayed her character. 
 So perfect was the discipline that even after the Turks had 
 discovered the ruse not an officer or man rose from the deck, 
 or moved from his position, until ordered to do so. 
 
 The enemy, however, had, as yet, no suspicion of the true 
 character of the ketch. They were so thoroughly deceived 
 that they allowed a boat to leave the Intrepid and make a line 
 fast to the frigate's fore-chains, and even sent one of their own 
 boats with a line from the after part of the ship. They were 
 met by the Intrepid's boat, which took the line from them and 
 passed it into the ketch. These lines were given to the men 
 on the deck, who, without rising, brought the ketch rapidly 
 alongside the frigate. When within a few yards of the 
 Philadelphia, the anchors of the ketch were discovered by the 
 Turks, who became alarmed, and ordered her to keep off; but 
 a vigorous pull by the men on the deck brought her along- 
 side the frigate, to which she was instantly made fast. Imme- 
 diately the Turks raised the cry of " Amerikanos," and the 
 order was given to the people of the Intrepid to board. 
 
STEPHEN DECATUR. 56/ 
 
 Mr. Decatur and Messrs. Laws and Morris sprang into the 
 frigate's chains at the same moment. Mr. Morris managed to 
 reach the quarter deck of the Philadelphia first. The next 
 moment he was joined by Decatur and Laws, at whose backs 
 came the whole party of boarders. The surprise was com- 
 plete, and the Turks were panic-stricken. They made scarcely 
 a show of defending the spar-deck, but sprang overboard in 
 all directions as soon as attacked. On the gun-deck a slight 
 resistance was made, but was quickly overcome, and the Turks 
 leaped through the port-holes into the water. In less than ten 
 minutes the frigate was in possession of the Americans. A 
 rocket was then sent up to inform the Siren, which was off the 
 mouth of the harbor, of the success. 
 
 A glance satisfied Decatur that it would be impossible to 
 take the frigate out, and he prepared to burn her. Combusti- 
 bles were passed up from the ketch, and while his own party 
 held the spar-deck, the others hastened away to their respec- 
 tive stations and lighted the fires. The flames caught instantly, 
 and the ship was so dry that they spread with almost lightning 
 speed. In less than twenty minutes after the order to board 
 was given, the flames had made such progress that the destruc- 
 tion of the frigate was sure. Decatur and his men were now 
 compelled to retreat to the ketch, which, being close along- 
 side, was in considerable danger. The flames scorched the 
 stern window of the Intrepid, and came within a few feet of 
 the ammunition of the party, which was covered only with 
 a sail cloth. There was no time to lose, and as axes could not 
 be had, the fasts which held the Intrepid to the frigate were 
 cut with swords and cutlasses, and the little vessel was shoved 
 off from her dangerous position. Just as she drifted away, 
 the flames shot up through the decks of the frigate and flashed 
 up the rigging, which burned like tinder. 
 
 The Intrepid was provided with sixteen sweeps. These were 
 instantly manned by the crew, and propelled by their stout arms, 
 the ketch shot rapidly down the harbor. Once clear of the 
 danger from the burning frigate, the men paused in their row- 
 ing and gave three ringing cheers, such as only American sea- 
 men can give in the hour of victory. Their shouts aroused 
 the enemy from the stupor into which they had been plunged 
 
568 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 by the suddenness of the attack, and all the shore batteries and 
 the vessels lying in the harbor opened fire upon the ketch. The 
 men bent to their sweeps again, and the Intrepid went gaily 
 down the harbor, the light of the burning frigate making every- 
 thing as plain as in the day. The wind shifting, the frigate 
 swung round, with one of her broadsides to the town, and as 
 her guns, which were loaded, became heated, they went off, 
 sending their shot into the town on the one side, and towards 
 the English fort on the other. The batteries fired rapidly, but 
 without doing any harm to the Intrepid, which continued 
 swiftly on her way, her officers and crew in the highest spirits. 
 Near the mouth of the harbor Decatur met the cutter and 
 launch of the Siren, which Lieut. Stewart had armed and sent 
 in to cover the retreat of the Intrepid, the brig herself being 
 anchored about three miles from the shore, according to the 
 original agreement. The ketch and the boats then left the 
 harbor, and when fairly at sea and out of danger, Decatur went 
 on board the Siren to report his success to Lieut. Stewart. The 
 Americans had one man wounded in this brilliant affair. The 
 loss of the Turks is unknown, but is believed to have been 
 heavy. The Philadelphia was entirely destroyed. 
 
 The Siren and Intrepid lay to for nearly an hour, when a 
 strong and favorable breeze having sprung up, sail was made. 
 Syracuse was reached on the 19th, and the victors were greeted 
 with salutes from the American vessels in port and the Sicilian 
 batteries on shore. 
 
 The burning of the -Philadelphia was one of the most gallant 
 exploits ever performed, and is cherished as one of the proudest 
 traditions of the American Navy. Decatur was rewarded by 
 the Government with the rank of Post Captain, all the officers 
 over whom he was advanced generously assenting to his pro- 
 motion. 
 
 In the opening of 1804 Commodore Preble, having deter- 
 mined to attack Tripoli, obtained the loan of six gunboats and 
 two bombards from the King of Naples, who was also at war 
 with Tripoli. These he formed into two divisions, and gave 
 the command of one to Captain Decatur, and of the other to 
 Lieutenant Somers. The squadron, consisting of the frigate 
 Constitution, the brig Siren, the schooners Nautilus and Vixen, 
 
STEPHEN DECATUR. 569 
 
 and the gunboats, sailed from Syracuse about the last of July. 
 Having reached the African coast they were prevented for 
 some days by bad weather from making the attack. A favor- 
 able season having set in, the Commodore, on the 3d of August, 
 gave the signal for attacking the enemy's vessels and the town. 
 The gunboats advanced in line, led by Decatur, and supported 
 by the frigate and the other vessels, which followed close be- 
 hind. 
 
 The Tripolitan gunboats were moored along the harbor under 
 the batteries of the town, and close by them lay a brig of six- 
 teen and a schooner of ten guns. Decatur's plan was to close 
 with the gunboats at once, and carry them by boarding. As 
 his boat, which was in the advance, came within range of the 
 enemy's guns, a heavy fire was opened upon it from the bat- 
 teries and the gunboats. He returned the fire, and continued 
 to advance until he reached the enemy's line. He at once 
 grappled the boat nearest to him, and gave the order to 
 board. A struggle of ten minutes ensued, and the deck was 
 cleared, such of the Turks as were not killed taking refuge in 
 the hold or leaping into the water. Decatur at once secured 
 his prize, and placing a crew on board of her, prepared to return 
 to his own line with her. 
 
 At this moment the boat that had been commanded by his 
 brother. Lieutenant James Decatur, came under his stern, and 
 the men informed him that Lieut. Decatur had succeeded in 
 capturing one of the enemy's gunboats, but that the Turkish 
 captain, after surrendering, had treacherously shot and killed 
 the Lieutenant, and had gotten off with his boat and was mak- 
 ing for the harbor. 
 
 Ordering his prize to join the squadron, Decatur, without the 
 loss of a moment, pushed boldly into the enemy's line with his 
 gunboat, determined to avenge his brother's death or perish in 
 the attempt. He overhauled the retreating Turk, closed with 
 him, and boarded him at the head of eleven men. A severe 
 hand-to-hand conflict ensued on the deck of the Turkish ves- 
 sel. Decatur singled out the Turkish commander, and attacked 
 him furiously. The Turk defended himself with an espontoon, 
 and Decatur attacked him with a cutlass. In attempting to 
 cut off the head of the Turk's spear, Decatur's cutlass struck 
 
570 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the iron head, and broke ofif at the handle, and at the same 
 moment the Turk wounded him in the right arm and breast. 
 Decatur at once seized the spear, grappled with the Turk, and 
 after a brief struggle threw him to the deck, falling on top of 
 him. The Turk, drawing his dagger, attempted to stab his 
 adversary, but Decatur caught his right arm and held it, and 
 shot him with a pistol which he drew from his pocket. While 
 this struggle was going on, the crews of the two gunboats 
 rushed to the aid of their respective commanders, and a fierce 
 conflict took place over them, so that when Decatur had freed 
 himself from the Turk, he could scarcely extricate himself from 
 the killed and wounded that had fallen about him. In the early 
 part of this combat, Decatur was attacked in the rear by another 
 Turk, who aimed a blow at him which must have been fatal 
 had not an American sailor, who had been so badly wounded 
 as to lose the use of both his hands, rushed in and received the 
 blow intended for his commander on his own head. The gal- 
 lant fellow's skull was fractured by the stroke, but he recovered, 
 and was afterwards rewarded by the government with a pension. 
 
 In twenty minutes after boarding the Turkish gunboat, De- 
 catur was master of her; and though he had but four men left 
 and was himself wounded, succeeded in rejoining the squadron 
 with his own vessel and his second prize. The next day he 
 was complimented for his gallant conduct by the Commodore 
 in general orders. 
 
 Upon the return of Commodore Preble to the United States 
 in the fall of 1804, Decatur, whose commission as captain had 
 arrived some time previous, took command of the Constitution, 
 which was the first frigate he ever had under his orders. He 
 commanded her until near the close of the war, when he was 
 transferred to the frigate Congress, in which he returned home 
 after the treaty of peace. Upon reaching the United States he 
 was placed in charge of the Norfolk Navy Yard, and was 
 engaged in superintending the construction of gunboats. 
 In 1807, after the removal of Commodore Barron from the frig- 
 ate Chesapeake, he was ordered to take command of that ship. 
 Shortly after this he was transferred to the United States, 44, 
 and was in command of this vessel when war was declared 
 against Great Britain. 
 
STEPHEN DECATUR. 57 1 
 
 His ship went to sea on the 21st of June, 181 2, as a part of 
 the squadron of Commodore Rodgers, and remained with it 
 during its fruitless summer cruise. Having returned to the 
 United States, Rodgers refitted for a second cruise, and put 
 to sea again early in October; but Decatur parted company 
 with him at sea on the 12th of October. On the 17th the 
 United States fell in with and captured the British packet 
 Swallow, with a large amount of specie on board. On Sunday, 
 October 25th, in latitude 90° N., and longitude 29° 30' W., 
 the United States fell in with the British frigate Macedonian, 
 49, one of the finest ships in the English navy. Decatur bore 
 down upon the English vessel, and in a spirited action of an 
 hour and a half, compelled her to strike her flag. The Mace- 
 donian was considerably injured, and had thirty-six men killed 
 and sixty-eight wounded out of a crew of three hundred men. 
 The United States had five killed and seven wounded. 
 
 Finding that his prize was in a condition which admitted of 
 her being taken into port. Commodore Decatur discontinued 
 his cruise, and convoyed the captured ship into Long Island 
 Sound. Both vessels succeeded in reaching New York 
 through the Hell Gate passage, and the Macedonian was re- 
 fitted and converted into an American frigate during the winter. 
 Decatur was received with enthusiasm, and Congress and sev- 
 eral of the State Legislatures testified their approval of his gal- 
 lant services by bestowing handsome presents upon him. 
 
 In the spring of 18 14, Decatur passed through Hell Gate 
 with the United States, Macedonian, and Hornet, and attempted 
 to get to sea by way of Long Island Sound. Near the eastern 
 end of Long Island they were met by a very superior squad- 
 ron of the enemy, and were chased into the harbor of New 
 London, where all three vessels were closely blockaded until 
 the end of the war. After waiting for several months, Deca- 
 tur, impatient of being cooped up in this way, sent a challenge 
 to Sir Thomas Hardy, the commander of the blockading force, 
 offering to fight two British frigates with the two under his 
 command. The offer was rejected, however, and the Amer- 
 ican vessels were soon after dismantled. 
 
 Towards the close of the summer of 18 14, Decatur was or- 
 dered to New York to take command of the President, 44. 
 
572 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Peacock, Hornet, and a store ship were placed under his 
 orders, and he was directed to get to sea, and sail for the East 
 Indies, where it was thought he would be able to do consid- 
 erable damage to the enemy's commerce. He was detained 
 at New York through the remainder of the year, and did not 
 sail from that port until the middle of January, 1815. The 
 President went to sea alone, on the night of the 14th of Janu- 
 ary, and in the darkness the pilots missed the channel and the 
 ship struck, beating heavily on the sands for an hour and a 
 half She was at length gotten off, but, although she was 
 severely injured, it was impossible for her to return, and De- 
 catur made sail to get off the coast before morning. He soon 
 discovered that the President's sailing qualities had been ma- 
 terially impaired. 
 
 The next morning Decatur discovered four English frigates 
 and a brig in pursuit of him. His own ship made but little 
 progress, in consequence of her injuries, and the leading Eng- 
 lish frigate, the Endymion, gained upon him rapidly. Seeing 
 that he was sure to be overhauled, Decatur formed the daring 
 plan of leading the Endymion away from her consorts, closing 
 with her, carrying her by boarding with his whole crew, aban- 
 doning or destroying the President, and escaping in his prize. 
 The English commander suspected the plan, however, and 
 kept his ship away. Seeing this, Decatur then tacked about, 
 opened fire upon the Endymion, which was a long way in ad- 
 vance of her consorts, crippled her and silenced her guns, and 
 might have compelled her to surrender, had not the near ap- 
 proach of the other ships rendered it imperative upon Decatur 
 to resume his course if he wished to escape. 
 
 These events had consumed the whole of the day. It was 
 now half-past eight o'clock in the evening. The President con- 
 tinued to run off south-east, repairing the damages she had 
 sustained in the conflict with the Endymion, The delay, how- 
 ever, had given the other vessels time to come up, and at 1 1 
 o'clock P. M. the Pomona, 38, the Tenedos, 38, and the Majes- 
 tic, 40, came within range. The Pomona and Tenedos opened 
 a heavy fire upon the President, which was returned. It was 
 now apparent to Decatur, that to resist further would be 
 to needlessly sacrifice his men, and he reluctantly struck his 
 
STEPHEN DECATUR. 573 
 
 colors a little before midnight. The President was considerably 
 damaged by the enemy's fire, and had 24 men killed and 58 
 wounded. Among the killed were three of her lieutenants. 
 
 The President was taken to Bermuda, and shortly after- 
 wards Decatur and his officers were paroled and permitted to 
 return home. A court of inquiry examined into their conduct 
 and acquitted them with honor for the loss of their ships. The 
 news of peace arrived soon after their return home, and restored 
 tliem to the service. 
 
 During the war with England, the Dey of Algiers, supposing 
 that the United States were too much occupied with the con- 
 test with England to punish his insolence, suddenly made war 
 upon them. He threatened to reduce Mr. Lear, the American 
 Consul, to slavery, and compelled him to purchase his liberty 
 and that of his family by the payment of a large ransom. 
 Several American merchantmen were captured by the Algerine 
 pirates, and their crews sold into slavery. The reason assigned 
 by the Dey for these outrages was that the presents of the 
 American Government were not satisfactory. 
 
 The Government of the United States determined, immedi- 
 ately after the peace with England, to compel the Barbar>' 
 powers to make a definite and final surrender of their claim to 
 tribute; and in May, 18 15, Commodore Decatur was despatched 
 to the Mediterranean with a fleet often vessels, three of which 
 were frigates. He was ordered to compel the Dey of Algiers 
 to make satisfaction for his past outrages, and to give guaran- 
 tees for his future good conduct. On the voyage out, on the 
 17th of June, when off Cape de Gatt, Decatur fell in with the 
 Mashouda, 44, the largest and the best ship in the Algerine 
 service, and captured her in an action of thirty minutes. She 
 was commanded by the Algerine Admiral. On the 19th the 
 Algerine brig Estido, 22, was captured off Cape Palos. The 
 fleet then proceeded to Algiers, but upon its arrival found the 
 Dey in a very humble frame of mind. The loss of his two best 
 ships, and the prospect of having his town knocked about his 
 ears by the guns of the fleet, terrified him into submission, and 
 he humbly sued for peace. He was required to come on board 
 of Decatur's flag-ship, and there sign a humiliating treaty with 
 the United States, by which he bound himself to indemnify the 
 
574 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Americans from whom he had extorted ransoms, to surrender 
 all his prisoners unconditionally, to renounce all claim to trib- 
 ute from the American Government, and to cease from mo- 
 lesting American vessels in future. 
 
 The difficulty with Algiers having been satisfactorily settled, 
 Decatur sailed for Tunis and Tripoli, and demanded of the Beys 
 of those countries indemnity for some American vessels that 
 had been captured by the British in their harbors with their 
 connivance. The demand in each case was coupled with a 
 threat of bombardment, and was promptly complied with. 
 About the middle of the summer Commodore Bainbridge joined 
 Decatur with the Independence, 74, the Congress, and several 
 other vessels. Being the senior officer he assumed the com- 
 mand of the whole fleet ; but he found nothing to do, for the 
 energetic Decatur had settled all the difficulties, and had so 
 humbled the Barbary States that they ^ never renewed their 
 aggressions upon American commerce. The American fleet 
 then visited the principal ports of the Mediterranean. The 
 brilliant record made by the Navy, and especially by Decatur, 
 during the war with England, secured the fleet a flattering re- 
 ception wherever it went. In the fall of 181 5 Decatur returned 
 home with his squadron 
 
 Commodore Decatur was assigned to various duties after his 
 return home, and was finally made Navy Commissioner and 
 placed on duty at Washington. 
 
 In October, 18 19, certain remarks of Decatur with reference 
 to the affair of the Chesapeake and the Leopard were reported 
 to Commodore Barron. Barron, feeling himself aggrieved by 
 them, opened a correspondence on the subject with Decatur, 
 which was continued for some time. The result was a chal- 
 lenge from Barron, which Decatur promptly accepted. The 
 meeting took place at Bladensburg on the morning of the 22d 
 of March, 1820. Both parties fell at the first fire, Barron dan- 
 gerously, and Decatur mortally wounded. The dying man 
 was conveyed to his residence in Washington, where he expired 
 the same evening, at the early age of forty-one. 
 
 Decatur has always been regarded as the model of an Amer- 
 ican sailor. He was greatly beloved by the Navy, and was a 
 favorite with the whole country. His name is still one of the 
 treasures of the service he did so much to render glorious. 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 
 
 AMONG those who took part in the disastrous battle of 
 CuUoden, in the ranks of the Pretender, was a Scotchman 
 named Scott, the younger son of a small landed proprietor of 
 the clan of Buccleuch. Escaping from the field, he was aided 
 by a relative living at Bristol to fly to America. He settled in 
 Virginia, where he married late in life. His son, William Scott, 
 was born in Virginia, was a farmer, and served through the 
 Revolution as a lieutenant and captain in the Virginia line. 
 In 1780 he married Ann Mason. 
 
 WiNFiELD Scott, the eldest son of this couple, was born on 
 his father's farm, about fourteen miles from Petersburg, Vir- 
 ginia, on the 13th of June, 1786. He was named for his ma- 
 ternal great-grandfather, who was regarded, in his time, as the 
 richest man in Virginia. The elder Scott died when his son 
 was six years old, and the boy was reared by his excellent 
 mother. He grew up on the farm, and was sent to acquire 
 an education at the old field schools of the neighborhood. 
 When he was seventeen years old his mother died, and 
 in the same year he went to Richmond, and entered the 
 high school taught by James Ogilvie, a Scotchman, where he 
 remained a year preparing for college. In 1805 he entered 
 William and Mary College, where he devoted himself chiefly to 
 the study of chemistry, natural and experimental philosophy, 
 and the common law. He also undertook a general course of 
 reading in the law, intending to make that his profession. He 
 remained at William and Mary about a year, and then went to 
 Petersburg, where he entered the office of David Robinson, 
 Esquire, an eminent lawyer, as a student. He studied with 
 him for about two years, and was admitted to the bar in the 
 early spring of 1807, just before he attained his majority. On 
 his first circuit he witnessed the trial of Aaron Burr at Rich- 
 mond for treason. 
 
 In June, 1807, occurred the outrage on the frigate Chesa- 
 
 (575) 
 
576 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 peake, which sent a thrill of indignation through the whole 
 country. President Jefferson, among his other measures, issued 
 a proclamation forbidding the use of the harbors and rivers of 
 the United States to the war vessels of Great Britain. Volun- 
 teers were called for to enforce the prohibition, and Scott 
 dropped his law books and joined the Petersburg troop of 
 cavalry which had tendered its services. The troop was or- 
 dered to the vicinity of Lynn Haven Bay, where a strong 
 British fleet, under Sir Thomas Hardy, Nelson's old flag cap- 
 tain, lay at anchor. The volunteers were encamped near the 
 bay with orders to prevent the British from obtaining fresh 
 water or provisions from the shore. Scott was appointed a 
 corporal, and in his zeal to execute his orders, captured a mid- 
 shipman and boat's crew of six men, belonging to one of the 
 ships, who had gone up one of the creeks to obtain provisions. 
 The middy, afterwards Captain Fox, of the English Navy, was 
 "treated like a prince" by his captors, and declared they were 
 downright good fellows. The capture was promptly reported 
 to the Government at Washington, and orders were as promptly 
 received to restore the prisoners to Sir Thomas Hardy. Scott 
 was warned to moderate his zeal, and "to take care not to do 
 so again." The Chesapeake excitement being over, the volun- 
 teers were dismissed, and Scott returned to his practice. 
 
 In October, 1807, he left Virginia, intending to settle in 
 Charleston, South Carolina, as a lawyer. As he spent some 
 time at Columbia, on the way, he did not reach Charleston 
 until the 24th of December, 1807. Here he learned that the 
 quarrel with England had reached such a state that war was 
 the most probable issue to it. He had had a taste of army 
 life, and had found it more to his liking than the law, and he 
 left Charleston and embarked for New York, from which place 
 he hastened to Washington. His friend, the Hon. Wm. B. 
 Giles, afterwards Governor of Virginia, and then a member of 
 Congress from that State, introduced him to President Jefferson 
 and the Secretary of War, and cordially endorsed his applica- 
 tion for a commission in the army. Mr. Jefferson received him 
 with favor, and promised him a captaincy if the bill for the in- 
 crease of the army, then before Congress, should become a 
 law. In the meantime Scott went back to Petersburg, and 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 57/ 
 
 resumed his position at the bar. He was engaged in his prac- 
 tice when he received, in the summer of 1808, the promised 
 commission of captain of light or flying artillery in the army 
 of the United States, bearing the date of May 3, 1808. 
 
 Scott at once set to work to recruit his company, which he 
 did at Petersburg and Richmond in the course of the next few 
 months. He was then ordered with it to Norfolk, from which 
 place he embarked for New Orleans, on the 4th of February, 
 1809. The passage was long and stormy, and New Orleans 
 was not reached until the ist of April. He soon grew tired of 
 the monotony of garrison life. " The excitement that caused 
 the augmentation of the army the year before," he says, " like 
 that which led to the embargo, soon subsided, to rise and fall 
 again and again in the next four years. So great was the calm 
 in the summer of 1809 that I once more turned my mind 
 towards civil pursuits, and sailed for Virginia. Before my resig- 
 nation had been definitely accepted by the War Department, 
 I heard that grave charges would be brought against me if I 
 dared to return to the army of the Lower Mississippi. This 
 was decisive. At once I resolved to face my accusers. Accord- 
 ingly, I rejoined the main army, then at Washington, near 
 Natchez." He was soon after brought to trial on charges 
 based upon his declaration that he believed General Wilkinson 
 to be as much of a traitor as Burr — an opinion he maintained 
 all his life — and upon some irregularities in the payment of his 
 company. He was found guilty of " unofficer-like conduct " 
 in speaking disrespectfully of his superior officer, and in not 
 following the prescribed forms in paying his company, but the 
 court entirely acquitted him " of all fraudulent intentions in 
 detaining the pay of his men." He was sentenced to twelve 
 months' suspension. He passed this period at Petersburg, and 
 in the fall of 181 2 rejoined the army at Baton Rouge. In the 
 winter of 1811-12 he was appointed Aide-de-camp to General 
 Wade Hampton. As it was certain in the spring of 1 8 1 2 that 
 war was imminent. General Hampton sailed from New Orleans 
 for Baltimore on the 20th of May, en route for Washington, 
 taking with him his two aides. Captain Scott and Lieutenant 
 Gardner. Baltimore was reached on the 2ist of June, and 
 Washington the next day, after the declaration of war against 
 England. 
 37 
 
578 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Upon reaching Washington, Scott found that he had been 
 advanced to the grade of Lieutenant Colonel. He was ordered 
 to the Northern frontier, and directed to report to Brigadier- 
 General Alexander Smyth, whose headquarters were near 
 Buffalo. He reached that place on the 4th of October, 1812, 
 and was assigned to duty with his battalion near Black Rock, 
 where on the 8th of October he " smelt gunpowder" for the 
 first time in a skirmish with the enemy. 
 
 A body of troops, principally New York State militia, had 
 been collected under the orders of General Van Rensselaer at 
 Lewiston, on the Niagara River, opposite Queenstown, which 
 was held by a British force under General Brock. On the 
 13th of October a portion of the American force, under Colonel 
 Stephen Van Rensselaer, a relative of the General, crossed to 
 the Canada side, and drove the British from their batteries. 
 General Brock, with a detachment of his command, attempted 
 to recover the batteries, but was driven back and was killed. 
 At his urgent request, Scott had been permitted to cross to the 
 Canada side and take command of the troops. He arrived on the 
 ground about the time that Brock was killed, and took charge of 
 the small American force. General Sheaffe, Brock's successor, 
 now prepared to recover the lost works with a strong force, 
 and General Van Rensselaer endeavored to send reinforcements 
 to Scott, but the New York militia refused to cross the river, 
 declaring that they could not be ordered out of their own State 
 without their consent. The result was, as might have been 
 expected, the British attack was successful, and Scott and 
 his little band were forced to surrender themselves prisoners of 
 war. Scott was well treated, and in November was paroled, 
 and on the 12th of that month sailed for Boston. In January, 
 18 1 3, he was exchanged. In March he was appointed Adju- 
 tant-General, with the rank of Colonel, and about the same 
 time was made Colonel of his regiment. 
 
 He proceeded to join the army of General Dearborn on the 
 Niagara frontier, and for some months discharged the duties 
 of Adjutant-General of the army and of colonel of his regiment. 
 Acting in the former position he organized the service of all 
 the staff departments of the army, and gave to Dearborn's force 
 more consistency and a better discipline than it had ever 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 579 
 
 enjoyed before. He took an active part in the operations on 
 the Niagara frontier, commanding his regiment in a number 
 of engagements and skirmishes. He greatly distinguished 
 himself at the capture of Fort George on the 27th of May, 
 18 1 3, and covered the retreat of the army after the disaster at 
 Stony Creek on the 6th of June, in which Generals Chandler 
 and Winder were made prisoners. 
 
 The failure of General Dearborn to accomplish anything of 
 importance, induced the President to recall him, and to appoint 
 General Wilkinson, Scott's old enemy, as his successor, Wil- 
 kinson took command of the army about midsummer, and 
 Scott soon after resigned his position as Adjutant-General. 
 He took part in Wilkinson's expedition against Montreal, 
 which was brought to a sudden and disastrous end by the de- 
 feat of that General at Chrystler's farm, on the i ith of No- 
 vember, 1 8 13, and upon the return of the army to the Niagara 
 was summoned to Washington on business by the War De- 
 partment. 
 
 Wilkinson's incompetence caused his removal, and early in 
 1 8 14 he was succeeded by General Brown, an able and careful 
 commander. In March of that year, Scott was promoted to the 
 grade of Brigadier-General and assigned to duty under General 
 Brown. Appreciating the value of discipline, General Brown 
 ordered General Scott to establish a camp of instruction at 
 Buffalo, and to devote the time which must elapse before the 
 opening of the season of hostilities to improving the drill and 
 discipline of the troops. Scott set to work with vigor, and for 
 the next three months both he and the troops devoted ten hours 
 a day to these labors. The result was the well-disciplined and 
 efficient army which, in the campaign of 18 14, wiped out the 
 disgrace of the previous years. 
 
 General Brown's force numbered about five thousand men, 
 and, thanks to Scott's exertions, was the most efficient body of 
 troops the United States had yet put in the field. Towards the 
 last of June orders were given to cross the Niagara, which was 
 accomplished on the 2d of July. Fort Erie was at once in- 
 vested, a few pieces of artillery were placed in position, a few 
 shots exchanged, and the Fort surrendered on the 3d of July. 
 On the 4th of July, General Scott, with the advanced guard of 
 
580 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the army, moved towards the main body of the British, which 
 had taken position, under General Riall, at Chippewa, fifteen 
 miles distant. Some skirmishing took place with the enemy 
 during the day, and at dark Scott took up a strong position to 
 await the arrival of the rest of the army under General Brown, 
 which joined him during the night. The next day, the 5th, the 
 enemy were attacked and defeated after a severe engagement, with 
 the loss of five hundred men. The American loss was three 
 hundred. In this battle Scott displayed great ability and cool- 
 ness. During the greater part of the time he was obliged to 
 engage the enemy single-handed, and was left in ignorance 
 throughout the whole battle of the positions and movements 
 of the rest of the army. The victory was greeted with enthu- 
 siasm by the nation. It marked the end of the series of dis- 
 asters brought upon the army by incompetent commanders. 
 Scott's name was on every tongue. 
 
 After his defeat at Chippewa, General Riall fell back to 
 Burlington Heights, and the Americans advanced to Queens- 
 town, but soon after withdrew to Chippewa. Having been 
 strongly reinforced by a body of troops under General Drum- 
 mond, Riall advanced from Burlington Heights to attack the 
 Americans, followed by General Drummond's command. At 
 the same time General Brown, who had heard of Drummond's 
 arrival, set out from Chippewa to attack the British. As usual, 
 the advance of the American army was commanded by General 
 Scott. In the afternoon of the 25th of July, Scott was informed 
 by his reconnoitring parties that there was a British corps of 
 observation in the neighborhood, and advanced to attack it. 
 Towards sunset he discovered that he had been deceived by 
 his scouts as to the strength of the enemy, and suddenly found 
 himself in the presence of the whole British army, which was 
 drawn up at Lundy's Lane, or Bridgewater, opposite the Falls 
 of Niagara. 
 
 The enemy's force was strongly posted, and was superior in 
 numbers to the whole American army. Notwithstanding this 
 fact, and the lateness of the hour, Scott resolved to attack at 
 once, knowing that he would soon be supported by the rest of 
 the army. He opened the battle with his artillery, and the 
 enemy, detecting his weakness, made an attempt to crush him 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 581 
 
 before the arrival of the rest of the troops. The attempt was 
 handsomely repulsed, and Scott threw forward his line, flanked 
 the enemy, and captured Major General Riall. 
 
 General Brown now came up with the reserve, and, although 
 it was dark, at Scott's urgent request, continued the battle. 
 Tlie British had posted a battery on a hill which commanded 
 the field, and from this maintained a heavy and destructive fire 
 upon the Americans. It was captured by the 21st regiment 
 under Colonel James Miller. General Drummond, who had 
 succeeded General Riall in the command of the British army, 
 made three determined efforts to retake the battery, but was 
 each time driven back with heavy loss. 
 
 It was midnight when the last charge of the enemy was re- 
 pulsed. About 800 men had fallen on each side. The Amer- 
 icans had exhausted their ammunition, and were dependent 
 upon the cartridges that could be obtained from the boxes of 
 the dead. Scott had been twice dismounted and badly con- 
 tused in the side by a spetit cannon ball early in the action. 
 As the British gave way for the last time, he was severely 
 wounded in the left shoulder by a musket ball, and was carried 
 to the rear. 
 
 The victory was secure, however, for the British, finding all 
 their efforts in vain, sullenly withdrew, and left the field to the 
 Americans. The latter were so exhausted by their hard march 
 of fifteen miles and five hours of constant fighting that they 
 made no effort at pursuit, and soon withdrew from the hill to 
 their original position. As they had no means of bringing off 
 the captured guns, they were obliged to leave them behind. 
 
 The victory was due mainly to the exertions of Scott. He 
 was so badly wounded, however, as to be obliged to quit the 
 army. He was sent to Buffalo, but failing to find the requisite 
 medical skill there, set out for Philadelphia by easy stages. It 
 was not until October that he was able to walk or mount a 
 horse. He was then ordered to take command at Baltimore, 
 which was threatened by the enemy. For his gallant services 
 he was brevetted a Major General, to take rank from the 25th 
 of July, 1 8 14, the day of the victory of Lundy's Lane. Con- 
 gress ordered a gold medal to be struck and presented to him 
 " in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress of 
 
582 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 his distinguished services in the successive conflicts of Chip- 
 pewa and Niagara (Lundy's Lane), and of his uniform gal- 
 lantry and good conduct in sustaining the reputation of the arms 
 of the United States." By the time he was thoroughly well, the 
 war was over. 
 
 The reduction of the army to a peace footing was accom- 
 plished in May, 18 15. Scott was retained as the senior of the 
 four brigadiers, each of which was a major-general by brevet. 
 It was strongly urged upon the President to appoint General 
 Scott Secretary of War, but he discouraged the proposition, 
 preferring to remain in the position he had won by his services 
 in the field. 
 
 In July, 18 1 5, Scott went to Europe, partly on a mission for 
 the Government, and partly for rest and recreation. He re- 
 mained abroad a little more than a year, and was the recipient 
 of many flattering attentions in England and France. He was 
 in Paris during the occupation of that city by the Allies after 
 the battle of Waterloo. Returning home late in 1 8 16, he re- 
 sumed his duties in the army. Soon after his return he was 
 married to Miss Maria Mayo, of Richmond, Va., a lady noted 
 for her beauty and many accomplishments. Seven children 
 were born of this marriage, of whom but three daughters sur- 
 vived their parents, the others — two sons and two daughters 
 — having died quite young. 
 
 In 1 82 1, General Scott published his " Military Institutes" or 
 general regulations for the United States army, and some years 
 later, issued the " Tactics," or manual of instruction for the army, 
 which bore his name, and was so long familiar to the whole 
 country. In 1827 he obtained leave to visit Europe again, and 
 spent that year and a part of 1828 in travelling in the old world. 
 Upon the breaking out of the Black Hawk War, in 1832, Scott 
 was ordered to the West to take command of the troops. He 
 reached the army after General Atkinson had defeated Black 
 Hawk, and by his energy and humanity he soon succeeded in 
 restoring peace to the frontier, and in inducing the Indians to 
 remove beyond the Mississippi. 
 
 When the Nullification troubles set in, in 1832, President 
 Jackson made no secret of his determination to maintain the 
 supremacy of the General Government. In order to do this. 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 583 
 
 it was necessary that the command of the Federal force assem- 
 bled in the harbor of Charleston should be entrusted to some 
 officer in whose firmness and discretion the Government could 
 repose absolute confidence. Though there had long been bad 
 blood between Jackson and Scott, the President selected him 
 for this position. He proceeded to Charleston, and quietly 
 assumed the command, straining every nerve to be prepared 
 for the struggle should it come, and exerting all his influence 
 in favor of a policy of conciliation. The troubles were ad- 
 justed, as we have seen, and Scott's course gave equal satisfac- 
 tion to the Federal Government and to the people of Charleston. 
 
 In 1836 he was appointed to succeed General Gaines in 
 command of the force engaged in the Florida war. In conse- 
 quence of the failure of the Government to supply his force 
 properly, the expedition accomplished nothing. He was then 
 ordered to the Chattahoochee to take the field against the 
 Creeks. His second in command, General Jessup, becoming 
 dissatisfied with Scott's plan of campaign, addressed a complaint 
 to the editor of the official newspaper at Washington. The 
 letter was shown to the President, who made it a pretext for 
 striking his long-desired blow at Scott. He at once removed 
 Scott from his command, ordered him before a court of inquiry, 
 and appointed General Jessup his successor. The court met in 
 the latter part of the fall of 1836, and after an impartial hearing, 
 administered a decided rebuke to the President by honorably 
 acquitting General Scott of all the charges against him, and 
 declaring that he had done all that could be expected of a brave 
 and skillful officer. 
 
 In the winter of 1837-38, the troubles on the Canadian 
 border, which came near involving the United States in another 
 war with England, caused President Van Buren to send General 
 Scott to the Niagara frontier to compel the Canadian insurgents 
 and their sympathizers in the State of New York to respect the 
 neutrality of the United States. Scott reached Buffalo soon 
 after the burning of the steamer Caroline by the Canadians, and 
 while the excitement was at its height. He was accompanied 
 by Governor Marcy, of New York. The American allies of the 
 insurgents had taken possession of a small island in the Niagara 
 River, called Navy Island, about a quarter of a mile above the 
 
5 84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 falls and within the limits of Canada. After the destruction of 
 the Caroline, they hired another steamer called the Barcelona, 
 which was taken down from Buffalo to a point opposite the 
 island. Scott determined to prevent the insurgents from using 
 the steamer, and succeeded in hiring her from her owners for 
 the service of the United States. He then ordered her back 
 to Buffalo. 
 
 In the meantime the British commander on the Canada shore 
 prepared to open fire on the steamer and destroy her as she 
 ascended the stream. Upon learning this, Scott stationed sev- 
 eral batteries of artillery at Black Rock, opposite the British 
 position, and notified the British commander that he should 
 return the fire if the Barcelona were attacked. On the morn- 
 ing of the i6th of January, 1838, the steamer moved slowly 
 up the Niagara towards Buffalo. The activity of the British 
 on the Canada shore seemed to indicate their intention to fire 
 upon the steamer, and noticing this, Scott caused his batteries 
 to be prepared for action. The gunners stood with matches 
 lighted ready to return the English fire, and Scott posted him- 
 self on the end of the pier at Black Rock in full view of both 
 parties, to watch the slowly ascending vessel. The greatest 
 excitement prevailed, and the question of peace or war de- 
 pended on the events of the next few moments. The English 
 suffered the steamer to pass their guns unmolested, however, 
 and the danger was over. By great exertions Scott succeeded 
 in restoring order along the border. In 1839, when there was 
 danger of a conflict between the people of Maine and the 
 British Province of New Brunswick, in consequence of the 
 dispute over the North-eastern boundary, Scott was sent to the 
 border, and succeeded, by his moderation and firmness, in 
 preserving the peace until the matter could be settled by 
 treaty. 
 
 In June, 1841, on the death of General Macomb, Scott be- 
 came General-in-chief of the entire army. His headquarters 
 were established at Washington, and he devoted himself to the 
 improvement of the discipline and efficiency of the army. 
 
 In the spring of 1846, war broke out between the United 
 States and Mexico. The campaign of 1846 was fought by 
 General Taylor and others. Scott, as commanding General, 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 585 
 
 endeavored to impress upon the Government the necessity of 
 providing an adequate force for the prosecution of the war, 
 but was nev^er able to accomplish much in this direction. Late 
 in the year he was ordered, at his own earnest solicitation, to 
 proceed to Mexico, with a strong force, and after establishing 
 a secure base on the Gulf coast, to advance into the interior 
 towards the City of Mexico. 
 
 The troops designed for this expedition rendezvoused at New 
 Orleans, where they were joined promptly by General Scott. 
 Late in November, 1846, the expedition sailed for the Island 
 of Lobos, about one hundred and twenty-five miles north of 
 Vera Cruz. The plan adopted by Scott was very simple — to 
 capture Vera Cruz, and then advance upon the Capital by the 
 most direct route. The expedition was delayed several months 
 at Lobos Island, awaiting the arrival of supplies from the United 
 States and the divisions of Worth, Quitman and Wool which 
 had been drawn from General Taylor's army. At length all 
 was in readiness, and the fleet sailed from Lobos Island early 
 in March, 1847. Vera Cruz was reached on the 8th, and on 
 the morning of the 9th, the landing of the troops was begun, 
 under cover of the guns of the fleet. In the course of a few 
 hours, the whole force, consisting of twelve thousand men, was 
 successfully landed without the loss of a man or a boat. 
 
 Vera Cruz was, next to Quebec, the strongest fortress in 
 America. It contained a population of fifteen thousand souls, 
 and was well garrisoned. Its chief work was the Castle of San 
 Juan de UUoa, which was built out in the harbor some distance 
 from the shore. The city and vicinity had been carefully re- 
 connoitered. On the lOth of March, the investment was begun 
 by General Worth, and the American lines were established 
 around the city for a distance of six miles. Having decided to 
 reduce the city by a bombardment and regular approaches, 
 Scott spent the next twelve days in constructing batteries. At 
 four o'clock on the afternoon of the 22d of March, the Ameri- 
 can batteries opened fire upon the town, and the fleet at the 
 same time attacked the castle. The bombardment was con- 
 ducted with such vigor that the city and castle were surren- 
 dered to the American commander on the 27th. Over 5,000 
 prisoners and five hundred pieces of artillery were taken. The 
 
586 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 garrison was dismissed on parole, and the inhabitants were 
 protected in their civil and religious rights. 
 
 Leaving a strong garrison under General Worth to hold the 
 city and castle, Scott set out for the interior as soon as he 
 could procure sufificient transportation. His force amounted 
 to about 8,500 men. He found his way barred by the Mexican 
 President, Santa Anna, who, with 12,000 men, was strongly 
 intrenched at Cerro Gordo, a mountain pass at the eastern end 
 of the Cordilleras. On the iSth of April, Scott turned the 
 left of the Mexican position, seized the heights commanding 
 it, and drove the enemy from their works with a loss of over 
 a thousand killed and wounded and three thousand prisoners, 
 and forty-three pieces of cannon. Santa Anna fled in haste 
 from the field, leaving his -baggage and private papers in the 
 hands of the Americans. Scott's loss in this engagement was 
 431 killed and wounded. 
 
 The brilliant victory of Cerro Gordo opened the way for the 
 American army to Jalapa, which was occupied on the 19th of 
 April. Continuing his advance. General Scott captured the 
 strong fortress of Perote, which opened its gates to him on the 
 22d of April. On the 15th of May, Puebla, the second city of 
 Mexico, containing a population of eighty thousand, was occu- 
 pied. Here Scott established his headquarters, and awaited 
 the arrival of reinforcements. He was obliged to spend several 
 months in idleness here in consequence of the reduction of his 
 force by the expiration of the enlistments of the volunteers, 
 who refused to continue in the service, as they dreaded the 
 yellow fever, the season for which had set in. They were al- 
 lowed to return home. The force remaining with Scott was 
 greatly weakened by sickness, eighteen hundred men being in 
 the hospitals of Puebla alone. 
 
 While at Puebla, General Scott was ordered by the Secre- 
 tary of War to collect duties on merchandise entering the 
 Mexican ports, and to apply the money thus obtained to the 
 needs of the army, and to levy contributions upon the Mexican 
 people for the use of the troops. He refused to obey the latter 
 order, declaring that the country through which he was moving 
 was too poor to warrant impressments, and that such a meas- 
 ure would exasperate the Mexicans and cause them to refuse 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 58/ 
 
 to supply the army at all. He continued to buy provisions for 
 his troops, at the market rates of the country, and by so doing 
 greatly allayed the bitterness of feeling with which the Mexicans 
 regarded the Americans. 
 
 Another annoyance to which the commander-in-chief was 
 subjected, arose from the ill-advised action of Mr. N. P. Trist, 
 who had been sent out to Mexico by President Polk in the 
 quality of peace commissioner. Mr. Trist had been selected 
 because of his familiarity with the Spanish language, and his 
 personal relations with President Polk. He was furnished with 
 the draft of a treaty carefully prepared in the State Depart- 
 ment at Washington, and was entrusted with a despatch from 
 Mr. Buchanan, the Secretary of State, to the Mexican minister 
 of foreign relations. He was dinected to communicate confi- 
 dentially to General Scott and Commodore Perry both the 
 treaty and his instructions. General Scott was informed of 
 Mr. Trist's mission by the Secretary of War, and was directed 
 to suspend military operations until further orders, unless 
 attacked. 
 
 Mr. Trist reached Vera Cruz in due time, but instead of ex- 
 plaining his mission to General Scott, as directed, he sent a 
 note from Vera Cruz to the Commander-in-Chief, enclosing the 
 letter of the Secretaiy of War and the sealed despatch to the 
 Mexican Minister, the latter of which he requested the General 
 to forward to its destination. The letter of the Secretary of 
 War could not be understood by General Scott without the 
 explanation which Mr. Trist had been instructed to make, but 
 failed to give. General Scott very properly resented the con- 
 duct of Mr. Trist as an attempt to degrade him by making 
 him subordinate to that personage. In his letter to him he de- 
 clared that the suspension of hostilities belonged to the com- 
 mander in the field, and not to the Secretary of War a thousand 
 miles away. Trist thereupon wrote to Scott, giving him a full 
 explanation of his mission, but did so in disrespectful terms. 
 He claimed to be the representative of the President, and as 
 such to possess the right to issue orders to the Commander- 
 in-Chief Scott refused to admit his claim, and referred the 
 matter to Washington, maintaining, in the meantime, his 
 
588 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 independence of action as commanding general. In due time 
 explanations came from Washington satisfactory to the com- 
 manding general ; and Mr. Trist was sharply reprimanded by 
 the Secretary of State " for his presuming to command the 
 General-in-Chief" 
 
 Reinforcements were at length received from the United 
 States. They reached Puebla in July, and on the 7th of August 
 General Scott resumed his advance upon the City of Mexico, 
 with a force increased to ten thousand men. The route lay 
 through a beautiful upland country, abounding in water, and 
 rich in the most picturesque scenery. The troops pressed on 
 with enthusiasm, and on the loth of August the summit of the 
 Cordilleras was passed, and the City of Mexico burst upon the 
 view of the army, lying in the midst of its lovely valley, and 
 encircled with the strong works that had been erected for its 
 defence. 
 
 Had General Scott been able to push on to the City of Mex- 
 ico immediately after his occupation of Puebla, it must have 
 fallen into his hands almost without a blow. Matters were differ- 
 ent now. Santa Anna had been enabled, by the delay at Puebla, 
 to collect a new army of twenty-five thousand men and sixty 
 pieces of artillery, and to fortify the Capital and its approaches. 
 The passes on the direct road to the city had been well forti- 
 fied and garrisoned by the Mexicans, but the country upon the 
 flanks had been left unguarded, because Santa Anna did not 
 believe that any troops could pass over it and turn his position. 
 El Penon, the most formidable of these defences, was reconnoi- 
 tred by the American engineers, who reported that it would 
 cost at least 3,000 lives to carry it. Scott, therefore, determined 
 to turn El Penon instead of attacking it. The city and its 
 immediate defences were carefully reconnoitred, and it was dis- 
 covered that the works on the South and West were weaker 
 than at any other point. General Scott now moved to the 
 left, passed El Penon on the South, and by the aid of a corps 
 of skillful engineers, moved his army across ravines and chasms 
 which the Mexican commander had pronounced impassable, 
 and had left unguarded. General Twiggs led the advance, and 
 halted and encamped at Chalco, on the lake of the same name. 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 589 
 
 Worth followed, and, passing Twiggs, encamped at the town 
 of San Augustin, eight miles from the Capital.-' 
 
 As soon as Santa Anna found that the Americans had turned 
 El Penon, and had advanced to the South side of the city, he 
 left that fortress and took post in the strong fort of San Anto- 
 nio, which lay directly in front of Worth's new position. North- 
 west of San Antonio, and four miles from the city, lay the little 
 village of Churubusco, which had been strongly fortified by the 
 Mexicans. A little to the west of San Augustin was the fortified 
 camp of Contreras, with a garrison of about six thousand men. 
 In the rear, between the camp and the city, was a reserve force 
 of twelve thousand men. The whole number of Mexicans man- 
 ning the defences of the Capital was about thirty-five thousand 
 and the works were provided with at least one hundred pieces 
 of artillery of various sizes. 
 
 General Scott lost no time in moving against the enemy's 
 works. General Persifer F. Smith was ordered to attack the 
 intrenched camp at Contreras, while the brigades of Shields 
 and Pierce were to move in between the camp and the position 
 of Santa Anna at San Antonio, and prevent that commander 
 from aiding his force at Contreras. At three o'clock on the 
 morning of the 20th of August, Smith began his march in the 
 midst of a cold rain, his men holding on to each other to avoid 
 being separated in the darkness. He made his attack at sun- 
 rise, and in fifteen minutes had possession of the camp. He 
 took 3,000 prisoners, and 33 pieces of cannon. 
 
 The camp at Contreras having fallen. General Scott attacked 
 the fortified village of Churubusco, an hour or two later, and 
 carried it after a struggle of several hours. General Worth's 
 division stormed and carried the strong fort of San Antonio, 
 and General Twiggs captured another important work. The 
 Mexicans outnumbered their assailants three to one, and fought 
 bravely. Their efforts were in vain, however, and late in the 
 
 1 " The Duke of Wellington, with whom the autobiographer was slightly ac- 
 quainted, took quite an interest in the march of this army from Vera Cruz, and at 
 every arrival caused its movements to be marked on a miip. Admiring its triumphs 
 up to the basin of Mexico, he now said to a common friend : ' Scott is lost. He 
 has been carried away by successes. He can't take the city, and he can't fall back 
 upon his base.' " — Geti. Scotfs Autobiography, p. 466. 
 
590 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 afternoon they were driven from their outer defences, and pur- 
 sued by the American cavalry to the gates of the city. 
 
 These two victories were won over a force of 30,000 Mexi- 
 cans by less than 10,000 Americans. The enemy's loss was 
 4,000 killed and wounded and 3,000 prisoners; that of the 
 victors, 1,100. 
 
 Santa Anna retreated within the city, and on the 21st of 
 August the American army advanced to within three miles of 
 the city of Mexico. On the same day Santa Anna sent a flag 
 of truce to General Scott, asking for a suspension of hostilities, 
 with a view to opening negotiations for a peace. The request 
 was granted. Mr. Trist proceeded at once to the city, and 
 began negotiations with the Mexican commissioners. After a 
 series of delays, designed to gain time, the Mexican commis- 
 sioners declined the American conditions, and proposed others 
 which they knew would not be accepted. Mr. Trist at once 
 broke off the conferences, and returned to the camp with the 
 intelligence that Santa Anna had violated the armistice by 
 using the time gained by it in strengthening his defences. In- 
 dignant at such treachery, Scott promptly put an end to the 
 truce, and resumed his advance upon the city. 
 
 The Mexican capital was still defended by two powerful 
 works. One of these was Molino del Rey, "the King's mill," 
 a foundry, where it was said the church bells were being cast 
 into cannon; the other was the strong castle of Chapultepec. 
 General Scott resolved to make his first attack upon Molino 
 del Rey, which was held by 14,000 Mexicans. It was stormed 
 and carried on the 8th of September, by Worth's division, 4,000 
 strong, after a severe conflict. This was regarded as the hard- 
 est won victory of the war. The Americans were unable to 
 make much use of their artillery, and fought principally with 
 their rifles and muskets. Their loss was 787 killed and 
 wounded — nearly one-fifth of the force engaged. 
 
 The castle of Chapultepec stood on a steep and lofty hill, 
 and could not be turned. It could be carried only by a direct 
 assault. On the 12th of September the American artillery 
 opened fire upon it and reduced it nearly to ruins. On the 
 morning of the 1 3th a determined assault was made by the 
 Americans, and the castle was carried after a sharp struggle. 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 59I 
 
 The fugitives from Chapultepec retreated to the city by the 
 causeway leading to the Belen Gate, closely followed by Quit- 
 man's division. Worth's division was moved forward to attack 
 the San Cosmo Gate, while Quitman assailed the Belen Gate. 
 The defences of the causeway were taken in succession, and 
 by nightfall the Belen and the San Cosmo Gates were in pos- 
 session of the Americans, after a hard fight for them. The 
 troops slept on the ground they had won. 
 
 During the night of the 13th, Santa Anna, with the remains 
 of his army, retreated from the city, leaving the authorities to 
 make the best terms they could with the conquerors. The 
 city authorities presented themselves at Scott's quarters before 
 daybreak, and proposed terms of capitulation. Scott replied 
 that the city was already in his possession, and that he would 
 enter it upon his own terms; but added that the inhabitants 
 would be protected in all their rights, if they refrained from 
 hostile demonstrations. The next day, September 14th, 1847, 
 the American army entered the City of Mexico, occupied the 
 grand square, and hoisted the Stars and Stripes over the Gov- 
 ernment buildings. 
 
 The fall of the Capital was follow^ed by a revolution which 
 expelled Santa Anna from power and drove him out of the 
 country. He fled to the West Indies, and the new Govern- 
 ment opened negotiations with Mr. Trist for peace. The result 
 was the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, signed on the 2d of 
 February, 1848, and ratified by the Senate of the United States 
 in July, 1848. 
 
 The services of General Scott were enthusiastically lauded 
 by the American people, as they deserved to be; but he was 
 about to receive at the hands of the President of the United 
 States the most ungrateful treatment that could be visited upon a 
 victorious general. While the whole country was ringing with 
 his praise, orders were despatched to him from Washington to 
 turn over the command of the army to Major General Butler, 
 and submit himself to a court of inquiry upon charges preferred 
 against him by Major Generals Worth and Pillow, and Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Duncan. These orders were received by Scott 
 on the 1 8th of February, 1848. He at once relinquished his 
 command to General Butler. 
 
592 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The cause of this indignity, which Scott describes as a 
 "continuation of the Jackson persecution," was that in the early 
 part of the campaign Scott had been obHged to reprimand 
 Worth, Pillow and Duncan for insubordinate conduct. After 
 the capture of the City of Mexico these officers were placed 
 under arrest, and the President was requested by the Com- 
 manding General to order them before a court of inquiry. To 
 shield themselves, these officers made counter-charges against 
 the Commander-in-Chief Pillow, who was a strong personal 
 friend of President Polk, and had done much to secure his 
 election to the Presidency, and whose conduct at Fort Donnel- 
 son, during the late war, revealed the man, prevailed. The 
 conqueror of Mexico was sacrificed to the political influence of 
 the partisan of President Polk ; the three arrested officers were 
 restored to their commands by order of the President, and Scott 
 was ordered before a court of inquiry "for daring," as he de- 
 clared to the Secretary of War, " to enforce necessary discipline 
 in this army against certain of its high officers." 
 
 The court of inquiry met at the City of Mexico. It con- 
 sisted of Major General Towson and Brigadier-Generals Bel- 
 knap and Caleb Gushing. The reader can see from the compo- 
 sition of this court, composed of three of the most insignificant 
 officers of the army, how far Mr. Polk was prepared to sustain 
 Pillow in his effort to sacrifice Scott. After a session of a few 
 weeks the court adjourned to meet at Frederick, Marjdand. 
 After the return of the army to the United States the court 
 reassembled at Frederick. Scott boldly defied the conspiracy 
 against him, and demanded the most searching investigation 
 into his conduct. The court contented itself with whitewashing 
 General Pillow, but none of the conspirators dared to press the 
 charges against Scott, which were withdrawn. The indignation 
 of the country was so open and outspoken that Mr. Polk made 
 haste to dissolve the court after the whitewashing of Pillow. 
 
 In the meantime, after the adjournment of the Court at Mex- 
 ico, General Scott set out for the United States. Generously 
 leaving all the steamers for the transportation of the troops who 
 were about to evacuate Mexico, he sailed from Vera Cruz " in 
 a small sailing brig, loaded down with guns, mortars and ord- 
 nance stores." New York harbor was reached on the 20th of 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT, 593 
 
 May, and Scott, engaging a row-boat, proceeded at once to join 
 his family at Elizabeth. He was sore at the injustice of which 
 he had been made the victim. As soon as his arrival was known, 
 however, he was waited upon by a committee from New York, 
 and was induced to visit that city, where he was welcomed with 
 a magnificent civic and military reception, which showed him 
 that the people had not failed to do him justice. At his own 
 request he was assigned by the Government to the command 
 of the Eastern Department, with his headquarters at New York. 
 He was rewarded with the thanks of Congress, and a gold medal 
 was struck and presented to him by that body in honor of his 
 victories in Mexico. Upon the inauguration of President Tay- 
 lor, Scott resumed the command of the whole army, but re- 
 tained his headquarters at New York, until the accession of 
 President Fillmore, In 1852 Congress revived the grade of 
 Lieutenant-General, which had been held by Washington alone, 
 and conferred it upon General Scott. 
 
 In June, 1852, the National Convention of the Whig party 
 nominated General Scott for the Presidency of the United States. 
 At the fall elections he was defeated by General Pierce, the 
 Democratic candidate. 
 
 In 1859 the dispute about the Island of San Juan, in Puget's 
 Sound, came near embroiling the United States and Great 
 Britain in war. General Scott was at once despatched to the 
 scene of the trouble by President Buchanan, and succeeded in 
 averting the danger by causing the island to be held by a joint 
 occupation of the forces of both countries until their respective 
 governments could settle the claim of ownership. 
 
 Upon the secession of the Southern States in i860 and 1861, 
 it was supposed by many that General Scott, being a Virginian 
 by birth, would sustain the South. He had no idea of doing 
 so, however, and from the first urged the Administration of 
 President Buchanan to strengthen the garrisons of all the South- 
 ern forts. His first proposition to this effect was submitted to 
 the President in October, i860, before the Presidential election. 
 He declared that in his opinion all these works should be held 
 by a force which would render any attempt to seize or capture 
 them hopeless. His advice was disregarded by the Adminis- 
 tration, however. The Richmond Examiner^ the ablest journal 
 
594 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 in the South at that time, thus endorses his plan: "The plan 
 invented by General Scott to stop secession was, like all cam- 
 paigns devised by him, very able in its details and nearly cer- 
 tain of general success. The Southern States are full of arsenals 
 and forts, commanding their rivers and strategic points. Gen- 
 eral Scott desired to transfer the army of the United States to 
 these forts as speedily and as quietly as possible. The South- 
 ern States could not cut off communication between the Gov- 
 ernment and the fortresses without a great fleet, which they can- 
 not build for years — or take them by land without one hundred 
 thousand men, many hundred millions of dollars, several cam- 
 paigns, and many a bloody seige. Had Scott been able to have 
 got these forts in the condition lie desired them to be, the Southern 
 Confederacy woidd not now exists 
 
 Believing that an attempt would be made to prevent the in- 
 auguration of President Lincoln, General Scott, though in feeble 
 health and suffering from bodily infirmity, collected a force, of 
 regulars at Washington, to which he added the volunteers of 
 the city. He took personal command of this force, though he 
 had received many letters threatening him with assassination 
 if he dared to be present on the occasion. Under the protec- 
 tion of the the troops the inauguration took place without in- 
 terruption. 
 
 General Scott favored a firm but conciliatory policy on the 
 part of the Administration of Mr. Lincoln. He was in favor 
 of reinforcing Fort Sumter, and when it was apparent that war 
 was inevitable, gave his energetic support to the efforts of the 
 Government to prepare the army for the field. 
 
 He was not to take part in the great struggle, however. For 
 many years his health had been failing, but in spite of this he 
 had clung to his duties with characteristic energy. A younger 
 and more active man was needed at the head of the armies of 
 the United States ; and recognizing this necessity. General Scott, 
 on the 31st of October, 1861, relinquished his position as Com- 
 mander-in-Chief, and retired from active duty. " A cripple," 
 he says, " unable to walk without assistance for three years, on 
 retiring from all military duty, October 31st, 1 861, being broken 
 down by recent official labors of from nine to seventeen hours 
 a day, with a decided tendency to vertigo and dropsy, I had 
 
WINFIELD SCOTT. 595 
 
 the honor to be waited on by President Lincoln, at the head 
 of his Cabinet, who, in a neat and affecting address, took leave 
 of the worn-out soldier." In consideration of his distinguished 
 services. Congress passed a special act continuing to General 
 Scott his pay and allowances. 
 
 In November, i86i. General Scott sailed for Europe on a 
 tour for health and rest, but soon returned in consequence of 
 the prospect of a foreign war, caused by the Trent affair. In 
 the event of such a complication he hoped to be of service once 
 more to his country. 
 
 As time passed on he grew feebler, and was almost helpless 
 during his last years. He lived to see the Union emerge suc- 
 cessfully from the Civil War, and the last danger removed 
 from the country he loved so well. He died at West Point on 
 the 29th of May, 1 866, and was buried in the cemetery of the 
 Military Academy. 
 
 General Scott was a man of almost gigantic stature, of noble 
 and commanding appearance, and was possessed of unusual 
 personal strength and endurance. In manner he was courteous 
 and dignified, and even somewhat stiff His private character 
 was above reproach. He was a man of the purest honor, of 
 the nicest sense of right, very generous, and utterly incapable 
 of a mean or dishonorable action. As a commander he was 
 enterprising and at the same time prudent. He never shrank 
 from any personal danger in the field, but was exceedingly 
 careful of his men. He gave great attention to the comfort 
 and health of his troops, and was a strict disciplinarian, count- 
 ing nothing too unimportant to engage his attention. He was 
 greatly averse to bloodshed, and was always ready to settle 
 difficulties by negotiation rather than by fighting ; though when 
 it came to blows, he was for making short and decisive work 
 of It 
 
HORACE GREELEY. 
 
 HORACE GREELEY was born at Amherst, New Hamp- 
 shire, on the 3d of February, 181 1. He was the third of 
 seven children, two of whom had died before his birth. His 
 father was Zaccheus Greeley, a farmer, whose ancestor had 
 emigrated to this country from Nottingham, in England, about 
 the year 1650. His mother was Mary Woodburn, of Scotch- 
 Irish descent. The Greeleys were generally poor, but the 
 Woodburn family were well-to-do farmers. 
 
 At the time of his birth the parents of Horace Greeley were 
 residing on a small and not fertile farm in Amherst. The farm 
 was not yet paid for, and it required a constant struggle to 
 provide for the family and lay up enough to meet the interest 
 on the mortgage. Almost as soon as he was able to go about 
 the fields, Horace was set to helping on the farm. His princi- 
 pal employment was "picking stones," a labor with which New 
 England farm lads are more familiar than they care to be, and 
 all will doubtless endorse his opinion of it as expressed in after 
 life. "Picking stones," he says in his autobiography, "is a 
 never-ending labor on one of those New England farms. Pick 
 as closely as you may, the next plowing turns up a fresh erup- 
 tion of boulders and pebbles, from the size of a hickory nut to 
 that of a tea-kettle ; and as this work is to be done mainly in 
 March or April, when the earth is saturated with ice-cold water, 
 if not also whitened with falling snow, youngsters soon learn 
 to regard it with detestation." 
 
 Horace did not take kindly to farm life. He learned to read 
 before he could talk plainly, his mother being his teacher. 
 She was a woman of abundant animal spirits, of strong good 
 sense, and was an industrious reader. She dearly loved poetry 
 and music, and had an inexhaustible fund of songs, ballads 
 and stories, which she would repeat to her boy as she turned 
 the spinning wheel or held him on her knee. Horace would 
 Hsten to them with eagerness, and "they served," he says, "to 
 
 (596) 
 
HORACE GREELEY. 
 
HORACE GREELEY. 597 
 
 awaken in me a thirst for knowledge, and a lively interest in 
 learning and history." When he was four years old he could 
 read fluently and correctly any book in the language. When 
 he was three years old he spent the winter with his mother's 
 father at Londonderry, New Hampshire, and was sent to the 
 district school. He continued to reside much with his grand- 
 father during the next three years, and attended school during 
 the greater part of this time. He learned rapidly, and was 
 especially noted for his proficiency in spelling. He was not 
 content with his lessons in school, but at his grandfather's 
 house would take a book, lie down on the floor, and spell out 
 the harder words. He was regularly sought out by the "spell- 
 ing matches " of the neighborhood, and was a tower of strength 
 to his side. The matches were generally held in the evening, 
 and the little fellow found it hard to keep awake. He would 
 doze away while the others were spelling, and when his turn 
 came his companions would give him a shake to wake him. 
 The blue eyes would open instantly, and he would spell his 
 word in a bright, clear voice, and then drop off to sleep again. 
 
 When he was six years old his father removed to Bedford, 
 New Hampshire, and settled on a larger farm which he had 
 agreed to work on shares. Horace was now recalled from his 
 grandfather's, and for the next four years was kept at work on 
 the farm, devoting to his schooling only such time as he was 
 not engaged in labor. " Here," he says, " I first learned that 
 this is a world of hard work. Often called out of bed at dawn 
 to 'ride horse to plow' among the growing corn, potatoes, and 
 hops, we would get as much plowed by nine to ten o'clock A. 
 M., as could be hoed that day, when I would be allowed to 
 start for school, where I sometimes arrived when the forenoon 
 session was half through. In winter our work was lighter ; 
 but the snow was often deep and drifted, the cold intense, the 
 north wind piercing, and our clothing thin ; besides which, the 
 term rarely exceeded, and sometimes fell short of two months." 
 
 The only newspaper taken in his father's family was a weekly 
 called "The Farmer's Cabinet," a poor affair, but still some- 
 thing to let little Horace know that there was a great world 
 beyond the gray New Hampshire hills, in which he must one 
 day take his place. He read the paper with the eagerness with 
 
598 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 which he devoured everything of a literary nature, and it is 
 possible that it aroused in him the determination to become a 
 printer. It is said that while he was still at school at Bedford 
 he w^as one day watching a blacksmith shoe a horse. The 
 smith, who was a friend to the boy, observing his interest, said 
 to him, "You had better come with me and learn the trade." 
 " No," said Horace quickly, " I am going to be a printer." 
 
 When Horace was not quite ten years old, his father lost his 
 little property, and removed to West Haven, in Rutland county, 
 Vermont, at the head of Lake Champlain. There, in 1821, the 
 little family began life anew. For the next four or five years 
 Horace worked hard and fared poorly, but was satisfied, since 
 he was able to borrow books and newspapers, which he read 
 with avidity. By gathering nuts and pitch pine roots for 
 kindling, which he sold at the country store, and by "bee-hunt- 
 ing," he managed to provide himself with a little pocket-money, 
 which he regularly laid out in books. When he was eleven 
 years old he heard that an apprentice was wanted in the print- 
 ing office at Whitehall. He obtained his father's consent to 
 apply for the place, and set out on foot for Whitehall, nine 
 miles distant. He was rejected, however, on account of his 
 extreme youth. West Haven was noted at this time for its 
 dissipation. Horace was disgusted with the coarse, brutal 
 sights which he beheld on every hand, and conceived that utter 
 abhorrence of drinking which distinguished him through life. 
 
 When he was fifteen years old, he came to the conclusion 
 that it was time he was earning his own living. Seeing an 
 advertisement for a printer's boy in the office of the Northern 
 Spectator, published at East Poultney, Vermont, eleven miles 
 from his home, he received his father's consent to apply for it. 
 He obtained it, and was formally entered by his father, on the 
 1 8th of April, 1826, as an apprentice in the Spectator office. 
 He was to receive his board only for six months, and after that 
 his board and forty dollars a year for clothing. Shortly after 
 this Mr. Greeley removed his family to the town of Wayne, in 
 Erie county, Pennsylvania. Horace remained four years in the 
 Spectator office, working faithfully at his trade. He was kindly 
 treated by his employers, but was kept very busy. He devoted 
 his leisure time to reading and improvement, and became one 
 
HORACE GREELEY, 599 
 
 of the leading members of the village debating society. He 
 was very well read for a boy of his age, and expressed his opin- 
 ions with independence and courtesy, and maintained them with 
 firmness. He was frank and open, always good tempered, and 
 was very popular. " He was never treated as a boy in the de- 
 bating society," says one of his old friends, " but as a man and 
 an equal ; and his opinions were considered with as much def- 
 erence as those of the judge or the sheriff — more, I think." 
 
 His little income of forty dollars a year was carefully hus- 
 banded, and out of this he clothed himself and sent the re- 
 mainder to his parents in Pennsylvania. 
 
 In June, 1830, the office of The Spectator was closed, and 
 Greeley was thrown out of employment. With his scanty 
 wardrobe in his pockets, and but eleven dollars in his purse, he 
 set out to see his parents, obtaining employment on the way 
 at eleven dollars a month, in the office of a Democratic paper 
 at Sodus, New York. Reaching home during the year, he 
 obtained a place at fifteen dollars a month in the office of a 
 newspaper published at Erie, Pennsylvania. He gave such 
 satisfaction here that the proprietors offered him a partnership. 
 He declined it, however, and wisely, for a dull season soon set 
 in, and made a marked change for the worse in the affairs of 
 the paper. 
 
 He now determined to seek employment in New York. 
 Dividing his earnings with his father, he set off for the great 
 city, making the journey partly on foot, and partly by the canal 
 and the Hudson River steamer. On the 17th of August, 1831, 
 he landed in New York — poor, unknown, frail and boyish 
 looking, and as awkward and verdant in appearance as can well 
 be imagined. He had never seen a large city before, and was 
 not a little awed and disheartened by the bustle and whirl and 
 rush into which he was plunged. "I knew no human being," 
 he says, "within two hundred miles, and my unmistakably 
 rustic manner and address did not favor that immediate com- 
 mand of remunerating employment, which was my most urgent 
 need. However, the world was all before me; my personal 
 estate, tied up in a pocket-handkerchief, did not at all encumber 
 me; and I stepped lightly off the boat and away from the 
 sound of the detested hiss of escaping steam, walking into and 
 
600 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 up Broad street, in quest of a boarding house." He found one 
 at length on the North River side, and obtained board at ^2.50 
 a week. As he had but ^10 with him, and no means of getting 
 more, it was important for him to obtain work as soon as possi- 
 ble. Having breakfasted, he at once set out, and during the 
 next two days visited at least half the printing offices in the 
 city. It was midsummer — a dull season — and his youth and 
 rustic appearance were against him. When he applied at the 
 office of the yoiirnal of Commerce, its editor bluntly told him 
 he suspected him of being a runaway apprentice from some 
 country office. 
 
 Thoroughly disgusted and disheartened by his failures, Hor- 
 ace resolved to leave New York the next day. On that day, 
 however, he learned from some persons who chanced to visit 
 his boarding place that a hand was wanted at John T. West's 
 printing office, in Chatham street, and at once applied for the 
 place and obtained it. The place was given to him simply 
 because " no other printer who knew the city" would accept it. 
 The "job" assigned him was a difficult one — the composition 
 of a miniature New Testament, with numerous marginal refer- 
 ences. No other compositor could be induced to work long 
 at this job, and Horace had it nearly all to himself He perse- 
 vered to the end, and completed it; but so difficult was the 
 work that he could scarcely ever earn more than a dollar a 
 day. When the task was finished Mr. West had no further 
 use for him, and he was out of work for a fortnight. After 
 several changes he entered the office of Porter's Spirit of the 
 Times, a new sporting paper, where he was paid fair wages. 
 He won the friendship of Mr. Francis V. Story, the foreman of 
 the office, who shortly after induced him to enter into a part- 
 nership with him in an office of their own. 
 
 The new firm hired two rooms in a building at the south- 
 east corner of Nassau and Liberty streets, and invested their 
 whole means — less than ^200 — in printing material, to which 
 they added other material to the amount of ^40, obtained on 
 credit from Mr. George Bruce, the type founder. They took 
 in such job printing as they could get, but their main depend- 
 ence was the printing of " Sylvester's Bank Note Reporter," 
 and the publishing of " The Morning Post," a daily penny 
 
HORACE GREELEY. 6oi 
 
 paper, started by Dr. H. D. Shepard. The first number was 
 issued January ist, 1833, but in less than a month it was a 
 failure, and had involved its printers heavily. Fortunately for 
 them, it was purchased by an Englishman, who conducted it 
 for a brief period, and promptly paid his printer's bills. The 
 money received from him was all that saved the young firm 
 from bankruptcy. Its members worked hard, and were just 
 beginning to get ahead, when Mr. Story was drowned, in June, 
 
 1833- 
 Mr. Jonas Winchester, a brother-in-law of Mr. Story, took 
 
 his place in the firm, and by dint of close application and 
 economy a fair and prosperous business was at length estab- 
 lished. In March, 1834, Mr. Greeley and his partner began 
 the publication of the New Yorker, a weekly paper, devoted to 
 literature and the current news. Mr. Winchester attended to 
 the business management of the paper, and Mr. Greeley was 
 its sole editor. He conducted it with ability for seven years 
 and a half In the spring of 1836 the partnership was dis- 
 solved. Mr. Greeley took the New Yorker, but as it was con- 
 ducted on the credit system it made little money after the panic 
 of 1837, and in 1841 came to an end, with about ;^ 10,000 due 
 to it by its subscribers, of which not a penny was ever paid. 
 
 In 1838, while still conducting the New Yorker, Mr. Greeley 
 undertook the editorship of a weekly campaign paper called TJie 
 yeffcrsonian, published at Albany by the Executive Committee 
 of the Whig party of the State of New York. The paper reached 
 a circulation of 15,000 copies, and its editor was paid a salary 
 of ;$i,ooo. In 1840, during the Harrison campaign, he pub- 
 lished The Log Cabin, a campaign paper, the first number of 
 which was issued on the 2d of May. It made an unexpected 
 hit at the start, the first number attaining a sale of 48,000 cop- 
 ies. The circulation ran up to 80,000 copies. It was Mr. Gree- 
 ley's own property, and was a considerable pecuniary success. 
 Although established only as a campaign paper, its 
 publication was continued after the election had passed by, its 
 character being changed from a political to a family newspaper. 
 It had a prosperous career until 1842, when it was merged in 
 the Weekly Tnbune. 
 
 It had always been the dream of Horace Greeley's life to be 
 
602 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 at the head of a first-class daily newspaper in New York. He 
 regarded himself now as in a condition to carry this plan into 
 operation, and on the lOth of April, 1841, issued the first num- 
 ber of the New York Tribune. It was a small sheet, and sold 
 for one cent. It began its career with 600 subscribers, and a 
 capital of ^1,000, borrowed money. It was issued from No. 30 
 Ann street. The first edition was 5,000 copies, and Mr. Gree- 
 ley has declared that he found considerable trouble in giving 
 all the numbers away. It had a hard fight for existence at first. 
 At the end of the first week its expenses were ^525, and its 
 receipts $g2. Fortunately for it, the Sii/i, which sought to hold 
 a monopoly of cheap journalism in New York, attempted to 
 crush it. Greeley returned the Sim's attack with spirit, and 
 " a very pretty quarrel" was soon in full progress between the 
 two papers. The public began to take interest in it, and to es- 
 pouse the cause of the Tribune, and by the end of the seventh 
 week it was obliged to print an edition of 11,000 copies. Mr. 
 Greeley was now obliged to obtain new presses and increase 
 his office facilities. Advertisements came in with greater rapid- 
 ity, and the paper began to show signs of permanence. Four 
 months after the first number of the paper was issued, Mr. 
 Thomas McElrath was induced to become a partner in the en- 
 terprise. The business management of the paper passed into 
 his hands, and Mr. Greeley was able to devote himself entirely 
 to its editorial conduct. This admirable arrangement was a 
 success from the first. The paper prospered, and at the end 
 of its first year was established on a safe basis. In April, 1842, 
 the Tribn)ie entered upon its second year, and its proprietors 
 were enabled to accomplish the hazardous undertaking of more 
 than doubling its size and increasing its price from one to two 
 cents. Its success was even more rapid after than before these 
 changes. Since then it has grown by degrees into its present 
 size. 
 
 Horace Greeley had now found his true sphere. He was at 
 the head of a prosperous and growing daily paper, and was 
 able to exercise the influence in the world which was the sum 
 of his ambition. For the first eleven years of its existence 
 the Tribune was a strictly party paper, devoted to the interests 
 of the Whigs. This narrow field did not suit Mr. Greeley, and 
 
HORACE GREELEY. 603 
 
 after the downfall of the Whig party in 1852, he launched out 
 upon the broader and more perilous sea of independent jour- 
 nalism. He aimed to make the Tribune a great, powerful and 
 fearless organ oS. tlie right, the enemy of wrong and injustice in 
 any form, the friend of the helpless and the defender of the 
 oppressed. He wished to build up a sound, healthy tone in 
 public opinion and public morals, and to do his share manfully 
 in helping his country to achieve its high destiny. He was 
 often mistaken in his views, but no man may question the 
 purity of his motives. He was so honest and earnest, so open 
 and ingenuous, that it was not possible for him to avoid mis- 
 takes. His aspirations are thus eloquently stated by him in 
 his autobiography: "Fame is a vapor; popularity an accident; 
 riches take wings ; the only earthly certainty is oblivion ; no 
 man can foresee what a day may bring forth, while those who 
 cheer to-day will often curse to-morrow; and yet I cherish the 
 hope that the journal I projected and established will live and 
 flourish long after I shall have moulded into forgotten dust, 
 being guided by a larger wisdom, a more unerring sagacity to 
 discern the right, though not by a more unfaltering readiness 
 to embrace and defend it at whatever cost; and that the stone 
 which covers my ashes may bear to future eyes the still intel- 
 ligible inscription, ' Founder of tlie New York Tribune! " 
 
 In 1848, Mr. Greeley was elected to Congress to fill a va- 
 cancy. He served in that body from December ist, 1848, to 
 March 4th, 1849. He failed to make any reputation in Con- 
 gress, and after that time took no part in any deliberative as- 
 sembly except the late Constitutional Convention of New 
 York. His true force lay in the profession of his life. He 
 was a born journalist, and as long as he adhered to that calling 
 he was a successful man and a power in the land. 
 
 Besides his editorial labors, Mr. Greeley wrote and published 
 several works. His " Hints Towards Reform" appeared in 
 1850, and his "Glances of Europe" in 185 1. In 1852, he 
 completed Sargeant's unfinished " Life of Henry Clay." In 
 1856 appeared his " History of the Struggle for Slavery Exten- 
 sion or Restriction;" in 1859 his "Overland Journey to Cali- 
 fornia;" in 1864, "The American Conflict," a history of the 
 Civil War, his most elaborate work; and in 1869, his " Recol- 
 lections of a Busy Life." 
 
604 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In April, 185 1, Mr. Greeley made a voyage to England to 
 witness the " World's Fair," and upon reaching London found 
 he had been appointed a member of the jury on hardware, the 
 duties of which position he discharged faithfully. During this 
 visit he testified before a Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons in favor of the repeal of the tax on advertisements and 
 on all periodicals devoted to a dissemination of the current 
 news of the day. He then made a hurried trip through a part 
 of the Continent, and returned to New York about the middle 
 of August. In 1856 he visited Europe a second time to attend 
 the Paris Exposition. During his sojourn in Paris he was 
 arrested upon the complaint of a sculptor who had had a 
 statue, valued at ^2500, broken at the New York Crystal 
 Palace, of which Mr. Greeley had been a director. The sculp- 
 tor's object was to hold Mr. Greeley responsible for the loss of 
 his property. Being a stranger and unable to procure bail, 
 Mr. Greeley was committed to jail. His case was taken up at 
 once by Mr. Mason, the American Minister, who represented 
 to the French Government that the affairs of the Crystal Palace 
 Company were in the hands of a receiver, and that Mr. Greeley 
 could not, under the laws of New York, be held responsible 
 for the sculptor's loss. Upon this understanding of the matter, 
 Mr. Greeley was released. 
 
 Upon the downfall of the Whig party, in November, 1852, 
 the TriduJie, as we have said, ceased to be a party organ. This 
 was a great relief to Mr. Greeley, whose natural independence 
 had chafed sorely at the restraints of party discipline. He was 
 free now to advocate what he believed to be right, not what 
 was expedient merely. From his boyhood he had been an 
 earnest sympathizer with the efforts to restrict the area of slav- 
 ery, and the Tribime now became one of the leading anti-slav- 
 ery journals of the country. It was one of the first to espouse 
 the cause of the new Republican party, of which Mr. Greeley 
 was one of the founders. Its course won it and its editor an 
 influence and popularity in the Free States unequalled by that 
 of any journal or editor in the Union ; and drew at the same 
 time upon both the bitter hatred of the South. The power 
 which thus passed into Mr. Greeley's hands was genuine. Dr, 
 Brockett well says, "As editor of the New York Tribime, he 
 
HORACE GREELEY. 605 
 
 vielded an influence infinitely greater than any Congressman, 
 jovernor, Senator or President could ever hope to exercise, 
 "rom a quarter to a half a million of men believed in Horace 
 jreeley as religiously as they believed in their Bibles, and many 
 )f them reverenced his opinions more than those of any other 
 luman being. He was, in the Republican administration, and 
 lad been for a dozen years and more, ' the power behind the 
 hrone greater than the throne.' " He was aware of his power, 
 md used it conscientiously for the ends he deemed the best. 
 
 At the Chicago Convention of i860, the influence of Mr. 
 jreeley was cast against Mr. Seward, and secured his defeat 
 ind the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. The Tribune contrib- 
 ited powerfully to the election of Mr. Lincoln, and gave his 
 neasures a hearty support after his inauguration and the break- 
 ng out of the Civil War. Mr. Greeley favored a vigorous prosecu- 
 ion of the war, and upon the triumph of the government desired 
 hat a generous and conciliatory course should be pursued 
 ;owards the South. It was his sincere desire to do everything 
 n his power to heal the wounds of the war, and to assist in 
 jringing back, if such a thing were possible, the brotherly feei- 
 ng that had once existed between the North and the South. 
 
 It was this desire that led him to endeavor to secure the re- 
 ease of Jefferson Davis from his imprisonment, and to become 
 3ne of his sureties when the fallen chief of the Southern Con- 
 federacy was released on bail. This act, which he never re- 
 7-retted, cost him a large share of his popularity in the North. 
 He declared that he had saved the country from a national dis- 
 grace, and maintained that it was a shame to punish one man 
 for the acts of a whole section. 
 
 Mr. Greeley's personal appearance was peculiar. He was 
 careless as to outward appearance, but faultlessly neat in his 
 habits. No one ever saw him with dirty linen, or with soiled 
 outer clothing, except in muddy weather, when, in New York, 
 even a Brummell must be content to be splashed with mud. 
 His usual dress was a black frock coat, a white vest, and black 
 pantaloons reaching to the ankle. His black cravat alone be- 
 trayed his carelessness, and that only when it slipped off the 
 collar and worked its way around to the side, as it had a habit 
 of doing. He was five feet ten in height, and stout in propor- 
 
6o6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 tion. He was partly bald, and his hair was white. He had a 
 light, pinkish complexion, small, sunken blue eyes, a well- 
 shaped mouth and regular features. His beard was perfectly 
 white, and was worn around the throat and under the chin. 
 His hands were small and soft ; but his feet and legs were awk- 
 ward and clumsy, and gave to him a peculiar shuffling gait in 
 walking. His manner was abstracted, and when accosted sud- 
 denly he would reply abruptly. His career was one of inces- 
 sant labor, and it was no wonder that when he came to die he 
 was utterly worn out. 
 
 A warmer and more generous heart never beat in a human 
 bosom. His sympathy with misfortune was as ready and as 
 exquisite as a woman's. He could never turn a deaf ear to 
 an appeal for aid, and he gave away large sums in charity every 
 year. He was frequently imposed upon, but he said he thought 
 it better to be deceived often than to turn away one really de- 
 serving applicant. 
 
 His sense of duty compelled him to oppose the Administra- 
 tion of President Grant, and the Tribune, towards the close of 
 Grant's first term, inaugurated a new movement, which resulted 
 in the formation of the Liberal Republican party, composed of 
 many of the founders of the old Republican party. In 1872 
 this party nominated Mr. Greeley as its candidate for the Presi- 
 dency, and in an evil hour for himself he accepted the nomi- 
 nation. He was induced to take this step by his belief that his 
 election would aid in bringing about a better state of feeling be- 
 tween the North and the South. His nomination was endorsed 
 by the Democratic party at its National Convention, and he 
 received the support of his life-long political adversaries. His po- 
 litical opponents assailed him with a systematic course of abuse 
 and slander which astonished and shocked him. Many of his 
 old friends deserted him, and joined in the warfare upon him. 
 His sensitive nature suffered keenly from these attacks — all the 
 more because he felt that he had not deserved them. The 
 constant annoyance which he experienced at length began to 
 affect his health. 
 
 Just before the close of the campaign, his wife, to whom he 
 was tenderly attached, died. She had long been a sufferer, and 
 for the two weeks preceding her death Mr. Greeley abandoned 
 
HORACE GREELEY. 607 
 
 everything, and devoted himself with unremitting care to her, 
 rarely leaving her bedside, and neglecting in his anxiety to take 
 proper rest. She died on the 30th of October, and Mr. Greeley, 
 utterly unmanned by the blow, gave way to the most bitter 
 grief He took no further interest in the political campaign, 
 which resulted in his defeat, and it soon became evident that 
 the excitement and annoyance of the campaign and his grief 
 for his wife had unsettled his mind. His bodily strength failed 
 rapidly, and symptons of insanity appeared. He was conveyed 
 by his friends to a private asylum in Westchester County, where 
 he grew rapidly worse, and died on the 29th of November, 
 1872, in the sixty-second year of his age. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD was born at Florida, in 
 Orange County, New York, on the i6th of May, 1801. 
 He was the son of Dr. Samuel S. Seward, a prominent citizen 
 of New York, who was for seventeen years the Judge of the 
 County Court of Orange. Young Seward was a bright and 
 intelligent child, and learned rapidly at the country school at 
 which he began his education. He made such progress that 
 when he was but nine years old, his father sent him to the 
 Farmers' Hall Academy at Goshen, the county seat. He spent 
 several years there, and then returned to his native town, where 
 he completed his preparation for college. In 18 16, at the age 
 of fifteen, he entered Union College. He studied hard, and 
 maintained a high standing in his class, excelling in moral 
 philosophy, rhetoric and the classics. In 18 19 he entered the 
 Senior Class, and during that year spent six months in the 
 South teaching school. Later in the year he returned to col- 
 lege and graduated with distinction. 
 
 Having decided to adopt the law as his profession, Mr. Sew- 
 ard, upon leaving college, entered the office of John Anthon, 
 Esq., of New York, as a pupil. Somewhat later he returned 
 to Orange County and completed his studies under John Duer 
 and Ogden Hoffman. In January, 1822, he was admitted to 
 the bar, and removing to Western New York located himself 
 at Auburn, where he formed a law partnership with Judge John 
 Miller, of that town. This was destined to become a closer 
 tie, for two years later Mr. Seward married the Judge's young- 
 est daughter. 
 
 Mr. Seward devoted himself with great industry to his prac- 
 tice, and soon found himself in possession of a large and 
 lucrative business. He also built up a fine reputation as a 
 learned counsel and eloquent speaker. He took naturally to 
 politics, and attached himself to the old Republican party. 
 The ability and enthusiasm with which he advocated the prin- 
 
 ( 608 ) 
 
WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 609 
 
 ciples of this party, soon placed him in the ranks of its leaders 
 in New York. In 1824, though but twenty-three years old, 
 Mr. Seward was chosen to draw up the "Address to The Peo- 
 ple," issued by the Republican Convention of Cayuga County. 
 This address was an able exposure of the history and plans of 
 the Albany Regency. In 1827 he warmly espoused the cause 
 of Greece, then struggling against Turkey, and made a number 
 of speeches in behalf of the patriot cause. In 1828 a Con- 
 vention of the young men of New York was held at Utica in 
 behalf of the election of John Quincy Adams to the Presi- 
 dency, and was ably presided over by Mr. Seward. In the 
 same year he was urged by his party to accept the nomination 
 to Congress, but declined it. Mr. Adams was defeated, and 
 the Democratic party triumphantly seated General Jackson in 
 the Presidential chair. 
 
 The triumph of the Democracy put an end to the National 
 Republican party as a political organization, and secured, for a 
 time, the triumph of the Albany Regency in New York. Mr. 
 Seward at once connected himself with the Anti-Masonic 
 party, as the only opposition in the State to the Regency. He 
 was nominated by this party to the State Senate in 1830, and 
 though his district had at the last election given a large Demo- 
 cratic majority, was elected by a majority of two thousand over 
 his Democratic competitor. He took his seat in the Senate 
 during the ensuing winter, the youngest member of that body. 
 The Senate was strongly Democratic, and party discipline was 
 very rigid. Mr. Seward was looked up to by the small mi- 
 nority as one of its leaders, and fully merited the distinction. 
 He maintained a vigorous opposition to the ruling party, spoke 
 often and ably, and advocated unceasingly the series of reforms 
 which did so much to enhance the prosperity of New York. 
 Among other measures he favored the repeal of the laws pre- 
 scribing imprisonment for debt, the extension of the suffrage, 
 the inauguration of the free school system upon a better basis, 
 and the assistance of the State to the Erie Railway. 
 
 In the summer of 1833, ^^- Seward made a brief visit to 
 Europe for rest and pleasure. During his absence he corres- 
 ponded regularly with the Albany " Evening Journal." His 
 letters were widely read and won him considerable credit 
 39 
 
6lO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Returning in the fall of 1833, he was in his place at the open- 
 ing of the Senate in the winter of 1833-4. 
 
 The controversy over the National Bank in 1832 gave rise 
 to the Whig party, with which Mr. Seward soon united him- 
 self His influence in this organization was very great from 
 the first, and in the fall of 1834, he was nominated as the Whig 
 candidate for Governor of New York. His opponent was 
 William L. Marcy. Though Mr. Seward ran ahead of his 
 ticket in every county in the State, he was defeated, and Mr. 
 Marcy was chosen Governor by a decided majority. In 1838 
 the Whigs again nominated Mr. Seward for Governor, and 
 elected him by a majority of ten thousand. He was reelected 
 by about the same majority in 1840. 
 
 It is admitted, even by his enemies, that he made an excel- 
 lent Governor. During his term of office, imprisonment for 
 debt was abolished, and various reforms were affected in the 
 administration of justice in the State, in the banking system, 
 in the management of the prisons, and in the election laws. 
 The Erie Canal was enlarged during this period. While he 
 was Governor of New York, a number of colored sailors on 
 vessels trading between New York and the ports of Virginia 
 and Georgia, were charged with abducting slaves from those 
 States. The rendition of the sailors was demanded of Governor 
 Seward, but he refused to comply with the demand, and sup- 
 ported his refusal by an argument of great ability. A little 
 later the Democrats secured a majority in the Legislature of 
 New York, and passed resolutions denouncing the course of 
 Governor Seward, who was requested to transmit the resolu- 
 tions to the Governor of Virginia. He declined to do so, and 
 maintained with firmness his refusal to give up the negroes. 
 Another instance of his firmness was given in the famous Mc- 
 Leod case. Alexander McLeod, a British subject, residing in 
 Canada, boasted, in 1840, that he had been engaged in the 
 burning of the steamer Caroline, in the Canadian rebellion of 
 1837, and had killed the American who was shot in the conflict 
 which occurred at the time. Shortly afterwards he visited the 
 State of New York, and was arrested upon a charge of murder 
 by the authorities of that State. The British Government de- 
 manded of the President of the United States the unconditional 
 
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 6X1 
 
 surrender of McLeod, on the ground that he had merely- 
 obeyed the orders of his government, and was not responsible 
 for his acts. The General Government thereupon demanded 
 of the State of New York the surrender of McLeod to the 
 Federal authorities. Governor Seward refused to comply with 
 this demand, and declared that as the murder for which the 
 prisoner was indicted had been committed within the jurisdic- 
 tion of the State of New York, he must submit to be tried 
 for it under the laws of the State. The British Minister at 
 Washington threatened loudly in the name of his Government, 
 and the administration of President Tyler threw all its weight 
 in favor of the surrender of the prisoner. Governor Seward 
 was firm, however. McLeod was brought to trial, but as he 
 succeeded in proving that he was not present in the affair of the 
 Caroline, he was acquitted and released. The conflict between 
 the Federal and State authorities led to the passage of a law 
 by Congress providing for the trial of similar offences before 
 the United States Courts. 
 
 In January, 1843, Governor Seward, having declined a " third 
 term," withdrew from public life, and for the next six years 
 devoted himself to his practice. His business during this 
 period lay chiefly in the higher courts of the State, and in the 
 District and Supreme Courts of the United States. He was 
 engaged in a large number of patent cases, in which he was 
 generally successful, and which brought him a great increase 
 of reputation and a large income, and placed him among the 
 leading lawyers of the Union. He was a man of generous 
 sympathy, and was always ready to advise or to defend the 
 unfortunate and oppressed without any reward but the approval 
 of his own conscience. A notable instance of this occurred 
 when he was at the height of his fame as a lawyer. A negro 
 named Freeman had murdered a family named Van Ness, in 
 Orange county, New York. There was a general desire that 
 the murderer should receive the full penalty of the law. Mr. 
 Seward was applied to to defend the man, and upon his first 
 interview with him was convinced that the poor fellow was 
 hopelessly insane and was more deserving of kind treatment 
 than of death. He was ridiculed and roundly denounced for 
 undertaking the defence of the negro ; but stood by him until 
 
6l2 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the man died. An autopsy was then held, and showed con- 
 clusively to the satisfaction of even the most prejudiced, that 
 Mr. Seward's belief in the negro's insanity was well-founded, 
 and "that his course had been as wise as it was confessedly 
 humane and generous." He would not consent to receive any 
 compensation for his services in this case. 
 
 Though he held no official position during the six years fol- 
 lowing his retirement from the Gubernatorial chair, Mr. Seward 
 did not cease to take an active interest in and exercise a con- 
 trolling influence upon the politics of his native State. He fav- 
 ored the Tariff of 1842 ; but opposed the annexation of Texas 
 and the Mexican War. In 1846 he aided in securing the call- 
 ing of a State Convention for the revision of the Constitution 
 of the State. During this period he delivered two noted eulo- 
 gies — one at New York, in September, 1847, "On the Life and 
 Character of Daniel O'Connell ;" the other in April, 1848, be- 
 fore the Legislature of New York, on the death of John Quincy 
 Adams. He supported General Taylor for the Presidency in 
 1848, and " stumped" the States of New York, Pennsylvania, 
 Ohio and Massachusetts in his behalf 
 
 Early in 1849 Mr. Seward was elected to the Senate of the 
 United States. During the short administration of President 
 Taylor he was in intimate confidential relations with the Presi- 
 dent, and was one of the recognized leaders of his party in the 
 Senate. 
 
 For many years Mr. Seward had been noted as one of the 
 boldest and most uncompromising leaders of the anti-slavery 
 party. He was utterly opposed to allowing slavery to increase 
 its area by one foot, as he believed that, by confining it to the 
 States in which it already existed, it would eventually die out. 
 He denied Mr. Calhoun's doctrine that the Constitution of its 
 own force established slavery in the Territories, and claimed 
 that freedom was the natural condition of those Territories, and 
 that Congress had no power to legislate slavery into them. 
 When the Compromise Measures of 1850 were brought before 
 Congress, he opposed them with all the eloquence he was mas- 
 ter of He was opposed to any Compromise with slavery, 
 and was determined that it should never gain a foot of fresh 
 territory if he could help it. His opposition to the Com- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD, 613 
 
 promise arrayed him against the Administration, and against 
 the leaders of his own party. In a speech in the Senate on 
 the nth of March, 1850, he gave utterance to the following 
 sentiments : " We hold no arbitrary authority over anything, 
 whether acquired lawfully or seized by usurpation. The Con- 
 stitution regulates our stewardship ; the Constiution devotes 
 the domain to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare and 
 to liberty. But there is a Higher Laiv than the Constitution, 
 which regulates our authority over the domain, and devotes it 
 to the same noble purpose." This bold enunciation of the doc- 
 trine that there was a "Higher Law than the Constitution," 
 astounded the whole country. It was fiercely discussed by the 
 opposite parties, and was finally made by the extreme anti- 
 slavery party the justification of its warfare upon slavery. It 
 marked a new stage in the contest between freedom and slavery. 
 
 Mr. Seward favored the passage of a Homestead Law, and 
 did as much as any man in Congress to secure the success of 
 that measure some years later. He was one of the earliest 
 friends of the Pacific Railway, and was generally found on the 
 side of progress and reform. In the great struggle over the 
 Kansas and Nebraska Bill he won especial distinction by his 
 eloquent and bold opposition to the attempt to force slavery 
 upon those Territories. During his whole career in Congress, 
 there was scarcely a debate of importance in which he did not 
 take part. His speeches were marked by a force of reasoning 
 and an eloquence that won the admiration of even his political 
 adversaries. By the South he was regarded as the ablest leader 
 of the Free Soil party, and consequently came in for an abun- 
 dant share of the hatred of that section. In the Free States his 
 popularity was very great, and he was considered one of the 
 first statesmen of his time. Personally, Mr. Seward was very 
 popular among the Southern Senators in Congress, many of 
 whom were his warm friends. 
 
 In spite of his activity in Congress, Mr. Seward found time 
 to give to other pubhc services. In the summer of 1854 he 
 delivered the annual oration before the Literary Societies of 
 Yale College, and in October of that year argued the celebrated 
 " McCormick Reaper Case" in the United States Circuit Court, 
 one of the most famous causes in our annals. 
 
6l4 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In February, 1855, Mr. Seward was returned to the Senate 
 for a second term of six years, in spite of a most determined 
 opposition by the Democratic and Know-nothing parties. In 
 December, 1855, he dehvered the annual address at Plymouth, 
 Massachusetts, in commemoration of the Landing of the Pil- 
 grim Fathers. He took a leading part in the Thirty-Fourth 
 Congress in the debates on the Kansas troubles, and in the 
 Presidential campaign of 1856 took the stump in support of 
 Fremont and Dayton. He had been one of the founders of the 
 Republican party, and had rendered it valuable service since its 
 organization. His efforts on this occasion were unsuccessful, 
 and the campaign resulted in the election of Mr. Buchanan. 
 
 Upon the reassembling of Congress in December, 1856, Mr. 
 Seward was recognized as the leader of the Republican party 
 in the Senate. He spoke often during the session, and upon 
 a variety of subjects. He advocated the claims of the survi- 
 vors of the Revolution; the extension of assistance by the 
 Government to the Atlantic Telegraph; the construction of a 
 telegraph line to California; the establishment of an overland 
 mail route, and the construction of a railway to the Pacific. He 
 delivered an able speech in review of the Dred Scott decision 
 of the Supreme Court, and advocated a revision of the Fed- 
 eral Courts in order to meet the wants of the newer portions 
 of the Union. He was especially active during the sessions of 
 the Thirt}^-fifth Congress, and spoke on every important ques- 
 tion, and upon many of the minor ones that came before that 
 body. He manfully opposed the effort of the Administration 
 to force the Lecompton Constitution upon Kansas, and de- 
 fended the right of the people of that Territory to form their 
 institutions to suit themselves. He advocated the increase of 
 the army in Utah and the suppression of the Mormon Rebel- 
 lion of 1857. He supported the bills for the admission of 
 Minnesota and Oregon into the Union; and urged upon the 
 Administration the duty of demanding reparation for the out- 
 rages of British cruisers upon American vessels in the Gulf 
 of Mexico. During the recess of Congress he argued the 
 famous "Albany Bridge Case" before the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. His speeches during this trial exhibited a 
 remarkable knowledge of Constitutional law and the Uws of 
 navigation. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 615 
 
 In the summer and fall of 1858, Mr. Seward took an active 
 part in the canvass which preceded the elections for State offi- 
 cers and members of Congress. He made a number of speeches 
 during this campaign, some of which attracted the attention of 
 the whole country by the boldness of their declarations. His 
 speech at Rochester was the most marked of these. In it he 
 reviewed the conflict between the free and the slave systems 
 of labor in this country. "Shall I tell you," he said, "what 
 this collision means? Those who think that it is accidental, 
 unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators, and 
 therefore ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an 
 irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and 
 it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, 
 become either entirely a slaveholding nation, or entirely a free 
 labor nation." Mr. Seward's words were bitterly denounced 
 at the time by the Democratic party as incendiary and revolu- 
 tionary, and many of the most conservative men of the coun- 
 try regarded them as the declaration of a partisan; but they 
 were simply the utterance of the convictions of a statesman, 
 who had learned the lesson of all history, that slavery and 
 free labor cannot exist in the same political system. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. Seward made a second visit to Europe, to seek 
 the rest his constant activity had rendered necessary. He was 
 absent some months. 
 
 In the spring of i860 the National Convention of the Repub- 
 lican party met at Chicago to nominate a candidate for the 
 Presidency. Mr. Seward was by common consent the first 
 man in the party, and it was generally supposed that he would 
 receive the nomination. He had to encounter the opposition 
 of Horace Greeley, the powerful editor of the New York Tribune, 
 with whom he had quarreled. The friends of Mr. Seward did 
 not attach much importance to this opposition at first, and on 
 the first ballot their candidate received 173^ votes, to 102 cast 
 for Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Greeley now threw all his influence on 
 the side of Mr. Lincoln, and the second ballot stood Seward, 
 1843/^, Lincoln, 181. On the third ballot Mr. Seward's vote 
 tell ofl" very largely, and Mr. Lincoln received 230^ votes, or 
 within one and a half of a nomination. A change of four votes 
 in Lincoln's favor was at once made, and secured him the nom- 
 
6l6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ination. Mr. Seward accepted the decision with characteristic 
 philosophy, and supported the RepubHcan ticket in the canvass 
 of i860. 
 
 Upon the inauguration of President Lincoln, Mr. Seward 
 was appointed Secretary of State, which office he at once 
 accepted. During the exciting period which had intervened 
 between the election and inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, he had 
 advocated a firm and decided course on the part of Mr. Buch- 
 anan and his Cabinet, but without success. He was now pre- 
 pared to support with all his energy the measures of President 
 Lincoln for the preservation of the Union. His influence with 
 the President was very great, and he was Lincoln's most confi- 
 dential and trusted adviser. Though not so thoroughly the 
 leading spirit of the Administration as was believed at the time, 
 he was the most influential member of the Cabinet. He pos- 
 sessed the entire confidence of President Lincoln, and was 
 responsible for many of the acts of the Administration. 
 
 Mr. Seward remained at the head of the Cabinet during the 
 whole of Mr. Lincoln's Presidency. His conduct of the State 
 Department was admirable and statesmanlike as regarded the 
 intercourse of the country with foreign nations. At the outset 
 of the war the situation of this country was delicate and even 
 critical. Great Britain and France were eager spectators of our 
 struo-crle, and were more than half inclined to intervene in favor 
 of the South. France was perfectly prepared for such a step, 
 and was deterred from it only by the hesitation of England. 
 Mr. Seward's judicious course did more than anything else to 
 increase this hesitation and so prevent intervention. His skill- 
 ful diplomacy was strikingly manifested in the settlement of the 
 Trent affair, which came very near embroiling the United States 
 in war with Great Britain. 
 
 Mr. Seward did not give entire satisfaction by his adminis- 
 tration of his office, however. The freedom with which he used 
 the power of arbitrary arrest amounted sometimes almost to 
 recklessness, and was severely condemned by many of the 
 staunchest supporters of the Union. Not even the exceptional 
 state of affairs caused by a great civil war can entirely excuse 
 him for this abuse of power. He was willing to recognize the 
 Mexican Empire, notwithstanding the fact that Congress had 
 
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 617 
 
 pledged the moral support of this country to Juarez and the 
 Republican cause. These things and other measures of the 
 Secretary gave so much dissatisfaction that the National Re- 
 publican Convention, in nominating Mr. Lincoln for a second 
 term in 1864, requested him to reconstruct his Cabinet. Mr. 
 Seward at once offered his resignation to the President, but 
 Mr. Lincoln, who knew that in spite of Mr. Seward's faults he 
 could not be spared from the Cabinet, refused to accept it. His 
 own confidence in him never wavered, and after his second in- 
 auguration he continued him at the head of the Cabinet. 
 
 Early in April, 1865, while driving through Washington, Mr, 
 Seward was thrown from his carriage and seriously injured. 
 His arm was broken and both sides of his lower jaw were frac- 
 tured. He was conveyed to his residence, and for some days 
 it was believed that his hurts would prove fatal. While lying 
 in this helpless condition he came near falling a victim to the 
 conspiracy which resulted in the murder of President Lincoln. 
 One of the conspirators was assigned the duty of assassinating 
 the Secretary of State as he lay helpless on his sick bed. He 
 forced his way into the chamber about the same moment that 
 the fatal shot was fired at Mr. Lincoln, and severely wounded 
 Frederick Seward, who, unarmed, sought to defend his father. 
 The male nurse was then struck down, and the assassin sprang 
 to the bedside, stabbed the helpless Secretary three times in 
 the face, and then fled, supposing he had killed him. These 
 wounds seriously retarded the recovery of Mr. Seward, but he 
 rallied, and after some weeks was on his feet again. The as- 
 sassin was captured and convicted of his crime, and was hanged. 
 
 President Johnson, upon succeeding Mr. Lincoln, retained 
 Mr. Seward at the head of the Cabinet, and during the next 
 four years the latter sustained the policy of President Johnson. 
 He did not approve of the extreme measures of Congress 
 towards the Southern States, but believed that a more gener- 
 ous policy would bring about more quickly the reconstruction 
 of the Union. He therefore sustained the President in his 
 quarrel with Congress, and in doing so alienated many of his 
 oldest and best friends, who thought he should have taken the 
 side of Congress in this quarrel. He was subjected to a great 
 deal of misrepresentation and abuse, w^hich pained him very 
 
6l8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 much, but he refused to offer any explanation or justification 
 of his course, trusting to time to vindicate both his motives 
 and his conduct.^ | 
 
 On the 29th of March, 1867, Mr. Seward brought to a close 
 the negotiations he had been for some time carrying on with 
 Russia for the purchase of her North American territory. By 
 the treaty concluded on this day, all of Russian America was 
 ceded to the United States for the sum of ^7,200,000 in gold. 
 The treaty was ratified by the Senate on the 9th of April, and 
 the new Territory was organized in 1868 under the name of 
 Alaska. The purchase was not popular ; whether it will prove 
 a valuable acquisition to the United States remains to be seen. 
 Up to the present time the country has not derived any benefit 
 from it. Mr. Seward next proposed to purchase the Danish 
 West India islands of St. Thomas and Santa Cruz, but his pro- 
 ject was so warmly opposed by Congress and by the country 
 at large that he was obliged to abandon it. 
 
 1 At the commencement of the war Mr. Seward was accused by the ultra anti- 
 slavery men of being willing to sacrifice the cause of freedom to his desire to save 
 the Union. He felt this charge very keenly, but refused to make any defence. To 
 one of his most intimate friends he wrote, in reply to a letter upon this subject, the 
 following : 
 
 " Washington, February 2jd, 1861. 
 
 "My Dear Sir: — The American people in our day have two great interests — 
 one, the ascendency of freedom over slavery; the other, the integrity of the Union. 
 The slavery interest has derived its whole political power from bringing the latter 
 object in antagonism with the former. Twelve years ago freedom was in danger, 
 and the Union was not. I spoke then so singly for freedom that short-sighted men 
 inferred that I was disloyal to the Union. I endured the reproach without com- 
 plaining : now I have my vindication. To-day, practically, freedom is not in dan- 
 ger, and the Union is, "With the loss of union all would be lost. With the attempt 
 to maintain union by civil war wantonly brought on, there would be danger of 
 reaction against the Administration, charged with the preservation of both freedom 
 and the Union. Now, therefore, I speak singly for union, striving, if possible, to 
 save it peaceably ; if not possible, then to cast the responsibility upon the party of 
 Slavery. For this singleness of speech, I am now suspected of infidelity to free- 
 dom. In this case, as in the other, I refer myself, not to the men of my time, but 
 to the judgment of history. I thank you, my dear sir, for having anticipated what 
 I think history will pronounce. 
 
 " But do not publish or show this letter. Leave me to be misunderstood. I am 
 not impatient. I write only to you because I would not be, nor seem to be, 
 ungrateful. Faithfully yours, Wm. H. Seward. 
 
 " Rev. Dr. yoseph P. Thompson.^'' 
 
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 619 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1869, Mr. Seward withdrew from pubhc 
 life and returned to his home at Auburn. A few months later 
 he made a visit to Mexico.' He was warmly received by the 
 Mexican Government and people, who forgot his former will- 
 ingness to recognize Maximilian in their gratitude for the vigor 
 with which he finally conducted the negotiation which resulted 
 in the withdrawal of the French troops from Mexico by the 
 Emperor Napoleon at the demand of the United States. From 
 Mexico he went to California, and visited the prominent points 
 on the Pacific coast. In August, 1869, having been joined by 
 several members of his family, he sailed from San Francisco 
 to Japan, and successively visited that country, China, India, 
 Palestine, Egypt, and the principal countries of Europe. He 
 was everywhere received with distinguished honors, for the able 
 statesmanship he had displayed in his conduct of the intercourse 
 of this country with foreign nations during the Civil War was 
 more highly appreciated abroad than at home. He returned 
 home in October, 1871, and began the preparation of a narra- 
 tive of his "Travels Around the World." While engaged in 
 this task, he was seized with his last illness and died at his 
 home in Auburn, on the lOth of October, 1872. 
 
 The vindication for which he looked has come in part 
 already. The American people are coming to appreciate his 
 great services as they never did during his life, and now that 
 the passions of the times of which he formed a part are subsid- 
 ing, are beginning to do justice to the motives that guided him 
 throug-hout his eventful career. 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 
 
 AQUILA CHASE, the ancestor of the subject of this me- 
 moir, was born in Cornwall, England, in i6i8. While a 
 young man he emigrated to America, and settled in the town 
 of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Dudley Chase, the fourth in 
 descent from this founder of the family in America, obtained 
 the grant of a considerable tract of land on the Connecticut 
 River, within the limits of New Hampshire, and settled upon 
 it. He named the settlement Cornish, in memory of his descent 
 from a Cornishman, and the town still bears the name. He 
 was the father of several sons, all of whom became noted men. 
 One of them was Philander Chase, the Episcopal Bishop of 
 Ohio ; another was D. P. Chase, a Senator from Vermont, and 
 Chief Justice of that State. A third was Ithamar Chase, the 
 father of the subject of this memoir. He was a man of great 
 stature, of noble and commanding presence, and was noted for 
 the dignity and courtesy of his manner. He was one of the 
 best-known men in his State. He accumulated a large fortune 
 by his industry in business, but took but little share in public 
 life. He was a justice of the peace, and for many years served 
 as a member of the Executive Council of the State. He lost 
 his property by the commercial disasters which followed in the 
 train of the second war with England, and in 1 8 1 5 removed to 
 Keene, New Hampshire, where he died suddenly in 18 17. 
 
 Salmon Portland Chase, the second son of Ithamar Chase, 
 was born at Cornish, New Hampshire, on the 13th of January, 
 1808. He was nine years old at the time of his father's death. 
 His mother was a woman of Scotch descent, and was possessed 
 of the thrift and energy of her race. Though but little was left 
 to her out of the wreck of her husband's fortune, she made the 
 best use of that little, and managed her slender resources with 
 such good judgment that she was able to keep her family in 
 comparative comfort, and maintain a respectable position for 
 them. Salmon received his first instruction from her, and was 
 
 (620) 
 
SALMON P. CHASE. 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 621 
 
 afterwards sent to the public school at Keene, from which he 
 passed to a boarding school at Windsor, Vermont, kept by- 
 one of his father's friends. He learned rapidly, and made great 
 progress in Latin, Greek, and Mathematics. In the spring of 
 1820, Bishop Chase wrote to his sister-in-law, offering to re- 
 ceive Salmon into his own family, and educate him. Mrs. 
 Chase readily accepted the offer, and in the summer of 1820, 
 Salmon set out on the then long and toilsome journey to Ohio. 
 
 Bishop Chase resided at that time at Worthington, in the 
 interior of Ohio, and upon reaching Cleveland, Salmon was 
 obliged to remain nearly a month with a friend of his uncle, 
 until he could find an opportunity of completing his journey. 
 At length two theological students came along on their way to 
 Worthington, and took him in charge. In their company he 
 made the long journey through what was then a wild and al- 
 most unbroken country, and reached his uncle in safety. 
 
 Bishop Chase set his nephew to earning his living as soon as 
 he entered his family. He was put to work on the farm, and 
 assigned the hard and menial duties of "chore boy," or boy ol 
 all work. He was kept so busy with these labors that his 
 studies were seriously interrupted, and he was obliged to study 
 harder than would otherwise have been necessary, in order to 
 keep up with his class. He did keep up with it, however, and 
 in 1 82 1 was the Greek Orator at the commencement exercises 
 of the Bishop's school. He also exhibited great proficiency in 
 composition and the English branches. One of his school- 
 mates has given us this picture of him in his schoolboy days : 
 'Never have I known a purer or more virtuous-minded lad than 
 he was. He had an extreme aversion to anything dishonora- 
 ble or vicious. He was industrious and attentive to business. 
 Laboring on the farm of his uncle, he missed many recitations, 
 and had but limited chances for study; yet, having a natural 
 fondness for books, he was surpassed by no one of his age in 
 the school. He had little regard for his personal appearance, 
 or, indeed, for anything external. His mind appeared to be 
 directed to what was right, regardless of the opinions of others." 
 
 In 1823 Bishop Chase was elected to the Presidency of the 
 College at Cincinnati, and accepted it. Salmon went with his 
 uncle's family to Cincinnati, and there found his position very 
 
622 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 much bettered, as he was released from the hard labors of the 
 farm, and was able to give more time to his studies. He en- 
 tered the Freshman Class of the College, and had reached the 
 Sophomore Class, when the Bishop resigned the Presidency of 
 the College, in August, 1823, to devote himself to the task of 
 establishing Kenyon College, which owes its existence and 
 prosperity to him. This put an end to Salmon's studies, and 
 as the Bishop soon sailed for England to seek the funds with 
 which to found his new school, Salmon was obliged to return 
 to his home in New Hampshire. He made a large part of the 
 journey on foot, and reached Keene in the fall of 1823. He 
 obtained the position of teacher in the public school, which he 
 held for a short while, and then entered the Academy at Roy- 
 alton, Vermont, to prepare for college. He spent a few months 
 at this school, and in 1824 entered the Junior Class at Dart- 
 mouth College. He made the best use of his time at this in- 
 stitution, and in 1826 graduated, the eighth in his class. 
 
 After leaving college, young Chase repaired to Washington 
 City and applied to his uncle, then a Senator from Vermont, to 
 obtain for him a clerkship under the Government. The Sena- 
 tor, who had formed quite a favorable opinion of his nephew's 
 capabilities, told the young man that he would willingly give 
 him the money to buy a pickaxe and a spade, that he might 
 earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, but that nothing would 
 induce him to ruin his nephew's whole future by helping him 
 to a Government office. Young Chase therefore opened a 
 school in Washington, and among his pupils were sons of 
 Henry Clay, William Wirt and other distinguished public men. 
 The little leisure time that remained to him after his school 
 hours were over, he devoted to the study of the law, under 
 William Wirt, then the brilliant Attorney-General of the United 
 States. He continued his school until 1829, when, being of 
 age, and having completed his legal studies, he closed it, and 
 was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia in Febru- 
 ary, 1830. 
 
 Mr. Chase had no idea of commencing his practice in Wash- 
 ington, but had from the first determined to locate himself in 
 Cincinnati. Early in March, 1 830, he set out for Ohio, and 
 upon reaching Cincinnati lost no time in getting to work. 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 623 
 
 Shortly after his arrival there he formed a partnership with Ed- 
 ward King, Esq., son of Rufus King, a Senator of the United 
 States from New York. This connection was soon dissolved, 
 and in 1833 ^^- Chase formed a new partnership with Mr. 
 Caswell, an established and prosperous member of the Cincin- 
 nati bar. The young lawyer slowly built up a reputation and 
 a practice. While still struggling with fortune he prepared a 
 compilation of the Statutes of Ohio, prefaced with a brief his- 
 tory of the State, and enriched with numerous notes. This 
 work, when published, was comprised in three large octavo 
 volumes, and is a monument to the industry and skill of the 
 young advocate. It was a much-needed work, and quickly 
 took the place of all other collections of the Ohio statutes. Its 
 excellence was generally admitted, and it has ever since been 
 regarded by the courts of the State as the highest authority 
 upon the matters whereof it treats. It won for Mr. Chase a 
 high reputation among his professional brethren, and was one 
 of the causes of his appointment in the spring of 1834 to the 
 position of Solicitor of the Bank of the United States in Cincin- 
 nati. Shortly afterwards he was placed in charge of the busi- 
 ness of another of the city banks, and his practice increased so 
 rapidly that he was soon regarded as one of the most prosper- 
 ous lawyers of Cincinnati. In 1837 he dissolved his partner- 
 ship with Mr. Caswell, and a little later formed a new one with 
 a Mr. Ellis. 
 
 In 1836 he took the first step in the great service he was to 
 render to the cause of freedom. In that year the office of" the 
 Philanthropist," a free soil paper, published by James G. Bir- 
 ney, was attacked by a mob of sympathizers with slavery, and 
 was literally gutted ; its types were thrown into the street, and 
 its presses destroyed. But for the prompt and courageous in- 
 terference of Mr. Chase, who organized and led a party of law 
 abiding citizens to the rescue, Birney would have been mur- 
 dered by the excited mob. Mr. Chase had always disapproved 
 of slavery, and now began to take an active part in opposition 
 to it. In 1837 he defended gratuitously a slave woman who 
 was claimed as a fugitive from service under the law of 1793. 
 In his argument in this case he denied the right of Congress to 
 delegate to the officials of the several States the power to ap- 
 
624 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 prehend and restore fugitive slaves to their owners. This 
 position was maintained with great force, and was subsequently 
 endorsed by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. He also held that the law of 1793 was not warranted 
 by the Constitution, and was therefore void. The people of 
 Cincinnati at that time were largely in sympathy with the insti- 
 tution of slavery, and Mr. Chase's defence of this slave woman, 
 which was unsuccessful, was regarded with general disfavor, 
 and was looked upon by his friends as a mistake. As he was 
 leaving the court room he heard a prominent citizen remark to 
 a companion, " There goes a promising young man who has 
 just ruined himself." 
 
 In 1837 James G. Birney was tried before the Supreme Court 
 of Ohio, for harboring a fugitive slave. Mr. Chase was his 
 counsel, basing his defence on the broad ground that slavery 
 was a local institution, and depended for its existence and pro 
 tection upon the legislation of the States which fostered it, but 
 that it had no existence beyond the limits of these States, and 
 that when a slave was brought by his master into a Free State, 
 he was de facto et de jure free. He was also counsel for the ac- 
 cused in several other important fugitive slave cases, in the next 
 two or three years, and greatly added to his professional repu- 
 tation, and became known to the whole country as one of the 
 leading opponents of slavery. 
 
 Up to this time Mr. Chase had not engaged in the political 
 controversies of the day. In the campaign of 1840, he took 
 a more active part, and gave his support to General Harrison 
 for the Presidency. Soon after the accession of Mr. Tyler to 
 the Presidency, Mr. Chase became convinced that the Whig 
 party would do nothing for the anti-slavery cause, and that in 
 order to accomplish their ends the anti-slavery men must 
 organize themselves into a distinct political party. He set to 
 work to accomplish this in Ohio, and in 1841 induced others 
 to join him in calling a State Convention of the opponents of 
 slavery. The Convention met in December, organized the 
 " Liberal party" of Ohio, and nominated a candidate for Gov- 
 ernor. They failed to elect him. 
 
 In 1843 Mr. Chase was sent by the Liberal party as one of 
 its delegates to the National Liberty Convention which met at 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE, 625 
 
 Buffalo. He was one of the Committee on Resolutions of this 
 Convention. A resolution was offered to the Committee, call- 
 ing upon the opponents of slavery " to regard and treat the 
 third clause of the Constitution, whenever applied to the case 
 of a fugitive slave, as utterly null and void, and consequently 
 as forming no part of the Constitution of the United States, 
 whenever we are called upon or sworn to support it." Mr. 
 Chase denounced this resolution as infamous, and procured its 
 rejection by the Committee. At a subsequent period of his 
 life, when a Senator of the United States, he was taunted by 
 Senator Butler, of South Carolina, with being the author of 
 this resolution. He replied indignantly, " I never proposed the 
 resolution ; I never would propose or vote for such a resolution. 
 I hold no doctrine of mental reservation; every man, in my 
 judgment, should speak just as he thinks, keeping back nothing, 
 here or elsewhere." 
 
 Mr. Chase labored actively in the effort to build up a strong 
 anti-slavery party in Ohio, and many of the most important 
 documents of that party were from his pen. He issued the 
 call for the Free Soil Convention of 1848, which met at Buffalo, 
 New York, and nominated Martin Van Buren for the Presi- 
 dency of the United States. During all this time he carried 
 on an extensive law practice, and was concerned in several im- 
 portant cases which grew out of the war against slavery. He 
 was associated with Mr. Seward in the defence of John Van 
 Zandt, who was tried before the Supreme Court of the United 
 States for aiding in the escape of certain slaves from their mas- 
 ters. He argued with great force that " under the ordinance 
 of 1787, no fugitives from service could be reclaimed from 
 Ohio, unless there had been an escape from one of the original 
 States; that it was the clear understanding of the framers of 
 the Constitution, and of the people who adopted it, that slav- 
 ery was to be left exclusively to the disposal of the several 
 States, without sanction or support from the National Govern- 
 ment; and that the clause of the Constitution relative to per- 
 sons held to service was one of compact between the States, 
 and conferred no power of legislation on Congress, having been 
 transferred from the ordinance of 1787, in which it conferred no 
 power on the Confederation and was never understood to con- 
 fer any." 
 40 
 
626 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Chase had now been, for some years, the recognized 
 leader of the anti-slavery party of Ohio, and had the satisfac- 
 tion of seeing his views gradually adopted by the better part 
 of the people of the State. He did not propose to make any 
 violent attack upon the institution of slavery in the States in 
 which it then existed. He meant to " use all Constitutional 
 and honorable means to effect the extinction of slavery in the 
 respective States, and its reduction to its constitutional limits 
 in the United States." He advocated an uncompromising re- 
 sistance to the extension of slavery into any part of the Union 
 in which it did not already exist, and denied the power of 
 Congress to legislate slavery into any of the Territories, main- 
 taining that freedom was the normal condition of the Terri- 
 tories. He urged these views upon the people of Ohio with 
 such force that they were generally adopted by them without 
 respect to party. The Liberal party having ceased to exist, 
 Mr. Chase, after the defeat of Mr. Van Buren and the election 
 of President Taylor, gave his support to the policy and candi- 
 dates of the Democratic party in Ohio, which at that time 
 united with him in his opposition to the extension of slavery. 
 He declared, however, that he would break with it whenever it 
 should transfer its support to the side of slavery. With this 
 clear understanding of his position, he was elected by the Ohio 
 Legislature, on the 22d of February, 1849, to the Senate of 
 the United States. He received the entire Democratic vote, 
 and was supported by many of the Free Soil Whigs in the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Chase took his seat in the Senate at the opening of the 
 session of 1849-50. The Compromise Measures of 1850 con- 
 stituted the all-absorbing question of this session. Mr. Chase 
 opposed the Compromise, as he was not willing to make any 
 concession to slavery. On the 27th of March, 1850, he de- 
 livered an able speech in opposition to the bills reported by 
 Mr. Clay, and during the debate on these measures spoke fre- 
 quently and with marked ability. He did not succeed in de- 
 feating the Compromise, however, and was also unsuccessful in 
 his efforts to secure an amendment to the Fugitive Slave Law 
 requiring alleged fugitive slaves to be tried by a jury. 
 
 Up to 1852 Mr. Chase acted with the Democracy. The 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE, 627 
 
 nomination of General Pierce for the Presidency in that year, 
 and the endorsement by the Baltimore Convention of 1852 of 
 the Compromise of 1850, showed him that the Democratic 
 party was resolved to give its support to the slavery cause. He 
 at once severed his connection with the Ohio Democracy, and 
 took an active part in organizing an Independent Democratic 
 party, with which he acted for about a year. The struggle 
 over the Kansas-Nebraska bill broke up this connection. Mr. 
 Chase was an ardent opponent of this bill, and labored with all 
 his ability to secure its defeat, but in vain. The support given 
 to the bill by the Democratic party showed him that he could 
 not continue his connection with any part of it, and he gave his 
 support to the movement which a few years later resulted in the 
 organization of the Republican party. While in the Senate 
 Mr. Chase advocated the Homestead Bill, the Pacific Railway, 
 the bill for the reduction of postage, and other liberal and pro- 
 gressive measures. 
 
 The support given by the Administration of Mr. Pierce to the 
 effort to force slavery upon the Territories created a strong 
 opposition to it in the free States. In Ohio this opposition 
 embraced the majority of the voters of the State. In 1855 Mr. 
 Chase was nominated by this party for the office of Governor 
 of Ohio, and was elected by a decisive majority. At the meet- 
 ing of the National Convention of the Republican party he was 
 strongly urged to accept the nomination for the Presidency, but 
 declined it, and supported General Fremont after his nomina- 
 tion by the Convention. 
 
 As Governor of Ohio, Mr. Chase greatly added to his reputa- 
 tion as a statesman. He induced the Legislature to inaugurate 
 a thorough and excellent reform in the public school system of 
 the State, and secured the adoption of other measures of great 
 benefit, among which was the change from biennial to annual 
 sessions of the Legislature. A very marked instance of his 
 firmness and decision was given during the first year of his term. 
 A few days before the semi-annual interest was due on the State 
 debt, Governor Chase discovered a serious deficit in the State 
 Treasury. The matter had been concealed by the Treasurer 
 so long that there was danger that the State would not be able 
 to meet its interest. The Governor at once demanded and com- 
 
628 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 pelled the resignation of the Treasurer, and caused a thorough 
 investigation of his accounts to be made. By prompt and de- 
 cisive measures he effected an arrangement by which the inter- 
 est on the debt was met, and the credit of the State preserved. 
 
 In 1858 Mr. Chase was reelected Governor by a handsome 
 majority in spite of a vigorous effort of the Administration party 
 to defeat him. His second term was as satisfactory to the peo- 
 ple as the first, and he was able to secure the enactment by the 
 Legislature of measures for the better protection and more sys- 
 tematic administration of the finances of the State. He also 
 secured the adoption of a liberal policy on the part of the State 
 towards its benevolent institutions. In 1 860, at the close of his 
 second term, he was again elected to the Senate of the United 
 States by the Legislature of Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Chase gave an active support to Mr. Lincoln for the 
 Presidency in the campaign of i860, and contributed very 
 greatly to his election. Upon the secession of South Carolina, 
 he declared himself in favor of a prompt and vigorous course 
 on the part of the Government for the preservation of the Union. 
 In February, 1861, he was a member of the Ohio delegation to 
 the Peace Congress which met at Washington. In this body 
 he opposed all concessions to the seceded States for the mere 
 sake of peace. In his speech of February 6th, he thus declared 
 the sentiments of the Free States with respect to the question 
 of slavery, the great cause of all the trouble : " The election (of 
 Mr. Lincoln) must be regarded as a triumph of principles cher- 
 ished in the hearts of the people of the Free States. These 
 principles, it is true, were originally asserted by a small party 
 only. But, after years of discussion, they have, by their own 
 value, their own intrinsic soundness, obtained the deliberate and 
 unalterable sanction of the people's judgment. Chief among 
 these principles is the restriction of slavery within State limits; 
 not war upon slavery within those limits, but fixed opposition 
 to its extension beyond them. Mr. Lincoln was the candidate 
 of the people opposed to the extension of slavery. We have 
 elected him. After many years of earnest advocacy and of 
 severe trial, we have achieved the triumph of that principle. 
 By a fair and unquestionable majority, we have secured that 
 triumph. Do you think we, who represent this majority, will 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 629 
 
 throw it away? Do you think the people would sustain us if 
 we undertook to throw it away ? I must speak to you plainly, 
 gentlemen of the South. It is not in my heart to deceive you. 
 I therefore tell you explicitly, that if we of the North and West 
 would consent to throw away all that has been gained in the 
 recent triumph of our principles, the people would not sustain 
 us, and so the consent would avail you nothing. And I must 
 tell you further, that under no inducements whatever will we 
 consent to surrender a principle which we believe to be so 
 sound and so important as that of restricting slavery within 
 State limits." 
 
 He was willing to do much to preserve the Union, but not at 
 the expense of freedom. He declared himself unalterably 
 opposed to the Fugitive Slave Law. With respect to this law 
 he spoke as follows : " Aside from the Territorial question — 
 the question of slavery outside of slave States — I know of but 
 one serious difficulty. I refer to the questions concerning 
 fugitives from service. The clause in the Constitution concern- 
 ing this class of persons is regarded by almost all men. North 
 and South, as a stipulation for the surrender to their masters of 
 slaves escaping into the Free States. The people of the Free 
 States, however, who believe that slaveholding is wrong, can- 
 not and will not aid in the reclamation, and the stipulation be- 
 comes, therefore, a dead letter. You complain of bad faith, and 
 the complaint is retorted by denunciations of the cruelty which 
 would drag back to bondage the poor slave who has escaped 
 from it. You, thinking slavery right, claim the fulfilment of 
 the stipulation ; we, thinking slavery wrong, cannot fulfil the 
 stipulation without consciousness of participation in wrong. 
 Here is a real difficulty, but it seems to me not insuperable. It 
 will not do for us to say to you, in justification of non-perform- 
 ance, ' the stipulation is immoral, and therefore we cannot exe- 
 cute it ;' for you deny the immorality, and we cannot assume 
 to judge for you. On the other hand, you ought not to exact 
 from us the literal performance of the stipulation, when you 
 know that we cannot perform it without conscious culpability. 
 A true solution of the difficulty seems to be attainable by 
 regarding it as a simple case where a contract, from changed 
 circumstances, cannot be fulfilled exactly as made. A court of 
 
630 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 equity in such a case decrees execution as near as may be. It 
 requires the party who cannot perform to make compensation 
 for non-performance. Why cannot the same principle be ap- 
 phed to the rendition of fugitives from service? We cannot 
 surrender, but we can compensate. Why not then avoid all 
 difficulties on all sides, and show respectively good faith and 
 good will, by providing and accepting compensation where mas- 
 ters reclaim escaping servants and prove their right of reclama- 
 tion under the Constitution? Instead of a judgment for ren- 
 dition, let there be a judgment for compensation, determined by 
 the true value of the services, and let the same judgment assure 
 freedom to the fugitive. The cost to the National Treasury 
 would be as nothing in comparison with the evils of discord 
 and strife. All parties would be gainers." 
 
 The Peace Congress was a failure, and the trouble increased. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1861, Mr. Chase took his seat in the 
 Senate, and at the same time was appointed by President Lincoln 
 Secretar}^ of the Treasury. He accepted the position with reluc- 
 tance, and only at the urgent request of his friends. He gave a 
 cordial support to the measures of the President, and his influ- 
 ence was cast entirely in favor of a vigorous policy. For the 
 first few months of the war he was assigned a part of the duties 
 of the Secretary of War, who was overburdened with the affairs 
 of his department. He discharged these duties with ability 
 and promptness, and by his vigorous measures saved the State 
 of Kentucky from secession, and encouraged the Union men of 
 East Tennessee to resist the authority of the Confederacy. He 
 induced the Secretary' of War to issue the order directing 
 military commanders not to surrender fugitive slaves to their 
 masters, but to employ them in the public service, and protect 
 them. These duties were in addition to his own proper labors 
 as Secretary of the Treausry. 
 
 When Mr. Chase took charge of the Treasury Department 
 the finances of the country' were in a most critical condition. 
 The Government was just entering upon a great and costly 
 war, and was without funds to meet the expenses of such an 
 undertaking. It was necessary to borrow money at once, and 
 on the 22d of March, 1861, Mr. Chase issued proposals for a 
 loan of $8,000,000, on six per cent, bonds, redeemable at the 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 63 1 
 
 end of twenty years. The loan was quickly taken up, and 
 the Secretary rejected all bids below ninety-four cents, as he 
 had no intention of suffering the national credit to be placed at 
 the mercy of the brokers. His firmness was applauded by the 
 country. Between the nth of April and the ist of July, the 
 Secretary borrowed ;^i 3,895,000 additional, on two years' trea- 
 sury notes, exhibiting considerable skill in the negotiation of the 
 loans, and the maintenance of the credit of the Government. 
 Congress assembled in July, and authorized a loan of ;$500,- 
 000,000. 
 
 Mr. Chase now repaired to New York, and met the presidents 
 of the leading banks of that city, Philadelphia and Boston, and 
 in a full and frank conference stated to them the necessities of 
 the Government, and his plan for raising the money necessary 
 to carry on the war. The result of this conference was that 
 the banks agreed to advance the Government ;^50,ooo,ooo. 
 The Secretary, on his part, agreed to ask subscriptions from 
 the people to a national loan, secured by three years' notes 
 bearing seven-thirty per cent, interest, and convertible into 
 bonds bearing six per cent, interest for twenty years. The 
 proceeds of this subscription were to be turned over to the 
 banks as rapidly as possible, to reimburse them for their ad- 
 vances ; and if they should not wipe out this debt, the deficiency 
 was to be made up with seven-thirty notes. A second ^50,- 
 000,000 was obtained shortly after on the same terms, and on 
 the 1 6th of November a loan of $50,000,000 was negotiated at 
 seven per cent. The banks now united in opposing a further 
 issue of United States notes as calculated to depreciate their 
 local issues, and Mr. Chase threw the whole of his influence in 
 favor of the effort to make " Greenbacks," as the Treasury notes 
 were called, a legal tender. He was successful, and a law was 
 passed by Congress to that effect, and has since been sustained 
 by the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Chase had more trouble in securing the establishment 
 of the National Bank system than he had in negotiating the 
 loans of the Government. The notes of the old banks consti- 
 tuted a currency which was subject to various discounts in the 
 various States; and it was by no means certain that the ma- 
 jority of these banks would be able to stand the strain imposed 
 
632 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 upon them by the war. "There were about 1500 State banks 
 in existence, which wanted to make their own paper the cur- 
 rency of the country. This the Secretaiy resisted, and con- 
 fined his loans to greenbacks; but he did not drive out their 
 currency, nor indeed did he think it exactly honest to so de- 
 prive them of it, without giving any equivalent. He preferred 
 tc neutralize their opposition to a national currency, and make 
 them allies as far as possible, instead of enemies." He there- 
 fore proposed the National Bank system, which was at first 
 vehemently opposed both in Congress and by the State banks. 
 He carried it through to success, however, and nearly all the 
 State banks adopted it. " The National Banks were certain to 
 be useful in many ways, but the Secretary's mam object was 
 the establishment of a national currency. This saved us from 
 panic and revulsion at the close of the war, and is of inestima- 
 ble value to men of labor and men of business — indeed, to 
 every class." 
 
 The great success of Mr. Chase was his negotiation of the 
 great loans of the Government. The banks having refused to 
 aid him in the early part of the war, he conceived the idea of 
 making the loan authorized by Congress a popular loan. He 
 began cautiously, however, and appointed four hundred special 
 agents to whom he confided the task of disposing of Treasury 
 Notes to the amount of about ^30,000,000. The experiment 
 was successful. Mr. Chase, upon examining the returns of his 
 agents, discovered that notes to the amount of one-third of 
 the whole sum had been sold by Jay Cooke & Co., of Phila- 
 delphia. The success of his venture was so encouraging that 
 he now resolved to dispose of the whole five hundred millions 
 of five-twenty bonds authorized by Congress. He selected 
 Jay Cooke as the agent of this loan. The success of the 
 operation is well known, and need not be related here. The 
 bonds were sold at fair prices, and became the most popular 
 securities in the market. The other loans authorized by Con- 
 gress were negotiated with equal success, and the National 
 debt was placed in the hands of the people, who were the most 
 interested in it. 
 
 The drain upon the Treasury was enormous during the last 
 three years of the war. After January ist, 1862, the expenses 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 633 
 
 of the Government were over a million of dollars daily. The 
 loans partly furnished the means of meeting these demands, 
 but it was necessary to provide additional funds. Mr. Chase 
 accordingly recommended to Congress, in 1862, the establish- 
 ment of a system of Internal Revenue, to be drawn from two 
 sources — a tax on manufactures, incomes, salaries and certain 
 articles of personal property, and a stamp duty on all legal doc- 
 uments. These recommendations were adopted by Congress 
 and were finally embodied in laws. The new system went into 
 operation in 1864. It was a heavy burden upon the country, 
 but it was submitted to cheerfully in view of the necessity for 
 it. It enabled the Government to meet the demands upon it, 
 and to make provision for the interest upon its enormous debt. 
 
 Mr. Chase's labors were severe, and very trying. He had 
 literally to create the vast and complicated system by which 
 the enormous expenses of the war were met, and the credit of 
 the Government maintained during that terrible struggle. He 
 carried the country successfully through the most trying part 
 of the war, and then, worn-out, and feeling that his great ser- 
 vices had not been altogether appreciated, he resigned his Sec- 
 retaryship on the 30th of June, 1864. He had carried his sys- 
 tem to such a degree of perfection that he was no longer needed 
 at its head. Its success was assured. 
 
 During the political campaign of 1864, Mr. Chase was 
 brought forward as the candidate for the Presidency of the 
 extreme or Radical wing of the Republican party, which was 
 dissatisfied with Mr. Lincoln. This came near causing a breach 
 between Lincoln and Chase. A rupture was fortunately averted 
 by the strong good sense of the President. 
 
 On the 1 2th of October, 1864, Chief Justice Taney died. 
 Mr. Lincoln was at once beseiged by a host of applicants for 
 the place, but he disregarded them all, and appointed Mr. Chase 
 Chief Justice of the United States, on the 6th of December, 
 1864. The nomination was unanimously confirmed by the 
 Senate, and Judge Chase was sworn into office on the 15th of 
 December, .1864. "Notwithstanding Mr. Lincoln's apparent 
 hesitation in the appointment of a successor," says Mr. Carpen- 
 ter, " it is well known to his most intimate friends, that ' there 
 
634 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 had never been a time during his Presidency, when, in the 
 event of the death of Judge Taney, he had not fully intended 
 and expected to nominate Salmon P. Chase for Chief Justice.' 
 These were his very words, uttered in connection with this 
 subject." 
 
 Shortly after entering upon his new duties. Judge Chase 
 made a tour through the recently conquered Southern States, 
 passing down the Atlantic coast, and returning up the Missis- 
 sippi River. His object was to obtain a personal knowledge 
 of the condition and wants of the Southern people. Feeling 
 assured that the war was ended, he used this knowledge in 
 advocating with the President and people of the loyal States a 
 policy of generosity towards the South. Now that the Union 
 was safe. Judge Chase was anxious to win back the South by 
 kindness and brotherly conduct. 
 
 As Chief Justice of the United States Judge Chase fully sus- 
 tained the great reputation he had won. His decisions com- 
 mand the respect of the world, and many of them are marked 
 by extraordinary force and ability. He came to the Bench when 
 he was worn out with the herculean labors he had performed 
 during the war, and yet he bore himself with a dignity and abil- 
 ity which won for him the admiration of the whole country. 
 It was his duty to preside over the High Court of Impeachment 
 for the trial of President Johnson in 1868. He discharged this 
 delicate duty with an impartial dignity which stripped the pro- 
 ceeding of many of its worst partisan features. 
 
 Judge Chase continued to discharge his duties as Chief Jus- 
 tice until late in the Spring of 1870. He had never entirely 
 recovered from the strain of his severe labors during the war 
 — which were the chief cause of his death — and had for some 
 time been complaining of ill health. After the close of the 
 Spring term of 1870, he made a journey, in company with one 
 of his daughters, to St. Paul and Duluth. On his homeward 
 journey, he was smitten, at Niagara Falls, with a stroke of par- 
 alysis. By a powerful effort he kept on his way, and reached 
 the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Sprague, at Narragansett, 
 R. I., where he received medical treatment. He remained there 
 during the winter, and in January, 1871, went to New York to 
 consult a physician. In the fall of 1871 he visited some new 
 
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 635 
 
 springs in Michigan, from the waters of which he derived much 
 benefit. In the spring of 1872 he partially resumed his duties, 
 and devoted the summer of that year to travel and rest. In 
 the winter he resumed his place in the Supreme Court, and at 
 the close of the term, in the Spring of 1873, went to New York. 
 He reached that city on the 6th of May, and a few hours later 
 was again stricken down with paralysis, and died the next day, 
 May 7th, 1873, at the age of sixty-five. 
 
CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER was born at Boston, Massachusetts, 
 on the 6th of January, i8ii. He was the son of Charles 
 Pinkney Sumner, a prominent citizen of Boston, who was for 
 fourteen years Sheriff of Suffolk county. He was educated at 
 the Latin school of Boston, from which he passed to Harvard 
 College, where he graduated in 1830. Upon leaving college 
 he entered the Law School at Cambridge, where he pursued 
 his legal studies under the immediate supervision of Judge 
 Story. The great jurist conceived a warm friendship for his 
 pupil, and an intimacy sprang up between them which was ter- 
 minated only by the death of Judge Story. While he was still 
 a student, Mr. Sumner became a leading contributor to the 
 " American Jurist," a quarterly law journal of high character 
 and extensive circulation. In 1833 he edited an edition of 
 Andrew Dunlap's " Treatise on the Practice of the Courts of 
 Admiralty in Civil Causes of Maritime Jurisdiction." The 
 learning and skill displayed by Mr. Sumner in this work won 
 him great credit from the profession. In 1834 he was admitted 
 to the bar at Worcester, and returning to Boston entered upon 
 the practice of his profession. His success was marked from 
 the first, and he was soon the most prosperous young lawyer 
 in the city. Shortly after being admitted to the bar, he was 
 made Reporter to the United States Circuit Court, in which 
 capacity he published three volumes of Judge Story's decisions. 
 About the same time he was given the editorial charge of the 
 " American Jurist," which he conducted with marked ability. 
 During the three years following his admission to the bar he 
 lectured to the students at the Cambridge Law School, filling 
 the chairs of Greenleaf and Story during their absence. These 
 lectures and literary labors gave him a high standing among 
 the members of his profession. Judge Story was very anxious 
 that, at his death, Mr. Sumner should be his successor in the 
 Law School. " I shall die content," he said, "so far as my pro- 
 
 (636) 
 
CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
CHARLES SUMNER. 637 
 
 fessorship is concerned, if Charles Sumner is to succeed me." 
 Chancellor Kent declared, some years later, that Mr. Sumner 
 was "the only person in the country competent to wear the 
 mantle of his departed friend." 
 
 In 1837 Mr. Sumner made a visit to Europe, and spent 
 three years abroad in travel, and in studying the institutions 
 and laws of the various countries he visited. He bore with him 
 letters of introduction which secured him a flattering reception 
 wherever he went, and his personal qualities won him many 
 friends. He spent nearly a year in England, and was a con- 
 stant attendant upon the debates in Parliament. He made 
 many acquaintances among the most distinguished public men 
 of the kingdom. "The most flattering attentions were shown 
 Mr. Sumner by distinguished members of the English bar and 
 bench, and while attending the courts at Westminster Hall, he 
 was frequently invited by the judges to sit by their side at the 
 trials. At the meeting of the British Scientific Association, 
 he experienced the same courteous attentions. In town and 
 country, he moved freely in circles of society, to which refine- 
 ment, wealth and worth, lend every charm and grace." He 
 visited France, Germany, and Italy, where he received similar 
 attentions, and became acquainted with the leading jurists, pub- 
 licists, scientists and literary men. During his stay in Paris, 
 he wrote, at the request of General Cass, then the American 
 Minister to France, an able defence of the American claim to 
 the North-eastern boundary. It was published, and attracted 
 general attention in both Europe and America. 
 
 In 1840 Mr. Sumner returned home and resumed the prac- 
 tice of his profession. In 1843 he was again appointed Lec- 
 turer at the Law School. In 1844 he began the publication of 
 " Vesey's Reports," in twenty volumes. This great work was 
 enriched with numerous biographical sketches and explanatory 
 notes from his pen. Its publication was completed in 1846. 
 The Boston Law RepoTter, referring to the able manner in which 
 Mr. Sumner had executed his task, said of him, " In what may 
 be called the literature of the law — the curiosities of legal 
 learning — he has no rival among us." 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1845, Mr. Sumner delivered an eloquent 
 address before the municipal authorities of Boston, entitled 
 
638 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 " The True Grandeur of Nations." It was a plea in behalf of 
 universal peace. The Mexican War began to engross the at- 
 tention of the country before the close of the year, and he de- 
 livered several speeches in opposition to it. He had con- 
 demned the annexation of Texas, as he regarded it as an effort 
 to extend the area of slavery, and he opposed the Mexican War 
 for the same reason. In politics Mr. Sumner acted with the 
 Whig party, and in 1 846 delivered an address before the Whig 
 Convention of Massachusetts on the "Anti-Slavery Duties of 
 of the Whig party," in which he declared his uncompromising 
 hostility to slavery. 
 
 In 1848 Mr. Sumner withdrew from the Whig party, and 
 united with the Free Soilers. He advocated the claims of Mr. 
 Van Buren, the candidate of this party for the Presidency. His 
 party was defeated and General Taylor was elected President. 
 On the 3d of October, 1850, he delivered before the Free Soil 
 State Convention at Boston a powerful speech on "Our Recent 
 Anti-Slavery Duties." In it he denounced the Fugitive Slave 
 Bill, and declared that President Fillmore, by signing it, had 
 rendered himself infamous. 
 
 Daniel Webster having been called from the Senate of the 
 United States to the head of President Fillmore's Cabinet, it 
 became necessary for the Legislature of Massachusetts to elect 
 his successor. An exciting contest ensued, which resulted in 
 the choice of Mr. Sumner on the 24th of April, 185 1, by a coa- 
 lition of the Free Soilers and Democrats in the Legislature. 
 He took his seat in the Senate immediately after his election. 
 He came pledged to " oppose all sectionalism, whether it appear 
 in unconstitutional efforts by the North to carry so great a boon 
 as freedom into the Slave States, or in unconstitutional efforts 
 by the South, aided by Northern allies, to carry the sectional 
 evil of slavery into the Free States ; or in whatsoever efforts it 
 may make to extend the sectional domination of slavery over 
 the National Government." 
 
 Mr. Sumner's eloquence was well known to the Senate, and 
 the dominant party in that body determined to keep him silent 
 as long as possible. By a deliberately arranged plan he was 
 never allowed to gain the floor, and for nearly nine months after 
 his entrance into the Senate he was prevented from addressing 
 
CHARLES SUMNER. 639 
 
 that body. At the end of that time, however, he managed to 
 seize an opportunity when his opponents were off their guard, 
 and addressed the Senate on the subject of slavery. His ad- 
 dress was entitled " Freedom National, Slavery Sectional," and 
 has become a part of the history of the country. Having 
 spoken once, it was impossible to silence him again, and he 
 took his place as the recognized leader of the anti-slavery 
 party in the Senate. In August, 1853, he spoke at Plymouth 
 Rock, on the subject of slavery; and at the Republican Con- 
 vention of Massachusetts, in September, 1854; at the Metro- 
 politan Theatre, in New York, in May, 1855, and at Faneuil 
 Hall, in November, 1855, on the same subject. These speeches 
 were among the ablest of his life, and were read throughout 
 the Union. 
 
 When the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was introduced into the 
 Senate, Mr. Sumner opposed it with all his powers. He de- 
 nounced the proposed repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
 restriction as an outrage upon the honor of the nation. He 
 declared that the repeal would be the death knell of slavery, 
 inasmuch as it annulled all past compromises with slavery, and 
 made all future compromises impossible. " Thus," he said, "it 
 puts freedom and slavery face to face, and bids them grapple. 
 Who can doubt the result ? It opens wide the door of the 
 future, when, at last, there will really be a North, and the slave 
 power will be broken ; when this wretched despotism will 
 cease to dominate over our Government, no longer impressing 
 itself upon everything at home and abroad ; when the National 
 Government shall be divorced in every way from slavery ; and, 
 according to the true intention of our fathers, freedom shall 
 be established by Congress everywhere, at least beyond the 
 local limits of the States. Slavery then will be driven from its 
 usurped foothold here in the District of Columbia, in the Na- 
 tional Territories, and elsewhere beneath the national flag; the 
 Fugitive Slave bill, as vile as it is unconstutional, will become 
 a dead letter ; and the domestic slave trade, so far as it can be 
 reached, but especially on the high seas, will be blasted by 
 Congressional prohibition. Everywhere, within the sphere of 
 Congress, the great Northern hammer will descend to smite 
 the wrong; and the irresistible cry will break forth, 'No more 
 Slave States.' " 
 
640 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On the 26th of June, 1854, Mr. Sumner presented to the 
 Senate the memorial of the citizens of Boston for the repeal of 
 the Fugitive Slave Law. On that day and on the 28th he 
 replied to Senators Jones, of Tennessee, Butler, of South Caro- 
 lina, and Mason, of Virginia, in speeches which were listened 
 to with attention by the Senate. On the 31st of July he made 
 a memorable appeal in behalf of the " Repeal of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law." The Senate, however, refused to allow the bill 
 for that purpose to be introduced. 
 
 In May, 1856, Mr. Sumner delivered in the Senate his great 
 speech on " The Crime against Kansas." It occupied two days 
 in its delivery, and was perhaps the severest denunciation of 
 slavery and its supporters that had ever been uttered upon the 
 floor of the Senate. In the course of his remarks he replied to 
 Senator Butler, of South Carolina, with severity and force. 
 
 On the 22d of May, two days after the delivery of his speech, 
 Mr. Sumner was sitting writing at his desk, after the adjourn- 
 ment of the Senate, when he was approached by Preston S. 
 Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives from South 
 Carolina, and a nephew of Senator Butler. Coming up behind 
 Mr. Sumner, as he sat unconscious of his assailant's approach, 
 Brooks struck him over the head with a heavy cane, and felled 
 him to the floor, where he repeatedly struck him over the head, 
 inflicting serious injuries. All this while, Mr. Lawrence M. 
 Keitt, another Representative from South Carolina, stood by 
 with a loaded pistol to prevent any interference on the part of 
 Mr. Sumner's friends. The Senate having adjourned, there 
 were but a few persons present in the hall. These were so 
 astounded by the suddenness of the attack, that they were at 
 first powerless to interfere; but, recovering themselves, Messrs. 
 Morgan and Murray, of New York, and Mr. Chittenden, 
 rushed in and put an end to the brutal affair. Mr. Sumner, 
 bleeding and insensible, was carried from the Senate chamber 
 to his lodgings. His injuries were so severe that he was un- 
 able to return to his seat in the Senate, and was compelled to 
 go abroad to seek medical aid. He placed himself under the 
 treatment of Dr. Brown-Sequard, of Paris, and now a resident 
 of New York, a surgeon whose eminent abilities are well known. 
 Thanks to the surgeon's skill and his own vigorous constitu- 
 
CHARLES SUMNER. 64I 
 
 tion, Mr. Sumner recovered his health, and after an absence of 
 four years, was able to take his seat in the Senate. The effects 
 of his injuries were never entirely removed, and were in the 
 end the cause of his death. They also caused him many years 
 of the severest physical suffering. 
 
 The assault upon Mr. Sumner created a feeling of intense in- 
 dignation in the North and West. Indignation meetings were 
 held in various cities and towns, and the act was properly de- 
 nounced as an attack upon the right of free speech. Brooks 
 and Keitt were severely censured by the House of Represen- 
 tatives for their conduct, and resigned their seats to escape ex- 
 pulsion. 
 
 Mr. Sumner returned to his seat in the Senate in i860, and 
 on the 4th of June, of that year, in the debate on the bill to 
 admit Kansas as a Free State, delivered an able address on 
 " The Barbarism of Slaver}^" In the Presidential campaign of 
 i860, he was very active in behalf of the Republican cause. 
 In the winter of 1860-61, he advocated firmness and decision 
 on the part of the General Government, and opposed all con- 
 cessions to the South for the sake of peace, as foolish and 
 wrong. 
 
 Upon the assembling of Congress, in July, 1861, Mr. Sum- 
 ner was appointed Chairman of the Senate Committee of For- 
 eign Relations, and held this important position throughout the 
 war. He "was often accused of being radical, ultra and bitter," 
 says a writer in The Annual Cyclopccdia ; "but in all the years 
 of the war he was, according to the testimony of those best 
 qualified to judge, and who were themselves never accused of 
 radicalism, the most cautious, prudent, and judicious of coun- 
 sellors, and more than once was instrumental in averting war 
 with Great Britain and France when it appeared imminent. In 
 other measures appertaining to home affairs, he was not less 
 active and useful." He gave a cordial support to the policy of 
 Mr. Lincoln during the war, and was warmly esteemed and 
 often consulted by the President. In 1863 he was elected to 
 a third term in the Senate. 
 
 Mr. Sumner was one of the earliest advocates of a generous 
 and conciliatory course towards the South in the reconstruction 
 of the Union. He was also one of the originators of the 
 41 
 
642 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 amendments to the Constitution adopted since the war, and 
 designed to secure the permenancy of the results of the struggle, 
 and he aided materially in securing their adoption. He was 
 strongly opposed to the "policy" of President Johnson, and 
 took an active part in the impeachment trial. 
 
 He gave his support to General Grant in 1868, but did not 
 take much part in the canvass. In 1869 he was again returned 
 to the Senate by the Massachusetts Legislature. In the same 
 year he delivered an able speech on the Alabama Claims, set- 
 ting forth the position held by this country on that subject. 
 The speech was hotly denounced in England, but Mr. Sumner 
 had the satisfaction a few years later of seeing the principles 
 laid down by him adopted by the arbitrators of the dispute as 
 the basis of the settlement, and sanctioned, though with reluc- 
 tance, by the British Government. 
 
 In December, 1870, Mr. Sumner threw the whole weight of 
 his influence against the scheme for the annexation of St. 
 Domingo, which had become the favorite measure of President 
 Grant, and secured its defeat. This won him the hostility of 
 the President, who at the opening of the next session of Con- 
 gress induced the Administration party to remove him from the 
 chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations. It 
 was well known to the country that Mr. Sumner was the best 
 fitted man in the Senate for this position, and his removal was 
 generally condemned. Simon Cameron, a Senator from Penn- 
 sylvania, was appointed his suc(?essor. 
 
 The opposition of Mr. Sumner to the President's policy ex- 
 posed him to the attacks of the party that had collected around 
 President Grant. The Massachusetts Senator had become 
 disgusted with the corruption and favoritism that had crept 
 into the Government, and for which he justly held the President 
 responsible. He held his own gallantly against the Adminis- 
 tration party, and had the satisfaction of knowing that he had 
 the sympathy of the people with him in his contest. In Feb- 
 ruaiy, 1872, he delivered a speech in the Senate in favor of an 
 investigation of the sales of ordnance made by the United States 
 during the Franco-German War. It was regarded as the ablest 
 effort of his whole career in the Senate, and was a powerful 
 arraignment of the policy of the Administration. 
 
CHARLES SUMNER. 643 
 
 The great mental strain imposed upon him by his contest 
 with the President's party, brought on a return of his old suf- 
 fering-caused by the injuries inflicted upon him by Brooks, and 
 his physician ordered him to refrain from all intellectual exer- 
 tion during the remainder of the session. He obeyed this 
 order in part only, and was very active in the effort to secure 
 the adoption of the Supplementary Civil Rights Bill, which 
 passed the Senate, but was defeated in the House. On the 
 31st of May, 1872, he delivered an elaborate speech in the 
 Senate, arraigning the President for his abuse of the appoint- 
 ing power. The supporters of the Administration endeavored 
 to break the force of his charges by taunting him with infi- 
 delity to the Republican party, regardless of the facts that he, 
 from conviction, had been one of the founders of that party, 
 had fought its battles when it required moral courage of the 
 highest order to do so, and had won success for it, while many 
 of them had entered it only after its triumph was assured, and 
 in order to share in the spoils of its victory. Many fair-minded 
 men who were led to believe Mr. Sumner wrong in his opposi- 
 tion to the President's policy, will, in the light of recent events, 
 and amid the national shame at the exposure of the corruption 
 with which that policy has covered the Republic, recognize in 
 that opposition an additional evidence of the independence of 
 mind which constitutes the basis of all true statesmanship. 
 
 His health continuing to fail, Mr. Sumner made a voyage to 
 Europe in June, 1872, in the, hope of being benefited by rest 
 and change. He remained abroad until near the last of No- 
 vember, and consequently took no part in the Presidential cam- 
 paign of that year, though his influence was cast in favor of 
 Horace Greeley. 
 
 At the opening of Congress in December, 1872, Mr. Sum- 
 ner was in his seat in the Senate. Early in the session he in- 
 troduced a resolution providing that the names of the battles 
 of the Civil War shall not be continued in the Army Register, 
 nor inscribed on the regimental colors of the army of the 
 United States, since the victories they commemorate were won 
 over fellow-citizens. This resolution was bitterly assailed by 
 some short-sighted partisans, as an attack upon the army that 
 had carried the war to a triumphal close. The resolution was 
 
644 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 offered in the spirit of the old Romans, who wisely refused to 
 perpetuate the memories of civil strife, and Mr. Sumner never 
 regretted it. It subjected him to a great deal of unmerited 
 abuse, however, and the Legislature of Massachusetts, on the 
 1 8th of December, 1872, passed a resolution censuring him 
 for this act. In January, 1 874, the Legislature, in accordance 
 with the universal desire of the people of the State, rescinded 
 the resolution. 
 
 Mr. Sumner took scarcely any part in the short session of 
 1872-73. His health had given way to such a marked degree 
 that he was frequently ill from severe attacks of angina pectoris. 
 During the winter of 1873-74, he was usually in his place in 
 the Senate, though all the time an invalid and constantly under 
 the care of his physician. On the afternoon of March loth, 
 1874, he was seized with an attack of angina pectoris, which, 
 about nightfall, became of such a violent nature as to excite 
 the gravest alarm of his physician. The usual remedies were 
 applied, but without success, and his sufferings increased until 
 they became almost unbearable. After twenty hours of in- 
 tense agony, he died on the afternoon of March nth, 1874, at 
 the age of sixty-three. 
 
 His remains were conveyed to Boston, and were buried in 
 Mount Auburn. 
 
GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 
 
 GEORGE HENRY THOMAS was born in Southampton 
 County, Virginia, on the 31st of July, 1816. His parents 
 were wealthy, and he received a good education. At the age 
 of twenty he entered the Military Academy at West Point, 
 and graduated in July, 1840, the twelfth in a class of forty-five 
 members. He was appointed a second lieutenant in the Third 
 Artillery, and was ordered to Florida, where his regiment was 
 engaged in the war with the Seminole Indians. He served 
 eighteen months in this war, and on the 6th of November, 
 1 841, was brevetted first lieutenant for gallant conduct in bat- 
 tle. He attained the full rank on the 17th of May, 1843. In 
 June, 1842, he was ordered to Fort Moultrie, in Charleston 
 Harbor, and in December was transferred to Fort McHenry, 
 at Baltimore. In the spring of 1844, he was sent back to Fort 
 Moultrie, and remained there until the summer of 1845, when 
 his company was sent to the Rio Grande, to join General Tay- 
 lor. He took part in the defence of Fort Brown, opposite 
 Matamoras, and for his gallant conduct at the storming of 
 Monterey was brevetted a captain. In the advance from Mon- 
 terey his battery was attached to General Quitman's Division, 
 which constituted the advance guard of the army. In the bat- 
 tle of Buena Vista the battery bore a distinguished part, and 
 Thomas won the brevet rank of major. He remained with 
 General Taylor's army until the close of the war, and in Au- 
 gust, 1848, he was ordered to Texas and placed in charge of 
 the Commissary Department at Brazos Santiago. In Decem- 
 ber he was ordered to Fort Adams, at Newport, Rhode Island; 
 but the Indians in Florida having become troublesome again, 
 he was sent with his company to that State, where he remained 
 until December, 1850. In the early spring of 185 1 he was 
 assigned to duty at the Military Academy at West Point, as 
 Instructor of Artillery and Cavalry, which position he held 
 until the summer of 1854. While on duty at West Point he 
 
 (645) 
 
646 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 married Miss Frances S. Kellogg, of Troy, New York. In 
 the summer of 1854, Major Thomas was relieved from duty at 
 West Point, and was placed in command of Fort Yuma, in 
 California. A little later he was transferred to the Cavalry, 
 and was appointed junior major in the famous Second Regi- 
 ment of Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Albert Sydney John- 
 ston, with Lieut. Col. Robert E. Lee as his second in command. 
 In 1855, Major Thomas joined his regiment at Jefferson Bar- 
 racks, in Missouri, and the next year accompanied the regi- 
 ment to Texas, where he served with distinction for three years, 
 receiving a wound in a battle with the Indians. In i860 he 
 applied for and obtained a short leave of absence — the second 
 he had asked for in a service of twenty years — and went on a 
 visit to the North. 
 
 During his absence from his regiment the secession troubles 
 began. Upon the secession of the State of Texas, the State 
 authorities demanded the surrender of the United States troops 
 in Texas, and General Twiggs, the commanding officer, com- 
 plied with the demand, and surrendered his whole force. The 
 Second Cavalry were among the troops surrendered. 
 
 It was supposed that, as Major Thomas was a Virginian by 
 birth, he would follow the fortunes of his State. He had no 
 idea of doing so, however, and declared his intention to remain 
 faithful to the Union. He was at once appointed Lieutenant- 
 Colonel of his regiment, and upon the acceptance of the resig- 
 nations of Sidney Johnston and Lee, was promoted to the rank 
 of Colonel and the command of the regiment, in May, 1861. 
 He was placed in command of a brigade in the army of General 
 Patterson, in the summer of 1 86 1 , and took part in the inglorious 
 campaign of that officer in the Valley of Virginia. 
 
 In August, 1 86 1, Thomas was made a Brigadier-general of 
 Volunteers, and was placed in command of Camp Dick Robin- 
 son in Kentucky. Towards the close of the year he was 
 stationed at Lebanon, and was given by General Buell the 
 command of the first division of the Army of the Ohio. About 
 the New Year (1862) General Crittenden, with a Confederate 
 force, crossed the Cumberland River, and advanced into Ken- 
 tucky. Thomas, hearing of this, moved forward to attack him, 
 and was himself attacked at Mill Spring, on the i8th of January, 
 
GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 647 
 
 1862. He inflicted a severe defeat upon the Confederates, and 
 drove them back with heavy loss. That night they abandoned 
 their camp, and retreated in confusion beyond the Cumberland. 
 
 General Thomas was anxious to follow up his success by the 
 invasion of East Tennessee, but was ordered by General Buell 
 to join him without delay. He accompanied Buell's army in 
 its march to join Grant at Pittsburg Landing; but, as his divi- 
 sion constituted Buell's rear guard, did not reach the Tennessee 
 in time to take part in the battle of Shiloh. 
 
 General Halleck now assumed the chief command of the 
 armies of the Tennessee, and advanced upon Corinth, which 
 was held by the Confederates under General Beauregard. 
 Thomas's division was transferred to the Army of the Tennes- 
 see, and he was placed in command of the left wing. On the 
 25th of April, 1862, he was made Major-general of Volunteers. 
 After the evacuation of Corinth his own division held the line 
 of the railway from luka, Mississippi, to Tuscumbia, Alabama. 
 
 In June, 1862, he was transferred back to the Army of the 
 Ohio, as the second in command, and accompanied General 
 Buell in his march into Kentucky to meet Bragg, who had 
 invaded that State. Upon the arrival of the army at Louisville, 
 General Thomas received a telegram from the War Depart- 
 ment, ordering him to relieve Buell and take command of the 
 army. He immediately telegraphed to the President, declining 
 the honor, and urging him not to remove Buell. His appeal 
 was successful, and the President rescinded his order. The 
 failure of Buell to prevent Bragg from leaving the State with- 
 out fighting a decisive battle, caused his removal from the 
 command. General Rosecrans was appointed his successor. 
 The army now took the name of the " Army of the Cumber- 
 land," which it ever afterwards retained. 
 
 In the advance upon Murfreesboro, Thomas commanded the 
 Fourteenth Corps, and held the centre in the bloody battle of 
 Stone River, on the 31st of December, 1862, and the 2d of 
 Januar}', 1863. He held his ground with firmness on the first 
 day, while the rest of the line was broken and shattered by the 
 Confederate attack. That night, the day having closed with a 
 clear victory for the Confederates, a council of war was held at 
 Rosecrans's headquarters. Thomas declared himself in favor 
 
648 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of fighting the battle out. His hopeful view prevailed, and it 
 was resolved to fall back to a new line and await the attack of 
 the Confederates. This was done on the next day, January 
 1st, 1863, and Thomas rendered material aid to Rosecrans in 
 the selection and establishment of this new line. On the 2d 
 of January, Bragg renewed the battle by a determined attack 
 on Rosecrans's new position, and met with a bloody repulse. 
 Thomas greatly distinguished himself in this battle. Rosecrans 
 was enthusiastic in his praise of him, and spoke of him in his 
 official report of the action as ''true and prudent, distinguished 
 in council, and on many battle-fields for his courage." 
 
 In September, 1863, Bragg, who had fallen back to Chat- 
 tanooga after the battle of Stone River, or Murfreesboro, 
 evacuated that place on the approach of Rosecrans's army, and 
 withdrew towards Dalton, Georgia. Rosecrans, who at first 
 regarded this movement as a flight, moved forward in pursuit. 
 He soon discovered that Bragg's object was simply to draw 
 the Union army into the open field, where he could attack it 
 with a fair prospect of success. Upon reaching the neighbor- 
 hood of Cleveland, the Confederate commander was reinforced 
 by Longstreet's whole corps from Lee's army in Virginia. He 
 at once wheeled about, and advanced to meet Rosecrans. 
 
 General Rosecrans now, for the first time, perceived the true 
 nature of Bragg's movement. The counter-march of the Con- 
 federates was so sudden that it caught the Union commander 
 with the various corps of his army scattered on the march and 
 separated by Lookout Mountain. The advance of the South- 
 ern army was by the only pass by which a speedy concentra- 
 tion of the Union forces could be effected. This state of af- 
 fairs was indeed alarming, and Rosecrans at once commenced 
 the effort to get his army in hand in time to meet the attack 
 upon it. Bragg had ordered Hindman's division of his army 
 to get possession of the pass to which we have referred, and 
 Rosecrans, seeing the importance of preventing this, ordered 
 Thomas to attempt to secure it first, as its occupation by the 
 Confederates would expose the divided fragments of the army 
 to the danger of being beaten in detail, Crittenden's corps being 
 still beyond the mountain. 
 
 Thomas, by a forced march, reached the pass before Hind- 
 
GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 649 
 
 man, and occupied it with Negley's division. Leaving this 
 force to hold the pass, he hastened to Crittenden's position, 
 reinforced him, and awaited the return of McCook's corps 
 from its fruitless march to intercept Bragg's retreat. McCook 
 arrived and took position on Thomas's right on the 17th of 
 
 September. 
 
 Rosecrans now formed his line of battle somewhat m the 
 rear of his first position, and awaited the onset of the enemy. 
 Thomas's corps held the left, Crittenden's corps the centre, and 
 McCook's corps the right, while Gordon Granger's small corps 
 was held in reserve. The movements of the Confederates had 
 rendered it certain that their attack would fall upon Rosecrans's 
 left, with the hope of cutting him off from Chattanooga, and 
 this part of the line was given to Thomas because he was uni- 
 versally regarded as the mainstay of the army. The line was 
 fully established on the night of the i8th. 
 
 Longstreet's corps having arrived within supporting distance, 
 Bragg moved forward on the morning of the 19th of Septem- 
 ber to turn Rosecrans's left. He made his attack at ten o'clock, 
 assailing Thomas's extreme left, and endeavoring to gain posses- 
 sion of the road from Lafayette to Chattanooga. The first 
 assault was repulsed by Brannan's division, but Longstreet's 
 corps, arriving on the field, was thrown against the Union left 
 with luch force that Thomas's line was broken, and his troops 
 began to show signs of demoralization. Thomas's quick eye 
 detected this, and riding into the breaking lines he rallied his 
 men, and led them in an attack upon the Confederates, who 
 were rapidly advancing, and drove them back. The troops 
 greeted Thomas's appearance among them with enthusiastic 
 cheers, and all signs of wavering disappeared from their ranks. 
 Placing himself at the head of his corps, Thomas gave the 
 order to move forward and recover the ground that had been 
 lost. The Confederates opposed a stubborn resistance to this 
 steady advance, but could not stop it, and by nightfall Thomas 
 had not only regained his lost ground, but had driven the force 
 opposed to him for over a mile. His loss was heavy, but his 
 men were in the highest spirits. 
 
 The right and centre had not been so fortunate, however. 
 They wei^e broken and driven back with terrible loss by the 
 
650 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Confederates. These disasters put a stop to Thomas's advance, 
 and compelled him to fall back to save what was left of the 
 army from destruction. 
 
 That night Rosecrans changed the position of his army. 
 The right was drawn back, and was posted on Mission Ridge, 
 which formation shortened his line by fully a mile, and to a 
 corresponding degree added to its strength. Rosecrans was 
 convinced that, as on the previous day, the enemy's main effort 
 on the 20th would be directed against his left, and he ordered 
 Thomas to hold his ground at any cost, promising to support 
 him with the whole army. Thomas answered briefly that he 
 would do his best, and during the night threw up a breastwork 
 of rails and logs before his line. 
 
 About ten o'clock on the morning of the 20th, the Confed- 
 erates renewed the attack with great vigor, directing .their 
 heaviest blows against the Union left. Thomas's face grew 
 very grave as he saw the dense columns of attack approach 
 his line; but riding calmly down the front, he exhorted his 
 men to hold their ground. The Confederate attack was simply 
 fearful. Regardless of the heavy fire with which they were 
 received, the Southern troops swept forward with a heroism 
 which extorted the admiration of their opponents. The left, 
 shaken by this severe trial, began to waver. In an instant 
 Thomas, unmindful of the storm of balls that swept around 
 him, threw himself into the midst of liis men, and endeavored 
 to hold them firm. Human valor could avail nothing against 
 such an attack. The right and centre of the Union army had 
 been broken, and were flying in confusion, with the Confed- 
 erates pressing them heavily. The left could bear it no longer. 
 Slowly and stubbornly, division by division, Thomas's line gave 
 way, and fell back in disorder. The General had no idea of 
 being beaten in this way, however, and by almost superhuman 
 exertions succeeded in rallying his men and restoring order in 
 his ranks. Falling back to a point almost entirely beyond the 
 valley, he took up a new position on the side of Mission Ridge, 
 his left still resting upon the Lafayette road, and his right near 
 the gap in the ridge through which ran the road to Chatta- 
 nooga. Here he collected the remains of his corps, and pre- 
 pared to make a last desperate stand. 
 
GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 65 I 
 
 The Confederates, having routed the right and and centre, 
 now concentrated all their force upon Thomas, and it was cer- 
 tain that unless he could receive assistance he must share the 
 fate of the rest of the army. He had sent urgent appeals to 
 Rosecrans for reinforcements; but at that moment the Union 
 commander was being borne along, helpless, in the torrent of 
 fugitives that was pouring along the roads to Chattanooga. 
 Thomas must meet the whole Southern army alone, and if he 
 should falter all would be lost. He posted his cannon on the 
 ridge to command every approach, and awaited in a grim 
 silence the attack of the Confederates. 
 
 It came almost immediately after he had formed his line, and 
 sure of victory, General Bragg attempted to dislodge this 
 gallant remnant of the Union army by a direct attack. He 
 was met with such firmness, however, that he determined to 
 turn Thomas's right flank by the gap in Mission Ridge, of 
 which we have spoken. His great superiority in numbers en- 
 couraged him to hope for the success of this movement. While 
 a column was put in motion for the gap, he pressed the attack 
 in front with vigor. 
 
 The first intimation that Thomas had of this design was the 
 sight of the Confederates moving swiftly through the gap. He 
 had no troops to spare to meet this movement, and should the 
 Confederates succeed in reaching the point in his rear for which 
 they were aiming, nothing could avert his utter ruin. His 
 retreat would be entirely cut off, and only an unconditional sur- 
 render could save his men from destruction. He was powerless 
 to do anything. The enemy pressed him so heavily in front that 
 it was with difficulty he could hold his position. He had heard 
 nothing from Rosecrans since morning, and was in utter ignor- 
 ance of the state of affairs elsewhere, save that he was constantly 
 receiving from officers cut off from their commands reports of 
 fresh disasters. He could only sit idly on his horse, and with 
 a sinking heart, watch the long grey line that was swiftly and 
 remorselessly moving towards his rear. 
 
 Suddenly a dense cloud of dust shot up above the trees 
 away to the left, and a few minutes later heav>^ columns of men 
 emerged from the woods, and advanced rapidly over the fields 
 towards the Union position. They moved with the imposing 
 
652 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Steadiness of disciplined troops, their flags floating out proudly 
 over their heads, and their burnished arms flashing throu-h the 
 thick clouds of dust. *^ 
 
 Who could they be? Were these splendid battalions the 
 long-praj/ed-for reinforcements, or were they the enemy ad- 
 vancing from a new quarter to complete his ruin ? The calm 
 face of General Thomas grew ghastly pale, and, raising his 
 glass to his eyes, he watched in stern silence the advance of 
 the swiftly-moving columns. Turning at length to the officers 
 of his staff, he said nervously, and in a tone the keen agony of 
 which touched all who heard him, "Take my glass, some of 
 you whose horse is steady, and tell me what you can see " 
 Some one standing near, said he thought he could make out 
 the "Stars and Stripes." Captain Johnson, of Negley's stafT, 
 having become separated from his command, now reported for 
 duty to General Thomas, and was ordered to " find out what 
 troops those were coming in on the left." Thomas caught up 
 his glass again, and watched the advancing column with deep- 
 ening anxiety. Suddenly the glass was lowered, and a load 
 was lifted from his heart. A light wind caught the standards 
 and flapped out every fold to its fullest extent, and the sunlight 
 breaking through the clouds of dust shone on the red and btue 
 bars and the white crescent of Gordon Granger's battle-flag. 
 
 The arrival of Granger's corps was not a moment too ^oon. 
 It was at once directed against the Confederate force that had 
 gotten into Thomas's rear. During the remainder of the 
 afternoon the battle ebbed and flowed, but when the darkness 
 closed the fight Thomas still held his ground. Having learned 
 the fate of the rest of the army, he fell back sullenly durin- 
 night to Rossville, and the next day withdrew to Chattanooga 
 unmolested by the Confederates. 
 
 The splendid fighting of Thomas, and his rock-like firmness 
 were all that saved the Union army from destruction at Chick- 
 amaug-a. The rest of the army was terribly beaten, and had 
 his corps given way the whole army must have been driven 
 out of Tennessee, a demoralized mob, or a surrender would 
 have been inevitable. He received as he deserved the hearty 
 praise ofthe loyal States. 'General Rosecrans was relieved of 
 his command on the 19th of October, and, in accordance with 
 
GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 653 
 
 the unanimous wish of the Army of the Cumberland, General 
 Thomas was appointed his successor. On the 27th of October, 
 1863, he was appointed a Brigadier-General in the Regular 
 Army of the United States. 
 
 After the battle of Chickamauga, Bragg advanced to Mission 
 Ridge, and invested Chattanooga, which was held by the Army 
 of the Cumberland. All the roads but one wretched path 
 over the mountains were seized by the Confederates, and the 
 army was reduced to such privations that the danger of star- 
 vation was very great. Grant, who was en route to Chatta- 
 nooga to direct operations there, ordered Thomas to hold out 
 to the last. "I will hold the town till we starve," was the 
 answer. 
 
 After the arrival of Grant and Sherman at Chattanooga, the 
 grand plan of operations against Bragg was arranged. The 
 Army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, was assigned 
 the duty of beating back the Confederate centre. On the 23d 
 of November, Thomas was ordered to reconnoitre Orchard 
 Knob. He seized a favorable moment, and changing his re- 
 connoissance into an attack, carried Orchard Knob with slight 
 loss. In the grand attack on the 25th of November, he carried 
 the crest of Mission Ridge, and broke the Confederate centre. 
 He took part in the pursuit until it was checked by Grant's 
 orders, and then returned with his army to Chattanooga, where 
 he passed the winter. 
 
 In the Spring of 1 864 Greneral Sherman, who had been placed 
 in command of the Western army, advanced from Chattanooga 
 towards Dalton, which was held by the Confederates under 
 General Johnston. General Thomas retained the command of 
 the Army of the Cumberland ; and of the one hundred thousand 
 men and two hundred and fifty-four cannon, comprising the whole 
 force under Sherman, sixty thousand seven hundred and thirty- 
 three men and one hundred and thirty cannon were under the 
 immediate orders of General Thomas, showing that Sherman, 
 like all under whom Thomas had ever served, placed his chief 
 reliance upon him. Thomas bore a leading and distinguished 
 part in the campaign against Atlanta, and was especially con- 
 spicuous in the operations against Dalton, in the fierce battle 
 of Resaca, on the 14th and 15th of May, 1864, and in the bat- 
 
654 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ties of the 20th of July and 31st of August, before Atlanta. 
 The last engagement was fought by his army alone, and de- 
 cided the fate of Atlanta, which was evacuated by Hood on the 
 night of August 3 1st, and was occupied by Sherman's army the 
 next morning. 
 
 In September, Hood, having been reinforced, began his ill- 
 starred march towards the Tennessee. Sherman at once sent 
 Thomas to Nashville with full power to collect troops from all 
 parts of his (Sherman's) Military Division, for the defence of 
 Tennessee, and later, when, after following Hood into Alabama, 
 he prepared to return to Atlanta to begin his march to the coast, 
 he reinforced Thomas by sending him General Schofield, with the 
 Fourth and Twenty-Second Army Corps. Sherman felt per- 
 fect confidence that Thomas would cover his rear during his 
 march to the sea. Had this confidence been lacking he would 
 never have undertaken that march. He afterwards said, in re- 
 ferring to this: "If Thomas had not whipped Hood at Nash- 
 ville, 600 miles away, my plan§ would have failed, and I would 
 have been denounced the world over. Biit I knew General 
 Thomas, and the troops luider his cojnmand, and never for a mo- 
 ment doubted a favorable residt." 
 
 Schofield took with him nearly 30,000 men from Sherman's 
 army, and at General Thomas's orders took position at Pulaski. 
 Thomas established his headquarters at Nashville, determined 
 to act upon the defensive until General A. J. Smith with two 
 divisions of the Sixteenth Corps, and some regiments of cavalry, 
 could join him. Hood's army lay at Florence, and consisted 
 of about 30,000 infantry, less than 1 0,000 cavalry, and a strong 
 force of artillery. Thomas believed that the expected additions 
 to his force would enable him to meet his adversary upon an 
 equal footing, and made great exertions to fortify Nashville, so 
 as to be able to hold it until they could reach him. 
 
 On the 17th of November Hood's army crossed the Tennes- 
 see, and on the 19th began its advance towards Nashville. 
 General Schofield, in obedience to orders, fell back steadily 
 before him, skirmishing frequently with the advanced forces of 
 the Confederates. On the 24th Schofield occupied Columbia, 
 and held it until the 29th. Hood by a bold movement now 
 attempted to seize Franklin, and intercept Schofield's retreat; 
 
WILLIAM T. SHERMAN. 
 
A 
 
GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 655 
 
 but the latter by a forced night march of twenty-five miles oc- 
 cupied Franklin in advance of him on the morning of the 30th. 
 Hood followed him closely, and upon arriving before Franklin, 
 made a fierce attack upon Schofield with his whole force. 
 The battle lasted through the greater part of the day, and at 
 night Schofield, who had with difficulty held his ground through 
 the day, fell back rapidly to Nashville, which was reached the 
 next day. The Union loss in this battle was 2,326; that of the 
 Confederates 6,252. 
 
 Thomas was now joined by the long-looked-for reinforce- 
 ments under General A. J. Smith, and taking command of the 
 whole army, formed his line on the heights around Nashville. 
 His infantry force was now equal to Hood's ; but he was sadly 
 deficient in cavalry, while his adversary had the magnificent 
 horsemen of Forrest under his orders. Under the circumstances 
 Thomas decided to remain on the defensive until he could 
 make good his lack of horse, for he meant not only to defeat 
 Hood's army, but to destroy it ; and he could not do this with- 
 out cavalry with which to pursue its broken columns beyond 
 the Tennessee, without giving them time to rally. The War 
 Department grew impatient with his delay, and Grant wrote to 
 him that he was anxious for him to attack Hood at once. 
 Thomas answered that he was acting as in his judgment seemed 
 best; but that if his course was not satisfactory he hoped the 
 Lieutenant-General would assign the command to some other 
 officer ; that he would cheerfully act as his subordinate. Grant 
 at once replied that he had more confidence in Thomas than in 
 any other man, and that he might take his time ; but added 
 that he would like to know his reasons for the delay. As these 
 reasons were precisely what Thomas did not wish to be known, 
 he did not state them; and Grant let him alone. Thomas's 
 constant appeals for cavalry had their effect at last, and General 
 Wilson, his chief of cav^alry, was ordered by the War Depart- 
 ment to seize all the horses he could lay his hands on. By the 
 end of a week after the receipt of this order, Thomas was able 
 to mount a respectable force of cavalry, and by the 12th of 
 December declared himself ready to move. 
 
 Hood in the meantime had advanced from Franklin to Nash- 
 ville, before which city he appeared on the ist of December. 
 
656 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Had he made an immediate assault upon the Union works, he 
 might have had some chance of success; but he threw away 
 his opportunity, and prepared to lay siege to Nashville, draw 
 ing his lines entirely around the South side of the city, com- 
 manding the river with his batteries, and seizing every line of 
 communication with it except the railway to Louisville on the 
 North. A fleet of eight gunboats in the Cumberland kept his 
 river batteries occupied, and Thomas carefully strengthened 
 his works. Hood seems to have been under the impression 
 that by closely investing the city, he could play upon Thomas 
 the game that Sherman had played upon him at Atlanta ; but 
 Thomas had collected a sufficient amount of supplies at Nash- 
 ville, and was careless about the investment. He only wanted 
 time to mount his cavalry, and smiled to see how completely 
 Hood's delay was placing the game in his hands. 
 
 On the 14th of December, Thomas summoned his corps 
 commanders to his headquarters, and informed them that he 
 intended to attack the Confederate army the next day, should 
 the weather prove favorable. He explained his plan to them, 
 and urged upon each one the most scrupulous observance of 
 his orders. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 15th of December, it was found 
 that the ice, which had covered the ground for several days, 
 had melted away, so that the troops and horses could move 
 without slipping. A thick fog hung over the country, afford- 
 ing an excellent mask for the movements of the Union army. 
 At an early hour General Steedman made a vigorous demon- 
 stration against the Confederate right, and under cover of 
 this movement, the divisions of Smith and Wood made a fierce 
 attack on Hood's left and centre. The Confederates, who had 
 believed that Thomas would await their assault, were taken 
 completely by surprise, and their left was beaten back by a 
 single blow. This let the cavalry loose, and Wilson's horse- 
 men swept like a thunderbolt upon the left flank and rear of 
 the Southern army. The Confederate left fell back sullenly 
 upon its centre, which ocupied a strong position. Hood, seeing 
 that his left was gone, brought over all the troops he could 
 spare from his right to reinforce his centre, to which he clung 
 with tenacity. The remainder of the day was passed by the j 
 
GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. 657 
 
 Union army in reconnoitering Hood's centre, and in taking up 
 positions from which to attack it on the morrow. 
 
 When night came, matters stood thus : Thomas had struck 
 a terrible blow at Hood; had greatly discouraged his army; 
 had inflicted a heavy loss upon him in killed and wounded ; 
 and had taken 1200 prisoners, and sixteen cannon. His own 
 loss was slight. That night Thomas thus briefly stated to one 
 of his officers his plan of operations for the next day: "So far, 
 I think we have succeeded pretty well. Unless Hood decamps 
 to-night, to-morrow Steedman will double up his right. Wood 
 will hold his centre, Smith and Schofield will again strike his 
 left, while the cavalry will work away at his rear." 
 
 During the night of the 15th, Hood fell back from his origi- 
 nal position to a new and powerful line, and reduced his front 
 from six to three miles. He had fortified this line with great 
 care at an earlier period of the siege, and it seemed that he 
 could hold it against any force. He had committed the same 
 terrible blunder that had helped to ruin him at Atlanta, how- 
 ever, and had sent off his magnificent cavalry to capture a few 
 steamers in the Cumberland, and had thus left open the road 
 to his rear. 
 
 At daylight on the i6th of December, the Union army moved 
 forward, and passing over the abandoned works of the Confed- 
 erates, soon arrived before their new position. Adhering to his 
 original plan, Thomas threw Steedman's division against the 
 Southern right, and moved up Wood's division in the centre. 
 He ordered these commanders to do nothing but skirmish, and 
 develop the hostile position, until the cavalry should gain the 
 Confederate rear. As soon as the cavalry were in position, 
 Schofield and Smith were to assail Hood's left, and Wood and 
 Steedman were to convert their movements into real attacks, 
 and press them with vigor. 
 
 The cavalry had far to go, and it was not until the afternoon 
 that Wilson announced himself in position by opening a heavy 
 fire upon the Confederate rear. The other forces were then 
 moved forward rapidly, and the Southern lines were broken 
 and carried after a brief but desperate conflict. The Confed- 
 erate troops fell back rapidly, and Thomas, urging his men 
 forward with renewed energy, broke them into a disorganized 
 
 mass, and drove them southward in confusion. 
 42 
 
658 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Hood's army was now utterly defeated. Its losses were 
 frightful. During the 15th and i6th, the Union army captured 
 4,462 prisoners, including 287 officers of all grades, from that 
 of Major-general down, fifty-three cannon and thousands of 
 small arms. The Confederates abandoned their dead and 
 wounded, and retreated rapidly southward. The Federal cav- 
 alry followed in close pursuit, harassing them at every step, 
 until the 29th of December, when Hood succeeded in putting 
 the Tennessee river between the remnants of his army and 
 his pursuers. "With the exception of his rear guard (For- 
 rest's cavalry)," says General Thomas, "his army had become 
 a disheartened and disorganized rabble of half-armed and bare- 
 footed men, who sought every opportunity to fall out by the way- 
 side and desert their cause, to put an end to their sufferings." 
 
 The campaign was now ended, and the invasion of Tennes- 
 see, from which the Confederates had hoped so much, was an 
 utter failure. Hood's army had been so completely broken 
 up as to be unfit for further aggressive operations. The cap- 
 tures of the Union army summed up as follows : Thirteen 
 thousand, one hundred and eighty-nine prisoners of war, in- 
 cluding seven general officers, eighty cannon, and thousands 
 of small arms. The victory was complete, and the country 
 rang with praises of General Thomas. The President of the 
 United States conferred upon him the brevet rank of Major- 
 general in the Regular army, to date from the 15th of Decem- 
 ber, 1864, the day of the battle of Nashville. 
 
 After the battle of Nashville, General Thomas sent off the 
 bulk of his army, under General Schofield, to the Atlantic 
 coast, to cooperate with General Sherman in his advance 
 through the Carolinas. He took part in no other engagement 
 during the war, and after the return of peace was assigned the 
 command of the Military Division of the Tennessee, with head- 
 quarters at Nashville. 
 
 On the 27th of June, 1865, General Thomas was promoted 
 to the full rank of Major-general in the army of the United 
 States. After holding several important commands in the 
 East, he was transferred to the Department of the Pacific, with 
 his headquarters at San Francisco. He died in that city on 
 the 28th of March, 1870, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. 
 
FARRAGUT. 
 
DAVID GLASGOE FARRAGUT. 
 
 THE father of Admiral Farragut was a native of the Island 
 of Minorca, in the Mediterranean. When quite a young 
 man he emigrated to North America, arriving in this country 
 in the year 1776, after the Revolution had fairly begun. He 
 at once joined the American army, and by his gallantry and 
 good conduct won the rank of major. At the close of the war 
 he married Miss Elizabeth Shine, of North Carolina, and set- 
 tled near Knoxville, in what was afterwards the State of Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 David Glasgoe Farragut, the son of this worthy couple, 
 was born at Campbell's Station, in Tennessee, on the 5th of July, 
 1 80 1. He passed his childhood there, and in the pure, bracing 
 atmosphere of the Tennessee mountains, grew up a stout, 
 healthy lad. Doubtless his father's tales of the sea aroused in 
 him the desire to be a sailor, which he evinced when a mere 
 child. His wish was soon gratified, and in 18 10, when he was 
 but nine years old, his father obtained from his friend Captain 
 Porter a warrant for David as a midshipman. The boy at once 
 joined his ship, and though scarcely large enough to climb the 
 rigging, made several cruises under Captain Porter. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the war of 18 12, Captain Porter 
 was placed in command the Essex, 32, and took young Farra- 
 gut, now a lad of eleven, with him. The Essex got to sea from 
 New York about the last of June, 1812, and sailed to the south- 
 ward. She made several prizes in the early part of her cruise, 
 and destroyed them, taking their crews on board as prisoners 
 of war. About the middle of July the Essex encountered a 
 small fleet of English transports, convoyed by a frigate and a 
 bomb vessel. Porter stood in boldly among the Englishmen, 
 and secured one of the vessels. The delay occasioned by this 
 capture enabled the rest of the fleet to escape. Porter now 
 disguised his frigate as a merchantman, in order to allay the 
 suspicions of any English vessel he might fall in with, and a 
 
 (659) 
 
66o AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 few days later a strange sail was made, .which proved to be an 
 English man-of-war. Deceived by the appearance of the Essex, 
 the stranger bore down upon her, and having overhauled her, 
 set the English ensign, and opened fire upon her. The Essex 
 at once knocked out her ports, and replied with a couple of 
 broadsides, which so astonished the Englishman that his people 
 deserted their guns and ran below. In eight minutes after the 
 action began the stranger struck his colors. The prize proved 
 to be the British sloop of war Alert, 20. This was the first 
 prize taken from the English during the war, and was Farragut's 
 first battle. 
 
 The Essex continued her cruise for some weeks longer, 
 meeting with several adventures, and at length returned to the 
 Delaware. 
 
 On the 28th of October, 18 12, the Essex, having refitted, 
 sailed from the Delaware with a larger crew than usual, to join 
 the squadron of Commodore Bainbridge in the West Indies. 
 As she was deeply laden with supplies, she did not reach either 
 rendezvous appointed by Bainbridge until the other vessels of 
 the squadron had left. Failing to find the Commodore, Cap- 
 tain Porter determined to continue his cruise on his own re- 
 sponsibility, and to pass around Cape Horn into the Pacific, 
 and drive the English whalers from that sea. After a tempest- 
 uous passage the Pacific was reached on the 5th of March, 
 1813. He made a large number of prizes, and occasioned such 
 loss to the English whalers during his cruise in the Pacific, 
 which lasted a little more than a year, that the British Govern- 
 ment despatched the Phoebe, 36, and Cherub, 20, the latter 
 armed with long guns, to the Pacific, wath orders to capture 
 the Essex at any cost. Early in 18 14 these vessels arrived 
 off Valparaiso, in which port the Essex, and Essex, Jr., one of 
 the prizes taken by Porter, were lying. Porter made repeated 
 offers to Captain Hillyar, of the Phoebe, to engage that ship 
 alone, but that officer had positive orders from his Government 
 not to attack the Essex except with the aid of the Cherub. 
 At length Porter determined to go to sea and lead the enemy 
 off the coast, thus allowing the Essex, Jr., to join him at sea, 
 when he meant to give battle. He sailed from Valparaiso on 
 the 28th of March, but upon getting off the harbor the Essex 
 
DAVID GLASGOE FARRAGUT, 66 1 
 
 was struck by a sudden squall which carried away her main- 
 topmast. In this crippled condition the Essex was attacked 
 by the Phoebe and Cherub. Unable to beat up into the harbor, 
 Porter was obliged to give battle. An action of over two hours 
 ensued. The Essex, almost helpless in consequence of her 
 accident, offered one of the most memorable defenses known 
 to naval history. The coolness and resolution with which 
 Porter fought his ship won the admiration of even the enemy, 
 and it was not until the Essex was nearly half destroyed, and 
 her decks were covered with her dead and wounded, that Porter 
 ordered her colors to be struck. Her loss was 152, out of a 
 crew of 255. The officers and crew of the Essex were placed 
 on board the Essex, Jr., which was converted into a cartel, and 
 were permitted to return home for exchange. 
 
 Young Farragut had taken part in the eventful cruise of the 
 Essex, and had discharged his duties in a manner that won 
 for him the praise of his superior officers. In the fight with 
 the Phoebe and the Cherub he bore himself with a courage 
 and coolness unusual in a boy of twelve. He was slightly 
 wounded in the side, but remained at his post, unmoved by the 
 terrible scenes that were transpiring all around him. It was 
 in this memorable engagement that he learned Jiozv to fight. 
 Porter was delighted with the conduct of his pjvtege. In his 
 report to the Secretary of the Navy, he made special mention 
 of Farragut's conduct, and it was with evident regret that he 
 was compelled to add, that in spite of his distinguished con- 
 duct, the boy was " too young for promotion." The boy of 
 twelve had fairly won a lieutenant's commission, and was only 
 prevented from receiving it by his youth. 
 
 Farragut was sent home with the paroled officers in the 
 Essex, Jr., and Captain Porter had him placed at school at 
 Chester, Pennsylvania, and caused him to be instructed in 
 military tactics. 
 
 After the close of the war Farragut was sent to sea again, 
 and in 18 16 went on a cruise to the Mediterranean. The chap- 
 lain of his ship, the Rev. Charles Folsom, conceived a warm 
 friendship for him, and enabled him to atone greatly for his 
 deficiency in education, by pursuing a course of study under 
 his direction. Farragut was almost constantly in active ser- 
 
662 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 vice, but promotion comes slowly in time of peace, and it was 
 not until 1825 that he reached the grade of lieutenant. Soon 
 after his promotion he married a lady of Norfolk, Va., who 
 survived this union but a few years. In 1 841, he was made 
 commander, and in 185 1 was promoted to the rank of captain 
 It had taken him forty-one years to reach this grade. The 
 most of this time had been spent afloat, and during his long 
 service he had sailed in every sea and had visited nearly every 
 country on the globe. He had been an industrious reader, 
 had stored his mind with valuable information, especially with 
 reference to professional matters, and had acquired several for- 
 eign languages. In the meantime he had married again, this 
 time Miss Virginia Loyall, of Norfolk. 
 
 At the outbreak of the civil war Captain Farragut was liv- 
 ing at Norfolk, Virginia. It was generally supposed that as he 
 was a Southerner by birth, and had married a Southern lady, he 
 would quit the service of the United States and cast his lot with 
 the Confederacy, as so many of his brother officers were do- 
 ing. He had no intention of abandoning the service in which 
 he had grown gray, however, and made no secret of his deter- 
 mination to adhere to the Union. The fall of Fort Sumter 
 brought matters to a crisis, and his friends, finding him resolute 
 in his intentions, warned him that it would be dangerous to re- 
 main in the South with such views, "Very well," he answered, 
 "I will then go where I can live with such sentiments." That 
 night he took the steamer for Baltimore, and hastened north- 
 ward. The next day, the Navy Yard at Portsmouth was de- 
 stroyed and abandoned by the officer in command of it. 
 
 Upon reaching New York, Captain Farragut asked to be as- 
 signed to duty ; but as the Government had but few ships at 
 that time, his request could not be complied with. In the mean- 
 time he took up his residence in the village of Hastings, on the 
 Hudson. 
 
 Late in the autumn of 1 861, the General Government resolved 
 to attempt the capture of New Orleans by a joint land and na- 
 val expedition. The command of the land forces was conferred 
 upon Gen, B. F. Butler; but no commander was selected for 
 the fleet until the preparations were nearly completed. The 
 command was then conferred upon Captain Farragut, who was 
 
DAVID GLASGOE FARRAGUT. 
 
 663 
 
 raised to the grade of flag-officer. He was but little known to 
 the country, and not much was expected of him. He received 
 his orders on the 20th of January, 1862, and on the 3d of Feb- 
 ruary sailed from Hampton Roads, in his flag-ship, the Hartford, 
 for the rendezvous of the expedition at Ship Island, near the 
 mouth of the Mississippi. After spending a short time at the 
 rendezvous and completing his arrangements for the expedition, 
 Farragut joined his other vessels, which had been engaged dur- 
 ing th'e winter blockading the mouths of the Mississippi. He 
 at^'once prepared to enter the river and attack the forts which 
 barred the way to New Orleans. The task of getting the larger 
 vessels over the bar was one of considerable difficulty, and he 
 gave it his personal supervision. The powerful frigate Colorado 
 could not be gotten over, but the rest, consisting of 6 war steam- 
 ers, 16 gunboats, 5 other ships and 21 mortar boats, the last 
 under the immediate command of Commodore Porter, the son 
 of Farragut's old captain, crossed the bar and anchored below 
 
 the forts. 
 
 The banks of the Lower Mississippi are low and flat. A 
 short distance above the head of the Passes by which the river 
 empties into the Gulf of Mexico, two strong forts had been 
 erected soon after the purchase of Louisana by the United States. 
 The work on the west bank was named Fort Jackson ; that on 
 the east bank, Fort St. Philip. They were powerful works, 
 built in the most substantial manner ; were provided with an 
 armament of 128 heavy guns, and were held by a garrison of 
 1,500 Confederate troops, commanded by an officer of ability 
 and experience. The Confederates had obstructed the channel 
 between the forts by stretching a heavy chain across the river, 
 supported on a number of hulks sunken in the stream. Above 
 the forts lay a fleet of 17 vessels, 8 of which were gunboats, 
 two of these being iron-clads. One of these, the Louisiana, 
 was supposed to be the most powerful vessel afloat. The hold 
 of the Confederates upon the river was so firm that it seemed 
 impossible to shake it off". A French man-of-war went up the 
 river to communicate with the French Consul at New Orleans, 
 and on its return its officers declared to Farragut that he could 
 never hope to get by the Southern batteries. " I am ordered to 
 go to New Orleans," he replied, " and I intend to do so." 
 
664 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On the 1 8th of April, 1862, the mortar-boats opened fire 
 upon the forts, and for a week maintained a heavy bombard- 
 ment of them. Farragut soon saw that the forts could not 
 be reduced in this way, and that he must run by them, if he 
 meant to get to New Orleans. He therefore summoned h. 
 council of his officers, at the close of which he issued the fol- 
 lowing general order to the fleet : 
 
 " The Flag-officer, having heard all the opinions expressed 
 by the different commanders, is of the opinion that whatever is 
 to be done, will have to be done quickly. When, in the opinion 
 of the Flag-officer, the propitious time has arrived, the signal 
 will be made to weigh and advance to the conflict. * * He 
 will make the signal for close action, and will abide the result- 
 conquer or be conquered." 
 
 Every exertion was now made to prepare the fleet for the 
 hazardous attempt to pass the forts. While he gave to his 
 commanders a large discretion in their arrangements, Farragut 
 required them to conform to a general plan of his own, and 
 gave his personal supervision to the work on every vessel of 
 the fleet. At midnight on the 21st of April, a daring recon- 
 noissance, led by Lieutenant Commanders Crosby and Caldwell, 
 succeeded in cutting the chain across the channel of the river, 
 which had already been weakened by a severe storm. The 
 force of the current at once drove the hulks apart, and left a 
 wide gap for the passage of the fleet. 
 
 At last everything was in readiness. On the evening of the 
 23d, Farragut visited each ship for the last time to satisfy him- 
 self that nothing was lacking, and to hold a final conference 
 with his commanders. He then returned to the flag-ship, and 
 as the night came on a deep silence fell upon the fleet, which 
 swung idly at anchor in the stream. At two o'clock on the 
 morning of April 24th, two red lanterns slowly ascended to 
 the mizzen-peak of the Hartford, and flashed out through 
 the darkness the signal for "close action." In an instant the 
 fleet was astir, and the sharp words of command, the rattle of 
 chains as the anchors were raised, and the creaking of the ma- 
 chinery as the steamers got under way, put an end to the 
 silence of the night. 
 
 The fleet consisted of seventeen vessels, carrying 294 heavy 
 
DAVID GLASGOE FARRAGUT. 665 
 
 guns. It was formed in two columns. The right, led by Cap- 
 tain Bailey, in the Cayuga, consisted of that vessel, the Pensa- 
 cola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdin, Kineo, and Wis- 
 sahickon. It was to attack Fort St. Philip. The left, under 
 Farragut's own orders, consisted of the Hartford, Brooklyn, 
 Richmond, Scioto, Iroquois, Kennebec, Spinola, Itasca and 
 Winona, and was to attack Fort Jackson. Porter was ordered 
 to open fire on the forts with the mortar-boats, and to take 
 position with the Harriet Lane, Westfield, Owasco, Miami, 
 Clifton, and Jackson, to enfilade the Southern works during 
 the passage of the fleet. 
 
 The Confederates, in anticipation of some such movement, 
 had kept a vigilant watch over the river, and the fleet had 
 hardly gotten under weigh when the forts opened a heavy fire 
 upon it. The fire was returned by the vessels, which advanced 
 steadily, the Hartford leading the van, with the signal for " close 
 action" blazing from her mizzen peak. The scene was sub- 
 lime. The river was shrouded in dense volumes of smoke, 
 through which darted the fierce flashes of the guns; and 
 the roar of the cannonade was deafening. The forts fired 
 rapidly, while the discharges from the vessels were incessant. 
 Suddenly a lurid glare lit up the gloom, and a fire-raft came 
 driving down the stream, making straight for the Hartford. 
 The vessel's head was swung around to avoid this danger, and 
 the next moment the Hartford was aground, with the blazing 
 raft alongside of her. The flames instantly caught the rigging 
 of the ship, and it seemed that the noble vessel was doomed 
 to destruction. Such would have been her fate but for the 
 splendid discipline which prevailed on board of her. The gun- 
 ners were kept at their posts, and the terrible discharges of 
 grape were poured in upon the forts without a moment's inter- 
 mission, while the firemen were called away to fight the flames. 
 The engines were reversed, and by a powerful effort the ship 
 was backed into deep water again, but still on fire. The fire- 
 men renewed their exertions, the flames were extinguished, and 
 the Hartford went ahead again. 
 
 The fleet moved forward steadily, and at length the forts were 
 passed. Above them lay the Confederate fleet, commanded by 
 officers of the old navy. The Louisiana and the Manassas were 
 
(i()^ AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 iron-clads, and six of their steamers were gunboats. The re- 
 mainder were unarmed. They gallantly sought to drive back 
 the advance of the Union fleet, and a fierce and obstinate con- 
 flict ensued. When the sun arose, struggling through the mists, 
 on the morning of the 24th of April, the spectacle u^hich he re- 
 vealed was greeted with a thrilling cheer by the Union fleet. 
 The forts had been passed, the Confederate fleet had been de- 
 feated and thirteen out of its seventeen vessels had been sunk 
 or destroyed, including the two iron-clads. The way to New 
 Orleans was now open, and on the 25th the fleet anchored in 
 front of the city, which was surrendered after some hesitation. 
 On the 28th Forts Jackson and St. Philip surrendered to Cap- 
 tain Porter. On the ist of May, Gen. Butler arrived from Ship 
 Island with his troops, and Farragut turned the city over to 
 him. 
 
 Having secured the Lower Mississippi, Farragut ascended the 
 river to take part in the operations against Vicksburg. Baton 
 Rouge, the Capital of Louisiana, surrendered to him on his 
 approach, and he continued to ascend the river until he arrived 
 before the batteries at Vicksburg. Anchoring below the town, 
 he demanded its surrender, but was answered that " Mississip- 
 pians never surrendered." A steady fire was opened upon the 
 town, and was maintained at regular intervals until the 28th of 
 June, when Farragut with a part of the fleet left his anchorage, 
 and began the ascent of the river. The batteries at once opened 
 fire upon the vessels, which replied with spirit. The fleet, ar- 
 riving opposite the town, lay in front of it for nearly two hours, 
 maintaining a heavy cannonade which drove the gunners from 
 their pieces and almost silenced their fire. Then putting on 
 steam once more, the vessels passed the batteries and contin- 
 ued on their way up the river. Farragut then addressed a note 
 to Captain Davis, commanding the gunboat fleet in the upper 
 Mississippi, asking his co-operation in an attack on Vicksburg. 
 At the same time he wrote to the Government that, while he 
 could easily run by the Vicksburg batteries and silence their 
 fire, he could accomplish nothing of permanent value without 
 the co-operation of a large land force. About the middle of 
 July he again passed the batteries and rejoined his vessels be- 
 low the town. Shortly afterwards he went back to New Or- 
 leans. 
 
DAVID GLASGOE FARRAGUT. 66 J 
 
 In order to maintain their hold upon the Mississippi, which 
 was essential to their communication with the country beyond 
 it, the Confederates greatly strengthened their works at Vicks- 
 burg, and fortified Port Hudson about lOO miles below that 
 place. General Grant was sent with a large army to operate 
 against Vicksburg, and established his base of operations at 
 Milliken's Bend, above the city. After many useless efforts 
 from this direction. Grant determined to cross his army to the 
 left bank of the Mississippi, below Vicksburg, and attack that 
 place from the rear. Commodore Porter, who had succeeded 
 to the command of the gunboat fleet above Vicksburg, was 
 ordered to run a number his gunboats by the batteries to act 
 as transports in the passage of the river by the army, and Far- 
 ragut was directed to pass the Port Hudson batteries with his 
 fleet and co-operate with Porter. 
 
 The Port Hudson batteries were much stronger and more 
 formidable than those at Vicksburg, and lined the river bank 
 in several tiers for a distance of four miles. The effort to pass 
 tliem was the severest test to which a wooden fleet had ever 
 been subjected; but Farragut resolved to make it. He reached 
 Prophet's Island, with his fleet and the mortar-boats, on the 
 morning of the 17th of March. Having determined to make 
 the attempt that night, he caused the mortar boats to open fire 
 on the Southern batteries early in the afternoon, and sent a 
 small land force towards the rear of Port Hudson to engage 
 the attention of the Confederates. 
 
 Lashing his ships together in pairs, Farragut started from 
 Prophet's Island on the night of the 17th, to pass the batteries. 
 Almost as soon as the fleet had started, the Confederates lighted 
 large bonfires on the shore, which illumined the river with a 
 glare as bright as the light of day, and made the Union vessels 
 conspicuous marks for the Southern guns. A heavy fire was 
 at once opened on the fleet, which responded rapidly and with 
 effect, and soon the smoke was so thick over the river that the 
 opposing parties could aim only at the flashes of the hostile 
 guns. This added to the danger of the fleet, by rendering the 
 vessels liable to fire into each other. An officer stood in the 
 bow of each vessel straining his eyes to direct her course 
 through the gloom, and a line of men was formed from him to 
 
6/0 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The ram Tennessee now made a dash at the Hartford, but 
 immediately took refuge under the guns of the forts. Think- 
 ing that the battle was over, Farragut sent the light draft ves- 
 sels in pursuit of the gunboats. The Selma was captured by 
 the Metacomet, and the Gaines was so badly damaged that it 
 was necessary to destroy her. The Morgan escaped. Having 
 sent these vessels off, the Admiral made the signal for the rest 
 of the fleet to anchor. 
 
 As this order was being executed, the Tennessee was seen 
 to leave her place of refuge under the guns of the forts, and 
 to stand boldly towards the flag-ship, evidently intending to 
 sink her. Every available wooden vessel, and all the moni- 
 tors, were at once ordered to open fire upon her, and to run her 
 down. In a little while they were moving upon her from 
 every direction, as she advanced rapidly into their midst. The 
 Monongahela struck her first, and lost her prow in the collision. 
 The Lackawanna followed next, and struck her a heavy blow, 
 but withdrew seriously crippled, while the ram was uninjured. 
 The Tennessee now made straight for the Hartford. The flag- 
 ship put on all steam, and swept down upon her formidable 
 adversary. Just before the crash came, the ram sheered, and 
 received a glancing blow. Recoiling ten or twelve feet, the 
 Hartford poured a rapid broadside upon the ram, which made 
 no impression, however, on her plated sides, while the shot 
 from the Tennessee went crashing through the wooden walls 
 of the Hartford. The flag-ship now made a wide circuit to 
 strike the ram again, and as she was bearing down upon her, 
 was herself struck by the Lackawanna, which was making for 
 the ram a second time. The Hartford was cut down to within 
 two feet of the water, and was supposed to be sinking. Im- 
 mediately the cry was raised, "Save the Admiral! Get the 
 Admiral out of the ship!" From his lofty position the Ad- 
 miral saw that his ship was still afloat, and immediately gave 
 the order to put her about and ram the Tennessee again. The 
 Tennessee had suffered terribly in this engagement, as she lay 
 under the converging fire of the whole Federal fleet, and had 
 been badly injured by it, and by the collisions she had received. 
 Her smoke-stack was gone, and her steering chains were shot 
 away. As the Hartford swept down upon her again, her flag 
 was lowered, and the battle was over. 
 
DAVID GLASGOE FARRAGUT. 6/1 
 
 Farragut's loss in this hard-fought battle was 222 killed and 
 wounded, and one iron-clad. The victory was soon followed by 
 the surrender of the forts, at the mouth of the bay, to Gen- 
 eral Granger. 
 
 Farragut remained with his fleet in Mobile Bay until No- 
 vember, 1864, when, having received leave of absence, he sailed 
 in the Hartford for New York, which he reached on the 12th 
 of December. He was given a public reception, and in the 
 same month was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral. On 
 the 1st of January, 1865, he was presented with a gift of 
 ;^50,ooo by the citizens of New York. Honors were now 
 showered upon him, and his fame was not confined to his own 
 country. The Prince de Joinville, himself a gallant sailor, said 
 of the battle of Mobile Bay : " The Americans there accom- 
 plished a feat of arms of which they have reason to be proud, 
 for there is not a more transcendant one in the naval history 
 of our time ; and the skillfulness and energy shown on this oc- 
 casion, as on so many others, by Admiral Farragut, incontest- 
 ably place him in the first rank among the naval officers of all 
 nations." 
 
 The Admiral passed the winter with his family at Hastings, 
 on the Hudson, and in the Spring of 1865 returned to blockade 
 duty. The close of the war soon followed. 
 
 In July, 1866, Congress having created the full rank of Ad- 
 miral, for the especial purpose of rewarding his services, Far- 
 ragut was advanced to that grade by the President. Soon after 
 this he was placed in command of the magnificent new steam 
 frigate Franklin, in which he visited the principal ports of the 
 leading nations of Europe. He was everywhere received with 
 the honors due to his great fame. After his return home his 
 health failed rapidly, and for the last year of his life he was a 
 constant sufferer. He died at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
 on the 14th of August, 1870, aged sixty-nine years. His body 
 was conveyed to New York, and was buried in Woodlawn 
 Cemetery, near that city. 
 
ROBERT E. LEE. 
 
 THE Lee family, which has given so many great men to 
 America, is of ancient and honorable descent. The 
 founder of the American branch, Richard Lee, emigrated from 
 Shropshire, in England, to Virginia, in the reign of Charles I., 
 and settled in that part of Virginia lying between the Potomac 
 and Rappahannock rivers, known as the Northern Neck. He 
 was a zealous royalist, and occupied a prominent and honorable 
 position in the Colony. His descendants fully maintained the 
 traditional reputation of the family, and have furnished to 
 American history some of its brightest names. The father of 
 the subject of this memoir was the great-grandson of the 
 founder of the family. 
 
 Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford House, in 
 Westmoreland County, Virginia, on the 19th of January, 1807, 
 in the same room in which Richard Henry and Francis Light- 
 foot Lee were born. His father was General Henry Lee, the 
 famous "Light Horse Harry" of the Revolution, and his 
 mother was Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, of Strat- 
 ford House. 
 
 The boyhood of Robert Lee was passed in the Northern 
 Neck, and a great part of it amid the stirring events of the 
 Second War with England. When he was in his eighth year 
 a British fleet under Admiral Cockburn ravaged the shores of 
 the Chesapeake and Potomac, and the cities of Washington 
 and Alexandria were occupied by the British forces. These 
 events, occurring so near the home of young Lee, must have 
 had something to do with the shaping of his future career. 
 
 When he was twelve years old his father died. In 1825, 
 being then eighteen years old, Robert Lee entered the Military 
 Academy at West Point, where he remained four years, gradu- 
 uating in 1829. He stood at the head of his class throughout 
 his entire academic course, and never received a demerit or a 
 reprimand. He was held in high esteem by his comrades, and 
 
 (672) 
 
ROBERT E. LEE. 6/3 
 
 was noted for his studious habits and exemplary conduct; he 
 never used intoxicating liquors or tobacco, n'or indulged in 
 any of the vices popular with young men. On the 4th of July, 
 1829, he was graduated first in his class, and received the 
 appointment of brevet second lieutenant in the corps of Topo- 
 graphical Engineers. After a brief furlough he entered upon 
 the duties of his profession, and was employed for several 
 years upon the coast defences of the United States. In 1835 
 he was appointed assistant astronomer for the demarcation of 
 the boundary line between the States of Ohio and Michigan. 
 
 In 1832, Lieutenant Lee married Mary, daughter of George 
 Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of Washington and 
 the grandson of Mrs. Washington. By this marriage the 
 young officer became at a subsequent period the proprietor of 
 Arlington House, in Alexandria County, Virginia, opposite 
 Washington City, and of the White House, on the Pamunkey 
 river, the scene of Washington's marriage with the "Widow 
 Custis." Three sons and four daughters were the fruits of this 
 marriage. Two of the sons became Major-Generals in the 
 Confederate Army. 
 
 In 1834 Lieutenant Lee was made assistant to the Chief 
 Engineer of the army, and held that position until 1837. In 
 September, 1836, he was promoted to the grade of first lieu- 
 tenant, and in July, 1838, was appointed Captain of Engineers. 
 Near about the same time he was placed in charge of the 
 improvements of the harbor of St. Louis and the upper Mis- 
 sissippi. In 1840 he was given charge of the improvements 
 in the Ohio below Louisville, and those in the lower Missis- 
 sippi. Towards the end of 1841 he superintended the con- 
 struction and repair of the defences of the harbor of New York, 
 and in 1844 was appointed a member of the Board of Visitors 
 to the West Point Academy. He also held several other 
 important positions. 
 
 When the Mexican War broke out. Captain Lee, who was 
 now regarded as one of the most accomplished officers in the 
 service, was assigned to duty as Chief of Engineers in the 
 army under General Scott, and served with great distinction 
 throughout the war, winning high praise from all his superior 
 officers, and especially from General Scott. He was twice 
 43 
 
6/4 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 promoted for his services in Mexico. In 1847 he was bre- 
 vetted Major for "gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle 
 of Cerro Gordo," and later was made Lieutenant Colonel by 
 brevet for his conduct at Contreras and Churubusco. General 
 Scott conceived a warm personal friendship for his Chief 
 Engineer, and a high admiration for his military skill. Lee 
 became an especial favorite with him, and the Commander-in- 
 Chief sent scarcely a despatch to Washington in which Lee's 
 name was not honorably mentioned. So greatly did the vet- 
 eran soldier esteem him, that he declared years afterwards, 
 "Lee is the greatest military genius in America." 
 
 After the close of the war Colonel Lee spent several years 
 in the Engineer service, and in 1852, as a reward for his 
 services at Chapultepec, in Mexico, was made Superintendent 
 of the Military Academy at West Point. He held this posi- 
 tion for three years, and during his administration the course 
 of study was, by order of the Secretary of War, extended so 
 as to cover a period of five years. 
 
 In 1855 two new regiments of cavalry were formed. Albert 
 Sidney Johnston was made Colonel of the Second Cavalry 
 regiment, Lee Lieutenant-Colonel (the full rank) ; Hardee and 
 Geo. H. Thomas were the Majors ; among the Captains were 
 Van Dorn and Kirby Smith ; and among the lieutenants Hood, 
 Fields, Fitzhugh Lee, Palmer, Stoneman and Torbert, all of 
 whom rose to eminence during the Civil War. Lee served 
 with his regiment in Texas, taking part in several severe 
 battles with the Indians, until 1859, when he received leave 
 of absence, and returned to his home in Virginia. In October, 
 1859, John Brown made his attack upon Harper's Ferry, and 
 captured the United States Arsenal at that place. Colonel 
 Lee happening to be in Washington at the time, was sent to 
 Harper's Ferry with a force of marines to recover the Arsenal. 
 He attacked and captured Brown's party, and turned his pris- 
 oners over to the United States civil authorities, by whom 
 they were surrendered to the State of Virginia. Somewhat 
 later Colonel Lee returned to Texas, and from February to 
 December, i860, was in command of that department. In 
 December, i860, he received leave of absence, and went back 
 to Virginia. 
 
ROBERT E. LEE. 6/5 
 
 In the meantime the agitation which preceded the withdrawal 
 of the Southern States from the Union had begun, and Colonel 
 Lee's native State had been drawn into it. The new govern- 
 ment of the Confederate States had been organized, and in 
 April occurred the conflict at Fort Sumter. On the 17th of 
 April, 1 86 1, the Virginia Convention passed an ordinance of 
 Secession, and called upon the people to take up arms in de- 
 fence of the State. Colonel Lee had w^atched the course of 
 events with painful anxiety, hoping that some peaceful settle- 
 ment of the troubles could be had, and that his native State 
 would find it consistent with her honor to remain in the Union. 
 He held that his first duty was to his State, which had, if she 
 chose to exercise it, an undoubted right to withdraw from the 
 Union which she had helped to form, and that should she do 
 so, and call upon her children to take up arms in her defence, 
 he would have no choice but to quit the service of the United 
 States and cast his lot with Virginia. He was influenced by 
 no feeling of ambition, or sectional hatred; it cost him a long 
 and bitter struggle to leave the service in which he had spent 
 so many honorable years; and he regarded secession as ruin 
 and anarchy. He felt that it was his duty to go with his State; 
 and though he reluctantly formed that decision, he felt that it 
 was none the less binding upon him. Every effort was made 
 to retain him in the old service, and he was even offered the 
 chief command of the United States army. He refused every 
 offer, saying, " How can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my 
 native State?" On the 20th of April, 1861, he resigned his 
 commission in the Federal army, and repaired to Richmond. 
 He was at once appointed Commander of the Virginia forces, 
 and accepted the position. To the Convention which conferred 
 this rank upon him he said: "Trusting in Almighty God, an 
 approving conscience, and the aid of my fellow citizens, I de- 
 vote myself to the service of my native State, in whose behalf 
 alone will I ever again draw my sword." 
 
 Early in May, 1861, Virginia joined the Confederate States, 
 and her forces became a part of the Confederate army. The 
 city of Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy. The 
 Confederate Congress having created the rank of General, five 
 persons were appointed to that rank, in the order named, viz: 
 
6/6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 S. Cooper, A. S. Johnston, R. E. Lee, J. E. Johnston, and P. 
 T. Beauregard. For awhile General Lee was not given any 
 active command, but was retained at Richmond as military ad- 
 viser to President Davis. He caused Richmond and the ap- 
 proaches to it to be properly fortified, and rendered the capital 
 secure against a sudden attack. Late in the summer of 1861, 
 he took command of the forces in West Virginia; but the cam- 
 paign which ensued was unsuccessful, and subjected him to 
 much criticism. After the fall of Port Royal, in South Caro- 
 lina, General Lee was placed in command of the Coast Depart- 
 ment, and during the winter and spring succeeded in placing 
 it in an admirable state of defence. In March, 1862, he was 
 recalled to Richmond, and assigned to duty under the orders 
 of the President. His duties consisted in directing the opera- 
 tions of all the armies of the Confederacy. 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston was severely wounded at the 
 battle of Seven Pines, before Richmond, May 31st, 1862, and 
 was succeeded by Major General G. W. Smith, who was phy- 
 sically incafjable of holding the position. President Davis 
 thereupon appointed General Lee, on the 3d of June, Com- 
 mander of the Army of Northern Virginia. This army was 
 posted on the line of the Chickahominy around Richmond, 
 and was confronted by the Army of the Potomac under Gen- 
 eral McClellan, which had succeeded in ascending the Penin- 
 sula between the James and York rivers, and was threatening 
 Richmond from the Chickahominy. 
 
 General Lee's first efforts were directed to improving the 
 discipline and equipment of his army, which was now strongly 
 reinforced. He determined to attack McClellan at the earliest 
 opportunity, and compel him to retreat from the line of the 
 Chickahominy. On the 26th of June, having gotten his army 
 in proper condition and nearly equal to the Federals in 
 strength, and having drawn General Jackson's command from 
 the Valley of Virginia, where it had won a number of brilliant 
 victories, General Lee began the series of movements known 
 as "the Seven Days' Battles." He defeated McClellan's right 
 wing at Mechanicsville, and the next day, being joined by 
 Jackson, struck it a crushing blow at Cold Harbor, and drove 
 it from its position north of the Chickahominy. General Mc- 
 
ROBERT E. LEE, 6"]^ 
 
 Clellan was forced by these disasters to his army to abandon 
 his communications with the York river, and seek a new posi- 
 tion on the James. His retreat began on the 29th, on which 
 day occurred the battle of Savage Station, between portions of 
 the two armies. McClellan retreated rapidly to the James 
 river, fighting at Frazier's Farm, on the 30th of June, and at 
 Malvern Hill on the ist of July. Fie succeeded in repulsing 
 the attack upon him at Malvern Hill, but continued his retreat 
 to Harrison's Landing on the James river, where he took up a 
 new position on the banks of the river, under the protection of 
 the Federal fleet. 
 
 Having driven McClellan from before Richmond, General 
 Lee now turned his attention to the region north of the Rap- 
 pahannock, where the Federal Government was collecting a 
 new army under General Pope, for an overland march to Rich- 
 mond. He sent Jackson's corps in advance, and this force in- 
 flicted a defeat upon Pope's advanced guard under General 
 Banks, at Cedar Run, on the 9th of August, and checked the 
 Federal movement into Virginia. As soon as he was satisfied 
 that the P'ederal Government was withdrawing McClellan's 
 army from the James to reinforce Pope, Lee moved his whole 
 force to the Rappahannock, and joined Jackson. He formed 
 the daring plan of attacking and destroying Pope's army before 
 McClellan's forces could join him, and by a series of brilliant 
 flank movements gained the rear of Pope's army, forced him 
 back to the old battle field of Bull Run, and, besides several 
 less important victories, gained a decisive success over him in 
 the second battle of Bull Run, on the 30th of August. Pope's 
 army, utterly demoralized by its reverses, retreated within the 
 lines of Washington, having lost over 30,000 men and thirty 
 pieces of artillery, during the brief campaign. 
 
 General Lee now resolved to take advantage of Pope's de- 
 feat to invade Maryland, in the hope of carr^nng the war out 
 of Virginia. He crossed the Potomac on the 5th of Septem- 
 ber, and advanced to Frederick, Maryland. Here he detached 
 Jackson's corps to capture the important post of Harper's 
 Ferry, which was held by a Federal garrison of about 11,000 
 men, and with the remainder of his army moved to South 
 Mountain, to await the result of Jackson's operations. Jack- 
 
678 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 son promptly invested Harper's Ferry, which surrendered on 
 the 15th of September. 
 
 In the meantime General McClellan had been placed in com- 
 mand of the remnants of Pope's army, and had united them 
 with his own forces. Moving cautiously from Washington, he 
 advanced towards Frederick, reorganizing his army on the 
 march. On the 12th of September he reached Frederick, and 
 there found a copy of General Lee's confidential order to his 
 corps commanders, giving his plan of campaign. This order 
 had been lost by the officer to whom it was addressed, and its 
 discovery gave McClellan a great advantage over his adversary. 
 He moved forward boldly, and attacked the Confederates at 
 South Mountain, on the 14th of September. It had been Gen- 
 eral Lee's intention to allow the Federal army to pass South 
 Mountain unmolested, as he had not expected that McClellan 
 would arrive so promptly. As Harper's Ferry had not yet 
 fallen, however, it was necessary to change this plan and to 
 contest the passage of the mountain. Lee held his position 
 until night-fall, and then retreated to the line of the Antietam 
 creek, where he took position the next morning. Harper's 
 Ferry fell the same day, and Jackson by a forced march re- 
 joined General Lee on the banks of the Antietam, on the morn- 
 ing of the 1 6th. Lee had with him now less than 40,000 men, 
 while the Federal army was about 80,000 strong. On the 
 17th McClellan made a determined attack upon the Confed 
 erates, and the bloody battle of Antietam ensued. Lee held 
 his position until nightfall put an end to the battle, and during 
 the next day. On the night of the i8th, he retreated across 
 the Potomac into Virginia. Though his Maryland campaign 
 was a failure, he had good cause to be proud of the achieve- 
 ments of his army during the summer. It had defeated three 
 powerful armies in twelve battles and numerous skirmishes, 
 inflicting upon the enemy a loss of nearly 76,000 men, of whom 
 nearly 30,000 were prisoners, capturing 155 pieces of cannon, 
 and nearly 70,000 small arms, and destroying many millions 
 of dollars' worth of stores of various kinds. 
 
 Lee moved slowly up the Valley of Virginia, and crossing 
 the Blue Ridge, took up a strong position at Culpeper Court 
 House. McClellan after a long delay followed him, and early 
 
ROBERT E. LEE. 679 
 
 in November the two armies again confronted each other. 
 McClellan was about to offer battle, when he was suddenly 
 removed from his command, and replaced by General Burn- 
 side. Burnside moved rapidly to Falmouth, opposite Fred- 
 ericksburg, where he hoped to cross the Rappahannock, and 
 place his army between Lee and Richmond. Upon reaching 
 Falmouth, he found Lee's army strongly posted on the heights 
 in the rear of Fredericksburg, barring his way to Richmond. 
 On the nth and I2th of December, Burnside threw his army 
 over the Rappahannock and occupied Fredericksburg. On 
 the 13th he attempted to cany the Southern line by storm, 
 but met with a bloody defeat, and retreated across the Rappa- 
 hannock. 
 
 During the winter no further effort was made by either army. 
 General Burnside resigned his command, and was succeeded 
 by Gen. Hooker. The Federal army was brought to a high 
 state of efficiency. It was 120,000 strong, exclusive of the 
 cavalry, which numbered 12,000, and was equipped with 400 
 pieces of artillery. Its commander proudly termed it " the 
 finest army on the planet." General Lee's army was weakened 
 by the withdrawal of Longstreet's corps of 24,000 men, by 
 order of the Confederate Government, for service elsewhere, 
 and was barely 50,000 strong. 
 
 General Hooker decided to attack Lee as soon as the roads 
 would allow him to move his army. He began his march 
 on the 27th of April, 1863, crossed the Rappahannock and 
 Rapidan rivers, and moving to Chancellorsville, turned Lee's 
 flank, and planted his army in the rear of the Southern position. 
 Quickly peicieving his danger, Lee left a portion of his army 
 to hold the heights of Fredericksburg, and with the remainder 
 moved to Chancellorsville, where he attacked Hooker, and on 
 the 2d and 3d of May inflicted a crushing defeat upon him, and 
 drove him back to the junction of the Rappahannock and 
 Rapidan rivers. He was preparing to storm this new position, 
 when he learr.ed that a strong Federal force under General 
 Sedgwick had crossed the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, 
 had carried the heights and was marching against him. His 
 danger was great, but leaving a part of his army to hold 
 Hooker in cherk, he marched rapidly to meet Sedgwick, and 
 
680 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 defeated him at Salem Heights and forced him to retreat across 
 the Rappahannock. He then moved back to attack Hooker, 
 but that commander, disheartened by his reverses, retreated 
 across the Rappahannock on the night of the 5th, having lost 
 12,000 men. The victory of Chancellorsville cost the Confed- 
 erates 10,000 men, and the life of General "Stonewall" Jackson, 
 Lee's ablest subordinate. 
 
 Lee's army was now rapidly reinforced until it reached a 
 strength of 80,000 men, mostly veterans. Hooker's army, on 
 the other hand, w^as reduced by desertions and expiration 
 of enlistments to about the same strength. The Southern 
 Government, anxious to counterbalance its reverses in the 
 West and Southwest by a great success, resolved to follow up 
 the victory at Chancellorsville by an invasion of the North by 
 Lee's army. Lee began his forward movement on the 3d of 
 June, 1863, and marching through the Valley of Virginia, 
 crossed the Potomac at Williamsport on the 23d. The Federal 
 army, the command of which had passed to General Meade, 
 followed him' cautiously. The objective point of both armies 
 was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The advanced forces came in 
 conflict quite by accident at that place on the afternoon of the 
 1st of July; the Confederates had decidedly the advantage in 
 this engagement, but the Federal forces succeeded in occupy- 
 ilig a strong position. Both armies were now hurried forward, 
 and General Meade resolved to hold the line of heights which 
 his advanced guard had secured, and await Lee's attack. On 
 the 2d of July there was sharp, but indecisive fighting ; and 
 on the 3d, General Lee made a resolute effort to carry the 
 Federal position by storm. He met with a bloody repulse. 
 On the night of the 4th he withdrew from Gettysburg, and 
 retreated in good order to the Potomac. Reaching Williams- 
 port he found the river too much swollen to permit him to 
 cross it. He entrenched his position, assumed a bold front, and 
 remained on the bank of the river from the 6th to the night of 
 the 13th of July; when the water having fallen sufficiently, he 
 retreated into Virginia, the Federal army making no effort to 
 interfere with him. Lee withdrew up the Valley of Virginia, 
 crossed the Blue Ridge and marched to the Rapidan. Meade 
 followed closely, but made no effort to attack him, and took 
 
ROBERT E. LEE. 68 1 
 
 position on the north side of the Rapidan. The remainder of 
 the year was passed without any movement of an important 
 nature, and large detachments were drawn from both armies 
 for service in the West. 
 
 Early in March, 1864, General Grant, whose brilliant suc- 
 cesses in the West and Southwest had won him the leading 
 position in the Federal army, was raised to the grade of Lieu- 
 tenant- General, and was placed in command of all the armies 
 of the Union. He assumed the immediate command of the 
 Army of the Potomac, which was brought to the strength of 
 140,000 men. The army under General Lee numbered about 
 50,000 men. The general principle upon which the Federal 
 commander conducted the campaign which ensued was that 
 the great object to be attained was the destruction of the 
 Confederate army rather than the capture of any particular 
 place. He therefore determined not to make a direct attack 
 upon Lee, but to turn his right flank, draw him from his strong 
 position, and force him to fight in the open country, where the 
 superior numbers of the Federals would tell against him. On 
 the morning of the 4th of May, 1864, the Federal army crossed 
 the Rapidan, and turning the right of Lee's position, entered 
 the densely wooded region known as " The Wilderness." 
 Grant appears to have supposed that Lee, finding his flank 
 turned by a superior force, would fall back towards Richmond. 
 Lee, however, resolved tp attack his adversary while moving 
 through the wooded country, in which the Federal superiority 
 in strength would be neutralized to a considerable extent by 
 the character of the country. He struck a bold and skillful 
 blow at the Federal army in the Wilderness, near the old 
 battle-field of Chancellorsville, on the 5th and 6th' of May. 
 The battle was one of the bloodiest of the war, but was inde- 
 cisive; and on the 7th Grant moved around Lee's right, and 
 marched towards Spottsylvania Court House. Lee at once 
 detected his design, and by a forced march reached Spottsyl- 
 vania Court House in advance of his antagonist, and secured 
 a strong position, which he proceeded to entrench. Grant 
 made repeated but unsuccessful efibrts to carry the Southern 
 position; and on the 12th of May occurred the bloody battle 
 of Spottsylvania Court House, in which the Federal army was 
 
682 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 repulsed. Grant had now suffered a loss of over 40,000 men 
 since the opening of the campaign, and finding it impossible 
 to force the Southern lines, moved once more to the right in 
 the direction of Richmond. Lee met every manoeuvre by a 
 counter movement, acting on the defensive throughout. By 
 the last of May the two armies confronted each other on the 
 Chickahominy, in sight of Richmond. After some indecisive 
 fighting, Grant made a general attack upon Lee's strongly 
 intrenched position at Cold Harbor, on the 3d of June, and 
 was repulsed with a loss of 13,000 men. For ten days the 
 two armies lay opposite each other, but on the 13th of June 
 Grant abandoned his position, marched down the Chickahominy 
 to the James, crossed the latter river, and endeavored to seize 
 Petersburg, south of the James, by a sudden blow. Lee fell 
 back behind the Chickahominy, and, dividing his force, under- 
 took the defence of both Petersburg and Richmond. 
 
 Petersburg being the key to the railroad system connecting 
 Richmond with the Southern States, the fall of that place 
 would compel the abandonment of Richmond. The efforts 
 of General Grant's army, therefore, were from this time directed 
 to the capture of Petersburg. The siege was conducted with 
 vigor, and was marked by numerous battles of more or less 
 importance. All the while the Confederate army was wasting 
 away by the slow processes of sickness and death. There 
 were no more men to be had; the South was exhausted, and 
 it was only a question of time as to when the end would 
 come. Thus the autumn and winter wore away. 
 
 When the spring opened General Grant resolved to bring 
 the war to an end, for it was plain to him that Lee's weak 
 force could not resist the advance of his powerful army, which 
 had just been reinforced by Sheridan's magnificent division of 
 cavalry. The force under his command numbered 170,000 
 men; while Lee had with him less than 40,000 troops. On 
 the 29th of March, 1865, the advance of the Federals was 
 begun. Leaving the bulk of his forces before Petersburg, 
 Grant moved with the remainder around Lee's right, and in a 
 series of engagements succeeded in planting himself upon 
 Lee's line of communication with the South. As soon as 
 this success was won, the Federal forces left in front of Peters- 
 
ROBERT E. LEE. 683 
 
 burg opened a heavy fire upon the Confederate Hnes before that 
 place, commencing in the afternoon of the ist of April, and 
 continued the bombardment through the night. On the 
 morning of the 2d of April, these forces made a determined 
 attack upon Lee's line, and broke it at several points. General 
 Lee was now forced to assume a new and shorter line imme- 
 diately around Petersburg. The Federal army made a vigorous 
 effort to force its way into the town, but was repulsed. 
 
 The fate of Petersburg was now decided. It was impossible 
 to hold it longer. On the night of the 2d of April, General 
 Lee withdrew his army from Richmond and Petersburg, and 
 retreated in the direction of Amelia Court House. His in- 
 tention was to move towards Danville, and endeavor to join 
 Johnston, who was retreating through North Carolina before 
 Sherman. Lee's entreat was discovered on the morning of the 
 3d of April, and the Federal army, leaving small detachments 
 to occupy Petersburg and Richmond, set off in pursuit, follow- 
 ing the line of the South Side railroad. 
 
 Upon reaching Amelia Court house, General Lee found that 
 the supplies he had ordered to be sent there from Danville, 
 were not to be had. The trains sent from Danville by his in- 
 structions had been ordered to Richmond to remove the prop- 
 erty of the Confederate Government, and had not been allowed 
 to unload their stores at Amelia Court House. This was a 
 terrible blow to Lee, who was now unable to furnish food to his 
 troops, who had eaten nothing since the commencement of the 
 retreat. Parties were sent into the surrounding country to 
 obtain supplies, and this consumed the whole of the 4th and 
 5th of April, which Lee had hoped to spend in pushing on be- 
 yond his pursuers. The delay enabled Sheridan, with 18,000 
 mounted men, to seize the Confederate line of retreat at Jeters- 
 ville. This movement put an end to Lee's hope of reaching 
 Danville and joining Johnston. A battle would have been 
 madness, for Sheridan had a force nearly equal to his own, and 
 Grant with the rest of his arrtiy was within supporting distance. 
 General Lee therefore turned off, and retreated towards Farm- 
 ville, hoping to be able to reach Lynchburg ; but Sheridan, 
 after passing Farmville, pushed forward again, and by a forced 
 march reached Appomattox Station, on the South Side railroad. 
 
684 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 on the night of the 8th, and planted his force squarely across 
 the Confederate line of retreat. The next morning, Lee, when 
 near Appomattox Court House, discovered this obstacle in his 
 way, and about the same time Sheridan was joined by the 
 Army of the James, under General Ord, while the Army of the 
 Potomac, under General Meade, was fast closing upon the Con- 
 federate rear. General Lee had now but eight thousand men 
 with arms in their hands; the bulk of his forces, being too 
 much broken down by fatigue and hunger to keep their places 
 in the ranks, accompanied their comrades in a disorganized 
 mass. General Grant now invited General Lee to surrender his 
 army, but the latter declined to do so. As soon as he discov- 
 ered Sheridan in his front, Lee attempted to cut his way 
 through the Federal line, but failing in his effort, and being 
 convinced that further resistance would be merely a useless 
 sacrifice of his men, he asked for a suspension of hostilities, and 
 went to meet General Grant. The two commanders met at a 
 house in the village of Appomattox Court House, on the 9th of 
 April, and arranged the terms of the surrender. These were, 
 in substance, that the Confederate officers and the men under 
 their command should not thereafter serve in the armies of 
 the Confederate States, or in any military capacity against the 
 United States of America, or render aid to the enemies of the 
 latter, until properly exchanged in such manner as should be 
 mutually approved by the respective authorities ; and that 
 they would not be disturbed by the United States authorities 
 so long as they observed their paroles and the laws in force 
 where they should reside. The officers were allowed to retain 
 their side-arms, and both officers and men were permitted to 
 keep the horses which belonged to them individually, in order 
 that they might betake themselves as soon as possible to the 
 cultivation of the soil. About seventy-five hundred men laid 
 down their arms, and about twenty thousand unarmed strag- 
 glers took part in the surrender. The Federal troops treated 
 their vanquished opponents with soldierly kindness, and care- 
 fully refrained from all demonstrations that might seem to 
 insult their misfortunes. 
 
 General Lee returned to Richmond immediately after the 
 surrender, and reached the city on the afternoon of the 12th. 
 
ROBERT E. LEE. 685 
 
 Those who did not know him were surprised at the calmness 
 and cheerfulness exhibited by him at this time; but to his 
 friends his demeanor was neither strange nor unexpected. 
 They knew that his tranquility and cheerfulness proceeded from 
 an intelligent conviction that throughout the war he had done 
 his entire duty, and that events had been shaped by a stronger 
 Arm than his. Thus convinced he never repined. He met 
 adversity with the same self command he had displayed in the 
 midst of success, and with true Christian fortitude bowed in 
 submission to the will of God. For the misfortunes of the 
 Southern people he grieved silently and strongly, and strove 
 by every means in his power to help them to make the best of 
 their troubles. He counselled submission to the General Gov- 
 ernment, and wishing to set the example of entire submission, 
 made application to the President for pardon in accordance 
 with an act of Congress. The application was cordially en- 
 dorsed by General Grant, through whom it was made, and a 
 warrant of pardon was at once issued by President Johnson 
 in accordance with the terms of the law. 
 
 General Lee's fortune had been almost entirely swept away 
 by the war, and it was necessary for him to obtain some means 
 of support. In October, 1865, he accepted the Presidency of 
 Washington College, at Lexington, Va., a position thoroughly 
 congenial to his tastes. Under his able management the col- 
 lege prospered very greatly, and students were drawn from all 
 parts of the Union. 
 
 General Lee took no part in public life after the close of the 
 war. He found great happiness in the modest but useful labors 
 to which he devoted himself, and in the peaceful seclusion of 
 his own home. In March, 1866, he appeared as a witness be- 
 fore the Reconstruction Committee of Congress. He testified 
 that as far as he knew, the people of the South did not con- 
 template any resistance to the Government of the United 
 States, and were in favor of the reconstruction policy of Presi- 
 dent Johnson; that they expected to pay their proportion of 
 the national debt, and would be willing also to pay the Con- 
 federate debt; and that the people of Virginia regarded the 
 action of the State in seceding from the Union as carrying 
 the individuals of the State along with it; that the State, not 
 
686 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 individuals, was responsible, and was merely using a lawful re- 
 served right. 
 
 It was General Lee's fortune to be exempted from the bit- 
 terness with which the Northern people regarded the leaders 
 of the " Lost Cause." His high character, his spotless record 
 during the terrible struggle, and the simple dignity with which 
 he rose above his misfortunes, won him the unqualified admi- 
 ration of his former foes; and surely no higher tribute than 
 this can be accorded to any man. When a few reckless parti- 
 sans sought to charge him with acts of cruelty and injustice 
 during the war there was an emphatic protest from the North- 
 ern people which silenced them. 
 
 The terrible strain, both mental and physical, to which he 
 was subjected during the last year of the war, did much to un- 
 dermine the vigorous health of General Lee. He felt his fail- 
 ing powers, and is said to have remarked to his friend and 
 pastor. Dr. Pendleton, some time in 1868, that he did not ex- 
 pect to live more than two years longer, a premonition which 
 was unhappily realized. 
 
 Early in September, 1 870, he was stricken with what was 
 believed to be an attack of nervous prostration, but recovered 
 from it. On the afternoon of September 28th, he attended a 
 meeting of the Vestry of the Episcopal Church at Lexington, 
 of which body he was a member. Important business de- 
 tained him until after seven in the evening, when he returned 
 home. His family were at supper, and as he seated himself at 
 the table Mrs. Lee said to him, " Robert, you are late; we have 
 been waiting for you. What detained you?" Receiving no 
 answer, Mrs. Lee repeated her question, and then looking up 
 saw the General with his hand at his watch pocket, but mo- 
 tionless. His son. General Custis Lee, sprang to his father's 
 side, and found him speechless. Medical aid was summoned, 
 and the General regained the power of speech. He seemed to 
 rally, and though he kept his bed his symptoms were favorable 
 until Monday, October loth, when he suddenly grew worse, 
 and continued to fail rapidly. He suffered comparatively little 
 pain during his whole sickness. Once or twice his mind wan- 
 dered and his thoughts reverted to the army. At one time he 
 ordered that his tent should be struck, and at another desired 
 
ROBERT E. LEE, 6%"/ 
 
 that General A. P. Hill should be sent for. He continued to 
 sink, and on the morning of Wednesday, October 12th, 1870, 
 at half-past nine o'clock breathed his last. The proximate 
 cause of his death was mental and physical fatigue, inducing 
 nervous congestion of the brain, which gradually caused cere- 
 bral exhaustion and death. 
 
 The news of his death was at once telegraphed throughout 
 the country. The South gave way to the deepest grief, for 
 General Lee was personally dear to every Southern heart. In 
 the North there was a very general feeling of regret at his 
 death, and the press of that section united in a sincere tribute 
 to the virtues and genius of the dead chieftain. 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 
 
 THE subject of this memoir was of English descent. His 
 great grandfather, John Jackson, emigrated to this country 
 at a very early day, and settled upon the South bank of the 
 Potomac, in Virginia. He did not remain there long, however, 
 but removed to what is now Lewis County, in West Virginia. 
 One of his sons, Edward Jackson, was surveyor of Lewis 
 County, and subsequently represented the county in the State 
 Legislature. His son, Jonathan Jackson, who was born in 
 Lewis County, removed to the town of Clarksburg, in Harrison 
 County, for the purpose of studying law with his cousin, Judge 
 John G. Jackson, of that place. In due time he received his 
 license, and entered upon the practice of his profession, with 
 his cousin. Judge Jackson. By his practice he acquired some 
 reputation and property. He married Miss Neal, a daughter 
 of Thomas Neal, of Wood County. By this lady he had four 
 children — two sons and two daughters. 
 
 Thomas Jonathan Jackson, the youngest of these children, 
 was born at Clarksburg, in Harrison County, Virginia, on the 
 2 1st day of January, 1824. When he was scarcely three years 
 old his father died, and his mother soon followed. Before his 
 death Mr. Jackson became involved as security for some of his 
 friends, and as a logical consequence his property was swept 
 away. His children were thus left without any means of sup- 
 port. 
 
 Shortly after the death of his parents, Thomas was taken by 
 an uncle to Lewis County. This uncle was living on the farm 
 on which the father of Thomas had been born, and there the 
 orphan boy remained until he reached the age of seventeen 
 years. During this period he spent a portion of his time in 
 working on the farm, and the remainder in attending an old 
 field school in the neighborhood, where he received the rudi- 
 ments of a plain English education. 
 
 From his earliest childhood he exhibited a remarkable de- 
 
 (688) 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 689 
 
 gree of self-reliance and energy. He was quiet and reserved, 
 but kind and gentle in his disposition and manner. He studied 
 hard while at school, and was prompt and faithful in the dis- 
 charge of his duties. These qualities, exhibited in a degree 
 remarkable in one so young, could not fail to attract the atten- 
 tion, and win the admiration of his neighbors, nor were they 
 allowed to pass unrewarded. The people of Lewis County, 
 wishing to assist the young man so bravely struggling to raise 
 himself in the world, conferred upon him the office of consta- 
 ble of the county when he was but sixteen years old. He ac- 
 cepted the appointment, and in spite of his extreme youth, 
 discharged the duties of the office with marked fidelity and 
 success. 
 
 When he was seventeen years old, he learned that there was 
 a vacancy from his Congressional district in the United States 
 Military Academy at West Point, and determined to apply for 
 it. He set off on foot from Lewis County, and walked a long 
 distance to a point from which he could take the stage to 
 Washington City. Arriving there, he sought out Mr. Hays, 
 the member of Congress from his district, and travel stained, 
 and with his face flushed with excitement, presented himself 
 before him, and told him that he wanted the place at West 
 Point, then vacant. Astonished and amused by such a request 
 coming from one who seemed so humble and so unsuited to 
 the position, Mr. Hays endeavored to dissuade him from trying 
 to enter West Point. But the energetic youth was not to be 
 discouraged, and in the conversation evinced such a marked 
 degree of intelligence that his application was successful, and 
 he received the desired appointment. 
 
 He entered the Military Academy in 1842, and remained 
 there four years. He was noted for his unwavering attention 
 to his duties. His sense of duty was always very high, and 
 his performance of it most faithful. It was necessary for him to 
 study very hard, as his early education had been deficient, and 
 he had many difficulties to overcome. He was never content 
 with a partial knowledge of anything; his mmd never relaxed 
 its grasp upon a subject until he had thoroughly mastered it. 
 On the 1st of July, 1846, Cadet Jackson was graduated with 
 high distinction, and was breveted second lieutenant, and as- 
 44 
 
690' AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 signed to the First Regiment of Artillery in the United States 
 army. 
 
 The war with Mexico had begun, and the regiment to which 
 Lieutenant Jackson was assigned was already with Gen. Tay- 
 lor's army in Mexico. As soon as he received his orders he 
 set out for Mexico, and. joined Gen. Taylor's army late in the 
 year 1846. He did not see any active service with this army. 
 
 Early in 1847 troops were drawn from Taylor, and sent to 
 the island of Lobos, where General Scott was organizing an 
 expedition against the city of Vera Cruz. Lieutenant Jackson 
 was ordered to this point with his battery. He bore a distin- 
 guished part in the siege of Vera Cruz, for which he was pro- 
 moted to the rank of First Lieutenant. He took part in the 
 battles of Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, El Molino Del Rey, and 
 Chapultepec, and the capture of the city of Mexico, serving as 
 a lieutenant in Magruder's famous light battery. In each of 
 these battles he greatly distinguished himself, and was suc- 
 cessively breveted Captain and Major, rising during the cam- 
 paign from the grade of brevet second lieutenant to that of 
 Major — a series of promotions unequaled by those of any 
 other person connected with the army of General Scott. 
 
 The severe service in which he was engaged in Mexico, and 
 the effects of the climate of that country, so impaired the health 
 of Major Jackson, that shortly after the close of the war he was 
 forced to resign his commission, and retire to private life. 
 
 In 185 1, he applied for and received the appointment of 
 Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and As- 
 tronomy, and the post of Instructor in Artillery Tactics, in the 
 Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington. The appointment 
 was made in March, 1851, and he immediately entered upon 
 the discharge of his duties, and retained this position until the 
 spring of 1861. 
 
 While living in Lexington he made a profession of religion, 
 and connected himself with the Presbyterian Church, of which 
 he became an active and zealous member. He gave great at- 
 tention to the religious instruction of the negroes, and was 
 very prpud of the success of his efforts in this direction. Soon 
 after his removal to Lexington he married Miss Junkin, daugh- 
 ter of the Rev. Dr. Junkin, the President of Washington Col- 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 69 1 
 
 lege. The lady did not long survive her marriage. She left 
 one child, who died in infancy. Some years afterwards, Major 
 Jackson married Miss Morrison, of North Carolina, who is still 
 living. By ihis second marriage he had one child, a daughter, 
 born a few months before his death. 
 
 Major Jackson was not as popular among the Cadets of the 
 Military Institute as were some of the other professors; but 
 none of the professors possessed in such an exalted degree 
 their respect and deference. He was quiet, and sometimes 
 stern, in his deportment. He had many little peculiarities of 
 manner, which afforded much amusement to his pupils. He 
 was looked upon as eccentric and "queer," but no one ven- 
 tured to be familiar with him. In the class-room he would sit 
 perfectly erect and motionless, holding his pencil in one hand 
 and his class book in the other, listening with grave attention, 
 and exhibiting the great powers of his wonderful memory, 
 which was the most remarkable that has ever come under the 
 observation of the writer, who was for several years a pupil of 
 Major Jackson. The course he taught was the most difficult 
 and complicated known to mathematicians, running through 
 at least half a dozen text books. In listening to a recitation 
 he very rarely used a book. He was ready at any moment 
 to refer to any page or line of any of the books in his course, 
 and then to repeat with accuracy any passage referred to, giv- 
 ing the page and volume. Punctuality and promptness were 
 amongst his most striking characteristics, and he earnestly 
 strove to impress these qualities upon his pupils. 
 
 In the spring of iS6i, this peaceful life of Major Jackson 
 was broken up by the opening of the civil war. He had fore- 
 seen these troubles, and had done what lay in his power to 
 avert them. When the State of Virginia withdrev/ from the 
 Union, he decided to share her fortunes. He had made his 
 course the subject of long and prayerful meditation, and he had 
 come to the deliberate conclusion that his native State had the 
 right to command him. Immediately upon the secession of 
 the State he offered his services to the Governor of Virginia, 
 and was commissioned a Colonel in the State forces and placefl 
 in command of the "Camp of Instruction" established near 
 Richmond. He left Lexington on the 20th of April, 1861, and 
 
692 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 upon reaching Richmond assumed command of the camp. 
 He devoted himself energetically to the duty of organizing and 
 disciplining the large bodies of raw troops that came in daily 
 from all parts of the State ; but as he was neede^ elsewhere, 
 did not remain long in this position. He was placed in com- 
 mand of Harper's Ferry, which had been occupied by the State 
 troops, and was ordered to put the post in a state of defence. 
 He reached Harper's Ferry on the 2d of May, 1861, and on 
 the 23d of the month was relieved by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, 
 who had been given the command of all the Confederate forces 
 in the valley of Virginia. Colonel Jackson therefore assumed 
 the command of the first brigade of Johnston's army. 
 
 When the Federal army under Gen. Patterson entered the 
 valley of Virginia, General Johnston evacuated Harper's Ferry, 
 and marched to meet him. On the 20th of June he sent Colo- 
 nel Jackson with his brigade to the neighborhood of Martins- 
 burg, to watch Patterson and check his advance. Colonel 
 Jackson destroyed the railroad at Martinsburg, brought off a 
 large number of locomotives and destroyed many more, and 
 on the 2d of July, attacked the advanced guard of Patterson's 
 army at Falling Waters, and checked its forward movement. 
 
 About the middle of July the Federal army under General 
 McDowell advanced from Alexandria to attack the Confeder- 
 ates under General Beauregard, at Manassas Junction. Beau- 
 regard at once moved forward to Bull Run, and took position 
 on the banks of that stream. General Johnston was promptly 
 informed of McDowell's movement. Skillfully eluding Patter- 
 son, who was ordered to detain him in the valley, Johnston 
 crossed the mountains, reached Bull Run and joined Beaure- 
 gard. Jackson, who had now been promoted to the rank of 
 Brigadier General, led the advance of Johnston's army. He 
 bore a prominent part in the battle of Bull Run, on the 2ist of 
 July, and was slightly wounded towards the close of the day. 
 At the crisis of the battle. General Bee, whose brigade had suf- 
 fered horribly, and was being steadily beaten back, rode up to 
 General Jackson, and exclaimed in a voice of anguish, "General, 
 they are beating us back." "Then sir," replied Jackson, in his 
 short, curt way, "we'll give them the bayonet." Placing him- 
 self at the head of his brigade, he shouted, "Forward;" and led 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 693 
 
 his men in a brilliant charge which drove back the Federal 
 line. Bee hastened back to his own line, and pointing to 
 Jackson's command, cried enthusiastically, " Look yonder! 
 there is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine 
 to die here, and we will conquer. Follow me !" His shattered 
 column followed him with a will, and succeeded in regaining 
 the position from which they had been driven. 
 
 The appeal of General Bee to his troops was repeated 
 throughout the army, and the men, as a mark of their admi- 
 ration for the gallant Virginian, bestowed upon him the flatter- 
 ing title of" Stonewall Jackson." This name, so characteristic 
 of him, was readily adopted by the troops and people of the 
 South, and was so universally applied to him that many persons 
 believed it to be his proper name. This gave rise to some 
 amusing incidents. It is said that upon one occasion he re- 
 ceived a letter addressed to " General Stone IV. jfacksony 
 
 For his services at Bull Run, General Jackson was promoted 
 to the rank of Major General in the Confederate army, and in the 
 fall of 1 86 1 was placed in command of the valley of Virginia, 
 with his headquarters at Winchester. His new command was 
 most important, and he realij^ed this more fully than did the 
 authorities at Richmond. By the close of the year 1861, his 
 army numbered 10,000 men. The Federal Government had 
 collected strong forces at Bath, in Morgan County, and at 
 Romney, Hampshire County, and these forces committed such 
 havoc in the valley, that General Jackson resolved to drive 
 them from their positions. Accordingly he set out from Win- 
 chester, on the 1st of January, 1862, and attacked the Federal 
 forces successively at Bath and Hancock, in Maryland, and 
 drove them back. He then marched towards Romney, which 
 was held by General Kelley, who retreated at his approach. 
 
 Having forced the Federals back at all points, Jackson re- 
 turned to Winchester. His expedition was undertaken in the . 
 depth of the winter, and during a terribly trying season. The 
 roads were covered with ice and snow, and the troops suffered 
 very greatly. It was Jackson's intention to hold the ground 
 he had won, and for this purpose he left a strong advanced 
 guard in the direction of the Potomac. He fully appreciated 
 the necessity of keeping the Federal forces out of the Valley 
 
694 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of Virginia, which he declared was the key to the whole State. 
 "If the Valley is lost," he said, "Virginia is lost." He ear- 
 nestly appealed for re-inforcements ; but the guileless Israelite 
 who presided at that time over the War Department at Rich- 
 mond, could never rise to a proper appreciation of the situation 
 of affairs. The desired re-inforcements were withheld, General 
 Jackson's forward movement was severely censured, and he 
 was ordered to withdraw his advanced forces from the Poto- 
 mac, and directed to go into camp at Winchester and watch 
 the enemy. Jackson promptly obeyed his orders, and, indig- 
 nant at the censure and interference of the War Department, 
 tendered his resignation. He was with great- difficulty pur- 
 suaded to withdraw it. 
 
 As General Jackson had foreseen, the Federal Government 
 was quick to appreciate the advantages of a possession of the 
 Valley. In the early part of 1862, a force of 35,000 men, un- 
 der General Banks, crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, and 
 moved into the Valley. On the evening of the 26th of Febru- 
 ary, this force occupied Charlestown, in Jefferson county. This 
 column was destined for the invasion of the Valley, and the an- 
 nihilation of the little army under General Jackson, which now 
 numbered scarcely four thousand men. McClellan had begun 
 his advance in Northern Virg-inia, Johnston's army was falling 
 back from Centreville, and Jackson had no assurance of assist- 
 ance from any quarter. The column under General Banks was 
 already many times his own strengtli, the Federal forces 
 under General Kelley, on the upper Potomac, were within three 
 days march of Banks, and the Federal army in West Virginia 
 could, if necessary, move into the Valley in support of the 
 army there. The position of General Jackson was therefore 
 perilous in the extreme, and for awhile it seemed that his little 
 army would be overwhelmed by the immense force marching 
 against it. The Confederate Government seriously entertained 
 the thought of withdrawing him east of the mountains and 
 abandoning the Valley. He alone was hopeful, and continued 
 to demand reinforcements. "Though the troops under my 
 command are inadequate to the defence of this district," he 
 wrote, "yet we must look on the bright side, trusting that a 
 kind Providence will continue to give its protection to this fair 
 portion of our Valley." 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 695 
 
 From Charlestown, Banks moved to Martinsburg, from which 
 place he advanced upon Winchester, reaching a point within 
 six miles of the town on the i ith of March. Jackson prepared 
 to give him battle, but late in the day received an order from 
 Richmond to evacuate Winchester and retire up the Valley. 
 He withdrew leisurely, carrying off all the public property, and 
 retreated as far as Mount Jackson. Here his force was still 
 further reduced to barely 3,000 men. 
 
 On the 2 1st of March he learned that the main body of the 
 Federal forces, which had followed him up the Valley, were 
 retiring towards Winchester, while a small force under General 
 Shields was advancing leisurely up the Valley. He at once 
 moved forward, and on the 23d of March attacked Shields at 
 Kernstown, near Winchester, inflicting upon him a severe loss, 
 and checking his advance. He then retreated rapidly to Mount 
 Jackson, and General Shields fell back to Winchester. The 
 effect of Jackson's movement was to retain in the Valley the 
 entire command of Banks, the greater part of which had been 
 destined to reinforce McClellan east of the Blue Ridge. It was 
 now deemed necessary to retain this force in the Valley, in or- 
 der to cover Washington from that direction. It was also de- 
 cided to order Fremont to move from West Virginia into the 
 Valley to reinforce Banks. Their united commands were 
 then to crush Jackson, and drive him out of the Valley. In 
 the meantime, McClellan, who had moved his army to the 
 peninsula below Richmond, was ordered to advance upon Rich- 
 mond from that direction, and McDowell was to march towards 
 Richmond from Fredericksburg, and extend his left wing until 
 he formed a junction with McClellan in the neighborhood of 
 Hanover Court House, on the north of Richmond. It was be- 
 lieved that these movements would result in the destruction of 
 Jackson's army and the capture of Richmond. 
 
 The danger which threatened the Confederate armies in Vir- 
 ginia was very great. A simple but hazardous plan of defense 
 was adopted by the southern leaders. General Johnston's 
 army, properly reinforced, was deemed sufficient for the pro- 
 tection of Richmond, but not a man could be spared from it to 
 dispute the advance of Fremont, Banks and McDowell. This 
 task was assigned to General Jackson, whose army was rein- 
 forced. 
 
696 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The situation of Jackson was now both difficult and danger- 
 ous. In his front lay the army of General Banks, who had ad- 
 vanced up the Valley for the purpose of uniting his forces with 
 those of General Fremont, who was moving from West Vir- 
 ginia towards Staunton, and whose advanced guard, under 
 General Milroy, had already driven the small Confederate 
 force under General Edward Johnson back to a point near 
 Staunton. Bank"^ and Fremont might effect a junction at any 
 moment, move upon Staunton, and not only capture that im- 
 portant place, but throw themselves between the column of 
 General Jackson and that of General Edward Johnson, who was 
 near Buffalo Gap, and defeat them in detail. Jackson appreciated 
 the full danger of his position, and met it with a bold and bril- 
 liant plan of operations. He resolved to leave General Ewell, 
 with his division, to watch Banks and hold him in check, and 
 to march with the rest of his forces to Edward Johnson's posi 
 tion, unite his troops with that command, attack Milroy and 
 drive him back into West Virginia. Then, having checked 
 Fremont's advance, he would return to the Valley, rejoin 
 General Ewell, and drive Banks out of it. He at once put his 
 plan in operation, and, having crossed the mountains, united 
 his column with Edward Johnson's forces on the 7th of May. 
 The next day he attacked Milroy near the village of McDowell, 
 in Highland county, inflicted a disastrous defeat upon him, and 
 pursued him beyond Franklin, in Pendleton county. Then, re- 
 tracing his steps to McDowell, he re-crossed the mountains, 
 and returning to the Valley rejoined General Ewell near New 
 Market. He now moved rapidly down the Valley, and on the 
 22d of May, attacked a portion of Banks' command at Port 
 Royal and defeated it. Banks now retreated rapidly down the 
 Valley, and Jackson followed in hot pursuit. On the 25th of 
 May he came up with Banks at Winchester and inflicted a 
 stinging defeat upon him, which completed the demoralization 
 of the Federal forces. Banks resumed his flight, and did not 
 pause until he had put the Potomac between his pursuers and 
 himself The Confederates captured a vast amount of stores 
 and arms in this expedition, and forced General Banks to de- 
 stroy a still larger quantity. 
 
 The presence of Jackson upon the Potomac alarmed the Fed- 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 697 
 
 eral Government for the safety of Washington City. Fremont 
 was ordered to hasten his march into the Valley, and the col- 
 umn of General McDowell was diverted from its advance upon 
 Richmond, and was directed to move into the Valley and gain 
 Jackson's rear. This change in McDowell movement was a 
 principal part of the Confederate plan, and was a crushing blow 
 to McClellan's operations against Richmond. Still it was 
 hoped that McDowell and Fremont would be able to crush 
 Jackson between them. 
 
 News of these movements reached General Jackson on the 
 Potomac. He at once wheeled about, and retreating, with mar- 
 velous rapidity, up the Valley, placed his army between Mc- 
 Dowell and Fremont, and by the 6th of June had reached the 
 vicinity of Port Republic. His situation was even more dan- 
 gerous than ever. Fremont was pressing him closely, and for 
 several days skirmishing had been going on between his rear 
 guard and Fremont's advance, and Shields, with McDowell's 
 advanced division, was approaching rapidly in his rear. Jack- 
 son now divided his forces, and stationing General Ewell's divi- 
 vision at Cross Keys, about five miles from Port Republic, to 
 check Fremont, moved with the rest of his army to Port Re- 
 public, to meet Shields. On the 8th of June Fremont attacked 
 General Ewell at Cross Keys, but was repulsed with small loss. 
 Ewell held his position during the day, and at night withdrew 
 and rejoined Jackson. On the morning of the 9th of June, 
 Jackson crossed the Shenandoah, destroyed the bridges behind 
 him, and in the bloody battle of Port Republic inflicted a severe 
 defeat upon Shields, and forced him to retreat. As the battle 
 closed, Fremont appeared upon the opposite side of the river, 
 but finding the bridges destroyed and Shields in full retreat, 
 made no effort to cross. Jackson then withdrew leisurely with 
 his whole command up the south fork of the Shenandoah, 
 without being further pursued, while Shields retreated to 
 Luray, and P'remont withdrew down the Valley to Mount 
 Jackson, where he fortified his position. 
 
 The battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic closed Jack- 
 son's brilliant campaign on the Potomac and Shenandoah, In 
 thirty-two days, with a force never exceeding 15,000 men, 
 he had marched nearly four hundred miles, skirmishing 
 
698 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 almost daily; had fought five battles, defeated three armies, 
 numbering in the aggregate nearly 70,000 men, captured about 
 twenty pieces of artillery, some four thousand prisoners, and 
 immense quantities of all kinds of stores, and had suffered a 
 loss of less than one thousand men killed, v/ounded, and miss- 
 ing. It is not surprising, then, that this brilliant campaign 
 ranked General Jackson among the most distinguished and 
 popular leaders of the South. 
 
 An important result of Jackson's success was the utter de- 
 struction of McClellan's plans for the reduction of Richmond. 
 General Lee, who had succeeded to the command of the Army 
 of Northern Virginia, resolved to attack McClellan and drive 
 him from before Richmond. Jackson was ordered to move 
 from the Chickahominy and join Lee. He accomplished 
 this movement rapidly and skillfully, and before his absence 
 from the Valley was suspected by his antagonist, had joined 
 General Lee. He took part in the fierce battle of Cold Har- 
 bor, on the 26th of June, deciding the day by his timely arrival, 
 and in the battles of White Oak Swamp on the 29th, and 
 Malvern Hill on the ist of July. 
 
 Soon after this a large army was collected in Northern Vir- 
 ginia by the Federal Government, and placed under the com- 
 mand of General Pope. General Jackson was despatched by 
 General Lee to watch this force, and check its advance. On 
 the 9th of August Jackson attacked the advanced corps of 
 Pope's army, at Cedar Run, and defeated it. This defeat 
 checked General Pope's forward movement, and he fell back 
 behind the Rappahannock. Soon after, it being evident that 
 McClellan's forces were being withdrawn from the James 
 River to reinforce Pope, General Lee hastened to Northern 
 Virginia with the remainder of his army, and joined Jackson 
 on the Rapidan, about the middle of August. Lee now re- 
 solved to attack Pope before he could be joined by McClellan's 
 troops, v^ho were on their way to unite with him. He divided 
 his army into two columns, and sent Jackson's corps by a cir- 
 cuituous route, by way of Thoroughfare Gap, to gain the rear 
 of the Federal army. Jackson executed his daring flank march 
 with success, and on the 26th of August captured Manassas 
 Junction, Pope's main depot of supplies, with an enormous 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 699 
 
 quantity of stores. Pope at once fell back, intending to crush 
 the audacious flanker, and General Lee set off with the rest of 
 his army, by way of Thoroughfare Gap, to join Jackson. 
 Pope's army had been reinforced by the corps of Porter and 
 Heintzelman, and Reynolds's division, of McClellan's army, 
 and was at least 120,000 strong. Pope encountered Ewell's 
 division near Manassas Junction on the 27th. Ewell held his 
 ground, and at night rejoined Jackson, who moved from Man- 
 assas and took position on the old battle-field of Bull Run. 
 This brought Jackson nearer to Lee, and secured his retreat in 
 case of defeat. Ewell's resistance deceived General Pope, who 
 had posted McDowell's and Porter's corps to hold the road 
 from Thoroughfare Gap, by which Lee must advance to Jack- 
 son's assistance. Supposing, (^^Dm Ewell's resistance, that Jack- 
 son meant to make a stand at Manassas Junction, Pope ordered 
 these troops to move from the positions they had occupied, 
 and march upon Manassas. That place was reached at noon, 
 and was found empty. Pope now saw for the first time how 
 he had been deceived by Jackson, and how he had blundered 
 in leaving the road from Thoroughfare Gap open to Lee. 
 He endeavored to repair his error by attacking Jackson at 
 once. He did so on the afternoon of the 28th, but was re- 
 pulsed with severe loss. On the same afternoon General Lee, 
 with the rest of his army, forced the passage of Thoroughfare 
 Gap, and bivouacked in the open country beyond the pass. 
 On the morning of the 29th Lee resumed his march, and by 
 noon his advanced division reached Jackson's position. By 
 four o'clock in the afternoon the entire Confederate army was 
 reunited under command of General Lee. About three o'clock 
 Pope made a heavy attack upon Lee's position, being in igno- 
 rance of the junction, and was repulsed. On the 30th, having 
 united all the corps of his army. Pope staked the fate of the 
 campaign upon a decisive effort. On this day was fought the 
 second battle of Bull Run, in which the Federal army sus- 
 tained a terrible defeat. The next diy Jackson attacked and 
 drove back the Federal rear guard at Chantilly. Pope now re- 
 treated within the defences of Washington, having lost over 
 30,000 men and 30 pieces of artillery since the opening of the 
 campaign. 
 
/OO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Lee now resolved to attempt the invasion of Maryland 
 Jackson's corps led the advance in this movement, crossed the 
 Potomac at White's Ford, on the 5th of September, and the 
 next day reached the vicinity of Frederick City. It was now 
 necessary for Lee to pause. Harper's Ferry was held by a 
 force of 11,000 Federal troops, and it v/as necessary to reduce 
 this post in order to preserv^e the communications of the 
 Confederate army with its own country. General Jackson 
 was therefore ordered to recross the Potomac with his corps, 
 and capture Harper's Ferry. He set off from Frederick on 
 the lOth of September, and on the 13th carried the heights 
 around Harper's Ferry, and invested the town. He pressed 
 his attack with vigor, and on the 15th the Federal forces 
 surrendered. Jackson at once se'ciired his prisoners, and set off 
 by a forced march to join General Lee, who was seriously threat- 
 ened by McClellan's army. Lee had halted at South Moun- 
 tain, and had fought McClellan there on the 14th, to cover 
 Jackson's operations at Harper's Ferry, and on the 15th, being 
 sure of the surrender of that place, had fallen back behind the 
 Antietam. Marching rapidly from Harper's Ferry, Jackson 
 joined Lee on the Antietam on the i6th. He took part in the 
 great battle of Antietam, on the 17th of September, his corps 
 constituting the Confederate left wing. He held his ground 
 stubbornly during the day, in the face of persistent attacks from 
 vastly superior forces. 
 
 When the army of General Lee occupied the heights around 
 Fredericksburg, Jackson's corps constituted the right wing. 
 He received the attack of Franklin's corps in the battle of the 
 13th of December, 1862, and repulsed it with heavy loss. He 
 was in favor of attacking the beaten Federal army in the town 
 of Fredericksburg that night, and urged such a course upon 
 General Lee. There can be little doubt that had his advice 
 been adopted, Lee would have destroyed Burnside's army. 
 
 During the battle General Jackson was conspicuous for his 
 gallantry. Just before the action began he rode along his lines 
 dressed in a handsome new uniform, the gift of a friend. It 
 was his habit to dress very plainly, and his men had grown ac- 
 customed to watch for their general just before a battle begun, 
 never failing to recognize the old slouched hat and the faded 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. /OI 
 
 gray uniform, when unable to distinguish his features. Never 
 before had they failed to shout till the heavens rang when they 
 saw him approach. Now they glanced carelessly at the officer 
 in the handsome uniform, and gazed impatiently up and down 
 the lines, wondering why "old Stonewall" did not appear. 
 After he had passed them, it became known to them that the 
 officer in the handsome uniform was their general, and they 
 gave vent to many exclamations of regret at having suffered 
 him to pass without a cheer. 
 
 During this battle his men witnessed a scene, which, though 
 familiar, never lost its touching interest to them. Riding for- 
 ward a short distance in front of his line, and uncovering his 
 head and raising his eyes and right hand to heaven, General 
 Jackson prayed the God of battles to be with the army that 
 day. The troops looked on with softened hearts, and it would 
 have fared badly with any one who dared make light of such a 
 scene m the presence of one of Jackson's men. 
 
 When Hooker crossed the Rappahannock towards the last of 
 April, 1863, General Lee ordered Jackson to march at once to- 
 wards Chanccllorsville, and check the Federal advance. Jackson 
 set off from Fredericksburg at midnight, on the 30th of April, 
 and arrived in front of the Federal army on the morning of the 
 1st of May. He resisted Hooker's advance so stubbornly that 
 the latter decided to discontinue it, and entrenched himself aU 
 Chancellorsville, where he awaited Lee's attack. Jackson 
 spent the remainder of the day in developing the Federal posi- 
 tion and strength. That night General Lee arrived. Jackson 
 now proposed the following plan of operations for the next day, 
 which was accepted: Lee, with the divisions of McLaws and 
 Anderson, was to keep Hooker employed during the day, by 
 threatening demonstrations against his front, while Jackson 
 was to move with his corps around the Federal right wing, 
 and by a sudden blow double it up upon Hooker's centre, take 
 his line in reverse, and cut him off from United States Ford, 
 his line of retreat. 
 
 The night was quite cool. Seeing General Jackson without 
 any covering or protection of any kind, one of his aides offered 
 him his cape, and after much persuasion induced him to accept 
 it. During the night he was fearful that the young man would 
 
702 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 take cold from being deprived of his cape, and rose softly and 
 threw it over him as he lay asleep. Then lying down again, 
 he passed the night without anything around him. This pro- 
 duced a cold which afterwards resulted in a fatal attack of 
 pneumonia. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 2d of May, General Jackson 
 began his movement around the Federal right. The march 
 was completely successful, and late in the afternoon the corps 
 reached a point in the rear of the Federal forces, who were 
 utterly unsuspicious of their danger. Jackson now formed his 
 line and at a little after five o'clock made a heavy attack upon 
 the Federal right flank, which he swept before him, driving it 
 rapidly upon its centre. By eight o'clock the Confederate ad- 
 vance had been pressed to within half a mile of Hooker's 
 headquarters. The line now become broken in the darkness 
 and the undergrowth, and it was necessary to halt to reform it. 
 But for this, Jackson would have slept that night at Chancel- 
 lorsville. Hooker quickly took advantage of the pause, and 
 bringing up his artillery, opened a heavy fire upon the woods 
 held by Jackson's men. Jackson prepared to resume his ad- 
 vance, and rode forward to reconnoitre. His troops had orders 
 to fire upon any body of horse approaching from the Federal 
 lines, and as he rode back, accompanied by his staff and es- 
 cort, he neglected to warn his men of his approach. His 
 party was mistaken for Federal cavalry and was greeted with a 
 heavy fire, which struck down all but two and wounded Gen- 
 eral Jackson severely in the left arm and right hand. He was 
 carried to the rear as soon as possible under a fearful fire from 
 the Federal batteries, which showered grape and canister upon 
 the path. One of the litter-bearers was shot through both 
 arms, and the litter fell to the ground, severely injuring the 
 wounded General. With great difficulty he was gotten to the 
 rear. 
 
 General Jackson's wounds were severe and painful, and he 
 was much exhausted by loss of blood. Upon examination the 
 surgeons found it necessary to amputate his left arm. He sub- 
 mitted cheerfully to the operation. On the next day he was 
 carried to a house near Guinea's Station, and during the next 
 two or three days he seemed to improve so much that it was 
 
THOMAS J. JACKSON. 7O3 
 
 decided to send him to Richmond, where he could be made 
 more comfortable. On the night of the 5th, however, he was 
 attacked with pneumonia, the result of his exposure on the 
 night before the battle. His system was too much exhausted 
 to cast the disease off, and it increased alarmingly. From 
 this time he sank rapidly, and on Sunday, May loth, the 
 surgeons informed his wife, who had joined him, that he could 
 not live more than two hours. Mrs. Jackson communicated 
 the intelligence to the General. He replied that he was will- 
 ing to die, and added: "It will be infinite gain to be trans- 
 lated to heaven, and be with Jesus." 
 
 After parting with his wife and his friends, and sending mes- 
 sages to the various generals with whom he had been associ- 
 ated, and to his men, and expressing a wish he had frequently 
 mentioned before, that General Ewell should succeed him in 
 the command of his corps, and his desire to be buried at Lex- 
 ington, Virginia, he became slightly delirious. Occasionally 
 in his wanderings he would speak of some religious subject, 
 and then give an order. Among his last words were the ex- 
 clamations: "Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action." "Pass 
 the infantry to the front." "Tell Major Hawks to send for- 
 ward provrsions to the men." " Let us cross over the river, 
 and rest under the shade of the trees." 
 
 Then he sank gradually, and at fifteen minutes after tnree 
 o'clock in the afternoon expired peacefully. 
 
 When his death was' told to his command, the rugged vet- 
 erans that had followed him without flinching in the face of the 
 most appalling dangers, wept like children. 
 
T 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 ^HE ancestor of Abraham Lincoln emigrated to this country 
 
 from England at an early period, and settled in Berk3 
 county, Pennsylvania. One of his descendants subsequently 
 removed to the Valley of Virginia, and located himself in what 
 is now Rockingham county, where Abraham Lincoln, the 
 grandfather, and Thomas Lincoln, the father of the subject of 
 this memoir, were born. In the year 1 780, Abraham Lincoln 
 em.igrated with his family to Kentucky, then a wilderness in- 
 habited by the Indians and a few hardy pioneers, and settled in 
 that part of Hardin county, which has since been called Larue. 
 He built his cabin on the extreme frontier, and in a region 
 peculiarly exposed to the attacks of the Indians, who four years 
 later surprised him at his plough, and killed and scalped him. 
 His death was a severe blow to his family, which soon after 
 separated, some of the members removing still farther west to 
 Indiana, and others to distant parts of Kentucky. 
 
 Thomas Lincoln remained in Hardin county, where he grew 
 up to manhood. In the year 1806 he married Miss Nancy 
 Hanks, a native of Virginia, and settled down as a farmer upon 
 a small tract which he had won from the wilderness. Both he 
 and his wife were members of the Baptist church, and were 
 earnest, religious people. Both were uneducated; Mrs. Lincoln 
 could read, but not write, while Thomas Lincoln could do 
 neither. He was noted as a man of kind heart, and generous 
 impulses, and his wife was a woman of excellent judgment, 
 strong good sense, and amiable disposition. They had three 
 children; a daughter who lived to womanhood, a son who died 
 in infancy, and the subject of this memoir. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, their youngest child, was born in Hardin 
 county, Kentucky, on the 12th of February, 1809. He grew 
 up a stout, healthy boy, and as soon as he was old enough was 
 put to work on the little farm. When he was seven years old, 
 he was sent to an old field school, where he learned, to read. 
 
 (704) 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 705 
 
 He did not remain long at this school, however, for his father, 
 towards the close of the year 18 16, determined to remove from 
 Kentucky to Indiana, and " Abe," as the boy was called, was 
 taken from school to help to prepare for the removal. Mr. 
 Lincoln sold his farm for ten barrels of whisky, at that time 
 the usual circulating medium of Kentucky, and twenty dollars 
 in money, receiving in all the equivalent of about two hundred 
 and eighty dollars. 
 
 With Abe's assistance Mr. Lincoln constructed a flat boat, 
 on which he embarked his whisky and household goods, and 
 floated down Rolling Fork River into the Ohio, en route to 
 Indiana, to buy a farm. Soon after entering the Ohio, his boat 
 was capsized and its entire cargo lost, save three barrels of 
 whisky and some other articles. Disposing of these he suc- 
 ceeded in reaching Spencer county, Indiana, where he located 
 a new farm, and then returned to Kentucky on foot to bring 
 out his family. The preparations being completed, the little 
 family set out on horseback for Indiana, and after seven days' 
 journey through an uninhabited country reached their new 
 home. 
 
 All hands now went to work to build the house. Little Abe 
 was given an axe, and did good service in preparing the logs 
 for the cabin. A neighbor came over to assist the Lincolns, and 
 in two or three days a comfortable log cabin was constructed. 
 It had but a single room, but there was a rough loft overhead, 
 reached by means of a ladder in one corner, and this consti- 
 tuted little Abe's bed chamber. A blanket and a pile of straw 
 supplied him with a couch, but he slept as soundly upon this 
 rude resting place as he would have done upon a bed of down. 
 He helped his father to make the tables, chairs, and bedsteads 
 used in the cabin, and during the winter was kept busy with 
 his axe, getting wood for burning and preparing rails for fencing. 
 He also learned the use of the rifle, and distinguished himself 
 by killing a wild turkey which had ventured too near the cabin. 
 He found time to give to his reading and spelling, and went at 
 them with a will. 
 
 When he was a little more than eight years old, Abe lost his 
 mother. He had been an affectionate son, and she a most devoted 
 mother, and the blow was a sad one to the boy. He never 
 45 
 
7o6 AMERICAN BIOCiRAPHY. 
 
 lost the recollection of this bereavement, and in after years 
 when crowned with the highest honors of his country, would 
 speak of this good mother with tenderness and with moist- 
 ened eyes. Shortly after her death, a neighbor taught Abe how 
 to write, and after about a year's practice he was able, to write 
 a letter. 
 
 About two years after his wife's death, Mr. Lincoln married 
 Mrs. Sally Johnston, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a widow with 
 three children. She was a most excellent woman and proved a 
 second mother to her husband's children. Abe was much 
 attached to her, and she to him. 
 
 About this time a school was opened in the neighborhood 
 by a young man named Crawford, and Abe was, to his great 
 delight, enrolled among the pupils of the new " academy." 
 He showed himself an apt scholar, and greatly improved in 
 reading and writing. His memory was quick and retentive, 
 and though the advantages offered him at the school did not 
 extend beyond the two branches already named, he made the 
 best use of them. His school dress was a suit of dressed buck- 
 skin and a cap made of the skin of a raccoon. Six months 
 were spent by him at the school, and then the future President 
 went out into the world to earn his living. 
 
 Abe was now about thirteen years of age, and for the next 
 five years worked steadily in the woods, cutting down trees and 
 splitting rails. His nights were given to the study of such 
 books as he could borrow from his neighbors. He read them 
 with avidity, and stored their contents up in his strong and 
 retentive memory. When he was nineteen years old, he was 
 hired for ten dollars a month by a man living near by, to assist 
 in navigating a flat-boat loaded with stores to New Orleans. 
 There was but one other man on the boat beside himself, and 
 the two made the long and lonely voyage down the Mississippi, 
 floating down the stream in the day, and tying the boat ujd to 
 the bank at night. On the way the boat was attacked one 
 night by a party of negroes, who were put to flight by Abe 
 and his companion after a severe conflict. New Orleans was 
 reached at length ; the goods were sold at a handsome profit, 
 and the two flat-boatmen returned to Indiana. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. JOJ 
 
 Indiana at length became too thickly settled to suit Thomas 
 Lincoln, who was a true pioneer, and preferred frontier life to 
 the existence of a more settled community. In March, 1830, 
 the Lincoln family left Indiana, and removed to Illinois. The 
 household goods and all the personal property of the family 
 were transported in large wagons drawn by oxen, and it fell to 
 the lot of Abe to drive one of the teams. The bottom lands 
 of the Kaskaskia river were flooded, and in crossing them the 
 male members of the family were obliged to wade up to their 
 waists in water. Decatur, the principal town of Macon county, 
 Illinois was reached in about two weeks, and pushing on, the 
 family in another day arrived at the tract of land in Sangamon 
 county, on the north side of the Sangamon river, about ten 
 miles west of Decatur, on which they had determined to settle. 
 It was but ten acres in extent, and was barely enough to afford 
 the plainest support to the family. A cabin was at once erected 
 and Abe set to work to split the rails for fencing the farm. He 
 performed his task with the earnestness and thoroughness with 
 which he did everything, and during the fall and winter his rifle 
 furnished the principal supply of food for the family. ' 
 
 Abe was now entering upon manhood, and was not satisfied 
 with the narrow prospect before him at home. In the spring 
 of 1830 he removed farther west to Menard county, and during 
 the summer and winter of that year worked on a farm in the 
 neighborhood of Petersburg. He devoted his nights to faithful 
 study, endeavoring to perfect himself in reading, writing, gram- 
 mar and arithmetic. 
 
 Early in the next spring Abe was hired by a Mr. Offut, of 
 New Salem, to assist in navigating a flat-boat to New Orleans. 
 As no boat could be purchased on the Sangamon, Abe helped 
 his employer to build one, and when it was finished aided in 
 floating it into the Mississippi, and thence to New Orleans. 
 The voyage was successful, and Mr. Offut was so much 
 pleased with the industry and ability displayed by Abe Lin- 
 coln that he engaged him to take charge of his mill and store 
 in the village of New Salem. The industry and integrity with 
 which he conducted his new business won for Lincoln the cor- 
 dial esteem of the people of New Salem, who gave to him the 
 title of" Honest Abe," which clung to him through life. 
 
708 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In the early part of 1832 the Black Hawk War broke out, 
 and the Governor of Illinois issued a call for volunteers. A 
 recruiting office was opened at New Salem, and Honest Abe 
 was the first man to volunteer. He then set to work to induce 
 his friends and neighbors to follow his example, and with such 
 success that a company was raised, of which he was unani- 
 mously elected captain. The thirty days for which these men 
 enlisted expired without their being called into active service, 
 and they were discharged. Lincoln immediately re-enlisted as 
 a private, and remained with his regiment until the close of 
 hostilities. He " did not see any live fighting Indians," he 
 afterwards humorously declared, " but had a good many bloody 
 struggles with the mosquitoes." 
 
 Lincoln's patriotic conduct in volunteering so promptly 
 greatly increased his popularity in New Salem, and he was 
 nominated by the people of that place to represent the county 
 in the Legislature. He had been a resident of the county for 
 only nine months, but he was an ardent " Henry Clay Whig," 
 and was regarded by his fellow townsmen as the best man for 
 the place. It was also believed that his personal popularity 
 was sufficient to overcome the strong Democratic majority 
 w^hich the county had given at the last Presidential election. 
 There were eight candidates for the Legislature in this county, 
 and Lincoln was defeated, the successful candidate receiving a 
 few more votes than he. Of the two hundred and eighty-four 
 votes cast in New Salem, Lincoln received two hundred and 
 seventy-seven. 
 
 After his defeat Mr. Lincoln opened a store at New Salem, 
 but in the course of a few months sold out his business, and 
 studied surveying. He pursued the calling of a surveyor for a 
 little more than a year, and managed to support himself by it. 
 During a part of this period he held the office of postmaster of 
 New Salem. 
 
 In August, 1834, Mr. Lincoln was again nominated for mem- 
 ber of the Legislature, and this time was elected by a large 
 majority. He was re-elected three times, in 1836, 1838, and 
 1840. While attending the first session of the Legislature after 
 his election, he determined to study law and rise above his 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN; 7O9 
 
 humble position. He was too poor to purchase the necessary- 
 books, but having won the friendship of the Hon. John T. 
 Stuart, of Springfield, was able to borrow them from that 
 gentleman. He studied with ardor, and made such progress 
 that, in 1836, he was admitted to the bar. The next year 
 he removed from New Salem to Springfield, and formed a 
 partnership with Mr. Stuart. 
 
 His success as a lawyer was marked and rapid. He was a 
 very effective speaker before a jury, and there were few men in 
 the State that knew better than he how to reach the hearts and 
 move the feelings of " the Twelve Peers." Soon after he entered 
 upon the practice of the law he was engaged in a criminal case, 
 in which it was thought his defeat was certain. Putting forth 
 all his ability, however, he won the case, and received for his 
 services the handsome fee of five hundred dollars. The next 
 morning a legal friend, chancing to call upon him, found him 
 seated before a table with his money spread out upon it, count- 
 ing it over. "Look here. Judge," said he, "see what a heap of 
 
 money I've got from the case. Did you ever see anything 
 
 like it? Why, I never had so much money in my life before, 
 put it all together." Then he added in his peculiarly earnest 
 manner, "I have got just five hundred dollars: if it was only 
 seven hundred and fifty, I would go directly and purchase a 
 quarter-section of land, and settle it upon my old step-mother." 
 His friend at once offered to lend him two hundred and fifty 
 dollars, upon his note for that amount, and the offer was 
 promptly accepted. "But, Lincoln," he added, "I would not 
 do what you have just indicated. Your step-mother is getting 
 old, and will not probably live many years. I would settle the 
 property upon her for her use during her life time, to revert to 
 you upon her death." " I shall do no such thing," replied Mr. 
 Lincoln, warmly. " It is a poor return at the best for all the 
 good woman's devotion and fidelity to me, and there is not 
 going to be any half-way business about it." He was as good 
 as his word; the land was bought and settled without reserve 
 upon his step-mother. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was one of the leading members of the Whig 
 party in Illinois, and in every Presidential campaign from 1836 
 to 1852 was a Presidential Elector on the Whig ticket. In 
 
7IO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 this capacity he traversed the State repeatedly, and in 1 844, put 
 forth all his powers in behalf of Henry Clay, but without win- 
 ning the vote of the State for him. He spoke to immense 
 throngs, and as he had risen from the same class that consti- 
 tuted the bulk of his audiences, knew how to talk to them in 
 words that would reach their hearts. He was therefore one of 
 the most popular speakers in Illinois. 
 
 In 1846 Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress from the Central 
 District of Illinois, by a majority of 1500, the largest vote ever 
 polled by a Whig candidate in that district, which was strongly 
 Democratic. He took his seat in the House of Representatives 
 at the opening of the session, on the first Monday in December, 
 1847, and was placed by the Speaker on the Committee on 
 Post-Offices and Post-Roads. He maintained a steadfast oppo- 
 sition to the policy of President Polk, and like the majority of 
 the Whig members, was strongly opposed to the war with 
 Mexico. Nevertheless, when the war was begun he was in 
 favor of carrying it out with vigor and with credit to the country. 
 President Polk, having, in his annual message in December, 
 1846, declared that "Mexico herself became the aggressor by 
 invading our soil in hostile array, and shedding the blood of 
 our citizens," Mr. Lincoln, on the 22d of December, 1847, 
 introduced into the House a series of resolutions which became 
 famous as the "Spot Resolutions," calling on the President to 
 designate the exact spot on which the acts complained of oc- 
 curred. 
 
 During his term in Congress he voted for the reception of 
 petitions and memorials praying the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia, and gave his support to the Wilmot Pro- 
 viso, voting for it upwards of forty times. At the close of his 
 term he declined a re-election to Congress, as he found that his 
 service in that body interfered with his law practice, upon which 
 he was dependent for support. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was a member of the National Whig Conven- 
 vention of 1848, which nominated General Taylor for the Presi- 
 dency, and in the canvass which followed stumped the States of 
 Illinois and Indiana in behalf of his party. In 1849 he was a 
 candidate for United States Senator, but was defeated by Gen- 
 eral Shields. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 7^ 
 
 For the next five years Mr. Lincoln devoted himself almost 
 exclusively to his profession, acquiring;^ a moderate competency 
 by his industry. In 1842 he had married Mary, the daughter 
 of the Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky, and a 
 little family was now beginning to gather around him and to 
 draw out those exquisite traits of domestic and parental affec- 
 tion in which he was so rich. His devotion to his family was 
 one of the strongest feelings of his deep and tender nature. 
 " His intercourse with his family," said one of his friends after 
 his death, " was as beautiful as that with his friends. I think 
 that never father loved his children more fondly than he. The 
 President never seemed grander in my sight than when, steal- 
 ing upon him in the evening, I would find him with a book 
 open before him, as he is represented in the popular photo- 
 graph, with little Tad beside him. There were a great many 
 curious books sent to him, and it seemed to be one of the 
 special delights of his life to open those books at such an hour 
 that his boy could stand beside him, and they could talk as he 
 turned over the pages ; the father thus giving to the son a por- 
 tion of that care and attention of which he was ordinarily 
 deprived by the duties of office pressing upon him." 
 
 In 1854 Mr. Lincoln returned to the stump, and took part in 
 the famous campaign of that year which resulted in the destruc- 
 tion of the Democratic supremacy in Illinois, and the election 
 of a Republican Legislature, which sent Judge Trumbull to 
 the United States Senate in the place of General Shields. Mr. 
 Lincoln was the choice of a large part of the Legislature, which 
 wished him to be a candidate for the United States Senate, but 
 he declined the honor, and urged his friends to give thtir votes 
 to Judge Trumbull. Somewhat later he was urged to become 
 the Republican candidate for Governor of Illinois, but declined 
 in favor of Mr. Bissell. At the National Republican Conven- 
 tion of 1856 his name was presented as a candidate for the 
 Vice-Presidency, but he failed to receive the nomination. He 
 was placed at the head of the Electoral ticket in Illinois, and 
 labored diligently in support of Fremont and Dayton. 
 
 In June, 1858, the Republican State Convention nominated 
 Mr. Lincoln as the candidate of that party for United States 
 
712 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Senator. His opponent was Stephen A. Douglas, who had 
 been for some years in the Senate, and was one of the most 
 popular public men in Illinois, and the ablest political debater 
 in the West. Mr. Lincoln was chosen by the Republican party 
 as its nominee for the avowed reason that he was the only man 
 in the State who had the slightest chance of defeating Judge 
 Douglas. The two candidates traversed the State of Illinois, 
 speaking in every town of importance, and often traveling in 
 the same carriage or railway car. The debate between them 
 is noted as one of the most important and powerful known to 
 our history. It embraced all the topics of the day, but turned 
 principally upon the question of Slavery. It attracted the 
 attention of the whole country, and gave to Mr. Lincoln a na- 
 tional reputation. It was universally conceded that Judge Doug- 
 las had found a formidable opponent in " Honest Abe," and the 
 deepest interest was manifested by the whole country in the 
 struggle. Copious extracts from the speeches of the opposing 
 candidates were published in the leading newspapers of the 
 Union, and personal descriptions of the speakers formed a 
 prominent feature in the newspapers of the day. In this way 
 Mr. Lincoln became known to the people of the whole Union. 
 The contest resulted in the election of a Legislature pledged to 
 vote for Judge Douglas, and he was chosen by a majority of 
 eight votes over Mr. Lincoln, on joint ballot. 
 
 The Illinois Republicans were not disheartened by the defeat 
 of their favorite, and presented his name as their candidate for 
 the Presidency of the United States. At the next meeting of 
 the State Convention, Mr. Oglesby, afterwards Governor of 
 Illinois, brought into the hall, and presented to the Cqpvention 
 two old fence rails decorated with ribbons and tiags, and bearing 
 a card with the following inscription: "Abraham Linxoln, the 
 Rail Candidate for President in i860. Two rails from a lot of 
 3000 made in 1830 by Thos. Hanks and Abe Lincoln, zvJiose father 
 was tlie first pioneer of Macon county!' The rails were greeted 
 with deafening applause by the Convention, and a call was 
 made for Mr. Lincoln, who was sitting in the gallery as a spec- 
 tator. He rose after some hesitation, and modestly acknowl- 
 edged that he had split rails some thirty years before in Ma- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 7^3 
 
 con county, and added that he was informed that those which 
 had just been presented to the Convention were a part of his 
 handiwork. 
 
 During the year 1859 Mr. Lincohi dehvered a number of 
 speeches in other States in behalf of the Repubhcan cause, and 
 on the 27th of February, i860, delivered a powerful address 
 before an immense audience at Cooper Institute-, New York, 
 upon the powers of the general government over slavery. 
 
 The National Convention of the Republican party assembled 
 in Chicago on the i6th of May, i860, for the purpose of nomi- 
 nating a candidate for the Presidency. The first two days were 
 spent in the work of organization, and on the i8th the bal- 
 loting for a candidate began. Mr. Lincoln was nominated by 
 the Illinois delegation, but it was generally believed that the 
 choice of the Convention would fall upon Mr. Seward. Lincoln, 
 however, had absolutely no personal enemies, while Seward was 
 opposed by a powerful section of the party headed by Horace 
 Greeley. Mr. Lincoln's friends, in the hope of securing the 
 Greeley party to his side, telegraphed him at Springfield that 
 he could receive its support if he would pledge himself, if elected, 
 to give seats in his Cabinet to certain parties named. An im- 
 mediate reply was requested. It was sent promptly, and was 
 to this effect: " I azithonse no bargains, and will be bound by none. 
 A. Lincoln." 
 
 On the first ballot the vote stood: Seward, 173^; LincoLi, 
 102: on the second, Seward, 184^^; Lincoln, 181. Greeley 
 and his followers now came over to the support of Lincoln, and 
 on the third ballot Lincoln received 230^ votes, or within one 
 and a half of a nomination. One of the State delegations at 
 once changed its vote, and cast it for him, thus giving him the 
 nomination, which amid a storm of enthusiasm was declared 
 unanimous. The nomination took the Eastern States by sur- 
 prise, but in the West it was hailed with delight. 
 
 The committee appointed by the Convention to inform Mr. 
 Lincoln of his nomination at once set out for Springfield, and 
 arrived a few hours after he had recieved the news by tele- 
 graph. " He received them at the door," says an eye-witness- 
 of the scene, "and conducted them to seats in his parlor. On 
 
714 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the reception of this committee, Mr. Lincohi appeared some- 
 what embarrassed, but soon resumed his wonted tranquihty 
 and cheerfuhiess. At the proper time Governor Morgan, of 
 New York, the chairman of the committee, arose, and, with 
 becoming dignity, informed Mr. Lincoln that he and his fellows 
 appeared in behalf of the Convention in session at Chicago, to 
 inform him that he had that day been unanimously nominated 
 to the office of President of the United States, and asked his 
 permission to report to that body his acceptance of the nomi- 
 nation. Mr. Lincoln, with becoming modesty, but very hand- 
 somely, replied that he felt his insufficiency for the vast 
 responsibilities which must devolve upon that office under the 
 impending circumstances of the times ; but if God and his 
 country called for his services in that direction, he should 
 shrink from no duty that might be imposed upon him, and 
 therefore he should not decline the nomination. 
 
 " After this ceremony had passed, Mr. Lincoln remarked to 
 the company, that as an appropriate conclusion to an interview 
 so important and interesting as that which had just transpired, 
 he supposed good manners would require that he should treat 
 the committee with something to drink ; and opening a door 
 that led into a room in the rear, he called out, 'Mary! Maiy!' 
 A girl responded to the call, to whom Mr. Lincoln spoke a 
 few words in an undertone, and, closing the door, returned 
 again to converse with his guests. In a few minutes the maiden 
 entered, bearing a large waiter, containing several glass tumb- 
 lers, and a large pitcher in the midst, and placed it upon the 
 centre-table. Mr. Lincoln arose, and gravely addressing the 
 company, said: 'Gentlemen, we must pledge our mutual 
 healths in the most healthy beverage which God has given to 
 man — it is the only beverage I have ever used or allowed in 
 my family, and I cannot conscientiously depart from it on the 
 present occasion — it is pure Adam's ale from the spring;' 
 and, taking a tumbler, he touched it to his lips, and pledged 
 them his highest respects in a cup of cold water. Of course, 
 all his guests were constrained to admire his consistency, and 
 to join in his example." 
 
 The campaign which followed was intensely exciting. The 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. /I 5 
 
 election took place on the 6th of November, i860, with the 
 following result : Mr. Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes ; Doug- 
 las, 1,375,157; Breckenridge, 847,953; and Bell 500,631. In 
 the Electoral College the vote stood as follows : For Lincoln, 
 180; for Breckenridge, 72 ; for Douglas, 39; for Bell, 12. 
 
 The election of Mr. Lincoln was made by the Southern 
 States the pretext fer the dissolution- of the Union. One by 
 one the Gulf States withdrew from the Union, and in February, 
 1861, organized themselves into a new Confederacy. Mr. Lin- 
 coln was^'sincerely grieved by this action, as he was conscious 
 of the error of the South in supposing that he had any inten- 
 tion of interfering with the institution of slavery in the States 
 where it existed. He earnestly desired to do his duty to the 
 whole country, and had not the slightest wish to conduct his 
 administration upon a sectional basis. Two days after the 
 secession of South Carolina, he wrote to the Hon. Alexander 
 H Stephens, of Georgia : " I fully appreciate the present peril 
 the country is in, and the weight of. responsibility on me. Do 
 the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican 
 administration would, directly, or indirectly, interfere with the 
 slaves or with them, about the slaves ? If they do, I wish to 
 assure you, as once a friend, and still, I hope, not my enemy, 
 that there is no cause for such fear. The South would be in 
 no more danger in this respect than it was in the days of 
 Washington. I suppose, however, this does not meet the case. 
 You think slavery is right, and ought to be extended, while we 
 think it is wrong, and ought to be restricted. That, I suppose, 
 is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference be- 
 tween us." ^.,1,14. 
 
 Threats were freely indulged in that Mr. Lincoln should not 
 be inaugurated. " Soon after I was nominated at Chicago, he 
 once said, " I began to receive letters threatening my life. Ihe 
 first one or two made me a little uncomfortable, but I came at 
 length to look for a regular installment of this kind of corre- 
 spondence, and up to inauguration day I was in constant receipt 
 of such letters." On the i ith of February, 1861, he left Spring- 
 field, on his way to Washington to enter upon the duties ot 
 the Presidency. He proceeded by a circuitous route through 
 
7l6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and 
 Buffalo, to New York and Philadelphia. From the latter city 
 he went to Harrisburg, the capital of the State of Pennsylvania. 
 He was everywhere received with enthusiasm by the people. 
 It was his intention to proceed direct from Harrisburg to 
 Baltimore, but rumors of a plot to assassinate him as he passed 
 through the latter city, caused him to return to Philadelphia. 
 He left that city on the midnight train on the 22d of February, 
 and arrived in Washington early on the morning of the 23d, 
 before his departure from Harrisburg was known. 
 
 General Scott, the veteran commander of the United States 
 Army, having cause to fear that an effort would be made to 
 prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, collected a force of 
 regulars in Washington city, and under their protection the 
 inauguration passed off quietly on the 4th of March, 1861. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln selected his Cabinet from the leading men of the 
 Republican party, and after the retirement of Mr. Cameron and 
 the appointment of Mr. Stanton to the War Department,' had 
 unquestionably the ablest Cabinet that had been in office for 
 several generations. 
 
 It does not form a part of our purpose to present here a full 
 history of the events of Mr. Lincoln's administration. To do 
 that would be to write the history of the Civil War. We shall 
 speak only of a few of the leading incidents of his Presidency. 
 In his inaugural address he announced his intention to hold and 
 occupy the public property in all parts of the Union, and to 
 enforce the laws. He declared that the Government would not 
 attack the Southern States, but would use force if necessary to 
 maintain its authority. 
 
 The attack upon Fort Sumter, and the commencment of the 
 Civil War, soon followed. President Lincoln at once summoned 
 Congress to convene in extra session, and issued a proclamation 
 calling upon the various States of the Union to furnish a force 
 of 75,000 men to assist in restoring the supremacy of the Con- 
 stitution and laws in the South. The war was soon fairly 
 begun. Its events are well known to the reader, and need not 
 be repeated here. 
 
 From the first Mr. Lincoln was the leading spirit of his 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 717 
 
 Administration. He relied much upon the wisdom and expe- 
 rience of his Cabinet Ministers; but he was in all things the 
 Chief Magistrate of the nation from the moment of his inaugu- 
 ration. He was anxious to conciliate the South as far as possi- 
 ble, and while he was ready to extend kindness and protection 
 to that section as soon as he could do so consistently with his 
 sense of duty, he was, at the same time, determined to exert 
 every power of the Government to put down the resistance of 
 the South. His views upon the questions at issue were frank 
 and outspoken, and no one who reads his messages and letters 
 can be in doubt as to them. In his second message to Congress, 
 on the 3d of December, 1861, he stated that while he had used 
 every means in his power to conduct the war with vigor, he 
 was anxious that the conflict should not degenerate into a vio- 
 lent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. " I have, there- 
 fore," he added, "in every case, thought it proper to keep the 
 integrity of the Union prominent as the primary object of the 
 contest on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital 
 military importance to the more deliberate action of the Legis- 
 lature." And yet in his own acts he was never precipitate. 
 He weighed each deliberately, and never acted until he was satis- 
 fied that he was right, but when he had fully resolved upon his 
 programme he carried it out with a decision and rapidity which 
 astounded the whole country. He had the happy faculty — 
 the rarest gift of the statesman — of being able to choose with 
 unerring certainty the right moment at which to strike his 
 most decisive blows. He held the military conduct of the war 
 in his own hands, and while he left his generals in the field all' 
 the liberty they could desire, never lost sight of the fact that he 
 was the Constitutional Commander-in-chief of the Army and 
 Navy, and exercised over all the operations of the war the con- 
 trol that rightfully belonged to him. He did not interfere with 
 the commanders unless he thought it necessary to do so; but 
 then his interference was prompt and effective. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln began the war by hoping much from the Union 
 men of the South, but it was not long before he saw that they 
 were a helpless minority of the people of that section. He 
 began also by faithfully executing the Fugitive Slave Law. 
 
7l8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 He was soon convinced, however, that such a course could 
 not be continued. Slavery, which had been the cause of the 
 war, must perish in the triumph of the Union. He therefore 
 submitted a message to Congress, in March, 1862, recommend- 
 ing to the States the gradual abolition of slavery, and proposing 
 that the General Government should extend pecuniary aid to 
 the various States to enable them to accomplish this object. 
 The message was received with unbounded satisfaction by the 
 people of the North and West. On the i6th of April, 1862, 
 Mr. Lincoln approved the bill for the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln had been a life-long advocate of the abolition 
 of slavery, and its extinction by constitutional means was an 
 object very near to his heart; but it was, in the great struggle 
 in which he was engaged, a secondary consideration. "My 
 paramount object," he wrote to Horace Greeley, "is to save 
 the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery. If I 
 could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do 
 it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; 
 and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, 
 I would do that. * * j shall try to correct errors when 
 shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they 
 appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose ac- 
 cording to my view of official duty, and I intend no modifica- 
 tion of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere 
 could be free." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was strongly urged by the anti-slavery men of 
 the North to use the war power lodged in his hands, and offer 
 freedom to the slaves. " They seemed to think," he said, 
 "that; the moment I was President, I had the power to abolish 
 slavery ; forgetting that, before I could have any power what- 
 ever, I had to take the oath to support the Constitution of the 
 United States, and execute the laws as I found them. When 
 the Rebellion broke out, my duty did not admit of a question. 
 That was, first, by all strictly lawful means to endeavor to 
 maintain the integrity of the Government. I did not consider 
 that I had the right to touch the 'State' institution of slavery 
 until all other measures for restoring the Union had failed. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 719 
 
 The paramount idea of the Constitution is the preservation of 
 the Union. It may not be specified in so many words, but 
 that this v/as the idea of its founders is evident ; for, without 
 the Union, the Constitution would be worthless." 
 
 At length the time arrived when both his duty and his incli- 
 nation lay in the same direction. It was necessary to destroy 
 slavery in order to preserve the Union. " It seems clear," he 
 afterwards said, "that in the last extremity, if any local insti- 
 tution threatened the existence of the Union, the Executive 
 could not hesitate as to his duty. In our case, the moment 
 came when I felt that slavery must die that the nation might 
 live." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln came to this conclusion in the midst of one of 
 the severest trials of the war. The army of General Pope had 
 been defeated and driven out of Virginia, and the victorious 
 legions of General Lee had invaded Maryland, and were threat- 
 ening Pennsylvania. The moment for striking a decisive blow 
 at the South had now arrived, and the President did not hesi- 
 tate. " I made a solemn vow before God," he afterwards said 
 to Secretary Chase, " that if General Lee was driven back from 
 Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of 
 freedom to the slaves." In accordance with this resolution, 
 Mr. Lincoln, immediately after Lee's retreat from Maryland, 
 issued, on the 22d of September, 1862, his proclamation an- 
 nouncing that on and after the first day of January, 1863, the 
 negroes held as slaves in all the States of the South, in resist- 
 ance to the authority of the General Government, would be 
 unconditionally and forever released from bondage. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1863, the final Emancipation Procla- 
 mation, giving freedom to all the negro slaves of the South, 
 was issued, and the work was complete. 
 
 The final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation was pre- 
 sented to Mr. Lincoln for his signature at noon on New Year's 
 day, by Secretary Seward. Mr. Lincoln placed it upon his 
 desk, and taking up his pen, dipped it in ink, and was about to 
 affix his signature, when he suddenly paused and laid down 
 the pen. He repeated this performance, and then turning to 
 Secretary Seward, who was looking on in surprise, he said : 
 
-20 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 "I have been shaking hands since nine o'clock this morning, 
 and my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes 
 into histor>' it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. 
 If my hand trembles when I sign the Proclamation, all who 
 examine the document hereafter will say, 'He hesitated!'" 
 Pausing for a moment longer, he took up the pen and slowly 
 and firmly wrote at the bottom of the paper, "Abraham Lin- 
 coln." " That will do," he said with a smile, and handed the 
 paper to ]\Ir. Seward. 
 
 He had no hestation in performing this act, and he meant to 
 enforce it with all the power of the Government. " There have 
 been men," he once said, "base enough to propose to me tore- 
 turn to slaverj'^the black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee, 
 and thus win the respect of the masters they fought. Should 
 I do so, I should deserve to be damned in time and eternity. 
 Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe. My 
 enemies pretend I am now carrj^ing on this war for the sole 
 purpose of Abolition. So long as I am President, it shall be 
 carried on for the sole purpose of restoring the Union. But no 
 human power can subdue this rebellion without the use of the 
 emancipation policy, and even.- other policy calculated to weaken 
 the moral and physical forces of the rebellion." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln followed up his emancipation policy by recom- 
 mending, and securing the passage of acts of Congress autlior- 
 izing the enlistment of negro troops in the Federal army. 
 
 The year 1S63 witnessed the defeat of Hooker's splendid army 
 at Chancellorsville, the invasion of Pennsylvania by General 
 Lee, the battle of Gett}-sburg. the defeat of Lee and the failure 
 of the invasion, and the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. 
 After the retreat of the Confederates into Virginia, a portion of 
 the battle ground at Gettj-sburg was set apart as a national 
 cemeter}', and was dedicated by the President with appropriate 
 ceremonies on the 19th of November, 1863. Mr. Lincoln's 
 brief address on this occasion is a model of beauty. He said: 
 
 " Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth 
 upon this Continent a new nation, conceived in libert}', and 
 dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that 
 
ABRAHAM LIN'COLN. 72 1 
 
 nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long 
 endure. We arc met on a great battle-field of that war. We 
 are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of 
 those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It 
 is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 
 
 " But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot conse- 
 crate-, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living 
 and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above 
 our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor 
 long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what 
 they did here. It is for us, the living, r:ithcr to be dedicated 
 here to the unfinished work that they have thus so far nobly 
 carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 
 great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead 
 we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here 
 gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly 
 resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that the na- 
 tion shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that 
 the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, 
 shall not perish from the earth." 
 
 On the 26th of March, 1 864, the President issued his Procla- 
 mation, offering to all persons engaged in armed resistance to 
 the authority of the United States a full pardon and a restor- 
 ation to all their rights and property, except as to slaves, upon 
 submitting to the authority of the Union, and taking an oath to 
 support the Constitution and laws thereof It was a great 
 gratification to him to issue this proclamation, and he ever 
 afterward made a liberal, though judicious, use of the pardon- 
 ing power. 
 
 In June, 1864, Mr. Lincoln was nominated by the Republi- 
 can Convention for reelection to the Presidency, and was 
 triumphantly elected over his Democratic opponent. General 
 George B. McClellan, in the following November, receiving 
 2,223,035 votes to McClellan's i, 8 1 1,754, or a popular majority 
 of 411,281. The result was justly regarded as an emphatic 
 endorsement of the President's course by the people. In a 
 speech delivered in response to a serenade upon the night of 
 the election, Mr. Lincoln said : " I am thankful to God for this 
 46 
 
722 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 approval of the people ; but while deeply grateful for this mark 
 of their confidence in me, if I know my heart, my gratitude is 
 free from any taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the 
 motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to 
 triumph over any one, but I give thanks to the Almighty for 
 this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free govern- 
 ment and the rights of humanity." 
 
 The inauguration took place on the 4th of March, 1865, and 
 was conducted with the most imposing ceremonies ever wit- 
 nessed in Washington. On the night of the 3d of March the 
 President and several members of the Cabinet were at the 
 Capitol awaiting the passage of the final bills of Congress, as 
 is usual at the close of a session of Congress. A telegram was 
 brought in from General Grant, stating that General Lee had 
 asked an interview with reference to terms of peace. Mr. Lin- 
 coln was delighted; he beheld the close of the war; and his 
 natural kindness of heart began to show itself in his sugges- 
 tions of favorable terms to be granted to the Confederates. 
 
 " Stanton listened in silence," says a witness of the scene, 
 "restraining his emotion; but at length the tide burst forth. 
 ' Mr. President,' said he, ' to-morrow is inauguration day. If 
 you are not to be the President of an obedient and united peo- 
 ple, you had better not be inaugurated. Your work is already 
 done, if any other authority than yours is for one moment 
 to be recognized, or any terms made that do not signify you 
 are the supreme head of the nation. If generals in the field 
 are to negotiate peace, or any other chief magistrate is to be 
 acknowledged on this continent, then you are not needed, and 
 you had better not take the oath of office.' 
 
 Stanton, you are right !' said the President, his whole tone 
 changing. ' Let me have a pen.' 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln sat down at the table, and wrote as follows : 
 The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you 
 to have no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the 
 capitulation of Lee's army, or on some minor or purely mili- 
 tary matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide; 
 discuss or confer upon any political question. Such ques- 
 tions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 723 
 
 them to no military conferences or conventions. In the mean- 
 time you are to press to the utmost your miHtary advantages.' 
 
 " The President read over what he had written, and then 
 said : ' Now, Stanton, date and sign this paper, and send it to 
 Grant. We'll see about this peace business.'" 
 
 On the 24th of March, 1865, Mr. Lincoln paid a visit to the 
 army of General Grant. He witnessed the fruitless assault of 
 Lee upon Fort Steadman, and a portion of the final attack 
 which compelled the evacuation of the lines of Petersburg and 
 Richmond by the Confederates. He paid a flying visit to 
 Richmond, after its capture, and held a levee in the deserted 
 mansion of the fallen President of the Southern Confederacy, 
 and returned to Washington in time to receive the news of the 
 surrender of Lee's army, which put an end to all hope of fur- 
 ther resistance on the part of the South. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was satisfied that the war was over, and had 
 determined upon a generous policy towards the South in the 
 reconstruction of the Union. He was sincerely anxious to 
 heal the wounds of the war as soon as possible, and to direct 
 the energies of the Southern people to the task of repairing 
 their shattered fortunes. He was strong enough in the loyal 
 States to pursue such a course, and firm and judicious enough 
 to do so without endangering the results of the war. The war 
 had been a painful trial to him, and his rejoicings at the return 
 of peace were deep and heartfelt. He had carried the country 
 through its terrible struggle, and his first and greatest care had 
 been for the preservation of the Union. Now that the Union 
 was safe, and slavery dead, he felt himself called upon to watch 
 with especial tenderness over the conquered people of the 
 South, and to help them to recover the prosperity they had 
 lost, and to resume their places in the reconstructed Union. 
 The great heart of this simply great man was very pitiful, and 
 he looked upon the gallant people who had withstood him for 
 four years as his countrymen, misguided, but still children of 
 the same mother. He had no harshness for them, and he 
 meant to be their true and helpful friend. He had saved the 
 Union; he now looked forward to the task of placing it on a 
 more enduring basis than ever. 
 
 The load that had lain so heavily upon the President's heart 
 
7^4 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 for four years, was now lifted from it, and he seemed to his 
 friends more cheerful than he had been since his first inaucrura- 
 tion. This was so marked that it was noticed and commented 
 upon by the members of the Cabinet at the meeting on the 
 14th of April. During the day Mr. Lincoln received and ac- 
 cepted an invitation to visit Ford's Theatre in the evenino-. 
 
 Shortly before nine o'clock, Mr. Lincoln, accompanied by 
 Mrs. Lincob, Miss Harris, the daughter of Senator Harris, of 
 New York, and Major Rathbone, of the army, entered the box 
 that had been prepared for him by the management of the 
 theatre. He was received by the audience with a storm of 
 applause, and acknowledged the compliment by bowing repeat- 
 edly from his box. 
 
 About ten o'clock, while the play of the evening was in 
 progress, John Wilkes Booth, an actor of considerable promi- 
 nence, entered the proscenium box occupied by the President 
 and, presenting a pistol close behind the head of Mr. Lincoln, 
 fired. The ball cut its way through the skull, and imbedded 
 itself deep in the brain of the President. Major Rathbone 
 sprang towards the assassin, and grappled with him. Booth 
 drew a large knife, wounded Rathbone, freed himself from him, 
 and sprang upon the balustrade of the box. Waving the knife 
 about his head, and shouimg '' Sic Semper Tyrannis'' ("Thus 
 always with tyrants"), he sprang to the stage. His spur caught 
 in the folds of the American flag, with which the box was 
 draped, and he fell heavily to the stage, breaking one of his 
 legs. By a powerful effort, however, he regained his feet, 
 darted behind the scenes, and escaped to an alley in the rear of 
 the theatre, where a fleet horse was in waiting for him. This 
 he mounted, and fled across the back branch of the Potomac 
 into Lower Maryland.^ 
 
 1 Mr. Lincoln was often warned by his friends of the danger of assassination, and 
 was urged to provide himself with an escort or guard when he appeared in pubHc, 
 but invariably refused to do so. " The simple habits of Mr. Lincoln were so well 
 known," says Mr. Brooks, " that it is a subject for surprise that watchful and 
 malignant treason did not sooner take that precious life which he seemed to hold 
 so lightly. He had an almost morbid dislike for an escort or guard, and daily 
 exposed himself to the deadly aim of an assassin. * * In reply to the remon- 
 strances of friends, who were afraid of his constant exposure to danger, he had but 
 one answer: 'If they kill me, the next man will be just as bad for them; and in 
 

 TOMB OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT SPRINGFIELD. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 725 
 
 The attack upon the President was so sudden and unex- 
 pected, that for a moment the, audience was unable to move. 
 The screams of Mrs. Lincoln revealed the extent of the disaster, 
 and the next moment the assassin was seen to leap to the stage. 
 The cry was raised to stop the wretch, but he escaped. A rush 
 was then made for the President's box, where all was in confusion. 
 The doors were fastened, however, and only two surgeons, who 
 chanced to be in the audience, were admitted. Mr. Lincoln's 
 head had fallen forward immediately upon receiving the fatal 
 bullet. His eyes were closed, and it was evident that he had 
 been unconscious from the moment of his wound. He was con- 
 veyed to a house opposite the theatre, and Surgeon-General 
 Barnes and several prominent physicians were summoned. The 
 wound was found to be mortal ; but the President gave no indi- 
 cation of suffering. He lay, with his eyes closed, in an uncon- 
 scious condition, and so lingered through the night. At twenty- 
 two minutes past seven o'clock on the morning of the 15th of 
 April, Abraham Lincoln breathed his last, surrounded by the 
 members of his family and his Cabinet Ministers, — falling asleep 
 so gently and sweetly, that those about him knew that he 
 was dead only by the absence of respiration. 
 
 The body was conveyed to the Executive Mansion, where 
 appropriate funeral services were held on the 19th of April. 
 The body was then laid in state in the Capitol until the morn- 
 ing of April 2 1st, when it was taken from Washington en route 
 to Springfield for burial. The route lay through Baltimore, 
 Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleve- 
 land, Columbus, Indianapolis and Chicago. All along the way 
 the people poured out to pay the last honors to the martyred 
 President. Cities were draped in mourning, and every evidence 
 of the sorrow that filled the hearts of the American people 
 was given. Never since the death of Washington had such an 
 outburst of sorrow been witnessed in America. Even in the 
 South, which had made the election of Abraham Lincoln the 
 
 a country like this, where our habits are simple, and must be, assassination is always 
 possible, and wi 11 come, if they are determined upon it.' ' It would never do,' he 
 said upon another occasion, * for a President to have guards with drawn sabres at 
 his door, as if he fancied he were, or were trying to be, or were assuming to be, 
 an emjDeror.' " 
 
72-6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 occasion of the dissolution of the Union, the unaffected and 
 manly virtues of this great and good man had conquered the 
 people, who had come to regard him as their friend. His 
 death was sincerely lamented there, and in the lamentation of 
 his former enemies Abraham Lincoln had his proudest tri- 
 umph. Springfield was reached on the 2d of May, and the 
 body was laid in state in the Capitol, where it remained until 
 the 4th, when it was buried. The day was generally observed 
 throughout the Union.^ 
 
 The great work accomplished by Mr. Lincoln, in saving the 
 Union from the danger of final disruption, and the masterly 
 manner in which he performed it, have placed him second to 
 Washington only in the affections of the American people. 
 He was great in his simplicity of character; a true man in 
 every relation of life ; and the faithful and devoted servant of 
 his countiy. His sound practical common sense and his in- 
 corruptible integrity guided him with unerring certainty amid 
 the difficulties of the situation in which he was placed, and 
 enabled him to perform his duty with singleness of heart and 
 disinterested patriotism. He steadily improved with his op- 
 
 ^ Booth, who was most probably insane, had drawn quite a number of persons 
 into a conspiracy, which had for its object the murder of the President and Vice- 
 President, and of Secretaries Seward and Stanton and Chief Justice Chase. The 
 plot failed through the unexpected movements of some of the intended victims, and 
 the cowardice of some of the conspirators. The only victims were the President 
 and Secretary Seward, the latter of whom was badly wounded by the assassin sent 
 to despatch him. Booth, after escaping from the theatre, fled into Lower Mary- 
 land, accompanied by one of the conspirators, a young man named Harold. The 
 two crossed the Potomac, and took refuge in Virginia. They were pursued by 
 the Government detectives and a squadron of cavalry, and were tracked to a bam 
 on a farm in Caroline county, Virginia, between Bowling Green and Port Royal. 
 Here they were surrounded on the 26th of April. Harold surrendered himself, but 
 Booth, refusing to yield, was shot by Sergeant Boston Corbett, and died a few 
 hours later, after suffering intensely. His accomplices were arrested, and were 
 brought to trial before a military commission at Washington. Payne, or Powell, 
 Atzerot, Harold and Mrs. Surratt vi^ere condemned to death, and were hanged on 
 the 7th of July, 1865, for complicity in the plot. Dr. Mudd, O'Laughlin and 
 Arnold were imprisoned in the Dry Tortugas for life, and Spangler for six years. 
 
 What Booth expected to accomplish by his horrible deed yet remains a mystery. 
 It is now generally believed that he was insane — rendered so by his dissipated 
 habits — and in this state of mind conceived the idea that Mr. Lincoln was a tyrant, 
 and as such ought to be put to death. He had no accomplices in the South, and 
 his infamous deed was regarded with horror by the Southern people. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 727 
 
 portunities, and during his four years of power established a 
 reputation for sound wisdom and practical statesmanship, which 
 will endure as long as the country for which he labored and 
 gave his life shall exist among the nations of the earth. 
 
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