Diary of Private Ephraim Shelby Dodd, Saturday, May 30, 1863

Came to Mr. Beasley's and staid all night.

SOURCE: Ephraim Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's Texas Rangers, p. 18

Diary of Private Ephraim Shelby Dodd, Sunday, May 31, 1863

Met up with Parker as Lieut. Brown. I got a horse for Mason Rector. Came on to Granville, found Company D there, and that we were published as deserters. Came out near Cookville to-night.

SOURCE: Ephraim Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's Texas Rangers, p. 18

John White Geary

GEARY, JOHN WHITE, soldier, born near Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., Pa., 30th December, 1819; died in Harrisburg, Pa., 8th February, 1873. His father was of Scotch-Irish descent. The son entered Jefferson College, but, on account of his father's loss of property and sudden death, was compelled to leave and contribute toward the support of the family. After teaching he became a clerk in a commercial house in Pittsburgh, and afterward studied mathematics, civil engineering, and law. He was admitted to the bar, but never practiced his profession. After some employment as civil engineer in Kentucky, he was appointed assistant superintendent and engineer of the Alleghany Portage Railroad. When war was declared with Mexico in 1846, he became lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment of Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, and commanded his regiment at Chapultepec, where he was wounded, but resumed his command the same day at the attack on the Belen gate. For this service he was made first commander of the City of Mexico, and colonel of his regiment. He was appointed in 1849 to be first postmaster of San Francisco, with authority to establish the postal service throughout California. He was the first American alcalde of San Francisco, and a "judge of the first instance." These officers were of Mexican origin, the "alcalde" combining the authority of sheriff and probate judge with that of mayor, and the judge of the first instance presiding over a court with civil and criminal as well as admiralty jurisdiction. Colonel Geary served until the new constitution abolished these offices. In 1850 he became the first mayor of San Francisco. He took a leading part in the formation of the new constitution of California, and was chairman of the Territorial Democratic Committee.

In 1852 he retired to his farm in Westmoreland county, Pa., and remained in private life until 1856, when he was appointed Territorial Governor of Kansas, which office he held one year. He then returned to Pennsylvania, and at the beginning of the civil war raised the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania volunteers. He commanded in several engagements, and won distinction at Bolivar Heights, where he was wounded. He occupied Leesburg, Va., in March, 1862, and routed General Hill. On 25th April, 1862, he received the commission of Brigadier-General of U. S. volunteers. He was severely wounded in the arm at Cedar Mountain, 9th August, 1862, and in consequence could not take part in the battle of Antietam. At the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg he held the Second Division of the Twelfth Corps. The corps to which General Geary's regiment was attached joined the Army of the Cumberland, under General Hooker's command, to aid in repairing the disaster at Chickamauga, and he took part in the battles of Wauhatchie and Lookout Mountain, in both of which he was distinguished. He commanded the Second Division of the Twentieth Corps in Sherman's march to the sea, and was the first to enter Savannah after its evacuation, 22d December, 1864. In consideration of his services at Fort Jackson he was appointed Military Governor of Savannah, and in 1865 he was promoted to be Major-General by brevet. He was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1866, and held this office until two weeks before his death. During his administration the debt of the commonwealth was reduced, an effort to take several millions from the sinking fund of the State bonds was prevented, a disturbance at Williamsport quelled, and a Bureau of Labor Statistics established by the Legislature, 12th April, 1872. Governor Geary possessed great powers of application and perception, force of will and soundness of judgment, and was popular among his troops. In recognition of his service to the State and Nation, the General Assembly erected a monument at his grave in the cemetery at Harrisburg.

SOURCE: F. G. Adams, Editor, Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society Embracing the Fifth and Sixth Biennial Reports, Vol. 4 1886-1888, pp. 373-4 which states as its source Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.

Wilson Shannon

SHANNON, Wilson, governor of Ohio and of Kansas, b. in Belmont county, Ohio, 24 Feb., 1802; d. in Lawrence, Kan., 31 Aug., 1877. He was graduated at Athens college, Ohio, and at Transylvania university, Ky., and became a lawyer. He began practice at St. Clairsville, Ohio, and in 1835 was prosecuting attorney for the state. He was governor of Ohio in 1838-'40, and again in 1842-'4, and in 1844 he went as U. S. minister to Mexico. He was a representative in congress in 1853-'5, and territorial governor of Kansas in 1855-'6. During Gov. Shannon's administration in Kansas the troubles between the free-state and pro-slavery parties began to assume a threatening aspect. The governor favored the latter, though he tried to be cautious. He succeeded in peacefully terminating the "Wakarusha war" in 1855, but hostilities were resumed in the following year, ending in the burning of the town of Lawrence by a band of "border ruffians" that had been gathered as a U. S. marshal's posse. Shannon was finally removed, and succeeded by John W. Geary. He subsequently practised law in Lawrence.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Editors, Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 5, p. 481

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Wilson Shannon, January 20, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 20, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am collecting in the Executive Office portraits of the governors of the State. The portraits of sixteen are already on the walls of the office. Those obtained are mainly the pioneer governors — Tiffin, Meigs, Worthington, Morrow, Trimble, McArthur, and others. Some have been presented by relatives and others bought by me with my contingent fund. I am desirous to obtain your portrait. If you have one taken about the time you were governor, a copy of that would be preferred. In some cases originals have been sent by express and copied here and then returned. But, of course, your wishes will control.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE WILSON SHANNON,
        Topeka, Kansas.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 84

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.

DEAR UNCLE: — I have been in correspondence with Jay Cooke about his new town of Duluth at the head of Lake Superior. It will be the great town of that region. The Northern Pacific Railroad will begin work there next spring, and finish about three hundred miles as fast as work can do it. A railroad to St. Paul will be completed by the Fourth of July. It will then be the lake port of two-thirds of Minnesota. I want to put in five or six thousand dollars if I can raise it in the next sixty or ninety days. It will double by next fall, and may do a great deal better than that. I can buy on the most favorable terms allowed to anybody, and have my own separate property without mixing up with the company. I don't want you to bother about it at all, but if you see where notes secured by mortgage can raise the money, let me know.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 84-5

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Dr. George R. Morton, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — The present incumbent of the librarianship is a faithful, painstaking old gentleman with a family of invalid girls dependent on him. His courtesy and evident anxiety to accommodate all who visit the library have secured him the endorsement of almost all who are in the habit of using the books; and under the circumstances I cannot remove him. Old associations, your fitness, and claims draw me the other way; but you see, etc., etc.

Very sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

DR. GEORGE R. MORTON,
        North Bass, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 85

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Julius Dexter, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your note of the 29th enclosing a memorial from the Historical Society of Ohio in relation to the purchase by the State of the St. Clair papers. I will transmit the memorial to the Legislature with a favorable recommendation. There is a fair prospect of the success of the measure.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

P. S. — Personal communications to cach of your senators and members of the House will be of service.

MR. JULIUS DEXTER,
        Cincinnati, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 85

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, January 31, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, January 31, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — Having secured portraits of almost all of the early governors, I began a few weeks ago a correspondence with a view to obtaining the portraits of those who are now living. I found there would be no trouble in getting yours. Mr. L'Hommedieu undertook it, and with your friends Jay Cooke, Carson, Yeatman, Hoadly, and Spooner, proposed to present the State as fine a one as they could get. Last Friday I received by express from Chicago a capital picture, three-fourths length — the work of W. Cogswell, — which is perfectly satisfactory to all of your friends who have seen it. It is given to the State by Jay Cooke, and is the finest of the seventeen portraits in the office.

I write this note with a double object: First, to let you know what your friends intended to do, and what one of them has done; second, to learn from you where the original picture was taken — assuming this to be a copy — and by whom.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE S. P. CHASE,
        CHIEF JUSTICE, Washington.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 85-6

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Mr. A. M. Searle, February 3, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 3, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — Your favor of the 31st ult. came duly to hand. I have no information as to the chances of an Insurance Act beyond what the general public possesses. If the appointment you refer to is to be made by me the considerations you suggest will have, as you suppose, due weight. When such qualifications are found, I need hardly say, it will be no objection if the person having them is also a personal friend. Of course, it would be premature to venture on a committal until all sides are heard.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

MR. A. M. SEARLE,
        Cleveland, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 86

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to [Unidentified], February 4, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 4, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — The Soldiers' Orphans' Bill has been under consideration one day in the Senate. No serious opposition has been developed and decided support was given in quarters not heretofore relied on. I entertain no doubt of its passage within a week or ten days through the Senate, and in the House its passage is only a question of time. I anticipate the necessity of naming a board about the last of this month.

Your views of General Keifer and General Barnett are also mine. I think I gave you my notions also of Generals Buckland and Coates. Think over the good loyal Democrats for one name. A well known party man, loyal during the war but in the Democratic party, if he can be found, is preferred if friendly to the institution.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

[Unidentified.]

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 86-7

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Judge William Dickson, February 4, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 4, 1870.

DEAR JUDGE: — I am in receipt of your letter of yesterday in relation to the appointment of members of the board of trustees of the Ohio Medical College. Unless there is some reason for delay, the nominations to fill vacancies occurring January 1, 1871, should be sent to the Senate at the present session. In the absence of reason for a change, the present members should be reappointed, and the vacancy filled by a person those actively interested in the institution will name, or at least approve. I take it all this is what you wish. If you have other views as to any member, I will thank you to let me know. You need have no hesitation on account of your own name being in the list. You will be reappointed in any event, so that the only open question is as to your associates. I agree fully with your views about Drs. Wright and Dodge, and Messrs. Ball and Dutton.

Your address is good reading. The short paragraph about the waste of talent and genius in politics is of more account than perhaps you thought. Why not make it the theme of an address? The idea is often seen in sermons or the talk of non-politicians, but with your knowledge of the inside of politics, and with your ability justly to estimate a politician's value, you could make much of it.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE WILLIAM DICKSON,
        Cincinnati, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 87

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Mr. A. T. Goodman, February 4, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 5, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your favor of the 4th as to the St. Clair papers. I hope there is a fair prospect of the passage of an act authorizing their purchase, but I am not sanguine. Of course, nobody would think of the State buying them for the Cincinnati or any other local society. If bought they will be deposited in the State Library. I agree with you that your title by discovery, if they are to be given away, would give you a claim to be considered.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

A. T. GOODMAN, ESQ.,
        Cleveland, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 88

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Jesse Hawley, February 5, 1870

COLUMBUS, February 5, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your favor of the 3d in relation [to] codifying the laws of Ohio. It is undoubtedly a great inconvenience and a serious evil that our laws are so voluminous. I quite agree with you that a revision as often as once in ten years is necessary. But I fear we shall never see our statutes again in a single volume of proper size for common use. If we can have them in two or three volumes with one index, it perhaps is doing as much as can be expected.

Very respectfully,

R. B. HAYES.

JESSE HAWLEY, ESQ.,
        Salem, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 88

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Captain Alfred E. Lee, February 16, 1870

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 16, 1870.

DEAR LEE: — Your note came during my absence north. A note to Delano from me, if my friends at Cincinnati are well informed, would do you more harm than good. But I send you a note, not addressed, in general but strong terms. I do not feel like interfering with Colonel Powell, and do not wish the note used to procure his removal. But I doubt the wisdom of your using it at all with Mr. Delano.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

CAPTAIN A. E. LEE,
        Delaware, Ohio.

_______________

COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 16, 1870.

Captain A. E. Lee, of Delaware, Ohio, is a gentleman whose ability, integrity, and business experience fit him to fill with acceptance and creditably to the Administration any revenue office he is likely to desire. He has a capital record as a soldier, is a Republican whose soundness and effective work are beyond commendation. No worthier appointment could be made.

R. B. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 88-9

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, February 20, 1870

CINCINNATI, February 20, 1870.

DEAR UNCLE: — I came here to meet the Kentucky Legislature and spoke to them from the same platform with Mr. Pendleton. All satisfactory.

Just before coming Jay Cooke advised me to take my choice immediately of certain Duluth property which he could get me. I dispatched him that I would take one hundred and sixty acres for eight thousand dollars. I know nothing of terms of payment, but am satisfied that it is a great bargain. No doubt the terms of payment can be complied with somehow. It is one and one-fourth miles from the dock and depot and next to the town property.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 89

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to [Unidentified], February 22, 1870

COLUMBUS, February 22, 1870.

DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your "History of the Guilford Branch of the Dickeman Family," and am greatly obliged to you for it. My father came to Ohio in 1817, thus separating from all his New England relatives, and died before my birth, so that I have not had an opportunity to learn much of his family. A Hayes record was published by George W. Noyes, of the Oneida Community in the State of New York, but the fullest account of my grandmother's family I have ever seen is in your pamphlet. There is an impression in the family that Grandmother Chloe Smith Hayes was a very superior woman possessing real genius. The Mead family, all having talent as artists, trace this quality to grandmother. The most distinguished member of the family is Larkin G. Mead, a sculptor of wide reputation. You may have heard of him as the boy who made the snow statue in Brattleboro twelve or fifteen years ago. He is the sculptor and architect of the great Lincoln Monument at Springfield, Illinois, and his studio in Florence probably receives as many orders as that of any artist.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

[Unidentified.]

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 89-90

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone, February 16, 1863

warm and clear

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone, February 17, 1863

a snowey day and we all had to go on picket down at Port Royal.

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone, February 18, 1863

it raind all day long and the snow nearly all melted of by nite and we still stade on picket

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30