Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/164

This page needs to be proofread.
130
HARRISON
HARRISON


tli army corps, to 23 Sept., 1864, when he was detailed for special duty in the state of Indiana. The exact date that he returned to duty in the field is not shown; but on 13 Nov., 18ti4, he was directed to report in person to the general com- manding at Nashville, Tenn., and subsequently commanded the 1st brigade, provisional division, army of the Cumberland, to 16 Jan., 1865, when, upon his own application, he was relieved and di- rected to rejoin his proper command for duty in Gen. Sherman's army at Savannah, Ga. On his way via New York to rejoin his command at Sa- vannah, he was stricken down with a severe fever and lay for several weeks at Narrowsburg, N. Y. When able to leave his bed he started for Savan- nah, but arrived too late to join Gen. Sherman, and was assigned to command the camp of con- valescents and recruits at Blair's Landing, S. C, on the Pocotaligo river, and soon after joined Gen. Sherman's army at Raleigh. lie resumed com- mand of the 1st brigade, 3d division, 20th army corps, 21 April, 186.5; was relieved therefrom 8 June, 1865, upon the discontinuance of the bri- gade by reason of the muster out of the troops com- posing it, and on the same date, 8 June, 1865, was mustered out and honorably discharged as colonel with the field and staff of his regiment, near Wash- ington, D. C. lie was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 33 Jan., 1865, " for ability and mani- fest energy and gallantry in command of brigade." As a regimental commander he was in action at Russellville, Ky., 30 Sept., 1863; in the Atlanta campaign, at Resaca, Ga., 14-15 May, 1864; at Cassville, Ga., 24 May, 1864; at New Hope, Ga., 25 May, 1864; at Dallas, Ga., 37-38 May, 1864; and at Kenesaw Mountains, Ga., 10-38 June, 1864. As a brigade commander he participated in the operations at Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., 29 June to 3 July, 1864; in the battle of Peach Tree creek, Ga., 20 July, 1864; in the siege of Atlanta, C,a., 21 July to 3 Sept., 1864; and in the battle of Nashville, Tenn., 15-16 Dec, 1864; and was present at the surrender of Gen. Johnston's Confederate army at Durham's Station, N. C, 36 April, 1865.

At the close of his term of office as reporter of the Supreme Court he resumed the law practice and soon had his hands full of work, being retained in almost every important case in the federal and state courts at Indianapolis. In 1876 God- love S. Orth, the Republican candidate for gov- ernor, withdrew from the canvass while Gen. Harrison was taking a vacation on the north shore of Lake Superior. Without consulting him, his name was put upon the ticket as candidate for governor, and when he arrived from the north an enthusiastic crowd met him at the station and escorted him to his home. The trading of horses while crossing the river did not work well, and though Gen. Harrison made a splendid canvass, running two thousand ahead of his ticket, the popularity of Gov. Hendricks, who was on the National ticket, pulled the whole Democratic state ticket through by a plurality of three thousand. The gallant fight made by Gen. Harrison in that losing battle imposed a debt of gratitude upon his party which has not been forgotten. In 1879 President Hayes appointed him a member of the Mississippi river commission. In 1880 he was chairman of the Indiana delegation in the conven- tion which nominated James A. Garfield. Some of his friends presented his name for the nomina- tion in that convention, but he insisted that it should be withdrawn. His canvass of Indiana and other states during the campaign of 1880 was brilliant and effective. President Garfield offered him a place in his cabinet, which ir. declined. He was chosen U. S. senator in Ibol, and served until 1887. His course in the senate was such as to win the esteem and friendship of his Republican colleagues and to command the respect of his po- litical opponents. This was his first experience in a legislative body, but he soon took rank among the foremost debaters of the senate. Chairman of the committee on territories, he was persistent in his demand for the admission to statehood of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho, and though not succeeding at the time, he had the pleasure afterward of putting his presi- dential signature to the laws making them all states of the Union. In his speeches in the senate he criticised Mr. Cleveland's vetoes of the pension bills, voted and spoke in favor of an increase of the navy, the reform of the civil service, a judicious tariff reform; he favored every measure of imblic policy which had received the approval of his Earty. He has always been a strong partisan, and as believed and acted in the belief that since the Republican party was organized it has done nothing of which Republicans should be ashamed, or at least nothing to justify a change of allegiance from it to the Democratic party. From one point of view, such a course in a public man may be criticised. It may be doubted, however, if any In- diana Republican who has been confronted with the type of Democrats which have dominated that party tor the last thirty years is to be censured for standing by his own party through thick and thin.

The Republican party leaders saw in 1888 that the only hope of winning against Cleveland wai> to put up a candidate who could carry some of the doubtful states. Early in the year the Republican leaders in Indiana and almost the entire Repub- lican press of the state pronounced in favor of Harrison, and his name was presented by the solid delegation to the convention at Chicago. On the first ballot he received 83 votes, standing fifth on the list, John Sherman standing first with 225. Seven more ballots were taken, during which Chauncey M. Depew withdrew and his supporters went to Harrison, giving him the nomination on the eighth ballot by a vote of 544. There was great rejoicing on the part of his friends in In- diana, and as soon as the result was known there began a series of demonstrations which are with- out parallel in the history of presidential cam- paigns. On the day of the nomination a large delegation came to Indianapolis from Hendricks county in a special train and proceeded at once to Gen. Harrison's residence and called him out for a speech, and from that day until the election dele- gations kept coming from different parts of Indi- ana, from Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, Illi- nois, Iowa, and other states, all of which were received and welcomed by him in impromptu speeches which, by their appropriateness, variety, force, and elegance of style, won the approval of our best literary critics as well!is of the public. In these ninety-four speeches he made no slip. He said nothing that needed apology or explanation from his friends. Verbatim reports of the addresses were printed from day to day in all the leading papers of the country, and he never in anything he said gave his political opponents ground for un- friendly criticism. It is an open secret that some of the members of the National Republican com- mittee were terrified when they learned that the "Iloosier" candidate had commenced the cam- paign by these free-spoken, off-hand talks with his neighbors. They proposed that some one should go to Indianapolis and put a stop to the business.