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of the State who rose to that rank. General Grant found occasion to speak highly of his service and skill in the command of his troops. By command of Secretary Stanton he prosecuted, under the rules of the military law, a number of Indiana's leading Southern sympathizers who were aiding and abetting the cause of the Southern Confederacy, and secured the pronouncement of the death sentence upon them. They probably would have suffered that penalty if President Lin coln had not interfered. After the war President Johnson, upon the recommendation of General Grant, ten dered him the mission to Buenos Ayres; but he declined it. He was then tendered the mission to Peru, and accepted it, and resigned in 1870. The War of the Rebellion changed Hovey from a Democrat to a Republican, and in 1886 he was elected to Congress by a major ity of 1,359 over ms Democratic competitor. In 1888 he was elected Governor of the State, receiving the nomination without a canvas; and in this office he died the 23d of November, 1891. Governor Hovey was a good Latin scholar, and spoke German and Spanish fluently. He was a very self-relying man, and determined when he had " made up his mind." He was a frequent contributor to general maga zine literature, and a poet of more than or dinary ability. A volume of his poetry will probably be published erelong. He was too short a time upon the Supreme Court bench to make anything more than the ordinary place for himself. His opinions have, how ever, that directness and force that every where stamped him as a man of more than ordinary power. Samuel B. Gookins. Judge Gookins was nominated and elected at the fall election of 1854, taking his seat Jan. 3, 1855. He was a descendant from the celebrated Gookins family of New Eng land, and was born at Rupert, Vt, May 30,
1809. When he was five years old his father died. In 1823 his mother brought him to Terre Haute, Ind., and there settled, but died two years later. Gookins, thus thrown on his own resources, entered a printingoffice in 1826, and four years later went to Vincennes to assist John B. Dillon in editing the "Gazette" of that place. In 1832 he returned to Terre Haute as editor of a local newspaper. Through the persuasion of his friends he began to read law, and was ad mitted to practice in 1834. In 1850 he was appointed a judge of the Circuit Court; and in 1851 was elected a member of the first legislature under the new Constitution, and served on the committee for the organization of the courts. It was his endeavor to take the Supreme Court out of politics, but he failed. He however was nominated by the Whigs in 1852 for a position on the bench, and was defeated. In 1854, on the occur ring of a vacancy, he was again nominated, and was elected by a majority as large as that by which he had been defeated. These nominations were unsolicited by him. He held the position of judge until Dec. 10, 1857, and then resigned, chiefly because of the inadequacy of the salary to support himself and family, and because the condi tion of his health demanded a change of climate. He went to Chicago, Ill., and there practised law until 1875, and then returned to Terre Haute, where he died June 14, 1880. He was an occasional contributor to the press. His judicial opinions, as reported, are fair specimens of legal and judicial literature. James M. Hanna.1 James M. Hanna was born Oct. 25, 1817, on the farm where his father and grandfather settled in 1804, Franklin County, Ind., near where the village of Fairfield has since grown up. His early education was limited to three months' schooling. His boyhood, like 1 This sketch of Judge Hanna has been kindly fur nished by Hon D E. Williamson, formerly AttorneyGeneral of Indiana, and at one time a partner of Judge Hanna.
