Preceding pages      Volume Map     Following pages  





III. — UNDER THE CONFEDERACY
DEPARTMENT OFFICERS

[Pages 31-32]
      Hunter, Robert Mercer Taliaferro, second secretary of state (July, 1861-March, 1862), born at Hunter's Hill, Essex county, Virginia, April 21, 1809, son of James and Maria (Garnett) Hunter, grandson of William and Sarah (Garnett) Hunter, and of Muscoe and Grace Fenton (Mercer) Garnett, and a direct descendant of James Hunter who immigrated from Scotland and settled in or near Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1829, and at the Winchester Law School in 1830. He practiced law in Essex county,, and was a representative in the state legislature, 1834-36. He represented his district in the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-ninth congresses, 1837-43 and 1845-47, and served as speaker of the house in the twenty-sixth congress, when only thirty years of age. He was chosen United States senator in 1846 as successor to W. S. Archer; took his seat, December 6, 1847, and was re-elected in 1852 and again in 1858. In the senate he advocated the annexation of Texas, the compromise of the Oregon question, the tariff bill of 1846, and opposed the Wilmot proviso. He advocated the retrocession to Virginia of the portion of the District of Columbia west of the Potomac river, and voted to extend the line established by the Missouri compromise to the Pacific ocean. He opposed the admission of California and the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He became chairman of the finance committee in 1850, held that position until 1861, and framed the tariff act of 1857 which lowered duties. In 1857-58 he advocated the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. In the Democratic national convention of 1860 at Charleston he was a candidate for the nomination for president, and received next to Stephen A. Douglas, the largest number of votes on the first six ballots. He took an active part in the campaign of 1856, speaking through the north and foretelling the dissolution of the Union if the rights of the southern states were abrogated in the territories. On the secession of Virginia in 1861, he left the United States senate, and became a member of the provisional Confederate congress at Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Davis made him secretary of state, on the resignation of Secretary Robert Toombs. Mr. Hunter resigned this position when unanimously elected to the Confederate States senate by the legislature of Virginia and he was made president pro tempore of the senate. In February, 1865, with Alexander H. Stephens and John a. Campbell he was a peace commissioner and met Mr. Lincoln and Secretary Seward on board the River Queen in Hampton Roads. On his return to Virginia he presided over the war meeting that resolved, without opposition, to carry on the war till the south had achieved its independence. He opposed the bill allowing freedom to such slaves as should serve in the Confederate army, and when the question came to a vote, he acted under instructions from his constituents and voted for the measure under an emphatic protest. He was arrested at the close of the war, and after imprisonment is Fort Pulaski for several months, was released on parole, and in 1867 was pardoned by President Johnson. He was an unsuccessful candidate for United States senator from Virginia in 1874, was elected treasurer of the state in 1877, and at the close of his term, in 1880, retired to his farm in Essex county, Virginia. He was appointed by President Cleveland United States collector of customs at the port of Rappahannock, Virginia, in June, 1886. He died in Essex county, Virginia, July 18, 1887.

[Page 32]
      Seddon, James Alexander, secretary of war (q. v., p. 44).

[Page 32]
      Randolph, George Wythe, second secretary of war (March 24, 1862-November 17, 1862), born at Monticello, Virginia, March 10, 1818, son of Gov. Thomas Mann and Martha (Jefferson) Randolph. He attended school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, while under the care of his brother-in-law, Joseph Coolidge, of Boston, and in 1831 was warranted midshipman in the United States navy. He was given leave of absence in 1837, to attend the University of Virginia, where he studied two years. In 1839 he resigned his commission in the navy, and after studying law, practiced in Richmond. He was one of the commissioners sent by the state of Virginia to confer with Abraham Lincoln at his home in Springfield, with the hope of maintaining peace. He raised a company of artillery at the time of the John Brown raid, and the organization then known as the Virginia Howitzer Battalion, Maj. George W. Randolph, was attached to Magruder's force in the battle of Big Bethel, Virginia, June 10, 1861. He was commissioned brigadier-general, and commanded a brigade in Magruder's army until March 17, 1862, when President Davis appointed him secretary of war in his cabinet to succeed Judah P. Benjamin, transferred to the state department. The question of the use of hidden shells as charged against the Confederate troops at the evacuation of Yorktown, led to his decision that it was not admissible in civilized warfare to take life with no other object than the destruction of life, but that planting shells was admissible on the parapet of a fort to prevent its capture or on the trail of a retreating army to save the army. He resigned his seat in the cabinet of President Davis, November 17, 1862, and returned to the army, but was forced to resign and seek relief from a pulmonary complaint by running the blockade and living in southern France. He returned to Virginia several years after the close of the war, and died at "Edge Hill," Virginia, April 10, 1878.

[Pages 32-33]
      Ould, Robert, assistant secretary of war, and chief bureau of ex change; born at Georgetown, District of Columbia, January 31, 1820. After a course of study at Jefferson (Pennsylvania) College, he was graduated from Columbia College, Washington, D. C., in 1837, and in law from William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1842, and practiced h is profession in Washington City until 1861. During the years preceding the war, he served on the commission, appointed by President Pierce, for the codification of the district laws. He was also district attorney, and as such conducted the prosecution of Daniel E. Sickles for the killing of Philip Barton Key. He retained the office until after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, when he went to Virginia with his family. In 1861 he was appointed assistant secretary of war for the Confederate States, and held the position during Secretary of War Benjamin's term of service. Under the cartel of exchange of prisoners of war, as arranged by Generals Dix and Hill, in July, 1862, Mr. Ould was appointed agent of exchange on behalf of the Confederacy, and in this position, which he held until the close of hostilities, he earned the respect of all parties by his humane efforts to effect the exchange of prisoners, and his careful attention to all the details of his office. At Appomattox he tendered his parole to Gen. Grant, who declined to treat him as a prisoner, and sent him under safeguard to Richmond. He was subsequently imprisoned by order of Secretary of War Stanton, was indicted for treason, and tried by a military commission, which promptly acquitted him. He then resumed the practice of law in Richmond.

[Pages 33-34]
      Tyler, Robert, register of the treasury, born at "Cedar Grove," in New Kent county, Virginia, September 9, 1818, eldest son of President John Tyler and Letitia Christian, his first wife. In October, 1833, he entered William and Mary College, Williamsburg, and graduated from the academic department B. A., 1835 (the sole graduate in that year), and from the law department in 1837. As a young man he displayed fine literary powers and was the author of various poems, among them "Ahasuerus," and "Death, or Medora's Dream." He removed to Philadelphia, and entered on the practice of law, and met with success at the bar. He also engaged actively in political affairs. At the age of twenty-eight, was elected president of the Irish Repeal Association. During his father's administration, he acted as signer of patents, and for a time as the president's private secretary. In 1847 he was appointed solicitor of the sheriff of Philadelphia, holding the office three years, and was afterwards appointed to the office of prothonotary of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and in which he served until his removal to Richmond, in 1861. In 1854 he introduced and passed in the Democratic State Convention of Pennsylvania, the first resolution passed in any state in favor of a Pacific railroad, and wrote a largely circulated pamphlet in its favor. In 1858 he was chairman of the Democratic executive committee of Pennsylvania. He was active in promoting the nomination of Mr. Pierce for the presidency in 1852, and the nomination of Mr. Buchanan in 1856. Both these presidents held him in the highest esteem, and both offered him missions and offices of importance, all of which he declined. At the time of the Mexican war he recruited and tendered to the government a regiment in Philadelphia, but which was declined, on account of the quota of the state being already filed. He was yet at his post as prothonotary in 1861, when Virginia, his native state, seceded. His southern sentiments were well known throughout Philadelphia, and he was, like many others, assaulted by a mob, and obliged to fly for his life. He succeeded in reaching Richmond, and was soon afterward appointed register of the treasury by President Davis, and discharged the duties of the position with conspicuous ability until the close of the war. He afterwards made his residence in Montgomery, Alabama, where he was editor of the "Mail and Express," and chairman of the Democratic state central committee. He was an impassioned and eloquent speaker, and won the respect of all by his high and delicate sense of personal and official honor. In 1839 he married Priscilla, daughter of Thomas A. Cooper, the famous tragedian He died, in Montgomery, Alabama, December 3, 1877.

[Pages 34-35]
      Crump, William Wood, born in Henrico county, Virginia, November 25, 1819, a son of Sterling Jamieson Crump, a well known importing merchant of his day, and Elizabeth Wood, his wife. William Crump, American progenitor of the family, settled in York county, Virginia, and his descendants lived for many generations in New Kent county, which had been cut from York county. William Wood Crump passed his early life in Richmond, where he was a pupil in the well known school conducted by Dr. Gwathmey. Subsequently he prepared for college at Amherst Institute, Amherst, Massachusetts, then entered William and Mary College in 1835, and was graduated from this institution in the class of 1838. He studied law under the preceptorship of Professor N. Beverley Tucker, to whom he was tied by the bonds of sincere friendship until the death of the latter. He was admitted to the bar in 1840, and at once entered into the practice which was to make him so famous. He was a most effective speaker on the subject of states rights, supported John C. Calhoun in 1844, strongly advocated the annexation of Texas, and was a leading spirit in enrolling Virginia with those states which supported James K. Polk. In the next presidential canvass he was equally prominent in the support of Lewis Cass. Early in 1851, Mr. Crump was elected by the legislature to succeed Hon. John S. Caskie, who resigned as judge of the circuit court of Richmond City; July 1, 1852, the new constitution of the state terminated all these judgeships, and he retired from the bench. Prior to the civil war he was an important figure in the city council of Richmond, and was the author of many ordinances which tended greatly to improve the city. When the civil war broke out, he was ardent in his support of the Confederacy, and was appointed assistant secretary of the treasury of the Confederate States, the duties of which office he discharged with his usual ability. At the close of the war he was elected a delegate of the city of Richmond to the first general assembly, was chairman of one of the most important committees of this body, and was an active participant in all the debates. When all the members of the legislatures of the southern states were retired by the Shellabarger bill, Judg Crump resumed his practice of the law, and was successfully identified with this until the close of his life, with the exception of a term of service again spent in the legislature. Prior to the war he had been appointed a member of the board of visitors of William and Mary College and was president of its board of visitors. He was always an active worker in the interests of this college, and it is largely due to his efforts that she was placed on a sounder financial basis. Judge Crump was identified with innumerable important cases in the course of his long professional life, and among the most important were: The defence of President Jefferson Davis, when accused of treason, going on his bond when Mr. Davis was released; the John Randolph will case, tried in Petersburg; the case of Jeter Phillips, who was tried in Hanover for the murder of his wife; and Thomas Judson Cluverius, who was tried in Richmond for the murder of Fannie Lillian Madison, his cousin. His religious affiliation was with the Protestant Episcopal church. He was one of the most eminent jurists of the state. Judge Crump married Mary S. Tabb, now deceased, a daughter of Philip Edward Tabb, Esq., of Waverley, Gloucester county, Virginia and is survived by four children. He died at Richmond, Virginia, February 27, 1897.

[Page 35]
      Cooper, Samuel, adjutant and inspector general, C. S. A.; born at Hackensack, New Jersey, June 12, 1798, son of Maj. Samuel Cooper, of the revolutionary army, and Mary Horton, his wife. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1815; was commissioned brevet second lieutenant of light artillery, and served at New England posts, 1815-18, in the adjutant-general's office in Washington City until 1825, and for a year in garrison in Florida. He was on duty at the artillery school at Fortress Monroe, 1826-28, and then became aide-de-camp to Gen. Alexander Macomb. In 1836 he became captain in the Fourth Artillery, and was assigned to staff duty at army headquarters, as assistant adjutant-general. During the Florida war he was chief of staff to Gen. William J. Worth, being engaged against the Seminole Indians, in 1841-42. For the next ten years he was on special duty in the war department as assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. For meritorious service in the Mexican war he was brevetted colonel. On May 30, 1848, he became adjutant-general of the army. On March 7, 1861, he resigned his commission, and offered his services to the seceded states, and as a citizen of Virginia, was appointed adjutant and inspector-general of the C S A. He published "A Concise System of Instructions and Regulations for the Militia and Volunteers of the United States" (1836). He married, in 1827, a granddaughter of George Mason, of "Gunston Hall," Clermont, Virginia. After the war he resided at "Cameron," near Alexandria, Virginia, where he died, December 14, 1876.

[Pages 35-36]
      Gorgas, Josiah, chief of ordnance, born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, July 1, 1818. His long residence in Richmond, and his devotion to its people, gave him standing as an adopted son. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1841, sixth in his class, and was assigned to the ordnance department. in 1845-46 he visited Europe by direction of the war department, to observe military methods. He served with credit in the Mexican war, was especially distinguished at the siege of Vera Cruz, and rose to the rank of captain in 1855. After serving on duty in various government arsenals, he resigned at the beginning of the civil war, and was placed at the head of the Confederate ordnance department, with the rank of brigadier-general. His task was stupendous by reason of the complete poverty of the south with regard to munitions of war. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston said of him, "he created the ordnance department out of nothing." Immediately after his appointment, he sent a capable officer to Europe to procure arms and ammunition; established arsenals; arranged for the development of lead and copper mines; and made preparation for the manufacture of artillery and small arms, of powder, and ammunition. Out of this grew the important bureau of foreign supplies, and the mining and nitre bureau. He displayed rare judgement in the selection of officials for the work under his control, and impressed all with whom he came in contact, as an executive officer of remarkable ability and energy. After the war he devoted himself to business, and for a time was superintendent of the Briarfield Iron Works. He was elected vice-chancellor of the University of the South, at Seawanee, Tennessee, in 1872, and was made president of the University of Alabama in 1878, and where he remained until failing health obliged him to resign. He was, however, made librarian, and served in that capacity until his death, May 15, 1883. He married a daughter of ex-Gov. Gayle, of Mobile, Alabama.

[Pages 36-37]
      Kean, Robert Garlick Hill, chief of bureau of war March, 1862-April, 1865; was born on October 24, 1828, at "Mt. Airy" in Caroline county, Virginia, the residence of his maternal grandfather, Col. Humphrey Hill. His father was John Vaughan Kean, of "Olney," and his paternal grandfather was Dr. Andrew Kean, of "Cedar Plains," Goochland county, who came to Virginia from Ireland upon the completion of his education at the University of Dublin. It is said that Dr. Kean was tendered a chair in the University of Virginia by Mr. Jefferson. Young Kean's mother died when he was three years old, and he was brought up by his aunt, Miss Elizabeth Hill, who taught school at "Mt. Airy." His father married a second time, and he returned with him to "Olney." He attended the Episcopal High School under Dr. Pendleton, who was afterwards Gen. Lee's chief of artillery. He subsequently attended the Concord Academy under the famous teacher, Frederick W. Coleman. In 1848 he entered the University of Virginia, and graduated as Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He subsequently studied law. In 1853, he settled in Lynchburg, Virginia, and practiced law in partnership with the late J. O. L. Goggin. He entered the Confederate army as a private, and after the battle of Manassas was made adjutant-general on the staff of his kinsman, George W. Randolph. When Col. Randolph became secretary of war of the C. S. A., Mr. Kean was made chief of the bureau of war. After the war he returned to Lynchburg, and resumed the practice of his profession. He always took a deep interest in the welfare of the university, and was for eight years a member of the board of visitors, and rector of the board for four years. During this time, much was done for the university, notably the placing of it upon a better financial condition by refunding its debt. At the bar, Mr. Kean was regarded as among the ablest and most learned members of the profession, and was highly regarded by all who knew him. He was for many years a vestryman in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and on the standing committee of the diocese of Southern Virginia. In 1854, he married Jane, daughter of Col. Thomas J. Randolph, of "Edge Hill;" and in 1874 married, for his second wife, Adelaide, daughter of Col. William H. Prescott, of Louisiana.

[Page 37]
      Tidball, chief clerk of the navy department.

[Page 37]
      Spottswood, W. A., chief of medical and surgical bureau, navy department.