Representatives who Voted for the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, Abolishing Slavery, 38th Congress

ECKLEY, Ephraim R.  Lawyer, Union soldier. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and in the following March resigned his position in the army to take his seat. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was reelected to the Fortieth Congress,


EPHRAIM R. ECKLEY was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, December 9,1812, and received such education as could be acquired in the common schools of the West at that early day. He studied and practised law, but was early drawn aside from the pursuit of his profession by the demands of official duty. From 1843 to 1850, for most of the time, he held a seat in the State Senate. In 1853 he was a Representative in the Ohio Legislature. On the breaking out of the rebellion, he went into the army as colonel of the 26th Regiment of Ohio Volunteers and subsequently commanded the 80th Regiment. He served in several battles and at Corinth had command of a brigade. In the fall of 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and in the following March resigned his position in the army to take his seat, serving during his first term on the Committee on Private Land Claims and the Committee on Roads and Canals. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, during which he served on the Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Accounts. He was reelected to the Fortieth Congress, receiving 13,917 votes, against 9,275 for a Democratic candidate, and served on the Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Accounts. He was a delegate to the " Loyalists' Convention," which met in Philadelphia in 1866. Mr. Eckley was watchful of business, both in the Committees of which he was a member and on the floor of the House. He introduced several bills and resolutions of a private nature, but took no part in the public debates. He was a candidate for Clerk of the House, before the Republican caucus, at the organization of the Forty-first Congress, but failed to receive the nomination and retired to private life.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



ELIOT, Thomas Dawes, 1808-1870, lawyer.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts, 1854-1855, 1859-1869.  Founder of the Republican Party from Massachusetts.  Opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill as a member of Congress.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Active in the Free-Soil Party. 


THOMAS D. ELIOT was born in Boston, Massachusetts, March 20,1808, but spent the years of his early life in the city of Washington, where his father, William G. Eliot, held an important position connected with the Treasury Department. Young Eliot graduated at Columbia College, Washington, in 1825, studied law, and settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He served in both houses of the Massachusetts Legislature, and was elected a Representative to the Thirty-third Congress for the unexpired term of Zeno Scudder. He was re-elected to the Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses, serving throughout on the Committee on Commerce, of which, during his last term, he was the chairman. He was also chairman of the Special Committee on Confiscation of the Property of Rebels, of the Special Committee on Emancipation, and on Freedmen. He drew several important bills relating to the colored people, for whose benefit he secured much important legislation. His interest in this oppressed people began very early. He used to tell with special satisfaction the story of a colored woman whom his father rescued from slavery when she was quite young. As a member of Congress he bore a leading part, and exercised an important influence on the legislation of the country. His integrity was unquestioned, and his fidelity to principle undoubted. At the close of the Fortieth Congress it was found that his exhausting labors had impaired his health. It was hoped, however, that rest would restore his wonted energies, but in this he was disappointed. He daily grew weaker, until in March, 1870, he sought relief by a visit to Savannah, but without any benefit from the change. After about a month's sojourn there he returned, and gradually sank until he died, June 14, 1870, from a malignant tumor within the abdomen.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



ENGLISH, James Edward, 1812-1890, statesman, businessman.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut 1861-1865 as War Democrat.  Governor of Connecticut, 1867-1870.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  He was one of the few Democrats to support the passage of the Amendment.


ENGLISH, JAMES EDWARD, a Representative and a Senator from Connecticut; born in New Haven, Conn., March 13, 1812; attended the common schools; engaged in the lumber business, banking, and manufacturing; member, New Haven board of selectmen 1847-1861; member, common council 1848-1849; member, State house of representatives 1855; member, State senate 1856-1858; unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor 1860; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1865); was not a candidate for renomination in 1864; unsuccessful candidate for election as Governor in 1866; elected Governor of Connecticut in 1867, 1868, and 1870; member, State house of representatives 1872; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress; appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Orris S. Ferry and served from November 27, 1875, to May 17 1876, when a successor was elected; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1876 to fill the vacancy; resumed his manufacturing and commercial activities; died in New Haven, Conn., on March 2, 1890; interment in Evergreen Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



FARNSWORTH, John Franklin, 1820-1897, Chicago, Illinois, Union soldier.  Colonel, 8th Illinois Cavalry, later commissioned Brigadier General, 1861-1862.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois, 1857-1861, 1863-1873.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery


JOHN F. FARNSWORTH is a native of Eaton, Lower Canada, and was born March 27, 1820. He was of New England parentage, and his father, though poor, was well educated. In 1834 the family removed to Michigan, then a territory. Here the father engaged in farming and land surveying; his son John assisted him in both occupations, at the same time going to school at intervals, pursuing among other things the study of surveying, that by practising it he might secure means for further study, and especially for his contemplated study of the law.

In 1843 Mr. Farnsworth, now a young man of twenty-three, went to St. Charles, Illinois, and made his permanent residence there. Having previously been admitted to the bar, he now engaged in the practice of law, "having, at that time," to use his own words, "neither money, friends, or library, and but little knowledge or experience."

Mr. Farnsworth was, by education, a Democrat; and in the campaign of 1844 engaged heartily in advocating the Democratic ticket, and in promoting the election of Polk to the Presidency. In 1846, however, upon the annexation of Texas, he left the Democratic ranks, allied himself with the Liberty party, and assisted in the nomination of Owen Lovejoy for Congress. Since that time he has constantly given his influence and support to the cause of anti-slavery. In 1856, and again in 1858, he was elected to Congress by very large majorities, from what was then known as the Chicago District. He assisted in the nomination of Mr. Lincoln in 1860, leaving his seat in Congress and making a journey to Chicago for that purpose, and he seems to have been the only member of Congress from Illinois, at that time, who believed in the possibility of Mr. Lincoln's nomination.

In the spring of 1861 the war came on, and, in the following October, Mr. Farnsworth raised the 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment, nearly 1200 strong, and proceeded with it to Washington. For about thirteen months he commanded this regiment as its colonel; and, during this time, he participated, together with his regiment, in most of the battles under McClellan, upon the Peninsula, and those of South Mountain, and of Antietam in Maryland. In these battles his regiment was almost invariably in advance when approaching the enemy, and in the rear when retreating from him. In November, 1862, he received the appointment of brigadier-general, and was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Brigade, which he continued to command till after the battle of Fredericksburg. At this time, owing to a severe lameness caused by being constantly in the saddle, General Farnsworth was obliged to request leave of absence for medical treatment; and having, in the fall of 1862, been re-elected to Congress, he, on the 4th of March following, resigned his commission in the army. In the succeeding autumn, however, he was authorized to raise another regiment of cavalry, the 67th Illinois, officering it chiefly from his old regiment.

In 1864 General Farnsworth was again elected to Congress, and was also honored with a fourth election in 1866, the two last nominations being by acclamation, and on both of these occasions he received the largest majority, at his election, given by any district in the United States.

During the Fortieth Congress he was chairman of the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, and a member of the Committee on Reconstruction. He took an important part in legislation, and was a frequent and forcible speaker on the floor of the House. In the Forty-first Congress, as chairman of the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, he reported and advocated a bill abolishing the franking privilege, and, as a member of the Reconstruction Committee, he favored the readmission of Virginia, Georgia, and other States on terms of great liberality to those who participated in the Rebellion.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



FRANK, Augustus, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1865); voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  


FRANK, AUGUSTUS, (nephew of William Patterson of New York and George Washington Patterson), a Representative from New York; born in Warsaw, Wyoming County, New York, July 17, 1826; attended the common schools; engaged in mercantile pursuits; director and vice president of the Buffalo & New York City Railroad Co.; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1865); was not a candidate for renomination in 1864; director of Wyoming County National Bank in 1865; member of the State constitutional convention in 1867 and 1868; one of the managers of the Buffalo State Hospital for the Insane at Buffalo, New York, 1870-1882; organized the Bank of Warsaw in 1871 and served as president until his death; director of the Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit Co.; State commissioner for the preservation of public parks; member of the board of directors of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad; delegate at large to the State constitutional convention in 1894; died in New York City April 29, 1895; interment in Warsaw Cemetery, Warsaw, New York.   

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



GARFIELD, James Abram, 1831-1881, lawyer, Union general.  Lt. Colonel, 42nd Regiment Ohio Volunteers.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Twentieth President of the United States. 


THE triumph of energy and talent over poverty and adversity is illustrated in the lives of nearly all whose names are conspicuous in the Congress of the United States. In no case has this triumph been more signally achieved than in that of James Abraham Garfield, of Ohio. He was born in the township of Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. Abraham Garfield, the father, who had emigrated from New York, died in 1833, leaving a family of four children, of whom James was the youngest, dependent upon the exertions of a widowed mother.

James was permitted to attend the district school a few months of each year, and at intervals aided in supporting the family by working at the carpenter's trade. This not proving very remunerative, in his seventeenth year he secured employment as driver on the tow-path of the Ohio Canal, and soon rose to be a boatman. The dream of his ambition was to become a sailor on the lakes. The hardship and exposure incident to his life on the Canal brought on the fever and ague in the fall of 1848. When the young boatman had recovered from a three months' illness, it was too late to carry out his purpose of shipping on the lakes. He was persuaded to defer this step until the following fall, and meanwhile to spend a few months in attending a high-school in an adjoining county.

Early in March, 1849, young Garfield entered “Geauga Academy." Being too poor to pay the ordinary bills for board, he carried with him a few cooking utensils, rented a room in an old unpainted farm-house near the academy, and boarded himself. His mother had saved a small sum of money, which she gave him with her blessing at his departure. After that he never had a dollar which he did not earn. He soon found employment with the carpenters of the village; and working mornings, evenings, and Saturdays, earned enough to pay his way. The summer vacation gave him a longer interval for work, and when the fall term opened he had money enough laid up to pay his tuition and give him a start again. The close of this fall term found him competent to teach a district school for the winter, the avails of which were sufficient to pay his expenses for the spring and fall terms at the academy. He continued for several years, teaching a term each winter, and attending the academy through spring and fall, keeping up with his class during his absence by private study.

By the summer of 1854, young Garfield, now twenty-three years old, prosecuted his studies as far as the academies of his native region could carry him. He resolved to go to college, calculating that he could complete the ordinary course of study in two years. From his school-teaching and carpenter work he had saved about half enough to pay his expenses. To obtain the rest of the money, he procured a life insurance policy, which he assigned to a gentleman who loaned him what funds he needed, knowing that if he lived he would pay it, and if he died the policy would secure it.

In the fall of 1854, young Garfield was admitted to the junior class of Williams College, in Massachusetts. He at once took high rank as a student, and at the end of his two years' course bore off the metaphysical honor of his class.

On his return to his Western home, Mr. Garfield was made teacher of Latin and Greek in the Hiram Eclectic Institute. So high a position did he take, and so popular did he become, that the next year he was made President of the Institute. His position at the head of a popular seminary, together with his talents as a speaker, caused him to be called upon for frequent public addresses, both from platform and pulpit. The Christian denomination to which he belonged had no superstitious regard for the prerogatives of the clergy, to prevent them from receiving moral and religious instruction on the Sabbath from a layman of such unblemished character and glowing eloquence as Mr. Garfield. It was not Mr. Garfield's purpose, however, to enter the ministry; and while President of Hiram Institute he studied law, and took some public part in political affairs.

In 1859 he was elected to represent Portage and Summit Counties in the Senate of Ohio. Being well informed on the subjects of legislation, and effective in debate, he at once took high rank in the Legislature. His genial temper and cordial address made him popular with political friends and opponents.

The legislature of Ohio took a bold and patriotic stand in support of the General Government against the Rebellion which was just beginning to show its front. Under the leadership of Mr. Garfield a bill was passed declaring any resident of the State who gave aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States guilty of treason against the State, to be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for life.

When the first regiments of Ohio troops were raised, the State was wholly unprepared to arm them, and Mr. Garfield was dispatched to Illinois to procure arms. He succeeded in procuring five thousand muskets, which were immediately shipped to Columbus.

On his return Mr. Garfield was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-Second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. Soon after the organization of the regiment, he was, without his own solicitation, made its Colonel.

In December, 1861, Colonel Garfield, with his regiment, was ordered to Kentucky, where he reported to General Buell. He was immediately assigned to the command of the Eighteenth Brigade, and was ordered by General Buell to drive the Rebel forces under Humphrey Marshall out of the Sandy Valley in Eastern Kentucky. As Humphrey Marshall threatened the flank of General Buell's force, it was necessary that he should be dislodged before a movement could successfully be made by the main army upon the Rebel position at Bowling Green.

A citizen soldier, who had never been in battle, was thus placed in command of four regiments of infantry and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the duty of leading them against an officer who had led the famous charge of the Kentucky Volunteers at Buena Vista. Marshall had under his command nearly five thousand men stationed at Paintville, sixty miles up the Sandy Valley. He was expected to advance to Lexington, and establish the authority of the Provisional Government at the State Capital.

Colonel Garfield took command of his brigade at the mouth of the Big Sandy, and moved with it directly up the valley. Marshall heard of the advance, and fell back to Prestonburg, leaving a small force of cavalry near his old position to act as an outpost and to protect his trains. This cavalry fled before the advance of Colonel Garfield's force. He pushed the pursuit with his cavalry till Marshall's infantry outposts were reached, and then, drawing back, he encamped with his whole force at Paintville.

On the morning of the 9th of January, Garfield advanced with twenty-four hundred men, leaving about one thousand waiting for the arrival of supplies at Paintville. Before nightfall he had driven in the enemy's pickets. The men slept on their arms under a soaking rain, and by four o'clock in the morning were again in motion. Marshall's force occupied the heights of Middle Creek, two miles west of Prestonburg. Garfield advanced cautiously, and after some hours came suddenly in front of Marshall's position between the forks of the creek. Two columns were moved forward, one on either side of the creek, and the rebels immediately opened upon them with musketry and artillery. Garfield reinforced both his columns, but the action soon developed itself mainly on the left, where Marshall concentrated his whole force. Garfield's reserve was under fire from the enemy's artillery. He was entirely without artillery to reply, but from behind trees and rocks the men kept up a brisk fusilade.

About four o'clock in the afternoon reinforcements from Paintville arrived. Unwonted enthusiasm was aroused, and the approaching column was received with prolonged cheering. Garfield promptly formed his whole reserve for attacking the enemy's right and carrying his guns. Without awaiting the assault, Marshall hastily abandoned his position, fired his camp equipage, and began a retreat which was not ended till he reached Abingdon, Virginia.

Now occurred another trial of Garfield's energy. His troops were almost out of rations, in a rough mountainous country incapable of furnishing supplies. Excessive rains had swollen the Sandy to such a hight that steamboat men declared it impossible to ascend the river with supplies. Colonel Garfield went down the river in a skiff to its mouth, and ordered the Sandy Valley, a small steamer which had been in the quartermaster's service, to take a load of supplies and start up. The captain declared it impossible, but Colonel Garfield ordered the crew on board. He stationed a competent army officer on board to see that the captain did his duty, and himself took the wheel. The little vessel trembled in every fiber as she breasted the raging flood, which swept among the tree-tops along the banks. The perilous trip occupied two days and nights, during which time Colonel Garfield was only eight hours absent from the wheel. The men in camp greeted with tumultuous cheering the arrival of the boat, with their gallant commander as pilot.

At the pass across the mountain known as Pound Gap, Humphrey Marshall kept up a post of observation, held by a force of five hundred men. On the 14th of March, Garfield started with five hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry to dislodge this detachment. On the evening of the second day's march he reached the foot of the mountain two miles north of the Gap. Next morning he sent the cavalry along the main road leading to the enemy's position, while he led the infantry by an unfrequented route up the side of the mountain. While the enemy watched the cavalry, Garfield led the infantry undiscovered to the very border of their camp. The enemy were taken by surprise, and a few volleys dispersed them. They retreated in confusion down the eastern slope of the mountain, pursued for several miles into Virginia by the cavalry. The troops rested for the night in the comfortable huts which the enemy had built, and the next morning burnt them down, together with everything left by the enemy which they could not carry away.

These operations, though on a small scale compared with the magnificent movements of a later period in the war, yet had a very considerable importance. They were the first of a brilliant series of successes which re-assured the despondent in the spring of 1862.

They displayed a military capacity in the civilian Colonel, and a bravery in the raw recruits which augured well for the success of the volunteer army. Colonel Garfield received high praise from General Buell and the War Department. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, his commission bearing the date of the battle of Middle Creek.

Six days after the capture of Pound Gap, General Garfield received orders to transfer the larger part of his command to Louisville. On his arrival there, he found that the Army of the Ohio was already beyond Nashville on its march to the aid of Grant at Pittsburg Landing. He made haste to join General Buell, who placed him in command of the Twentieth Brigade. He reached the field of Pittsburg Landing at one o'clock on the second day of the battle, and bore a part in its closing scenes. His brigade bore its full share in the tedious siege operations before Corinth, and was among the foremost to enter the abandoned town after its evacuation by the enemy. He soon after marched eastward with his brigade, and rebuilt all the bridges on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad between Corinth and Decatur, and took post at Huntsville, Alabama.

General Garfield was soon after put at the head of the court-martial for the trial of General Turchin. He manifested a capacity for such work which led to his subsequent detail for similar service.

About the 1st of August, his health having been seriously impaired, he went home on sick leave. As soon as he recovered, he was ordered to report in person at Washington. He was made a member of the court-martial for the trial of Fitz-John Porter. Most of the autumn was occupied with the duties of this detail.

In January, 1863, General Garfield was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army of the Cumberland, which was commanded by General Rosecrans. He became the intimate friend and confidential advisor of his chief, and bore a prominent part in all the military operations in Middle Tennessee during the spring and summer of 1863.

The final military service of General Garfield was in the battle of Chickamauga. Every order issued that day, with one exception, was written by him. He wrote the orders on the suggestion of his own judgment, afterwards submitting them to General Rosecrans for approval or change. The only order not written by him was that fatal one to General Wood, which lost the battle. The words did not correctly convey the meaning of the commanding general. General Wood, the division commander, so interpreted them as to destroy the right wing.

The services of General Garfield were appropriately recognized by the War Department in his promotion to the rank of Major-General of Volunteers, “for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chickamauga."

About a year before, while absent in the field, General Garfield had been elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress from the old Giddings district of Ohio. He accordingly resigned his commission on the 5th of December, 1863, after a service of nearly three years.

General Garfield immediately took high rank in Congress. He was made a member of the Committee on Military Affairs, of which in the Fortieth Congress he became chairman. In this committee his industry and his familiarity with the wants of the army enabled him to do signal service for the country. He soon became known as a powerful speaker, remarkably ready and effective in debate.

General Garfield was re-nominated for the Thirty-ninth Congress by acclamation, and was re-elected by a majority of nearly twelve thousand. He was made a member of the Committee of Ways and Means, in which he soon acquired great influence. He studied financial questions with untiring assiduity, and was spoken of by the Secretary of the Treasury as one of the best informed men on such subjects then in public life.

In 1866, General Garfield was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, in which he was made chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. At a time when everything seemed drifting towards greenbacks and repudiation, he took a bold financial position. As his views were opposed to those of many leading men of his party, and to the declarations of the Republican State Convention of Ohio, he seemed to hazard his re-nomination, but he did not hesitate firmly and fully to avow his convictions. His financial doctrines were at length adopted by the entire party, and fully indorsed in the Chicago Republican Platform. On the 24th of June, 1868, he was renominated and in October following was elected to the Forty-first Congress.

General Garfield is one of the most popular men now in public life. He is generous, warm-hearted, and genial. He is one of the most accomplished scholars in the country, and by laborious study of all subjects which require his attention, he is constantly adding to his breadth of intellect. In person he is about six feet in hight. He has a large head and a German cast of countenance, which a friend has aptly called a “mirror of good nature.”

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868, pp. 144, 438, 450, 524, 540, 538, 553, 557. The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 1, 1869.



GASSON, J., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.

(Biographical Dictionary of the U.S. Congress 1774-1927 (1928); Congressional Globe)



GOOCH, Daniel W., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nathaniel P. Banks; reelected to the four succeeding Congresses and served from January 21, 1858, to September 1, 1865 when he resigned. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


GOOCH, DANIEL WHEELWRIGHT, a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Wells, York County, Maine, January 8, 1820; attended the public schools and Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and was graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1843; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Boston in 1846; member of the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1852; member of the State constitutional convention in 1853; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nathaniel P. Banks; reelected to the four succeeding Congresses and served from January 21, 1858, to September 1, 1865 when he resigned; appointed Navy agent of the port of Boston in 1865; removed by President Johnson in 1866; again elected to the Forty-third Congress (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1875); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress; pension agent in Boston 1876-1886; resumed the practice of law and also engaged in literary pursuits; died in Melrose, Massachusetts, November 11, 1891; interment in Wyoming Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



GRINNELL, Josiah Bushnell, 1821-1891, New Haven, Vermont, abolitionist, Republican Party co-founder, theologian, lawyer.  Founded First Congregational Church, Washington, DC, in 1851.  Founded town of Grinnell, Iowa.  Iowa State Senator, 1856-1860.  Congressman 1863-1867.  Supported radical abolitionist John Brown.  Advocated for use of colored troops in the Union Army.  As Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. 


JOSIAH B. GRINNELL was born in New Haven, Vermont, December 22, 1821. He received a collegiate and theological education. In 1855, he went to Iowa, where he turned his attention to farming, and became the most extensive wool-grower in the State. He was four years a member of the Iowa Senate, and two years a special agent for the General Post Office. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded by William Loughridge in the Fortieth Congress.

As early as 1856 his interests and activities became state-wide. He attended the convention which organized the Republican party of Iowa and was chosen to write the address to the voters. The same year he was elected state senator on a platform of "No Liquor Shops; Free Schools for Iowa; No Nationalizing of Slavery" (Grinnell, post, p. 117). In the Senate he was chairman of the committee which secured the passage of the Free School Act of 1858 and was one of the sharpest critics of the doctrines involved in the Dred Scott Decision. He soon became known as perhaps the leading Abolitionist of the state, John Brown himself brought a band of escaped slaves to Grinnell's home in 1859, and there wrote part of his Virginia Proclamation. In 1860 Grinnell was a delegate to the convention which nominated Lincoln for president and two years later was himself elected congressman, serving from 1863 to 1867. A warm personal friend of Lincoln, he supported the Administration vigorously. In debate he was relentless toward the opposition, sparing neither sarcasm nor ridicule. He urged the use of colored soldiers in the war and was an ardent supporter of a high protective tariff. The war over, he opposed the readmission of the Southern states until they should give the vote to the black man. In 1867, he lost the Republican nomination for governor.

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868, pp. 70, 153, 507, 572, 574.



GRISWOLD, John Augustus, 1818-1872, manufacturer.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York.  Mayor of Troy, New York, 1850.  Raised regiment for Union Army.  Supervised building of U.S.S. Monitor, the first ironclad Union Navy ship.  Elected U.S. Congressman 1862, served 1863-1869.  Opposed the Fugitive-Slave Act and Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


JOHN A. GRISWOLD was born at Nassau, Rensselaer County, New York, in 1822. His grandfathers fought in the war for Independence, and one of them was confined in the " Jersey Prison Ship." The subject of this sketch is described as in youth kind and generous, despising falsehood and deceit, developing strength of body by much out-of-door activity, and at the same time cultivating his mind by diligent attention to study.

His tastes tending to commercial pursuits, when seventeen years of age he went to Troy, and entered the iron and hardware house of Hart, Lesley & Warren. At the expiration of a year he accepted the position of book-keeper in the cotton manufacturing and commission house of C. H. & I. J. Merritt. During this period of his life, he lived in the family of his uncle, Major-General Wool, thus enjoying the influence of a refined and cultivated society in developing his social, moral, and intellectual character.

In a few years, Mr. Griswold embarked in business for himself, in a wholesale and retail drug establishment. He subsequently became interested in the manufacture of iron, as a partner in the Rensselaer Iron Company. He soon reached a leading position among the business men of the country as a manufacturer of iron. Owing to the exertions of Mr. Griswold and others engaged in similar pursuits, the city of Troy has gradually grown to be one of the most important iron centers of the United States. The introduction into the United States by Mr. Griswold and his associates of the process of iron manufacture known as the Bessemer steel process, promises within a few years to substitute the steel rail for the iron rail on the railroads of this country.

Although immersed in business, Mr. Griswold deemed it his duty as a citizen to give attention to public affairs. In 1855, he was elected Mayor of the city of Troy. During his term of office, he gave careful attention to the affairs of the city, and as the presiding officer in the common council, gave acknowledged satisfaction by his urbanity and impartial administration of parliamentary laws.

At the breaking out of the rebellion, Mr. Griswold at once arrayed himself among the supporters of the Government. On the 15th of April, 1861, the day after the arrival of the news of the fall of Fort Sumter, he presided at a mass meeting held in Troy for the purpose of raising men to protect the United States against rebels, and means to support the families of those who should enter the service. On this occasion, at the organization of the meeting, he in a few words disclaimed any partisan action in his own conduct, deplored the distracted state of the country, declared that any man who should be influenced by political considerations in such a crisis, ought to receive universal public execration, and expressed the hope that the citizens would respond with alacrity to the call of the President for men. The Second Regiment of New York State Volunteers was the result of the efforts which followed this and similar meetings. Mr. Griswold also aided in raising the 30th, 125th, and 169th regiments of New York Volunteers, as well as the Black-Horse Cavalry and the 21st New York, or " Griswold Light Cavalry."

In August, 1861, Congress made an appropriation for the construction of iron-clad steamships, or floating steam batteries. A few weeks later, C. S. Bushnell of New Haven, John F. Winslow of Troy, arid Mr. Griswold, were at "Washington engaged in closing a contract with the Government for clothing a wooden vessel with iron. This business having been concluded, these gentlemen called the attention of the Naval Board to a model of an iron-clad vessel made by John Ericsson, which they had brought with them, and suggested the propriety of building a vessel after his plans. These gentlemen subsequently had interviews with President Lincoln, who manifested great interest in the ideas presented. Taking up the model, he examined it closely and critically, commented in his shrewd and homely way upon the principles involved in the construction of a vessel on such a model, spoke favorably of the design, and proposed that they should meet him, with the model, at the Navy Department. This meeting, suggested by Mr. Lincoln himself, was held, he being present.

In their report, which was made soon after this meeting, the Naval Board, Commodores Joseph Smith and H. Paulding, and Captain C. H. Davis, recommended that an experiment be made with one battery of the description presented by "Captain Ericsson, with a guarantee and forfeiture in case of failure in any of the properties and points of the vessel as proposed. The contract as made, stipulated for the completion of the battery within one hundred days from the signing of the contract, which was on October 5, 1861; and the extraordinary provision was introduced, that the test of the battery, upon which it3 acceptance by the United States Government depended, should be its withstanding the fire of the enemy's batteries at the shortest ranges, the United States agreeing to fit out the vessel with men and guns.

The contract price for building the battery was $275,000. The work was begun in October, 1861, at the Continental Works, Greenpoint, Long Island, by Mr. J. F. Rowland, under the direct supervision of Captain Ericsson. The plating of the vessel, and portions of her machinery and other iron work, were manufactured at the Rensselaer Iron Works and the Albany Iron Works. On January 30, 1862, which was the one hundred and first working day from the time the contract was entered into, the Monitor was launched at Greenpoint, and was delivered to the Government March 5, 1862.

Her subsequent history is well known. Formidable in appearance, and invulnerable in structure, she appeared at Fortress Monroe at ten o'clock on the evening of Friday, March 8, 1862. On the following day, in conflict with the rebel iron-clad Merrimac in Hampton Roads, she not only compelled her antagonist to retire in a disabled condition, but saved Fortress Monroe from capture, preserved millions of shipping and public property, and thousands of lives, put an end to all the plans and expectations of the rebel authorities based upon their experimental vessel, and gave us prestige abroad, the worth of which to us as a nation was inestimable. Speaking of the views that obtained concerning this vessel before and after that celebrated sea-fight of March 9, 1862, one writer has well said, "Never was a greater hope placed upon apparently more insignificant means, but never was a great hope more triumphantly fulfilled." The thanks of Congress were officially returned to Captain Ericsson, the designer of the Monitor; and President Lincoln and his Cabinet personally awarded to the contractors the position of public benefactors.

In the following October, Mr. Griswold was nominated by the Democratic party of the Fifteenth Congressional District, as a candidate for Representative in the Thirty-eighth Congress. His nomination was received with great cordiality. Although nominally a Democrat, his course for months past had shown that he could not allow party attachments or considerations to rise superior to his patriotism. Ever liberal and magnanimous in his political actions and views, he had signally displayed these noble characteristics in his efforts to sustain the Government in crushing the rebellion.

In the election that followed, and in a district strongly Republican, he was chosen as Representative in Congress by a majority of 1,287 votes, while in the same district the Republican State ticket received a majority of 817 votes.

Mr. Griswold's course in the Congress to which he was then elected, was such as to distinguish him as a firm and decided friend of the Government. He refused to affiliate with those members of the Democratic party who were doing their utmost to embarrass the Government, and obstruct the war. As questions of administrative policy, and those of a still more important character—involving the very life of the Republic—arose, he voted promptly and unhesitatingly to provide the nation with everything necessary for its welfare, and his guiding principle was that" the Republic should receive no harm." He favored all measures having for their end a more vigorous prosecution of the war; and on all questions of furnishing supplies, on all matters of financial policy, and upon every declaration of the duty of crushing the rebellion and preserving the Government, he constantly and uniformly gave his vote with the Union men in Congress.

As a member of the Naval Committee, he labored indefatigably and effectively to strengthen and promote the efficiency of the navy. Acting ever from principle, the agency of former party friendships was exerted in vain to impose upon him a course of conduct that involved the spirit of disloyalty. Unflinching patriotism, such as was his, stood unshaken by the dictation of caucus, or the persuasion of earlier political tics. "With such a record he returned home at the close of the session of 1864. As one man, the Union men of his district resolved to return him to the seat in Congress which he had filled with such distinguished honor. On the 14th of September, 1864, a Union nominating convention for the Fifteenth Congressional District met at Salem, in Washington County, and, without a ballot, selected him by acclamation as their candidate for Representative in the Thirty-ninth Congress. On this occasion the Hon. A. D. Wait, a member of the convention, said of Mr. Griswold: "He has a record that the best man in the land may be proud of. He has passed through the furnace of party influence seven times heated, and escaped without so much as a smell of fire upon his garments."

Against the most determined efforts of the Democratic party Mr. Griswold was again elected to Congress for the term commencing March 4, 1865. During his second term in Congress, his course was distinguished by the same devotion to the principles of patriotism and liberty that marked his conduct there during his first two years. With men of vacillating natures, disloyal views, vindictive dispositions, or of characters in which ambition and discontent were the main ingredients, he had no sympathy. The object at which he aimed was to put down the rebellion by force of arms; and the means by which he sought to effect tin's end, were the support of the Government to which this labor was especially intrusted. All his sympathies and opinions were in unison with the grand design of preserving the Republic, and all his energies were bent toward the fulfillment of that work. In common with the noble army of patriots in Congress which posterity will delight to honor, his later, like his earlier votes, were in consonance with the Union sentiments of the North.

The Republicans of the Fifteenth Congressional District indicated their approval of this patriotic course, by nominating Mr. Griswold for re-election to the Fortieth Congress. At the election which followed, he received a majority of 5,316 votes, the largest ever given to any Representative from his district. On returning to Washington for the third term, he was placed on the Committee ot Ways and Means, in which position he labored with zeal and industry, bringing to the discharge of his duties the results of his previous legislative experience, an extensive knowledge of the manufacturing interests of the country, a comprehension of the differences existing between the labor of the United States and the labor of Great Britain, and sagacity in reaching ends beneficial to the nation by the most acceptable means.

In July, 1868, Mr. Griswold was nominated by the Republican State Convention for the office of Governor of New York. During the laborious and exciting canvass that ensued, Mr. Griswold steadily grew in favor with the people. Neither he nor his friends had sanguine hopes of overcoming the majority of 48,000 by which the Democrats had carried .the State in 1867. Official returns of the election gave Mr. Hoffman a majority of 27,946. Subsequent investigations made by a Congressional Committee disclosed the fact, that more than 30,000 fraudulent votes were cast for the Democratic candidates in the city of New York.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



HALE, James T., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses and as an Independent Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1865).


HALE, JAMES TRACY, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, October 14, 1810; attended the public schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1832 and commenced practice in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; appointed president judge of the twentieth judicial district in 1851; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses and as an Independent Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1865); chairman, Committee on Claims (Thirty-eighth Congress); died in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1865; interment in City Cemetery.  

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



HERRICK, Anson, 1812-1868, journalist.  Democratic Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Served in Congress December 1863-March 1865.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


HERRICK, ANSON, (son of Ebenezer Herrick), a Representative from New York; born in Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine, January 21, 1812; attended the public schools; learned the art of printing; established the Citizen at Wiscasset, Maine, in 1833; moved to New York City in 1836; established the New York Atlas in 1838, which he continued until his death; member of the board of aldermen 1854-1856; naval storekeeper for the port of New York 1857-1861; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress; resumed his journalistic pursuits; delegate to the Union National Convention at Philadelphia in 1866; died in New York City February 6, 1868; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. 

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



HIGBY, William, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1863 he was elected a Representative from California to the Thirty-eighth Congress. Re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


WILLIAM HIGBY was born at Willsborough, Essex County, New York, August 18, 1813. He spent his boyhood on a farm, and subsequently engaged in the lumber and iron business. He graduated at the University of Vermont, in 1840, after which he studied law, and practiced ten years in the New York State Courts. The discovery of gold in California, in 1848, led thousands of the most enterprising of all classes and professions to the Pacific coast in quest of fortune. The most of them remained only until their hopes for sudden wealth were either realized or disappointed, but some remained to become permanent and valuable citizens of the rising State. Among the latter was Mr. Higby, who emigrated to California in 1850, and soon entered upon a successful practice of his profession. From 1853 to 1859 he was district-attorney for Calaveras County, and in 1862 was a member of the State Senate. In 1863 he was elected a Representative from California to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served on the Committees on Public Lands and Expenditures in the Navy Department. Re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, he served on the Special Committee to visit the Indian tribes of the west, on the Committees on the Death of President Lincoln and Appropriations. He was a delegate to the "Philadelphia Loyalists' Convention" of 1866. In the Fortieth Congress, he served on the Pacific Railroad Committee, and was chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining.

On the 23d of February, 1869, Mr. Higby delivered a speech on the bill for strengthening the public credit, which, within a limited space, ably set forth the true theory in regard to the national debt and its payment.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



HOOPER, Samuel, 1808-1875, merchant.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.  Elected in 1860, served until his death in 1875.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. 


SAMUEL HOOPER was born on the 3d of February, 1808, at Marblehead, a seaport town in Massachusetts, about fifteen miles from Boston. The people of Marblehead at the time of Mr. Hooper's birth and early life there, were bold and hardy fishermen, largely engaged in the cod-fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland, and having considerable business relations and intercourse with the West Indies, Russia, and Spain. They sent their fish to the West Indies for sale, and bought sugars with the proceeds, which they carried thence in their ships to Russia, bringing home in return iron, hemp, and other products of that country. They also shipped large quantities of fish to Spain, and sold them there for doubloons, which they brought back to this country. Mr. Hooper's father was largely engaged in the European and West Indian trade; and, as his agent, Mr. Hooper in early life visited more than once Russia and the West Indies, and passed a whole season in Spain.

In 1833, he became a junior partner in the firm of Bryant, Sturgis & Co., at that time one of the leading houses in Boston, conducting extensive enterprises on the Western coast of this Continent and in China, sending their vessels to California (it was nearly twenty years before the gold discoveries there) for hides, which were then the great export of that cattle-grazing region, to the Northwest coast for furs, and to China for teas and silks. In this firm Mr. Hooper continued for about ten years, and until its senior members, whose names it had long borne, and who had grown gray in honorable mercantile pursuits, wished to retire from active business. He then became a member of another large house engaged in the China trade, and remained in that business for many years.

During the period of his active business life, however, foreign commerce did not alone engage or absorb his interests or his energies. He became early interested in the development of our domestic resources, and embarked both time and capital in the iron business, to the understanding of which and of the true interests of this branch of industry in this country, he gave much attention. The subject of currency and finance early interested him, both as a theoretical question, and as a practical matter affecting the real prosperity and substantial growth of the country. In the House of Representatives of the State of Massachusetts, in the years 1851, '52 and '53, and subsequently in the State Senate of that State in 1858, he distinguished himself by the interest he took in the subject of banking and finance, by the knowledge he displayed upon it, and by the judicious and thoughtful measures which he introduced to check the evils of our unstable currency, and to establish on an impregnable basis the banks then existing in Massachusetts under State charters. During this period lie wrote and published two pamphlets on currency or money and bank notes, which are full of sound thought and clear statement, and are remarkable for their broad, thorough, and comprehensive views of the whole subject.

In the summer of 1861, he was elected from Boston to the Thirty-seventh Congress, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. William Appleton. Possessing at this time a commercial experience and knowledge, the result of extensive transactions in foreign commerce for more than a quarter of a century with all parts of the globe, and of active, if less extensive, operations at home, and a very clear and thorough understanding of that great mystery of finance and money as applied both to public and private affairs, the fruit of much study, reading, and sagacious and patient observation for an equally long period, and being thoroughly in sympathy with the Administration, and earnest in devising the best means for enabling the Government to obtain the funds necessary for the prosecution of the war, on the one hand, and the people to bear the heavy burden it entailed on the other, Mr. Hooper became at once a trusted adviser of the Treasury Department, and a most useful and indefatigable member of the Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Representatives.

An extract from a letter of Mr. Chief-Justice Chase to the author, will serve to show his appreciation of Mr. Hooper's patriotism and public services during the critical period when Mr. Chase was Secretary of the Treasury :

" WASHINGTON,  January 2, 1869.

“My impressions of Mr. Hooper, until April, 1961, were derived almost wholly from the opinions of others. These gave me great confidence in his sagacity, integrity, and patriotism.

“I do not now recollect where our personal acquaintance commenced; but it was, I think, not long before the 6th of April, 1861. I then advertised for proposals for a loan of $14,901,000 in money (coin) in exchange for Treasury notes. The proposals were to be opened five days afterward, on the 11th.

“ This was at a time of great anxiety and depression. Before the day for opening the proposals arrived, the expeditions for the reinforcement of Pickens and the provisionment of Sumter had already sailed; and on that day, the correspondence between Beauregard, commanding the rebels, and Anderson, commanding the Fort, was going on, in reference to the surrender of Sumter. The next day the rebel batteries opened fire.

“No time could be more unpropitious to the negotiation of a loan. Yet the advertisement could not be withdrawn without serious injury to the public credit; and a failure to obtain the amount advertised for, would have had, perhaps, at that particular juncture, a still worse effect.

“Mr. Hooper happened to be in Washington, and was a subscriber for $100,000. On opening the proposals I found that the offers fell short of the amount required, by about a million of dollars. I sent for Mr. Hooper, then personally almost a stranger to me, and asked him to take that sum, in addition to what he had before subscribed, assuring him he should be protected from loss in the event of his being unable to distribute the amount in Boston. He complied with my request without hesitation, and disposed of the whole amount without any aid from the Treasury. His readiness to come to the aid of the Government at the critical moment, and the personal confidence he shared in me, made an impression on my mind which cannot be obliterated. The sum does not now seem large, but it was large then, and the responsibility was assumed when most men would have shrunk from it.

“ On another and even more important occasion, my obligations to Mr. Hooper for support and co-operation, were still greater.

“Very few months had passed, after I took charge of the Department, before I became fully satisfied that the best interests of the people, future as well as immediate, in peace as well as in war, demanded a complete revolution in currency by the substitution of notes, uniform in form and in credit-value, issued under the authority of the nation, for notes varying in both respects issued under State authority, and I suggested to different financial gentlemen the plan of a National Banking System. The suggestion was not received with favor, or anything like favor.

“But my conviction of the necessity of some such measure, both to the successful management of the finances during the war, and to the prevention of disastrous convulsions on the return of peace, was so strong, that I determined to bring the subject to the attention of Congress.

“In my report on the finances submitted on the 9th of December, 1861, I therefore recommended the adoption of a National Banking System, upon principles and under restrictions explained partly in the report, and more fully in the Bill drawn up under my direction, and either sent to the Committee of Ways and Means, or handed to one of its members—perhaps to Mr. Hooper himself. However the bill may have gone to the Committee, I am not mistaken, I think, in saying that Mr. Hooper was the only member who gave it any support. I am pretty sure that the only favor shown it by the Committee was a permission to Mr. Hooper to report it without recommendation, on his own responsibility. He took that responsibility, and the Bill was reported and printed.

“No action was asked upon it at that session. If action had been asked, it is not improbable that it would have been rejected with very few dissenting votes—so powerful then was the influence of the State Banks, so reluctant were they to accept the new measure, and so strong was the general sentiment of the Members of Congress against it.

“Before the next session, a strong public opinion, in favor of a uniform currency for the whole country, and of the National Banking System as a means of accomplishing that object, lad developed itself; and Mr. Hooper found himself able to carry the measure through the House of Representatives. It still encountered a formidable opposition in the Senate, and I well remember the personal appeals I was obliged to make to Senators, as I had already to Representatives, in order to overcome their objections.

The Bill found a powerful and judicious friend in Mr. Sherman, and at length passed by a clear vote. It was approved by Mr. Lincoln, who had steadily supported it from the beginning, on the 25th of February, 1863.

“I think I cannot err in ascribing the success of the measure in the House to the sound judgment, persevering exertions, and disinterested patriotism of Mr. Hooper. The results of the measure during the war fulfilled, and since the war have justified the expectations I formed. It received valuable amendments in both Houses of Congress before its enactment, and has since been further amended; and is, I think, still capable of beneficial modification in points of much importance to the public interests.

“But this is not the place nor the occasion for a discussion of this matter; all that you desire is my estimate of the services of Mr. Hooper. I have mentioned only the two principal occasions on which I was specially indebted to him; but they were by no means the only occasions in which he aided me, or rather the Department of the Government of which I then had charge, both by personal counsel and by Congressional support. 303

“During the whole time I was at the head of the Treasury, I constantly felt the great benefit of his wise and energetic co-operation. It would be unjust, saying this of Mr. Hooper, not to say that there were others in and out of Congress, to whom in other financial relations the Treasury Department and the country were very greatly indebted; but it is simple duty to add that the timely aid which he rendered at the crisis of the loan of April, 1861, and in promoting the enactment of the National Banking Law, placed me, charged as I was with a most responsible and difficult task, under special obligations which I can never forget, and shall always take pleasure in acknowledging.

“ With great respect, yours very truly,

                                         “S. P. Chase.”

In accepting a re-nomination for the third time in the autumn of 1866, Mr. Hooper announced to his constituents his intention of retiring from Congress at the end of that term ; and in the spring of 1868, he re-affirmed the same intention in a formal and decided letter to the people of his district, in which he thanked them most cordially for their continued support of him; but his constituents would take no refusal. They insisted upon his reconsidering the matter. He was unanimously nominated, and for the fifth time was elected to Congress after a sharp contest in a very close district, by a majority of nearly three thousand votes.

More accustomed to writing than to public speaking, Mr. Hooper has not been in Congress a frequent or lengthy speaker; but whenever he has spoken, he has commanded the attention of the House. His speeches have all been distinguished by a thorough understanding of the subject matter, by vigorous and comprehensive thought, exact logic, and clear and forcible statements. They have been mostly on financial questions, and have attracted the attention and received the approval of the sound thinkers and of the public press, both in this country and in Europe.  

He presented $50,000 to Harvard, in 1866, to found a school of mining and practical geology in close connection with the Lawrence scientific school, and in that year received the degree of M. A. from the university. He wrote two pamphlets on currency, which became well known for their broad and comprehensive treatment of this subject. His house in Washington, which was noted for its hospitality, was the headquarters of General George B. McClellan in 1861-'2.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: Historical and Biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 1, 1869.



HOTCHKISS, Giles,  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery


GILES W. HOTCHKISS is a member of the bar in Binghamton, New York. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by William S. Lincoln.

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868,  pp. 523, 538.



HUBBARD, Asahel W. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served as a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Special Committee to visit the Indian tribes of the West. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


ASAHEL W. HUBBARD was born at Haddam, Connecticut, January 18, 1819. Having received a common school education, he removed to Indiana in 1838, and engaged in school teaching. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. He was elected to the Legislature of Indiana in 1847, and served three years. In 1857 he removed to Iowa, and made his home in Sioux City, where he practised his profession. He was subsequently elected judge of the Fourth Judicial District of Iowa. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served as a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Special Committee to visit the Indian tribes of the West. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, serving on the Committees on Public Expenditures and Indian Affairs. In the Fortieth Congress he introduced a bill to facilitate the resumption of specie payments, and a bill amendatory of an act granting lands in the State of Iowa to aid in the construction of railroads. The latter bill was designed to extend the time for the completion of the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad, and consisted mainly of limitations and restrictions on the original grant. In explaining the bill, Mr. Hubbard said: "I have inserted those provisions in the bill for the purpose of protecting the interests of the people along the line of the road as well as the interest of the Government. They are guards and restrictions and limitations on the original grant." Beyond the explanation and advocacy of this measure, Mr. Hubbard took no part in the discussions and deliberations of the Fortieth Congress, as he was frequently absent from his seat on account of bad health.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



HUBBARD, John H.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1867) voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


HUBBARD, JOHN HENRY, a Representative from Connecticut; born in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Conn., March 24, 1804; attended the public schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1828 and commenced practice in Lakeville; member of the State senate 1847-1849; prosecuting attorney 1849-1852; moved to Litchfield in 1855 and continued the practice of law; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1867); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1866; resumed the practice of law; died in Litchfield, Conn., on July 30, 1872; interment in the East Cemetery.  

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



HULBURD, Calvin T.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was reelected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


CALVIN T. HULBURD was born in Stockholm, New York, June 5, 1809. After having graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and studied law at Yale College, he engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1842 he was elected to the Legislature of New York, and was twice re-elected. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was reelected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868.



HUTCHINS, Wells A.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate in 1864 for reelection to the Thirty-ninth Congress.


HUTCHINS, WELLS ANDREWS, (cousin of John Hutchins), a Representative from Ohio; born in Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio, October 8, 1818; attended the public schools; taught school; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio; moved to Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1842; member of the State house of representatives in 1852 and 1853; city solicitor of Portsmouth 1857-1861; United States provost marshal for Ohio in 1862; unsuccessful candidate in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate in 1864 for reelection to the Thirty-ninth Congress and again in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress; resumed the practice of law in Portsmouth, Ohio, and died there January 25, 1895; interment in Greenlawn Cemetery.



INGERSOLL, Ebon C., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1864, he was elected a representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress for the unexpired term of Hon. Owen Lovejoy; and has been re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congress.
Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  


EBON CLARK INGERSOLL was born in Oneida County, allot New York, December 12, 1831. In 1843, he removed with and his father to Illinois. Having finished his education at Paducah, Kentucky, he entered upon the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1854, and located himself at Peoria, Illinois, for the practice of his profession.

In 1856, Mr. Ingersoll was elected to the Illinois legislature. Ile served, for a time, as Colonel of a Regiment of Illinois Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion. In 1864, he was elected a representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress for the unexpired term of Hon. Owen Lovejoy; and has been re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congress.

In the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Ingersoll holds the responsible position of Chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia. He has shown himself an active and able Representative in Congress. His speeches give evidence of earnestness, joined with a sound and discriminating judgment. In his speech on the government of the insurrectionary States, delivered on the 7th of February, 1867, he thus advanced his views touching the status of these States as affected by their rebellion;

“I hold that the rebel States, by rebellion, destroyed all civil government within their boundaries, and destroyed their political organizations known to the Constitution of the United States, and, consequently, they ceased to be States of this Union; and by the operation of the act of secession, culminating in armed rebellion, they became the territory of the United States, when we, by our successes on the battle-field, made a conquest of their armies."

We present an extract from another speech by Mr. Ingersoll, which is interesting, not only as a specimen of extemporaneous oratory, but as an illustration of opinions of the President entertained in Congress, pending the great contest between him and the Legislative branch of the Government:

“Sir, Andrew Johnson has made no sacrifices worthy of any mention, and if he has, an appreciative and grateful people would remember them without his thrusting them in their faces on every occasion. What has he suffered? He has not suffered so much as the humblest private that fought in our armies during the rebellion. The humblest private that fought at Gettysburg or in the Wilderness is entitled to more credit than is Andrew Johnson for what he has done. Has Andrew Johnson ever fought the enemy in battle? No, sir. Has he ever made an effort to find the enemy on the tented field? Never. Has he ever even smelled gunpowder? Has he ever camped on the frozen ground? Has he ever stood guard in the stormy and dreary nights numbed with the frosts of winter ? Has he ever suffered any of the privations common to the soldier, or endured any of the hardships of campaign life? No, never; not even an hour!

What has Andrew Johnson suffered ? He suffered being United States Senator in 1861; lie has suffered being military governor of Tennessee, snugly ensconced in a mansion at Nashville, with a brigadier-general's straps on his shoulders, and feasted and toasted, with sentinels pacing before his door while he was securely and quietly sleeping through the watches of the night, while others braved the dangers he never met !

“And will the American people allow him to impose his infamous policy of “restoration " upon them because he claims to have suffered so much ? No, sir, not even if his pretended sufferings were real. Andrew Johnson has suffered nothing worthy of remark, unless it be that he has suffered the pangs of an uneasy conscience for his perfidy to the principles of the Union party. That kind of suffering would be good for him, and I hope he may have plenty of it. There is certainly plenty of cause, and I trust it may have a good effect.”

Mr. Ingersoll delivered a speech in the House of Representatives, on the 22d of February, 1868, pending the consideration of the Report of the Committee on Reconstruction in regard to the Impeachment of the President. From this speech we make the following extracts :

“I here admit freely that it is a painful duty imposed upon me as a Representative, to be called upon to vote under the solemn obligations of my oath for Articles of Impeachment against the Chief Magistrate. I bear no ill-will or malice toward the President. I am actuated by no unworthy motive. I am actuated only by a high and conscientious sense of duty. Heretofore, when this question was presented to this House, I voted no, for the reason that I did not believe the evidence sustained the charges ; neither did I believe that a conviction would follow if the articles were adopted and sent to the Senate. But here is a plain, simple case, as I understand it. The President has, in my opinion, willfully violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution, as well as the Tenure-of-Office law. I hold that his offense is complete, even if there had been no Tenure-of-Office law in existence; for under the Constitution the President has no authority whatever, while the Senate is in session, to remove a Cabinet officer, or any other, who has been confirmed by the Senate, in the manner in which he has removed Mr. Stanton from the Departement of War. We do not need the Tenure-of-Office act in this case. The offense of the President is complete, independent of that act. There is no provision in the Constitution giving to the President authority to make removals at all; he has, however, exercised that power upon the implication that the power to appoint carries with it the power to remove."

After maintaining that the President is not a judicial officer, and has no right to pass judgment on the constitutionality of any law, Mr. Ingersoll closed by saying :

“We passed the Tenure-of-Office law. The President vetoed it. We passed it over his veto. Then it became his sworn duty to execute it. Instead of doing that, he defies the law. He executes his veto, and not the law. Is it not an alarming condition of affairs when the President of this great country goes deliberately at work to carry into execution his veto in defiance to that law, and all law? The President must learn that it is his duty to execute and obey the law, and that he must suffer his defunct vetoes to sleep undisturbed in that sleep which should know no waking. For the commission of this great offense by the President, I shall vote for the resolution of impeachment.

“We must not be surprised to find a party here or in the country ready to stand by and defend the President. All history shows that so long as a man possesses great power and greater patronage, he will have a party who profess to be his friends. When that monster of Roman history-Nero-poisoned his brother, his party declared that he had saved Rome. When he procured the assassination of his wife, they praised him for his justice. And when he had assassinated his mother, they kissed his bloody hands, and returned thanks to the gods. No matter, then, what the President may do, he will have a party so long as he retains power and patronage. But let us not falter in our plain duty. To forgive the President now, would be to betray the Republic.”

Near the close of the Impeachment trial, certain newspaper correspondents charged Mr. Ingersoll with “recreancy and treachery," in saying that he voted for impeachment because he was compelled to do it, though he felt at the time that it was a party blunder.” In the course of a “personal explanation" in the House, Mr. Ingersoll said:

“I voted for impeachment for the reason that the managers presented to my mind a prima facie case against the President. I voted for the Articles of Impeachment because I believed it was my duty to do so. I have never since felt that it was a blunder; neither have I ever had reason to change my views on that subject, nor have I expressed any change of views.”  

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: Historical and Biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 1, 1869.



JENCKES, Thomas Allen, 1818-1875, lawyer.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.  Served as Congressman from 1863-1871.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


THOMAS A. JENCKES was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1818. Having graduated at Brown University e in 1838, he studied law, and by his ability and industry soon rose to eminence in his profession. His practice was not merely of a local character, but the nature of the litigations of which he had charge, which were mostly in the courts of the United States, carried him frequently into other States and to Washington.

He first entered into public life in 1840, as Clerk of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and held the office five years. During the Dorr Rebellion, he was Private Secretary to Governor King. From 1845 to 1855, he served as Adjutant-General of the State Militia. From 1854 to 1859, he was in the State Legislature four years in the House, and one year in the Senate.

In 1863, he was elected a Representative from Rhode Island to the Thirty-eighth Congress. He was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Patents, and of the Special Committee on the Bankrupt Law. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, in which he was continued at the head of the Committee on Patents, and was appointed Chairman of a Select Committee on the Civil Service.

His services in Congress have been of great value, and are such as entitled him to high rank among the legislators of the country. Among these services may be mentioned first his agency in the passage of the bill to establish a uniform system of Bankruptcy throughout the United States. He was the author and principal advocate of this bill, which is considered as by far the best act of the kind ever passed. In his speech upon this bill, June 1, 1864, we have the following beautiful introduction :

“MR. SPEAKER: I take pleasure in introducing into this House a subject for its action which is entirely unconnected with political or partisan questions. It relates solely and entirely to the business and men of business of the nation. Its consideration at the present time is demanded by every active business interest. It is a subject which we can discuss without acrimony, and differ upon without anger. If a division is had upon it, the lines will not be those of party. It is a green spot amid the arid wastes of party strife, and one to which the fiery scourge of civil war has not yet extended. It presents unusual claims upon us at the present time, when all the business interests of the country are in a state of constant agitation. The life of the nation is in the prosperity and energy of its active men. While they are encouraged, and their rights and interests protected by just legislation, their efforts will continue, and the nation will endure.”

Mr. Jenckes then proceeds to specify the general purpose of the bill:

“What is now proposed is the enactment of a law with a different purpose from the ephemeral laws which have preceded it, and which shall form the basis of a permanent and uniform system of legislation and jurisprudence on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the country. We desire that henceforth there shall be no longer upon this subject one law in Maine, and another law in Wisconsin, a third in California, and a fourth in Kentucky, and so on throughout all the States; but one law for all; which the citizens of the United States, inhabiting each and all the States, may acknowledge, live under, and enjoy, and feel it to be as stable as the Constitution upon which it stands."

Mr. Jenckes states the points aimed to be secured by the bill to be, first, the discharge of the honest debtor upon the surrender of his property; and, second, the protection of the creditor against the fraudulent practices and reckless conduct of his debtor.

Further on, he thus depicts the former condition of an honest bankrupt: “If he possesses integrity and ability, those very qualities are a disadvantage in any attempt to procure a discharge. The creditor says to him, "Some day you will recover yourself, or your friends will set you up in business, and then I can secure my debt.' The qualifications for success are thus made to increase the penalties and sufferings of misfortune. * * *

“The laws formerly in force by which the creditor could keep his debtor in prison for an indefinite period, without relief, have been abolished in all Christian countries. But there may be a punishment of death without the knife, and an imprisonment without the bolts and bars of the jail. When in this country one enters the gates of hopeless insolvency, all his life must be passed within the imprisonment of mercantile dishonor, the pain of uncanceled obligations, the surveillance of creditors, and there is no release except by death. Who enters here may hereafter write over such habitation as he may have during the remnant of his life, the motto that the poet found inscribed over the gates of hell:

Who enters here abandons hope.'
To him thenceforth---
‘Hope never comes, that comes to all.'

“Whatever may be his talents, whatever his skill the result of long business experience, whatever his opportunity, whatever his integrity and character, so long as creditors stand unwilling to release him, his life is one continuous thralldom, without the power of relief by his own exertions, and beyond the aid of his friends. Why should this be, and for what good? To what end? Do the public gain by it? Do the creditors? No one can answer in the affirmative.”

The speech of Mr. Jenckes before the House,  January 17, 1868, in favor of “Supplementary Reconstruction,” though brief, was one of the very best on that side of this great question. By the precedent of President Tyler's administration bearing upon the difficulties in Rhode Island in 1842, in connection with the “Charter government,” and the “ People's government,” as well as by the decision of the Supreme Court in that case, Mr. Jenckes clearly demonstrated that the authority and power to decide what is, and what is not, the constitutional government of a State, is with Congress, in distinction from either of the other departments of the General Government. He then presented the whole existing case and condition of affairs as follows:

“Now, in the light of this precedent, what is the true ground for the action now proposed? We all agree with the opinion of the present President, in the spring of 1865, when he issued his proclamation of the reorganization of the State of North Carolina, that there was no civil government there; that all civil government there had been utterly destroyed by the rebellion. During the period immediately preceding the meeting of the last Congress, he undertook to do what his predecessor, Mr. Tyler, under similar circumstances, said he had no power to do—to raise and construct State governments. It is true, he said all the time, that the action of the people of these States, and the executive department in that region, would be subject to the approval and ratification of Congress when it assembled.

“Now, when Congress did assemble, the acts of the President and those under his authority were not satisfactory to that tribunal. It was a long time before the Thirty-ninth Congress could obtain official information of what had been done. Congress met on the first Monday in December, and the message of the President, transmitting the information to Congress, was not received until the month of March following:

“In the mean time, evidence of hostility to the Government of the United States, which was unmistakable in its character, had been received from every quarter of the South. The Executive did not conceal his disappointment at the coolness with which his efforts at reconstruction had been received by the people. Congress undertook to settle the difficulty by proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, establishing a due proportion between the representation and the voting constituency. Instead of the acceptance of that amendment either by these pretended State governments or by the Executive, it was opposed by the latter, and rejected by the States most interested in it.
* * *

“What was to be done? Was Congress to allow a new rebellion to be instigated, to be fostered into life by the Executive or were they to undertake other means for keeping peace throughout the nation ? They decided that it was their duty to undertake other means, and those means are these Reconstruction Acts.”

But perhaps the most important Congressional service yet rendered by Mr. Jenckes, remains to be sketched. We refer to a bill of which he is the author, and which he lately introduced in the House, entitled “ a bill to regulate the civil service of the United States, and to promote the efficiency thereof.”

The first section of this bill will sufficiently explain its purpose and drift. It provides, “ That hereafter all appointments of civil officers in the several departments of the service of the United States, except postmasters and such officers as are by law required to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall be made from those persons who shall have been found best qualified for the performance of the duties of the offices to which such appointments are to be made, in an open and competitive examination, to be conducted as herein prescribed.”

An admirable and very able speech from Mr. Jenckes, accompanied the presentation of this important measure, of which we have space for merely the outlines.

He began by submitting that what the bill proposes was substantially the same principle as has always been applied to the Military and Naval service, illustrating the statement by reference to Military and Naval schools, and the examinations there required. Then, after glancing at certain reasons why the same principle has not been applied to the Civil service, he expatiates upon the necessity of a thorough reformation in the mode of appointment to office, and the duties of Heads of Departments and Members of Congress with regard to appointments to office. He also dwells upon the tendency of the present system of appointments toward centralization; and in stating the conclusion of the Committee upon this point, he makes the following startling announcement:

“It is safe to assert that the number of offices may be diminished one-third, and the efficiency of the whole force of the civil service increased one-half, with a corresponding reduction of salaries for discontinued offices, if a healthy system of appointment and discipline be established for its government."

Mr. Jenckes then comes to the remedy—the measure he is advocating—and the mode of applying it. For the latter he proposes, first, open admission to these offices to all; in other words, a free competition; at the same time, suggesting that the requirement of a proper examination into qualifications, and scrutiny into character, will greatly diminish the number of applicants. He proposes, second, that the most worthy candidates receive appointments; and he explains, third, how the best attainable talent can be secured.

In the remainder of this important speech, Mr. Jenckes descants upon the grand effect of the proposed system, and incidental topics, and concludes with the following summary:

“Thus, while this proposed system will stimulate education and bring the best attainable talent into the public service, it will place that service above all consideration of locality, favoritism, patronage, or party, and will give it permanence and the character of nationality as distinct from its present qualities of insecurity and of centralized power. A career will be opened to all who wish to serve the Republic; and although its range is limited, yet success in it will be an admitted qualification for that higher and more laborious and uncertain competition before the people, if any one should be tempted to enter upon it. The nation will be better served; the Government will be more stable and better administered; property will be more secure; personal rights more sacred; and the Republic more respected and powerful. The great experiment of self-government, which our fathers initiated, will have another of its alien elements of discord removed from it, and in its administration, in peace as well as in war, will have become a grand success."

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: Historical and Biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 1, 1869.


Sources:
History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volumes 1-2, 1869.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.