UNION COUNTY INDIANA
BIOGRAPHIES
(Transcribed from the Biographical and Genealogy
History
of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties Indiana 1899)
AMBROSE E.
BURNSIDE
General
Ambrose Everett Burnside was born in Liberty, Indiana, May 23, 1824,
and died in Bristol, Rhode Island, September 3, 1881. The Burnside
family are of Scottish origin. Having followed the fortunes of Charles
Edward, the pretender, until his final defeat at Culloden, in 1746, the
founders of the American branch emigrated to South Carolina. The revolt
of the American colonies against Britain divided them, some joining the
patriots, others remaining loyal to the crown. Among the latter was
James, grandfather of Ambrose, who was a captain in one of the
regiments of South Carolina royalists. When it became certain that the
revolution would be successful he, in company with others whose estates
were confiscated, escaped to Jamaica, but eventually obtained amnesty
from the young republic and returned to South Carolina. After his death
his widow and her four sons migrated to Indiana, manumitting their
slaves, from conscientious motives. Edghill, the third of these sons,
settled in the new town of Liberty, and in 1814 married Pamelia Brown,
another emigrant from South Carolina. He taught school for a time, and,
having some legal knowledge, was, in 1815, elected associate judge of
the county court, and subsequently clerk of court, which office he held
until 1850. Ambrose, the fourth of nine children, was born in a rude
log cabin at the edge of the wilderness. The village schools were
exceptionally good for a frontier town, and at seventeen he had
acquired a better education than most boys of his age, but his father
could not afford to give him a professional training, and he was
indentured to a merchant tailor. After learning the trade he returned
to Liberty and began business as a partner under the style of Myers
& Burnside, merchant tailors. Conversation with veterans of the
second war with Great Britain interested him in military affairs, and
he read all the histories and other books bearing on the subject that
he could procure. In 1847 he was appointed a cadet at the West Point
Military Academy, where there were more than a score of future
generals, including McClellan, Hancock and "Stonewall" Jackson. The war
with Mexico was nearly over when Burnside was graduated, but he
accompanied one of the last detachment of recruits to the conquered
capital, and remained there as second lieutenant of the Third Artillery
during the military occupation of the place. Then followed years of
life in garrison and on the frontier, including some Indian fighting.
In 1852 he married
Mary Richmond, daughter of Nathanial Bishop, of Providence, Rhode
Island, and in November of the same year resigned his commission,
having invented a breech loading rifle, the manufacture of which he
wished to superintend. In August, 1857, a board of army officers
reported favorably upon the Burnside breech-loader; but the inventor
would not pay his way among the underlings of the war department, and
was forced to go into bankruptcy. He devoted all his personal property
to the liquidation of his debts, sought employment, found it at
Chicago, under George B. McClellan, then vice president of the Illinois
Central Railroad, and, by practicing strict economy, he eventually paid
every obligation. In June, i860, he became treasurer of the Illinois
Central Railroad, his office being in New York city. In the autumn of
that year he visited New Orleans on business, and gained an insight
into the movement for secession that shook his lifelong faith in the
Democratic party. So confidently did he anticipate war that he set his
business affairs in order, and was ready to start at once when, on
April 15, 1861, Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, telegraphed for him
to take command of the First Regiment of detached militia. On April 20
the regiment left Providence by sea, and marched, with the other
battalions that had been hurried forward, from Annapolis to Washington,
reaching the capital on the 26th of April. The preliminary operations
about Washington soon culminated, owing mainly to popular outcry and
political pressure at the north, in the premature advance of the
federal army and to the battle of Manassas or Bull Run on the 21st of
July. Colonel Burnside commanded a brigade on the extreme light of
Hunter's division, which was detached from the main army early in the
morning and sent across an upper ford to turn the Confederate left. The
movement was anticipated by the enemy, and a sharp engagement took
place, at the beginning of which General Hunter was wounded, leaving
Burnside in command. The Confederates were forced back, losing heavily,
until nearly noon, when they were reinforced by General Johnston's
advance brigade under Jackson, who stemmed the tide of fugitives and
there won his name of " Stonewall." By this time Burnside's
ammunition was exhausted, and his command had to fall back. It made no
further aggressive movement, but retained its organization after the
rout of the army and on the retreat toward Washington. A period of
comparative inactivity followed, during which Colonel Burnside's
regiment was mustered out, on the expiration of its term of service. On
August 6, 1861, he was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers,
and given a command of the three year regiments then assembling at
Washington. On the 23d of October General Burnside was directed to
organize a " coast division," with headquarters at Annapolis. This
force was largely composed of regiments recruited on the New England
coasts, and was intended for operations along the lower Potomac and
Chesapeake bay. The plan was changed, however, the expeditionary force
was largely increased, and on January 12, 1862, a corps of twelve
thousand men, on a fleet of forty six transports, sailed from Hampton
Roads with sealed orders directing them to rendezvous in Pamlico sound
by way of Hatteras inlet. Within twenty four hours a heavy gale arose,
which lasted nearly two weeks, scattered the fleet and imperiled its
safety. On the 25th of January, however, all the vessels had passed
through Hatteras inlet and were safe in the sound. On the 5th of
February the fleet, with an escort of gunboats, moved toward Roanoke
island, a fortified post of the Confederates, and engaged the gunboats
and batteries. Within a few hours a landing was effected, and on the
8th of February the Confederate position near the middle of the island
was carried and the garrison captured, numbering two thousand five
hundred men. The possession of Roanoke island gave command of the
extensive land-locked waters of Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and was
one of the earliest substantial successes of the national arms.
Newbern, North Carolina, was occupied, after a sharp struggle, on the
14th of March. The surrender of Forts Macon and Beaufort soon followed,
and when General Burnside visited the north on a short leave of absence
he found himself welcomed as the most uniformly successful of the
federal leaders.
During the
campaign in the Carolinas and the early summer following, the Army of
the Potomac, under McClellan, had been defeated before Richmond, and
had in turn repelled the Confederates at Malvern Hill. Burnside
Relinquished the command of the department of North Carolina, and, with
his old division reorganized as the Ninth Corps, was transferred to the
Army of the Potomac, which held the north shore of Rappahannock,
opposite Fredericksburg. The chief command was offered to Burnside, but
he absolutely declined it, frankly declaring that he did not consider
himself competent. On the 27th of June the order was issued relieving
McClellan and placing Pope in command. The fortunes of the Confederacy
now seemed so distinctly in the ascendant that it was determined at
Richmond to assume the offensive. The preparations for the movement
were at once known in Washington, and the administration urged General
Pope to create a diversion along the line of the Rappahannock. This he
attempted, but was foiled almost at all points, and the Army of
Virginia, as it was temporarily designated, fell back sullen and
demoralized after a second defeat at Manassas, upon the defenses of
Washington, where Burnside was again asked to take command, but again
declined. In its extremity, the administration again called upon
McClellan, who, in a remarkably short time, brought order out of chaos
and re inspired the army with a degree of confidence. By this time
Lee's
advance had crossed the Potomac near Sharpsburg, and Burnside was sent
to meet him with the First and Ninth Corps. On the 3d of September he
left Washington. On the 12th of September he met the enemy's pickets at
Frederick City, and on the 14th encountered the Confederates in force
at South Mountain, and very handsomely dislodged them from a strong
position. The energy of this movement was probably not anticipated by
General Lee. He retreated to Antietam creek, threw up entrenchment's
and awaited attack. To Burnside's Ninth Corps, on the morning of the
battle of Antietam (September 17th), was assigned the task of capturing
and holding a stone bridge. This was done at a terrible sacrifice of
life; but it was the key to the position, and, according to a high
Confederate authority (Edward A. Pollard, the historian), if the bridge
could have been recaptured the result of the battle of Antietam would
have been decisive. The army remained in the neighborhood of Sharpsburg
until early in November, when McClellan was relieved, and on the 10th
of November Burnside reluctantly assumed command. At this time the
Confederate army was divided, Longstreet and Jackson commanding,
respectively, its right and left wings, being separated by at least two
days' march. McClellan and Burnside were always warm personal friends,
and the former gave his successor in command the benefit of his
projected plans.
A month passed in
reorganizing the army in three grand divisions, under Generals Sumner,
Franklin and Hooker, with the Eleventh Corps under Sigel as a reserve.
The plan was to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and, if
possible, crush the separated wings of the Confederate army in detail.
The movement began on the 15th of November, and four days later the
army occupied the heights opposite Fredericksburg, but with the river
intervening and no pontoon train ready. The responsibility for this
failure has never been charged to General Burnside, nor has it ever
been definitely fixed upon any one, save a vague and impersonal
"department;" but it necessitated a fatal delay, for Lee had moved
nearly as rapidly as Burnside, and promptly occupied and fortified the
heights south of the river. During the period of enforced inaction that
followed, General Burnside went to Washington and expressed
his doubts as to the policy of crossing the river, in view of the
failure of the attempt to divide Lee's forces. But he was urged to push
a winter campaign against Richmond, and, returning to the front, gave
orders to place the bridges. This was gallantly effected in the face of
a sharp resistance, Fredericksburg was cleared of the enemy, and on the
13th of December, the whole national army had crossed, and was in
position south of the Rappa-hannock. The situation in brief was this:
South and in the rear of Fredericksburg is a range of hills irregularly
parallel to the course of the river; the space between is a plateau
well adapted for the movement of troops. This was occupied by the
national army in the three grand divisions specified,— Sumner holding
the right, Hooker the center, and Franklin the left. The Confederates
occupied the naturally strong position along the crest of the hills,
and were well entrenched, with batteries in position. Longstreet
commanded the right wing, and Jackson the left. The weak point of the
Confederate line was at its right, owing to a depression of the hills,
and here it was at first intended to make a determined assault; but,
for some reason, orders were sent to Franklin, at the last moment,
merely to make a demonstration, while Sumner attempted to carry Marye's
hill, which, naturally a strong position, was rendered nearly
impregnable by a sunken road, bordered by a stone wall along its base.
The best battalions in the army were sent against this position, but
the fire of artillery and infantry was so severe that nothing was
gained, although the struggle was kept up till nightfall, General
Hooker's division being the last to attack, only to be repelled as its
predecessors had been. Burnside would have renewed the attack on the
next day, but Sumner dissuaded him at the last moment, and that night
the whole army re-crossed the river, having lost, in killed and wounded
and missing, more than twelve thousand men. Some of these, however,
afterward returned to their regiments. The Confederate loss was five
thousand three hundred and nine. Insubordination was soon developed
among the corps and division commanders, and Burnside issued an order,
subject to the president's approval, summarily dismissing several of
them from the service, and relieving others from duty. The order, which
sweepingly included Hooker, Franklin, Newton, and Brooks, was not
approved, and General Burnside was superseded by Major General Hooker.
Transferred to the
Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at Cincinnati, Burnside found
himself forced to take stringent measures in regard to the proceedings
of southern sympathizers on both sides of the river. On April 13, 1863,
he issued his famous general order defining certain treasonable
offenses, and announcing that they would not be tolerated. Numerous
arrests followed, including that of Clement L. Vallandigham, who was
tried by military commission for
making a treasonable speech, was found guilty, and sentenced to
imprisonment during the remainder of the war. This sentence the
president commuted to banishment, and Vallan-digham was sent within the
lines of the Confederacy. The Democrats of Ohio thereupon nominated him
for governor, but he was defeated by a majority of more than one
hundred thousand. In August, 1863, Burnside crossed the Cumberland
mountains at the head of eighteen thousand men, marching two hundred
and fifty miles in fourteen days, causing the Confederates, who had
their headquarters at Knoxville, to make a hasty retreat. He pushed
forward, and Cumberland Gap was captured, with its garrison and stores.
Attacked by Longstreet, with a superior force. General Burn-side
retreated in good order, fighting all the way to Knoxville, where he
was fortified and provisioned for a siege by the time Longstreet was
ready to invest the place. This movement, according to General
Burnside's biographer, was made on his own responsibility to draw
Longstreet away from Grant's front, and thus facilitate the defeat of
General Bragg, which soon followed. The siege of Knoxville was
prosecuted with great vigor for a month, when the approach of General
Sherman compelled Longstreet to raise the siege. Immediately afterward
General Burnside was relieved, and devoted himself to recruiting and
reorganizing the Ninth Corps. In April, 1864, he resumed command at
Annapolis, with the corps nearly twenty thousand strong. Attached once
more to the Army of the Potomac, this time under General Grant, he led
his corps through the battles of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, and
the operations against Petersburg. In these latter engagements the
corps suffered very heavily, and General Meade preferred charges of
disobedience against Burnside, and ordered a court martial for his
trial. This course was not approved of by General Grant, and, at
Burnside's request, a court of inquiry was ordered, which eventually
found him "answerable for the want of success." He had always held that
the failure was due to interference with his plan of assault, and
before a congressional committee of investigation much testimony was
adduced to show that this was really the case.
General Burnside
resigned from the army on the 15th of April, 1865, with a military
record that does him high honor as a patriotic, brave and able officer,
to whom that bane of army life, professional jealousy, was unknown. He
always frankly admitted his own unfitness for the command of a large
army and accepted such commands only under stress of circumstances.
Returning to civil life he became at once identified with railroad
construction and management. He was elected governor of Rhode Island in
April, 1866, and re-elected in 1867 and 1868. Declining a fourth
nomination he devoted himself successfully to the great railroad
interests with which he was identified. He went
to Europe on business during the height of the Franco-Prussian war,
and, as a soldier, naturally wished to witness some of the siege
operations before Paris. Visiting the Prussian headquarters at
Versailles simply in a private capacity, he found himself called upon
to act as an envoy between the hostile forces, which he did, passing
back and forth under a flag of truce, endeavoring to further
negotiations for peace. In Paris, and among the German besiegers, he
was looked upon with the greatest curiosity, and, although his efforts
at peace-making were unsuccessful, he secured the lasting respect and
confidence of both sides. In January, 1875, after his return to this
country, he was elected United States senator from Rhode Island and in
1880 was re-elected. He took a leading- position in the senate, was
chairman on the committee of foreign affairs and sustained his lifelong
character as a fair minded and patriotic citizen. His death, which was
very sudden, from neuralgia of the heart, occurred at his home in
Bristol, Rhode Island. The funeral ceremonies assumed an almost
national character, for his valuable services as a soldier and as a
statesman had secured general recognition, and in his own state he was
the most conspicuous man of his time. Burnside was a tall and handsome
man, of soldierly bearing, with charming manners, which won for him
troops of friends and admirers. He outlived his wife and died childless.
JAMES P. KENNEDY
More than a quarter of a century has
this respected citizen of Liberty been engaged in the banking business,
and for about eleven year of that period he has been the president of
the Citizens' Bank of this place, which well known institution he was
influential in organizing. He is deserving of great credit for the
success he has achieved in his business career, for he started out in
life a poor boy, and was obliged to hew out his own pathway. Added to
the circumstances of poverty and lack of influential friends, he was
not a strong youth, and had to battle against delicate health for
several years. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, he persevered in his
undertakings, and by force of will and steady application rose to
prominence in the busy world.
The parents of James P. Kennedy were of Scotch-Irish stock, and both
were natives of Ireland. They came to the United States in 1801. and
for some years resided in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. The mother
died in 1827, and the father remarried some three years later. He died
at the age of eighty-four years, in Decatur county, Indiana, and was
survived by his second wife but a short time.
Born May 20, 1826, James P. Kennedy is the youngest of eleven children,
ten of whom were boys, and he is now one of the three surviving members
of the once large family circle. Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, was
the place of his birth, and death deprived him of his mother when he
was an infant about a year old. In the common
schools he obtained a fair
education, and at sixteen he began teaching school, as the hard work of
the farm was not suited to his never rugged constitution. Soon after he
came to Indiana, in the winter of 1841-2, he worked at splitting rails.
With a comrade's help, two thousand rails were prepared, and when the
payment agreed upon, two bushels of corn for every one hundred rails,
was handed over to the young men, half of the corn was disposed of at
the rate of ten cents per bushel. This amount the friend took as his
share, and Mr. Kennedy could do no better than to trade his corn for a
sow and nine pigs. He drove them home, where his father immediate!}"
assumed the ownership of the animals. For a period of ten years,
perhaps, he attended high school at intervals and taught during the
remainder of the time. He then embarked in merchandising, but with a
very limited capital, and continued in this enterprise until 1871. In
company with other parties he then organized the First National Bank of
Liberty, and served as cashier of the same until the institution went
into voluntary liquidation, in 1882. The following year Mr. Kennedy
became interested in the establishment of the Citizen's Bank at Hope,
Indiana, and for five years he acted as cashier of the same. Then,
severing his connection with that bank, he opened the Citizens' Bank in
Liberty, under the firm name of J. P. Kennedy & Company. This is a
private banking concern, and he has stood at the head of the enterprise
ever since it opened its doors to the public, in 1889. To his sagacity
and foresight and his genius as a financier may be laid the prosperous
condition of the bank, which safely weathered the financial depression
of recent years, and is constantly gaining in importance.
Though reared in the principles of the Democratic party, Mr. Kennedy
aided in the formation of the Republican party and was an earnest
advocate of the same until 1884, when he became independent, and he has
used his ballot of late years in favor of the man or principle that he
deemed worthy of support, regardless of party lines. In 1876 he was
elected on the Republican ticket to the Indiana house of
representatives, and served his constituents well. In his religious
opinion he is liberal, disbelieving in creeds and the dogmas of the
churches, and pinning his faith in practical Christianity, which
consists in purity and uprightness of purpose and deed, and loving
helpfulness toward one's brother man. Fraternally, he belongs to Oxford
Lodge, No. 58, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and was made a Mason
in 1850 in Fairfield Lodge, Fairfield, Indiana. A strange accident, on
November 12, 1898, has resulted in an invalid condition for Mr. Kennedy
since that date. While crossing the platform of a passenger train,
which was standing on the highway, the sudden starting of the train
threw him with violence to the ground and injured his left hip in such
a manner that he has not apparently gained in health from the day
of the accident, suffers much
pain and is forced to the constant use of crutches. The injury baffled
the medical fraternity to name or mitigate.
Prior to his marriage, September 1, 1857. Mr. Kennedy went to the west
and spent one summer in Kansas, and returning, was seized with typhoid
fever at Cincinnati, Ohio. He was very ill for many weeks, and when
partially convalescent his marriage to Miss Livonia W. Dunbar was
solemnized. Their friendship had begun in their youth, in Union county,
and, upon learning of Mr. Kennedy's dangerous illness Miss Dunbar went
to visit him, and to nurse him back to strength, if possible. Her
father, Andrew Dunbar. was then a resident of Decatur county, having
removed thither from his old home in Union county. Two sons and four
daughters bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, namely: Lorin M.,
William P., Ginevra, Allevia. Adelaide and Emmazetta.
Lorin M. Kennedy is a merchant tailor in Liberty, Indiana; William P.
and Allevia are connected with their father in the Citizens' Bank.
William came to Liberty from Hope, Indiana, where he had been cashier
for sixteen years, on the occasion of the injury to his father caused
by his fall on November 12, 1898, and became the vice-president.
Ginevra, who is a member of Cooper Institute, New York city, and
Emmazetta have been in New York city for the past eight years engaged
in musical studies, and have attained prominence, the younger
especially. She is connected with the New York Philharmonic Society,
sings in one of the leading Catholic Churches, St. Anthony's church, of
Brooklyn, also in one of the prominent Jewish synagogues in New York,
and is one of the leading members of Castle Square Theater's opera
company. Adelaide has been in New York city for three years and a half,
engaged in the study of music and kindred subjects, returning home,
however, to be her father's nurse and companion during his
affliction.
ISAAC BALLINGER
A native of "Logan county, Ohio, born
June 10, 1820, a son of Samuel and Ann (Walker) Ballinger, the subject
of this article is now approaching four-score years, and is living
retired in the town of Liberty, where he is an honored citizen. His
father was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, and after his
marriage removed to Ohio, about 180S, and lived and died on his old
homestead in Logan county, his death occurring when he was nearly
seventy-five. His father, Samuel Ballinger, Sr.. a member of the
Society of Friends, came from Birmingham, England, V.o America prior to
the Revolutionary war. The family originated in France, whence it was
banished at the time of the persecution of the Huguenots. Rev. Thomas
Ballinger, a brother of Isaac, was a very popular minister of the
Universalist church and was a public speaker of high repute. At various
times he held public debates, chaining the attention of his hearers and
causing them to believe that few could equal him. He died in his
eightieth year, in June, 1898, in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he had made
his home for years.
When he was nineteen years old Isaac Ballinger left home and for two
years or more worked in Preble county, Ohio. Then, coming to Union
county, he engaged in threshing grain, using a machine which had a
capacity of seventy-five to one hundred bushels a day, was a one-horse
power and had an endless chain attached to the cylinder. The winnowing
had to be done separately by hand. Having gained a start in a financial
way Mr. Ballinger began farming in Harrison township, in Union county,
Indiana, on the home¬stead now owned by his son: coming thither in
1841 on attaining his majority, he resided there until twenty years
ago, when he retired. He has since dealt in real estate to a limited
extent. The farm was formerly the property of Robert Bennett, a native
of Virginia, and father of the lady whom Mr. Ballinger married. Mr.
Bennett, however, had been accidentally killed before the marriage of
Mr. Ballinger, and the latter bought the farm of the heirs, and added
land later, making it a fine place of two hundred and forty
.acres. Both farms are now owned and carried on
by his sons.
On the 15th of August, 1844, Isaac Ballinger wedded Orinda C. Bennett,
daughter of Robert and Sarah (Welden) Bennett. She was born on the old
homestead in Harrison township, and was an orphan at the time she
became acquainted with her future husband. Her father was killed by a
runaway team some years before her mother died in 185 1. Her brother,
Hon. William H. Bennett, was a representative in the Indiana
legislature from Union county for several years, as a Whig. He owned a
large estate in Harrison township, but had no family to inherit it.
Another brother of Mrs. Ballinger, Prof. Hampton Bennett, was born
February 2, 1832, and died at Carlisle, Ohio, June 6, 1898. He
graduated at Antioch College, and was a member of the signal corps (of
the Union army o" the civil war), for four years was a famous teacher,
and for twenty-nine years was superintendent of the Franklin (Ohio)
schools and occupied similar positions at other towns. John F. Bennett,
a third brother, was the father of General Thomas Bennett, whose sketch
is printed elsewhere in this work. A sister, Maria A.,. is the widow of
the late Daniel Maxwell, of Liberty.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ballinger were as follows: Samuel H.
(see his sketch); Amanda Ellen, wife of William Moss, of Harrison
township; Thomas Corwin, a commercial traveler, of Burlington, Kansas,
who has served in the Kansas state legislature for two terms and was
treasurer of Coffey county for two terms; Albert Allison, who owns one
of the farms above mentioned; William Bennett, who died July 31, 1887,
aged thirty-two years; Inez, wife of Jackson Stivers, of Fairmont,
Indiana; Mary Idella, who is at home; and two who died in infancy.
William B. had been engaged in merchandising for four years in
Franklin, Ohio, and for some years prior to his death was in business
with his brother, Samuel H. His widow, Mrs. Laura (Young) Ballinger, is
now living in Oxford, Ohio.
In his boyhood Isaac Ballinger was reared in the doctrines of the
Quakers, but, as he trained with the militia and refused to acknowledge
sorrow for so doing he was turned out of the society. For many years he
has been a faithful member of the Christian church, and for two-score
years has held the office of deacon. He is an ardent Republican, and
once a candidate for county treasurer, and has voted for every
president from W. H. Harrison down,, with one exception.
