The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-06-29

give US more strength taking the whole coun
| try at large, than that of any other manss''
The early history OF Gov. Hayes is summed
/ in few brief paragraphs. His full name is
Rutherford Birohard Hayes Rutherford after
his father. and Birchard after his mother
! His parents were natives of Windham county,
| Vermont, but emigrated to Delaware, Ohio in
! 1917, where the Governor was born His pro-
| genitors were Scotch, the first one George en-
| igrating to Connecticut in 1850. His mother
| was descended from John Birchard, who came
| to America still earlier, in 1886. Three of Gov.
! Hayes great-grandfathers, Daniel Austin, Is
rael Smith, and Elias Birchard, were soldiers in
the Revolutionary War, SO that if there is any
thing in blue blood it is all to the credit and
honor of Gov. Hayes.
! In 1910, after thorough primary prepara-
ton in the Delaware schools Gov Hayes went
| into Kenyon College, from which he graduated
first in his class in 1872 although the Youngest
member That same year he began the
study of the law with Thomas Sparrow,
of Columbus, historic character in his
day, the friend and compeer of Tom
Ewing. Tom Corwn. Rufus P. Ranney,
and William Allen. In 1045 the Governor
graduated in the law school of Harvard was
admitted to the bar in Marietta. and then
formed partnership with Gen. R. P. Buck
land, at Fremont Ohio. In 1849 he removed
to Cincinnati, and in 1852 married Lucy Ware
Webb, of Chillicothe. In 1856 he declined a
nomination for Judge of the Hamilton County
Common Pleas Court Two years afterward
however, he yielded to the persuasions of his
friends and launched out upon the sea of pub
lie life by becoming City Solicitor of the Gin
cinnati courts. In 1859 he was reelected run
nlng 500 ahead of the ticket. He continued in
office till the spring of 1861.
Nhen the war-cloud lowered over the Union
in 1861 Gov Hayes felt its shadow upon his
soul. To Stanley Matthews he said: ''This is
just and necessary war; it demands the whole
power Of the country, and prefer to go into it
if know am to die or be killed in the course
of IL, rather than to live through and after with
out taking any part in it." So he and his bosom
friend, Matthews, began the recruiting of reg
lment. In short time its quota was filed,
and by mutual agreement neither being mill
tary men-William S. Rosecrans, a West Point
graduate, was rendered the Colonelcy. Mat
thewS became Lieutenant Colonel, and Hayes
Major. 1t was numbered the Twenty-third
Ohio Infantry was mustered in, and assigned
to duty with the army in Virginia. Whitelaw
Reid, at the close of the war; was made the
historian OF that regiment and in that history |
will be found it's great achievements through |
flood and field. For meritorious service at Car
nlfax Ferry he was promoted to be Lieutenant |
Colonel; for like meritorious service at South |
Mountain he was made full Colonel, and |
assigned to the Seventy ninth Infantry but de-
clined to leave his old command, Shortly |
third. For continued exhibitions of bravery he |
was made a Brigadier General, Oct. 49, 1864,
and breveted Major General for "braYery i'll
the field, not as a reward for partisan service,
as happened to more than one Colonel and
Brigadier General after Andrew Johnson be-
came President.
In the spring of 1865 there was a lull in the
against the Confederates in Virginia,
and many officers who had served unweariedly
for months at the front felt themselves en-
titled to a short respite. Actuated by noble
impulses and hearty appreciation of his brave
services, the personal friends of Gen. Hayes
demanded that he, too, should take Through
and obtain much-needed rest. So they held
d meeting at Winchester, and unanimously and
passed following resolution:
Resolved, That Gen. Hayes, in addition to pos
sessng the ability and craftsmanship necessary to
qualify him in an eminent degree for Chief Magis-
trate of the great State of Ohio is soldier unsur
passed for patriotism and bravery he having served
four years in the army, earning his promotion from
Major i'll Of the Ohio regiments to his present
position.
This was the first suggestion of his name
fer Governor, and met with an earnest protest
from him. In the campaign of 1864 his friends
at Cincinnati nominated him for Congress, to
which nomination he also entered a vigorous
protest in the following words {" / have other
business just now. Amy man who would leave
The army at this time to electiOneer for Con
gross ought to be scalped."
But his friends were not to be put Off thus
They kept him on the ticket and
elected him by majority of 2,455 over Joseph
@. Butler, one of the most popular and infiu-
ential commercial men of the Queen City. In
1866 he was reelected over Theodore Cook
majority.