St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-05-31
SECRETARY GRESHAM DEAD.
Secretary of State Gresham died i

date friends of the family were pres
ent when the end came. The follow
ing interesting sketch of his life is
condensed from the New York Sun
Walter Quntin Gresham was one
of the few remaining log-cabin states.
men. He was born on March II,
1892 in an old.fashioned farmhouse
near GAINESVILLE, Harrison county,
Ind, about a hundred miles down
the Ohio River from ex. President
Harrlson's birthplace. His parents
were OF English descent. His father,
William Gresham, was sheriff of the
backwoods county, and he was shot
to death while attempting to arrest
an outlaw Walter Gresham op.
portunites for schooling were limit
ed. In his boyhood he followed the
plough by day and studied his books
at night. His mother was poor, but
plucky, and she managed the farm
and kept the family together. Wal.
ter went to the district school until
he. was 16 years old, and then he OBJ
tanned cerkship in the county aud
itor's Office, which paid his board
and expenses and permitted him to
attend the Corydon Seminary for
two years. He attended Blooming.
ton University for year, and then
returned TO Corydon, where he
studied law in the office OF Judge
William A. Porter. He was admit
ted to the bar when he was % years
old, and began to practise law.
Gresham was wing in politics, and
his partner, Thomas c. Slaughter,
afterwards Judge of the circuit court,
was in 1856 delegate from Indiana
to the Philadelphia convention that
nominated Fremont. Young Ores.
ham began his active political career
by stumping the state for THE Path
finder" He was nominated for the
legislature in 1860 as a republican,
and was elected in a strongly demo
cratic district.
When the war broke out Gresham
was the captain OF the military COM
pany in Corydon, known as the
Spencer Rifles. He refused re-elec-
tlon TO the legislature and enlisted
as a private in the Thirty-eighth
Indiana Regiment. Almost imme-
diateIy he was selected as thelieuten-
ant-coIonel of that regiment. He
saw his nrst service at Shiloh, and
later ne took part in the siege OF
Corlnth. Col. Gresham met Grant
at Vicksburg, and after the surren-
der Grant and Sherman united in
recommending him for a brigadier
generals commission, which he re-
celved. While in command of a divi-
sion OF Sherman's army at Leggett's
Hill, before Atlanta, Gen. Gresham
was shot in the knee, a wound from
which he never fully recovered.
When Gresham was ready TO go to
the front again the war was ended,
and he was brevetted major-general
and mustered out OF the service. He
resumed the practice law at New AL
bany, Ind. When Gen. Grant became
President he offered Gen. Gresham the
colectorship OF the port of New Or
leans, and subsequently the district
attorneyship OF Indiana. Both of
these offers were refused.
Gen. Gresham twice ran for con
gress, and was defeated by Michael
{. Kerr. He accepted President
Grants appointment as United
States District Judge for Indiana in
1869, and during the twelve years
that he held that District Judgeship
not one OF his decisions was reversed.
President Arthur called him from the
bench to become member of his
cabinet in 1888, and since that time
Mr.. Gresham has been a conspicuous
and erratic figure in national politics.
He took the portfolio in President
Arthur's Cabinet left vacant bv the
death OF Postmaster General Howe.
Perhaps the most noticeable incident
OF his career as Postmaster-General
was the exclusion of the Louisiana
Lottery Company from the use OF
the mail. Near the close of President
Arthurs term, on the death OF Score.
tary Folger, Mr., Gresham was ap.
pointed secretary of the treasury.
Mr.. Gresham, however, longed for
return to the bench, and in the clos
ing days of the Arthur administra-
ton he was appointed circuit Judge,
to succeed Judge Drummond for he
Seventh Judicial district. This was
an appointment for life, and Judge
Gresham's friends believed when he
accepted it that he had hidden fare.
well to politics. His most famous
decision was in the Wabash cases in
1856. He then took control of the
roads in that system which were east
OF the Mississippi river and placed
them in the hands of Judge Cooley
as receiver.
The feeling between the Harrison
men and the Gresham men in Indiana
was for years bitter one, and there
was not as much surprise as might
have been expected when Judge
Gresham announced his intention of
voting for Grover Cleveland in the
last presidential campaign In his
letter, dated Oct 81, 1892. and ad
dressed to ajor BIuford Wilson, he
announced that he thought a repub-
Ilcan could vote for Mr.. Cleveland
without joining the democratic par.
~ Wb.n M, Clau.1,,l 49, -.