Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1895-05-29
WALTER oulNToN GRESHAM.

Biography of the Distinguished Soldier,
| Jurist and Statesman.
Walter Quinton Gresham was soldier,
| II judge and II statesman, eminent and dis
tinguished in these three great fields of
human endeavor. He rose to the rank of
major general of volunteers during the
Rebellion. He was for IA years United
States circuit judge for Illinois and held
three cabinet portfolios, postmaster gen
eral and secretary of the treasury under
Arthur and secretary of state under Cleve-
land.
Gresham came from English stock. His
ancestors moved to Virginia and later to
Harrison county, Ind, where he was born
on ST. Patrick's day, 1882. In 1913
Gresham's father was elected sheriff and
the next year was killed by noted des-
perado whom he had gone to arrest. His
mother was left widow with five small
children. Walter @. was but two years of
age when his father was killed. He grew
up with two or three winters schooling
until he was 16 years of age. By dint of
hard work and the assistance of his
brother he succeeded in entering the semi
nary at Corydon. Two years there and
one at Bloomington university completed
concerned. He began the study of law
under Judge W. A. Porter, one of the
noted characters of Southern Indiana,
while acting as deputy clerk, and in 1854
entered into partnership with Thomas C.
Slaughter. an eminent lawyer of that time
and afterwards judge of the circuit court
In 1855 the Republican, party was formed.
and with it Gresham at once allied him
self. In the law Gresham had gained
good reputation as a careful, painstaking
lawyer.
His Record Soldier.
With the first shrek of wars alarm
Governor Morton appointed him ieuten-
ant colonel of the Thirty eighth Indiana,
but before he saw active service he was
appointed colonel of the Fifty-third in De
cember, 1861. Aug. IL. 1868, he was ap-
pointed brigadier general on the recon-
mendation of Grant and Sherman and
placed in command of the Natchez divis-
ion. In the following spring he was
placed in command of the division of the
Seventeenth corps of the Tennessee which
took part in the campaign against At
lanta. At Leggette Hill, before Atlanta
he was struck by sharpshooter's bullet
just below the knee. To the day of his
death Gresham never recovered the full
use of the limb.
The war over. General Gresham re-
turned to his profession, forming law
partnership at New Albany, Ind. In 1866
he was nominated for congress against M.
G. Kerr, but the district was heavily Dem
ocratic and he was defeated When Gen
eral Grant became president he appointed
him district judge for Indiana. When
Postmaster General Howe died in April,
1888, Gresham, then holding court at Ev-
ansville, was rendered the cabinet posi-
tion by telegraph and accepted. Near the
close of Arthur's term, on the death of
Secretary Folger, he was appointed secre-
tary of the treasury, position he held
until October, 1884. President Arthur,
who had taken him from the bench, had
the sati faction of restoring him to the
bench at the close of his service, by ap-
pointing him to succeed Judge Drum
mond.
Was Candidate for President.
In 1883 Judge Gresham was made
prominent candidate for the Republican
nomination for the presidency at the Chi.
cago convention, but his liberal views on |
the tariff created against him the antago-
nism of the extreme protectionists In |
|
land by the Democrats, he, with other dis |
tinguished Republicans, openly dissented |
from the Mckinley law, renounced their |
allegiance to the Republican party and |
advocated Mr.. Cleveland's election After |
Mr. Cleveland was elected in February,
1893, he summoned Judge Gresham to |
Lakewood, N. j.. where, after consulta-
tion, he rendered him the position of pre-
mier of the cabinet he was forming.
Judge Gresham assumed the duties of |
secretary of state on March Z, 1893, and
during his term of office has come to deal |
with perhaps more vexatious, intricate
and delicate diplomatic affairs than has
fallen to the share of most secretaries of
state. His treatment of these were
marked by the strong individuality which
was part of the man /