HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                              27

service at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, his company became Company K
of the Tenth Kansas Infantry and with that band of brave men he
remained until mustered out at Fort Leavenworth on the 12th of August,
1864, having served for more than three years. The regiment largely
did duty on the frontier and with his command Mr. Holliday partici—
pated in the battles of Prairie Grove, Kane Hill and others, including
engagements with the hostile Indians, He was mustered out with the
rank of orderly sergeant and returned north with a most creditable mili-
tary record, having been fearless and unfaltering in the discharge of the
duty assigned him as a soldier of the Union.
    After being mustered out Mr. Holliday became a resident of Jen-
nings county, Indiana, and resumed the profession of teaching. He
also attended school as opportunity offered, acquiring a partial aca-
demic education, this course being made possible through his own labor,
which provided the funds necessary for expenses while in college.
Becoming imbued with the desire to engage in the practice of law, he
made preparation for the bar as a student in the law office of John Over-
myer of North Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana, a partner of the firm
of Overmyer & Overmyer.. He continued his reading as opportunity
offered and defrayed his expenses by teaching school at intervals. In
March, 1873, he successfully passed the examination that secured his
admission to the bar and immediately afterward entered upon the prac-
tice of law in Carbon, Clay county, where he remained until November,
1874. Seeking a still broader field of labor, he then came to Brazil,
where he has since engaged in practice. He has won for himself very
favorable criticism for the careful and systematic methods which he has
followed. He has remarkable powers of concentration and application
and his retentive mind has often excited the surprise of his professional
colleagues. He ranks high in the discussion of legal matters before the
court, where his comprehensive knowledge of the law is manifest, while
his application of legal principles demonstrates the wide range of his
professional acquirements. The utmost care and precision characterizes
his preparation of a case and has made him one of the most successful
attorneys in Clay county.
    Mr. Holliday has also been called before the public in official capaci-
ties and has ever been found loyal to the trust reposed in him. In 1877
he was elected mayor of Brazil and received public endorsement of his
administration in a re-election in 1879. Eight years passed and he was
once more chosen the chief executive of the city and, as before, gave a
public-spirited, businesslike administration, characterized by reform,
progress and substantial improvement. In 1883 he was chosen to serve
on the school board and in 1884 was elected city attorney of Brazil. Offi-
cial honors other than of a local character, however, have been conferred
upon him and he is now serving for his fourth consecutive term in con-
gress, having been first elected to represent his district in the fifty-seventh
congress. In 1884 he was an elector on the Blame ticket and went down
with the balance of the ticket. In the halls of national legislation he has
proved himself an able working member, connected with much important
constructive work done in the committee rooms
    On the 5th of March, 1873, Mr. Holliday was married to Miss Lina
Gregg, who was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, a daughter of
Aaron and Isabelle (Winn) Gregg, both of whom were natives of Frank-
lin county, Indiana. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Holliday have been born three