Marcus F. Wright's Civil War Bios - General Rutherford B. Hayes USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. Submitted by: Marti Graham marti@rootsweb.com Posted by Ruth Price Waldbauer http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/Transcriptions/CivilWar/1907MarcusFWrightBios ------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAYES p.136 a HAYES, GENERAL RUTHERFORD B., nineteenth President of the United States, born in Delaware, O., October 4, 1822; died in Fremont, O., January 7, 1893; was graduated at Kenyon College, Gambier, O., in August, 1842. Soon afterward he began to study law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, at Columbus, O., and then attended a course of law lectures at Harvard University, entering the law school on August 22, 1843, and finishing his studies there in January, 1845. On May 10, 1845, after examination, he was admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio, as an attorney and counsellor-at-law. He won the respect of the profession, and attracted the attention of the public as attorney in several criminal cases which gained some celebrity and increased his practice. On December 30, 1852, he married Miss Lucy W. Webb, daughter of doctor James Webb, a physician of high standing in Chillicothe, O. In January, 1854, he formed a law partnership with W. H. Corwine and William K. Rogers. In 1856, he was nominated for the office of common pleas judge, but declined. In 1858, he was elected city solicitor by the City Council of Cincinatti, to fill a vacancy caused by death, and in the following year he was elected to the same office at a popular election by a majority of 2,500 votes. Although he performed his duties to the general satisfaction of the public, he was in April, 1861, defeated for re-election as solicitor, together with the whole ticket. At a great mass meeting, held in Cincinatti after the arrival of the news that the flag of the United States had been fired upon at Fort Sumter, he was made chairman of a committee on resolutions to give voice to the feelings of the loyal people. His literary club formed a military company, of which he was elected captain, and this club subsequently furnished to the national army more than forty officers, of whom several became generals. On June 7, 1861, the Governor of Ohio appointed Mr. Hayes a major of the Twenty-third Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in July the regiment was ordered into West Virginia. On September 19, 1861, Major Hayes was appointed by General Rosecrans Judge Advocate of the Department of Ohio, the duties of which office he performed for about two months. On October 24, 1861, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. On September 14, 1862, in the battle of South Mountain, he distinguished himself by gallant conductin leading a charge and in holding his position at the head of men, after having been severely wounded in his left arm, until he was carried from the field. On October 4, 1862, he was appointed colonel of the same regiment. In July, 1863, he took part in the operations of the national army in Southwestern Virginia. In the spring of 1864, Colonel Hayes commanded a brigade in General crook's expedition to cut the principal lines of communication between Richmond and the Southwest. He took a creditable part in the engagement at Berryville, and at the second battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864, where he performed a feat of extrodinary bravery. At the battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, the conduct of colonel Hayes attracted so much attention that his commander, General Crook, on the battlefield, took him by the hand, saying: "Colonel, from this day, you will be a brigadier general." The commission arrived a few days afterward; and on March 13, 1865, he received the rank of brevet major general "for gallant and distinguished services during the campaign of 1864 in West Virginia, and particularly at the battles of Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, Va." Of his military services, General Grant, in the second volume of his memoirs, says: "On more than one occasion in these engagements General R. B. Hayes, who succeeded me as President of the United States, bore a very honorable part. His conduct on the field was marked by a conspicuous gallantry, as well as the display of qualities of a higher order than mere personal daring. Having entered the army as major of volunteers at the beginning of the war, General Hayes attained by his meritorious service the rank of brevet major general before its close." While General Hayes was in the field, in August, 1864, he was nominated by a republican district convention at Cincinatti, in the Second District of Ohio, as a candidate for Congress. When a friend suggested to him that he should take leave of absence from the army in the field for the purpose of canvassing the district, he answered: "Your suggestion about getting a furlough to take the stump was certainly made without reflection. An officer, fit for duty, who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be scalped." He was elected by a majority of 2,400. The Ohio soldiers in the field nominated him also for the governorship of his state. After the war, General Hayes returned to civil life and took his seat in Congress, December 4, 1865. In August, 1866, General Hayes was renominated for Congress by acclamation, and after an active canvass was re-elected by the same majority as before. He was three times elected Governor of Ohio (1867-69-75), and was inaugurated President of the United States, March 5, 1877.