the states of this Union, including Louisiana, having
temporarily subverted and swept away the civil institutions of
that state, including the judiciary and the judicial authorities
of the Union, so that it has become necessary to hold the state
in military occupation; and it being indispensably necessary
that there shall be some judicial tribunal existing there
capable of administering justice, I have, therefore, thought it
proper to appoint, and I do hereby constitute, a Provisional
Court, which shall be a court of record for the state of
Louisiana, and I do hereby appoint Charles A. Peabody, of New
York, to be a provisional judge to hold said court, with
authority to hear, try, and determine all causes, civil and
criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue, and
admiralty, * * * his judgment to be final and conclusive. And I
do hereby authorize and empower the said judge to make and
establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the
exercise of his jurisdiction, and to appoint a prosecuting
attorney, marshal, and clerk of the said court, who shall
perform the functions of attorney, marshal, and clerk, according
to such rules and regulations as may be made and established by
said judge. * * * A copy of this order, certified by the
Secretary of War, and delivered to such judge, shall be deemed
and held to be a sufficient commission. Let the seal of the
United States be hereunto affixed.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, _Secretary of State_.
The powers conferred by this order, it will be seen, are as great as can
be conferred by sovereignty itself,--"to hear, try, and determine all
causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue,
and admiralty, * * * his judgment to be final and conclusive." Under
this commission, Judge Peabody proceeded to organize his court by
appointing his prosecuting attorney, marshal, and clerk. Thus organized
in New York, the court proceeded, by government transport, to New
Orleans, and commenced business. It was immediately filled with causes
of the first magnitude, and continued throughout its existence to
attract almost all of that class of business. The court held that it had
jurisdiction not only of cases originating in it, but that it had power
to review on appeal cases originating in other courts. It also ordered
causes pending and undecided in other courts transferred to itself, and
there decided and ended them. A cause pending in the circuit court of
the United States, on appeal from the district court of the United
States, was transferred by order of this court and decided. (The
Grapeshot. 9 Wallace 129). Mr. Seward, as he and Chief-Justice Chase
were dining with Judge Peabody, speaking of the supreme court of the
United States, said for the ear of the chief-justice: "His court has
some power in time of peace, no doubt, but none in time of war. It is
limited to a small class of cases, and in those usually to appellate
jurisdiction, and in all cases it is bound by law prescribed for its
guidance; in none of which respects was Peabody's court under any
limitation;" and (turning to Judge Peabody) he added: "Why, Peabody, all
the power of his court is not a circumstance to what you had in
Louisiana."
The executive department of this court was no less remarkable than its
jurisdiction. The marshal had at his command, by order of the
departments of war and navy, all needed aid from the army and navy. A
personal escort of soldiers as large as needed on land, and transports
and gunboats on water, were always at his disposal, and nothing was
needed beyond the exhibition of the process of the court to command
their services. Escorts of a thousand and more cavalry were in the
service of the marshal at times, and similar facilities were afforded by
the gunboats and transports on the rivers, bayous, and lakes of that
aqueous state. Even private commercial vessels plying on the Mississippi
river and other waters of the state were, by order of the war
department, compelled to stop and take on board any deputy of the
marshal, at any place where he should demand it by showing his signal,
and to stop and land him wherever he demanded it. This they were
required to do at all places, however exposed, and where vessels were
not otherwise allowed to land for business purposes, on account of
exposure to the enemy. The relief to the department of state was
complete; for from the time the court commenced business nothing was
heard there of controversies which had burdened and alarmed the
department previously, and the success of the court in other respects
was equally complete, commanding the respect and confidence of the
community,--the disloyal as well as the loyal. This office he resigned
in 1865, and the court was terminated in July, 1866, on his
recommendation, by an act of congress.
In 1862, to meet an emergency, and to avoid having the business of that
court interrupted by business of a different character, he was appointed
judge of a criminal court in New Orleans, in which for several months he
dispensed all the criminal justice administered in the city of New
Orleans and the part of Louisiana held by the federal army, excepting
only capital cases, which were always tried in the more dignified court
held by him. In 1863, while holding the United States provisional court,
he was appointed chief-justice of the supreme court of Louisiana,--the
appellate court of last resort. In 1865 he was appointed, by the
President of the United States and confirmed by the senate, attorney for
the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana. That office he
declined to accept, and he returned to the practice of his profession in
New York as soon as he felt at liberty to retire from the United States
provisional court.
In 1870 he was nominated by the Republican party for surrogate of the
county of New York, on which occasion he was not elected; but he ran
many thousands of votes ahead of his ticket, and lacked less than
thirteen thousand of an election, while the majority against the ticket
generally, which was headed by Gen. John A. Dix for mayor, himself an
honored son of New Hampshire, was more than fifty-four thousand.
He is now, and has been since its organization many years ago, a member
of the "Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of
Nations," an association, as its name imports, devoted to the
advancement of the law governing nations in their intercourse with each
other, composed of publicists and advanced students of the science of
government from nearly every nation of Europe, and from some of the most
enlightened nations of Asia, as well as America. In the proceedings of
that body he has taken an active part, attending its meetings, which
occur annually, and are held in the different cities of Europe, as
Ghent, Geneva, the Hague, Bremen, Antwerp, London, Berne,
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Cologne, Liverpool. He has always been a member
of the executive committee, and is now vice-president of the association
for the United States, in which office he succeeds Charles Francis Adams
and the late Reverdy Johnson. He has traveled extensively in Europe,
having visited it frequently in the summer vacations of business, and
last year (1881), after attending the congress of the Association for
the Reform of the Law of Nations, at Cologne, he attended an
International Geographical congress at Venice, as a delegate from the
American Geographical Society. He is now pursuing his profession in New
York, as he has always done since he commenced there, except for the
times he has been acting as judge.
In his religious preferences he is Episcopalian. While living in New
Orleans, in 1863, 1864, and 1865, he was a member of the vestry of
Christ church there, and he has been for many years, and now is, senior
warden of Christ church, North Conway, in the White Mountains of New
Hampshire.
Judge Peabody has married twice. The first time, as before stated, to
Julia Caroline Livingston, daughter of James Duane Livingston, of the
city of New York, the mother of his children. His second marriage was to
Maria E. Hamilton, with whom he is now living. This lady, daughter of
John C. Hamilton, is a grand-daughter of Alexander Hamilton, the
favorite aid and trusted counselor of General Washington in the
Revolutionary war, the first secretary of the treasury of the United
States, the organizer of that department, and in large measure of the
government of the United States.
By his first marriage he had five children, who are now living,--four
sons and one daughter. His sons are all graduates of college and
professional schools. Three of them are lawyers, one is a physician, and
all reside in the city of New York. One of them bears the name of
Glendower (Philip Glendower), after the Welsh chieftain, Owen Glendower,
in recognition of the Welsh origin of the family.
As has been said, Judge Peabody was the oldest of ten children, having
had five brothers and four sisters, all natives of New Hampshire. Of his
brothers, only one survives with him, Dr. William F. Peabody, of San
Francisco, a doctor of medicine, a biographical sketch of whom should
form a part of this volume. Dr. Peabody was for a time Professor of
Languages in Mount Hope College, Baltimore, following thither his older
brother while the latter was teaching and studying his profession there.
The Doctor studied his profession in Baltimore, and practiced there for
a time; but in the very early days of California emigration removed
thither, where he still resides, commanding much respect as a gentleman
of high moral and social character and much literary taste, as well as
an able physician. Two of his brothers, George B. Peabody and Enoch W.
Peabody, after the subject of this sketch, the pioneer of the family,
had located in New York, became shipmasters of distinction in the "old"
or "Black Ball" line of Liverpool packets sailing from New York, in the
days when those ships were the pride of the nation, and the command of
one was equivalent to a certificate of the highest character for
efficiency and reliable qualities. Of the sisters, three survive and
live in Andover, Mass., the last place of residence of their parents.
NOTE.--Judge Peabody's judicial life has been sufficiently
varied and uncommon to attract remark. He has been twice justice
of the supreme court of the state of New York, by appointment of
the governor, and was offered a place on the bench of another
court, which he did not accept; he has been appointed judge of
three different courts by the federal government of the United
States; he has been three times the nominee and candidate of his
party for other judicial places,--twice for the bench of the
supreme court of the state of New York, and once for surrogate
of the city and county of New York.
[Illustration: G. CHENEY]
GILMAN CHENEY.
The postal, passenger, and express cars, representing respectively
government, corporate, and private enterprise, constitute a trinity
which has annihilated space and made possible the business progress of
the last fifty years. The third is the creature of a few men, among whom
the Cheney brothers of New Hampshire are most conspicuous.
Their grandfather, Deacon Tristram Cheney, was one of the early settlers
of Antrim, he having come from Dedham, Mass., in 1769, and located near
the Hillsborough line. His son Jesse, who married, first, Miss
Blanchard, of West Deering, and, afterwards, Deborah Winchester, of
Hillsborough, located his homestead near Cork Ridge, on what is known as
the Dimond Dodge place, where there were born to him nine children, of
whom Benjamin P., James S., and Gilman are the three who have made
"Cheney's Express" a familiar phrase in every city and village in New
England and Canada.
Gilman was the fifth child. He was born January 25, 1822, and until he
was eighteen years of age worked at farming in the vicinity of his
native town. At that age he had a little knowledge of books, a strong
constitution, and an abundant stock of courage and ambition, with which
he left home to make a place for himself in the business world. For the
next ten years he was slowly gathering capital, experience, and
knowledge of men and things in the cotton-mills of Nashua, Newburyport,
and Manchester; and, while filling his place to the satisfaction of his
employers, he could not find there the opportunity he wished, and, in
search of a wider and more promising field for action, went to
California. Here he crowded three years very full of adventure and
business success, and then returned to assist his brothers in extending
the express system, which was then in its infancy. He was assigned to
the Canadian division, and, establishing his headquarters at Montreal,
he gave himself heartily to the work, and has since been thoroughly
identified with the enterprise. His position is that of superintendent
of the Canadian Express Company, which covers the territory and controls
the express business between Detroit, Mich., and the seaboard at
Portland, Halifax, and St. John's, and also an ocean route by the Allan
line of steamships to Europe. He is also largely interested in the
American and Wells & Fargo express companies.
The home of Mr. Cheney is in Montreal, where he extends a warm and
princely welcome to hosts of friends, and especially to those who were
fortunate enough to have known him in his boyhood days in New Hampshire.
He married Mary Ann Lincoln Riddle, daughter of James Riddle, Esq., of
Merrimack. His only child, William G. Cheney, was born October 12, 1858.
Mr. Cheney has been a very successful man. The enterprise with which his
name is identified has grown great and strong. It has made its owner
rich, it has given employment to thousands of men at remunerative wages,
and it has made it easier and more profitable for others to do their
business. He deserves all the good things he has received, for he is a
true man. In every relation of life, in boyhood and manhood, in business
and pleasure, he has challenged only the affection and admiration of
those interested in him. His integrity is inborn, his good-nature never
fails, and his energy never tires. He never disappoints his friends; and
he has no enemies.
[Illustration: H Rollins]
Hon. Edward H. Rollins.
COMPILED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES, WITH SOME ADDITIONS,
BY HON. DANIEL HALL.
The Rollins family is one of the oldest and most numerous in the state.
In southeastern New Hampshire, from the seaboard to Lake Winnipesaukee,
the Rollins name is prominent in the history of almost every town. Most,
if not all, the representatives of the name in this region, and among
them the subject of this sketch, are the descendants of James Rollins
(or _Rawlins_, as the name was then and for a long time after spelled,
and is now by some branches of the family), who came to America in 1632,
with the first settlers of Ipswich, Mass., and who, ten or twelve years
afterwards, located in that portion of old Dover known as "Bloody
Point," now embraced in the town of Newington, where he died about 1690.
The representatives of the family suffered their full share in the
privations and sacrifices incident to the firm establishment of the
colony, and performed generous public service in the early Indian and
French wars, and the great Revolutionary contest. Ichabod, the eldest
son of James Rawlins, and of whom Edward H. is a lineal descendant, was
waylaid and killed by a party of Indians, while on the way from Dover to
Oyster River (now Durham), with one John Bunker, May 22, 1707. Thomas,
the second son of James, who subsequently became a resident of Exeter,
was a member of the famous "dissolved assembly" of 1683, who took up
arms under Edward Gove and endeavored to incite an insurrection against
the tyrannical royal governor, Cranfield. For this attempt, Gove and
others, including Thomas Rawlins, were presented for high treason. Gove
was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, but was subsequently
pardoned. We do not learn, however that any of the others were tried.
Others of the family fell victims to the murderous malignity of the
Indians.
There were from twenty-five to thirty descendants of James Rawlins, of
the fourth and fifth generations, engaged in active service, and several
of them in distinguished capacities, in the patriot cause during the
Revolutionary war.
Among the first settlers of that portion of Dover which afterwards
became Somersworth, was Jeremiah Rollins, the only son of Ichabod,
heretofore mentioned as slain by the Indians. He was one of the
petitioners for the incorporation of Somersworth as a separate parish.
He died a few years previous to the Revolution, leaving several
daughters, but only one son, Ichabod Rollins, who became an active
champion of the Revolutionary cause, was a member of the conventions at
Exeter in 1775, and served as a member of the committee appointed to
prepare a plan of providing ways and means for furnishing troops, and
also as a member of the committee of supplies, the principal labor upon
which was performed by himself and Timothy Walker of Concord. He was a
member of the convention which resolved itself into an independent state
government. January 5, 1776, and served in the legislature in October
following. He was the first judge of probate under the new government,
holding the office from 1776 to 1784. He was subsequently a member of
the executive council, and died in 1800. From this eminent citizen, the
town of Rollinsford, formed from the portion of Somersworth in which he
resided, received its name. He stands midway in the direct line of
descent from James Rawlins to Edward H.,--the great-grandson of James,
and great-grandfather of Edward H. He had four sons, of whom John, the
oldest, was the grandfather of Hon. Daniel G. Rollins, who was judge of
probate for the county of Strafford, from 1857 to 1866, and whose son,
Edward Ashton Rollins, was speaker of the New Hampshire house of
representatives in 1861 and 1862, commissioner of internal revenue under
President Johnson, and is now president of the Centennial Bank at
Philadelphia; and another son, Daniel G. Rollins, was recently district
attorney, and is now surrogate of the city and county of New York. James
Rollins, the third son of Ichabod, and grandfather of Edward H., settled
upon the farm in Rollinsford which has since remained the family
homestead. He was the father of thirteen children, seven sons and six
daughters. Of these, Daniel Rollins, the eighth child, born May 30,
1797, and who married Mary, eldest daughter of Ebenezer Plumer, of
Rollinsford, was the father of Edward H. He succeeded to the homestead,
but sold out and went to Maine with a view to making his home there. He
soon returned, and repurchased that part of the homestead lying east of
the highway, and erected a dwelling opposite the old family mansion,
where he lived a life of sturdy industry, rearing a family of six
children, four sons and two daughters, and died January 7, 1864.
EDWARD HENRY ROLLINS, the oldest of the children, was born October 3,
1824. He lived at home, laboring upon the farm in the summer season,
attending the district school in winter, and getting an occasional
term's attendance at the South Berwick Academy, and Franklin Academy in
Dover, until seventeen years of age, when he went to Concord and engaged
as druggist's clerk in the well known apothecary store of John McDaniel.
He retained his situation some three or four years, industriously
applying himself to the details of the business. He then went to Boston,
where he was engaged in similar service until 1847, when, having
thoroughly mastered the business, he returned to Concord and went into
trade on his own account, soon building up a large and successful
business. Having bought and improved the land on Main street, just north
of the Eagle Hotel, the great fire of 1851 destroyed the building which
he had but recently finished. He rebuilt the stores known as "Rollins's
Block," one of which was occupied by his own business for so many years.
This property he sold a short time since to the New Hampshire Savings
Bank.
In politics, Mr. Rollins was originally a Webster Whig, but voted for
Franklin Pierce in 1852, and for Nathaniel B. Baker, the Democratic
candidate for governor, at the next March election. The aggressions of
slavery, however, culminating in the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill
and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, dissolved his brief
connection with the Democratic party. Strongly opposed to the extension
of slavery, or any measures rendering its extension possible, though he
had previously taken no active part in politics, he enlisted in the
American or Know-Nothing movement, in the winter of 1854-55, with the
hope that it might, as it did, prove instrumental in the defeat of the
Democracy.
From this time Mr. Rollins was an active politician. He labored
effectively in perfecting the new party organization, taking therein the
liveliest interest. At the March election, 1855, he was chosen to the
legislature from Concord, and served efficiently in that body as a
member of the judiciary committee. The next year witnessed the merging
of the American party in the new Republican party, which object Mr.
Rollins was largely instrumental in securing. Re-elected to the
legislature in March, 1856, Mr. Rollins was chosen speaker of the house,
ably discharging the duties of the office, and was re-elected the
following year. The talent which he had already developed as a political
organizer made his services eminently desirable as a campaign manager,
and he was made chairman of the first state central committee of the
Republican party, a position which he held continuously until his
election to congress in 1861, and in which he exhibited a capacity for
thorough organization,--a mastery of campaign work, in general and in
detail,--seldom equaled and certainly never surpassed.
He was chairman of the New Hampshire delegation in the Republican
national convention at Chicago, in 1860, having been chosen a delegate
at large by the state convention, with but a single vote in opposition.
In the close contest between the friends of Lincoln and Seward in that
convention, the New Hampshire delegation, under his lead, supported
Lincoln from the first, and was strongly instrumental in securing his
nomination.