It seems fitting that, in concluding this sketch of the Convention and
its labors, I should briefly narrate the subsequent history of its
members. It was a small company, that which parted here twenty-three
years ago to-day, and it was made up, as I have said, largely of young
and vigorous men. But when this reunion was first suggested, and I came
to look over the familiar names I had so often called during the long,
hot days of that far away July, it was painful to note the havoc death
had made. It impressed me something as did a roll-call I once witnessed,
in the red glare of bivouac fires after one of the great battles of the
war, when surviving comrades answered "killed," or "wounded," to
one-half the names of a regiment. Ten of the fifty-two members composing
the Convention I have not heard of for many years. Of the remaining
forty-two, twenty rest quietly in
—"The reconciling grave,
Where all alike lie down in peace together."
The largest delegation was that from Leavenworth county, and only one of
the ten gentlemen comprising it, R. C. Foster, certainly survives. Rare
Sam Stinson, whose genial wit and brilliant accomplishments won all
hearts, was elected Attorney General in 1861, by a unanimous vote, and
died in his old Maine home, in February, 1866. William C. McDowell was
chosen Judge of the First Judicial District at the first election under
the Constitution; served four years; and was killed by a fall from an
omnibus in St. Louis, July 16, 1866. John P. Slough removed to Colorado,
was Colonel of a regiment raised in that State, and later a Brigadier
General; was appointed, after the war, Chief Justice of New Mexico, and
was killed at Santa Fe. Samuel Hipple removed to Atchison county; served
as a Quartermaster during the war; was elected State Senator in 1867;
and died in January, 1876. William Perry removed to Colorado, where he
died. P. S. Parks returned to Indiana, and engaged in journalism and the
law until his death, three years ago. Fred. Brown died in St. Joseph,
Mo., and John Wright at his home in Leavenworth county. Robert Graham,
of Atchison county, the oldest member, died in 1868. Three of the five
members from Doniphan county, Robert J. Porter, Benjamin Wrigley and
John Stairwalt, are dead. The members from Linn, James M. Arthur and
Josiah Lamb, are both dead, as are also N. C. Blood, of Douglas, and T.
S. Wright, of Nemaha. W. R. Griffith, of Bourbon, was elected the first
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and died, February 12th,
1862, before the completion of his term. James G. Blunt, of Anderson,
who became a Major General during the war, and won renown as a brave and
skillful soldier, died, in Washington, a year or more ago. James Hanway,
of Franklin, after a long life of usefulness, died at his old home, only
a brief while ago. President James M. Winchell returned to New York
shortly after the outbreak of the rebellion, and resumed his connection
with the _Times_, first as war correspondent and afterwards as an
editorial writer. Until his death, a few years since, he was employed
upon that great journal.