by Mr. Saunders was fundamental to the interests of the state. Nor was any
one more profoundly interested in the educational affairs of the state as
was shown by his share in the establishment of the state university on a
solider basis, of the board of trustees of which institution he was a
prominent member. Mr. Saunders would have graced a higher station in the
affairs of statecraft than that which he held, and in a wider orbit would
have afforded an easier play of his strength. Dropping out of politics for
a short while, he became a commission merchant in Mobile, but in 1845 he
was appointed to the post of the port of Mobile, by President Polk, and
after an expiration of his term of office he was on the electoral ticket
in the campaign which resulted in the election of Pierce and King. Wealthy
and hospitable, his was a typical southern home of the long ago.
A devout Christian philosopher and a sedate statesman to which were added
the qualities of a superior man of business, the usefulness of Honorable
James E. Saunders was incalculable.
W. P. CHILTON
For numerous reasons the name of Judge William P. Chilton is worthy of a
conspicuous place in the annals of the great men who have made Alabama. He
was a learned and incorruptible public servant, a patriot of the highest
mold, a patient and manly gentleman in all his relations, and a typical
Christian. He moved among his peers with universal esteem, and amidst the
temptations of public life preserved a reputation untarnished even by a
breath of suspicion.
Of a pleasing temperament, he was jocular as a companion, always agreeable
in intercourse, mingling in true democratic style among all classes, and
yet he never depressed an exalted standard of manhood even an iota. In his
rigid fidelity to duty he represented the best type of the publicist, and
alike in private and in public, exemplified a genuine manhood. Even under
the laxest conditions and in the abandon of free intercourse with others,
he never soiled his lips with unseemly speech or with questionable joke.
There was nothing that escaped him which a lady might not hear--nothing
that he could not utter in a public speech.
He was a man of vast and commanding influence which proceeded from the
loftiest summit--that of a pure and exalted life. He was active in the
stirring scenes which affected the period in which he lived; never shied a
duty imposed, and always met his obligations in such way as to win the
highest meed of public praise. Men came to know him so thoroughly that no
pressure of a questionable matter was ever made, because his integrity was
proverbial. From his well known standard of life, men knew where to place
him on all questions which involved the moral sides of right and wrong.
Such was the life, such the career of William Parish Chilton.
The time may have produced men his equals in the qualities already named,
but it produced none superior to Judge Chilton. His was not an
ostentatious display of virtue in order to elicit attention, for none were
meeker, more placid and tranquil, but his was a silent influence which
impressed wherever it touched. His condemnation of wrong was not of the
demonstrative kind, but his disapproval was a silent expression which was
always powerful. As one of the ancient philosophers said of one of his
brother philosophers, "He always says the same thing about the same
thing," so it was in the uniform bearing and conduct of Judge Chilton.
In such an orbit he moved, in such an orbit he died, leaving in the
memories of those who knew him and in the records of the state, a life of
distinguished purity. He was in no sense a recluse, nor in the least
offish; on the other hand, he was most cordial, and his piquant humor was
relished as a season to pleasant conversation; but he would never sanction
by even a smile an unseemly joke or expression.
His was an active life. Indeed his increasing labor was a subject of
frequent comment. This necessarily brought him into connection with all
classes of men, but he moved amidst all scenes without the smell of taint
on his character. His habits of life were as regular as the movement of
the hand on the dial face. By this means he was gifted with a physical
manhood capable of severe strains of labor.
Beginning life as a young attorney in Talladega County, in co-partnership
with George R. Brown, Mr. Chilton was subsequently associated in the
practice of the law with his brother-in-law, the late senator, John H.
Morgan, the strong firm including two other distinguished gentlemen,
George W. Stone and Frank W. Bowdon. Chosen once to represent Talladega
County in the legislature, Mr. Chilton was afterward elected to a seat on
the supreme bench of the state, succeeding Judge Ormond. Later still, in
1852, Judge Chilton became the chief justice of the supreme court of
Alabama, which position he held with great distinction for four years.
Retiring from this judicial position, he became associated, in 1860, with
William L. Yancey in the practice of the law in Montgomery.
When the Confederacy was created Judge Chilton was elected a member of the
provisional congress of the young government and throughout its brief and
fateful history retained his seat in that body. Speaking of his interest
and activity, Honorable J. L. M. Curry, who was his congressional
colleague, said: "It was a common remark that he was the most laborious
member of the body." He loved labor equally from an instinctive energy and
from a sense of duty. On the floor of the Confederate Congress the opinion
of no member was esteemed of greater worth than that of Judge Chilton.
In the rough and tumble of debate, which he enjoyed, whether on the
hustings or on the floor of congress, he displayed rare humor, reveling in
original epigram and in rollicking anecdote at the expense of his
opponent. Fluent and eloquent, he was at home before a promiscuous
gathering. His innocent, sparkling wit afforded him vast power in
discussion. Among the ludicrous sallies used in opposition to another in a
speech, and one long quoted in referring to the remarkable conservation of
his opponent, he accused him of "reaching an extreme medium." Before a
popular assemblage he was irresistible in his joviality and power to
produce merriment. Yet this was always done in such way as never to
occasion offense. Nor did he ever yield to buffoonery. His contagious
twinkle of eye, his sunlit face and his ready husbandry of dictum suited
to the occasion, were so remarkable that he would sweep an audience as a
breeze a field of grain. Yet his thrusts were so tempered by good nature
that they left no sting nor pang of regret to the speaker.
Buttressed on a character such as he possessed, this variety of gifts gave
to Judge Chilton immense advantage. It was known to be impossible for him
knowingly to misrepresent or to take the slightest advantage and
consequently the spell of his influence was overwhelming.
Among his numerous traits may be named that of his intense interest in
young men. His counsel was frequently sought by a struggling youth because
of his transparent frankness, readiness and responsiveness. He manifested
a keen interest in his young brother-in-law, John T. Morgan, who was
perhaps more indebted to Judge Chilton than to any other for the
substantial basis with which he began his brilliant and eventful career.
It was not uncommon for him to seek an interview with a young man in whom
he discovered gifts, and aid him to gain a solid footing.
When sixty-one years old, Judge Chilton was still active and alert, his
natural force still unabated, and his spirit undimmed by years of
activity, and, when it seemed that many years of usefulness were still
his, he suffered from a serious fall, from which he never recovered. His
death in Montgomery in January, 1871, was an occasion of state-wide
sorrow. The legislature was in session at the time, and Governor Lindsay
announced the sad fact of his death in the following communication to the
general assembly:
"State of Alabama,
"Executive Department,
"Montgomery, Jan. 21, 1871.
"Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
"It is with feelings of sorrow and regret that I inform you of the
death of the Honorable W. P. Chilton of the city of Montgomery. This
event occurred last night about the hour of 11. Judge Chilton was one
of our best beloved citizens, eminent as a jurist, and the people of
Alabama had often honored him with their public esteem and confidence.
As a member of the legislature, as a member of congress, and as chief
justice of our supreme court, he discharged his duties with devotion
and zeal. In the halls of legislation he was a statesman, and he
adorned the bench by his integrity and learning. The loss of such a
man is a public calamity, and it is fit that the departments of the
government of a state he loved so well should pay a tribute to his
memory."
The occasion of his funeral was a sad ovation of public esteem. The
legislature, the bar, the fraternity of Masons, of which he was an honored
member, together with multitudes of friends, sought on the occasion of his
funeral to accord to Judge Chilton the merits of his just deserts.
JOHN FORSYTH
For generations the name of Forsyth has been associated with distinction
in the records of southern history. The original member of the family,
Robert Forsyth, came from England to America before the revolution, and
was a member of the military family of Washington. His son, John Forsyth,
was at various times attorney general and governor of Georgia, a member of
congress for a period of fifteen years from that state, minister to Spain,
and was instrumental in procuring the cession of Florida. For six and a
half years he served as secretary of state, during the administrations of
Jackson and Van Buren. Robert Forsyth was the grandfather of John Forsyth,
late of Mobile, while John Forsyth, Sr., was his father.
Enjoying unusual advantages, socially and scholastically, the subject of
the present sketch turned them to great practical benefit. Among the
advantages which he enjoyed was that of a residence of two years at the
Spanish court during the administration of his distinguished father as
minister to Spain. He was a graduate from Princeton University, from which
he bore away the first honors of his class and delivered the valedictory
address.
Entering on the practice of law at Columbus, Ga., he continued there but
one year, when he located in Mobile, in the year 1835. He soon received
the appointment of United States attorney for the southern district of
Alabama, but the death of his father occurring in Georgia, necessitated
his return to that state, where he remained for twelve years, having taken
charge of his father's estate and devoting his time to planting, the
practice of law and the editorial management of the Columbus Times. It was
during that period that he enlisted to serve in the Mexican war as the
adjutant of the First Georgia Regiment.
He returned to Mobile in 1853, entered the lumber business, was burnt out,
and entered again the field of journalism by purchasing the Mobile
Register. In 1856 he was appointed by President Pierce minister to Mexico,
in which capacity he served for two years.
Colonel Forsyth's mission to Mexico was attended by much labor and
perplexity, as the duty was imposed on him of adjusting varied and
numerous claims against the Mexican government, which claims originated in
the nature of the war waged by the Mexicans. There were claims for
imprisonments, murders, confiscation, and others, and while Colonel
Forsyth labored without abatement, he had but timorous support from the
Buchanan administration.
As a matter of fact, President Buchanan was gravely absorbed in the rush
of events which tended toward the approaching Civil War, which broke like
a storm over the country in 1861, and his foreign policy was one of
conciliation. The reason of this presidential policy concerning Mexico is
now obvious. In view of the pending conflict in the American states, the
hostility of Mexico, for any reason, would be serious.
As an earnest advocate of the rights of the citizens of the American
states at the Mexican capital, Colonel Forsyth was gravely embarrassed by
the feeble support lent by his government, and this led to the severance
of his relations with the diplomatic service. Having resigned, he returned
to Mobile and resumed his editorial work.
With qualifications so varied, he was frequently called into active
service by the people. While his pen was actively employed, he was
summoned to such important posts as that of mayor of Mobile, legislator,
alderman in his adopted city, and other stations of public interest.
In March, 1861, Colonel Forsyth was sent, together with Messrs. Crawford
of Georgia, and Roman of Louisiana, on a peace commission to Washington.
There was but slight hope of accomplishing anything, and it is doubtful if
there was any more serious intention involved in the mission than that of
gaining time for a more efficient equipment of the South for the pending
struggle. It was a time for tactics, and a play for advantage. The mission
was a bootless one, and in due time the war burst on the country.
During the Civil War, Colonel Forsyth served for a time on the staff of
General Braxton Bragg, meanwhile retaining his connection with his paper,
for, after all, the pen was the most potent instrument in the hand of
Colonel Forsyth. After the close of the war he proved to be one of the
most masterly spirits in steering the state through the storm of
reconstruction. The pen of no one in the South was more powerful during
that chaotic period. Statesman, jurist and journalist, he was equipped
for guidance in an emergency like this, and with the zeal of a patriot he
responded to every occasion that arose. His excessive labor made sad
inroads on his constitution, his health was broken, but despite this he
was persistent in labor. He was of that type of public servants who sought
not applause for its own sake, but was impelled by an unquestioned
patriotism which yielded to demands of whatever kind, high or low, in
order that he might serve the public.
Much as Colonel Forsyth did in the exercise of his superior versatility,
all else was incidental to the wield of his prolific pen. He became the
South's most brilliant journalist. The compass of his vision was that of a
statesman, and during the troublous times which followed the Civil War,
the counsel of one like him was needed, and that counsel found most
profitable expression through the nib of his powerful pen.
Day after day, for a long period of years, the columns of the Mobile
Register glittered with thought that moved on the highest level and that
found expression in polished and incisive diction. It was brightened by
the loftiest tone of rhetoric, sustained throughout by the best strain of
scholarship, never lapsing, either in tone or expression, into the
commonplace. There was a fastidious touch in his style, a classical mold
to his thought, which, while they pleased the most scholarly of readers,
equally charmed the common people.
Under the sway of his forceful and trenchant pen the Mobile Register
became one of the most dominant factors in southern thought. That journal
found readers in all the states, and more than any other in the South at
that time, it won the attention of the metropolitan press. In no editorial
sanctum has he been surpassed in rareness of diction, nor in power of
expression.
GEORGE GOLDTHWAITE
There was a possibility at one time of Judge George Goldthwaite becoming a
military man. After spending his younger years in Boston, where he had as
school fellows such men as Charles Sumner and R. C. Winthrop, Goldthwaite
became a cadet at the military academy at West Point. Among his classmates
at the academy was General (Bishop) Polk, while in more advanced classes
were R. E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston and Jefferson Davis. Goldthwaite was
within one year of the completion of his course when he became involved in
a hazing fracas and quietly left the institution, as he knew what the
consequences would be. At that time, 1826, Alabama was in the infancy of
statehood, and he a youth of seventeen. His brother was at that time a
rising young lawyer at Montgomery and the younger brother entered on the
study of law under his elder brother.
The thoroughness of mental drill to which he had been subjected in the
Boston schools, as well as at the military academy, made his headway in
law comparatively easy, and at the end of the year, when he was but
eighteen, he was admitted to practice and opened an independent office at
Monticello, Pike County. The youthful lawyer did not lack for clients and
he remained in this rural village for a period of several years, after
which he returned to Montgomery, where his ability became widely
recognized.
In 1843 he offered for the judgeship of the circuit court against the
incumbent of the bench, Judge Abraham Martin, and was elected. In 1850 he
was opposed by Jefferson Jackson, a gentleman of prominence at the bar,
and was again elected. In 1852 Judge Goldthwaite was chosen a justice on
the supreme bench, and four years later, when Judge Chilton resigned,
Judge Goldthwaite became chief justice, but after serving in this capacity
just thirteen days he suddenly resigned and resumed the practice of the
law.
For three years after the beginning of the Civil War Judge Goldthwaite
served as adjutant general of the state under the appointment of Governor
Moore. Just after the close of the war he was elected again to the
position of circuit judge, but in 1866, under the reconstruction acts of
congress, he was removed.
In 1870 he was elected to the United States senate from Alabama. This
brief and cursory survey of an eventful life affords but a bare hint of
the marvelous activity and usefulness with which the career of Judge
Goldthwaite was crowned.
Like most men of deeply studious habits, there was wanting in the bearing
of Judge Goldthwaite a spirit of cordiality. His peculiar sphere was the
court room or the law office. He had a fondness for the discussion of the
profound principles of law and reveled in its study. An indefatigable
student of the law, he was one of the ablest attorneys and jurists the
state ever had. The statement of a proposition by him was as clear as a
Syrian atmosphere and in its elucidation before a jury his diction was
terse, crisp and simple, so that the veriest rustic could understand it.
Quiet in manner and with unadorned English he would unravel a knotty
proposition so that every thread was straightened, and everyone who knew
the meaning of the simplest diction could readily grasp his meaning. He
was a master of simple diction.
On the bench, Judge Goldthwaite was profound, but always clear and simple.
Every word seemed to fall into its appropriate place, and not a flaw was
left in the statement of a fact or principle. In the social circle his
conversation partook of the same lucid diction, revealing a fund of
information and a versatility of learning quite exceptional.
Of a stocky build, he was not prepossessing in personal appearance, but
when he began to speak his diction glowed with the heat of a quiet
earnestness, and all else was forgotten but the charm of his incomparable
speech.
Judge Goldthwaite achieved but slight distinction as a national senator,
because it was a time when the voice of a senator from the South booted
but little. The wounds of the Civil War were still fresh and smarting, and
the calmness of his temperament and the aversion to hostile excitement
forbade his flaring in empty speech, as would have been true of many
another. As a matter of fact, his sphere was not the forum, and he had no
taste for the dull routine of congressional proceeding.
Judge Goldthwaite's mind was distinctively judicial. He served in the
senate as a matter of patriotic duty, and not as a matter of choice. There
was a peculiar condition which required his continued presence there, and
to this demand he responded. It was a time that called for calmness and
conservatism, and no one was better prepared to illustrate these virtues
than Judge Goldthwaite.
His deportment in the National Senate challenged the admiration of all. A
former classmate of Charles Sumner, as has already been said, he was the
poles asunder from the New England statesman in the views entertained by
Mr. Sumner, and often hotly expressed by him on the floor of the senate.
Judge Goldthwaite preserved a long and honorable career in Alabama, and
left behind him a record of fame. He was far above the petty affairs of
life, and lived and thought on an elevated plane high above most men. He
was a student, a statesman, a jurist and a philosopher--all. He was an
ornament to the state and easily one of its foremost citizens in all that
pertained to its weal. He was without foil either in conduct or in
character. His example was stimulating, and his influence elevating and
inspiring. Any state would have been honored by the possession of a
citizen so eminent.
ALEXANDER TRAVIS
The name of Travis is immortally linked with the tragedy of the Alamo,
where the gallant Colonel William Travis was massacred with his devoted
band in that historic fortress at San Antonio. The Rev. Alexander Travis
was an uncle of the hero of the Alamo. Colonel William Travis was a
resident of Alabama before he removed to Texas, and practiced law in
Clarke County. Thence he removed to Texas, where he became one of the most
prominent sharers in the struggle for independence.
One of the dominant traits of the Travis stock was that of cool courage.
This was illustrated as much in the life of the heroic missionary in the
woods of southern Alabama as it was shown by his nephew in the ill-fated
fortress of the Alamo. Alexander Travis removed to Conecuh County in 1817,
and was one of the pioneer settlers of that region. He was a man of peace,
but this did not obscure the heroic impulses of his nature, for in
grappling with the stern conditions of pioneer life, in seeking to bring
them into due subordination to organized social conditions, unusual pluck
was needed, not alone, but wisdom and prudence, as well.
While sharing fully in the hardships of the early colonizers of south
Alabama, Mr. Travis, as a minister of the gospel, led in all movements in
the emergence of that region from chaotic conditions to the higher plane
of advanced society. Himself denied the advantages of an education, he was
the foremost in all movements to provide for general instruction. He was
the founder of the town of Evergreen, now a bustling little center on the
Louisville and Nashville Railway, between Montgomery and Mobile. He
founded the academy at that point, which school has given place in later
years to one of the state agricultural schools.
There was a pathetic touch in the life of a man who would labor on his
little farm, cleared by his own hands, in the wilds of south Alabama, and
who, at night, when the labor of the day was over, would sprawl himself in
his little yard before his blazing pine-knot fire, and study his plain
English Bible--the only book in his library. Leaving his hut in the woods,
each week, in time to reach distant settlements to preach on Sunday, he
would throw his little wallet of cotton cloth across his shoulders, and
set out on foot to trudge the distance, sometimes of forty miles, for the
privilege of preaching to some distant community. He came to know every
foot of the wide Indian trails that wound through the forests over a vast
area, and knew every log on which he could cross the large streams in
those bridgeless days of the long ago. Nothing foiled him in the
excursions of good, for when the rains would swell the streams, he would
strip himself, cram his apparel within his wallet, and, being an expert
swimmer, he would hold his bag above his head with one hand, while with
the other he would swim to the opposite side, redress, and onward plod his
way.