legislature, but he positively declined to remain, and declared his
purpose to enter the prospective army of the Confederacy. Finding that the
governor would not accept the entire regiment of which he was the
commander, he resigned his seat in the legislature and took his place in
the ranks of one of the companies as a private. Thereupon the governor
gave him a commission as aide-de-camp and sent him to Pensacola to receive
the Alabama companies as they should arrive, and organize them into
regiments. Colonel Clayton had the distinction of organizing the first
regiment that was organized for the Confederate service. Of this regiment
he was chosen the colonel. The regiment was composed of the pick of young
Alabamians, not a few of whom, though already distinguished citizens, were
serving in the ranks as privates. Among these may be named Hons. John
Cochran, James L. Pugh and E. C. Bullock. Hailing from the same city were
Colonel Clayton and these eminent citizens serving in the ranks as
privates. It reflected as great honor on these privates, as it did on the
young colonel, that while representing the same circle of society at home,
in their respective relations as soldiers, the one a colonel and the
others privates, there was exercised, on the other hand, the rigid
discipline of the officer, and on the other, the prompt obedience of the
soldier in the ranks.
Indeed, these prominent citizens were models of obedience to discipline,
and sought to render such prompt service as would be exemplary to the men
of lesser note in the ranks. They shared the fate of the commonest soldier
in the ranks, whether it was with respect to guard duty, throwing up
fortifications, or mounting cannon.
Months went past, and the theatre of war shifted to Virginia and Kentucky.
While the brave Alabamians remained inactive at Pensacola, decisive
battles were being fought in the regions already named. They chafed under
enforced retirement, and on the expiration of the term of service of the
regiment, Colonel Clayton was urged to reorganize it, but preferring the
active service of the field to coast duty, he returned home, organized the
Thirty-ninth Alabama regiment, and offered it to the Confederacy. Assigned
to duty in the army under General Bragg, Colonel Clayton led his troops
into the battle of Murfreesboro, where he received a wound. After a leave
of thirty days, he returned to his command, though his wound was yet
unhealed, and was surprised by the receipt of his commission as a
brigadier general.
His command became noted in the western army for its fighting qualities,
and "Clayton's Brigade" was the synonym of dash and courage in all the
active campaigns of the western army, and in its long series of conflicts,
this intrepid brigade was engaged. After the battle of New Hope Church, in
which engagement General Clayton was again wounded, he was made a major
general, which commission he held till the surrender of Johnston in North
Carolina. In addition to the wound received at Murfreesboro, he was
knocked from his horse by a grapeshot at Chickamauga, and at Jonesboro he
had three horses either killed or disabled under him.
After his return home at the close of hostilities, General Clayton was
elected judge of the eighth judicial circuit, in which position he served
till his removal under the reconstruction regime. After that time, he
devoted himself to law and to planting, in both of which he was
successful.
After an unsuccessful candidacy for the governorship, General Clayton
later became the president of the State University, in which capacity he
served to the close of his life.
General Clayton was an excellent type of the old-time Southern gentleman.
Free and cordial in intercourse with friends, hospitable, and jovial, he
was deservedly one of the most popular citizens of the state, as well as
one of the most prominent. He left a record cherished alike by the
soldiers of his old command, by the students of the university, and by the
people of a great state.
JAMES F. DOWDELL
During his career, Col. James F. Dowdell occupied a number of important
and responsible positions. He became a citizen of Alabama at the age of
twenty-eight, when he removed from Georgia to East Alabama and entered on
the practice of law. His parents were Virginians, his mother being a
remote relative of Henry Clay.
Colonel Dowdell was favored by superior conditions in the outset of life,
being a graduate from Randolph-Macon College, which has long ranked as one
of the best in the South. He was also favored by superior legal training,
having studied law under Gen. Hugh Haralson, of LaGrange, Ga.
The gifts and acquirements of Colonel Dowdell were rather unusual. While
thoroughly independent in thought, he was modest in his disposition.
Unobtrusive, he was yet firm in moral steadiness. Drawn within the circle
of enticement by reason of a varied public life, he maintained a character
unsmirched, and was honored for his uncompromising preservation of virtue.
In this respect, the tenor of his life was uniform. In public and in
private, always, he was the same. Nothing fell from his lips that the most
refined lady might not hear. Yet in intellectual combat on the hustings,
or on the floor of congress, where mind clashed again mind, he was always
an antagonist to be accounted with. While in the rush and onset of debate,
he never failed to stop at the boundary of propriety. There was an
instinctive halt and shrinkage in the presence of wrong. Nothing could
betray him beyond.
On the entrance of Colonel Dowdell into public life, which was but a few
years after his removal to the state, he was brought into sharp contact
with several of the intellectual giants for which that period of the
state's history was noted. Five years after becoming a citizen of Alabama,
he offered for the legislature, and though defeated in his first canvass,
he succeeded in so impressing the people with his forcefulness, that the
following year he was chosen as an elector on the Pierce ticket. This
afforded an opportunity for the deepening of the impression on the public,
and a year later he was rewarded by his adopted district with a seat in
the national congress. By a political move some time later, however, he
was placed at a disadvantage. The congressional districts of the state
having been reorganized in 1853, he was thrown into the district in which
Montgomery was. But reliant on the public for a due recognition of his
record, he did not hesitate to offer for re-election in opposition to Hon.
Thomas H. Watts, a competitor of gigantic power, skilled in debate, and
perfectly familiar with current questions. This was the period when
know-nothingism was rampant, and as a political fad, novel and striking,
gave to its adherents the advantage of the excitement which it produced.
The contest with Mr. Watts was a notable one, the district was agitated as
never before by the contesting aspirants, and Mr. Dowdell won by a narrow
majority. He regarded this as one of the most decisive victories of his
life.
Returning to congress for a second term in 1855, he was again opposed at
the end of the next two years, in 1857, by Col. Thomas J. Judge, then in
the prime of his intellectual vigor. Again, the greatest forces of Colonel
Dowdell were summoned into exercise, again was conducted a notable
campaign, and again Colonel Dowdell won. Never violent, and yet never
shrinking from an onset in a contest, he had a manner of meeting it, which
while it showed he was unafraid, he was thoroughly intent on doing right
in each instance, and disdained to seize the slightest advantage, unless
it was compatible with the code of right. This did not fail to challenge
the attention of the crowds, and elicited not a little popular acclaim.
The reputation gained in two campaigns, the conditions of both of which
made them unusually noteworthy, served to increase the grip of Colonel
Dowdell at Washington, and profuse were the congratulations of his peers,
when fresh from the combat, he returned to resume his duties at the
national capital. At home he came to be regarded as invincible, in which
opinion some of the lions of the state capital shared. These two contests
fixed for all time his reputation in Alabama. The peculiar cast of his
ability came to be recognized, he was honored for his sense of absolute
fairness, and trusted for his integrity. He had opened the door of
opportunity which no man could shut.
After having served in congress for three consecutive terms, Colonel
Dowdell voluntarily withdrew, and retired to private life for somewhat
more than a year. The rumblings of approaching war were already in the
air, the result of which no thoughtful man of the time could for a moment
doubt. War was inevitable. It was a time which called for all the ablest.
From his retirement, Colonel Dowdell was summoned to become a delegate to
the secession convention of Alabama. The war followed, and Colonel Dowdell
raised a regiment of volunteers, the Thirty-seventh Alabama, which
regiment was assigned to duty in the west, under Gen. Albert Sidney
Johnson. At Corinth, Colonel Dowdell was distinguished by coolness and
courage at the head of his command. Some time later, his frail
constitution gave way under the exposure and hardship of the camp and
march, and he was forced to retire. Nor was this step voluntarily taken,
because he declined to withdraw because of the detriment of the example,
and for other reasons, and did so only under orders from a medical board.
He was unable to re-enter the army, and addressed himself to his private
affairs, aiding in every way possible in the promotion of the cause.
After the war, Colonel Dowdell became the president of the East Alabama
College, at Auburn, then a school under the auspices of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South. This school subsequently became the Alabama
Polytechnic Institute, which it now is. In this new position, Colonel
Dowdell served for a number of years with signal ability. While never a
pastor, he was a preacher, and frequently served in the pulpit as a
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Distinguished in all
things that he assumed, or in all positions to which he was called,
Colonel Dowdell was most distinguished for his incorruptible character and
piety of life. He died in 1871, died as he had lived--a man of piety, an
ornament to public life, in private life a fearless citizen, an honor to
his church, and one of the first citizens of the state.
LAFAYETTE GUILD
Of the medical profession of Alabama, the man who attained the greatest
distinction during the Civil War, was Dr. LaFayette Guild, of Tuscaloosa.
He was of a family distinguished in medicine, his father, Dr. James Guild,
being one of the most skillful physicians in the country. His operations
in surgery ranked with those of Dr. Valentine Mott, of New York.
Dr. LaFayette Guild graduated with the highest degree conferred by the
University of Alabama, at the age of twenty. His mental, social and
scholastic equipments were of the highest quality, for at that period,
none were more highly favored than he. The advantages of a cultured
Christian home, the station of which was in the best Southern society, and
the stimulus of a literary center, were his, to all of which advantages
were added his own energy, application, and diligence.
At the period of his graduation from the University of Alabama, the one
great school of medicine was recognized to be the Jefferson Medical
College, of Philadelphia. After a three years' course he was graduated
from that famous institution. He was a great favorite at the medical
college, admired as much for his culture and gentleness of disposition, as
for the scholastic rank that he held. The tenderness of his sympathy was
shown by the fact that the first time he witnessed the dissection of a
human cadaver, he fainted, while another side of his character was shown,
when at one time he saved the life of a fellow student by sucking the
poison from an accidental wound inflicted while operating. These
sufficiently reveal the type of the man that he was.
There was not wanting a strain of the chivalrous dash in Dr. Guild, who,
while he loved his profession, was not content to follow the usual humdrum
of the physician's life, and consequently chose to adopt the military
phase of the profession. He was accordingly appointed an assistant surgeon
in the regular army at the age of twenty-four, and assigned to duty, in
1849, at Key West, Florida.
In this semi-tropical region, he was as enthusiastic in his scientific
research as he had ever been. From Florida he was transferred to
Governor's Island, off Boston, where he was able to bring into requisition
the results of his researches in Southern Florida. His valuable service
was shown in the prevention of yellow fever from infected ships from the
tropics. While stationed at Governor's Island, Dr. Guild wrote a treatise
on yellow fever, which was published by the government. He was the first
to insist stoutly that yellow fever is infectious, though not contagious,
a theory then new, but now accepted.
Nothing relative to the health of the army escaped his trained eye. About
the time about which we are now writing, a meat biscuit which was issued
to the army, became quite popular, but he condemned it as unhealthful, and
was instrumental in inducing its discontinuance.
From Boston, Dr. Guild was assigned to duty on the Pacific Coast, where
Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston commanded the Pacific Coast division of the
regular army. Dr. Guild's official duties were such as to enable him to
witness many scenes of Indian warfare in the Far West. It was while he was
serving on the Pacific Coast that the rupture came between the North and
the South. Promptly sacrificing his accumulated means, and the popular and
lucrative position which he had gained in the army, he resigned, turned
his face southward, visited his old home in Tuscaloosa, and repaired to
Richmond, where in July, 1861, he was appointed a surgeon in the
Confederate army. The following month, he was sent by the Confederate
government on a tour of inspection of the hospitals throughout the South.
On his return to Richmond, Dr. Guild was assigned to duty at the front,
where his relations with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston became the most intimate,
and the families of both constituted a charming circle of army society.
Dr. Guild was among many others who insisted that General Johnston was
among the greatest strategists of either army.
When General Johnston was wounded at Seven Pines, and General Lee took
command, one of the first inquiries of General Lee was: "Where is Dr.
Guild? Tell him to report to me at once." It was on the battle field of
Seven Pines that Dr. Guild was made medical director and chief surgeon of
the army of Northern Virginia, which position he held to the close of the
war. This position placed him on General Lee's staff, and from that time
till the close of the long and bloody tragedy, Dr. Guild sustained the
closest personal relationship with the greatest southern chieftain.
When General Lee invaded Pennsylvania, he was one day riding through a
town at the head of his troops, the people of which town gave every
demonstration of hostility to the Confederates. From the windows and
balconies of the homes, the women waved flags and accompanied their
demonstrations with hissing and jeering. From all this the delicate and
sensitive nature of Lee shrank, and, turning to one of his aides, he said:
"Bring Drs. Guild and Breckenridge to the front." Two more graceful and
commanding personages were not in the army, and when they came galloping
up, General Lee quietly placed himself between them, and the three rode
abreast. With characteristic modesty, General Lee later explained his
reason for summoning the two physicians to the front, by saying he felt
sure "the ladies would not ridicule two such handsome men and splendid
horsemen as the two distinguished physicians."
The war being over, Dr. Guild went to Mobile, and though still practically
a young man, he was wrecked in health by the strain and exposure incident
to the long war. His energetic spirit strove with his disabled body, and
he entertained the hope that by carefully husbanding his remaining
strength he might be able to recuperate. His plan was to begin life over
again by entering on private practice in the Gulf city. But his valuable
services were soon summoned to another sphere, for he was made quarantine
inspector of Mobile during a scourge of yellow fever, and by his skill and
diligence stayed its ravages. In 1869, Dr. Guild removed to San Francisco
with the hope of resuscitation in an equable climate, but he did not long
survive his removal, for on July 4, 1870, he died of rheumatism of the
heart in the little town of Marysville, California.
M. W. ABERNETHY
One act is sufficient to distinguish a man if it be of sufficient merit
and dimension. It is not only those who are eminent leaders in the field
or forum that deserve recognition and encomium at the hands of a grateful
people, but others as well, provided that their lives justify it.
Quite out of the current of distinction as that element is recognized,
even in the eddies of life, are wrought deeds and lived lives as worthy of
applause as that provoked by the flashing sword or the eloquent lip. Nor
is it necessary that one be classed among the humble, because of that done
aside of the pre-eminent side of life.
In this connection, the name of Major Miles W. Abernethy deserves to be
presented among those who wrought in contribution to the erection of our
commonwealth. A citizen of Calhoun County, he was a native of North
Carolina, where he was born on July 22, 1807. He was thirty-two years old
when he came from Lincoln County, that of his birth in the Old North
State, and settled in Alabama. Choosing as his home Jacksonville, where he
located as a merchant in 1839, he at once became an interested sharer in
the stirring times of that period. Alabama had now come to giant statehood
through the throes of initial struggle, and had, through her distinguished
sons, won an enviable place in the councils of the nation. Besides, the
internal improvement and vastness of the resources of the state had given
it a place among the commercial factors of the nation.
The reputation of the state reaching Major Abernethy, served to lure him
thither in the maturity of his years, and he quietly and yet actively
entered on his career as a merchant at Jacksonville. Fixed in character,
matured in judgment, affable of manner, cultured, and possessed of a
breadth of vision much above the ordinary, he was not long in winning his
way to the confidence and esteem of the people among whom he settled.
Three years after reaching the state, he was chosen from the county, then
called Benton, to represent his constituency in the lower branch of the
state legislature, where he served with quiet and efficient ability for a
period of years.
The monotonous routine of legislative work did not at first impress him,
and he retired after the expiration of a term or two, and resumed
merchandising and planting. However, one of his type of intelligence and
of general interest, could not be indifferent to the current affairs of a
state forging forward in development, and now a genuine factor in affairs
national.
In 1885 he was again summoned to public life by being chosen to represent
his district in the state senate. His previous experience and intervening
and undiminished interest in public matters, had afforded him an increased
stock of qualification, and he returned to the functions of publicity with
greater force than before. Cautious, prudent, conservative and regarding
the public good with a disinterestedness wholly devoid of future
consideration of self, the counsel of Major Abernethy was in constant
demand concerning the issues pending before the general assembly.
An ardent Democrat, and a disciple of the Calhoun school, Major Abernethy
was intent on the change of the name of the county of his residence from
that of Benton, to that of Calhoun, which name it now bears. He was one of
the committee of three appointed by the legislature to receive the new
capitol building at Montgomery, when the location was changed from
Tuscaloosa.
But the crowning act in the life and career of Major Abernethy, and one
that gives to him a permanent place on the roster of the great and useful
among Alabamians, was his creation of the idea of founding the deaf and
dumb asylum at Talladega. Having conceived the plan of this institution
for the unfortunate, Major Abernethy put behind it his force and skill,
and rested not till it was crowned with consummation.
Had Major Abernethy never done anything more, even though he had emerged
from obscurity, and had succeeded as he did in this undertaking of
humanitarian achievement, his name would be worthy of immortal embalmment
in the historic records of Alabama. With clearness of business judgment,
coupled with a heart of interest and of sympathy for the unfortunate, this
man, who was as gentle in sentiment as he was vigorous in great execution,
grappled with a large undertaking, and halted not till it wore the
capstone of completion. That institution stands, as it has stood for a
half century or more, not alone as a relief of one of the most
unfortunate classes of humanity, but as a monument to Major Miles W.
Abernethy.
But his record does not end here. He was fifty-five years old when the war
between the states began, and because of a crippled hand, he could not
enter the ranks of the regular service, yet he offered his service to the
Confederate government, to render what aid he might in a struggling cause.
He was commissioned a major, and assigned to duty in the town of his
residence. His capacious and splendid home in Jacksonville became a noted
resort of rest and of recuperation to the sick and wounded of the southern
armies, every man of which classes, no matter what his condition, whether
cultured or ignorant, met a greeting of cordiality at the thresh-hold of
the Abernethy mansion. If he wore a gray uniform, he bore the credentials
of worth to the inmates of that hospitable home. Here he was tenderly
cared for till able to resume his place in the ranks, and with a blessing
from the princely proprietor, he would take his leave. Beyond this still
his beneficence extended. The families of the absent veterans were sought
out, far and near, and cared for by this prince of benefactors. All this
was done with an affableness and a tenderness so unostentatious, that
frequently only the recipients of his bounties and the inmates of his home
were aware of it.
Thus lived and wrought this noble citizen of Alabama, and this is the
imperfect tribute to his worthy life and noble deeds.
GEORGE S. HOUSTON
No series of sketches of Alabama's great men would be complete with the
omission of the name of Gov. George Smith Houston. His services were
distinguished, and were rendered at a time when they could not have been
more prized. This applies with special force to his services as governor.
Endowed with peculiar powers which fitted him for a crisis, these powers
were brought into active requisition during his incumbency of the
gubernatorial chair of the state.
Alabama was confronted by a dire crisis, and a man of many-sidedness and
unique force was needed to meet it. The state had been gutted of its means
and facilities of operation; the treasury was empty; the people
demoralized, and the credit of the state sadly impaired. To fail under
conditions like these, would have been fatal, and yet the lowest point of
depression had been reached. The situation called for exalted and peculiar
virtues. Robust manliness, rugged pluck which stood not on the order of
its going, ability not only to compass a situation, but to grapple with
it, a force of statesmanlike constructiveness, and a spirit which would
not quail before colossal difficulties--all these were needed to revive a
suspended interest, which is the most difficult of all tasks.