Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

HON. JOSEPH R. UNDERWOOD.

JOSEPH ROGERS UNDERWOOD was born in Goochland county, Virginia, on the 24th day of October, 1791. He was the eldest of eight children of John Underwood, who frequently represented that county in the Legislature. The name of Senator Underwood's grandfather was Thomas, and that of his great-grandfather, William Thomas Underwood. The last emigrated from England as a merchant's clerk, when quite a boy, in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He had two wives: the last, whose maiden name was Taylor, was the mother of Thomas Underwood, who represented the county of Goochland in the Legislature of Virginia ten years, beginning in 1777 and ending in 1790; a period when it may be safely affirmed that no man, unless he possessed a clear head and sound heart, was likely to be trusted. Thomas Underwood, the grandfather, also had two wives. The second, whose maiden name was Taylor, was the mother of nine children, among whom John was the second child. Thus, by a double connection, Judge Underwood is related to that very numerous family of Taylors who inhabit the low lands of Virginia. On the mother's side, Judge Underwood is descended from the Rogers and Pollard families. His maternal ancestors have resided in Virginia from the earliest periods of the colony. His mother was Frances Rogers, daughter of George Rogers and Frances Pollard. His great-grandfather, Joseph Pollard, and his wife, lived until they were about ninety-three years of age, and were man and wife more than seventy years.

Senator Underwood was named for his maternal uncle, Joseph Rogers, who went with his cousin, Gen. George Rogers Clark, to Kentucky at an early period, was captured by the Indians near Maysville, and subsequently killed at the battle of Piqua Plains in attempting to make his escape from them.

The parents of Senator Underwood being in humble circumstances, and having

a large family of children to provide for, were induced to commit him to his maternal uncle, Edmund Rogers, who, shortly after the Revolutionary War, (in which he was a gallant soldier, and engaged in several battles,) emigrated to Kentucky, and became a locator and surveyor of land warrants, by which he secured a handsome estate.

Mr. Rogers conducted his youthful charge to Barren county, Kentucky, in the spring of 1803, and nobly did he fulfil the promise made to the parents of the little boy "to be unto him as a father." The Green river country in Kentucky, in which he had settled, was then a wilderness, and contained but few schools, and those not of the best class. Joseph was placed at school, near the town of Glasgow, with the Rev. John Howe, a Presbyterian minister, and under his tuition commenced learning the Latin language. After remaining with him a year, he was transferred from place to place, and put under the charge of various teachers in different parts of the State, as suited the means and arrangements of his uncle, until, having been prepared for college, he was sent to Transylvania University, where he completed his scholastic course in the year 1811. On leaving the University, he commenced the study of law in Lexington with Robert Wickliffe, Esq., and under the instructions of this learned and accomplished lawyer, he finished the course of elementary reading.

About this time Kentucky was thrown into great excitement by the war with Great Britain, then raging with violence on the Canada border. The melancholy affair of the River Raisin had deprived the State of some of its best citizens, and plunged the commonwealth in mourning. The impulse to arms was universal, and pervaded all classes. With a mind imbued, by the teachings of his uncle, with strong admiration for military achievements, it was not to be expected that young Underwood should remain an indifferent specta

tor of the martial preparations around him. In March, 1813, a company of volunteers being about to be raised in Lexington, to be commanded by John C. Morrison, two regiments of militia, which were to supply the number of men required, were drawn up in parallel lines, and a stand of colors planted in the centre. Those who designed to volunteer, were requested, at the beat of the drum, to march to the colors. Young Underwood was the first to reach and raise the stars and stripes, and bearing them aloft, marched after the musicians along the lines, other volunteers falling in as he passed. This little, but prompt incident, stranger as he was among the young men who volunteered on that occasion, led to the election of Mr. Underwood as the Lieutenant of the company. A gentleman, much Mr. Underwood's senior, then holding a military commission, tendered his services. The privilege was conceded to the volunteers of electing their own officers. When the election for the Lieutenancy was about to commence, a voice in the ranks was heard exclaiming, "Where is the man who carried the colors? Let's elect him." Upon this, young Underwood stepped forward and said to the company, he should be happy to serve them if thought worthy. The voters formed two lines, Mr. Underwood and his competitor being at the head of their respective supporters. On counting the votes, the numbers were found to be precisely equal. It was agreed to decide the matter by lot. The competitor of Mr. Underwood threw up the dollar. He cried heads, and so it fell. Those who voted against him immediately surrounded him in the best humor, saying, "It's all right; we'll now go for him who has luck on his side."

[ocr errors]

violation of Gen. Harrison's orders, instead of returning to the boats, and crossing the river to Fort Meigs, the regiment pursued the retreating Indians and Canadian militia into the woods. These kept up a retreating fire, and were rapidly reinforced. The pursuit continued about two miles, the Indians contesting every inch of ground, sheltering themselves behind trees and logs, and shooting down the Kentuckians as they advanced. When the regiment charged upon the foe in their ambuscades, as soon as they fired, they would retreat, load, take new positions, and again shoot from behind trees and logs, on the advancing regiment. In this manner the fight continued for many hours. At length orders were given to retreat to the captured battery, which had been left in charge of two companies; where, instead of finding friends and companions, the regiment met foes. A detachment of the British army had retaken the battery and driven the two companies to their boats; and, as if anticipating what would happen, waited the arrival of the retreating regiment, which, coming up in disorder, was incapable of resistance and surrendered.

In the battle, Captain Morrison was killed, and the command of the company devolved upon Lieutenant Underwood. The loss of the company, owing to its position on the extreme left of the regi ment, and the efforts of the enemy to outflank and surround it, was very severe. In the retreat Lieut. Underwood was severely wounded. The ball still remains in his body. After the surrender, the prisoners were marched down the left bank of the Maumee river, about two miles, to the old fort built by the British and retained for years after the end of the RevolutionIsaac Shelby was then Governor of ary War. In marching from the place of Kentucky, and signed the first commission surrender to the fort, the Indians stripped that Mr. Underwood ever held in the ser- the prisoners, with a few exceptions, of vice of his country. The company was their clothing, watches, and whatever else attached to the thirteenth regiment, com- of value they possessed. Lieut. Undermanded by Col. William Dudley, consti- wood, however, saved his watch by hiding tuting part of Gen. Green Clay's brigade. the chain, so that it was not discovered, On the 5th of May, 1813, Dudley's regi- and it was afterwards of great service to ment was defeated and captured by the him and his fellow soldiers. He was stripcombined British and Indian forces oppo-ped of all his clothes, except his shirt and site Fort Meigs. After taking the British battery, which the regiment was ordered to attack, most imprudently, and in direct |

pantaloons, and in this condition, bleeding from his wound, was marched to the fort. But before getting into it, he and his com

to

derwood asked permission to lay his head in the lap of a fellow soldier named Gilpin, which being readily granted, he stretched himself upon the ground, the better to enable the blood to escape from his wound. In this situation an Indian of the Potowattamie tribe from the embankment of the old fort, which was elevated about four feet above the ground on which the prisoners were sitting, presented his rifle, and shot a prisoner near the base of the embankment. He then deliberately loaded his gun and shot another. After this he laid down the gun, drew his tomahawk, jumped off the embankment, and drove it to the helve in the heads of two others. He then scalped and stripped his four victims, and departed with his trophies. The ball which passed through one of them, penetrated the hips of a soldier near by, inflicting a wound which afterwards occasioned his death. So that it may be said, that five prisoners were murdered by this infuriated savage after safety had been promised them. It is believed, however, that the British officers and soldiers were sincerely desirous to prevent the massacre which occurred in the fort. Whilst the Potowattamie was engaged in his work of death, hundreds of savage warriors dressed in their war costumes and hideously painted, were stationed upon and about the embankment which encircled the prisoners. Among them rage and fury were manifested by every sort of ejaculation. The British guard incessantly uttered the expression, "Oh nitchee wah, oh nitchee wah." It can never be forgotten by those who heard it on that occasion. It was the language of mercy addressed to the infuriated Indian, and those who surrounded him, and as afterwards interpreted to the Kentuckians, signified, “Oh! brother, quit, go away." This appeal may have prevented the massacre of all the prisoners.

panions passed through a scene of savage | did so npon the wet ground. Lieut. Unbarbarity and cruelty which will probably never occur again in the United States. They were made to run the gauntlet., This was done in the following manner. The Indians formed a line to the left of the road or trace running along the river bank, which was nearly perpendicular, and extending from the dilapidated walls of the fort, about one hundred and fifty yards up the river, leaving a space of some forty or fifty feet between their line and the bank of the river. Through this defile, the prisoners were compelled to pass, in order to reach the gateway that led into the fort. They were informed by the British soldiers, that it was the intention of the Indians to whip, to wound, or kill, just as their malevolence and vindictiveness should prompt, and that each from the starting point, at the head of the line, should make his way into the fort in the best way he could, and with all possible speed. The prisoners were told, that when within the walls they would be safe, but this promise was violated. As the prisoners ran between the Indian line and the river bank, many were maimed and killed with tomahawks, war clubs and rifles. Those braves in whom all feelings of humanity were not totally extinct, only beat the prisoners over their heads and shoulders, as they passed, with ramrods and wiping sticks. Lieut. Underwood, on reaching the head of the line, perceived that it was concave or circular, and that those who ran next to the river bank were more frequently shot down than those nearer the Indian line. He, therefore, determined to pass by the ends of the muzzles of their guns, knowing that if he escaped being shot, when immediately in front, the gun would not be turned upon him, because the ball, after killing him, might also hit those standing further on in the curved line. This policy of the Lieutenant, although it gave him a better chance to escape the bullets, brought him in closer contact with ramrods and wiping sticks, and he received many severe blows. Between forty and fifty prisoners were killed in thus running the gauntlet; among them the brave Captain Lewis, who commanded a company from Jessamine county. As the prisoners passed into the old fort, they were ordered to sit down, and

When the Potowattamie began the butchery, the prisoners in danger, and who, up to that moment, had retained their seats upon the ground, now rose to their feet and endeavored to get out of the way and save themselves, by jumping over the heads of those who remained sitting. In this melee of horror, while those on the outside were receiving the tomahawk, those

a little removed were, in their efforts to escape, trampling the wounded and prostrate Lieutenant under their feet in his own blood. When the Potowattamie had glutted his vengeance and retired, when the uproar was calmed and order restored, he presented an appearance more readily conceived than described. Having been previously stripped to his shirt and pantaloons, he now appeared as if plastered with a compost of mud and blood. In this situation, he was an object of one of the most disinterested acts of benevolence ever performed. A generous soldier, named James Boston, of Clark county, Kentucky, took off his hunting shirt, the uniform of his company, and insisted on clothing the Lieutenant with it, which was done, thereby concealing the blood and wound. This circumstance may have saved the Lieutenant's life, for it is believed that the Indians are disposed to put to death all those who are wounded, and who fall into their hands.

After many other interesting and thrilling incidents, Lieutenant Underwood reached the prison ship lying in the Maumee river, eight or nine miles below the rapids, about nine o'clock at night. He was put on board, and being announced as a wounded officer, was taken to the cabin of the vessel and permitted to lie upon the floor, where he spent the night without a blanket or covering of any kind. Midshipman Parsons was kind enough on the next day to surrender his berth to the Lieutenant, who thereafter, during his stay on board, received every attention from Captain Stewart and the other officers in command. Captain Stewart and Midshipman Parsons were captured by Commodore Perry in the naval battle on Lake Erie, and with other officers, were sent to Frankfort, Kentucky, and there confined in the penitentiary to answer as hostages for the treatment American prisoners might receive in England. This was a measure of retaliation, in consequence of the outrage perpetrated at Dartmouth, in England. Lieutenant Underwood visited the captain and midshipman in the penitentary with a view to return the kindness they had shown him when a prisoner.

On the day after the battle, the American officers, for themselves and men, signed a pledge, promising not to fight

against the King of Great Britain or his allies, during the continuation of the war, unless regularly exchanged. Upon the presentation of the paper, inquiry was made whether, by the term " allies," it was intended to embrace the Indians. The reply was, "His Majesty's allies are known," with an intimation that the prisoners must act at their peril. Upon the execution of the paper, those officers and men capable of marching, were landed and discharged on parole. Lieutenant Underwood and James E. Davis, Esq., of Lexington, were landed at the mouth of Huron river, and found quarters in the cabin of a recent settler named Sharrott, where they were treated with all kindness until they were able to travel home. About the first of July, the Lieutenant reached the house of his uncle in Barren county.

This short but disastrous campaign having terminated, Mr. Underwood resumed his legal studies, and in the fall of 1813 obtained license to practice law. He opened an office in Glasgow in the winter, and attended the first court in Bowling Green in February, 1814. He was fortunate in obtaining fees and money enough to pay his expenses, the more necessary because his good uncle had now determined to throw him upon his own resources. Well did he meet his uncle's confidence in his success. He rose rapidly, and in a few years stood high in his profession. The Hon. John J. Crittenden, now his colleague in the Senate, and Solomon P. Sharp, a distinguished member of Congress, and subsequently Attorney-general of the State, were his associates at the bar, in the beginning of his professional career. These eminent lawyers then lived in that part of Kentucky where Mr. Underwood has always resided.

He was elected in the year 1816, being just eligible, to represent Barren county in the legislature, and was annually returned for four years. He then voluntarily withdrew from the political arena, that all of his energies might be devoted to the payment of heavy debts, incurred by the insolvency of those for whom he was bound as surety. He was greatly harassed, but by severe struggles freed himself. His books were even surrendered to satisfy creditors, but he never was sued at any time of his life except as surety for others. He pune

tually complied with his own contracts dur- | ing his great difficulties, and the confidence of his clients and the public was never withdrawn. He has often been heard to say that he lost the best ten years of his life in working to pay the debts of others. Having extricated himself from these embarrassments, he is now in easy circum

stances.

In November, 1823, Mr. Underwood removed to Bowling Green, where he still resides. He became one of the actors in the memorable contest between what was called the new and old court parties, growing out of the intense agitation of great constitutional questions, that had nearly resulted in a civil war. The legislature had violated the obligation of contracts, by the passage of relief laws, as they were termed. The judges declared them to be unconstitutional, and the legislature attempted to remove them from office by re-organizing the court, and there were then two sets of men claiming to be judges of the appellate court. Although Mr. Underwood's pecuniary affairs seemed naturally to throw him on the side of the new court, yet his convictions and principles sustained the old court, and their decisions against the relief laws. He was selected by the members of that party as their candidate for the legislature, and was elected in 1825, after a most animated contest. The controversy was not decided until the next year, when he again represented the county; and upon the settlement of this exciting question that had convulsed Kentucky, he retired and labored most earnestly to relieve his pecuniary pressure. But he was not permitted to remain in private life. In 1828, he was selected by the anti-Jackson party, as their candidate for the office of LieutenantGovernor, and was placed on the ticket with the Hon. Thomas Metcalfe, who was the Gubernatorial candidate. Although General Metcalfe succeeded and was elected by a few hundred votes over Major Barry, subsequently appointed postmaster general, Mr. Breathitt, (late Governor of Kentucky,) obtained a small majority over Mr. Underwood. This result was partly in consequence of votes given by Major Barry and Mr. Underwood when members of the legislature, against a bill, in the provisions of which the occupants of lands

felt a deep interest. Time, however, demonstrated the correctness of their course, and the act, which had passed contrary to their votes, was repealed.

In December, 1828, Governor Metcalfe commissioned Mr. Underwood as one of the judges of the court of appeals. He and Judge Robertson, who were schoolmates at Lancaster, were united as the only judges of the court. Never did two officers perform more labor than during the first year, when they discharged the whole business of the court without the aid of a chief justice. It had greatly accumulated during the struggle between the new and old court. Each refrained from doing business, from the uncertainty which hung over the ultimate validity of its acts. Judge Robertson was commissioned as chief justice in December, 1829, and Hon. Richard A. Buckner appointed as one of the associate justices of the court. Judge Underwood remained upon the bench until 1835, when he resigned, and was elected to represent the third congressional district. He served as a representative in Congress for eight successive years. He notified his constituents of his intention to retire at the end of the third term, and left Washington with his family, intending to execute his design. But at Louisville, on his way homeward, he was informed of his unanimous nomination in convention, by the people of his district, for a fourth term. He did not think proper to resist the flattering call, and was again elected. At the end of eight years he was permitted to retire, when he diligently resumed the practice of his profession.

In 1845, he consented to serve his county-men, who had nominated him without his knowledge, when from home, in the State legislature. He was elected by a very large majority, many of his political opponents voting for him. He was elected Speaker of the House in December, and presided over that body so much to their satisfaction, as to merit and receive a unanimous vote of thanks. At the next session, he was elected to the Senate of the United States for the term of six years, commencing on the 4th of March, 1847. In enumerating the offices which Senator Underwood has filled, it should not be overlooked that he was twice a presidential

« AnteriorContinuar »