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http://books.google.com/books?id=quJGAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=%22lucy+baldwin%22+%22charles+parsons%22&source=bl&ots=6bLogV78Lm&sig=Cg55B2WKngXAGIHU0rQ8HWJz01o&hl=en&ei=klq_SvqnKoen8AbnvojAAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=green&f=false
General Parsons, b. Genesee Co., N. Y., April 5, 1818; Yale College, 1840; Harvard Law School, LL.B., 1844; Captain of Volunteers, October 31, 1861; Colonel and Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Halleck, April 4, 18G2 ; Brigadier-General, May 11, 1865, by autographic order of President Lincoln, for special services; Brevet Major- General, April 30, 1866; Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois in 1880 on the ticket with Judge Lyman Trumbull for Governor. Delegate to the National Democratic Convention which nom- inated Grover Cleveland for President in 1884. Presi- dent Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, 1893-97; mem- ber G. A. R. and Army of the Tennessee, and Companion of Loyal Legion. General Parsons's early years were mostly spent at school or in his father's country store at Gouverneur, St. Lawrence Co., New York. He entered Yale College in 1836. His father having suffered severely in the financial revulsions of 1837, he was obliged to struggle for an education under great difficulties, yet, by his energy and industry, he graduated with reputation in his class in 1840. In order to discharge 156 debts incurred in college, and obtain funds to enable him to pursue his professional education, he taught a classical school in Mississippi for two years, evincing those traits of energy and integrity which not only then met with a just reward, but which have characterized him through his suc- cessful life. Entering Harvard Law School, then presided over by Justice Story and Professor Greenleaf, in 1842, he jjursued his studies till the spring of 1844, when, turning his steps westward, he landed in St. Louis in March of that year, with funds only sufficient to pay a drayman to take his baggage to a hotel, a good library, for which he owed $600; a determined will, and an honest purpose to succeed. Less than twenty years after, the same man had been the financial manager of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad ? one of the greatest commercial arteries leading to the same city; and had been for years engaged in directing the trans- portation of great armies, with all their supplies, animals, and munitions, during a long war of the greatest magni- tude ? controlling, by his single will, under the general or- der of the Secretary of War, all the vast means and modes of transportation, not only of all the rivers and railroads of the West, but of the entire country ? such are the changes of our country and time! Mr. Parsons, soon after reaching St. Louis, went to Alton and became the partner of Newton D. Strong, an eminent lawyer and a brother of Judge Strong, of the United States Supreme Court. The firm did a large and successful busi- ness till Mr. Strong left the State, when Mr. Parsons formed a partnership with Judge Henry W. Billings. In 1853 Mr. Parsons left Alton and became the legal adviser of the great banking house of Page & Bacon, then engaged in construct- ing the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, at the same time purchasing the land on which he has since made the large farm on which he now resides. On the suspension of the banking house of Page & Bacon, Messrs. Aspinwall and associates took possession of the railroad, retaining Mr. Parsons as the general western manager. In the various positions of at- torney, treasurer, manager, director, and president of this road for nearly a quarter of a century, he discharged his duties so as to secure the perfect confidence of all parties and the public in his integrit3^ energy, and capacity. In 1860 General Parsons resigned his official position with a view of rest and a European tour; but, perceiving the country was on the brink of a civil war, he resolved to stay at home and serve the nation. Soon after the commencement of the war General George B. McClellan, who, as vice-president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, had known General Parsons 157 and his abilities, offered him a position under him in the East, which was at once accepted, and he proceeded thither. Early satisfied that the field and the West best siiited his taste, Gen. Parsons obtained an order to report to St. Louis, with the view to raising a regiment. On arriving there. Gen- eral Curtis, commanding the department, placed him on a commission with Captain, now Lieutenant-General, Sheridan, to investigate the affairs connected with General Fre- mont's administration, which soon led to the celebrated Holt-Davis commission of greater civil powers. In the mean time, General Halleck having taken command, and finding nothing but disorder and confusion in the transportation service ? that it was conducted utterly regardless of system or economy ? was inefficient and the source of endless com- plaints by the railroads, who neither knew whose orders to obey nor how to obtain compensation due them, learning of General Parsons's experience and abilities, obtained an order from the Secretary of War placing him on his staff as aide-de-camp, with rank of colonel, and gave him entire charge of the railroad and river transportation. General Parsons accepted the situation with a cheerful confidence, which was amply vindicated by the results, and which soon brought order and harmony out of chaos and confusion. Introducing a few simple, well-defined rules, combining uniformity with responsibility, and efficiency with econ- omy, a revolution was at once effected most satisfactory to the Government officers and the railroads performing service, so that they, as well as all river navigation, became part of a single, central system, acting not only with power and efficiency, but with unsurpassed economy. Such suc- cess gained the entire confidence of the Government, and General Parsons's authority soon became complete and co- extensive with the valley west of the Alleghanies, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Indian wars, two thousand miles up the Yellowstone, as also the Upper Mississippi. In 1863 the Secretary of War ordered General Parsons to Washington, but revoked the order on his tendering his resignation rather than leave the West. In 1864, however, on an imperative order of the Secretary, he took charge of the Rail and River Transportation of the entire country, and in a brief period perfected a complete organization and introduced rules, regulations, and forms, which were made the permanent basis of action for that important depart- ment. It is a singular fact that, though so successful in all re- spects, General Parsons twice tendered his resignation in order to raise a regiment for active field service, which was, as it should have been, imperatively declined by the Secre- tary of War. Happening to be present at the first attack on Vicksburg-, he tendered his services and acted as volun- teer aid to General Sherman, and subsequently acted in like capacity on General McClernand's staff, at the battle and capture of Arkansas Post, where he was among the first to enter the fortification, and for which he received special no- tice from the commanding officers. Soon after the surrender of Lee, General Parsons tendered his resignation, his private business imperatively requiring his attention, but was detained by the Secretary of War for many months to aid in important service. The same firmness, energy, and economy have distinguished General Parsons equally in public and private life, and evinced his superior organizing and administrative abilities. There is upon record abundant evidence from the highest authority ? from such men as President Lincoln, Generals Grant and Sherman, Judge David Davis, E. B. Washburne, and others ? of most meritorious service, all agreeing that General Parsons's administration saved millions to the Gov- ernment. As early as September 13, 1863, that most able and excel- lent officer, General Robert Allen, then Colonel Parsons's superior, in writing the Secretary of War, asking for Colo- nel Parsons's promotion, among other things, said: " Hav- ing had charge of that most important branch of the ser- vice, steamboat and railroad transportation, his duties have been arduous, and highly responsible, and he has dis- charged them with signal success and ability. His admin- istration of this branch of the department has been emi- nently satisfactory. No military movement in the West has failed or faltered for lack of transportation or supplies of any kinds. The wants of armies in the field have been anticipated and met with alacrity and dispatch. If indus- try joined to capacity, and integrity to energy, all possessed and duly exercised in the same person, entitled him to ad- vancement, then I may safely claim promotion for Colonel Parsons." " It is to General Parsons's matchless combinations that must be attributed much of the efficiency and success that almost invariably marked every military movement in the West. When the climax of General Grant's Western renown was reached in the battles before Chattanooga, and he was transferred to the command of all the armies, with headquarters at Washington, he lost no time in bringing General (then Colonel) Parsons to Washington to direct from that centre the machinery that he had become so 159 completely the master of. In 1864 Secretary Stanton ordered him to Washington, extending his duties to the entire country. May 11, 1865, on the autographic order of President Lincoln, for distinguished services, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and, on retiring from the service, April 30, 1866, was brevetted major-general of volunteers." General Parsons's eminent executive ability and success in the rapid movement of large armies for long distances, with their vast supplies and munitions of war, were, among other instances, shown in the movement of General Sherman's army of forty thousand men for the first attack on Vicksburg, as also in the transfer of General Schofield's army from Eastport, Miss., over the Alleghany Mountains, to the Potomac, in midwinter, a distance of fourteen hun- dred miles, in an average time of eleven days, instead of thirty, allowed by the Secretary of War. This movement was pronounced by the Secretary, as also by English and French authorities, as unequaled in rapidity and success in the annals of war. General Parsons's duties kept him mostly from the field, but when present, during several engagements, he volunteered as aide and received special commendation for services rendered, and was also tendered by Secretary Stanton a position in the Eegular Army with rank of Colonel, which he declined. His record of duty is perhaps best shown by the following extracts of letters from Generals Grant and Sherman: May 20, 1865, General Grant writes: " The position (chief of rail and river transportation of the armies of the United States) is second in importance to no other connected with the military sei^ice, and to have been appointed to it at the beginning of a war of the magnitude and duration of this, and holding it to its close, providing transportation for whole armies, with all that appertains to them, for thou- sands of miles, adjusting accounts involving millions of money, and doing justice to all, never delaying for a mo- ment any military operations dependent upon you, evi- dences an honesty of purpose, knowledge of men, and ex- ecutive ability of the highest order, and of which any man might be justly proud." * October 29, 1865, General Sherman writes: " I more espe- cially recall the fact that you collected at Memphis, in December, 1862, boats enough to transport forty thousand men, with full equipments and stores, on less than a week's * General Parsons's Reports, orders and correspondence as found in more than tv/enty volumes of the " Rebellion Record," will ever be the lasting memorial of his services to his country in the hour of its need. 160 notice, and subsequently that you supplied an army of one hundred thousand men, operating near Vicksburg, for six months, without men or horses being in want for a single day. I beg to express my admiration of the system and good sense which accomplished results so highly useful to the whole country." Soon after the war, General Parsons visited Europe and the East, seeking to regain his health, greatly impaired by over four years of incessant labor, he having been ab- sent from duty but twenty-one days while in service. After two years spent abroad, and several years as presi- dent of a bank in St. Louis, General Parsons, in 1874, re- tired to Flora, 111., where he now resides, engaged in man- aging a large landed estate purchased in the early settle- ment of Illinois. During the war, while faithfully serving his country, he never wavered in his political faith. Beginning a Douglas war-Democrat, he continued such, though some of his friends firmly believed this long delayed his just promo- tion. Continuing since the war an earnest but conserva- tive Democrat, he has never been drawn into any temporary political experiments, but has believed that there lay at the foundation of true Democratic principles certain great truths which, in time, would assert supreme power, and in their practical application restore the Government to the simplicity, economy, and honesty of the better days of the republic. General Parsons greatly aided in restoring Dem- ocratic majorities in Southern Illinois, not only by his abil- ities as a public speaker, but by his organizing abilities and great energy of character. Extract from a letter of General Parsons, November 25, 1897: " As a Democrat, I voted for Douglas in 1860. After the war began, I gave my utmost efforts to the Government, regardless of politics. Since the war I have been, as I was before, a Jeffersonian Democrat from deep conviction, and that greatly against my personal interest and the solicitation of my personal friends. I have never sought or desired office, but had I become a Republican political honors were doubtless within my reach. Twice I could have gone to Congress as a Democrat, by accepting a nomination, but I had no taste that way." Extract from report of Captain F. S. Winslow, A. Q. M., to General Parsons, February 13, 1865: " General ? From my peaceful home, looking back on the events of the last four years, and especially fixing my mind's eye on the gigantic movements of armies and supplies. 161 where thousands of miles of distances, and barriers of des- erts and mountains were counted as nothing-, even I, who had something to do with the detail of this great work, cannot help feeling astonished and asking how was it done? The question will be repeated by our children when they come to read the history of the rebellion; and I hope that you, General, will leave them sufficient records to show how, in the age of steam and electricity, and with these as servants, an energetic mind could move armies with almost the facility with which a family changes its residence, and could supply them with the promptness found in a well- regulated household. * * * To you belongs the credit of having accomplished such great results; to me, the satis- faction of having supported you to the utmost of my ability." ? (Compiled from Public Eecords by the Editor.) Note. ? How History once Made is afterwards Falsi- fied. ? The general public takes little interest in war be- yond reports of battles fought. The clash of arms and a few of the chief actors therein absorb the attention, leaving out of account the strenuous exertions of others whose unremitting and sagacious labors supply the forces and the conditions which make victory possible. Thus, after an interview with Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War in the War of Secession, Mr. Henry J. Raymond, then editor of the New York "Times," wrote editorially: "If Secretary Stanton were called on to name the officer who more than any other had distinguished himself in the task of wielding the vast machinery of the Union Armies during all stages of the conflict in response to the plans and re- quirements of our Generals, he would with little hesitation designate General Lewis B. Parsons of St. Louis. It is to his matchless combinations that must be attributed much of the efficiency and success that almost invariably marked every military movement in the West " [where the first and determining successes of the War were won]. General Parsons's exploit in transferring the army corps of General Schofield from the Tennessee Eiver to the Po- tomac, in the depths of winter, in less than fourteen days, and that without the loss of a man, an animal, or a gun. Secretary Stanton pronounced an achievement " without a parallel in the movement of armies," and he therefore requested from General Parsons a special report on the exploit, which report is contained in the ninety-ninth volume of the Rebellion Records. The facts of the case being thus fully established, it might have been supposed that they would thenceforth remain undisturbed. But 162 in 1898 there appeared a book written by Mr. Stanton's Assistant Secretary, Cliarles A. Dana, whose editorial con- duct of the New Yorlc " Sun " after the war became notorious on account of the ceaseless malignity of his vituperation against General Grant. In this book, entitled " Recollections of the Civil War," said Dana appropri- ated to himself the above achievement of General Parsons, in the following words: "Moving an Akmy Corps 1,400 Miles. ? The election was hardly over before the people of the North began to prepare Thanksgiving boxes for the army. From Philadelphia I received a message ask- ing for transportation to Sheridan's Army for boxes con- taining 4,000 turkeys. A couple of months later, in Jan- uary, 1865, a piece of work not so different from the ' turkey business,' but on a rather larger scale, fell to me. This was the transfer of the Twenty-third Army Corps from its position on the Tennessee Eiver, to Chesapeake Bay." His account of how he (Dana) performed this work (really done by General Parsons) Dana concludes by appropriating, with slight verbal changes. General Parsons's own summary of results accomplished, from his (the Gen- eral's) special report to Secretary Stanton! Dana's actual share in that achievement, consisted in his being directed by Secretary Stanton to communicate to General Parsons the fact that said transfer of General Schofield's Army Corps was desired, and to learn from him (General Parsons) how soon he could promise to effect it. Upon con- dition that he (Parsons) was given the right to use the name of the Secretary of War in seizure of cars, boats, etc., w^henever he deemed it essential. General Parsons undertook to transfer said army corps within thirty day's. He actually accomplished it in less than fourteen days, and that in spite of fog and ice on the rivers and violent snow storms in the mountains, amid unusual severities of mid- winter. ? (Editor.)
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The H600 Project Genealogy DB
1818 - 