OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (ARMOUR ARNOLD.) 



407 



could be spared from the farm he left for the 

 newly discovered gold-fields of California. Not 

 having the money to go by ship, he set out with 

 a party of 30 persons 

 from Oneida, N. Y., in 

 the spring of 1852, trav- 

 eling overland, much of 

 the way on foot. He was 

 successful after reaching 

 California, making sev- 

 eral thousand dollars by 

 developing ditches to 

 supply water for placer- 

 inining. He returned 

 home in 1856, but soon 

 afterward went to Mil- 

 waukee, where he en- 

 gaged in the wholesale 

 grocery and commission 

 business with an old 

 friend, Frederick S. Miles. In 1863 the part- 

 nership was dissolved and Mr. Armour asso- 

 ciated himself with John Plankington, the 

 pioneer pork-packer. In 1862 his brothers Her- 

 man O. Armour and Joseph F. Armour had 

 started a grain commission house in Chicago. 

 Philip Armour foresaw that Chicago was to be 

 the center of the packing trade, and he persuaded 

 his brothers to take it up. Later a partnership 

 was formed under the trade name of Armour & 

 Co., the Chicago grain commission business being 

 continued under the name of H. O. Armour & 

 Co. Philip D. Armour's capital had increased 

 to $2,000,000 at the time of the civil war. In the 

 winter of 1864-'65 pork was selling at $40 a bar- 

 rel, with an upward tendency. Although an im- 

 mense trade in pork was then done in Chicago, 

 New York was the real center of the business, 

 and most of the packers and operators were buy- 

 ing liberally for future use, being firm believers in 

 the continuance of high prices. Mr. Armour saw 

 that the war was nearing its end, and that when 

 the Confederacy fell pork prices would fall with 

 it. One day the New York operators were amazed 

 at a young man from Milwaukee who came 

 among them and offered all the pork they would 

 take at $40 a barrel. They were amazed still more 

 when there was a sudden break and the price went 

 down to $30. But even at that price Armour kept 

 on selling. Soon Petersburg fell and Richmond 

 was evacuated. Then pork collapsed. Mr. Ar- 

 mour began to deliver the goods he had sold at 

 $30 to $40 at $18. There was a panic among the 

 bulls, and some of them tried to repudiate their 

 contracts. Even Mr. Armour's brokers turned 

 against him, but he pressed his debtors and 

 forced them to settle. In this deal he is said to 

 have netted more than $2,000,000. After the war 

 the Armour business grew enormously. In 1875 

 Mr. Armour removed to Chicago, where he re- 

 mained in charge of the great central plant. A re- 

 markable feature of the growth of the business 

 is the manner in which all the Armour brothers 

 worked together. One of the six, Charles Eugene, 

 enlisted in the Union army and died in a Union 

 hospital in 1863. The other five were, sooner or 

 later, all engaged in the firm. In recent years 

 the annual business of the firm has exceeded 

 $100,000,000, and more than 11,000 persons are 

 in its employ. While Mr. Armour's name was 

 more generally associated with his packing 

 establishment, he was actively interested in 

 many other enterprises. As the owner of an 

 important system of grain-elevators, and as a 

 heavy investor in the grain products of the Mid- 

 dle and Western States, he was an important fac- 

 tor in the grain markets. Among Mr. Armour's 



numerous charities the most notal.1*- v. ,.,-,. t},,. Ar- 

 mour Mission, the Armour !];:!, i)M <l i .,,. .\imour 

 Institute, all in Chicago. The li, tab- 



lished by a bequest of $ 1 00,000 by .!< ,o'ur 



more than doubled by Philip, hi-, ] i,<! 



Armour Flats comprise 213 a,j;iri>, 

 rented at moderate prices to workh 

 their families. They adjoin the mi- 

 net proceeds go to its support. The mi 

 fiats are said .to be worth $3,000,000. Tin 

 mour Institute was established at an origins 

 of $1,500,000, to which sum Mr. Armour ;i(ih"l 

 $750,000 in 1899. It offers business and techno- 

 logical courses, and has a fine gymnasium and 

 library. It was opened in September, 1893, with 

 600 pupils. 



Arnold, Abraham Kerns, soldier, born in 

 Bedford, Pa., March 24, 1837; died in Cold- 

 Spring-on-Hudson, N. Y., Nov. 23, 1901. He was 

 graduated at West Point in 1859 as brevet 2d 

 lieutenant, 2d United States Cavalry. He was 

 promoted 2d lieutenant, June 28,1860; 1st lieuten- 

 ant, April 6, 1861; and regimental adjutant, June 

 1, 1861. The designation of the regiment was 

 changed to 5th Cavalry, Aug. 3, 1861, and in it 

 he became captain, July 17, 1862. His later pro- 

 motions were major, 6th Cavalry, June 22, 1869; 

 lieutenant-colonel, 1st Cavalry, June 11, 1886; 

 colonel, 8th Cavalry, Feb. 7, 1891, and he was 

 transferred to the 1st Cavalry, April 22, 1891. 

 He received brevets of major, June 27, 1862, " for 

 gallant and meritorious services at the battle of 

 Gaines's Mill," and lieutenant-colonel, May 6, 

 1864, " for gallant and meritorious services at 

 the battle of Todd's Tavern," and was awarded a 

 medal of honor for conspicuous gallantry in a 

 charge on the enemy in action at the Davenport 

 bridge, North Anna river, May 18, 1864, while cap- 

 tain, 5th United States Cavalry, commanding the 

 regiment. After graduation he served at the cav- 

 alry school at Carlisle Barracks, till October, 1860, 

 when he conducted a detachment of recruits from 

 New York to Fort Inge, Texas, where he joined 

 his troop, Dec. 2, 1860. In February, 1861, he con- 

 ducted the last scout against Indians in Texas, 

 before the State seceded, and he reached the sea- 

 coast and embarked for New York in April with- 

 out being made a prisoner. His regiment was re- 

 equipped at Carlisle, Pa., and its designation 

 changed to 5th United States Cavalry. With it 

 he participated in Patterson's campaign in the 

 Shenandoah valley and was engaged at Falling 

 Waters, July 4, 1861. He served in the defenses 

 of Washington, August, 1861, to March, 1862, 

 when he joined the Army of the Potomac and 

 took part in the Peninsula campaign, and was 

 severely wounded at Gaines's Mill. In September, 

 1863, he joined the 5th United States Cavalry and 

 commanded it at Bristoe Station and Rixlyville, 

 October, 1863. He took part in the raid to Char- 

 lottesville, February, 1864; combat at Todd's Tav- 

 ern, May 7, 1864; Sheridan's raid to Haxall's 

 Landing, and actions at the crossing of the South 

 Anna river, and Beaver Dam, May 10, 1864; and 

 battle of Yellow Tavern, May 11, 1864. The regi- 

 ment was with Sheridan on his raid to Gordons- 

 ville, and in the battle of Trevillian Station, June 

 11 and 12, 1864. Major Arnold was detailed as in- 

 structor of cavalry tactics at West Point, Aug. 

 24, 1864, and continued on this duty until Aug. 

 28, 1869, when he joined the 6th United States 

 Cavalry in Texas. During the following twenty- 

 nine years he served mostly with his regiment in 

 Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and New Mexico, taking 

 part in many Indian campaigns and receiving high 

 commendation. Soon after the breaking out of 

 the Spanish War, May 4, 1898, he was made briga- 



