HAYES, RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD. 



387 



woman to whom his heart had been given. In 

 D tmber, 1858, he married .Miss Lucy W. Webb, 



daughter of I >r. -lames Webb, who had been a 



Shvsician in successful practice at Chillicothe, 

 hio. until 1833, when he went to Lexington, 

 K\., tn ciini|ilcte arrangements for sending to 

 Liberia slaves freed by him and his father. Here 

 lie rniitracted cholera and died. 



In January. iN'il. Mr. Hay.-, formed a partner- 

 ship with K. of . Oorwine and W. K. Rogers. In 

 is.")!) he was chosen by the city council to fill out 

 a vacant term as city solicitor. The choice was 

 made possible by the casting vote of a political op- 

 ponent, and journals and men of both parties re- 

 ceived the appointment with satisfaction. When 

 the unfinished term had expired he was elected 

 to it by a majority of 2.W> votes. In 1861, just 

 before the arrival of the news of the fall of Port 

 Sumter, he suffered defeat for re-election in 

 common with his party, but ran ahead of the 

 other candidates, although he had been known 

 for his antislavery convictions, and was an ar- 

 dent supporter of Lincoln's candidacy for the 

 presidency. 



At the mass meeting held upon the arrival of 

 the news from Charleston, Mr. Hayes was made 

 chairman of the Committee on Resolutions. 

 From that' moment his voice was never silent, 

 and his speeches were received with the greater 

 enthusiasm when it became known that he was 

 one of the earliest to enlist. 



Gov. Dennison appointed William S. Rose- 

 crans colonel, Stanley Mathews lieutenant-colo- 

 nel, and Rutherford B. Hayes major of the 

 Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, June 7, 1861. The 

 literary club to which Mr. Hayes belonged had 

 at the outset formed itself into a military com- 

 pany, of which he was captain ; and from that 

 company were more than 40 officers furnished 

 to the National army, of whom several became 

 generals. In September, 1861, Gen. Rosecrans 

 appointed Major Hayes judge advocate of the 

 Department of Ohio, which place he filled for 

 two months. In October he was promoted to 

 the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In the battle of 

 South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862, he distinguished 

 himself by gallant conduct in leading a charge, 

 and in holding his position at the head of his 

 men after being severely wounded, until he was 

 carried from the field. In October, 1862, he was 

 promoted to colonel of the regiment, but he was 

 given leave of absence until the wound was 

 healed. On returning to the field, he was given 

 a command in southwestern Virginia, and in the 

 summer of 1863 he went with 2 regiments and a 

 section of artillery to Ohio to arrest the raids of 

 Gen. John Morgan, and aided in bringing about 

 his surrender. In 1864 he commanded a brigade 

 in Gen. Crook's expedition to cut the communi- 

 cations between Richmond and the Southwest, 

 and here also he showed notable gallantry in 

 leading his men in storming a fortification on 

 Cloyd mountain. In July, 1864, while still com- 

 manding a brigade of Crook's division, he was 

 ordered to charge what was found to be a great- 

 ly superior force, and Col. Mulligan, who was as- 

 sociated with him in the action, fell, when Hayes 

 led a masterly retreat, and by his skill and dar- 

 ing prevented pursuit until the men reached a 

 better position. At Berryville he showed high 

 courage, and at Winchester, in September, 1864, 



he led an assault upon a buttery placed on an 

 eminence. Between his forces and the hei/hl 

 there was a morass over 50 yards in width. 

 Leading his brigade, he plunged in fir-t. became 

 mired, dismounted, and vsadeil BCTOM alone under 

 the lire of the enemy. Once on linn ground, he 

 waved his cap in signal that his men should join 

 him, and when 40 .had done so he made an assault 

 and captured the battery alter a hand-to-hand 

 fight with the gunners. The place had been 

 deemed so impregnable that the battery had no 

 infantry supports. At Fisher's Hill, while pur- 

 suing Gen. Early, in September, 1864, he com- 

 manded a division, and executed a flank move- 

 ment of great brilliancy over mountains and 

 through woods, where, in spite of peculiar diffi- 

 culties, he routed the enemy, capturing many 

 pieces of artillery. In the following month, at 

 the battle of Cedar Creek, so great was his dis- 

 play of courage and judgment, that Gen. Crook, 

 taking him by the hand, said, "From this day 

 you will be a brigadier-general." The com mis- 

 sion came in a few days, and in March, 1865, he 

 was brevetted major-general. In his memoirs, 

 Gen. Grant speaks of his military career in terms 

 of the highest praise. 



In 1864, while he was in the field, his friends 

 at home nominated him for Congress. When it 

 was proposed that he get leave of absence to 

 conduct nis political campaign he said: ''Your 

 suggestion to take the stump, was certainly 

 made without reflection. An officer fit for duty, 

 who at this crisis would abandon his post to elec- 

 tioneer for Congress ought to be scalped." He 

 was elected by 2,400 majority, and the Ohio sol- 

 diers in the field nominated him for Governor 

 of the State. 



Ho took his seat in Congress, in December, 

 1865. On questions of reconstruction he went 

 with his party, and also on those that ended in 

 the impeachment of President Johnson. He 

 was the only new man, save one, to be given 

 the chairmanship of a committee that on the 

 library. While he was at the head of this com- 

 mittee the library space was increased threefold 

 by the addition of wings, and the " Force His- 

 torical Library" was added, mainly through his 

 efforts. He procured the passage of a bill to 

 transfer the Smithsonian Library to the Library 

 of Congress, introduced a joint resolution to ex- 

 tend the privileges of the library to a larger 

 class of public officials, and recommended the 

 passage of a copyright bill for securing to the 

 library copies of all books, pamphlets, maps, etc., 

 published in the United States. One of his first 

 votes was in favor of the resolution : 



That the public debt created durim: tin- late rebel- 

 lion was contracted upon the faith and Junior of t lu- 

 nation ; that it is sacred and inviolate, and nni.-t and 

 ought to be piiid, principal ttiul interest ; and that any 

 attempt t" repudiate or m any manner impair or scale 

 the said debt should be universally disoouiiteiiaiieed 

 by the people, and promptly rejected by Congress if 

 proposed. 



lie voted to lay on^he table the resolution to 

 bring in a bill to increase the pay of congress- 

 men. 



In 1865, Gen. Hayes submitted to the Repub- 

 licans in Congress, and subsequently to the Re- 

 publican caucus, these resolutions, which be- 

 came the basis of the action of the party : 



