HISTOP ICAL SKETCH
OF
CHARLES S. IIHEMPSTEAD
BY
HON. E. B. WASHBURNE,
UNITED STA TES MINISTER TO FRANCE.
TO WHtICHI 1S APPENDED
A./ E 1IV 0IR OF
EI DWAIN tAD HEMPST EAD,
First Delegate to Congress from the Western Side of the Mississippi
River, Representing Missouri Territory from 1811-14.
BY
HON. THOMAS H. BENTON.
GALENA:
GAZETTE BOOK AND JOB PRINTINO IIOUSE,
1875.








LETTER OF HON. E. B. WASHBURIE,
UNITI/ED STATES MINISTER VTO FRANCE..    A —-~t- 4..- -_ -— 01 —
PARIS JANUARY 15 1875.
c(aptain Daniel Smnith Harris, President of the Early Settler's Association, Galena, Joe Daviess Co., Illinois.
MY DEAR SIR:-We have intelligence of the death of
MIr. CHARLES S. HEMPSTEAD, whiclh occurred at Galena on
tha 10th of December last.  My personal, professional,
and political associations with him  for more than a third
of a century impel me to write you some notice of his life
which may go into the archives of your Association.  At
the timne of his death he was probably the oldest member
of our Association, and there are few living twho settled in
Joe Daviess Counlty at as early a period as Mr. Hempstead.
lie had seen so much of the settlement and development
of the country, was so intimately identified with all that
pertained to its progress and improvement, and iad himself done so much to advance its interests, that there seems
to be a propriety in addressing you, as the President of the
Association, the paper which I propose.  In illustrating
the incidents of Mr. Hempstead's career, 1 may have o(casion to weave in notices of many persons with whom he
was associated and which may add a certain interest to
this sketch.
Mr. HemIpstead was the son of Steplhen  Iempstead, a
native of New London, Connecticut, belonging to a family




of the earliest settlers of that colony.  On the breaking out
of the revolution, the father joined the patriot army with
the greatest ardor, and was with the first troops which assembled at Boston after the battle of Lexington, on tile
19th of April, 1775. lhe was with Washington and arrived at New York in July, 1776, when the Declaratioll of
Independence was read to the troops. He witnessed the
pulling down of the royal insignia when the words, " free
sovereign and independent States" were repeated and acclaimed.  In the sarme year lie was one of the forlorn hope
sent on a perilous expedition in the' fire ships' that attacked the British frigates in North river. He was attached to the same company as Captain Nathan Hale, the
"1 Martyr Spy," was his steadfast friend and accompanied
him  on his fatal mission.  In 1811, he removed to St.
Louis, Missouri, where three of his sons had preceded him,
and settled on a farm  a few miles from the present city..He was a man of great intelligence, of the strictest probity, of the purest character, and died universally respected
and venerated by all classes of the community.  IIe and
his whole family were always the firm fiiends of Col. Benton, and their friendship was filly reciprocated by that distinguished man down to the last day of his life.  It was
my fortune to serve in the House of Representatives with
Co'. Benton in the Thirty-fourth Congress, and knowing
nmy relationship by marriage both to the Hempstead and to
the Gratiot families, who were equally his friends, as a
young member of Congress, he always treated me with the
utmost kindness and consideration.
I recollect a call th;lt I made upon him  on the evening
of New Year's day, in 1856. I found him quite alone and
in excellent spirits.  lie commenced at once to speak of
the Hempstead's aind the Gratiot's, and of the olden times
in St. Louis.  Of Mr. Hempstead, the father, he spoke in
the most expressive and  beautiful language.  He said:




"Mr. Hempstead was a true and brave man, a man pure
and without reproach, fearing God and discharging every
public and private duty with scrupulous exactness; he
united benevolence with true ipiety, alld in him patriotism
was sublimated to the highest degree.  In the words of
Scripture, he "has been blessed in all his generation."
Missouri met with an irreparable loss when his son Edward
Hempstead died. No man could have srood higher in public or private estimation, and had he lived hie would have
received every honor that the State could bestow, and
would certainly have been the first. United States Senator.
He lost his life in serving a friend, Mr. Scott.  I was with
him the, night of hi;s death "  Here he paused a moment,
as if in thought, and then continued abruptly,    *    *:*-*-                 " Sir, how we did things in those
days i After being up with my dead friend all night, I
went to my office in the morning to refresh myself a little
before going out to bury him five miles from  the town.
While sitting at mny table writing, a man brought me a
challenge to fight a duel.  I told the bearer instanter, " I
accept; but I must now go and bury a dead friend; that
is mlly first duty, after that is discharged I will fight, tonight, if possible; if' not, to-morrow morning at day-break.
I accept your challenge, sir, and Col. lawless will write
tihe acceptance and fix the terms for me."  1 was outraged,
sir. thlat the challenge should have been sent when 1 was
burying a friend. I thought it might have been kept a
few days, but when it came, I was ready for it."
In this interview with Col. Benton, 1 w8as so strongly
impressed by his forcible language, the touching tribute he
paid to his friend and his characteristic manner, that when
I returned to my room I put down his words in writing as
I quote them to you now.
The remark of Col. Benton that Edward Hempstead
died in serving a friend, referred to the fact that while as



(3
sisting his friend, Hon. John Scott, of St. Genevieve, then
a candlidate for Congress. in a campaign, he fell from his
horse and received a fatal injury.  The challenge of which
he spoke was from  Capt. Charles Lucas.  The duel grew
nominaliy out of political differences, but really out of
jealousy on the part of Lucas toward Col. Benton.  At the
time of an election, Lucas, without cause, challenged the
vote of Benton.  Upon this, Benton turned to the judges
of election and said,  "Gentle!nen, if youi~ave questions
to ask, I am  prepared to answer, but I do not propose to
answer charges made by any puppy who may happen to
run across my path."  Lucas challenged Benton, and they
fought on Bloody Island, opposite St. Louis. Judge Lawless acting as second to Col. Benton.  I do not know who
was the second of Capt. Lucas.  Lucas wan wounded at
the first fire.  Supposing the wound more dangerous thlan
it proved, the seconds arranged for a cessation of the combat.  Col. Benton acceeded with the understanding that
Lucas should hold himself in readiness to again take the
field whenever he, Benton. might demand it.  It was believed that the matter would have dropped there, had it
not been for the impudence of Lucas and some of Iiis
friends who talked loudly and accused Col. Benton of taking
an unfair advantagoe of Lucas' inexperience as a duelist.
Shortly afterwards Col. Benton again called Lucas into the
field, when Lucas fell dead at the first fire.
-Mr. Charles S. Hempstead was born at Hebron, Tolland
County, Connecticut, Sept. 10, 1794.  His eldest brother,
Edward Hempstead, who will be referred to hereafter,
having removed to the then province of Louisiana, and settled in the little French village of St. Louis, in the fall of
1804.  in 1809, when only fifteen years old, he and his
brotler Thomas Hlempstead, determined to join their brother Edward. Up to this time, he had received the advantages of edtcation which could be had at the New London
Academy.




7
There were at that time but two principal routes from
the Atlantic States to St. Louis-the one by sailing vessels
to Philadelphia, thence in Conestoga wagons over the
mnountains to Pittsburg, thence by keel, flat-boat, or canoe
down the Ohio river to its mouth, and thence up the
AMississippi to St. Louis.  The other, and the route that
Mr. Hempsteadi and his brother took, was iby schooner to
Alexandria, Virginia, thence overland by Conestoga wagons to sortic point on the Ohio river.
They left New London in a schooner for Alexandria, in
the latter part of August, 1809.  From  Alexandria they
traveled via. Winchester and Romney, Harrison County, to
Clarksburg, in  Mresterll Virginia.  Upon  arriving  at
Clarksburg tlhey ascertained that the Ohio river was so low
as to render navigation difficult, in consequence of which
they were obliged to stop for a short time on their journey. A rise in the river having taken place, the two
travelers took a canoe at Marietta. laid  in the necessary
supply of provisions and started for Shawneetown, Illinois,
where they arrived safely in the latter part of O.ctober.
Arriving at Shawneetown, neither saddle horses nor con.
veyances of any kind could be obtained, and the only way
the travelers could get forward was on foot, and they walked from Shawneetown to Kaskaskia, traversing the breadth
of what is now the State of Illinois, a distance of 150 miles.
On the 3rd of February, 1809, the same year, Illinois had
been organized as a territory, with Kaskaskia as the seat of
the territorial government, and Judge Nathaniel Pope, one
of the territorial judges.  The Judge warmly welcomed
the two young travelers, for he was a warm friend of their
brother Edward.
Arriving at St. Louis in October, 1809, Mr. Hlempstead
immediately went into the office of his brother as a law
student. At that time St. Louis contained a population
of only about 1,500 souls, of whom not more than sixty




8
families were English speaking. There was not even a single brick house, not even a brick chimney in the place.
The town was then almost as thoroughly French as any
provincial town of France to-day, with the French language, with French usages, habits and manners. The
early French settlers were men of enterprise, intelligence
and energy, an] preserved much of the polish and grace
characteristic of their nationality.  In that remote western
village there were many families whose manners exhibited
the refinement and polish of the most elegant French society.
Edward Hempstead, the brother who has been alluded
to, was one of the earliest and most distinguished settlers of
the province of Louisiana.  He had studied law and been
admitted  to the bar of Connecticut, his native State, in
1801, had afterwards removed to Newport, Rhode Island,
where he became the law partner of Hon. Asher Robbins,
a distinguished member of the Rhode Island bar, and sul)sequently one of the Senators of that State in Congress.
No sooner had our Government acquired thle province of
Louisiana from France, than Mr. Heinpstead determined to
remove to the west side of the Mississippi river. He finally
settled at St. Louis. and entered at once into an extensive
and successful practice of law in the counties of upper
Louisiana adjacent to St. Louis, and in the counties of "the
[llinois Country," on the Mississippi river opposite.  le
was appointed in 1804 by General Wm. 1H. Harrison,
thep Governor of the Territory of Inldiana, and ex-officio
Governor of Upper Louisiana, to several important positions in the latter territory. In 1812, when the territory
of Louisiana was admitted to the grade- of territorial government and became entitled to a delegate in Congress, it
was justly considered a most honorable distinction to be the
first delegate from the west bank of the Mississippi, and
Mr. Hempstead had the good fortune to be the choice of




his fellow-citizens for that position.  He served through
one term of two years, and having obtained the passage of
some laws of great importance for the adjustment of land
claims, and for the defence of the exposed posts of Missouri
Territory, he declined a re-election and returned to the
practice of the law. It was in 1817 he met with the accident before alluded to-falling from  his horse-which
put an end to his life.
After pursuing his studies in the office of his brother Edward, Mr. Hempstead was admitted to practice law in the
territory of Missouri by a license dated  St. Charles, Missouri, Sept. 13th, 1814, signed by Alexander Stewart and
John B. C. Lucas, Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri Territory.  At very nearly the same time, he was
admitted to practice law in the territory of Illinois by a
license signed by J. B. Thomas and Stanley  Griswold,
Judges of the District Court of said territory.  After remaining in St. Louis about one year after his admission to
the bar, he removed to St. Genevieve and entered upon
the practice of his profession, and the discharge of the duties of Attorney General of the southern circuit of Missouri,
to which position he had been appointed by the then Governor of Missouri Territory.  St. Genevieve at that time
was almost as important a point as St. Louis and was as
completely a French settlement. It was the residence of
imany distinguished men of the earlier days.  Here lived
John Scott, the distinguished lawyer, who was the first
Representative in Congress from Missouri.  General Dodge,
afterwards the Governor of Wisconsin Territory, and the
first United States Senator from  Wisconsin, lived here at
that time. Dr. Linn had already settled there as a young
physician.  The village was then the headquarters of the
celebrated duelist, John Smith "'IT," whose nalne was for
years the terror of the whole country.  It is said that lihe
killed during his life in duels and personal reneontres no




10
less than fourteen men. Remaining there until 1817, he
returned to St. Louis in consequence of the death of his
brother Edward, to take charge of his legal business and
the settlement of his estate. In 1818-19, he was elected to
fill a vacancy in the Missouri territorial legislature, which
was the only legislative position he ever held-this not
from want of opportunity and repeated solicitation, but
from a decided aversion to political life. He continued to
practice law in Missouri firol that time until the spring of
1829. During his residence in Missouri, Mr. Hempstead
was the associate of many of the distinguished men of his
time, and between him and them there existed the strongest ties of friendship. Among them were some of the
most eminent statesmen, lawyers and politicians. There
was Col. Benton, of whom I have spoken. There was
David Barton, who was his colleague in the Senate —a man
of extraordinary talent and eloquence, whose i)ame is
cherished as a part of the history of Missouri. There were
also Joshua Barton, his brother, an eminent lawyer; Josiah
Spaulding, Henry S. Geyer,Iafterwards United States Senator; Edward Bates, Attorney General tinder Mr. Lincoln,
who sprang into a national reputation by his single speech
at the Chicago Convention in 1847; Hamilton Gamble,
who became Provisional Governor of Missouri in 1861;
Rufus Easton, a man of such unrivaled conversational powers, that none who ever met him forgot the fascinating flow
of his words; Spencer Pettis, afterwards a i-iember of Congress, who fell in the dreadful duel with Biddle, when both
were killed; Dr. Lewis F. Linn, of St. Genevieve, so long
the colleague of Benton,.in the Senate. Dr. Linn was but
a practicing physician in the remote and unimportant village of St. Genevieve, and was no ordinary man. To ripe
learning and rare intelligence he united the most captivating personal qualities. Of splendid presence, agreeable
manners and genial disposition, he was a universal favorite,




11
and would have graced the most polite circles of the world.
The year 1829 witnessed a heavy emigration to the
Fevre River lead mines. Large discoveries of lead ore had
been made a year or two before by Col. Johnson and others,
and the tales of fabulous mineral wealth in that country
had induced a great influx of population, mostly from middle and southern Illinois and from Missouri, Kentucky and
Tennessee; some from Ohio and Indiana and a few from
the Eastern States. The name Galena (lead ore) which
happily gives an idea of the country, had been adopted
some tine before. It was at this time that Mr. Hempstead
removed from St. Louis to enter on his profession in a field
which offered great encouragement to a man of his ability,
character and business habits. It is sad to reflect how few
of the men, even those then under middle age, who settled
in the country at that time are still alive. You and your
brother Scribe, who were boys then, were there; Mr.
Wann, Captain Hathaway and Mr..Soulard are still with
us-types of a large class of men who by their probity, intelligence and honorable lives have illustrated the annals of
our early settlement.
At the time Mir. Hempstead settled in Galena, the whole
northern part of our State was included in two counties.
One was the county which bears the name of Daniel P.
Cook the second member of Congress from Illinois, who
for six years represented the State with distinguished
ability in that body, and though a representative from one
of the most remote States during that period rose to the
high position of Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means.  He was a mall of talent, endowed with rare powers of eloquence and was regarded as one of the rising
statesmen of the age. His brilliant career was cut short by
his death at the early age of 32 years. His iame has been
properly perpetuated by being given to the most populous
and wealthy county in the State. The other county was




12
Joe Daviess (of which Galena was the county seat,) and
which then embraced the northwestern part of the State.
It was named in honor of Col. Joseph Hamilton Daviess of
Kentucky, one of the great lawyers of his time, whose rude
eloquence at the hustings and in the forum made him a
great name, and who fell gallantly fighting, at the head of
his regiment, at the battle of Tippecanoe.  It is often said
that Joe Daviess was a strange name to be given to a
county, but it perpetuates the name of a man whose memory was dear to a large class of our early settlers who knew
him and always called  him  "Joe Daviess."  After the
county was named by the Legislature, various efforts were
made to strike out the prefix "Joe " but they always failed;
and to-day a proposition to change the name would receive
the protest of every loyal son of tlhe county.  To an old
settler there would be nothing in the name "Daviess"
county to recall the bluff and impulsive Colonel Joe, who
was the popular favorite half a century ago.
At the time of his death, Mr. Hempstead was probably
the oldest member of the Illinois bar. For firty-six years
he had been a member of that bar.  There were but few
lawyers who preceeded him at Galena.  Among them were
Thomas Ford, afterwards Governor of the State, who had
practiced law there for a short time; Jesse B. Thomas,
afterwards a distinguished Judge of the Supreme Court of
the State, and a MAr. Morrow of the State of Missouri, who
afterwards became a Judge in that State had also been a
member of the Galena bar for a short time previous.
Those who were residing and practicing law in Galena in
1829, were Win. Smith, Colonel James M1 Strode, Benjamin Mills and John Turney.  William Smith was a sound
and well read lawyer and a highly educated man, bult imnpaired by his health, he had settled at an early period in
that far off country.  Colonel Strode was a man who aft
terwards became well known, not only as a lawyer, but as




13
the Colonel of the 27th regiment of the Illinois militia in
the Black Hawk War.
Benjamin Mills was from Massachusetts. There has
scarcely been his equal at the bar in Illinois since his time.
He was profoundly read in his profession and was gifted
with a remarkable eloquence. According to my recollection he was the National Republican candidate for Congress against William L. May in 1834, and was defeated
by only a small majority. The cause of that defeat was a
cruel one. At the time of the Black Hawk war, when terror had seized all the inhabitants of our section of the
country, Mr. Mills as a man of the highest character,
ability and influence, was selected to go to Washington to
lay the state of affairs before the authorities and hurry forward relief to the terror stricken settlers of the frontier.
[n the canvass it was made a point against him that instead of remaining at home, and sharing the dangers of
the hour with his people, he had seized the pretext of
going to Washington. I well recollect the account which
was given to me by Squire Clarkes of a speech made by
Mr. Mills at this time to the miners in one of our mining
settlements. They had gathered in large numbers from
the neighboring diggings, for his gifts as an orator were
well known. Taking his position on a pile of mineral dirt
he commenced amid the profoundest attention and proceeding with his defence when in eloquent tones he exposed the cruel slanders that had been heaped upon him, lihe
excited his hearers to the highest degree of indignation,
for that auditory, though rough and impulsive in manner, had a strong sense of justice that sternly resented the
wrong done to Mr. Mills.
His health failing him a few years afterwards he returned
to Massachusetts to die.
John Turney was a Tennessean, a sound lawyer and able
man who resided at Galena up to the time of his death.




14
lIe was one of the Government Commissioners to settle
the title to lots in Galena.
In tile winters of 1830-31, Mr. Hempstead visited Washl
ington and was a witness in the impeachment case of James
H. Peck, U. S. District Judge for the State of Missouri, a
trial which excited the highest degree of public interest,
both on account of the character and position of the party
accused, and the great ability and reputation of the managers on the part of the House and the counsel for Judge
Peck.  The array of legal talent on both sides was surpassingly  brilliant.  The managers were Hon. James
Buchanan afterwards President of the United States, Hon.
George McDuffie, the inlpetuous representative from South
Carolina, Hon. Ambrose Spencer who had been Chief
Justice of New York, Hon. Henry R. Storrs, the great lawyer of that State, and Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe of Kentucky, afterwards Postmaster General.  The counsel for
the defence  were  Hon. Winm. Wirt, late  Attorney
General of the United States, who for twenty years stood
in the very front rank of the American bar, and Hon. Winm.
IM. Meredith, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury. Mr.
Hempstead attended the trial and listened to all the arguments which were made in the case.  Luke E. Lawless,
one of the early lawyers of St. Louis, was the main man in
the prosecution.  He had been stricken from  the roll of
lawyers in Judge Peck's court and imprisoned for writing
a communication in a newspaper criticising one of the
Judge's decisions.  The first time I visited St. Louis which
was in the spring of 1840, I saw Judge Lawless on the
bench of one of the higher courts of the State; a man whose
striking personal appearance could not be effaced froin
one's memory and who presided with -great ability and
dignity.
-Mr. Hempstead was most fortunate on the occasion of
his visit to Washicgton.  Not only was Judge Peck on




15
trial before the Senate as a high court of impeachment,
but the same body was the theatre of the greatest debate
ever heard withirn its walls. This was the celebrated discussion on Foots resolution, to all of which he listened.
It is no exaggeration to say that at that time the Senate of
the United States was in point of intellect, statesmanship
and eloquence, a deliberative body unequalled in the world.
The nmeintion of tlhe names of some of the Senators recalls
the great days of the Republic —Webster in the prime of
his intellectual and physical power, Hayne, his famous opponent, Peleg Sprague, of Maine, Clayton, of Delaware,
and Tazweli and Tyler, of Virginia, Forsythe of' Georgia,
Hugh L. White and Felix Grundy of Tennessee, Poindexter of Mississippi, King of Alabama, afterwards Minister to
France and Vice President, Benton and Barton of Missouri,
Edward Livingston of Louisiana and othlers.  More than
once he recounted to me the incidents of that debate and
the effect of the speech of Webster, which will stand out
in all time as a master-piece of eloquence, power and logic,
never surpassed in ancient or modern times and which
stamped the Senator from Massachusetts as the intellectual
giant of the age.  Since the death of Mr. Hempstead I
take it no man lives in Illinois who heard that debate, or
was present and heard the trial of Judge Peck.
At this time General Jackson was President, and John
C. Calhoun was Vice President, Andrew Stevenson was
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the illustrious
John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, Elias
Kent Kane and David J. Baker were the Senators fromr
Illinois Baker was there only a short time, by the appointment of the Governor to fill the vacancy occasioned by the
death of Hon. John MItcLean, who died Oct. 4 1830.  MrMcLean was the first member of Congress from 1he State,
Daniel P. Cook was the second. Kane was an able and
accomplished man, devoted to the interests of the State, and




16
rose to a high position in the Senate. His memory will be
perpetuated by the rich and prosperous county that bears
his name. He died of a malignant fever at Washington
on the 11th of January 1835.
Taking advantage of his being at Washington, Mr.
Hempstead made a visit of a few days to Richmond, Virginia, and enjoyed the great privilege of seeing in session
the celebrated Virginia Constitutional Convention, comnposed of the greatest men of the old Dominion, whose
discussion, the work of unrivaled genius and learning, have
been a storehouse of information in political science and a
manual of reference of similar bodies in the United
States since that time. The fame of manv of the mnemnbers had extended beyond Virginia to the farthest
limits of the country. There were men of all parties and
all shades of opinion-James Madison and John Marshall,
side by side, Giles and Monroe, John Randolph of Roanoke,
Littleton W. Tazwell, Garnett, Watkins Leigh, and Chapman Johnson, John Taylor of Caroline and Charles Fenton
Mercer-old F'ederalist and old Democrats, and modern
National Republicans
When I settled at Galena, in April, 1840, 3Mr. Hempstead was the oldest member of the bar with a very large
and lucrative practice. With a reputation for unswerving
honesty and fidelity, foreign clients entrusted hiin with
their collections through that whole section of the country. He had more cases on the calendar at that time than
all the members of the bar had twenty years afterwards.
At that period the Galena bar was composed of Messrs.
Hempstead, Turney, Hoge, Drummond, Thompson Campbell, John Stark, Allan Tomlin, and Artemas L. Holmes.
Col. Strode had left a year or two before, and located at
Little Fort, now Waukegan, Lake County. The late Hon.
Dan. Stone was then Judge of the Circuit Court. Of
these members of the bar at that time, all are dead except
Hoge, Drummond and Tomlin.




17
Mr.  etempstead having a partial paralysis of the fingers
of his right hand, could only write with much difficulty,
and in the fall of 1840, finding me a new comer in the
country and practically a briefless young lawyer, he proposed that I should take a desk in his office, board in his
family, and in return assist himn in his writing. This not
only was not to prevent me from  doing business on my
own account, but he was to turn over to mne certain small
business that had been entrusted to him.  I remained with
him a year, when my own business had so much increased
that it became my interest to take an office by myself. It
was in 1841 that Galena was incorporated as a city, and
Mr. Hempstead was elected first MI5ayor. The year that I
was with him passed most pleasantly, and from that time
comlnenced a friendship with him and his family which
has ever since existed without change or shadow of turning.
in 1845, we associated ourselves as law partners, and contintled as such for some time after I was elected to Congress, in 1852.
At the bar, Mir. Hempstead was regarded as an able lawyer, a man of sound legal judgment and the highest professional honor.  He was not a fluent speaker, but his addresses to the jury were always effective, for his high and
dignified character added to his forcible presentation of
his case.  His intercourse with the bar and the bench was
always marked by the utmost dignity and courtesy; and no
man ever saw him betrayed into any wrangle with the opposing counsel or the court when trying a case.  He was
never a fermenter of litigation, never made the Court of
Justice an engine of oppression; but on the other hand, he
endeavored, whenever it was possible, to harmonize disputes without resorting to the courts.
When Mr. Hempstead settled in Galena in May, 1829,
Ninian Edwards was Governor, Joseph Duncan, Representative in Congress, and Elias Kent Kane and John McLean,




Senators.  The latter gentleman  died  the  next year.
Smith, Wilson, Lockwood and Browne were Judges of the
Supreme Court. General Jackson had been elected President the Fall before, and so uncertain were the boundaries
between Illinois and what was then Michigan Territory,
that a poll was opened at what is now Platteville, Wisconsin, and the settlers voted for President as being residents
of our State.  Illinois gave three electoral votes to kGeneral
Jackson. Richard M. Young, afterwards United States
Senator, John Taylor and Alexander M. Houston were the
electors.  Who these two last named gentlemen were I do
lnot know.
Scarcely a prominent public man of that day in Illinois
is now alive. One who survives is the venerable Judge
Breese, of the present Supreme Court of the State.  He
was a very early settler. I do not know the exact year
when he came to the State. At any rate, it. is satfe to say
that there is not now a man in the State who knows as
much of its early history as he does. No man living there
has been so thoroughly identified with all its history; has
been so much a part of it, and who, at the bar, in the Senate House, and on the bench has so long and so ably illustrated its annals.  The reports of the Supreme Court attest
his profound knowledge of the law, the vigor of his intellect, the ripeness of his scholarship and the peculiar grace
of his diction  No Judge who ever sat on the bench could
touch the very heart and soul of a lawsuit with more unerring certainty, and his opinions will live as long as the
jurisprudence of the State shall exist.
At this time there was immense activity in the lead
mines. Col. Wm. S. Hamilton, the son of Alexander 1amilton, so well known to all our early settlers, was smelting
at "Hamilton's Diggings," now Wiota, Wisconsin.  The
Gratiots were running no less than nine log smelting furnaces at Gratiot's drove, where there was then a most




19
bustling and busy village of some 1,500 people, and where
now scarcely a vestige of a habitation can be seen in the
neighborhood. Uncle Jimmy Bennett once told me that
he went there with a load of mineral from the old Allenwrath diggings up Fevre river, and had to wait from imorning until night in order to have his mineral weighed, so
great was the press of business. Parker, Tilton & Co. had
a big establishment at what was then called "Ottawa,"
three miles above Galena, on Fevre river, now disappeared; and Captain M. C. Comstock had just put up that
large and unsightly frame building on the levee, as a
warehouse.
In the summer and fall of 1829, Mr. Hempstead was the
Secretary of the Commission, composed of Gen. John McNeil, UI. S. Army, Caleb Atwater and Col. Pierre Menard,
whicll treated at Prairie du Chien, then in NMichigan Territory, with the Pottowatomie and Winnebago Indians for
their lands, now comprised in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. In the same year he was appointed by
Lewis Cass, then Governor of Michigan Territory, District
Attorney for the Eleventh District of said Territory. He
was re-appointed in 1834 to the same office by Stevens T.
Mason, then acting Governor of Michigan Territory, but he
declined the appointment. The courts that he then attended were held at Mineral Point and at Prairie du Chien.
In 1833, he was present at Chicago when the treaty was
made by Governor Porter, of Michigan, with the Potowatomie Indians-an occasion long to be remembered for the
thousands of Indians then assembled at the treaty grounds
on the north side of the river, near the old Lake House.
Mr. Hempstead was one of the most public spirited of
men. He was always first and foremost in every enterprise which affected the general interest, and ever ready to
contribute time and money to advance the public prosperity.  He was one of the most prominent men in that




20
great pioneer enterprise, the Galena and Chicago Union
Railroad, of which he was a director in the first Board, and
served in that capacity for many years.  Though in no
sense a politician he always took a great interest in political affairs, and was thoroughly patriotic and devoted to the
public welfare. Desiring to be useful to his country in its
hour of peril, soon after the breaking out of the rebellion
he accepted the office of Assistant Paymaster of the Army,
voluntarily tendered him by Mr. Lincoln, and no officer
ever served more faithfully and satisfactorily than he did
up to the close of the war.
But it was as a citizen and in private life that the virtues
of Mlr. Hempstead shone out moost conspicuously.  Associating himself early with the Presbyterian Church, during his
whole life he was an example of the highest type of the
christian gentleman.  Under all circumstances and in all
times, in the roughest society of those early days, lie invariably preserved the bearing, dress and manners of a gentleman.  Knowing what. was due to himself, he always appreciated what was due to others and never in my life did I
know of an indignity being offered to him.  His evenness
of temnper was remnarkable, and in all my intercourse with
him I scarcely ever saw him ruffled or disturbed.  I think
he was the most just man I ever knew.  No man was ever
more scErupulous and exact in all his dealings, and I believe
it can be truly said that he never wronged a single human
being. No one was ever more kind to the poor, no man
had more consideration for the lowly.  In his own family,
he was the most charming of meni, and for forty years his
house was the seat of the most refined and generous hospitality. Strangers fromn distant cities who found themselves
his guests in the earlier times, in our thbn remote town,
were equally surprised and delighted at the elegance and
grace with which they were entertained.
have thus sketched hurriedly and imperfectly, some of




21
the incidents in the life of our deceased friend. I have felt
it to be fitting that a tribute should be paid to the memory
of a man who was a connecting link with the age gone by,
and whose career was so interwoven not only with the history of our immediate locality, but with the earlier settlement of the west and northwest, who lived to witness such
changes and progress as has never been recorded in history
and who brought to us the recollections of a period in the
history of our country which have an interest rarely paralleled in the annals of the nation.
I am, very truly,     Your friend,
E. B. WASHIBURNE.




MEMOIR OF EDWARD HEMPSTEAD,
First Delegate to Congress from the Western Side of the Mississippi
River, Representing Missouri Territory from 1811-14.
BY 110 V. THOMAS B. BENTON.
[WRTTEN IN 1818.]
The lives of useful and eminent men should be written,
not for the dead, but for the living.'they should display
not a vain panegyric, but a detail of circumstances which
would lead the living to the same line of conduct and tile
same honorable result.
A young man coming to the age of manhood, and entering upon life, on his own account, sees three roads lying
open before.  To do nothing, and so sink down into insignificance, and perhaps, to do a little, and so preserve himnself in whatever place the accident of birth had placed; to
do much, by placing an honorable object ahead of him, by
marching steadily upon it, and becoming the founder of
character and fortune for himself and posterity.  Happy
are those who take the latter alternative.'Thrice happy,
because thev never fail.  No matter from how smrall a beginning is the point of departure, no matter what difficulties, what hulmiliations, attend the first efforts, and the
march of the first years; let him persevere, and sooner cor
later his course begins to be observed, generous and (oiisiderate mIen give himl their coltentlallene and SUl)lport, and




23
an honorable rank in society becomes the certain recompense of his meritorious determination.  If he has not
gained all that he proposed to himself, if he has not entirely attained the object which he had placed before him, let
him still look back to the point from which he set out, see
the condition of those who were then his equal, but who
did not emulate his example, and he will find abundant reason for adoring that divine goodness which gives as well
here, as hereafter, a certain recompense, to an honorable
and upright life.
Of those who have marked out a path for themselves,
who have placed an honorable object ahead and marched
steadily upon it, Mr. Hempstead is one; and the details of
his early difficulties may become an honorable incitement
to those who, like him, wish to lay with their own hands
the foundation of character and fortune for themselves aind
posterity.
He was the son of Mr. Stephen Hemnpstead, whose life
deserves to be noted as a worthy preface to that of his son.
Mr. Stephen H. was an inhabitant of Connecticut, and
just entering on the stage of manhood when the revolution
was about to break out. On the spilling of the first American blood at Lexington, 19th of April, 1775, Mr. Hempstead, then twenty-two years of age, volunteered as a private soldier into the service of hiis country. He went from
New London, in Connecticut, to Boston, served a term ot
six months. and was present at the affairs of Cambridge,
Bunker's (Breed's) Hill and Roxbury. and had the pleasure
to see the British evacuate Boston.  Upon the expiration
of his first term he entered the service for a second term,
as a Sergeant in Capt. Hale's company, and marclhed to
New York.  Hale was Captain ill Col. Webb's reginment of
continental troops.  The Britishl now occupied Long Island
and New York City, and the Americans lay on Haerieln
1Ieights.  Gen. Washlington, anxious to know the strengt}h




24
and position of the enemy, had engaged Capt. Hale to examine it. It was in the night of - September, 1776, that
Capt. H. sent for Mr. H. to his tent, told him of the General's request, that he had consented to do so, notwithstanding his ill health and the danger of the undertaking, and
that it was his wish that Mr. H. should go with him, bIut
left it entirely to himself to agree or refuse. Mr. IH. agreed
to go, and the next morning, on foot and without other
companions, they set out to Norwalk, in Connecticut, 60
miles distant. At Norwalk they went on board the row
galley Mifflin, and crossed the sound to Huntingdon on
Long Island. On board the galley Capt. Hale gave his
commission and uniform to Mr. Hempstead, assumed the
dress and character of a schoolmaster, his diploma of graduate in Cambridge college in his pocket. They separated
on the beach; Capt. Hale directing Mr. Hempstead to wait
in the galley-wait for him a certain time, and if no signal
was given, to return to the American army at Haerleln
Heights. The time expired, Capt. H. did not appear; Mr.
H. returned to the American camp on Haerlem Heights.
He there learned the fate of his Captain. This fine young
man lost his life by changing the plan of his return. He
had accomplished all the objects of his journey, when seduced by the project of crossing the sound from Brooklyn
to the American army in New York, then in fill, view, instead of going back by a circuitous route of 60 miles, he
made the attempt, had passed all dangers, as he thought,
and arrived within half a mile of Col. Knowlton's command,
when he was recognized by a Tory relation of his own,
seized, led to the British headquarters, and hung on the
first tree witliout the formality of a court martial. This
was the 22d of September, 1776. Capt. Ijale was one of the
first martyrs to American liberty. His name is hardly
found in a book of the revolution, while that of Andre attracts the studied panegyric of every historian.




2"
Mr. H. followed (3en. Washington in the noble retreat
from Long Island, Sept. 1776.
He volunteered to go in one of the fire-ships directed by
the General, to burn the Asia, a man-of-war of 84 guns,
then in the Hudson river above New York, was grappled
to for twenty minutes and exposed to the fire of the cannon and small arms of the Asia and a frigate, without having a man killed, and tho' unsuccessful, the expedition was
so satisfactory to Gen. Washington that he thanked them
in general orders, and directed $40 to be paid to each man.
October 27th Mr. Hempstead was on Haerlem Heights,
and had two ribs broken from the grape-shot of a British
field piece, and did not recover of his wound till the expiration of his term of service in 1777.
The next year he entered into the State service of Connecticut, and on the capture of Fort Trumbull in 1780, he
retreated to Fort Griswold, on the river Thames, near New
London. A division of Arnold's army marched against
this fort, which was stormed, the garrison chiefly massacred, and the commanding officer, Col. Ledyard, ran thro'
with his own sword, after his surrender. In this carnage
Mr. H. camne in for a full share of its dangers. He had received one musket ball through his left arm, another struck
him in the temple and produced a great effusion of blood,
and was bayoneted in the right hip. To finish him lie was
stripped and thrown into a wagon among many others
wounded, which was drawn to the brow of the hill by British soldiers, and started down the hill to run into the river. Fortunately the wagon brought up against a stump,
and the ferocious enemy was too much occupied with other
matters to give it a new start.
The capture of the fort exposed the town of New London.
It was sacked and burnt by the Traitor Arnold. Mr. Hempstead's family lived there, and shared the fate of the place.
Their house and property was destroyed, and his wife with




26
some young children, and afflicted with the small pox, fled
six miles through the country.  Edward, the subject of this
notice, was one of those, and at the age of 15 months drank
with his mother's milk detestation and hatred to the Englishmnen and to traitors.
Mr. Hempstead did not again enter the army.  It was
12 months before he recovered of his wounds, and soon
after that the capture of Cornwallis put an end to hostilities.  Fis country was free; his blood had contributed to
make her ~o; and now his care was to provide for a young
family, and his means, the labor of a body enfeebled by a
multitude of wounds. In these circumstances he might
have called to his aid each successive son as hWe became old
enough to assist in the labors of the farm.  But a nobler
resolution had been formed in his mind. He who had
fought for liberty saw the field of honor and of riches
thrown open under his banner.  Talent, and not heriditary right, was to distribute them among the members of
the Republic, and he determined to give to his children the
means of acquiring what he had not to bestow. Education
was to be their Fortune.
Mr. Edward Hempstead received, therefore, a classical
education, under the tuition of the Reverend Amos Basset, a gentleman  of p[iety and learning, in the small towIl
of Hebron, in the State of Con nectient. lie began the study
of the law at about 18 under Sylvester Gilbert, Esq., and
finished under Enoch Huntington, Esq., both of Connecti.
cut, and was licensed in the year 1801.
The most appalling period of a young man's life had now
arrived. The narrowness of fortune had been sufficiently
felt while at school, and while in the studies of the law, but
in these situations his expenses were not so great, and inidividual exertions contributed to the fitn which a parent
could spare But in entering upon the practice of the law,
additional expenses were incurred, auxiliary labors became




27
incompatible, and yet for so.ue years the young practitionller
has seen little chance of deriving support from his practice.
People are unwilling to trust him with business until he has
shown himself capable, and he cannot show himself until
he shall do business.  IHIe must therefore work at his own
expense, or sustain situation of hanging (without the appearance of employment) upon the rear of the Bar. It is
in this appalling season that a young man needs most the
support and encouragement of his friends, lest in despair of
overcoming difficulties so great, and impatience under circumstances so mortifying, he abandons all hopes of success,
falls back upon his parents to be supported by them, and
sink the capital of what has been spent upon him, instead
of putting out at a magnificent interest.
Mr. Hempstead had his share of' these appalling difficulties, but did not sink under them.  In a year's practice in
Middlesex, Conn., and two years at Newport, R. I., he had
gained a place at the Bar, had acquired practice, and saw
the road to competency opening fairly before him.
At this time one of those events occurred which gives to
an ardent mind an opportunity of displaying its energy.
Louisiana was purchased from the French. Its name sounded like that of a world, but of a world the limits of the habitable globe.  How many wishled, but would not venture
upon the untried experiment of going there?  How many
failed in the effort to break themselves from the scenes and
connections of their childish days, and remained idle upon
the spot where the accident of birth had thrown them; a
theatre too small for the actors already upon it, while a vast
theatre free from players invited them to enter. Mr. Hempstead was not one of these.  He took his resolution with
such promptitude that he was at Vincennes July, 1804,
where he became acquainted with Gov. W m. H. Harrison.
This judge of merit and friend of youth, immediately appreciated the worth of Mr. Hempstead, in the newly ac



quired province, of which he was for a short time Governor, as an appendage to the government of Indiana. Upon
the arrival of Gen. Wilkinson as Governor of Upper Louisiana, these appointments were resigned.  Mr. Hempstead
believed that he could not hold them with honor. He
thought he saw in the civil government of the General the
same disposition for absolute authority, and the same expectation of passive obedience in the civil department which
prevailed in thie military.  Mr. Hempstead could not submit to thin. He thought differently from the General in
many points, and he chose to preserve his independence,
and avoid collisions by resigning his appointment, and
closely following his profession as a lawyer. With this
view he established himself in St. Louis, and by his unremitting attention to business, soon acquired a lucrative
practice, and the reputation of an able and upright advocate. He enjoyed the c(onfidence of the successive Governors Lewis, Howard, and Clark, and received important
appointments from thenm, among others that of AttorneyGeneral for Upper Louisiana.
In 1812 the territory of'Missouri was admitted to the
second grade of territorial government, and became entitled to a delegate in Congress. It was justly considered a
most honorable distinction to be the first Delegate in (Jongress from the West Bank of the Mississippi, and Mr. Hem pstead had the felicity to be the choice of his fellow citizens
on that occasion. He served his period of two years,
having obtained the passage of some laws of great importance for the adjustment of land claims, and for the defense
of the exposed frontier of the Missouri Territory.  Having
accomplished these objects he declined a re-election. returned to the practice of law,and the duties of a good citizen.
In this latter capacity he showed his disposition to be useful
to his country by accepting inferior stations, after having
voluntarily retired from  the highest which the vote of his




29
fellow-citizens could confer upon him. fTe went out in
several expeditions to protect the frontiers from the Indians
during the war which followed, and afterwards served in
the General Assembly of the Territory, of which he was
elected Speaker in the popular blanch.
Soon after his settlement in St. Louis Mr. Hempstead
married into one of the most respectable families of the
place, but left no surviving issue. His private life was an
example of all that is desirable in the character of husband,
father, and neighbor.  In that of son and hrotber,' 1-:!::,
had but few parallels. No sooner did he find himself established in his new residence in Missouri, than his filial
affections went in search of his parents and relatives, whom
he had left in Connecticut, when setting out to lay the
foundation of his own fortune in a country so remote and
so little known.  He brought them  to Missouri, established
his aged parents in a comfortable home, and extended the
assistance of a father to his brothers and sisters.  Traits of
this kind display the heart; they show  the material of
which it is made, and speak a higher eulogy than the
tongue or pen of friendship can confer.
In 1817, in the meridian of his usefulness, when his fellow-citizens were looking to his further services in the
eventful period which was soon to follow,-the establishment of a State government in Mslissouri, —Mr. Hempstead's
life was suddenly terminated by a fatal illness. He died on
the 10th of Augtust, and was interred on the 13th. The
most numerous concourse ever seen in our country, upon
such an occasion, followed his remains to the grave, and the
spontaneous feeling expressed by all showed that l he public felt that the country had sustained an irreparable loss
in the death of such a citizen.