Robert Toombs - Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage

Pleasant A. Stovall

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• Publié par: cahun
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 78
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Robert Toombs, by Pleasant A. Stovall This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Robert Toombs Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage Author: Pleasant A. Stovall Release Date: July 16, 2008 [EBook #26069] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROBERT TOOMBS *** Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible; please see detailed list of printing issues at the end of the text. ROBERT TOOMBS ROBERT TOOMBS, AT THE AGE OF 75 YEARS. ROBERT TOOMBS STATESMAN, SPEAKER, SOLDIER, SAGE HIS CAREER IN CONGRESS AND ON THE HUSTINGS—HIS WORK IN THE COURTS—HIS RECORD WITH THE ARMY—HIS LIFE AT HOME BY PLEASANT A. STOVALL "The blood which mingled at Cowpens and at Eutaw cannot be kept at enmity forever."—Toombs. NEW YORK CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 104 & 106 FOURTH AVENUE COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY. All rights reserved. THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, RAHWAY, N. J. Dedication. TO ROBERT TOOMBS DU BOSE, WHOSE INTEREST AND AID WERE INVALUABLE, AND WITHOUT WHOSE COÖPERATION THE BIOGRAPHY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN PREPARED, THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. "There are courageous and honest men enough in both sections to fight. There is no question of courage involved. The people of both sections of this Union have illustrated their courage on too many battlefields to be questioned. They have shown their fighting qualities shoulder to shoulder whenever their country has called upon them; but that they may never come in contact with each other in fratricidal war, should be the ardent wish of every true man and honest patriot."—Robert Toombs, Speech in U. S. Senate, 1856. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. FAMILY, BOYHOOD, LIFE AT COLLEGE, AT THE BAR, IN THE LEGISLATURE, ELECTED TO CONGRESS, IN THE LOWER HOUSE, THE COMPROMISE OF 1850, THE GEORGIA PLATFORM, THE CAMPAIGN OF 1852, TOOMBS IN THE SENATE, THE "KNOW-NOTHING" PARTY, TOOMBS IN BOSTON, BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION, "ON THE STUMP" IN GEORGIA, PAGE 1 13 29 43 56 67 83 97 107 121 129 140 144 XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1856, JOHN BROWN'S RAID, THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION, TOOMBS AS A LEGISLATOR, ELECTION OF LINCOLN, FAREWELL TO THE SENATE, TOOMBS AND SECESSION, TOOMBS AS PREMIER OF THE CONFEDERACY, BRIGADIER-GENERAL IN ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA , WITH THE GEORGIA MILITIA, TOOMBS AS A FUGITIVE, WITHOUT A COUNTRY, COMMENCING LIFE ANEW, DAYS OF RECONSTRUCTION, HIS LAST PUBLIC SERVICE, DOMESTIC LIFE OF TOOMBS, HIS GREAT FAULT, HIS LAST DAYS, 155 169 175 186 199 205 209 222 236 277 286 308 315 324 337 353 364 369 ROBERT TOOMBS. CHAPTER I. FAMILY, BOYHOOD, LIFE AT COLLEGE. Gabriel Toombs was one of General Braddock's soldiers who marched against Fort DuQuesne in 1755. He was a member of the sturdy Virginia line which protested against the dangerous tactics of the British martinet, and when the English regulars were ambushed and cut to pieces, Gabriel Toombs deployed with his men in the woods and picked off the savages with the steady aim and unerring skill of the frontiersman. Over one hundred years later Robert Toombs, his grandson, protested against the fruitless charge at Malvern Hill, and obliquing to the left with his brigade, protected his men and managed to cover the retreat of his division. This was a family of soldiers. They were found in the old country fighting Cromwell's army of the rebellion. Robert Toombs of Georgia was fond of tracing his lineage to the champions of the English king who defended their sovereign at Boscobel. But the American family was made up of lovers of liberty rather than defenders of the King. It was one of the anomalies in the life of the Georgia Toombs, who resisted all restraint and challenged authority in every form, that he should have located his ancestry among the sworn royalists of the seventeenth century. William Toombs, the great-grandfather of Robert, was the first of the English family to come to America, about 1650. He settled in Virginia. Gabriel, who fought with Braddock, was the son of William. Major Robert Toombs, the father of the Georgia statesman, commanded a Virginia regiment during the Revolution and rendered conspicuous service in Georgia against the British. Major Toombs came to Georgia in 1783 and received a rich tract of 3000 acres of land in Wilkes County. This was their share in the award to distinguished soldiers of "the Virginia line." "They fought for their estates like feudal barons," General Toombs used to say, when speaking of his ancestors, now sleeping in the red hills of Georgia. When he was asked after the civil war why he did not petition for relief of political disabilities, he declared that "no vote of Congress, no amnesty proclamation, shall rob me of the glory of outlawry. I shall not be the first of my name for three centuries to accept the stigma of a pardon." The elder Gabriel Toombs in 1795 made his last will and testament. He commended his soul to God who gave it, and blessed his Maker for the worldly goods that he was possessed of. Distributing his estate among his wife, Ann Toombs, and his six children, he expressly directed that his negroes and their increase must be appraised together; that they were not to be sold out of the family, and that they should be "used in a Christian-like manner." He divided up parcels of land in Greene and Wilkes counties among his sons, Robert Toombs and Dawson Gabriel Toombs, and his four daughters. Gabriel Toombs died in 1801. When Major Robert Toombs, the Virginia veteran, and son of Gabriel, came to Georgia to claim his award of land, he settled on Beaverdam Creek, five miles from the town of Washington. It is probable that he stopped in Columbia County, for he married Miss Sanders, of that county. She died, leaving no children, and Major Toombs went back to Virginia and married Miss Catlett. One son was born, and this lady died. Miss [1] [2] [3] Catharine Huling was the third wife. The Hulings were also Virginians, and by this marriage six children were reared. Sarah, who finally became Mrs. Pope; James, who was killed by accident while hunting; Augustus, Robert, and Gabriel. Catharine Huling, the mother of Robert Toombs