Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/141

Rh admitted that he was the most finished orator the s< mill has ever produced. His distress at the seces- sion of the southern Democratic party in 1860 has- tened his end. When he was dying, his friend, James L. Petigru, said to him : " 1 envy you, Pres- ton ; you are leaving it, and I shall have to stay and see it all." Preston signified, with a sigh of relief, that the words were true. He left no chil- dren. Another son of Francis, John Smith, soldier, b. at the Salt Works, near Abingdon, Va., Jli April. 1809; d. in Columbia. S. C., 1 May. 1881, was graduated at Hampden Sidney college in 1*24. attended lectures at the University of Virginia in 1S2.V6, and read law at Harvard. He married Caroline, daughter of Gen. Wade Hampton, in 1830, and settled first in Abingdon. Va., and sub- sequently in Columbia, S. C. He engaged for sev- eral years in sugar-planting in Louisiana, but also devoted much time to literary pursuits and to the collection of paintings and sculptures. He aided struggling artists liberally, notably Hiram Powers, whose genius had been recognized by his brother William. Mr. Powers, as a token of his apprecia- tion, gave him the first replica of the "Greek Slave." He also became widely known as an ora- tor, delivering, among other addresses, the speech of welcome to the Palmetto regiment on its re- turn from the Mexican war in 1848, which gained him a national reputation. This was increased by his orations before the " Seventy-sixth associa- tion of Charleston " and the literary societies of South Carolina college, and those at the 75th anni- versary of the battle of King's Mountain and at the laying of the corner-stone of the University of the south at Sewanee, Tenn. He was an ardent secessionist, and in May, 1860, was chairman of the South Carolina delegation to the Democratic convention that met at Charleston, S. C. After the election of President Lincoln he was chosen a commissioner to Virginia, and in February, 1861, made an elaborate plea in favor of the withdrawal of that state from the Union, which was regarded as his greatest effort. He was on the staff of Gen. Beauregard in 1861-'2, participated in the first battle of Bull Run, and was subsequently trans- ferred to the conscript department with the rank of brigadier-general. He went to England shortly after the close of the war, and remained abroad several years. After his return he delivered an address at a commencement of the University of Virginia, which, as a fervent assertion of the right of srrrssion. incurred the criticism of the con-erva- tive press throughout the country. His last pub- lic appearance was at the unveiling of the Confed- erate monument at Columbia, S. C., when he was the orator of the occasion. Gen. Preston was more than six feet in height, and of a powerful and symmetrical frame. Another son of Francis, Thomas Lewis, planter, b. in Botetourt county, Va., 28 Nov., 1812, was educated at the University of Virginia, studied law, but never practised, and for many years engaged in Washington and Smith counties, Va., in the manufacture of salt, in which he made material improvements. He was twice a member of the legislature, for many years a visitor of the University of Virginia, and twice its rector. He was on the staff of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston during the first year of the civil war, and his aide- de-camp at the first battle of Bull Run. He has published " Life of Elizabeth Russell. Wife of Gen. William Campbell of King's Mountain" (Univer- sity of Virginia, 1880). Francis's brother, James Patton, statesman, b. in Montgomery county. Va.. in 1774; d. in Smithfield, Va., 4 May, 1843, was graduated at William and Mary in 1790, and set- tled as a planter in Montgomery county, Va. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 12th U. S. infant- ry in 1812, colonel, 5 Aug., 1813, and received at Chrystler's field a wound that crippled him for life. He was governor of Virginia in 1816-'19, and subsequently served frequently in the state senate, He married 'Ann, daughter of Gen. Robert Taylor, of Norfolk, Va. Their son. William liallard, secretary of war, b. in Smithfield, Montgomery co., Va.. 25 'Nov., 1805 ; d. there, 16 Nov., 1862, was educated at the University of Virginia, adopted law as a profes- sion, and achieved signal success in its practice. He siTvnl several times in the Vir- ginia house of delegates and sen- ate, and was nev- er throughout his career defeated in any popular elec tion. He was chosen to con- gress as a Whig in 1846, and on the accession of Gen. Zachary Tay- lor to the presi- dency he held the portfolio of the navy until Gen. Taylor's death, when he retired to private life, but was several times presidential elector on the Whig ticket. He was sent by the government on a mission to France in 1858-'9, the object of which was to establish a line of steamers between that country and Virginia, and a more extended commercial relation between the two countries. The scheme failed on account of the approaching civil war. He was a member of the Virginia secession convention in 18lil, and resisted all efforts toward the dissolution of the Union till he was satisfied that war was inevitable. In 18fil-'2 he was a member of the Confederate senate, in which he served until his death. Francis's nephew, William, lawyer, b. near Louisville, Ky.. 16 Oct., 1806; d. in Lexington, Ky., 21 Sept., 1887. His education was under the direction of the Jesuits at Bardstown. Ky. He afterward studied at Yale, and then attended the law-school at Harvard, where he was graduated in 1838. He then began the practice of law, also taking an active part in politics. He served in the Mexican war as lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Kentucky volunteers. In 1851 he was elected to the Kentucky house of representatives as a Whig, and in the following year he was chosen to congress to fill the vacancy caused by Gen. Humphrey Marshall's resignation, serving from 6 Dec., 1852, till 3 March. 1855. He was again a candidate in 1854, but was defeated by his predecessor, Gen. Marshall, the Know-Nothing candidate, after a violent campaign. He then became a Democrat, and was a delegate to the Cincinnati convention of 1856, which nominated Buchanan and Breckinridge. He was appointed U. S. minister to Spain under the Buchanan administration, at the close of which he returned to Kentucky and warmly espoused the cause of the south. He joined Gen. Simon B. Buckner at Bowling Green in 1861, and was made colonel on the staff of his brother-in-law, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, when that officer assumed command. He served through the Kentucky campaign, was at the fall of Fort Donelson, the battle of Shiloh, where Gen. Johnston died in