Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/297

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VIRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY

ber 31, 1826. The famous Henry Clay was a cousin.

Wetzel, Lewis, was one of the pioneers of West \'irginia and a great Indian hunter. During the career of this man of indomit* able courage, energy and skill he killed twenty-seven Indian warriors. He died in 1808. He was five feet ten inches high, erect, broad across the shoulders, deep chest, and limbs denoting great muscular strength. His complexion was dark, eyes black, wild and rolling. His black hair was luxuriant, and when combed out fell below his knees — a rare scalp for the savages could they have secured it. He loved his friends and hated his enemies. He was a rude, blunt man of few words. His name and fame will long survive among the backwoodsmen.

Crawford, William Harris, son of Joel Crawford and Fanny Harris, his wife, and descended from David Crawford, who came from Scotland to Virginia about 1654, was born in Amherst county, Virginia, Febru- ary 24, 1772. His father, who was in re- duced circumstances, removed first to South Carolina, and then to Columbia county, Georgia. After the completion of his early education, Mr. Crawford taught for a time in the schools of Augusta, and then studied law, commencing the practice of this profes- sion at Lexington, in 1799, and became one of the compilers of the first digest of the laws of Georgia. In 1802 he became a mem- ber of the state senate, and in 1807 a mem- ber of the United States senate to fill a vacancy. The political excitement of the period led him to engage in two duels, in one of which his opponent fell, and in the %econd of which he was wounded himself. In 181 1 he was reelected, acquiesced in the

policy of a United States Bank, and in 1812 was chosen president pro tan. of the senate. At first he was oposed to the war with Great Britain, but finally gave it his support. In 181 3, having declined the post of secretary of war, he accepted that of minister to France, where he formed a personal friend- ship with Lafayette. Upon the retirement of Mr. Dallas in 1816, Mr. Crawford was appointed secretary of the treasury. He v/as prominently urged as candidate for the presidency, but remained at the head of the treasury department, where he adhered to the views of Mr. Jefferson, and opposed the Federal policy in regard to internal improve- ments, then supported by a considerable sec- tion of his own party. This position on the" great question of the time subjected him to virulent hostility from opponents of his own party, and Mr. Calhoun, who was one of these opponents, became a dangerous rival for the Democratic nomination for the presi- dency to succeed Monroe. Mr. Crawford, however, as the choice of the Virginia party, and the representative of the views of Jef- ferson, secured the nomination of a congres- sional caucus in February, 1824, and in the election that followed he received the elec- toral votes of Virginia and Georgia, with scattering votes from New York, Maryland and Delaware, in all forty-one. No choice having been made by the electoral college, the election reverted to the house of repre- sentatives, where John Quincy Adams was elected over Jackson and Crawford, through the influence of Henry Clay, the fourth can- didate before the people, who brought his friends to the support of Adams. This re- sult was also partly due to the ill health of Mr. Crawford, and perhaps to imputations brought against his conduct of the treasury

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