Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/284

 BELL.

BELL.

Calhoun, while on fjenenil jwlitics aprreeing with tliein. During the exciting events of Jackson's iiilministration, Representative Bell came to the front SIS chairman of the jiuliciary committee and of the committee on Indian affairs. In 1832 he opposed protection, but afterwards adopted the jxilicy. His defection from the Democratic party was from the time he opposed the removal of dejxisits from tiie United States banks. He had southern proclivities, if not jn-ejudices; but he wius a man of generous sympathies, broad views of the inter-dei)endent relations of state and nation, and of a judicial type of mind. He held to the constitution and recognized what he esteemed as the duty of compromise. Mr. Bell, as a slaveholder, opiwsed the Wilmot proviso and Senator Douglas in his doctrine of squatter sov- ereignty. He defended the territorial rights of the south, and was outspoken on the divine right to hold slaves as property, but voted for the acceptance of the petition asking for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He spoke and wrote against the Lecompton constitution, and in the great debate in the senate, March, 1858, maile the emphatic statement: " On the question wiietiier Kan.siis shall be a free or a slave state, a.s a representative of southern interests, my pref- erence of course is for a slave state." With all this he was consistent in advocating above all and liefore all, that the integrity of the Union should be maintained. Mr. Bell was elected speaker of the house of representatives June 3, IHSi. in a close contest with James K. Polk, de- feating him by one vote, and serving throughout the second session of the 28d Congress. Upon the accession of William H. Harrison to the presi- dency, in 1841, he was made his secretary of war. He resigned, and was succeeded, Oct. 12, 1841, by John C. Spencer, appointed by Presi- dent Tyler. He was elected by the legislature of Tenne.ssee to a seat in the U. S. senate, and served two terms, from 1847 to 1859. In the momentous crisis of 1860 he headed the Bell and Everett presidential ticket, representing the AVhig party, of which he was one of the founders, and the new constitutional union party, opposing both the Democratic parties headed by Douglas and John- son, and Breckinridge and Lane, and the Republi- can or Lincoln and Hamlin party. At the out- break of the civil war Mr. Bell made an effort with other prominent public men of his state to hold Tennessee in a condition of neutrality, denouncing Vxjth sece.ssion by the south and coercion by the north, but events succeeded each other rapidly, and, as he had long foreseen, the north took a stand in which the south could not acquiesce. Although he deplored what he considered the necessity of secession, he advo- cated it as a right, and declared himself in favor

of the independence of the southern states, though scarcely a week before he had ijublished an address to the state advocating peace meas- ures. Both during the war and afterwards Mr. Bell remained in retirement. He died at Cum- berliind Iron Works, Tennessee, Sept. 10, 1869.

BELL, John C, representative, was bora in Grundy county, Tenn., Dec. 11, 1851. Heattended the public schools, and further pursued his studies for two years at Alto, and two years at Boiling Fork, Tenn. ; read law in Winchester, Tenn. ; was admitted to the bar in 1874, and the same year removed to Colorado and commenced the practice of law at Saguache. He was appointed county attorney of Saguache county, and served until May, 1876, when he resigned and removed to Lake City, Col., then the most thriving city in the great San Juan mining region ; was elected county clerk of Hinsdale county in 1878; was twice elected mayor of Lake City, and in August, 1885, resigned that position and removed to Montrose. In November, 1888, he was elected judge of the seventh judicial district of Colorado for a period of six years; in the fall of 1892 was nominated for Congress from the second district of Colorado, first by the Populist and afterwards by the Democratic convention, and was elected to the 53d Congress. He took an active part in favor of free silver in the debate on the repeal of the Sherman act. He was re-elected to the 54th, 55th, 56tlK and 57th congresses, 1893-1903.

BELL, Louis, soldier, was born at Chester, N. H., March 8, 1837; son of Samuel and Lucy (Smith) Bell. He was educated at the academies of Derry and Gilford. He was admitted to the bar, and in 1857 opened an office in Farmington, N. H. In 1859 he was appointed justice of the police court of the town, and in 1861 .solicitor for the county of Strafford; meanwhile holding the office of brigade judge-advocate, with the rank of major. In April, 1861, he was appointed cap- tain in the 1st N. H. regiment. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in August, 1861, his abilities as an executive officer winning the recognition of Gen. Thomas W. Sherman, who appointed him inspector-general and chief of staff. On March 11, 1862, he was commissioned colonel. He was stationed at St. Augustine, Fla., for a time, and later, as commander of a brigade, he took a con- spicuous part in the heavy operations on Folly and Morris islands, including the siege of Fort Wagner and the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Charleston, S. C. He was active in several minor engagements, and in January. 1865, led a brigade in the successful as.sault on Fort Fisher, where, on Jan. 15, he received a mortal wound. The secretary of war conferred upon him the brevet of lirigadier-general to date from Jan. 15. He died near Fort Fisher, N. C, Jan. 10, 1865.