Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/120

 CAMEEON.

CAMP.

ability, and his bold and A'igorous advocacy of high tariff, and of John C. Calhoun as a candidate for the presidency, commanded the attention of statesmen and politicians everywhere. With in- creasing fame came increasing profits, and after five years he had command of sufiicient funds to enable him to undertake large business opera- tions, which soon netted him a handsome fortune. He was cashier of a bank, president of two rail- road companies, and adjutant-general of the state. In 1845, upon the resignation of James Bu- chanan as United States senator, he was elected to fill the unexpired term, and as senator acted with the Democratic party. He retired from the senate, March 3, 1849. In 1854, upon the repeal of the Missouri compromise bill, Mr. Cameron left his party and helped to form the People's party. In 1857 the new party controlled the state legislature and elected Mr. Cameron to the senate, to succeed Richard Brodhead. During his second term he took a conspicuous part in the discussion of the vital question of the hour, and he was so i^ronounced in his advocacy of peace and conciliation that his loyalty to the Union was at the time questioned. He was one of the presidential candidates who had a strong support in the convention of 1860, and he failed of securing the nomination of vice-presi- dent on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln, througli a lack of harmony in the Pennsylvania delegation. Immediately iipou Mr. Lincoln's election, Mr. Camei'on was called to a place in his cabinet, and, resigning his seat in the senate, March 4, 1861, became secretaiy of war. After the attack upon Fort Sumter, realizing that war was inevitable, Secretary Cameron advocated strenuous war measures, and went so far as to favor a proclamation of emancipation to all slaves who would desert their masters and enlist in the Union army. In this he stood alone among his associates, and feeling that his useful- ness would be impaired by their opposition, he resigned his portfolio in January, 1862, and was at once appointed by President Lincoln minister to Russia. In November, 1862, he resigned this office as well, but during the short term of his occupancy he had succeeded in enlisting the friendship of Russia in the Federal cause. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention of 1864, and to the Loyalists' Philadelphia conven- tion of 1866, and he was again returned to the senate in 1867, succeeding Edgar Cowan. In 1873 he was elected to the senate for the fourth time. Not being in sympathy with the civil service policy inaugurated by President Hayes, and feeling inadequate to the undertaking of a conflict of such magnitude at his advanced age, h<^ resigned his seat in 1877, and his son, James Donald Cameron, was at once elected his succes-

sor. Simon Cameron's control of his party In his own state was wellnigh absolute, and liis consummate ability as a political leader was uni- versally acknowledged. He became known as the ' ' czar of Pennsylvania politics. ' ' He died at his home in Lancaster county. Pa., June 26, 1889.

CAMMERHOFF, John Frederick, Moravian bishop, was born near Magdeburg, Germany, and educated at Jena. He was consecrated a bishop in London Sept. 25, 1746, and shortly afterward came to America, where he assisted Bishop Span- genberg in his work in New York and Pennsyl- vania. He gained many converts among the Indians, by whom he was greatly revered, and the missionary, Zeisberger, says the Indians spoke of him with veneration more than thirty years after his death. Hardships and exertions incident to a journey of sixteen hundred miles, which he made in 1750 on a mission to Onondaga, N. Y., to visit Indians of the Six Nations, resulted in his death, April 28, 1751.

CAMP, David N., educator, was born at Dur- ham, Conn., Oct. 3, 1820; son of Elah and Orit (Lee) Camp. His early life was passed on the farm of his father, when not pursuing his studies. He taught school a few jears, and on the incorporation of the Connecticut state nor- mal school became a teacher in that insti- tution. He was a]) pointed associate principal in 1855, and in 1857 was elected lirincipal and state superintendent of schools. Feeble health forced him to resign in 1866, and he went to Europe, where he visited the education al institutions of Eng- land, Scotland, Ire- land and the conti- nent. While in Paris he was appointed to a professorship in St. John's college, Maryland. He held this position until the establishment of the national bureau of edu- cation, when he resigned to engage in its service under Dr. Henry Barnard, with wliom he had been previously associated in educational work. In 1870 he founded the New Britain seminary, and was its principal until 1880, when failing health again compelled him to give up teaching. He was for several years editor and manager of the Connecticut Common School Journal and the New Britain Herald. From 1877 to 1879 he was mayor of New Britain, represented the town in the general assembly in 1879, and was chairman of the committee on education. He subsequently

/



(jJj,'M. -^CUKv*^