Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/59

 CRITTENDEN

CRITTENDEN

the stale legislature. 1811-17, serving during the last term as speaker. In 1817 he was elected to the U.S. senate and served through the loth con- gress, 1817-19, then resigned and was succeeded by Richard M. Johnson. In 1819 he removed to Frankfort in order to practise in the higher courts. He afterward represented Franklin county in the state legislature for several years during the time of the court controversy, and championed the old court. In 1827 he was U.S. district attorney, and in 1829 was removed by President Jackson. He was again elected to the U.S. senate in 1835, and was re-elected in 1841, but resigned wlien he was appointed bj- President Harrison attorney -general in his cabinet, March 4, 1841. He resigned from the attorney -general- ship upon the death of the President, and on March 31, 1842, upon the resignation of Henry Clay as U.S. senator, he became his successor by appointment of Governor Letcher, and in 1843 was elected for a full term. He resigned from the senate in 1848 upon being elected governor of Kentucky, and resigned the governorship in 1850 to accept the position of attorney -general in the cabinet of President Fillmore. As attorney- general he wrote an opinion on the constitution- ality of the fugitive slave law. At the close of the administration the legislature of Kentucky again returned him to the U.S. senate and he served, 1855-61. He opposed the repeal of the Missouri compromise, took issue with the policy of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan, and in 1860 favored the election of Bell and Everett. He was then elected a representative from Kentucky to the 37th congress. He was opposed to the secession of the southern states and made strenu- ous efforts to effect a compromise that v.-ould avert civil war. In the 37th congress, July, 1861, he offered a resolution that was adopted with but two dissenting votes : declaring the war to be waged only to defend and maintaiti the supremacy of the constitution and preserve the Union and that when this was accomplished the war should cease. He opposed the admission of West Vir- ginia as a separate state and the employment of colored men as soldiers. His last speech in congress was delivered when he was seventy-six years old. The state of Kentucky erected a monument to his memory. He received the de- gree of LL.D. from Centre college, Ky., in 1860. See his Life by Mrs. Chapman Coleman. He died near Frankfort, Ky., July 23, 1863.

CRITTENDEN, Robert, acting-governor of Arkansas Territory, was born near Versailles, Woodford county, Ky., Jan. 1, 1797: the yoimg- est son ofMaj. John Crittenden. He was given a liberal education, studied law and immigrated to Missouri Territory, settling in that portion set apart in 1818 as Arkansas Territory. He as-

sisted in the formation of a provisional govern- ment, vested in a governor and three judges of the superior court, preparatory to the regular territorial government organized in 181^. He was appointed by President Monroe the first sec- retary of the territory, and in the protracted and frequent absence of Governor Miller he was acting governor. As such he convened the leg- islature at Arkansas Post, the temporary capital, Aug. 3, 1819. This legislature enacted the first six laws framed for the government of the terri- tory, and after promulgating the same adjourned on the evening of the same day sine die. He was sent to Washington, D.C., to secure special legislation for the territory in 1820 and was its secretary, 1819-29. He was one of the famous " townsite committee" which purchased and became the owner of the site of Little Rock and made the place the state capital. He founded the Advocate as a Whig organ in Little Rock. In 1827 his support of Robert C. Olden against Henry W. Conway as territorial delegate to con- gress led to a challenge from Delegate Conway. Crittenden appealed to Conway to perform his duty to the territory by meeting the obligations of his office and if on his return from Washington nothing short of what he then demanded would satisfy him," he (Crittenden) would meet his demands. On receiving this conciliatory note Conway published Crittenden as a coward and thus cut off all honorable accommodation but the field. The duel was fought Oct. 29, 1827. Mr. Crittenden was accompanied to the field by his brother, John J. Crittenden, with whom he had studied law and who had just been removed from the office of U.S. district attorney by Presi- dent Jackson, and Col. Ben Desha acted as his second. Mr. Conway was mortally wounded and Mr. Crittenden escaped uninjured. He was prominently mentioned as an available candidate for U.S. senator when the territory should be admitted to statehood, but he died before that event. He was married Oct. 1, 1822, to Ann Innes Morris, near Frankfort, Ky., and they had four children born in Little Rock, Ark. He died at Vicksburg, Miss., Dec. 18, 1834.

CRITTENDEN, Thomas Leonidas, soldier, was born in Russellville, Ky., May 15, 1819; son of the Hon. John Jordan and Salhe O. (Lee) Crittenden; and brother of Maj.-Gen. George Bibb Crittenden, C.S.A. He attended Centre college but was not graduated; studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. In 1842 he was elected commonwealth at- torney for his district. He recruited a regiment for the Mexican war and was made its lieutenant- colonel, serving through the war, and being for a time a member of the staff of General Taylor, who was his cousin. He carried to the President