Statesman; born in
Salem, Ind., Oct. 8, 1838; studied in an academy in
Springfield, Ill., and graduated at Brown University in 1858; studied law and was admitted to the
Illinois bar. He was a friend of
Abraham Lincoln, whom he accompanied to
Washington at the, time of his inauguration, and served as his assistant private secretary, till 1863, when he joined
General Hunter in
South Carolina as aide-decamp.
In the same year he was appointed assistant adjutant-general, and assigned to the staff of
Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore (q. v.), and was subsequently ordered to duty at the
White House, where he remained until
President Lincoln's assassination.
Later he was brevetted colonel of volunteers.
In 1865-67 he was secretary of legation in
Paris; in 1867-68 at
Vienna; and then till 1870 at
Madrid.
During 1870-75 he was an editorial writer on the New York
Tribune; then removed to
Cleveland.
He was active in the
Republican Presidential campaigns
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of 1876, 1880, and 1884; was first
assistant Secretary of State in 1879-81; in the latter year was president of the international sanitary congress in
Washington; in 1897-98 was ambassador to
Great Britain; and in September of the latter year was appointed
Secretary of State to succeed
Judge William R. Day (q. v.). His publications include
Castilian days;
Pike county ballads; and
Abraham Lincoln: a history (with
John G. Nicolay).