Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Harvard Memorial Biographies

Here he won the respect and affection of all classes. Among his associates at the bar, his courtesy in practice, his legal ability, his integrity, high sense of honor, and manly straightforwardness inspired marked confidence and esteem. In the resolutions adopted by the bar, after his death, special reference is made to ‘the scrupulous care with which he ever sought to guard and promote the dignity of his profession, and to make it the means of purifying the administration of justice.’

In 1859 he was elected District Attorney of Chatauqua County. The vote was a very flattering one,—in Dunkirk being nearly double that of his party ticket. Some sturdy old farmers from the county, and others who, from his very youthful appearance, had voted against him, came to him after a few months' trial of him in office, to say, ‘Mr. Stevens, we voted against you; now we have to say, if you wish our votes at any time, or any aid whatever, count on us.’

One of the first cases brought forward by him was an indictment for a capital offence,—an event that had not occurred before in the county for many years. Several other cases of importance followed, in all of which he acquitted himself to the great acceptance of the bench, the bar, and the public, receiving many expressions of encouragement and praise.

His letters to his father at this time show him as very busy, prosecuting his profession with great zeal, and with an earnest aim to master its principles and practice. He claims in these letters that he has the friendship of the whole bar. The respect of the presiding justices he certainly had. Graceful in delivery, clear in statement, logical in reasoning, with an ingenuousness that impressed his listeners with the honesty of his convictions, combining enthusiasm with great pertinacity of purpose, the future seemed to him bright and promising.

But it was soon to be overcast. When civil war grew imminent, anticipating that he might be called upon to serve his