By Amorin Mello

This is a reproduction of Colonel Charles Whittlesey’s biography from the Magazine of Western History, Volume V, pages 534-548, as published by his successor Charles Candee Baldwin from the Western Reserve Historical Society.  This biography provides extensive and intimate details about the life and profession of Whittlesey not available in other accounts about this legendary man.

Whittlesey came to Lake Superior in 1845 while working for the Algonquin Mining Company along the Keweenaw Peninsula’s copper region.  His first trip to Chequamegon Bay appears to have been in 1849 while doing do a geological survey of the Penokee Mountains for David Dale Owen.  Whittlesey played a dramatic role in American settlement of the Chequamegon Bay region.  Whittlesey convinced his brother, Asaph Whittlesey Jr., to move from the Western Reserve in 1854 establish what became the City of Ashland at the head of Chequamegon Bay as a future port town for extracting and shipping minerals from the Penokee Mountains.  Whittlesey’s influence can still be witnessed to this day through local landmarks named in his honor:

• Mount Whittlesey
• Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge

Whittlesey published more than two hundred books, pamphlets, and articles.  For additional research resources, the extensive Charles Whittlesey Papers are available through the Western Reserve Historical Society in two series:

• Charles Whittlesey Papers Series I
• Charles Whittlesey Papers Series II

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COLONEL CHARLES WHITTLESEY.

Colonel Charles Whittlesey, late president of the Western Reserve Historical society, was born in Southington, Connecticut, October 4, 1808.  He was the son of Asaph and Vesta (Hart) Whittlesey, who settled in Ohio in 1815.  Asaph Whittlesey was a lad of unusual activity and spirits.  His constitution was fine, but he was, just before he was of age, severely injured by the falling of a tree.  For some time it was thought his back was broken.  The accident so impaired him for farm labor that it changed his life.  He removed from Salisbury, Connecticut, to Southington and became a partner with his brother Chester, as a merchant.  He married in 1807 Vesta Hart of that place.  In the spring of 1813, he started for Tallmadge, Portage county, Ohio, in a four horse wagon, with his wife and two children, one of whom is the subject of this sketch.

War was then in the west, and his neighbors feared they might be the victims of the scalping knife.  But the danger was different.  In passing the Narrows, between Pittsburgh and Beaver, the wagon ran off a bank and turned completely over on the wife and children.  They were rescued and revived, but the accident permanently impaired the health of Mr. Whittlesey.

Mr. Whittlesey was in Tallmadge, justice of the peace from soon after his arrival till near the close of his life, and postmaster from 1814, when the office was first established, to his death.  He was again severely injured, but a strong constitution and unflinching will enabled him to accomplish much.  He had a store, buying goods in Pittsburgh and bringing them in wagons to Tallmadge; and an ashery; and in 1818 he commenced the manufacture of iron on the Little Cuyahoga, below Middlebury.

The times were hard, tariff reduced, and in 1828 he returned to his farm prematurely old.  He died in 1842. Says General Bierce,

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“His intellect was naturally of a high order, his religious convictions were strong and never yielded to policy or expediency. He was plain in speech, sometimes abrupt. Those who respected him were more numerous than those who loved him. But for his friends, no one had a stronger attachment. His dislikes were not very well concealed or easily removed. In short, he was a man of strong mind, strong feelings, strong prejudices, strong affections and strong attachments, yet the whole was tempered with a strong sense of justice and strong religious feelings.”

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“He had,” says the Ohio Observer , “a retentive and accurate memory.”  Colonel Whittlesey’s mother received the best advantages which a New England town afforded, and became herself a teacher.  She was very happy in correspondence, and fond of writing letters, and she left quite a voluminous diary, which is an excellent example of felicity in composition.  His father was brother to Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, a lawyer of Canfield, Ohio, who settled there in 1806.  Having some knowledge of military tactics, in 1808 he was ensign of a company and soon after captain.  He served in the War of 1812, rose to the rank of brigade major and inspector.  He was eight times elected to congress, and long first comptroller in the United States treasury.  Elisha Whittlesey had much taste and great knowledge of western history.

Tallmadge was settled in 1808 as a religious colony of New England Congregationalists, by a colony led by Rev. David Bacon, a missionary to the Indians.  This affected the society in which the boy lived, and exercised much influence on the morality of the town and the future of its children, one of whom was the Rev. Leonard Bacon.  Rev. Timlow’s History of Southington says, “Mr. Whittlesey moved to Tallmadge, having become interested in settling a portion of Portage county with Christian families.”  And that he was a man “of surpassing excellence of character.”

If it should seem that I have dwelt upon the parents of Colonel Whittlesey, it is because his own character and career were strongly affected by their characters and history.  Charles, the son, combined the traits of the two.  He commenced school at four years old in Southington; the next year he attended the log school house at Tallmadge until 1819, when the frame academy was finished and he attended it in winter, working on the farm in summer until he was nineteen.

The boy, too, saw early life on foot, horseback and with ox-teams.  He found the Indians still on the Reserve, and in person witnessed the change from savage life and new settlements, to a state of three millions of people, and a large city around him.  One of Colonel Whittlesey’s happiest speeches is a sketch of log cabin times in Tallmadge, delivered at the semi-centennial there in 1857.

In 1827 the youngster became a cadet at West Point.  Here he displayed industry, and in some unusual incidents there, coolness and courage.  He graduated in 1831, and became brevet second lieutenant in the Fifth United States infantry, and in November started to join his regiment at Mackinaw.  He did duty through the winter with the garrison at Fort Gratiot.  In the spring he was assigned at Green Bay to the company of Captain Martin Scott, so famous as a shot.  At the close of the Black Hawk War he resigned from the army.  Though recognizing the claim of the country to the services of the graduates of West Point, he tendered his services to the government during the Seminole Mexican war.  By a varied experience his life thereafter was given to wide and general uses.  He at first opened a law office in Cleveland, Ohio, and was fully occupied in his profession, and as part owner and co-editor of the Whig and Herald until the year 1837.  He was that year appointed assistant geologist of the state of Ohio.  Through very uneconomical economy, the survey was discontinued at the end of two years, when the work was partly done and no final reports had been made.  Of course most of the work and its results were lost.  Great and permanent good indeed resulted to the material wealth of the state, in disclosing the rich coal and iron deposit of southeastern Ohio, thus laying the foundation for the vast manufacturing industries which have made that portion of the state populous and prosperous.  The other gentlemen associated with him were Professor William Mather as principal; Dr. Kirtland was entrusted with natural history.  Others were Dr. S. P. Hildreth, Dr. Caleb Briggs, Jr., Professor John Locke and Dr. J. W. Foster.  It was an able corps, and the final results would have been very valuable and accurate.  In 1884, Colonel Whittlesey was sole survivor and said in this Magazine:

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“Fifty years since, geology had barely obtained a standing among the sciences even in Europe.  In Ohio it was scarcely recognized.  The state at that time was more of a wilderness than a cultivated country, and the survey was in progress little more than two years.  It was unexpectedly brought to a close without a final report.  No provision was made for the preservation of papers, field notes and maps.”

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Professor Newbury, in a brief resume of the work of the first survey (report of 1869), says the benefits derived “conclusively demonstrate that the geological survey was a producer and not a consumer, that it added far more than it took from the public treasury and deserved special encouragement and support as a wealth producing agency in our darkest financial hour.”   The publication of the first board, “did much,” says Professor Newberry, “to arrest useless expenditure of money in the search for coal outside of the coal fields and in other mining enterprises equally fallacious, by which, through ignorance of the teachings of geology, parties were constantly led to squander their means.”   “It is scarcely less important to let our people know what we have not, than what we have, among our mineral resources.”

The topographical and mathematical parts of the survey were committed to Colonel Whittlesey.  He made partial reports, to be found in the ‘State Documents’ of 1838 and 1839, but his knowledge acquired in the survey was of vastly greater service in many subsequent writings, and, as a foundation for learning, made useful in many business enterprises of Ohio.  He had, during this survey, examined and surveyed many ancient works in the state, and, at its close, Mr. Joseph Sullivant, a wealthy gentleman interested in archaeology, residing in Columbus, proposed that, he bearing the actual expense, Whittlesey should continue the survey of the works of the Mound Builders, with a view to joint publication.  During the years 1839 and 1840, and under the arrangement, he made examination of nearly all the remaining works then discovered, but nothing was done toward their publication.  Many of his plans and notes were used by Messrs. Squier & Davis, in 1845 and 1846, in their great work, which was the first volume of the Smithsonian Contributions, and in that work these gentlemen said:

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“Among the most zealous investigators in the field of American antiquarian research is Charles Whittlesey, esq., of Cleveland, formerly topographical engineer of Ohio.  His surveys and observations, carried on for many years and over a wide field, have been both numerous and accurate, and are among the most valuable in all respects of any hitherto made.  Although Mr. Whittlesey, in conjunction with Joseph Sullivant, esq., of Columbus, originally contemplated a joint work, in which the results of his investigations should be embodied, he has, nevertheless, with a liberality which will be not less appreciated by the public than by the authors, contributed to this memoir about twenty plans of ancient works, which, with the accompanying explanations and general observations, will be found embodied in the following pages.

“It is to be hoped the public may be put in possession of the entire results of Mr. Whittlesey’s labor, which could not fail of adding greatly to our stock of knowledge on this interesting subject.”

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It will be seen that Mr. Whittlesey was now fairly started, interested and intelligent, in the several fields which he was to make his own.  And his very numerous writings may be fairly divided into geology, archaeology, history, religion, with an occasional study of topographical geology.  A part of Colonel Whittlesey’s surveys were published in 1850, as one of the Smithsonian contributions; portions of the plans and minutes were unfortunately lost.  Fortunately the finest and largest works surveyed by him were published. Among those in the work of Squier & Davis, were the wonderful extensive works at Newark, and those at Marietta.  No one again could see those works extending over areas of twelve and fifteen miles, as he did.  Farmers cannot raise crops without plows, and the geography of the works at Newark must still be learned from the work of Colonel Whittlesey.

He made an agricultural survey of Hamilton county in 1844.  That year the copper mines of Michigan began to excite enthusiasm.  The next year a company was organized in Detroit, of which Colonel Whittlesey was the geologist.  In August they launched their boat above the rapids of the Sault St. Marie and coasted along the shore to where is now Marquette.  Iron ore was beneath notice, and in truth was no then transportable, and they pulled away for Copper Harbor, and then to the region between Portage lake and Ontonagon, where the Algonquin and Douglas Houghton mines were opened.  The party narrowly escaped drowning the night they landed.  Dr. Houghton was drowned the same night not far from them.  A very interesting and life-like account of their adventures was published by Colonel Whittlesey in the National Magazine of New York City, entitled “Two Months in the Copper Regions.”  From 1847 to 1851 inclusive, he was employed by the United States in the survey of the country around Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi, in reference to mines and minerals.  After that he spent much time in exploring and surveying the mineral district of the Lake Superior basin.  The wild life of the woods with a guide and voyageurs threading the streams had great attractions for him and he spent in all fifteen seasons upon Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi, becoming thoroughly familiar with the topography and geological character of that part of the country.

His detailed examination extended along the copper range from the extreme east of Point Keweenaw to Ontonagon, through the Porcupine mountain to the Montreal river, and thence to Long lake in Wisconsin, a distance of two hundred miles.  In 1849, 1850 and 1858 he explored the valley of the Menominee river from its mouth to the Brule.  He was the first geologist to explore the South range.  The Wisconsin Geological Survey (Vol. 3 pp. 490 and 679) says this range was first observed by him, and that he many years ago drew attention to its promise of merchantable ores which are now extensively developed from the Wauceda to the Commonwealth mines, and for several miles beyond.  He examined the north shore from Fond du Lac east, one hundred miles, the copper range of Minnesota and on the St. Louis river to the bounds of our country.  His report was published by the state in 1865, and was stated by Professor Winchill to be the most valuable made.

All his geological work was thorough, and the development of the mineral resources which he examined, and upon which he reported, gave the best proofs of his scientific ability and judgment.

With the important results from his labors in Ohio in mind, the state of Wisconsin secured his services upon the geological survey of that state, carried on in 1858, 1859 and 1860, and terminated only by the war.  The Wisconsin survey was resumed by other parties, and the third volume of the Report for Northern Wisconsin, page 58, says:

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The Contract of James Hall with Charles Whittlesey is available from the Journal of the Assembly of Wisconsin, Volume I, pages 178-179, 1862.  Whittlesey was to perform “a careful geological survey of the country lying between the Montreal river on the east, and the westerly branches of [the] Bad River on west”.  This contract was unfulfilled due to the outbreak of the American Civil War.  Whittlesey independently published his survey of the Penokee Mountains in 1865 without Hall.  Some of Whittlesey”s pamphlets have been republished here on Chequamegon History in the Western Reserve category of posts.

“The only geological examinations of this region, however, previous to those on which the report is based, and deserving the name, were those of Colonel Charles Whittlesey of Cleveland, Ohio.  This gentleman was connected with Dr. D. D. Owen’s United States geological survey of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and in this connection examined the Bad River country, in 1848.  The results are given in Dr. Owen’s final report, published in Washington, in 1852.  In 1860 (August to October) Colonel Whittlesey engaged in another geological exploration in Ashland, Bayfield and Douglass counties, as part of the geological survey of Wisconsin, then organized under James Hall.  His report, presented to Professor Hall in the ensuing year, was never published, on account of the stoppage of the survey.  A suite of specimens, collected by Colonel Whittlesey during these explorations, is at present preserved in the cabinet of the state university at Madison, and it bears testimony to the laborious manner in which that gentleman prosecuted the work.  Although the report was never published, he has issued a number of pamphlet publications, giving the main results obtained by him.  A list of them, with full extracts from some of them, will be found in an appendix to the report.  In the same appendix I have reproduced a geological map of this region, prepared by Colonel Whittlesey in 1860.”

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Such was Colonel Whittlesey’s employment when the first signs of the civil war appeared.  He abandoned it at once.  He became a member of one of the military companies that tendered its services to President-elect Lincoln, when he was first threatened, in February, 1861.  He became quickly convinced that war was inevitable, and urged the state authorities that Ohio be put at once in preparation for it; and it was partly through his influence that Ohio was so very ready for the fray, in which, at first, the general government relied on the states.  Two days after the proclamation of April 15, 1861, he joined the governor’s staff as assistant quartermaster-general.  He served in the field in West Virginia with the three months’ men, as state military engineer; with the Ohio troops, under General McClellan, Cox and Hill.  At Seary Run, on the Kanawha, July 17, 1861, he distinguished himself by intrepidity and coolness during a severe engagement, in which his horse was shot under him.  At the expiration of the three months’ service, he was appointed colonel of the Twentieth regiment, Ohio volunteers, and detailed by General Mitchell as chief engineer of the department of Ohio, where he planned and constructed the defenses of Cincinnati.

In December, 1861, he was ordered to Kentucky with four companies of infantry, to suppress the rebel element in several counties, with headquarters at Warsaw.  In the Magazine of Western History for April, 1885, he gives an interesting account of his experiences there.  On the day before Christmas, 1861, loyal citizens from Kentucky represented that several counties in that state were in a condition of anarchy.  Kentucky had not then seceded, and Colonel Whittlesey was sent to protect Union citizens, prevent rebel enlistments, secure all their arms, and preserve order.  The transports reached Warsaw at nine p. m., and within two hours a number of the most active men sustaining the rebellion were arrested and on their way to Camp Chase.  The practice of releasing on taking the oath of allegiance had become a standing joke.  Colonel Whittlesey substituted agreements by which they severally agreed, that, in case they threatened or injured the persons or property of Union men, or committed any act in aid of the present rebellion and the southern confederacy, they were to be held summarily responsible in person and property.  Sometimes security was required.  These agreements were generally kept.  His administration there was very successful, and a Kentucky Union legislator said “his course had effected much good for the Union cause,” and that “his promptness and decision met with universal praise.”  Colonel Whittlesey was in command of his regiment at the taking of Fort Donelson, and was sent north with the prisoners, of whom over ten thousand five hundred were committed to him.  The movement on Donelson was made in February, 1862.  In 1876 was published a letter from Colonel Whittlesey to General Halleck, dated November 20, 1861, as follows:

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“SIR: Will you allow me to suggest the consideration of a great movement by land and water, up the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers.

“First, Would it not allow of water transportation half way to Nashville?

“Second, Would it not necessitate the evacuation of Columbus, by threatening their railway communications?

“Third, Would it not necessitate the retreat of General Buckner, by threatening his railway lines?

“Fourth, Is it not the most feasible route into Tennessee?”

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This plan was adopted, and Colonel Whittlesey’s regiment took part in its execution.

In April, 1862, on the second day of the battle of Shiloh, Colonel Whittlesey commanded the Third brigade of General Wallace’s division — the Twentieth, Fifty-sixth, Seventy-sixth and Seventy-eighth Ohio regiments.  “It was against the line of that brigade that General Beauregard attempted to throw the whole weight of his force for a last desperate charge; but he was driven back by the terrible fire, that his men were unable to face.”  As to his conduct, Senator Sherman said in the United States senate.¹

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The official report of General Wallace leaves little to be said.  The division commander says, “The firing was grand and terrible.  Before us was the Crescent regiment of New Orleans; shelling us on our right was the Washington artillery of Manassas renown, whose last charge was made in front of Colonel Whittlesey’s command.”

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General Force, then lieutenant-colonel under Colonel Whittlesey, fully describes the battle,² and quotes General Wallace.  “The nation is indebted to our brigade for the important services rendered, with the small loss it sustained and the manner in which Colonel Whittlesey handled it.”

Colonel Whittlesey was fortunate in escaping with his life, for General Force says, it was ascertained that the rebels had been deliberately firing at him, sometimes waiting to get a line shot.

Colonel Whittlesey had for some time been in bad health, and contemplating resignation, but deferring it for a decisive battle.  Regarding this battle as virtually closing the campaign in the southwest, and believing the Rebellion to be near its end, he now sent it in.

General Grant endorsed his application, “We cannot afford to lose so good an officer.”

“Few officers,” it is said, “retired from the army with a cleaner or more satisfactory record, or with greater regret on the part of their associates.”  The Twentieth was an early volunteer regiment.  The men were citizens of intelligence and character.  They reached high discipline without severity, and without that ill-feeling that often existed between men and their officers.  There was no emergency in which they could not be relied upon.  “Between them and their commander existed a strong mutual regard, which, on their part, was happily expressed by a letter signed by all the non-commissioned officers.”

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“CAMP SHILOH, NEAR PITTSBURGH LANDING, TENNESSEE,  April 21, 1862.

“COL. CHAS. WHITTLESEY:

“Sir — We deeply regret that you have resigned the command of the Twentieth Ohio.  The considerate care evinced for the soldiers in camp, and, above all, the courage, coolness and prudence displayed on the battle-field, have inspired officers and men with the highest esteem for, and most unbounded confidence in our commander.

“From what we have seen at Fort Donelson, and at the bloody field near Pittsburgh, on Monday, the seventh, all felt ready to follow you unfalteringly into any contest and into any post of danger.

“While giving expression to our unfeigned sorrow at your departure from us, and assurance of our high regard and esteem for you, and unwavering confidence as our leader, we would follow you with the earnest hope that your future days may be spent in uninterrupted peace and quiet, enjoying the happy reflections and richly earned rewards of well-spent service in the cause of our blessed country in its dark hour of need.”

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Said Mr. W. H. Searles, who served under him, at the memorial meeting of the Engineers Club of Cleveland: “In the war he was genial and charitable, but had that conscientious devotion to duty characteristic of a West Point soldier.”

Since Colonel Whittlesey’s decease the following letter was received:

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“CINCINNATI, November 10, 1886.

“DEAR MRS. WHITTLESEY: — Your noble husband has got release from the pains and ills that made life a burden.  His active life was a lesson to us how to live.  His latter years showed us how to endure.  To all of us in the Twentieth Ohio regiment he seemed a father.  I do not know any other colonel that was so revered by his regiment.  Since the war he has constantly surprised me with his incessant literary and scientific activity.  Always his character was an example and an incitement.  Very truly yours,

“M. F. Force.”

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Colonel Whittlesey now turned his attention at once again to explorations in the Lake Superior and upper Mississippi basins, and “new additions to the mineral wealth of the country were the result of his surveys and researches.”  His geological papers commencing again in 1863, show his industry and ability.

It happened during his life many times, and will happen again and again, that his labors as an original investigator have borne and will bear fruit long afterwards, and, as the world looks at fruition, of much greater value to others than to himself.

He prognosticated as early as 1848, while on Dr. Owen’s survey, that the vast prairies of the northwest would in time be the great wheat region.  These views were set forth in a letter requested by Captain Mullen of the Topographical Engineers, who had made a survey for the Northern Pacific railroad, and was read by him in a lecture before the New York Geographical society in the winter of 1863-4.

He examined the prairies between the head of the St. Louis river and Rainy Lake, between the Grand fork of Rainy Lake river and the Mississippi, and between the waters of Cass Lake and those of Red Lake.  All were found so level that canals might be made across the summits more easily than several summits already cut in this country.

In 1879 the project attracted attention, and Mr. Seymour, the chief engineer and surveyor of New York, became zealous for it, and in his letters of 1880, to the Chambers of Commerce of Duluth and Buffalo, acknowledged the value of the information supplied by Colonel Whittlesey.

Says the Detroit Illustrated News:

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“A large part of the distance from the navigable waters of Lake Superior to those of Red river, about three hundred and eight miles, is river channel easily utilized by levels and drains or navigable lakes.  The lift is about one thousand feet to the Cass Lake summit.  At Red river this canal will connect with the Manitoba system of navigation through Lake Winnipeg and the valleys of the Saskatchewan.  Its probable cost is given at less than four millions of dollars, which is below the cost of a railway making the same connections.  And it is estimated that a bushel of wheat may be carried from Red river to New York by water for seventeen cents, or about one-third of the cost of transportation by rail.”

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We approach that part of the life of Colonel Whittlesey which was so valuable to our society.  The society was proposed in 1866.³  Colonel Whittlesey’s own account of its foundation is: “The society originally comprised about twenty persons, organized in May, 1867, upon the suggestion of C. C. Baldwin, its present secretary.  The real work fell upon Colonel Whittlesey, Mr. Goodman and Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Goodman devoting nearly all of his time until 1872 (the date of his death).”   The statement is a very modest one on the part of Colonel Whittlesey.  All looked to him to lead the movement, and none other could have approached his efficiency or ability as president of the society.

The society seemed as much to him as a child is to a parent, and his affection for it has been as great.  By his learning, constant devotion without compensation from that time to his death, his value as inspiring confidence in the public, his wide acquaintance through the state, he has accomplished a wonderful result, and this society and its collections may well be regarded as his monument.

Mr. J. P. Holloway, in his memorial notice before the Civil Engineer’s club, of which Colonel Whittlesey was an honorary member, feelingly and justly said:

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“Colonel Whittlesey will be best and longest remembered in Cleveland and on the Reserve, for his untiring interest and labors in seeking to rescue from oblivion the pioneer history of this portion of the state, and which culminated in the establishment of the present Western Reserve Historical society, of which for many years he was the presiding officer.  It will be remembered by many here, how for years there was little else of the Western Reserve Historical society, except its active, hard working president.  But as time moved on, and one by one the pioneers were passing away, there began to be felt an increasing interest in preserving not only the relics of a by-gone generation, but also the records of their trials and struggles, until now we can point with a feeling of pride to the collections of a society which owes its existence and success to a master spirit so recently called away.”

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The colonel was remarkably successful in collecting the library, in which he interested with excellent pecuniary purpose the late Mr. Case.  He commenced the collection of a permanent fund which is now over ten thousand dollars.  It had reached that amount when its increase was at once stopped by the panic of 1873, and while it was growing most rapidly.  The permanent rooms, the large and very valuable museum, are all due in greatest measure to the colonel’s intelligent influence and devotion.

I well remember the interest with which he received the plan; the instant devotion to it, the zeal with which at once and before the society was started, he began the preparation of his valuable book, The Early History of Cleveland, published during the year.

Colonel Whittlesey was author of — I had almost said most, and I may with no dissent say— the most valuable publications of the society.  His own very wide reputation as an archaeologist and historian also redounded to its credit.  But his most valuable work was not the most showy, and consisted in the constant and indefatigable zeal he had from 1867 to 1886, in its prosperity.  These were twenty years when the welfare of the society was at all times his business and never off his mind.  During the last few years Colonel Whittlesey has been confined to his home by rheumatism and other disorders, the seeds of which were contracted years before in his exposed life on Lake Superior, and he has not been at the rooms for years.  He proposed some years since to resign, but the whole society would have felt that the fitness of things was over had the resignation been accepted.  Many citizens of Cleveland recall that if Colonel Whittlesey could no longer travel about the city he could write.  And it was fortunate that he could.  He took great pleasure in reading and writing, and spent much of his time in his work, which continued when he was in a condition in which most men would have surrendered to suffering.

Colonel Whittlesey did not yet regard his labors as finished.  During the last few years of his life religion, and the attitude and relation of science to it, engaged much of his thought, and he not unfrequently contributed an editorial or other article to some newspaper on the subject.  Lately these had taken more systematic shape, and as late as the latter part of September, and within thirty days of his death, he closed a series of articles which were published in the Evangelical Messenger on “Theism and Atheism in Science.”  These able articles were more systematic and complete than his previous writings on the subject, and we learn from the Messenger that they will be published in book form.  The paper says:

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Colonel Charles Whittlesey of this city, known to our readers as the author of an able series of articles on “Theism and Atheism in Science” just concluded, has fallen asleep in Jesus.  One who knew the venerable man and loved him for his genuine worth said to us that “his last work on earth was the preparation of these articles . . . which to him was a labor of love and done for Christ’s sake.”

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Colonel Whittlesey said when the last was done that his work was finished.  He was then in such a condition that he wrote only while in bed and on his back.  On Sunday morning, October 17, 1886, he was seized with a chill.  He seemed to recover somewhat and appeared no weaker than he had often been within the last few years, but in the morning of the next day he died at the early hour of five.  The writer saw him last on Sunday afternoon, when he spoke as fondly, as anxiously and as thoughtfully of the society as ever, though his mind quickly wandered.

Colonel Whittlesey was married October 4, 1858, to Mrs. Mary E. (Lyon) Morgan⁴ of Oswego, New York, who survives him; they had no children.

Colonel Whittlesey’s published literary works were very numerous, commencing in 1833, and ending with his death, fifty-three years afterward.  There were four quartos among the Smithsonian Contributions.  Several appear in the various state and United States geological reports.  A collected volume of Fugitive Essays was published in 1855, a History of Cleveland in 1867.  Quite a number appear among the publications of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Colonel Whittlesey was so engaged in what was new, that it was only a few years ago and at my suggestion that he undertook a list.  The list herewith is larger than his, and the number of books and pamphlets is one hundred and nintey-one.  Many of these are double column and small print, but containing much and new information.  He cared little for large print or good paper.  He furnished a great many articles to the newspapers, often as editorials, many of which maybe found in the rooms of our society.  Colonel Whittlesey was fortunate in simple tastes and happy life, but without fault on his part often unfortunate.  We have seen how his work in the Ohio survey of 1837-8 was cut short; how, what would have been the great and leading work on the archaeology of Ohio was lost, how other surveys and enterprises in which he was engaged were stopped by the war, or otherwise by no fault of his.  Prior to 1869 he was pressing zealously, in this state, the project of a geological survey, and when the bill was finally passed, he fondly hoped to be chief of the survey in his own state.  Another was appointed to the first place, and he was unwilling to accept the post of assistant geologist.

Much of his work does not therefore appear in that complete and systematic shape which would make it best known to the general public.  But by scholars in his lines of study in Europe and America, he was well known and very highly respected.  “His contributions to literature,” said the New York Herald,⁵ “have attracted wide attention among the scientific men of Europe and America.”

As an American archaeologist, Colonel Whittlesey was very learned and thorough.  He had in Ohio the advantage of surveying its wonderful works at an early date.  He had, too, that cool poise and self-possession that prevented his enthusiasm from coloring his judgment.  He completely avoided errors into which a large share of archaeologists fall.  The scanty information as to the past and its romantic interest, lead to easy but dangerous theories, and even suffers the practice of many impositions.  He was of late years of great service in exposing frauds, and thereby helped the science to a healthy tone.  It may be well enough to say that in one of his tracts he exposed, on what was apparently the best evidence, the supposed falsity of the Cincinnati tablet so called.  Its authenticity was defended by Mr. Robert Clarke of Cincinnati, successfully and convincingly, to Colonel Whittlesey himself.  I was with the colonel when he first heard of the successful defense and with a mutual friend who thought he might be chagrined, but he was so much more interested in the truth for its own sake, than in his relations to it, that he appeared much pleased with the result.

Among American writers, Mr. Short speaks of his investigations as of “greater value, due to the eminence of the antiquarian who writes them.”  Hon. John D. Baldwin says, “in this Ancient America speaks of Colonel Whittlesey as one of the best authorities.”  The learned Frenchman, Marquis de Nadaillac and writers generally upon such subjects quote his information and conclusions with that high and safe confidence in his learning and sound views which is the best tribute to Colonel Whittlesey, and at the same time a great help to the authors.  And no one could write with any fullness on the archaeology of America without using liberally the work of Colonel Whittlesey, as will appear in any book on the subject.  He was an extensive, original investigator, always observing, thoughtful and safe, and in some branches, as in Ancient Mining at Lake Superior, his work has been the substantial basis of present learning.  It is noticeable that the most eminent gentlemen have best appreciated his safe and varied learning.  Colonel Whittlesey was early in the geological field.  Fifty years ago little was known of paleontology, and Colonel Whittlesey cared little for it, perhaps too little; but in economic geology, in his knowledge of Ohio, its surface, its strata, its iron, its coal and its limestone in his knowledge of the copper and iron of the northwest, he excelled indeed.  From that date to his death he studied intelligently these sections.  As Professor Lapham said he was studying Wisconsin, so did Colonel Whittlesey give himself to Ohio, its mines and its miners, its manufactures, dealings in coal and iron, its history, archaeology, its religion and its morals.  Nearly all his articles contributed to magazines were to western magazines, and anyone who undertook a literary enterprise in the state of Ohio that promised value was sure to have his aid.⁶

In geology his services were great.  The New York Herald, already cited, speaks of his help toward opening coal mines in Ohio and adds,“he was largely instrumental in discovering and causing the development of the great iron and copper regions of Lake Superior.”  Twenty-six years ago he discovered a now famous range of iron ore.

“ On the Mound Builders and on the geological character and phenomena of the region of the lakes and the northwest he was quoted extensively as an authority in most of the standard geological and anthropological works of America and Europe,” truthfully says the ‘Biographical Cyclopedia.

Colonel Whittlesey was as zealous in helping to preserve new and original material for history as for science.  In 1869 he pushed with energy the investigation, examination and measures which resulted in the purchase by the State of Ohio of the St. Clair papers so admirably, fully and ably edited by Mr. William Henry Smith, and in 1882 published in two large and handsome volumes by Messrs. Robert Clarke and Co. of Cincinnati.

Colonel Whittlesey was very prominent in the project which ended in the publication of the Margry papers in Paris.  Their value may be gathered from the writing of Mr. Parkman (La Salle) and The Narrative and Critical History of America, Volume IV., where on page 242 is an account of their publication.⁷  In 1870 and 1871 an effort to enlist congress failed.  The Boston fire defeated the efforts of Mr. Parkman to have them published in that city.  Colonel Whittlesey originated the plan eventually adopted, by which congress voted ten thousand dollars as a subscription for five hundred copies, and, as says our history: “at last by Mr. Parkman’s assiduous labors in the east, and by those of Colonel Whittlesey, Mr. O. H. Marshall and others in the west,” the bill was passed.

The late President Garfield, an active member of our society, took a lively interest in the matter, and instigated by Colonel Whittlesey used his strong influence in its favor.  Mr. Margry has felt and expressed a very warm feeling for Colonel Whittlesey for his interest and efforts, and since the colonel’s death, and in ignorance of it, has written him a characteristic letter to announce to the colonel, first of any in America, the completion of the work.  A copy of the letter follows :

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“PARIS, November 4, 1886.

“VERY DEAR AND HONORED SIR: It is to-day in France, St. Charles’ day, the holiday I wished when I had friends so called.  I thought it suitable to send you to-day the good news to continue celebrating as of old.  You will now be the first in America to whom I write it.  I have just given the check to be drawn, for the last leaves of the work, of which your portrait may show a volume under your arm.⁸  Therefore there is no more but stitching to be done to send the book on its way.

“In telling you this I will not forget to tell you that I well remembered the part you took in that, publication as new, as glorious for the origin of your state, and for which you can congratulate yourself, in thanking you I have but one regret, that Mr. Marshall can not have the same pleasure.  I hope that your health as well as that of Madame Whittlesey is satisfactory. I would be happy to hear so.  For me if I am in good health it is only by the intervention of providence.  However, I have lost much strength, though I do not show it.  We must try to seem well.

“Receive, dear and honored sir, and for Madame, the assurance of my profound respect and attachment.

“PIERRE MARGRY.”

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Colonel Whittlesey views of the lives of others were affected by his own.  Devoted to extending human learning, with little thought of self interest, he was perhaps a little too impatient with others, whose lives had other ends deemed by them more practical.  Yet after all, the colonel’s life was a real one, and his pursuits the best as being nearer to nature and far removed from the adventitious circumstances of what is ordinarily called polite life.

He impressed his associates as being full of learning, not from books, but nevertheless of all around — the roads the fields, the waters, the sky, men animals or plants.  Charming it was to be with him in excursions; that was really life and elevated the mind and heart.

He was a profoundly religious man, never ostentatiously so, but to him religion and science were twin and inseparable companions.  They were in his life and thought, and he wished to and did live to express in print his sense that the God of science was the God of religion, and that the Maker had not lost power over the thing made.

He rounded and finished his character as he finished his life, by joint and hearty affection and service to the two joint instruments of God’s revelation, for so he regarded them.  Rev. Dr. Hayden testifies: “He had no patience with materialism, but in his mature strength of mind had harmonized the facts of science with the truths of religion.”

Colonel Whittlesey’s life was plain, regular and simple.  During the last few years he suffered much from catarrhal headache, rheumatism and kindred other troubles, and it was difficult for him to get around even with crutches.  This was attributed to the exposure he had suffered for the fifteen years he had been exposed in the Lake Superior region, and his long life and preservation of a clear mind was no doubt due to his simple habits.  With considerable bodily suffering, his mind was on the alert, and he seemed to have after all considerable happiness, and, to quote Dr Hayden, he could say with Byrd, “thy mind to me a kingdom is.”

Colonel Whittlesey was an original member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an old and valued member of the American Antiquarian society, an honorary member of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical society, with headquarters at Columbus.  He was trustee of the former State Archaeological society (making the archaeological exhibition at the Centennial), and although each of these is necessarily to some extent a rival of his pet society, he took a warm interest in the welfare of each.

He was a member of the Society of Americanites of France, and his judgment, learning and communications were much esteemed by the French members of that society.  Of how many other societies he was an honorary or other member I can not tell.

C. C. Baldwin.

 

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¹ – Speech of May 9, 1862.

² – Cincinnati Commercial, April 9, 1862.

³ – The society was organized under the auspices of the Cleveland Library Association (now Case Library).  The plan occurred to the writer while vice-president of that association.  At the annual meeting in 1867, the necessary changes were made in the constitution, and Colonel Whittlesey was elected to the Case Library board for the purpose of heading the historical committee and movement.  The result appears in a scarce pamphlet issued in 1867 by the library association, containing, among other things, an account of the formation of the society and an address by Colonel Whittlesey, which is an interesting sketch of the successive literary and library societies of Cleveland, of which the first was in 1811.

⁴ – Mary E. Lyon was a daughter of James Lyon of Oswego, and sister of John E. Lyon, now of Oswego but years ago a prominent citizen of Cleveland.  She m. first Colonel Theophilus Morgan,⁶ Theophilus,⁵ Theophilus,⁴ Theophilus,³ John,² James Morgan.¹  Colonel Morgan was an honored citizen of Oswego.  Colonel Morgan and his wife Mary, had a son James Sherman, a very promising young man, killed in 1864 in a desperate cavalry charge in which he was lieutenant, in Sherman’s march to the sea.  Mrs. Whittlesey survives in Cleveland.

⁵ – October, 19, 1886.

⁶ – The Hesperian, American Pioneer, the Western Literary Journal and Review of Cincinnati, the Democratic Review and Ohio Cultivator of Columbus, and later the Magazine of Western History at Cleveland, all received his hearty support.

⁷ – These papers were also described in an extract from a congressional speech of the late President Garfield. The extract is in Tract No. 20 of the Historical society.

⁸ – Alluding to a photograph of Colonel Whittlesey
then with a book under his arm.