Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Wright, John C.

WRIGHT, John C., jurist, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1783; d. in Washington, D.C., 13 Feb., 1861. He received an academic education, learned the trade of a printer, and went to Troy, N.Y., where he edited “The Gazette” for several years. After studying law he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Steubenville, Ohio. For many years he was judge of the state supreme court, and he was elected to congress as an Adams Democrat, serving from 1 Dec., 1823, till 3 March, 1829, and being afterward defeated for re-election as a Henry Clay Democrat. He and Tristam Burgess, of Rhode Island, were the only two members of the house that ventured to reply to John Randolph of Roanoke in the style of sarcasm that characterized Randolph's speeches. He was a delegate to the peace congress in Washington in February, 1861, but died before its adjournment. For several years he was the editor and proprietor of the Cincinnati “Gazette.” His speeches in congress on the “resolution calling on the secretary of state for information relative to the selection of newspapers for the publication of the laws” were issued (Washington, 1827). He also published “Supreme Court Reports of Ohio” (Columbus, 1831-'4). This book possessed much legal authority at the time of its publication, and is still held in repute. Many of the cases are reported in a vein of peculiar facetiousness, for which Judge Wright was noted. - His son, Crafts James, soldier, b. in Troy, N.Y., 13 July, 1808; d. in Chicago, Ill., 23 July, 1883, was graduated at the U.S. military academy in 1828, but resigned on 8 Nov., 1828, studied law, was admitted to the bar of Ohio, and practised with his father. In 1840 he became assistant editor of the Cincinnati “Gazette,” and from 1847 till 1854 he was president of the “Gazette” company, after which he again practised law. He aided in organizing the first telegraph company in the west and became one of its directors, At the beginning of the civil war he entered the National army as colonel of the 8th Missouri infantry, but afterward he raised and disciplined the 13th Missouri. He served in the Tennessee campaign of 1862, and for his services received the thanks of the governor of Missouri. In March, 1862, he was in command of Clarksville. He was afterward ordered to Pittsburg Landing, where he was senior colonel, and given command of a brigade. He was also engaged in the Mississippi campaign and in the siege of Corinth, where he remained ill for many weeks until he resigned his commission on 16 Sept., 1862. For his services at Shiloh, President Lincoln nominated him for the post of brigadier-general, but he resigned before he could be confirmed by the senate. Subsequently he engaged in farming in Glendale, Ohio, but afterward lived in Chicago, where in 1876 he was made steward of the marine hospital. - His wife, MARGARET, was active during the war in visiting hospitals and battlefields, and was identified with many benevolent works. She was at one time the only woman on the boat that carried disabled soldiers to the north, and acted as nurse to them under the direction of the senior surgeon.