Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/120

with Lazarus W. Powell, a commissioner to adjust difficulties with the Mormons of Utah, and, after the despatch of troops to that country, was com- missioned to report on the condition of Arizona. In 1861 he was in Wasliington, engaged on his final reports, and when he had concluded his busi- ness with the government he hastened back to Texas, and was appointed to raise a temporary force to take possession of the U. S. arsenal at San Antonio and other posts. After declining the command of a regiment, he was commissioned brigadier-general in the Confederate service on 14 May, 1861, and ordered to take command of In- dian territory. He reached Fort Smith, Ark., about the end of May, organized an army in haste, and marched to the succor of Gov. Claiborne Jack- son, of Missouri. Forming a junction with Gen. Sterling Price's Missouri state guards, he encoun- tered the troops of Gens. Nathaniel Lyon and Franz Sigel in the battle of Wilson's Creek, other- wise called Oak Hills. After the defeat of the Na- tional forces, McCulloch, having no orders to en- ter Missouri, refused to pursue them, and surren- dered the command to Gen. Price. He took part in Gen. Earl Van Dorn's ineffectual attempt to sur- round Gen. Sigel's force at Bentonville. At the battle of Pea Ridge, or Elkhorn, he commanded a corps of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas troops, and, while riding forward to reconnoitre, was killed by the bullet of a sharp-shooter. Gen. James Mc- intosh, the second in command, fell almost simul- taneously, and the Confederates, left without a leader, soon fled in disorder. See " Scouting Ex- peditions of MeCuUoch's Rangers," by Samuel C. Reid (Philadelphia, 1850), and " Life and Ser- vices of Gen. Ben McCulloch," by Victor M. Rose.

McCULLOCH, Hugh, secretary of the treasury, b. in Kennebunk, Me., 7 Dec, 1808 ; d. near Wash- ington, D. C, 24 May, 1895. He entered Bowdoin in 1824, but leaving, on account of illness, taught until 1829, and then studied law. In 1888 he went to the west, and settled in Fort Wayne, Ind. In 1835 he was elect- ed cashier and manager of the branch at Fort Wayne of the State bank of In- diana, and at the expiration of its charter in 1856 he became the president of the Bank of the state of Indiana, which he held until May, 1868.

He then resigned

to accept the office of comptroller of the currency, which was tendered to him by Sec. Salmon P. Chase, undertaking the organization of the newly created bureau and the putting into operation of the nation- al banking system. His own reputation for conserv- atism influenced the managers of the large state banks, and promoted the conversion of the leading credit institutions of the commercial cities into na- tional banks. In March, 1865, on the resignation of William P. Fessenden, Mr. McCulloch was appoint- ed by President Lincoln secretary of tlie treasury, at which time the government was in great finan- cial embarrassment. It was still incurring enormous expenses, and heavy demands were pressing upon a nearly empty treasury. His first and most important duty, therefore, was to raise by further loans what was needed to pay the large amount due to 500,000 soldiers and sailors, whose services the government was in a condition to dispense with, and meet other demands. This was success- fully accomplished, and in less than six months from the time of Jiis appointment all the matured obligations of the government were paid, and the reduction of the debt was begun. The next most important work was the conversion of more than 11,000,000,000 of short-time obligations into a funded debt. This was quietly effected, and in a little more than two years the whole debt of the country was put into a satisfactory shape. In his annual reports he advocated a steady reduction of the national debt, the retirement of the legal-tend- er notes, and a speedy return to specie payments, urging that a permanent public debt might be- dangerous to Republican institutions. He believed, also, that it was not the business of the govern- ment to furnish the people with a paper currency, that it had no power under the constitution to make its own notes lawful money, and that the paper currency of the country should be fur- nished by the banks. His views upon the sub- ject of the debt were sustained by congress, as were also for a short time those in regard to the legal-tender notes. Sec. McCulloch held office till 4 March, 1869. From 1871 till 1878 he was en- gaged in banking in London. In October, 1884, on the resignation of Walter Q. Gresham, he was again appointed secretary of the treasury, and continued in office until the expiration of Presi- dent Arthur's term, 4 March, 1885, being the only man that has held that office twice. After his re- tirement he resided in Washington, D. C, and on his farm in Maryland. Mr. McCulloch contributed articles on financial and economical questions to the magazines and public journals, and published "Men and Measures of Half a Century" (New York, 1888). He was the last survivor of the fourteen members of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, and died on his farm, a few miles from Washington.

McCULLOH, James Haines, author, b. in Maryland about 1793. He was educated as a phy- sician, receiving his degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1814, but devoted himself mainly to arclueological studies, after serving as gari'ison surgeon until the close of the war of 1812-'15. He became curator of the Maryland academy of science and vice-president of the Baltimore apprentices' library in 1822. In 1836 he succeeded his father, James H. McCulloh. as collector of the port of Bal- timore. He was also president of the National bank of Baltimore, but declined a re-election in 1853. He published "Researches on America, being an Attempt to settle some Points relative to the Aborigines of America" (Baltimore, 1816); "Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the Aboriginal History of America" (1829) ; "Analytical Investigations concerning the Credi- bility of the Scriptures and of the Religious Sys- tem Inculcated in them, together with a Historical Exhibition of Human Conduct during the several Dispensations under which Mankind have been placed by their Creator" (1852) ; " An Important Exposition of the Evidences and Doctrines of the Christian Religion, addressed to the Better Edu- cated Classes of Society " (1856) ; and " On the- Credibility of the Scriptures, a Recast and En- larged View of a Former Work on the Subject, together with a Copious Analysis of the Systems promulgated during the Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian Dispensations, and of Human Develop- ments under them " (1867). {{nop}