PROMINENT PERSONS
195
Licking county, Ohio. In 1846 he was ad-
jutant-general of the state of Ohio, and on
March 3, 1847, he was reappointed in the
United States army with the rank of major
and paymaster. He served in the pay de-
partment at Cincinnati, Ohio, and later in
the war with Mexico at Camargo, Monterey,
Sahillo and Brazos Island, Mexico, and at
Fort Brown, Texas, during 1847, 1848 and
1849. The army disbanded March 4, 1849,
and in 1852 he was again reappointed in
the army with the same rank as before,
serving in the pay department in New
Mexico, Louisiana, Florida and Kansas.
During the civil war he was paymaster at
various places, and in October, 1864, was
placed over the pay department at Wash-
ington, D. C. He was appointed paymaster-
general with the rank of colonel in Novem-
ber, 1864, and in December was brevetted
lieutenant-colonel, colonel and brigadier-
general. In March, 1865, he was brevetted
major-general for "faithful, meritorious and
distinguished services in the pay depart-
ment" during the war, and in July, 1866, he
was promoted brigadier-general. He was
retired from active service by reason of age
limit, January i, 1872. He died in Wash-
ington, D. C, December 4, 1892.
Preston, John Smith, was born at the Salt Works, near Abingdon, Virginia, April 20, 1809; son of Gen. Francis and Sarah (Camp- bell) Preston, and great-grandson of Pat rick Henry, the orator. He was graduated from Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, A. B., 1824; did post-graduate work at the University of Virginia. 1825-26, and at- tended the Harvard Law School. He was married in 1830 to Caroline, a sister of Ger. Wade Hampton, of South Carolina. He
afterward moved to Columbia, South Caro-
lina, and thence to Louisiana, where he
V. orked his sugar plantations. He became
prominent as an orator in the south and de-
livered many famous addresses, among them
the one at the laying of the cornerstone of
tl-.e University of the South, at Sewanee,
Tennessee, in 1857. He was chairman of
the South Carolina committee to the Demo-
cratic convention at Charleston in May,
i860 ; was a commissioner to Virginia, and
in February, 1861, advocated the secession
of Virginia. He was on the stafif of Gen.
Beauregard in the first battle of Bull Run,
1S61, was promoted brigadier-general and
served in the conscript department, 1865.
He was then in Europe for a number of
years and subsequently returned to South
Carolina. He delivered his last public ad-
dress at the unveiling of the Confederate
monument at Columbia, South Carolina. He
made a collection of painting and sculpture,
and was a helpful friend to Hiram Powers
and other rising artists. He died in Colum-
bia, South Carolina, May i, 1881.
Thompson, Richard Wigginton, cabinet officer, was born in Culpeper county, Vir- gmia, June 9, 1809. He removed to Louis- ville, Kentucky, in 1831, and later to Law- rence county, Indiana, where, in 1834, he was admitted to the bar. He was a repre- sentative in the Indiana legislature, 1834- 36; state senator, 1836-38, and was presi- dential elector for Harrison and Tj-ler in 1841. He was a Whig representative from Indiana in the twenty-seventh and thirtieth congresses, 1841-43 and 1847-49; was - de- feated as a candidate for presidential elector on the Clay and Frelinghuysen ticket in 1844; declined President Taylor's oiifer of
