Lewis D. Campbell

As printed in 1905

LEWIS D. CAMPBELL was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, August 9, 1811. He attended school in Franklin, in a log school house, with R. C. Schenck until he was fourteen years old, when he was transferred to the farm, on which he labored for three years. From 1828 to 1831 he served an apprenticeship in the office of the Cincinnati Gazette. In the latter year he came to Hamilton, Ohio, where he published a weekly newspaper, writing the editorials and other matter, setting it up, printing the issue on an old Washington press, and acting most of the time as his own carrier. In this paper he advocated the election of Henry Clay to the presidency. While editing his journal he studied law and in 1835 was admitted to the bar. He soon acquired a large and profitable practice. In 1848 Mr. Campbell was elected a representative in congress over General Baldwin. In 1850 he was elected to the same position over Judge Vance; in 1852, 1854 and 1856 over Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, and in 1870 over Hon. R. C. Schenck, his old schoolmate. This was his most celebrated campaign, for he had not only the influence and money of the administration to contend with, but a large Republican majority and the influence and money of eastern monopolies that favored a high tariff. During his first service in congress, from 1849 until 1858, slavery was the all-absorbing question. He participated prominently in the debates, contending that slavery should be excluded from the territories by congressional enactment. In the thirty-third congress, when the great question of repealing the Missouri compromise came before the house of representatives, he was selected, in a conference of the opposition members, as their leader on the floor. The debate between him and Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, on the relative advantage of free and slave labor, gave him rank with the ablest debaters of congress.

At the opening of the thirty-third and thirty-fourth congresses Mr. Campbell received the votes of a large majority of his party for the speakership, and, no doubt, would have been elected had he continued to be a candidate, but in consequence of pledges exacted from him he withdrew his name. After a struggle, prolonged for many weeks, Hon. N. P. Banks was elected. During this congress Mr. Campbell served as chairman of the ways and means committee. The arduous duties thus devolving upon him were discharged with great ability. Among the measures reported by him which became laws was the tariff act of 1857, which levied the lowest average duties on imports of any act passed within the last three-fourths of a century. It was during this congress that Preston H. Brooks made the assault on Charles Sumner in the old senate chamber. Mr. Campbell was the first to reach the senate after he was stricken down. On the following day he introduced the resolution for an investigation, was chairman of the committee appointed for that purpose, and made a report for the expulsion of Brooks. The challenge which the latter subsequently sent Mr. Burlingame was one of the results of the assault on Mr. Sumner. Upon the pressing request of Mr. Burlingame Mr. Campbell took charge of the affairs as his friend. General Joseph Lane, of Oregon, being the friend of Mr. Brooks. The correspondence on the part of Mr. Burlingame was wholly written by Mr. Campbell, who retained all of the original papers. It was through his skillful management that Mr. Burlingame was carried safely through without a stain upon his honor. When the Southern rebellion commenced Mr. Campbell ardently espoused the cause of the Union. In the spring and summer of 1861 he was assisted in raising several regiments. In the autumn following he organized the Sixty-ninth Ohio Regiment, and was commissioned colonel. In the winter of 1861-2 he was in command of Camp Chase, where he received and kept as prisoners of war the officers taken at Fort Donelson and in other battles. In April following he went under orders with his regiment to Tennessee, where he served in the Army of the Cumberland until the failure of his health unfitted him for the service, when he reluctantly retired.

In 1866 Mr. Campbell was appointed minister to Mexico — the successor of Hon. Thomas Corwin. In November of that year, accompanied by General Sherman, he proceeded on his mission. The French army of occupation and other forces of Maximilian were then in Mexico holding the capital and other principal cities. President Juarez and his cabinet officers had been driven to a point on the northwestern border. Failing to reach the government of that republic in its then migratory condition, Mr. Campbell was directed by Mr. Seward, secretary of state, to make his official residence temporarily in New Orleans. He remained there until June following, when, tired of that kind of service, he resigned.

Taking his seat as a member of the forty-second congress in March, 1871, he was at once recognized as possessing commanding influence which is attained only by a long and honorable public service. Acting with the minority, he was not placed in such a position as to take the leading part which had fallen to his lot in previous congressional service, yet his influence was very perceptible in the promotion of salutory legislation. In April, 1873, Mr. Campbell was elected a delegate to the convention to revise and amend the constitution of the state of Ohio. After the convention assembled at Columbus he was elected, on May 22(1, its vice-president by a unanimous vote.

In politics, Mr. Campbell was a Whig until the dissolution of that party. Subsequently he was a Republican, but after the rebellion closed he left that party and cooperated with the Democratic party. He was in failing health for months before his death, which occurred November 22, 1882. He was survived by an aged wife, who has since died, and three daughters. In his death Butler county sustained a great loss, and the state one of its greatest and most distinguished sons.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.