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| Affiliation | Republican |
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| Name | Norton P. Chipman |
| Address |
Washington, District of Columbia , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
March 07, 1834
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| Died | February 01, 1924
(89 years)
|
| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Mar 21, 2024 02:17am |
| Tags |
Army -
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| Info | CHIPMAN, Norton Parker, a Delegate from the District of Columbia; born in Milford Center, Union County, Ohio, March 7, 1834; attended the public schools; moved to Iowa in 1845 and entered Washington College; afterwards attended the law school in Cincinnati; returned to Washington, Iowa; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in that city; entered the Union Army; commissioned major of the Second Iowa Infantry September 23, 1861; colonel April 17, 1862; brevetted brigadier general of Volunteers March 13, 1865; settled in Washington, D.C.; upon the establishment of a Territorial form of government for the District of Columbia was appointed secretary, and subsequently was elected as a Republican a Delegate to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses and served from April 21, 1871, until March 3, 1875; moved to California in 1876 and engaged in the lumber business; member of the California State Board of Trade and its president 1895-1906; appointed a commissioner of the supreme court of California in April 1897; appointed presiding justice of the district court of appeals for the third district in 1905 and was elected in November 1906 and served until his resignation on December 18, 1922; died in San Francisco, Calif., on February 1, 1924; interment in Cypress Lawn Cemetery.
A descendant of Mayflower pilgrims, Chipman was born in Ohio in 1834. His family moved to Iowa when he was 14 years old, and he attended school where the schoolmaster was strongly abolitionist, as was Chipman’s father. Close to Missouri, a slave state, Chipman’s hometown was forced to come grips with the slavery issue. While some residents preferred to sustain slave owners’ rights, others believed slavery violated a higher law. Some of these abolitionists in Chipman’s hometown participated in the Underground Railroad, harboring and directing slaves escaping out of Missouri.
Chipman studied law, first in his Iowa hometown, and then at the Cincinnati Law School, where he graduated in 1859. While Chipman was in law school, the United States Supreme Court decided the Dred Scott case, in which the court held that the ownership of slaves was a matter of property rights and the territories comprising the Louisiana Purchase could not constitutionally deprive slave owners of those rights. Before Chipman reached voting age, he noticed the emergence of the Republican Party and expressed his agreement with its platform. He followed closely the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 in neighboring Illinois and was deeply impressed by Lincoln’s wisdom concerning slavery, that it was immoral and contrary to the founding documents of the United States. In 1860, Chipman attended the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where Lincoln was nominated over Seward, Cameron, Bates, and Chase. During the campaign for the presidency, Chipman’s area in Iowa turned heavily in favor of Lincoln.
Chipman’s life changed dramatically in 1861, after Lincoln’s inauguration and the outbreak of the Civil War. He immediately volunteered for service and, because of his professional training, was elected an officer. After almost a year of noncombat duty in Missouri and Kentucky, during which time the war had not been going well for the Union, Chipman’s regiment was sent to reinforce General Grant’s troops at Fort Donelson. The regiment had only been there a day when it was ordered to lead a bayonet charge up the hill. Chipman was hit twice in the thigh in the shower of enemy fire. He went down but refused to be carried off the battlefield, instead shouting encouragement to his regiment. Grant’s forces captured Fort Donelson, and Chipman’s regiment was honored for its important part.
After convalescing, Chipman was promoted to colonel. He returned briefly to his regiment during the siege of Corinth, but General Halleck soon ordered him to report to General Samuel Curtis in Helena, Arkansas, as his chief of staff. In late 1862, as the purpose of the Civil War changed from preservation of the Union with or without slavery to preservation of the Union and abolition of slavery, Chipman returned to his hometown to rally support for the Emancipation Proclamation. During the next year, General Curtis was relieved of his duties because of his inability to work together with the civil authorities, as well as accusations that he had engaged in illegal cotton trade. With Lincoln’s permission, Curtis sent Chipman to Washington to defend him before the president and the secretary of war. Soon thereafter, Lincoln restored Curtis to a command. Lincoln and Stanton, however, noticed the abilities of the young officer and assigned Chipman to the War Department in Washington, D.C., late in 1863. One of Chipman’s first assignments from Stanton was to escort Lincoln to Gettysburg for the dedication of the cemetery, where Chipman sat on the platform as Lincoln delivered the immortal address. For the remainder of the war, Chipman saw firsthand how Lincoln managed the war effort. Lincoln also noticed Chipman’s loyalty and capable service as an aide and rewarded Chipman with assignments to take important communications to generals in the field, assignments that put Chipman in great danger at times.
After the close of the war and the assassination of the president, Andrew Johnson offered Chipman the job as his private secretary, but Chipman declined. He did not think highly of Johnson, but gave as his reason that he wanted to return to the practice of law. Before leaving military service, Chipman prosecuted Henry Wirz, the commandant of the infamous Andersonville Prison, where thousands of Union soldiers died. The only Confederate officer convicted of war crimes, Wirz was executed. The Andersonville trial was the subject of much debate, involving Jefferson Davis prominently. Chipman wrote a book, The Tragedy of Andersonville, recounting the evidence presented at the trial and refuting Davis’s arguments. In the 1960s, the Andersonville Trial was the subject of a Broadway play, starring a young George C. Scott as Chipman. In 1970, Scott directed a movie starring William Shatner, also as Chipman. Chipman's prosecution of Wirz made Chipman a household name throughout the country as the newspapers gave front page coverage to the trial.
Chipman was brevetted as a brigadier general before being mustered out of military service. He opened a law practice in the District of Columbia and eventually assisted the floor managers in the prosecution of Johnson’s impeachment trial. Chipman also developed a friendship with Thomas Nast, the famous Harper’s Weekly political cartoonist. The day of the final Senate vote on Johnson’s impeachment, Nast drew a cartoon depicting Johnson’s conviction and fall from the presidency. Because the Senate fell one vote short of conviction, Nast did not publish the cartoon; instead, he gave it to Chipman.
The veterans of the Civil War formed the Grand Army of the Republic, with Chipman as one of its founders. In his capacity as adjutant-general, he wrote the order creating Memorial Day and organized some of the first Memorial Day festivities. President Grant appointed Chipman as secretary of the District of Columbia, until Congress changed the district to a territorial form of government. Chipman was then elected as the district’s delegate to Congress, serving two terms. For years, the Washington Monument stood partially finished at only 174 feet of the more than 500-foot design, an eyesore and embarrassment to the nation. Chipman chaired a select congressional committee to review the status of the memorial. From that position, he published an extensive and influential report on the history, design, and funding of the memorial. He worked tirelessly to obtain a congressional appropriation that led to the completion of the national icon. As the elected representative at the seat of national government, he was the most prominent figure in defining the relationship between the district and the nation. Chipman and his wife were also well-known socially. They entertained some of the most prestigious people of the day. He was particularly close to President Grant and campaigned on his behalf when Grant ran for reelection 1872. During the campaign, Chipman gave a major speech favoring Grant.
In 1875, Chipman moved to California, laid claim to more land than was owned by any other Californian, and opened the largest lumber company of his day, the Sierra Flume and Lumber Company. The company thrived at first, applying the latest advances in communications and technology. But when a financial panic spread to California from the East coast, the market for lumber collapsed and Chipman’ company declared bankruptcy. He remained in California, devoted to the state, and opened a law practice. He became president of the State Board of Trade, precursor to the Chamber of Commerce, and worked for twenty years to promote the interests of California. Emulating Lincoln, he extolled the importance of country fairs and agriculture, and advocated the use of technology to increase yields.
The work of the California Supreme Court became unmanageable as the only appellate court in the state, so the legislature, in 1885, authorized the court to form a commission to help decide cases. Chipman served as a commissioner from 1897 until 1905, when a constitutional amendment allowed the creation of the Court of Appeal. Governor Pardee desired to give the new appellate courts instant credibility and respectability and succeeded in doing so by appointing prominent Californians to preside over the districts of the court. Chipman presided over the Third Appellate District in Sacramento for 16 years, winning two contested, partisan elections to retain the seat. In demand as a speaker, especially to recount his knowledge of and experiences with Lincoln, Chipman enjoyed statewide prestige. He resigned from the court in 1921, because of ill health, and passed away in 1924.
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