Lucius E. Chittenden

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Lucius Eugene Chittenden (May 24, 1824 - July 22, 1900) was a Vermont author, banker, lawyer, politician and peace advocate who served as Register of the Treasury during the Lincoln administration.

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[edit] Early life

Chittenden was born in Williston, Vermont, the son of Giles and Betsey (Hollenbeck) Chittenden. He was the 2nd-great-grandson of Vermont's first governor, Thomas Chittenden. He received his early education in the district schools of Williston and academies in Williston, Hinesburg and Cambridge. He studied law with a variety of attorneys, and was admitted to the bar in Franklin County in 1844. He opened a law office in Burlington the next year.

[edit] Politics

He became interested in politics and public affairs early in his career, gained prominence in the anti-slavery movement and the Free Soil Party, and published from 1848 to 1851, with E. A. Stansbury, the "Free Soil Courier." After helping Democrat John S. Robinson get elected governor in 1852, he became active in the newly formed Republican Party. He was elected state senator from Chittenden County, and served from 1856 to 1860, while also serving as president of the Commercial Bank in Burlington.

[edit] Civil War

Governor Erastus Fairbanks, in February 1861, appointed Chittenden one of five Vermont delegates to the Washington Peace Conference, a group formed to try avert the coming Civil War. The other delegates were former Governor Hiland Hall, Levi Underwood, H. Henry Baxter, and B. D. Harris. Chittenden was selected recorder of the conference, and published its records in 1864.

In March 1861, President Lincoln's new Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, a former member of the defunct Free Soil Party, offered Chittenden the position of Register of the U.S. Treasury, which he accepted, serving in that office for the remainder of Lincoln's first administration, resigning in 1864 due to poor health.

[edit] Later life

When he resigned from the Lincoln Administration, he returned to Vermont to regain his health, but in 1867 moved to New York City, where he practiced as an attorney until at least 1894. He returned to Burlington at some point, where he died.

Chittenden was married to Mary Hatch in 1856, and fathered three children.

[edit] Known writings

"Address before the 34th Reunion of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers, November 5, 1897," at Bennington, Vermont. Proceedings of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers Vol. II--1886-1905, Burlington, VT: Free Press Printing Company, 1906, pp. 222-237.

"New Moneys of Lincoln's Administration. Their Origins, Growth, and Value." Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 81:1890.

An Unknown Heroine; an historical episode of the war between the states. New York: Richmond, Croscup & Co., 1894.

Invisible Siege: The Journal of Lucius E. Chittenden April 15, 1861 - July 14, 1861. San Diego: Americana Exchange Press, 1969.

Lincoln and the Sleeping Sentinel - The True Story. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1909.

Personal reminiscences, 1840-1890, including some not hitherto published of Lincoln and the war. New York: Richmond, Croscup & Co., 1893.

Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1891.

The Capture of Ticonderoga. Rutland, VT: Tuttle & Co., 1872.

"The Character of the Early Settlers of Vermont Its Influence upon Posterity," delivered July 4, 1876, at Burlington, Vermont. Contained in Our National Centennial Jubilee: Orations, Addresses and Poems Delivered on the Fourth of July, 1876. Ed. Frederick Saunders. (New York: E.B. Treat, 1877; reprint, St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1976), pp. 499-521.

The Law of Baron and Femme, of Parent and Child, Guardian and Ward . . . and of the Powers of the Courts of Chancery; With an Essay on the terms Heir, Heirs, and Heirs of the Body. Second Edition, with Notes, Burlington, VT: Chauncey Goodrich, 1846.

A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention, for Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, 1864.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • The Lucius E. Chittenden Papers 1838-1926, Bailey Howe Library, Special Collections, University of Vermont, Burlington.
  • Buechler, John, "Lucius E. Chittenden: Green Mountain Bibliophile," Vermont History, vol. 37, 1969, pp. 40-45.
  • Ullery, Jacob J., Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont, Brattleboro, Vt.: Transcript Publishing Co., 1894, Part III, p. 38.