Charles Wells Russell

Background

Charles Wells Russell was born at Wheeling in what is now West Virginia, the son of Charles Wells and Margaret Wilson (Moore) Russell.

Education

He attended Georgetown University (Washington, D. C. ) from 1870 to 1873 and received the degree of LL. B. there in 1883 and that of LL. M. in 1884.

Career

In 1886 Russell was appointed to a position in the federal Department of Justice and was given charge of many of the French spoliation cases. From 1893 to 1895 he was the legal adviser of the joint commission of Congress, headed by A. M. Dockery, appointed to investigate the status of the laws organizing the federal executive departments; he then engaged in general practice in Washington.

In the winter of 1897-98 he investigated conditions in Cuba for the Washington authorities, assisted the Evacuation Commission in Porto Rico, and successfully resisted, before the United States-Spanish Treaty Claims Commission, claims arising out of the destruction of the battleship Maine. Reentering the Department of Justice in 1902 as special assistant to the attorney general, he was detailed to investigate the French Panama Canal Company's title, which was accepted pursuant to his recommendation, and he later arranged the details of transfer, visiting Paris twice in the course of the proceedings.

His next important assignment was to defend an action against the American commander at Havana, Gen. John R. Brooke, brought by the Countess O'Reilly to enforce her slaughter-house monopoly there (O'Reilly de Camara vs. Brooke, 209 U. S. , 45). Successful in this, he continued in charge of insular matters for the Department until 1905, when he became assistant attorney general, serving until 1910. It was during this latter period that he was detailed to investigate and prosecute peonage in the South. His prevailing argument on demurrer in the cases at Muskogee, Okla. , involving allotments of the five civilized tribes, was considered of sufficient importance to be published by the Government Printing Office (Suits at Muscogee . Argument on Demurrer by Charles W. Russell, Assistant Attorney General, 1909).

On December 21, 1909, Russell was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the United States to Persia. During his four years of service there, the crisis resulting from the invasion of Persian sovereignty by certain European powers became acute, and the Persian government approached that of the United States, through the Persian legation at Washington, with a request for assistance in obtaining the services of American financial experts. As a result, W. Morgan Shuster, of Washington, D. C. , went to Persia as treasurer general, with four other Americans, and served from May to December 1911. Russell met the party on its arrival and was in close touch therewith during the whole of the tense period which followed. Persian rights were for the time protected and it is probably due to the experience of the Medjlis (national elective assembly) during that period and the support given by the Americans, that Persia was able to maintain her integrity until after the World War, when a new era dawned. Toward the close of his mission, which ended in September 1914, he was designated as the President's representative at the Shah Amed's coronation ceremonies.

After his return to the United States, Russell edited The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby (1917). The narrative is in the first person as if by Mosby himself; but there are notes and an introduction by Russell. He also published Poems (1921), apparently a complete collection of his verse. He died at his home in Washington, D. C.

Achievements

• During his career Russell undertook various assignments and activities on behalf of the federal government. He distinguished himself as the minister to Persia where he served for four years. It was in Persia that Russell published his most important works: "The Secret Place and Other Poems" (1911) and "Iranian Rest and Other Lyrics" (1912).

Works

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  • Poems (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Poems Her busy hand, in homely ways, All ti...)

  • The Secret Place, and Other Poems

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Fall Of Damascus: A Historical Novel (1878)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Roebuck: A Novel (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Roebuck: A Novel Oh, I remember, Uncle. Do ...)

  • The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby Paperback 2010 (Author) John S. Mosby, Charles Wells Russell

Views

Quotations: He prepared a report on peonage in which he recommended: "That an incessant fight be made against peonage in every district in which it is to be found; that Federal supervision of the interstate labor-supplying business of places like New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and Chicago be provided for by law; " and that "the definition of legal peonage be made broad enough to include the holding of persons in servitude, whether in liquidation of an indebtedness 'or otherwise'" (Report of Hon. Charles W. Russell, Assistant Attorney General, Relative to Peonage Matters . Oct. 10, 1907, 1908)

Connections

On February 19, 1879, Russell married Lucy Floyd Mosby, sister of Col. John S. Mosby. There were three children, two of whom predeceased him. After the death of his first wife he married, on October 1, 1885, her sister, Lelia James Mosby.

Father:

Charles Wells Russell

Mother:

Margaret Wilson (Moore) Russell

Spouse:

Lelia James Mosby

Spouse:

Lucy Floyd Mosby