George Ellis Pugh

Background

He was born on November 28, 1822 in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, the son of Rachel (Anthony) and Lot Pugh, a bank cashier and successful merchant.

Education

After attending various schools, including St. Xavier and Cincinnati colleges, in his home city, he was graduated from Miami University in 1840.

Career

Admitted to the bar in 1843, his legal practice in Cincinnati was interrupted by the Mexican War, in which he became a captain in the 4th Ohio Infantry. Serving under Taylor and on the staff of Joseph Lane, he "gained, " as he said, "no other laurels than those which belonged to the soldier who had gallanted mules up the Rio Grande".

Upon his return home he formed a law partnership with George H. Pendleton and in 1848 was elected as a Democrat to the state legislature. He was returned to the same body the next year, participated in the movement for a new Ohio constitution, became city solicitor of Cincinnati, and in 1851 was attorney-general. Noteworthy services in the organization of this office and Democratic factional difficulties involving the Kansas question aided his election to the federal Senate in 1854.

Although defeated for reelection, with the development of the secession movement he was extremely active in urging the acceptance of the Crittenden Compromise. In May 1863 when C. L. Vallandigham was tried by a military tribunal for sedition, Pugh advised him and ultimately sought unsuccessfully to have the case reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States. When Vallandigham, then an exile from Union territory, was nominated for governor by the Ohio Democrats in 1863, Pugh reluctantly accepted the second place upon the ticket. The next year he was defeated for Congress. Later he assisted Charles O'Conor as counsel for the defendant in the case of Jefferson Davis. Although elected to the state constitutional convention of 1873, he declined to serve.

Illness gradually overcame him, and paralysis brought the end at his residence in Cincinnati.

Achievements

• George Ellis Pugh was an eminent lawyer, sought by corporations in important railroad and insurance cases. In the Senate, he became a champion of the Western Democracy, spoke in favor of the Lecompton Constitution, but followed the instructions of the Ohio legislature in voting against that constitution.

Works

More photos

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  • Speech of Hon. George E. Pugh, of Ohio, on the condition of affairs in Kansas Territory

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Day of All Saints

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

  • Vindication of the Northern Democracy

Religion

Descended from Quaker stock and for a short time an exhorter at Baptist meetings, after the death in 1868 of his wife, he entered the Roman Catholic Church of which she had been a member.

Politics

Realizing that disturbed political relations with the South might ruin the commercial importance of Cincinnati he consistently advocated congressional non-intervention in the slavery question in the territories. He joined three other Democratic senators, including Douglas, in opposing the acceptance of the proslavery Lecompton constitution in 1858, though he parted company with them in voting for the English bill.

He opposed the demand of Yancey that the northern wing accept the extreme southern position as to the protection of slavery, his splendid oratorical effort ringing with the refusal: "Gentlemen of the South, you mistake us we will not do it". When Jefferson Davis' famous resolutions reiterating the southern position were passed in the Senate, he alone among the Democrats, Douglas being absent, cast a vote in the negative.

Personality

Brusque on occasion and of scant courtesy when preoccupied, he was a man of deep learning and broad culture. He had an extraordinarily retentive memory, a lively imagination.

Quotes from others about the person

• According to Cox, "Small in person, keen of eye, with a voice full of music, over which he had rare command, Pugh conquered as much by his logical persuasion and defiant manner as by his fervent eloquence".

Connections

Pugh married Theresa Chalfant in 1840 and had three children, Robert Chalfont, Nina Theresa and Thomas.

Father:

Rachel (Anthony) Pugh

Mother:

Lot Pugh

Spouse:

Theresa Chalfant

Daughter:

Nina Theresa Pugh

Son:

Robert Chalfont Pugh

Son:

Thomas Pugh

coworker:

George H. Pendleton