BELL.
BELL.
Calhoun, while on fjenenil jwlitics aprreeing with
tliein. During the exciting events of Jackson's
iiilministration, Representative Bell came to the
front SIS chairman of the jiuliciary committee and
of the committee on Indian affairs. In 1832 he
opposed protection, but afterwards adopted the
jxilicy. His defection from the Democratic party
was from the time he opposed the removal of
dejxisits from tiie United States banks. He had
southern proclivities, if not jn-ejudices; but he
wius a man of generous sympathies, broad views
of the inter-dei)endent relations of state and
nation, and of a judicial type of mind. He held
to the constitution and recognized what he
esteemed as the duty of compromise. Mr. Bell,
as a slaveholder, opiwsed the Wilmot proviso and
Senator Douglas in his doctrine of squatter sov-
ereignty. He defended the territorial rights of
the south, and was outspoken on the divine right
to hold slaves as property, but voted for the
acceptance of the petition asking for the abolition
of slavery in the District of Columbia. He spoke
and wrote against the Lecompton constitution,
and in the great debate in the senate, March, 1858,
maile the emphatic statement: " On the question
wiietiier Kan.siis shall be a free or a slave state,
a.s a representative of southern interests, my pref-
erence of course is for a slave state." With
all this he was consistent in advocating above all
and liefore all, that the integrity of the Union
should be maintained. Mr. Bell was elected
speaker of the house of representatives June 3,
IHSi. in a close contest with James K. Polk, de-
feating him by one vote, and serving throughout
the second session of the 28d Congress. Upon
the accession of William H. Harrison to the presi-
dency, in 1841, he was made his secretary of
war. He resigned, and was succeeded, Oct.
12, 1841, by John C. Spencer, appointed by Presi-
dent Tyler. He was elected by the legislature of
Tenne.ssee to a seat in the U. S. senate, and served
two terms, from 1847 to 1859. In the momentous
crisis of 1860 he headed the Bell and Everett
presidential ticket, representing the AVhig party,
of which he was one of the founders, and the new
constitutional union party, opposing both the
Democratic parties headed by Douglas and John-
son, and Breckinridge and Lane, and the Republi-
can or Lincoln and Hamlin party. At the out-
break of the civil war Mr. Bell made an effort
with other prominent public men of his state to
hold Tennessee in a condition of neutrality,
denouncing Vxjth sece.ssion by the south and
coercion by the north, but events succeeded each
other rapidly, and, as he had long foreseen, the
north took a stand in which the south could not
acquiesce. Although he deplored what he
considered the necessity of secession, he advo-
cated it as a right, and declared himself in favor
of the independence of the southern states,
though scarcely a week before he had ijublished
an address to the state advocating peace meas-
ures. Both during the war and afterwards Mr.
Bell remained in retirement. He died at Cum-
berliind Iron Works, Tennessee, Sept. 10, 1869.
BELL, John C, representative, was bora in Grundy county, Tenn., Dec. 11, 1851. Heattended the public schools, and further pursued his studies for two years at Alto, and two years at Boiling Fork, Tenn. ; read law in Winchester, Tenn. ; was admitted to the bar in 1874, and the same year removed to Colorado and commenced the practice of law at Saguache. He was appointed county attorney of Saguache county, and served until May, 1876, when he resigned and removed to Lake City, Col., then the most thriving city in the great San Juan mining region ; was elected county clerk of Hinsdale county in 1878; was twice elected mayor of Lake City, and in August, 1885, resigned that position and removed to Montrose. In November, 1888, he was elected judge of the seventh judicial district of Colorado for a period of six years; in the fall of 1892 was nominated for Congress from the second district of Colorado, first by the Populist and afterwards by the Democratic convention, and was elected to the 53d Congress. He took an active part in favor of free silver in the debate on the repeal of the Sherman act. He was re-elected to the 54th, 55th, 56tlK and 57th congresses, 1893-1903.
BELL, Louis, soldier, was born at Chester, N. H., March 8, 1837; son of Samuel and Lucy (Smith) Bell. He was educated at the academies of Derry and Gilford. He was admitted to the bar, and in 1857 opened an office in Farmington, N. H. In 1859 he was appointed justice of the police court of the town, and in 1861 .solicitor for the county of Strafford; meanwhile holding the office of brigade judge-advocate, with the rank of major. In April, 1861, he was appointed cap- tain in the 1st N. H. regiment. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in August, 1861, his abilities as an executive officer winning the recognition of Gen. Thomas W. Sherman, who appointed him inspector-general and chief of staff. On March 11, 1862, he was commissioned colonel. He was stationed at St. Augustine, Fla. , for a time, and later, as commander of a brigade, he took a con- spicuous part in the heavy operations on Folly and Morris islands, including the siege of Fort Wagner and the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Charleston, S. C. He was active in several minor engagements, and in January. 1865, led a brigade in the successful as.sault on Fort Fisher, where, on Jan. 15, he received a mortal wound. The secretary of war conferred upon him the brevet of lirigadier-general to date from Jan. 15. He died near Fort Fisher, N. C, Jan. 10, 1865.
