- GEN. JAMES BINTLIFF. The people of Wisconsin will always
read with pleasure incidents in
- the lives of those who, through its half century of growth,
have taken an active part in shaping its destinies. Such a man
was Gen. James BINTLIFF, who, from 1851 to 1896, was well known
in Wisconsin and beyond its borders as one who in every walk
of life labored to assist in establishing the community and the
State upon the broad foundations of truth, justice and humanity.
Although he passed the evening of life in a neighboring State,
his heart was ever with Wisconsin, and his best wishes for its
prosperity.
- Gen. BINTLIFF was the son of Gershom and Maria H. BINTLIFF,
and was born in Yorkshire,
- England, on Nov. 1, 1824. At the age of fifteen he became
a clerk in a lawyer's office at Halifax, and was subsequently
bookkeeper for the Halifax & Wakefield Canal Co. In 1841
his father and mother, with four children, came to the United
States, and the next year he followed them with the younger brother
and sister. They settled in New York, where, in 1847, at Skaneateles,
he was married to Miss Harriet SNOOK, daughter of John SNOOK,
of Somersetshire, England. From the time of his marriage until
1851 he was a partner with Mr. SNOOK in business; then he came
to Green county, this State, where he took the position of cashier
of the Bank of Monroe. In 1856 he was elected register of deeds
for Green county, and was admitted to the Bar in 1859. The next
year he bought an interest in the Monroe Sentinel, the leading
newspaper of the county, of which he afterward became the sole
proprietor.
- Soon after the beginning of the Civil war, Mr. BINTLIFF recruited
a company of volunteers, of
- which he was commissioned captain. This company was mustered
into the service on Sept. 2,1862, as Company G, of the 22d Wis.
V.I., and was ordered to Kentucky, taking part in several minor
engagements on its way between Louisville and Nashville. A detachment
of the regiment, including Company G, was ordered to Brentwood,
Tenn., where it was attacked and captured by a large force under
Gen. Forrest, on March 25, 1863, and sent to Libby prison, where
our subject was confined until the following May, when he was
exchanged and joined his command in St. Louis. In March, 1864,
Capt. BINTLIFF was commissioned by Gov. Lewis, colonel of the
38th Wis. V. I. which was sent to the Army of the Potomac, and
took an honorable part in the series of engagements that led
up to the capture of Petersburg and the end of the war. In the
final assault on Petersburg, Col. BINTLIFF, with his command,
which consisted of three regiments, was the first to break through
the enemy's lines and capture and hold an important fort until
the whole line was evacuated. During the day of April 2, 1865,
he held the position he had captured, Fort Mahone, against three
attacks from a division of the Confederate army under Maj. Gen.
Gordon. The three regiments which Col. BINTLIFF commanded were
his own 38th Wis., under the immediate command of Maj. Roberts;
the 109th N.Y., under Lieut. Col. Pier, of the 38th Wis.; and
the 207th Penna., commanded by Col. R. C. Cox. At ten o'clock
that night he was sent to take command of the Third Brigade,
against which a further attack was expected. Maj. Gen. Hartranft,
in his official report of the campaign, and also Col. Sam Harriman,
in his report, both extol the gallantry of Col. BINTLIFF for
his brilliant services on this occasion, recommending his promotion;
and he was accordingly commissioned brigadier general by the
President, and continued in command of the Third Brigade until
the close of the war, being mustered out in June 1865.
- Gen BINTLIFF returned to Monroe, and engaged in mercantile
business until 1870, when he
- purchased an interest in the Janesville Gazette and removed
to that city, remaining in charge of that paper until 1878, when
he bought the Republican, of Darlington. For five years he edited
the Republican with ability, and then transferred it to his son,
E. H. BINTLIFF and J. G. MONAHAN, the latter of whom has since
become its sole owner.
- When the Board of Supervision of the Penal and Reformatory
Institutions of the State was
- organized under the law of 1881, Gen. BINTLIFF was appointed
one of its members, and after he disposed of the Republican he
devoted his whole time and attention to his official duties.
Deeply interested in the questions of sociology, the discussion
of which is so characteristic of the close of the century, he
was a valuable and influential member of the board, possessing
great executive ability. Gen. BINTLIFF was also made a trustee
of the Wisconsin Soldiers Orphans Home, and president of that
board from 1877 until its labors were concluded, and the last
of its funds distributed to those entitled, in 1896. After the
expiration of his second term in the Board of Supervision he
was in no active business. Until 1896 his residence remained
in Darlington, when he removed to Chicago, where he lived with
his widowed daughter at 7420 Bond avenue, Windsor Park. Another
daughter, Mrs. Ida Simpson, resides in the same block; and his
only surviving son, Edward H. BINTLIFF, is the editor of the
Kankakee Gazette, while two grandsons are in business at St.
Louis, Mo. During all this time the wife of his youth shared
the vicissitudes of his career, and although herself full of
years, felt less the infirmities of age, and was the solace of
his declining days.
- Gen. BINTLIFF was lame from the result of a fall, which dislocated
his hip, and within the last of
- his life became blind, so as to be unable to read or to recognize
his friends except by the voice; while his general health failed,
his mental faculties were bright, and the abundant resources
of a well-stored mind were at his command to aid him in bearing
his infirmities with equanimity. Always a great student, especially
in the line of humanitarian studies, he recalled much that was
interesting, and continued to delight in learning concerning
questions that touch the life and well-being of his fellow-men.
Instead of bemoaning his condition, however, he maintained his
cheerfulness by striving to inculcate in the minds of all within
the wide range of his influence, those principles of brotherly
kindness that he had proven and found to have enduring value.
He entered into rest March 16, 1901.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 361-363.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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