Major-General, and secured the commendation of
General Grant, which was far more than a _brevet_ from the War
Department. His defeat for the Vice-Presidency had, if possible,
increased his antagonism to the Republican party, and he now came to
the Senate as much embittered against his late associates as he had
been against the Democrats ten years before. He was withal a
generous-minded man of strong parts, but the career for which nature
fitted him was irreparably injured by the unsteadiness of his
political course.

--Henry G. Davis, a native of Maryland, entered as the first Democratic
senator from West Virginia. His personal popularity was a large factor
in the contest against the Republicans of his State, and he was
naturally rewarded by his party as its most influential leader. Mr.
Davis had honorably wrought his own way to high station, and had been
all his life in active affairs. As a farmer, a railroad man, a
lumberman, an operator in coal, a banker, he had been uniformly
successful. He came to the Senate with that kind of practical
knowledge which schooled him to care and usefulness as a legislator.
He steadily grew in the esteem and confidence of both sides of the
Senate, and when his party attained the majority he was entrusted with
the responsible duty of the chairmanship of the Committee on
Appropriations. No more painstaking or trustworthy man ever held the
place. While firmly adhering to his party, he was at all times
courteous, and in the business of the Senate or in social intercourse
never obtruded partisan views. He was re-elected without effort, but
early gave notice that at the end of his second term he would retire
from active political life.

--Powell Clayton, who succeeded Alexander McDonald as senator from
Arkansas, was a native of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a member of
the well-known Clayton family long settled in Pennsylvania, Delaware
and Maryland. He was educated at a military school in Pennsylvania
and trained as a civil engineer. He was engaged in that profession
in Kansas in 1860-61, and upon the outbreak of the war immediately
enlisted in the Union Army. He was rapidly promoted to the rank of
Brigadier-General, and made an admirable record for efficiency and
bravery. When the war ended he was commanding a district in Arkansas.
He remained there as a citizen of the State and was active and
influential during the period of reconstruction. In 1868 he was
elected Govern