born. He has made it one of the finest and most profitable in the State,
and, it is said, values it above all his other possessions. He has
improved and beautified it upon an extensive scale, and near the old
grave-yard, where his parents lie sleeping, he has built one of the most
beautiful churches in the land.

In 1811, Mr. Drew became a member of the Methodist Church, but for
twenty-five years this connection was merely nominal. During all the
years of his drover's life he kept himself free from the sins of
intemperance and swearing. Once while riding out in a buggy with a
friend, to look at some cattle, a thunder-storm came on, and his horse
was killed in the shafts by lightning. This narrow escape from death
made a deep impression on his mind, and in 1841 he united with the
Mulberry Street Methodist Church, of which he became an active member
and a trustee. The elegant marble structure now standing at the corner
of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second Street attests his liberality to this
congregation. He is a trustee in the Wesleyan University, and has
largely endowed that institution; and within the past few years has
contributed several hundred thousand dollars for the endowment of the
Drew Theological Seminary, which has been established at Madison, New
Jersey, for the education of candidates for the Methodist ministry. He
gives largely in aid of missionary work, and is one of the most liberal
men in his denomination. It is said that he gives away at least one
hundred thousand dollars annually in private charities, besides the
large donations with which the public are familiar. He selects his own
charities, and refuses promptly to aid those which do not commend
themselves to him.

His property is estimated at twenty millions of dollars, and he is said
to earn at least half a million of dollars every year. He has two
children, a son and a daughter, the latter of whom is the wife of a
clergyman of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Drew is about five feet ten inches high, and slenderly made. He is
very active and vigorous for his age, and looks a much younger man than
he is. His expression is firm, but withal pleasant. His features are
regular, but dark and deeply marked, while his black hair is still
unstreaked with gray. He is courteous and friendly in his intercourse,
and is very much liked by his acquaintances.




CHAPTER XI.

JAMES B. EADS.


James B. Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in the year 1820. His
father was a man of moderate means, and was able to give him a fair
English education. From his earliest childhood he evinced a remarkable
fondness for all sorts of machinery and mechanical arrangements. This
fondness became at length a passion, and excited the surprise of his
friends, who could not imagine why a mere child should be so much
interested in such things. His greatest delight was to go to the machine
shops in his neighborhood, in which he had many friends, and watch the
workings of the various inventions employed therein.

When he was nine years old his father removed to Louisville, Kentucky.
During the voyage down the Ohio, young Eads passed the most of his time
in watching the engines of the steamer. The engineer was so much pleased
to see his interest in the machinery that he explained the whole system
of the steam-engine to him. The boy listened eagerly, and every word
remained fixed in his mind. Two years later, with no further instruction
on the subject, he constructed a miniature engine, which was worked by
steam. This, for a boy of eleven years, was no insignificant triumph of
genius. His father, anxious to encourage such unmistakable talent, now
fitted up a small workshop for him, in which he constructed models of
saw mills, fire engines, steamboats, and electrotyping machines. When he
was only twelve years old he was able to take to pieces and reset the
family clock and a patent lever watch, using no tool for this purpose
but his pocket-knife.

At the age of thirteen his pleasant employment was brought to a sudden
end. His father lost all his property by the failure of some commercial
transactions, and the family was brought to the verge of ruin. It now
became necessary for young Eads to labor for his own support, and for
that of his mother and sisters. Boy as he was, he faced the crisis
bravely. Having in vain sought employment in Louisville, he resolved to
go to St. Louis. He worked his passage there on a river steamer, and
landed in that city so poor that he had neither shoes to his feet nor a
coat to his back. He found it as difficult to procure work here as it
had been in Louisville, and was at length compelled to resort to
peddling apples on the street in order to secure a living. He did this
for some time, never relaxing his efforts to obtain more desirable
employment.

After many attempts he succeeded in getting a situation in a mercantile
house, at a fair salary. One of his employers was a man of wealth and
culture, and was possessed of one of the finest private libraries in the
West. Learning the extraordinary mechanical talent possessed by his
young clerk, this gentleman placed his library at his disposal. The
offer was promptly and gratefully accepted, and young Eads devoted
almost all his leisure time to the study of mechanics, machinery, and
civil engineering. He remained with this house for several years, and
then obtained a clerkship on one of the Mississippi River steamers,
where he passed several years more. During this time he became
intimately acquainted with the great river and its tributaries, and
acquired an extensive knowledge of all subjects appertaining to western
navigation, which proved of great service to him in his after life.

In 1842, being then twenty-two years old, and having saved a moderate
sum of money, he formed a copartnership with Messrs. Case & Nelson, boat
builders, of St. Louis, for the purpose of recovering steamboats and
their cargoes which had been sunk or wrecked in the Mississippi.
Accidents of this kind were then very common in those waters, and the
business bade fair to be very profitable. The enterprise succeeded
better than had been expected, and the operations of the wrecking
company extended from Galena, Illinois, to the Balize, and into many of
the tributaries of the great river. The parties interested in the scheme
realized a handsome profit on their investments. Mr. Eads was the
practical man of the concern, and worked hard to establish it upon a
successful footing. In 1845 he sold out his interest in the company, and
established a glass manufactory in St. Louis. This was the first
enterprise of the kind ever attempted west of the Mississippi. Two years
later, in 1847, he organized a new company for the purpose of recovering
boats and cargoes lost in the Mississippi and its tributaries. This
company started with a capital of fifteen hundred dollars. It was slow
work at first, but a steady improvement was made every year, and in
1857, just ten years from the date of their organization, the property
of the firm was valued at more than half a million of dollars. During
the winter of 1856-'57, Mr. Eads laid before Congress a formal
proposition to remove the obstructions from the western rivers and keep
them open for a term of years, upon payment of a reasonable sum by the
General Government. Had this proposition been accepted, the benefits
thereby secured to all who were engaged in the navigation of those
rivers would have been very great. A bill was reported in Congress
authorizing the acceptance of Mr. Eads' offer, but was defeated through
the influence of the Senators from Mississippi (Jefferson Davis) and
Louisiana (J.P. Benjamin).

In 1857, Mr. Eads was compelled, on account of ill-health, to retire
from business. He had earned a handsome fortune by his industry and
enterprise, and could well afford to rest for a short time, preparatory,
as it afterward proved, to the most important part of his whole career.

When the secession troubles began to agitate the country, toward the
close of the year 1860, Mr. Eads cast the weight of his private and
public influence on the side of the Union. He felt that the war, if it
should come, would be a very serious affair for the West, as the
prosperity of that section depends largely upon the absolute freedom of
the navigation of the Mississippi. The Confederates well understood
this, and prepared from the first to close the great river until their
independence should be acknowledged by the General Government. Dr.
Boynton, in his "History of the United States Navy During the
Rebellion," thus describes the condition of affairs in the West, a
proper understanding of which will show the reader the importance of the
services subsequently rendered by Mr. Eads:


The main features of the rebel plan of war in the West were to
seize and hold Missouri, and, as a consequence, Kansas and
Nebraska, and thus threaten or invade the free States of the
North-west from that point; to hold Kentucky and Tennessee, and, if
possible, to cross the Ohio, and make the Northern States the
theater of the war; or, in case they should be unable to invade the
North, to maintain their battle line unbroken along the Ohio and
through Missouri; to keep the great rivers closed, and thus holding
back the North, and being secure within their own territory, at
length compel the recognition of their independence. They certainly
presented to the North a most formidable front, a line of defenses
which was indeed impregnable to any means of assault which the
Government at first possessed. No army could be moved into
Tennessee by land alone, because the line of communication with a
Northern base could not be held secure, and a defeat far from the
Ohio would be the destruction of an army, and open the road for an
invasion of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and the destruction of
their cities.

It was quite evident that no impression could be made upon the
power of the rebellion in the West, until a firm foothold could be
gained in Kentucky and Tennessee, and until the Mississippi could
be wrested from the conspirators' control. It was clear that the
whole seaboard might be regained, even to Florida, and yet the
rebellion remain as dangerous as ever, if the rebels could hold the
Mississippi River and the valley up to or near the Ohio.

France was looking with eager eyes toward Texas, in the hope of
securing and extending her Mexican usurpation. England was ready to
give all the assistance in her power to any step which would weaken
the North; and had the rebels been pressed back from the seaports
and the Northern Atlantic slope, they would have had it in their
power, if still holding the Mississippi, the South-west, including
Tennessee, and the great natural fortresses of the mountains, to
have so connected themselves with Mexico and France as to have
caused the most serious embarrassment. It became absolutely
necessary to the success of the Government that the rebels'
northern line of defenses should be broken through, and that the
Mississippi should be opened to its mouth.

At first, and before the nature of the work was fully understood,
the whole was placed under the direction of the War Department, as
it was thought the few armed transports which would be needed would
be a mere appendage of the army. The idea of a formidable river
navy of a hundred powerful steamers did not in the beginning enter
into the minds of any.

It was soon seen, however, that an entirely new description of
craft was needed for this work. It was clear that the river boats,
which had been built for the common purposes of freight and
passage, were not capable of resisting the fire of heavy artillery,
and that the batteries of the rebels could not be captured nor even
passed by them. They could not even be safely employed alone in the
transportation of troops, for they could be sunk or crippled by the
field batteries that could be moved from point to point. The
question of iron-clads was proposed, but with only the ocean
iron-clads as a guide, who should conceive the proper form of an
armored boat which could navigate our rivers and compete
successfully with the heavy guns, rifled as well as smooth-bore, of
the fortifications. It was by no means easy to solve this problem,
but it was absolutely necessary that the attempt should be made....
These forts could only be reduced by the aid of gunboats, and
these were almost literally to be created.


There was in the Cabinet of President Lincoln at this time a western
man, intimately acquainted with the steamboat interest of the
Mississippi. This was Edward Bates, the Attorney-General of the United
States. He was an old friend of Mr. Eads, and felt assured that in case
of war the services of that gentleman would be of the greatest value to
the country. When it was found that hostilities could not be avoided, he
mentioned the name of Mr. Eads to the Cabinet, and strongly urged that
his services should be secured at the earliest possible moment. On the
17th of April, 1861, three days after Fort Sumter had fallen, he wrote
to Mr. Eads, who was living in comfortable retirement, at St. Louis: "Be
not surprised if you are called here suddenly by telegram. If called,
come instantly. In a certain contingency it will be necessary to have
the aid of the most thorough knowledge of our western rivers, and the
use of steam on them, and in that event I have advised that you should
be consulted."

A few days later Mr. Eads was summoned to Washington. Mr. Bates there
explained to him in full a plan he had conceived for occupying Cairo,
and endeavoring to hold the Mississippi by means of gunboats. Mr. Eads
warmly indorsed the plan, and was introduced by Mr. Bates to the
President and members of the Cabinet. When the plan was proposed to the
Cabinet, the Secretary of War pronounced it unnecessary and
impracticable, but the Secretary of the Navy was much impressed with
it, and requested Mr. Eads to submit his views in writing, which was
done. The paper embodied Judge Bates's general plan in addition to Mr.
Eads's own views, and contained suggestions as to the kind of boats best
fitted for service on the western rivers, and also in regard to the best
points on those streams for the erection of land batteries. This paper
was submitted to the Navy Department on the 29th of April, 1861, and was
referred by the Secretary to Commodore Paulding, who reported in favor
of its adoption.

The Secretary of the Navy now detailed Captain John Rodgers to accompany
Mr. Eads to the West, and purchase and fit out such steamers as should
be found necessary for the service. Up to this time the Secretary of War
had manifested the most supreme indifference in regard to the whole
subject, but he now claimed entire jurisdiction in the matter, and this
interference caused considerable vexation and delay. At length he issued
an order to Mr. Eads and Captain Rodgers to proceed with their
purchases. These gentlemen obtained the approval of General McClellan,
in whose department the purchases were to be made, and began their
operations.

Upon arriving at Cairo, they found one of the old snag-boat fleet,
called the "Benton." Mr. Eads knew the boat well, as he had formerly
owned her, and proposed to purchase and arm her, but Captain Rodgers did
not approve the plan for converting her into a gunboat. Mr. Eads then
proposed to purchase and arm several of the strong, swift boats used for
the navigation of the Missouri River, and equip them at St. Louis, from
which point there would always be water enough to get them below Cairo.
Captain Rodgers disapproved this plan also, and went to Cincinnati,
where he purchased and equipped the "Conestoga," "Tyler," and
"Lexington," and started them down the river. They were not iron-clad,
but were merely protected around the boilers with coal bunkers, and
provided with bullet-proof oaken bulwarks. Mr. Eads had warned Captain
Rodgers that he could not depend upon the Ohio to get his boats down to
Cairo, and his predictions were realized. The boats were started from
Cincinnati some time in July; they were detained on the bars of the Ohio
for six or seven weeks, and did not reach Cairo until about the first of
September; then the bottom of the "Tyler" was found to be so badly
damaged by sand-bars that she had to be put on the marine railway for
repairs.

In July, 1861, the War Department advertised for proposals to construct
a number of iron-clad gunboats for service on the Mississippi River. On
the 5th of August, when the bids were opened, it was found that Mr. Eads
proposed to build these boats in a shorter time and upon more favorable
terms than any one else. His offer was accepted, and on the 7th of
August he signed a contract with Quartermaster-General Meigs to have
ready for their crews and armaments, _in sixty-five days_, seven
vessels, of about six hundred tons each, each to draw six feet of water,
to carry thirteen heavy guns, to be plated with iron two and a half
inches thick, and to steam nine miles per hour. "They were one hundred
and seventy-five feet long, and fifty-one and a half feet wide; the
hulls of wood; their sides placed out from the bottom of the boat to the
water line at an angle of about thirty-five degrees, and from the water
line the sides fell back at about the same angle, to form a slanting
casemate, the gun-deck being but a foot above water. This slanting
casemate extended across the hull, near the bow and stern, forming a
quadrilateral gun-deck. Three nine or ten-inch guns were placed in the
bow, four similar ones on each side, and two smaller ones astern. The
casemate inclosed the wheel, which was placed in a recess at the stern
of the vessel. The plating was two and a half inches thick, thirteen
inches wide, and was rabbeted on the edges to make a more perfect
joint."

In undertaking to complete these vessels in sixty-five days, Mr. Eads
had assumed a heavy responsibility. The manufacturing interests of the
West were sadly crippled by the sudden commencement of hostilities, and
doubt and distrust prevailed every-where. The worst feature of all was,
that skilled workmen were either enlisting in the army or seeking
employment in States more remote from the scene of war. Every thing
needed for the gunboats was to be made. Even the timber for their hulls
was still standing in the forest, and the huge machinery which was to
roll out and harden their iron plates had yet to be constructed. No
single city, no two cities, however great in resources, could possibly
supply every thing needed within the stipulated time, and it was
necessary to employ help wherever it could be obtained.

The very day the contract was signed, the telegraph was kept busy
sending instructions all over the West for the commencement of the
various parts of the work. The saw-mills in Kentucky, Tennessee,
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Missouri were set to getting out
the timber, which was hurried to St. Louis by railroad and steamboat as
fast as it was ready. There were twenty-one steam engines and
thirty-five boilers to be made, and the machine-shops in St. Louis,
Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh were put to work upon them. The huge
rolling-mills of Cincinnati and Portsmouth, Ohio, Newport, Kentucky, and
St. Louis were engaged in making the iron plates, and employed for this
purpose no less than four thousand men. Night and day, Sundays included,
the work went on with an almost superhuman swiftness. Mr. Eads paid the
workmen on the hulls large sums from his own pocket, in addition to
their wages, to induce them to continue steadily at their work.

On the 12th of October, 1861, just forty-five days from the time of
laying her keel, the first iron-clad, belonging to the United States,
was launched, with her engines and boilers on board. Rear Admiral Foote
(then a flag officer), appointed to command the Mississippi squadron,
named her the "St. Louis," but upon being transferred to the Navy
Department her name was changed to the "Baron de Kalb." She was followed
by the other vessels in rapid succession, all being completed within the
stipulated time.

In September, 1861, General Fremont ordered the purchase of the snag
boat "Benton," which had been proposed by Mr. Eads and rejected by
Captain Rodgers, and sent her to Mr. Eads to be armored and equipped as
a gunboat. Work was at once begun on her, and pushed forward with the
same energy that had been displayed in the construction of the other
iron-clads. Her performances during the war fully sustained the high
esteem in which she was held by the officers of the navy. Admirals Foote
and Davis pronounced her the "best iron-clad in the world."

By dint of such skill and energy as we have described, Mr. Eads, in the
brief period of one hundred days, built and had ready for service a
powerful iron-clad fleet of eight steamers, carrying one hundred and
seven heavy guns, and having an aggregate capacity of five thousand
tons. Such a work was one of the greatest in magnitude ever performed,
and, as may be supposed, required a heavy capital to carry it to
perfection. Mr. Eads soon exhausted his own means, and but for the
assistance of friends, whose confidence in his integrity and capacity
induced them to advance him large sums, would have been compelled to
abandon the undertaking; for the Government, upon various pretexts,
delayed for months the stipulated payments, and by its criminal
negligence came near bringing the iron-clad fleet, so necessary to its
success, to an untimely end. It was prompt enough, however, to
commission the vessels as soon as they were ready. At the time they
rendered such good service in the conquest of Forts Henry and Donelson,
and compelled the fall of Island No. 10, they were still unpaid for, and
the private property of Mr. Eads.

In the spring of 1862, Mr. Eads, in accordance with the desire of the
Navy Department, submitted plans for light-draught armored vessels for
service on the western rivers. He proposed an ingenious revolving turret
to be used on these vessels, the performance of which he agreed to
guarantee to the satisfaction of the Department; but the Government
decided to use the Ericsson turret, which the recent encounter between
the Monitor and Merrimac had proved to be a success. Mr. Eads was
allowed, however, to modify the Ericsson turret considerably, in order
to avoid making the draft of his steamers greater than was desired. He
built the "Osage" and "Neosho," and when these vessels were launched,
with all their weight on board, it was found that they were really
lighter than the contract called for, a circumstance which permitted the
thickness of their armor to be afterward increased half an inch without
injuring their draught or speed.

In May, 1862, at the request of the Navy Department, Mr. Eads submitted
plans for four iron-clads, iron hull propellers, to carry two turrets
each of eight inches thickness, four eleven inch guns, and
three-quarters inch deck armor, to steam nine nautical miles per hour,
to carry three days' coal, and not to exceed a draught of six feet of
water. His plans were accepted, and he constructed the "Winnebago,"
"Kickapoo," "Milwaukee," and "Chickasaw." Like the "Osage" and "Neosho,"
these vessels were found to be of lighter draught than had been agreed
upon, and the Department ordered all four to have an extra plating of
three-quarters inch armor, which was done. Three of the vessels were
also reported, by the officers of the navy sent to examine them, to
exceed the speed required by the contract, while the fourth was fully up
to the standard.

Of how many "Government Contractors" during the war can it be said that
their work was much better than they had agreed to furnish? Verily, we
think Mr. Eads stands almost alone in this respect, his proud position
made still more honorable by its comparative isolation.

Mr. Eads built, during the war, fourteen heavily armored gunboats, four
heavy mortar boats, and converted seven transports into musket-proof
gunboats, or "tin-clads," as they were called on the river. He had a
share in other enterprises of a similar nature during the war, and
besides rendering good service to the Union, was enabled to retire at
the close of the struggle with a handsome fortune, won by his own
patriotic skill and energy.

Whatever may be the distinction awarded to others, to him belongs the
credit of having been the first to provide the Government with the means
of securing that firm hold upon the great river of the West which, once
gained, was never relaxed.

Mr. Eads resides in St. Louis. He is still in the prime of life, is
admired and honored by his fellow-citizens, and affords a splendid
example of what genius and industry can do for a poor, friendless boy in
that glorious western country which is one day to be the seat of empire
in the New World.




CHAPTER XII.

CYRUS W. FIELD.


Cyrus far we have been considering the struggles of men who have risen
from obscure positions in life, by the aid of their own genius,
industry, and courage, to the front rank of their respective callings.
We shall now relate the story of one who having already won fortune,
periled it all upon an enterprise in which his own genius had recognized
the path to fame and to still greater success, but which the almost
united voice of the people of his country condemned as visionary, and
from which they coldly held aloof until its brilliant success compelled
them to acknowledge the wisdom and foresight of its projector.

Fifteen years ago very few persons had heard of Cyrus W. Field. Ten
years ago he had achieved considerable notoriety as a visionary who was
bent on sinking his handsome fortune in the sea. To-day, the world is
full of his fame, as the man to whom, above all others, it is indebted
for the successful completion of the Atlantic Telegraph; and those who
were formerly loudest in ridiculing him are now foremost in his praise.
"Nothing succeeds like success," and what was once in their eyes mere
folly, and worthy only of ridicule, they now hail as the evidences of
his courage, foresight, and profound wisdom, and wonder that they never
could see them in their true light before.

Cyrus West Field was born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on the 30th day
of November, 1819, and is the son of the Rev. David Dudley Field, a
distinguished clergyman of that State. He was carefully educated in the
primary and grammar schools of his native county, and at the age of
fifteen went to New York to seek his fortune. He had no difficulty in
obtaining a clerkship in an enterprising mercantile house in that city,
and, from the first, gave evidence of unusual business capacity. His
employers, pleased with his promise, advanced him rapidly, and in a few
years he became a partner in the house. His success as a merchant was
uniform and marked--so marked, indeed, that in 1853, when only
thirty-four years old, he was able to partially retire from business
with a large fortune as the substantial reward of his mercantile career.

Mr. Field had devoted himself so closely to his business that, at his
retirement, he resolved to seek recreation and change of scene in
foreign travel, and accordingly he left New York, and passed the next
six months in journeying through the mountains of South America. Upon
his return home, at the close of the year 1853, he declared his
intention to withdraw entirely from active participation in business,
and to engage in no new schemes.

He had scarcely returned home, however, when his brother, Mr. Matthew D.
Field, a successful and well-known civil engineer, informed him that he
had just become acquainted with a Mr. Frederick N. Gisborne, of
Newfoundland, who had come to New York for the purpose of interesting
some American capitalists in a company which had been organized in
Newfoundland for the purpose of procuring news in America and Europe,
and transmitting it between the two continents with greater dispatch
than was possible in the then existing mode of communication between the
two countries. The scheme of Mr. Gisborne had commended itself to Mr.
Matthew Field, and he urged his brother to meet that gentleman and hear
his statements. Mr. Cyrus Field at once declined to undertake any share
in the enterprise, and said that it would be useless for him to meet Mr.
Gisborne; but his brother was so urgent that he at last consented to
grant Mr. Gisborne an interview, and at least hear what he had to say.
At the appointed time, Mr. Field received Mr. Gisborne at his house, and
was there made acquainted with the proposed plan of operations of the
"Electric Telegraph Company of Newfoundland." This company had gone into
bankruptcy a short time previous, but Mr. Gisborne hoped to be able to
revive it by the aid of American capital. The scheme which he laid
before Mr. Field, can not be better stated than by quoting the following
extract from the charter which the Legislature of Newfoundland had
granted the bankruptcy company:

"The telegraph line of this company is designed to be strictly an
'Inter-Continental Telegraph,' Its termini will be New York, in the
United States, and London, in the Kingdom of Great Britain; these points
are to be connected by a line of electric telegraph from New York to St.
John's, Newfoundland, partly on poles, partly laid in the ground, and
partly through the water, and a line of the swiftest steamships ever
built, from that point to Ireland. The trips of these steamships, it is
expected, will not exceed five days, and as very little time will be
occupied in transmitting messages between St. John's and New York, the
communication between the latter city and London or Liverpool, will be
effected in _six days,_ or less. The company will have likewise
stationed at St. John's a steam yacht, for the purpose of intercepting
the European and American steamships, so that no opportunity may be
lost in forwarding intelligence in advance of the ordinary channels of
communication."

Mr. Field listened attentively to his visitor, but declined to commit
himself to more than an expression of sympathy with the enterprise.
After the departure of his guest, he took the globe which stood in his
library, and turning it over, began to examine the proposed route of the
telegraph line and the distance to be traversed by the steamers. While
engaged in this examination, the idea flashed across his mind that
instead of undertaking such a complicated scheme, it would be better to
attempt to stretch a telegraph wire entirely across the ocean, from the
shores of Newfoundland to the coast of Ireland. The vastness of this
scheme pleased him, and its usefulness to the entire world, if it could
be carried out, was clear to his mind from the first.

He at once set to work to ascertain if such an undertaking as an
Atlantic telegraph was practicable. He wrote to Lieutenant Maury, then
the Chief of the National Observatory at Washington, and asked if the
laying of such a wire was possible; and to Professor Morse, the inventor
of the telegraph, to know if such a wire would be available for sending
messages if it could be laid. Lieutenant Maury promptly replied,
inclosing a copy of a report he had just made to the Secretary of the
Navy on the subject, from which Mr. Field learned that the idea of
laying a telegraph across the ocean was not original with himself. In
this report Lieutenant Maury demonstrated the entire practicability of
such an enterprise, and sustained his conclusions by a statement of the
recent discoveries concerning the bed of the ocean, made by Lieutenant
Berryman. Professor Morse came in person to visit Mr. Field, and assured
him of his entire faith in the possibility of sending telegraphic
messages across the ocean with rapidity and success.

The two highest authorities in the world thus having assured him of the
entire practicability of the undertaking, Mr. Field declared his
readiness, if he could procure the assistance of a sufficient number of
capitalists in the United States, to undertake the laying of a telegraph
across the Atlantic between Europe and America. Further deliberation
only made him better satisfied with the undertaking, and he set to work
to find ten capitalists, each of whom he proposed should contribute one
hundred thousand dollars, making the capital of the proposed company one
million of dollars. Mr. Field was convinced that the undertaking would
be expensive, but he had then but a faint conception of its magnitude,
and was very far from supposing that "he might yet be drawn on to stake
upon its success the whole fortune he had accumulated; that he was to
sacrifice for it all the peace and quiet he had hoped to enjoy, and that
for twelve years he was to be almost without a home, crossing and
recrossing the sea, urging his enterprise in Europe and America."

The scientific questions involved in the undertaking were so little
understood at the time by the public, and the popular judgment regarded
the attempt to stretch a cable across the deep, mysterious ocean with so
much incredulity, that Mr. Field had considerable trouble in finding
gentlemen willing or prepared to share his faith in the enterprise. His
first effort was to induce Mr. Peter Cooper, of New York, his next door
neighbor, to join him, and he succeeded so well that Mr. Cooper
consented to do so if several others would unite with them. Encouraged
by his success with Mr. Cooper, whose name was a tower of strength to
his cause, Mr. Field renewed his efforts, and succeeded in winning over
the following gentlemen, and in the order named: Moses Taylor, Marshall
O. Roberts, and Chandler White. These gentlemen were very slow to accept
the views of Mr. Field, but, once having done so, they never lost faith
in the ultimate success of the undertaking. The more thoroughly they
became acquainted with its magnitude and costliness, the stronger grew
their confidence in it, for this increase of knowledge not only showed
them more plainly its difficulties and dangers, but developed new
grounds on which to base their hopes.

Mr. Field was about to continue his efforts to procure additional names,
when Mr. Cooper proposed that the five gentlemen already pledged to the
scheme should undertake its entire cost without waiting for the other
four. The proposition was agreed to, and it was decided to take the
necessary steps to procure a charter for their company from the
Legislature of Newfoundland. Mr. Field consented to undertake this, and
at once set off for St. John's, accompanied by his brother, Mr. David
Dudley Field, who was made the legal adviser of the company. At St.
John's they were greatly aided by Mr. Archibald, then the
Attorney-General of the Colony, and afterward the British Consul at New
York, and by the Governor of Newfoundland. They succeeded in obtaining a
charter from the Legislature under the name of the "New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company," with liberal grants in land
and money. This accomplished, they assumed and paid the liabilities of
the old Telegraph Company which had been brought to Mr. Field's notice
by Mr. Gisborne, and thus removed the last difficulty in their way. This
much accomplished, Mr. Field hastened back to New York, and on the 6th
of May, 1854, the Company was formally organized at the residence of Mr.
David Dudley Field. Messrs. Cooper, Taylor, Field, Roberts, and White
were the first directors. Mr. Cooper, was made President of the
Company, Mr. White, Vice-President, and Mr. Taylor Secretary. A capital
of one million and a half of dollars was subscribed on the spot, Mr.
Field contributing about two hundred thousand dollars in cash.

Work was at once begun on the section between New York and St. John's.
There was no road across the island of Newfoundland, and the Company had
not only to build their telegraph line, but to construct a road by the
side of it through an almost unbroken wilderness. It was a work which
required the highest executive ability, and the services of an army of
men. The distance across the island was four hundred miles, and there
were numerous rocky gorges, morasses, and rivers in the way. The country
was a desolation, and it was found that supplies would have to be
transported from St. John's. The execution of the work was committed to
Mr. White, the Vice-President, who went to St. John's to act as the
general agent of the Company, and to Mr. Matthew D. Field, who was
appointed constructing engineer. These gentlemen displayed such skill
and energy in their respective positions that in two years the Company
had not only built a telegraph line and a road of four hundred miles
across the island, but had constructed another line of one hundred and
forty miles in the island of Cape Breton, and had stretched a submarine
cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence.[A] The line was now in working
order from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland, a distance of one
thousand miles, and it had required about a million of dollars for its
construction. It now remained to complete the great work by laying the
cable between Newfoundland and Ireland.


[Footnote A: The first effort to lay a cable in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
was made by this Company, in August, 1855. It was a failure, and the
cable was lost. The second attempt was made in the summer of 1856, and
was entirely successful.]

It being desirable to examine still further the bed of the ocean over
which the cable was to be laid, Mr. Field requested the Government of
the United States to send out an expedition over the route for the
purpose of taking deep sea soundings. His request was promptly granted,
and an expedition under Lieut. Berryman was dispatched, which proceeded
to examine the ocean bed, with the most satisfactory results. This was
accomplished in the summer of 1856, and the next year the same route was
surveyed by Commander Daymon, with the British war steamer Cyclops--this
survey being ordered by the Lords of the Admiralty, at Mr. Field's
request. These surveys made it plain beyond question that a cable could
lie safely on the bed of the sea, at a depth sufficient to protect it
from vessels' anchors, from icebergs, and from submarine currents, and
that it would receive sufficient support from that bed to free it from
all undue tension. There was no doubt of the ultimate success of the
enterprise in the minds of the directors, but it was necessary to
convince the public in both Europe and America that it was not an
impossibility, and also to enlist the sympathies of the Governments of
Great Britain and the United States, and secure their assistance.

Mr. Field, who had made several voyages to England and to Newfoundland
in behalf of the company, was elected Vice-President after the death of
Mr. White, in 1856, and was charged with the duty of proceeding to
England to obtain the assistance of the British Government, and to
organize the company in London. Thus far the directors had borne the
entire cost of the undertaking, and it was but fair that they should
seek the means for completing their work in the country which was to be
so much benefited by it. Mr. Field sailed for England in the summer of
1856, and upon reaching that country proceeded to consult some of its
most eminent engineers and electricians. The English people were slow to
believe that so long a cable could be successfully worked, even if laid
intact, and to remove their doubts, the opinions of Professor Morse and
Lieutenant Maury were published in their newspapers; and this
publication brought out communications from many scientific men on the
subject, a number of them advocating the undertaking. Thus, the
attention of the English public was gained. Experiments were made by
Professor Morse, Mr. Bright, and Dr. Whitehouse, which proved beyond all
doubt the ease with which a continuous line of more than two thousand
miles of wire could be worked; and Professor Morse was able, from these
experiments, to declare his conviction that an electric current could
pass between London and New York, on such a wire, in the space of one
second.

Science had now done its utmost, and had in every thing sustained the
great plan. It was now necessary to ask the aid of Her Majesty's
Government. This effort was intrusted to Mr. Field, who carried it
through successfully. The English Government agreed to furnish the ships
necessary for making soundings and surveys, and to furnish vessels to
assist in laying the cable. It also agreed to pay to the company an
annual subsidy of fourteen thousand pounds for the transmission of the
government messages until the net profits of the company were equal to a
dividend of six pounds per cent., when the payment was to be reduced to
ten thousand pounds per annum, for a period of twenty-five years.
Provision was made for extra payment, in case the government messages
exceeded a certain amount; and it was provided that the messages of the
Governments of Great Britain and the United States should be placed upon
an equal footing, and should have priority in the order in which they
arrived at the stations. This last provision exhibited a decided
liberality on the part of the English Government, since both ends of the
proposed cable would be in British territory. Indeed, throughout the
whole negotiation, Great Britain cheerfully accorded to the United
States every privilege which she claimed for herself.

Having secured the aid of the Queen's Government on such liberal terms,
Mr. Field now undertook the organization of the company, in addition to
the task of raising a capital of three hundred and fifty thousand
pounds. In both efforts he was effectively assisted by Mr. John W.
Brett, who had laid the first cable across the English Channel, and by
Mr. Charles T. Bright and Dr. Edward O.W. Whitehouse. The efforts of
these gentlemen were successful. In a few weeks the whole capital was
subscribed. It had been divided into three hundred and fifty shares of a
thousand pounds each. One hundred and one of these were taken up in
London, eighty-six in Liverpool, thirty-seven in Glasgow, twenty-eight
in Manchester, and a few in other parts of England. Mr. Field, at the
final division of shares, took eighty-eight. He did not design making
this investment on his own account, but thinking it but fair that at
least one-fourth of the stock should be held in America, he made this
subscription with the intention of disposing of his shares after his
return home. Owing to his continued absence from New York, and the
straitened condition of the money market, it was nearly a year before he
could succeed in selling as much as twenty-seven shares. The company was
organized in December, 1856, a Board of Directors elected, and a
contract made for the cable, half of which was to be made in London and
the other half in Liverpool.

The day after the organization of the company, Mr. Field sailed for New
York, from which place he at once made a voyage to Newfoundland, to look
after some matters which required his presence. Returning home, he
hurried to Washington, to secure the aid of the General Government. He
met with more opposition here than he had encountered in England. A
powerful lobby opposed him, and a spirit of hostility to his bill
exhibited itself in Congress, and to such a degree that the measure
passed the Senate by a majority of only one vote. It came very near
failing in the House, but at length got through, and received the
President's signature on the 3d of March, 1857.

In the summer of 1857, Mr. Field having returned to England, the cable
was declared to be in readiness for laying. The United States Government
now placed at the disposal of the Telegraph Company the magnificent new
steam frigate "Niagara," as the most suitable vessel for laying the
cable, and ordered the "Susquehanna," the largest side-wheel frigate in
the service, to accompany her in the expedition. The British Government
provided the steam frigate "Agamemnon," a splendid vessel, which had
been the flagship of the English fleet at the bombardment of Sebastopol,
and ordered the "Leopard" to accompany her as an escort. The "Niagara"
was commanded by Captain W.L. Hudson, of the United States Navy, and the
"Agamemnon" by Captain Noddal, of the Royal Navy. The "Niagara" took on
her share of the cable at Liverpool, and the "Agamemnon" received hers
at London. It was agreed that the "Niagara" should begin the laying of
the cable, and continue it until her portion of it should be exhausted
in mid-ocean, when her end of it should be united with the cable on
board the "Agamemnon," which ship should continue laying the line until
the shores of Newfoundland were reached. After taking on the cable, the
ships were ordered to Queenstown.