Joseph Carter Abbott

Joseph Carter Abbott (July 15, 1825 – October 8, 1881) was a Union Army colonel during the American Civil War who was awarded the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers and a Republican United States senator from the state of North Carolina between 1868 and 1871. During his career in private life he was a lawyer, newspaper editor and businessman. He also served as collector of the port of Wilmington, inspector of posts along the eastern line of the southern coast during the Rutherford B. Hayes Administration, and special agent of the United States Treasury Department.

Abbott was born in Concord, New Hampshire, to farmer Aaron Carter Abbott and Nancy Badger, and graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1846, having studied there and under private auspices.^[1] He studied law at Concord, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. From 1852 to 1857, Abbott was the owner and editor of the Daily American newspaper, in Manchester, New Hampshire. His success with it led to his being given the position of editor of the Boston Atlas and Bee, which he held from 1859 through 1861.^[2]

He served as Adjutant General of New Hampshire from 1855 to 1861, reorganizing the state militia during that time. He was also a member of the commission to adjust the boundary between New Hampshire and Canada. He early joined the Know Nothing Party, and during all these years was a frequent contributor to the magazines, being particularly interested in historical matters.

In December 1861, Abbott became the lieutenant colonel of the 7th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment and participated in the battles of Port Royal Sound, St. John's Bluff, Fort Pulaski and Fort Wagner. In November 1863, he became colonel of the regiment and led it at the Battle of Olustee and during the subsequent Bermuda Hundred Campaign in Virginia.

During the siege of Petersburg, he commanded the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, X Corps at Chaffin's Farm and the subsequent actions along the Darbytown and New Market Roads. The Army of the James was then reorganized and his command became the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XXIV Corps which was attached to the Fort Fisher Expeditionary Corps under Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry and participated in the second battle of Fort Fisher and the capture of Wilmington. Although Abbott was not appointed as a full, substantive rank general, on January 25, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln nominated Abbott for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from January 15, 1865 for gallant services in the capture of Fort Fisher^[3] and the U.S. Senate confirmed the award on February 14, 1865.^[4] During the final stages of the war, he was stationed in Wilmington, North Carolina.

While stationed in North Carolina, Abbott befriended local businessmen. Sensing a business opportunity in a region with ample timber resources and labor but little capital, he permanently relocated to Wilmington at the end of his military service^[5] and began acquiring land and clearing pine forest in Bladen County. With the help of other North investors, he co-founded two companies, the Bladen Land Company and the Cape Fear Building Company.^[a] The former harvested timber and the latter crafted cut wood products and constructed buildings.^[7] Abbott served as president and treasurer of the Bladen Land Company, while the Cape Fear Building Company was largely managed as a partnership, with him managing its business affairs and co-founder Alexander Strausz tending to architectural concerns.^[5]

Business initially prospered for Abbott, and his corporations drew praise from across the state's political spectrum.^[5][8] The concentration of the companies' operations in Bladen led to the creation of the community of Abbottsburg. By 1870, the community included a company store, several factory buildings, numerous homes—including one occupied by Abbott, and hosted about 500 residents.^[7] The Cape Fear Building Company won key building contracts in Wilmington and advertised its products as a far away as Cuba.^[5][9] By the mid–1870s, deforestation and the economic fallout of the panic Panic of 1873 had diminished its prospects,^[5][8] and in early 1876 the company went bankrupt and was liquidated at auction. One newspaper later reported that he had lost $100,000 in the business failure.^[5] As a result, Abbott withdrew to Wilmington;^[8] by 1880 he was reportedly living with his wife in a city hotel.^[5]

Abbott was active in state politics, On October 17, 1867, the New Hanover County Republican convention nominated Abbott, Abraham Galloway, and Samuel S. Ashley as their three candidates for the delegation to the constitutional convention.^[10] Voters in the county overwhelmingly voted in favor of calling a new constitutional convention and confirmed Abbott, Galloway and Ashley as their delegates.^[11]

The state constitutional convention lasted from January to March 1868.^[12] The New Hanover delegation was especially active in the convention;^[12] The Wilmington Daily Journal claimed that Abbott and Galloway were "running the machine".^[11] On the convention's second day—its first full day of business—both men spoke on the floor numerous times.^[13] The convention was organized into 13 committees to study various issues.^[12]

He was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives to represent New Hanover County,^[14] and served until he resigned effective July 16, 1868. George Z. French was elected to fill the vacancy.^[15]

He was elected to the United States Senate that same year, representing North Carolina in that body for the first time since July 1861, when the state's two senators were expelled following the North Carolina's secession from the Union. Sworn-in to office as senator on July 14, 1868,^[16] he served until March 4, 1871.

He also served as a member of the Republican National Committee from North Carolina from 1870 through 1872. During this period, he was also found to be in the pay of a "ring" whose major interests seemed substantially similar to Abbott's own political positions. During his tenure in the Senate, he spoke in orthodox terms on matters of suffrage, and was helpful in handling the details of army administration. He devoted a good deal of time to improve the harbor of Wilmington, and hoped that the railroads of the Carolinas would be consolidated and made part of a southern transcontinental system. However, for all his efforts, his single greatest achievement was the imposition of a duty on peanuts. He was not nominated for a second term to the Senate. He died in 1881

Upon leaving the Senate, he served as editor of the Wilmington Post. He also received federal offices from both Presidents Rutherford Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant, including serving as collector of the port of Wilmington, inspector of posts along the eastern line of the southern coast during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration, and special agent of the United States Treasury Department. From August 1869, he served as editor of the Wilmington Post, a Republican organ of good quality for the era. However, he never again achieved any real status as a party leader.

He was originally buried in the National Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was reinterred in 1887 at Valley Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire. Despite three marriages, he died childless. His political legacy is not much better, with the Dictionary of American Biography writing that "The historians of the state even now mention him only to condemn him."^[17] A local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic was named for him.^[5]

• List of American Civil War Generals (Union)

• Bell, John L. (October 1995). "Samuel Stanford Ashley, Carpetbagger and Educator". The North Carolina Historical Review. 72 (4): 456–483. JSTOR 23521495.
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989: Bicentennial Edition. United States: Government Printing Office, 1989. ISBN 0-16-006384-1.
• Cecelski, David (2012). The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway and the Slaves' Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4696-2190-6.
• Cheney, John L. Jr., ed. (1981). North Carolina Government, 1585-1979: A Narrative and Statistical History (revised ed.). Raleigh: North Carolina Secretary of State. OCLC 1290270510.
• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Evans, William McKee (1995). Ballots and Fence Rails: Reconstruction on the Lower Cape Fear (reprint ed.). Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-1731-4.
• Hunt, Roger D. and Brown, Jack R. Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue. Gaithersburg, MD: Olde Soldier Books, Inc., 1990. ISBN 1-56013-002-4.
• Johnson, Allen. Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964.
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Abbott, Joseph Carter" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
• Raper, Horace W. (1985). William W. Holden: North Carolina's Political Enigma. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807850608.

• United States Congress. "Joseph Carter Abbott (id: A000006)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.