History of Pensacola, (Escambia County) Florida United States of America

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Biographies:

Paul Hamilton Hayne, poet, was born in Charleston, S C., Jan. 1, 1830; son of Lieut. Paul Hamilton Hayne, U.S.N., who died at Pensacola, Fla., of yellow fever, in 1831. He was brought up by his mother, a woman of poetic gifts and possessed of an ample fortune, under the guardianship of his uncle, Senator Robert Y. Hayne. He was graduated at the College of Charleston in 1850, with prizes for English composition and elocution. He was admitted to the bar, but never practised, and soon devoted his entire time to literature. His first poem "On the Ashley River" was published locally. He edited Rassell's Magazine, 1853, and was connected editorially with the Charleston Literary Gazette, Southern Opinion, Southern Society and other periodicals. He was an aide on the staff of Governor Pickens and took part in the operations leading to the capture of Fort Sumter in 1861. His home was burned during the bombardment of Charleston by the Federal army and his valuable library destroyed with the ancestral belongings of a celebrated family, the accumulation of generations. He was married in 1852, to Mary Middleton, daughter of Dr. William Michel, surgeon in the army of Napoleon I. His health failed during the war, and in 1866 he made his home at Copse Hill, on the summit of the sandhills near Augusta, Ga. There he built a rude cottage, made beautiful by vines of roses and jasmine, and lived with his wife and son in semi-seclusion, laboring with his pen for support. His son, William Hamilton Hayne, inherited his father's frail physique and his poetic talent. Washington and Lee university conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1882. His published works include: Poems (1855); Sonnets and Other Poems (1857); Avolio, a Legend of the Island of Cos (1859); Legends and Lyrics (1872); Henry Timrod: Poems With a Memoir (edited, 1873); The Mountain of the Lovers and Other Poems (1875); and Lives of Robert Y. Hayne and Hugh S. Legare (1878). His Complete Poems were published in 1882. After that he wrote enough poetry to fill a large volume, most of which appeared in periodicals. He died at Copse Hill, Augusta, Ga., July 6, 1886.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Henry Chase, soldier, was born in Massachusetts in 1798. He was graduated at West Point in 1815, and served as assistant in the corps of engineers in the construction of the defences of Brooklyn, in making surveys in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, in repairing Fort Niagara, and in constructing Fort Pike, La., until 1822. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1819, and was superintending engineer of the defences of the Rigolets and Chef Menteur passes to New Orleans, La., 1822-24; of Fort Jackson, Mississippi river, 1823-24; of the breakwater for the preservation of Plymouth Beach, Mass., 1824; and of forts at the Rigolets, Chef Menteur, Bienvenue, and Bayou Dupr? passes to New Orleans, 1824-28. He was promoted captain, Jan. 1, 1825, and served as superintending engineer for the construction of defences and improvements in the south until 1856. He was promoted major July 7, 1838, and on Oct. 31, 1856, he resigned his commission in the army to become president of the Alabama and Florida railroad company, holding the position until 1861. In that year he joined the Confederate army and served throughout the civil war. He died in Pensacola, Fla., Feb. 8, 1870.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor