WHITE, James Bain, a Representative from Indiana; born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, June 26, 1835; attended the common schools; immigrated to the United States in 1854; settled in Fort Wayne, Ind.; calico printer; tailor; Indiana Volunteers, Company I, Thirteenth Regiment, elected captain of the company and served until December 1862, when he resigned; wounded in the Battle of Shiloh April 7, 1862; elected a member of the common council of Fort Wayne, Ind., 1874; department store owner; manufactured wheels; banker; elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4,

As a commander, he may never have realized his full potential, although his aggressive leadership at Gettysburg helped lay the foundation of the Union victory there. He loved the outdoors, particularly hunting and fishing. He was six feet tall, erect in bearing, and of a somewhat retiring, reticent nature. Charles Veil, a member of Reynolds's staff, left a fitting description of the type of soldier and man his chief was: "Wherever the fight raged the fiercest, there the General was sure to be found, his undaunted courage always inspired the men with more energy & courage.

With the coming of the California gold rush in 1849, many gold seekers traveled west via Panama, crossing the isthmus on muleback. Vanderbilt had the idea of crossing Central America via Nicaragua, a route to California several hundred miles shorter than the Panama route. He invested in the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company (later changed to Accessory Transit Company), which proposed to cross Nicaragua via the San Juan River, Lake Nicaragua, and a twelve-mile road (later to be a canal) to the Pacific.

Jane Johnson entered the history books in July 1855, when she and her sons accompanied John Wheeler and his family on a trip north by train from Washington to Philadelphia. After a short visit, they planned to travel by ferry to New York City, then by ship to Nicaragua, where Wheeler was U.S. minister. On 18 July the entourage arrived at the Broad Street Station in Philadelphia … After a brief stop, they continued to Bloodgood's Hotel, near the Camden Ferry.