Champion S. Chase | |
|---|---|
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| 1st Attorney General of Nebraska | |
| In office February 21, 1867 – January 7, 1869 | |
| Governor | David Butler |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Seth Robinson |
| 17th, 19th, and 21st Mayor ofOmaha, Nebraska | |
| In office April 10, 1883 – June 30, 1884 | |
| Preceded by | James E. Boyd |
| Succeeded by | Patrick F. Murphy |
| In office April 7, 1879 – April 12, 1881 | |
| Preceded by | Reuben H. Wilbur |
| Succeeded by | James E. Boyd |
| In office April 13, 1874 – April 9, 1877 | |
| Preceded by | James S. Gibson |
| Succeeded by | Reuben H. Wilbur |
| Member of theWisconsin Senate from the7th district | |
| In office January 5, 1857 – January 3, 1859 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Clement |
| Succeeded by | Nicholas D. Fratt |
| District Attorney ofRacine County, Wisconsin | |
| In office January 1, 1859 – January 1, 1861 | |
| Preceded by | William P. Lyon |
| Succeeded by | N. H. Dale |
| President of theBoard of Education ofRacine, Wisconsin | |
| In office 1857–1858 | |
| Preceded by | Edwin Gould |
| Succeeded by | Chester White |
| In office 1855–1856 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Clement |
| Succeeded by | Edwin Gould |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1820-03-20)March 20, 1820 Cornish, New Hampshire,U.S. |
| Died | November 3, 1898(1898-11-03) (aged 78) Omaha, Nebraska,U.S. |
| Resting place | Prospect Hills Cemetery Omaha, Nebraska |
| Political party |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | Champion Clement Chase (b. 1860; died 1922) |
| Parents |
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| Relatives |
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| Profession | lawyer and politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | Wisconsin Militia United States Army Union Army |
| Rank | Brig. General, Wis. Major, USA BrevetLt. Colonel, USA |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Champion Spalding Chase (March 20, 1820 – November 3, 1898) was an American lawyer, politician, and pioneer ofWisconsin andNebraska. He was the firstAttorney General of Nebraska and served seven years asmayor ofOmaha, Nebraska. He also served two years in theWisconsin Senate, representingRacine County, Wisconsin, and served as aUnion Army officer during theAmerican Civil War. His name was sometimes abbreviated asC. S. Chase. He was a first cousin ofU.S. Supreme Court chief justiceSalmon P. Chase.
Champion Chase was born inCornish, New Hampshire, and raised there on his father's farm and obtained his primary education in the a common school.[1] He was then sent to the Kimball Union Academy inMeriden, New Hampshire, and returned to teach school in Cornish for three winters. In 1841 he was employed as a teacher at the Academy inAmsterdam, New York. After two years, he moved toOtsego County, New York, where he was hired as a vice principal at the West Hartwich Seminary.[2]
In the mid-1840s, he went toBuffalo, New York, where he studied law at the office of Barker & Sill for three years. While studying there, he was appointed by the governor of New York,John Young, to serve as a delegate to theNational River and Harbor Convention inChicago.[2] That same year, he was admitted to thebar atCanandaigua, New York.[1][2]
The next year, he went west to the new state ofWisconsin, opening a law office inRacine, Wisconsin, on May 1, 1848, in partnership with Moses Butterfield.[2]
In Wisconsin, Chase became involved in politics as a member of theWhig Party. He was the Whig candidate fordistrict attorney in the fall after he opened his law office, in 1848, but lost the general election.[3] In 1850, he ran forWisconsin Senate, but lost a close election toFree Soil Party candidateStephen O. Bennett.[4] He sought the Whig Party nomination for Congress inWisconsin's 1st congressional district in 1852, but received only one vote at the convention, the nomination going to Henry S. Durand.[5]
During this time, Chase was also involved in other nascent civic organizations. In 1853, theWisconsin Historical Society was founded and Chase was one of the original society members.[6] Also in 1853, he was a member of Racine's first school board.[7] He was then a delegate to the convention which formed the state Teacher's Association (nowWisconsin Education Association Council) in the summer of 1853.[8] In December 1853, Chase was appointed brigadier general of the second brigade, first division of theWisconsin Militia.[9]
In March 1854, Chase played an important role in theJoshua Glover affair. Glover had escaped slavery inMissouri and came to Racine via the underground railroad. He was recaptured in Racine by federal officials, pursuant to theFugitive Slave Act, creating an uproar among the population. The night of Glover's capture, a meeting was held in Racine in which the city expressed its outrage. Chase was a leader of the meeting, and assigned to the committee to draft resolutions. On the issue of Glover, the resolutions declared: "we look upon the arrest of said Glover as an outrage upon the peaceful rights of this assembly" and "we, as citizens of Racine, demand for said Glover a fair and impartial jury trial, in this, the state where he has been arrested, and that we will attend in person to aid him, by all honorable means, to secure his unconditional release, adopting as our motto the Golden Rule." They further opined on the Fugitive Slave acts: "That, inasmuch as the Senate of the United States has repealed all compromises heretofore adopted by the Congress of the United States, we, as citizens of Wisconsin, are justified in declaring, and do hereby declare, the slave-catching law of 1850 disgraceful and also repealed."[6] Later that evening, the Racine convention ultimately erupted into a mob, which stormed the jail in Milwaukee and liberated Glover.
Days later, the convention at theLittle White Schoolhouse was held inRipon, Wisconsin, where theRepublican Party was founded. That summer, Chase was a delegate to a Racine County convention which again declared that they would actively disobey and thwart any attempt to enforce the fugitive slave acts, and organizing avigilance committee to effect that policy.[10] That fall, Chase was a candidate forWisconsin State Assembly on the new Republican Party ticket,[11] but he lost the general election to DemocratThomas Falvey.[12] He was elected president of the RacineBoard of Education in 1855, and then again in 1857.[7]
In 1856, Chase was a Wisconsin delegate to the firstRepublican National Convention. The convention nominatedJohn C. Frémont as the Republican candidate for the presidency in the1856 election. The same year, Chase was the Republican nominee forWisconsin Senate inWisconsin's 7th Senate district—the district then comprised justRacine County.[13] He defeated Democratic nomineeNicholas D. Fratt in the general election[14] and went on to serve in the1857 and1858 legislative terms.[15]
During his second year in the Senate, he served as chairman of the judiciary committee and supervised the revision of the statutes of the state. In 1858, rather than running for re-election to the Senate, Chase ran fordistrict attorney of Racine County; he defeated Nehemiah H. Joy and won a two year term.[16] He took office in January 1859. Later that year, he was again appointed brigadier general of the Wisconsin Militia, by GovernorAlexander Randall.[1]
In 1862, with the assistance of his cousin,Salmon P. Chase (1808–1873), who was then theUnited States Treasury Secretary, he was appointed paymaster in the Union Army with the rank ofMajor.[17][18]
He served four years in the Union Army and during this time he was on special duty in the West and Southwest. He was at the sieges ofKnoxville,Mobile, andVicksburg, and in the later part of the war he was headquartered at New Orleans for nearly two years and would receive abrevet toLieutenant Colonel from President Andrew Johnson late in 1865, for his meritorious services in theGulf Campaign. In January 1866 he was honorably discharged.
After mustering out of the Army in 1866, Chase moved toOmaha, in theNebraska Territory, and resumed his law practice. He also became an investor in the incorporation of the Omaha Street Railway Co. In 1867, Nebraska would be admitted to the Union as the 37th state, and in the state's first general election, Chase was elected to a two-year term as the firstAttorney General of Nebraska.[1]
In 1869, he was appointed to a six-year term as regent of theState University of Nebraska, by GovernorDavid Butler.[1]
Chase was elected Mayor of Omaha in 1874, after losing an earlier attempt. He was re-elected in 1875 to a two-year term—this was the first term after Omaha's mayoralty was changed by statute from a one-year term to a two-year term. He was elected to two additional two-year terms in 1879 and 1883, but wasimpeached and removed from office in June 1884, due todrunkenness impairing his abilities. His wife Mary died to cancer in 1882 and many think this may have contributed to his ill health. Chase later launchedquo warranto proceedings in 1887 stating that he had been illegally removed from office, and was unlawfully deprived of the salary of the mayor. The jury rendered a verdict in his favor which gave him some measure of closure.[1]
During his terms as Mayor it was recorded of him as having "favoured extensive public improvements" such as parks and boulevards, and direct and gravitational powered waterworks. As mayor, Colonel Chase received and officially entertained a large number of distinguished people—Kalākaua,King of Hawai'i;Peter II,Emperor of Brazil; theGovernor General of Canada; U.S. President and Mrs.Rutherford B. Hayes; President and Mrs.Ulysses S. Grant; GeneralsWilliam Tecumseh Sherman,Philip Sheridan,George Armstrong Custer, and others.
In 1871, he was elected Grand Senior Warden in the Nebraska Commandery ofKnights Templar.[19] In 1886, he was unanimously chosen president of the Nebraska State Humane Society.[1]
Champion Chase was identified as being past commander of the U.S. Grant Post of theGrand Army of the Republic and theSons of the American Revolution. In 1891 he was an organiser of the Omaha Real Estate Owner's Association. He was selected as the chairman of the International Pan-Republic Congress on Plan and Scope in the mid 1890s. He was appointed a Collector of Customs for thePort of Omaha and held that office until his death in 1898.
Champion Chase was a son of Clement Chase (1776–1867) and his second wife, Olive Spalding (1790–1823), of Plainfield, New Hampshire. He was named for his maternal grandfather, Champion Spalding.[2]
Chase married Mary Sophronia Butterfield on the same day he opened his law office in Racine, May 1, 1848. Their only son, Champion Clement Chase, was born in 1860, and would eventually become a well-known newspaper publisher in Omaha.[2]
Mary Chase died ofcancer in 1882, in Omaha, leaving Chase awidower.[20] Chase died as the result of a fall on November 3, 1898, at the age of 78.[21]
He was devoted to the memories of his native town, often expressed his loyalty and love for it. He was buried alongside his wife at theProspect Hills Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska.
Chase County, Nebraska, and the unincorporated community ofChampion in Chase County, are named after him[22] as a complimentary act on the part of the Legislature of Nebraska.
| Wisconsin Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theWisconsin Senatefrom the7th district January 5, 1857 – January 3, 1859 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by James S. Gibson | Mayor ofOmaha, Nebraska April 13, 1874 – April 9, 1877 | Succeeded by Reuben H. Wilbur |
| Preceded by Reuben H. Wilbur | Mayor ofOmaha, Nebraska April 7, 1879 – April 12, 1881 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by James E. Boyd | Mayor ofOmaha, Nebraska April 10, 1883 – June 30, 1884 | Succeeded by Patrick F. Murphy |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | District Attorney ofRacine County, Wisconsin January 1, 1859 – January 1, 1861 | Succeeded by N. H. Dale |
| Office established | Attorney General of Nebraska February 21, 1867 – January 7, 1869 | Succeeded by Seth Robinson |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
