William Vilas Biography

William Vilas

William F. Vilas.
Each state in the Union has a few men whom she can call great ; it may be that they are great only in a local sense, but they are her great men; then it is given to a few states to claim as her sons, men who are in a truer sense men of the nation, for their greatness is a greatness that cannot be confined within the limits of a state. Of the latter class was the late William F. Vilas, honored and beloved throughout the state and nation during his lifetime; held in tender memory now that he has gone from among us. No truer words of him can be written than those spoken by the Honorable James G. Jenkins, in his Memorial Address : "In all positions to which he was called, in all the work which he undertook, he applied himself to the discharge of duty with an energy which knew no flagging, and a devotion which knew no turning, sparing neither himself nor others that faith might be kept and duty performed. This characteristic runs through all his life and illuminates all his work. He was, it is true, ambitious; but it was the noble ambition to excel. He desired place and power, not from sordid motive, but for the opportunities they offered for usefulness.

He sought to aid his kind by teaching them and helping them to help themselves. He recognized the truth that indiscriminate charity is hurtful both to the giver and to the receiver, and that that is true charity which aids to build up independence of character and self-reliance.

With wise statesmanship, he saw that the best remedy for the ills of government, the true safeguard from the evils of passion and prejudice, the sure foundation for manly independence of character and good citizenship, the anchor which can hold the ship of state in the storms which beset her, the main essential of success for the individual, is education." A soldier, an orator, a statesman, and in each role, thinking first of his country and her people and lastly of himself—such was William F. Vilas, and the bare outline of his life which follows can give no true idea of the real greatness of the man.

William Freeman Vilas was born on the 9th of July, 1840, at Chelsea, Vermont. His father was Levi Baker Vilas and his mother was Esther Green Smilie. When the boy was eleven years old his parents came to the west, arriving in Madison, Wisconsin on the 5th of June, 1851. His early education had been well cared for, and he was unusually young when he entered the University of Wisconsin. He was a brilliant student, and his college career was a fair example of what his life in a larger sphere was to be, for he was a leader, a student who exerted a strong influence, and a man whose words even at this age were well worth listening to. He was especially active and interested in the Hesperian Society, and here it was that he received a valuable training in oratory, and first learned how an audience would respond to his words. He was graduated from the university in 1858, not quite eighteen years of age. He then took up the study of law at the Albany Law School, New York, from which institution he was graduated in 1860, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.

Returning to his home city, he formed his first partnership on the date of his twentieth birthday, and took up the practice of his profession here in Madison. During the next year he received the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin, and in 1885, he was given the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, from his, his alma mater. He had scarcely opened his office, and prepared for work at his beloved profession, when he began to feel that his country needed his services and that in spite of the desire to go on with the work he so dearly loved the sacrifice was one which he ought to make. He therefore offered his services as a soldier, and was made captain of Company A, Twenty-third Regiment of the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and in August, 1862, he found himself with the Army of the Tennessee, under the command of General Grant. In February, 1863, he received a promotion to the rank of major, and further distinguished himself to the extent that in the following month he was made lieutenant-colonel. The officer next higher in command, being absent during the battles around Vicksburg, and during the siege and capitulation of the city, it fell to Colonel Vilas to lead his regiment during these days of trial and not one of the soldiers who are now left but remembers and recalls with pride the picture of their brave young, twenty-two year old colonel, as he rode before them through those terrible days. After the fall of Vicksburg, when the western part of the Confederacy was clearly conquered. Colonel Vilas felt that he should be at home attending to very pressing business affairs, and so resigning his command, he returned to Madison, and in August, 1863, he was once more deep in his professional work.

He was soon recognized as a lawyer of far more than the ordinary ability, and the University of Wisconsin honored him by offering him a chair as professor of law. He accepted this in 1868, but at the same time, by dint of working with almost superhuman energy, he was able to continue with his private practice, which was increasing all the time. He held this professorship from 1868 to 1885, and during this period many other honors and duties were placed upon his shoulders. From 1875 to 1878 he was engaged in company with others in a revision of the statutes of the state. In 1874 he v/as made a trustee of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Orphans Home, and gave a great deal of his attention to this work, for he felt very near to all who were his comrades in the great struggle, and he held this position until 1893. He was made a regent of the university, in 1881, in recognition of the deep interest which he took in educational matters, and because the university felt the need of a strong man such as he, in its governing body. He held this office until 1885, when duties of a pressing nature demanded his absence from Madison.

In 1884 came Mr. Vilas' first active participation in politics in such a way that he was brought before the notice of the nation, although he had always been prominent in the political interests of his party in the state. This was when he was elected permanent chairman of the Democratic national convention, which was held in Chicago. When Grover Cleveland was nominated for the presidency on that memorable occasion, he was chosen as chairman of the committee, which was appointed to notify the candidate of his nomination. On this occasion he made a notable address, which though brief, attracted attention by its simple forcefulness. The campaign that followed will be long remembered, and during this time. Colonel Vilas was elected as a member of the legislature, the first office to which he had been elected by the will of the people. When the Cleveland cabinet was organized, the new president showed his appreciation of the services which Colonel Vilas had rendered to the party, and of the intrinsic strength of the man, by appointing him Postmaster General. He served in this office from 1885 until 1888, when he was appointed Secretary of the Interior, to succeed Secretary Lamar, who had become a Justice of the Supreme Court. In both of these posts of high honor. Colonel Vilas proved his strength. The chief reason for the Democratic victory in 1884 had been the belief that Cleveland would carry out some much needed reforms in the administrative service and that civil service reforms in particular would be advanced, therefore, the work of a cabinet was extremely heavy, more so than would ordinarily occur with a change of administration. Colonel Vilas was one of the powers of the administration, a man to be relied upon in every emergency, whose broad knowledge of conditions throughout the country, and whose progressive ideas could not but be of supreme value to the administration of the affairs of the nation. At the close of the Cleveland administration he again look up his law practice in Madison. So confident were the people in his ability, and so firmly did they trust him to stand for them, that he was not long permitted to remain at home, but in 1891 was sent to Washington as a United States senator. He served in the Senate for eight years, or until 1897. During these years he was growing more deeply into the hearts of his people and his services were now demanded in his home state.

Before his term of office in the Senate was complete, he was appointed a member of the State Historical Library Building Commission, and to the work of this commission he devoted much time and thought, serving until 1906, when the splendid structure which now houses the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, w^as completed. It was at about this time that the" university again demanded his time and the greater knowledge which he had gained during his years of experience in administrating the country's affairs, and appointed him Regent. He served his alma mater thus until 1905, his regency beginning in 1898. In 1898 he was also elected vice-president of the State Historical Society, and in 1906 he was made a member of the Wisconsin Capitol Building Commission, and in both of these positions he gave loyal service until his death. It was especially in the latter work that the energies of his last years were devoted, and the beautiful capitol building stands as a monument to his labors, as to those of no other man. He also served as a member of the Wisconsin Vicksburg Park Monument Commission, and while serving in this office, he wrote "A View of the Vicksburg Campaign," which was published by the Wisconsin History Commission, in October, 1908, and is one of the clearest and most interesting reports of that famous campaign that has ever been put into print.

Colonel Vilas was too busy a man to have much time for recreation, but he was a well read and well traveled man in spite of his lack of spare moments. Of his three trips to Europe, not one w-as of any length, yet he brought back more than many a man who has spent years there. His real recreation, however, was found in using his powers as an orator. A most interesting volume of his addresses has been compiled by his wife and these addresses, unlike so many, do not need the magnetism of their author's personality, or the fire of his voice, to make them interesting. They are full of thought and are not mere words, as are so many oratorical efforts that have power to sweep people off their feet. As an ardent member of the Democratic party, he spent many hours speaking in behalf of its candidates, but it was not in the political field that his oratorical honors were won. He was called upon to deliver addresses before such associations as the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and before various organizations of the University of Wisconsin, and before many other groups of brilliant and influential men. As a member of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, he was always willing to talk in its behalf and at the meeting of the Society in 1877 he was selected to deliver the oration at the next meeting of the veterans. His success on this occasion was so marked that he was unanimously elected to deliver the response to the toast, Our First Commander, at the banquet given by the Society at the Palmer House, in Chicago, in honor of General Grant, upon his return from his trip around the world. His effort on this occasion was most remarkable and caused tumultuous enthusiasm. As an extract from the proceedings of the society describes the scene: "It would be difficult to fully portray the scene following the conclusion of Colonel Vilas' response. The entire banquet party rose to its feet, and the hall resounded with cheer upon cheer, and each individual seemed to contest with marks of appreciation, till Colonel Vilas was compelled to again rise, standing in his chair, while hearty cheers were given. Rarely has such eloquence been observed and never in the history of our Society.

Here may be inserted a letter from a man whom America has learned to honor and whose appreciation of Colonel Vilas was deep and sincere.

Stormfield, Redding, Connecticut,
October 13, 1909.
Dear Mrs. Vilas: I thank you so much for the Memorial, which I have read with the deepest interest. I had a warm place in my heart for Colonel Vilas, and a great admiration for his lofty gifts and character. I can still vividly see him, as I saw him twenty years ago, lacking a month, at the Grant banquet in Chicago, as he stood upon a table, with his lips closing upon the last word of his magnificent speech, and his happy eyes looking out in contentment over a sea of applauding soldiers glimpsed through a frantic storm of waving napkins—a great picture, and one which will never grow dim in my memory. I thank you again, dear madam.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) S. L. Clemens. P. S. No,

it was thirty years ago.

Whoever has not read this speech would do well to read it and then turn to an address that he made before the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, in 1878. In these two speeches he may find that spirit that animated the souls of those men of 1861, whether they wore the blue or the gray.

Colonel Vilas was married in 1866, to Miss Anna M. Fox, a daughter of Dr. William H. Fox, of Fitchburg, Wisconsin. They made their first home in Madison in a beautiful grove of oaks a few miles south of the city, and here in the quiet and peace of an ideal home life, the young lawyer gathered strength for the days when he was to be thrust out in the full glare of public life, with the battles of a great nation on his hands. In 1879, he moved into the city, and in the beautiful home.at the corner of Oilman street and Wisconsin avenue, facing the waters of Lake Mendota, he passed the remainder of his life. His death came on the 27th of August, 1908.

In November, 1912, Mrs. Vilas, with her daughter, Mrs. Lucien M. Hanks, erected, by the request of the National Park Commissioners, a large bronze statue of Colonel Vilas on the breast works of the battlefield at Vicksburg, Tenn. At this place the colonel led his regiment, the Twenty-third Wisconsin Infantry, in 1863 during the battles around Vicksburg.

Of the four children born to Colonel Vilas and his wife, only one is now living. She is Mary Esther, the wife of Lucien M, Hanks, and with their three children, William Vilas, Sybil Anna and Lucien Mason, Mr. and Mrs. Hanks live not far from the old home, where the mother and grandmother still live.
["Wisconsin Its Story And Biography, 1848-1913" By Ellis Baker Usher, Volume 6 - 1914 - Sub. by Barb Ziegenmeyer]