by Henry Howe.

Hammond, long an honored member of the county bar, was born in Maryland. Coming to Belmont County in 1801, he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the Northwest Territory. During the war of 1812 he published the Federalist, at St. Clairsville. In 1824 he moved to Cincinnati and attained a high position as editor of the Cincinnati Gazette. He was the author of the political essays signed "Hampden," which were published in the National Intelligencer in 1820. These dealt with the Federal Constitution, and were highly complimented by Thomas Jefferson. He died in Cincinnati, in 1840, where he was regarded as the most capable newspaper writer then known in the history of Ohio.

"I know of no writer," writes Mansfield, "who could express an idea so clearly and so briefly. He wrote the pure old English -- the vernacular tongue, unmixed with French or Latin phrases or idioms, and unperverted with any scholastic logic. His language was like himself -- plain, sensible and unaffected. His force, however, lay not so much in this as in his truth, honesty and courage, those moral qualities which made him distinguished at that day and would distinguish him in any age. His opposition to slavery and its influence on the government was firm, consistent and powerful. Probably no public writer did more than he to form a just and reasonable anti-slavery sentiment. In fine, as a writer of great ability, and a man of large acquirements and singular integrity, Hammond was scarcely equalled by any man of his time."

This entry is adapted from Henry Howe's HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO (2 vols., 1907). The book has been reedited, updated, and restructured for inclusion in the Pierian Press Fulltext eBooks database, and is included on the Stratton House Inn Web site by special permission. This entry is licensed for use ONLY on this Web site. This entry may not be copied or downloaded, but may be used for educational purposes and personal pleasure under fair-use provisions via this Web site. Please note that the Stratton House Inn iteration of this entry does NOT include the subject headings assigned the entry for use in the Fulltext eBooks database.

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ENTRY NUMBER: EBK31135101