Barnett, James, 1944-

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James Barnett (1821-1911) was an officer who served with great distinction in the American Civil War and a highly venerated civic leader in Cleveland, Ohio, who was a founding member and trustee of the Western Reserve Historical Society. Born in Cherry Valley, Ostego County, New York, on June 21, 1821, he arrived in Cleveland at the age of four with his parents Melancthon and Mary (Clark) Barnett. He received his education in the local public schools and then entered the hardware business, first with the firm of Potter and Clark for three years, and then with George Worthington and Company where he became senior partner in 1871 at Mr. Worthington's death.

On June 12, 1845, Barnett married Maria H. Underhill, the daughter of Dr. Samuel Underhill of Granville, Illinois, with whom he had three daughters. Mary C. Barnett married Major Thomas Goodwillie; Carrie M. Barnett married Alexander Brown, Esq.; and Laura Barnett married Charles J. Sheffield.

In 1840 James Barnett joined the Cleveland Grays, which later became the Cleveland Light Artillery, one of the first companies to report for duty at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was made colonel in 1859 and held that rank at the beginning of the war. The Cleveland Light Artillery was ordered to Columbus, Ohio, on April 20, 1861, from whence began their distinguished career. The company took part in the battle at Phillipi on June 3, 1861, where they are alleged to have fired the first artillery for the Union Army in the Civil War. At the end of their three months' service for the state of Ohio, the Artillery was mustered out on June 26, 1861, and immediately mustered into the United States Army for an additional three years. The resultant company, the Ohio First Light Artillery, served with distinction in the campaigns of West Virginia and Tennessee.

James Barnett himself was awarded especial honor "at the severe battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Stone's River, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Nashville, receiving high praise from Gens. [William S.] Rosecrans and [George H.] Thomas. . ." After being mustered out on October 20, 1864, Barnett volunteered again to act as an aide to General Thomas, whom he assisted during the battle of Nashville. He served both General Rosecrans and General Thomas as chief of artillery on their respective staffs. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-General "for gallant and meritorious services during the war."

After the war, Barnett returned to his business life and became prominent in social, civic, and charitalbe affairs in Cleveland, Ohio. His interests expanded from hardware to banking, iron manufacturing, and railroads, in particular the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway Company of which he was elected a director in march 1875; this railroad joined, in June 1889, with the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railway Company and the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago Railway Company to form the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company, of which General Barnett was a director from 1895-1898. He was a loyal member of the Grand Army of the Republic from the formation of the Memorial Post in 1881 until his death in 1911. General Barnett served two years on the Cleveland City Council from 1873-1875 and also as police commissioner. He was president or director of a wide variety of charitable organizations, among them the Soldiers and Sailors' Orphans' Home in Xenia, Ohio; the Cleveland Humane Society; and the Garfield National Memorial Association. General Barnett also served prominently in the Bethel Associated Charities, a Cleveland charitable organization formed by the consolidation of the Cleveland Bethel Union and the Society for Organizing Charity in 1886. A member of the Bethel Union since 1874, Barnett served as president of the Associated Charities for approximately fifteen years and retained the title of honorary president until his death.

One of the projects that consumed the latter part of his life was the preparation of a history of the Ohio First Light Artillery. Toward this end he contacted as many members of the various batteries as he could reach and sent out several circulars soliciting materials to aid in the project. He also maintained close relations with Colonel Wilbur F. Hinman whose services were "secured, by the survivors of the First Ohio Light Artillery, to write up a history of its batteries." Evidently, the book was never completed.

Proclaimed the first citizen of Cleveland "on the occasion of the presentation of his portrait by Samuel Mather, to the Chamber of Commerce in April, 1907," General Barnett died on January 13, 1911.

From the guide to the James Barnett Papers, 1845-1906, (Western Reserve Historical Society)