A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work . at they elected him, though not yet twenty-four, to represent them in the Lower House of the Legis-lature. In 1850 he was appointed United States Consulto Maranham, Brazil. Proceeding to that country, he wasrequired to act also as vice-consul, which office gavehim supervision of the other consulates in the NorthernDistrict of Brazil. This devolved upon him responsibleduties, but afforded opportunities, which he did notneglect, for acquainti
A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work . at they elected him, though not yet twenty-four, to represent them in the Lower House of the Legis-lature. In 1850 he was appointed United States Consulto Maranham, Brazil. Proceeding to that country, he wasrequired to act also as vice-consul, which office gavehim supervision of the other consulates in the NorthernDistrict of Brazil. This devolved upon him responsibleduties, but afforded opportunities, which he did notneglect, for acquainting himself with the habits andcustoms of the people and the many natural objects ofinterest in that remarkable land. That terrible scourge,the yellow fever, visited Maranham during his stay, andin one evening he saw carried past his window a hun-dred uncoffined corpses, which were left half-buried inthe potters field. In 1852 he returned home; and inJanuary of the year following. Governor Wright ap-pointed him Judge of what was then the Eighth Dis-trict, which contained nine counties. In the summerof 1854, having been already nominated, he resigned,. [> 0\.\Ar^ . I /-^J? iiih Dist.\ REPRESENTA TIVE MEN OF INDIANA. 37 and was elected Representative to Congress from theEleventh Congressional District, and occupied that po-sition during the Thirty-fourth, the Thirty-fifth, andthe Thirty-sixth Congresses. In 1S62 he engaged veryactively in recruiting soldiers for the war, and in lessthan three weeks mustered thirty-five hundred the following year he helped to organize the SoldiersOrphans Home, at Knightstown, Indiana, which wasafterward turned over to the state, and which is in aprosperous condition. In 1864 Judge Pettit was againelected to the Legislature, and chosen Speaker of theHouse. Those were turhulent times, when Indiana andthe departments of the state government were infestedby rebel sympathizers plotting treason, and this office,at all times a responsible one, e
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