Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Young Frank W. Cheney, shortly after
his return from Ohio, attended good pre-
paratory schools, and eventually matricu-
lated at Brown University. After gradu-
ating therefrom, he was taken into the
business of the Cheney brothers at Man-
chester, but seven years later forsook,
temporarily, all industrial labors to
answer the national call to military service.
During the Civil War, Frank Wood-
bridge Cheney gave a notable service to
the Union forces. During the seven
years of business activity prior to the outbreak
of the Civil War, Frank W. Cheney
had many responsibilities that were un-
usual for so young a man. At the outset
of his connection with the Cheney Company,
he apparently exhibited marked
business ability, for in a short while he
advanced from the minor position of a
dye puncher to a seat on the board of
directors of the firm. Attempts had been
made to introduce silk culture into the
United States, but on the experimental
station established by the Cheney broth-
ers, the attempt proved abortive, climatic
conditions being unsuitable. The Cheney
Company had therefore to resort to importations
from China, and in 1858 com-
petition among silk manufacturers in
America was such that it became neces-
sary for the Cheney brothers to place a
representative of the firm in China. For
this responsible post young Frank W.
Cheney was selected, and in 1858 he
departed for the East. There he remained
for three years, purchasing the company's
requirements of silk in China and Japan.
It was a post that called for sterling qual-
ities in the man undertaking it, a post of
danger and uncertainty such as only a
man of venturesome, courageous spirit
would undertake. Frank W. Cheney was
such, and he accomplished much for the
firm during his period of foreign serv-
ice. He was in China only a few years
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
292
after the ports of that country had been
opened to foreigners, and for some time
he was one of only twelve men, intrepid
pioneers, of the white race in that great
empire, and undoubtedly the connections
he then established with Chinese and Japanese
silk producers did much to firmly
build the later great success of the
Cheney firm. In 1861, while in Egypt,
on his way back to America, he heard of
the outbreak of the Civil War. He was
eager to return, and when he did eventu-
ally land in America, "threw himself heart
and soul into recruiting for the Union
Army." His patriotic fervor, his energy
and persuasiveness, became evident in
organizing the Sixteenth Regiment of
Connecticut Volunteers, and was recog-
nized by the State. He was appointed
lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and
with it departed for the front. National
history records the part taken by that
regiment in the great struggle, and Col-
onel Cheney by his daring and military
skill gained the admiration of his men.
That was evident in later years when the
Grand Army of the Republic recounted,
in annual gatherings, the deeds of the
sturdy ones during the dark and strenu-
ous days of the war. One account regarding
him in this connection stated "The
affection of the 'boys' for him was touchingly
evident whenever they met." At
the battle of Antietam, September 17,
1862, he was shot through the arm while
leading his men in a charge ; "dreadfully
wounded," stated one account, "and the
first reports had it that he was dead on
the field." Upon recovering sufficiently
to be able to leave the hospital, he was
invalided from the service, and because of
his disability was unable to take further
part in military actions.
He therefore again entered industrial
life, and took the executive position, that
of assistant treasurer, he had held in the