JOHN BROUGH.
OSMAN CASTLE HOOPER.
John Brough is generally thought of as
the last of Ohio's
war governors, the sturdy Union man who,
as a candidate for
the executive office in 1863, defeated
Clement L. Vallandigham
by the then unheard of majority of more
than 100,000 votes. He
was all that, but he was more than that,
and it is the duty, as well
as the pleasure of Ohioans to recognize
it.
If ever a masterful man sat in Ohio's
executive chair, it was
John Brough. No general in the field was
more stern or more
zealous, more watchful of others, more
careless of himself. Those
days of 1863 were dark and gloomy for
the Union cause; the
election of Brough was like a sunburst.
It proved that Ohio,
though not without its falterers, and
palterers, was steadfast for
the Union; and it steadied the whole
line of northern states,
cheered the heart of Lincoln and put a
new enthusiasm into the
armies in the field. The power that the
people of Ohio gave to
Brough on that election day, he
exercised to the fullest extent-
to his temporary discomfiture, perhaps,
but to his lasting glory.
It is for this that John Brough is best
remembered, but
there are other things for which he
should be honored. Before
he stood like a giant at the head of a
patriotic state during the
Civil War, he had stood as the especial
champion of the state
when it was beset with debt and had
helped to save it from the
shame of repudiation, and before that,
he had served in the legis-
lature, striving to rescue the state
from cheap money and ruin-
ous speculation.
As journalist, as clerk of the senate,
as member of the house
of representatives and as auditor, as
well as in the capacity of
governor, John Brough bore himself well
and with a sturdy
honesty and a vigorous intelligence
which, while they won for
him the invective and sometimes the
ridicule of his contempo-
(40)
John Brough. 41
raries, clearly entitle him to the
highest regard of all who have
come after him.
In the early years of the nineteenth
century, there came
across the ocean from England, John
Brough, a native of the
British capital, and his frail English
wife. They were ac-
companied by several other men and their
wives, all seeking
home and fortune in the domain of the
vigorous young nation
that had recently won its independence.
They settled in Wash-
ington county, Ohio, on or near the
Little Muskingum three
or four miles east of Marietta, and
entered on the life of pioneer
farmers.
Of these first American Broughs, all too
little has been re-
corded, but it is known that they
commanded the respect of their
neighbors and that the regard in which
they were held was con-
tinued to their children and their
children's children. There is
the record of the death in 1807 of the
frail English wife in her
forty- eighth year and of the subsequent
marriage of Brough,
already a man past middle life, to Jane
Garnet, who was born in
Pennsylvania in 1785.
John Brough, while not a thrifty farmer,
was a commanding
figure in the Marietta settlement. He
was looked up to in a
double sense, for he was six feet tall
and of fine physique; and,
besides, was philosopher in a homely
way. It was natural that
he should be chosen Justice of the Peace
and equally so that the
"Squire," as he was commonly
called, should be elected sheriff
of the county. That distinction came to
him in 1811. Then
the Broughs moved into the court house
and jail building which
also contained living quarters for the
sheriff - a structure erected
in 1798 and demolished in 1846 to make
room for the present
jail. In the former building John
Brough, the future governor,
was born September 17, 1811. He was the
second of five chil-
dren - Jane, the eldest having been born
in 1810, Charles in 1813,
Mary
Ann in 1818 and William in 1820.
The mother of this family died October
19, 1821, when her
baby was scarcely a year old and the
eldest child was but eleven
and when she herself was but thirty-six.
Her life record is un-
happily meager. She was born, she was
married, she bore five
children, and she died. She was buried
in Mound cemetery, now
42 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
near the geographical center of
Marietta, and a sandstone slab,
inscribed as follows, marks the spot:
IN MEMORY OF
JANE BROUGH,
WIFE OF
JOHN BROUGH,
Who departed this life, October the
19th, in
the Year of our Lord, 1821.
AGED 36 YEARS.
Blessed are the Dead Which Die
in the Lord.
In the following March 'Squire Brough
married Mrs. Brid-
get Cross, but twenty-nine days after
the wedding, the third Mrs.
Brough died and was followed six months
later by 'Squire
Brough himself, at the age of 75. No
stone marks his burial
place; only to the mother of his
children is that distinction
vouchsafed.
Whatever "Jack" Brough's life
had been up to this time, it
was different and more difficult from
this out. His education had
been begun in the Marietta school. At
11, an orphan, he found
it necessary to do for himself. 'Squire
Brough had left no
estate. He had been in his last years
but a tenant on the Cleona
farm, about a mile above Marietta on the
Ohio river and his
savings had been small, if any.
"Jack" turned instinctively to
the printing business and, as an
apprentice, he entered the office
of Royal Prentiss's American Friend. His
home was beneath
his employer's roof, and later with
Isaac Maxon, another printer.
"Jack" worked, but he also
played, and one still encounters in
Marietta the stories of "Jack"
Brough's wonderful feats in all
the athletic games upon the common. No
one could "raise"
the football as he could, and his
associates who lived to see him
governor delighted to recall those games
in which he played
John Brough. 43
so well. The last of his school
education was secured at Athens,
where for a short time while working in
the office of the Mirror
of that place, he attended the Ohio
University. It was at best a
meager training for it did not last
long, but for a youth of his
quick perception, boundless energy and
sturdy purpose, it was
enough, taken in connection with his
work in the newspaper
offices, to make him a lucid thinker and
a ready and forceful
writer and speaker. There are some minds
that absorb learning
at the very touch, and "Jack"
Brough's was one of them.
Before "Jack" Brough was
twenty, he was an editor. He
had learned the printing business and
had been to school. He
had seen other men edit, and he had an
ambition to be an editor
himself. Besides he had some opinions
and a hero, General An-
drew Jackson. So it happened that on
January 8, 1831 -Jack-
son's day - there appeared in Marietta
the Western Republican,
a weekly edited and published by John
Brough. It was published
weekly at Marietta for two years and
then was sold and moved
by its new editor and publisher to
Parkersburg. In the fall of
1833, Brough went with his brother
Charles to Lancaster, O.,
and bought the Ohio Eagle. Here
he quickly made his strong
individuality felt and, as the editor of
a partisan paper, entered
heartily into the politics of the day.
That was a time of hard
blows, and he neither spared nor was
spared; but there are
not wanting the evidences that, even
though he made enemies,
he commanded their respect, so sincere
was he in all that he did
and said. Referring at a later date to
this period of his career,
Brough wrote that he had no apology for
the asperity into which
party conflicts had led him; he had
always acted on the de-
fensive and held in supreme contempt the
authors of the base
attacks upon him.
Brough made his formal entry into Ohio
politics in 1835
when he was elected clerk of the Ohio
senate. He was the can-
didate of the Democratic majority and
received 19 of the senate's
35 votes. Seven of the Whig votes went
to Warren Jenkins and
the other nine were recorded as
"blank and scattering." Among
Brough's supporters, it is interesting
to note, was Samuel Medary,
just beginning a service in the senate
as the member from Cler-
mont county -a man who was for many
years Brough's close
44 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
political friend, but destined in the
crisis of the civil war to take
a widely divergent course.
Robert Lucas was governor of Ohio.
Thomas Ewing and
Thomas Morris represented the state in
the national senate,
while in the house of representatives at
Washington, Thomas
Corwin, at the opening of his third
term, was growing in Whig
favor. Andrew Jackson, as president, had
begun his warfare on
the United States bank; Martin Van Buren
was looming up as
a presidential quantity, and William
Henry Harrison, Daniel
Webster, John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay
were striking figures
in the political foreground. It was a
time of stirring politics, and
Brough, as clerk of the Ohio senate and
correspondent of the
Lancaster Eagle, swung the partisan cudgel with all the zeal
of his young manhood. He served as clerk
of the senates of
1835-6 and 1836-7, and then was retired
by the election of a
Whig senate. But the loss of his
position did not take him out of
politics; it was only an incident in the
political war for which
he had enlisted. For a time he reported
the senate proceedings
for the Ohio Statesman, at the
same time writing for his own
paper, the Eagle, which was
widely quoted and, under his man-
agement, took rank with the leading
exponents of Democracy.
He sat as a delegate in the convention
in 1837 which nominated
Wilson Shannon for governor. He was
a member of the com-
mittee on resolutions and drafted the
plank denouncing the Whig
attitude toward the banks as a betrayal
of the people and de-
claring that those banks that had
suspended payments had for-
feited their charters.
In the fall of 1837, Brough was elected
by the Democracy to
represent the Fairfield-Hocking district
in the Ohio house of rep-
resentatives, receiving a majority of
1,422 votes. At that time
he was but 26 years of age, but so
marked and generally recog-
nized was his ability that he was made
chairman of the im-
portant committee on banks and currency.
This distinction he
owed in part to the fact that his party
was dominant, but it was
certainly a personal triumph that of the
38 Democrats in the
house, he, so young and at the very
beginning of his active leg-
islative career, should be placed at the
head of a committee into
John Brough. 45
whose hands the most important
legislation of the session was
to be given.
Governor Shannon, in his inaugural
address a few days
after the legislative session of 1838-9
began, sounded the key-
note of party alarm at the general
financial conditions. He di-
rected attention to the mania of
speculation and the over-issue by
banks, saying that "almost the
entire circulating medium of the
state is composed of bank notes,"
which he described as "not
money, but promises to pay money."
He advocated a currency
of gold and silver coin and paper which
should be safe and
convertible into coin without loss. He
also proposed a long
corrective program including the
following: To increase the
liability of bank stock-holders; to
limit the power of banks to
contract and expand the currency at
will; to require banks to
redeem their notes when they have the
means of doing so; to
prohibit them from issuing notes of a
denomination less than $5;
to compel them to publish quarterly
sworn statements of their
business; to prohibit stock-holders from
borrowing money out
of their own banks; to prohibit the
issue of post notes; to pro-
vide penalties for banks that hereafter
suspend specie payments
or in any manner violate their charters;
to authorize courts of
chancery, on a bill filed by any one
interested, to restrain a bank
that had violated its charter or had
become insolvent from ex-
ercising its powers, and to appoint
trustees to take charge of all
the effects of the bank, collect claims
and pay creditors; to pro-
hibit, under suitable penalties the
establishment within the state
of any branch, office or agency of the
Bank of the United States,
and to make it a penal offense for any
director or stock-holder
of any bank in the state to purchase or
receive, directly or indi-
rectly, the notes of the bank in which
he is interested for less
than the face value for which they
purport to be issued. "The
policy of creating a United States Bank
to act as the fiscal agent
of the government, is," he said,
"more objectionable, in my judg-
ment than any other plan which has been
prepared for keeping
the public money. I view the creation of
an institution of this
kind as fraught with the most fatal
consequences to the liber-
ties, as well as the prosperity of the
people of this country, and
a violation of the constitution of the
United States." Contin-
46 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
uing, he maintained that from the time
when money is received
by the government to the time when it is
needed for public use,
it should remain in the hands of public
officers who shall give
bond and security and shall be subjected
to severe penalties for
misusing it.
It was a great task that Shannon
proposed to the legislature
in general and to John Brough's
committee in particular. But
Brough was ready for it. On the fourth
day of the session and
before the inaugural had been delivered,
he offered a resolution
requesting the auditor to report on the
condition of the banks in
the state. This, he followed, two days
later, with a resolution
instructing his own committee to inquire
what violations, if any,
there had been of the act to prohibit
the issue and circulation of
unauthorized bank paper. No one could
have done more than
did Brough to put Shannon's bank policy
into execution. He
immediately introduced a bill to
prohibit the issue and circula-
tion of small bank notes; and a little
later reported from his
committee a bill prohibiting the
establishment in Ohio of any
branch office or agency of the United
States Bank, or any bank
or corporation not incorporated by the
laws of Ohio. His com-
mittee was zealous in the cause of
reform, and the reports which
he, as chairman, made were, if at times
prolix, vigorous and
clear-cut. He argued that the state
banks had long resisted a
national bank and, having at last lost
in the struggle, had, partly
through its overmastering influence,
entered upon a financial
orgy in which "all considerations
of public welfare have been
discarded, all laws evaded and all
justice trampled under foot,
whenever either or all stood in the way
of the grasping and over-
reaching schemes of these moneyed
institutions." Further on in
the same report, he exclaimed:
"What cause, we would ask, have the
banks had to complain of the
people? None. Every indulgence has been
extended to them, even when,
by the results of their own acts, they
had no right to demand anything.
They have trodden down the laws of the
land, yet the people have for-
borne; they have violated their most
solemn obligations to the state and
community, yet the people have forborne;
they have been driven by the
wantonness of their own acts, to close
their doors and suffer their paper
to depreciate or die in the hands of the
holders, yet the people have for-
John Brough. 47
borne; they have assumed an attitude of
defiance and threatened to bring
pressure, panic and distress upon the
community, yet the people have not
raised the hand of violence against
them, nor attempted the 'vandal' act
of their annihilation. The people seek
reformation, not destruction, and
sooner or later it must be extended to
them."
With such invective as this Brough
assailed the evils that
Shannon pointed out, earning at once the
envy of some of his
fellow partisans and the ridicule of his
political antagonists.
But, however much they called him
demagogue, all were forced
to admit that he was terribly in
earnest.
Brough did not stop with denunciation,
he proposed refor-
mation. Wherever he smashed existing
things with his vehe-
ment rhetoric, he suggested a substitute
or a corrective. He
proposed a broader application of the
principle of individual lia-
bility, on the part of directors and
stock-holders, for the debts of
the banks, and a bill for that purpose
was introduced. He pro-
posed the establishment of a board of
bank commissioners, and
such a board was created, with power to
supervise all banking
institutions and see to it that they
observed the law, and that
the interests of the public were in all
legal respects protected.
He pressed to passage the bill
prohibiting the operation in the
state of any branch of the United States
Bank. He scented a
loss to the state through the payment of
interest on the canal
debt in depreciated bank paper, and
introduced a resolu-
tion which was adopted and revealed a
deplorable condition
of affairs. He fought the practice of
issuing bank notes payable
on a future date-a practice by which
banks were taking from
their borrowers interest on their own
paper, payable six, nine
and twelve months after date and bearing
no interest, and with
the further and more important result of
depreciating still more
the character of bank paper. He
reported, after committee in-
quiry, that the state has inherent power
to tax bank capital and
urged that the existing tax on dividends
be transferred to capi-
tal. He advocated and voted for an
anti-usury bill, which was
defeated.
While the state administration and the
legislature were thus
operating to reform the banks, a
considerable element, chiefly
Whigs, was clamoring for a state bank as
an institution which
48 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
would give to finances the stability so
much needed. Petitions
from this element reached the
legislature and were naturally re-
ferred to Brough's committee. He might
have pigeonholed these
petitions which were addressed to a
hostile body. But he did
not, and this ought to be taken as an
evidence of his entire sin-
cerity and his zeal in a cause which he
believed to be right. In
a voluminous report on these petitions,
he said that there was
something in the idea that the state
might as well profit by the
banking business as to give the gain to
individuals; but the pro-
ject was, on the whole, objectionable
because, first, of the crea-
tion of a vast money power with great
influence in public af-
fairs; second, of the difficulty of
keeping it out of the hands of
the dominant party as a weapon, and,
third, of the impropriety of
the state raising and investing capital
and managing intricate
and hazardous banking operations.
Other petitions for an increase in
banking facilities, Brough
also treated at some length in the same
report. He feared that
"the mania for banking now
prevalent has very little to do with
mere facilities of trade;" he
characterized it, instead, as specu-
lative and inveighed against it, as he
did against all get-rich-
quick schemes and fictitious values.
"The fixed and settled prin-
ciples of natural and animal economy
that all sudden and un-
natural growths are but evidences of a
diseased state," he said,
"applies with no less force to all
the walks of business, the rise of
cities and towns and the prosperity of
states." "We turn," he
said, further on, "with a ready ear
to the demands which are
made in the name of commercial greatness
and wealth, while the
voice of labor and industry falls with
the dull sound of a heavy,
tedious tale; we dwell with greedy eyes
upon the picture which
self-interest too frequently gilds with
the brightness of public
advantage and prosperity, while the
great interests of the greater
mass, whose capital is toil and whose
dividend and speculation
its reward and return, are looked upon
as mere shadowing of the
picture, put in to fill up the
background, and ofttimes, we are
prone to conceive, with unseemly
taste." If that sounds soph-
omoric, here is something that bumps the
earth at least once or
twice:
John Brough. 49
"The only safe criterion by which to judge of the necessity for an increase of banking facilities is the close application of our present means to the trade, commerce and business of our state. It is vain and delusive to argue the necessity of increase from the 'demand,' in the usual accep- tation of the term. The increase of bank money only increases the |
|
means of its expenditure in speculation or in extravagance, and, increase as far and fast as you will, the cry will still be that of the hungry leech, 'Give, give!'"
Concluding this phase of the report, he says that "the change which will in some measure result from the several acts passed this winter for the reformation of the banking system will effect a reduction in the present circulation and a diminution of the Vol. XIII-4. |
50 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
facilities afforded banks;" but he
hopes the change will be ac-
cepted by the banks in good part and
that they will withdraw
from speculation and devote their means
to legitimate trade,
adding that, if they do not, the
creation of additional capital or
the perfection of another system will be
imperious on the legis-
lature.
Brough was one of the most active
members of the legis-
lature. His work as chairman of the
committee on banking and
currency, arduous as it must have been,
did not exhaust his
energy; and the records show that he
participated in all the
important debates and was rarely absent
at the taking of a vote.
His opinions were most positive and his
support of them most
determined-so much so that he, more than
any other member
of the majority party, became the target
of the opposition.
One of the subjects before the
legislature that winter was
the negro question-the rights of those
blacks who lived in
Ohio and the duty of the state toward
those who had escaped
from slavery in the South. Abolitionists
were comparatively few
but very active, and were loved by
neither of the great parties.
They were generally held to be
mischief-breeders whose activity
was weakening the Union and injuring,
most of all, those whom
they sought to set free. Brough, it is
interesting to note, in view
of his later career, shared this
sentiment and gave free ex-
pression to it. The question arose on
the presentation of peti-
tions from negro residents for the
removal of the existing legal
disabilities. Brough met this appeal by
introducing the following
resolution which was adopted:
"That the blacks and mulattoes who
may be residents within the
state have no constitutional right to
present their petitions to the general
assembly for any purpose whatever, and
that any reception of such peti-
tions, on the part of the general
assembly, is a mere act of privilege or
policy, and not imposed by any expressed
or implied power of the con-
stitution."
Brough voted, not only for this, but for
other resolutions
maintaining the rights of the several
states, declaring that con-
gress has no jurisdiction over the
institution of slavery, asserting
that agitation of the slavery question
was a violation of the faith
John Brough. 51
which ought to exist among the states,
denouncing the plans of
the abolitionists as impracticable and
dangerous and declaring
that it was unwise to repeal the laws
imposing disabilities upon
negroes. Nevertheless, his views on the question were more
advanced than those of most of the
politicians of the day. He
had been thinking and he saw the right.
In one of his speeches
he said:
"I am no friend to slavery. I wish
most ardently that it had never
existed, or that we had some means of
ridding ourselves of it; but I
regard these philanthropists as the
worst enemies of the slave. Neither
do I wish to restrict or injure any of
the rights and privileges which the
blacks already enjoy in our state. They
have the protection of our laws
in their lives and property and, when
left to their own action, are dis-
posed to be grateful. They would never
have sought the notoriety which
is given to them here; they would never of
themselves have dreamed
of violation of their rights or
restriction of their privileges, but for the
instigation of wicked men who might
learn, with benefit to themselves,
the principle of gratitude and regard
for protection bestowed, of those
over whose bleeding rights they shed so
many hypocritical tears."
In another speech he said:
"Already has the question of
abolition shaken the fair fabric of our
freedom from center to center-aye, sir,
it has rocked it till brave and
good men have looked on with mingled
feelings of dread and admiration
-dread lest the next convulsion should
rend it in ruins, and admiration
that the noble structure has so well
withstood the assaults directed against
its most pregnable part. I would not
speak lightly of the danger of this
Union, or allude carelessly to the fear
of its dissolution; but, if ever that
bond be rent asunder, if chaos come
again over the bright hopes and
prospects of the friends of human
freedom throughout the earth, the
besom of that destruction will have been
hurled and guided by the reck-
less spirit of fanaticism that broods in
darkness and gloom over our
happy land.
"The states of the south are
looking to their sisters of the confed-
eracy with weary and anxious eyes. They
ask us to let them alone in
their domestic relations; they beseech
us not to trample with rude feet
upon the rights which they have acquired
under the constitution. What
shall we say to them by our action here?
Shall we hold out to them the
empty mockery of friendship and
neutrality, while at the same time we
do an act which must put our professions
to the blush? Shall we say
to them that we seek no interference
with your domestic relations, that
we do not interfere with your property
in your slaves nor their allegi-
52 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ance to their masters, while at the same
time we elevate this class of peo-
ple in our own state to our own rights
and privileges, admit them within
our legislative halls and acknowledge
their rights as citizens to instruct
us, their representatives in the course
of our duty? This would be mock-
ery, indeed! How it would add to the
security of the slave-holder who
is cursed (for I regard it as a curse)
with the care and possession of
property of this kind!
"The doings of wicked men have
already planted apprehension and
agony where peace and security reigned
before. The Virginian, the Ken-
tuckian, the Carolinian are ever haunted
by the terrors of servile insur-
rection. As we regard our own high
character, as we love the union of
these states, as we respect and would
protect the lives and property of
our southern brethren, let us not as a
state join in this unholy warfare."
Those words were spoken in 1838.
Twenty-three years later
the terrible reality of that prophetic
vision presented itself. Then
the conservative Brough had disappeared
and the aggressive
Brough had taken his place. Finding that
the Union could not
be preserved by conciliation, he gave himself
heart and soul to its
preservation by force.
Brough was elected auditor of state by
the legislature, as
the custom then was, February 8, 1839, for three years from
March 15, 1839. On the latter date, the
house of representatives
adopted resolutions which, after
humorously recognizing "the
unpleasant situation into which John
Brough has been forced
by his friends against his own wishes
and expectations," to-
gether with the "necessity either
to abandon the people who
sent him to the legislature or the
office to which the legislature
appointed him," cordially thanked
him for the "able and indefati-
gable manner in which he has carried out
the great measures of
reform in which the present general
assembly has been engaged."
Thus, three days before the end of the
session, Brough's
legislative career ended. Taking a leading part at the very
opening of the session, he maintained it
to the end. The Whigs
had ridiculed him when they could and
feared him as a political
opponent all the time. Frank and
masterful, he had made ene-
mies in his own party. He was ambitious,
of course, but not
beyond his deserts. He had a mind for
finance; he thought deep
and spoke well. He was industrious,
business like and clever.
His ambition to be auditor was mentioned
in the newspapers
John Brough. 53
as soon as the session began, and it may
have been to prove his
worth that he had sought the
chairmanship of the committee
on banking and currency. A hostile press
early dubbed him the
"chancellor of the exchequer,"
even as it referred to the house
of which he was a member as
"Brough's department." He
was
accused of rank partisanship, and his
oratory was likened to the
"roaring of a gored buffalo."
But neither ridicule nor abuse
seriously affected him. He knew what he
wanted to do and
proceeded to do it and in the doing
excited so much admiration
that, at the time of his election as
auditor, his severest critics
in candor admitted that he would make an
efficient officer.
Though by his election as auditor Brough
was removed
from the swifter partisan currents, he
was by no means oblit-
erated. He had identified himself with a
financial policy that the
Whigs abhorred and continued to be a
target for their campaign
practice. Shannon in his second message
had swung just far
enough back toward the Whig financial
idea to excite some Demo-
cratic criticism. It was, therefore, thought that there would
be some opposition to his renomination,
and the political specula-
tors of Whig faith early surmised that
Brough would be the
choice of the anti-Shannon men. "He
will be a hard man to
beat," they said, "but the
Whigs of Ohio must not permit them-
selves to be frightened, even by John
Brough." The gossips
followed him to Cincinnati, whither he
went, as auditor, to get
specie to pay the interest on the public
debt; and in his every
movement and even in his silence, they
found evidence of the
correctness of their guess. Referring to
Brough as the "Jupiter
Tonans of Ohio Locofocoism," the Ohio
State Journal on
Christmas day, 1839, thus gave him
standing:
"While a member of the house, he
stood forward, the very head
and front, the champion, the directing
spirit of the Bentonian party in
Ohio. There was his small bill law, his
bank commissioner law, his law
against the paper issues of the Bank of
the United States. Wherever credit
and confidence were susceptible of a
stab, there did Mr. Brough stab.
He succeeded but too well. There was a
pliant legislature at his heels and
he made the most of his power. Some have
vainly supposed that he has
been shorn of his locks. It is not true.
There are, it is true, men of his
own party-his former friends and
co-laborers in the work of the Ben-
tonian frenzy-who now wish to hurl him
from his high estate. They
54
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
wish to make room for themselves and
they, therefore, seek his destruc-
tion; but take our solemn word for it-as
long as Locofocoism has an
abiding place in Ohio, Mr. Brough will
be its master spirit."
Brough allowed the governorship gossip
to go on till it
ceased to amuse him and then he knocked
down the house of
cards with a communication in which he
explained that he was
not a candidate for governor and could
not be since he had not
yet reached the constitutional age of
30. He was then but 28.
Shannon was renominated for governor,
January 8, 1840,
with none of the predicted opposition.
On the following Febru-
ary 22, Thomas Corwin,
then a member of the house of represen-
tatives at Washington, was nominated for
governor by the
Whigs and resigned his seat to accept.
Then with William
Henry Harrison and Martin Van Buren
contending for the
presidency, the great campaign of 1840
began. Brough took
the stump for Shannon and Van Buren and,
as usual in what-
ever he undertook, made himself
conspicuous to all and ob-
noxious to those he opposed. He gave and
took many hard
blows and, if possible, still more
embittered the Whig sentiment
against him. While he was absent from
his office on speaking
tours, the Whig press clamored for his
return to the duties
which he had been elected to perform and
sharply criticised the
management of his office. But they
brought him back only
occasionally to answer their charges,
generally with success.
Now and then a Democratic editor,
probably moved by jealousy,
joined in the hue and cry against Brough
for having a private
as well as a public occupation; and
every such recruit, one may
be sure, brought joy to his Whig
critics. The success of the
Whig state and national tickets, in
opposition to all that Brough
had urged on the stump, aggravated
rather than decreased the
Whig antipathy for Brough. When it
became known that he was
casting about for another newspaper and
had actually bought
one the clamor against him for alleged
neglect of his official
duties was renewed, and there was even a
suggestion that the
legislature should declare the office of
auditor vacant. Another
phase of the clamor is revealed in the
following from a Whig
paper of the time:
John Brough. 55
"Rarely does the editor go to the
State House without seeing
Brough in one house or the other,
passing away the time for which the
state grants him a large remuneration,
idly or in private intercourse with
members, and under the circumstances
calculated to excite the suspicion
that he improperly intermeddles in
affairs of legislation and seeks to con-
trol it for personal or political
motives."
Thus, according to his critics, whether
Brough was on the
stump, or in Cincinnati, or in the
legislative halls, he was in
the wrong place; and when he was at his
desk in the auditor's
office, he was being paid too much
money. All this is inter-
esting for it shows what a veritable
thorn in the Whig flesh
John Brough was. When Brough ventured to
reply that he was
quite as constant in his attendance upon
his duties as was Gov-
ernor Corwin, it was retorted that no
governor had ever spent
all his time in Columbus and that
"the governor hasn't even an
office here, burrowing with the fund
commissioners when in the
city,"-an answer, by the way, which
is more interesting as a bit
of history than as an argument.
It was in the spring of 1841 that Brough
and his brother
Charles H. (who had just retired from the
legislature) bought
the Cincinnati Advertiser, an
established Democratic paper,
changed the name to the Enquirer and
announced that the paper
would "sustain the principles and
policy of the great Democratic
party and act, hand in hand, with the
Democracy of Hamilton
county." The paper continued in
their hands until 1848, and
exerted an influence in politics not
less than it does to-day under
another management.
The possession of an important newspaper
increased
Brough's strength as a political factor
and brought him more
than ever into the public view. Though
he had announced that
the Enquirer would support the
principles of the Democratic
party, he reserved the right to
criticise members of the party
when their conduct did not accord with
his judgment, and that
right he exercised as vigorously as he
had ever done before.
More than all else, he seemed to be the
defender of the financial
policy which he had as legislator helped
to establish, and when
he found Democratic candidates or
legislators departing from
that policy, he punished them with his
invective.
56 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
From criticism
of Brough for absenteeism in 1840, his foes
passed, in 1842 to
criticism of him as an autocrat in office. In-
stead of making him a
less figure, their assaults seemed to be
making him a greater,
and there is a strong flavor of desperation
in the following
indictment against him which appeared in an
editorial in one of
the Whig papers of the day:
"The constitution
strips the governor of nearly all power and
patronage and, in comparison
with the powers of other governors, ren-
ders that high
functionary but little more than a cipher. But power in
a political community
must exist somewhere, and in Ohio it is fast clus-
tering in the hands of
a subordinate of the executive department, whose
tenure of office is
independent of the popular favor and is by a year
greater than the
governor's. * * Mr. Brough's predecessors have not
aspired to a
concentration of all powers in their hands, but have been
content to pocket
their salaries and perform their simple duties without
encroachments upon
other departments. * * But the present incumbent
perceives that the
office of auditor is really the highest and most im-
portant in the state,
and he is determined to make it still more efficient.
It is through his
influence, therefore, that the board of fund commis-
sioners has been
abolished and another created, of which he has been
constituted the life
and soul. * * When the fund commissioners' board
was first established,
its duties were considered to be of such a nature
that they could not be
mixed up with the affairs of the auditor's office,
but the present
auditor thinks otherwise; and he has been gratified in
his ambition to have
the whole power of the board imposed on his hands.
"Mr. Brough has
made some large strides, this winter, toward
monopolizing official
places and placing himself conspicuously before the
public. He found means
to crowd himself into the board of trustees of
the Ohio university;
he got himself elected a trustee of the Blind asylum,
and finally persuaded
the legislature to vest in his hands, in effect, all
the powers and duties
devolved upon the fund commissioners. In his
last capacity, he is
now absent among the money kings of Wall street to
try his hand at
financiering, whilst his proper duties are neglected at
home. How
insignificant has the office of governor become beside this
new Colossus of the
executive department of the government. * * In-
deed, the grasping
disposition and accumulating official influence of the
auditor of state has
alarmed the jealousies of some of his own friends
who, apprehensive of
the manner in which it is suspected the last may
be employed, have
begun to call attention thereto."
To this, another paper
adds that "he (Brough) has now and
for years past has
possessed the power to tax the people heavy
or light, as suits his
sovereign will and pleasure- a power too
John Brough. 57
dangerous to remain in the hands of any man, no matter how pure he may be, and which rightfully belongs to the law-making power of the state." The same paper refers to Brough as a "mere politician," and expresses the opinion that the auditor should be robbed of four-fifths of his immense power. There was in all this something more serious than per- sonal or party opposition, something radically different from the assumed alarm at the concentration of power. That something, |
|
Governor Dennison in later years called repudiation. It took the form of an effort to keep down the taxes which would have re- sulted in a failure to meet the canal debt interest and in the de- feat of a proposed loan to complete the public works. This spirit had its expression in the legislature of 1843 when it was |
58 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
sought to add to the appropriation bill
an amendment prohib-
iting the auditor from levying a greater
rate of taxation for
canal purposes than was levied in 1842.
That would have kept
the levy down to 23/4 mills, whereas a 5-mill levy was necessary
to meet the canal obligations. Only 17
representatives and four
senators voted for the amendment and it
was defeated. The
battle had been fought and won. The ease
of the victory, how-
ever, did not prevent alarm in financial
circles, and Brough's mis-
sion to New York, whither he went to
place an additional loan
of $1,500,000 was not an easy one. The
state's paper was sell-
ing at 67 cents on the dollar, and there
was a marked indisposi-
tion, on the part of capitalists, to
risk more money in a state where
the repudiation spirit had appeared even
in so mild a form. But
Brough was not to be discouraged. The
commission, of which
he was rightfully enough said to be the
head, went personally
to the capitalists and laid before them
a circular in which the
weakness of the repudiation movement was
fully exposed. The
proposition before the legislature and
the votes in each house for
it were set forth, the financial
condition of the state was re-
vealed and the plan of levying taxes to
meet the interest on the
debt was explained. The auditor made an
excellent impression
in New York, as the prints of the day
show, and some of his
bitterest critics at home, finding how
their previous comments
had hampered him and actually
misrepresented their own real
purposes, hastened to condemn at home
the repudiation that he
was fighting in New York. After a
month's labor, Brough
succeeded in placing $600,000 of the
proposed loan at 7 per cent.,
giving an option on the remaining
$900,000. That, too, was
taken, all at par. Thus the crisis in
Ohio finances had been suc-
cessfully passed, thanks to an honest
legislature, but thanks, also,
to the sturdy auditor, whose critics at
times thought he was doing
too little and at other times that he
was doing too much for the
state.
Brough's reports as auditor are an
interesting study. They
are precisely what might be expected
from a man who had played
so important and conservative a role in
the legislature. There
he had sought to stay mad speculation
and restore the currency
to a sound basis; here he did what he
could to punish official dis-
John Brough. 59
honesty, prevent extravagance, secure
the payment to the state
of all that was justly due it and to
defeat repudiation. When he
became auditor, the state debt was $12,500,000; when he
left
the office six years later, the debt was
nearly $20,000,000, but
the canals had been completed and nearly
half a million had been
invested in the stock of railroads, the
then new mode of trans-
portation. That the increase would have
been greater under a
less watchful auditor is probably true.
His admonitions were
often disregarded, if not resented, by
the legislature; but his re-
peated protests must have been in some
measure a check upon
expenditure.
In his first report, Brough urged the
legislature to stop ex-
penditures until "some of our
numerous public works shall as-
sume a productive character." He
pointed out lands that were
evading taxation, exposed school fund
defalcations and indi-
cated banks that were delinquent in
taxes. The energy of his
executive work is shown in the fact that
the amount of tax ar-
rearages paid in jumped in one year from
$400 to $5,000, while
the school fund defalcations made good
amounted to $12,000.
He sounded the alarm again in 1840.
Urging economy on
a legislature which had increased the
debt by two and a half mil-
lions, he argued that a public debt is
not a public blessing in a
republic, though it might be in a
monarchy, by holding the peo-
ple together and preventing revolution.
Said he:
"The accumulative character of
public burdens is one of the most
serious diseases by which the vitality
of free institutions can be attacked;
for no generation will do more than to
change the character of these
burdens, removing them from one position
to another where they will be
more easily borne, until at length the
confidence and satisfaction of the
public mind are destroyed and public
liberty, weakened by long continued
endurance, sinks beneath the weight of
accumulated grievances, a vic-
tim to the power of money which has subverted
it under the guise of
public good."
1841 he repeated his warning as to the
debt, which he found
still increasing. He reported continued
embarrassment through
the suspension of banks, whose currency,
since the national gov-
ernment would not take it for postage,
had to be exchanged for
60 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
specie at a loss. The revenues from the
public works had fal-
len off and there were defalcations in
canal tolls amounting to
15,420.
The turnpike companies, too, were misbehaving and
received a severe and probably just
excoriation. The one bright
spot in the report was the collection of
$11,768 back taxes. It is
interesting to note that in this report
Brough suggested to the
legislature the creation of the office
of attorney general that the
state might have always at its command
an officer to promote
and guard its interests in the courts.
In 1842, he reported that the public
debt had increased
$1,500,000, that the annual interest
charge was $950,000 and the
deficit in interest was $281,650. In this report
he took up the
question of taxation and urged the
appraisement of all taxable
property at its actual cash value.
In 1843 he advocated a better law
governing the sale of land
for taxes and the granting of deeds to
the same. He argued at
length that the power of the state was
ample and its right mani-
fest. It was, he urged, unjust to sell
one man's chattels uncon-
ditionally and withhold the penalty from
another who owns land.
It was an indignity to the state to
permit land-owners to refuse
just tribute and mock the commonwealth.
How the taxdodgers
must have writhed under his lash!
Again and again he called attention to
the increase in the
public debt, the interest on which had
grown to $1,000,000 per
annum, $600,000 of which had to be
raised by direct taxation be-
cause the public works were unfinished
and unproductive. But
the state debt, he pointed out, was not
one-third the burden; the
greater portion was made up of county,
township, road, poor
and other charges. Blame, he insisted,
could not be laid at the
door of the civil administration of the
state, for its cost was less
than $200,000 a year. "You may look
in vain," he said, "over
the states of the union for an instance
of even half our popula-
tion, our territory, our interests, our
business character and re-
lations, our trade or our commerce,
being governed with the
same
expenditure."
"Considerations of duty," however,
prompted him to say that the
expenditures for repairs on the
canals were disproportionately large,
that there were too many
officers and retainers, too much
favoritism and too little economy
John Brough. 61
and accountability. Recurring to the
debt, the nightmare of
which seemed to be ever with him, Brough
wrote in conclusion:
"In relation to the debt in the
aggregate, now that our works are
completed, sound policy requires that
here it should be stayed. * * Our
ability to sustain what we now have is
undoubted; it is the increase
which will again prostrate our credit
for the reason that, whilst it will
add to our obligations, it will at the
same time violate our faith. It is
useless to multiply words on this theme.
Prudence, discretion, sound
financial policy are no longer arguments
that enter into the consideration
of the subject. It is now the stern
command of duty-duty to the state,
its honor and its faith which are yet
untarnished, and duty to its people
who have thus far borne the burdens
without repining, and whose hon-
esty and integrity have spurned the very
idea of repudiation. To the
requirements of that duty, thus imposed
by the state and the people you
represent, I am convinced that you will
not turn a deaf ear. Be firm in
this, and the character of our great
state will be maintained; whilst the
accumulating revenues upon our great
works will gradually relieve our
people of the taxation that now rests
upon them. Depart from it, and the
end is at hand. It is written in a few
words-a state dishonored and a
constituency disgraced."
In his last report as auditor, made in
1844, Brough was still
urging reforms, the chief of which were
the adoption of the
principle of a cash valuation as a basis
for taxation and the
enactment of more efficient laws for the
sale of delinquent lands.
It was a splendid service that Brough
performed as auditor.
If there was grudging recognition of it
at the time, it was not
always so. The words of William
Dennison, the first of Ohio's
war governors, spoken at the Brough
memorial services, August
30, 1865 are here pertinent:
"It has fallen to the lot of few
men to perform such a financial
service as Brough performed while
auditor. Eighteen hundred and forty-
two was the gloomy year in Ohio finance.
Charters of banks were ex-
piring by limitation; banks were
preparing to close up their affairs and
draw in their debts; and to that extent
the community was denied the
currency it had formerly enjoyed and was
under serious apprehension as
to what would be the condition of the
state after the banks should close.
Added to this and of graver moment was
the fact of the state being then
under a large public debt, accruing out
of the construction of the public
works. A considerable portion of the
works was unfinished and other
portions, finished, were yielding little
toward the cost of their construc-
tion. * * The duty then devolved upon
Brough, in connection with
62 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
the commissioners of the sinking fund,
to devise ways and means of
meeting the accruing indebtedness of the
state. He could have accom-
plished this, it may be, without any
extraordinary effort, if there had not
been another evil intervening that was
even more alarming than those to
which I have adverted. It was the
threatened spirit of repudiation in
Ohio. * * The course of Governor Brough
in this matter did more
than anything else to save the good name
of the state.
"Prior to 1842 there was no proper
system of taxation in Ohio.
Assessments were made without any system
or rule, not according to the
value of the property, but according to
the whim or caprice of the as-
sessor. Brough discerned the necessity
of a radical change in the sys-
tem. He then announced as the only just
principle of taxation that
which has been incorporated in the
financial policy of Ohio-that of as-
sessing all property according to its
true value in money. Very much of
the financial prosperity of Ohio is
attributable to the recognition and es-
tablishment of that principle in our
financial policy."
By the election of 1844, the Whigs
gained a sweeping vic-
tory. They elected Mordecai Bartley
governor and gained con-
trol of both houses of the legislature,
insuring the election of a
Whig United States senator and a Whig
auditor of state. Over
no part of the victory was there more
gloating than over the
certainty of now being able to displace
Brough. John Greiner,
the Whig song-writer and campaign singer
delighted his friends
with a post-election song on the sailing
up Salt river of the Loco
steamer, "Governor Tod." A
part of it follows:
"Her noble commander is Medary, the
great,
And his worthy friend, Hamar, the
red-headed mate;
For fear they'd run foul of the bank in
their zeal,
Old gimlet-eyed Tappan takes charge of
the wheel,
And to keep the boat trim for Polk and
for Dallas,
They threw Jack Brough into the hold for
the ballast."
On January 30, 1845, the legislature
elected John Wood
auditor, the vote standing: John Wood
52, John Brough 34,
blank and scattering 8. In welcoming Mr.
Wood as auditor,
a Whig organ, which had periodically for
years expressed a keen
apprehension that Brough was not earning
his salary, said:
John Brough. 63
"With a paltry salary attached to
the office-one hardly worthy of
a clerkship, wholly unworthy of the
state and disproportioned to the
labors and responsibilities of the
place-the people of Ohio, as well as
those abroad feeling an interest in the
management of our affairs, have
reason to congratulate themselves on
being able to secure the services
of so able an officer."
Brough transferred the office to his
successor, March 15,
and retired to private life after ten
years of strenuous politics.
The Whig press followed him out with
jibes and indulged in
much raillery when he went to
Washington, as they reported,
looking for a place under the Polk
administration. There is no
tangible evidence that Brough went to
Washington as a place-
hunter; he probably had in the Cincinnati
Enquirer a private
business that laid claims to all his
time and efforts. His acqui-
sition of that paper was no accident,
but, instead, was probably
part of a well-laid plan for profitable
and congenial occupation
when he and political office should
part.
Brough now transferred his headquarters
to Cincinnati
where he continued, in association with
his brother Charles, to
publish the Enquirer. His liking
for finance and his high execu-
tive qualities naturally led him,
however, into the railroad busi-
ness then developing; and in 1853,
having in the meantime sold
the Enquirer, he was elected
president of the Madison & Indian-
apolis railway. He continued in this
business up to and after the
breaking out of the civil war and in the
early days of that great
conflict contributed greatly to the
Union cause by facilitating
the transportation of troops. In this
service, which he performed
with his customary zeal, he again loomed
up in the public eye.
His sterling qualities were recalled,
and those who felt the need
of a strong man at the helm of state
instinctively turned to him.
Two years of the fierce struggle had
passed and the union arms
had not achieved the expected victory.
Some hitherto ardent
defenders of the Union were grown
lukewarm; those who had
at first hesitated were now sure that
the Union could not be saved.
Failure in the field had bred something
very like treason at home.
Ohio needed a strong leader, but not
more so than did the nation
need the help of a thoroughly loyal
Ohio. Brough was aflame
with zeal for the Union cause and was
invited to speak to his
64 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
former fellowtownsmen at Marietta. He
accepted the invitation
and on June 1O, 1863, delivered a
stirring speech before the
largest audience that had ever gathered
in Washington county.
In the course of that speech he
arraigned some of his old party
associates on the score of disloyalty,
declared that slavery was
destroyed by the very act of rebellion
and earnestly appealed to
all patriots, regardless of former party
adherence, to unite
against the insurgents of the
South. His vigorous words
reached every corner of the state and
found repetition far be-
yond its borders. They were a trumpet
call to duty and stayed
the mental retreat as no other single
incident of the year had
done. What had been a request for
Brough's candidacy now
became a demand. He had not sought
leadership, but he could
no longer refuse it. A week later he was
nominated as the Re-
publican Union candidate for governor
and in the following Oc-
tober was elected over Clement L.
Vallandigham, the Democratic
candidate, by a majority of 101,099.
The story of that campaign and the term
of service that
followed it would itself fill a book. It
must suffice here to say
that this victory was the wild joy of
the time and has been the
pride of every succeeding year. In his
"Ohio in the War," Mr.
Whitelaw Reid says:
"It is no mere figure of speech to
say that the eyes of the nation
were upon Ohio, as her sons at home and
in the field cast their ballots.
It was felt that on the result at the
polls hung the fate of the Union.
It was Brough and Union or Vallandigham
and disunion. As Ohio
should decide, other states would be apt
to decide. Ohio voted that
October day and a mighty victory was won
for the Union-as mighty as
any that had yet been won by bullet,
shell and bayonet. Brough was
elected by the unheard of plurality of
101,099. Of this the home majority
was 61,920. Of the 43,755 votes cast by
the soldiers in the field, only 2,288
were given to Vallandigham. Of the
citizens who remained at home,
180,000 voted for Vallandigham.
Startling figures which it is well to
remember. How many are the
faint-hearted! How error spreads and
takes root in spite of Truth's most
earnest efforts!"
Thus the occasion found the man and
Brough found his
last and greatest opportunity. Brough was inaugurated gov-
ernor, January 11 , 1864, and entered
upon his work declaring
John Brough. 65
that there were but two ways in which
the war could end-
unconditional surrender by the South, or
the absolute destruc-
tion of the military power of the South.
His first recommen-
dation to the legislature bore upon the
welfare of the families
of the soldiers in the field. A tax was
already being levied for
the maintenance of these dependents but
the governor insisted
that it was not half large enough; and
the legislature, though
it hesitated to go as far as he
indicated, did pass a bill levying a
tax of two mills on the dollar and
permitting county commis-
sioners to add another mill and city
councils to add half a mill
more.
Having secured this measure of relief, Brough pro-
ceeded with his customary zeal to see
that the officers whose
business it was to distribute the relief
performed their full duty.
Where he found them derelict--and there
were not a few fla-
grant instances of the kind - he
relentlessly pursued them with
all the forces at his command, exposed
them and deprived them
of their power. When he found that with
all his watchfulness
and zeal, the fund was still too small
to meet all needs, he made
an appeal to private charity with
excellent results.
This care of the soldiers' families was
fairly supplemented
by his jealous watchcare of the soldiers
themselves. When he
took office the state had its own relief
agencies in different parts
of the country conveniently near the
armies. On his recommen-
dation the number of these was increased
and special pains were
taken to make them efficient. They were
the ministering hands
of the state and, while they were
carrying comforts to Ohio
troops, they were also answering
thousands of queries about
them from the dear ones at home. This
beneficent work was
not prosecuted without clashings with
similar agencies of national
scope. The officers of these latter
perhaps naturally thought
that all relief should pass through
their hands, but the governor
would not leave the matter to them and
there was much acri-
monious correspondence with regard to
it, in the most of which
the governor was considerate but
immovable from his purpose
to make the Ohio soldiers in the field
the state's special care.
The hospitals, too, were brought under
his inspection and
the sick or wounded Ohio soldier found
in Brough the sternest
kind of a champion. Neglect or
maltreatment was the occasion
Vol. XIII-5.
66 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
of instant protest, made with such vigor
that correction promptly
followed. He demanded for Ohio's sick
and wounded soldiers
not only the best medical and surgical
attention, but also good
food and removal to hospitals within the
state at the earliest
possible date. Everywhere he insisted on
service unmarred by
the delays of red tape. To this untiring
watchfulness was due
much of the superior comfort of the Ohio
soldiers and to it many
of the wounded may attribute early
recovery, probably life itself.
But there was still another phase of
Brough's usefulness
in that last year of the war - his
splendid aid in recruiting the
armies already in the field. The cry was
for more men. The
critical moment in the war had arrived
and it was proposed to
overwhelm the Confederate armies, at the
same time protecting
the borders against incursions. It was
believed that the thing
could be done, if at all, in three
months, and the project of the
100-days men was devised. At Brough's
suggestion there was
a conference of the governors of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Wis-
consin and Iowa, as a result of which
85,000 such men were of-
fered to the government-30,000 of them
by Ohio. Ohio's quota
was raised by the appointed time, at
what expenditure of energy
by the military officials of the state
it is not easy to estimate and
at what personal sacrifice on the part
of the recruits may never
be known. But it was done and done
nobly, and none was more
prompt and generous in praise of those
who did it than Brough.
Meanwhile the regular drafts were being
made and were being
attended by remarkable manifestations of
disloyalty. Bounties,
together with bribery and trickery were
doing their worst, and
an organization known as the "Order
of American Knights" or
the "Sons of Liberty" was
formed to resist the draft. Brough
learned of the organization and fathomed
its purpose and plans
by sending secret agents among them.
Having got this informa-
tion, he proceeded resolutely to
undermine the organization and
succeeded, with the inspiring influence
of the soldiers then re-
turning from the field, in thwarting
their purpose without blood-
shed. All this was accomplished by
strengthening the prison
and arsenal guards, arresting the
ringleaders of the organization
and seizing large quantities of arms
known to belong to the
organization.
John Brough. 67
With the aid of the 100-day men not all
was done that it
was hoped to do, but that was not their
fault, nor the fault of
the governor who suggested the service.
They served admirably
and at the end of the period of their
enlistment were discharged
with the thanks of President Lincoln.
While they were per-
forming the duties to which they were
assigned, Brough was
fighting still another battle-this one,
over the system of pro-
motion among the Ohio troops. Hitherto
there had been no
system of promotions. Brough could not
work without one and
he early decided that he would promote
regimental officers to
vacancies according to seniority of
service therein except in
cases of intemperance. He would give
every man a chance and
leave it to the regiment to rid itself
of incompetents. This set
the governor at odds with the commanding
officers of the regi-
ments because it took away their power
to recommend for pro-
motion.
Whatever the justice or injustice of the governor's
system, it provoked a long and
acrimonious controversy which
resulted in an organization of the
regimental officers and their
friends to defeat the governor for
renomination. It embittered
his last days without moving him one jot
or tittle from his po-
sition, and brought the administration
to an end which no one,
judging by the enthusiasm of its
beginning, would have predicted.
On February 20, 1865, Brough
wrote in the course of a long letter
to a friend:
"Personally, I am indifferent as to
the political consequences to
myself on account of this or any other
of my public acts. The most
earnest desire I have is to be permitted
to retire from a position I did
not seek and really involuntarily
assumed. I am equally indifferent as
to who may be my successor, though I
confess to some anxiety that he
shall be one who will make it a cardinal
principle not to put in the mili-
tary service or continue there officers
who disqualify themselves, by in-
temperate habits or immoral
conduct."
Added to the resentful antagonism of the
regimental offi-
cers was a certain unpopularity because
of his brusqueness.
Brough was no courtier. He was a plain,
blunt, honest and de-
termined man with some personal habits
which those who admired
68 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
him for integrity and his sterling
patriotism could not condone.
He was importuned, in spite of all these
things to make the
canvass for re-nomination; but, after
taking the matter under
consideration for a time, he declined in
a characteristically frank
statement, in the course of which he
used these words, so soon
to acquire significance:
"I very much doubt whether my
health-much impaired by close
confinement to official duties-would sustain
me through a vigorous cam-
paign; while increasing years and the
arduous labors of a long life in
public positions, strongly invite me to
retirement and repose during the
few years that may yet remain to
me."
It was about this time that, while
walking, he suffered a
severe sprain of the ankle and bruised
one of his feet. Owing
to the condition of his blood,
inflammation set in and he went to
his home in Cleveland, a very sick man.
He never returned to
Columbus. After a period of incredible
suffering, he died Au-
gust 29, 1865, four months before the
expiration of his term of
office. The deathbed scene is thus
described in a newspaper of
the time:
"On Monday evening at about 9
o'clock the governor wakened from
his insensibility in which he had lain
for some days and at the request
of his family who had gathered about his
bedside, Surgeon General Barr
informed him that all which human skill
could do for him had been at-
tempted and in vain, and that now he was
in the hands of Almighty
God. He could not live 48 hours. The
governor was greatly shocked at
this announcement and, looking General
Barr in the face, desired him to
repeat what he had said. General Barr
again stated that he had not 48
hours to live. The governor then
requested that all except his family and
General Barr should leave the room.
After this had been done, he con-
versed calmly and rationally with his
family for some time on private
family affairs.
"Turning to General Barr and apparently
addressing his remarks
more particularly to him, the governor
proceeded to speak of his religious
views and hopes. He said in substance
that he was no theologian and
had never made any profession of
religion. He had, however, always
endeavored to live honestly and
uprightly in his relations with his fellow-
men and he hoped and believed that he
had so done. He confessed that
he had sinned greatly, although he
denounced as false and slanderous the
rumors of his drunkenness and
licentiousness. But though he acknowl-
John Brough. 69
edged he had been a great sinner in the
sight of God, he stated that every
act of his in discharging his duty as
governor had been performed with
strict conscientiousness and with
prayerful regard to his responsibility,
not only to the country, but to God. He
also stated that he had never
gone to bed at night for 20 years
without first praying to God for forgive-
ness and protection, and that he died
penitently acknowledging his sins
and trusting in Christ for pardon.
"As he spoke the governor raised
his eyes, and as though death
lent supernatural keenness to him,
exclaimed that he saw the Mediator
standing on the right hand of the
Father, making intercession for his sins.
He concluded with the emphatic
declaration several times repeated, 'I die
happily and gloriously.' The scene was
deeply affecting and at the close
of it the governor put his arms around
the neck of General Barr and, with
deep emotion, thanked him for his care
and attention, expressing perfect
satisfaction with his medical treatment.
He then took his farewell of his
family. About midnight he relapsed into
insensibility which continued
without intermission until his
death."
"While death was upon him
remotely," said one of Brough's
eulogists, "for death respected his
great intellect and began to
devour him at the extremities - his
mind was upon the country
and all its interests. While death was gnawing away at his
feet, he was contemplating our country's
trials and the process
by which she might come safely through
them." Said another:
"In the death of Brough, my
judgment is that our state has
buried the most efficient intellect that
she has had upon her the-
ater for the last quarter of a
century. In most regards he was
the peer of the best; in many regards,
superior to any of the dis-
tinguished gentlemen I have ever known
in Ohio."
John Brough's remains lie in Greenwood
cemetery at Cleve-
land where they were buried after
services at the residence on
Prospect street, at the end of a day
marked by incessant rain
from early dawn to near sunset. In
Cleveland and in most cities
and villages of the state, business was
generally suspended from
10 to 3 o'clock, in compliance with the
request embodied in a
proclamation by Lieutenant Governor
Charles Anderson, who
succeeded to the office of governor and
filled it till the end of the
term.
Brough was twice married. The first Mrs.
Brough, whose
maiden name was Pruden, died at
Lancaster, O., after bearing
two children, John and Mary, both of
whom are still living.
70
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The second Mrs. Brough was Caroline
Nelson, of Columbus,
Five children were the result of this
union, only one of whom is
now living, Mrs. E. B. Gerard, of
Cincinnati. The second Mrs.
Brough survived the governor a quarter
of a century and marked
with a monument his last resting place.
The spot is not now
much talked of, though it might well be,
for in the dust there
interred, there were manifested, when it
was man, very many of
the highest qualities of statesmanship.
JOHN BROUGH.
OSMAN CASTLE HOOPER.
John Brough is generally thought of as
the last of Ohio's
war governors, the sturdy Union man who,
as a candidate for
the executive office in 1863, defeated
Clement L. Vallandigham
by the then unheard of majority of more
than 100,000 votes. He
was all that, but he was more than that,
and it is the duty, as well
as the pleasure of Ohioans to recognize
it.
If ever a masterful man sat in Ohio's
executive chair, it was
John Brough. No general in the field was
more stern or more
zealous, more watchful of others, more
careless of himself. Those
days of 1863 were dark and gloomy for
the Union cause; the
election of Brough was like a sunburst.
It proved that Ohio,
though not without its falterers, and
palterers, was steadfast for
the Union; and it steadied the whole
line of northern states,
cheered the heart of Lincoln and put a
new enthusiasm into the
armies in the field. The power that the
people of Ohio gave to
Brough on that election day, he
exercised to the fullest extent-
to his temporary discomfiture, perhaps,
but to his lasting glory.
It is for this that John Brough is best
remembered, but
there are other things for which he
should be honored. Before
he stood like a giant at the head of a
patriotic state during the
Civil War, he had stood as the especial
champion of the state
when it was beset with debt and had
helped to save it from the
shame of repudiation, and before that,
he had served in the legis-
lature, striving to rescue the state
from cheap money and ruin-
ous speculation.
As journalist, as clerk of the senate,
as member of the house
of representatives and as auditor, as
well as in the capacity of
governor, John Brough bore himself well
and with a sturdy
honesty and a vigorous intelligence
which, while they won for
him the invective and sometimes the
ridicule of his contempo-
(40)