Ohio History Journal

WHITELAW REID IN COLUMBUS.

 

 

EDWARD L. TAYLOR.

Whitelaw Reid's first experience as a correspondent for a

newspaper was in Columbus. It began late in April or in May,

1861. Before that time he had been for a few years the pro-

prietor and editor of the Xenia Torchlight, a paper published

weekly at Xenia, Ohio. In the fall or early winter of 1860 his

health not being good he disposed of that paper and went to

Minnesota, where he spent the winter for his health. It is my

recollection that during his stay in Minnesota he occasionally

sent communications to the Cincinnati Gazette, but of this I

cannot now be certain.

It was about the first of May, 1861, when on High Street

in the City of Columbus, my attention was attracted to a

gentleman standing just in front of the west entrance to the

State House yard, apparently taking observations on the sur-

roundings. I at once recognized him as Whitelaw Reid and

immediately went across the street to speak to him. I had not

known Mr. Reid in college, as he had graduated in the class of

1856 and I did not enter the university until the next year. It

is usual, and perhaps natural, that the under graduates form an

estimate of the members of the graduating classes, and in a

manner predict something of their future, and I soon found it

to be the consensus of opinion that Mr. Reid was one of those

of his class confidently expected to make a future for himself.

I did not meet him personally until June 1858 or '59, when

he came to Oxford to deliver an address on the invitation of

one of the literary societies connected with the university. I

heard his address and was impressed with its merits, and then

thought, and still think, that it was on a higher plane and better

in thought and substance than was usual with addresses on

such occasions. At that time I met him and within the next

few years saw him frequently, and on one winter night, being

Vol. XVIII- 33.         513

• 1
 

514      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   in Xenia with some other college friends, called at his office, where he was at work busily writing for the forthcoming num- ber of his paper. We were received very graciously and spent some little time in conversation, mostly in respect to the Uni- versity. His office was most sparingly furnished and dingy,

and lighted by a single lamp and I am sure that if his mind ever reverts to that old office he will smile at the recollection of its simplicity; yet it was there that he laid the foundation of a great editorial career, which has made him known throughout the civilized world and has led on to great and exalted prefer- ments in other fields of honorable endeavor.

• 2
 

Whitelaw Reid in Columbus.           515 Graduating in the same class with Mr. Reid was a young man of noble character of mind and heart and actuated with high purposes-Colonel Minor Millikin, who, like himself, had a marked ambition to become a journalist and who soon after his graduation purchased a weekly paper then published at Ham- ilton, Olio, called the "Hamilton Intelligencer," which he soon made a marked influence in that section of the State. Col. Milli- kin and Mr. Reid were very close friends in college and ever afterwards, and there was a sharp but friendly feeling of rivalry between the two publications. Both were intellectual and ambi- tious and well equipped for the work they had chosen for them- selves, but the coming on of the war changed all their plans and purposes. No man had more completely the qualities of a soldier or had more patriotism in his being than Minor Millikin, and at

the sound of war he disposed of his paper and enlisted in the 1st Ohio Cavalry, in which he soon rose to be the Colonel. He was killed at the bloody battle of Stone River and in his death the country lost one of its gallant defenders and the State one of its most prom- ising young men. It is my recollection that Mr. Reid was himself present at the battle of Stone River, where his friend met his death, and in his history entitled "Ohio in the War," he has recorded a deep and lasting trib- ute to the high character and qualities of mind

and heart of his dead friend. Of all the tributes to the memory of departed heroes of the war, which I have read, I know of none more heartfelt and eloquent than that which Mr. Reid paid to to Col. Millikin. In the conversation at the State House gate, Mr. Reid dis- closed his plans and purposes in coming to Columbus. He said that he had but recently returned from Minnesota and as the war was already on and a great struggle was inevitable he was anxious to render the best service in his power in aid of the preservation and unity of the states, and with that view he had an interview with the managers of the Cincinnati Gazette and

• 3
 

516      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

had proposed to them that he would come to Columbus, then

the headquarters of military affairs of the State, and report such

matters as might be of public interest concerning military and

political affairs as they might be developed from day to day,

and that the matter of compensation might be left for future

arrangement-in fact left entirely to themselves. He expressed

confidence that he could be of service to the paper and the public

by observing and reporting matters of public import. He said

he would write over the name of "AGATE" which, he explained,

was a kind of type used in newspaper printing, which I before

did not know. He further said that in any matter, which he

might deem of special importance, he was authorized to send

telegraphic dispatches not to exceed a few lines,-which was

singularly in contrast with the instructions to correspondents

of the present day, but which was in keeping with those times.

He said that he had met Governor Dennison on a former occa-

sion but thought he might not remember him, so I went with

him to the Governor's office, where we were very graciously

received, and Mr. Reid explained to the Governor his purposes,

and received assurances that he should have every opportunity

of acquiring information in respect to all matters of public in-

terest which might arise in the office of the Executive of the

State.

From there we went to the office of the Adjutant General

-General Henry B. Carrington, who frankly gave him the same

assurances that had been given by the Governor.

Being thus well established as to the two main offices of

the State, which were necessarily the main sources of reliable

information as to all war matters of state import, Mr. Reid said

that he wanted to secure a good lodging place outside the hotels,

as he did not feel justified in incurring much expense as he

was only on a venture of his own proposing, which might not

prove successful. I assisted him in that behalf and he was soon

well quartered in a private boarding house.

While in Columbus he became acquainted with several of

the young men of the city, who like himself, were destined to

make their mark in the world. Some of them by rendering

signal military service to the country and others in lines of lit-

• 4
 

Whitelaw Reid in Columbus.            517

 

erature and art and divinity. Among them we recall the names

of General James M. Comly, General John G. Mitchell and Gen-

eral Wager Swayne, then all young attorneys at the Columbus

bar, but who later were to attain marked and deserved military

distinction. Then there was William Dean Howells, the dis-

tinguished author of many delightful volumes, then associate

editor of the Ohio State Journal; and J. Q. A. Howard, the

historical and biographical writer; and Thomas Fullerton, already

known in literature, who became an eminent divine in the Pres-

byterian church. J. Q. A. Ward, one of the foremost sculptors

which America has produced, was then in Columbus modeling

a bust of Governor Dennison, whose acquaintance Mr. Reid

made at that time.

With this coterie of young men Mr. Reid had most of his

social experience while in Columbus, for at that stage of his life

he gave no indication of a liking for general society and I then

had the impression, and have it now, that his every energy was

bent on making a success of his venture as a collector and re-

porter of important war and political news, and that his greatest,

if not his only ambition, was in the line of newspaper work. It is

certain that the singularly dazzling social life which of late

years he has been living had not then even entered his most

extravagant dreams.

During his stay in Columbus he was most active and dili-

gent in discovering and reporting news of public import, and

I have frequently observed him coming from the State House on

a half run to the telegraph office to get off a dispatch to his

paper to be followed by a letter more fully explaining its im-

portance. In that day there were no stenographers or type-

writers, and Mr. Reid was forced to write out his letters in long

hand and send them by mail or by special messenger, which last

method was often resorted to and he might be seen almost any

time of day or night hurrying to the depot, where, for a con-

sideration, he secured a trainman to deliver his letter direct to

the Gazette office on the arrival of the train. In this way he

managed to get his letters published in the shortest possible time,

and so furnish the public the very latest information.

Mr. Reid remained in Columbus for several weeks-just

• 5
 

518      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

how long I do not know, but when the troops began to move to

the field he went with them and carefully observed and reported

what he saw as the great drama of war proceeded and devel-

oped. To him war was a most serious matter and he did not

fear or hesitate to criticize officers in high command whom he

thought frivolous or weak. For this he was once put under

military arrest and threatened with a court-martial and the

matter became so serious as to greatly alarm his friends. But

he did not cease his criticism and was soon vindicated, and it

was found that his fearless criticism had a most beneficial effect

on the conduct of certain officers who happened in the early

stages of the war to have secured high positions of command

without possessing real merit.

He continued with the army as it progressed through Ken-

tucky and Tennessee, faithfully reporting every important step

of progress or defeat, and the letters of "Agate" came to be

greatly read and relied on by the vast reading patriotic public.

But it was reserved for him at the battle of Shiloh to show his

superb genius as a descriptive writer. His description of that

battle as published in the Cincinnati Gazette in advance of all

other correspondents, was one of the most brilliant pieces of

descriptive writing that appeared during the war. He had pro-

cured a horse and was everywhere that he could be on both

days of the conflict and saw as much of the whole battle as any

one could see, and his brilliant description of it made Agate

known in every village and hamlet throughout the North. After

that time he was no longer simply a personally unknown war

correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, but a man of national

reputation and it then came to be generally known that "Agate"

was Whitelaw Reid.

Many other war correspondents have, long after the event

took place, elaborated and corrected and put in form to their

liking, their original letters, but I doubt if ever a description of

a great battle fresh from the field, written almost before the

sound of the conflict had ceased and in the midst of the dread-

ful surroundings which a great battle produced, has ever been

surpassed, if indeed equalled.

It is not our purpose to further follow Mr. Reids remark-

• 6
 

Whitelaw Reid in Columbus.            519

 

able career. It is known to the world. But no one who might

have seen or known him in May, 1861, when he stood in front

of the State House gate a young man provincialized in dress

and external appearance, without fortune, and possessed only of

such small means as he might have saved in the few years after

he left the University, would have predicted for him anything

like what has been his subsequent career. But beneath the slouch

hat which he then wore there was a strong Scotch intellect,

fitted for work and high endeavor, which has led on to great and

singular results, all of which have been crowned by his being

made American Embassador to the Court of St. James, where

he is now living in the great Norchester mansion-the greatest

house in London-where he entertains kings and queens and

the greatest of English titled nobility in a style of magnificence

which is said to "rival royalty and dazzle London," and to "ex-

cite the envy and jealousy of the highest English aristocracy."

• 7