Ohio History Journal

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UNVEILING OF TABLET AT CAMPUS MARTIUS.

 

A number of interesting functions attended the un-

veiling of the tablet on the Campus Martius House,

September 28, 1921, as the most historical spot in the

state. The exercises were conducted under the auspices

of the Daughters of the American Revolution who se-

lected this spot and presented the tablet.

On the evening of September 27, Mr. Edward Mac-

Taggart threw open his stately old home "The Anchor-

age" to the members of the Daughters of the American

Revolution and their guests. A local paper described

this as one of the most brilliant functions ever given in

Marietta. Mr. MacTaggart welcomed the guests to the

spacious hall with its "exquisite tapestries, superb rugs

and carved chests imported from Florence." Miss Ida

Merydith, Regent of the Marietta Chapter, D. A. R., led

the receiving line. Later the guests were conducted to

the dining room, "quite baronial with its high walnut

wainscot, lofty ceiling and handsome furnishings, all

aglow with innumerable candles in many-branched can-

delabra." The reception will long be remembered by

those who were so fortunate as to be present.

The program rendered at the Campus Martius

House on the following day was well timed, appropriate

and successfully carried out in every detail. The exer-

cises opened with a bugle call by Bugler Adolph Corwin,

followed by an invocation by Dr. E. S. Parsons, Presi-

dent of Marietta College. Mrs. William Magee Wilson,

State Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolu-

tion, was then introduced and spoke as follows:

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484      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

"Madam Regent and Members of Marietta       Chapter, Ohio

Daughters of the American Revolution and Friends:

"Many years ago it was my pleasure to witness a play by

John Drew. It was so long ago that only a single sentence

uttered by that famous actor has stayed with me through the

years. The beginning of the play pictured a gay young lover

and his sweetheart. In the closing scene the lover appears as

a feeble old man; he gazes tenderly upon a faded bit of flower

which long ago had lost its color, but as the sweet scent came

from it he was reminded of his youth and of the sweetheart

who had given it to him. Tenderly he looks at it and murmurs,

'Rosemary, that's for remembrance.'

"Last night one of the gracious ladies of Marietta bestowed

upon me this fragrant bunch of Rosemary, which I hold in my

hand. I shall keep it through the years and as I look upon it

I shall think, 'Rosemary, that's for remembrance,' remembrance

of this day and this tablet to be unveiled and all that it stands

for in the past and means for the future.

"As members of the National Society of the Daughters

of the American Revolution we are ever under orders from the

superior organization.  The Chapters take orders from  the

State organization and the States from the National Society.

One of the directions of this National Society to be carried out

by states and chapters is the marking of historic spots.

"To keep in remembrance sacred and historic spots is our

duty as well as our pleasure. Our duty, that future generations

may know to whom and to what they owe so much; and it is

surely our pleasure to keep green these memory places that we

may, now and then, in our busy lives, pause in reverence before

them lest we forget.

"The leading figure in this work, the culmination of which

we are here to celebrate, is Ohio's very capable State Chairman

of Historic Spots, and it is my great privilege to present to you

this Chairman, Mrs. Eugene G. Kennedy of Dayton, Ohio."

Mrs. Kennedy stepped forward, unveiled the tablet

and presented it in the following address:

"Madame State Regent, Gentlemen of the Ohio State Archae-

ological and Historical Society, Daughters and Friends of

Marietta:

"The event we are celebrating today -the unveiling of this

tablet upon Campus Martius House--marks the culmination

of the work of several Daughters for several years. These

Daughters have worked zealously in behalf of Campus Martius

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Unveiling of Tablet at Campus Martius      485

 

House, and it is a great satisfaction to them now to know that

the House is to be preserved by the State of Ohio for future

generations.

"It seems too bad to me that old houses cannot talk, for

what a wonderful story this old house could tell us of the brave

and hardy men, who came from the East into the wilderness

of the Ohio Country. It could give us an account of all the

hardships they endured and thrilling tales of Indian warfare,

and also stories of the simple joys of pioneer life, for all was

not sadness. And then to think of its story of all of the past

131 years during the progress of a beautiful city growing up at

its very feet.

"Marietta is to be congratulated upon having this old house

within its borders, the oldest house of five states, and the Mari-

etta chapter that is to make its home within these doors will

draw added inspiration, I know, from the memory of the early

pioneers, who once lived here.

"The Ohio Daughters have placed this tablet in order to

show their appreciation of the historic value of the old House,

with the hopes that the tablet will instruct the present generation

and the generations to come in regard to its past history and

its remarkable old age.

"It is my honor and privilege to present this tablet to the

custodians of this House for the State of Ohio, the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, in the name of the Ohio

Daughters of the American Revolution."

Mr. C. B. Galbreath, secretary of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, then in the name

of the State accepted the tablet and spoke as follows:

"Madam Regent, Daughters of the American Revolution and

friends:

"In behalf of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society, I accept this beautiful and enduring tablet which ap-

propriately marks this historic spot; by your decision the most

historic within the limits of the Buckeye State. May this be

prophetic of a larger and more substantial memorial to the

inauguration, on this ground, of universal liberty in America.

The magna charta of 1787, here first made effective, now finds

expression in the constitution of our Republic and fruition in

our American civilization.

"Here I might close, for the gracious presentation to which

we have listened and the scholarly address which we are about

to hear will include all that is fitting to this occasion.

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486      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"We stand, indeed, on historic and consecrated ground.

Hither, in the obscure and distant past, came the mysterious

mound builder and raised his monument to a culture and an

age that 'has no memory.' Hither in the early half of the

eighteenth century came the French and English traders to

exchange goods with the Indians, who ruled the primeval forests

that covered these valleys and crowned these everlasting hills.

Hither in 1749, came the chivalrous Celoron, with his soldiers

and Indian allies to take formal possession of the Ohio country

in the name of the French crown.    Here, one hundred and

seventy-two years ago, they lingered to hunt the wild game with

which the forest abounded. Yonder, on the western point of

land formed by the confluence of the Muskingum and the Ohio,

they planted one of the six famous leaden plates - the only one

deposited in Ohio soil - and with solemn formalities took pos-

session of the land in the name of their King.

"The pretensions of the French monarch were brought to

naught by the victory of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham above

Quebec, and here, for a time, the white man plied his trade

with the natives under the British flag.

"Here the revolution brought magic changes. Out of the

wilderness rose Fort Harmar and above its bastions floated the

stars and stripes, signalling the westward course of a new

empire. Here a little later in brighter light that flag waved

above Campus Martins at the inauguration of civil government

in the Northwest Territory.  Here that starry emblem  still

waves -and shall wave for generations yet to be.

"Hither came 'bold Putnam   and his pioneers,' and here

today an organization of the descendents of the revolutionary

forefathers honors their memory under these September skies,

in the harvest time of the seed sown in the long ago.

"We need not dwell on the character of the men who abjured

slavery and here laid the foundations of civil and religious

liberty for all. A patriot, whose memory is cherished through-

out the world, has told us all that we need to know.

"Down on the river bank, in front of the hotel yonder, is

a granite boulder, bearing the legend that in 1825 a boat landed

there, with the 'nation's guest,' the chivalrous Lafayette, the

'knight of liberty' in Europe and America, whose spirit after

the flight of more than a century stirred the hearts of our khaki-

clad legions and made them invincible on the far flung battle

line in France.

"When Lafayette came to Marietta in 1825, what did he

say of the pioneers who inaugurated free government within

the precincts of Campus Martius? When the list of their names

was read to him, he said:

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"'I knew them all. I saw them at the Brandywine, York-

town and Rhode Island. They were the bravest of the brave.'

"The people of this city, who take a just pride in an illus-

trious ancestry, should invoke the art of the sculptor to chisel

in adamantine rock these words of Lafayette

"We who participate in these ceremonies are more than

honored in the presence of the descendents of these patriots

and the contemplation of the marvels of progress wrought under

the free government that they instituted. We are signally hon-

ored and the state of Ohio is under obligation to Minerva Tupper

Nye, who has given liberally and worked patiently that the

story of Campus Martius shall not be forgotten--that this in-

spiring lesson shall go down to succeeding generations.

"The Daughters of the American Revolution deserve high

praise for their interest in marking and directing public atten-

tion to the spots hallowed by our incomparable history. Through

such memorials the past speaks eternally to the present. The

monuments to Miltiades at Marathon would not let Grecian

valor sleep. The minute man at Concord Bridge and the old

monument on Bunker Hill are yet eloquent in patriotic appeal.

Faneuil Hall and Independence Hall are still citadels of American

liberty. In our own state we have monuments to St. Clair in

defeat and to Perry in victory. The fact remains that this spot,

where liberty raised its voice in the wilderness and free govern-

ment became an established fact, has this site and this ancient

building, the home of General Rufus Putnam, as its only me-

morials.

"In bronze and granite we have paid tribute to our achieve-

ments in war. Today the universal heart yearns for universal

peace. In the presence of the broken bodies of our boys who

fell in foreign lands, every heart responds to the sentiment of

the President--'It must never be again.  It must never be

again.'

"The victory achieved here was a victory for peace. This

should be an auspicious time to build utilitarian monuments to

peace; and in the entire Mississippi valley there is no more

appropriate spot than this for such a memorial."

Dr. Edwin Erle Sparks of State College, Pennsyl-

vania, then delivered the following historical address:

"On this significant occasion, Madame Regent, Daughters

of the American Revolution, and Friends, I rise to speak with

mingled feelings of dissatisfaction and pride. The dissatisfac-

tion arises from my inability to do justice to an occasion which

calls for oratory, for expression of our feelings in compelling

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words and stimulating patriotism. But that is overbalanced by

my pride in having been born an Ohio man; in being permitted

to rejoice with you, my fellow Ohioans, at the successful cul-

mination of this laudable enterprise. It is said that Northern

citizens in Washington after hearing the reply of Daniel Webster

to Hayne, went about the streets crying, 'Thank God, I am an

American!' Likewise might we rejoice today in being children

of the great commonwealth of Ohio.

"Some wise man has well said that the nation which allows

its history and its traditions to die must itself soon perish from

the earth. In all times and in all nations has respect been paid

to the past. The Greeks rejoiced in the heroes of Thermopylar

and in their descent from the Olympian gods. The Romans

delighted in the legend of Romulus and Remus and the Spaniards

in the conquests of the Cid.  Charles Martel is dear to the

French and Alfred the Great to the English.

"Nor would we Americans willingly lose the story of the

colonial economist, Benjamin Franklin, who set the pattern and

maxims of a national thrift which we seem to be losing now.

We keep alive the story of the Virginia farmer who saved us

by the valor of his sword and then, as President, set the pattern

for American neutrality. Jefferson, the author of the Declara-

tion of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for religious

freedom is remembered with Daniel Webster the defender of

the constitution. Embalmed in sweet fragrance is the story of

Abraham Lincoln, who, in 1863, furthered the emancipation of

the colored race in America, so well begun in the Ordinance of

the Northwest Territory.

"We are met here today as grateful heirs of America's past

to keep alive the stories and traditions of the people who planted

this Northwestern region, from which have sprung five great

commonwealths, embodying the heart of the continent. Imperia

in imperio-if one may take liberties with what, for a brief

two years, was our motto. We are endeavoring by this tablet

to keep alive precious and invaluable stories of the past; to

perpetuate the memories of the hardy men and women who

planted civilization on the vanguard of the advance across the

American continent; to hand down the traditions and memories

of their valor as priceless heritages and worthy examples to

present and coming generations of Americans. In the language

of the Emancipator at the dedication of the Gettysburg battle-

field: 'The world will little note nor long remember what we

say here, but it can never forget what they did here.'

"The conquest of a continent-how was it done? With

what purpose in mind? History records the advance of Attila

and his semi-savages over the civilized empire of Rome, having

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a destructive purpose and accomplishing their devastation in

such a manner as to make the terms "Hun" and "Vandal" a

stench in the nostrils of mankind. Later the Seljukian Turk

overspread a territory almost as vast, carrying in one hand the

scimeter and in the other the Koran and giving civilization the

choice of their religion or death. The Saxon invasion of Britain

and the later coming of William the Conqueror had in mind

but one purpose -conquest and subjugation.

"Contrast with these the conquest of the North American

continent by a people of English speech and the inheritance of

the best traits of ages past. They marched straight across the

three thousand miles of forest, valley, desert and mountain with

a supernatural power and inspiration. As De Tocqueville says,

'Like a people driven on by the relentless hand of God.' Four

generations brought the Revolution; and the waves of restless

people which beat against the Allegheny Mountains had pene-

trated its openings or "gaps" and found their way into Ten-

nessee, Kentucky and then into the magnificent Ohio Valley.

"To this advance line of people has been given the name

"pioneers" and them Whitman addresses as the pathmakers for

us who follow:

"Have you your pistols? Have you your sharp-edged axes?

Pioneers! 0 pioneers!

For we cannot tarry here,

We must march, my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,

We the youthful, sinewy races, all the rest on us depend."

"When Daniel Boone penetrated the Cumberland Gap into

Kentucky and Tennessee, that was the frontier; when the Yan-

kees came from Massachusetts to settle on the banks of the

Ohio on the spot whereon we stand, the frontier had crossed

into the Northwest Territory; when the Rev. George W. Gale

and his fellow pioneers adventured from New York state by

boat and wagon to plant the church and Knox college on the

Illinois prairies, the frontier had well-nigh reached the western

limits of the Territory. So the people advanced across the Great

Plains, penetrated the Rockies and the Sierras and filled the

Pacific Coast Plain. Now the land is full of people, feverish,

longing, working for things better and higher than they have

known.

"For a moment, let us compare the advance of these people

with that of the Huns, the Turks, the Saxons and the Normans.

The purpose of our fathers was not the subjugation of others

and despoiling them of their land. From the time that William

Penn set the pattern, the standard of action was to recognize

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the rights of the Indians to their lands. Our pioneer forebears

never lost sight of their inherited civilization and never let it

be lowered. Their ambition was to make new homes in the

wilderness and to make it blossom like the rose. This is well

illustrated by a schedule of events that took place on this spot

after the arrival of the artisans and surveyors under the direc-

tion of Gen. Rufus Putnam, whose memory we are especially

honoring today.

"Whilst they carved homes out of the wilderness, they

showed that they were practical and realized the danger sur-

rounding them. Each man was obliged to provide himself with

a weapon and with proper ammunition.      Among the first

structures they erected on the banks of this noble river were

four blockhouses, stoutly built for defence, with private dwell-

ings so situated as to make curtains between the blockhouses.

To the whole they gave the name, characteristic of the classical

period of the day, Campus Martius.

"Less than three months from the time they landed came

the Fourth of July, the natal day of the Republic. These hardy

men, busied in their preparations for the coming of their women

and children, laid aside their saws, their broad-axes and their

grubbing hoes to build a "bowery" of green branches on the

river's bank wherein they celebrated the nation's birthday pre-

cisely as they had been taught and as their fellows were celebrat-

ing back home. A few days later, Governor St. Clair, appointed

by the Continental Congress, arrived as the embodiment of civic

authority and was properly received and accepted as the rep-

resentative of their master government. Later a procession was

again formed and the civil courts were installed in the crude

log building known as the Northwest blockhouse.

"In thus installing the law and order of the older civilization

they had left in Massaehusetts, they did not forget that spiritual

atmosphere in which they had founded their state on the rocks

of Plymouth Bay. The second story of the Northwest block

house, to which I have already referred, was made into a large

room accommodating three hundred people. It was to be used

for the public or community service and there, early in August

or possibly July was preached the first sermon in the first ordained

settlement in the Northwest Territory. In fact, the company

owning the land, so recognized the necessity for spiritual aid

and comfort that they employed as preacher and teacher for

several years the Rev. Daniel Story, who set the pattern for

the thousands of teachers and thousands of free schools now

scattered over the Northwest country.

"Thus was it proved that religious freedom and the right

to think and to worship God according to the dictates of in-

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dividual conscience did not necessarily lead to atheism and

anarchy of thought in a people inheriting high moral standards

and anxious to transmit them to their posterity. I had almost

forgotten to mention the revered name of Mrs. Baker, who

within three years after the founding of the settlement, noticing

that the children were not receiving spiritual teaching, gathered

them together probably in the public room of the Northwest

fort room and organized a Sunday School. It is to be remem-

bered that this was only three years after Robert Raikes, in

England, was said to have established the Sunday School as a

new and novel factor in religious training for the young.

"I will not take your time in describing the hardships and

the triumphs of this colony. Not a person within sound of my

voice has not heard the details over and over. It has all been

told in song and story. I am satisfied to have pointed out the

relation of this settlement to the westward movement of the

American people; to show that the object of the settlers was

purely altruistic; that they carried with them their religion, their

patriotism, their standards of conduct and their zeal for govern-

ment. These they established early in their frontier life. They

were practical men, preparing the way for the hardy women

who arrived amidst great rejoicing in the early Autumn to share

the privations of their husbands and fathers.

"The hardships endured by the pioneer women will never

be known. They were uncomplaining. Whilst the father strode

ahead with the trusty rifle over his shoulder, the mother tried

to guide the horse or horses over the rough road, holding to

her breast the baby and anxious for the safety of her other

children on the journey. Not all travelled under the care and

comforts of a land company. And their privations were con-

tinued and increased in the new home in the wilderness, far

removed from friends and kindred. When Lincoln's mother

died in that lonely cabin in southern Indiana, we find from

later investigation that the nearest physician lived eighteen miles

away. When the boy went to bed, he climbed up the pegs set

into the logs of the cabin and stretched his wearied body on a

pallet made of hay and corn-husks. Yet the very hardships and

privations of frontier life, far removed from Old World in-

fluence, was making the originality that marked the great man

both in his private life and manners and in dealing with problems

affecting the very preservation of the Union.

"The women of America, our foremothers, worthy ancestors

of these worthy Daughters who follow, acted as conservators

of the sense of justice, of law and order and of domestic tran-

quillity inherited and put into effect by the men of that day.

These factors had not yet been entrusted to woman's hands

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but the home influence was felt in the administration of public

life. To the women was due largely the splendid execution of

the provision of the Ordinance governing the Northwest Ter-

ritory which says: 'Religion, morality and knowledge being

necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind,

schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.'

"It is most fitting, therefore, that this tablet which we

unveil today, should have been placed upon this house by the

women of Ohio, constituting the Daughters of the American

Revolution. It is fitting because it is placed upon a private

dwelling, symbolical of the domestic life brought by these pio-

neers to this Ohio valley in 1788. I can think of no activity in

which this organization of those in whose veins pulse the blood

of Revolutionary heroes could do better work than the marking

and preserving of historic places.  If the work is continued

as planned, the state of Ohio is to be congratulated on the

possession of women of vision, women who insure the retention

of our history and traditions, women who put these memories

into beautiful and permanent form.

"I venture at this time to make a dedication of this tablet

and this house, both the property of the public and of the future

generations, as represented by the throng of school children I

see about me and who have given such polite attention. This

tablet I dedicate to the preservation of American traditions and

stories; to a history that shall not be allowed to perish from

the earth. I dedicate it to the characteristics of the American

pioneers, the ability to endure hardships, to welcome toil and

hardships for the sake of the future, to save and spare for

future safety and comfort. I dedicate it to the principles of

law and order, of government and religion, of enlightenment

and education, which these pioneers brought with them into the

wilderness. Finally I dedicate it to the use of the American

people, to be a shrine, a Mecca, to which pilgrimages may be

made as they are now made to Mt. Vernon there to renew vows

of fealty to country, to toil, to hardship, to thrift - all for the

sake of preserving a national character given to us by these

forefathers. Long may such inspiration be given to us. Tablet

of domestic life, the embodiment of the American home-

esto perpetua-remain forever !"

At the conclusion of Dr. Sparks' address Mrs.

Wilson introduced Mrs. Austin C. Branch of Canton;

Mrs. L. C. Laylin, of Columbus; Miss Willia Cotton, of

Marietta; Mrs. Theodore Davis and Miss Burlingame,

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who responded briefly as did also Miss Minerva Tupper

Nye, through whose interest and generosity the Campus

Martius properly was transferred to the state.

The addresses were delivered from the large flag-

stone at the south entrance of the Campus Martius

building, to about one thousand people who were com-

fortably assembled in the street opposite which had been

enclosed for the occasion. The exercises closed a few

minutes before the noon hour. The Campus Martius

House was thrown open and visited through the remain-

der of the day by those who attended the meeting.

Shortly after twelve o'clock the members of the Ma-

rietta Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revo-

lution and their guests, about one hundred in number,

went to the Unitarian Church where luncheon was

served in rooms tastefully decorated for the occasion.

Following the luncheon addresses were made by repre-

sentatives of the Daughters of the American Revolution

from Ohio chapters and the other states formed from

the original Northwest Territory, - Indiana, Illinois,

Michigan and Wisconsin. Among the the speakers were

Mrs. J. B. Foraker, Mrs. Edwin Erle Sparks and Mrs.

Wayne Cook, National Vice-regent of the D. A. R.

The weather was ideal. The exercises and enter-

tainment were much to the credit of the committees and

officers of the D. A. R. who had carefully planned the

details of this patriotic and inspiring occasion.

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