Ohio History Journal

OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

 

REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS.

 

 

BY THE EDITOR.

 

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY

The annual meeting of the Ohio State Archaeologi-

cal and Historical Society will be held in the Museum

and Library Building Saturday, September 9, 1922.

The forenoon session, which opens at nine o'clock,

will be devoted chiefly to reports of officers and the

various committees of the Society.  Matters of more

than ordinary importance will be considered at this

session in view of the contemplated addition of a wing

to the Museum and Library Building and other matters

not heretofore considered.

The afternoon session, to which not only the mem-

bers of the Society but the public is cordially invited,

promises also to be of unusual interest. It opens at

two o'clock.  Dr. Edwin E. Sparks will deliver the

annual address. The Society has been most fortunate

in his expressed willingness to be present on this oc-

casion. Dr. Sparks was for a number of years presi-

dent of Pennsylvania State College. He is a historian

of national reputation, an Ohioan, a graduate of our

State University and a gifted speaker.

Dr. T. C. Mendenhall, the veteran educator and

present Trustee of the Ohio State University, has been

invited and is expected to contribute to the program.

Vol. XXXI-22.       (337)

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338     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

General J. Warren Keifer, recently appointed Trus-

tee of the Society and the only living Major General of

the Civil War, will favor the Society with some very

interesting and unrecorded history in an address at

this meeting.

A detailed program will be mailed to the members

of the Society.

 

THE HAYES CENTENARY

The tentative program for the Centenary celebration

of the birth of Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893), the

nineteenth President of the United States (1877-1881),

to be held October 4, 1922, has been about completed.

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,

under whose auspices the event will be celebrated, has

appointed the following Committee on Arrangements to

conduct the affair: Former Governor James E. Camp-

bell, President of the Society, Chairman; Colonel Ed-

ward Orton, Jr., Beman G. Dawes, F. W. Treadway,

Arthur C. Johnson, Dr. W. O. Thompson and Daniel

J. Ryan.  The ceremonies will take place at Spiegel

Grove, Fremont, Ohio upon which is the old Hayes

homestead and the Hayes Library and Museum, now the

property of the Society, through the generosity and

patriotism of Colonel Webb C. Hayes.

The city of Fremont has in contemplation cooperat-

ing arrangements for a combined military and historical

pageant parade, leaving old Fort Stephenson at 1 P. M.,

the military feature of which may consist possibly of

cavalry, infantry and artillery of Ohio National Guard,

composed of the units Troop A of Cleveland, the Toledo

Battery, and the provisional regiment of infantry, a

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Reviews, Notes and Comments      339

duplication of the troops which attended the funeral

of President Hayes thirty years ago.  Troop A of

Cleveland was President Hayes's escort also from the

White House to the Capitol on the inauguration of

President Garfield, who rode with him in the Hayes

family presidential carriage, now in the Hayes Museum.

Troop A, after the parade back from the inauguration

of President Garfield, then escorted President Hayes

on his return to Ohio, and has since acted as escort at

the inauguration of the Ohio presidents Harrison,

McKinley and Taft, and has been in the funeral escorts

of the Ohio presidents Hayes, Garfield and McKinley,

and had been accepted as President-elect Harding's es-

cort prior to the elimination of the presidential parade

in the interests of public economy.

The Commander-in-Chief and the State Commander

of the G. A. R., in automobiles will head the procession,

followed by the Commander-in-Chief and State Com-

mander of the Spanish War Veterans and of the World

War Veterans.   On arriving at the recently erected

beautiful split boulder gateway in which the White

House gates are to be erected, and named in honor of

Major George Croghan, the defender of Fort Stephen-

son, in the War of 1812, at the northern entrance of the

old Sandusky-Scioto Trail, known later as the Harrison

Trail of the War of 1812, the Campfire Girls and other

juvenile organizations will head the procession and lead

them over the old Trail, under the General Sherman

Elm and the Grover Cleveland Hickory, and pass the

Presidential Oaks named in honor of McKinley, Gar-

field, Taft and Harding, past the burial plot on the

Knoll, and then down through the Harrison Gateway

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340     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

with its historic tablets of the Indian and French and

British expeditions which marched over this Trail prior

to the Revolutionary War and as far back as records

of the Indian show.

The Soldiers' Memorial Parkway of Sandusky

County, conceived by Colonel Hayes and tendered to

the County in a cablegram from France on the day fol-

lowing the signing of the armistice, was laid out in the

form of a cross through property presented by him to

the Society. This Parkway, constructed jointly by the

Society and the Commissioners of Sandusky County,

consists of a strip 100 feet wide in which two rows of

buckeye trees (the insignia of the 37th or Ohio Divi-

sion) have been planted.  To each tree is attached a

a memorial plate containing the name, organization,

and place and date of death of one of the 83 soldiers of

Sandusky County who gave his life in the World War

or the War with Spain.  The latter is in the form of

the transept of the cross, in the center of which is a

buckeye tree bearing the inscription of William McKin-

ley, President of the United States, who died of his

wounds September 14, 1901, while Commander-in-Chief

of the Army of the United States, which was then en-

gaged in suppressing the Boxer uprising in China.

The Campfire Girls will kneel and drape the memo-

rial trees when at the signal from the top of the Over-

seas Soldiers' Memorial Sunroom, erected by Colonel

Hayes, the military procession will enter the Parkway

after passing through the Harrison Gateway and march

past the oval containing the flower insignias of the Red

Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Knights of Columbus, the

Jewish Welfare and the Salvation Army, and pass in

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Reviews, Notes and Comments      341

review before President Harding and Cabinet, the Gov-

ernor of Ohio, Generals of the Army and Admirals of

the Navy, and turn sharply to the East over the McKin-

ley Memorial Parkway and enter Spiegel Grove through

the split boulder gateway recently erected in honor of

Grover Cleveland, a former President of the United

States, and William McKinley, Governor of Ohio, and

later President of the United States, who were mourners

at the funeral of their predecessor and personal friend,

Rutherford B. Hayes, and who made the long trip in

the dead of winter in January, 1893.

The parade will be dismissed on entering Spiegel

Grove, following which dedicatory exercises of the

Croghan Gate, the Harrison Gate, the McPherson Gate-

way, in memory of the soldiers in the War with Mexico

and the War for the Union; and the memorial gateway

in memory of the soldiers in the War with Spain and

the World War, will be held; after which President

Harding, Secretary of State Hughes and the distin-

guished guests of the Society will be escorted through

the Hayes Memorial into the new library addition now

in process of erection by the Society, through funds

given by Colonel Hayes, to the portico on the south side

of the new building facing the residence on its south.

The proposed engraved invitation to the Centenary

ceremonies will contain a cut of the north entrance of

the Hayes Memorial, and a large photogravure of

Spiegel Grove showing the residence, the Hayes Memo-

rial, the original old Sandusky-Scioto Trail, through the

Grove, and is in the words following:

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342      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

requests the pleasure of your presence

during the Centenary Celebration of the birth of

Rutherford Birchard Hayes

₁₉th President of the United States, 1877-1881,

at the dedication of

the Library Addition to the Hayes Memorial,

the Memorial Gateway of Spiegel Grove State Park,

and the Soldiers' Memorial Parkways of Sandusky County,

on Wednesday afternoon, October 4th,

Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-two,

Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio.

Of course the celebration is a public affair, but these

invitations will be sent to the distinguished guests of

the Society in civil, military and official life.

The meeting will be called to order by the Hon.

James E. Campbell, President of the Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society. Following will be the

program, subject to necessary alterations:

Invocation - the Rev. Dr. William F. Peirce, presi-

dent of Kenyon College, from which Rutherford B.

Hayes was graduated in 1842.

Welcome by his Honor William H. Schwartz, Mayor

of Fremont.

Address by Charles Richard Williams, LL. D., of

Princeton, N. J., author of the Life, and editor of the

Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes.

Address by the Hon. Warren G. Harding, President

of the United States.

Address by the Hon. Charles E. Hughes, Secretary

of State of the United States.

Address by the Hon. Herbert C. Hoover, Secretary

of Commerce of the United States.

Remarks by the Hon. Harry L. Davis, Governor of

Ohio.

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Reviews, Notes and Comments       343

Remarks by the Hon. Atlee Pomerene, United States

Senator from Ohio.

Remarks by the Hon. Frank B. Willis, United States

Senator from Ohio.

Remarks by the Commander-in-Chief of the Mili-

tary Order of the Loyal Legion.

Remarks by the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand

Army of the Republic.

Remarks by the Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish

War Veterans.

Remarks by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ameri-

can Legion.

Remarks by Major General C. S. Farnsworth, com-

manding the 37th (Buckeye) Division, Expeditionary

Forces.

Remarks by Major General Edwin F. Glenn, com-

manding the 83rd Division.

Remarks by Major General Charles T. Menoher,

commanding the 42nd (Rainbow) Division.

Remarks by Admiral William S. Sims, commanding

American Naval Forces in European Waters.

Remarks by Major General John A. LeJeune, a com-

mandant of the Marine Corps.

From the prospectus it is apparent that the occasion

will be one of unusual importance. The day, the loca-

tion, and the proceedings will especially appeal to the

patriotism of Ohioans.  Rutherford B. Hayes, after

the passion of years has subsided, is growing in worth

to the American people. The great accomplishments

of his administration, viz.: the reconstruction of the

South, the establishment of a sound currency and the

maintenance of the civil service system have given him

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344     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

his proper place in history. It is worthy and fitting that

this celebration should be held where the mementoes of

his civil, military and presidential life are assembled.

Add to this the fact that the Spiegel Grove State Park

is in itself a historic monument to the wonderful days

of the past.  Under the sweeping and shadowing

branches of its gigantic hickories, oaks, elms and maples

sped the bronzed messengers of Pontiac carrying the

war wampum to the Southern Indian tribes; over the

same trail marched General Harrison and his army to

resist the British invader, and in a later era gathered

the great Generals of the Union Army to do honor to

its distinguished occupant.  Here Sherman, Sheridan,

Rosecrans, Crook, Comly and Scammon were visitors.

Here, too, at various times came Presidents Garfield,

Cleveland, McKinley, Taft and Harding.

And finally it is proper to say that after Rutherford

B. Hayes retired from the Presidency of the United

States, he became the head of the Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society.  He manifested great

interest in its work and gave to its details all the atten-

tion required. He was himself a scholar and historian,

a collector of books and manuscripts, all of which are

preserved in the Museum.  He was president of the

Society when he died.

 

A JOURNAL OF THE GREAT WAR

The library of the Society has received a notable

gift in an autograph copy of A Journal of the Great

War in two volumes by Brigadier General Charles G.

Dawes who entered the service as Major in the Seven-

teenth Regiment of Engineers and was afterward pro-

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Reviews, Notes and Comments           345

moted to the responsible position of representative

of the United States government on the Military Board

of Allied Supply. His Journal presents in chronological

order the events of the World War as he saw them in

his varied and distinguished service. On July 26, two

regiments of engineers, the Twelfth from St. Louis and

the Seventeenth from Atlanta, started for the point of

embarkation. We quote from the Journal:

"We reached New York on July 28 and were embarked on

the ship Carmania together with the Twelfth Regiment of Engi-

neers. * * * The ship was commanded by Captain Charles,

the senior captain of the Cunard Line, former captain of the

Lusitania, though not on her when she was torpedoed. * * *

Colonel Sewell placed me in command of the regimental 'boat

drill,' to devise the method of getting the men on deck most ex-

peditiously opposite their assigned boats and rafts in case of

submarine attack. It was a very important and responsible as-

signment, and I worked hard.at it, gradually getting it in good

shape."

General Dawes then proceeds to describe the vessel

on which he crossed the ocean, the precautions taken

against submarine attack and the great dangers attend-

ing the voyage at this time. He says:

"A torpedo travels about thirty-five knots per hour. The

submarine itself has to be aimed to discharge it at its mark.

Hence the zigzagging of the ships expecting an attack. Our

fleet zigzagged all the way across. Ships are continually at-

tacked, and the situation is much more dangerous than would

seem to one on shore."

Here he describes one particular night of the voyage

and the impressions made upon him:

"The sea was rough and while it would have been difficult

for a submarine to hit us I realized that if it did our loss of life

would have been very large. It was very dark and cold, and it

would have been almost impossible for the men to reach the rafts

as we threw them off. To hear a discussion of a raft detail on

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346      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications a cold, dark and foggy deck as to whether it would not be better in case of a sinking ship to take to the water without life pre- servers, in order to have things over quicker, only indicates how hopeless the outlook sometimes seems when one is on the sea and up against it, as compared with a discussion as to a course of action held on land before sailing."

The Carmania arrived at Liverpool on the 11th of August, eleven days after leaving Halifax. Four days later the two regiments, joined by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, making four regiments in all, performed the famous march through London - the first foreign armed troops that marched through that city since the

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Reviews, Notes and Comments          347

days of William the Conqueror, eight hundred and

fifty-one years before. Of this march General Dawes

says:

"In the parade there were four regiments of Engineers,

about 4500 men in all. To each regiment was assigned a fine

English band, the best in the Empire. Our regiment was the

fourth in the column. Walked with Colonel Sewell at the head

of the regiment and with a British peer -Lord Erskine, I think

-as the liaison officer. From the station to the end of the

march, and in the afternoon on the return to the depot, the

streets were jammed with lines of cheering people, and the Amer-

ican flag was everywhere. We were reviewed by the king and

queen and by the American ambassador. Lunch was served to

the officers and troops in a park near the palace. After lunch

the officers were taken to the British officers' quarters near by,

where every attention was given us. In the afternoon we

marched back to the Waterloo station through the poorer parts

of the city."

In London the Twelfth and Seventeenth Regiments

received orders that were soon to separate them. The

Twelfth was ordered to Boulogne to join the British

army on the western front, the Seventeenth to proceed

to St. Nazaire, France.

From the time that General Dawes entered the serv-

ice, because of his well known ability in financial mat-

ters, his services were constantly in demand and he had

many tempting offers of positions outside of the regi-

ment of engineers. He was urged by Hoover to remain

in Washington. After he arrived in France he was

pressed into service in the direction of the handling of

supplies for the American Army. Largely through his

influence this work was co-ordinated among the Allied

Armies by the creation of the Military Board of Allied

Supply. On this board General Dawes represented the

United States. He had previously been well acquainted

with General Pershing and from the time of his landing

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348       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

in France there are numerous evidences of the high

esteem in which he was held by the American Com-

mander-in-Chief. The latter confided to him many of

his important plans. We quote from a letter written

by General Dawes June 23, 1918:

"Last Monday morning General Pershing called me by tele-

phone to come immediately to Chaumont. I took Captain Jay

with me for company. Left by motor and arrived at the Gen-

eral's house in time for dinner. In the evening in his room he

outlined his plan of action and program for the American mili-

tary effort. This was in effect a preliminary statement to me of

the announcement he made to the conference of his officers the

next morning. But to me he gave his reasons more in detail.

The General believes that just at the present--since it is the

moment of the Allies' greatest weakness--has called for Ger-

many's supreme effort, so the time immediately following the

collapse of the German offensive is the period of greatest weak-

ness for them, and the time of our supreme effort as quickly as

it can be delivered. He fears reinforcement next year for the

Germans from western Russia. He feels that we must fight

vigorously all along the line, utilizing against the worn foe the

fresh and eager army which he commands. From the stand-

point of enemy morale and our own, vigorous movement will

lower theirs and increase ours."

Because of this intimate personal relation with Gen-

eral Pershing the Journal of General Dawes has a dis-

tinct historic value for students of the World War.

General Dawes' service took him to almost every sec-

tion of allied activity in France. There were frequent

visits to the battle front as well as to the centers of sup-

ply activity in the rear of the army. There is frank

and illuminating portrayal of difficulties encountered in

conferences with representatives of the allied armies.

There are interesting testimonials of the high regard in

which he was held by the Seventeenth Regiment of

Engineers with which he received his training for the

service and many letters of appreciation from high

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Reviews, Notes and Comments      349

officers in the allied service. There were also citations

and high honors conferred upon him. Ohioans will ex-

perience genuine pride in reading this interesting record

of the World War service of one of her distinguished

sons. The Journal is supplemented by the official re-

ports of General Dawes and the work as a whole de-

serves a place in every library with a department de-

voted to World War history.

We must add, of course, that these volumes are pub-

lished by the Houghton Mifflin Company and in illustra-

tion, typography and general appearance do credit to

the best work turned out by that well known publishing

house. The numerous photogravure illustrations are

especially fine. The Society is under obligation to Gen-

eral Dawes for this gift to its library.

 

PORTRAIT OF SENATOR THOMAS MORRIS

In recent years there has been a renaissance of in-

terest in the life of United States Senator Morris. He

was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, January 3,

1776.  Soon afterward the family moved to Virginia.

He came to the Northwest Territory in 1795 and died

at his home in Bethel, Clermont County, December 7,

1844.  Interest in his career has been heightened by

the recent centenary of the birth of General Ulysses S.

Grant, the proceedings of which are detailed in this

issue of the QUARTERLY.  He served almost continu-

ously in the General Assembly of Ohio from 1806-1832.

He was a member of the House of Representatives in

1806, 1808, 1810 and 1820; of the Senate 1813-14,

1821-22, 1825-28 and 1831-32. In 1832 he was elected

United States Senator and served one full term of six

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350     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

years commencing March 4, 1833. At the time of his

service to his state and the nation the slavery question

had not broken party lines.  There were anti-slavery

men in the ranks of the two dominant political parties

of the time, but the majority of Democrats and Whigs

were strongly opposed to agitation of the question and

it did not promise to rise to the dignity of a political

issue.

Thomas Morris was a Democrat, thoroughly de-

voted to his party and one of its able advocates.  He

was strongly opposed to the institution of human

slavery. He was one of the large number of men who

came north into southern Ohio from slave states and

waged valiant war against the institution which they

believed to be morally wrong and to be fundamentally

antagonistic to American institutions. As he advanced

in his political career his antagonism to slavery grew.

In time it attracted the attention of his associates in

his own party who were in favor of slavery, or at least

opposed to agitation of the question.

In the addresses and comments on the preceding

pages his attitude is clearly set forth.  For fuller de-

tails of his interesting career readers are referred to

the Life of Thomas Morris by his son, Rev. B. F.

Morris.

It is rather remarkable that there is in existence

no portrait of Senator Morris.  His reputation in his

day extended beyond the borders of his state.  His

espousal of the anti-slavery cause made him the candi-

date of the Liberty Party for Vice-President of the

United States in 1844. A long search, however, for a

portrait some years ago led to the conclusion that none

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Reviews, Notes and Comments      351

is in existence. An effort was made to find a painting,

daguerreotype or print to complete a list of portraits

of United States senators but none was found.

On the occasion of the Grant Centenary the writer

met in Bethel Doctor W. E. Thompson, who in his

eighty-seventh year is still actively engaged in the prac-

tice of medicine.  He is perhaps the only man living

who has a distinct recollection of the personal appear-

ance of Senator Morris.  His description was so de-

tailed and apparently accurate that he was requested

to assist in the reproduction of a likeness of Morris.

To this he kindly assented.

A competent person was then sought to make a

sketch corresponding to the picture preserved in the

memory of Doctor Thompson.     Such an artist was

found in Richard M. Brand of the Columbus Evening

Dispatch. He made a number of sketches which were

submitted to Doctor Thompson who suggested modifi-

cations until one was produced that met his approval.

From this drawing the portrait was made which ap-

pears elsewhere in this issue of the QUARTERLY. It is

a faithful reproduction of the features of Senator Mor-

ris as Doctor Thompson graphically recalls them. For

this service the Society is under obligations to Doctor

Thompson and Mr. Brand who have spent consider-

able time in making the presentation of such a portrait

possible.

The quest for a portrait of Senator Morris made

while he was living, has not ceased. It is possible that

one may yet be found. Daguerreotypes were made in

Ohio as early as 1841, and it seems that his prominence

in 1844 would have led to a demand for a portrait,--

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352      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

a demand that would have overcome his indifference to

display and publicity.   Three of his sons were promi-

nent in their day: Rev. B. F. Morris, the author of his

life; Jonathan D. Morris, who served two terms as

congressman from Ohio; Isaac N. Morris, who served

two terms as congressman from Illinois and was ap-

pointed by President Grant commissioner for the Union

Pacific Railway in 1869. If a daguerreotype or paint-

ing of the Senator is in the possession of any of the

descendants of these sons, it may yet be found.     If it

should be discovered, it will be interesting to note how

nearly it corresponds with the picture on the walls of

the memory of the veteran physician, Dr. Thompson

of Bethel, which has been reproduced by the pen of

Richard M. Brand.

 

GRANT MEMORIAL HIGHWAY

Judge Hugh L. Nichols, Chairman of the Grant

Centenary Committee, sends us the following statement

in regard to this Highway:

"The Grant Memorial Road, so-called, is that part of the

Ohio River Road running between New Richmond on the west

and Point Pleasant on the east, a distance of five miles. The

road to New Richmond from Cincinnati is in good condition and

in order to make the birthplace of General Grant accessible it is

the purpose of the Committee to build a highway from New

Richmond to Point Pleasant so that the public may have the

benefit of it.

"Congress, in February last, passed a special bill authorizing

the coinage of 10,000 gold dollars and 250,000 silver half-dollars,

the gold dollars now selling for $3.00 a piece and the silver

halves for $1.00 each. A great many of these coins have already

been sold and it is the purpose of the Committee in charge to

devote, in a large measure, the premium to the building of this

road. Of course we expect direct Federal and State aid in the

matter and from this three-fold source we are confident within

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Reviews, Notes and Comments        353

 

a year we will have a highway of a splendid character, and when

the highway has been built the argument that was made in the

State Senate last year against the removal of the house in which

Grant was born, from the State Fair Grounds to its original

foundation, will be entirely dissipated."

The foregoing is a succinct and informing state-

ment of fact, so far as the road is concerned, supple-

mented by a prophecy in regard to the dissipation of

the "argument made in the State Senate." The matter

of the removal of the Grant cottage will probably be up

again before the General Assembly at its coming session.

 

DEATH OF BASIL MEEK

Basil Meek, veteran local historian, life member of

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

and one of the oldest practicing lawyers in the State

of Ohio, died in his home city, Fremont, April 16, four

days before he was ninety-three.   He contributed a

number of articles to the QUARTERLY, his last appear-

ing in the April number shortly before his death.  He

made some corrections in the proof after he was con-

fined to the hospital in his last illness.  A sketch of his

life together with an autographed portrait was pub-

lished with his contribution and will be found on page

129 of the April QUARTERLY.   A number of sketches

from the Fremont and other northern Ohio papers are

before us, all bearing testimony to his high character,

his long and useful life and the regard in which he

was held by all who knew him.     He had long been

Secretary of the Sandusky County Pioneer Historical

Association, a position which he held at the time of his

death.   Mr. Meek is survived by a daughter, four

Vol. XXXJ-23.

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354     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. His in- terest in local history, as attested by numerous articles and the voluminous History of Sandusky County, his kindly and cheerful disposition and his optimistic spirit will long be remembered by his fellow members of the Society. MEETING OF CRESAP SOCIETY The Cresap Society will hold its meeting in Colum- bus September 15-16.  The first session will be held Friday evening, September 15, at the Deshler Hotel be- ginning at 8:00 P. M. On Saturday, September 16, the Society will meet in the Museum and Library Building of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society at 9:00 A. M. The business session opens at 10:00 A. M. and will in- clude reports of committees, election of officers and future plans for the work of the Cresap Society. Afternoon parties may be arranged for visits to the Logan Elm.

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