Caleb Atwater:
Pioneer Politician and Historian
By FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER*
THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT SUMMARY of Ohio's past was an
historical introduction by Salmon P.
Chase to his compilation
of the Statutes of Ohio.1 At
that time, Chase, a graduate of
Dartmouth College who had studied law
in a somewhat in-
formal way under William Wirt, attorney
general of the
United States (1817-29), was waiting
for clients as a fledg-
ling lawyer in Cincinnati.2 James Kent, the
distinguished
New York jurist, deemed this historical
sketch of the history
of Ohio to be "admirable, and
written with impartiality,
truth, and eloquence."3 Both Kent and Associate
Justice
Joseph Story of the United States
Supreme Court praised
the edition of the laws of Ohio.4 Yet
the undertaking was not
a financial success. The first edition
of one thousand copies
was printed at great expense. Several
hundred copies of
the second volume were destroyed by
fire. The state pur-
chased only one hundred and fifty
copies of the work, and
Chase received about one thousand
dollars for all of his
labor on the undertaking. The
publishers, Corey and Fair-
* Francis
P. Weisenburger is professor of history at Ohio State University
He is the author of The Passing of
the Frontier, 1825-1850, which is Volume II
in the six-volume History of the
State of Ohio published by the Society in the
early 1940's.
1 Published in three volumes at
Cincinnati, 1833-35. The forty-eight pag
Preliminary Sketch of the History of
Ohio was also separately issued.
2 Dictionary of
American Biography.
3 Kent to Chase, July 1, 1835, in J. W. Schuckers, The
Life and Public Service
of Salmon Portland Chase (New York, 1874), 35-36.
4 Ibid., 36-37.
CALEB ATWATER 19
field of Cincinnati, probably
"made no more, if so much,
after deducting expenses and cost of
capital employed."5
The first writer to attempt a
one-volume history of the
state was a rather aggressive,
eccentric Circleville lawyer,
Caleb Atwater.6 Henry Howe,
the historian of local lore,
who visited him in 1846, referred to
him as a "minister, law-
yer, educator, business man,
legislator, Indian Commissioner,
author and antiquarian."7
Atwater was born on Christmas Day,
1778, the youngest
of five children of Ebenezer and Rachel
(Parker) Atwater.8
The birthplace was North Adams,
Massachusetts, where
the father was a carpenter. The mother
was of Welsh ex-
traction, and her character is
suggested by the fact that by
the time of her death, when Caleb was
five years of age, she
had taught him to memorize hymns which
he ever afterwards
remembered.9
Soon the boy was placed in the hands of
a neighboring
squire named Jones. One bitter winter
night, Caleb, while
tending the animals on the place, froze
his hands, and he
was thereafter physically handicapped.
Eventually his guardian released him,
and his brother and
he managed to work their way through
Williams College
by ringing chapel and recitation bells.
Valedictorian of his
class, he received both the bachelor's
and master's degrees
in 1804. Locating in New York City, for
a time he main-
tained a school for young women while
he studied theology.
Later he was ordained to the
Presbyterian ministry. He
married Miss Diana Lawrence, but she
died about a year
afterwards. His health was not
vigorous, so he gave up the
5 Ibid., 37.
6 A brief biographical sketch is that by
W. J. Ghent in the Dictionary of Amer-
ican Biography. The
present author is indebted for a number of references to
Charles Winthrop Taylor, who wrote,
under his direction, "The Life of Caleb
Atwater" (unpublished master's
thesis, Ohio State University, 1937).
7 Historical
Collections of Ohio (Norwalk, 1896),
II, 416.
8 Francis
Atwater, comp., Atwater History and Genealogy (Meriden, Conn.,
1901), 128.
9 Belinda A. Foster, The Atwater
Family, or Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
(Indianapolis, 1915), 23.
20 THE OHIO HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
ministry, studied law under Judge
Smiley of Marcellus, New
York, and was admitted to the bar.
On April 3, 1811, he was married to
Miss Belinda Butler,
daughter of Judge Butler of Pompey, New
York. Soon
Atwater invested in a glass factory,
which burned to the
ground, resulting in financial ruin for
him and his partner.
Having determined to move to a new
location, he settled at
Circleville, Ohio, in 1815.10 Law business
came very slowly,
and by temperament he was more
interested in studying
and writing than in seeking a practice.
Accordingly, he
devoted much time to the exploration of
earthworks, the so-
called "Mound Builder"
remains, in the vicinity. Circleville,
so named because of the mounds there in
the form of a circle
(still extant in the pioneer period),
was a center of many
prehistoric antiquities. By
1817 he had been appointed
postmaster at Circleville, and thus he
was assured of a regular
income for a time.11 In August 1818
Atwater wrote to the
secretary of the American Antiquarian
Society, saying that
he had already spent two hundred
dollars collecting material
on the prehistoric culture, and had
found that the cost of
publication would be seven thousand
dollars.12 The society
showed great interest, and President
Thomas of the organ-
ization personally provided the funds
to have Atwater's re-
search material published in the first
volume of the society's
Transactions.13
Even before the work was published
Atwater complained
that he was the victim of bitter
criticism. In a letter in the
Circleville Olive Branch, he
bewailed his treatment:
After devoting years to surveying,
examining, drawing and describing
10 Clement L. Martzolff, "Caleb
Atwater," Ohio Archaeological and Historica
Quarterly, XIV (1905), 247-248.
11 American Antiquarian Society, Proceedings,
1867 (Worcester, Mass., 1867)
23-24.
12 Ibid., 24-25. Certainly the estimated cost was greatly
exaggerated, as wa
in keeping with Atwater's character.
13 Caleb Atwater, "Description of
the Antiquities Discovered in the State ??
Ohio and Other Western States," in Archaeologia
Americana: Transactions and
Collections of the American
Antiquarian Society, I (1820),
105-267.
CALEB ATWATER 21
those remains of antiquity around us,
which are rapidly disappearing
before the destroying hand of man; with
the sole view of placing on
record correct memorials of these works,
for the benefit of my fellow
citizens--after my last dollar is
expended in this laborious and expensive
undertaking--just as the proof sheets of
my work are put in my hands,
a writer is found, who wishes to deprive
me of all remuneration, for all
the labor, time and money, which have been
devoted to such an object!!!
... If in anything I have erred, my error was unintentional.14
In a way, however, Atwater attained a
considerable repu-
tation, and in 1826, when the duke of
Saxe-Weimar visited
America, he took time to call on the
antiquarian at Circleville.
He later commented:
He is a great antiquarian, and exists
more in the antiquities of Ohio,
than in the present world. I spent the
evening with this interesting
man, and was very agreeably entertained;
he possesses a collection of
objects which were found in different
mounds; it contains fragments
of urns, arrow-heads of a large size, battle-axes made
of flintstone, and
several human bones. Mr. Atwater
likewise possesses a very handsome
collection of minerals.15
In 1821 Atwater was chosen to represent
Pickaway County
in the Ohio House of Representatives.
There he became an
active and vigorous leader in the
movement to develop a sys-
tem of state canals, improved highways,
and state-supported
common schools. New York State, under Governor De Witt
Clinton, had been creating its Erie
Canal system, and the
enthusiasm for a similar program in
Ohio resulted in exten-
sive agitation.16 When some
of his colleagues sought to
abandon the usual Ohio road tax for one
year, Atwater said
in part:
The people of Ohio are an enterprising
people and they are as
patriotic as they are enterprising and
will not thank you for giving
14 Reprinted in Liberty Hall
and Cincinnati Gazette, March 17, 1820.
15 Karl Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Travels Through North
America, During the Years 1825 and
1826 (Philadelphia, 1828), II,
148-149.
16 William T. Utter, The Frontier
State, 1803-1825 (Carl Wittke, ed., The
History of the State of Ohio, II, Columbus, 1942), 318 ff.
22
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
up the road tax. Does the public voice
call for the abandonment of this
tax? No sir, it does not, else why is
not your table loaded with
memorials to that effect? It is the
great speculators and their agents
who call for this sacrifice and not the
people.17
The preliminary Ohio canal bill was
introduced into the
Ohio legislature in December 1821.
Atwater not only sup-
ported the bill but during the years
before the actual building
of the canal (commencing in 1825), he
wrote many articles
for the Circleville press, emphasizing
forcefully the arguments
in favor of the program.
Atwater, moreover, was vitally
concerned with efforts
favoring a state system of common schools. As a college
graduate in an area where at the time
few had had his
opportunities, he gave effective
leadership. On the very day
on which the Ohio canal bill was
introduced, Atwater pre-
sented a resolution calling for the
appointment of a com-
mittee of five legislators to consider
the part of the governor's
annual message relating to schools and
school lands.18 Atwater
was appointed chairman of the
committee. The result was
that he introduced a resolution calling
upon the governor
to appoint a commission of seven
members to study the matter
of a common school system and its
support and report their
findings to the next general assembly.19
The report was
adopted in January 1822, and in March
Acting Governor
Allen Trimble appointed Atwater one of the
commissioners
Micajah Williams, a political leader of
the time, wrote, "
know of no other person with equal
qualifications."20 Atwater
was chosen chairman, and, as directed,
dispatched about five
hundred letters to various persons in
different parts of the
state, and prepared three pamphlets for
popular distribution
Atwater's own plan for schools was
based on a New York
17 Olive Branch (Circleville), February 19, 1822, quoted in Taylor,
"Life
Caleb Atwater," 5.
18 Ohio House Journal, XX (1821), 56.
19 Ibid., 282.
20 Williams
to Trimble, February 21, 1822, quoted in "Selections from the
Papers of Governor Allen Trimble," Old
Northwest Genealogical Quarterly, XI
(1908), 31.
CALEB ATWATER 23
program and made no provision for a
definite school tax.
The next legislature of 1823-24 showed
no enthusiasm for
canals and schools, but in 1825 a basic
Ohio law began a
tax-supported system of Ohio public
schools.21 In the achieve-
ment thus attained, the three
individuals who had done the
most to accomplish it were Ephraim
Cutler of Marietta,
Nathan Guilford of Cincinnati, and
Atwater.
In the meantime, Atwater, in June 1823,
had been elected
to the Circleville school board.22
In 1822 he ran for congress
but was defeated by Duncan McArthur of
Chillicothe, and in
1823 he was unsuccessful in seeking
again a seat in the legis-
lature. Like many office seekers of the
time he thought that
he might advance his prospects by
publishing a newspaper.
For a brief period in February and
March 1824 he issued
the Chillicothe Friend of Freedom. He
included valuable,
even scholarly, information, but it was
not of interest to the
average reader, and only three numbers
were published. John
Bailhache of the Chillicothe Supporter
and Scioto Gazette
contributed to the failure by a fierce
attack on the new jour-
nalist. Apparently Atwater's financial
condition for the time
being became critical, for the sheriff
levied upon his personal
property in the interests of a
creditor.23
At this time Atwater was eyeing
cautiously the presiden-
tial prospects of De Witt Clinton and
John Quincy Adams,
but he soon became an ardent supporter
of Andrew Jackson.24
As a member of the Jackson central
committee in Ohio, he
wrote on September 20 a widely
publicized letter denouncing
Adams:
Adams is a proud, haughty, cold-hearted
aristocrat, and destitute
of gratitude for any favor conferred on
him by the people. He is the
21 William McAlpine, "The Origin of
Public Education in Ohio," Ohio Arch-
aeological and Historical Quarterly, XXXVIII (1929), 409 ff.
22 Olive Branch, July 11, 1823.
23 Taylor,
"Life of Caleb Atwater," 13-14.
24 For
the rapid development of the Jacksonian candidacy, see Francis P.
Weisenburger, "The 'Atlas' of the
Jacksonian Movement in Ohio," in Historical
and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Bulletin, XIV
(1956), 283-301.
24
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
libeller of Thomas Paine and the rights
of man. He plays cards on the
Sabbath and though professing to be a
Deist, he is an Atheist in religion
and a monarchist in politics.25
The falsity of much of this was
obvious. A Delaware,
Ohio, editor declared that there was a
"misrepresentation in
every sentence."26 He
elaborated:
Mr. Atwater has hitherto been viewed by
most correct men of his
acquaintance, as a man, who in some
sphere, might be useful. They
have allowed him credit for extensive literary
acquirements, considered
him candid and honest; and have pitied
him for his ill success in pro-
fessional pursuits; and his friends,
from the purest charity, have more
than once, (if we are not misinformed) contributed
generously for his
comfort. None of these good feelings, it now appears,
were merited
by him, from any innate good quality,
which has heretofore been at-
tributed to him.27
Atwater during the campaign carried on
a correspondence
with other Jacksonian leaders.28 He also
issued a circular,
dated October 9, to German voters in
their native language.
It said in part: "Clay cannot be
elected; and if he were, he
would waste all the public funds in one
night at the gambling
table. Adams, like his father, would
oppress you with taxes
and standing armies, and enact his gag
laws and stamp act."
Atwater then advised: "Use every
effort to obtain votes for
Jackson. He slept on cold earth, while
Clay and Adams were
reposing on beds of down, their bodies
enervated by vice and
luxury."29
In 1826 Atwater started a term as
prosecuting attorney
for Pickaway County.30 As
preparations began to be made
for the presidential campaign of 1828,
Atwater entered the
25 Cleveland Herald, October 22, 1824; Supporter and Scioto Gazette (Chilli-
cothe), November 4, 1824.
26 Delaware Patron, November 4, 1824.
27 Ibid.
28 John C. Parish, Robert Lucas (Iowa City, Iowa, 1907), 83-84.
29 Delaware Patron, November 25, 1824.
30 Williams Bros., pub., History of Franklin and Pickaway Counties, Ohio
(Cleveland, 1880), 47.
CALEB ATWATER 25
fray, but more as an intriguer than as
a strategist. The well-
known Duff Green wrote in 1827:
He is an intriguant; without the
intelligence necessary to inspire
confidence or secure success. If he is
to be believed, he corresponds
with every great man in the nation, and
particularly with Gov. Clinton,
who, in a letter to him in the spring of
1825, said, "the question is
not whether the administration shall be
put down, but by whom shall it
be done?"31
Apparently Atwater hoped to advance his
own ambitions
by seeking to secure a Jackson-Clinton
ticket in 1828, such
being the import of a not wholly
unambiguous letter written
to Postmaster General John McLean of
Ohio in June 1826
in which Atwater avowed "strong
personal friendship" for
McLean. Later, in August 1827, Atwater, according to his
own account, visited Jackson at
Clinton's urging.33 Clinton
apparently wrote occasionally to
Atwater, in one letter ex-
pressing a preference for Jackson for
president.34 The result
was that Atwater circulated the
impression that Clinton's
support of Jackson would depend upon
the New Yorker
being given the vice presidential
nomination.35 It may be
that the last letter written by Clinton
before his sudden death,
February 11, 1828, was to Atwater, who
quoted Clinton thus
to Jackson:
"If you wish not to see a second
reign of terror, support Gen. Jackson
--if you wish for the restoration of pure,
republican principles, support
him--if you are a patriot, and love your
country, support him. You
have put your hand to the plow, and
cannot look back. My advice to
you is, to go for him decidedly, firmly
and faithfully. I know not what
31 Green to W. B. Lewis, September 2,
1827. Duff Green Manuscripts, Library
of Congress.
32 Atwater to McLean, June 21, 1826.
McLean Manuscripts, Library of Con-
gress.
33 Atwater
to Jackson, February 29, 1828. Jackson Manuscripts, Library of
Congress.
34 Cincinnati Gazette, October 30, 1827.
35 Green to Gen. William Bogardus,
September 9, 1827. Duff Green Manu-
scripts.
26
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
causes of dissatisfaction you may have,
for I have mine, but we must
support Gen. Jackson zealously,
faithfully and efficiently."36
In the meantime, John McLean as
postmaster general was
endeavoring to steer a calculated
course so as to secure the
friendship of Jackson without arousing
the ire of Adams
in a way that might lead to his removal
from office.37 To
McLean, as we have seen, Atwater had
indicated his con-
tinuing support of Jackson and
proclaimed the declining for-
tunes of Adams, "In every part of
the army of opposition
all is courage and confidence, and the
II John follows the fate
of the Ist. John."38
At about the same time, an anonymous
letter appeared in
the Chillicothean, and was
commented upon in other papers,
charging that McLean was using his
office as postmaster
general to advance Jackson's political
prospects. McLean
believed that Atwater was the author.
McLean denied to
Duncan McArthur, congressman and later
governor, that
he had ever used his office in such a
way.39 McArthur seem-
ingly was not wholly convinced of
McLean's loyalty to Adams,
whom he personally strongly supported,
but he observed that
the letter was hardly written by any
real friend of McLean
or Jackson and was calculated to lessen
McLean's influence
both with the Adams administration and
with Jackson.40
McLean in another letter denounced
Atwater as "the most
profligate creature in regard to
truth" within his knowledge
and declared that the charge as to
McLean's use of his office
to advance Jackson's prospects was of
such a character that
a "more infamous falsehood was
never uttered."41
36 Atwater to Jackson, February 29,
1828, in John S. Bassett, ed., Correspond-
ence of Andrew Jackson (Washington, 1926-33), III, 394.
37 Francis
P. Weisenburger, "John McLean, Postmaster-General," Mississippi
Valley Historical Review, XVIII (1931-32), 23-33.
38 Atwater to McLean, June 21, 1826.
McLean Manuscripts.
39 McLean to McArthur, November 16,
1826. McArthur Manuscripts, Library
of Congress.
40 McArthur to McLean, November 28,
1826. McLean Manuscripts.
41 McLean to Gen. Solomon Van Rensselaer, September 14, 1826. McLean
Manuscripts.
CALEB ATWATER 27
Later, Atwater, in a continuing
exhibition of recklessness,
apparently wrote Jackson anonymously,
charging McLean
with the responsibility for the wave of
slander against Mrs.
Jackson. This kind of vituperation
aroused Jackson as noth-
ing else could, and he wrote McLean
enclosing the letter and
demanding an explanation. McLean
compared the hand-
writing with that in a letter which
Duff Green had received
from Atwater, and he sent the letters
to Jackson for a com-
parison of handwriting. At the same
time, McLean expressed
his opinion of Atwater: "This
unfortunate man has not the
slightest cause of hostility to me,
unless it be that I did not
procure his appointment to some office.
I never had the least
confidence in his integrity."42
Atwater continued his activities as a
leading Jacksonian
in Ohio, and at the state Democratic
convention in Columbus,
January 9, 1828, was chosen secretary
of the meeting.43
With the election of Jackson to the
presidency, Atwater
inevitably sought preferment.
Apparently he was somewhat
concerned about the rival claims of
another Ohio Democrat,
Elijah Hayward, who also expected
recognition from the
new administration.44 Almost at once
Hayward was appointed
examiner of United States land offices in Ohio,
holding the
post until the Ohio legislature elected
him to the Ohio Supreme
Court for a seven-year term early in
1830. Before the year
was over, however, Hayward resigned to
accept the lucrative
post (at $3,500 a year) of commissioner
of the general land
office at Washington proffered him by
Jackson.45
Atwater had to be content with an
appointment, in May
1829, by Jackson, as one of three
commissioners to treat
with the Winnebagoes and other Indians
in the Prairie du
Chien, Wisconsin, area.46 Atwater
left by stage late in May
42 McLean
to Jackson, September 22, 1827. Jackson Manuscripts. A copy is
also in the McLean Manuscripts.
43 Ohio Monitor (Columbus), January 12, 1828.
44 Atwater to Jackson, February 28,
1821. Jackson Manuscripts.
45 Weisenburger, "The 'Atlas' of
the Jacksonian Movement in Ohio," 294-295.
46 Western Times (Portsmouth),
June 20, 1829.
28
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1829, going via Chillicothe and West
Union to Maysville,
where he boarded a steamboat, The
Home, from Pittsburgh.
A two-hour stop was made at Cincinnati.
En route to Louis-
ville aid was given to a vessel needing
towing service, so
that two days and nights were occupied
in making the trip
from Cincinnati.47 Four days
were spent in Louisville await-
ing the departure of the steamboat Cleopatra,
and thereafter
the vessel reached St. Louis four days
later.48 There Atwater
called upon Senator Thomas Benton, with
whom he had an
acquaintance.49 After a time
he was joined by the other
commissioners, John McNeil and Pierre
Menard, the latter
of Kaskaskia. Atwater spent nineteen
days in St. Louis, and
on June 30 the commissioners started
for Prairie du Chien,
taking with them a secretary, Charles
Hempstead, and calico,
tobacco, and other goods to be used in
dealing with the tribes-
men.50 After many
difficulties Prairie du Chien was reached
in mid-July, and after much parleying,
treaties were concluded
with the Chippewa, Ottawa, and
Potawatomi tribes on July
29, and with the Winnebagoes on August
1.51 The three first
mentioned surrendered their lands
between the Illinois and
Wisconsin rivers, while the Winnebagoes
gave up the western
part of their lands south of the
Wisconsin.
Soon Atwater started homeward, securing
wagon trans-
portation overland via Galena and
Edwardsville. Thence he
went to Vincennes, and by stage to
Louisville, where he took
steamboat passage to Cincinnati. A
private carriage was
then secured for the trip to
Circleville, where Atwater re
mained a few days before starting for
Washington.53 The
47 Caleb
Atwater, Remarks Made on a Tour to Prairie du Chien; Thence to
Washington City in 1829 (Columbus, 1831), 1-9.
48 Ibid., 24.
49 Ibid., 54.
50 Ibid., 67.
51 Ibid., 71. For
congressional legislation of March 25, 1830, carrying out the
terms of the treaties, see United
States Statutes at Large, IV (1824-35), 390.
52 Charles C. Royce, comp., Indian Land Cessions in the
United States (Wash-
ington, 1899), 722-724; Charles J.
Kappler, ed., Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaty
(Washington, 1904), II, 297-303.
53 Atwater, Remarks Made on a Tour to Prairie du Chien, 181-205,
208-216.
CALEB ATWATER 29
stage trip to the capital was made by
way of Zanesville,
Wheeling, and Cumberland.54 As
soon as possible after his
arrival in Washington he called on
President Jackson and
spent some time during the next two
weeks explaining the
Indian negotiations to him.55 Atwater
then decided to take
a trip for pleasure to Philadelphia and
Boston. But at
Philadelphia he found so many
interesting buildings, mu-
seums, and social opportunities that he
remained for five
weeks.56 Returning to Washington,
he explained to members
of the senate aspects of the treaties
which had been negotiated,
and then remained in Washington for a
few weeks, partaking
of numerous hospitalities and attending
a levee at the White
House on January 10, 1830.57
Two years later Atwater endeavored to
threaten Amos
Kendall, well-known Jacksonian
official, who was then serving
as fourth auditor of the treasury.58
On his mission to
Prairie du Chien via St. Louis, Atwater
had incurred ex-
penses rather freely and now sought an
adjustment of the
amount which he claimed was due him for
his services.
Kendall replied pointedly:
Although I had not time to answer all
your previous letters, I urged
forward your business as much as I
properly could. But for the last
paragraph in your letter, I should have
rejoiced at the information I
have just received, that your account
has been adjusted and a balance
found due and forwarded to you. That paragraph is as
follows:
"Unless I hear immediately from
you my books will contain several
pages I had hoped to have withheld. Human nature can
bear only a
certain amount of suffering." To
be plain, sir, I understand this
paragraph as a threat that, unless your
claims be allowed, you will
publish something derogatory to the
administration. I hope I do not
understand you correctly; but if I do,
I beg leave to inform you that
when you again advance such arguments
in support of pecuniary claims
54 Ibid., 224-226.
55 Ibid., 234.
56 Ibid., 265.
57 Ibid., 267-269.
58 For a survey of Kendall's career, see sketch by Frank M. Anderson in the
Dictionary of American Biography.
30
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
against the government, you must find
some other advocate to present
them.59
After Robert Lucas of Piketon was
elected first Jacksonian
Democratic governor of Ohio in 1832,
Atwater sought
political preferment in connection with
some Indian trans-
actions which Lucas at that time
contemplated. In one of his
letters Atwater bewailed his fate:
"The world seems to
have forgotten me, and deserted
me." But seemingly Lucas
did not find it possible or feasible to
help him in his need
of an appointment which would have
aided his pecuniary
predicament.60
Some longtime Jacksonians in Ohio could
not with any
enthusiasm accept Van Buren, the suave
New Yorker, as a
successor to the brusque, independent
"Old Hickory."61 By
1840, accordingly, Atwater had gone
over to Whiggery. He
later asserted that for two years
before the Log Cabin and
Hard Cider election he had traversed
Ohio urging veteran
Jackson men to vote for Tippecanoe and
Tyler and promising
that Webster and Ewing (old National
Republicans) would
not be in the cabinet. He was soon
disappointed with the
Harrison administration. Atwater
complained that Harrison
had not appointed even one former
Jacksonian from Ohio to
office,62 and once again he
returned to his old lament: "I have
an old honest and just claim on the
government, which I
would present to the secretary of war,
but [Elisha] Whittlesey
is said to have run up and down in your
city, to discredit it
Such conduct toward me, will not
prosper."63
With the cabinet resignations of
September 1841, which
except for Webster, stripped the Tyler administration
of its
department heads, McLean was offered
the post of secretary
59 Kendall to Atwater, July 15, 1831, in
William Stickney, ed., Autobiography
of Amos Kendall (Boston, 1872), 322.
60 Parish, Robert Lucas, 307.
61 Edgar A. Holt, Party Politics in
Ohio, 1840-1850 (Columbus, 1930), 63.
62 Atwater to McLean, September 24,
1841. McLean Manuscripts.
63 Ibid. Whittlesey had become fourth auditor of the treasury.
Francis P. We??
senburger, The Passing of the
Frontier, 1826-1850 (Carl Wittke, ed., The History
of the State of Ohio, III, Columbus, 1941), 398.
CALEB ATWATER 31
of war.64 Atwater urged him
to accept, so as to make real
"the first good sign of the
times," and proposed that McLean's
first appointment in Ohio should be of
Atwater as land sub-
agent at Sandusky.65 Of
course, McLean did not give up his
life-time job on the supreme court, and
Atwater's frail hopes
were once again dashed to pieces.66
Even later Atwater continued his
efforts to obtain public
office. When Thomas Ewing of Ohio was
appointed the first
secretary of the interior (under
President Taylor in 1849),
he felt impelled to deny Atwater's
desire for a government
post.67 Atwater then turned
to Thomas Corwin when the
latter became secretary of the treasury
under Fillmore in
1850, warning him to beware of Ewing,
and again seeking
an appointment for himself. Atwater
elaborated, "You and
I have repeatedly sat in the Grand
Lodge together and you
know, Sir, my brother the obligations
which we are under
to each other to warn a brother of any
approaching danger."
But Corwin was unimpressed by such
efforts to arouse him
against Ewing.68
In addition to being an active
politician, Atwater as a
writer had, for a period, received
considerable attention. His
previously mentioned work, published by
the American Anti-
quarian Society in 1820, had received
favorable comment,
such as the following by Timothy Flint:
[He] has certainly given the most
faithful account of Indian mounds,
monuments and antiquities, that we have
seen. The western public
clearly stands indebted to his industry
and research in this ample
field. . . . Entire reliance may be
placed on Mr. Atwater's drawings
and descriptions, of what he himself
has seen; and he has probably seen
and examined these subjects more extensively than any
other man
among us.69
64 Francis P. Weisenburger, The Life
of John McLean (Columbus, 1937), 102-
103.
65 Atwater to McLean, September 24,
1841. McLean Manuscripts.
66 Weisenburger, Life of John
McLean, 103.
67 Paul I. Miller, "Thomas Ewing, Last of the Whigs" (unpublished
Ph.D.
dissertation, Ohio State University,
1933), 243.
68 Ibid., 244.
69 Western
Monthly Review, I (1827-28), 660.
32
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Atwater, however, was impetuous and
lacked the patience
to revise carefully his manuscripts.
His literary style, more-
over, was animated but often diffuse
and not always accurate.
A part of his substantial contribution
was that he investi-
gated numerous mounds before the work
of the plowman had
leveled them forever.
In 1827 he published an address
delivered in December
1826 at the United States Court House
in Columbus on
The General Character, Present and
Future Prospects of
the People of Ohio.70 This
was a rather flattering appraisal
of Ohio and its future prospects, with
an emphatic denial
that Ohioans had no recognizable
"character." He insisted
that "the people of this State are
remarkable for their love
of liberty, their hatred of slavery and
all intolerance and
persecution."71 Pursuing his subject further, he
declared:
I can truly say, that I found
intelligence more generally diffused
among the great mass of the people, than
I have elsewhere. It is
not uncommon for us to have, even in a
small town, persons well
informed and well educated, from almost
every one of the old American
states, and from almost every country of
Europe.72
As to crime and immorality, he
asserted:
In Ohio, morality, an absence of
atrocious crimes, and a strict atten-
tion to the duties enjoined by the mild
religion of the gospel, distinguish
us from the people of many other
communities. . . . Murders have been
committed in this state, it is true, but
they have been perpetrated, in
almost every instance, by citizens of
other states, or by mere transient
persons passing through our territory.
Suicides are almost unknown among us.
Drunkenness, a vice,
common in many parts of the Union,
among, not only labouring people,
but infecting even the higher classes of
society, is so uncommon here,
that Gov. Clinton, after seeing, as he
did, while he was Ohio's guest,
a large proportion of our citizens,
declared to our honor and his own
70 Printed by P. H. Olmstead and Co. at Columbus.
71 P.3.
72 P.5.
CALEB ATWATER 33
surprise, in all his Tour, he never
saw, even one intoxicated person, in
Ohio.73
Atwater, however, waxed particularly
eloquent in his praise
of the absence of artificial social
distinctions:
In this state, we have no rule of court
etiquette, which requires the
introduction of a citizen, by a head of
a department, to our Chief
Magistrate, before any business can be
transacted with him. . . . If
grandeur has found in our national capital and in Europe,
a splendid
palace and a lofty dome for its abode,
its dwelling place in Ohio is in
the heart of its possessor. Our
grandeur is a moral one, and the
humblest citizen can approach it
without impediment whenever he
wishes to do so.74
In 1831 Atwater published his account
of his trip as Indian
commissioner to Prairie du Chien and
then to the city of
Washington. In it he gave many
impressions of many cities,
such as Maysville, Cincinnati,
Louisville, and St. Louis, and
recorded observations of the country,
with detailed mention
of the birds, fishes, flowers, and
trees. He also attempted an
appraisal of Indian customs, language,
and government. A
dictionary of the Sioux language was
included in the first
edition of this work.75
In 1833 he published, in revised form,
on the basis of con-
tinuing investigations, his earlier
study of the "Antiquities"
of the western country, and, also with
changes, his Remarks
Made on a Tour to Prairie du Chien. The new title was The
Writings of Caleb Atwater.76
Already in 1828 he apparently had been
seeking a publisher
for the work which he had been
preparing on Ohio history
for many years, and the Ohio State
Journal remarked that
Atwater indeed "was much better
calculated to figure in
73 P.11. Clinton visited Ohio in 1825 to participate in the ceremonies
marking
the beginning of the construction of the
Ohio canals.
74 P.12. This address was printed also
in the Ohio State Journal (Columbus),
July 5, 1827.
75 Published by Isaac N. Whiting
at Columbus.
76 Printed by Scott and Wright at
Columbus.
34
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the literary and scientific than
in the political world."77 In
1838 this History of Ohio was
finally published.78 A year
later Atwater wrote that every copy of
the first edition had
been sold within four weeks of the time
it was bound, and
a second edition had just been issued.79
A leading literary journal, newly
established at Columbus,
commented on the work:
A friend requests us to say something
about this book. The author
has been laborious in his researches,
evidently. He has thrown together
a great mass of interesting facts. But
who can write veritably, or even
half-veritably, upon this subject,
without presenting interesting state-
ments? Nobody, as this book proves. But
Ohio's Pioneers, her wars,
her resources, her institutions--in
short her perfect history, natural
and civil--because constituting a great,
a master subject, should,
therefore, be untouched, save by a
master hand. As a literary produc-
tion, Mr. Atwater's book is deplorably
deficient.
To our fellow citizen, John H. James,
Esq., of Urbana, we have
long been looking, and still look, for a
work of this kind, in which the
execution shall be worthy of the theme.
We trust our waiting-time
will soon be ended.80
The North American Review expressed
the opinion that it
was not really a History of Ohio but
contained many inter-
esting facts, although also "some
details which are not facts."
It was deemed, nevertheless, to be
worthy of a careful
perusal.81
77 February 21, 1828.
78 Printed
by Glezen and Shepard at Cincinnati. The book had been projected
for more than twenty years, as Atwater
states in the opening paragraph of his
Preface. As far back as 1819 he had
secured the insertion in a Portsmouth news-
paper of a one and one-third column
prospectus for a work to be known as "Notes
on the State of Ohio," which he
announced would contain much the same material
that appears in the History.
Portsmouth Gazette, January 27, February 3, 10, 17,
1819.
79 Atwater to Ephraim Cutler, February
1839, in Julia P. Cutler, Life and
Times of Ephraim Cutler (Cincinnati, 1890), 252.
80 The Hesperian; or, Western Monthly Magazine (ed. by William D.
Gallagher
and Otway Curry), I (1838), 494. John H.
James was a pioneer Ohio lawyer,
banker, railroad builder, politician,
editor, and writer. See his biography by
William E. and Ophia D. Smith, A
Buckeye Titan (Cincinnati, 1953).
81 North American Review, LIII (1841), 355.
CALEB ATWATER 35
Atwater began his History of Ohio with
a treatment of
geological formations, especially from
the standpoint of the
future utility of the limestone, iron
ore, clays, and coal of
southern Ohio. The possibilities of oil
were also considered.
He, moreover, gave considerable
attention to trees and plants,
listing many of the four thousand
native plants of the state.82
His account of the political and
military history of the
state began with La Salle's reputed
discovery of the Ohio
River. The story of French-English
rivalries, the American
Revolutionary period, the territorial
era, and the early years
of statehood--all received attention.
The War of 1812, the
coming of the canals, and the
beginnings of the state's educa-
tional system received special
consideration. Finally, there
was a resume of life in Ohio in 1837,
with a discussion of
schools and colleges, the various
religious denominations,
trade and commerce, banks, newspapers,
and other matters.
Atwater looked upon the continuance of
slavery in the
southern states as an aid to Ohio's
development because of the
way in which "wealth, numbers,
youth, and vigor" were
diverted to the free states.83 He
endeavored to give a balanced
discussion of slavery. Yet a writer in
one contemporary
newspaper asserted that the worst part
of the book was its
"advocacy" of abolition with
the author's statement that
there were more than 17,000
abolitionists in the state.84
In 1841 Atwater published An Essay
on Education.85 An
earlier biographer has voiced the
opinion that this was by
far his best work.86 In the
essay Atwater urged better build-
ings, better teachers, and an improved
curriculum. He ob-
jected to prevailing teaching methods,
contending that those
engaged in instruction "teach
their scholars like parrots, to
repeat answers to a number of
questions. The end of the
term arrives; the questions are asked;
the pupil parrotlike
82 Pp. 20, 60.
83 P. 331.
84 "Portage," in Ohio
Statesman (Columbus), January 7, 1839.
85 Printed by Kendall and Henry at
Cincinnati.
86 Martzolff,
"Caleb Atwater," 270.
36 THE OHIO HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
answers them; medals and ribbons are
distributed; a display
is made; the parents are enraptured;
the pupil's vanity is
flattered; but in one short month's
space, all knowledge
acquired at school is gone, and gone
forever."87
He urged the study of music and moral
instruction based
on Biblical principles, and he favored
instruction for girls
and women on an equality with boys and
men, using co-educa-
tion as a means. Professional pride in
teaching and better
history and geography texts he deemed
highly desirable.88
Popular education he considered to be
especially important
because of the large number of Irish
and German immigrants
who would be made into most useful
citizens by adequate
schooling.89
In 1844 Atwater produced a guide book
of the city of
Washington, with an effort at
allurement in the title,
Mysteries of Washington City.90 After discussing various
phases of life in the capital city, he
endeavored to give a
directory of the churches and places of
public interest.
By this time his career both as a
politician and a writer
had practically come to a close. As we
have seen, in early
middle life he had shown much promise
as a vigorous leader
in Ohio's movement for public schools
and a canal system.
He had, furthermore, been diligent in
exploring Ohio's pre-
historic earthworks and in reporting
regarding them. In
his writings, which included the first
one-volume history of
any of the states of the Northwest, he
had shown a consider-
able knowledge, for that unspecialized
age, of botany and
geology, as well as politics and
archaeology. Yet his violent
partisanship and wholly unscrupulous
disregard of the truth
in political matters had minimized his
usefulness in affairs
relating to government. His frequently
careless, undisciplined
manner of writing, moreover, had detracted seriously
from
his effectiveness as an author.
87 P. 21.
88 P. 78.
89 Pp. 114-115.
90 "A Citizen of Ohio," Mysteries of Washington City (Washington,
1844).
CALEB ATWATER 37
By the middle 1840's, therefore, his
earlier tendency to
self-pity became more pronounced. In
1843 he wrote:
The present generation seems to have
forgotten the services of
those who laid the foundation on which
our good institutions are
built. They say we have had our day. It
was a day of trial, labor and
difficulty; of self-devotion and
patriotism. That age has passed, and
the present generation makes sad work of
it, under the influence of
party spirit, party legislation, madness
and folly.91
Henry Howe, the roving chronicler,
visited him in 1846,
and he later recorded his impressions
thus:
He had the Atwater physique--a large,
heavily-moulded man, with
dark eyes and complexion, and a
Romanesque nose. He was a queer
talker, and appeared to me like a
disappointed, unhappy man. One
of his favorite topics was General
Jackson, whose friendship he greatly
valued. He had visited him at the
Hermitage, where Old Hickory,
who was a genial personage, had
entertained him. . . . His life appears
to have been a struggle with penury. He
did little, if any law business;
he had a large family, six sons and
three daughters, and his books
were but a meagre source of support, and
these he sold by personal
solicitation. He was, however, blest
with an excellent wife, and that
is the all-important point with a
struggling man.92
Three of Atwater's nine children had
died in infancy. Two
of the boys had been named for
political leaders, Henry Clay
and De Witt Clinton.93 Atwater
himself lived on until March
13, 1867, his death occurring at
Circleville, where he had
resided for more than half a century.94
By that time his
own generation had well-nigh passed
away, and his younger
contemporaries had little reason to
remember him.95 But
later generations were to give him
appropriate remembrance
for the erratic but persisting impetus
which he had given to
the early intellectual life of the Old
Northwest.
91 Atwater to Cutler, January 9, 1843, in Cutler, Ephraim Cutler, 251.
92 Historical Collections of Ohio, II, 417.
93 The
former died as a baby, but the latter became a physician in Concordia,
Kansas, and was himself the father of
ten children. Francis Atwater, Atwater His-
tory, 162, 217.
94 Circleville Democrat, March 15, 1867.
95 For the loneliness of his last years,
his wife having preceded him in death by
about a decade, see Foster, Atwater Family, 103.
Caleb Atwater:
Pioneer Politician and Historian
By FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER*
THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT SUMMARY of Ohio's past was an
historical introduction by Salmon P.
Chase to his compilation
of the Statutes of Ohio.1 At
that time, Chase, a graduate of
Dartmouth College who had studied law
in a somewhat in-
formal way under William Wirt, attorney
general of the
United States (1817-29), was waiting
for clients as a fledg-
ling lawyer in Cincinnati.2 James Kent, the
distinguished
New York jurist, deemed this historical
sketch of the history
of Ohio to be "admirable, and
written with impartiality,
truth, and eloquence."3 Both Kent and Associate
Justice
Joseph Story of the United States
Supreme Court praised
the edition of the laws of Ohio.4 Yet
the undertaking was not
a financial success. The first edition
of one thousand copies
was printed at great expense. Several
hundred copies of
the second volume were destroyed by
fire. The state pur-
chased only one hundred and fifty
copies of the work, and
Chase received about one thousand
dollars for all of his
labor on the undertaking. The
publishers, Corey and Fair-
* Francis
P. Weisenburger is professor of history at Ohio State University
He is the author of The Passing of
the Frontier, 1825-1850, which is Volume II
in the six-volume History of the
State of Ohio published by the Society in the
early 1940's.
1 Published in three volumes at
Cincinnati, 1833-35. The forty-eight pag
Preliminary Sketch of the History of
Ohio was also separately issued.
2 Dictionary of
American Biography.
3 Kent to Chase, July 1, 1835, in J. W. Schuckers, The
Life and Public Service
of Salmon Portland Chase (New York, 1874), 35-36.
4 Ibid., 36-37.