Ohio History Journal

Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.             211

 

'Society to him,

Is blithe society, who fills the air,

With gladness and involuntary song.'

Of his evenings at home, he also quotes lines from Wads-

worth strangely and beautifully coincident with his own experi-

ence of the howling wind outside.

 

"But let him range round; he does not harm,

We build up the fire; we're snug and warm;

Untouch'd by his breath, see the candle shines bright,

And burns with a clear and steady light;

Books have we to read; hush, that half-stifled knell

Methinks 'tis the sound of the eight o'clock bell."

 

"Many times I have been told how ridiculous it was to come

from the society of antiquarians and politicians and play ball with

boys of six. But it is natural to me, infected by their mood, by

my early life."

These brief touches tell the whole story of his boyhood up to

twelve years of age.

Active political efforts among the rural population, in the

exigencies of politics under the leadership of Isaac Hill in New

Hampshire, in 1829, brought to his father an appointment as State

librarian and the removal of his family to Concord. Here Cyrus

finds access to books and congenial work in assisting his father.

The lad's quickly acquired knowledge of the resources of the

library and his methodical classification of the books, attracted the

attention of the patrons of the library in the Capital City. They

found him thirsting for a classical education, his father too poor

to aid and no friend to assist.

The literary citizens of Concord, thereupon, united in secur-

ing for him, admission to Exeter Academy as a "charity scholar,"

which he entered in the fall of 1830. He completes his prepara-

tory course in one year, enters Dartmouth College and goes

through the Freshman and Sophomore course in the required two

years. A breaking down in his health -but especially from lack

of funds to continue - led him to decide to drop out for one year,

and by teaching and literary work to endeavor to secure the means

to return and complete his course.

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He is given a position as a teacher in a private school in his

home city. He enlists with him Moody Currier, afterwards Gov-

ernor of the State, and Asa Fowler, also subsequently eminent

in State affairs, in organizing a venture of a periodical to be

known as the "Literary Gazette," the editorial work principally

devolving on him. Actively engaging in all reform movements,

delivering addresses, writing for the local papers and keeping up

an active correspondence with the leading reformers, conducting

historical and antiquarian investigations, he breaks down com-

pletely. At this juncture, Mr. Fletcher, a Trustee of the College,

came to him with a proposition to join him in the trip outlined

in the "Extracts." From his work in teaching he had barely laid

aside twelve dollars. This his father, somehow, contrived to sup-

plement with enough to make it even one hundred dollars. The

good mother "with great anxiety concerning the perils of steam-

boats and Indians he will encounter," helps him to prepare his

scrupulously clean, but scanty wardrobe, which he decides ample

for him to undertake this journey.

This journey completed, he returns to college greatly im-

proved in health and spirits, takes a front rank in his class in

everything except mathematics, writes leading editorials for the

"Herald of Freedom" and "Newport Argus," sends for publica-

tion historical and antiquarian matter to literary journals, under-

takes and completes by the latter part of October for publication

this same year, a "Biography of Hon. Isaac Hill," which Parton,

in his "Life of Andrew Jackson," refers to as "the best and most

authoritative life that has been written" of that leading supporter

and confidential adviser of Jackson.

In connection with his regular college duties, he plunges into

the study of Spanish and French, reads, comments upon and crit-

icises their literature, races with canoes on the river, fights it out

on the foot-ball grounds, nerves himself to be present at critical

surgical operations by the celebrated Dr. Mussey, carefully noting

the effect on the patient and diagraming the incision in detail, ran-

sacking the fields for botanical and geological specimens and

every day entering in his Journal comments on the instructors and

the instruction of the day.

In his Senior year he was invited to deliver a public address

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.           213

before the whole college. Concerning this address, his college-

mate, Judge Dana, writes:

"The most marked event that I recollect in regard to him"

(Bradley) "was the lengthy speech which he delivered without

notes before the whole College and which was a masterly produc-

tion, which with other achievements, established his reputation as

one of the only two real geniuses connected with the college dur-

ing my day."

Rev. Rockwood says: "In his lawyer-like address, he stood

easily at the front in the class for intellectual endowments, schol-

arly taste and the power of moving public assemblies."

From all that can be gathered it is evident that he ranked in

college life as the peer of three distinguished men, Daniel Web-

ster, Rufus Choate, and Salmon P. Chase, preceding him in three

regular decades. The environments, experiences, struggles and

limitations in early life of Webster and Bradley were the same,

and educated at the same Academy and College, the biography

of the life of the one could be exchanged for the other without

material modification up to the date of graduation. Webster ex-

celled perhaps in weighty mental endowments, surely in physical

constitution, but Bradley outmatched him in rapier intellect,

stood and worked on a higher plane of moral tone and purpose

and with far greater industry and method. Bradley's career ended

with graduation. What it might have been, had life continued,

can only be conjectured.

He graduated in July, 1837, and returned to his home only to

arrange for a surrender to his fatal disease.

"His large collection of autographs, rare and curious pamph-

lets, and specimens of minerals he arranged and bequeathed to the

New Hampshire Historical Society." His Journals were placed

in the hands of a chosen friend for preservation. Then "with an

unfaltering trust he folded the drapery of his couch about him and

laid down to pleasant dreams," July 6th, 1838, aged 19 years and

9 months.

To-day, one bends over a little leaning slab, brushes off the

dust and scratches away the moss to decipher a name, date of

birth and death and that is all. No, not all! So long as men shall

struggle for freedom, plead for the weak and unfortunate, pro-

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test against penal revenge and judicial manslaughter by the State,

or strive for the rights of man, we shall catch echoes of his voice:

wherever and whenever the people are aroused to slay a giant

wrong, effective arrows will be shot over again, fashioned by

Bradley's hand; -picked up from       his grave.

 

 

ON THE OHIO.- HORSE BOAT.

JUNE, 1835.

1. MON. Was glad to escape from a dirty town and a dirty bed

on board a steamboat. It was the Free Trader from Pittsburg, bound to

St. Louis. We left Wheeling at eight o'clock, and they tell us will be

at Cincinnati on Wednesday morning.  How we shall get from there we

do not know. It is very differently constructed from the eastern boats;

the accommodations by no means so good. The engine is very different,

adapted to the river. The cabin is small, only sixteen berths, gentlemen.

They make their trips solely for freight. We have many tons on board,

chiefly goods and merchandise which have come from New York by the

way of the Erie canal, and are now approaching the Western market.

All the passengers they can get in addition to this is clear gain.  There

were just two berths uningaged, and we of course secured them, and well

we did so, for so many passengers have since come on board, who will

have to sleep on couches upon the floor. The steamer Majestic, we

have just heard, exploded its boiler a few days since, down the Missis-

sippi and shockingly wounded ninety persons, many mortally. They were

all deck passengers-those in the cabin escaped uninjuired. The fare

from Wheeling to Cincinnati is eight dollars-me half price; the dis-

tance is 363 miles-all found.

This is reasonable. As we left the town I noticed a square-built

craft plying up the river, at a respectable pace, per force of a somewhat

sluggish water wheel at the stern. I could perceive no other indications

of a steam engine, and on inquiring learned that it was a horse-boat. A

low, circular shed on deck enclose four or six horses, who turn the wheel

as a horse does a turning lathe. This saves a great amount of labor,

required to force up the river those barbarous built square things, which,

before the introduction of steamboats, were the only means of communi-

cation on the western waters. What a vast change has been caused by

this noble invention - it has been the making of this Western world. I

have now before me a letter published in a newspaper in 1813, in which

the writer congratulates himself upon a passage from Pittsburg to Cin-

cinnati in only twelve days.

The singular and unique race of men who formerly navigated these

boats are now nearly extinct. Some continue on the river, however. I

noticed one close to the shore; the boatmen laboriously pushing it up

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 215

 

the stream, with their faces almost touching the footboard. I sat some

time in the stern of the boat, watching the ever-varying scenery which

our rapid course presented. A voyage down the Ohio probably presents

a view of the finest country in the known world, and the rapid pace with

which we are whisked by gives the whole an appearance of enchantment.

 

THE OHIO- SCENERY. FACE OF COUNTRY. FANNY KEMBLE.

The shores of the river are very precipitous, running into bluffs

and cliffs, frequently to the height of 300 feet. But these banks are not

sand-heaps; no - from base to summit they are covered with the

deepest verdure; thick forests; gigantic trees give them an air of rich-

ness and grandeur nowhere met with but in this region. Between these

bluffs and the river there is usually a strip of level land called bottoms,

varying in width from a few rods to an eighth or even a quarter of a

mile, and corresponding to our intervals. These bottoms have the richest

soil in the world, and on them are placed the villages and habitations

of the dwellers in this land. The great number and variety of verdant

and richly cultivated lands add much to the beauty of the scene.

From Pittsburg to the mouth there are one hundred of respectable

size, and as many tributary rivers and creeks. There cannot be imagined

anything more pleasant than a steamboat voyage down a navigable

river. The Ohio disappointed me in one respect-I expected to find it

broader. * * * Had a lunch about an hour before dinner--good

policy to blunt the appetite; our table is decently provided, that is all;

river water doesn't taste so bad as it looks, though, and, after all, one

must swallow his peck, and he may as well do it without grumbling. Our

company is small, comparatively speaking, and I have made several pleas-

ant acquaintances. After dinner, I went to my berth and had a good

sleep. Mine is a second-story one; there being two, one over another.

Each pair is furnished with a long curtain, which affords a recess for

dressing, etc., and a sort of closet for our baggage under the lower berth.

Wrote till I was tired. Then read the first volume of Fanny Kemble,

which a gentleman lent me. I really admire the book. It displays a

good deal of cleverness. There are many faults; much affectation, small

talk, egotism and vanity, but I have absolutely found nothing worse, and

all this is more than redeemed by her graphic descriptions. She lodged

at the American Hotel in New York and at the Philadelphia; so did Mr.

Bradley. She finds fault with the first and praises the last; so did

Mr. Bradley. Really, I must publish my journal as a supplement, we

agree so well -"Dear, good little me."

Became acquainted with a young officer in the army - name Allen -

very sociable. He furnished me with an excellent steel pen, to take the

place of my miserable quills.

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MARIETTA. BLANNERHASSET ISLAND. WOODING-PLACE. JUNE.

We passed Marietta in the middle of the afternoon, situated near

the mouth of the Muskingum, the oldest town, I believe, in the State.

It was settled by Gen. Rufus Putnam, John C. Symms and others,

in '88. It was once the most important town in Ohio, but has not

increased very fast, owing to the inundations to which it is exposed and

which it has often experienced. It contains about 1,200 inhabitants, and

is 82 miles from Wheeling. About 14 miles below, we passed the cele-

brated Blannerhasset's Island.  I walked on the upper deck as we went

by. It is beautiful, even for the Ohio, and studded with trees along

the water's edge. It is narrow, but several miles in length. It is in a

high state of cultivation and there are upon it several dwelling houses,

one a very handsome one of brick.

Blannerhasset's splendid mansion is nothing but a heap of ruins;

what was once the abode of beauty, taste and hospitality, is now a sad

monument of the folly of human ambition. Coming down, I peeped into

the place where are stowed the deck passengers. I was astonished at

their number-black and white, men, women and children lolling about

on the floor, the trunks, couches, etc. They carry their own supplies

with them, and feast or starve as they choose. My throat being quite

sore, I applied to the waiter for some ginger tea - no ginger on board.

He, however, recommended stewed vinegar and the barkeeper told me

to tie my stocking round my throat--both certain cures. With the

greatest docility I followed both prescriptions, and retired early to

my berth.

2. TUES. Slept some, and but some. Rose very early-left every-

body snoring and went on the upper deck to walk. Everything was

concealed by a thick fog, on which account the boat lay still about four

hours last night. Passed a little town which stands in the corner between

Virginia and Kentucky. Henceforth, we shall have Ohio on the right

and old Kentuck on the left. When I descended into the cabin, the

passengers were just crawling out of their berths and couches, looking

for all the world as if they had been dragged through so many knot

holes. My throat is about the same as yesterday, despite the negro and

the bartender, and in the morning was very hoarse. Hearing the boom-

ing noise of the escape-steam, I ascertained that we were approaching the

Kentucky shore, and, going out, discovered it was what is called a

wooding place. These they have arranged at convenient distances along

the banks, and it saves much transportation. The price is one dollar

a cord. While loading the wood, I eagerly availed myself of the oppor-

tunity to press the soil of Kentucky- it being probably my only chance.

Read in Maj. Downing's letters and wrote journal. Have been queried

and quizzed a good deal about my book, but was prepared for that.

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 217

 

 

GREAT OHIO CANAL. CINCINNATI.

Said my negro doctor, as he cleared the table for lunch, "I do

begrudge your education," and to-night, "I would steal your learning, if

I could." Poor fellow--there is little opportunity for one of his color,

however disposed. One characteristic of the Ohio is its numerous wind-

ings and meanderings. To-day we passed one, 17 miles round and 200

yards across. Being fatigued with writing and a hot day, I was tempted

to try a glass of lemonade. Charge, a levy or ninepence - 100 per cent.

more than I ever before paid. Mr. Fletcher thought it best to have

some washing done here. We did so, and paid at the rate of 4/6 the

dozen. This is the way they extort from strangers, who can have no

appeal from the decision. We passed, this afternoon, the thriving town

of Portsmouth, where the Ohio canal enters the river. This connects

the waters of Erie with the Mississippi, and there is a good amount of

transportation upon it. The waters of the Mississippi, the Onisconsin,

the Illinois, the Missouri, with all its navigable tributaries; the Arkansas,

Red River, Ohio, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Wabash, the Ken-

tucky, the Miami, the Scioto, the Kenhawa, the Alleghany and the Monon-

gahela, all great navigable rivers, with many others of note, may be

made to communicate with the canal, forming an inland navigation of

above 8,000 miles. The trade and productions of this immense country,

watered by these rivers, extending from the Alleghany to the Rocky

Mountains and from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, floating from dif-

ferent directions and even different climates, can all concentrate at the

mouth of the Ohio canal at Portsmouth. And much of it undoubtedly

will. A vast amount of commission business must, in consequence, be

done here. It is also well situated for the internal commerce of the

State.  Its growth must be rapid, to keep pace with the business

which must naturally accumulate here. It now has over 1,200 inhab-

itants. * * *

3. WED. NOON. Have just returned from a perambulation about

the streets of Cincinnati. Yes, I am actually writing in a tavern in

this queen of the West. The steamboat arrived here about midnight, but

I did not know it till morning.

I slept very soundly, and, having repeated my dose and application,

I think my throat is somewhat, though but little, better. We took in

a very large additonal number of passengers at Portsmouth and Mays-

ville, and were crowded. I was told that they were fuller yet on deck-

stowed in like negroes on board a slaver. Everybody knows something

about Cincinnati; how it is the largest town in the West: how it has

grown up from the very beginning, within the memory of the present

generation. Settlements were commenced here in 1790.

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CINCINNATI, ITS STREETS, CHURCHES, BUILDINGS, ETC.

John Cleaves Symmes, one of the first settlers of the State, was

the original grantee. He had been a judge in New Jersey and a member

of Congress, and was the father of the noted Capt. J. C. Symmes, of

Bung Hole memory. All the property in the city is held by land titles

from him. The town is laid out partly low upon the bottom or first

bank, and partly higher upon the second bank. The streets are, how-

ever graduated so as to render the ascent perfectly easy. We put up at

the Broadway House, for they have a Broadway here, too. It is rather

dirty, though the table is respectably served. A stranger labors under

great disadvantages in regard to a choice of public houses-he is not

always recommended to the one really preferable, and discovers his mis-

take only too late. I met here an old classmate of mine, Hunt, who

left college the same year with myself. He has been here a few days.

and left this morning for St. Louis. Have been strongly advised to go

there, thence up the Illinois, across to Chicago, and round to Detroit.

Should admire it much, but time does not admit. Besides, they are

expecting the cholera there soon; it is raging dreadfully down the river

at Memphis, New Orleans, and Natchez.

Noticing a communication of Dr. Daniel Drake, in the Whig of this

morning, in relation to the subject, and passing by the office I called in

and rescued it from the grate for my autograph book. Called on Josiah

Drake, a bookseller here, formerly of Northwood, but whose connections

now live in Concord, and informed him of the welfare of his friends. He

is to call at the tavern at half-past two. The streets of Cincinnati are

broad, and intersect at right angles. Those from the river north are

called by miscellaneous names, those running east and west are num-

bered-First, Second, Third, etc. Went into the Episcopal Church, a

new and richly finished building, but somewhat fantastical in its style

of architecture. The pews are all lined and cushioned uniformly and the

doors are furnished with plates, on which are inscribed the owners'

names. The paving stones used here are a novelty-they are not round,

but are thin and long and are laid in strait lines across the streets and

make a somewhat tasty appearance. Passed a large Roman Catholic

Church-there are many professing this religion in Cincinnati. The

population is of a heterogeneous character, very few, comparatively speak-

ing, of the inhabitants being natives of this region. The buildings here

are all modern in appearance; they are chiefly of brick, and some of

very pale, miserable quality. They are very generally dated, the year of

their erection being placed close to the waterspouts, near the roof. They

range from 1827 to 1835 -most appear to be in 1830 and 1831.

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 219

 

CINCINNATI SWINE. M. T. WILLIAMS, ESQ. CANAL. TROLLOPE'S.

I am told that there has been much less building here for two years

last past than during the same time before, but that this season very

considerable improvements will be made. Indeed, I noticed a great

deal of building; where stone is used, it is freestone, of a grayish color,

soft and easy to be worked, but I am told durable. Passed through one

of the markets; there are several here. The inside is engrossed by the

butchers; along the outside, under a portico, were ranged the vegetables -

an abundance of fine, tempting strawberries. It is a hot day here - as

hot as at Washington; indeed, the latitude is about the same. There is

a good deal, far too much, of mud and dirt and stagnant water about the

streets; if the cholera approaches, it will set them a scrubbing. Swine

are here in abundance - to be expected in this vast pork market. Remem-

bered Mrs. Trollope's amusing descriptions of her adventures with the

hogs in the streets of Cincinnati. Perhaps they are not much exagger-

ated-for the beasts are impudent. They know enough to give way to

a carriage, but as to a foot passenger he must always turn out; they won't

budge an inch for a whole regiment, and no one wishes to come in con-

tact with their filthiness. Presented a letter from Mr. Hill to Micajah

T. Williams, Esq., president of a trust company, alias a bank, and sur-

veyor-general of the State. He promises me letters to Michigan, also

another autograph promise; but a faint one, very. I am to call again

at three, and be introduced to his boys. Mr. W. was at the bank and

very busy. He thinks we had better return to Portsmouth, and take the

canal to Cleveland. There have been incessant rains for the last three

weeks, and the roads along the state are in a horrible condition. Besides,

we shall be obliged to travel in the night. I should prefer the canal,

although it is doubtless tedious, but Mr. Fletchehr is for the stage coach,

and I suppose I shall have to take it. P. M. -Walked down to the bank

and was introduced by Mr. Williams to his two boys; likely, intelligent

youths of fifteen and sixteen.

We walked up to the canal-the Miami canal-which comes up in

the northerly part of the city, and here are furnished with seven locks,

excellent specimens of durable workmanship. Only freight boats come

up through the locks, the packets remaining below. The canal was

crowded with boats. We looked in upon the celebrated Buckeye fire

engine, owned and manned by lads. They are very proud of it, and it

is the most effective engine in the city-the earliest on the ground.

Passed Mrs. Trollope's folly-her celebrated Bazaar-which she planned

and built, but failed before it was quite finished, and never paid for it.

The profits of her book doubtless compensated her for her disappointment.

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BAZAR. FERRYBOATS. COVINGTON. COAL. FOUNDRIES.

It is a handsome building, of a fantastical style of architecture,

with a sort of a dome on the top and a cupola surmounting it. The

front is Gothic, and elegant. It is divided into wine rooms, ball room,

etc. I forget the name of the present occupant. Then we walked down

to the river, and took passage in a steam ferryboat for the Kentucky

shore. There are two of these ferryboats, square built, curiously con-

structed things, continually plying between Cincinnati and the opposite

side of the river. The Ohio is narrow--they cross in a few minutes,

turn out and take in passengers and immediately return, and so on.

Price for a foot passenger, six cents; and a great many horses and car-

riages are transported. There is no bridge and all the communication is

through these boats; they are, it is said, excellent property. The dollars

must count up fast. We landed in Covington, a flourishing village,

founded in 1815. Hard by, a little above it, is Newport. Both these

towns make pretty appearance from opposite side of the river.

There are very many handsome houses, which stand, as it were, in

tiers, on the slope of a beautiful hill. This hill rises behind the village

to a great height, and the eminence is crowned with magnificent forest

trees and fresh verdure. This is a fashionable resort, and the place is

furnished with shady seats, at convenient distances. Here Mrs. Trollope

delighted to come, and sleep and dream away the day, and hither we

directed our steps. The streets of Covington are regular, and so, laid

out as to appear a continuation of Cincinnati. Indeed, though under

a different government and different laws, it is a mere suburb of that

city, and one might easily fancy that some mighty rush of waters had

lately broken in and separated it from the rest. It does not appear quite

so favorable on a near view as from the other shore-there are too manly

manufactories and too much coal smoke and coal smell, for the latter its

more offensive to me than the former. Indeed, this bituminous coal is

villainous stuff. It contaminates everything-air, earth, dwellings and

inhabitants.

COVINGTON IRON WORKS.

We entered one of the rolling mills, an extensive, open shed, under

whose roof were going on all sorts of manufacture of iron. It was indeed

a curious scene. The laborers were almost in a state of nudity, their

brawny limbs covered with a glowing perspiration and their blackened

features and hideous, naked deformity reflected from the raging furnaces

and the white-hot masses of hissing steel; combined with the curious

operations they were engaged in performing, the oaths and imprecations

so freely employed, and the suspicious looking instruments which they

handled, gave this much the appearance of a portion of the kingdom of

the Arch Fiend, populous with devils, imps and the paraphernalia of tor-

ment. I watched many of their operations with great interest. * * *

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 221

 

There were many very little boys employed in this horrible business,

whom I pitied exceedingly. They nearly forfeited all claim to my com-

miseration, however, by their impudence, amusing themselves in the

intervals of their occupation by throwing lumps of coal at the strangers.

I suppose they knew no better. The huts of these workmen of course

add little to the beauty of the villege.

 

HAPPINESS OF HOGS.

In our way to the hill, we crossed a deep ravine or gully, which

was almost literally full of mud, clayey mud, at the bottom. This was

full of swine, who here presented a picture of perfect happiness, real

unalloyed enjoyment. Indeed, a hog is a lucky animal. No work, no

trouble, no torment, no sickness, no politics, nothing to disturb the smooth

current of his imaginings-he lives on a life of pleasurable forebodings

of the transmutation of things, anxious about no futurity, tormented by

no knowledge of the inducement which operates upon mankind to afford

him such undisturbed ease.

The monarch of Macedonia might have exclaimed, with more reason,

"Were I not Alexander, I would be a hog."

But apropos of swine, it is giving them a grain too much liberty to

allow of their running at large in the streets. In a morning paper I saw

a notice of one of these ravenous beasts seizing a young child by the

arm, tearing him from his mother's doorstep into the gutter, where, had

it not been for the child's screams and the interference of a gentleman,

he would inevitably have devoured it. This was a little too bold. We

passed by an extensive rope walk and a spot where a college is to be

built, to the foot of the hill. I was so tired we did not ascend it, but

gained the blasted trunk of some fallen vegetable giant, whence we had

an excellent view of the opposite shore, of Cincinnati and its environs.

 

STEAMBOATING.

A prominent object is the great number of steamboats constantly at

the landing, arriving and departing at all times of the day, some bound

for Louisville, St. Louis, Natchez, New Orleans, others for Portsmouth,

Maysville, Wheeling, Pittsburg. The pale color of the brick used in the

construction of the buildings gives the city a poor appearance. I am told

they have no brickyards; that is the soil being everywhere clay, the

builder digs his cellar and fashions the dirt therefrom into brick for the

superstructure. From our log-observatory I noticed a man fishing in a

way to me novel and curious. He had at some previous period sunk a

long line, extending several rods, crosswise of the river, to which are

attached baited hooks of different sizes, in great numbers and at small

distances. He then leaves his line to take care of itself, and was now

paddling along in a boat, drawing up the lines, clearing it from weeds,

mud and game, and letting it drop again into the water. His luck was

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222        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

not remarkable on this occasion- a sturgeon and a smaller fish were

all. I am told the fish market is supplied chiefly from the Miami, the

Ohio not being very productive. Returned from our jaunt, and were fer-

ried back to Ohio about eight o'clock, having escaped the perils by water

and by steam, the dangers from the coal boys and the hogs. In Coving-

ton are raised a large part of the swine which render Cincinnati so cele-

brated as a pork market.

 

MR. WILLIAMS. SLAVERY HERE. TAKEN SICK.

I drank tea at Mr. Williams', and promised to call again in the

morning before I start; he is to give me letters of introduction to Col.

Mack, Mayor of Detroit, and Hon. Mr. Lyon, the Michigan delegate

in Congress. Mr. W. is one of the old citizens of Cincinnati, one of

the canal commissioners, has been a member of both branches of the

Legislature and was the unsuccessful candidate for the United States

Senate, beaten by Tom Ewing. He is a zealous friend of the administra-

tion, a handsome man, large, portly, and of florid complexion, about

forty-five years of age. He tells me that a great many of the family

servants here are slaves, hired out by their masters on the other side

of the river, who receive the wages of their toil. I was shocked at the

existence of this sort of slavery; there can be no more harm, no more

guilt, no more shame, in purchasing human flesh outright and for life than

in hiring its use for a limited time, yet is slavery forever prohibited north

of the Ohio. There is something in this I do not understand; it strikes

me the laws should have cognizance of the subject, but if they have, who

is to administer them in behalf of the poor negro.

There are many blacks here; though compared with Baltimore or

Washington, the population one meets in the street is seventy shades

whiter.

Returning to my lodgings by a circuitous route, I passed near a

section of the town inhabited almost solely by blacks, and called Green

Town-locus a non lucendo, I suppose. Also visited Mrs. Trollope's

celebrated Bazaar again; it should be called Madame Trollope's Folly.

The good lady could not pay for it in money, so she made it up in

abuse. Tired enough.

 

"To bed, to bed, ye sleepy head."

 

 

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

PROF. STOWE. INFLUENCE OF DRESS. LANE SEMINARY.

In the forenoon Mr. Fletcher rode out to Lane Seminary, about

two miles from the city, to visit President Beacher and Prof. Stowe, with

whom he is acquainted. He describes the building as of brick, not very

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 223

 

handsome, but surrounded by a genuine noble old forest, which they are

improving to the best advantage.

P. M. Just after dinner, Prof. Stowe called on me, at my room;

luckily, he found me up-just dressed. Old Snyder, as we used to call

him at old Dartmouth, looks just as he used to when he superintended

the extraction of Greek roots by our wise sophomores (all but bachelors

now), except that he is thinner- dresses rather shabbily-an affectation

of independence which I believe they have at Lane, but which I do not

like; a man in authority ought to dress well, properly, because he feels

better. I have seen manuscript letters of Carter to his brother, in which

he advises him to heed not his dress, anything will answer to wear -

only cultivate the mind. But he was wrong. I can study better and do

anything better in a new jacket and clean shirt than with my arms out

at the elbows and my outer man begrimed with dirt. I wonder whether

Prof. Stowe is popular here.

He has ways about him, a stiffness, and not exactly stiffness either,

a sort of tare and tret, firebrand disposition, which was continually making

him hiss in hot water at Hanover. He informs me there are only forty

students at Lane - it doesn't seem to thrive - they were not politic in

suppressing the discussion of the slavery question among the students: this

measure has given the institution a blow, from which it will be long

ere it recovers. At half-past four I went on board the steamboat. I

was not fit to go, so said the doctor, and so felt I, but I did not wish

to stay at Cincinnati any longer. I was sorry not to be able to see

Mr. Williams, agreeably to engagement, or let him know the reason I

failed. The steamer was large, and much more commodious than the

one we came down in, with more airy cabins. Her name is appropriate-

the Velocipede. She is a new boat, this being her second trip only -the

first up the river. It takes much longer to go up than down, the current

of the Ohio being strong; on the Mississippi it takes twice as long.

From Cincinnati to New Orleans they frequently go in eight days; they

used to be months. The Velocipede was advertised to start precisely

at five. She did start at eight. However, Mr. Fletcher obtained for me

a berth, on first going aboard, where I lay as much at my ease as the

state of my inward man and my aching bones would admit. * * *

There is one bad fault (by the way, was there ever such a thing as

a good fault?) about this boat-she shakes dreadfully.

 

CINCINNATI. CHOLERA. GAMBLING AND DRUNKENNESS.

As I lay in my berth, waiting for the good-bye, I heard two gen-

tlemen conversing about the cholera and received the pleasant intelligence

that there were yesterday four cases in Maysville, Ky., all of which

terminated fatally in a few hours.

That place is between this and Portsmouth, the place of our des-

tination, and the boat stops there some time.  * *

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224        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

6. SAT. We stopped this morning two hours at Maysville, landing

and taking in passengers, freight, etc. Those who join us report five new

cases of cholera. Some of the deaths happened in a shockingly brief

period after the first attack. Yet, although surrounded in this way by

disease and death, the center of our cabin supports a gambling table,

around which sit four respectable looking men, with cards in their hands,

oaths on their lips, cigars in their mouth, liquor on the table, and heaps

of silver before them. How long would such a sight be allowed on board

an eastern steamboat, even though some wretch should by any mis-

chance find himself in such respectable company, sufficiently abandoned to

all sense of shame to attempt it. Intemperance, too, that great pre-

vailing sinking sin of the west, prevails to the same extent as though such

a thing as sickness and death did not exist.

 

FANNY KEMBLE'S JOURNAL. ARRIVE AT PORTSMOUTH.

Almost every other face, even in what is called good society, exhibits

the devotion of its owner to the mint julip, sangaree and toddy. On

board the stages and boats I have found a majority of the passengers,

even lads, openely and shamelessly call for their bitters before breakfast,

as well as their numerous draughts during the day. As usual, our boat

is crowded with passengers--how many there are in motion on these

western waters. My health is better to-day.

This forenoon finished reading Fanny Kemble's Journal. This book

I believe I have seen in every steamboat I have traveled in. I am really

pleased with it. There are no coarse and vulgar aspersions of men and

manners as in Mrs. Trollope, Col. Hamilton, Capt. Hall, et id omne genus;

it is merely a lively gossiping transcript of the first novel impressions of

a young, imaginative, giddy, much flattered, spoiled girl and amid all the

shoal water of nonsense and affectation there are many pithy observa-

tions, much excellent humor and very many fine descriptions and touching

solilloquies. It is easy to perceive in what respect she erred and thereby

drawn upon her head ridicule and malediction. It is her personalities.

Every day she alludes to some individual with whom she chanced to

come in contact, and sets off her allusion with some pointed remark. Now,

although she gives no names, but an abundance of dashes, the person

himself and a few others can but understand the references, of course are

disgusted and vent their spleen upon the work and its witty author by

denying them any merit. As to those cases in which she has ventured

to ridicule particular customs, in almost every instance her observations

are just, agree with my own preconceived opinions and, I think, must be

acknowledged correct by every unprejudiced mind.

There are exceptions. Played a few games of backgammon with

Mr. F.; also with a loquacious foreigner. P. M. At two o'clock arrived

at Portsmouth; were immediately assailed by an officious landlord, who

would insist upon giving it as his decided opinion that his house was the

• 14
 

Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                  225

 

best in the place. Finally went there, and obtained some dinner. As yet,

I have drank no raw Ohio water since I left Cincinnati; when I couldn't

obtain tea, I went dry.

 

PORTSMOUTH, OHIO. FILTH AND DRUNKENNESS.

We hope to have found a canalboat about starting, which would

have taken us up to Piketon or some other pleasant inland village, where

we might spend the Sabbath in quiet; but there are none going till

to-morrow, so we shall probably pass Sunday here. I am sorry for it;

it is a vile place, or its looks belie it.

7. SUNDAY. What a horrid hot night we had last night-the sultri-

ness seems to increase here at night. Our tavern is internally arranged

with a strained affectation of city accommodations, but externally, in its

back yards and buildings, it is truly abominable. I am thoroughly dis-

gusted with it and with the town. There are few New Englanders here,

and there is nothing Yankee about the place.

The Front street, facing the river, is the business street; here every

other door is a tavern or a grocery; the character of the population is

that of a community of drunkards, at least that part of it which has

fallen under my observation, and the whole town seems to be contam-

inated with it. Then, the back streets - they are nothing but lanes - and

every house, whether stone, brick or wood, bear symptoms of decay. But

this isn't the worse feature- the filth, the nastiness, is perfectly disgust-

ing. The soil is hard clay, impervious to everything. Pools of stagnant

water, and swine, their hides encrusted inch deep with putrefaction, infest

the ways-the yard or lane under our winder (private, too) is a stinking

nursery of pestilence. No wonder the cholera makes dreadful havoc

when it enters such a place. The wonder is, they escape so well. What

a contrast between this and one of our pleasant New England villages, with

its neat, painted frame houses, its pretty enclosures, flourishing farms,

cleanly outhouses, its church and its school-house.

Yes, that village school-house, which a traveler meets in New Eng-

land every mile of his journey and whose purpose he cannot mistake, I

have seen none these 500 miles. The population is of a mixed character,

and a large portion of them do not separate Sabbath from the rest of

the week. This morning the Rufus Putnam, a handsome new boat, came

gallantly down the river, on her first trip, full to the brim. Boats are

continually increasing, but there is no diminution of patronage. Walked

out to the canal, where it crosses the Scioto River, to see them force a

canalboat across. The river is much swollen by the recent rains, and the

current is very rapid. The operation of getting a boat across was well

worth seeing, but hardly worth describing. There are here a Methodist,

a Presbyterian and an Episcopalian Church, all small; this is not a

church-going place.

Vol. XV -15.

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226        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

PORTSMOUTH. BEAUTIFUL SCENE. CANAL AND FERRY.

The Methodists have the largest society. There were no services in

the Presbyterian, so we attended at the Episcopalian. Listened to the

reading of their long, formal prayers and to a very brief rhetorical flourish

by way of a sermon, from Revelations 22, 17. Came home not much

edified. In the afternoon had some little showers, which did the atmos-

phere some service. They are short and frequent in this country. Spent

the afternoon in writing journal, also a letter to Concord. Took a short

walk along the river. I presume I have seen more drunken men to-day

than for the last six years in New England. The whole character of

the place seems to be dissipation. Directly opposite Portsmouth is one

of the loveliest spots I ever set my eyes upon. A rich, narrow bottom

rises behind into a noble hill, which for a great height is covered with

noble forest trees.

This hill, towards the top, becomes perpendicular, and you look over

the tops and through crannies of the branches, against a rough, rocky

precipice, apparently smooth as a wall, rising to a very considerable height

and its summit crowned with trees. The proprietor of this beautiful

territory has it in his power to render it one of the most enchanting spots

in the world. Towards evening the captain of the canalboat, the Indiana,

in which we proposed to voyage toward Cleveland, called at the hotel

and gave us the welcome intelligence that he should leave to-night. At

the appointed time we went to the spot where the canal crosses the Scioto,

about a half a mile from our lodgings, having previously sent on board

our baggage.

On our arrival, to our inexpressible mortification, the ferryman

obstinately refused to take us across the river that night, alleging it was

too late, there were not enough men, etc. The captain, a very clever,

gentlemanly man, said it was of no use to try to drive him- he had too

much of the mule in his composition. The Scioto is now ten feet above

its usual level, and its current is very swift at this particular point. A ferry

is established, and every boat is obliged to submit to the ferryman's

caprices for his passage. If the canal had been carried across the river,

some miles farther up, it would have saved considerable lockage and

expense and been far better in other respects.

 

ON BOARD CANAL BOAT. OUR CABIN. OUR COMPANY.

The depot might then have been made at the other end of the town,

and Portsmouth would doubtless be the gainer thereby. At present

it reaps very little advantage from the canal. Freight is scarce here, a

greater part of the produce of the country being carried toward Cleve-

land, and by the way of the Erie Canal, to the New York market. The

boats come down not more than half loaded, and back again with hardly

• 16
 

Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 227

 

any freight at all for the first hundred miles. They have more passengers

down than up, by far, however. They have here no packet boats exclu-

sively for passengers. The forward part of the boat is the gentlemen's

cabin, about 10 feet by 12; next, the ladies' cabin, about 10 by 5; then

the main part of the boat for the freight, where are also stowed the mid-

ship passengers; then, in the after part of the boat, the dining room, per-

haps 10 feet square, with a kitchen closet adjoining. Had we started

to-night, we should have been five and twenty miles on our journey; as

it was, we submitted with the best grace we could, although our mortifi-

cation was proportioned in extent to the joy we experienced when we

first learned our intended departure. The maid of all work, a very

decent looking woman, soon transformed the cushioned seats into respect-

able couches, and we prepared for bed, preferring this little airy cabin

to our confined stinking hole in the inn. * * *

8. MONDAY. Slept middling. Rose very early, walked round near

to the river, returned, then walked into town and back again.

Several steamboats arrived last night and this morning, and brought

several more passengers, so that we are sufficiently crowded for all good

purposes. Indeed, I began to suspect that the captain, having no freight,

was not particularly anxious to cast off last night, but was willing to

add to the number of his passengers. This little cabin, in which I am

at this moment writing, would have been a fine, comfortable room, did we

have it all to ourselves.

 

LOCKS. WANT OF BRIDGES. COUNTRY ON THE CANAL.

One of the company is the Rev. Mr. Potter, the clergyman who

officiated yesterday at the Episcopal Church. While at breakfast, the fer-

ryman got us under way and across the dreadful passage--could have

been done just as well last evening. Our breakfast was plain enough, a

piece of bacon, a piece of mackeral, both salt as the Atlantic, baker's

bread and butter. We have, however, one luxury--decent spring water.

Close to Portsmuth are a number of locks, and we were a long time

getting fairly started. At one place we had to go ashore and assist them

in opening the gate. This kind of traveling is undoubtedly pleasant

enough for a short time, when one doesn't feel in a hurry, so as to be

impatient at the delay of the plaguey locks. There are a great many

of them on this canal in its whole extent-no long levels, as in the great

New Yorker. They go very slow, advancing about sixty miles a day.

Were the roads decent, we should have tried the stage, but they are hor-

rible. The mail has been due many hours at Portsmouth, but cannot

cross Beaver Creek. Why? exclaims a New Englander. Because, friend,

they have no bridges in the south and west over fordable streams, and this

fact explains what I have wondered at--newspaper notices of the

failures of mails because they cannot cross such and such a stream, or

creek, as they call them here. It is now about ten o'clock. We have

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228        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

passed five locks, and have advanced perhaps a dozen miles. The sun is

not oppressive and the deck is a pleasant spot.

On one side of us is the exceedingly fertile bottom--the Scioto

by a short distance beyond--and the canal defended from extraordinary

freshes by a high embankment, or levy, as they call it. On this bottom

are many well cultivated spots, Indian corn in abundance and well

advanced, they must reap a heavy crop. On the left hand is an occa-

sional settlement; rich land in much of its extent, richly wooded. The

beautiful sycamore is a prominent tree. The banks are covered with

wild camomile, cotton-wood shrubs and other bushes I know not of.

Freestone is quarried in this neighborhood to a great extent, and is used

for every purpose to which stone is applied.

They speak highly of its durability, etc., but they have never known

New Hampshire granite. Establishments for working it are frequent;

they cut it into blocks, gravestones, etc., the canal locks are made of it.

Iron is found in this region in abundance and is extensively worked.

Several mills are in operation near Portsmuth. A wealthy man, con-

cerned in this manufacture, died a short time since, and, agreeably to his

injunction, was enclosed in an air-tight, cast-iron coffin and placed near

his house, on the surface of the ground, to remain there forever. We

frequently pass under bridges, over which crosses the road, and which

are built so low as to drive us from our stations on deck or oblige

us to stretch ourselves out on its surface. Horrid work, this traveling

is, for one's clothing.

 

DUTCHMEN. SLAVES. COLONIZATION SCHEME.

We have one midship passenger on board, who amuses me exceed-

ingly. He is a genuine old Dutchman, and is on his way to Europe, the

only real specimen of the Knickerbocker I have seen. He carries con-

tinually in his mouth a long Dutch pipe, and is very sociable, but it

would puzzle Dr. Percival with his twenty different languages to under-

stand his lingo. I was just now in the midships, to open my trunk, and

found him perched on the baggage, munching his bread, cheese and bacon

with great gusto, washing down his mouthfuls occasionly by a resort

to his cup and sweetening them ever and anon by a whiff at his insep-

arable companion, the long-handle pipe. But I have written enough; I'll

go on deck again. The gentleman whom I took to be Rev. Mr. Potter,

is, in fact, a resident of Mississippi; he is a strong colonizationist; not,

he says, because the society can bona fida transport by their own exer-

tions all the blacks in the country, or even one-third of the increase, but

their efforts will demonstrate the feasibility of the plan, the practica-

bility of establishing a colony where the negroes shall enjoy their

political rights.  In  Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, etc.,

the slaves are unprofitable; in the sugar and cotton countries, far other-

wise. The consequence will be slavery will cease in those states, the

• 18
 

Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 229

 

slaveholders either selling them to the South or taking them with them,

where they can be made profitable. This will confine slavery to a small

portion of the country, and that portion will be so much overstocked as

to reduce the value of the property. Then, the masters will combine

to colonize the unprofitable portion of them, and the rest-something will

be done with them. This was the whole amount of his reasoning. He

informs me that the value of this species of property in Mississippi is

enormous, that every negro, or boy as they call them, will cultivate ten

acres of cotton, and that the revenue of many of the planters exceeds

$50,000 a year.

FERTILITY OF SOIL. IGNORANCE OF INHABITANTS. HUTS.

The soil on the bottom is remarkably fertile, and the climate is good,

particularly for those predisposed to pulmonary disorders. He advises

me to go there, says there is a great demand for private tutors among

the planters, and that such situations are exceedingly pleasant. It is now

four o'clock, the country we have passed through is somewhat diversified

and uninteresting, but preserving a uniform character. On the right,

highly fertile and generally cultivated bottoms separate the canal from the

Scioto, which sometimes, however, approaches close to the towpath.

On these bottoms corn is raised fifty years in succession, with no

other manure than the annual sediment which the river deposits.

Such land is worth about thirty dollars the acre. Occasionally we

pass a log hut or two, sometimes situated on a road, frequently surrounded

only by rocks and stumps, but all alike in one particular - the abundance

of little tow-heads which lay sunning about the door..

At one of these houses, where is a fine spring and where the boat

stopped for water, we landed and obtained a glass of milk, or rather a

dipper of milk. We asked the woman what was the name of the township

or the county in which she lived. She giggled, hardly seemed to under-

stand the question, but at length replied that it was "an out-in-the-woods

place, she reckoned." That was all the name she knew, and that was

enough for her purposes. But these children, they are growing up in

ignorance, perfect darkness, intellectually. They seem to have in the

West no New England pride about their houses; all the scattered build-

ings on the great national road and in this region are built of rough logs,

notched at the ends, and the best of them, with the interstices filled with

mud, sticks and stones and their roofs shingled or thatched. We have

this day passed no villages.

Many of the houses are embellished with the trophies of the hun-

ter-the hides and horns of the deer, etc. Deer and wild turkeys are

abundant here, sheltered by the thick forests which crown the swells, and

which afford a refuge for thousands of warblers whose notes generally

sounded strange in my ear. Taking my station on the prow of the boat,

I have sat for hours watching the ever varying scene and listening to

their changing notes.

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230        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

 

ILLINOIS SPECULATIONS. CHICAGO. ALTON, ETC.

Very often, the canal widens and forms reservoirs at convenient

places. Frequently pools of stagnant water are formed near, carrion often

floats on the surface, miasmata are generated, all which must render a

residence near the bank unhealthy. It is in fact a nursery of fever and

ague. Yet fish live in considerable abundance in this water; doubtless

the poor creatures are subject to bilious complaints. Water snakes,

huge, vile looking monsters are frequently seen on the shore, basking

in the sun. One of our fellow-passengers made a good hit at one with a

pole. We passed a high, shed-like looking building, rising like a shattered

light-house, under which some unsuccessful experimenter had been boring

for salt, which is found in abundance in many parts of the state and

in this neighborhood. Everybody is advising me to travel farther West,

if I wish to see a full display of the energies of the country. We have

an Illinois man aboard, who speaks with rapture of the extensive and

fertile prairies of his adopted state.

There the corn grows from 12 to 20 feet in height, and in the valley

of the Kaskaskia it yields 100 bushels an acre, with no other care than the

labor of ploughing.

Chicago is doubtless going to be one of the greatset places in the

country, a vast city; at present, an excellent place for emigration. Alton

is a promising place; it is the general opinion that it will become a great

city, on account of its situation, being so near the confluence of the Mis-

souri with the Mississippi. It will be the great depot of the productions

of the Missouri valley.

Many think, however, it can never increase, against the influence of

its overgrown rival, St. Louis, which has such a start of it. There are

also natural disadvantages. The shore is precipitous, and there is no place

to put their buildings except in the ravines. They have an excellent land-

ing, and in case the Missouri trade should be turned to Chicago and

New York it must be a great place. There is another location, which

Ohio folks think is destined for a thriving settlement and vast city - the

Maumee country, on the disputed territory - with Michigan. By the way,

Governor Lucas' extra session of the Legislature meets to-day at Colum-

bus to blow the Michiganders sky high. But as to the Maumee country,

our Illinois man says there is one insuperable objection to its advance-

ment-the citizens must be manufactured and raised on the spot-emi-

grants cannot live there.

 

BRUTE OF A DRIVER. SCENES ON THE CANAL.

If that is the case, it is not a possession worth a harder war than

that of words and of ink. I am told the notion that the Catholics are

gaining possession of this western country is all nonsense, that there are

none but foreigners; no priests or churches except in a few large cities,

• 20
 

Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 231

 

and they make no converts. For want of any other book, I read to-day

that old but universally popular story, the "Vicar of Wakefield," which

I found on board.  I had read it two or three times before, but several

years since, and it interested me much.

We are just stopping at a lock, having traversed since the last one,

a level of ten miles, in just three hours, wanting ten minutes.

Part of the way we had a brutal driver, who, in spite of our remon-

strances, would insist upon making it his amusement to torment with his

long lash the forward horse, a noble animal, though under such man-

agement, of course a little restive. We are drawn by two horses, tan-

dem, who are changed about once in twelve or fourteen miles. They

seldom trot. The hind horse is ridden by the driver, generally a youth,

and a rough, hardy, tough-swearing, nondescript animal, totally inde-

pendent of the captain, who has no control over him or his horses.

This one, after exercising his little, brief authority over the poor beast

till he had almost worried the animal to death, turned upon every luckless

sheep or pig, who trusting to his tender mercies, might remain within

reach of his whip. At length, we were all excessively delighted to see

an old bellweather carry off, at a sudden jerk, wound round his neck,

the cruel lash, which was not recovered till after a hearty race on the

part of the boy and a hearty laugh on the part of the passengers. Towards

evening in company with most of the passengers, went ashore at one

of the locks and walked to the next one, about a mile, where we waited

for the boat. Here about a dozen Irishmen were at work digging and

filling up an excavation, which the water had worn around the gate. Two

old canalboats, their dwelling house, were moored near. Noticing rather

an inviting room in one of them, I went, in company with another, and

entered it, making an errand for a glass of water. An Irish girl, very

comely and neat in her appearance, was busily engaged in baking two

tempting loaves of bread in a commodious cookstove. Everything had an

air of cleanliness and comfort which one would hardly expect to find in

such a place.

 

MOUND. CHILLICOTHE. BUILDINGS. DUTCH.

The bank here was covered with horehound, boneset and camomile,

all growing wild and luxuriating in great abundance. Take it all in all,

we have had a very pleasant time -a good company and good weather -

it having been hazy and occasionally a slight sprinkle; in this way we

were enabled to avoid the heat which, at this season, is generally exceed-

ingly troublesome on the canal. Had a very respectable dinner, too.

Towards evening, wrote journal. Passed a large, conical mound, as steep

as the earth could be made to lie, like a section of an egg. It had no

appearance of having been opened.

9. TUES. Our little cabin was fitted most ingeniously with berths,

for ten persons, but so contracted were the limits appropriated for each

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232        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

that he could only draw himself onto his shelf lengthwise and there lie,

without stirring for fear of a fall or a broken head. We did not wish the

windows open on account of the unhealthy miasms from the canal, and

of course were uncomfortably hot. I had a good nap, on first crawling

in, and a late one in the morning; the body of the night I lay and chewed

the cud of reflection with about as much elbow room as a man might

find in his coffin.

Awoke. Looked out of my window upon a block of stores, which it

seemed I could almost touch. I jumped out upon the floor, all dressed,

and found myself, with one exception, the last of the Mohicans.  We

were in Chillicothe, the ancient seat of government of the Ohio, and the

canal runs directly through it and is lined on either side with shops and

stores. Took a long walk round the town, and am much pleased with it,

but there is displayed much of the same negligence in building and the

outskirts are filthy. In fact, all the towns in this State are defiled by

swine. The streets have the smell and appearance of a pig-yard. Some

of the streets are broad, and furnished with handsome brick blocks and

convenient public houses; are high, pleasant and airy. There are many

old looking, small frame houses, however, and some log huts. Their

houses are put together in such a slovenly manner in the West that

twenty years are amply sufficient to clothe them in a garb of antiquity. A

long rope-walk at one extremity of the town I noticed converted into

a block of dwellings. Here live the Dutch, of which there are a great

many here, as happy as kings. The churches here look no more than

respectable, for so large a place, hardly that. Business, which had been

declining, has received a new start in this place, from the grand canal.

 

CHILLICOTHE. THE WORD "TOWNSHIP." TAKE A HACK.

Chillicothe is situated on the Scioto River, in Scioto Township, for

it is to be understood that in Ohio a town is what we call a village,

while what we call a town is here called a township and the village or

town has very seldom the same name with the township in which it is

situated. Then again the word township has two distinct meanings. The

whole county is surveyed into districts of six miles square, called town-

ships, or, for the sake of distinctin, land townships, but they do not

often correspond to the civil township or government, which sometimes

includes parts of two or three, sometimes not a whole one, as suits the

convenience of the inhabitants.

This, together with the fact that there are some dozens of town-

ships of the same name in different counties, such as Hancock, Jefferson,

etc., creates among strangers and inhabitants great confusion.

The townships are surveyed and named by the county commis-

sioners, who are independent of each other and of course often pitch

upon the same name. Chillicothe is situated on the western border of a

vast alluvial plain, and in its site and plan somewhat resembles Philadel-

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 233

 

phia, the Scioto and Paint Creek corresponding to the Delaware and

Schuylkill Rivers. At this place our captain, having a load to take in,

and there being no prospect of getting off before noon, we concluded to

leave him and trust ourselves to the mercy of Providence and the roads

for a swifter, if not a safer, conveyance. The stage having left at two

o'clock, we chartered a hack, with two seats and four horses, and put

off about eight. There were four of us, all old friends; that is, we had been

thrown together in the same canalboat for twenty-four hours, and he must

have an abundance of sourkrout in his composition who does not get

acquainted with his shipmates under such circumstances. The road we

passed through from Chillicothe to Circleville was indeed poor, but the

country was splendid.

 

THE COUNTRY AND ITS PRODUCTIONS, ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE.

One extent of rich, fertile bottom, and such glorious farms, 'twould

make a New Englander farmer's mouth water to see them. They raise

a vast quantity of beef and pork of the finest quality in this region.

They mow comparatively very little hay and raise no potatoes for their

stock, barely enough for culinary purposes. Their grass is timothy and

clover, no other kinds. Their pastures-we saw many head of cattle

in them which would at this moment yield a heavier swath than many

fields, when mowed, in New Hampshire. Wheat is raised in very con-

siderable quantities, and looks beautifully; their harvest time is usually

the last of June; they will have a great crop, though I see by the papers

a very poor one in Virginia and Maryland. But the chief production of

the soil is the Indian corn. Fields are not uncommon containing some

hundreds and even thousands of acres in one unbroken extent, which will

yield from fifty to seventy bushels per acre. They have no labor of

manuring; in the spring, one ploughs, another drops after him and

another covers; they put from four to six corns to the hill. Twice or

thrice a year they plough between the rows, with a single horse and what

they call a shovel plough, a mere light spade fixed to a plough-shaft or

frame. The ear has twelve rows, is short and thick. If it be asked what

they do with these great crops of corn, I answer they fatten their stock on

them instead of hay, conceiving it more profitable. Their cattle are all

raised for market on corn, and their swine consume a great deal also.

They have a way, too, of fattening their hogs in clover; immense droves

of them are seen on either side, rioting in the richest clover fields, their

flanks almost concealed in the verdure and blossoms. They find this

exceedingly profitable, pork in the fall of the year commanding a great

price. "As happy as pigs in clover" is a proverb which we here find

illustrated. They have an unfortunate breed of swine in Ohio, thin-sided

things, and all black or speckled. Their hams seldom weigh more than

eight or ten pounds. I have heard this much lamented, but it is difficult

to remedy the evil. They have fine orchards here, and a prospect of an

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abundant supply of fruit the present season. Peaches will not flourish,

apples and pears abound. Last year, as in New England, there was no

fruit at all. A great part of these fertile plains is still covered with the

primeval forests. When a clearing is commenced, they burn out the

underbrush, girdle the great monsters and leave them gradually to decay

and fall. Many cultivated farms are covered in this way with naked

shafts, with their larger branches scattered hither and thither, many

scathed with the thunderbolt and all bearing the marks of hard usage,

looking like the ghosts of the ancient forests, the seared monuments of

aboriginal grandeur. They make a melancholy appearance amid the sur-

rounding cultivation and remind one of the old warrior, sitting among the

ruins of ancient Carthage.

 

FOREST TREES. BUCKEYE. POISON VINE, ETC.

The woods are nearly all strangers to me. Among the principal are

the burr oak, a noble, endurable tree; the sycamore, which frequently

attains an enormous circumference; the black and white walnut and the

numerous varieties of hickory. The latter has a shag bark, and resembles

in fruit also our walnut; the white walnut is similar to our butternut

or oilnut. The sugar tree is a handsome tree; sugar orchards are fre-

quent, and the fine molasses from them is found on every table d'hote.

They have the sugar maple, but not in abundance; the ash and white

oak, as with us, but no pines or cedar. The black locust attains a

great size and is a handsome tree, but in beauty is exceeded by the honey-

locust, which bears a long pod, filled with such wild honey as John the

Baptist lived upon in the wilderness. Both these species of acacia are

common here. The papaw is a small-sized tree, and bears a beautiful

leaf. It also produces a fruit half as large as a cocoa nut, soft, pulpy

and sickish-sweet to the palate of a stranger. The natives love it, but

there is no animal, not even the hog, that will touch it, except the o'pos-

sum, another instance of the omniverous nature of the human species.

We were shown many specimens of the buckeye, the shrub or tree

from  which the inhabitants of Ohio derive their national soubriquet.

It bears a round nut, which is covered with an outer rind or shell,

and on whose surface appears a white, circular spot, like the pupil of the

eye. Cattle are very fond of it and eat it whenever they can obtain

access to it, but it is extremely poisonous and unless relief be speedily

procured invariably produces death. Grape vines are plenty, but the fruit

is small and sour; sassafras trees I saw as large as a man's thigh.

There is also a vine, which grows at the base to an enormous size and

which often includes in its parasitical embrace the tops of a whole grove

of noble trees, many of whom die under the weight of its branches and

from its noxious qualities. Our cicerone, an intelligent farmer, one of

the original settlers of this region, knew no other name for it than the

poison vine. It much resembled, except in its larger size, a vine that

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 235

 

flourishes between Exeter and Newmarket, and which we used to call

Jacob's Ladder. These are the principal trees of the native growth of

the Scioto valley. To make the catalogue complete, the elm should

be added.

 

PICKAWAY PLAINS. SLOVENLY MANNER OF BUILDING.

Pickaway county, through which we passed, is one of the best for

farming in the State. There is the woodland for timber, the barren for

pastures, the plain for wheat, yielding forty-five bushels the acre, and

the prairies for corn and grass. We passed through the whole extent

of the celebrated Pickaway Plains, the best wheat ground in the western

country. Our farmer described with great enthusiasm the appearance of

these plains, when he first pitched his tent upon its borders. A natural

plain of from three to seven miles in extent, covered with a low, wild

plum, producing a luscious fruit, and without a single tree in its whole

extent to obstruct the view.

I could see a deer, said he, for miles. There are now houses and

clumps of trees, introduced since its settlement, and of considerable size.

Many of the farmers of this fine country are not the owners of the

soil, but pay a rent of one-half the produce. Reckoned in money, they

call their corn worth from 12 to 15 cents per bushel. We passed through

Jefferson, a small town in the township of Pickaway, and forming the seat

of justice of the county of Pickaway. It is now all in ruins, their decline

entirely brought about by intemperance and dissipation, for which it was

long notorious.

The dilapidated state of the houses is truly deplorable. "Somehow,"

said the drunken landlord of a tottering tavern, "the people seem to

have all moved off to Circleville." Their frame houses here, when they

build such, are poor things; the clapboards are nailed directly upon the

studs, they are wider and thicker than ours and of the same thickness

throughout, of course one edge only touches the studs or uprights and

must be weak. Hence, without constant repairing, and that is not

bestowed upon them, they fall to pieces like a child's cob-house. Their

shingles, if shingles they can be called, are slips of thin board, about

twenty inches long, six wide and three-quarters thick and lap over each

other lengthwise, both of the shingle and the building, about ten inches

or half the whole length of each tier being covered by the next. Then

there are two layers of thicknesses of these, the outside one sloping the

other way from the inner, and this is all the boarding they have on their

roof, the shingles being nailed directly upon the rafters, which are placed

ten inches apart. But most of the farmer's houses are meaner still,

built of logs, with the crannies sometimes plastered with mud.

The chimney is placed outside the building, is sometimes all of

brick; in other cases the upper part is of staves, laid precisely like a

cob-house. These chimneys often lean at an awful angle from the build-

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236        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

ing, and assist in giving the whole an appearance of reeling and drunk-

enness, with which the occupants too often coincide. Many wealthy farm-

ers, who are worth fifty thousand dollars and who both occupy and rent

vast tracts of rich and profitable territory, are content to live and die

without comfort and without self-respect in these wretched hovels.

 

CIRCLEVILLE. IGNORANCE OF BARKEEPER. ANCIENT.

We took dinner at Circleville. While it was preparing, we asked

the barkeeper in what direction were those relics of antiquity which have

rendered this place so celebrated. He pointed to a mound opposite, and,

in spite of all my doubts, assured us it was all. We visited it; it is high

and gradual in its ascent, and has been half carried away for gravel. I

picked up half of an Indian tomahawk, much worn, however. There are

indications of animal matter; a black, strong-smelling mould visible in

the excavations, the remains of human bodies. It is supposed that this

mound is in part natural, as there appears to be two sorts of earth

employed in its formation. When the town was settled it was covered

with trees. As I knew the barkeeper's story could not be correct, we

made further inquiries, and were soon directed to the ancient fortifica-

tions. This fellow could not help seeing the mound, which is situated

directly before his nose, and that was as far as he ever troubled himself

to learn about them, a striking example of the want of curiosity observ-

able in relation to objects in our immediate vicinity. The principal fort

is an exact circle, and includes a great part of the village, which has

received from it its name, and which has several circular streets, corre-

sponding to the fort. The circle is one mile in circumference and con-

sists of two parallel walls, the tops about three rods asunder and the

inner one forty-seven rods in diameter.   Between these walls is a

fosse or ditch, sufficiently large and no more so to have afforded earth

enough for the exterior wall, and this wall is in fact composed of gravel,

the soil of the adjacent country. But the materials of the inner wall

were evidently brought from a great distance. It is composed of clay,

which is nowhere else found in the whole neighborhood, and has between

it and the ditch a level footpath about four feet wide.

 

FORTIFICATIONS OF CIRCLEVILLE. PLAN.

At the east side of the circle is another fort, a perfect square, whose

sides exactly face the four cardinal points of the compass and whose

western side is a tangent to the circle, geometrically speaking; that is,

just touches the exterior wall and becomes incorporated with it at one

point.

At this spot is the only gateway or opening into the circular fort;

that is, the circle had no opening, except into the square, but the square

has, including this, eight different avenues, one at each corner and one

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 237

 

at the center of each side. These avenues are about 12 feet wide and

the wall rises to its usual height, which is about 20 feet. The square

may be 40 feet each way, or about as large, I think it is exactly, as to

set into the circle. We noticed many vast stumps remaining on the

summit, and the trees found here at the settlement of the town in 1810,

both standing and prostrate, no way differed from those in the sur-

rounding forest. It is easy to imagine what a vast alteration such a

period of time must have produced in the external appearance of these

works, what a filling up of the ditch and a reduction of the height of

the wall. The square fort has only a single wall, which appears higher

in the inside than on the exterior face, as though the dirt was taken

from the interior. As it at present appears, the bank is about twenty feet

in breadth at its base. But time is not the worst enemy these venerable

ruins of an unknown age have encountered. The ruthless hand of man,

in twenty short years, has done more to blot them from existence than

the old destroyer in twice as many centuries. Our descendants of the

second generation will know nought of them, except from description.

About one-half of the circle has been leveled and the ditch filled, and

the ground covered with streets and buildings. The interior wall, too,

is of clay and all the brick in the place is manufactured from it; the

present generation making use of the labor of transportation of a people

whose name is not known.

This clay will shortly be all used up for this purpose and one wall

demolished. The square, being farther from the village, has escaped far

better- in many parts as perfect as when the eye of civilized man first

rested upon its proportions. A road cuts through at one side of it

and a few negroes have the honor of dwelling in that area, which doubt-

less once resounded with the measured tread of disciplined armies, the

pomp and circumstance of war. At a little distance south is a very steep

and high cemetery or mound, which has never been opened, but is yearly

ploughed and cultivated. A very large one, which stood in the center

of Chillicothe, and which had for forty years been spared, was a short

time since removed and its site sold for house lots. This destruction of

these interesting relics for the sake of lucre will surely be regretted at

some future period. The relics which have been found at Circleville have

been numerous. This town itself is very pretty, well situated, and were

it not for the swine would look and smell like a New England village.

There are 1,500 inhabitants, some handsome buildings, and extensive

warehouses on the canal.

 

SYCAMORES. BAD ROAD. LOSE MY HEAD-PIECE. COLUMBUS.

We left at two o'clock; it was a sultry day, and our poor horses,

for we had no change, were very tired. The road grew worse and for

six miles was absolutely abominable. It lay through a dense, murky, damp

forest, abounding in water, mud, moss and mosquitoes. There were some

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238        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

of the largest sycamores I have yet seen, many were eight feet in diam-

eter. The wheels sunk several inches into the black mud, and at some

spots the prospect was absolutely deplorable. However, we worked along,

though at a snail's pace. They might do better did they work their road

property, but their road tax system is both foolish and unjust in the

extreme. Every citizen, rich or poor alike, is obliged to give two days'

work. We passed the town of Bloomfield, a little village with about

150 inhabitants and-a market house!

Every little squad of buildings apes the city in this respect.  Now

for a specimen of my luck. After dark, being tired and sleepy and

having a seat to myself, I wrapped myself up in my cloak, stretched

myself out and went to sleep. I awoke a few miles below Columbus, and

came fully to my senses in about half an hour, when it occurred to me

that I was bareheaded. My cap had worked off and out of the window.

It was an excellent light broadcloth cap, which my father bought in

Boston just before I started on purpose for the journey and which I

much admired. But it was past all redemption and I very philosophically

tied my head up in my handkerchief and resigned myself to circum-

stances. Should I lose my head off before I get home again, I am resolved

to endure the infliction with becoming fortitude. We arrived at Columbus

between nine and ten; could not get admitted at the first tavern, and

where we were received, found the house overflowing with the crowds

of legislators and strangers, whom the exciting question of the northern

boundary dispute has brought together.

 

COLUMBUS. STATE HOUSE. DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM.

10 Wed. Were lodged in a temporary bed in the gentlemen's public

sitting room. Should complain of the accommodations, if I thought they

could do better. Read Gov. Lucas' message with a portion of the volumi-

nous documents annexed, and tried to obtain one for preservation, but

without success- a few only have been printed as yet, and they are not

to be obtained. There is great excitement in relation to the subject, but

we are disappointed in our expectations of hearing any specimens of

Buckeye eloquence, as the whole matter is in the hands of a committee

and the legislature hold sessions only of half an hour a day, waiting for

the report. It will then be handled pretty decisively, and I should judge

from what I can gather, that the majority are for bold measures. I went

over the capitol. It is a small, square, temporary, brick building, with

two entrances, and surmounted with a patriotic extract from Barlow--a

thing which struck me as in bad taste--a few energetic words might

have answered -but twenty or thirty lines make an undignified appear-

ance.

They will, however, ere long, erect a building more consonant with

the wealth and power of the state. The Representative Hall occupies the

ground floor and the outer doors open directly into it, a situation very

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 239   unsuitable for silence, deliberation or convenience. The floor is well carpeted, the members, seventy-two in number, have moveable desks, and a little more elbow room than our poor fellows in New Hampshire, al- though in so small a room. The speaker's chair is a perfect pulpit. The senate chamber is above and similar, the number half as great as in the other branch. Near the State House is a long building, containing the public offices and state library, and directly beyond is the court house, surmounted with a handsome dome. The State House has a church-like steeple with a small bell. These buildings form one side of Capitol square, a public reservation, containing ten acres of fine clover, in which were rioting at pleasure some- body's pigs, perhaps the State's. We walked towards the Deaf and Dumb

Asylum, recently established and situated at the eastern extremity of the town, about three-fourths of a mile from the square. A man we met pointed to us the road which led to the "dumb school," as he called it. It is a plain looking, three story brick building, situated in a large green or square, with gardens in the rear. The front has pillars and steps of their miserable freestone, soft, crumbling and streaked with iron rust. We were met at the door, having clambered over a zigzag by a crazy stile; (they will have a paling this season), by the principal of the insti- tution, Mr. Hubbell, a good natured, fat, frank man, careless in dress and manners, and whom we both at first supposed to be a steward or doorkeeper. We conversed a while in the sitting room till recitation hours and then went to the school rooms.

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240        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

 

DEAF AND DUMB. MR. CUSHING. BUCKEYE LEGISLATORS.

There are 40 pupils, 17 of them females, and from 10 to 30 years of

age. At twelve or fourteen, they are most susceptible of improvement.

There appeared to be few younger than 14. They have four schools, or

rather classes, and as many teachers, Mr. Hubbell and three assistants,

two of them mutes and graduates of the Hartford Asylum. The other

is a son of Hon. Senator Morris. They had been classmates of the

fellow who was committed, for a rape at Concord last summer, to prison

for life, and expressed great interest in the circumstance. They said

he was a bad fellow at Hartford.

We visited each room and watched the operations of the classes.

They did exceedingly well, many, particularly among the females, appear-

ing very intelligent. We were introduced to the teachers and held conver-

sation with them on the state. One in particular was a fine looking fellow,

young, active, well shaped, handsome, with a noble, intellectual forehead

and remarkably quick with the pencil. Mr. F. obtained from  him a

promise to correspond with him. Became acquainted with one of the

Representatives, Mr. Cushing, a man of considerable talent, but who

bears, in common with a large proportion of the members, upon his

person, indications of loose and dissipated habits. One man, Mr. R- ,

formerly a member of congress, and one of the most talented men in

Ohio, but who latterly made himself a brute, was elected for this session

to fill a vacancy. Not having been drunk for a fortnight, he was nomi-

nated to encourage him in his good resolutions, and succeeded in opposi-

tion to an exceedingly popular man, Ex-Governor  -   . No sooner

elected than he got himself dead drunk, and has been intoxicated ever

since he has been here.  To-day he reeled into the house and undertook

to say something, but was pulled down by his friends. There is a care-

lessness of manner, a levity of appearance, an unfitness of expressions, a

profanity in common conversation, in short a conduct, both in and out

of the House, which a New Englander can hardly consider proper in

legislators. With Mr. Cushing we visited the new penitentiary.

 

OHIO PENITENTIARY. MARBLE AND PETRIFACTIONS.

This building is truly a noble structure, an ornament to the city and

an honor to the state, and when completed will probably be second to

none in the country. The centre and one wing are complete, the rest in a

state of forwardness, the prisoners being busily engaged in preparing their

own accommodations. It seems almost a refinement of punishment to

oblige a man to build his own dungeon. The area enclosed is about

twenty acres, the building of hammered freestone, the centre of four

stories and the wings three. It is on the plan of the Auburn prison and

like the new one in New Hampshire, the wings enclosing an interior

building of five stories of cells, each cell measuring seven feet by three

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 241   and one-half, and seven feet high. The centre is for the warden's dwell- ing, and in the rear is the guard room, from whence can be seen the whole extent of the several corridors leading round the cells. There will be cells for 700 convicts, at present there are 208, and many blacks. The female prison is to be a separate building. The whole is well ventilated, and the discipline is excellent. The warden is a New England man - I have forgotten his name. Much praise is due to the Prison Discipline Society for the general diffusion of enlarged ideas and correct information on a subject so intimately connected with the welfare, safety and moral character of the community., The people at large are becoming satisfied of the fact that the old method of building and of governing prisons was unwise and calculated not to tame the tiger, but to cage up for a while

the enraged beast, to again let him loose upon the community, sevenfold more the child of the devil than at first. The old penitentiary at Columbus was a sink of corruption, a nuisance to the community, an expense to the state, a hotbed of villany. Insurrections were frequent, no subordina- tion, no obedience. We visited the several manufacturies as yet in opera- tion. About half the convicts have been farmed out to an enterprising firm in New York, for the manufacture of saddle-trees, harness, furniture, etc. At the hospital, we found many sick, of the scurvey. The physician is himself a convict, and an acquaintance of Mr. Cushing. He was a man of liberal education, profound learning and extensive practice, but was tempted to embark in forgery of pension certificates, for which he is now obliged to associate with rascals of every grade-himself as bad. The justice of the peace, his partner in the business, and its penalty, was Vol. XV - 16.

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242        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   pointed out to me. In the stone shop, I was shown specimens of a species of marble, found in this region, which receives a most elegant polish and makes beautiful ornaments and mantle-pieces. It is full of petrifactions, principally marine, and these give it a splendid variegated appearance, some like the pudding-stone of which the pillars in the Representatives Hall at Washington are composed, but far more delicate. These petrifac- tions frequently drop out, whole and perfect. I succeeded in procuring a large and very crooked horn, apparently of some creature of the ox kind, and a number of shells. A bank which they are leveling in the yard formed an ancient cemetery. The earth is black, fat, greasy and very attractive to insects when first laid open, and bones partly decomposed are met with. The face of the bank is a thick strata of animal matter. We shall leave town tomorrow.   OHIO LEGISLATURE. BOUNDERY TROUBLE. GOVERNOR LUCAS. 11. Thursday. Were disappointed in our expectations of leaving Columbus today. The stage came in full from the south and we were obliged to give way, although we had engaged and paid for our passage. There being no opposition, the proprietors are perfect tyrants, absolutely

uncivil in speech - they do not care to accommodate-if the stage is full, you must wait, even if it be a case of life and death -"we have no extras here, sir." I visited the legislature. They had a short session and did nothing.  The speaker, Mr. Creed, is a very young man, rather feminine in his appearance. He votes on all questions taken by yea and nay. There is but one clerk, who reads the acts and resolutions as well as keep the records. Strangers are admitted upon the floor and within the bar of the house-a very bad regulation in no wise conducing to the preservation of good order. Many of the members were smoking, and a great portion rested their legs and part of their bodies on the desks before them. Oh,

for the pen of Mrs. Trollope! A communication signed by one John Biddle, as the Governor rather irreverently terms him, proposing, as presi- dent of the Convention of Michigan and in behalf of the people of that territory to consent to Ohio's running the line, provided she attempts no jurisdiction over the territory, was indefinitely postponed. P. M. This afternoon, I had the honor of waiting upon his Excel- lency, Gov. Lucas. I found him in his office with one other gentleman, a Mr. Lawler, a land agent. Gov. Lucas is an exceedingly plain man; plain

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                  243

 

in his personal appearance, in his dress, his habits, his manners, his speech.

He is an old Buckeye farmer and resides on the Scioto, at the village of

Piketon. About 30 years since he emigrated from Virginia to this state,

where he was for many years a member of the legislature and has been

presiding officer of both branches. His wife, he told me, was a native of

Haverhill, N. H. Gov. Lucas is very tall-I should think over six feet-

a spare, gaunt, bony man, much resembling in his form Senator Bell of

New Hampshire. He has a small head, sharp features, a low, retreating

forehead and large self-esteem. His skin is dark, and browned by expos-

ure and labor; in short, his whole exterior is that of a rough country

farmer. His eyes are grey, small but keen--his head greyish and he is

about 60 years of age.

The Governor has much of the old Hickory in his composition;

when his purpose is fixed, the resolute perseverance with which he executes

it, is nearly allied to mulish obstinacy. He was a soldier in the late war

under Hull and others, and performed some hazardous services, it is said,

as a spy. Indeed, he boasted to me in conversation that he had his horse

shot under him in this very disputed territory, at a period when Gov.

Mason of Michigan, if born at all, was an infant at his mother's breast.

He is very much excited in relation to this boundary question: he had

hardly laid aside my letter of introduction before he began to enlighten

me on the subject. On the whole, I was very much gratified with this my

call on Gov. Lucas, for which I am indebted to Mr. Hill's kind offices.

 

 

COLUMBUS STATE LIBRARY. THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

In the evening I visited the State Library, which tho' small, is far

superior in numbers and selection, to ours. Many of the best periodicals

and newspapers are here regularly received. The old limping Librarian,

having discovered that I was from the same section of the country with

himself, was quite attentive.

12. FRI. Bid adieu with some regret, to this pleasant little village,

or city, as the inhabitants in anticipation, persist in terming it. Columbus

was founded in 1812. In that year, when the whole of its present limits

was covered with the original forest, it was constituted the seat of govern-

ment by an act of the legislature and named after the adventurer of Genoa.

It was laid out immediately, and many of the lots sold for 2,000 dollars,

while covered with primeval timber. Indeed, everything goes by antici-

pation in the west-the spirit of speculation is the heart's blood of the

country. This would be a cleanly place, were it not for the pigs- as it is,

it is an improvement on other places I have visited. Its streets are broad

and laid out in right angles. One, the main street, on which are the public

buildings, forms a part of the National Road and will be macadamized this

season. The roads in the neighborhood are so bad, that one sees no car-

riages, but heavy baggage wagons. The old family chaise, the elfish gig,

the farmer's wagon, the light dearbon, are here unknown--everybody,

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244        Ohio   Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   males and females, market people and all, use the saddle. As we left the village, we called at the jail and took on board the jailor, who is also high sheriff of the county. Here we saw through the window the handsome face of that wholesale deceiver, Mr. - , who was taken in the midst of his forgeries and his crime, just as he was about being united in marriage to an unsuspecting, amiable lady.

By the way, it has been recently disclosed that he is the self-same Rev. Mr. W--, of Massachusetts, who was pardoned out of jail by the Exe- cutive of that state, some years ago. Since that period he has been acting under another name and in a different sphere. We had in our company three Virginians, profane, vile, coarse, repulsive men -also the land agent who was in company with Gov. Lucas.   THE SEASON. THE SYCAMORE. THE DELAWARE SULPHUR SPRINGS. We had a horrible tedious drive this day; the late rains have rendered this rich clayey soil a perfect quagmire. Usually, at this season of the year, the roads are bad, but this has been an extraordinary season. The country above Columbus, and indeed throughout the whole extent of this day's ride, is for farming, equal to anything on this our globe. Yet, why should these wealthy cultivators be so perfectly indifferent to every consideration of decency and comfort about their dwellings? Poor, miserable cabins and log-huts, with roofs and clapboards, by no means impervious to water, are the best you find, unless in some village. They all complain bitterly of the season, their corn, on ground usually dry, is now drowned- the fur- rows so many ditches of water, -the ground saturated till it can hold no

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more. With a rich soil like this, and a new road, under the circumstances,

the state of traveling may be readily imagined.

However, we wallowed on, occasionally passing through patches of

excellent timber-land. The sycamore tree, the button-wood of the east,

here grows to an almost incredible size. The large ones are usually

hollow, with a shell some four inches in thickness, which continually in-

creases in circumference. When cut at convenient lengths, the trunk is

found very useful. Casks, vats, cisterns, well-curbs, bee hives, pigstyes,

etc., are constructed of it.

At Delaware, a very pleasant and thriving village, we tarried about

an hour. This is the seat of the celebrated White Sulphur Springs, said

to be fully equal to the noted Sulphurs of Virginia. We visited the princi-

pal spring. Near it, is erecting a most splendid hotel for the accommoda-

tion of visitors, whose convenience demands it and whose number it will

doubtless greatly increase. The spring issues forth from the side of the

hill; is enclosed in an excellent curb of marble and the water is itself

clear as crystal. But not so that with which it comes in contact. The

pebbles which line the bottom and sides of the spring and of the brook

which conducts the water away, are covered to the depth of an eighth of

an inch, with a slimy coat of white sulphur. The water is exceedingly

cool and grateful to the sight, of a warm day -but phaugh! the taste!

I have it on my tongue at this moment--I did swallow a dipper full.

If any one wishes to obtain a faint idea of its flavor, let him break under

his nose an addled egg-the resemblance is striking.

 

SUCH TRAVELING! COONING THE FENCE !

The road in the afternoon was, if possible, worse than before dinner.

Besides the usual depth of mud, we would occasionally, without warning,

dive into a hole of unknown depth, filled with black mud, whose murky

consistency effectually concealed the mysteries of the interior -and there

stick. This they call being stalled - and on such occasions we were obliged

to take a fence rail and help along.

At one of these "swales," we broke our main tug, and most of us

concluded to walk on, while it was repairing. We soon arrived at a deep

and broad pit, floating on whose surface lay several logs, by whose help

we hoped to cross. We all succeeded in passing with feet, but two - one

turned back discouraged-the other, poor fellow, after he had put his

hand to the plough, endeavored to return, but the log slipped from under

him, and he was completely soused in a liquid about the consistency of

cream. He bore it very philosophically, and afterwards had the advantage

of the rest of us, wading with perfect nonchalance through every puddle

that crossed his path.

Where the fences were not covered up or carried away, we usually

crossed these places by an interesting process which these fellows signifi-

cantly term "cooning the fence" - that is by clinging to the fence-rails with

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fingers and toes and worming along in the best manner the case will admit

of. As the fences in this country are invariably of the kind we call Vir-

ginia fence or zigzag, this is really no trifling operation, and for inducing

a general perspiration, I know nothing which surpasses it. But the gro-

tesque figures, the grimaces and the reluctance which some of our grave old

gentlemen displayed at this undignified and laborious way of traveling, was

truly amusing. Being rather active, I generally got over first and then

had a fine time laughing at their awkward manoeuvres and occasional

faux pas.

13. SAT. Last evening, at half past 11 o'clock, we arrived at a mis-

erable inn in the village of Marion, and passed there the rest of the night.

Some slept on benches and some in chairs - for myself, I procured half a

very comfortable bed, in a room which contained only two more. This

morning we progressed, tho' very slowly. The roads grew worse as we

proceeded and the accounts which we received from every individual we

met, would have deprived us of our senses, had we not become perfectly

hardened to anything and everything we might encounter.

 

Low PRAIRIES. NIGHT COMES. THE LOG HOUSE.

Our road lay most of the day through low prairies and wet of course.

It is to be understood that prairie land is not necessarily low or wet - but

signifies only a level or perhaps undulating plain destitute of timber and

covered with a sweet grass. Such land is often dry and capable of every

variety of cultivation. But the prairies we passed over today are what we

might call meadows; very low and wet, incapable of being drained, in a

state of nature, unsusceptible of improvement. They are used for grazing

and are exceedingly profitable. We saw immense herds of noble cattle

appearing in the distance like a waving grove, and reminding one of the

description of a herd of buffalo, as they are seen congregating in their un-

curbed freedom on the prairie of the Missouri, and as they once were on

this very spot. Each drove is attended by a herdsman and his dogs, who

keep them from straying, who remain with them by day and lodge within

a pound or fold by night. There is no fence here but dog-fence- stone

and wood being alike strangers to this species of ground. There are

occasional huts located in these unhealthy situations, and here and there

an open log-shed adjoins one of these cabins, in which is kept a fresh

team of horses for "the stage." We entered one house - 'twas a new one

-properly a log-house-the logs being roughly hewn and notched at

the ends and a place being left for a window sash. It was all in one

room, about two-thirds of which has a raised floor, of timber chopped

down to about three inches in thickness. At one end, was a large fire-

place, on the bare ground and the kitchen utensils were hung around it.

The chimney, as is invariably the case, was outside of the building, of

sticks of wood built cob-house fashion and plastered with clay-the oven

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 247

 

of clay and brick is a separate structure, out doors, and erected upon

wooden blocks.

As is invariably the case, the room was stocked with little children, ris-

ing to an unmentionable number, with the greatest regularity, like the

steps of a stair-case, from the chubby little infant, who is playing with

papa's ramrod, to the half simpering, awkward girl, who sits sewing patch-

work at the extreme end of the room. Several of the young 'uns were only

not in a state of nudity and the old lady, like almost every female I have

met in this part of the country, was bare-legged and bare-footed. We took

the liberty to peep into the first structure, the "old house," for this which

I have been describing is the second step towards grandeur, and one more

than most of these settlers make, which looked rather forlorn in its dis-

mantled, inglorious condition. Two or three beds have been left standing

for the accommodation of some of the dozens who make up the family.

This structure is called the cabin and is the settlers' primitive residence -

composed of rough, unbarked logs, heaped up as we build log fence, with

a hole to crawl in, and perhaps another for a window. First in the scale,

is the cabin, then the log-house, then the frame building, and then brick-

stone is out of the question here, entirely. Specimens of all these, as they

have been in turn occupied and deserted, may be occasionally seen on the

farms of some industrious and enterprising farmer. The roads on this

prairie land are always on a level or below the level of the surface, and

are of course a perfect reservoir for the water.

 

MUDDY ROADS.

No attempt to cover the natural shaky, sticky black soil with any-

thing of a firmer nature has ever been made, and where there was once a

ditch at the side of the road, it is now obliterated. In one instance we

turned from the road and waded through the long grass of the prairie

for miles, prefering a foot of unadulterated water, for it stood to that

depth on the surface of the ground, to a great or greater depth of mud.

In another, we walked three long miles at one stretch, each one with his

boots filled with water and holding up his pantaloons with both hands, as

boys play in the puddles, and this because the state of the road was such

the horses could not draw us. How one of the Virginians did swear ! and

I may add, how uncomfortable it made him. The best part of our party

kept ourselves perfectly good-tempered, nay almost boisterous, and man-

aged to extract amusement, often at each other's expense, out of every

circumstance which occurred, or adventure which we met with. This was

the only true way- we were in for it and must go through; grumbling

could only add to our misfortune.

 

SLAVE CATCHING AND SLAVE DRIVING.

By the way, I have found out who our three Virginians are-they

are slave-hunters, and are now after three poor fugitives, who have fled

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from that happy condition (?) -a state of slavery. At first they spoke of

them as their property, but I soon discovered that slave catching for others

was their business and that they were well experienced in it, too. The

three negroes were all, they said, first rate - one a good scholar, and re-

markably intelligent. His master was then very sick, and could not live.

Not long since, he expected to die immediately, having had a relapse, and

sent for this slave, who had been hired out on another plantation. The

faithful negro came, watched upon his master, and for a week never left

his bedside except on his business and at his bidding. Yet this master, in

expectation of a speedy departure, must rob this poor slave of his liberty

that he may leave a larger inheritance to his children. These runaways

went by stage to Chillicothe, and were so unwise as to enter their usual

names on the waybills. At Chillicothe, the keeper of the principal house

sent them to the negro tavern and this is the last they have been heard of.

The hunters did not dare to go to the negroes on such an errand, but they

are confident they have steered for Canada, as the runaways invariably do,

and they expect to find them on the lake, detained by certain men they

have stationed at the prominent places to watch or capture suspected

negroes. They did not dare to make any inquiries on the road, because they

say, they never get any satisfaction, and complain bitterly of the disposition

the Ohio people show to cheat them out of their inalienable rights. They

say, if they find a constable and point out their negro to him, he will give

the fellow a chance to escape before he will move in the business.

I did not know of the shifts to which they are obliged to resort to

conceal their disreputable employment. Thus, they enter on the waybills

an assumed name, that the negroes may not learn that they are in the

country and be on their guard, and as the poor fellows have only two

days the start, I tremble for them and told the hunters I hoped they would

get away. They grinned and said they would take care of that. From

their conversation, I doubt not they would swear to anything, and to the

ownership of any negro, if they imagined they could do it securely, and

spoke very coolly of the propriety of kidnapping two or three likely fellows,

should they be unsuccessful in their present search. They said, a vast many

free blacks are annually stolen and taken to the south- that they were

knowing to many such cases. From them I learned that Mr. Macpherson,

one of our passengers, then on the driver's box, and the identical man who

came across the mountains with us from Frederic, Md., and who represented

himself as a wealthy slaveholder, about to move to Mississippi, is an

internal slave trader and does business very extensively, annually driving

large coffles of negroes from Maryland, Virginia, etc., to the south. They

have traded with him in that capacity and say they never knew one of these

merchants but represented himself as about to settle with a gang of slaves

upon a cotton plantation at the south. He is now on an errand similar to

their own - is a very genteel man in dress, address and appearance. I

learned that there is quite a village of blacks in Canada, to which the run-

aways direct their efforts, where they find a kind asylum, if they are so

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 249

 

fortunate as to reach it and whence they cannot be legally removed. The

hunters had often visited it for purposes best known to themselves. One

of them followed a black, who had escaped on horseback, and found him

there a few months ago. He immediately lodged a complaint against him

for the theft of a horse, had him put in gaol and applied for a warrant

for his removal as a culprit. He complained bitterly of the delays to which

he was subjected by the Judge, (who is a brother of Commodore Elliott,

and a renagade to the British in the late war), and was obliged to return

without his prisoner. He will, on this occasion, visit that place and thinks

he shall meet with better success. I asked with as much simplicity as I

could assume, "What would be the punishment for his crime, if they should

get him back?" Oh, said one laughing, if we get him home, that's all we

want of him; we don't care anything about the theft - that's all humbug.

I became perfectly disgusted with the conversation of these wretches, yet

I gathered from it much interesting information - a great deal of it of too

revolting nature to be transcribed here.

14. SUN. Last evening, the agent assured us we should be in San-

dusky. But it rained all the afternoon; there was a violent thunderstorm

and the aspect of affairs became really discouraging. About 9 o'clock, we

stopped at a log hut to exchange our horses, when our new driver, (for

we change drivers here with the teams), a great, strapping, bare-legged

loon came out and declared with many emphatic asseverations, that it

would be absolutely impossible to get across the prairie that night, but if

we persisted in going on, he would drive us till we stopped. As we saw

he was determined not to proceed, we gave up the case, more especially

as a gentleman appeared, one of the party, who filled yesterday's stage, and

excluded us from going the day we expected to. There were ten in the

party and they were obliged to leave all their baggage behind some miles

with this gentleman to attend it, the driver assuring him that a baggage

wagon would follow and take it on. A wagon did follow and brought the

luggage as far as this place, where the driver, probably discouraged, left

it, deceiving him by assuring him that another wagon would appear and

take it on. Here he has remained since yesterday, and is likely to remain,

till he proceeds by his own exertions. Yet, be it remarked, that his own

passage, with an extra fee for the baggage, were paid by him at Columbus

to Sandusky and here he is left 25 miles below. Meantime, the coach, with

the ladies and the rest of the party, proceeded, struck into the prairie, got

stalled and broken and the driver unhitched the team and returned. The

next morning, he went on with a wagon, and carried them forward- they

are now at Sandusky, and not an article of wearing apparel except what

they have on their backs. They were obliged to pass the night in a broken

carriage, on that wet and lonely prairie and exposed to the attacks of the

mosquitoes, who exceed in numbers and size anything I have ever seen.

No wonder, the gentleman threatened to prosecute.

The log-hut, where we found ourselves, we knew not for how long a

time located, was called a tavern; a bar well stocked with whiskey. At

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one end was a generous fire in a fireplace of true primitive capacity and

here we sat and laughed at the awkwardness of our situation and poured

maledictions upon those whose lies had been instrumental in bringing us

here. Better had we not left the canal. Our boat doubtless arrived at

Cleveland on Friday or Saturday.

However, we forgot our cares over a good supper of roast venison,

corn bread and fresh butter, and then enquired for lodging. There were

many awkward grimaces made, as we all, one by one, poked up the crazy

ladder into a dark hole of undefined dimensions, called par eminence, the

chamber. Here in the garret of a log hut, about a dozen persons passed

the night - the day had been rainy and the floor and the beds flowed with

water. I managed to obtain a dry couch, and as I lay on my back, could

contemplate the beauties of the starry creation, or calculate an almanac,

through the chinks of the massive, rough-fitted logs which formed the roof

and walls of the house.

However, I slept soundly, and at 5 o'clock, we, by common consent

emerged. The light of day gave us an opportunity of observing more crit-

ically the positions each other had occupied during the night, and a general

burst of laughter at the grotesque absurdity of our situation was the con-

sequence of our examination. The scene would have been worthy of a

Hogarth's pallet or a Cruikshank's pencil.

The road, after we left the scene of our last night's adventures, was

for some miles no worse than before and we began to think we had egre-

giously cheated. But not so.

 

PRAIRIE TRAVELING. ARRIVE AT SANDUSKY CITY.

We had a low prairie to cross, worse than anything we had previously

experienced. We left the turnpike, for the aggravation of this miserable

track, (a road it was not) was greatly enhanced by the sight of a gate with

the rates of toll in glaring black paint, every ten miles, and took the old

road, about a mile longer, and our driver hoped, better. We proceeded,

occasionally getting out and pushing. When about half across, we espied

before us two heavy wagons, stalled, fast in the mire, the very tops of their

wheels concealed in the mud and the poor beasts standing with drooping

countenances and submissive look, before. We could not pass them  - the

same hole would add our misfortune to theirs, and as if a warning to us,

across the prairie, we could see in the turnpike, the indistinct form of the

broken coach, in which we would have gone if we could. The driver spoke

of returning, but we persuaded him to turn off, try to cross the ditch into

the deep grass, and wallow along till he gained higher ground, which was

in sight. He did so, whipping up and encouraging his poor beasts at every

deep hole or ditch, and we following, wading and jumping behind. We

got out safe, but the heavy plunges the coach had made had broken one of

our thorough braces and bent to an awful angle, the axle of the hind wheel.

Most preferred walking to trusting themselves to this crazy vehicle; for

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                  251

 

myself, I was very tired and rode, bracing myself up on the highest side

of the coach, and at every hole we crossed, expecting a catastrophe. We

finally arrived at the land of rail fences again, and having propped up the

broken strap and axletree, for both were broken, we all jumped in and

proceeded. We changed horses at a very respectable frame tavern, ten

miles from Sandusky, the landlord of which was a native of Dunbarton,

N. H., exchanged our used-up vehicle for a lighter coach, and proceeded

over a good road and for a novelty, at a good round trot to Sandusky

City. Near that place we passed over a high, level plain, which was abso-

lutely sandy. There were swells, too, several gravel banks, small pebbles

and even large stones, all comely sights to see, most surely.

 

SANDUSKY CITY ALIAS PORTLAND. GALLINIPPERS.

We arrived at Sandusky about two o'clock and put up at the principal

house, kept by a namesake of my own. I shall never forget my ride across

those gloomy, unhealthy prairies, which produce nothing but long grass,

horned cattle, disease, mosquitoes and rattlesnakes. One species of meadow

grass was shown me, to which is given the singular cognomen of Roman

Catholic grass. Why, I did not learn. Sandusky is not so large a place as

I had anticipated, judging from its early settlement and notoriety. The

insalubrity of its climate, rendering it almost impossible for a stranger to

live there, is, without doubt the principal obstacle in its way. As a gentle-

man very significantly observed to me, "A great part of the inhabitants are

over the other side of the hill," for there is their cemetery. Other settle-

ments, such as Cleveland, etc., have been at first nearly as unhealthy, but

have improved in process of time. The fever and ague formerly infested

the centre of New York, much as it now does Ohio, and was not uncommon

in the valley of the Connecticut, within the memory of the present genera-

tion. But in this respect, Sandusky does not improve. The village is not

quarter so large or populous as Concord, but was full of business, for the

Sabbath day. There is, in fact, to a majority of the inhabitants, no Sab-

bath. I was struck with one singularity-the air was filled and every

sunny wall or building was covered with myriads of a disgusting fly, about

an inch long, with large wings and feelers. They are sluggish in their

movements and perfectly harmless - nobody seemed to notice them. When

flying, if they strike an object, they either cling to it or fall, and 24 hours is

the extent of their brief existence. Like mosquitoes, they breed on the

water and generation daily follows generation in inconceivable numbers.

The inhabitants did not appear to notice them, and gentlemen and ladies

as they passed the streets were covered with these reptiles. They find their

way into the houses and infest everything; even the table where we dined

swarmed with them. A gentleman assured me, that he was on board a

steamboat last week which ran aground at the mouth of the Detroit river

in the night, and they were obliged to remain till daylight. In the morning,

vast heaps of these vermin were found on deck, particularly congregated

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about the funnels, being either dead or nearly so, and that the quantity

shoveled overboard was variously estimated by the passengers at from 6

to 8 bushels. Similar accounts have been given me by others, and from

what I myself have seen, I do not doubt their truth. They are considered

as certain forerunners of the cholera, and were never known here till just

before the arrival of that disease. They are called, improperly, gallinippers,

that being the name of a fly which, in common with other species, oddly

enough called pontiacs, from the old chief of that name, are exceedingly

troublesome to horses. We ate our dinner in haste and hurried on board

a steamboat which had just touched on her way from Buffalo to take in

wood and passengers.

 

LAKE ERIE. ITS BEAUTIES. STEAMBOATS.

I soon found myself on board the Michigan, the finest boat, as is uni-

versally acknowledged, on the lakes. Capt. Chas. Blake is her captain, an

experienced navigator but hard-swearing man. It is an extremely difficult

passage into the mouth of Sandusky harbor and much time is necessarily

consumed in working ingress and egress to the bosom of the fair lake. It

requires, perhaps, as much skill to manage a vessel on these waters as on

the broad bosom of the salt water ocean - for in good truth, they are

inland oceans. The lake I am now on--how small it is compared with

Huron or Superior, or yet with these United States, is nevertheless big

enough to swallow in its bosom the whole of Britain's fast anchored isle.

I could with difficulty reconcile it to my imagination that I was indeed sail-

ing on the surface of a pond, a body of water, as the geographies have it,

entirely surrounded by land. Yet so it is.

In one direction, as far as the eye could reach, looking towards the

dominions of King William, with the exception of an occasional verdant

thickly wooded little island, land could no more be discerned than in look-

ing towards the dominions proper of the same prince from the promontory

at Hampton Beach. More than half the apparent horizon was blended

by the water's edge, and the deep blue wave was thickly studded with craft

of every description from the fishing smack to the brig and schooner, from

a pleasure boat to a steam packet.

These last are not such delightful objects to the sight, as we cast

our glance over the surface of the water, as are the whitened sails filled

with the wind, and urging along the vessel as if endowed with vital pow-

ers. The steamboat's lofty and blackened chimneys, the pump working

up and down, above the deck-these objects which we cannot avoid tak-

ing into view seem misplaced on the bosom of the ocean. There is too

much appearance of utility - too much of a sort of grossness, a look of

factory about it to be connected with such beautiful scenery. I had heard

an anecdote of the inhabitants of a certain place, who, when they, for the

first time, saw a steamboat navigating a stream, which for many years

glided by their dwellings, undisturbed save by the light bark-canoe or still

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 253

 

frailer dug-out, took it from the up and down movement of the pump, to be

a floating sawmill, nor do I doubt its correctness. The lake was calm as

an unruffled temper, after we had fairly disentangled ourselves from the

harbor--but it is not always so. Violent storms frequently arise, which

are more particularly dangerous on Lake Erie, which is of much less depth

than the rest of the chain. Shipwrecks are very frequent - vessels, prop-

erty and lives are every season destroyed. Even steamboats, which can in

speed almost outstrip the winds, are often very roughly handled, as the

appearance of many will testify and are with difficulty secured in some

safe haven.

 

PERRY'S VICTORY. THE POOR BOY AND DRUNKEN FATHER.

As we left Sandusky, we kept near the American shore, passing in

sight of the little town of Venice, swiftly distancing many beautiful little

islands, almost grazing the group called the Three Sisters, and sailing

probably over the very spot which once resounded with the din and smoke

and distress of that great naval battle, which ended in a triumph of Ameri-

can bravery over British insolence sufficient to teach John Bull that his

old underling had become saucy enough to whip him as well on the inland

lakes as the outer ocean, and to redound to the glory of the victors and the

honor of our country. As if by a singular coincidence, we soon after met

the Commodore Perry, a new and elegant steamer on her way from Detroit

to the Maumee Bay, and hauled alongside to put on board some passengers

for that new land of promise, the disputed valley of the Maumee.

15. MONDAY. We arrived at Detroit about two o'clok at night. We

found the two principal public houses full, but had our luggage taken to

the American, and engaged the first vacant lodging place, if one should

occur before night. Such myriads of emigrants and strangers as now

crowd this city, are, as they say here, a caution. Many are here with

their families, having improvidently left their homes without knowing for

whither of for what; many are here on business; many to look on and

catch a spark of the general glow of life which seems to animate every-

thing and everybody in the place. I am favorably disappointed with

Detroit; I knew it was a very old place, it having been founded by the

French about the time of the landing of William Penn, and I expected to

see a small, dirty, Frenchified town, with a sprinkling of soldiers, Indians,

Irish and Yankee. But Yankee blood, Yankee taste, Yankee spirit pre-

dominates and Detroit is in effect a new city. Several destructive fires

have swept away almost every remnant of antiquity, even the old fort is

entirely removed, and the stranger is surprised to find the principal street

called Jefferson Avenue, a perfect epitome of Broadway, a picture of

business, a condensation of life, hurry and tumult. On either side are

rows of splendid brick blocks, filled with every variety of goods and

mechanical trades, where, in 1830, only five years ago, but one brick build-

ing was in the whole place, and that our hotel. Now they are removing

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many of these brick stores, some three or four years old, and erecting

others of greater elegance, uniformity and durability. The street is very

wide and perfectly straight, but is rough from the recent rains; it is, how-

ever, soon to be paved and Detroit will then be a city in appearance as

well as in fact. I had imagined it about as large as Concord, but I learn

it contains at least 7,000 inhabitants, having trebled in four years. Of

course anybody will presume that here are no Southrons to infect the

moral atmosphere with their slothfulness and indolence-no slaves to

compete with the labor of the free and render the pursuits of an indus-

trious mechanic a reproach to his character.

With the exception of the Aborigines and the French, both of whom

remain within their own limits, except as they mingle with each other,

careful that they be not defiled by contact with the Yankees, the inhab-

itants of Michigan are all either from New England or New York, and

from the latter state only those of New England blood. The land of

promise, the Far West, some thirty years ago, lay in New York - the

Genesee country, I can myself remember, was the destination of many

an emigrant; now, this same blood, the same families, and often the

identical individuals, are taking another move to Michigan. The descend-

ants of the earlier settlers here cannot, of course, be expected to remain

satisfied with what they have found-they are going to Illinois -the

next jump of the Yankee-New York families will be to some unnamed

territory in the region of the Rocky Mountains. "Westward the star

of empire takes its way," sung Bishop Berkley a century ago.

 

BOUNDARY TROUBLES. B. F. STICKNEY. LUCIUS LYON.

There is not here apparently so much excitement on the Boundary

question as exists in Ohio; though coming direct from Columbus, I was

addressed by several individuals on the subject. Michigan doesn't make

so much fuss about it; apparently secure of the co-operation of the gen-

eral government, they go ahead without parley. A word and a blow is

with them the order of the day. They catch and imprison every inhab-

itant of the disputed territory who accepts a commission under the Ohio

Executive. A short time since they seized Maj. B. F. Stickney, an old

and wealthy citizen, and put him in jail for this offence. To vex him the

more and force him to give bonds, thus acknowledging jurisdiction, they

put him in the same room where lay on his straw an old, filthy, ragged

Frenchman, confined for debt, covered with dirt and vermin. Stickney

inspected his room-mate with cautious curiosity, when, careful to get to

windward and holding his nose, he hailed him. "What are you here for?"

"Because I can't pay my debts." "How much do you owe?" "Twenty

dollars." "Well, here it is, take up your duds and cut dirt quick." And

thus did Stickney secure an unincumbered possession and gladdened the

heart of the poor jailbird. Stickney is an eccentric man; his wonderful

letter from this gaol is very conspicuous among the documents accom-

• 44
 

Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 255

 

panying Governor Lucas' message; he is from Pembroke, N. H., whence

he moved here some thirty years since, where he kept tavern and named

his children One, Two, Three, etc., in the order of birth. I found at the

tavern Mr. Walker, from Peterboro, N. H., late representative, and his

lady, a niece of Judge Smith, with whom, being well acquainted with sonic

of her friends, I became very familiar; she is an exceedingly pleasant

woman. I was introduced to Hon. Lucius Lyon, a delegate to the Con-

vention now in session for the formation of a Constitution for the future

state of Michigan, and who is also her delegate in the National Council

and already spoken of as Senator in Congress. He is a man of middling

stature, about thirty-five years old, well-shaped, good head; has a coun-

tenance exceedingly handsome, but the features are without expression -

perfectly immovable. He is indeed of lethargic temperament - lazy as

Sam Hyde. I was also introduced to Gen. McNiel, who is here on his

way to Fort Gratiot. He is a man of an extraordinary frame, but I should

judge of rather small mind. Self-esteem is his prominent characteristic.

I have often heard him talk, but never ten minutes, without some, not

always the most ingeniously contrived, allusion to his own great deeds

and vast importance. His stiff knee he probably wouldn't cure for a

fortune.

The Englishman who fired that ball has much to answer for in

atonement of the lies and boasts it has caused. McNeil is about six feet

seven inches in height, and well proportioned. Great land speculations are

daily made here; Governor Cass, who is out of town at present, has

realized a handsome plum. His large farm, at the lower end of town,

which extends from the river back and intersected by the main street and

several others, cost him some years ago about $7,000. When he was

appointed Secretary of War he contracted to sell it to Major Forsyth, for

$34,000. Soon after, he received an offer of $50,000, which, as was natu-

ral, absolutely frightened him. He went to Forsyth, who was somewhat

dependent upon him, and told him the offer, saying, "You don't want to

make $16,000 out of me." Forsyth gave up the bargain, and Cass, grown

wiser, kept his land. He has now sold about one-fourth of it for $100,000.

and the remainder will bring him as much more. He may, therefore, be

considered a wealthy man. Cass is almost idolized here--the only por-

trait in the legislative chamber is one of him, drawn at full length-no

ordinary honor to be done to a man during his life, and while actively

engaged in business. Nor do I approve it.

After Aaron Burr's treason many a vessel's proprietors swept his

name from their ships and substituted that of some one whose patriotism

death had proved to be lasting. Had the Congress of '76 adorned their

hall with the portraits of the successful leaders of her armies, Benedict

Arnold's must in justice have occupied a prominent place. I attended

the session of the convention. It is held in the room of the legislative

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256        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

council of the territory, the lower floor of a brick building, the chamber

of which is occupied as a court room.

In the convention there are about seventy members: they are, as a

whole, a body of fine-looking men--far superior in external appearance

to the Ohio Legislature. They seemed to be, however, very irregular in

their mode of doing business: careless, hasty, and full of mistakes -each

engaged in correcting his neighbor, and making himself blunders enough

for the criticism of the next who arose.

They were not deliberating on the Constitution but on a matter which

they doubtless considered of paramount importance, the report of the

committee on their own compensation. I was much amused with a sug-

gestion which fell from one speaker. The question was, whether the

members of the convention should receive for their services three dollars

per diem or but two. One gentleman considerately and seriously remarked

that, with him, it depended on the solution of the question. From whom is

this money to come? If from the general government, he thought three

dollars none too much, but if the people of the territory were to be taxed

for it he was in favor of two dollars. A gentleman, in reply, probably

proceeding on the principle that what's sauce for the goose is sauce for

the gander, ventured to reply that if their work was worth three dollars

of Uncle Sam's money, it was of the territory's, and they finally, as might

have been foreseen, fixed it at that price without settling the point who

were their employers or who they must look to for their wages. But I

am told the principle they follow in regard to the general government is

much according to the gentleman's doctrine-get all they can--have

their roads made, their officers paid, etc., by the whole people. When their

state government gets into operation the people will begin to feel its

burthens; all seem to favor the establishment of small salaries.

Major Biddle, "one John Biddle," is the President of the conven-

tion. He is a Jacksonian, as are the whole of them, nearly, and brother

of Nicholas, autocrat of the bank. He has represented the territory in

Congress. He owns the American Hotel and boards there, with all his

family. He is a gouty old don, of good height, fleshy and slow in motion

and speech. He has a high, retreating forehead, sandy hair and com-

plexion, deep blue eyes and a voice slow of utterance and very feminine.

He is not a very good presiding officer. I called on Governor Mason, to

whom I had a letter from Mr. Hill, but did not find him at home. The

beds at our tavern were full, so I was obliged to go to the Mansion House,

the other great house, rented by Griswold, the same who rents the Amer-

ican. There I found a good bed. In going there I met one of my old

friends, the slave catchers. They have separated in different routes, and

I was glad to learn had as yet no luck. Mr. Fletcher's brother, the Judge,

is holding court at Pontiac, a county town, twenty-five miles from this,

and Mr. F. will go there to-morrow to visit him. Having no objection to

• 46
 

Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 257

 

see a little of the interior I shall accompany him. The Judge lives at

Ann Arbor, and held his court there last week, where we expected to find

him.   We should have done so had we not been so grievously delayed

in Ohio.

16. TUES. At eight o'clock the stage for Pontiac called at the tav-

ern and we put ourselves aboard. This stage is neither more nor less

than a very long wagon; the body placed directly upon the axletrees and

covered with a screen or oilcloth. This is the only species of coach that

the horses can draw over this road. The distance is twenty-five miles,

and we were from 8 A. M. to 4 P. M. in traveling it. The road is a perfect

dead level till you get within a quarter of a mile of Pontiac, where you

meet with swell, stones and sandbanks.

 

RIDE TO PONTIAC. KILLED RATTLESNAKE. COURTHOUSE.

It was through a great extent of thickly wooded timber land, but

the trees were generally not of the largest kind. There is a little tavern

every four miles and occasionally a dwelling, but no village. The road

over the low meadows, and for much of the distance, is built of logs laid

side by side and is christened a corduroy turnpike. The sun shines on

it only when at the zenith--hence we find the road muddy and full of

deep holes, but a real Christian highway compared with Ohio turnpikes,

though from the representations we received of it at Detroit we hardly

expected to find it passable.

We were not obliged to get out during the whole distance, though

I did walk some, through choice. Once, I was some distance ahead of

the coach, and spying a singular flower in the border of the wood, I

leaped over a log to get it. Just as I jumped I saw a snake coiled up in

the rotten wood under my feet, and after some difficulty found a stick,

attacked him and killed him. Just then the stage came up and stopped

and from the driver I learned that my conquered enemy was the massas-

sagua, the Michigan rattlesnake. This reptile is short but thick-from

the accounts, I should think him not so venemous as our own rattlesnake.

His bite is often death, but if properly treated not usually so; his fang

is exceedingly short and sharp and the wound is small. He cannot

bite through a boot, nor often through woolen cloth, nor can he strike

higher than the knee. Surveyors and woodmen usually tie some kind

of sack-cloth about their legs, and are thus secure. This snake does

not always give warning. Little barefooted children, while picking ber-

ries, etc., often suffer severely; the Indians are said to make no account

of the bite at all.

Near Pontiac are some very valuable mill privileges, situate on a

small river, to which has been given the name of Clinton. The village is

itself neat, New England like. Handsome painted houses, with green

blinds, neat stores and shops give it a distinctive character. It is, of

Vol. XV -17.

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258        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

course, a new place, and as yet small, but by anticipation a city. Well

situated lots of land are nearly as high as in Concord. There are two

taverns, both were full, it being court time; but the landlord, learning

that the applicant was a brother of "the Judge," who was a boarder of

his, concluded that he would find room for us. Here I met with Mr.

Dunklee, of Concord, late graduate at Dartmouth, a moderate scholar,

who, having studied divinity till he was sick of it or till it was sick of

him, has finally concluded to turn merchant and astonish the natives of

Pontiac.

Judge LeRoy, the great man here, one of the county judges, is a

silent partner. We went to the court house. It is situated on a beautiful

eminence and combines, within one moderate building, court room, jury

rooms, jail and jailor's dwelling house. The court room is a little, long,

crowded hole.

 

PONTIAC. JUDGE FLETCHER. LAKES AND OAK-OPENINGS.

I had almost written it hell, where judges, jury, lawyers, sheriff,

criminal and spectators are all crowded together into a space little larger

than the lawyers' bar at Concord. It is but justice to say that a new court

house is soon to be erected. I was introduced to 'Squire Draper, a law-

yer here, late of Concord, Mass., and to 'Squire Talbot, formerly of New

York City and later still of Kentucky. He is an old fellow, will talk as

long as you'll listen, is a monomaniac almost. He is a son of Commodore

Talbot and his wife a daughter of Commodore Truxton. Judges Fletcher

and LeRoy were on the bench; the other judge is sick of the fever and

ague, which everybody must have on coming here, and some don't get

rid of it for years. The poor fellows look miserable, just sick enough

to make themselves and everybody near them uncomfortable- wrapped

up in overcoats and flannels, with the thermometer at 90 -sweltering over

the kitchen fire and growling and swearing at everything that crosses their

path. Judge Fletcher does not resemble his brother in the least - he pos-

sesses a far more lively temperament-is active and quick in his motions.

He recognized his brother in court, but did not speak to him till after

adjournment. Dunklee and I called at Mr. Draper's and made an arrange-

ment with his youngest son, James, an active youth of fifteen, for a fishing

excursion on the morrow.

There are several elder sons, all here in business, professional or

mercantile, and two very fine, intelligent daughters. Went home and

to bed.

17. WED. Awoke with a very violent sick headache; fortunately, was

enabled to provoke my stomach to yield -after which had a fine nap and

was well. So, about ten o'clock, jumped into a wagon with Draper &

Dunklee and started. We had fishing tackle and guns for the whole party;

so we anticipated sport. They call here every little pond a lake, an affecta-

tion which is peculiarly displaced in a territory surrounded by the largest

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                  259

 

sheets of inland water in the known world. Pontiac is situated directly

among about a dozen of these lakes, and to one of them, Pine Lake, we

directed our horse. Why called Pine, I know not, as there is no pine in

this region. The lake is about four miles distant-the road, a private

carriage track through the opening.

 

FISHING EXPEDITION. INDIANS. SUSPICION. WILLIAMS LAKE.

Pontiac, where there is no clearing, is entirely covered with what is

called "oak opening," and so is a great part of the territory. The oaks

are noble trees and stand like apple trees in an orchard, from one to three

rods asunder. The intervening part is covered with a sort of scrub oak,

some four or five feet high, and you may ride for miles here without seeing

a tree or bush that is not an oak. The labor of cutting a road over such

land is of course trifling-the soil is first rate for grain and makes good

roads without labor. Even on the public highways, nothing is more com-

mon than to see a tree blown across the road and turning the path round it

-each traveler preferring to ride round the tree through the underbrush

to making any exertions to remove the obstacle. Judge Fletcher informs

me that he has driven his two-horse carriage forty miles in succession

through these openings, where there was no path or trace of wheels, the

horses perfectly accustomed to the underbrush. At Pine Lake there is a

handsomely situated farmhouse, the owner of which, a trader in Pontiac,

gave us permission to use his boat, but the keeper, a surly, suspicious fool,

fancying that there was something supercilious in Dunklee's manner, swore,

like an independent man as he was, that if he were worth millions and he

a poor farmer, he'd be damned if he'd be trodden upon and we might

whistle for the boat. Our spokesman returned him as good as he got and

we set off, retraced our steps, passed directly thro' the village and to

Williams Lake, about eight miles, over a good road. We met a large party

of Indians, men, women and children, on their way to Detroit and Fort

Maiden on the British side; to the former place to receive a payment from

our government in return for their land; to the latter for their British

presents. That government, in return for their services during the war,

agreed to pay them annually five dollars a head for a certain number of

years. That time has expired, but they cannot now get rid of them. The

squaws carry as many polls as they can- all their own children and all

they can borrow. The presents are usually in blankets or trinkets, which,

however, they will often pawn for a canteen of grog-"more whiske" is

the invariable demand. The men are stout, fine looking fellows and many

of the women and children handsome. They wear blankets, many of them

leggings, but most of them have their legs entirely bare.

They have an abundance of silver bands, collars, bracelets and

broaches, and the women, pendants in their ears. The children are gen-

erally barefoot; the adults usually wear deerskin moccasins. Crowds of

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260        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

these fellows we have met, from Detroit in Pontiac, going in either direc-

tion. At Williams Lake, a most beautiful little sheet of water, we found a

handsome farmhouse inhabited too by civilized people, and in a most

delightful situation. The house has a large front yard and faced the

street - from the rear, there was a gradual descent to the pond, beyond

which many settlers' houses were visible in the distance. Mr. Williams

was from old Concord and settled here about 17 years ago. He died last

fall, having raised a large family of children, most of whom he established

near him. The old lady and the youngest son, the only native of Michi-

gan in the family, were at home and my companions being acquainted with

them, we were handsomely treated.

 

A FINE FARM; AND FARMER'S COMFORTS. FISHING. THE COURTS.

They have an extensive apiary and noble garden. The orchard is fine,

and the fruit in great abundance -particularly the plums, of which they

have every variety and in great quantity. We took the boat, a light, fragile

dug-out, and sailed over the surface of this delightful little lake -then

returned. A dinner was ready for us--hot bread, fresh butter, fresh

honey and new milk. It was late, we were hungry and did full justice to

this delicious repast. This was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey.

After dinner we prepared to fish. I caught the first; we had excellent luck

and returned home just at night-- in season for my tea, very much pleased

with my excursion. Indeed, how much better it is to live as do the Wil-

liams family than in the style of their brother farmers in Ohio. There is

something by Roscoe which just speaks my mind on the subject. "Surely,"

he says, "man is the most foolish of all animals, and civilized man the most

foolish of all men. Anticipation is his curse; and to prevent the con-

tingency of evil, he makes life one continual evil. Health, wisdom, peace of

mind, conscience-all are sacrificed to the absurd purpose of heaping up

for the use of life more than life can employ, under the flimsy pretext of

providing for his children, till practice becomes habit and we labor on till

we are obliged to take our departure, as tired of this world as we are un-

prepared for the rational happiness of the next."

18. THURS. Soon after breakfast, Squire Fletcher and I took the

Judge's horses and carriage for a ride. The Judge is obliged to have his

private carriage, for there are no public conveyances through which to

travel his circuit. He has a handsome pair of horses, sports a splendid

gold watch and is a very great man. His duties are, however, very arduous

and were it not for waiting to see what may be the aspect of affairs on

the formation of a state constitution, he would resign and return to the

practice. He is obliged to hold a court in each county -this occupies him

eight months of the year. His usual session hours here are from eight to

eight, with one hour's intermission. His associates are mere cyphers, like

our own county judges in New Hampshire, and we can see from this judge

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 261

 

how great are his opportunities for study and reflection on the causes which

occur. His jurisdiction is over civil and criminal cases-the highest court

of the territory.

There is a Superior Court, the judges of which receive their appoint-

ment from the General Government, and who have cognizance of questions

of law. Judge F.'s salary is 1,500 dollars. We rode to a village about four

miles distant; I forgot its name.

 

PONTIAC LAWYERS. GUNNING. QUAILS. INDIAN CARAVANS.

Returning we took a different and longer road and passed through

some of the finest of the country. After our return, I visited the court.

The way they do business here is amusing. There are no lawbooks-the

Judge is obliged to carry such as he may wish for reference with him.

The lawyers come into the court without any previous preparation and

enter upon the case helter skelter, without consideration and often beaten

by the evidence of his own witnesses.

A good lawyer amongst these asses would thrive. I met with Mr.

Cleland, of Detroit, a very good lawyer and fine man, who was extremely

sociable and made me promise to call on him on my return. Droves of

Indians continually passing through town this day.

P. M. I called at Mr. Draper's with Dunklee. From the parlor, I

could hear Mr. Talbot with his stentorian lungs pleading a case with great

earnestness and zeal. He is very prolix -Mr. Fletcher said that his plea

combined a great deal of legal learning with much that was extraneous and

idle. He is a strange man. Jimmie Dunklee and I took a walk into the

wood. Shot a few quails, who are remarkably thick in these parts. They

are usually in pairs, either on the ground picking their grubs, or on some

stump or log, making their peculiar double whistle which you can easily

imitate, and by so doing can always get near enough for a shot. We found

a plenty of strawberries, and I ate as many as I dared to. My late difficul-

ties, however, admonished me of the necessity of prudence. Returning to

Mr. Draper's, we took tea there with their pleasant family, after which

I returned home.

19. FRI. This morning I was awoke by a very violent clap of thunder

which to shake the house to its very foundation. After this, it rained,

thundered and lightened all day. From 'Squire Talbot I procured old

Commodore Truxton's autograph. His own father's he could not find. A

very large caravan of Indians came into town about midday. Many of the

women and children were mounted on small, tough, ragged ponies, which

they were taking down to dispose of. On one of these horses, by a sort

of wooden machine, half saddle, half panniers, were often stuck a woman

with four children, beside a papoose on her back, suspended by a band

round her forehead. All these, with the exception of one or two men who

had hair-seal caps, were perfectly bareheaded. The rain was literally pour-

ing down in sheets, but they did not offer to go in or seemed to mind it,

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262        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

but huddled up, for no earthly purpose that I could discover, near to the

tavern. I thought, however, many of them seemed to shiver, although

there was no complaint, for it was very cold. The beasts stood patient

and crestfallen, as though they were aware that they cut but a sorry figure,

their ears lopped down and their hides smoking in the torrent.

 

 

INDIANS. STAGE COACHING. FACE OF COUNTRY. AN OLD SETTLER.

There were several old men, who must have been active warriors at a

period when all this country was their undisputed property-when they

were at liberty to range abroad at pleasure, each under his own vine and

fig tree and none to molest him or make him afraid. At present, how

changed is their degraded condition. One of these ancients, a venerable

looking old man, with bald head, gray hairs and a scarred and wrinkled

visage, came up to a gentleman on the piazza, and presenting a wooden

ladle and spoon, humbly begged for "some whisk." These are nearly the

only English words they will speak, even those who know how, but there

are several white men who knew them and conversed with them in their

own language. I asked one of the men, if he were Saginaw. "No, Shiawas-

see." That was the name of the tribe. In the afternoon, talked with Mr.

Cleland, attended court, wrote journal and called at Mr. Draper's to bid

farewell- a very clever family. In the evening, Dunklee and I attended

an itinerant book auction. The books sold very high and well. The pur-

chasers were eager-one would suppose there existed quite a literary taste

in these regions. Dunklee promised to correspond with me and I pre-

pared for my departure tomorrow and went to bed.

20. SAT. Started early. It did not rain, but yesterday's storm had

by no means improved the quality of the road. Our coach was this time

an open wagon and we the only passengers. There were no springs to the

carriage, the seats were boards placed on the top of the box, and what with

the jolts of the vehicle, the holes in the road and our efforts at balancing,

no exercise of the gymnasium could have been more salutary. I have read

somewhere the question, Who ever heard of a dyspeptic stage driver? I

would defy all the attacks of indigestion, even if I shared the food of the

ostrich, and as to the hypo -the blue devils would have their little souls

jolted out of them by a ride from Pontiac to Detroit. Our driver was

sociable and we did very well. The flats for a mile or so were entirely

drowned and we waded in the water where it stood over the road perhaps

two feet deep. At the edge of the flats, we found a woman and her

daughter waiting for us to take them across-they were going for straw-

berries. The woman had lived here for five years, had last moved from

Ohio, said she felt lonely and reckoned it was about time to move off-

all her children had left her but five! As we proceeded I noticed every

log of the causeway, that happened to rise above the surface, was crowned

with a villainous rattlesnake -probably driven out of his nest by the

deluge.

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 263

 

RATTLESNAKES. INDIANS, BUGS, RAIN, ETC. RAILROAD.

The driver said, whenever he saw a very large one, he jumped out

and killed him, but the little ones, he never disturbed. One of his leaders

had been bitten by one, a strange conformation of the nose was the conse-

quence. It looked as if sliced off literally with an axe. He was with diffi-

culty cured. We passed several camps of the Indians on their road and

met and overtook a great number. Two stout fellows, whom I remembered

seeing at Pontiac, kept abreast of us several miles. They beguiled the

tedium of the way by a pipe which served them both, amicably dividing

between them its use and the time. Occasionally, when opposite a wood,

one would take up a sort of wooden pipe hung at his girdle, and whistle

upon it-making a perfect imitation of the bleating of a young fawn, by

which they often bring up to them a deer, and gain a shot at her -they

both carried guns. A little girl of the party, yesterday in Pontiac, led a

beautiful tame fawn. Several violent showers made our way extremely

tedious, in our exposed situation, and the aggravation was increased by the

sloth-like pace at which we were obliged to progress. Oh! when they get

the railroad finished, what a difference it will make. Ten miles of it will

be finished next year. This is the finest country in the world for a railroad

-a perfect level, no deep cuts, no inclined planes, no high banks, no

ledges. To be sure, there is no stone, but then they can do without it. At

the depth of three feet there is a solid pan. The intention is to cut sticks of

timber - say, eight feet long and drive these piles into the ground; on

the butts of the sticks lay the rails, and all agree that such a road will

be far more cheaply constructed than any other good road could possibly be,

over this route. Being hungry, at about one o'clock, we stopped at a tavern

and ordered a dish of milk. The milk was sweet, but the bread was dry

and stale and as it began to saturate, the little red bugs rose, kicking most

lustily, to the surface, where they were immediately skimmed off and most

barbarously committed to the flames. After our repast, we found the road

lined on both sides with Indians, returning with their loads - men, women,

and even little children, toiled on with their faces bent to the ground, their

backs loaded with blankets, bundles, kettles, frying pans, spinning wheels,

guns, etc., among which motley burden the black eyes of some happy little

pappoose not infrequently glared out with a brilliancy which might have

put a massassagua to the blush. A man in a wagon ahead of us, at sight

of this caravan, jumped out, left his companions and began to return on

foot.

HIGHLANDERS. GOV. MASON. MR. NORVELL. THEATRE.

He was three miles from home on his way to Detroit, but was obliged

to return, for, says he, "My wife is not used to these fellows, as we have

lately come into the country, and I know if they go into the house, as

they likely will, and see she's scared, they'll act just as they are a mind to."

We arrived at Detroit about half past two and I spent the afternoon in

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264        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

walking around the city. We put up at the American. Here I saw a High-

lander in full national dress, cap, dirk, etc. His plaid, his trappings, his

leggings, with his handsome features and brawny frame, gave him an ex-

ceedingly picturque appearance, but I should think his bare knees would be

cold. He is a Scotch gentleman's servant. After tea, I called on Gov.

Mason and at length found him at home. I was prepared to see a young

man, but not such a boy in appearance. He was, however, a perfect gentle-

man in manners. He is short and thick-set, of dark complexion, hand-

some square features, high forehead and large head. He has black hair

and black eyes, dresses in showy style, wore a broadcloth surtout and is

much of an exquisite. He has been, they say, very dissipated, and now

uses tobacco - he is a sort of a pet of the government. His father, John

T. Mason, resides here; he has several sisters, whom I saw. He came

here in 1830 and was soon after appointed secretary. I well recollect the

hue and cry made about such an appointment in the papers. Gov. Mason

introduced me to Mr. Norvell, the postmaster here, an ambitious, crafty

man, humorous, and himself a cause of humor to others, waddling about

with an air and gait truly ludicrous. They were all preparing to go to the

theatre, to benefit of the great star here, one Mrs. McClure. By Gov.

M.'s invitation I accompanied them. The play was Sheridan Knowles'

drama, "The Wife."

My old acquaintance, Trowbridge, the manager of the Concord The-

ater that was, I recognized in one of the characters. Mrs. McClure and

one or two besides played well; the minor parts were most miserably

performed. I found the theater was patronized by the first people here.

Judges and grave convention men surrounded me. I did not stop to the

afterpiece, but returned home and to bed. Saw a paper this afternoon

alluding to the organization of the N. H. Legislature--by which it

appears Friend Fowler has been appointed Clerk of the Senate. I know

how it was done.

 

MR. CLELAND. SOCIETY IN DETROIT. REV. MR. CLEVELAND.

21. SUNDAY. A. M. Called on Governor Mason and accompanied

him and his sister to the Episcopal Church. This is a very large, hand-

some house, but they have not yet got any settled preacher. One Mr.

Lister preached a very able sermon. Governor Mason, on our return,

gave me a very strong invitation to go up to the upper lakes and Chicago

with their party, in the steamboat Michigan, which starts on the trip

to-morrow night. Governor Cass and his daughter (to whom Mr. Mason

is playing the agreeable) are going. 'Twould be exceedingly pleasant, but

it would take a fortnight, and I can't spare the time. I want to be at home

at least a few weeks before commencement, if possible, P. M. I attended

at the Presbyterian Church, with Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Cleland. Mr.

Cleveland, the regular preacher, I was introduced to by Mr. Cleland. I

took tea with the latter, at his friend, Mrs. Larned's. She is the widow

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                  265

 

of the late General Larned, who died last season of the cholera. She is

a very fine woman, and has a fine family. The only son, Sylvester, named

after his uncle, the celebrated clergyman of that name of New Orleans, is

about my own age and a fine boy.

Mr. Pitts, the partner of Mr. Cleland, boards here. He is a fine

man and a good lawyer; late a graduate of Harvard. After tea, hap-

pening to mention my acquaintance with Sam Chandler, who died here

this spring of consumption, Mr. Cleland insisted upon my going with him

to his sister's, Mrs. Moore, who would be so glad to see any acquaint-

ance of her deceased brother. Her husband and a brother are in partner-

ship--in trade. They all are natives of Bedford, N. H. We met young

Chandler just before entering the house, who returned with us and intro-

duced us to his brother-in-law and sister. They all appeared glad to see

me on account of their brother, who was indeed a fine fellow. In the

evening Mr. Chandler, Mr. Cleland and myself returned to the Presby-

terian Church to listen to a discourse from Mr. Cleveland. Passing the

old market, which is nearly dismantled, I noticed that the crowd of men

and boys, who had been there all day, making riot and confusion, was

little diminished. They were engaged in the delectable employment of

killing rats, of whose dead carcasses they had collected several bushels.

Mr. Cleveland delivered his sermon extempore, in a curious off-hand man-

ner, but rendering himself intelligible to every hearer. In the midst of

some of his most powerful exhortations he would frequently break in

with, "Gentlemen, you will find plenty of seats here at the right hand of

the desk"--"Mr. Brown, please sit along close, so as to leave the end of

the seat empty for others," or "Mr. Lewis, be so kind as to raise that

window, we shall all suffocate here," which had rather an odd effect. He

is very devoted, however, and popular. There is no appearance of priest-

craft in his daily walk and conversation, but he makes himself free with

all. He is a brother of Prof. Cleveland, and formerly preached at Exeter,

boarding at Capt. Chamberlain's. He is a short, large man, exceedingly

active, of lightish hair and sandy complexion, and his hurried, business-

like gait, snuff-colored coat, black neckstock and white hat, give him an

external appearance the very reverse of ministerial.

 

FRENCH INHABITANTS. THE CONVENTION. JUDGE WOODBRIDGE.

22. MON. We expected to leave Detroit this morning, in the morn-

ing boat for Buffalo, but several of the passengers in her, the Chas.

Townsend, among whom     was one gentleman, Mr. Merrill, of Boston,

bookseller, whom I knew, give such a discouraging account of her that

we finally resolved to wait till evening and take the Sandusky. After

breakfast, took a long walk along the river with young Chandler.

He is a very fine fellow, much resembles his brother, he is a grand-

son of old Robert Orr. On the little narrow street, near the river, or

rather of which the river formed one side, is settled by the French, the

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descendants of the original proprietors. They are a singular people--

hate the Yankees -will not mix with them, will not suffer their children

to learn the language or have any intercourse with them. Their lots are

very narrow, but run back from the river, many of them three or four

miles into the country. This happened, as each of the original settlers

wished a situation for his dwelling on their dear river as well as a farm -

this gave rise to the inconvenient shape of their farms. These lots, in

running back, cross the main street, and make four or five building spots,

but their jealous owners will not sell these spots though they do not

improve them themselves, except in cultivation, and though many of them

would command almost any price that could be named. They have no

part nor lot in the improvements of the times, but are entirely under the

dominion of the priests, they own a very large cathedral. We walked

by Governor Cass' farm, and to his ancient mansion, an old, rough-looking,

one-story, wooden building, but capacious.

Afterwards, I called on Mr. Cleland; with him I went to the court

house. The superior court was just concluding its session above. One of

the judges I have been introduced to, Judge Wilkins. He is a man of

great genius--almost insane--a young man, inclined to intemperance,

and too much of a jockey in his external appearance for the bench. He

possesses exhalted but eccentric talents. The presiding judge, Sibley, is

a rosy-cheeked, white-haired old man, about sixty-five years old. I sat

some time in the convention. They were debating on the mode of carry-

ing the constitution into operation, and there was much of the irregularity

visible which I have before noticed.

 

GOVERNOR CASS. THE INDIANS. ON BOARD STEAMBOAT.

Judge Woodbridge, the son-in-law of McFingal, and formerly a

delegate in Congress, takes a prominent stand in the debates of the con-

vention. Although in the minority, he is listened to with great deference

and has done much good by cooling the ardor of those who, in the pride

of their authority, are inclined to crowd too much into their pattern of a

constitution, and bind the hands of future legislatures. He is a man of

acknowledged talents and parliamentary experience, having commenced

his career in the legislatures of Ohio. He speaks with great earnestness

and effect and with forcible enunciation, though his voice is harsh and

cracked. He is tall and bony, apparently about sixty years of age; he

has a gray head, rigid features, a round, good forehead, and is exceed-

ingly nervous. Governor Cass was present, among the spectators. Return-

ing, I peeped into the justice's court, where Mr. Cleland had some busi-

ness. The lawyers here are obliged to devote much time to these small

matters. Thence to the bookstore, where I read the addresses of Governor

Cass and Major Biddle before the Historical Society.

P. M. After dinner I called on Governor Cass, with my letter from

Mr. Hill. I found him at his friend, Mr. Trowbridge's, the cashier of

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 267

 

the Detroit Bank, and very busy, engaged with his agents for paying the

Indians, so I did not trouble him long. He said he had not for twenty

years seen so many Indians together, that it reminded him of old times.

Of the French, he remarked that they were very easy to assimilate with

the Indians but never with the Americans. From this similarity of char-

acter it happens that the Indians were also firmer friends of the French

than of the English. (I afterwards called again at Mr. Cleland's office,

who has been very kind to me and wished me to write him. He hasn't

the physiognomy of a sociable man, that's certain, but it is certain that

his countenance belies him. He was first editor of the opposition paper

here--is now extensively engaged in practice.) Governor Cass is not

tall but is full in figure, has a large head, hair inclined to a dark red, which

is, I am told not his own,-he has a red face and blue eyes-his cheeks

are low and his face is widest at the mouth,-it is large and stolid and

a large mole at the left of his mouth give it rather a singular appearance.

He has not the appearance of a man of great talents. This evening I took

tea with Mr. Chandler, his sister & partner & having taken leave, hurried

on board after the time appointed. Met Mr. Fletcher in as great haste as

myself, who fearing to be left behind had sent my "traps" on board with

his own. But when we were there we learnt that the machinery was out

of order & we should not get away till some time in the night. Our hotel

here was a good one, but their prices are very high-equal to anything

in the seaport cities. Rev. Mr. Cleveland came on board with a friend of

his an old townsman. Mr. Chamberlain, formerly of Salem, now of Illinois,

and a nephew of my old capt. C. of Exeter. From them I learnt, with sin-

cere sorrow, of the death of the old Captain. Had a long talk with Mr.

Cleveland about the Chamberlain girls and a further conversation with Mr.

Chamberlain, discovered we had seen each other before-he being the same

who once paid a visit at Exeter and interested me very much with some

specimens of gold ore, he then residing in the Virginia gold region. Mrs.

Larned, with whom I took tea last Sunday; with her son and two young-

est daughters, are to accompany us to Cleveland on their way to Kenyon

College, which Sylvester intends to enter-he is a very fine boy, tho' some-

what vain and has promised to write to me. We amused ourselves as

well as we could during the evening with backgammon and checkers, tho'

pestered as usual with the remarks and advice of the bystanders. A son

of the late Gov. Porter, a clever young man, a friend of Larned's, spent the

evening with us. I have seen his mother-she is big as a hogshead.

23. TUES. Morning dawned-the steward rang his bell-I arose and

looked out still upon Detroit. This is vexatious. Ought to have left yes-

terday morning, entered our name on board this boat in the evening-two

other boats have left in the meantime-but we remain.

There was no help for it, tho', so took one more walk in Detroit, in

company with Larned. Did not feel too bright, having been broken of

my rest, by the everlasting hammering on the machinery. Speaking of

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268        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Hoffman's letters from the West, Larned says that the anecdote Hoffman

relates of Gov. Cass, is true of his father-it certainly isn't of Cass. The

little streets on the river are lined with groceries, as is usual in seaport

towns-tho' I have seen not so much intemperance as might reasonably

have been expected.

Did not start till dinner time; about one. Now, tho' I should admire

to spend a day or two in Detroit, yet, when one expects to go at a certain

time, it is vexatious to be delayed. Had a very pleasant trip down the

river, a part of the country which I had not before seen, as I came up

in the night-so there was one advantage in our delay. Passed Spring-

wells, about three miles from the city,-the ancient Bellefontaine, where

are, as both names indicate, beautiful springs,-the seat of Judge Wood-

bridge & the place of deposit of the remains of the gifted poet of the

Revolution, Trumbull. Here Brock landed his army, prior to the dastardly

surrender of Detroit by the recreant Hull. The country on both sides

of the river is here very flat-a sort of interval-and excellent for cultiva-

tion.

THE INDIANS AT FORT MALDEN. CLEVELAND, OHIO.

Amherstburg and Fort Maiden on the British side, are prominent

objects and passing as the channel does, close to the shore, we had a good

view of them. Here is the agency for satisfying the Indians with their

yearly gifts and such a sight as the fields and woods around the town pre-

sented, my eyes never before beheld. They were white with the tents of

the Aborigines-the rightful owners of that soil on which they can now

only appear as cringing dependent. They ran on the shore, greeting our

vessel, in troops of fifties and of hundreds screaming and whooping in

their delight and their intoxication, - hideously begrimed with red and

black paint and adorned with feathers, crests, bands, particolored garments

and every variety of ornament which barbarous taste could suggest. An

island in the river, between which and the town we glided, seemed literally

alive with them, and the bleached white canvass which crowned every bush

and served as a nest for a family, formed an exceedingly picturesque ap-

pearance. The surface of the water was alive with the canoes, scudding

about in every direction, the navigators, many of them, seemingly having no

other object in view than sport,-many engaged in fishing, and many, with

a little sail spread and favored with an excellent breeze, and their craft

loaded with goods and live stock to the water's edge, with their bows

turned homewards were returning to the place whence they departed.

These were Saginaws, who come all the way from Fort Gratiot by water.

In the evening, played with Larned. This is a noble boat, & I never

enjoyed myself better.

A pleasanter company, perhaps could not have been collected. Larned

is a fine boy, and his little sister, about six years old, very intelligent, and

inquisitive. Have read some but have found it impossible to write. The

lake, though smooth, is too rough for that.

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Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley.                 269

 

24. WED. Early in the morning we stopped at Cleveland and I bade

farewell to my friend Larned, his mother and sisters. I stepped on shore,

but did not see much of this great and flourishing place, as our stay was

short. It is full of business, life and activity, at the head of the great

canal and possessing a good harbor, it becomes the depot of trade between

New York, Michigan and the South and the West. It already contains

6000 inhabitants. A few miles further another white light-house presented

itself at the extremity of a long wooden pier, and we ran into the harbor

of Ashtabula. Here we stopped to take in wood, and in company with

several of my fellow passengers, I walked to the top of the beautiful emi-

nence which overlooks the beautiful lake. The next port was Conneaut,

and here I lost my companion 'Squire Fletcher. He stops a day or two

to visit some friend in this region and will probably join me again as he

will not go to Niagara.

 

MORMANITE PREACHING ON LAKE ERIE!

Our boat's company is remarkably quiet. Mr. Greenwood of Bos-

ton, a companion of Mr. Chamberlain and a singularly simple, harmless

man, has been distributing tracts all over the boat and furnished every idle

loon with good reading. We have, too, a company of Mormanite mission-

aries aboard, who are extremely zealous, hardy-looking men, humble in

their pretensions, evidently sincere, and contenting themselves with the

privations of a steerage passage, to avoid unnecessary expense. They are

all good singers and have been singing their peculiar songs to a large

audience. They are very anxious to engage their fellow passengers in an

argument and have the Scriptures at their tongues end-in no wise lothe

to give a reason for faith that is in them. By my persuasions, Mr. Cham-

berlain was induced to request of one of them a sermon in the evening,

an exposition of his doctrines, to which he readily assented. At Erie, we

stopped a short time. It is a handsome place, and has a large harbor,

formed by the construction of two artificial piers, forming almost a com-

plete semicircle. Within this harbor are sunk the fleet of the late Commo-

dore Perry, with the vessels taken from the British in the glorious

engagement of the 10 Sept., 1813. One of these, the Queen Charlotte, was

this spring raised, found in good condition and now lies at Detroit. In the

evening, about eight o'clock, the preacher took his stand on deck, between

the captain's office and the door of the ladies' cabin. The ladies formed

a semicircle about their door and the gentlemen brought benches and

crowded in, in the best way we could. By the time the sermon com-

menced, we were surrounded by all the deck passengers, idlers and men

off duty on board the boat.

The motley group preserved strict order-no levity was visible-no

noise was heard save the sound of the preacher's voice, the unceasing,

asthmatic puff of the engine as she urged the floating castle through the

blue waters of Erie. The Mormanite who had undertaken the task of

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270        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

enlightening our heathenish minds, was a stout, good looking man, with a

handsome forehead, uneducated but fluent of tongue and entirely free

from that twang and whine which so characterize many enthusiasts. He

had been called upon to explain the faith of the people called in ridicule,

Mormanites but who called themselves the saints of the latter days. They

found their faith on that text (with its collaterals) which declares that

it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out of my spirit unto all

flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy and your young

men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and on my

servants and my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of the spirit

and they shall prophesy, &c. He stated that these things had begun to

be fulfilled in them; that the spirit of God had been poured out upon them

like water; that miracles had been wrought, visions interpreted, the gift

of tongues realized and prophecies made & fulfilled and much more to like

purpose. That the Golden Book of Morman had been miraculously given

them of God, an historical account of the doings of God's people in this

new world and subordinate to and corroborative of the truth of the Holy

Scriptures.

He preached long and zealously but whether he made any converts,

I cannot pretend to assert.

25. THURS. Early this morning, we arrived in Buffalo.

NOTE. Here, since all that relates to the observations of

Mr. Bradley concerning Ohio and Michigan end, our extracts

from his Journal are concluded. Mr. Bradley entered upon this

journey from   Concord, N. H., on the morning of May 17th,

traveling by such facilities as the times then afforded, he visited

Boston, New    York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and

Frederick, crossed the Alleghanies to Wheeling - thence through

Ohio and into Michigan and to Buffalo, as recorded above, thence

through northern New York and via Vermont he reaches home

on the evening of July 3. There he enters in his Journal:-

"My friends received me, as one returning from the circumnavi-

gation of the globe, as having providentially escaped accident

and death and as having a clear and undoubted right to the title

of -a great traveler! ! !"

G. H. T.

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EDITORIALANA.

AVERY'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The second volume of A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES AND ITS PEOPLE, From the Earliest Records to the Present Time, by Elroy Mc- Kendree Avery, published by the Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, Ohio, has been issued by the publishers. The purpose and general plan of this work, which when completed will comprise fifteen volumes, was set forth in the QUARTERLY for April 1905. The second volume fully meets the ambitious and alluring promise of the first volume. The vol- ume before us embraces the period of American Colonies from 1600 to 1660. The various initial settlements are suscinctly portrayed under the titles, among others, of Champlain and New France; Virginia Under the Charter and the Old Dominion; Settlement of Maryland; Massachusetts Bay; The New Netherland; The New Sweden; Connecticut Plantations; with background and settings such as The Growth of Separatism in Eng- land; Annexation and Confederation, Puritan and Heretic. Mr. Avery in this volume gives the reader not only in continued and logical sequence the events of the period in question with the pen of a master, but with- out adding heaviness or prolixity to his results, gives the philosophy and background to the incidents themselves. The author has, as we have be- fore intimated, the eye of an artist, the sentiment of a poet and the thought of a philosopher. These elements are charmingly used as set- tings and interweaving threads to his historical scenes. Mr. Avery might be justly styled "an artist historian," although in his pages accuracy and truth are never sacrificed for word effects. In no work we have ever read of a similar character has there been such a remarkable com- bination of the historical imagination and strict adherence to truth. Mr. Avery marshals the cold and literal facts in the warm colors of a word painter. There are no events in the history of civilization so fraught with tremendous reality and fascinating romance as the story of the initial settlements in America by the varied assortment of races of the Old World. The French, Spaniard, Dutch, Swede and the singularly con- trasted elements of the Anglo Saxon, as evidenced in the Cavaliers of Virginia and Maryland, the Pilgrims of Plymouth and the Puritans of Massachusetts. The contrasting and conflicting aims and accomplish- ments of these various colonists are admirably followed and skillfully (271)

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272        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

unraveled by Mr. Avery. The author bestows in turn impartial sympathy

upon the various efforts of each phase of immigration. His chapter on

the Growth of Separatism in England is a lucid and valuable recital of

the conditions in England that led to the religious exilement of the

Pilgrims and Puritans. The familiar story of the voyage of the May-

flower and of its immortal passengers is retold with fresh vigor and

clearness. After reciting the famous compact, signed in the cabin as the

little vessel lay at anchor in Provincetown Harbor, Mr. Avery says:

 

Let there be no mistake. We see here no group of philo-

sophic theorists with a vaunted "social compact." But we do

see practical men of rare good sense, familiar with the Eng-

lish idea of municipal self-government, with political concep-

tions widened by life in republican Holland, using a simple

covenant to frame a state as, sixteen years before, they had

done to form a church. They neither made any laws nor de-

fined the power of any magistrate. The language of the com-

pact, direct and simple as it is, shows traces of the age in which

its framers lived. For example, "dread sovereign lord" was

simply common legal fiction; "king of France" was sixty-two

years behind the truth; and the reference to King James as

the "defender of the faith" has been dubbed a grim Pilgrim

joke. And yet, "in the cabin of the 'Mayflower' humanity re-

covered its rights and instituted government on the basis of

equal laws enacted by all the people for the general good."

Such is the just verdict of George Bancroft.

 

God grant that those who tend the sacred flame

May worthy prove of their forefathers' name.

 

The opportuneness of the time and the relation of the geography of

Ohio to Virginia, call our particular attention to his recounting of the

settlement at "James Towne."

 

The favorable reports of the country brought back by

Gosnold, Pring, and Weymouth attracted the attention of cer-

tain "knights, gentlemen, merchants, and other adventurers"

of London, Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, who proposed a

corporation somewhat similar to the famous East India Com-

pany to which Queen Elizabeth had granted a charter. It was

natural that English merchants should adapt the corporation to

the purposes of colonization, for it was a familiar form of sub-

ordinate government that easily lent itself to plans of colonial

development. In fact, at that time, the corporation was a

necessity to successful colonization. With revenue scant, credit

wanting, and corruption prevalent, the government of the

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Editorialana.                       273

 

Tudors and the Stuarts was unequal to the task of developing

new colonies. On the other hand, ventures like those of Raleigh

went to show that such undertakings were beyond the re-

sources of an individual or of a small association of mer-

chants. James I. granted letters patent under which two com-

panies were formed. This charter was the first under which

a permanent English settlement was made in America-the

beginning of the line of historic American constitutional

development.

The year 1607 marks the successful beginning of English coloniza-

tion in America.

On Saturday, the twentieth of December, 1606, and under

sealed orders from the council for Virginia dated ten days be-

fore, three small vessels, the "Goodspeed," the "Sarah Con-

stant," and the "Discovery," sailed from Blackwall, England.

The little fleet carried forty or fifty sailors and "six score"

male emigrants, including fifty-two gentlemen and--a barber.

The following summer the Jamestown settlement was planted.

Mr. Avery with faithful devotion to historical accuracy and with

probable proof, robs Captain John Smith of the halo of his romantic

rescue by Pocahontas. He says:

It was during this month (December, 1607), if at all, that

the romantic incident of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain

John Smith took place. At the court of Powhatan, Smith was

received in royal state and feasted after the Indian fashion as

the central figure of a forthcoming execution. After ceremon-

ious hospitality, two large stones were brought in. The cap-

tive's head was pillowed on the stones and clubmen stood

around ready to play their parts in the expected execution. At

such a moment nothing is certain but the unexpected - at least

in the realm of dramatic fiction. "Pocahontas, the king's

daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her

arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death;

whereat the Emperor was contented he should live to make

him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper."

This pretty story of rescue rests solely upon the presenta-

tions of Smith's General Historie of Virginia, published in

1624, after Pocahontas had been Christianized, lionized, married,

and seven years buried. In the earliest printed biography of

Smith, Thomas Fuller, a contemporary, says: "It soundeth

much to the diminution of his deeds, that he alone is the her-

ald to publish and proclaim them." The records written by

Vol. XV-18.

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274        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

contemporaries contain no allusion to such service by Poca-

hontas, and the hero's earlier work, A True Relation, pub-

lished in London in 1608, gives a widely different story of his

captivity and release. There is a real suspicion that the real

source of the story was Smith's characteristic inclination to

tell an interesting tale and his natural desire to utilize the in-

terest that the heroine's visit to England had created. Men

often mourn as the image-breaking tendency of modern criti-

cism what is in reality only "the correcting and clarifying in-

fluence of time." The narrative has been our favorite bit of

colonial romance for generations, but many of the later his-

torians refuse to accept it. Like the story of the apocryphal

voyage of Vespucius, it has not been absolutely disproved and

is not without able and valiant defenders.

 

As pertinent to early Ohio history, we give the statement from Mr.

Avery's account, and the accompanying outline maps showing the two

diverse claims to the territory subsequently embraced in Ohio as made

from the two interpretations of the original Virginia Charters.

 

In spite of its voluminous literature, the history of the

genesis of the colony is difficult because of the evil that was

thrown over the enterprise. Spain claimed the Virginia coun-

try, Spanish spies were everywhere, and the London company

guarded its transactions with an oath-bound secrecy. The re-

cently published correspondence between the Spanish king and

his ambassador at London throws a flood of light on this pre-

viously obscure feature of the venture. Zuniga wrote from

London to his master that he had found a confidential person

through whom he would find out what was done in the Vir-

ginia council, and advised that "the bad project should be up-

rooted now while it can be done so easily." A few weeks later,

he wrote: "It will be serving God and your majesty to drive

these villains out from there, hanging them in time which is

short enough for the purpose."

In spite of the claims of King Philip and the espionage

of Zuniga, King James granted a new charter with enlarged

privileges. The new company was styled "The Treasurer and

Company of Adventurers and Planters of Virginia of the City

of London for the first Colony in Virginia." The incorporators

were fifty-six of the London companies or gilds, such as the

company of grocers and the company of butchers, and six hun-

dred and fifty-nine persons mentioned by name in the charter.

The latter ranged from the great lords of the realm to the

fishmongers. Among them were twenty-one peers, ninety-six

knights, twenty-eight esquires, fifty-three captains, fifty-eight

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Editorialana.                        275   gentlemen, one hundred and ten merchants, representatives of the various professions, and citizens unclassified, an imposing array of wealth and influence. The territory granted by the charter extended along the coast two hundred miles each way from Old Point Comfort and "up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest."

This peculiar expression, "west and northwest," was won- derfully vague and led to serious controversies. It made a difference which line was drawn northwest. If the northwest line was drawn from the southern end of the four hundred miles of coast, and another boundary line was drawn westward from the northern extremity of the coast, the domain thus limited would constitute a triangle of moderate area. If, on the other hand, one line was drawn westerly from the southern of the two points fixed on the coast and the remaining bound- ary was drawn northwesterly from the fixed point north of Old Point Comfort, the included territory would embrace a great part of the continent and extend from sea to sea. This was the construction given by Virginia to the language of the charter. The grant of 1606 declared the limits of Virginia to extend from the seashore one hundred miles inland; the charter of 1609 extended the limit westward to the Pacific. The width of the continent in the latitude of Virginia was vaguely sup- posed to be not much more than a hundred miles. In spite of

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276        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

his pedantry, King James, little understood the hidden meaning

of the sea-to-sea extension. Under this charter of 1609, modi-

fied by that of 1612, Virginia held until the formation of the

federal constitution in 1788.

 

In reading of Mr. Avery's work we are tempted to halt and linger at

particularly important and interesting events. The reader reluctantly

leaves his story, which we again commend to both the general reader

and the close student. Both the author, Mr. Avery, and his publishers,

The Burrows Brothers Company, have embarked upon a stupendous

undertaking. This second volume offers indisputable evidence that they

are equal to its accomplishment. We know nothing to compare with it in

the efforts of American publishers for an American history.

 

 

 

ETNA AND KIRKERSVILLE.

We pass from the stately splendors of Mr. Avery's description of

a continent's colonization to the graphic portrayal of the quiet rusticity

in the little interior, obscure hamlets of ETNA AND KIRKERSVILLE, Licking

County, Ohio, -- a charming bit of reminiscent retrospect by Morris

Schaff- (Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Boston and New York, 1905.) This

little modest volume of some 138 pages came to our notice as we grazed

among the late issues upon the bookseller's counter. The clear and un-

pretentious style of the author at first caught our eye and then our view

was riveted by the interesting sketches of the unimportant and almost

insignificant life of the early settlers in Ohio. The author does not deal

with great or striking events or distinguished personages. His facile

pen draws with artistic touch and poetic sentiment "the simple life" of

the pioneer country folk.

The township of Etna was organized in 1833, and is in the extreme

southwestern corner of Licking County, Ohio. It is a true rectangle, two

and one-half miles wide and a little over eight miles long, stretching due

east and west on both sides of the National Road that runs through the

middle of it. It is a part of the Refugee Tract, a grant of 100,000 acres

donated by Congress in 1798 to citizens of Canada and Nova Scotia who

abandoned their settlements in consequence of having given aid to the

colonies in the War of the Revolution, allotting to each "in proportion to

the degree of their respective services, sacrifices, and sufferings." The

Refugee tract is a strip four and one-half miles wide and forty-eight miles

long; beginning on the Scioto at Columbus, and running easterly almost

to the Muskingum.

The village of Etna, which reposes in the middle of the township

and from which it gets its name, was laid out by Lyman Turrell, a Ver-

monter, in 1832, the lots selling at from $3.00 to $5.00 apiece. "If there be

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a place in this world that can lay an undisputed claim to being rural if not

obscure, I firmly believe it is my native township of Etna. And yet the

clouds float over it in beautiful colors, the stars come out joyfully, the

dew falls, the corn ripens, and the sun shines sweetly there." Between

1815 and 1825 emigrants poured like a tide into Central Ohio, and by

1830 there were enough settlers in Etna to ask for a local government

of their own. Mr. Schaff describes the civil features of the village gov-

ernment in which the justice of the peace was the highest and most

important official-- and the attainment to which office was the height of

the communal ambition. He pictures the administration of justice and the

settlement of legal disputations. Mr. Schaff's father came from Belmont

County, Ohio, in the winter of 1829 or 1830, and after "declining to buy

what is now a part of the great city of Columbus, bought a farm in Etna."

Upon that farm on December 29, 1840, the author was born and there

spent his early boyhood days until about the age of ten when the family

moved to near the village of Kirkersville, which town, some four miles

from Etna, was founded about 1831 and was named for Thomas Kirker,

acting Governor of Ohio in 1808.

"It would be difficult to portray the simplicity and naturalness of

society as it was in Etna when I was a boy, say in 1845 to 1850. There

was no class founded on wealth, no one distinguished by either learning,

ancestry, achievement, or pretentious estate,-we were all on the same

level, wore the same homemade clothes, read or studied in dimly lighted

rooms or by the light of wood fires, looked each other in the face when

we met at each other's doors, all unconscious of that restless kingdom

known as society, and in blessed, happy ignorance of what is now called

refinement and culture, and in a perfect freedom from the weakening, tor-

menting, pessimistic fastidiousness that afflicts modern life. It is true

there were the asperities and crudeness of uncut marble about all social

life, but viewed in the light of philosophy born of experience and close

observation of this drama called life, the conditions might almost appear

ideal."

He describes the social life, the establishment of the churches by

the different denominations and the rigid lines that separated the various

religious beliefs.

"I was present also at the dedication of the Disciples, commonly

known as Campbellite church, that stands on the north side of Licking, in

the angle formed by York street and the Refugee Road, in 1856. It was

a great occasion; for Alexander Campbell, the founder of the church

itself, was present, and hundreds of people, old and young, from far and

near, came to see that wonderful man. He was very tall, had white

bristling hair, worn in the Andrew Jackson style, and very dark, lively

black eyes overarched with mantling white eyebrows."

In striking contrast to the ecclesiastical features of this little society

was the grandiose military spectacle of the village militia.

"In my early boyhood, about the time of the Mexican War, there

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was a militia company in Etna. The hat they wore was very much like,

if not an exact copy of, the one worn at West Point, except that it had

a white and red pompon somewhat larger than the black one worn by the

cadets. In my eyes, as this company paraded west of the schoolhouse

in Etna village, they looked like warriors of many a bloody field; and

when they came marching along with their flint-lock muskets with savage-

looking fixed bayonets, -keeping step to two screaming fifes, the fifers

swaying proudly, and a bass drum beaten in lofty style by Henry Neff, a

heavy-browed Pennsylvanian, one of the village carpenters, -where is the

rustic heart that would not beat fast at such a spectacle of martial glory?

Thumping away with great flourishes and casting from time to time a

fierce look at us small boys chasing along in bulging-eyed awe, Mr. Neff

was something immense. I have seen Generals Scott, Grant, McClellan,

Sherman, Sheridan and all the great generals who led the gallant old

Army of the Potomac, but none of them were ever half so grand, in my

eyes, as Henry Neff marching at the head of the militia company, Captain

James Conine commanding."

Our city high school graduate of to-day would smile at the meagre

pedagogical opportunities that Mr. Schaff enjoyed a little more than half

a century ago. "The village schoolmaster taught nothing beyond arith-

metic, reading, geography, and elementary grammar; he had never had

the opportunity to fit himself to teach more. But he had walked the up-

ward winding ways and paths of many virtues, -virtues whose paths and

ways are greener than the ways and paths of abstract sciences; he taught

us all to tell the truth, to have patience, to have courage, and to be respect-

ful to our elders. He won many a boy's heart, and he won mine. I

used to write to him when I was at West Point, and more than once,

as I walked my post in the dead hours of night, I remembered him, and

wished that, when the day came for me to graduate, he might be present

and share my pleasure."

Mr. Schaff, with an intense love of nature inborn and deeply fostered

by his early environment and with the sympathy and the poetic feeling that

reminds us of Thoreau, describes the forests, the fields, the trees, the

banks and the runs, the swamps and their borders, the flowers and the

birds and the game of those early days. "There is nothing so everlast-

ingly and sweetly companionable as brooks and country roads. And in

the mind of the farmer's boy who aimlessly wanders along their winding

banks, or barefooted, hatless, and oftentimes coatless, loiters along their

dusty way, what seeds of delicious memories they sow! He never forgets

the shallow fishing-hole with its little poising-dace, nor does he forget the

silent, outstretching old road with its barways leading into quiet pastures,

its roadside bushes and persistent flowers, the vagrant thistle with its

royally tinted and girded bloom where bumble-bees, idler than himself,

bury themselves in dreamy sleep, and where the little yellow-bird feeds

when autumn comes on, mounting thence as he draws too near, and

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throwing back cheerily to him its delicately undulating notes. Yes, brooks,

lanes, and country roads, you carry mankind's sweetest memories."

Mr. Schaff refers to the famous Bloody Run Swamp. "The head

of this swamp, now practically all cleared fields, when I was a boy was

about a half mile east of Kirkersville and reached to the old bed of

Licking Creek, a distance of two and a half miles. It was about a half

mile wide and was a thickly matted growth of willows, young elms, water

beeches and alders. In the middle were several islands covered with big

timber where the last of the wild turkeys roosted. Except in winter,

when it was frozen over, it was difficult, and when the Bloody Run was

high, it was dangerous to penetrate it, so deep and treacherous was the

mud. I have no doubt that it was made originally by beavers damming

Bloody Run, and later widely extended by the accumulation of heavy

drifts in Licking."

This swamp, long since disappeared, was in its day fraught with

historic memories. "Christopher Gist, the first white man, except captives

among the Indians passed by the swamp in 1751. In his diary he says he

camped at the Big Lake, now the Reservoir, and on the 15th of May 'set

out from the Great Swamp'."

Of the prehistoric features of his native village, Mr. Schaff says:

"So far as I know there is but one prehistoric relic in the town, and

that is in the Hampton woods, on the Fairfield line, and marked by a

circle on the map. It is a small circular fort, with walls about three

feet high and about thirty feet in diameter. In my day it was in the

heart of heavy oak timber, just on the divide between the waters flowing

north to the-Licking Valley and those bearing off to the southwest to

find their way into Poplar Creek, and then on to the Scioto. It is easy

to speculate over its location, and the reasons in the minds of its builders

and defenders; but it has occurred to me that perhaps the mound builders

of Circleville, on their way to the old fort at Newark, came up the Scioto

to the mouth of Big Belly, thence up the Walnut to the mouth of Poplar

Creek, which they followed in their canoes to the swamp at its head,

within a few miles of this spot. Somewhere on their line of portage to

Licking a defense of some kind may have been necessary, and maybe that

was the reason for its location; or it may have been thrown up during

a campaign.

Perhaps the most valuable feature of Mr. Schaff's little volume is

his account of the projection and building of the National Road, the

Appian Way of the early Middle West.*

"In the first place, long before a pioneer traversed the woods, the

Indians were coming and going from one hunting-ground to another; and

before them the mound-builders, and before the mound-builders, the

 

*A very complete and admirable account of the building of this

road written by Mr. Archer Butler Hulbert will be found in the 9th

volume of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical publications.

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280        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

buffalo. Starting then with the latter, we have the prairie meadows on

the Darby plains west of and about Columbus, and at Gratiot and along

the Muskingum salt wells or salt licks, where the buffalo and elk would

go in great numbers from their feeding grounds. Would they not natur-

ally follow the South Fork, going east after crossing the divide of Black

Lick? Besides, it is the very shortest line of travel. Again, the early

surveys of the National Road show an ancient mound on the east bank

of the Big Walnut, where it is crossed by the National Road. This

mound was built and the country around it occupied in all probability

about the same time as the celebrated works at Newark. Would not

the people of these communities visit back and forth, and would they

not follow the trails the buffalo had already made through the forest?

Furthermore, the beaver dam on the Heffner, now the Essex farm, to

be mentioned more particularly later, would it not draw the Indians going

from Black Lick and Big Walnut to the hunting-ground around the great

Bloody Run Swamp?. And what was more, Flint Ridge, in the eastern

part of the county, lies almost due east and on the very line of the old

road, where for ages the Indians got the material for their flints; would

it not draw them for many a mile, just as the salt licks on the other side

of it drew the buffalo and elk? Moreover, and above all, for man and

beast it offered the only easy passage between Bloody Run Swamp.

Bloody Run, and the South Fork of Licking. These are all mere guesses,

but I think fairly well based on plausible theories. But however all this

may be, the most of the pioneers of Etna came in over this old 'Hebron'

dirt road, a glorious passageway beneath majestic timber."

"The present generation, save those reared along it, are completely

ignorant of its history, and therefore cannot realize how great a part

this highway played in the nation's early life."

"To fully appreciate its national importance, it must be borne in

mind that in the early days of our country the commerce of the Missis-

sippi and Ohio valleys, obeying the law of commercial gravity, was find-

ing its markets down the Mississippi, and that there was wide and deep

political discontent over the indifference of New England and the middle

coast states to the welfare of the West; and so rapidly were these alienat-

ing forces increasing, that the chances are that, had its construction been

delayed twenty years, the West would have broken from the East, and

organized an independent government with the capital at Louisville, St.

Louis, or New Orleans."

"At once on its completion as far as the Ohio River, a mighty tide

of emigration set in, as though a magic bugle had been heard from the

river's banks, or from the top of the Alleghanies. High and low, and

everywhere among the mountains and down over the misty Blue Ridge

of old Virginia, the people heard of it, and with a better faith than that

of the Crusaders, teams were harnessed, the household property of manor-

houses as well as of many a cabin was packed, a good-by was waved to

the old home, and off they started for the National Road."

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"Built as it was by the government, brushing the mighty trees out

of its path as though they were reeds, carrying its level high over ravines

and marshes and surging creeks, cutting boldly down through hills, march-

ing on mile after mile, it possessed then, as it possesses now, the myster-

ious power of statehood; making every one who traveled it feel that in

no sense was he an intruder, but inspiring him, on the contrary, with a

feeling of self-respect and a lofty national pride. It was called the

National and United States Road, and brought the government as a

concrete reality for the first time to the immigrants, and sons of the

Revolutionary soldiers. It is interesting to imagine the expression on

their faces, as, emerging from some narrow, winding, grass-grown, muddy

country road, this great highway broke on their vision for the first time.

Its royal breadth; its bridges of cut stone spanning the runs and creeks,

their guards carried up three and a half feet, with a wide, heavy coping;

its defiance of every obstacle, and the obvious thoroughness of its con-

struction and disregard of expense, must have made their simple hearts

beat fast. The falling in, too, with people from all quarters of the country

must have had a quickening effect on the natures of these children of

provincialism, born in little, isolated, secluded cabins. It must have been

like a draught of champagne to them when they met the stages, heard

their echoing horns, and caught for the first time that look of superiority

and indifference which personages of average importance are likely to

assume when traveling on stages or in Pullman cars. Surely, as they

trudged on in their surprise and exultation, the National Road must have

seemed to them, not an ordinary highway, but something endowed with

might. But a youthful spirit, the genius of the land, was walking at

their side, and as the stages dashed westward, with kindling hopes and

animated faces they followed on."

"As soon as the road was located, the land all along it was rushed

into the market in lots to suit purchasers. Some bought whole sections,

others a few acres, and with almost magical speed the woods were peo-

pled. The building of the road itself gave employment to many men and

teams, as all the stone for bridges and for macadamizing had to be

hauled from quarries eight or ten miles distant. It must have been a

busy scene, as the road made its way between Kirkersville and Etna.

The axemen went first, cutting a swath eighty feet wide through the

timber; others, as fast as the trees fell, cut them into logs which teams

dragged off to one side. Men then grubbed around the huge stumps

till they could be pried up, when they followed their magnificent trunks,

to rot under the shade of their more fortunate fellows. Then came

ploughs and scrapers, till the grading was done. Hundreds of men found

employment, and under their labor the road almost walked across the

land. Often when we boys could get our mother into a reminiscent mood

(how provoking aged people are who have had thrilling experiences: and

sailors and soldiers, too, who have seen real war and have behaved with

courage, - how provoking they are to children in letting go only in little

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282        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

driblets of what is so interesting in their lives!), when we could induce

the dear old lady to tell about those days, how delightful was her story!

She would tell us how the camp-fires of the workmen lighted up the

night all along the line; about the bustle, the teams coming and going,

and on Sundays the drunken carousals and rioting; and finally the awful

death of so many of them by the scourge of cholera which swept the

entire country. Well, we never wanted to hear much about the funeral

processions that were remembered so distinctly, while our mother never

remembered half enough about the fights to suit us."

"As fast as the road was completed the stream of emigrants-we

called them 'movers'-began, which, for over thirty years, poured along

it. My remembrance begins about 1845 or 1846, and at that time and

till 1852 the stream that had set in in 1830 poured on. I do not believe

that from the last of March till the snow began to fall, the farmer's boy

ever looked off from the fields to the road that his eye did not fall on the

white canvass-covered wagons of the movers."

Here is the stage time-table for the winter arrangement of 1835-6.

"The Mail Pilot Line leaves Columbus for Wheeling daily at 6

A. M., reaching Zanesville at 1 P. M. and Wheeling at 6 A. M. next

morning.

"The Good Intent Line leaves Columbus for Wheeling daily at 6

P. M., through in 20 hours to Wheeling (127 miles), in time for stages

for Baltimore and Philadelphia."

"What would I not give to witness once more the arrival of the

stage at 'Kirk.' Lo! the vanished past is beckoning, and behold, I am

on the broad porch of the Kirkersville tavern, and I hear the rumble of a

stage coming through the covered bridge at the east end of the town.

There the horn blows and it is coming at a round gait. The seats on

top are full, and a young lad, one about my own age, sits up there, on

easy terms with his elders. What a fortunate boy! It is the great south-

western mail. A fresh, glistening team-big roans-emerges from the

wide-open door of the old, low, whitewashed, broad-fronted tavern barn,

and steps grandly forward, ready to replace the incoming team. The

usual crowd of stable boys and idle loungers are standing around; towns-

people and those who have come in to trade gather also, for the arrival

of the stage is the one important event in the life of Kirkersville. Uncle

Davy Neiswonder, a middle-sized man with rubicund, attractive counte-

nance, his hair as white as snow, contrasting well with his rosy cheeks,

appears, hat in hand, to welcome the guests or exchange greetings with

the passengers. The stage rolls up at a swinging trot, the driver, Frank

Jackson, grim and dignified, draws up his leaders; their breasts are white

with foam from champing bits, and from their panting sides perspiration

rises in feathery steam; he throws down the lines, stable boys fly to

unhitch, the bay team moves off proudly, the fresh relay team wheels

into their places, the lines are tossed up to the driver, who gathers them

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Editorialana.                        283

 

and calls out, 'Let them go'; and the superb roan leaders, that have been

prancing, waiting for the word, dash off."

But after all Kirkersville attained to something more than local

fame.

"It was in the summer of 1865, just after the end of the Great

Rebellion, when I was stationed at Watertown arsenal near Boston.

Colonel Kingsbury, our commanding officer, was a classmate of General

Sherman; and when the latter came to Boston, he hurried out to the

arsenal to see his old cadet friend. During the visit our Colonel gave

him a fine dinner, to which all of us young bachelors were invited. While

at the table Sherman, who talked as usual most familiarly and interest-

ingly, said to Major Shunk who sat just opposite me, 'Well, Major, I

knew your father, Governor Shunk of Pennsylvania,' and after some in-

quiries in regard to the Major's family, turned his emitting dark brown

eyes on me and asked in his customary direct manner, 'Well, Captain,

where are you from?' Whereupon all the youngsters lowered their eyes

into their plates with the broadest grins, for only a short time before

Major Shunk, in buying a series of maps, had told the book agent that

he would take them, that he found them sufficiently minute in their deline-

ation as they gave Kirkersville, and they had had the usual fun out of

it. With some embarrassment I answered, 'General, I have the honor to

come from the adjoining county to yours. You are from Fairfield, I am

from  Licking; but I don't suppose you ever heard of my town--it's

Kirkersville.' 'Kirkersville!' exclaimed Sherman with enthusiasm, 'Kirk-

ersville! Why, I've been there many a time. I know it well; it had the

biggest pigeon roost in the world,' and he brought his hand down with

a bang. I wore a smile of triumph as I looked up and down the table."

And here Mr. Schaff proudly calls attention to a little map in his

book in which is presented a circle with a radius of twenty miles of

which Kirkersville is the centre and within the circumference of which

circle there were born or during their lives resided sixteen characters of

more or less national renown. Among them were Generals W. T. Sher-

man, P. H. Sheridan, W. T. Rosecrans, Irwin McDowell, S. R. Curtis,

Charles Griffin, C. R. Woods and B. W. Brice; Justice W. B. Woods of

the United State Supreme Court, Senator Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio,

Samuel S. Cox, member of Congress, Willard Warner, United States

Senator from Alabama, James F. Wilson of Iowa, James B. Howell,

United States senator from Iowa, and Thomas Ewing, the distinguished

orator governor of Ohio.

 

ANCIENT INDIAN GIANTS.

The Baltimore American is responsible for the following interest-

ing article concerning what it designates as prehistoric Indian giants.

Gigantic skeletons of prehistoric Indians, nearly eight feet tall, have

been discovered along the banks of the Choptank River. Maryland, by

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284        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

employes of the Maryland Academy of Science. The remains are at the

Academy's building, in Franklin Street, where they are being articulated

and restored by the Academy expert, John Widgeon, colored. They

will be placed on public exhibition early in the fall.

The collection comprises eight skeletons, of which some are women

and children. They are not all complete, but all the larger bones have

been found, and there is at least one complete specimen of an adult man.

The excavations were in progress for months, and the discovery is con-

sidered one of the most important, from the standpoint of anthropology,

in Maryland in a number of years. The remains are believed to be at

least one thousand years old. The formation of the ground above and

the location of the graves give evidence of this. During the excavations

the remains of camps of later Indians were revealed. These consisted of

oyster shell heaps, charred and burned earth and fragments of cooking

utensils. These discoveries were made fully ten feet above the graves

which contained the gigantic skeletons.

There have been other discoveries in Maryland of remains of men

of tremendous stature. A skeleton was discovered at Ocean City several

years ago which measured a fraction over seven feet, six inches. This

skeleton was interred in a regular burying mound, and beads manufac-

tured by white men were found upon it. This dead Indian was probably

one of the tribe mentioned by Captain John Smith, who, in July, 1608,

made a voyage of exploration of the Chesapeake Bay.

In speaking of Indians in the history which he subsequently wrote,

Captain Smith said of this tribe, called Susquehanocks:  "But to pro-

ceed, sixty of these Susquehanocks came to us with skins, bowes, arrowes,

targets, beads, swords and tobacco pipes for presents. Such great and

well-proportioned men are seldom seen, for they seemed like giants to

the English, yes, and to the neighbors, yet seemed an honest and simple

disposition, and with much adoe were restrained from adoring us as gods.

These are the strangest people of all these countries, both in language

and attire, for their language it may well become their proportions, sound-

ing from them as a voice in a vault.

"Their attire is the skinnes of beares and wolves, some have cos-

sacks made of beare's heads and skinnes that a man's head goes through

the skinnes neck and the eares of the bear fastened to his shoulders, the

nose and teeth hanging down his breast, another beares face split behind

him, and at the end of the nose hung a pawe, the halfe sleeves coming

to the elbows were the necks and beares and the arms through the mouth

with pawes hanging at their noses.

"One had the head of a wolfe hanging in a chaine for a jewel, his

tobacco pipe three-quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a bird,

a deare or some such device, at the great end sufficient to beat out one's

braines; with bowes, arrowes and clubs suitable to their greatness. These

are scarce known to Powhattan. They can make near 600 able men and

are pallisaeded in their towns to defend them from the Massowmeks, their

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mortal enemies. Five of their chief Werowances came aboard us and

crossed the bay in their barge. The picture of the greatest of them is

signified in the mappe.

"The calfe of whose leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and

all of the rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion that he seemed

the goodliest man we ever beheld. His hayre, the one side was long, the

other close shore, with a ridge over his crown like a cockes comb. His

arrows were five quarters long, headed with the splinters of a white

crystal like stone, in forme of a heart an inch broad and an inch and a

half long or more. These he wore in a wooleves skinne at his back for

a quiver, his bowe in the one hand and his clubbe in the other as is

described."

An evidence which seems to bear out the supposition that the skele-

tons found are of the same tribe was that one of the skulls found had

a large heart-shaped arrow imbedded in it.

At the point on the Choptank where the remains were found there

are steep shelving cliffs of sand and gravel that extend to the water's

edge. Beneath this bank is a layer of marl. The graves are in the sand

a few feet above the hard marl, and have deposits of between twenty and

thirty feet of sand and gravel above them. A peculiar feature of the

discovery is the charred state of the bones of the women and children.

This seems to indicate that the ancient Indians cremated the bodies of all

except their warriors. The wet resting place of the bones for so many

centuries has made them very soft and fragile, and it was with the greatest

difficulty that they were removed.

The work was done under the supervision of Widgeon, who has

done most of the collecting for the Academy for a number of years.

Since his work on the Choptank he has been to the West Indies and made

a splendid collection of several thousand specimens of insects, which Prof.

Uhler has at his home and which he is classifying.

 

 

 

HISTORY OF SERPENT MOUND.

Late in the fall of 1905 the Secretary of the Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society at the request of the trustees of the society

prepared a little volume of 125 pages entitled, "THE SERPENT MOUND,

ADAMS COUNTY, OHIO. The mystery of the mound and history of the

serpent. Various theories of the effigy mounds and the mound builders."

This monograph was published by the society in cloth and paper editions

which are sold at prices of 50c and $1.00 for paper and cloth binding

respectively. The author who has made many visits during the past few

years to the mound, has been more and more impressed with its mystery

and significance. Archeologists who have given the matter attention have

pretty generally agreed that it must have been built for purposes of

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worship. It may have been the great religious temple of the mound

builders for the Ohio Valley. The book gives a full account of the

rescue of the mound from destruction, by Prof. F. W. Putnam, the

eminent American archaeologist of Cambridge, Mass. Professor Putnam

succeeded in interesting some worthy and philanthropic ladies of Boston

who purchased the property, restored it and presented it to the Peabody

Museum. The latter institution subsequently transferred it to the trus-

tees of Harvard University who in turn (1900) deeded it to the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society under whose care and control

it now remains. This wonderful and awe-inspiring relic of the mound

builders is the greatest of its kind in magnitude and mystery in the

entire territory in which the mound builders of America seemed to have

found field for their strange monuments. In this volume the author

gives not only a complete and accurate description of the serpent but also

the various theories advanced by the leading archaeological writers and

students upon its origin, age and use. A large portion of the volume is

further devoted to the worship of the serpent, perhaps the primal form

of worship in the most primitive stage of nearly every race. The little

volume has met with a most welcome reception not only by students and

scholars but the general reader who is interested in the curious and inex-

plicable. The author has devoted much careful attention to the literature

on the worship of the serpent and has consulted nearly all of the authori-

ties now accessible upon this fascinating subject. The mound was first

described by Squier and Davis in their monumental volume on the mounds

of the Mississippi Valley and which was published about 1848 under the

auspices of the Smithsonian Institute. The monthly publication known

as RECORDS OF THE PAST, published in Washington, D. C., and edited by

Professor G. Frederick Wright and Mr. Frederick Bennett Wright, in its

April number presents a very complete and complimentary review of the

book, reproducing many of its illustrations. In conclusion the reviewer

says: "Much could he written as to the various theories held by differ-

ent people, but a very good idea has been given by Mr. Randall of the

most commonly accepted theory by the persons who have studied the

subject carefully. Altogether this little book is the most authoritative

treatise upon the Serpent Mound of Ohio which we have seen, and we

can confidently recommend it to the circle of readers of the RECORDS OF

THE PAST."

 

 

THE OHIO CANALS.

Another volume issued by the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society late in the fall of 1905 and which has not yet been noticed

in the pages of the Quarterly is the "HISTORY OF THE OHIO CANALS; their

construction, cost, use and partial abandonement." This volume contain-

ing some 200 pages is the result of the studies of two post-graduate

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Editorialana.                        287

 

students of the Ohio State University, Mr. C. P. McClelland and Mr.

C. C. Huntington, working under the direction of Professor J. E. Hagerty

of the Department of Political Science and Economics, Ohio State Uni-

versity, and by whom the preface is written. In an introductory note

by the Secretary of the Society it is said: "This monograph does not

attempt, of course, to discuss in any way the question of the policy of

the State as to the retention or abandonment of the canals. The pur-

pose has simply been to put forth in concise and accurate manner all

the data necessary for a thorough understanding of the constructive,

financial and economic history of the Ohio canals."

Probably no other single publication presents in so concise and

complete a manner all the information concerning the various features of

the history and construction and use of the canals as does this volume.

It treats exhaustively of the cost to the state, method of raising the

money, manner of building, extent of traffic and travel upon the same;

the industrial and economic effect, both direct and indirect, upon the state.

There are complete tables of the financial features of the canals, rates

of toll and so on for each successive year from 1827 to the present time.

An excellent map of the Ohio canals, proposed, existing and abandoned,

drawn by Mr. A. H. Sawyer of the Canal Commissioner's office accom-

panies the little volume. For many years there has been a great demand

for the varied information which this little volume supplies. It is sold

by the society at the prices of 50 cents and $1.00 for paper and cloth

editions respectively.

 

 

ELECTRIC RAILROAD TO SERPENT MOUND.

We have received a prospectus setting forth the proposed electric

railroad which is to be built from Hillsboro, Highland County, through

Peebles and West Union, Adams County, to Aberdeen, Brown County,

and touching at many intervening towns. This project particularly in-

terests the members and friends of the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society, as the road will pass the entrance of the Serpent Mound

Park, thereby rendering Serpent Mound accessible in a manner which

has never before existed. As it is now it can be reached only by

vehicle travel from Peebles, the nearest railway station some six miles

distant. Inconvenient as its location now is, hundreds visit it each year

but with the proposed methods of approach the number of visitors will

be vastly increased and the interest taken in this wonderful pre-historic

monument will be greatly extended. Those of a highly sentimental and

poetic temperament may be somewhat "shocked" if indeed they do not

lament, that this curious earth structure of a vanished race is to be a

side station of the  electric currents of modern rapid transit. But the

advance of modern conveniences is no respecter of persons, existing or

extinct. It is a far cry from the centuries ago when the Mound Builders

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288        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

erected their temple on the hilltop to the day of the traction car. But

that car like the one of Juggernaut is the irresistible chariot of the

present that ruthlessly rolls over the veneration for the past.

The pamphlet prospectus in question devotes several pages to the

history and description of the mound and properly presents it as one of

the leading features which will make the proposed traction line a valuable

and paying institution. The pamphlet is published at Peebles, Ohio, by

the Hillsboro, Belfast and Peebles Promoters' Company. It can be

secured for the asking by addressing Mr. P. M. Hughes, president of the

Company, Lovett, Ohio, Mr. W. B. Cochran, secretary of the company,

Hillsboro, Ohio, or Mr. S. M. Rucker, one of the directors, Peebles, Ohio.

 

 

 

NYE FAMILY REUNION AT MARIETTA.

We have received through the courtesy of Miss Minna Tupper Nye

of Brooklyn, New York, a handsomely published pamphlet of 100 pages

or more giving the proceedings of the third annual reunion of the Nye

Family of America, held at Marietta, Ohio, August 16, 17 and 18, 1905.

Benjamin Nye of Bedlenden, Kent county, England, was the first to come

to America as early as 1637. His numerous descendants are now in every

state and territory of our country. Among the first pioneers into the Ohio

valley after the Revolution were Ichabod Nye of Tolland, Connecticut, a

soldier of the Revolution, with his family. They settled in Marietta in

1788 where Mr. Nye resided until his death in 1840. From the descend-

ants of this early settler a very cordial invitation was extended to the

Nye Family Association to hold the third annual reunion in Marietta.

The eight branches of the Ichabod family are scattered from the Medi-

terranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean and yet not one of these branches

failed in showing their loyalty and devotion by contributing in some way

to the entertainment. Great interest was sustained throughout all the

meetings. The leading citizens of Marietta joined with the family in

extending hospitality to the visiting guests. Mr. James W. Nye of

Marietta was the local chairman and a most interesting and successful

program was carried out. Mr. James W. Nye welcomed his family

guests with a most pleasing and appropriate address in which he said:

"On the walls at the relic room, hangs a banner bearing the following

inscription, taken from an address delivered here in 1888: 'The paths

from the heights of Abraham led to Independence Hall. Independence

Hall led finally to Yorktown, and Yorktown guided the footsteps of your

fathers to Marietta. This, my countrymen, then, is the lesson which I

read here.' This refers to the little band of stalwart men and brave

women, who in 1788, left their New England homes, and turning their

faces westward, journeyed by the crude means then in use, in search of

new homes, in the then unknown wilds of the territory northwest of the

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Editorialana.                        289

 

Ohio river, this locality being their objective point." In that initial land

of Ohio pilgrims were General Benjamin Tupper, born at Sharon, Massa-

chusetts, in 1738, one of the directors of the Ohio Company, and Colonel

Ichabod Nye, born at Tolland, Connecticut, in 1762. Mr. S. Curtis Smith

of Newton, Massachusetts, responded to the address of welcome. Mr.

George Nye of Chillicothe, Ohio, the oldest living member of the Icha-

bod Nye family, (78) prepared a paper for this occasion entitled, "The

Ohio Company." Miss Martha Sproat of Chillicothe, Ohio, read a paper

written by Miss Theodore D. Dale of Montclair, New Jersey, on Marietta.

Hon. David J. Nye of Elyria, Ohio, delivered a very interesting and in-

structive address on the "Beginnings of Ohio." Mr. William L. Nye of

Sandwich, Massachusetts, read an excellent paper upon "Sandwich" which

was the first settling town in the southeast corner of Massachusetts of

the first Nye immigrant in 1637. Miss Minna Tupper Nye read an ex-

tended sketch of Minerva Tupper Nye, wife of Ichabod Nye, the pioneer

who was her (Minna's) grandmother. Minerva Tupper Nye was born in

Chesterfield, Massachusetts, in 1764, the daughter of General Benjamin

Tupper, a noted soldier of the Revolution. In 1784 she was married in

Chesterfield to Ichabod Nye, a young soldier of the Revolution. When

in 1788 General Tupper brought his family to the New Ohio, with him as

part of his family came Ichabod Nye, his wife, Minerva, and their small

children, Horace, 2 year old, and Panthea, aged six months.. The journey

of this family from Chesterfield, which they left in June, to Marietta,

which they reached on the 6th of July (1788) is described in detail by

Miss Minna Nye from the journals and letters of the participants. The

paper is a unique contribution to early Ohio History.

Mrs. Sarah M. McGirr of Marietta presented a paper concerning her

great-grandfather, Ebenezer Nye, a pioneer of Marietta in 1790. Many

other papers were read and addresses made and the proceedings were

interspersed with musical selections and social gatherings. The third

reunion of the Nye family at Marietta was an event of much historical

importance and we do not know of any monograph that will excel this

pamphlet of the proceedings, in giving a first hand view of the termina-

tion at Marietta of that second Mayflower voyage, the journey of the

galley Adventure which came to port on the eventful day of April 8, 1788.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. 15-19.

• 79
 

STANTON -THE PATRIOT.*       ANDREW    CARNEGIE.   At Gambier, Ohio, April 26, (1906) there occurred an event deserv- ing of more than a passing notice. It was the occasion of the presenta-

tion to Kenyon College, by Col- onel John J. McCook of New York, one of the Ohio Family of the famous "fighting McCooks," of an oil portrait of Edwin M. Stanton, who was a student at Kenyon. The painting was from the brush of the distinguished artist Charles P. Filson, Steuben- ville, Ohio. At the same time formal announcement was made by Mr. Andrew Carnegie of the creation of an endowment by him of the Edwin M. Stanton Chair of Political Economy at Kenyon. Mr. Carnegie was present and delivered the address upon the great war secretary, whom he had known, admired and in his early career served. It was the heartfelt tribute of the "Ameri- can Iron Master," the greatest Captain of Industry of his day to the "Man of Iron Will," the

"right arm" of Lincoln in the time of our nation's greatest peril. It is proper to recall a few items concerning the author of the address. Mr. Carnegie came with his family in 1848 from his Scotch home to Alle- gheny, Pa. He was then ten years of age and began as a bobbin-boy at twenty cents a day. His faithfulness soon promoted him to the engine room, where he had an opportunity to acquire arithmetic and penman- ship and do some clerical work. He was next a telegraph messenger boy at Pittsburgh, with a mother and brother to support from his slender wages. He promptly mastered telegraphy and was given a place as * See Stanton Day, Vol. VI, p 318, Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Publications. (290)

• 80
 

Stanton-   The Patriot.                   291

 

operator and won himself extra earnings and experience in composition

as a newspaper telegraph reporter. Superior fitness brought him to the

post of telegraph train dispatcher to the Pennsylvania Railroad, then

secretary to the general superintendent, Colonel Thomas A. Scott, and

in 1860, when his chief became Vice President, Mr. Carnegie was made

superintendent of the Western Division. Meantime he had invested some

borrowed money and his own saved earnings in the Woodruff sleeping

car system which proved successful and the profits went into oil lands

around Oil City. This proved a sagacious investment. At the outbreak

of the war, Colonel Scott was made Assistant Secretary of War and gave

Mr. Carnegie charge of the eastern military railroads and telegraph lines.

This position brought him in personal contact with Mr. Stanton. In

1862 the Pennsylvania road's experiments in replacing wooden with iron

bridges permitted Mr. Carnegie to forecast the future monopoly of the

iron and steel industries and he organized the Keystone Bridge Works,

which built the first iron bridge across the Ohio River. In 1868 he was

the chief factor in importing the Bessemer steel process to the United

States from  England. The enormous American steel manufacturing

system was the result. In 1899 Mr. Carnegie consolidated all the great

steel companies into one giant structure and in 1901 retired from business

life, transferring his company at the valuation of $500,000,000 into a

combination still vaster, the United States Steel Corporation. Mr. Car-

negie, the second richest man in the United States, decided to devote

his remaining years and the bulk of his fortune to the benefit of humanity.

His benefactions surpass those of anyone in history. He has already

donated in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty millions to the

cause of education and philanthropy, embracing in his gifts a score of

different influences that make for the betterment of mankind.-E. O. R.

 

Stanton, the Patriot, Kenyon's most illustrious son, came

of good kith and kin, born as he was of sturdy Quaker stock.

His grandfather emigrated from Massachusetts to North Caro-

lina before the Revolution in 1774, and he dying there his

widow emigrated in 1800 to the Northwestern Territory because

it was dedicated to freedom. The grandfather wished to man-

umit his slaves before leaving Massachusetts, but this being il-

legal, he left them under the protection of a guardian to see that

they were not misused. The Stantons settled at Mount Pleas-

ant, Ohio. The son David, father of our subject, was an able

physician in Steubenville, a strong abolitionist, laboring even in

that early day to impress his fellows with the wrongfulness

of slavery.

At thirteen, Edwin was fortunately employed in a book-

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292      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

store, so that access to books was assured: probably one of the

most important factors in determining his future career. One

of his schoolmates, John Harper, whom I knew well in Pitts-

burg, tells us of young Stanton's fondness for poetry and his

greed for books.

Stanton is, so far as I know, the youngest library-founder

known to history. His schoolfellow, Squire Gallagher, reports

that before he was thirteen he started a circulating library where

books were regularly exchanged among the boys. The boy was

father to the man, for leadership, somewhat imperious, yet never

combative nor abusive, was clearly his.

While engaged in the book-store he devoted his evenings

under Rev. Mr. Buchanan preparing for admission to Kenyon,

which received him in his seventeenth year (1831). It is mel-

ancholy to read that he was compelled to leave after his junior

year for want of means, but poverty has its advantages in train-

ing men. He returned to his former employer who sent him

to take charge of a bookstore in Columbus, Ohio, where he met

his future wife. Too poor to marry then, the young lovers

waited some years, true to each other. Never was there a more

devoted husband. He owed much to his wife.

The two years spent at college were formative years. When

secession first reared its head and Jackson uttered the immortal

words, "The Union must and shall be preserved," even then

to the young man here at college in his teens, this was the

bugle call.

In 1825, finding the Union endangered, notwithstanding his

father's opposition to Jackson and firm adherence to Clay and

Adams, he sank all other issues and ardently supported Jackson,

much to the regret of many of his best friends. Patriot at

eighteen, patriot always, the needle not truer to the pole than

Stanton to the Union.

He soon qualified for the law, became prosecuting attorney,

and in his twenty-third year had built up a lucrative practice.

He removed to Pittsburg in 1847 and it was there in his early

prime that I, as telegraph messenger boy, had the pleasure of

seeing him frequently, proud to get his nod of recognition, as

I sometimes stopped him on the street or entered his office to

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Stanton - The Patriot.              293

 

deliver a message. A vigorous, energetic and concentrated man,

always intent upon the subject in hand, he had nothing of Lin-

coln's humor and ability to laugh; he was ever deeply serious.

None stood higher than he in his profession, but it is in the

realm of statesmanship that his services became so command-

ing as to give him place among the fathers of the Republic.

He remained a Democrat, yet a Free Soiler, true to the anti-

slavery traditions of his family. His removal to Washington

brought him much business and for some years little time was

paid to politics.

The election of Lincoln drew President Buchanan into ser-

ious negotiations with the Southern leaders with whom, as a

Democrat, he was in sympathy. He soon felt the need of a

strong constitutional lawyer to steer the ship of state aright,

since Attorney-General Black had been appointed Secretary of

State to succeed General Cass. His choice fell upon Stanton,

who abandoned a lucrative legal practice at the call of duty.

Dangers were brewing fast around his beloved country, and he

was needed to defend the Union. On the twentieth of Decem-

ber, 1860, the very day Stanton entered the Cabinet South Car-

olina declared the Union dissolved. The boy patriot of eighteen

who had rallied to Jackson's call was revealed to an anxious

country in his manhood as again the Jacksonian apostle, to teach

South Carolina and all the other states that followed her, and

all the world for all time thereafter, that the Union "must and

shall be preserved."

There are many remarkable things in Stanton's life. I ven-

ture to point out what seems to me a wonderful coincidence.

Lincoln, as a youth, saw a slave auction on the Mississippi, and

there and then resolved that if he ever got a chance he would

"hit the accursed thing hard."  His time came and he was

privileged to emancipate the last slaves in a civilized land. So

Stanton, changing his political party while in his teens at the

call of the Union, in manhood changes the policy of his party and

banishes disunion forever. For this he is destined to live in

American history as one whose services to the Republic in her

darkest hour rank in value with those of the foremost early

fathers: Franklin, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, Jackson and

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294       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Lincoln. No lower place can be assigned him than in that circle.

Washington must ever stand alone-father among these worthy

sons.

There are few more deeply interesting episodes in our his-

tory than that of Judge Black's conversion to Stanton's views.

It will be remembered that as attorney-general, Nov. 20th, 1860,

he gave the President his opinion that he could not constitu-

tionally use military force for any purpose whatever within the

limits of a state where there were no United States judges, mar-

shals, or other civil officers, and there were none in South Caro-

lina, the Federal officials having resigned. This led to pro-

longed negotiations between the agents of the Southern states

and the President and his Cabinet, all tending to a peaceful dis-

solution of the Union.

General Cass, Secretary of State, loyal to the Union, re-

signed because the president refused to reinforce the Southern

forts. Meanwhile Secretary of State Black, and Stanton, who

was then only a private citizen, had been in deep and earnest

consultation, and Black took Cass's place only on condition

that Stanton be made his successor. The reason was soon clear.

Black had changed his views, as he explained seven years after:

he and Stanton had reached perfect accord on all questions,

whether of law or policy. It is readily seen how this concord

was attained. The true Jacksonian, ever holding as the prime

duty the preservation of the Union as an indissoluble union of

indissoluble states, had shown his elder brother that he was wrong

and inspired him with the intense loyalty he himself possessed.

Black says early in December he "notified the President of his

change of view and handed him a memorandum for his private

use." Here is an extract: "The Union is necessarily perpetual.

No state can lawfully withdraw or be expelled from it. The

Federal Constitution is as much a part of the constitution of

every state as if it had been textually inserted therein." This

is Stantonese. Black had seen a great light between November

and December.

It would have been well had he consulted Stanton before

giving his opinion of the previous month, which brought Bu-

chanan to the verge of treason. Fortunately for our country,

• 84
 

Stanton - The Patriot.              295   Black remained at Stanton's side in this crisis and rendered great service. He deserves to have his mistake forgiven and forgotten. It was one which a lifelong. Democrat might be pardoned for making. I knew more than one excellent public-

spirited man in the circle of my friends who could not recon- cile himself to the use of force against his fellows of the South, with whom his personal and political relations had been cor- dial. The "depart in peace" policy had many sympathetic ad- herents among such men.

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296       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Major Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sum-

ter created a contest which raged for three days in the Cabinet.

Was the demand of South Carolina, that he be ordered back

to Moultrie, to be granted or denied? Secretary of War Floyd

claimed that the President had committed himeslf by a promise

that the status quo should not be disturbed, which Anderson's

movement certainly did. He prepared a letter to which Black,

Stanton, and Holt objected. On the following Sunday, Black

informed the President that if the letter was delivered he

would resign. Stanton had never wavered in his position. The

moment the demand that Fort Sumter be evacuated was made,

he told the Cabinet that "its surrender by the Government would

be a crime equal to that of Arnold, and that all who partici-

pated in the act should be hung like Andre." Judge Holt, a

member of. the Cabinet, speaking from his own knowledge, tells

us that Stanton also declared in the face of the President that

a president who signed such an order would be guilty of treason.

The President raised his hand deprecatingly, saying: "Not so

bad as that, my friend, not so bad as that."

Judge Holt's tribute to Stanton reveals what the Republic

owes to its defenders. He says, "His loyalty to the Union cause

was a passion. He could not open his lips on the subject with-

out giving utterance to the strongest expressions. He never

changed from first to last in his devotion to his country nor

in the resolute manner in which he asserted and upheld his

convictions." The decision of the Cabinet, upon which the sov-

ereignty of the Republic over all its ports depended, hung for

several days in the balance. The President finally sided with

the loyalists. Stanton first reclaimed Judge Black, the Sec-

retary of State, before entering the Cabinet, and after he did

enter, the two men, with Judge Holt, Secretary of War, prevailed

upon the President to change his policy. History records in un-

mistakable terms that the chief antagonist of the policy of sub-

mission to the disunionists, and inspirer in the Cabinet of loyalty

to the Union as against secession, was the patriot, Stanton.

His policy having been agreed to, instead of resting content

he began to urge the president to prepare for the worst, hold-

ing that "preparation could do no possible harm in any event,

• 86
 

Stanton - The Patriot.           297

 

and, in the event of that which seems to be most likely, it is the

country's only chance of salvation."

There was soon thrust upon him the duty of conferring

with the leaders of the Republican party and preparing for a

peaceful inauguration of the newly elected President, Lincoln.

This he no more hesitated to perform than other patriotic duties

required for the preservation of his country.

Interviews took place with Seward, Sumner, and other lead-

ers. There was knowledge of treasonable designs against Lin-

coln's inauguration and of an attempt to induce Maryland to

secede and claim the reversion of the District of Columbia. So

pressing was the danger that the President was persuaded to

order troops to Washington.

The effect of the arrival of United States soldiers under

the national flag was startling. Here was notice at last, after

months of doubt and hesitation, that the Republic was not to

be destroyed without a struggle. All hope of peaceful settle-

ment vanished. Even Mr. Stanton never rendered his country

a greater service than that performed in January, 1861. He

was denounced as no better than an abolitionist by Southern

Democrats who favored the right of secession, and also by

those who did not go so far, but who refused to sustain the

Government under Republican control. To both he was equally

odious, because he stood for maintaining the Government under

all circumstances. He entered the Buchanan Cabinet as a Dem-

ocrat in 1860 and left it a Democrat, but a Democrat who sub-

ordinated every issue to the maintenance of law and the pre-

servation of the Union. Upon this platform he advocated obe-

dience to the Fugitive Slave Law and recognition of slavery,

intensely opposed as he personally was to that system. Here

he stood with Lincoln and the large party who preferred to

keep the constitutional compact with the South rather than

compel the abolition of slavery at the risk of civil war.

Seven states seceded and Jefferson Davis was elected presi-

dent of the Confederate states one month previous to Lincoln's

accession. Like his predecessor, Lincoln's one desire was peace,

and many plans for satisfying the South received his earnest

consideration. Soon did he realize that the men who had elected

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298       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

him were of different temper, some preferring disunion to the

continuance of slavery, some for the Union with or without

slavery, as Lincoln himself was. A large portion of the Northern

people, not Republicans, were disposed to blame the Anti-

Slavery people for their attack upon property recognized by the

Constitution. Well did Lincoln know that the opposition in

the North to the use of force against the South under existing

conditions would be serious and powerful; hence his earnest

efforts to avert hostilities. He went so far as to favor the evac-

uation of Fort Sumter, and steps were taken to prepare the pub-

lic for the great sacrifice. The Cabinet approved this by five

to two. The rumor of this action, started to test public opinion,

aroused the North. It was overwhelmingly condemned and in

such terms as made the President and Cabinet pause. Lincoln

never gave the order.

As was to be expected, Stanton, now a private citizen, was

inflexibly opposed to the evacuation of Sumter. His letters at

this time express grave doubts of the capacity of the President

and his Cabinet to preserve the Union, but still he believed that

the Union was stronger than all its foes.

While the Union was thus imperiled and men in all the

various divisions into which public opinion had drifted knew

not what a day was to bring forth nor what the end was to be,

an event occurred which instantly crystallized the divided North

into one solid body. Never can I forget the April morning

when there flashed through the land, "Fort Sumter fired upon

by the rebels."

I was then superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad at

Pittsburg and went to my office every morning on a train

crowded with passengers. That morning the cars resembled a

disturbed bee-hive. Men could not sit still nor control them-

selves. One of the leading Democrats who had the previous

evening assured me that the people would never approve the use

of force against their Southern brethren, nor would he, came

forward, greatly excited, and I am sorry to say some of his

words were unquotable. "What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Didn't I tell you last night what the Secessionists intended?"

"But they have fired on the flag-fired on our flag." In less

• 88
 

Stanton - The Patriot.             299   than a week I saw my friend one morning drilling to be ready as captain of a company to revenge that unpardonable crime. So with others of like views the night before. Stanton was right: the Union was stronger than all its foes. Ex-President Buchanan wrote General Dix: "The present administration had no alternative but to ac- cept the war initiated by South Carolina or the Southern Con- federacy. The North will sustain the administration almost to a man; and it ought to be sustained at all hazards."

May 6th, to Stanton, he wrote: "The first gun fired by Beauregard aroused the indig- nant spirit of the North as nothing else could have done, and made us a unanimous peo- ple. I had repeatedly warned them that this would be the re- sult." Buchanan proved to be a loyal man. Strong as the Un- ion then proved to be, it is in- finitely stronger to-day, not only in the North, but north, south, east and west, wherever Old Glory floats. The forces in our country to-day are all centripetal. Seventy-five thousand vol- unteers were immediately

called for by the President to fight for the Union. After the repulse at Bull Run, a great army was concentrated around Wash- ington under General McClellan, of whom Stanton expected great things, but as month after month passed and no forward move- ment was made, the nation became impatient and clamored for action. None came. I can speak from personal experience of the condition of affairs in and around Washington immediately after Lincoln's

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300       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

call for volunteers, having escorted General Butler and his reg-

iments from Annapolis to Washington after we had repaired

the railroad torn up by the Confederates. I saw General Scott,

then in command, assisted morning and evening into and out

of his brougham and led by two orderlies across the pavement

to and from his office. Upon the old, infirm man, unable to

walk, was thrown the task of organizing and directing the

Army. The heads of other departments under him were mostly

superannuated. There was little or none of any of the requisites

for war. Reorganization of every branch was essential. Gen-

eral Cameron, Secretary of War, labored hard and did well

under the circumstances, and deserved commendation, but he

could not work miracles. Time was needed.

On the 13th of January, 1862, without consultation with Mr.

Stanton, Lincoln nominated him as Secretary of War, and a few

days later he was again a member of the Cabinet. Neither party

nor personal considerations dictated his appointment. The Pres-

ident and Cabinet, disappointed and weary with the paralysis

which had stricken the great army, and alarmed at the intense

clamor of an incensed people, had to take action to prevent dis-

aster. Earnestly searching for the best man to meet the emer-

gency and to bring order out of chaos, there could be but one

selection, the man who had restored President Buchanan to the

Union cause, had convinced Secretary of State Judge Black that

he was wrong in his views of constitutional law, had proclaimed

failure to reinforce Fort Sumter treasonable, and told the Pres-

ident that if he surrendered the fort he would be a traitor and

deserved to be hanged- that was the man the situation required.

The effect of Stanton's appointment upon the country was mag-

ical as the people became conversant with the record of the

new Secretary in Buchanan's Cabinet.

Much was said of Stanton's rude treatment of those having

business with him, but, to judge whether his impetuosity was

excusable, one has to know those who complained and what they

demanded. He was overwhelmed with important affairs and

had neither time nor disposition to waste time upon those who

had personal ends to advance. I witnessed his reception of the

committee from New York City who, fearing consequences, vis-

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Stanton - The Patriot.             301

 

ited Washington to urge a postponement of the draft. That

was delightfully short. No time lost. If there was to be re-

bellion in New York the sooner the Government met and crushed

it the better. "No postponement," was Stanton's reply. We

do not find Lincoln and members of the Cabinet or able mem-

bers of the House or Senate or high military officers complain-

ing of his manner. He had time and patience for them night

or day.

His inherent kindness may be judged by his first act. It

was to send a commission to Richmond to look after prisoners

at the expense of the government. Ten days later came his order

that prisoners of war should receive their usual pay.

Lincoln was reported as saying to a friend who congrat-

ulated him upon Stanton's appointment -"Yes, the army will

move now, even if it move to the devil." Move it did, but not

for some time. Month after month all was quiet on the Potomac.

Even Washington was threatened and Pennsylvania invaded.

The issue seemed to tremble in the balance. The nation was

heart sick, but great news came at last to encourage it. A

brigadier-general named Grant, upon his own initiative and

much to the surprise of his commanding general, had captured

Fort Henry and later Fort Donelson, with fifteen thousand pris-

oners, compelling the evacuation of Nashville. "I propose to

move immediately upon your works" was the secret of victory.

Here was "an auger that could bore," which Lincoln had de-

termined to find.

In estimating Stanton as War Minister, many have been

justly lavish in their praise of his unflagging energy, tenacity,

and unconquerable will in the performance of the ordinary duties

of a war minister, characteristic of an exceedingly able man,

but a just estimate of him can only be made when the work he

did, lying beyond the range of the immediate duties of a war

minister, is known.

In the field of constitution law, for instance, we see that

Stanton converted both President and Secretary of State, and

he was described as "Lincoln's right-hand man" in addition to

being War Minister. There were emergencies when not only

ability, but genius, was shown. Let us recall three of these:

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302       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The Western rivers were patrolled by Confederate steam-

boats, improvised ships of war. The Navy Department had no

plans for destroying these and opening the rivers to the Na-

tional forces. Stanton knew Charles Ellet, builder of the

Wheeling, Fairmount, and other bridges, an engineer of great

ability, who had suggested rams for naval warfare. He wrote

him, March, 1862--

"If this Department had several swift, strong boats on the

Western rivers, commanded by energetic fighting men, I could

clear the rebels out of those waters and recover the Missis-

sippi to the use of commerce and our armies. The Navy seems

to be helpless and I am compelled to execute a plan of my own

to avert the increasing dangers there. Can you not secretly fit

out a fleet of swift boats at several points on the Ohio and

descend on the rebels unexpectedly and destroy them? Please

call at my office at once."

Ellet was called to Washington for conference on March

26th, and although Russia and our own Navy Department had

long before rejected Ellet's idea of rams, Stanton adopted them,

and sent Ellet to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and New Albany to con-

vert ordinary river steamboats into powerful rams. This was

promptly done and the rams approached Memphis June ₅th, de-

stroyed the enemy and captured the city next day. Ellet was

the only National officer lost. Wounded on deck, Nelson-like,

in the hour of his greatest triumph, he can never be forgotten.

Only ten weeks elapsed between the resolve to improvise rams,

and victory.

The second instance: The Confederates early took posses-

sion of Norfolk and the Navy Yard. Secretary Stanton asked

the Navy Department if the fleet could not attack Norfolk, but

was met with the suggestion that the army should assault it by

land. The Merrimac appeared and sunk the frigates Congress

and Cumberland and alarmed the seaboard cities. That night

Stanton called a committee together in New York by telegraph

to devise plans for sinking the terror. He provisioned Fortress

Monroe for six months and advised the navy department he

could not embark the army to attack Norfolk until the navy bot-

tled up or sank the Merrimac. On the following day he wired

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Stanton - The Patriot.              303

 

Mr. Vanderbilt to name a price for sinking her. The Com-

modore promptly offered for the purpose the swift and powerful

steamship Vanderbilt as a gift to the government. She was

accepted and immediately sent to Fortress Monroe to lie in

wait. These arrangements made, Stanton induced the president

to accompany him to Fortress Monroe, that he might have the

commander-in-chief at his side to issue such orders as he might

think necessary both to army and navy. There was to be no

failure of co-operation. The attack was a splendid success. The

Merrimac retreated and destroyed herself. The Navy yard, Nor-

folk and Portsmouth were captured and the James River block-

aded, all according to Stanton's plans and under his immediate

direction.

The third instance: There came one serious disaster in the

West-Rosecrans' defeat at Chickamauga, imperiling Chatta-

nooga, the key to the region from which Rosecrans thought he

might have to retreat. Stanton, as usual, had the solution - re-

inforce him from the Army of the Potomac. Upon receipt of

Rosecrans' dispatch he sent for Lincoln, who was sleeping at the

Soldiers' Home.   Startled by the summons, the President

mounted his horse and rode to Washington in the moonlight

to preside over the Cabinet. Hallock opposed the idea, saying

it would take forty days to make the transfer, but Stanton had

already consulted the railroad and telegraph authorities, Eckert

and McCallum, and had them present to assure the Cabinet that

seven days would suffice. Stanton was given his way.

My superior officer and life-long friend, Colonel Thomas A.

Scott, upon whom Stanton greatly relied; was called upon. Scott

traveled the route. Stanton never left his office for three days

and nights during the movement. September 26th the troops

started and twenty-three thousand troops were with Rosecrans in

less than seven days. To Colonel Scott, then at Louisville, Stan-

ton telegraphed, "Your work is most brilliant. A thousand

thanks. It is a great achievement." So my superior in govern-

ment service at Washington and kindest friend of early days,

Thomas A. Scott, lives in history as one who "did the state

some service."

This was not all. Rosecrans' advices were still most dis-

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304      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

couraging and indicated retreat. Stanton determined to visit

the field and judge for himself. He wired General Grant to

meet him and then immediately gave him full command of the

Division of the Mississippi, not a moment too soon, for it was

necessary to wire Rosecrans that he was displaced by General

Thomas, the latter receiving orders to hold his position at all

hazards. The result was the defeat of the Confederates and the

capture of Chattanooga. Stanton returned to Washington, but

not until he had seen Rosecrans displaced and Thomas in com-

mand of the Army of the Cumberland, with Grant over all in

the West.

The work of no mere secretary of war achieved these three

triumphs. Stanton appears as a combination of secretary of war,

admiral of the fleet, and commanding general, the president of

the United States a zealous co-operator. We note in these

emergencies intuitive apprehension of the vital points: fertility

of resource, adaptation of means to ends, and, over all, sublime

confidence in himself and certainty of success- all qualities that

pertain to genius. It may be doubted if ever a man displayed

genius of a higher order in affairs of similar character. Cer-

tainly no secretary of war ever approached him.

It was not long before Grant was called to Washington by

Secretary Stanton and placed at the head of the army. He

dined with me at Pittsburg when he passed westward, and told

me he was to become lieutenant-general with headquarters at

Washington. General Thomas being then the popular idol I

said to him, "I suppose you will place Thomas in command of

the West." "No," he said, "Sherman (who had been little heard

of) is the man for chief command. Thomas would be the first

man to say so." Sherman did, indeed, prove that Grant knew

his man.

Great events soon followed, culminating in the surrender of

the Confederates and the assassination of Lincoln in the hour

of victory; Stanton and Seward, like Lincoln, being also marked

for death on the conspirators' list.

Stanton's report of December, 1865, opens as follows:

"The military appropriations by the last Congress amounted

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Stanton - The Patriot.              305

 

to the sum of $516,240,131.70. The military estimates for the

next fiscal year, after careful revision, amount to $33,814,461.83."

The army was reduced to fifty thousand men. The million

of soldiers who had left peaceful pursuits to defend their country

returned to their homes and their former pursuits without the

slightest disturbance. "The future historian is to record," says

Dana, "that this unprecedented transformation in which so many

anxious patriots, soldiers, and statesmen alike, labored together,

was pre-eminently achieved by the heroic genius of Edwin M.

Stanton." So far all was peaceful and satisfactory in the North,

but how the Southern states, recently in rebellion, were to be

reconstructed, became the problem. Two days before his death

Lincoln had said, "We all agree that the seceded states are out

of their proper practical relation to the Union and that the

sole subject of the government, civil and military, is again to

get them into that proper practical relation."

The Southern people held that the old state legislatures re-

turned with peace.

Stanton's connection with the subject began before Lincoln's

death. April 1₄th, at a Cabinet meeting he submitted, at Mr.

Lincoln's request, a mode which he had prepared whereby the

states "should be organized without any necessity whatever for

the intervention of rebel organizations or rebel aid." Lincoln's

last telegram, April 11th, following Stanton's policy, was to

General Weitzel, in command at Richmond, ordering that "those

who had acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of the

rebellion be not allowed to assemble, even in their individual

capacity." President Johnson followed this policy for some time

and all went well, but on the 1₄th of August in a telegram to

the governor of Mississippi he changed his position. When

Congress met it appointed a committee to consider whether any

of the seceding states were entitled to be represented in either

house and provided that, until its report should be acted upon

by Congress, no member should be received from such states.

The fear of the Unionists was that, should the entire South

send disloyal representatives, these, with a few Democratic

sympathizers from the North, might control Congress and pass

such measures as would nullify the Emancipation Proclamation.

Vol. XV-20

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306       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The poisonous root of secession, slavery, not yet quite eradicated,

was ready to germinate again. The President, a Southern man,

brought face to face with the question of granting all the rights

of citizenship to the negro, recoiled, and favored leaving this

question to the states. Stanton stood firmly for the right of

House and Senate to judge of the election returns and qualifica-

tions of their own members. All election for Congress inter-

vened. President Johnson made inflammatory speeches in the

campaign, calling Congress "a body which assumes to be the

Congress of the United States, when it is a congress of only

a part of the United States," the people responded by sending

increased loyal majorities to both houses. The prominent part

played by Stanton singled him out as the object of attack by

the President and those of the Cabinet who sided with him. To

protect him from dismissal, Congress passed the Tenure of

Office bill, which also protected General Grant. Neither could

be dismissed without the previous consent of the Senate. On the

19th of July Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, favored by

Stanton, over the President's veto. Grant and Stanton, in cor-

dial alliance, put it into force and saved the fruits of victory so

seriously imperiled. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Consti-

tution was finally made effective.

Soon after the adjournment of Congress, the President de-

termined to displace Stanton and consulted Grant upon the sub-

ject. Grant expressed strong disapproval and, after pointing

out that the approval of the Senate was necessary, ended with

these words:

"In conclusion, allow me to say, as a friend, desiring peace

and quiet, the welfare of the whole country, North and South,

that it is, in my opinion, more than the loyal people of this

country (I mean those who supported the government during

the great rebellion) will quietly submit to, to see the very man

of all others in whom they have expressed confidence removed."

The President then requested Stanton's resignation, which he

declined to give before the next meeting of Congress.

In this he had the cordial support of the loyal people. At a

later date, the president suspended him and appointed General

• 96
 

Stanton -The Patriot.               307

 

Grant secretary of war ad interim. In acknowledging to Stan-

ton his acceptance, the general wrote;

"In notifying you of my acceptance, I cannot let the op-

portunity pass without expressing to you my appreciation of the

zeal, patriotism, firmness, and ability with which you have ever

discharged the duties of secretary of war."

Stanton knew that Grant had withstood the president reso-

lutely, was true to the Union, and could be trusted, and hence

had less difficulty in submitting under protest.

Upon the meeting of Congress, Stanton was promptly re-

instated. General Grant immediately notified the President he

was no longer secretary of war, since the Senate had reinstated

Stanton. This incensed the President, who had expected Grant

to remain and dispute the Senate's action. That Stanton was

surprised that Grant ever accepted the appointment is clear, but

Grant's letter to the President, February 3rd, explains all:

"From our conversations and my written protest of August

1, 1867, against the removal of Mr. Stanton, you must have

known that my greatest objection to his removal or suspension

was the fear that someone would be appointed in his stead who

would, by opposition to the laws relating to the restoration of

the Southern states to their proper relations to the government,

embarrass the army in the performance of duties especially im-

posed upon it by these laws; and it was to prevent such an ap-

pointment that I accepted the office of secretary of war ad

interim, and not for the purpose of enabling you to get rid of

Mr. Stanton by my withholding it from him in opposition to

law, or, not doing so myself, surrendering it to someone who

would, as the statements and assumptions in your communications

plainly indicate was sought."

 

 

"And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier and

integrity as a man have been so violently assailed, pardon me for

saying that I can but regard this whole matter, from the be-

ginning to the end, as an attempt to involve me in the resis-

tance of law, for which you hesitated to assume the responsi-

bility in orders, and thus to destroy my  character before the

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308      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

country. I am in a measure confirmed in this conclusion by your

recent orders directing me to disobey orders from the secretary

of war- my superior and your subordinate - without having

countermanded his authority to issue the orders I am to disobey."

Thus Grant stood immovable, true to the loyal forces as

against the president. The latter now attempted to get General

Sherman to accept, but he resolutely declined. As a last

resort General Thomas was appointed. This led to the im-

peachment of President Johnson by the House and his trial by

the Senate. Upon the failure of the proceedings, through the

lack of one vote only, although two-thirds majority was re-

quired, Secretary Stanton resigned and retired to private life,

to be soon afterwards appointed justice of the supreme court by

President Grant. Resolutions of thanks were passed by both

houses and many were the tributes offered to this remarkable

man who had given six years of his life and undermined his

health in his country's service. Before entering the cabinet, he

had amassed considerable means by his profession, but this was

exhausted. Beyond his modest residence in Washington, he left

nothing. Dispensing hundreds of millions yearly, he lived with-

out ostentation, and he died poor.

Offers of gifts and private subscriptions by those who knew

his wants were uniformly rejected. On the morning of the 2₄th

of December, 1869, he breathed his last.

He had been foremost in urging the abolition of slavery, the

root of secession, and Lincoln's righthand man in preserving

our blessed Union, which secures for this continent an indis-

soluble government so overwhelmingly powerful as to be im-

mune from attack and able to enforce internal peace, in con-

trast to Europe with its huge armies, organized not against

foreign foes but for protection against each other.

Well may we imagine the patriot murmuring as his spirit

fled, "I thank thee, God, that thou hast permitted thy servant

to see slavery abolished and the Union preserved; let him now

depart in peace."

The tributes paid to his memory were many, and his tran-

scendent services were fully extolled, but of all that has been

said or written about him, nothing gives posterity such clear,

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Stanton - The Patriot.              309

 

full, and truthful evidence of the man's seemingly superhuman

power of infusing into a whole people the vibrations of his own

impassioned soul, as is supplied by an editorial written by one

by no means predisposed in his favor, Horace Greeley. The

following editorial appeared in the Tribune, February 18th:

"While every honest heart rises in gratitude to God for

the victories which afford so glorious a guaranty of the national

salvation, let it not be forgotten that it is to Edwin M. Stanton,

more than to any other individual, that these auspicious events

are now due. Our generals in the field have done their duty

with energy and courage; our officers, and with them the noble

democracy of the ranks, have proved themselves worthy sons

of the Republic: but it is by the impassioned soul, the sleepless

will, and the great practical talents of the secretary of war, that

the vast power of the United States has now been hurled upon

their treacherous and perjured enemies to crush them to pow-

der. Let no man imagine that we exalt this great statesman

above his deserts, or that we would detract an iota from that

share of glory which in this momentous crisis belongs to every

faithful participator in the events of the war. But we cannot

overlook the fact that, whereas the other day all was doubt, dis-

trust, and uncertainty; the nation despairing almost of its res-

toration to life; Congress the scene of bitter imputations and

unsatisfactory apologies; the army sluggish, discontented, and

decaying, and the abyss of ruin and disgrace yawning to swallow

us: now all is inspiration, movement, victory, and confidence.

We seem to have passed into another state of existence, to live

with distinct purposes, and to feel the certainty of their realiza-

tion. In one word, the nation is saved; and while with un-

grudging hands we heap garlands upon all defenders, let a special

tribute of affectionate admiration be paid to the minister who

organized the victory which they have won."

Nothing is exaggerated here, unduly laudatory as it may

seem. Many like myself can vouch from personal knowledge

for all that is said, having known the man and his work and the

conditions. Stanton deprecated its publication in 1862, and in a

letter to the Tribune disclaimed the credit given him, but stand-

ing here to-day when justice can be done to the real hero without

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310       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

arousing jealousy in others, I solemnly pronounce every word

of Horace Greeley's tribute richly deserved. Our pantheon is

reserved for the fathers of the Republic. To these has recently

been added Lincoln, who has taken his place among the gods.

Two other names from our generation are yet to enter, their

services swelling as events recede: Stanton and Grant.

Thus passed away Kenyon's most illustrious alumnus, but in

the higher sense he is still with us, and distant is the day when

the graduates of Kenyon shall find that his spirit no longer rules

them from his urn. Such an example as he left is one of the

most precious legacies that can be bequeathed to posterity, a

career spent, not in pursuit of miserable aims, which end with

self, but in high service for others. In these days of materialism,

where so many are devoted to the pursuit of wealth as an end,

some pursuing it by underhand and dishonorable means, and in

political life, where personal advancement is so often the aim,

the value of a Stanton, in total abnegation of self, placing before

him as his aim in life, service to his country, regardless of popu-

larity, fame or wealth, cannot be overestimated.

It is for the students of Kenyon and for all men, year after

year, generation after generation, century after century, to emu-

late his virtues, follow his example, and revere his memory.

• 100
 

SALMON P. CHASE.     JOSEPH B. FORAKER. [This article is the substance of an address by Senator Joseph B. Foraker on the life, character and public services of Salmon P. Chase, delivered before the Circuit Court of the United States at Springfield, Ill., on October 7, 1905.] The career of Chief Justice Chase was too eventful and too intimately connected with the great duties of a great period

in our country's history to be justly portrayed in a brief address such as is called for on an occasion of this character. Mere glimpses are all that can be taken of even the most important features of his life, while many minor events might be dwelt upon with both interest and propriety. Fortunately in that respect, what we are most concerned about here to-day is not his childhood, or his private life, domestic or profes- sional, but his public life, and par- ticularly that part of it which led up

to and included the Chief Justiceship. He came of good stock, and had the good fortune to be born poor, and to be blessed with a powerful physique, an attractive personality, a dignified presence, a strong intellectual endowment, and such a predisposition to seriousness as to make frivolities of all kinds impossible. He was also fortunate in being identified with both New England and the West, for thus he acquired the culture and refinement of the one section, and the vigorous and independent thought and progressive activity of the other. (311)

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312      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

He spent several years of his boyhood in the family of his

uncle, Bishop Chase, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who

was stationed during this period at Worthington and Cincin-

nati, Ohio. After this he became a student at Dartmouth Col-

lege, where he was graduated in the classical course with that

mental power of analysis and logical thought and expression

which nothing can develop quite so well as a thorough study of

the Latin and Greek languages.

He next spent three years in Washington, during which

period he read law under William Wirt, then Attorney General

of the United States.

The relation of student and preceptor seems, however, to

have been little more than nominal, since it was related by Mr.

Chase that Mr. Wirt never asked him but one question about his

studies. He also states that when he came to be examined for

admission to the bar he found himself so illy prepared that he

passed with difficulty, and chiefly, as he always thought, because

he informed Mr. Justice Cranch, who admitted him, that he

intended to locate in the West.

During his stay in Washington he had many advantages that

compensated in some degree for this lack of preparation for the

practice of his profession.

He was on terms of social intimacy with Mr. Wirt's family,

whose position was such that he was not only brought in con-

tact with all the prominent men then in control of public affairs,

but also with all the great questions with which they were at the

time concerned.

Being of a studious and serious turn of mind, with such

experiences, and amid such surroundings, he naturally drifted

into the study of the political problems of the day, so that when

in 1830, at the age of 22 years,* he opened a law office in Cin-

cinnati, he was already almost as much occupied with affairs of

State as about legal principles.

He chose Cincinnati for his future home because at that

time it was the largest and most flourishing city of the West, and

on that account gave the most promise of opportunity to a young

lawyer ambitious to achieve success and distinction.

* Mr. Chase was born at Cornish, N. H., January 13, 1808.

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Salmon P. Chase.                  313

 

He did not foresee that the slavery question was soon to

become acute, and that he was to entertain views and take a

position with respect to that institution of such ultra character

that a less hospitable community for him could scarcely have

been found in any Northern State than that border city, situ-

ated on the line that divided the free from the slave States, was

to become.

If he had foreseen all this it probably would not have

changed his course, for he was so constituted by nature that he

might have felt that duty required him to station himself at that

outpost as a sort of advance guard of the anti-slavery movement.

For several years he labored industriously to gain a foothold

in his profession without making any more than ordinary

progress.

His biographers record that during this period he had time

for social functions, magazine articles, some newspaper work,

and, most important of all, for a revision and editing of the

statutes of Ohio which he published with a very able introduc-

tion in the nature of an historical sketch of the State and its

developments. Still, however, he forged ahead, not rapidly, nor

brilliantly, but surely, constantly and substantially.

His clients gradually increased in numbers and the work

they brought him improved in quality until he had a very fair

business, almost altogether of a commercial character, but his

practice was still modest, involving neither large amounts nor

complicated questions, and his position at the bar, although

respectable, was yet comparatively humble and uninfluential,

when, suddenly, unexpectedly and unintentionally, he was

drawn into the controversy about Slavery and was started on a

public career in the course of which he quickly became a political

leader and achieved much fame as a lawyer.

 

ANTI-SLAVERY LEADER.

The mobbing in 1836 of the Philanthropist, an Anti-Slavery

newspaper, published in Cincinnati by James G. Birney,* aroused

him, as it did thousands of others, to the intolerance of the slave

* Mr. Birney was nominated for the Presidency in 1840, at Albany,

by a convention of anti-slavery men. It was the Liberty party.

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314       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

spirit and the necessity of resisting its encroachments by pro-

tecting Free Speech and a Free Press if the rights of the white

man, as well as the rights of the free colored man, were to be

preserved. He at once took a pronounced stand as an anti-slavery

man, although he was always careful, then, and afterwards, until

the Civil War, to declare and explain that he was not an abo-

litionist, and that he had no desire to change the Constitution or

interfere with slavery in any way in the States where it was

already established.

Although most of the time "out of line" he claimed to be a

Whig until 1841,* but professed to believe in the States Right,

Strict Construction doctrine of the Jefferson School of Democra-

cy, and thus reconciled his attitude with respect to slavery in the

States and his opposition to its extension beyond the States by the

contention that the States in their sovereign capacity had a right

to authorize and protect the institution, although a great evil,

if they saw fit to do so; and that the States had this power

because it belonged to sovereignty and had not been delegated by

the Constitution to the Federal Government; and that because

such power was not delegated to the General Government, it had

no power to authorize, protect, or even continue the institution in

any district, territory or jurisdiction over which it directly gov-

erned.

But his politics and his law were severely criticised for they

made it impossible for him to fully satisfy any party or faction

of that time.

He did not go far enough for the Abolitionists, and went too

far for both the Whigs and Democrats. One repudiated him

because he was pro-slavery as to slavery in the States, and the

other because he not only opposed the extension of slavery into

the Territories but advocated its abolition in the District of Co-

lumbia, for which he is credited with drafting one of the earliest

petitions presented to Congress. It naturally followed that he

soon had trouble to know to what political party he belonged;

a trouble that continued to plague him all his life and apparently

led him to try in turn to belong to all of them, but without finding

 

* Mr. Chase was the leading member of an Ohio State Convention

of the Liberty Party which met at Columbus, December 29, 1841.

• 104
 

Salmon P. Chase.                  315

satisfaction in any, not excepting those practically of his own

creation.

Thus we find him calling himself a Henry Clay National

Republican in 1832, a Harrison Whig in 1836, an out and out

Whig in 1840, a Liberty man in 1844, a Free Soiler in 1848, a

Democrat in 1851, so enrolling himself in the Senate, a Liberty

man again in 1852, a Republican in 1856, and afterward until it

was foreseen that he had no chance against Grant to be nomi-

nated by the Republican Party for the Presidency in 1868, then

suddenly becoming a Democrat again, seeking the nomination by

that party, and in that connection claiming that aside from slavery

questions, so far as basic principles were concerned, he had been

a Democrat all his life.

On top of all this we find him writing to a friend shortly

prior to the meeting of the Liberal Convention that nominated

Horace Greeley at Cincinnati in 1872, that if it should be thought

that his nomination would promote the interests of the country

he would not refuse the use of his name, thus showing a willing-

ness to change parties once more on the condition expressed.

It is probably safe to say that he had membership in more

political parties, with less enjoyment in any of them and with

less mutual obligation arising therefrom than any other public

man America has produced.

At any rate it was with this kind of zig-zag party affiliations

he laid the foundations and built on them the claims on which

he was elected to the Senate in January, 1849, by a fusion of the

Democrats, Anti-Slavery Democrats, Democratic Free Soilers

and Independent Free Soilers, and felt that he had a right to com-

plain, as he did, because the Whigs, Anti-Slavery Whigs, and

Free Soil Whigs would not also vote for him.* In making that

complaint, he ignored the fact that it was charged and believed by

the Whigs that his election was brought about by a bargain,

which, among other things, provided that two contesting Demo-

crats, enough to give that party a majority, were to be admitted

to seats in the House. There was undoubtedly a clear under-

* For an interesting account of the election of Mr. Chase to the

U. S. Senate see the article by Prof. N. S. Townshend pg. 111, Vol. 1.,

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Publications.

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316      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

standing arrived at, but like some other men, of more modern

times, such deals appear not to have been offensive to him, when

made in his own behalf, since thereby the praiseworthy result

was reached of securing his services to the public. They were

bad and to be execrated only when made by others, and in the

interests of somebody else, whose services were not, in his

opinion, so important.

His complaint was not, however, without plausibility, for he

at least had equal claims on all the parties and factions named,

except the two Independent Free Soilers, to whom he really owed

his election, since he had belonged to all, had repudiated all, and

had been repudiated by all.

And yet, most of these party changes, perhaps all except

that of 1868, came about naturally, and, from his standpoint,

strange as it may appear, consistently also. His opposition to

slavery being paramount, and the Whig Party failing and refus-

ing to become an anti-slavery party, he was lukewarm and

irregular in its support until the death of Harrison and the

accession of Tyler, when he lost all hope of it ever meeting his

views. He then openly deserted it and joined the Liberty party

and at once devoted himself to its reorganization and upbuilding,

which party, however, he in turn, abandoned, and helped to dis-

organize to make way for the Free Soil Party of 1848, which he

actively helped to form by bringing about a fusion of Liberty

Party men, Barnburners, Anti-Slavery Whigs, Anti-Slavery

Democrats, and all other dissatisfied classes who could be gath-

ered into the fold; a combination of elements incongruous as to

all questions except that of hostility to slavery, about which they

had the most fiery zeal. This party, so constituted, nominated

Martin Van Buren as their candidate for the Presidency, in a

Convention over which Mr. Chase presided,* and of which he was

the dominating spirit, but they largely strengthened themselves

and their cause by the ringing declarations of their platform, of

which he was the chief author, for "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free

Labor and Free Men."

 

*This was a Free-soil convention held at Utica, N. Y. Taylor was

the presidential candidate of the Whigs; Cass was the Democratic can-

didate.

• 106
 

Salmon P. Chase.                   317

• 107
 

318       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

What Chase evidently most wanted in connection with that

Convention was the substance and not the shadow--the plat-

form in preference to the candidate, for it was well known that

the candidate had no chance of an election, and would therefore

pass away with the campaign, while the principles enunciated

would be educational, and would live to do service in the future.

Thus it was that while manifesting instability, if not con-

tempt, as to party ties and associations, by flitting out and in

from one party to another, he was yet steadfastly, zealously and

efficiently making continuous war on slavery, and all the while

coming into ever closer affiliation and co-operation with the out-

and-out Abolitionists; for while nominally working only as an

anti-slavery man, he was largely aiding in the development of a

radical Abolition sentiment. His progress in this respect was

inevitable, for as the discussion proceeded he was necessarily more

and more drawn into it - explaining, defending and advocating

his views.

All the while his horizon was widening, and he was becom-

ing acquainted by correspondence and otherwise, with the lead-

ing anti-slavery men of all the other States, both East and West.

This multiplied the demands upon him for an expression of his

sentiments, and so during this period he wrote many articles for

the newspapers and magazines, attended political conventions,

wrote platforms, and addresses to the public, and made numerous

speeches on all kinds of public occasions. Being a forcible and

ready writer, and a logical and convincing speaker, although too

deliberate to be magnetic, he was constantly in demand, and as

constantly making valuable contributions to the general litera-

ture that was used against slavery by its enemies of all shades and

degrees.

Along with this growth of political prominence and influence

before the public, there came to him, as a lawyer, a series of cases,

all arising, in one form or another, under the Fugitive Slave

Law, by which he was given repeated opportunities, which he

well improved, of developing and presenting to the country the

legal aspects of the controversy in a way that attracted universal

attention to his cause and to himself as one of its ablest and

most powerful exponents.

• 108
 

Salmon P. Chase.                 319

 

He was not successful except on some technical points in any

of these cases, and probably did not expect to be; and in most

if not all of them, he was paid inadequate fees, if any at all; but

he labored and strove in them with all the energy that confidence

of success and the most ample compensation could inspire. He

thoroughly and exhaustively briefed them, and raised and insisted

upon every point that could be made, both technical and sub-

stantial. In one of these cases that went to the Supreme Court

of the United States, he artfully placed before the whole country,

as well as the Court, all his constitutional and other arguments

not only against Slavery but also against a Fugitive Slave Law,

and particularly against its application to any but the original

thirteen States, and therefore against its application to Ohio.

He was overruled, as he must have expected he would be,

but he was purposely addressing himself to the country as well

as the Court, and had a confidence, that subsequent events vindi-

cated, that he would eventually secure a verdict at the hands of

his fellowmen that would right the whole system of wrong that

he was combating.

 

IN THE SENATE.

In the Senate he was out of harmony from first to last with

both the Democrats and the Whigs. He at first insisted upon

calling himself a Democrat, although the Democrats who were

in the majority practically disowned him, and in the Committee

assignments refused him any substantial recognition. This did

not seem to either embarrass or handicap him. He had, in con-

sequence of being practically relieved from Committee work, all

the more time for the consideration of the slavery question, which

was then rapidly becoming more and more the all-absorbing ques-

tion of the hour.

He had not been long in his seat until he found opportunity

to speak on that subject. From that time until the end of his

term he was the real leader of the anti-slavery forces of both the

Senate and the House. They were few in number, but they were

able and forceful men, who stood up manfully and inspiringly

for a sentiment which was then unpopular but which was soon

to control the nation.

• 109
 

320       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

His most notable efforts were made in opposition to the

Kansas-Nebraska Bill. He was overwhelmingly beaten when

the vote was taken, but he had so crippled and weakened the

measure in the popular mind, that Douglass soon realized that

while he had won the day in Congress, he had lost it before the

people, who had become so aroused that he quickly saw that the

long predicted dissolution of the Whig Party and the revolt of

the Free Democrats were at hand, and that a new party was

forming that was destined to change the entire complexion of the

political situation and bring to naught all he had gained.

The debate was one of the most acrimonious and, measured

by its far-reaching consequences, one of the most important that

ever occurred in the American Congress.

Chase was the target for all the shafts of malice and ridi-

cule, but through it all he bore himself with dignity and serenity,

and showed such sincerity, zeal and ability, that, notwithstand-

ing his obnoxious views, he gained the friendship of most of his

colleagues and the respect of the whole country. His personal

character was always upright, and now as he came to the end of

a turbulent term in the Senate, where he had been disowned and

in many ways slighted and mistreated by both parties, he saw,

what he had probably long foreseen, a new party forming, of

giant strength and high purpose, which he had done as much as

any other man, if not more, to create, and of which he was an

acknowledged leader.

The Democrats being in control of the Ohio Legislature, took

his place in the Senate away from him, and gave it to George E.

Pugh. But instead of punishing and retiring him, as they de-

signed, they only made the way open and easy for him to become,

after a most spirited campaign that attracted the attention of the

whole country, the first Republican Governor of Ohio, and as

such a prominent candidate for the Presidency.*

* The State Convention which nominated Mr. Chase for governor

met at Columbus, July 13, 1854. More than a thousand delegates were

present, it was called a "Chase movement." The convention formally

assumed the name "Republican." As illustrating the political elements

that made up this convention, it may be stated that the president was

an old-line Democrat; the vice-president, an old-time Whig; the secre-

tary an original Free-Soiler. Mr. Chase was triumphantly elected.

• 110
 

Salmon P. Chase.                  321

 

 

THE PRESIDENCY IN 1856.

He was conscious of the work he had done in organizing the

new party, and realized that he had greatly strengthened it by

leading it to its first great victory in the third State of the Union,

as Ohio then was, while in New York and Pennsylvania his party

associates had failed. With his strong mental powers, long ex-

perience in public life, and familiarity with all the public affairs

and questions to be dealt with, it was but natural that under the

circumstances, he should expect the honor of leading his party,

as its candidate for the Presidency, in its first great national con-

test, and that he should experience keen disappointment when he

saw his claims rejected, and the honor conferred on a younger

man,* who had no special claims, except the popularity of an idol

of the hour, who had won his prominence and the public favor

not by participation in the fierce struggles and educational experi-

ences through which the country had been passing, but by the

success of a number of daring and spectacular explorations. He

was solaced, however, by the thought that he was yet a young

man, who could wait and grow with his party, and become its

candidate later when the chances of success were more certain.

He was in a good position for such a program.

 

 

GOVERNOR OF OHIO.

But aside from all such considerations he was naturally am-

bitious to make a good Governor, and such he was. His admin-

istration was conducted on a high plane, and in all respects he

showed himself a capable and efficient Executive. Throughout

his two terms the slavery question, through repeated Fugitive

Slave Law cases, was almost constantly occupying public atten-

tion. As Chief Executive of the State he now had an official re-

sponsibility for the due execution of the laws and the process of

the Courts, and had great difficulty to meet the requirements of

public sentiment and avoid a conflict with national authority.

While in some instances severely criticised he appears with re-

spect to all these delicate and troublesome controversies to have

*John C. Fremont.

Vol. XV-21

• 111
 

322       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

fairly and faithfully performed his duty. At any rate when he

retired from his office in January, 1860, his party was greatly

strengthened, and he had gained in general estimation as a man

of pronounced convictions, honorable purposes and high qualifi-

cations for the public service. This was emphasized by a re-elec-.

tion to the Senate for the term commencing March 4th, 1861.

Thus it came to pass that in 1860 he ranked officially and

personally, and deservedly so, with the foremost men of the

nation. He seemed to have just and superior claims upon his

party for its highest honor, and with a frankness amounting al-

most to immodesty-he set about securing it.

 

 

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 1860.

He had friends in all sections of the country, and he called

upon them to advocate and advance his cause. He appeared

to think only Seward and Bates formidable rivals, and easily sat-

isfied himself that his claims were superior to theirs,, but his

friends in different parts of the country, especially in his own

State, which seems to have had factional divisions and differences

then as well as in later years, soon found that while all acknowl-

edged his abilities, general qualifications and high personal char-

acter, yet there was a strong feeling in many quarters of distrust

as to his views on the tariff and other questions that Republicans

deemed of vital importance. This was due not so much to any

statements he had made on these subjects, for he had never

talked or written very much except about slavery, as to his oft

repeated insistence and reiterated declarations from time to time

preceding the organization of the Republican party, that he was

a Democrat, and that he adhered to all the principles of that party,

except those with respect to slavery.

In Ohio there was added a lingering resentment among

many of the old Whig leaders for his apparently vacillating

course as a party man, and especially for his combination with

the Democrats to secure his election to the Senate in 1849.

Some of his friends were frank enough to tell him that his

chances were not promising, but he listened more to those who

told him what he wanted to hear, and, notwithstanding a divided

• 112
 

Salmon P. Chase.                 323

 

delegation from his own State, and but few delegates from other

States who favored him as their first choice, he industriously and

optimistically continued his canvass until the Convention met,

and, giving him only forty-nine votes, dashed his hopes to the

ground by the nomination of Abraham Lincoln.

Much fault has been found with him for the manner in which

he personally conducted his campaign for this nomination: He

seems to have proceeded on the theory that "If he wanted the

office he should ask for it," and to have not only asked but also

in many instances to have insisted upon his right to support.

His correspondence teems with an array of his claims, and

with arguments in support of them, and with advantageous com-

parisons of them with the claim of others, and with directions and

suggestions to his friends how to advance his interests.

It is to be regretted that a man of such lofty character, such

high ability, and such long experience with men and public affairs,

could have shown so little regard for propriety with respect to

such a matter.

The small vote he received in the Convention was probably

due in some degree at least to the offense he gave in this way,

for the sturdy, hard-headed men of that heroic time naturally

disliked such self-seeking with respect to an office the duties and

responsibilities of which were so grave that any man might well

hesitate to assume them even when invited to do so.

In all other respects his canvass was free from criticism. It

was honest; there was no trickery attempted in connection with

it - no promises were given, no bargains were made, no money

was used. When it was over he had nothing to regret except

defeat, and he took that gracefully. He gave Mr. Lincoln hearty

support, and was undoubtedly truly rejoiced by his election, for

he saw in it the triumph of the principles for which he had been

all his life contending, and the beginning of the end of slavery in

the States as well as elsewhere.

 

 

IN THE CABINET.

Mr. Lincoln at the time of his election was underestimated

by almost everybody, except those whom he was wont to call the

• 113
 

324       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

plain, common people. They seemed to know him and his great-

ness by intuition, as it were. They had confidence in his sound

common sense, and loved him for his homely manners, and simple

straight-forward methods. They felt from the day of his nomi-

nation that he would be elected; and when he was elected and the

clouds began to gather, and one State after another seceded,

there never came an hour when they did not implicitly rely on

him to safely pilot them through whatever storms might come.

He had their confidence from the first and he held it to the last.

They never wavered either in their devotion to his leadership,

or in their faith that he would eventually save the Union.

From the very beginning they gave him also his rightful

place as the real leader, who outranked all his associates in public

life, not only because he was President, but also, and more par-

ticularly, because of his natural endowments and qualities of mind

and heart.

But it was different with some of the leaders. Many of them

were slow to acquire a just conception of his character and

abilities. They never thought of him seriously in connection with

the Presidency until he was practically nominated, and they did

not think of him then, except as a sort of accidental compromise,

who was not well qualified for the position. They regarded him

as lacking not only the culture and refinement, but also the prac-

tical experience with public affairs that was essential to their suc-

cessful administration.

He came to the front so suddenly and unexpectedly that he

had gone ahead of them and had been named by his party for

its leader before they realized that they were being supplanted.

His administration was organized and fairly under way before

they began to recognize their true relation to him.

This was particularly true of Seward and Chase, who had

been the chief, and as they long thought, almost the exclusive

rivals, for the honors of party leadership.

Both were invited to take seats in the Cabinet, and each ac-

cepted with the idea that, in addition to his own Department, he

would be expected to bear, in large degree, the burdens of all the

other Departments. Each seemed to think the country would

look to him rather than to Mr. Lincoln for the shaping of the

• 114
 

Salmon P. Chase.                  325

policies to be pursued. There was some excuse for this in the

fact that each had his ardent friends and admirers who encour-

aged the idea, and because some of the leading newspapers seemed

to think that Lincoln had called them into his counsels from con-

sciousness of his deficiencies, and in recognition of their superior

fitness for the work he had been called to perform.

This thought - of the broader and more important duty of

supervising the whole administration, seems for a time to have so

occupied Chase's mind, that he did not at first realize, and perhaps

never fully, that his legitimate field at the head of the Treasury

Department was full of duties of the highest importance and the

amplest opportunities for conspicuous service.

During all the time he was a member of the Cabinet, but par-

ticularly during the first months, he gave much volunteer atten-

tion to duties outside his Department, particularly to those relat-

ing to the War Department; the organization of the army and

the planning and conducting of campaigns; he was an inveterate

letter writer, and was constantly giving advice and making sug-

gestions to apparently every one who would listen, including

commanding officers in the field.

Gradually, however, he came to more clearly understand

that his own duties were enough, if properly looked after, to

tax him to the utmost, and in time he came also to realize that

Mr. Lincoln was the head of his own Administration, and the

final arbiter of all controverted questions.

By reason of this disposition and habit his work in the Cab-

inet was not so good as it might have been if he had concentrated

his efforts in his own Department and had been properly alive

from the outset to the seriousness of the situation he was called

upon to meet. His fault in this latter respect was, however,

common to all, for the war in its magnitude and duration ex-

ceeded all expectations, and its demands multiplied with such

frightful rapidity as to upset all calculations, thus making it well

nigh impossible for him to keep pace with its growing require-

ments, and secure from Congress the authority and help neces-

sary to enable him to carry out such plans as he formulated:

and yet, notwithstanding all this, it would be difficult to exagger-

ate what he accomplished.

• 115
 

326       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

He found his Department disorganized, but in the midst of

the excitements of the hour and the exacting duties of a more

important nature that fell upon him, he thoroughly reorganized

it, introducing many reforms that greatly increased its efficiency.

He found the Government without funds or credit, and without

adequate revenues to meet ordinary expenditures in time of peace,

but he surmounted all such obstacles and made it successfully

respond to the exigencies of war.

With the necessity suddenly precipitated of providing for

great armies and navies, and equipping and maintaining them,

he would have had a hard task under the most favorable cir-

cumstances, but it was increased almost beyond the power of

description by an empty Treasury, a startling deficit, an impaired

credit, an inadequate revenue, and eleven States in rebellion, with

tens of thousands of copperhead sympathizers in every loyal

State criticising and actively opposing in every way, short of

overt acts of treason, every step he took or tried to take.

He had all the help that able men in Congress and outside

could give him by advice, and the suggestion of plans and meth-

ods, and ways and means, but after all he was the responsible offi-

cial, whose duty it was to hear all, weigh all, and decide which

plan of the many suggested should be adopted, and then take

upon himself the responsibility of recommending it and advocat-

ing it before the country and before the Congress, and if the nec-

essary authority could be secured, executing it.

His difficulties were further increased by the fact that the

Republican Party was then new to power, and its members in

public life had not yet learned to work in harmony. Many of

them were strong and aggressive men who were slow to adopt

the views of others with which they did not fully coincide.

In consequence his recommendations were subjected to the

keenest scrutiny and criticism from party associates, as well as

opponents, and not infrequently they were materially modified

or changed before they received statutory sanction, and in some

instances entirely rejected.

In all these experiences his high personal character and well

recognized ability were of incalculable value to him and his coun-

try. Whatever else might be said, nobody ever questioned the

• 116
 

Salmon P. Chase.                  327

 

integrity of his purpose, the probity of his action, or the sincerity

of his arguments.

While in the light of subsequent events it is seen that much

that he did might have been done better, yet when the circum-

stances and the lack of light and precedent under which he acted

are fairly measured it is almost incredible that he did so well.

When we recall that great conflict we are apt to think only

of its "pomp and circumstance" - of the deeds of heroism and

daring -of the army and the navy -of the flying flags and

the marching columns - of the services and sacrifices of those

who fought and died - forgetting that less fascinating but indis-

pensable service, and the noble men who rendered it, of supply-

ing "the sinews of war," without which all else would have been

in vain.

His labors in this behalf were incessant and herculean. On

this occasion details are impossible. Suffice it to say that by every

kind of taxation that could be lawfully devised he swelled the

revenues to the full limit at which it was thought such burdens

could be borne, and by every kind of security, certificates, notes

and obligations that he could issue and sell or in any way use,

he drew advance drafts upon the Nation's resources.

He met with many disappointments and discouragements,

but he unflaggingly persevered, and finally succeeded, approx-

imately, to the full measure that success was possible.

There were numerous transactions that might well be men-

tioned, because of the illustration they afford of the services he

rendered, the difficulties he encountered, and of the kind of labor

and effort he was constantly putting forth with members of Con-

gress, bankers, editors and others to advance and uphold his

views, develop and educate public sentiment, and secure needed

legislation and support; but all are necessarily passed over, that

some mention may be made of two subjects, with which he was

so identified that even the briefest sketch of his public services

should include some special reference to them.

They were the issue of legal tender notes, hereinafter dis-

cussed in connection with the legal tender cases, and the estab-

lishment of the National Banking System, involving, as it did,

the extinction of State Banks of issue.

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328       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

 

THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM.

The establishment of a uniform National Banking System

was, like most great measures, of gradual development.

It was much discussed and many minds contributed to the

working out of the details, but Chase seems to have a pretty clear

claim to its general authorship.

Upon him more directly than anybody else was impressed

the necessity for some kind of reform in that respect, for while

each citizen was experiencing difficulty in his dealings with in-

dividual banks he was compelled to deal with practically all of

them, and, therefore, felt, in a consolidated form, the combined

disadvantages that others suffered in detail.

In view of what we now enjoy, and the ease with which,

looking backward, it appears that it should have been brought

about it seems incredible that an intelligent people should have

so long suffered the inconveniences of the old system.

It can be accounted for only from the fact that for the Gov-

ernment in a general way, and for the people in a commercial

and general business sense, that the day was of small things,

and it was tolerated because they were accustomed to it, and

because there was a natural aversion, especially on the part of

the banks, to making radical changes that were necessarily in

some degree of an experimental character.

But finally there came a precipitating cause, and the contest

was inaugurated to substitute something better. The case was

a plain one but the resistance was stubborn.

Aside from the universal and almost unbearable inconven-

iences of doing business with a currency that had no uniformity

of issue, appearance, or value; and which had no proper safe-

guards against counterfeits and forgeries, was the fact that it

was not possible for such a discredited and unsatisfactory System

to render the Government much substantial help in placing its

loans or in conducting any of its important fiscal transactions.

Chase saw clearly, and from the first, that such a System

could not co-exist with a uniform national system such as he

contemplated, and that the existing State Institutions would not

surrender their charters, and take new ones under an Act of

• 118
 

Salmon P. Chase.                  329

 

Congress, unless they were offered more substantial advantages

than the Government should be required to give, or instead were

deprived of the privilege of issuing their own notes, and that

the best way to solve the problem was to tax their issues out of

existence.

It was a hard matter to bring others to agree with him.

The opposing banks commanded in the aggregate a tremendous

influence, and with the aid of doubting Congressmen and news-

papers they long delayed, and finally so crippled the first Act

that was passed, that it failed to provide an acceptable and suc-

cessful plan largely because it left the State issues untouched.

It continued so until the law was so amended as to embrace

practically all the recommendations Chase had made and insisted

upon, including a tax of ten per cent. on the issues of State

Banks. This did not happen until he had quit the Treasury

Department, but it was his plan and his work, consummated,

that gave us freedom from the worst banking system that could

be well imagined, and substituted therefor one of the best any

county has ever enjoyed. It was a work of high character

and of enduring benefit to the whole country. It was the crown-

ing act of his administration of the Treasury Department if not

of his whole life, and, coupled with his other successes, entitles

him to rank, after Hamilton, who has had no equal, with Gallatin

and Sherman, and the other great Secretaries who have held that

high office.

 

RELATIONS TO MR. LINCOLN.

It was unfortunate for his influence then and his reputation

now that at times he showed less satisfaction with his position

and exhibited less cordial good-will in his relations to Mr. Lin-

coln than he should. Personal disappointment was probably the

chief cause. From his first appearance in public life he was

talked about for the Presidency, and almost from the beginning

he talked about and for himself in that connection. Barring the

indelicacy manifested, there was no impropriety in such talk until

after he accepted a seat in the Cabinet. It was different after

that, for while there was all the time more or less opposition

cropping out to the renomination of Mr. Lincoln, yet there was

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330      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

never at any time enough to justify a member of his political

household, who had been part of his administration and policies,

in the encouragement of that opposition, particularly for his

own benefit. That Chase was a passive candidate during all

the time he was in the Cabinet and a good part of the time an

active candidate, cannot be doubted. His many letters and diary

entries show this; not so much by his open advocacy of his claims

as by criticisms of Mr. Lincoln and his manner of conducting

the public business and the general encouragement he was giving

and evidently intending to give to the opposition sentiment.

He may not have realized fully the character of record he

was making in this respect, for he was no doubt somewhat

blinded by the fact that he never could quite outgrow the idea

that Lincoln did not deserve to be put ahead of him in 1860, and

that the country would surely sometime learn its mistake and

right the wrong. In addition he had a conceit that he was of

greater importance than he was getting credit for at the hands

of the President, and that when he and the President differed

about anything in his department the President should yield,

as he always did, except in a few instances when his sense of duty

and responsibility prevented. At such times he was especially

liable to say and do peevish and annoying things. On a num-

ber of such occasions he went so far as to tender his resigna-

tion, accompanied each time with a letter expressing a deep sense

of humility but with an air of injured innocence that he no doubt

keenly felt. Notwithstanding the trial it must have been for

Mr. Lincoln to do so, he, each time, with singular patience, that

only the good of his country could have prompted, not only

refused acceptance, but apparently placed himself under renewed

obligations by insisting that he should remain at his post.

Naturally this was calculated to cause Chase to more and

more regard himself as indispensable, until finally, June 30th,

1864, on account of new differences connected with the appoint-

ment of an Assistant United States Treasurer at New York,

he made the mistake of tendering his resignation once too often.

This time Mr. Lincoln promptly, and to Mr. Chase's great sur-

prise and chagrin, accepted it and clinched the matter by immedi-

ately appointing his successor.

• 120
 

Salmon P. Chase.                 331

 

He was thus suddenly left in a pitiable plight so far as his

personal political fortunes were concerned, and but for the un-

common generosity of Mr. Lincoln, he would have so remained.

Mr. Lincoln had been renominated and the victories of

Grant and Sherman were every day strengthening his Party and

his chances of election.

All thoughtful men could see that the end of the war could

not be much longer deferred and that, with victory assured and

Mr. Lincoln re-elected, there was renewed strength with con-

tinuance in power ahead for the Republican party. It was a

bad time for a man who had sustained the relations he had to

the Party, and the war, and the administration, to drop out of

the ranks and get out of touch with events; but there he was,

"outside the breastworks," and nobody to blame but himself.

It was a hard fate that seemed to have befallen him; and

such it would have been if almost anybody but Mr. Lincoln had

been President, for most men would have left him helpless in

his self-imposed humiliation. But Mr. Lincoln was a most re-

markable man. He was enough like other men to enjoy, no

doubt, the discomfiture Chase had brought on himself, but

enough unlike other men to magnanimously overlook his weak-

nesses and offenses when public duty so required.

 

 

APPOINTED CHIEF JUSTICE.

Accordingly, remembering only his long and faithful services

and his high general and special qualifications for the place, he

made him Chief Justice.

From the date of his resignation until December when he

was appointed, were probably his bitterest days.

He had nothing to do and no prospect. He made an effort,

or at least his friends did, to secure his nomination for Congress

from his old Cincinnati District, but so signally failed as to give

painful evidence that he was not only out of office and out of

power, but also out of favor. He was almost out of hope also

when Chief Justice Taney died. He was conscious that he had no

claim on Mr. Lincoln for that or any other place, not alone be-

cause he had petulantly deserted him at a critical moment, but also

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332      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

and more particularly because in his vexation of spirit he had

said some very unkind things of him, but he did not hesitate to

allow his friends to urge him for that high honor, and, notwith-

standing many protests, Mr. Lincoln gave it to him.

It would be hard to recall an instance of greater magnanimity

than was thus shown by Mr. Lincoln. It was magnanimous be-

cause, while in most respects Mr. Chase's qualifications for the

position were high, they were not of such exceptional character

as to single him out above all other men for the place; certainly

not if we consider only his experience at the bar, for while the

first six years of his life in Cincinnati were devoted to the prac-

tice of his profession, yet, like the same period with other begin-

ners, they were not very busy years. He had no exceptional suc-

cesses. His progress was satisfactory and probably all that

should have been expected, but there was nothing extraordinary

to forecast for him the great honor of the Chief Justiceship.

During the following thirteen years, until he was elected to

the Senate, his time was so occupied with political demands that

he did not have much opportunity for professional work, and

what time he did devote to his law practice was taken up very

largely with Fugitive Slave Law cases, aside from which there

is no record of any case or employment that he had during all

those nineteen years, from 1830, when he located in Cincinnati,

until 1849, when he was elected to the Senate, that was of any-

thing more than passing importance. During all that time, he

probably never had any single employment of sufficient import-

ance to bring him a fee of so much as $1,000.

It is probable that in all that time he never had a patent

case, or an admiralty case, or any occasion to make any study

whatever of international law, and yet at that point virtually

ended not only his career as a practicing lawyer, but also his study

of the science of the law except as an incident of his public

services.

During the next six years- until 1855 - he was a member

of the Senate, and devoted all his time to his public duties and to

public questions and affairs. He was next, for four years, Gov-

ernor of Ohio, and then came the national campaign of 1860, the

election of Mr. Lincoln and the Secretaryship in his Cabinet,

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Salmon P. Chase.                  333

which continued until his resignation shortly before he was ap-

pointed Chief Justice.

And yet he was, all things considered, probably the best

qualified of all who were mentioned for the place. His limited

experience at the bar was not without precedents. Neither Jay

nor Marshall had any very considerable experience of that char-

acter.

Both of them, like Chase, were prepared for their great work

more by their public services and studies as statesmen, than by

the general study of the law and the trial of cases in the courts.

It was much the same with Taney. He had a larger experience

as a practitioner, and was Attorney-General, but his appointment

was due more to his general public services than his professional

achievements, although they were highly creditable and his stand-

ing as a lawyer was good.

Jay was intimately identified with the formative stages of our

Governmental institutions, and in that way was familiar from

their very origin with the public questions it was thought might

arise for decision; and Marshall, a soldier of the Revolution and

a careful student of the great purposes and results of that strug-

gle was thereby equipped for not only his distinguished political

career, but also for the great work for which the American

people owe him a debt of everlasting gratitude, of so interpreting

the Constitution as to breathe into it, with the doctrine of implied

powers, that life, flexibility and adaptability to all our exigencies

and requirements, that have made it, not only a veritable sheet

anchor of safety for us, but also the marvel of the statesmen of

the world.

With Chase, as with his illustrious predecessors, it was his

long, varied and important public services rather than his pro-

fessional labors that prepared him for the Chief Justiceship and

secured him the appointment. They were of a character that

broadened his views by compelling a study of the Constitution

and the foundation principles of our Government in connection

with their practical application.

Mr. Lincoln not only understood and appreciated this, but he

foresaw, and no doubt had much anxious concern on that account,

that, after the restoration of peace, all the great transactions and

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achievements of his Administration would have to run the gaunt-

let of the Courts. The abolition of slavery, the status of the

freedmen, the status of the seceding States, the status of their

inhabitants -the leaders who had brought about the war, and

the masses of the people who had simply followed them, the

confiscation of property, all the great war measures that Congress

had enacted, including the legal tender acts, he knew must in the

order of events sooner or later come before the Supreme Court

for final adjudication.

It was natural to conclude that no man was so well qualified

to deal intelligently and satisfactorily with these questions as he

who, in addition to having good general qualifications, had been a

capable and responsible participator in all that gave rise to those

questions.

There were many other great lawyers, but there was no other

lawyer of equal ability who had sustained such a relation to these

subjects.

Mr. Lincoln had a right to expect that with Chase Chief

Justice the fruits of the war, in so far as he might have occasion

to deal with them, would be secure, and this doubtless turned

the scales in his favor.

In large measure he met every just and reasonable expecta-

tion. In so far as he failed to do so, it was generally charged,

whether rightfully or not, to his ambition to be President, which

he should have put away forever on his accession to the Bench,

but which he appears to have indulged until his very last days.

This is particularly true of his failure to bring Jefferson

Davis to trial; and with respect to his rulings in the Impeach-

ment of Andrew Johnson; and his opinions in the Legal Tender

cases.

Most men are now agreed that he acted wisely as to Davis,

and that he ruled honestly and in most cases correctly on the trial

of Johnson.

THE LEGAL TENDER CLAUSE.

As to the Legal Tender cases he was at the time and has been

ever since much censured, aside from the merits of the contro-

versy, on the ground that he tried to undo on the Bench what he

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Salmon P. Chase.                  335

 

did, or at least was largely responsible for as Secretary. No

complete defense against this charge can be made, but the case

against him is not so bad as generally represented, for, while

finally assenting to such legislation, and from time to time as

occasion required availing himself of its provisions, he was at

first opposed to the step on the ground of policy and from doubt

as to the power, and at last reluctantly yielded his objections

rather than his opinions, only when the necessities of the Gov-

ernment seemed to imperatively so demand, and when Congress

had fully determined to resort to the measure anyhow.

For him to have longer opposed would have been futile to

prevent it, and could not have had any other effect than to dis-

credit the notes when issued, breed discord, and put him at cross

purposes with men, as competent to judge as he, with whom it

was his duty to co-operate in every way he could to accomplish

the great purpose all alike had in view of preserving the Union.

The situation was so unlike anything with which we are

to-day familiar, that it is not easy to recall it.

Instead of the annual revenues of the Government aggre-

gating the abundant and almost incomprehensible sum of seven

hundred millions of dollars, as they do to-day, they amounted

then from all sources to less than fifty millions of dollars.

Instead of two per cent. bonds selling readily in wholesale

quantities, as they do to-day at a premium, six per cent. bonds

were sold only with difficulty, and in dribbling amounts at a

ruinous discount.

In lieu of a national paper currency, good everywhere as

the gold itself, we had only an inadequate supply of notes of

uncertain and varying value, subject to no regulation or pro-

vision for their redemption in gold, except such as was imper-

fectly provided by the different States.

Few saw and appreciated until the second year of the war

in what a gigantic struggle we were involved, and how stu-

pendous must be the financial operations and provisions of the

Government to meet its requirements.

For this reason no comprehensive or well considered plans

were adopted at the start, as foresight of what was coming

would have suggested, but on the contrary mere temporary ex-

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336       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

pedients, such as the sale of bonds in comparatively small

amounts, and to run for short period, demand loans, interest and

non-interest bearing Treasury certificates and notes, demand

notes, and whatever form of obligation could be utilized for the

time being were resorted to, and relied upon to tide over what

it was hoped and believed would be, although a most severe, yet

only a temporary emergency.

As the war progressed and we met with reverses in the

field, that indicated it would be prolonged, specie payments were

suspended, and the national credit became more and more

strained and impaired.

In consequence it became practically impossible to longer

raise by such methods the necessary funds with which to con-

duct the Government and prosecute the war, or even to transact

satisfactorily the private business of the country.

The point was finally reached where the people must come

to the financial help of the Treasury, or the Union must perish.

Chase saw as well as others that the law of the case was

Necessity, but he did not yield without an effort to have attached

as a condition, provision for a uniform National Banking Sys-

tem. The condition was not accepted, but was provided for later,

and long before the legal tender cases arose.

Whatever else may be said about the legal tender clause,

it is a fact of history that the effect for good on the Union cause

was instantaneous and immeasurable. If it was a forced loan

from the people, they gladly made it. If it was a hardship on

anybody, it was not complained of by any friend of the Union.

It gave confidence and imparted courage, and from that moment

success was assured, not only for the Union cause, but for

everybody connected with it, and especially for Chase himself,

for without it his administration of the Treasury Department

would have been a dismal and mortifying failure.

Such a measure, arising from such a necessity, and accom-

plishing such results, was as sacred as the cause it subserved, and,

aside from the wholesale disasters involved, it never should have

been called in question by anybody, especially not by anyone who

had the slightest responsibility for its enactment, and least of all

by a personal or official beneficiary.

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Salmon P. Chase.                       337

 

It is both impossible and unnecessary, if not inappropriate,

to here discuss the legal propositions involved in the legal tender

cases, but, on the other hand, it is both appropriate and essential

to the completeness of these remarks to speak of Chief Justice

Chase's attitude with respect to them.

No one can make a better defense for him than he made

for himself.

In Hepburn vs. Griswold, anticipating the criticisms he

knew must follow his decision that the legal tender clause was

unconstitutional as to debts previously contracted, he said, mani-

festly by way of attempted personal justification:

"It is not surprising that amid the tumult of the late Civil War,

and under the influence of apprehensions for the safety of the Republic

almost universal, different views, never before entertained by American

statesmen or jurists, were adopted by many. The time was not favorable

to considerate reflection upon the constitutional limits of legislative or

executive authority. If power was assumed from patriotic motives, the

assumption found ready justification in patriotic hearts. Many who

doubted yielded their doubts; many who did not doubt were silent.

Some who were strongly averse to making government notes a legal

tender felt themselves constrained to acquiesce in the views of the advo-

cates of the measure. Not a few who then insisted upon its necessity,

or acquiesced in that view, have, since the return of peace, and under the

influence of the calmer time, reconsidered their conclusions, and now

concur in those which we have just announced. These conclusions seem

to us to be fully sanctioned by the letter and spirit of the Constitution."

In the Legal Tender Cases he amplified this somewhat, but

without adding to its strength.

His opinions in these cases were in dignified style and, from

his point of view, very able; but there was then and still is, and

perhaps always will be much difference of opinion as to their

merit.

In all other respects his work as Chief Justice is now uni-

versally considered highly creditable - some of it particularly

so -especially his opinion in Texas vs. White, which he re-

garded with great pride and satisfaction as a sort of culminating

fruit of his life's labors. His opinions were usually brief and

always clear and strong. They cover almost every phase of the

litigation growing out of the Civil War and the reconstruc-

tion acts that followed, and all the decisions of the Court, while

he presided, remain unquestioned, except, inferentially, the con-

stitutionality of the income tax.

Vol. XV-22

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338       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

He died May 7, 1873, in the sixty-sixth year of his age,

after only eight years of service on the Bench; but they were

years of great anxiety to the American people, for, during all

that time, the country's destiny was in a large measure in the

hands of the Supreme Court. On its decisions depended the

issues of the war - whether to be upheld and made secure or

ovrthrown and brought to naught. The Court was equal to all

requirements and did its part so splendidly and brilliantly of the

great work of regeneration and preservation that Chase and his

associates deserve to stand--and do--in public esteem and

gratitude next after Marshall and his associates. The one dealt

with the construction of our government, the other with its re-

construction. The labors of both were vital.

If he had been content to devote himself to his judicial

work exclusively, he would have been spared much that was

disagreeable and his fame would have been brighter than it is.

All his life, until his last two years, he had robust health,

unlimited energy, and an almost uncontrollable disposition to

participate in the general conduct of public affairs.

In consequence, while Chief Justice, he was, in what was

regarded as a sort of intermeddling way, constantly giving at-

tention to questions that belonged to Congress and other de-

partments of government, and was from time to time freely

offering advice and making suggestions as to legislative enact-

ments and governmental policies; but, more unfortunately still,

he was all the while listening to the suggestions of unwise friends

and mere flatterers about the Presidency. Much work was done

for him with his knowledge and approval to secure the Republi-

can nomination in 1868, but early in that year, seeing there was

an irresistible sentiment in favor of General Grant, he withdrew

himself from the race. If he had remained out there would

have been but little criticism, but he was scarcely out of the

Republican race until he was entered for the Democratic. While

the impeachment trial of President Johnson was yet in progress

he signified a willingness to become the Democratic candidate

and set forth in letters to his friends that inasmuch as the slavery

questions had all been settled there was nothing in his political

beliefs inconsistent with the principles of Democracy in which

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Salmon P. Chase.                   339

 

he had always been a believer. For a time there seemed strong

probability that he would be the Democratic nominee. But it

is familiar history that before his name could be presented the

Convention was stampeded to Governor Seymour. Naturally

there were charges that he was influenced, on account of his

Presidential candidacy, by political considerations, and in this

way he was shorn of much of the dignity, confidence and influ-

ence that rightfully belonged to him in his high office. He

suffered in this way, not only as Chief Justice, but also as a

man. This is especially true of his candidacy in 1868 for the

nomination first by the one party and then by the other, for at

that time there was such a radical difference between the parties,

and so much bitterness of feeling, that it was incomprehensible

to the average mind how any honorable man could so lightly,

and with such apparent equal satisfaction to himself, belong to

first the one and then the other, and with like zeal seek, or at

least be willing to accept, the honors of both.

The explanation is in the fact that it was the weakness of

a strong man. He was so conscious of his mental powers and

of his qualifications by reason of his long public service, to make

a capable and efficient Chief Magistrate, that it was easy for

him to think his claims for such recognition better than those of

others; especially others who had been differently trained as

Grant had been, and, therefore, to believe that his friends were

right in their judgment that he was, for just reasons, the peo-

ple's choice, and that it was his duty to his country, as well as

to them, to become their candidate.

With all his faculty for measures he had but little for men.

He was himself so simple-minded, truthful and straight-forward

in his dealings with others that he seemed incapable of under-

standing how untruthful and deceitful others were capable of

being in their dealings with him, especially if their pretensions

were in accordance with his own views and desires.

As time passes these features of his career will fade out

of sight and be forgotten. Already he has taken his proper

place in history, and in the appreciation of the American people,

as the great figure he really was-a strong, massive, patriotic,

fearless and controlling character in the settlement of the mighty

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340       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   questions that shook to their foundations the institutions of our Government. He will be remembered also for the purity of his life, for his domestic virtues, for his deeply religious nature, ever depending on Divine help, and for that love and zeal for humanity that made him brave social ostracism and sacrifice, if necessary, all chance of personal political preferment that he might champion the cause of the slave and break the power that held him in fetters. In the light of true history the consistency of his conduct will not be determined by the record of his party affiliations, but by the constancy of his devotion to the cause that filled his heart and dominated all his political actions. Measured by that test, few men have run a straighter course or done more to merit a high place in the esteem of their countrymen.

• 130