Ohio History Journal

OHIO

Archaeological and Historical

PUBLICATIONS.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

A wide interest attaches to everything that is said

or written of Abraham Lincoln. Ohioans will be

pleased to review the authentic historic record that links

his name and fame with the Buckeye state.

The monograph on the following pages presents for

the first time in chronological order Lincoln's contact

with Ohio and the relation of our state and its promi-

nent public men to the crisis through which our Nation

passed in the Civil War, under the leadership of the

Martyr President whose fame, increasing with the pass-

ing years, has become to the civilized world a sacred

heritage and hallowed memory. Abraham Lincoln is

and will continue to be a beneficent, living influence in

our Republic.

Without the effective support given Lincoln by fol-

lowers in Ohio, he could not have been nominated for

the presidency. This will be the conclusion of those

who read the chapter on the following pages entitled

"Ohio's Part in Lincoln's Nomination." Especially in-

teresting will be found the attitude of the Ohio delega-

tion at the Chicago convention of 1860. With so able

and deserving a candidate from their own state as Sal-

mon P. Chase it required on the part of delegates cour-

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age and pronounced preference to sway them from sup-

port of the home candidate.

The proceedings of that convention to which atten-

tion is invited exhibit contrasts with national political

conventions of today. Sixty-three years ago political

speeches and partisan contributions to newspapers as a

rule were much longer than they are today. Nominat-

ing speeches in party conventions were then very brief,

limited often to one sentence. Lincoln was fortunate in

the statement with which his name was presented by a

member of the Ohio delegation. The nominating speech

of a single sentence by Columbus Delano, of Mt. Ver-

non, Ohio, was one of the most effective ever delivered

in a party convention. Those who appreciate the "rare,

strange virtue" of effective brevity in speech should

read what Delano said in presenting the name of Lin-

coln.

It was left for another Ohio man -- the leader of

the delegation -- at the critical moment to do the dra-

matic thing and throw to Lincoln the votes necessary to

assure his nomination.

Not only did Ohio lend decisive aid in assuring his

nomination, but it gave Lincoln a substantial majority

in the November election.

It would be pleasing to record that our state never

wavered in his support, but that in truth could not be

said. The days that in a very special sense "tried the

soul" of Abraham Lincoln were between September 22,

1862, and October 13, 1863. On the former of these

two dates he issued what is generally called his "pre-

liminary Emancipation Proclamation" in which he de-

clared that if the southern states in rebellion did not

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Introduction                  3

lay down their arms, he would, by virtue of the war

power vested in him by the constitution, liberate all their

slaves.

Lincoln was elected on a platform pledge to oppose

the extension of slavery into the territories. The pro-

posal to end that institution where it already existed

was new and at first encountered violent opposition,

even in the loyal North. At the fall elections following

the issue of the "preliminary proclamation," New York,

Pennsylvania, the President's state, Illinois, and our

own Ohio registered their votes against his party, and

of course inferentially against his emancipation policy.

Think of the position of Abraham Lincoln then.

The South in arms against him and winning victories

on the field of battle; the North arrayed against him at

the ballot box and organizing in secret societies to de-

stroy his administration and aid the enemies of the Re-

public. With threatening clouds on every hand grow-

ing darker with each passing day; with foes exulting in

his discomfiture; with faltering friends advising that

the promised emancipation proclamation be postponed,

Abraham Lincoln moved onward in his course with

conscience uncompromised and courage sublime to the

accomplishment of his mission. On the first day of

January, 1863, he issued his Emancipation Proclamation

and linked his name with the immortals. The closing

lines express the spirit and unfaltering faith with which

this instrument was written:

 

"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,

warranted by the constitution upon military necessity, I invoke

the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of

Almighty God."

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The proclamation was issued and upon his broad

shoulders fell heavily the responsibility to make it good.

Dark days were ahead. Mr. Ryan has graphically de-

scribed the Vallandigham campaign of the summer and

autumn following. It is difficult for us at this day to

understand how thoroughly the people of Ohio were

aroused and how bitterly the contending parties hurled

denunciation at each other. A single stanza from a

popular song of the followers of Vallandigham gives

but an inadequate glimpse of the spirit of the time:

 

We are coming, Abraham Lincoln,

From mountain, wood and glen;

We are coming, Abraham Lincoln,

With the ghosts of murdered men.

Yes! we're coming, Abraham Lincoln,

With curses loud and deep,

That will haunt you in your waking,

And disturb you in your sleep.

The fate of the Nation turned upon the result of

this election in Ohio. Lincoln and his followers felt

this. The result at times seemed involved in doubt.

The description of that campaign on the following pages

will grip the interest of the reader. No one can without

a thrill picture Abraham Lincoln in Washington anx-

iously receiving from John Brough, candidate for gov-

ernor in Ohio, the telegraphic returns of that fateful

election. Early in the evening following the close of

the polls the President was cheered with the assurance

that Ohio had sustained him. At midnight he was fur-

ther encouraged on learning that the majority was a

substantial one. At five o'clock in the morning follow-

ing, on receiving word from Brough that the majority

was more than one hundred thousand, Abraham Lincoln

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Introduction                    5

poured forth his soul in that famous telegram: "Glory

to God in the highest; Ohio has saved the Nation."

Ohio indeed had redeemed herself and by a decisive

majority had rallied to the support of Abraham Lincoln

and universal liberty in America.

Today every Ohioan must read with pride the record

of our state, in this fateful test, for liberty and union.

Most appropriately has the writer of this mono-

graph given generous space to the obsequies of Lincoln

within the borders of our state. It was James G. Blaine

who said in describing the funeral ceremonies in which

Ohio had a conspicuous part:

For seventeen hundred miles, through eight states of the

Union whose population was not less than fifteen millions, an al-

most continuous procession of mourners attended the remains of

the beloved President. There was no pageantry save their pres-

ence. There was no tribute but their tears. * * * A count-

less multitude of men, with music and banner and cheer and the

inspiration of a great cause, presents a spectacle that engages the

eye, fills the mind, appeals to the imagination. But the deepest

sympathy of the soul is touched, the height of human sublimity

is reached, when the same multitude, stricken with a common

sorrow, stands with uncovered head, reverent and silent.

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical So-

ciety is fortunate in having as its Vice-President one so

peculiarly qualified to make the contribution in these

pages. Daniel J. Ryan from his boyhood days has been

deeply interested in everything relating to the history

of his native state.   He served two terms as Sec-

retary of the State of Ohio and his reports bear

testimony to this interest. They include in addition to

the routine matters relating to his office a number of

papers of distinct historic value. He was at the head

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of the Ohio commission that gave our state honorable

and conspicuous representation at the Columbian Ex-

position in Chicago in 1893. Later he was one of the

tax commissioners of Ohio and he has for forty years

been an officer in the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society. He has contributed not only to the

publications of that Society but to magazine and period-

icals a number of valuable monographs. He is the

author of books on Ohio history.  Of the well-known

standard work, "History of Ohio, The Rise and Prog-

ress of an American State," by Randall and Ryan, Mr.

Ryan is the author of volumes 3 and 4 and joint author

of one of the remaining volumes. Those interested in the

history of our state are his debtors. No future history

of Ohio can be written without frequent reference to

his fundamental work. Lincoln and Ohio has occupied

his spare moments for some time past and the thor-

oughness with which he has collected and used his ma-

terials is attested in the following pages.

C. B. GALBREATH.

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