edited by
ARNOLD SHANKMAN
Vallandigham's Arrest and
the
1863 Dayton Riot--Two Letters
A noteworthy political event of 1863 was
the arrest and subsequent exile of
Clement Laird Vallandigham. A former
Democratic United States Representative
from Dayton and one of the most eloquent
speakers in the North, Vallandigham
was Ohio's leading Peace Democrat. He
sincerely believed that the Confederacy
could not be subdued by force, and,
although he never advocated permanent sep-
aration of the North and South, his
speeches were so critical of Lincoln and the
President's conduct of the Civil War
that he became a traitor in Unionist eyes.
Early 1863 was a time of mounting peace
sentiment in Ohio. In the spring
there were several instances of draft
resistance, and both Copperhead and Unionist
newspaper editors often found their
offices ransacked by opponents. Vallandigham
capitalized on the growing tensions and
spoke frequently denouncing military rule
and the curtailment of civil liberties.1
To Vallandigham, the loss of civil
liberties was one of the worst aspects of the
war. In the spring of 1863 he selected
as his special target of attack General Am-
brose E. Burnside who had challenged his
point of view. Not long after the Gen-
eral had established his headquarters in
Cincinnati on March 16, he learned of
apparent dangerous Copperhead activities
in his district. In an effort to counteract
what he considered to be treason, the
military commander issued General Order
No. 38, which stated that spies and
traitors would be arrested, brought to trial,
and if convicted, sentenced to death.
The order further announced that the "habit
of declaring sympathies for the
enemy" would not be permitted; individuals con-
victed of this offence would be
imprisoned or exiled to the South. Treason, added
the General, "expressed or implied,
will not be tolerated."2
Carl Sandburg has suggested that the
harshness of the language of the order
was due to Burnside's "chronic
diarrhea," and Ophia Smith has speculated that
Burnside issued the order not only to
trap Vallandigham but also to facilitate the
arrest; of Lottie Moon Clark, a
Confederate spy operating in Ohio, who had jilted
the General at the altar several years
before. Perhaps more plausible than either
1. Eugene H. Roseboom, The Civil War
Era, 1850-1873 (Carl Wittke, ed., The History of the State
of Ohio, Columbus, 1944), IV, 402, 404-408, 411-413.
2. The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies (Washington, 1899), Series 2, V, 480.
Mr. Shankman is a doctoral candidate at
Emory University.
|
of these theories is the suggestion of Frank Klement that draft resistance, Demo- cratic victories in the recent Ohio elections, and general grumbling made Burn- side feel as though he was on the edge of a volcano. Klement describes the General as "gullible," and states that he was unable to differentiate between criti- cism of Lincoln and true sympathy for the Rebels.3 Once Burnside had issued the order, Vallandigham was determined to defy it. He denounced Order No. 38 at Hamilton and Columbus, and planned another attack for the Democratic rally to be held in Mount Vernon on May 1. General Burnside, however, sent two army agents to the rally to take notes on Vallan- digham's speech. By this means the General was able to get the evidence he thought sufficient to jail the troublesome Copperhead leader, and on the morning of May 5 Vallandigham was arrested in his Dayton home and taken to Cincinnati. 3. Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (New York, 1939), II, 161; Ophia Smith, Oxford Spy (Oxford, 1962), 13; Frank L. Klement, "Clement L. Vallandigham," in Kenneth W. Wheeler, ed., For the Union: Ohio Leaders in the Civil War (Columbus, 1968), 35-36; see also Frank L. Klement, The Copperheads in the Middle West (Chicago, 1960) and Klement, The Limits of Dissent: Clement L. Vallandigham and the Civil War (Lexington, 1970). |
Vallandigham's Arrest 121
Throughout the day throngs of Democrats
roamed the streets of Dayton. Ten-
sion grew and feelings were exacerbated
by an editorial in the Dayton Daily
Empire in which William Logan, a Peace Democrat, denounced the
"kidnapping"
of Vallandigham. Gradually the angry
crowd began engaging in acts of violence,
and a full-scale riot developed by.
nightfall. The offices of the Unionist paper, the
Republican Dayton Journal, were sacked and the military was moved in from Cin-
cinnati to quell the disturbance.
The following letter was sent by an Ohio
soldier in Company C of the 115th
Ohio Volunteer Regiment stationed in
Cincinnati to his hometown paper the
Summit County Beacon. In it he
vividly describes the arrest of Vallandigham and
the Dayton riot. Since historians
interested in the leader of the Peace Democrats
tend to neglect Union journals of the
Western Reserve, this letter may have
escaped their attention; it was published
in the May 28, 1863 edition.
Kemper Barracks, Cincinnati
Friend Lane:- May 15, 1863
Some two weeks ago Capts. [Harrison]
Hill4 and [John] Means left this town
rather quietly. Capt. Means met his
company5 in their quarters in the evening of
April 30th, handed over the command to
Lieut. [John] Eadie [Jr.], bid his boys good
bye, and left in citizens dress. Many of
the boys thought he had resigned and left
for old Summit. However, the third day
afterward he was back among them, but
was very uncommunicative as to his
whereabouts or business.6 Monday evening
about 10 o'clock, a company was put in
motion very quietly and were landed in
Dayton, Ohio, about one o'clock A.M. Tuesday, May
5th, and proceeded to the
house of Mr. Vallandigham, tried to have
him open the door and give himself up,
but their logic did not convince him-an
ax was used and three doors were bat-
tered down before the gentleman could be
reached, and although up and dressed,
he had to be taken from his wife's
bedroom amidst a perfect torrent of tears and
heart-rendering sobs. When the boys are
sent out on an errand they generally do
up their business in a hurry; so in this
case, Vallandigham was in Kemper Bar-
racks the next morning for breakfast.7
During Tuesday afternoon a telegram was
sent to Gen. Burnside that there
was trouble in Dayton; an order came to
these quarters, and Company C was
seen at the cars again and on their way
to that famous City. The Captain [John
Means] being required at Headquarters
early the next morning, could only accom-
pany them as far as the cars. They were
got aboard at 10 1/2 P.M. were tumbling
out of the cars and falling into line
and soon marched up near the jail, when a
squad was sent under Sergt. [Charles]
Way to protect the fire engines then trying
4. Hill was captain of Company A of the
115th O.V.I. Interestingly enough, one of the men serving
under him was a Clement H. Vallandigham,
who was twenty-one years old. Since some of the men
in the 115th were from Columbiana
County, Clement L. Vallandigham's birthplace, it is quite possible
that the two were related. Private
Vallandigham may have been named for the older man's father,
the Reverend Clement Vallandigham.
5. Company C of the 115th O.V.I.
6. Hill and Means were Burnside's agents
at the Mount Vernon rally.
7. On the night of May 5 Vallandigham
was temporarily transferred to Newport Barracks in Ken-
tucky. He was brought back to Cincinnati
the next day for his military trial. See James Vallandigham,
A Life of Clement Vallandigham (Baltimore, 1872), 259.
122 OHIO
HISTORY
to extinguish a fire which the mob were
determined to prevent them from extin-
guishing. As soon as the Sergt. arrived
at the scene of trouble he deployed his
men along the hose with orders to stick
their bayonets into any one who would
attempt to cut the hose; and the
consequence was, several [men] went away with
a hole about the seat of their pants.
After this you never saw such a scared set of
beings in this world; they madly
trampled down and tumbled over one another
trying to get away. All were good Union
men then, willing to have rebellion put
down, only they did not like to take up
arms themselves, fearing they might get
shot. Two o'clock the next morning found
the streets clear and the city quiet.
The night, however, was too short to
sleep off the effects of bad whiskey; and by
adding to it the next morning they got
their courage worked up to fighting and
began to collect near the market house
where the Summit boys were standing at
rest, and soon began to be very
boisterous. All of a sudden the boys came to a
shoulder arms and a half a dozen squads
started in as many directions and before
those whiskey devils were aware of it,
they were completely encircled with the
bayonets bustling at them on every side.
Lieuts. Eadie and [George] Waterman
with a reserve squad then went into them
and commenced arresting the ring lead-
ers and participators in the mob the
previous evening, and marched off some thirty
to the jail. Additions were made during
the day until the number reached forty-
five or fifty. Much credit is given
Lieuts. Eadie and Waterman for their gentle-
manly as well as soldierly conduct, and
they gave good assurance that they will
help put down the rebels any place where
they show their heads. The Lieutenants
were handsomely complimented to the
Captain by a member of Gen. [Jacob]
Cox's staff who was with them part of
the time. Some fifteen of the rioters are
now in Kemper Barracks, when Gen.
Burnside gave them an audience and to
understand that treason or out spoken
sympathy with the rebels would not be
tolerated in this department. I had the
pleasure of being present during the inter-
view, and were it not for trespassing on
your space and patience would relate some
of the conversation. However it is
enough to say, that not a single man would
admit he was in favor of Vallandigham's
policy for ending the war; all were "good
Union men," loyal to the back bone
and would swear an oath of allegiance as
hard as we were able to put it, if they
could only get out of this scrape.
Four more men, three spies and one
deserter, were sent from this city yesterday
morning to Johnston's [sic] Island8
to be executed, and one to be imprisoned at
hard labor. Over two hundred rebel,
civil, and political prisoners are in Kemper
Barracks, awaiting a hearing. They have
found out, at last, that we have a com-
mander that means just what he says, and
will execute his orders and punish
violators wherever found.
The 115th are completely enraptured with
our General, and would go through
fire and water for him. No one doubts
the General's bravery, and his goodness of
heart is fully equal to it. I believe
the salvation of his country, the welfare and
comfort of his soldiers are the
absorbing themes of his life.
Vallandigham's case will be published
before you receive this. Conjecture is
on tip toe and anxiety manifested by
some, fearing that he would be released,
8. After August 1862 Johnson's Island
Prison, built on an island in Lake Erie near Sandusky, was
used to supplement Camp Chase in
Columbus as a prison for civilian Confederate sympathizers. See
Phillip R. Shriver and Donald J. Breen, Ohio's
Military Prisons in the Civil War (Columbus, 1964), 33.
Vallandigham's Arrest
123
either by the civil or military Courts;
but never fear, our brave leader is at the
helm and the ship of State will out-ride
the storm. Traitors are even now calling
on the rocks to fall on them and save
them from the "wrath to come". . . .
The health of my company is very good.
More anon
A. Z.9
The next letter from "M" dated
May 8 supplements the first letter. It appeared in
the Summit County Beacon on May
14, 1863.
Kemper Barracks, Cincinnati
Dear Beacon:-- May 8th, 1863
The 115th Regiment is still scattered
about the country in separate battalions,
two of which are in the city [of
Cincinnati]. Col[onel] [Jackson A.] Lucy, in com-
mand of Companies G. and K. went up the
Ohio towards Pittsburg [sic] on a
gunboat, some days since, and I think
have not yet returned to Covington, where
they have been stationed. Your readers
are aware from a letter from Capt. Means,
that Companies C and E, spent some
time--nearly four weeks--"away down south
in Dixie"; they returned two weeks
ago and had just got comfortably situated in
the barracks again, when last Tuesday
evening Co. C. was called upon to be pre-
pared to leave the barracks in ten
minutes. All hands were ready at the appointed
time and were marched to the depot of
the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton
R. R. where they took the cars for the
last named city, and have not yet returned.
The cause of their call to Dayton, was
the riot raised by the Butternuts in conse-
quence of the arrest of their leader,
Vallandigham. Yes! after having boldly talked
treason for months, this worst of
traitors has been arrested and tried by court-
martial. What his sentence is has not
yet been made public but I most sincerely
hope it will prove to be such as will
effectually silence all treasonable sayings and
publications in the Department of Ohio
for the future. Vallandigham was a prisoner
in our barracks for one day, during
which, we had many visitors, some of them
offering as high as ten dollars for a
peep at him. Unless their eyes, however, are
more acute than mine, they would have
seen nothing at all remarkable in his
appearance, only that he looked
decidedly crest-fellen [sic], and that he has a very
large mouth. . . .
Yours,
M.
9. No person with the initials "A.
Z." is listed in the roster for Company C. Perhaps the author of
the letter was Jacob Zimmerman, and the Beacon
incorrectly substituted an "A" for a "J." Official
Roster
of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio
in the War of the Rebellion (Cincinnati,
1888), VIII, 157.