USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois : being a general survey of Cook County history, including a condensed history of Chicago and special account of districts outside the city limits : from the earliest settlement to the present time, volume I > Part 41
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
Captain Harvey's company reached Alton July 14, 1847. A com- pany called the City Guards was organized here in November, 1847, principally by W. D. Danenhower. With the end of the year 1847 the enlistment in Cook county for the war with Mexico was practically ended. The county of Cook furnished a total of about ten companies for the Mexican war-say in all about nine hundred men. In December of that year a peace convention assembled in Chicago and demanded that the ante-bellum status should be adopted. They demanded the immediate cessation of the war and the restoration of former conditions. The Democrat argued against the resolutions of the convention, declaring that such a step would be nonsensical. In the issue of December 24 that paper said :
"Call home your troops, Mr. President of the United States ! Sheath your sword, General Scott! Drop your heads, trail your arms and sneak out of Mexico, noble veterans, for the Chicago Peace society DEMAND this most peremptorily at your hands, and by its potent influence it will enforce its mandate!"
The year 1848 was principally characterized by the return and ceremonious reception of the Mexican volunteers. Numerous mili- tia companies remained as a heritage of the war spirit kindled by the Mexican war. Among the companies organized between that date and the outbreak of the Rebellion were the Montgomery Guards, the German Rifle company, Ringgold Guards, Chicago Hussars, Emmet Guards, Chicago Light Guards, Jackson Guards, Garden City Guards, National Guards, Washington Battery, Chi- cago Battery, Shields Guards, William Tell Guards, Highland Guards and others. J. B. Beaubien was general of the Cook county militia. In the spring of 1848 the Sixty-third regiment, Illinois militia, was organized at Blue Island with Theodotus Doty as colonel. The Sixty-second regiment of Cook county militia was organized at Wheeling, on the Des Plaines, in 1848, with Joseph Filkins as colonel. J. B. F. Russell continued to be colonel of the First regiment Cook county militia at Chicago. In the spring of 1854 a reunion of the soldiers of the war of 1812 and of the Mexi- can war was held at South Market hall, Chicago; the object was to secure pensions for survivors of those wars. In 1854 Col. W. H. Davis commanded the Sixtieth regiment Illinois militia. In June, 1856, the annual encampment of the state militia was held on the lake shore four miles south of Chicago. The camp grounds after- wards became Camp Douglas at Cottage Grove. Gen. J. B. Beau- bien was supreme commander on that occasion. In the spring of 1858, upon the call of volunteers for the war against the Mormons in Utah, several hundred volunteers were raised in Cook county. In April of that year thirty-two recruits were sent to Jefferson bar- racks, Missouri, thence to be marched to Utah. As a matter of fact a full regiment of Cook county militia for the Utah war was ten-
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
dered and was refused. . It was commanded by S. B. Buckner, colonel, who afterwards surrendered Fort Donelson to General Grant during the Rebellion. Late in the fifties the marvelous per- formance of the Zouaves under Col. E. E. Ellsworth attracted the attention of the whole country. Their triumphant trip throughout the East was noted by every newspaper in the land. As a whole the Cook county militia were in excellent condition when the Re- bellion broke forth.
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THE CIVIL WAR 1861-1865
T HE election of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency in November, 1860, was variously received in this city. Chicago was pe- culiarly, if not unfortunately, situated at this time and during the entire continuance of the Civil war. Many of its fore- most citizens had previously been residents of the slave-holding states-particularly of Virginia and Kentucky-and, as might have been expected, such residents sympathized with the South, decried and denounced Abolitionism, and from the start openly manifested their hostility to the probable restrictive measures of President Lincoln's administration. To them it was not a question of treason or disloyalty, but was one of protest against any inter- ference by the Government with the institutions of the South- particularly slavery. As this interference was menaced, as they thought, by the election of Mr. Lincoln, they opposed his election and combated the views of the Abolitionists and of all who fa- vored the restriction of slavery. Their views were openly expressed, bitter in sentiment and expression, and defiant when Abolition measures were suggested or advocated. This condition of local opinion caused the election of November, 1860, to be one of extreme tension, rendered all the more stringent when it became known that Mr. Lincoln had been elected. To most of the leaders here, strange as it may seem, the entire question was one of politics and expediency. The question of loyalty or treason had not yet confronted the people. The great war none was wise enough to forecast. So Democrats and Republicans contended over the lesser problems of political intrigue, hoping in case of the Democrats to avert the threatened rupture of the Union of the South by conced- ing their demands, and determined in the case of the Republicans to nullify the Kansas-Nebraska act and the Dred Scott decision and to prevent the threatened nationalization of slavery regardless of consequences.
"At midnight the special dispatches received at this office, and elsewhere given, told the story beyond peradventure that Abraham Lincoln had been elected by the people. The enthusiasm in our streets at the time was something tremendous. The air rang with jubilant shouts. The Wide Awakes were out, led by a splendid band. All was rejoicing and jubilation. Our entire community deserve credit for the eminently peaceable manner in which the immense vote was polled yesterday. There were no fights, few arrests, no rows, and less noise than we have ever witnessed here on much less exciting occasions."-(Tribune, November 7, 1860. )
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
On November 21, 1860, Mr. Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln and Mr. Hamlin arrived and stopped at the Tremont house. They visited the various points of interest and held a public reception at the Tremont house parlors on November 23. It required two and a half hours for the line to pour through the hotel, but Mr. Lincoln shook hands with each individual. At his right stood Mrs. Lincoln and at his left Mr. Hamlin. This was a local event of great prominence-one long to be remembered by the celebrities of Chicago.
The immediate effects at Chicago of the election of Mr. Lincoln were somewhat marked. Soon orders for produce from old and reliable houses of Baltimore and New Orleans were declined unless accompanied with the cash. The secession of South Carolina and one by one of the other Southern states was regarded with direful forebodings by the people of Cook county. The attitude of Mr. Douglas in the United States Senate in December, 1860, particu- larly in his masterly replies to Wigfall, Iverson and other fire-eat- ing disunionists, was highly praised by all residents here. Coercive measures began to be favored by all Republicans and many Demo- crats immediately after the secession of South Carolina December 20, 1860. The course of Maj. Robert Anderson in retiring to Fort Sumter late in December, 1860, received the warm approval of local Republicans. It was noted that during the Black Hawk war in 1832 the same Major Anderson had been inspector general of Illinois volunteers and under him had served Capt. Abraham Lincoln; now in 1860 the latter was soon to be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, while the former was major of the First United States artillery located at the storm center of the Union. Early in the month of January, 1861, the ringing message of Governor Yates to the Legislature kindled the warmest comments.
Late in December, 1860, and early in January, 1861, the Times and its supporters here sharply censured Major Anderson for occu- . pying Fort Sumter. The Tribune of January 3 in answering said : "We do not cite the Times article to prove its sympathy with the disunionists and traitors of South Carolina, because that is well known wherever the paper is read, but to show to what lengths par- tisan hate and malice may go with impunity in the North." The following call, signed by ninety-six leading citizens, was circulated on January 2: "The citizens of Chicago, without distinction of party, who are in favor of standing by the Constitution and the Union and the enforcement of the laws, are requested to meet at Bryan hall on Saturday evening, January 5, 1861, for the purpose of expressing their sentiments in relation thereto." Bryan hall was crowded at this meeting. S. S. Hayes, a Democrat, presided. Speeches were delivered by S. A. Goodwin, E. C. Larned, S. S. Hayes, William Bross, Henry Waller, E. Van Buren, I. N. Arnold
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and others. The committee on resolutions were as follows: S. A. Goodwin, W. K. McAllister, J. Lyle King, J. W. Sheahan, E. Van Buren, John C. Rogers, E. C. Larned, A. Van Arman and Digby V. Bell. There was no division of the sentiment to maintain the Union at all hazards. Gen. R. K. Swift presented this resolution, "the reading of which was followed by a perfect whirlwind of ap- plause, the audience almost to a man rising to their feet in a tumult of enthusiasm": "Resolved, That we heartily approve of the de- cisive and patriotic course of Major Anderson at Charleston, and that in him we see the type of the hero of New Orleans."
This meeting of all shades of opinion on the exciting questions of that period was abrupt, violent and difficult to manage. Several wanted radical resolutions, others milder ones, and still others wanted concessions to restore the Union. The following was pro- posed : "Resolved, That while we disapprove and denounce all legislative or individual action calculated to impair or infringe upon the constitutional rights of the people of any section of the Union, we have neither compromise nor concession to offer disunionists arrayed in open rebellion to the Government, or their aiders or abettors." This was too severe to suit sympathizers with the South. All violent resolutions were rejected. The resolutions reported by the special committee were adopted. They declared: 1. That the Union must be preserved; 2. The right to secede was denied; 3. Federal laws must be enforced if necessary ; 4. Peaceable measures should be exhausted before the sword was drawn; 5. There should be an honorable and constitutional settlement of the slavery ques- tion; 6. The action of Major Anderson was endorsed; 7. All dif- ferences between the North and South should be adjusted in a spirit of fairness. The resolution most vehemently objected to was as follows: "That whatever their difficulties may be (differences be- tween the Northern and Southern sections of the Union), they will only be aggravated by a dissolution of the Union; and that men of all political parties in both sections of the country should be ready to make great concessions to restore peace and harmony between the different sections of the country."
The Tribune of January 8 said: "Had the meeting at Bryan hall on Saturday night last contented itself with the solemn declara- tion that the 'Union must and shall be preserved' and that 'the laws must be enforced at whatever cost and by the whole power of the Nation,' its action would have received the unqualified indorsement of the people not only of this city but of the whole Northwest, and the moral effect could not have been otherwise than good. In going farther than this, the good that might have been done was wholly defeated, and the whole moral effect of the meeting was to the encouragement of treason and secession. . . . It is due to many who participated in the meeting at Bryan hall to say that they were misled as to the real force of the resolution pledging Vol. I-25.
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to a willingness to make 'large concessions.' . . . The Tribune has only words of denunciation for any resolution or scheme that contemplates the surrender of one iota of the principles on which the late Republican triumph was achieved. The day of compromise has gone by. To make concessions in the face of treason and of threats is both dastardly and unpatriotic."
Dissatisfaction with the proceedings of the Bryan hall meeting continued to grow until another, of all persons "opposed to great concessions to the disunionists," was called. The "great conces- sions" resolution was written by E. C. Larned with the conscien- tious design of uniting all partisans to support Lincoln's adminis- tration in quelling the rebellion and saving the Union. While it was not satisfactory, the general effect here and throughout the state was conciliatory, quieting and therefore good. In the end, however, the sentiment of "no concessions to the slave power" pre- vailed here. J. K. C. Forrest openly, defiantly and eloquently op- posed any concessions, and was the spokesman of hundreds of the best citizens. On the other hand S. S. Hayes and a large delegation favored the concession resolution. The proclamation of Mayor Wentworth to observe January 8 (Jackson's day) as a day of demonstration to approve the course of Major Anderson was recog- nized by the whole city. The flag was flung out everywhere, salutes were fired, and the militia companies paraded.
On January 14, 1861, a big meeting was called "to set the people right on the 'great concession' question," as it was called. Judge George Manierre presided and opened the proceedings with a strong speech in favor of maintaining the Union-with force if necessary. Grant Goodrich, William Bross, Gen. R. K. Swift, I. N. Arnold, J. W. Waughop, Van H. Higgins, J. K. C. Forrest, A. Huntington, S. B. Perry and A. D. Bradley were appointed a committee on resolutions. While they were being perpared, eloquent and loyal speeches were delivered by I. N. Arnold, John Lyle King, Grant Goodrich, A. D. Bradley, John Wentworth and others. Three of the resolutions presented and adopted were as follows :
"Resolved, That the Federal Government is a government of the people and not a compact between individual states; that as the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, secession or nullifica- tion is revolution and treason.
"Resolved, That while we disapprove and denounce all legisla- tive or individual action calculated to impair or infringe the Con- stitutional rights of any section of the Union, we have neither com- promise nor concession to offer disunionists arrayed with arms in their hands in open rebellion against the Government, or their aiders or abettors.
"Resolved, That we will maintain the flag of our country, that it shall remain the flag of the whole country, and that not a star shall be torn from it, neither by secession, rebellion or aggression."
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The Tribune of January 15 said: "No one could have witnessed the vociferous and almost ravenous enthusiasm with which the stars and stripes were greeted at the immense Union meeting in Metropolitan hall last evening without believing that the men of Chicago are ready to follow their nation's flag into the most trying scenes that ever beset the pathway of a high and righteous patriot- ism. It was tumultuous and prolonged, rising and swelling like the waves in angry weather."
On January 24, 1861, the Democrats held a large meeting at North Market hall. Richard T. Merrick presided. Among the speakers were W. C. Goudy, Charles C. Cameron, T. Benton Taylor, M. F. Tuley, Robert S. Blackwell and Charles M. Willard. All shades of opinion concerning the state of the Union were expressed. The meeting endorsed the resolutions adopted by the recent Demo- cratic state convention at Springfield, among which was the solemn declaration that a state had not the right to secede from the Union, but if it did the Government could not prevent it. The most of the speakers favored conciliation and compromise. Strong resolutions to suppress the rebellion, offered by Charles S. Cameron, were defeated by this meeting. This was one of the first Copperhead movements here.
On January 25, 1861, a big meeting was called at Metropolitan hall by 168 young men under the age of 30 years, "for the purpose of inaugurating a movement for the organization of the young men of the county in defence of the Constitution and the Union as they are." L. H. Davis presided. The committee on resolutions were as follows: Horace White, G. A. Forsyth, J. O. Parker, G. W. Whittle, W. H. Blodgett, J. W. Merrill, C. T. Scammon, D. L. Leiter, W. S. Cadman, G. P. Williams and H. D. French. Several sets of resolutions, all fervent, strong and loyal, were adopted. . The C. S. Cameron resolutions which had been defeated at the Demo- cratic meeting the night before were adopted amid roars of applause by the young men.
"The meeting of the young men at Metropolitan hall last evening was overwhelming in numbers and uproarious in enthusiasm. The boys were out in full force and had a jolly season of speeches, reso- lutions, songs and cheers. Every patriotic allusion to the stars and stripes and every determined expression of adherence to the Consti- tution as it is elicited irrepressible applause."-(Tribune, January 26, 1861.)
The young men's meeting adjourned to reassemble on January 29. The enthusiasm was even stronger than before. Excellent resolutions to uphold the Union were passed amid tumultuous cheers. One was as follows: "Resolved, That we young men of Chicago do hereby tender our personal services to the Governor of Illinois, whenever in the judgment of the President and Congress of the United States it may be necessary to call for volunteers to aid
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
in vindicating the Constitution, executing the laws and maintaining the Union exactly as our fathers established it."
On February 4, 1861, the reception here of the unfounded rumor that Major Anderson in Fort Sumter had been reinforced occa- sioned much excitement and enthusiasm. Upon the receipt of this rumor the value of Southern and other stocks declined heavily in New York and in Chicago; exchange and gold advanced. The Tribune from the start took a radical Union course, while the Times assumed an ultra Southern view. The Times in January and Feb- ruary sharply criticised Douglas for his course in Congress in opposing the rebels. The Post was the organ of the Douglas wing of the Democracy. The Journal was Republican, but less radical than the Tribune. The Staats Zeitung was thoroughly loyal, as indeed were the Cook county Germans generally. As a whole the Irish favored Democracy, and many of them took the Times and imbibed its Southern views. As might have been expected, Chi- cago's trade with the South as a whole and with New Orleans in particular was almost wholly cut off. This occasioned strenuous complaint from business men here who suffered thereby and who were unable or unwilling to look beyond mere commercialism. Finally they issued the following call: "We, the undersigned Re- publicans of the city of Chicago, who have heretofore left all politi- cal matters to politicians and editors (who we think have more or less always misrepresented us), deeming it high time and highly important that a meeting be called to have a fair expression on the political differences that now distract and divide the country, do call a meeting on February 13, 1861, at Bryan hall." This was really a movement against the strong course of the coercionists and in favor of concession and conciliation. Many of the packers and wholesalers whose trade had been injured were concerned in this call. Their minds were more on Mammon than on the Union. The meeting was held, and resolutions deploring the distracted state of the country and recommending conciliation were adopted.
As a matter of fact this was a period of change in principle. The political standards of the past were thrown down. A revolu- tion in thought swept the country. There were the Abolitionists who were determined to destroy slavery at any cost. Then came the radical Republicans who cried, Save the Union and restrict slav- ery! Other Republicans and the Douglas branch of the Democracy cried, Save the Union and leave slavery as it is! Another branch of the Democracy declared that the South should not be coerced and could dissolve the Union if they wished to do so. All of these factions were well represented here at the outbreak of the Rebel- lion and all held separate meetings to announce and disseminate their particular views. Party lines were largely obliterated, many Democrats in particular joining the Republicans who favored, if necessary, the coercive policy in order to save the Union. "Leave
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slavery alone and save the Union" was the cry of the majority, perhaps, of Cook county. Thus the Union sentiment prevailed here at the outset ; the momentous step of obliterating slavery came at a later stage of the war to distract still further the revolution in sentiment and principle.
An immense Union meeting was held at Metropolitan hall on February 19, 1861, B. F. Millard serving as chairman. Brilliant speeches were made by the chairman, J. J. Richards, Ichabod Cod- ding, E. C. Larned, A. D. Bradley and John Wentworth. Deter- mined resolutions to save the Union at any cost were passed. In February Joseph Medill, representing the Tribune in Washington, was attacked by William Kellogg, one of the Congressmen from Illinois, for having sharply criticised the public course of that gen- tleman. Never before was Washington's birthday celebrated here so fervently as it was in 1861. The peril in which the Union stood aroused all the latent patriotism of the people. The memorable journey of Mr. Lincoln from Springfield to Washington, with its report of plots to assassinate or to wreck the train, ending finally by the sudden and secret advent of Mr. Lincoln into Washington, swayed and rocked this county as by a tornado. Immense relief was felt when Buchanan stepped down from the chair he had dis- graced and Lincoln assumed the scepter of state. The Tribune in its transport said : "Thank God! This (Monday, March 4) is the day of deliverance. . . . Henceforth a new career is open to the
Republic. . . . The Government is rescued from the grasp of the slave power. . This Government-for the last forty years the creature of despotic institutions-the machine for. propagating human bondage-is to be hereafter on the side of human rights and human liberty."
In March the appointment by Mr. Lincoln of Norman B. Judd of Chicago as minister plenipotentiary to the court at Berlin pleased the residents of this county. After the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln many here, including the Tribune, wanted and expected immediate action to recover the forts and other property of the Government which had been taken possession of by the South. But such a step was not yet the policy of the administration. Local patriotism could not understand the delay and hence grew restive and fault- finding even with "Honest Abe." The Tribune of March 18, voic- ing the impatience effervescing here, said: "The condition of the country demands action. A 'masterly inactivity' policy is the wisest for some emergencies, but it is not adapted to our present needs. The Government must indicate its power in the face of treason and rebellion or its destruction is certain." But the delay continued for causes later well known, until anxious hearts, in the darkness, almost lost hope.
To the Government loan early in March. 1861, Walter L. New- berry subscribed $40,000. It was such acts that encouraged the
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Government and furnished it with the "sinews of war." Cook county and indeed the whole North, like Micawber, was waiting for some- thing to turn up, and they did not have to wait much longer. Late in March it was advertised that the famous Wigwam in which Lincoln had been nominated would be sold at auction. It was bought by Orrington Lunt for the board of trustees of Garrett Biblical Institute.
Generally, nearly all of the military companies were meeting 00 00 00 00 and drilling, though even they were waiting to see what was going to happen. Finally the attack on Fort Sumter awoke the waiting county and city like an earthquake. Lincoln's plan of throwing upon the South the burden of commencing the war had succeeded. The Tribune of April 13 and 15 said: "War Inaugurated .- By the act of a handful of ingrates and traitors, war is inaugurated in this heretofore happy and peaceful Republic. While we write the bombardment of Sumter is going on. . The duty of the Gov- ernmen from this moment is plain. The resources of the Republic must be put forth with no grudging or tardy hand. The strife must be short and the war quick, sharp and decisive. . The traitors commence the strife. They crown their months of insult, aggres- sion and robbery by the act which plunges the country into war. Heaven and the civilized world needed not this last enormity to justify the Government in putting forth its utmost power to crush the men by whom it is assailed. But rather upon the traitors than upon the friends of the Union be the responsibility for blood which must now be spilt. The most ample apologist for treason is hence- forth silenced. This on the part of the Government is today a war of self-defense. Tomorrow let it be one of quick aggression. . Yesterday was a day long to be remembered in Chicago. What- ever the future has in store to continue or increase the present ex- cited state of feeling, the earliest effect of the war news of Saturday evening on and throughout yesterday was of too marked a nature readily to be paralleled in a city usually so quiet on the Lord's day. The city was given up to intense and all prevailing excitement the like of which has never been known in this community."
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