USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. II > Part 9
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The gubernatorial canvas in Illinois was exceedingly brilliant,
* The popular vote was: Lincoln, 1,866,352; Douglas, 1,375, 157; Breckinridge, 847,514; Bell, 587,830. Electoral vote: Lincoln, 180; Breckinridge, 72; Bell, 39; Douglas, 12.
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GOVERNOR YATES.
and the most exciting since that of 1826, when Edwards was elected over Sloo. The two principal candidates had served together in congress and were popular with their respective parties, as well as eloquent speakers. Their meetings were attended by large crowds, who formed processions, with music and flying banners. The people recorded their verdict at the polls as follows: for Yates, 172,196 votes; Allen, 159,253; T. M. Hope, 2049; John T. Stuart, 1626.
Richard Yates, upon whom the executive mantle of Illinois had now fallen, was born in Warsaw, Gallatin County, Ky., on Jan. 18, 1815. His family was of English origin, first settling in Virginia. His father, Henry, a man of superior mental en- dowments, was one of the pioneers of Kentucky, but, being fully impressed with the evils of slavery, resolved in 1831 to remove to the free-State of Illinois. Stopping first at Spring- field, where he carried on the business of a merchant, he settled permanently at Island Grove in the same county.
Richard completed his scholastic training at Illinois College in 1835, having been one of the first two graduates of that institution, and was the first governor of the State who had passed regularly through a college curriculum. Of medium height and proportions, the striking feature of the governor was his fine head, covered with a thick growth of dark auburn hair. His face was expressive at once of power, passion, and amiability. His voice was strong and flexible-well adapted to speaking in the open air. His address was courteous, and his manners exceed- ingly frank and winning. In the opening of his speeches, he was so nervous as to excite apprehensions of a failure, but as he proceeded he gained confidence, and his embarrassment disappeared or was forgotten in the charm of his oratory. This timidity or nervousness followed him through life, although in his political speeches, as he became familiar with the subject, it was not so apparent.
He read law in the office of Gen. John J. Hardin at Jackson- ville, and entered upon its practice with flattering prospects of success. But the wider and more congenial field of the hus- tings presented attractions which he was unable to resist. Accord- ingly in 1842, he entered the arena of politics and was elected to the legislature, where he served three terms in the lower
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house. Here, although always in the minority, he made many valuable acquaintances and became a popular member. He frequently took part in the debates, and was looked upon as a rising young statesman. In 1850, he became the whig candi- date for congress in the old seventh district, which had success- ively elected Hardin, Baker, and Lincoln to congress, but which, in a contest with Judge Logan in 1848, had been wrested from the whigs by the gallant Maj. Thomas L. Harris, victori- ously returned from the Mexican war. Yates was selected to redeem the district. The canvas which followed was able and hotly maintained. Joint discussions, in the old-fashioned way, were held in every county. Harris was the better debater, but Yates the more eloquent speaker, and together they made a splendid match. Off the stump, however, Yates had greatly the advantage. He possessed a personal magnetism which enabled him to attach his friends to his support with hooks of steel. Without the unpolished strength and genius of Lincoln in argument, or the grace and wit of Baker in oratory, he was the superior of either in the personal management of a political campaign. Yates was elected by a small majority, and was the only whig congressman who achieved success in Illinois that year.
Again a candidate in 1852, the democrats made the mistake of putting up against him John Calhoun, who was not strong with the people, although a man of fine ability, and had large claims on his party for past services. The district had been so changed in the apportionment that it was supposed any democrat could be elected. But in this his opponents had underestimated the strength and resources of Yates, who was again successful, although the district gave Pierce, for president, 1096 majority. In 1854, however, he fell a victim to the changing political affiliations consequent upon the Kansas-Nebraska agitation. Notwithstanding he ran ahead of his ticket over 1000 votes, he was defeated by his old antagonist, Maj. Harris, by 200 majority. He was a vice-president of the Bloomington con- vention in 1856, but was not again actively engaged in politics until the great campaign of 1860.
Francis A. Hoffman, the lieutenant-governor elect, was born at Herford, Prussia, in 1822. On arriving at Chicago in Sept-
Richoratio
CLOR
NY
LIBRAR 1
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TWENTY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
ember, 1839, finding himself without money or friends, he first engaged in teaching a German school in Du Page County, and subsequently was ordained as a Lutheran minister, in which profession he labored faithfully ten years. In 1852, he abandoned the ministry and removing to Chicago, studied law. In the following year he engaged in the real-estate business, and after- ward in that of banking. He soon became actively interested in politics, and in 1853 was elected an alderman. He was de- cidedly anti-slavery, and among the first to assist in the organi- zation of the republican party. Well educated, and an earnest American in spirit, as well as by adoption, he had made him- self familiar with the forms and proceedings of public bodies, and having also a decisive character, quick to learn and observe, had qualified himself to become an intelligent, as he was an impartial, presiding officer. He was the third foreigner elected in this State to preside over the senate.
The twenty-second general assembly, which convened Jan. 7, 1861, was republican in both branches-by one majority in the senate and seven in the house. In the former body, appeared for the first time, Wm. B. Ogden, Richard J. Oglesby, Alonzo W. Mack, Washington Bushnell, William Jayne, and Henry E. Dummer. Of those who had formerly served in the house, the following had been again elected: Cyrus Edwards, Aaron Shaw, James W. Singleton, Franklin Blades, S. P. Cummings, S. A. Hurlbut, Wm. H. Green, L. S. Church, and E. M. Haines. Among the newly-elected members of the house were: Wm. R. Archer, J. Russell Jones, Robert H. McClellan, J. Young Scam- mon, Wm. H. Brown, Arthur A. Smith, Lawrence Weldon, Robert B. Latham, Thomas W. Harris, Norman M. Broadwell, Albert G. Burr, Harvey Hogg, Henry D. Cook, Andrew J. Cropsey, Solomon M. Wilson, and John Scholfield.
Shelby M. Cullom, who had served with distinction in the twentieth general assembly, was elected speaker of the house, receiving thirty-nine votes to twenty-nine cast for J. W. Single- ton. Henry Wayne was chosen clerk, and Caswell P. Ford doorkeeper. Campbell W. Waite was made secretary of the senate, and Richard T. Gill sergeant-at-arms.
On January 10, the two houses met in joint-session for the purpose of electing a United-States senator. Judge Trumbull,
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
having proved himself an able and industrious member, was the unanimous choice of the republicans for reelection. The demo- crats voted for Samuel S. Marshall, the vote standing for Trum- bull 54 to 36 for his opponent; the Nemesis of Fate having with exact mathematical accuracy reversed the ballot of two years before, which had resulted in the election of Douglas.
But few laws of public interest were enacted at this session, the proceedings and discussions being largely affected by paramount national questions and the events daily transpiring. Legislative and congressional apportionment bills were passed; also an act for the protection of inn-keepers; and one to protect married women in their separate property.
The new governor was inaugurated in the presence of both houses of the general assembly, Jan. 14, 1861.
Meanwhile, events of transcendent importance concerning the welfare of the states as such, and their federal relations to the Union of states, were transpiring in the South. The clash of ideas and resulting conflict of opinion which had, for so many years, existed between the North and the South on the subject of slavery, and its relations to the general government, and which had always been a disturbing element between the two sections, was now bearing long-dreaded but hardly-anticipated fruit. No sooner was it ascertained that the presidential elec- tion had resulted in favor of the republican candidate, than the feeling became apparent in the slave-states that the time was come, and the pretext furnished, to assert and maintain, by force of arms, if necessary, the sovereignty and independence of the states as such. This feeling, though heretofore dormant in many portions of the South, was now fully aroused and in- tensified in public meetings and conventions, and by the action of state legislatures, urged on by their leading men; and this notwithstanding the fact of the repeated declaration of Lincoln, that he had no purpose or intention of interfering, in any way, with slavery in the states.
South Carolina was the first to act, and on December 20, passed an ordinance "to dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and the other states united with her under the compact entitled the constitution of the United States of America." The State of Mississippi, on January 9, was the
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PORTENTOUS ASPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
first to follow the Palmetto State; then came Florida and Alabama, on January II; Georgia, on January 18; Louisiana, on January 26; and Texas, on February I. In Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, such was the strength of the Union sentiment that the designs of the revolutionists were, for the time being, thwarted; while in Kentucky, Delaware, Mary- land, and Missouri, although there was a large number of se- cessionists, especially among the office-holders, they were not sufficiently strong to carry their states out of the Union by formal enactment.
Early in December, the cabinet of President Buchanan be- gan to disintegrate by the resignation of Howell Cobb, secre- tary of the treasury, which action was soon followed by the venerable Gen. Lewis Cass, secretary of state, and all the other members except the secretary of the navy.
Such was the portentous aspect of public affairs when Gov. Yates took the oath of office; although but two states had actually passed an ordinance of secession, it was evident that the ominous shadow of disunion was to darken every southern commonwealth. The inaugural message of the governor was mainly devoted to a discussion of that subject. He defended the following propositions: First-That obedience to the constitu- tion and laws must be insisted upon and enforced as necessary to the existence of government; Second-That the election of a chief magistrate of the Nation, in strict conformity with the constitution, was not sufficient cause for the release of any state from any of its obligations to the Union.
These questions were exhaustively considered in the ablest and most scholarly state-paper that had ever been submitted to an Illinois legislature. He argued that the valley of the Mississippi must forever remain an undivided territory under one governmental jurisdiction; and, with keen insight into the future, predicted that as a result of the crisis through which the country was then passing, the Union would be preserved, and the Nation honored throughout the civilized world as "one of intelligence and freedom, of justice, industry, and religion, science and art, stronger and more glorious, renowned, and free, than ever before."
The action of the people in the South in regard to secession
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
naturally called forth public expressions of views in the Northern States. Conventions were held in several of these, all looking toward a peaceable solution of the difficult political problem presented; one of which was a democratic state-convention held at Springfield, January 16, attended by five hundred dele- gates. Resolutions were adopted counselling compromise and conciliation, and declaring that any effort to coerce the seceding states would plunge the country into civil war; denying the right of secession; and proposing a national convention to amend the constitution, so as to produce harmony and frater- nity throughout the Union.
On Feb. 2, in response to an invitation from the state of Virginia calling a peace conference to meet at Washington, the following commissioners from Illinois were appointed: Stephen T. Logan, John M. Palmer, John Wood, Burton C. Cook, and Thomas J. Turner.
The absorbing topic of secession was largely and ably dis- cussed in the legislature, and joint-resolutions adopted, declar- ing that the State of Illinois was willing to concur in the calling of a convention to amend the constitution of the United States, but that the present federal Union must be preserved, and the present constitution and laws administered "as they are."
All efforts toward conciliation, through conventions and on the part of congress, utterly failed to accomplish the object. The intention on the part of Southern leaders to form a separ- ate confederacy had been fully formed, and no proposition short of making slavery a national institution would have been for a moment entertained.
The seçeding states, under the name of the Confederate States of America, adopted a constitution at Montgomery, Alabama, February 9, 1861, and organized their government by the election of Jefferson Davis, president, and Alexander H. Stephens, vice-president.
Two days thereafter, Abraham Lincoln left his old home in Springfield for the city of Washington, to assume the duties of president of the United States.
Under no such trying and critical circumstances had any of his predecessors ever taken the oath of office. In a hostile community, surrounded by conspirators uttering treasonable
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THE OPPOSING GOVERNMENTS.
sentiments, with which leading officers of the government and its army sympathized, he approached the performance of his duty with the greatest anxiety; yet with patriotic clearness of vision and firmness of purpose. His inaugural address was the end of argument on the question of the sovereignty of the United States, and no answer was ever attempted. He was intro- duced to the vast audience, on the occasion of its delivery, by his old friend, Senator E. D. Baker, and upon the platform were ex-President Buchanan, Chief-Justice Taney-author of the Dred-Scott decision, and his old competitor, Judge Doug- las, who extended toward him every courtesy-even holding his hat during the delivery of the address.
The new administration, now fully organized, stood face to face with the government of the seceders at Montgomery. The pause which followed was ominous of that fratricidal clash of arms soon to shake the continent and be heard around the globe. The hour had now arrived, long presaged by the mon- archists in the old world, and notably by such writers as Macau- ley, who could see in a republican polity nothing stronger than a rope of sand; the hour which had been so often prophesied by those social scientists who had constituted themselves the apostles of the doctrine of the divine right of kings; the hour in which the supporters of despotism exulted and the friends of popular liberty turned pale; the hour when democracy, the government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," was to be tried in a crucible heated seven times.
The firing of a shell on April 12, 1861, by Gen. Gustave T. Beauregard into Fort Sumter, which Gen. Robert Anderson had refused to surrender upon rebel demand, was the signal for the commencement of "the war of the rebellion." The fort was surrendered on the next day, and on Monday morning, April 15, the president issued his proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers to subdue "combinations too powerful to be sup- pressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, and to cause the laws to be duly executed."
The wager of battle had been thrown, the first blow struck at the sovereignty of the United States, and the issue of dread war was thus squarely met.
Immediately upon the receipt of the president's proclama-
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
tion, Gov. Yates convened a special session of the legislature for the purpose of enacting laws for a more perfect equipment of the militia, and of devising means to render efficient assistance to the general government "in preserving the Union, enforcing the laws, and protecting the property and rights of the people." General order number one was issued by the adjutant-general, requiring commandants of state military organizations to take immediate steps to perfect their drill and discipline.
On the same day, a dispatch having been received from the secretary of war stating the quota of Illinois under the presi- dent's call, the governor issued his call for "six regiments of militia."
The country was ablaze with military excitement. Meetings were held in every town and city, and the fires of the revolu- tionary era were kindled afresh. Clergy and laity united in the utterance of loyal sentiments, amid the singing of patriotic songs and enthusiastic cheers. "The Star Spangled Banner," and "The Red, White, and Blue," now that the old flag had been assaulted by armed traitors, were shouted forth with a zest and fervor which gave to their melody an inspiration hith- erto unfelt, and a power never before realized. Women, regard- less of what the war might cost them, vied with the men in demonstrations of that unflinching courage which is born only of loyalty and devotion.
Indeed, in this turmoil of impending strife, the country pre- sented a strange and unwonted aspect. Unless the Mexican war, which had been of brief duration, be excepted, there had been no general war to arouse the martial spirit of the Nation for fifty years. All the knowledge of the onset of armed hosts which the present generation possessed had been de- rived from books, or from traditions preserved in the memo- ries of the few surviving heroes of former wars, and by them transmitted to their children. These legends of the fathers, telling of the vicissitudes and hardships, the excitement and glory of a soldier's life upon the march, in the bivouac, and amid the smoke and carnage of battle, while they stirred the blood, conveyed but an imperfect idea of the realities of war, its horrors, and its sacrifices. But the first gun had fired the Anglo-Saxon blood, the time for fighting had come, and he
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GREAT SPEECH OF DOUGLAS.
who should shrink from the proffered conflict, would be a traitor to the name and chivalry of his race.
In Illinois, there was a union of sentiment among all parties as remarkable as it was gratifying. Leading democratic journals came out in condemnation of the rebels, and sustaining the gov- ernment. Judge Douglas was among the first to call upon Presi- dent Lincoln, and tender him his cordial sympathy and support. Arriving in Springfield during the session of the legislature, he was invited to address that body in joint-session. There was great anxiety to hear him, knowing that every utterance would be well considered, and that his views would influence the actions of thousands of his fellow-citizens. He gave forth no uncertain sound, and in his masterly presentation of the issue tendered by the South, surpassed all his former efforts in the eloquence of his unanswerable logic and in irresistible appeals to the people to be loyal to the country. The first duty, he said, of an American citizen is obedience to the constitution and laws. In the present contest there could be but two parties, patriots and traitors. "It is a duty we owe to ourselves, and our children, and our God, to protect this government, and that flag from every assailant, be he who he may." This was the last and greatest of the senator's forensic efforts at the capital, and, coming from one so well known and justly honored in all the states, was worth more to the cause of the Union in the call to arms than such words from any other living man; and in his sudden death at this critical and momentous juncture, the cause of the Union sustained a loss greater than that which follows any mere reverse of arms .*
On April 19, the secretary of war telegraphed Gov. Yates to take possession of Cairo as an important strategic point. At this time there were but few existing military organizations in the State, and these chiefly independent companies in the larger cities. The most available commanding officer was Brig .- Gen. Richard Kellogg Swift of Chicago, who was ordered by the governor to proceed to Cairo as speedily as possible with such force as he could raise. On April 21, that officer, with commendable dispatch, was on his way to the supposed danger
* He died at the Tremont House, Chicago, after a brief illness, June 3, 1861.
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
point with seven companies, numbering 595 men, armed and equipped .*
The first company of volunteers tendered in response to the governor's call on April 16, was the Zouave Grays of Spring- field, Capt. John Cook, and on the same day companies were tendered from Richard J. Oglesby, Macon County; Benj. M. Prentiss, Adams County; Wilford D. Wyatt, Logan County; Geo. W. Rives, Edgar County, two companies; John Lynch, Richland County; and by Gustavus Korner, five companies from St. Clair; and before night of the 18th, fifty companies had been tendered. At the same time, $100,000 was offered to the governor as a loan, to aid in organizing and equipping the troops, by the leading bankst and bankers of Springfield, and $500,000 by those of Chicago.
The general assembly, at its called session, enacted laws amending the militia law; providing for the creation of a war- fund of $2,000,000, and for a board of three commissioners to audit accounts for supplies; to organize six regiments of volun- teers; and to authorize the raising of ten additional regiments of infantry and one battalion of light artillery-one of said regiments from companies then in Springfield, and one from each of the nine congressional districts of the State.
The precipitation of the war of the rebellion wrought a great change in the administration of the state government. The executive office under the second constitution had so little con- nection with the people, except during the sessions of the legis- lature, that visitors were but few and far between, so that the governor was actually lonesome for the want of callers. The
* The expedition consisted of the following forces: Brig .- Gen. Swift and staff; Chicago Light Artillery, Capt. James Smith; Lockport Light Artillery, Capt. Nor- man L. Hawley; Company A, Chicago Zouaves, Capt. James R. Hayden; Company B, Chicago Zouaves, Capt. John H. Clybourn; Chicago Light Infantry, Capt. Frederick Harding; Turner Union Cadets, Capt. Gustav Kowald; Lincoln Rifles, Capt. Geza Mihalotzy; Light Artillery Company, Capt. Caleb Hopkins; Capts. Charles Houghiteling of Ottawa, Edward McAllister of Plainfield, and Lindsay H. Carr of Sandwich, reported for service but did not join the expedition until after- ward. These troops served from April 19 to May 3 .- Adj't Gen's Report, I, 223.
+ Jacob Bunn, N. H. Ridgely & Co., and the Marine and Fire Insurance Bank.
# The Marine Bank, J. Young Scammon; Hoffman and Gelpecke; Merchants Loan and Trust Co .; B. F. Carver & Co .; Western Marine and Fire Insurance Co .; H. A. Tucker & Co .; and E. I. Tinkham & Co.
BURTON C. COOK
O.H.BROWNING:
73
· FRANCIS A.HOFFMAN
JOHN WILLIAMS
NORMAN B.JUDD
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PREPARING FOR WAR.
scene now presented in his room was as different as that of a quiet country town on ordinary days and when invaded by a circus. It was now the busiest and most attractive place at the state capitol, and, in conjunction with the adjutant-general's office, the center of public interest. Its doors were besieged by anxious crowds of aspiring and patriotic citizens offering their services, their influence, and sometimes their money, to aid their country in its time of peril. They came singly, and with companies. detachments, and squads. With the loyal and deserving there came also the speculator, the trader, and the bummer-men whose only aim was their own promotion and personal gain. All parties and classes and every shade of character were represented ; and the demand for places largely exceeded the supply.
Under the laws of congress and regulations of the war de- partment, the authority to appoint and commission officers of volunteer regiments, field, staff, and line, was vested in the governors of the respective states. Company-officers were gen- erally appointed in the first instance upon the recommendation or election of the men, and field-officers upon the recommenda- tion of the commissioned officers of the regiment. As a rule to reward services in the field and personal merit, as well as to encourage and stimulate non-commissioned officers and privates, promotions were made to field-officers regimentally, and to line- officers by companies.
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