USA > Illinois > Illinois, the story of the prairie state > Part 10
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THE GROWTH OF A PARTY
las, the masterly presentation of his side, his vig- orous logic, his love of liberty, had made him friends all through the north. Introduced to the east by his famous speech at Cooper Union, he was by no means an unknown candidate.15
The Republicans were to meet at Chicago in na- tional convention. Asked if he should be present, Lincoln replied: "Well, I am unable to decide whether I am enough of a candidate to stay away, or too much of one to go." He determined, how- ever, to remain in Springfield, and a special wire from the "Wigwam" kept him in touch with every happening. While waiting for telegrams Lincoln played ball with some friends. And when a mes- sage came that he had been nominated on the third ballot, he read it through to himself, then aloud, adding: "There's a little woman down on Eighth Street that would like to hear this. I'll go down and tell her." Without waiting for the congratulations of his friends he took the news to Mrs. Lincoln.
In the exciting campaign that followed Lincoln took no active part. But Douglas, ever ready for a fight, spoke in every slave state-almost the first time in our history that a candidate for the presi- dency went directly before the people. But Douglas knew that his one chance of success was in the union of his party. In ten southern states Lincoln received no vote at all. But he carried every free state but
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one; and in the electoral college he had a hundred and eighty votes, to seventy-two and twelve for the two Democratic candidates.
As soon as the result of the election was known the south realized that her long supremacy in na- tional affairs was at an end. She must submit to Republican rule or put in practise her often re- peated threats to dissolve the Union. During the four months between Lincoln's election and inaugu- ration, while Buchanan did nothing, the southern states seceded and organized a separate government with slavery as its cornerstone. Douglas, in his last speech in Congress, made a powerful argument against this right of secession, and the whole Illinois delegation united in condemning it.16
In February, 1861, Lincoln left his old home at Springfield for the journey to Washington. A large number of his friends assembled at the station to bid him God-speed. Standing on the platform of the train in the falling snow, Lincoln said :
"My friends, no one, not in my position, can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century. I know not how soon I will see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps greater than that which has rested upon any other man since the day of Washington. He would never have succeeded ex-
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cept for the aid of Divine Providence, on which he at all times relied. I feel that I can not succeed without the same divine aid which sustained him. On the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support, and I hope you, my friends, will pray that I may receive that divine assistance, without which I can not succeed, but with which success is "certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell."
And with him, as he started forth on his great mission, went the hearts and the prayers of the peo- ple of Illinois.
Stopping in many towns on his way east, Lincoln spoke to the loyal citizens who greeted him, ex- pressing his devotion to the Union and his desire to maintain it without resort to arms. Warned of many plots against his life, he made the last part of the journey in secret.
On the fourth of March, on the steps of the cap- itol at Washington, Abraham Lincoln was inaugu- rated president, sworn in by a chief justice known in history for his Dred Scott decision, while Stephen A. Douglas held his hat. With a clear and distinct voice he read his address, an earnest plea for peace, on the verge of war, closing with these beautiful words :
"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow country- men, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. We are not enemies, but friends.
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We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
XXIII
RALLY ROUND THE FLAG!
T HE inauguration of Lincoln, whom Illinois gave to the nation, was the signal for a life- and-death struggle, testing whether or no the Union could endure. The outcome depended wholly on the loyalty of the states. And as always, Illinois came proudly to the front, and did her share and more.
After the attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for volunteers. Illinois's quota was six regiments. In ten days, ten thousand men had offered their serv- ice. Nearly a million dollars was tendered to Gov- ernor Yates, by private citizens, as in the sudden emergency the state had no funds available to organ- ize and equip her troops. The prairies blazed with excitement.1 Every town and village held meetings. The spirit of '76 was kindled afresh. Ministers of all denominations preached against secession, join- ing Christianity and freedom and the maintaining of the Union, just as Peck and his associates a genera- tion before had joined religion with the anti-slavery movement.
All through the state, democratic newspapers con-
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demned the south and sustained the president. Among the first to call on Lincoln was Stephen A. Douglas, tendering his cordial sympathy and sup- port. Reaching Springfield during the called session of the legislature, the "little giant" was invited to address the members. With all his influence and eloquence, he now stood loyally by his former oppo- nent, saying that the first duty of every citizen was obedience to the constitution and the laws, that there could be now only two parties-not Republican or Democrat, but patriot or traitor.
"It is a duty we owe to ourselves, and our chil- dren, and our God," he said in closing, "to protect this government and the flag from every assailant, be he who he may."
This speech sent thousands of northern Demo- crats into the army, and the sudden death of Doug- las in June was a greater loss to the Union cause . than a defeat in battle.2
In honor of the six regiments that had served in the Mexican War, the new troops of Illinois were numbered from seven to twelve, for no more than the quota could be accepted. This first call was but a beginning, and by the end of the war the infantry regiments had reached one hundred and fifty-six, with seventeen of cavalry, and artillery besides.
The legislature, anticipating that more troops
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would be needed, authorized ten additional regi- · ments; and when double the number of men volun- teered, they were organized at once and put in train- ing. The second call, however, gave Illinois another quota of only six regiments. A special messenger was sent to Washington, to urge the War Depart- ment to accept a larger force, and his errand was successful. Hundreds of Illinoisans, denied the privilege of serving in their own state, enlisted in Missouri, and in two cases their numbers made up a majority of the regiment, and the name was later changed to Illinois.
After the battle of Bull Run, Lincoln asked for still another army of half a million. The following day, Yates offered him sixteen regiments, most of them "now ready to rendezvous," and added, "Illi- nois demands the right to do her full share in the work of preserving our glorious Union from the as- saults of high-handed rebellion." July of 1862 saw another army called for, and still another in August, each state given a quota and ordered to draft if the number of volunteers was too small.
This new levy took a different class of citizens- farmers from the midst of harvest, mechanics and merchants, lawyers and doctors and ministers, the influential and prosperous men of each community. The people were aroused as never before. Meetings were held throughout the state, and in eleven days
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Illinois had made up the required number-a rally- ing to the flag unexampled in history.3
When their time expired, forty-four of her regi- ments re-enlisted as veterans, and not until the last call for volunteers was made, at the end of 1864, did the state resort to compulsory service, and then only three thousand men were drafted, of the two hundred fifty-six thousand Illinois gave to save the Union. She sent ten thousand in excess of the va- rious quotas, nearly a tenth of the whole army.4 Only one state in the Union gave a greater propor- tion of her population, and that was Kansas, a new state with an unusually large percentage of men of military age.
The Illinois regiments were sent to the front in the south and southwest. At Donelson, the first sig- nal success of the war; Pea Ridge, hotly contested; the sanguinary and stubborn conflict on Sunday morning, near the Shiloh meeting-house; Corinth, where, though Oglesby was wounded, his men with- stood a bayonet charge till the enemy fled; Stone River, where five color bearers laid down their lives to save a regimental standard; in the monotonous routine in the siege of Vicksburg, till the stars and stripes floated over the city, on the fourth of July; Chickamauga, where Palmer anticipated Grant's orders and won his hearty approval; in the amazing charge up Missionary Ridge; at Atlanta, where the
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popular Logan, seizing the mantle of the fallen Mc- Pherson, galloped hatless along the front and turned apparent defeat into a brilliant victory ; and finally the march across Georgia to the sea-list the en- gagements in the campaigns near the Mississippi, and you list the battle-fields where Illinois soldiers rallied round the flag. Take her men out of these battles, and the story of the war would have to be rewritten.
The Union army was made up of enlistments through the agency of the loyal states. The respon- sibility for this fell on the governor and adjutant -. general; and here Yates and Fuller did splendid service. The year 1861 found the north unprepared. Securing uniforms and tents and food and medical supplies for thousands of soldiers, on short notice, involved no small task. Those who worked at home deserve their share of praise, for making possible the efficiency of the soldiers in the field.
Two rendezvous were established in Illinois- Camp Douglas, at Chicago, and Camp Butler, near Springfield; and here the boys in blue were trained for military duties. After the victory at Fort Don- elson, Confederate prisoners were sent here, and during the war thirty thousand Johnny Rebs were held in these two camps and at Rock Island and Alton.
At the beginning of the conflict, Illinois had
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plenty of men, but no muskets. A messenger sent to Washington returned, not with the coveted arms, but with an order on the arsenal at St. Louis. But it was known that traitors were watching, and a mob was ready to seize the arms if any attempt was made to remove them. Captain Stokes volunteered to bring them up to Springfield. He found batteries erected near the arsenal and on the levee. Hundreds of spies were around the building, and its com- mander questioned if it was possible to take the mus- kets, though he gave permission to make the at- tempt.
Stokes telegraphed to Alton to have a steamer come down the river and land opposite the arsenal at midnight. To divert attention he openly put five hundred unserviceable muskets in another boat. The crowd soon detected this, and with shouts and ex- citement left the arsenal. Stokes and his men loaded the steamer, being given more arms than their order called for.
"Which way?" asked the captain of the boat.
"Straight in the regular channel for Alton."
"What if we are attacked?"
"We'll fight."
"But-what if we're overpowered?"
"Run your boat to the deepest part of the river and sink her."
"Aye, aye, sir!" and past the rebel battery went
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the steamer with its precious burden, reaching Alton at five o'clock in the morning.
Stokes ran to the market and rang the fire bell. In all sorts of dress the citizens came flocking down to the river. The captain told his story and pointed to the freight cars. Men, women and children boarded the boat, seized the heavy boxes, and tugged and pulled with might and main. In two hours the muskets were all aboard and the train started to Springfield amid rousing cheers. A day later, two thousand southerners arrived to attack the arsenal, but by that time these arms were equipping the troops of Illinois.5
The governor's rooms were crowded, in the first days of the war, with men eager to give their serv- ices, insisting on commissions, offering funds. In the crowd was a quiet man from Galena, who had been a captain in the regular army. Like many others, he, too, offered his service, only to learn that every place was filled. A major on the governor's staff said he believed they were short of men in the adjutant-general's office. The modest man from Galena was given a desk there, and put to work sorting and filing papers.
A few days later, Yates told his major that he must have a regular army officer to perfect the or- ganization of the new camps. There had come quietly into the room the new clerk. Reminding the
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governor of his army training and experience, he suggested that he could be more useful in this service than at a desk.
"Why, Captain, you are just the man we want!" exclaimed Yates. 6
And that very day he was made commandant in the training camp. Seven weeks later, he was colo- nel of an Illinois regiment. In a few months, he was brigadier-general. Donelson gave him a major- generalship and his nickname of "Unconditional Surrender." He led his men from victory to vic- tory, even though it took all summer, till the "father of waters" went unvexed to the sea. And in the spring of 1864 Lincoln borrowed him for the east- ern army, to carry the flag to Richmond. When Lee surrendered to the quiet man from Galena the Union was saved.
But soldiers were not the only contribution Illi- nois made. Stay-at-homes are always needed, to carry on trade and manufacturing, to administer civil offices, to make possible the work of the sol- diers. The backbone of the army was the unfalter- ing support of the loyal people at home, who helped raise and maintain it, who followed it with aid and sympathy.
Perhaps the brightest page in the story is the con- tribution of Illinois women. They sent their men to the front. They formed relief societies, to supply
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food, clothing, medicine, hospital delicacies. And as the war continued and the needs increased, their efforts increased also and were better organized.7 Not as a substitute for the work of national and state governments, but as a supplement, these sol- diers' aid societies looked after the families of the men in blue ; they established soldiers' homes, where convalescents invalided north were provided with board and lodging. Fairs were held to raise money.
An army so vast and so hurriedly collected could not but have inadequate facilities for the care of the sick and wounded. After the victory at Donelson, the "war governor," with other state officers, went down to the battle-field, to look after the wounded Illinoisans. Immediately after this came the news from Shiloh, with its appalling list of wounded sol- diers. Before twenty-four hours had passed, Yates had chartered a steamboat and was on his way, with doctors and nurses and medical supplies. The hastily improvised army hospitals were not sufficient to pro- vide for the most serious cases even. Hundreds of men were lying where they had fallen, hundreds more were dying from disease and exposure.
No wonder Yates received the name of "the sol- diers' friend." His coming was most opportune. In a few hours the boat had started north, with three hundred of the most severely wounded. State hos- pitals were established at Quincy and Peoria and
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Springfield. Two more trips this steamer made, bringing over a thousand men back to homes and friends.
"We must not let our brave boys think they are forgotten," the governor used to say, "but follow them in their many marches, with such things as they need for their comfort which the government can not supply, wherever they go and at whatever cost."
But you must not think that the long war, with all the delays and defeats of the first years, had no crit- ics in Illinois. She was, indeed, a strong Union state ; but there were "copperheads" not a few-men who believed in the Union but not in Lincoln's meth- ods; who opposed the administration at every point ; who were bitter at the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation; who welcomed every opportunity to talk peace, peace, even with slavery; who suggested that if the south was to be a separate country, the northwest should organize its own government, without New England.
Disloyal at heart, some of them formed a secret society called the "Sons of Liberty,"8 to discourage enlisting, resist the draft, and cooperate with the rebels. They planned to release the Confederate prisoners at Chicago and Rock Island, but the plot was discovered in time and failed entirely.
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The opponents of the administration were strong enough, during the progress of the rebellion, to elect a legislature almost wholly Democratic, embarrass- ing the government by the resolutions passed against Lincoln and the war, and in favor of peace. These resolutions were promptly repudiated by both citi- zens and soldiers, and the legislature prorogued by Yates.º
Two other men in Illinois made notable contribu- tion to the Union cause. The truth of the old say- ing, "Let me make the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws," was never more apparent than during the war. After the battle of Stone River, a Chicago. glee club went down to visit the Illinois regiments in camp, with a new song by George F. Root, who lived in that city. It rang through camp like wildfire, inspiring the discour- aged men with fresh courage and hope and en- thusiasm, its effect electric:
"The Union forever, hurrah! boys, hurrah ! Down with the traitor, up with the stars;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle-cry of freedom !"10
Root was also the author of Just Before the Bat- tle, Mother, and Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys Are Marching; while another Chicagoan wrote
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Marching Through Georgia. The songs of Illinois were heard at every Union campfire. They nerved the' troops at the front, and stirred the people at home. At meetings to raise funds or recruits, these songs, simple in melody, powerful in their appeal, were sung with a will by the entire audience.
After Lee's surrender a Confederate soldier said :
"I shall never forget the first time I heard Rally Round the Flag. It was a nasty night during the seven-days' fight, when just before taps some fellow on the other side struck up that song and others joined in the chorus. Tom sung out, 'Good heavens, Cap, what are those fellows made of? Here we've licked them seven days running, and now, on the eve of the seventh, they're singing Rally Round the Flag!' I tell you that song sounded to me like the knell of doom, and my heart went down into my boots, and it's been an uphill fight with me ever since that night."
And a southern officer, hearing these Illinois songs for the first time, remarked, "Gentlemen, if we'd had your songs, we'd have licked you out of your boots !"
And to-day these war melodies are sung, with a spirit of thanksgiving that we are one people, with loyal devotion to the Union.
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XXIV
A SAD HOME-COMING
G T RANT'S victories in Virginia and the fall of Richmond were welcomed throughout the north as the last steps in the triumph of freedom. Bells in city churches and in country meeting-houses pealed forth the news, to a people really free, of a Union forever indissoluble. Bonfires were lighted, and meetings of rejoicing held.
But the exultant gladness of Easter was suddenly changed to a bitter grief. On the morning of the fifteenth of April, news came that the president had been assassinated in Washington. The best years of his manhood, the highest powers of his mind, even the lifeblood of his great heart, Lincoln gave unselfishly, for the Union and the cause of human freedom.
A regiment of colored soldiers formed the escort of his funeral procession from the White House to the capitol, where the body lay in state. There was some talk of burying the president in Washington, in a vault under the dome of the capitol which had
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been prepared for the body of the first president, but never used. But Illinois claimed his last resting place. 1
He who had left Springfield asking for the pray- ers of his friends at home was now to return amid the tears of the nation. Army and navy officers, sen- ators and representatives, formed his guard of honor. The route taken by the funeral train was the same Mr. Lincoln had traveled in 1861, but now the people were all in mourning. States and cities and villages paid homage to his greatness. Hundreds gathered, to catch a glimpse of the passing train. Countless throngs filed by, where the body lay in state. For sixteen hundred miles the sad pilgrimage continued.
In Springfield a burial place near the state house was suggested, but Mrs. Lincoln preferred Oak Ridge Cemetery, because it was more retired. And in that beautiful spot his remains were placed. The ceremonies were very simple; a hymn and prayer, a brief address and the reading of his second inaugu- ral. All the world laid wreaths upon the grave of this man who had malice for none and charity for all.
Since his death the nations of the earth have joined in magnifying his fame. Lincoln is to-day more in the minds and hearts of the world than any other human character. In May of 1865 an associa-
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tion was formed, with Governor Oglesby as its president, to erect a monument to his memory. Illi- nois gave a fourth of the sum needed; and contri- butions came from every state, from sailors and soldiers, from churches and societies, from many children. The monument was dedicated in 1874, with Grant and Sherman among the speakers.2
And it is to-day one of the hallowed spots of America, sought by "men of all faiths and tongues and races and backgrounds, who are become one and indivisible in their love and honor for the memory of Abraham Lincoln."3 It is a shrine which north and east and south and west visit, to rekindle their patriotism and their devotion to that cause for which he gave the last full measure of devotion.
XXV
THE CITY BY THE LAKE
Ti HE story of Chicago begins long ago with the Indian tribes who hunted there. From them came its name, for Checaqua was the title of a suc- cession of chiefs, like the Pharaohs of Egypt. We know that Marquette spent a winter here, that La Salle and Tonty passed through it more than once, that it was the site of a French fort, mentioned in Wayne's treaty with the Indians.
In 1796 a West Indian negro, Jean Baptiste Point au Sable, built a rude cabin at the mouth of the Che- kajo River, so that the red men used to say, "The first white settler was a negro!" His claim was "jumped" by a Frenchman, who sold out to John Kinzie, an Indian trader and agent for the American Fur Company.1 In the year when Fort Dearborn was built, Kinzie brought his family out, and im- proved Baptiste's cabin into "a tasteful dwelling." They lived across from the fort, and at the time of the massacre were saved by some friendly Indians.
Rebuilt in 1816, the blockhouse was occupied for some thirty years. But the massacre kept settlers
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and traders away from Fort Dearborn. In 1827 there were only three families here, all living in log cabins. The future city was due to Daniel Pope Cook, for whom Cook County was named; and its foundation was the grant of land from Congress for the building of the canal.2 Long before it was com- pleted, in fact before it was begun, public attention was attracted to Chicago, and the commercial ad- vantages of this site, as the terminus of the canal, were emphasized. Geography made it a natural depot for the receiving and forwarding of western products, and for the distributing of eastern manu- factures to the entire northwest. Its citizens, seeing this natural advantage and foreseeing its future, ac- complished the rest through their energy and enter- prise.
But in comparison with the story of other Amer- ican cities, Chicago's is wholly recent. Thanks to Nathaniel Pope, the site was secured for Illinois. First platted and named in connection with the sur- vey for the canal route in 1830, the town covered three-eighths of a square mile. The following year three vessels arrived in its harbor. When incorpo- rated in 1837, its population was only forty-one hundred.
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