USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 12
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missioners, he selected men who were publicly known to be opposed to any compromise or concessions. He commenced preparing for the conflict that he knew was coming, and when Beauregard fired on Sumter, April 12, 1861, the Governor of Indiana was neither surprised nor appalled. On the 15th of April, three days after the attack on Sumter, President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men to put down the rebellion. The same day Governor Morton telegraphed him as follows :
" INDIANAPOLIS, April 15, 1861. "To Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States:
" On behalf of the State of Indiana, I tender to you for the defense of the nation, and to uphold the authority of the gov- ernment, ten thousand men. OLIVER P. MORTON, "Governor of Indiana."
In seven days from the date of this offer, over three times the number of men required to fill Indiana's quota of the President's call offered their services to the government. The struggle was to get into the army, not to keep out of it. Never, in the world's history, did the people of a State respond more cheer- fully and more enthusiastically to the call of duty than did the freemen of Indiana in the spring of 1861.
On the 24th of April Governor Morton reconvened the Leg- islature, which had adjourned a short time before. In his mes- sage to that body he particularly described the condition of public affairs and asked that one million of dollars be appropri- ated to meet the emergencies of the occasion. At this special session there was little or no division among the members upon the subject of the war. They voted a loan of two millions, pro- vided for all needful supplies, and sustained the Governor in his efforts to put Indiana in the fore-front in the war for the Union. It was only when the war pointed to the abolition of negro slavery that division among the people of Indiana began.
There is not room in a sketch like this to go into the details of Governor Morton's public acts. He displayed extraordinary industry and ability in putting troops into the field, and in pro- viding for their needs while there. He never tired in working
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for their comfort, and his efforts in their behalf justly earned him the title of " The Soldiers' Friend."
'The Legislature of 1862 was not in accord with the political opinions of Governor Morton. It refused to receive his mes- sage, and in other ways treated him with want of consideration and respect. While a bill was pending in the House to take from the Governor the command of the militia and give it to a board composed of State officers, his friends in that body left the capital and went to Madison. The Legislature was thus broken up before the appropriation bills had passed, and the Executive was left without money to run the government. In this emergency he applied to certain county boards and banks for funds to defray the expenses of the State government. Large amounts were furnished him, but not enough to answer his pur- pose ; so he went to Washington and obtained from the national government a quarter million of dollars. He established a Bu- reau of Finance and appointed General W. H. H. Terrell his financial secretary. This bureau was created in April, 1863, and continued in existence until January, 1865. During the intervening time all the disbursements on account of the ex- penses of the State, except salaries, were made by this bureau. It received a total of $1,026,321.31, every cent of which was. properly accounted for. Its creation was without authority of law, but it served a necessary purpose, and was in consonance with many things done during these troublous and exciting times. I know of no parallel to this action of Governor Morton in the history of the country. He ran, for many months, the State government outside of legal channels, but he ran it so honestly and well that the people not only excused the act, but applauded it. By assuming great responsibilities he kept the machinery of the State government smoothly in motion in all of its departments, and preserved the financial credit of the commonwealth by securing an advance of about $600,000 through a New York banking house to pay the interest on the public debt.
In 1864 Governor Morton was again nominated for Governor of Indiana, and this time was elected, defeating his opponent, Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, by a majority of 20,883 votes. He and Mr. McDonald made a joint canvass of the State. and
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passed through it with the utmost good feeling. Although standard-bearers of their respective parties, during one of the most exciting canvasses ever made, nothing occurred to mar the personal friendship long existing between them. This friendship continued while Governor Morton lived. After he had been prostrated by disease, and, indeed, was on his death- bed, Mr. McDonald, then his colleague in the Senate, visited him and assured him that should he be unable to attend the next session of the Senate, without injury to his health, he, Mr. McDonald, would pair with him upon all political questions. For this generous offer Senator McDonald was severely criti- cised by the Democratic press at the time, but, nevertheless, it detracted nothing from his popularity, but rather added to it.
In the summer of 1865 Governor Morton received a partial paralytic stroke, from which he never recovered. The disease struck the lower part of his body, affecting his limbs to that extent that he never walked afterward without the assistance of canes. At this time he was in the prime of life, with great physical and mental vigor. His mind was in no wise affected by the shock, but continued to grow stronger while he lived. In December following this attack of paralysis Governor Morton turned over the executive department of the State to Lieuten- ant-Governor Baker and went to Europe. While there he re- ceived medical attention from the most eminent specialist in the treatment of nervous diseases on the continent. but although the treatment benefited him, it did not restore him to health. He remained in Europe until the next March, and then returned home and resumed his official duties.
In January, 1867, Governor Morton was elected to the United States Senate. He resigned the governorship and was suc- ceeded by the Lieutenant-Governor, Conrad Baker, who served the remainder of the gubernatorial term. In 1873 Mr. Morton was re-elected to the Senate and continued a member of that body while he lived.
In the Senate Mr. Morton ranked among its ablest mem- bers. As a party leader he stood like Sanl, the son of Kish. among his fellows. He was chairman of the Committee of Privileges and Elections, and did more to determine the policy
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of the Senate, and of the Republican party of the country, upon political questions, than any other member of that body.
Mr. Morton served in the Senate during a most exciting and troublous time. It was while he was there that the question of reconstruction of the rebellious States was before the country. He supported the most repressive and radical measures affect- ing these States and their inhabitants, treating them as con- quered provinces subject to rehabilitation by Congress. He favored the impeachment of President Johnson on account of his differences with Congress upon the reconstruction question, and when the impeachment failed none regretted it more than he.
In 1874 Senator Morton voted for the inflation bill vetoed by President Grant, and the next year he supported the redemption act. He opposed the electoral commission bill of 1877, holding that the President of the Senate had the right to open and count the votes. But when Congress passed the act he accepted a pláce upon the commission and voted against going behind the returns as certified to the Senate. In a speech delivered at Richmond, Indiana, in the summer of 1865, he argued against conferring upon negroes the right to vote, and soon afterward became a champion of negro suffrage. Once, after making a speech in the Senate in its favor, he was twitted by Senator Doolittle with inconsistency, and replied as follows :
" I confess, and I do it without shame, that I have been educated by the great events of the war. The American peo- ple have been educated rapidly ; and the man who says he has learned nothing, that he stands now where he did six years ago, is like an ancient mile-post by the side of a deserted highway."
In the spring of 1877 Senator Morton went to Oregon as chairman of a Senate committee, to investigate matters con- nected with the election of Senator Grover of that State. His associates on the committee were Senators Saulsbury, of Dela- ware, and McMillen, of Minnesota. The committee sat eighteen days and took a large amount of testimony, which was subse- quently submitted to Congress. While in Oregon, Senator Morton delivered a political speech at Salem, the last speech he ever made. It was characteristic of the man, being strong. logical, and exceedingly hostile to the South. On his way
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home from Oregon he stopped awhile at San Francisco for rest. On the evening of the sixth of August, being still in that city, he ate a hearty supper and retired to rest. He awoke in the night and found his left side paralyzed. The next day he started home in a special car, and was met by his brother-in-law, Colonel Holloway, at Cheyenne, and by his family physician, Dr. Thompson, at Peoria. These gentlemen accompanied him to Richmond, Indiana, when he was taken to the residence of Mrs. Burbank, his mother-in-law. He remained there until October 15, when he was removed to his home in Indianapolis. There, surrounded by his wife and children and intimate friends, he remained until Thursday, November 1, 1877, when the end came.
After his paralytic stroke in 1865, Senator Morton always sat while making a speech. As he was never profuse in gestures, the unusual posture did not militate against the effectiveness of his addresses. In the Senate he had a " rest" to support him while standing, but he was never long upon his feet, always conducting his debates and making his set speeches sitting in his chair.
In 1870 President Grant offered Senator Morton the English mission. It was declined for the reason that should he resign his seat in the Senate, a Democrat would be elected in his place. He was too good a party man to accept office at the expense of his party, and besides, I doubt not, his work in the Senate was more congenial to his tastes than the negotiation of treaties. His nature was to reach his ends in a straightforward way, and not by the tortuous road of diplomacy.
During the time Senator Morton lay sick nigh unto death the interest of the people in his condition was intense. The great newspapers sent special correspondents to Indianapolis to keep them advised of his pulse-beats. Bulletins were issued every hour, which were telegraphed over the country and posted at the newspaper offices. Previous to that time the health of no public man had created so much concern among the people.
The death of no man, with the exception of that of President Lincoln, ever created so much grief in Indiana as did that of Senator Morton. At Indianapolis, gloom hung over the city like a pall. Bells were tolled, and public and private buildings
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were draped in mourning. Men walked the streets with sad- dened faces and measured footsteps. The city legislature met, passed suitable resolutions and appropriated money to defray the expenses of the city government in attending the funeral. Nor were the manifestations of grief confined to Indiana. The President of the United States issued an order directing the flags on all the public buildings to be placed at half-mast. He also ordered that the government departments should close on the day of the funeral. The city council of Cincinnati, which had previously placed a portrait of Senator Morton in its hall, met and appointed a committee to go to Indianapolis to attend his funeral.
The remains of the great Senator were taken from the fam- ily residence to the Court-house, where they lay in state during the Sunday and part of Monday succeeding his death. They were then conveyed to Roberts Park Church, where the funeral exercises were conducted, and thence to Crown Hill Cemetery. where they were placed in a vault; and afterwards buried on the spot where he stood on Soldiers' Decoration or Memorial Day, in May, 1876, when delivering his great speech to the peo- ple there assembled. The procession, which followed the re- mains to Crown Hill was an immense one, and was under the command of General Lew Wallace, as chief marshal, who ably directed its movements.
Never before did.so many distinguished men attend the fu- neral of a citizen of Indiana. A son of the President of the United States, two cabinet ministers, six United States Sen- ators, seven members of the national House of Representatives. besides other men eminent in the politics and legislation of the country, were present, as well as thousands of people from all parts of Indiana and from other States of the Union.
The day after Senator Morton died his colleague, Senator McDonald, announced the fact in the Senate, whereupon the Vice President appointed Senators McDonald. Davis of Illinois, Burnside, Bavard, Cameron of Pennsylvania, and Booth, a committee to attend the funeral on behalf of the Senate.
On the 17th of the next January Mr. McDonald offered in the Senate a series of resolutions in relation to Senator Morton's
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death, which was unanimously adopted. In speaking to these resolutions, Senator McDonald said :
"Naturally combative and aggressive, intensely in earnest in his undertakings, and intolerant in regard to those who differed with him, it is not strange that while he held together his friends and followers with hooks of steel, he caused many whose pat- riotism and love of country were as sincere and unquestioned as his own to place themselves in political hostility to him. That Oliver P. Morton was a great man is conceded by all. In regard to his qualities as a statesman, men do differ now and always will. But that he was a great partisan leader-the greatest of his day and generation-will hardly be questioned, and his place in that particular field will not, perhaps, be soon supplied."
Senator Edmunds said :
" He was a man of strong passions and great talents, and was, as a consequence, a devoted partisan. In the fields in which his patriotism was exerted, it may be said of him, as it was of the Knights of Saint John in the holy wars : 'In the fore-front of every battle was seen his burnished mail, and in the gloomy rear of every retreat was heard his voice of con- stancy and courage.'"
Senator Thurman said of him :
"' He evaded no duty however onerous ; he asserted his claim to leadership at all times and under all circumstances, however great might be the sacrifice of comfort, repose or health."
Senator Conkling paid this eloquent tribute to his memory:
"As a party leader he was too great for any party or any State readily to supply his place. As an efficient, vigilant, and able representative he had no superior in either House of Con- gress. Oppressed and crippled by bodily infirmity, his mind never faltered or flagged. Despite pain and sickness, so long as he could be carried to his seat he was never absent from the Senate or the committee. No labor discouraged him, no con-
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tingency appalled him, no disadvantage dismayed him, no de- feat disheartened him. He will go down to a far hereafter, not as one who embellished and perpetuated his name by a studied and scholastic use of words, nor as the herald of resounding theories, but rather as one who day by day on the journey of life met actual affairs and realities and grappled them with a grasp too resolute and quick to loiter for the ornament or the advantage of protracted and tranquil meditation."
Senator Burnside said :
" Morton was a great man. His judgment was good ; his power of research was great, his integrity was high, his patri- otism was lofty, his love of family and friends unlimited, his courage indomitable."
The closing speech in the Senate upon the adoption of the resolutions was made by Mr. Voorhees, Mr. Morton's successor. In it Mr. Voorhees said :
" Senator Morton was, without a doubt, a very remarkable man. His force of character can not be overestimated. His will power was simply tremendous. He threw himself into all his undertakings with that fixedness of purpose and disregard of obstacles which are always the best guarantees of success. This was true of him whether engaged in a lawsuit, organizing troops during the war, conducting a political campaign or a debate in the Senate. The same daring, aggressive policy character- ized his conduct everywhere."
At the close of his speech Senator Voorhees moved the adop- tion of the resolutions, and they were unanimously agreed to by the Senate. Similar resolutions passed the House of Rep- resentatives, and eulogies were delivered upon the dead Sen- ator by several of the people's representatives. One of the best and most just estimates of Senator Morton is the following, taken from an address delivered by ex-Governor Hendricks before the Central Law School of Indiana. Governor Hen- dricks said :
" Governor Morton was not what is called a ready speaker, in the sense of speaking upon the spur of the moment. He
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was one who became ready by careful forethought and prepar- ation. The order of arrangement received great care. The positions followed one after another in adroit sequence, with studied effort, to the close. The matter was carefully chosen and considered. The manner or style did not share the same. attention. His sentences were not always smooth, sometimes, indeed, rough, but always strong and forcible. Sometimes a passage occurred, as if not noticed by himself, of almost classic force and beauty. His voice was clear and strong, his gesture heavy and not frequent, and his utterance deliberate and dis- tinct. As he spoke the impression was felt that he had other and further forces which he might summon to his aid if needed either to establish his own position or attack that of his adver- sary. Force was the marked quality of his style. He chose the shortest, boldest and most direct method both of attack and defense. When stated, his proposition was understood, and he would not delay to repeat it. He lacked the power of persua- sion. It was probably a weakness in the court-house, as it was at the head of a political party. In debate he was a combatant. He could not conciliate. The development of that quality was probably the result of the turbulent times in which he was an actor."
After having quoted so largely from others, it may seem a work of supererogation for me to attempt an analysis of Senator Morton's character. But as some of his leading traits have not been touched upon in the extracts I have given, I will essay the task.
A prominent characteristic of Senator Morton was tenacity of purpose. When he attempted a thing he did it. If he could not succeed in one way, he would in another. He never tired and he never let up. He would abandon a position at once, if by so doing he could better succeed in his ultimate purposes. But he was never conciliatory. If an obstruction appeared in his pathway and he wanted to continue his journey. he would take a club and knock it aside. If, however, he be- lieved it best to retrace his steps and take another path he did not hesitate to do so. In 1868 he delivered a speech in the wigwam on the Court-house square, Indianapolis, and replied
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to the charge of inconsistency made against him by Governor Hendricks two nights before, by confessing that his course was · inconsistent with the sentiments of his Richmond speech, but declared it to be " consistent with the logic of events." Most men would have hunted evidence to defend their consistency, but he admitted the contrariety of his public life upon the negro question, and justified it.
Another marked trait in Senator Morton's character was fore- sight or looking ahead for what was coming. The author had opportunities for observing this characteristic of the Senator during a trip they took together in 1865. At that time travel was so great that seats in railroad cars were hard to get, and sleeping-car accommodations only secured by industry and fore- sight. In these matters he succeeded because he was always in advance of others. At Harrisburg, where we had missed connection with the train from Philadelphia, and were compelled to lie over until the next one arrived, the Senator had an oppor- tunity of exemplifying the trait I have named. On the arrival of the Philadelphia train it was observed that it was full to over- flowing. There was not a vacant seat in it, and the effort to secure one was hopeless. While taking in the situation, the Senator observed a passenger car attached to an engine on a side track some distance from the depot, and saying, "That car will be added to the train," broke and ran for it. He boarded it and secured the most comfortable seat in it for himself and the author. When the car was attached to the train and the crowd entered it, it found him seated and at his ease. When we reached Pittsburg he gave another evidence of his care and forethought. No one was permitted to pass the gate that leads to the western bound train without exhibiting a ticket. Before we reached the Pittsburg depot Senator Morton had selected a Pan-Handle pass from among many others, and, holding it in his hand he took a position on the steps of the car, and at the earliest possible moment sprang from it and rushed to the gate. He was the first to pass its portals, and when the author, who was among the first to follow him, entered the sleeping car, he found that the Senator had secured berths for both.
Senator Morton was well versed in the sciences. He knew as much of geology as some who make it a study, and he knew
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more of theology than many whose province is to teach it. He was familiar with all creeds, and knew the arguments that best sustained them. He was particularly conversant with those which infidels use against Christianity, and could designate the strongest points as readily as he could the weakest of an oppo- nent in a political debate.
But it was as a politician and statesman that he made his great reputation, and no estimate of his character would be at all complete without weighing and considering his political ac- tions.
As Governor of Indiana Senator Morton displayed wonder- ful energy, tact and forethought. He distanced all contempo- rary Governors in putting troops into the field, and excelled all in providing for their wants while there. His best claims to fame rest upon his administration of the office of Governor. In that office he showed remarkable powers of organization and ability to use that organization to accomplish his purposes. In these respects he had no peer in the Union.
While having charity for the masses of the South who went into the rebellion, Senator Morton hated their leaders with in- tense hate. The last public letter he wrote and the last public speech he made showed that his animosities toward them were neither allayed nor placated. They were rather intensified by the fact that the policy he had advocated was being abandoned and the people of the South were being restored to self-govern- ment. He seemed to forget that the war was ended and the country at peace. He wanted a policy continued which might be justified by the exigencies of war, but which was without defense in time of peace. In these extreme views he was not sustained by the country, nor even by his party. This was evinced by the vote he received at Cincinnati in 1876. Al- though the ablest man in his party, and confessedly the best or- ganizer and leader it contained, he received but a single North- ern vote for the nomination for President except those cast by the delegates from his own State. His main support came from the extreme South, and was rendered by men who did not rep- resent the people of that section. They were mostly negroes lately freed from slavery, Northern men who had gone South
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for pelf and personal aggrandizement, and Southern men who had separated themselves from the masses of their section.
It is greatly to the honor of Senator Morton that, living and holding office during an era of venality and corruption, he kept his hands clean. With opportunities to enrich himself pos- sessed by few, he contented himself with a moderate compe- tency, and illustrated by the simplicity of his habits the princi- ples of the democracy he professed. If he had vices cupidity was not one of them.
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