USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 35
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" It was very fortunate that Major Cravens was so prompt in action, for there is no doubt but that one or both of these officers would have been killed, both being men of courage and at the time exasperated to the highest degree. Nor would the feud have ended there, for the members of the second regiment were devoted to General Lane, and looked upon him with the rever- ence usually bestowed upon a father and confidence as a com- mander. During the excitement in the camp previous to the arrest many of the members of the second regiment seized their arms, loaded them, and were prepared to take a hand in de- fense of the General, and, no doubt, if he had fallen, would have sought revenge in an attempt to take the life of Colonel Lane. The devotion of the second regiment to the General was no greater than the love and admiration of the third for their chiv- alrous Colonel, and they would have sought the life of General Lane had their commander been killed. These were the feel- ings that pervaded the camp in these two regiments at the time.
" These events occurred in the early part of February, and the two officers made no effort to reconcile their differences, nor would they permit their friends to interfere. They both re- mained under arrest until the evening of the 21st of February. when General Wool sent their swords to them by the then Cap- tain McDowell, since promoted to major-general, with the in- formation that he presumed they would have an opportunity within a few days of drawing them on a common enemy, it then
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being known to General Wool that Santa Anna was advancing on his position from the San Louis road, and that a conflict would occur within forty-eight hours, which was realized in the famous battle of Buena Vista, where less than five thousand American volunteers put to flight a trained army of twenty-two thousand Mexicans. Shortly after the battle, and while the army was encamped at the ranche of Buena Vista, the former friendly relations of these two officers were re-established, and continued until the second and third regiments returned to their homes. They were frequent visitors to their several quarters, and those then best acquainted with them would never have dreamed that the former bitter feud existed."
At the battle of Buena Vista General Lane commanded the left wing of the division, and during the day was badly wounded in the arm. He behaved with distinguished bravery, and was warmly commended by General Taylor for his action in that sanguinary conflict. The next June he brought his brigade to New Orleans, where it was disbanded. But, although the men he had led at Buena Vista returned to their homes when their term of enlistment expired, he went back to Mexico, was given command of 3,000 men at Vera Cruz, and at once started for the Mexican capital. He defeated Santa Anna at Huamantla, attacked and routed a large body of guerrillas at Atlixco, scat- tered other bands of these partisan soldiers at Flascala, then took Matamoras and captured a large quantity of military stores, and soon after reached the headquarters of General Scott, the commander-in-chief of the army. Early in 1848 he was sent out by the commanding general to break up and destroy the many bands of guerrillas roaming over the country. He came so near Santa Anna at Tehuacan that he captured his carriage contain- ing his private papers and wooden leg. He moved with such rapidity, and was so successful in beating the enemy, that he was called " The Marion of the Mexican War," a name that clung to him while he lived. He did the last fighting in Mex- ico, and his services brought him a brevet major-general's com- mission, an honor he fairly won.
A writer in Cist's Advertiser gives the following item of history :
" It may not be amiss to state how he obtained his military ap-
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pointment, taken, as he was, from the farm, to lead armies to victory.
" When it became the duty of the President to make the ap- pointment of brigadier-general it was felt by every Western member of Congress to be a prize for his constituents. Proba- bly some fifty names had been handed in to the President, accordingly. Robert Dale Owen, in whose district Lane resided, entertaining no such local pride, would probably not have fur- nished any name, but for a suggestion to that effect from one of the Indiana Senators, ' Whom do you intend recommending?' ' Why,' said Mr. Owen, ' I had no thought of offering a name. There are no applications to me from my own district, but if you think it due to it to offer a name I shall hand in that of Jo Lane.'
" The Senator approved of the choice, and it was accordingly suggested. The President, as usual, said he would give it his favorable consideration. A few days afterwards Mr. Owen was transacting some private business at the White House. After it was through-' By the by, Mr. Owen,' observed the Presi- dent, ' I shall have to appoint your friend Lane to the brigadier- generalship. I hope you have well considered your recom- mendation, for the office is a very responsible one.' 'I know nothing,' replied Mr. Owen, 'of Lane's military talents, but there are about him those elements of character which in all times of difficulty prompt every one to rally instinctively, around him as a leader. This has been the case in early days when lawless men infested the river border. Whether on shore or among boatmen on the river, Lane was the man relied on to keep such men in order, and he was always found equal to every emergency. I would select him for the office before any other man I know, if I had the appointment to make.'
" Lane was appointed. The sequel is history, and justified the penetrative judgment of Mr. Owen. Lane developed quali- ties which place him in the front rank of military service.
" When the news of the battle of Buena Vista reached Wash- ington Mr. Owen called on President Polk.
"Well, sir," exclaimed he, " what do you think of our Hoo- sier general? "
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"Ah!" said the President, with a quiet smile, "Mr. Owen, you are safe out of that scrape !"
When the war had ended General Lane came back to In- diana, but his residence here was of short duration. 'In August, 1848, he was appointed by. President Polk Governor of the Ter- ritory of Oregon, and in March he reached its capital. He organized the Territorial government and remained at its head until August, 1850, when he was removed by President Taylor, a Whig, he being a Democrat. The next year he was elected a delegate to Congress, and continued as such until Oregon be- came a State, when he was chosen to represent her in the United States Senate. In 1860, while he was in the Senate, he was nominated for Vice-President on the ticket with John C. Breckenridge, and received seventy-two electoral votes. Gen- eral Lane left the Senate on the 4th of March, 1861, and re- turned to Oregon. He remained in private life until April 20, 1881, when he died at Rosenberg, which for many years had been his home.
General Lane's long service in the public councils, and his brilliant career as a soldier, made him very popular in Indiana. A large convention of the Democracy declared in his favor for the presidency, and several of its shrewdest leaders at once went to work to pave the way for his nomination. Robert Dale Owen, a leading Democrat and a master of the English lan- guage, wrote a pamphlet in which General Lane's claims and qualifications for the presidency were elaborately set forth. John L. Robinson, than whom there was no more effective political worker in the State, took charge of the movement and threw into it all the energy and ability he possessed. In order that the reader may have an inside glimpse of the political workings of that day, and know something of the extent of the effort to nominate General Lane for the presidency, the follow- ing letters from Mr. Robinson and from General Lane to a gentleman of Indianapolis, are now published for the first time :
" WASHINGTON, January 23, 1852.
" DEAR SIR-Some of my letters from Indianapolis indicate some discouragement on the part of General Lane's friends. I
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see no sufficient reason for this ; on the contrary, there is much to encourage them. It is the opinion of all the General's friends here with whom I have conversed, and I have given it my un- ceasing attention, that things are working as well for him as could be reasonably expected. It is true, not much is said about him in the papers ; in fact, at present he is not in the fight that is so actively going on between the other aspirants and their friends, and this very fact is most favorable to him. While Cass's, Buchanan's, Douglas's and Butler's friends are active and noisy, exciting prejudices against each other, Lane and his friends, here, at least, are quietly awaiting the issue and strik- ing occasionally when we find something is to be made. We desire to keep him in the position he now occupies ; that is, friendly with all, hostile to none, so that he may eventually get votes from all, for we do not believe that any of the others can possibly reach a two-thirds vote, so as to be nominated. Lane has kept very still since he has been here, but has nevertheless made some strong friends and a most favorable impression with every one with whom he has come in contact. I have never known a man so uniformly and certainly successful in making all whom he meets friends, and keeping them so, as General Lane. I hear that there is a possibility that our convention on the 24th of February will name a second choice. No friend of General Lane ought to listen for a moment to such a propo- sition ; it would be fatal to him. If you appoint his reliable friends as delegates there is no need of absolute instructions at all, but pass strong resolutions in his favor like Kentucky did for Butler. But if you instruct, begin and end with Lane, and nobody else.
" The Douglas bubble has exploded. Conventions have been held in New York, Ohio and Kentucky, and delegates ap- pointed. He expected much from each and all of them, and has signally failed. Lane is, in my opinion, stronger than Douglas in all these States. At present Douglas can't rely upon any State but Illinois. The contest at first in the national convention will be between Cass and Buchanan. Douglas will be put in as a rival of both, and hence not likely to get their friends after they abandon them.
" Ultimately the race will be between Lane, Marcy and But-
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ler. I think there can be no doubt of this. I write thus freely to you just what I think. I intend to devote every energy to the service of Lane, and I really have sanguine hopes of suc- cess. Much, however, very much, depends upon the action of your convention on the 24th, and the sort of men you name as delegates.
Very truly yours, "JOHN L. ROBINSON."
" WASHINGTON, March 28, 1852.
" DEAR SIR-I have been prevented by indisposition from writing you for some time, but being now well, I propose to give you a few of my thoughts and views about things con- nected with the interests of our friend Lane. I will begin by saying that his prospects for the nomination are, in my opinion, getting better daily. This is owing to the fact that he keeps very quiet, pursuing the even tenor of his way, and by his un- obtrusive but frank and generous bearing winning the affec- tions of all who make his acquaintance. His conduct and that of his friends is in such wide and favorable contrast with that of other candidates and their friends, particularly Douglas and his, that it is having a happy effect. You have noticed that some sharp shooting has occurred in the House between Doug- las's friends and Butler's ; it has resulted much to the injury of Douglas, as it ought. I never knew such an organization as exists around Douglas, and it reaches into most of the States, too, but it embraces but few but trading politicians who expect to live off of speculation and spoils. Their game is brag. They will impudently assert that every man and every State is for Douglas, wherever it will serve a purpose. In our dele- gation Gorman, Davis and Mace, I think, play a little at the game. Speaker Boyd told me that he was in Gorman's com- pany last night, and that Gorman said Indiana would go for Douglas, the second ballot certain, and the first if necessary ; that this was an ascertained fact. Still these gentlemen say they are for Lane, but that ' he has no chance.' In short, their conversations are calculated to aid Douglas only ; I mean Gor- man and Davis particularly. Fitch, Lockhart and myself, and Bright, when he is here, are doing what we can for Lane.
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Cass is proving much stronger than was expected, and may be nominated, but I think not ; to let Douglas beat him, however, would be a shame. Buchanan may now be considered out of the ring; his failure, so considered, in Virginia kills him. Douglas's friends will now claim Virginia, but I am assured he can not get it. Many Southern Democrats have recently indi- cated a strong leaning towards Lane; it is generally of that class who do not like to go for Cass. It will require but little management to get many of the Southern States to go in con- vention for Lane in the event, which, I think, is almost certain to occur, to wit : a repeated and protracted balloting. But if we have delegates who come up to Baltimore ostensibly for Lane, but really for Douglas, determined to vote for Douglas as soon as possible, a candidate from whose friends Lane has nothing to expect-I mean who has no intrinsic strength to transfer if he fails-why, I would rather have no delegates from Indiana at all. It is therefore all important that Lane's friends come up. You may rest assured Douglas's will, for they will be paid for coming, if necessary.
" In haste, truly yours, JOHN L. ROBINSON."
" WASHINGTON CITY, January 31, 1852.
" DEAR SIR-While I was on the Pacific side of the Rocky Mountains the people of Indiana, at a great mass-meeting held in Indianapolis, in which every portion of the State was repre- sented, unanimously presented my name for the presidency, subject to the decision of the national convention. It was their voluntary act, without my knowledge or wish (as you well know I had no agency in the matter). It was, however, gratifying to me, and fairly placed my name before the country as the choice of that State for the highest office in the world. Knowing the people as I do, having in them the utmost confidence, and feel- ing under great obligations for the high honor conferred, I re- turned to the State of my adoption, in which so large a portion of my life has been spent, with a heart full of gratitude. I love my country, her honor and integrity. The perpetuation and progress of our glorious institutions have been the aim and desire of the Democratic party from the beginning of our gov-
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ernment ; with that party I have acted from manhood to the present time, and shall continue so to do till the day of my death. I have never deceived a friend or acted hypocritically toward any one. I have always considered the Democratic party as a band of brothers, bound by the strongest ties, with one great object in view, namely, the promotion and perpetuation of the institutions of our common country.
" Indiana occupies a high political position. She has within her borders many natural advantages and artificial advantages over any State in the Union of her age, with a generous, intel- ligent, industrious and patriotic population. I love her honor and reputation as I love life, and I feel confident that she never will do a dishonorable thing; therefore I have no fears about her course toward me, notwithstanding it is rumored here that an effort is now being made to give me the go by, by in- structing the delegation to vote for a second choice as soon as your humble servant can be disposed of.
" It is not my wish to embarrass the Democracy of Indiana. So far from it, I stand ready to support the election of any man who may receive the nomination of the State or national Demo- cratic convention. With this view of the case, I hope that In- diana will send to the national convention delegates, each and every one of them good personal friends, who would rather see me nominated than any other man, without instructions, to act as circumstances may require.
"Now, my friend, let me beg you to say to my friends that I hope good delegates may be appointed without instructions as to first or second choice.
" With great respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant, "JOSEPH LANE."
The Democratic State convention of 1852 convened at Ind- ianapolis February 24, and was presided over by Judge Thomas L. Smith. The committee on resolutions, of which Robert Dale Owen was chairman, was a very strong one, being com- posed of the leading Democrats of the State, among them Oli- ver P. Morton, afterward the great War Governor of Indiana. Two of the resolutions reported by the committee, and unani- mously adopted by the convention, were as follows :
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" Resolved, That Joseph Lane, the State legislator, the gal- lant general, the Territorial Governor, tried in the executive chair and never found wanting, is, of the people of Indiana, their first choice for the presidency. While we repose entire confidence alike in his administrative capacity, in his firmness, in his honesty of purpose and in his unswerving devotion to Democratic principles, at the same time, desiring, above all things, union and harmony in the support of the nominee of the national convention, we will support him, let the choice of the majority fall as it will ; and, fully trusting the judgment and de- votion to principles of our delegates to that convention, we leave them free to exercise their judgment.
" Resolved, That, if General Lane should be the Democratic nominee for President, we pledge him the vote of Indiana, of that State the honor of whose sons he has so nobly vindicated, by a majority, as we confidently hope and truly believe, of twenty-five thousand votes."
It will be observed that the views of General Lane, as ex- pressed in his letter, were adopted and carried out by the con- vention.
The Democratic national convention met at Baltimore the next June, and for thirty ballots the solid vote of Indiana was cast for General Lane. On that ballot Judge Douglas devel- oped unexpected strength, and the delegates from Indiana be- ing particularly hostile to his nomination, on the next ballot cast their thirteen votes for General Cass, his strongest compet- itor. As is known to the intelligent reader the convention eventually nominated Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, who was elected President over General Scott, the Whig candidate.
General Lane had great influence with the Indians of Ore- gon. He learned to speak their language, and often hunted with them. One day while in the woods with a party of In- dians he was assaulted by one of them, a powerful man, who struck at the General, but the latter dodged the blow. Seizing a club, he struck his assailant and knocked him down. For a a time he lay limp and almost lifeless, and when he recovered sufficiently to arise upon his feet he expressed himself satisfied, and he desired no further contest with the General. It took a
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brave man to maintain himself, single and alone, with a drunken Indian, flanked by a number of his red-skin friends.
During Mr. Pierce's administration General Lane, being in Washington attending to his official duties, was requested by the President to return to Oregon and take command of the troops then employed in suppressing an insurrection of the In- dians. He did so, and entered the field at the head of the army, determined to bring the war to a speedy close. He found the Indians, several hundred strong, intrenched and well protected by fallen trees and brushwood, awaiting his coming. Stopping his command near their lines, he advanced alone, waving a handkerchief, and when near enough to be heard he asked for a parley. He was fired upon as he approached, and shot through the shoulder, but this did not cause him to turn back or abandon his effort to have a conference with the Indian chieftains. When they saw who it was several of the leaders came out from their cover and approached him. He asked that the men in their camp who had murdered the settlers and burned their houses be delivered up that they might be pun- ished. He told them they had better surrender these men, for if they did not he would take them, and if they did, and would agree to prevent such murders in the future, he would retire with the army and not further molest them. The Indians delivered up the criminals, who were hung, and peace between the red men and the settlers was restored.
While General Lane lived in Oregon he was a great hunter, and once, on his return from a trip in the woods, a pistol in his coat pocket went off as he was alighting from his horse. The ball entered his back and came out in front, near the hip joint, without striking a vital part. In speaking of this wound he was wont to say that he would never die by powder and ball, and that he felt entirely confident that he would die a natural death. His faith was well founded, for, although he was wound- ed by a Mexican bullet at Buena Vista, by an Indian bullet in the wilds of Oregon, and by the accidental discharge of his own pistol, he survived all these wounds and died in a natural way. When he died the life of a brave man went out. A pioneer of Indiana, a gallant soldier of the Union, and he who fashioned Oregon into a State, was no more. But his memory lives. No
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history of Indiana, none of the Union, and none of Oregon, can be truthfully written without honorable mention of his name. His memory will live while there is a man to read of the deeds of those gallant soldiers who added to the country its richest jewels.
In an eloquent sketch from the San Francisco Chronicle, by Joaquin Miller, that nervous writer says :
" On the day he was sixty-five he and his son, since a mem- ber of Congress, went out shooting, and I saw the old Senator bring in a seven-pronged buck on his shoulders.
"Ten years later, on my return from Europe, I sought him out. 'He lives three miles east and four miles perpendicular now,' said one of his sons, pointing up the mountains. Poverty had driven him from his ranch in the valley.
" I found this old man, now approaching eighty years, felling a tree in front of his little log cabin. He came forward, ax in hand, to meet me, his aged wife shading her eyes with a lifted hand as she looked from the cabin door, wondering what stran- ger could possibly have climbed this mountain to their humble hermitage.
"And what a talk we had ; how he wanted to know all about Europe, a world he had never seen, but which he knew so well. How interested he was in my work, patting me on the head and calling me his own boy, believing in me entirely, bidding me to go with God's blessing : to be good, to be great if I could, but be good always.
"And here, on the mountain top, with the companion of his bosom for more than fifty years. the sun of this old Roman senator's life went down. Nothing was said of him at his death. for no one knew him in his life. I lay this handful of leaves on my dear dead. It is all I have to give ; I, a robin, bring leaves for one who was lost in the woods, one who lay down alone and unknown and died in the wilderness of this life. He lived frugally and died poor, while others lived extravagantly and grew rich. Not a dollar of this nation's money ever found its way into this simple and sincere man's pocket. He died not in want, for his children were well-to-do, but poor ; very poor and very pure, as he had lived.
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" I may almost say literally this man taught me to read. He certainly taught me to read a dozen well-thumbed old masters, which he knew so well that if I misread a single word as we lay under the oaks-I reading, he lying on his back looking up at the birds-he would correct me. I know there is a vague impression that General Lane was an ignorant man. Well. I am not learned enough to be good authority, but I have mixed with many educated men since, and I am bound to say, so far as I can judge, he was the best read man I have ever yet met with. His letters are the most perfect in all respects I have ever received. He wrote in the old-fashioned, full, round style, every letter like print, not even a comma missing in letters of the greatest length. Using the simplest Saxon, he always said much in little-a duty of every writer of everything."
General Lane was about five feet nine inches high ; his com- plexion was ruddy, his eyes hazel, and his hair dark and in- clined to curl. In person he was strong and muscular ; in dis- position brave and chivalrous. He was a pioneer of Indiana, the founder of Oregon, and the people of these States will re- member him with affection and gratitude.
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