USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol II > Part 17
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29 Terrell's Report, I, 204. One of the best statements con- cerning the character of this conspiracy is by Senator Joseph E. McDonald, in discussing his last meeting with President Lincoln. This interview is given in the Indianapolis Journal, June 22, 1891. McDonald helped carry the case through the supreme court, which held the trial illegal. The senator's peroration before the court is a beautiful statement of the effect of the war: "Wounds there are to be healed, but none that time and patient forbearance will not cure. It may now be said with equal truth that the constl- tution is on trial and that the earnest hope of all who desire the perpetuity of civil liberty is that it, too, may have a safe deliv- erance. When that trial shall be ended, may the pillars of that fabric of wisdom be all found in their proper places, and while the government has been found strong enough to strike down the weightiest rebellion that ever lifted its head against a nation, may the constitution be found with sufficient strength to protect the humblest citizen in all the land in every right guaranteed to him."
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
scattered broadcast over the country disloyal liter- ature, poisoning the minds of the people and causing social discord. In the minutes of one of its "tem- ples" one reads of men appointed to murder their neighbors, of others whose duties included the burn- ing of barns.
Although it was scattered over the state broad- cast it was not inherently dangerous.3º The courage and brains of the state were both devoted to its serv- ice and only the cowardly and the mercenary were engaged in the "temples," It suited their charac-
30 The following section Is from the grand secretary's report, Feb. 17, 1864: "In compliance with the resolution adopted by this body, I beg leave to submit the following report, showing the number of counties in the state that are organized; the num- ber in process of organization, and the number of members in the organization, so far as I have received their reports.
Reports have been received from but seventeen counties. We have organized in the State forty-one counties, and have in process of organization ten additional counties, leaving the num- ber of counties yet to report their membership thirty-four.
Judging from the reports received, I place the membership in the state, at this time, at least 12,000, not including the mem- bership in the other organizations in the state that work con- jointly with us. The following is a summary of the reports received : Grant county reports 201 members and 6 branches; Clay, 194 members and 3 branches; Blackford, 50 members and no branches; DeKalb, 34 members and no branches; Harrison, 615 members and 11 branches; Marshall, 30 members and no branches; Washington, 1,100 members and 10 branches; Alien, 40 members and no branches; Brown, 322 members and 4 branches; Weils, 51 members and no branches; Vigo, 500 members and 5 branches; Fountain, 373 members and 10 branches; Sullivan, 600 members and 10 branches; Parke, 533 members and 7 branches; Marion, 75 members and 1 branch; Vermilion, 135 members and 3 branches; Vanderburgh, 200 members and no branches. Show- ing a total membership in the counties reporting of 5,053.
The above report does not include those counties from which have been received intelligence, unofficially, of their organization, which would, perhaps, increase the number of counties organized and in process of organization to sixty-one."
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SOLDIERS' RELIEF
ter to domineer over the dependent women and chil- dren whose protectors were in the army. It is doubt- ful if Governor Morton was ever seriously alarmed at their plots and certainly history has paid the pol- troons entirely too much attention.81
§ 137 SOLDIER'S RELIEF
The national government had neither the organi- zation nor the means to take care of its army when it was called into the field. The first Indiana regi- ments went into the mountains of West Virginia in summer garb believing that the war would be over before cold weather. In August they were calling for overcoats and blankets. Governor Morton, then in Washington, August 20, 1861, asked the United States quartermaster, stationed at Indianapolis, to procure the coats. This demand failing, the govern-
31 The best authority for this study bas been Mayo Fesler, "Secret Political Societies in the North During the War," Indiana Magazine of History, XIV, 183-286. The Indianapolis Journal took great delight in making a bogey out of the Golden Circle. It published every evidence it could get, including letters of many of its leading men, confiscated by Generals Carrington and Hovey, rituals, constitutions, and addresses; Indiana Treason Trials, 1865, contains all the proceedings of the trial at Indian- apolis, including the testimony, rituals, argument of counsel, and the Judge Advocate's report. Terrell's Report, I, 293, seq. Wi- liam Dudley Foulke, Life of Morton, I, chs. 27, 28, 29 and 30, gives the most satisfactory historical account. In the official reports of Generals Carrington and Hovey is the best documentary material. The Indianapolis Sentinel, whose editor was arrested and turned State's evidence, gives the best possible explanation of a bad situation. The Cincinnati Gazette also has valuable accounts. The files of the Southern Bivouac are reminiscential accounts and valuable documents. Some of General Carrington's reports are printed in a campaign document of 1864, entitled Treason in Indiana Exposed. In a similar pamphlet of 1866, entitled Treason Exposed, are letters and resolutions of leading Democrats and county conventions.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
or next applied to the quartermaster at Cincinnati who placed an order for 4,000. By the personal effort of two agents dispatched by the governor these coats were delivered, October 7. Impatient at such delay the governor ordered the state agent at New York to buy 20,000 overcoats for Indiana soldiers and deliver them as soon as possible.
This experience proved two things to the people of Indiana. First, that the United States govern- ment could not get material to supply the extraordi- nary needs of the men at the front; and second, that it had not the organizations for speedy delivery even if it had the supplies.
October 10, 1861, the governor by proclamation appealed to the women of Indiana to take up the work of supplying the Indiana soldiers with such necessities as would make them comfortable and keep them in health. Woollen socks, gloves, blan- kets, shirts and drawers were called for. Many of the volunteers, a large majority of them, accustomed to homespun for winter wear, found government shoddy a meager substitute. Blankets could not be procured on the market; it was therefore necessary that the family loom be put in commission. "An hour a day for a week" will provide the supply, thought the governor.32 The state quartermaster general, in his report at the close of the first winter, testified to the ample response.33
32 Terrell's Reports, I, 318. The proclamation closed with "The women of Indiana alone can meet the emergency."
33 Terrell's Reports, I, 319: "So liberal were these contribu- tions that I deemed it necessary in the latter part of the winter to issue a circular to the effect that the supply was sufficient, except of mittens and socks. That deficiency, too, was so far supplied that all subsequent applications for the articles, with the exception of only two or three, were filled. The generosity of
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SOLDIERS' RELIEF
The experience of the first winter pointed out to the governor that a permanent organization was necessary. The establishment of the General Indi- ana Military Agency under the leadership of Dr. William Hannaman was the result. This agency organized a body of local agents who visited all parts of the state to explain and encourage the work. A central depot was established in each county where supplies were collected to be distributed by the state agency. Men, women and children brought their contributions here that they might be forwarded free to the soldiers. Persons making contributions might specify that they be sent to certain individual soldiers, certain companies or just consigned to the agency to be sent where needed. The pity of war is nowhere so well expressed as in the records of this work. Women, who had worked in the fields all day, spun, knit and wove late into the night, children planted extra rows of onions, cucumbers or potatoes, raised chickens, dried apples and peaches, made jams and jellies, that brothers, fathers or friends might, in camp, have something of the luxuries they had been accustomed to at home.34 Every organization of the state (except the Knights of the Golden Cir-
our citizens in this regard has added very greatly to the comfort of our troops in the field and camp, and very probably has saved many valuable lives."
34 Terrell's Reports, I, 325. "It may not be uninteresting to give here, as an indication of the character of the work performed by these societies, a list of articles distributed by one of the agencies : Potatoes, dried apples, canned fruits, onlons, kraut, pickles, dried peaches, wine, cordials, whiskey, eggs, butter, apple- butter, small fruits, lemons, ale, crackers, rice, farina, cornmeal, tobacco, paper, envelopes, bed-sacks, comforts, quilts, sheets, pil- lows, pillow-slips, towels, shirts, drawers, rags, bandages, fans, pantaloons, combs, handkerchiefs, socks, lint, pads, comfort bags, slippers, boxes of reading matter, gowns, crutches. £ There is hardly one of these articles that would not be either an Indis-
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
cle) from Sunday school classes of eight year olds to the gray haired grannies with their clay pipes, col- lected around the fireplaces on cold winter evenings, were willing volunteers. Odd Fellows and Free- masons joined in the work, the latter order at one time donating $10,000. The churches became relief organizations and many of the preachers from their pulpits regularly denounced the rebellion.35 All told there were collected in the state supplies and money for this purpose amounting to over $5,000,000.
The distribution of these supplies can not be fol- lowed in any detail. They went to almost every camp, battlefield and hospital where Union soldiers were located. They went by boatloads and by train- loads.88 While these supplies were primarily for Indiana troops, no soldier in need was ever passed and hospitals were supplied entirely without distinc- tion. At least one hundred Indiana women served continually as nurses in the hospitals and a corps of surgeons and nurses were rushed to the field after each great battle.
Soldiers' homes were provided at Indianapolis where not only soldiers on their way to or from war might stay, but where wives of soldiers in camp might find a home while on a visit.
At places such as Jeffersonville, Richmond, Indi- anapolis and elsewhere, provisions were made by the women for feeding returning troops. Great celebra- tions were arranged for the old regiments returning
pensable necessity, or an acceptable addition, to the comfort of any sick man, and it would be hard to conceive the suffering, and fatality even, that they have alleviated or prevented."
35 Terrell's Reports, I, 356.
36 Terrell's Reports, I, 329. "The steamer 'CIty Belle,' with Dr. C. J. Woods as sanitary agent in charge, left Cairo, Illinois, on the 19th of December, 1863, to supply our troops along the Mississippi river."
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SOLDIERS' RELIEF
on veteran furlough. Regiments from other states passing through received the same cordial reception. State agents went continually among the troops in camp or on the march with power and instructions from the governor to attend to every want of the soldiers if alive and bury them if dead.37
Indiana did well in the Civil war. Its efforts com- pare favorably with those of the other states for the preservation of the nation. Its total contribution in men, including 11,718 re-enlistments, was 208,367; of whom 24,416 lost their lives.38
37 The following from the New York Tribune, Dec. 14, 1862, is in evidence of the activity : "The peculiar and constant atten- tion to the troops his State has sent out so promptly Is the proml- nent feature of Governor Morton's most admirable administra- tion. In all our armies, from Kansas to the Potomac, wherever I have met Indiana troops, I have encountered some officer of Governor Morton, going about among them, inquiring especially as to their needs, both in camp and hospital, and performing those thousand offices the soldier so often requires. Would that the same tender care could be extended to every man, from what- ever State, who is fighting the batties of the Republic."
38 "I remember such scenes well. What a feast they had! I carrled baskets of sweet apples to the boys in long blue over- coats, and tossed the apples up to them on the top of the cars." J. A. W.
CHAPTER XXVII
RECONSTRUCTION
§ 138 ELECTION OF 1864
Politics in Indiana reached low water mark in 1863. The state government was almost in abeyance. Federal provost marshals, marshals, recruiting offi- cers, detectives, draft officers and quartermasters, protected by the President's proclamation of Sep- tember 25, 1862, which suspended the writ of habeas corpus, disregarded the ordinary police and judicial system of the state. Governor Morton, who was not at all careful about the prejudices of his Democratic opponents, dominated the state government in every part of the state and in every department. He had little patience with the law's delays or red tape. Never having held office until, in a great crisis, he became governor, he usually went direct to the point in his work, and, if necessary, found law and justifi- cation afterward. His acts were so plainly for the public good and so completely guarded from any charge of dishonesty that when he did transcend the law the people supported him. He was a leader in all activities that pertained to the war and the war engrossed the attentions of the people.
He was universally regarded as the soldiers' friend. When a regiment was organized he welcomed it into the service; when it departed for the front he presented it with its flag and was the last to bid it adieu. When soldiers returned they were furnished a warm free lunch as soon as they crossed the Ohio
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ELECTON OF 1864
at Jeffersonville. At Indianapolis there was a public reception and an address by the governor. He was never too busy for all these details, if soldiers were concerned. His sanitary commission agents visited every nook of the state, collecting supplies of all kinds for the soldiers in the field. Boat loads and carloads of presents went to the regiments at Christ- mas time. If an Indiana soldier were wronged by a pickpocket or a major general neither distance nor position could shield the wrongdoer from the govern- or's resentment.
Opposition has developed his naturally pungnac- ious character. Personally he was not likable as was Lincoln. He freely made personal enemies and then drove them to rage, until they talked of violence. Never ornate, witty, nor allegorical in his public ad- dress, like Henry S. Lane, Benjamin Parker or George G. Dunn, he belabored his opponents until they went down bruised and sore. He was the em- bodiment of the war, stalwart, blunt and soldierly. When it came to considering candidates for the governorship in 1864 the state in arms would have no one but Morton.
For the same reason that Morton was violently opposed by Democratic politicians he was not en- thusiastically supported by certain rival Republican politicians. Nobody worked with him. His friends and supporters worked for him. His plans were formulated often without consultation and were not open to criticism by his friends, though expediency and public opinion were often considered.
The Democrats in 1864 were in difficulty from the start. The party had never been freed from the control of the politicians of the previous decade. Every situation was gauged by them for political
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
effect. The brawn and spirit of the party were in the army faithfully supporting the war and the Union. They had been humiliated by the conduct of the last General Assembly. Resolutions from Demo- crats in the army failed to awaken the legislators to their folly. On the other hand, the highhanded course of the governor, the mounting taxes, the overthrow of the civil courts, the increasing demands of the long war, the call after call to the army, all had produced a general feeling of weariness among the people. Thousands of loyal citizens were waiting prayerfully for the war to cease. The first levies had marched away blithely to the sound of bands and to the joyous waving of goodbyes. It had at length come to boys and middle aged men to tell mothers and wives good- bye in silence. A sullen, almost fierce, hatred of rebels and rebellion possessed the soldiers, while the fever of war slowly burned the poison of secession from the blood of the nation.
The Democratic politicians misinterpreted this feeling to be a desire to quit the fight, a friendship for the south, hatred for the Republican party.1 Their candidate for governor, Joseph E. McDonald, went so far as to say the south was blameless in the
1 D. W. Voorhees, in addressing his constituents, exclaimed : "I will never vote one dollar, one man, or one gun to the admin- istration of Abraham Lincoln to make war on the South." David H. Colerick, of Fort Wayne, at the Democratic state convention, July 12, 1864, sald: "Nine hundred and ninety-nine of every thousand whom I represent breathe no other prayer than to have an end of this hellish war. When news of our victories comes, there Is no rejoicing. When news of our defeat comes, there is no sorrow. There is a feeling which tells of an intense desire for peace, and we ask that some resolution be passed that is in unison with the prayers of the heart of the Democracy of the country, that this horrible and bloody war must cease." This was, of course, untrue.
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ELECTON OF 1864
struggle,2 their state platform expressed cordial sympathy for the Blue Grass Democracy which, less than a month before, had again welcomed General Morgan to Lexington, threatening a second raid into Indiana, to avoid which the Forty-third Indiana, coming home from Arkansas on veteran furlough, had had to forego their first visit home in three years to help drive him out. Notwithstanding this great tactical mistake the Democrats still had an even fighting chance. The enlisted soldiers, perhaps 75,- 000 strong, could not return home to vote. Whatever their politics a large majority of them would have voted for Lincoln and Morton. To those who re- mained at home the Democratic stand for immediate peace at any price made a strong appeal.
The Republicans, hoping to secure the coopera- tion of the war Democrats, called their party the Union party. They met at Indianapolis, February 22 and 23, in state convention, Ex-Governor Wright
2 Indianapolis Sentinel, July 13, 1864: "I shall never believe but what this great calamity might have been avolded if one- tenth part of the forbearance exercised by the framers of this government had been indulged in by the party which came into power by the election of Mr. Lincoln, and when I think of the terrible responsibility, which must at some time rest on the authors of this great national crime, I feel grateful to be able to know that it does not rest on me or those who are of the same political faith with me.
"To this War as prosecuted under the ideas and policies of the Abolition majority which rules the present administration, I say I am utterly opposed. I believe it is entailing upon the country unmixed evil, and would be false to my country and my countrymen if I did not say so."
The ninth plank of the platform read as follows: "We cor- dially sympathize with the Democracy of Kentucky in their present subjugated condition, deprived of the rights of free men, and we will stand by them in a manly and lawful struggle to recover constitutional liberty."
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
presiding. A large number of Democrats were in attendance. Lincoln was endorsed, Morton was nominated for governor and a platform supporting a vigorous prosecution of the war was adopted.8 The Democrats met at the same place, July 12, to nomi- nate their ticket. Joseph E. McDonald was nomi- nated for governor over Lambden P. Milligan, of Huntington, on a platform denouncing Morton's administration and declaring for an "early and hon- orable" peace.4
The campaign was waged on the question of sup- port for the war. The two candidates, as was cus- tomary, stumped the state together. The Democrats denounced Morton as a tyrant while Morton de- nounced the Democratic candidates as traitors, most of them being members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, whose leader, H. H. Dodd, a prominent poli- tician, was arrested during the canvass, broke jail and fled to Canada." The Republicans were consid- erably alarmed over a rumor that 3,000 members of the Golden Circle were to cross over from Kentucky and terrorize the elections in southern Indiana." As an offset to this, Governor Morton tried to have large numbers of the army sent home to vote. This was found to be impracticable on account of the cam- paigns then on requiring every available man at the front.
The state election, held October 11, resulted in a victory for the Republican or Union ticket by 20,883
3 Indianapolis Journal, Feb. 24, 1864.
4 Indianapolis Sentinel, July 13, 1864.
5 For a sample of Republican campaign literature, see pam- phlets, Treason Exposed, 1864. One of these pamphlets is made up of treasonable letters by prominent Democratic candidates ; the other is an ordinary campaign document. For a sample of the Democratic, see Address to the Democracy of Indiana, 1864. 6 Indianapolis Journal, March 9, 1864.
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REORGANIZATION
majority. The returns came in slowly. Not until the 17th was the Republican victory conceded and not until October 31, did the official vote appear in the Sentinel. The Republicans had elected eight of the eleven congressmen and the election of Voorhees, Democrat, in the Seventh district, was successfully contested. The Democrats had little hope of carry- ing Indiana for General Mcclellan after the state election. The Treason Trials at Indianapolis, then going on, made any aggressive battle by the Demo- crats impossible. The national election showed a majority for Lincoln of 20,199.ªª With the Republi- cans in power in state and nation and the end of the war in sight there came a breathing spell in politics.
§ 139 REORGANIZATION
The General Assembly which convened, January 5, 1865, had abundant and difficult work to perform. The previous Assembly had failed and there had arisen confusion in the administration. One of the first questions to come up was a petition from the Morgan raid sufferers asking payment for property lost. Although a bill for this purpose was introduced early in the session it was found impossible to pass it. It was brought up again during the special ses- sion following and again failed to reach a final vote. Governors Morton and Baker both recommended a commission to ascertain the damage and the Assem- bly, March 11, 1867, authorized a commission on which were appointed John I. Morrison, John McCrea and Smith Vawter. After sitting as a court at Corydon for some time following July 10, 1867, it reported to the governor, December 18, 1867, that the sum of $82,286.21 would be needed to settle for prop-
6ª Indianapolis Sentinel, Nov. 30, 1864.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
erty appropriated by the Union forces. The com- mittee on claims reported that this damage should be paid by the federal government. A joint resolution was voted, accordingly, by the Assembly of 1879 ask- ing the federal government to assume the claim."
The preceding Assembly, 1863, had wasted a large amount of its time in fruitless investigations of the governor's numerous military activities. A blanket law was enacted by the Assembly of 1865 which approved all his acts.8 Another law appropri- ated $135,000 to repay the money the governor had borrowed from counties, railroad companies, and in- dividuals to support the benevolent institutions." Another measure in which the governor was person- ally interested and his honor involved, authorized the state treasurer to repay Winslow, Lanier & Co., of New York, the money borrowed by Morton during preceding years to pay the interest on the state debt. This amounted to more than $640,000 with interest at seven per cent.10
The question that provoked long and partisan controversy was what to do with the negroes. The
7 Laws of Indiana, 1879, p. 251.
8 Laws of Indiana, 1865, p. 49. "That all and singular the acts of Oliver P. Morton, Governor of the State of Indiana, in the settlement of the claims of the State against the United States, for enrolling, enlisting, clothing, supplying clothing, arm- ing, equipping, paying and transporting the troops of the State in the service of the United States, and in paying and satisfying the State's quota of the direct tax laid and levied by Congress on the sixth day of August, A. D. 1861, by the due execution of a release or releases to the United States of said claims be, and they are hereby, fully and entirely approved." See report of auditing committee, House Journal, 1865, pp. 219 and 492.
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