USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol II > Part 3
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598
HISTORY OF INDIANA
terms. Nowhere in the west was greater elegance displayed. In the evening after the ladies had tired of music and dancing the gentlemen, so inclined, re- tired to the bar room to spend a large part of the night at poker. Liquor flowed freely and stakes ran high. In spite of Dickens' crabid comment no river bore such sumptuous crafts as did the Ohio in the fifties and the competition between these river racers was furious.
The railroads had not yet provided such comfort- able means of travel. The Madison road cleaned out the week-day hog cars for the Sunday excursion.14 On other lines the passengers rode on flat cars, using planks for seats. By 1860, however, the older rail- roads were provided with comfortable coaches,
Shotwell," the former running from the foot of Canal Street, New Orleans, to the Portland wharf, Louisville, in four days, nine hours and twenty minutes, the latter's time being exactly one hour longer. This race was even more thrilling than the famous contest of 1870 between the "Robert E. Lee" and "Natchez," from New Orleans to Saint Louis, as the "Eclipse" and "Shotwell" were frequently in plain sight of each other for miles at a time, and thousands of dollars changed hands on the result. Reading the menu of an ordinary day's dinner shows where the money went, since Lucullus himself could only with difficulty have de- signed a more elaborate banquet than one beginning with ox-tail soup, going through barbecued bass and sheepshead to six varl- eties of boiled and three of cold spiced meats, with choice of ten side-dishes, before the actual meat course was reached. Eight kinds of roast were then offered, and under the head of "Green" appears the modest statement, "All Vegetables of the Season." The dessert is yet more bewildering, with seven different pies, four puddings, four creams, blanc-mange, custard, charlotte russe, sherbets, two "frozettes," and a delicacy not known today called "charlexaice," to say nothing of five cakes, six kinds of fruit, three of nuts, claret and white wines and coffee.
14 John R. Cravens in Indiana Magazine of History, XII, 242; see, also, Dr. John Poucher, "Social Effects of the Monon Rall- way," in Indiana Magazine of History, XII, 326.
599
1169634
TRAVEL
though of course not equaling the sleepers, diners and chair cars of the present. The trip was frequent- ly interrupted by accidents or by stops to take on wood or water. The men passengers often helped to carry on wood or stood in the water line as the buckets were passed back and forth from some con- venient stream or pool to fill the tender. There was no display of fashion on the trains as there was on the boats; however, the travel widened the acquain- tanceship of the people with each other and the coun- try more than did that on the boats.
Show day was the gala day par excellence. Every- body condemned it, but everybody came and nobody behaved. The shows themselves varied from the two- or three-ring circus, under the big tent among the dog fennel, to the slight-of-hand performers, the dancing bear or speaking mule. The mummy of Na- poleon, the snake charmer from Madagascar, the wild man of Borneo, the sword swallower, and their whole brigade were safely ensconced in the side shows where the curious were relieved of their extra money, just as at present. Drunkenness and disorder usually characterized the crowd. The children, by staying close to the clowns and wild animals, had an enjoyable day, but to the older persons the circus was a disappointment.16
The contrast of the circus was the fair. There was wonderful activity during the fifties among the farmers and nowhere could this be appreciated so much as at the state and county fairs. All the handi- work and products of the farm were on exhibition, from the finest livestock to the choicest glass of jelly. The farmers with their families came to spend a full day or perhaps more, enjoying and admiring the things of their own world. It was a day of education
15 Major, The Pioneers of Morgan County, 385.
600
HISTORY OF INDIANA
as well as enjoyment. There was earnest comment on all the articles. Many things were done better by them after the fair. Their standard of living was raised by inspecting the wares of others and their vanity tickled by an exhibition of their own. An ad- dress in the forenoon and horse races in the after- noon broke the continuity of the day.16
§ 106 MENTAL TRAITS
The men were kindly, but rough, outspoken and boisterous. The hard life of the forest for a century had been a potent discipline. The loudest lawyer made the greatest impression on the jury. The nat- ive preachers were plain spoken, harsh and merci- less. They often found it necessary to maintain order by force. The poor pedagogue was the butt of every coarse joke in the neighborhood. He was barred out, smoked out, ducked or horsewhipped and the surest way to establish himself in the community was to break somebody's head with a poker or lick daily all the helpless children under his charge.
Diametrically opposed to this roughness was the generous, hearty hospitality, unequaled in the United States except among the southern planters. There was a feeling of kinship, at times approaching clan- nishness, though rarely offensive. They were artis- tic and visionary. Their pompous language seems to us ridiculous and amusing, but nevertheless is signi- ficant. The wandering preacher, the stump speaker and the newspaper paragrapher in their efforts at expression borrowed the grand figures from the Bible, Cicero, Bacon, and Milton and more especially
16 The State board of agriculture was organized, May 27, 1851, by Gov. Joseph A. Wright, president. Its annual reports contain reports from the county societies. In these will be found details of county and state fairs. Those old reports furnish a valuable Insight into the agricultural life of the times.
601
MENTAL TRAITS
from John Knox and Fox's Book of the Martyrs. It was the language of the "glorious Revolution." The better orators of the period, such as George G. Dunn, Samuel Parker, Edward Hannegan and Abraham Lincoln, combined this power with a political vein, common in southern Indiana, into readable litera- ture.
But this poetic vision is only the background of the picture. In the foreground looms up an attitude toward God and nature as ridiculous as the former was sublime-looms up so large that only close ob- servation reveals the former. These same folks who stood speechless in the presence of the grandeur of nature planted their cucumbers when the sign was in the arm so they would grow long; planted their pota- toes in the dark of the moon so they would not all grow to tops; knew that if the new moon lay on its back the month would be dry; carried buckeyes in their pockets to keep off rheumatism; carried the left front foot of a rabbit, killed in a graveyard in the dark of the moon, for good luck ; butchered their hogs in the dark of the moon lest when the pork was fried it all go to grease; believed that if a child were born when the sign was in the stomach it would be hearty ; if the sign was in the head it would be wise; if it clung to a pencil when first presented to it, it was destined to a noble professional career. All nature was full of personal significance, full of signs and portents to their superstitious minds. Expert Ger- man and French rhabdomancers preyed on the more gullible, telling fortunes, locating buried treasures, stolen goods, or underground streams of water. Many of these signs and sayings were based on long and careful observations. Their weather prognosti- cations took the place of the present weather burean reports and at times were quite as accurate. Most of the prudential sayings which Franklin printed in
602
HISTORY OF INDIANA
his almanac, and which have since passed for prov- erbs, were the folk lore of the thrifty German peas- ants, the Pennsylvania Dutch. A large majority of these small superstitions had kernels of valuable wisdom concealed in their core.
From a personal standpoint their philosophy was broadly humanitarian. Individuals might differ in endowments or wealth, but each bore the impress of the Deity and thus was entitled to respect. This con- ception had far-reaching consequences. It made slav- ery impossible, prevented any deep class distinctions, made public schools possible, and laid a broad foun- dation for Jacksonian democracy. In social life it made the difference between Emerson and Lincoln, between the man who fastens his eye on a distant goal and crushes on through the wreck and ruin of hopes and lives to its consummation, and the man who shapes his life to afford the greatest pleasure to himself and neighbors without much regard to the fulfillment of his own selfish destiny.
Politically, their philosophy was most curious and their conduct contradictory. Long and bitter ex- perience had made them distrustful of government either in the church or the state. Unlike the Puritans and Cavaliers and all other civilized peoples of their time, they conceded no divinity to laws or courts. If the law measured up to their sense of justice they enforced it ; if the court meted out substantial justice they obeyed it. If the law was otherwise it remained a dead letter; if the court failed they frequently called in Judge Lynch and the halter strap. Not swift to transcend the law, but certain if the provo- cation continued. Their ancestors gave their full strength to America in the Revolution, not so much because they loved America as that they hated England. They fought the military part of the War of 1812 largely in gratification of their enmity
603
MENTAL TRAITS
toward England and the Indians; and finally they supported the United States in the Civil war not be- cause they hated the South, but because they loved the Union. A strange and happy transformation in the attitude toward the government has come about since they engaged in the Whiskey Rebellion, wrote the Kentucky Resolutions, intrigued with Spain and encouraged Burr.
Each recognized within himself great political ca- pacity, such that he would willingly undertake to hold any office he could get, from postmaster to con- gressman. This confidence was inspired by the fact that he and his neighbors had organized the govern- ment, both state and local. All the institutions around him were his own handiwork, the product of his mind and hand. He wanted all the education he could get for himself and children, but he paid his taxes grudgingly.
Economically, he liked to picture himself self- sufficient and wholly independent. His ideal was a farm which furnished him all the necessaries of life. He opposed the United States bank because the bank was too powerful. He could not meet it on the level. He preferred a canal to a railroad because on the canal he could launch his own boat and come and go independently of any other power. On a railroad he would have to accommodate his needs to another man's pleasure. He was in his glory floating down the Mississippi with a flatboat load of produce, dick- ering with the plantation owners on the way. Even thus abroad he maintained the natural simplicity of his life, not avaricious, not a close bargainer, but reveling in his freedom to buy or sell as he pleased. He made a spectacle when he ambled along the levee or in the fashionable streets of New Orleans or even Cincinnati, with his pant legs hooked over the inside ear of his boots. He was such a robust animal him-
604
HISTORY OF INDIANA
self he couldn't help but pity the whole world ex- cept his own neighbors in Indiana.
§ 107 ILLITERACY AND POPULATION
The greatest social problem of this period was illiteracy. Up to 1850 the state government, on ac- count of lack of resources, had been unable to furnish schools, but the great increase of wealth during the fifties enabled it to begin the work. The illiteracy of the period was enough to cause alarm but it would be a mistake to confuse this illiteracy with ignorance. Many a skillful farmer was unable to read, but it would be wrong to call him ignorant. The statistics which are given below produced an effect wholesome on the people but largely unwarranted by the actual conditions. Throughout the east it had a tendency to make the name Hoosier a synonym for stupidity. The two decades preceding 1860 brought an increase of population of 700,000, most of whom were poor. One need not expect a great amount of social polish in a society that more than doubles in two decades, one generation.17
17 The following statistics are given as a background to this whole chapter. Note the shifting of population and especially the growth of the northern part of the state.
POPULATION OF INDIANA IN 1840, 1850 AND 1860
County
1840
1850
1860
Adams
2,264
5,774
9,252
Allen
5,931
16,921
29,328
Bartholomew
10,036
12,832
17,865
Benton
...
1,144
2,809
Blackford
1,226
2,864
4,122
Boone
7,894
11,629
16,753
Brown
2,363
4,846
6,507
Carroll
7,780
11,025
13,489
Cass
5,490
10,922
16,843
Clarke
14,595
15,836
20,502
Clay
5,568
8,134
12,161
Clinton
7,490
11,871
14,505
605
ILLITERACY AND POPULATION
County
1840
1850
1860
Crawford
5,282
6,318
8,226
Daviess
6,679
10,354
13,323
Dearborn
19,638
20,165
24,406
Decatur
12,178
15,100
17,294
Dekalb
1,967
8,257
13,880
Delaware
8,488
10,976
15,753
Dubois
3,634
6,230
10,394
Elkhart
6,704
12,903
20,986
Fayette
9,838
10,140
10,225
Floyd
9,454
14,876
20,183
Fountain
11,174
13,260
15,566
Franklin
13,444
17,914
19,549
Fulton
2,013
5,864
9,422
Gibson
8,970
10,782
14,532
Grant
4,846
11,092
15,797
Greene
8,321
12,247
16,041
Hamilton
9,832
12,686
17,310
Hancock
7,567,
9,714
12,802
Harrison
12,459
15,538
18,521
Hendricks
11,264
14,077
16,953
Henry
15,103
17,668
20,119
Howard
6,667
12,524
Huntington
1,601
7,850
14,867
Jackson
8,960
11,030
16,286
Jasper
1,277
3,424
4,291
Jay
3,877
7,051
11,399
Jefferson
16,644
23,931
25,036
Jennings
8,743
12,541
14,749
Johnson
9,530
12,228
14,854
Knox
10,250
11,086
16,056
Kosciusko
4,042
10,243
17,418
Lagrange
3,665
8,424
11,366
Lake
1,468
3,991
9,145
Laporte
8,184
12,169
22,919
Lawrence
11,790
12,210
13,692
Madison
8,904
12,497
16,518
Marion
16,118
24,289
39,855
Marshall
1,651
5,348
12,722
Martin
3,775
5,955
8,975
Miami
2,857
11,349
16,851
Monroe
9,996
11,283
12,847
Montgomery
14,405
18,227
20,888
606
HISTORY OF INDIANA
County
1840
1850
1860
Morgan
10,677
14,654
16,110
Newton
2,360
Nobie
2,702
7,948
14,915
Ohio
...
5,310
5,462
Orange
9,580
10,818
12,076
Owen
8,254
12,040
14,376
Parke
13,559
15,049
15,538
Perry
4,513
7,251
11,847
Pike
4,710
8,599
10,078
Porter
2,172
5,250
10,313
Posey
9,641
12,367
16,167
Pulaski
561
2,595
5,711
Putnam
16,869
18,612
20,681
Randoiph
10,681
14,694
18,997
Ripley
10,317
14,822
19,054
Rush
16,575
16,445
16,193
Scott
4,262
5,889
7,303
Shelby
11,997
15,446
19,569
Spencer
5,961
8,664
14,556
Stark
148
558
2,195
St. Joseph
6,415
10,955
18,455
Steuben
2,578
6,107
10,374
Sullivan
3,312
10,163
15,064
Switzerland
9,864
12,953
12,698
Tippecanoe
13,725
19,269
25,726
Tipton
..
3,534
8,170
Union
7,814
6,881
7,109
Vanderburgh
6,209
11,415
20,552
Vermilion
8,249
8,601
9,422
Vigo
12,076
14,693
22,517
Wabash
2,736
12,109
17,547
Warren
5,642
7,423
10,057
Warrick
6,320
8,822
13,261
Washington
15,273
17,088
17,909
Wayne
22,983
25,900
29,558
Weils
1,821
6,152
10,844
White
1,849
4,760
8,259
Whitley
1,040
5,190
10,730
Totais
683,314
990,258
1,350,428
607
ILLITERACY AND POPULATION
The following statistics from the U. S. Census will give an Idea of the illiteracy in the state. In the first column are the numbers of white persons over 20 unable to write or read. In the second column are the same for 1850. In the third column are all over 10 who could not write in 1870.
County
1840
1850
1870
Adams
180
157
502
Allen
160
622
999
Bartholomew
649
1,170
2,095
Benton
95
499
Blackford
55
166
716
Boone
31
956
1,514
Brown
122
829
1,825
Carroll
400
985
954
Cass
457
173
856
Clarke
676
941
2,998
Clay
738
532
1,779
Clinton
87
1,061
1,419
Crawford
389
945
1,602
Daviess
667
1,222
1,752
Dearborn
78
703
536
Decatur
151
1,301
1,048
DeKalb
75
614
736
Delaware
366
1,089
1,234
Dubois
532
441
535
Elkhart
114
1,057
1,463
Fayette
494
655
12
Floyd
642
1,051
1,821
Fountain
874
1,462
1,156
Franklin
65
693
1,188
Fulton
483
973
Gibson
1,044
1,201
2,190
Grant
321
1,121
1,067
Greene
740
1,521
2,518
Hamliton
1,271
1,319
1,409
Hancock
330
642
1,449
Harrison
419
89
1,937
Hendricks
924
1,306
1,505
Henry
495
971
1,652
Howard
155
1,098
Huntington
131
571
1,289
Jackson
1,412
1,428
2,145
Jasper
....
203
177
608
HISTORY OF INDIANA
County
1840
1850
1870
Jay
395
420
1,235
Jefferson
123
1,555
1,291
Jennings
484
1,880
Johnson
581
472
1,641
Knox
643
794
2,504
Kosciusko
364
1,092
1,501
Lagrange
162
104
353
Lake
7
131
416
Laporte
268
610
842
Lawrence
1,085
1,148
1,987
Madison
332
821
2,842
Marion
194
965
4,522
Marshall
62
468
1,363
Martin
620
1,594
2,135
Miami
251
1,074
1,903
Monroe
9
1,038
1,618
Montgomery
1,058
1,175
1,439
Noble
182
365
621
Ohio
39
372
Orange
1,167
1,471
1,922
Owen
793
1,124
1,614
Parke
1,314
320
974
Perry
574
1,114
1,805
Pike
695
1,083
1,936
Porter
15
261
979
Posey
1,538
1,263
Pulaski
41
172
499
Putnam
1,021
2,035
2,091
Randolph
333
1,179
874
Ripley
208
1,055
1,644
Rush
1,789
1,628
845
Scott
470
900
1,290
Shelby
878
1,646
1,486
Spencer
700
948
2,226
Starke
5
81
268
Steuben
51
63
586
St. Joseph
383
248
1,499
Sullivan
543
757
2,707
Switzerland
18
119
219
Tippecanoe
1,246
1,549
2,659
Tipton
...
480
1,234
904
1,922
Morgan
178
Newton
...
609
ILLITERACY AND POPULATION
County
1840
1850
1870
Union
200
92
59
Vanderburg
198
158
2,371
Vermilion
265
698
827
Vigo
666
1,613
2,603
Wabash
224
820
1,424
Warren
465
328
437
Warrick
715
381
2,332
Washington
1,332
1,259
1,685
Wayne
42
1,091
1,200
Wells
230
565
812
White
15
401
604
Whitley
79
350
828
Totals
38,100
72,710
127,124
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CHAPTER XXIII
CIVIL WAR POLITICS
§ 108 SLAVERY
The election of 1852 was not satisfactory to any party. The Whigs manifested little concern over the defeat or the fate of their party. The Democrats had made the political mistake of destroying the Whig party, the only power that could keep their own party united. The Whigs were released from party allegiance by the death of their party, the Dem- ocrats by the disappearance of opposition. The in- dividuals of each party were thus left free to discuss any question that came up and form new alliances as circumstances arose. Several of these emergencies had already arisen before 1852 when nothing but the power of party discipline and the fear of defeat had held the Democrats together.
The one great question which interested every voter was slavery. No attempt had been made to train public opinion in the state. Political parties, the churches and the newspapers had, up to 1850, avoided the subject as much as possible in an official way. The Free Soil party had created some interest in 1844 and 1848, but, though it remained as a power- ful influence, it had disappeared as an organized force. A few outright Abolitionists were active in the state but were not regarded seriously by the peo- ple. It seems that the majority of Indianians in 1852 preferred to let the question rest, but at the same time were apprehensive lest some one open it up
611
SLAVERY
. again. Herein lay the cause of the tempest that followed the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill.
There had been very little sympathy for negroes in Indiana previous to 1852. The new constitution had prohibited free negroes coming into the state. A strict law required every one then in the state to reg- ister with his county clerk and one who failed to reg- ister was subject to the $500 fine imposed on those who came into the state after October 1, 1851.1 By a law of February 14, 1853, no person having one- eighth or more of negro blood could testify in court in any case in which a white person was interested.2 These laws were driving the few colored people then in the state, who were able to move, from it.8 There seems to be ample evidence to show that this was the sentiment of the state previous to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and the operations of the Fugitive Slave law of 1850.
However there were strong agencies then becom- ing active to change this attitude. In September, 1853, the Northern Indiana Methodist conference carried twelve resolutions condemning slavery in all its forms.4 Each Methodist preacher thenceforth
1 Revised Laws of Indiana, 1852, ch. 74.
2 Laws of Indiana, 1853, ch. 42. Passed by vote of 36 to 11 in the Senate and in the House, 58 to 10.
3 Washington County Democrat, July 22, 1853.
4 Logansport Journal, October 22, 1853; Indianapolis Journal, October 5, 1853. "The system of slavery is contrary to the doc- trines of the Methodist Episcopal church. We believe it is the duty of the church to seek to remove slavery from the entire country. Whoever holds a slave is a sinner before God, violating in an unmistakable manner the second commandment. We be- lleve the system of slave-raising worse than the African slave trade. The members of our church who hold slaves should be dealt with as for other gross immorality. The iniquitous Fugitive Slave law merits our hearty disapproval." The resolutions are given in full in both papers.
612
HISTORY OF INDIANA
became an anti-slavery agitator. Having no regard for political effect these men soon incurred the en- mity of the Democratic politicians. John L. Robin- son, United States marshal for Indiana, in an ad- dress before the Democratic state convention in 1854 referred to the preachers as the "3000 Abolitionists sent out of New England," and as "non-taxpaying, itinerant vagabonds."" The State Sentinel warned preachers in general from meddling with politics and attending conventions, cautioning them to stick to the gospel.® Governor Wright withdrew his member- ship from Strange Chapel Methodist church at Indi- anapolis because the minister persisted in talking politics from the pulpit." The Quakers were just as active in denouncing slavery as the Methodists, though, due to lack of numbers and organization, they were not so effective. Moreover, having always strenuously opposed slavery, people were not so much excited by their work.
During the year 1853 accounts of fugitive slave cases appeared frequently in the Indiana newspa- pers. The iniquity of the business soon forced the editors to plead the cause of humanity. Each section of the state was aroused by the capture of some fugi- tive in the vicinity.8
5 Indianapolis Journal, June 24, 1854.
6 Indianapolis State Sentinel, August 10, 1854.
7 Indianapolis Journal, January 22 and 23, 1855.
8 "We would ask every man who prefers justice to expediency, humanity to the cold-blooded schemes of selfish politicians and persistent slave-holders, how long a system so degrading to man and so dishonorable to God shall be permitted to continue."- Logansport Journal, February 13, 1853. Of Ilke temper is the following extract from a letter by Henry Ward Beecher refer- ring to the Freeman outrage :
"So deadening has been the influence of slavery upon the pubile mind that religious teachers and religious editors will find not a word to say against this utter abomination. Meanwhile,
613
TEMPERANCE
§ 109 TEMPERANCE
During the session of 1853 the General Assembly attempted to legislate on the liquor question. There had been, for a score or more of years, agitation in favor of regulating the liquor traffic. In 1839, in re- sponse to petitions from various parts of the state, the Judiciary committee, through Amory Kinney, of Vigo county, its chairman, made a report on the liquor traffic, at the same time introducing a bill lim- iting the sale. The committee reported that the use of liquor was vicious, entailing on the state an esti- mated annual loss of $1,738,100. This sum they said would school every child in the state. It would take more sagacity, they continued, than any member of the committee possessed, to point any good to the community resulting from this waste. There seemed to be an average of ten groceries for each county and three habitual loafers caused by each. In Indi- ana alone the annual death toll from drunkenness was 1,300; it required each circuit court six days per year to dispose of cases arising directly from the traffic; its chemical effect was entirely injurious to the human system; the so-called temperate drinker was a myth; he was only in the first stage of drunk- enness; drinking was the cause of three-fourths of all crime, pauperism, criminal court expense and in- sanity in the state; the right of a man to destroy his own usefulness, ruin his family and throw the wreck- age on the expense of society, was denied. In short, in this report will be found the whole case against
the same God who permits tarantulas, scorpions, and other odious vermin suffers also the existence of such creatures as the Rever- end Mr. Ellington * to crush the human heart, to eat up a living household, to take a family into one's hand and crush it like a cluster of grapes. This is respectable, iegal, and Christian in the estimation of cotton patriots and patriotic Christians who regard law greater than justice, the Union as more Important than
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