USA > Indiana > Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900; or, A view of our region through the nineteenth century > Part 10
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MODERN OR RAILROAD LIFE.
when there shall be none to hurt or destroy the peace and welfare of others, the time for the hastening on of which millions of Christian women are working and praying and longing, there will be then no more saloons.
Good and praiseworthy as are the other three varieties of institutes, no good citizen should fail to encourage those that seek to promote in all home life temperance and purity, purity in literature, purity in art, that seek to build up in boys and girls alike true and equal virtue. One large page of progress in our modern or railroad life, notwithstanding the demoral- izing influences supposed to go with the railroad, that great attendant and promoter of civilization, is that on which we read the history of woman's work in the last two decades of the Nineteenth Century.
CHAPTER XI.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
It is not designed in this chapter to give the vote of each county, year by year, according to the division of citizens into political parties, but it is considered suffi- cient, for the objects of this historic record, to give the political aspects in each county in 1840, 1852, 1856, and 1860, and then the prevailing political sentiment of the counties since the changes brought about by the Civil War and the era of Reconstruction.
As all students of American history know, the year of 1840 was a time of great political excitement over the entire country, and it was the first presidential campaign in which these new counties in North- Western Indiana had taken much of any part.
For twenty-four years, from 1801 to 1825, Jeffer- son, Madison, and Monroe, had held in succession the office of President, all being what by some were called Democratic-Republicans; then, for four years John Quincy Adams, called a National Republican, was President ; and for twelve years more Jackson and Van Buren, called simply Democrats, held that high office; and now many of the people were desirous of a change in the administration of national affairs. William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, was nominated for President and John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice Pres- ident by a party or a union of different forces bearing the old historic name of Whig. It was the noted
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign. In La Porte County the contest was a very exciting one, on the Whig side such men as General Joseph Orr and Hon. John B. Niles, with many other prominent citizens being found ; and on the Democratic side such men as Gilbert Hathaway, C. W. Cathcart, and many more whose names will long remain in Northern In- diana history. It was not only an exciting and ardu- ous, but with some even a bitter struggle for success. Wilber F. Storey, afterward connected with the "Chi- cago Times," was then an editor of the "La Porte Herald," and his utterances in regard to the anti- slavery men who were beginning to vote with the Whigs, just before the political campaign opened, indicated full well the spirit of the man whose utter- ances in the "Chicago Times" in the opening years of the Civil War needed to be suppressed by the strong arm of power at Washington. And the pub- lisher, also an editor of that same "Herald," in his issue of July II, 1840, says the Whigs, whom he styles Federalists, residing in La Porte, "are the most aban- doned, reckless, hypocritical, murderous, and lost to every noble, honorable, virtuous feeling, of any other community with which I am acquainted; and within the last few years I have traveled through nine states of the Union," words which General Packard, with good reason, says, "embittered the already aroused feeling of the Whig party"; and words which he who in the heat of his vexation wrote them did not suppose, probably, would live a month. Surely one lesson of history is, that men should not write nor even speak that which they would be ashamed to have go down to posterity.
Two resolutions adopted in this hot campaign will
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
be quite sufficient to show the spirit of that time in La Porte and also in Porter County. The first is Democratic: "
"Resolved, That Federal principles are like Har- rison victories, few and far between-and made to suit party customs ; and that Harrison's battles, so glor- iously won, according to the tactics of the Federal party, are like his principles, wholly unknown and un- heard of."
The other is a Whig resolution, adopted by the senatorial convention at Valparaiso, March 28, 1840, "presided over by Solon Robinson," then of Lake County, "with James Blair, of Porter, and Alexander Blackburn, of La Porte, vice presidents, H. S. Orton and Samuel S. Anthony, secretaries."
"Resolved, That we have our political log cabin already raised, that next August we will roof it in, that next November we will chink Locofocos into the cracks, and that next March we will move into it." And in March, 1841, General Harrison did go into the White House at Washington.
Those who, as young men, enter into political life since the great changes produced by the Civil War, may see corruption and hear abuse heaped upon polit- ical opponents, but the bitterness manifested by many toward those who were opposed to slavery, while that "irrepressible conflict" was leading on to the great battles and the red fields of blood, they cannot readily realize. That editor of the "La Porte Herald" al- ready named, Wilber F. Storey, who became editor- in-chief and proprietor of the "Chicago Times," pub- lished in March, 1840, a long article on what he called "Abolitionism." In that article he styled it a "nefarious subject," mentioned contemptuously
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
some "friends of the poor negro" who held a meet- ing in the La Porte court house, expressed the hope that the Democratic party would drive the anti- slavery men out of their party, and called those who spoke against slavcry "abolition loafers."
It is evident that even in the campaign of 1840 elements were at work that would be felt more fully in 1860.
La Porte County, Porter County, the State of In- diana and the whole country went that year in favor of the Whig party.
Two brilliant speakers, "captivating" one was called, and the other "a popular speaker of great elo- quence," were candidates for Congress, E. A. Hanne- gan and Henry S. Lane. The latter was elected.
In Lake County the Democrats were quite largely in the majority and gave their vote for E. A. Hanne- gan. Solon Robinson, however, the first settler at Crown Point, with some other Whigs, had attended that great gathering in May, 1840, at the Tippecanoe battle ground, held in honor of General Harrison, of whom the Whigs of La Porte said: "The battle fields of Tippecanoe, of Fort Meigs, and of the Thames, present to the world imperishable monuments of his fame as a soldier, and upon that evidence he may safely rest."
In 1840 Starke County and Newton had not been organized ; and Jasper, with its large territory, having then only twelve hundred and sixty-seven inhabitants, and one hundred and thirty-eight polls, took but little part in political affairs.
Says Judge Thompson, of Rensselaer: "In 1840 the entire taxable valuation of property in what is now Newton, Benton, and Jasper, was $20,340." He
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
says again : "Prior to 1840 there were settlements at Blue Grass, Wall Street, Carpenter's Creek, Gillam, Crockett's Graveyard, and a few scattering houses throughout the county."
White County, next to La Porte County in age. had not then become populous ; nor yet had Pulaski, then but recently organized, its first term of court held in 1840; so these counties took no very active part in the political campaign of 1840. Lake County had then fourteen hundred and sixty-eight inhab- itants.
In 1848 there was another exciting campaign. General Taylor was the Whig candidate for Presi- dent and General Lewis Cass the Democratic can- didate. One sentence may well be quoted here as belonging to this canvass which was "constant, thor- ough, and able." "Passions were deeply stirred, for more and more were questions, arising out of the institution of slavery, coming to the surface, and al- though both the old parties endeavored to ignore such questions, like the ghost of murdered Banquo, they would not 'down.'"
The "Higher Law" was mentioned in discussions in these exciting days. Schuyler Colfax, afterward Vice President of the United States, was for the first time a candidate for Congress, nominated by a Whig convention in May, 1851. His Democratic competi- tor was Graham N. Fitch. The position of the two parties in this part of Indiana is shown in two of their resolutions adopted at their district conventions. The first is Democratic :
"Resolved, That we abide by the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and that we will stand by each and all of its compromises, and therefore recognize the
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
binding force of every clause (the delivery of fugitives from labor included), and we regard any action from any quarter, North or South, that tends to weaken or estrange our high allegiance to its solemn provisions, as equally faithless and treasonable."
And the corresponding Whig resolution was this : "Resolved, That our position remains unchanged ; no interference with the domestic policy or peculiar institutions of sister States ; no extension of slave ter- ritory ; no diffusion of an institution, which it is be- lieved tends to degrade labor and blight industry, over more of national soil than it now covers; no countenancing of disunion sentiments whether at the North or South; but devotion, unfaltering and uncon- ditional devotion to our glorious Union, in any event, under all circumstances, despite all contingencies."
By a convention adopting this as setting forth their views Schuyler Colfax received his first nomination for Congress.
There was already a small but growing Free Soil party, not satisfied, even, with the position taken by the Whigs. Their candidate in 1848 was Martin Van Buren, and in 1852, the year which has been named as one of special interest, their candidate was John P. Hale. In this year, Franklin Pierce being the Demo- cratic candidate and the Whigs endeavoring to elect one more general, the noted Winfield Scott, a Demo- cratic wave seemed to sweep over the country. The Whigs had elected General Harrison, they had elected General Taylor, both of whom died in office ; they had failed to elect that grand statesman and favorite son of Kentucky, Henry Clay, although La Porte County gave him a good majority; and now, in 1852, they failed to elect General Scott. It was their last great
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
effort. The party was broken up. A new party was growing, which became before long the great Repub- lican party of the northern portion of the whole coun- try. A square issue in regard to the growth of slavery was soon to be made. About 1852 a party also was formed, the American party which included the "Know-Nothings," which prevailed for a time in both the North and the South, including largely those who had been Whigs; the Kansas and Nebraska bill, re- pealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820, was intro- duced by Stephen A. Douglas and passed by Congress in May, 1854; and all those in favor of free territorial soil became still more aroused to the fact of the con- flict before them, and were gathering their forces to meet it. The Republican party was organized. In 1856 the combined forces that went into this party held their first national convention and nominated for President John C. Fremont. But the Democrats elected this year one more President, James Buch- anan, and it was evident before long that not ballots but bullets would be needful to settle the conflict, when in 1860, on a full tidal wave of success Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the next President of the United States.
The position of the counties in these different years is now to be examined.
La Porte County in 1852 gave to the Democratic electors a majority of one hundred and eleven, at the same time the Free Soil party in the county giving to John P. Hale one hundred and thirty-six votes, so that had these votes been given for General Scott La Porte would still have held a Whig majority. Schuyler Colfax and Henry S. Lane were this year among the defeated Whig electors.
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
In 1856 La Porte County went strongly Repub- lican and gave Colfax one hundred and thirty ma- jority for representative in Congress. The year, 1860, came, when the whole nation, both North and South, saw that there was no light conflict before them; yet not even then foreseeing how desperate and how bloody it would be. An organization known as Wide Awakes in La Porte, added brilliancy to the night scenes, as with torch lamps they moved in long processions on the streets of that beautiful city. The election day came. Colfax received a majority of one thousand and five for another term in Congress as Republican representative. La Porte County con- tinued Republican till 1872, when it became Demo- cratic, and since that time its vote has not been con- stant for one party.
Porter County in 1852 was probably Democratic, as it had been in 1848, giving a few Free Soil votes,- the vote of two townships is not at hand-but in 1856 it was strongly Republican, and in 1860 the county gave for Lincoln a large majority. It continued to be a Republican County until after 1880, and for several years past it has been generally Republican. Lake County, at first and for several years largely Demo- cratic, when the Republican party was formed, be- came strongly Republican, the Free Soil Democrats of whom there were many, going with the Whigs to help form that large party that for twenty-four con- secutive years had a Republican President in the White House. (It may be noted as a somewhat sin- gular coincidence that as the so-called Democratic- Republican party had control of the government from 1801 to 1825, so the Republican, the Free Soil party, had control for the same length of time, from 1861 to 1885.)
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
The other five counties, Starke, Pulaski, White, Jasper, and Newton, have been quite uniform in their political preferences, Starke and Pulaski Democratic; Jasper and Newton Republican; and White in 1896 giving a Democratic majority for Secretary of State, the two parties, however, being quite evenly bal- anced.
In the last few years, in all these counties there have been some Prohibition votes. The Prohibition candidate for governor a few years ago, R. S. Dwig- gins, was a resident of Rensselaer.
Number of voters in 1895 -.
Counties.
White. Colored.
La Porte
9,414
38
Lake
8,192
21
Porter
5,128
2
White
4,780
3
Jasper
3,444
6
Pulaski
3,219
I
Newton
2,600
19
Starke
2,465
. .
DISTRICTS AND CONGRESSMEN.
When, in 1843, an act was passed "for revising and consolidating the Statutes of the State of Indiana," it was enacted in the section in regard to the coun- ties, "The State of Indiana shall be, and the same is hereby divided into the following counties, to wit:" The names of eighty-eight counties then follow, but no Newton County is named, as it was then included in Jasper. After defining the boundaries of the eighty- eight counties, ten Congressional districts were formed. Our eight counties Newton as a part of Jasper, were then placed in the Ninth
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
district, along with nine other counties, the
General Assembly thus making this, in the number of counties, the largest district in the State. The other districts numbered from four to fourteen counties each. It is to be supposed that the northwestern part of Indiana, in 1843, was not very densely populated. In arranging the senatorial districts, "La Porte, Lake, and Porter," were entitled to one senator; "Warren, White, Pulaski, Jasper, Benton, and Starke," to one. So that, with the aid of two other counties, we then elected two State sena- tors. In arranging for representatives, La Porte was then allowed to have two; Porter and Lake were to elect one; White, Pulaski, and Jasper, together with Benton, to elect one; and Starke along with Marshall and Fulton could also elect one. Five representatives we could elect with the help of three other counties. rious changes.
But population increased. Time brought its va-
In 1872 an act of the General Assembly re-arrang- ing senators and representatives became a law, and then La Porte County alone was entitled to one sen- ator; Lake and Porter to one; Newton, Jasper, and White, with Benton, to one; Sterke with St. Joseph to one; and Pulaski, along with Marshall and Fulton, to one. La Porte, Porter, and Lake, were allowed one representative each; Jasper and White together, one; Newton with Benton, one; Pulaski and Starke with a part of Fulton, one.
In 1876, when there were thirteen Congressional districts, our eight counties, with Carroll and St. Joseph, constituted the Tenth. There were cast that year, for President, 35,187 votes in this Tenth district, distributed thus : For Hayes, 17,902 ; for Tilden, 16,- 917; and for Cooper, 368.
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
At the session of the Indiana Legislature in 1895 a new arrangement for Congressional districts was made. The State was again divided into thirteen dis- tricts, the Tenth to comprise the counties of Lake, Porter, and La Porte; White, Newton, and Jasper, with Warren, Tippecanoe, and Benton. Pulaski and Starke were placed in the Thirteenth district. The number of counties, according to this last division, ranges from two to ten in a district, one district only, the Fourth, exceeding the Tenth in number. The average number of counties in a district is now seven, so the Tenth is not quite up to the average.
In 1897 another act of the Legislature changed slightly the apportionments of senators and represen- tatives which had been re-arranged in 1895. This last act gave to La Porte and Starke one senator ; to Lake and Porter one; to Newton, Jasper, and White, one; and to Pulaski with Cass, one. This act gave, for representatives, to White and Pulaski, one; to Porter, one; to Newton with Benton, one; to Lake with Jasper, two; and to La Porte with Starke, two.
FULL LIST OF CONGRESSMEN.
This list contains the names of representatives in Congress for only one district. Some of the eight counties have been at times in other districts.
Indiana had in 1831 and 1832, the twenty-second session of Congress, only three districts; but at the time of the next session, for the years 1833 and 1834, there were seven, and ours continued to be the Seventh district till 1843.
First-Edward S. Hannegan, Democrat. Two terms, 1833 to 1836.
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
Second-Albert S. White, Democrat, 1837 and 1838.
Third-Tilghman A. Howard, Democrat, 1839 and 1840.
Fourth-Henry S. Lane, Whig, 1841 and 1842.
Fifth-Samuel C. Sample, Whig, 1843 and 1844. The district was now the Ninth.
Sixth-Charles W. Cathcart, Democrat, 1845 to 1848. Two terms.
Seventh-Graham N. Fitch, Democrat, 1849 to 1852. Two terms.
Eighth-Norman Eddy, Democrat, 1853 and 1854.
Ninth-Schuyler Colfax, Anti-Nebraska and after- ward Republican. Seven terms, 1855 to 1868.
Tenth-Jasper Packard, Republican. Three terms. The district now the Eleventh, 1869 to 1874.
Eleventh-William S. Haymond, Democrat, 1875 and 1876. District now the Tenth.
Twelfth-William H. Calkins, Republican, 1877 to 1880. Two terms.
Thirteenth-Mark L. De Motte, Republican, 1881 and 1882.
Fourteenth-Thomas J. Wood, Democrat, 1883 and 1884.
Fifteenth William D. Owen, Republican, 1885 to 1890. Three terms.
Sixteenth-David H. Patton, Republican, 1891 and 1892.
Seventeenth - Thomas Hammond, Democrat, 1893 and 1894.
Eighteenth-Jethro A. Hatch, Republican, 1895 and 1896.
Nineteenth-Edgar D. Crumpacker, Republican, 1897 to 1900.
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
JUDICIAL CIRCUITS AND JUDGES.
Thirtieth Circuit-Jasper and Newton counties with Benton form this circuit. Present judge elected in 1896, S. P. Thompson, of Rensselaer. Republican.
Thirty-first Circuit-Lake and Porter counties. Judge, John H. Gillett, residing at Hammond. Re-' publican.
Thirty-second Circuit-La Porte County with St. Joseph. Judge, Lucius Hubbard, of La Porte.
Thirty-ninth Circuit-White with Carroll County. Judge, Foreman F. Palmer, of Monticello.
Forty-fourth Circuit-Pulaski and Starke conn- ties, both Democratic, electing as the present judge, George W. Beeman.
In the records of La Porte County are the names of these four who have been members of the Congress of the United States: C. WV. Cathcart, Jasper Pack- ard, William H. Calkins, and Mulford K. Farrand. Congressmen from Porter County are the follow- ing: Mark L. De Motte, Edgar D. Crumpacker.
From Lake County: Thomas J. Wood and Thomas Hammond.
La Porte County has furnished one United States Senator, Charles W. Cathcart, from 1852 to 1853, and one judge of the Supreme Court, Andrew L. Os- borne, from 1872 to 1874.
Lake County has furnished a Secretary of State, Charles F. Griffin, from 1887 to 1891 ; a Crown Point boy and then a young lawyer ; a Sunday-school super- intendent and active in the temperance work of the town, then sent to Indianapolis, and now a resident lawyer at Hammond.
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ADDENDUM.
ADDENDUM.
Among those events that are deserving of notice some space should surely be given to the part taken by citizens in these counties to what is known as our Mexican War, which com- menced in April, 1846, and ended in Sep- tember, 1847. Of this conflict the author of that highly praised "Dictionary of United States His- tory," advertised as "the grandest book of the age," takes the opportunity to say: "The war was plainly one of unjust aggression on a minor power, with the object of winning more territory for new slave States." The opinion of a recorder of history may be of value, or it may not be of value; but a writer of history is not required to express his private opinion in order to give correct facts. There are, probably, two sides to the questions concerning every war,-the present ones of 1900 being no exceptions-and there were many to uphold the action of our government in 1846, as there are to uphold its action in 1898, 1899, and 1900.
Whether any readers of these pages agree with Professor Jameson in his needless thrust at the action of our government or whether they believe, with many others, that the Mexican was a justifiable war, out of which grew grand and good results, they will surely accord to the men who went from these coun- ties due respect for patriotism and for valor. La Porte County, the most populous and most wealthy,
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
took the lead in this as in some other movements, and soon a company was sent forth with W. W. Mc- Coy as captain.
The ladies of La Porte presented to this company a beautiful silk banner, which was borne with honor over sparkling waters and bloody battlefields, and was in August, 1848, returned with credit to the hands of the ladies who had given it.
In that company, Robert Fravel, First Lieuten- ant; C. W. Lewis, Second Lieutenant; Samuel Mecum, Ensign and Color Bearer, were ninety-two young men. Some of them did not return. The com- pany was organized in May, 1847. The peace was proclaimed July 4, 1848.
Captain Joseph P. Smith, a business man of Crown Point, proposed to raise a company for this war. (W. A. Goodspeed in "Porter and Lake" says that he was the "only one man in the county who knew any- thing of military tactics." And at that same time there was living in Lake County one who had been colonel of a company of cavalry, and had been on many a muster field before 1832. But of course W. A. Goodspeed could not be expected to know. He came, a stranger among us, to write the history of Porter and of Lake counties. He should have re- frained from volunteering statements about matters which he could not know.) Captain Smith, it was un- derstood, had been captain of a military company in New York, and did have some knowledge of military drill. He raised a company in four or five counties, some twenty-five men of Lake County, one hundred and seven in all, and left Crown Point for Mexico. It would seem that, in point of time, Captain Smith's patriotic action was in advance of Captain McCoy's
163
ADDENDUM.
of La Porte, for the evidence is that he crossed the Tippecanoe with his entire company on the way to Madison, Indiana, before the last of April, 1847; but in regard to numbers La Porte County took the lead. This company was quite unfortunate; some actually deserted, and many never returned. Some made good soldiers in a later and a larger war.
CHAPTER XII.
THE WAR RECORD.
From the view given of the political aspects of these counties it is evident that the elements were here, as in all the non-slave-holding states, for ener- getic action when the first gun should be fired that was on both sides the call to arms. And where had been the larger number of Whigs and of Free Soil Democrats would naturally be the largest Republican majorities and the most complete uprising of the peo- ple.
April 12, 1861, that gun was fired that sent the blood flowing more rapidly through the hearts of mill- ions. La Porte was then as now the most populous of our eight county seats, and having so many wealthy and prominent citizens rapid action was taken.
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