USA > Indiana > The history of Indiana > Part 27
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On November 7-15, 1835, a monster meeting was held on the Tippecanoe battlefield. Isaac Naylor, the veteran editor of the Crawfordsville Record, and a soldier at Tippecanoe, was the speaker of the day. Dr. Elizur Deming pronounced an eulogy on Harrison. All then repaired to the feast. The barbecue was served on three tables each one hundred yards long. These were filled twice by the multitude.
Harrison was formally nominated for the presi- dency by this meeting. But by this time the Harri- son boom was in full career elsewhere. Editor John Douglas, of the Indiana Journal, November 13, 1835, said there was a steady manifestation of interest in the coming candidacy of General Harrison.34 It was not a preconcerted series of meetings, and there was no articulation to the campaign, but Harrison ban- quets were held in every county. Papers were filled with discussions of his battles. Incidents and anec- dotes were met with in all papers. County meetings solemnly resolved that he was a fit candidate for the presidency.
These early meetings were apparently non-political. Nothing offensively partisan was ever brought up. Neither the name Whig, D'emocrat, Jackson men, Clay men, nor any of the other numerous epithets, by which one or the other political party was known, was used by the speakers.
One of the first of these meetings in Indiana was called by John Vawter, a patriarch of the Baptist church. The meeting was held at old Vernon. Here is perhaps a proper place to note a phase of this cam- paign not generally recognized. This meeting would probably have passed resolutions condemning Clay with as much unanimity, if not with as much enthusi-
34 A meeting at Brookville. Feb. 7, 1835. endorsed the nomina- tion of Harrison previously made in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Enos McCarty, a Democrat, presided. Indiana American, quoted in Indiana Journal, Feb. 27, 1835.
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asm, as it showed when endorsing Harrison. Clay never received the support of the church people of the State, if the newspapers can be taken as evidence. The Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, especially the preachers, continually found fault with his drunkenness, his gambling, his profanity, to men- tion only a few of the immoralities he was charged with. The editors tried in the earlier years to explain or condone these faults as the unavoidable character- istics of all really great men, but in later years, espe- cially since his defeat in 1832, they had ceased, and now gave full publicity to all rumors of that kind.
In every question that arose during that quarter of a century Clay, they charged, threw the weight of his influence against good morals. The opposite was true of Harrison, and the humble church folks of the northwest turned with hope from such characters ,as Clay, Van Buren, Webster, and Buchanan.
The meeting at Vernon was followed by a similar one at Lexington, presided over by Col. Abraham Kim- berlin, and addressed by the venerable Col. James Goodhue, a crippled soldier, whom Jackson had dis- missed from the postoffice, over the protest of the whole neighborhood, after almost a lifetime of honest service.
Every paper of the period contains some reference to a county meeting, and the Whig papers mixed up the accounts with criticism of the high-handed,; straight-arm methods of the administration men.
The Van Buren papers tried in vain for a hearing. The people would have no patience with them. In fact, many of them that were free of federal patronage boldly took their places in the Harrison ranks and received the name, "dugout" Whigs. The faithful discipline under which Jackson had compelled his editors to defend his administration now reacted against them. People discounted everything the editor
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said as if it were handed down. John Douglas, editor of the Indiana Journal, had referred to Jackson editors a few years ago as wearing the "chain and collar" of their master. The reference was catchy and during this and the succeeding campaign they were usually referred to as the "collar" press.
The Harrison Convention met at Indianapolis De- cember 14, 1835. It proved to be a reunion of the heroes of Tippecanoe. Many of them had never taken part in politics, but when they heard the call of their old commander they rallied for his support. It seemed to the common people an insult to thus challenge these old soldiers of an earlier generation.35
The aged preacher, John Vawter of Vernon, called the Indianapolis convention to order. Marston G. Clark, whose name recalled the memory of his kins- man, George Rogers Clark, and who himself had been a distinguished pioneer of the State, and had served as aid in the Tippecanoe campaign, choosing the site for the night camp which became the battle ground and for the selection of which Harrison had been so un- justly censured, was called to preside. He was escorted to the chair by Judge William Polke, who had served as chief of scouts for General Harrison and had been interpreter in the last interview with the Prophet the night before the battle, and Jordan Vigus, likewise a hero of Tippecanoe. As this trio of heroes marched up the aisle, gray and grizzled with hardships, but firm and erect as when they marched up the Wabash twenty-four years before, the Van Buren politicians present saw they had unintentionally awakened a dor- mant force in Indiana that was beyond their control. As vice presidents of the convention there sat beside Clark, Gen. John G. Clendennin of Orange county and Gen. Samuel Carr of Clark county, two of the strong- est supporters of Jackson in the State.
35 Vevay Weekly Messenger, Dec. 26, 1835.
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The speech of Clark, recounting the achievements of Harrison by one who was, as all knew, giving no idle praise, carried the convention away. Speeches by Polke, Naylor, and others kept up enthusiasm. A misguided politician, who mentioned Johnson as a possible running mate for Harrison, apologized to the convention for the insult. Addresses filled the first pages of the newspapers and swept the coun- try like a prairie fire.
The election of 1836 had all the moral effects of a defeat for both parties in Indiana, at least so far as the newspapers were concerned. The Democrats were completely defeated, but, to the disgust of the Whig editors, remained in possession of the battlefield.
At the suggestion of the Richmond Palladium the Whig editors formed an editorial association and made systematic war on the enemy. The Palladium carried, during the whole period from 1836 to 1840 as a motto, the words of Senator N. P. To madge of New York- "Uncompromising Hostility to the Reelection of Mar- tin Van Buren." The Indianra Journal and other newspapers likewise kept their battle flags floating, or, as they expressed it, had nailed their colors to the masts. In December, 1839, t} : National Whig Con- vention of Harrisburg placed Harrison again in the field as a presidential candidate. This was done large- ly in deference to the voice ( the northwest as ex- pressed in previous State conv: ntions.
A great campaign must ha re live contributory is- sues. The Whig convention & Harrisburg had wisely refrained from adopting anf platform, thus leaving its campaigners and its press a wide latitude for the contest. In Indiana, especiall , it was almost impos- sible to say what was the paramount issue. There was a State governor and a ledaslature to elect, as well as a President of the nation.
The liquor question had be mn for years causing a
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great deal of thinking, especially among the members of the Evangelical churches. Numerous societies, called the Washingtonians, were organized throughout the State. The agitation was nation-wide and then, as now, proved a boomerang to every party that trifled with it. During the winter of 1838 and 1839 thieves and gamblers rendezvoused in the taverns of Indian- apolis and for the first time terrorized the capital. A grand jury spent some time making the investiga- tion.36
There was no lack of orators then to show the di- rect and sinister connection between taverns and politics. Other orators stood firmly for personal free- dom and the rights of the individual. Between these extremes the great body of Hoosiers, in earnest humor, discussed, in school and out, the traditional questions of politics, the tariff, the bank, the boundaries, slavery, internal improvements, public lands, and, above all, the "glorious achievements" or the "blundering stupidity" of General Harrison.
As observed before General Harrison was an ideal newspaper candidate. His life and exploits lent them- selves to picturesque descriptions. Especially was this true here in Indiana, where much of his life had been spent. Scarcely a neighborhood but contained some of his comrades in arms. These were sought out and by the liberal aid of the editor they prepared endless anecdotes and incidents of former campaigns. The
36 In the Indiana Journal of May 18, 1839, was printed their report on "Groceries and Grog Shops." "We have come to the unanimous conclusion that houses kept expressly for the sale of spirituous liquors are highly injurious to the peace, good order and general welfare of this or any other community. We are satisfied that laws licensing such are unwise and impolitic and ought to be repealed. They are abettors of crime and immoral- ity. They are nuisances. They rob the poor and break up fami- lies. We appeal to the General Assembly to banish one of the greatest evils that mars the peace and prosperity and happiness of our country."
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veterans of Tippecanoe were given the place of honor on the platform where powerful orators referred to their snowy locks and eminent services. They were feasted and toasted at monster barbecues until it seemed the State was trying to atone for having so long neglected its own heroes.
The State campaign was as stoutly contested as the national. The election of 1839 was over before the panic struck the State and the General Assembly stood as undecided before the situation as did the people. But, taking up the murmur of the people, it plunged into the chaos of State affairs. The House called for no less than seventeen formal reports on internal im- provements, and the Senate eighteen. No one knew what the reports meant. The Assembly through a long session of eighty-five days was a hotbed of petty politics. The Indiana Journal thus announced its ad- journment: "This body, after a stormy, protracted, and useless session of eighty-five days, has at last adjourned, and may heaven for all time save us from such another." The reports collected by the General Assembly furnished an exhaustless supply of materials for the stump speakers and newspapers.
Before the year 1840 the politicians of the two parties were fencing for position. The Democrats in the General Assembly called for a caucus, and the Whigs, on December 14, 1839, met at the State House with Samuel Judah, president, and Charles Test, secretary, and solemnly protested against the undemo- cratic performance. Their "weighty" resolutions against caucuses went the rounds of the Whig press and were praised even by the moderate or "dugout" Democrats.
The Whigs nominated Judge Samuel Bigger of Rush county, a graduate of Athens (Ohio) Univer- sity, a distinguished legislator and judge, and an elo- quent stump speaker. The Democrats nominated Gen.
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Tilghman Howard, a native of South Carolina, and a resident of Parke county.37
January 15, a county convention met at Bedford. John Edwards was chairman, R. W. Thompson re- ported the resolutions and held the crowd spellbound in a two-hour speech. George G. Dunn followed in an oration of equal length. One hundred and sixty-six delegates were appointed to attend the State conven- tion.
Other counties sent delegations of similar size. The delegates began to arrive in Indianapolis Janu- ary 14. Two days before the time for opening the con- vention the legislative hall was crowded with "Demo- cratic Whigs." Speakers followed each other through long day and night sessions. Citizens generously opened their homes to the delegates, after the taverns were full. By January 16 the capital was flooded with visitors. Samuel Judah of Knox was chairman. John Beard of Montgomery, James Blair of Vermillion, James T. Moffat of Vigo, Samuel Herriott of Johnson, Thomas D. Baird of St. Joseph, William H. Bennett of Union, Morris Lancaster of Wayne, Philip Sweetser of Marion, Joseph Robinson of Ripley, and John Zenor of Harrison, all members of the General Assembly,
37 Among the Whig speakers of State fame were Joseph G. Marshall, O. H. Smith, George Dunn, Albert White, William Herod, Caleb Smith, R. W. Thompson, Henry S. Lane, Othniel Clark, Newton Claypool, Samuel C. Sample, Thomas J. Evans, Hugh O'Neill, Schuyler Colfax, John Vawter, Milton Stapp, John Du- mont, Stephen C. Stephens, Jeremiah Sullivan, Joseph C. Eggles- ton, William G. Ewing, James H. Cravens, Jonathan McCarty, John Ewing, George H. Dunn, Samuel Judah, Randall Crawford, Thomas H. Blake, Elisha Huntington, Judge De Bruler, Charles Dewey and Conrad Baker. Among the Democrats the best cam- paigners were General Howard, Edward Hannegan, James Whit- comb, Marinus Willet, Findley Bigger, Amos Lane, Thomas Smith, Robert Dale Owen, John Law, Joseph A. Wright, John G. Davis, Paris C. Dunning, Delaney Eckels, Alvin P. Hovey, Andrew Ken- nedy, John Spencer, Elisha Long, Nathaniel West, N. B. Palmer, General Drake, John Carr, William W. Wick, James Brown Ray, Joseph Holman and Ross Smiley.
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were appointed an executive committee to conduct the campaign.
Every county was instructed to hold a convention and form county and township organizations and pro- vide for county and township celebrations. Marion county met February 18, Harrison county on the 22d, and so on. There were conventions of young men, as in Fountain county February 22, Marion county March 5, Marshall county March 22, Miami county March 3; Huntington, Wells, Adams, Jay and Blackford all sent reports in together.
The "first voters" met at the Tippecanoe Battle- ground May 29. Harrison Democrats celebrated in Shelby county February 22, and were addressed by James Farrington.
A large delegation tramped off to Ohio to attend a celebration at Fort Meigs, May 9. By this time Har- rison marching clubs were organized in many coun- ties. A rally was called for Decatur county March 22. Almost every voter in the county was present. By eleven o'clock in the morning, Greensburg was full of people. Word came that township delegations were approaching. A procession headed by the Greensburg band formed and moved down the Michigan road to meet the Adams township delegation. At the head of the latter was a monster canoe drawn by six gray horses. In the canoe were a band and a veteran of '76, frosty headed, but carrying a large banner. The other township delegations were likewise intercepted, after which the long column paraded the town to the courthouse square, where the inevitable speaking be- gan. Descriptions of such meetings appeared in all papers and in almost every issue. At Connersville the lowest estimate of the crowd was ten thousand. The canoe was fifty feet long. A log cabin 8x12 was a part of the parade; another float contained a thresh- ing floor with four men using flails; the Hagerstown
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men attended in their canoe; Rush county sent 1,000 men with a buckeye canoe; Union county sent a troop of dragoons armed and in uniform. There was no end to the barbecues, and celebrations, and mass meetings, no limit to the pranks of the zealous Whigs.
The culmination came in the Battleground Conven- tion of May 29. Indianapolis was the rallying ground for the southeastern part of the State. Delegates and delegations began to arrive May 25. It rained during the three preceding days, but no one complained. The women of the capital had prepared two beautiful ban- ners. After the presentation ceremonies, the column began to get under way, marching in squadrons of 200 each. Those on horseback took the lead, followed by carriages and wagons with a long rearguard on foot. Many of the latter trudged barefoot through the black mud of the Michigan road, carrying their shoes in their hands. The column was said to be twenty-five miles long. Corncribs, haystacks, parlors, kitchens, barns, bedrooms, all were thrown open along the way to this army of pilgrims. Everybody was welcome every- where. Every cabin had its banner up and barrel out. The White Horse Trained Band from Fayette county attracted most attention. Single delegations of 1,000 men came marching. The Battlegrounds were white with tents. There were men from nearly every State in the Union.
In one place was a group of patriot survivors of the Revolution, in another the heroes of Fort Meigs, and in still another those of Tippecanoe, the Levites who were to act as high priests at this shrine. The veteran preacher, John Vawter, called the "nations" to order and turned the meeting over to Gen. John McCarty. Judge William Polke, Thomas Hinds, of Illinois, and Isaac Naylor, survivors all of the battle, made brief addresses, after which Judge Bigger, the orator of the day, spoke two hours. James Brooks,
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editor of the New York Express, followed with an oration. After this came the crowning act of the meeting. The surviving soldiers gathered together at the Battleground House, formed in order, whereupon Judge Polke produced the old banner under which Cap- tain Spier Spencer's Yellow Jackets had fought, under which those two heroes of the militia, Spencer and Warrick, had died, and which Colonel Tipton had car- ried, and under it again these old men marched to the stand, where Mr. Polke presented it to Editor Brooks to be kept by him till the inauguration of Harrison, to whom it was then to be presented and by whom it was to be placed among the archives of the nation.
It was a perfect delirium of sentiment. The Demo- crats stood off and wondered if their good neighbors would ever return to their senses. The State enjoyed a carnival of oratory. Joint discussions were held, in one of which it is said two speakers talked two days, occupying two hours each, forenoon and afternoon. A part of the itinerary of the candidate for governor, Judge Bigger, will illustrate the strenuous life of the spellbinders during the campaign. On the trip he traveled horseback 700 miles, made thirty-three speeches, each two to four hours long.38
The campaign closed with a monster parade in In- dianapolis the night before the election. Mr. Whit- comb, later governor, was to speak on the North Side, and Senator O. H. Smith on the South Side. After
38 On one of his trips he left Greensburg on horseback and, after speaking there April 6. April 7 he spoke at Versailles, April 8 at Vevay, April 9 at Madison, April 10 at Charlestown, April 11 at New Albany, April 13 at Corydon, April 15 at Leav- enworth, April 16 at Fredonia, April 17 at Rome, April 18 at Troy, April 20 at Rockport, April 21 at Boonville, April 22 at Evansville, April 24 at Mt. Vernon, April 25 at Cynthiana, April 27 at Princeton, April 28 at Petersburg, April 29 at Vincennes, May 1 at Merom, May 2 at Caledonia, May 4 at Terre Haute, May 6 at Bowling Green, May 7 at Greencastle, May 8 at Dan- ville, May 9 at Indianapolis.
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waiting till midnight for the noise to subside the two speakers left their stands. After the State election the Democrats gave up the contest and sanity gradually returned to the people. In the State election Samuel Bigger was elected by over 9,000 plurality. The State senate stood 31 to 15 in favor of the Whigs. The house stood 78 to 22, showing thus more decisively the re- sults of the campaign. Harrison carried the State in the following November by 13,698 majority.
CHAPTER XIV
REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS FROM THE STATE
ยง 60 THE TREATY GROUNDS
THE little garrison under Maj. Josiah H. Vose at Fort Wayne was withdrawn, April 19, 1819.1 They were the last regular soldiers on frontier duty in the State. The westward movement of settlers had car- ried the frontier beyond Indiana.
Fort Wayne was then a busy center of the fur trade. Often 1,000 men were collected there on In- dian pay day. At such times horse-racing, gambling, drunkenness and debauchery were the order until the traders had all the Indians' annuity money in their possession.2
In 1823 John Tipton became the agent of the
1 Vincennes Centinel, July 19, 1819.
2 Robert S. Robertson, Valley of the Upper Maumee, I, 184. The following paragraph from Rev. J. B. Finley, Life Among the Indians, 518, describes these scenes. The missionary was an eye- witness. "This was an awful scene for a sober man to look upon. Here were encamped between two and three hundred Indians, and one-third if not one-half drunk; men and women, raving maniacs, singing, dancing, fighting, stabbing, and tomahawking one an- other-and there were the rumsellers watering their whisky until it was not strong grog, and selling it for four dollars a gallon- their hired men gathering up all the skins and furs, and their silver trinkets, ear-bobs, arm-bands, half-moons, silver crosses, and brooches-giving a gill of grog for a dozen of silver brooches -and their guns, tomahawks and blankets, till they were literally stripped naked, and three or four were killed or wounded. The reader may set what estimate he pleases, or call him by what name; yet if there was ever a greater robber, or a meaner thief. or a dirtier murderer than these rumsellers, he is yet to be seen." See also Isaac McCoy, History of the Baptist Indian Mission, 84 seq.
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Miamis and Pottawattomies, with headquarters at Fort Wayne. As the settlements around the place in- creased the Indians fell back on the upper Wabash and Eel rivers. Partly that he might be nearer the Indians and partly due to interest in land speculation, Mr. Tipton secured the removal of the Indian agency, in the spring of 1828, to the mouth of Eel river, the present site of Logansport.
The Indian trade at that time was one of the most lucrative occupations in the State. The agent bought large numbers of cattle, hogs, and horses for the In- dians. Droves of stock were gathered up and driven through the forests to Fort Wayne or Logansport.
By the law of 1819 the Indians of Indiana were granted annuities as follows: Weas, $3,000; Potta- wattomies, $2,500; Delawares, $4,000; Miamis, $15,- 000; besides which there were specific gifts which often amounted to as much as the annuities. Thus at this time, 1819, the Delawares, then preparing to go west, were given $13,000.3
The annual assembly at the Treaty Grounds was the greatest commercial event of northern Indiana from 1820 to 1840. It corresponded with the New Orleans trade in the southern part of the State. At the treaties of October 20, 26 and 27, 1832, there were distributed goods to the value of $365,729.87.4 There were not less than fifty traders on the grounds. The bills of W. G. and G. W. Ewing footed up about $30,000. Jo- seph Holman, a member of the first constitutional con- vention; Jonathan Jennings, our first governor ;
3 United States Statutes at Large 1819, ch. LXXXVII.
4 Senate Document, Indian Removals, V, 1834-5. First Sess. 23d Cong. The Treaty Grounds were on the Tippecanoe river near its mouth. The assemblies were not all held at the same place. Some were held at the Big Springs where Wabash is now, some on the site of Huntington, some at the mouth of the Mississinewa and many down on the old Tippecanoe Battle- ground.
ON THE TREATY GROUNDS 369
John W. Davis of Carlisle, long a member of Congress and at one time its speaker ; Allen Hamilton, president of the Fort Wayne branch of the State bank ; Samuel Hanna, founder of Fort Wayne; Nicholas Mc- Carty, a merchant of Indianapolis and later a Whig candidate for governor; Alexis Coquillard, founder of South Bend; Jordan Vigus, one of the founders of Logansport, were a few of the better known traders and agents. It is hardly necessary to say these were the leading men of the northern part of the State. Many of them became wealthy in this business. It was said that the Ewing brothers became million- aires.5
At this time it is hardly possible to determine the profit made by the traders. Blankets sold at $8 and $10 each; red flannel at 57 cents; bleached shirting at 971/4 cents ; tincups at 121/2 cents ; red cotton hand- kerchiefs at 40 cents; calico at 25 cents; silk vests at $4; coffee boilers at 75 cents ; thread at $2 per pound ; hats at $5; knives at 40 cents; powder at 40 cents. The quality of the goods cannot now be ascertained. The traders sold on credit to the Indians and then presented their bills to the Indian agents, who paid the annuities. This plan was tolerably satisfactory until the greedy traders presented bills which amount- ed to more than all the annuities. Then there was trouble among the traders.
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