USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume II > Part 45
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Upon being introduced, Colonel Johnson spoke feelingly and wit- tily, saying friendly words about Franklin Pierce, who had been his congressional associate, and expressed his thanks for the generous wel- come accorded him. He acknowledged his surprise at the warmth of
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his greeting, for he had always heard that the people of New Hamp- shire were a cold-blooded, temperate people, who gave their hearts to nobody, but having found his error he should now go back to Ken- tucky and tell the Blue Grass population that with all their whiskey they could not outvie the Northern state of New Hampshire in friend- ship and generous hospitality.
At 3 o'clock the distinguished guest, with a large company, sat down to a banquet at Grecian hall, presided over by Franklin Pierce. William Low, an aged citizen, made a point at the banquet which added great interest to the occasion. He began by saying that he desired to put a very blunt question to Colonel Johnson, which was, " Did you, or did you not, in your own opinion, kill Tecumseh ?" Colonel Johnson replied that, called upon in such a manner, among such a people, he felt not the least hesitation in answering the ques- tion promptly and fully. Thereupon he declared, "In my opinion, I did kill Tecumseh." He stated to the company the evidence upon which his opinion rested, that they might judge as well as he. The Indians, he said, near the quarter where he was, had been several times routed, and again brought to the charge by a leader who com- manded and was obeyed as the principal chief. Colonel Johnson guided his horse towards this chief, determined to end the desperate fight by killing him if possible. As they approached each other the Indian fired, putting a ball through Colonel Johnson's bridle hand, then he raised his tomahawk, and when he was within some twenty feet, in the act of throwing it, Colonel Johnson leveled a pistol which he had concealed, and shot him dead. The pistol was loaded with a ball and three buckshot. Tecumseh was found killed at this very spot. A ball had entered his breast near the heart; one buckshot took effect a little higher up on the breast, another in the neck, and the third in the head. Colonel Johnson stated various other interest- ing facts tending to confirm his view of the occurrence. When he took his seat, Judge Upham rose and said that as mention had been made of a jury, and as an issue had been made up and the evidence laid before the jury, he would propose that the company be the jury, and return at that time their verdict. It was agreed to, and the opin- ion of the jurors was ascertained by rising. All were of one mind, and returned a verdict, "Guilty of the blood of Tecumsch." In the evening there was a public reception at the Eagle Coffee House, which was illuminated, as were many residences and buildings along Main street.
On Saturday morning Colonel Johnson visited the public build- ings, and took a drive about the town, after which many called to pay him their respects. At noon he took his departure, going by stage to
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Windsor, Vt. When the stage started from in front of the state house the parting guest was specded by the hearty cheers of the crowd assembled in the vicinity.
For half a century after the legislature began mecting at Concord there was one day in every year when people from all over the state were wont to turn Concordward to celebrate the inauguration day of the governor, or election day, as it was popularly called. This used to be the supreme holiday of the calendar, and gave to Concord while it lasted a distinction as unique as it was interesting and amusing. The custom was observed in undiminished vigor to the close of the Civil War, but after that time there was a gradual les- sening of interest, so that the former glory of the day is remem- bered now only by persons of mature years. The era of open booths, sports, boxing-matches, sidc-shows, cider carts, gingerbread and sweetmcat pedlers, hawkers, lottery wheels, medicine men, card sharpers, fortune-tellers, horse tamers, strect singers, and money getters generally, came to a close in the sixties, or early seventies, when public laws became more repressive and local policing more stringent. Gradually the old-fashioned election day of the fathers lost its importance, falling away year by year until changed methods of transportation and changed characteristics and modes of livelihood deprived the day of its motley interest and picturesqueness, and then followed that amendment to the state constitution which did away with the annual summer session and at the same time sounded the death knell of the gay and frolicsome "'Lection day."
But election day in its prime was as much a Concord institution as the Old North meeting-house. "The famous gala day came round on the first Thursday of every June, and great were the domestic preparations for its coming. Paint and whitewash were laid on unsparingly, the old ovens were urged to their utmost, the best rooms were put in order, in short, transformation became the duty of every man and woman from one end of the town to the other."
In the days before the railroads, members of the legislature, and visitors as well, began to come into town on Monday morning, and the stream of arrivals seldom ceased its flow before noon on Thurs- day. Prior to the building of the state house, the spirit of "election day " was found at the North end,-attracted there by the meeting- house, the Washington tavern, and other public resorts of equal fame, -but later years saw that neighborhood surrender its crowds and shows to the greater charms clustering in the vicinity of the present gilded dome. The cavalcades of those days were spectacles long remembered,-the horsemen, the music, the long procession of legis-
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lators and citizens, headed by the governor and council and high officials of state, whitened with dust, marching soberly to the Old North to hear the election sermon preached by some favored minister of Orthodox faith. Following those exercises was a public dinner, with toasts and social intercourse frequently prolonged far into the night. The old-time governors fitted in perfectly with the occasion ; they were dignified men of middle age, somewhat stern in deport- ment, very precise in dress, and one or two of them, it is said, wore powdered hair and three-cornered hats, and were attended by body servants.
Governor Langdon was noted for elegance of manners and rich- ness of attire, as were several of his successors. Governor Gilman wore an awe-inspiring hat decorated with an imposing cockade, while following a few paces in the rear walked his black servant, "London," whose showy uniform and majestic gait were the envy of all the other negroes and the delight of the children. This distinction in dress gradually waned; the last governor thus attired was Benjamin Pierce, who wore a three-cornered hat, blue coat with military buttons, buff vest, and knee breeches and silver buckles. This valiant old man was the guest when at Concord of John George, in the house so long the hospitable home of his son, John H. George.
" Election day " continued with slightly varying conditions for many years, the same crowds gazing at cach other, moving up and down the tree-sheltered street, pausing at booths to cat and drink, crowding the state house and making a picnic ground of the velvet green park, and finally, at the approach of evening, seeking their chaises and wagons and carts, and driving homeward well satisfied with their holiday. Another change came over the day when the railroads were opened, bringing to the town a class quite different from the former farmers, their boys and hired men, and while the number of visitors was increased, the originality and individuality of the crowd was much lessened. Even the fakirs and show-men experienced the changed character of the day, and no longer reaped the easy harvest of carlier times.
In 1842 Edward Kent, a native of Concord, afterwards governor of Maine, wrote an interesting article on the old-time "election day " which impressed Isaac Hill so favorably that he published it in his Patriot. Mr. Kent bewailed the changes wrought since his boyhood, when the festival was in its prime, and lamented the disappearance of the characters that once made Concord such a lively place. "Can it have come to this?" he wrote. "Are there no booths with green boughs and bushes as the outward sign of good things within, no fid- dllers to discourse music and mark time for the heavy fantastic toes
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of the six-fect Yankees on the rough planking, no gorgeous display of punch, egg-nog, and pure ardent, no praneing horses at the end of a single rein, no paw-paw or black jack, no throwing at the pin, no bowling alleys extemporized for the occasion, no Potter to ride two horses by day and to astonish by the practice of the black art by night ? Is there no old Green Parker, with his long staff, to preach lay sermons, no 'lection cakes glossed over with treaele, no Major Peter Robertson with his artillery? Is there no 'nigger 'lection' Wednesday, as there used to be? Taking my stand at Captain Ayers's [opposite Bridge street now] which was a sort of pivot or center of gravity, I see in the latter weeks of May the whole population busily engaged in raking chips, housing wood, and sweeping front yards. It is purification week. I see Stickney's orchard, which could tell tales of some boys, now covered with blocks and taverns and stores; is there no such thing as escorting the governor to town, raising the dust of the Dark Plains or of Pembroke street? Sweet is the remembrance of these triumphal entries, and their old-fash- ioned mode of testifying respect to the man, and none to the law and the office."
The ancient mode of receiving the new governors of the state was performed by a committee of the legislature meeting His Excellency at some well-known tavern just beyond the Concord line, or just within, and after passing the compliments of the occasion, escorting him to his lodgings on Main street, returning thither as the hour of inauguration drew near, and conducting him to the state house. It so happened that nearly all the early governors approached Coneord from points to the eastward ; consequently the legislative committee used to meet the incoming magistrate in Pembroke, or sometimes on Glover's hill, and there extend to him a welcome. When this oc- curred a battery stationed near the Eleven Lots fired a grand salute announcing the opening of the celebration. In later years, however, the governors came from every part of the state, so the meeting places had to be changed. Hubbard Weeks's tavern on the Hopkin- ton road was a favorite place for exchanging amenities between the new governor and the committee, and so were Ambrose's tavern in Boscawen, and Brown's in West Concord. When Governor Badger came from Gilmanton the committec received him on the bridge at East Concord, while Governor Harvey, who was practically a resident of Concord, merely met the gentlemen representing the legislature at the door of his boarding-house, and walked with them to the capitol.
For curious and original features no campaign has ever equaled the famous presidential contest of Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, in 1840. How thoroughly the town was cultivated politically is seen in the
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evenness of the vote, which gave Van Buren five hundred and forty- five and Harrison five hundred and forty-four, yet until that year Concord had been very Democratic in its political faith. The cul- mination of the local campaign was on the 17th of June, when Concord was invaded by hosts of enthusiastic and song-inclined visi- tors. Towns far and near sent delegations varying in numbers, but equal in spirit and energy. Every delegation brought with it a float representing the symbolic article of faith,-the log cabin and the bar- rel of hard cider. Music was not wanting to stir the throng; brass bands, drum corps, fifes, bugles, and songs commingled in far-reach- ing refrain, while less demonstrative but very conspicuous were the fiddlers seated on moving platforms containing a log cabin and a bar- rel of hard cider. Ridicule was not lacking on the part of the Dem- oerats, for in the next issue of Hill's Patriot appeared a review of the day's celebration. The article in question, entitled " British Whig Log Cabin Exhibition," is interesting, inasmuch as the "tow-headed Whig standing in the door discoursing sweet music " was Mason W. Tappan, while the " yellow-haired gentleman," editor of the Log Cabin, was Horace Greeley.
BRITISH WHIG LOG CABIN EXHIBITION.
The old Whigs and the young Whiglets came marching into town with banners and music, and driving in, in coaches, boats, wag- gons, log cabins, flat bottoms, and all the various kinds of vehicles which could be contrived, and our streets were crowded. About 10 o'clock the procession was formed and marched through the town, with several bands of excellent music. The Prince Albert, a very pretty British boat, built at Caleutta, and rigged like a ship, led the van, but the boatswain, a real old salt and a loco foco, not being so well paid as he had been promised, and provided only with hard cider to wet his whistle, whilst champagne was added to the ration of others, refused to pipe, and deserted the ship before the perform- ance was half over. Then came a log cabin, with a tow-headed Whig standing in the door, "discoursing sweet music " from a three-stringcd fiddle, and roaring out a bacchanalian Whig song. Then the pro- cession divided off into counties interspersed with cider, and bearing flags with devices, containing Whig wit and sentiment. After going through the principal streets, they marched up to sand hill, where a stand had been erected, flag-staff planted, and seats laid down. The inceting organized by placing Ichabod Bartlett in the chair, who spoke some time, and closed by calling a yellow-haired gentleman upon the stand, whom he announced as the editor of a paper in New York called the Log Cabin. Mr. Bartlett wanted him to take note of the " spontaneous enthusiasm," and give an account of the whole mat- ter in his paper for the benefit of posterity, and especially for the people of New York state and city. Mr. Bartlett then had a brass drum exhibited, which was taken from the British tories at Benning-
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ton, where the ancestors of many of those present, labeled with Har- rison badges, were taken prisoners with the Hessians. The celebra- tion ended with fireworks and music.
On Thursday, July 1st, 1847, President James K. Polk visited Concord, coming partly as a guest of the town and partly as guest of the legislature. At 10 o'clock the president and his party arrived at the south end of Main strect near the present gas-works, where the military escort, consisting of the Stark Guards of Manchester and the Concord Light Infantry, were drawn up facing the highway. Citi- zens filled the streets and the neighboring yards, and as the pres- ident stepped from the car and was announced to the people by Cyrus Barton, United States marshal, a cheer went up which must have convinced the chief magistrate that he had come among friends. Accompanying the president were James Buchanan, secretary of state, Nathan Clifford, attorney-general, Edmund Burke, commissioner of patents, Commodore Charles Stewart, the grandfather of Charles Stewart Parnell. the Irish leader of forty years later, ex-Governors Mouton of Louisiana, Toucey of Connecticut, Fairfield and Ander- son of Maine, Woodbury, Hill, and Hubbard of New Hampshire, Mr. Appleton of the state department, Nathaniel Greene, postmaster at Boston, and United States Marshal Isaac O. Barnes of Massachusetts.
The procession. under command of Charles H. Peaslee, moved up Main street to the Old North, then down State and School to the American House. The streets were alive with sight-scers, and from windows and roofs ladies greeted the president with waving handker- chiefs. At the south end of Main street had been built an arch of evergreen and flowers, through which the procession passed. A short distance off floated a streamer bearing the inscription, " The ladies of the Granite State welcome the President to the Capital."
Early in the afternoon the president visited the legislature, and was received with dignified welcome. The Mexican War was then raging and partisan feelings were intense, but the president's speech manifested a patriotic and conciliatory tone which won for him the good opinions of friends and opponents. At 6 o'clock the president held an informal reception in the state house, which a large number of ladies and gentlemen attended. Mr. Polk's visit, however, soon came to an end. and by 8 o'clock that evening he and his distin- . guished party departed for Lowell on a special train.
Concord again became the center of public interest as the time drew ncar for the assembling of another convention to revise the con- stitution. The delegates were chosen in October, 1850, and met in the state house Wednesday, November 6th. The necessity for calling the convention had long been acknowledged by the people, and their
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expectations as to the result of its deliberations seemed well found- ed, for nearly sixty years had passed since the meeting of the last convention, and reasons enough existed for making some necessary changes in the fundamental law.
The convention contained many able men. Among them was a future president of the United States, a justice of the supreme court of the nation,-Levi Woodbury,-besides others who achieved honor in after life. An adjournment was taken from November 22d to December 3d, then from January 3d, 1851, to April 16th. In the meanwhile the voters had made sad work of the proposed amend- ments, not one being adopted, so the convention after a single day's session having agreed upon certain new amendments to be submitted to the people at the March meeting of 1852, finally adjourned after sittings extending through fifty-one days.
Aside from a central and convenient location, there were personal reasons, as well, that gave to Concord a political importance. Among them was the prominence of Franklin Pierce, who, becoming a citi- zen of Concord in 1838, remained until his decease, in 1869, New Hampshire's most distinguished son. Thickly clustering about his head were the highest of political honors, which could but attract attention to the town of his residence. Congressman, senator, general, and president, -- honors unparalleled in the history of the republic, save in the cases of Andrew Jackson and James A. Garfield. More- over, Concord in those days was the headquarters of the Whig and Democratic parties, and it has continued to be the meeting place of politicians ever since. From the election of Polk to that of the last president every campaign has radiated from Concord.
The revolt of John P. Hale in 1845, followed by the secession of the Independent Democrats, brought Pierce into greater prominence than ever, and Concord was the scene of the first great encounter between these champions. No meeting of that period attracted so much notice or was followed with graver political consequences. It was really one of the opening acts of the slavery question which ultimately led to civil war. HIale and Pierce ceased from that hour to be local politicians, and became national leaders; for that debate was thereafter identified with New England's protest against the extension of slavery.
It was during the June session of the legislature in 1845 that the famous debate that was to send Hale to the senate and Pierce to the presidency took place. The Independent Democrats had announced a convention at which Mr. Hale was to be the principal speaker, and the Democrats, apprehensive of the effect of the meeting, resolved that Hale should be promptly and effectively answered on the spot,
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and Mr. Pierce was selected as the only speaker qualified for the occasion. When the evening of Thursday, June 5th, arrived, the Old North meeting-house was crowded, floor and galleries, with members of the legislature, visitors, and the public. This meeting was not only an important event, but was the keynote of party policies for fifteen years to come. Franklin Pierce, a few years later, had become one of the accepted leaders of New England Democracy, while the War with Mexico introduced him to a wider and more national notice. At the Democratic state convention in 1852 the delegates enthusiastically endorsed him for the office of president of the United States. The resolutions were presented by Jonathan E. Sargent, of Wentworth, and eloquently seconded by William L. Foster, of Keene, both of whom in after years became residents of Concord and attained high judicial preferment. The nomination of Mr. Pierce at Baltimore was not so spontaneous as has been popularly supposed. Shrewd party managers, foreseeing the improbability of nominating Cass, Buchanan, Marcy, or Douglas, cast about them for a compromise nominec. During the early months of that year Concord people had frequently observed distinguished visitors from other states passing a few hours with General Pierce, among them being Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts. The Democratic convention met at Baltimore on Tuesday, June 1st, 1852, and continued until Saturday, when Mr. Pierce received the nomination. The telegraph immediately flashed the news to Concord, although the General was at that time spending a few days in Boston. All at once Concord became a household word throughout the country, and its citizens may be pardoned a pleas- urable pride at so distinguished an event. Prominent Democrats immediately issued a call for a public ratification. Hand-bills were distributed and notices published in the newspapers.
The undersigned, a committee appointed for the purpose by the Democrats of Concord, invite the democracy of New Hampshire to assemble at Concord on Thursday next, June 10th, at four o'clock, P. M. to respond to the nomination of Gen. Franklin Pierce as Dem- ocrat Candidate for the Presidency, and to express their gratification at the honor thus conferred on them and the state through her favorite and most eminent son, and to exchange congratulations upon the bright prospects of the glorious victory which the nomination ensures to the friends of the constitution and of the Union.
JOSIAH MINOT, N. B. BAKER, JOHN H. GEORGE, JACOB CARTER, JOSIAH STEVENS, JOHN L. TALLANT,
SAMUEL M. WHEELER,
Committee.
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On that Saturday evening Main street was thronged with people expressing joy at the distinction bestowed on their popular and kind- ly townsman. State house park soon filled with spectators, who, gath- ering around a platform, were addressed by John H. George, Anson S. Marshall, John S. Wells, Jonathan E. Sargent, and others. Rockets streamed into the heavens, houses were illuminated, and on Sand hill the artillery, under the command of Jesse A. Gove, who afterwards . gave his life to the Union, thundered into the night two hundred and eighty-two discharges, to signify the number of votes cast for the nominee at Baltimore.
The next scene following the nomination was thic visit of the committee appointed by the national convention to notify Mr. Pierce officially of his high preferment. Prior to this nomination the cus- tom had been merely to send an official communication by post, but on this occasion a committee waited personally on the nominee to in- form him of his honor. The committee consisted of John S. Barbour of Virginia, Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, Alpheus Felch of Michi- gan, Pierre Soulé of Louisiana, and Erastus Corning of New York. These gentlemen were among the best known citizens of the country. Mr. Barbour was a leader among Southern statesmen, Jacob Thomp- son was a congressman of national reputation, Mr. Felch and Mr. Soulé were United States senators, and Mr. Corning was the mil- lionaire railroad president of his time. Mr. Pierce having been ad- vised of the visit requested a few of his intimate friends to meet the delegation at the station and escort them to his residence. The ceremony attending the mission was brief,-merely the presentation of the official letter, to which Mr. Pierce made an informal reply, saying that he would more fully convey his sentiments in writing. After an hour spent in conversation, Mr. Pierce and his guests entered carriages for a drive about the streets, reaching the Amer- ican House early in the afternoon, where later a banquet was served. At the conclusion of the banquet the distinguished visitors repaired to the balcony of the hotel, and were introduced by John S. Wells to the large crowd in waiting. Each visitor made a short speech, that of Senator Soulé being, as was his wont, a most captivating and rare piece of impromptu oratory, thrilling his auditors and affording a topic of praise for some time to come. Mr. Pierce adopted a novel and pleasurable method of entertaining his visitors by giving them and other invited guests a ride over Lake Winnipiseogee, returning to Concord in the evening. The following morning the committee departed for New York, favorably impressed with the candidate and his home surroundings.
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