USA > New York > Cattaraugus County > Dayton > Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York : comprising the villages of Cottage, Wesley, Markham, Dayton, South Dayton, and Fair Plain > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
HORACE GREELEY.
About a month afterward I was at Machias and saw Parker Greeley and his family again and told him of the letter that I had written to Horace Greeley on his account and told him that I had received a reply and then asked him if he would like to hear it read. He wanted to know at once if Horace had sent him anything. I told him that he had not and then read him the letter I had received. He appeared very angry and said he was going to visit all of the Democratic neswpaper offices in the country and tell them how Horace Greeley used his relatives. I suggested that he take a copy of the letter and show it at the offices which he visited but he declined. He asked me what I was going to do with his children and I told him that I was going to bind them out to good people as soon a I could find good places for them. A night or two after he absconded with his wife and children and I heard from him some time after in an adjoining county but never after that.
I was delegate from Cattaraugus County to the Republican State Convention held in Syracuse, in the fall of '55, and again met Horace Greeley there. That convention was made up of men of as pure political purposes as ever assembled in the state of New York. It was made up of men of eminence who were unselfishly devoting their best efforts to build up a party whose corner stone should be Universal Liberty and Non-Extention of Slavery. No man's opinion was sought after more or had greater weight in that convention than did that of Mr. Greeley. I met him in New York and at our State Conventions during the years of the rebellion and each utterance of his carried with it great weight in the deliberations of his party. He often held opinions with which I did not agree nor did a large portion of his party agree with his views. He was always five or ten years ahead of his party. He never advocated anything because it was expedient but always because he thought that it was right. He had a greater fund of political information than any other man that I ever knew. In the spring of 1867 he was elected as a member of the constitutional Convention which commenced its sessions on the 4th day of June, 1867. I, too, had the honor of being elected to a seat in that body and met him almost daily through the sessions which lasted
285
nearly nine months. He was always ready to give information to seekers for it when asked by them and served as an encyclopedia for all men of all parties in search of political information. If his duties compelled him to be absent from the sessions of the convention for a day he directed the clerk, in making up his account to deduct his day's salary for such time as he was away. The law did not require this and I do not think that any other member of the convention made such deductions for his necessary absences. Always desirous of completing the work and reaching a final adjournment, he hated long and tiresome speeches and had no patience with anyone engaged in making them. On one occasion that I recall, a member of the convention who had but little financial ability, had been making a long and tiresome speech at the highest pitch his voice could reach upon the question of the State finances. When he sat down at the conclusion of his speech, Mr. Greeley left his own seat, went over to the orator's desk and in a low tone of voice, to be heard only by a few of us near by, told the orator that he was a d -- d fool, and returning to his own seat at once began to write. The orator was deeply offended as he felt that he ought to have been congratulated instead of condemned. He jumped to his feet in great anger and addressing the president of the convention, Hon. Wm. A. Wheeler afterwards the vice-president of the United States, stated that he rose to a question of privilege. He was at once recognized and given the opportunity to state his question of privilege, but up to that time evidently had not thought what he would say; he finally stammered out that the gentleman from Westchester had called him a d -- d fool. Another member at once jumped to his feet and shouted that the member from Weschester (Mr. Greeley) would probably like to justify. The convention was convulsed with laughter but Mr. Greeley never looked up, seeming to be entirely absorbed with his writing, and the episode ended in roars of laughter.
At one time during the sessions of the convention, a petition was presented headed by the name of Mrs. Greeley, asking that the question of female sufferage might be submitted to a vote of the people and Mr. Greeley was the chairman of the committee on sufferage to whom it was referred. Distinguished advocates of female sufferage, including Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton, appeared before the committee at a public hearing held at the capitol and which was largely attended. One of the ladies who had made an able address on that subject asked that anyone who desired her views on any branch of it should ask her questions. A member from northern New York arose and stated that the right of female sufferage had existed theretofore by the constitution of some states or state and he desired to know when, how and why that right had been taken away. The ladies were unable to give any answer to the inquiry and Mr. Greeley was applealed to for information. In answer to the question he made the recital: That at one time in the early history of the country, when the electorial vote was likely and proved to be very closely divided between two parties, it was discovered that the constitution of one of the states was so worded that women might law- fully vote. The party who made the discovery kept it very quiet except among a few of his own partisans who were directed to see to it that where his party was in control of the polls that men of that party should take their
286
wives to the polls and have them vote. The information was circulated extensively enough so that a few hundred women cast their votes at that election and as all the women voted one way there were enough of them to carry the electoral vote of that state and the electoral vote of that state thus carried determined the result of the election and the president thus elected was known thereafter as the women's president. When this came to be understood measures were at once taken to amend the constitution of the state by confining the right of sufferage to the male citizens and until comparatively late date women have not the right to vote in any state for presidential electors.
In 1872 Mr. Greeley was nominated by the liberal Republicans who were unfriendly to Gen. Grant's administration, as a candidate for the Presidency. His nomination was at a later date endorsed by the Democratic party at their convention and so he became the candidate of the Democratic party as well as of a faction of the Republicans, who did not admire Gen. Grant's administration of public affairs. Mr. Greeley, during the long time that he was editor of the New York Tribune had written many harsh things of the Democratic party, some of which at least were well deserved. The Grant Republican newspapers conducted their campaign by publishing from week to week in their papers what Mr. Greeley had said about the Democratic party and as these things recalled to the minds of the Democrats by their republica- tion caused a large percentage of the Democrats to refuse to vote for him for the Presidency and he was defeated by a large majority of the electoral vote. He was worn out by the canvas and soon after died, universally respected for his great ability, his unswerving integrity and his earnest and life long labor rendered for the poor and oppressed. The last time I saw him was during that campaign. I then met him at the house of a friend in the city of New York in company with Governor Fenton and Whitelaw Ried, who after Mr. Greeley's nomination became the chief editor of the Tribune during that campaign. The interview then had was a lengthy and protracted one lasting for several hours. Suggestions were made that he should assume certain positions upon certain questions then at issue and to which proposition he declared vehemently that he would rather be defeated for the Presidency than to avow or take any position that would in any way conflict with the convictions of his life. His estimate of various public men who were both for and against him was quite freely given, and what they had done and what they offered to do about his candidacy were talked over quite freely, and I think it would be a matter of great interest to many people to know what he then said and the estimate he then gave of various public men. Some of them are still living and it would be unjust to the memory of Mr. Greeley and of no benefit to anyone now to repeat what he then said in a private conversation. I only know that I left at the close of the interview with the highest opinion of the unflinching, unyielding honesty and purity of his political purposes. When he died I lost a friend that I highly esteemed. The poor, the down trodden and oppressed people of this country lost their best advocate, who unselfishly gave his life's work in their behalf and in what he deemed to be for their best interests. There are so many incidents of
287
his life which came under my personal observation like those of which I have written that their repetition would almost make a book. I cannot repeat them nor need I. In years yet to come his true position will be known and honored and the labors and victories which he achieved for humanity will be appreciated better than they ever have been heretofore by a thoughtful and grateful people.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
I first saw Andrew Johnson, afterwards the Vice-President and President of the United States in Washington in 1863, and then listened to a speech by him which he made at a great Union Meeting in the Hall of the House of Representatives. I did not particularly admire the tone of that speech and thought that parts of it were exceedingly coarse. Still I had learned to respect anyone who lived in the south, and who stood up manfully and courageously for the preservation of the Union. Andrew Johnson done that and for that is entitled to respect by Union loving men. At the National Convention of the Republican party in 1864, he was nominated for the Vice-Presidency on the demand of the people that some one from the south whose loyalty to the Union could not be doubted should be placed on the ticket so that the ticket should not be sectional. His election followed and the exhibition which he made at the inaugural of President Lincoln and himself was disgusting to the people who saw and heard him, as it was to the people who read of the proceedings of that inaugural day. When President Lincoln was assassinated everyone feared that Johnson's administration would be dissappointing in the extreme to the people and especially to those who had elevated him to this high position. He started his administration by the declaration that he intended to punish all traitors to the government and all who had been trying to work the overthrow of the constitution. After a little he apparently became dizzy from his high elevation and proceeded to mark out a new line of policy of his own which should represent neither of the great parties of the country and to which the people must come, and "my policy" became the constant harping of the president and of the few who fawned upon him for the patronage he had to bestow. In order to make the people understand what his policy was he started on a tour of the country which he called swinging round the circle, in which he visited the principle cities of the north and made speeches declaring his intentions and purposes. He was accompanied on this tour by Secretary Seward of the War Department, Secretary Gideon Wells of the Navy Department, General Grant, Admiral Farragut and others, equally distinguished. At the time of the tour I was staying at Albany, engaged with my associate State Assessors, in preparing our report for the State Board of Equalization and which was shortly to be submitted to them for their approval. On the day that President Johnson arrived at Albany I was invited by Governor Fenton to be present at a reception to be given at the capitol and at his special request I attended. Govenor Fenton received the President with a short address of welcome delivered from the steps of the capitol to which the President made a short
288
reply. The Governor then escorted the President to the executive chamber where he presented him to the state officers, myself among the number, and I there had the pleasure of taking the hands of the distinguished men I have mentioned. The reception lasted about an hour after which the President and his Suite retired to the Delevan House where they were to pass the night. As soon as the reception was ended I returned to my room at the Stanwix and at once resumed my work upon our report as State Assessors. Soon several persons who had attended the reception came in one by one, and the conversation turned upon the President and the reception just closed and what was likely to be said at the speech which it was understood the President was to make that evening. After some discussion one gentleman present said that he could tell a complete expression that the President would use within five minutes of the time he began to speak. A second gentleman declared that that was not possible when the first offered to furnish the wine to the assembled company after the speech if he could not on condition that the second gentleman should do likewise if he was successful in giving the expression correctly. The offer was accepted and I was requested to write the expression which it was said the President would use, and wrote from dictation: "The Humble Individual Who Now Stands Before You." Soon after we heard a band playing in the direction of the Delevan House and adjourned to hear the President's speech. A great crowd filled the street and as our party was a little late we were obliged to stop on the outskirts of the crowd. Within two minutes by the watch from the time that the President was introduced he used the expression in alluding to himself as the humble individual, etc. The winner of the wager who stood near me was greatly pleased and laughed in a loud and boisterous manner. The laughter was catching in the crowd and soon a great number of people were laughing although they did not know why. The President became exceedingly angry and used language which was neither dignified nor proper for one holding his high position. Several members of the crowd did likewise and the meeting became boisterous and somewhat turbulent while the President did not seen to make many converts to his new policy. It is needless to say that I did no more work on my report that evening. His administration was a stormy one as the people well remember, and ended by his being hated by all parties of the North and the South. His experiences at Albany were his experiences in almost every city through which he passed but I cannot think that he was ever guilty of infidelity to his country. His violent temper, unguarded expressions and undignified conduct lost him the respect of all classes but there is much that can be said and that should be remembered to his credit. He was for maintaining the Union when surrounded as he was on every hand by those who sought its destruction. His loyalty was undoubted and while his faults were many they are now almost forgotten.
289
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
M Y EARLIEST recollections of Abraham Lincoln were derived from the newspapers, which were filled with the discussions of a political character had between Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, United States Senator from Illinois. This was prior to Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency. A senatorial election was approaching in the State of Illinois and the Republican party, or- ganized but a few years previously made Lincoln their ABRAHAM LINCOLN. candidate for the United States' Senatorship while Douglas was the candidate of the Democratic party, to succeed himself. A series of joint debates was arrainged and held between these two distinguished men at various places in the State of Illinois, which were attended by great masses of people. There has never been, to my knowledge, so concise and perfect an exposition of the views held by the two great parties of that time as was furnished by these debates. The positions assumed by Lincoln as the representative of the Republican party was opposition to the extension of Slavery into territories of the United States then free. The position of Douglas was that the question of the extension of slavery into those territories should be left to the people living in them at the time of the formation of the State governments and that till that time the slave holders should be protected in those territories in holding slaves. This political debate was a battle of giants. It resulted in the return of Douglas to the Senate but with the popular vote of the State against him. In order to secure his election he was forced to assume the position on the slavery question which divided the Democratic party of the Country and defeated Douglas' aspirations for the Presidency, for which he was a candidate. I have read and reread that debate with ever increasing interest. It is the ablest presentation of the question of the extension of slavery that was ever made before the people of this country. In the early spring of 1860 a state convention was called in this state to send delegates to the National Convention to nominate the Republican candidate for the Presidency and I was a delegate to this State Convention. William H. Seward was the favorite of the State of New York and had its unanimous delegation in the National Convention, but it was a matter of comment among many of the delegates at that time that if Mr. Seward could not be nominated, then above all others they desired that Abraham Lincoln should receive the nomination. The National Convention nominated Lincoln as its candidate for the Presidency. Douglas was nominated by a divided party as one of the candidates and Breckenridge of Kentucky as the other representative of the Democratic party. It was a memorable contest and one never to be forgotten by anyone who lived and participated in the excitement of that time. The result of the contest is well known. War followed the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln and for four years the greatest war of modern times was waged, resulting in the utter extinction of human slavery in the states composing the Great Republic.
290
In 1863 I was a visitor, in the early winter, at the National capitol and there for the first time I met Abraham Lincoln personally. I visited at the White House in company with the Hon. R. E. Fenton, then member to Congress from this district, and afterwards Governor of this State. In the early part of 1864 I was appointed paymaster in the army by President Lincoln and went to Washington where I remained in the discharge of my duties until the following May. During the time I was in Washington 1 frequently saw the President leaving the White House leading his little son by the hand and going to the War Department for the evident purpose of consulting with the Secretary of War. In the month of May I resigned my position in the service which I then held, to assume another in connection with the Provost Marshal Department in this Congressional District, which place I held until the fall of 1863, when I was for the first time elected to the State Senate and on January 1st went to Albany.
The spring of 1863 was the darkest time of the whole war for the Union cause. While I was at Washington a great Union meeting was held at the capitol which President Lincoln and his Cabinet attended. Speeches were made by several distinguished men among whom were Com. Foote of the Navy and the Hon Andrew Johnson, afterward President of the United States. At the conclusion of the speeches President Lincoln especially requested that J. E. Murdock, the tragedian, should read a poem called the Oath, and he done so. I here insert a copy of that poem then read :
THE OATH.
Ye freemen, how long will ye stifle The vengeance that justice inspires ?
With treason how long will ye trifle
And shame the proud name of your sires ? OUT, OUT with the sword and the rifle
In defence of your homes and your fires, The flag of the old Revolution
Swear firmly to serve, and uphold ;
That no treasonous hand of pollution
Shall tarnish one star of its folds ! Swear !
And hark the deep voices replying
From graves where your fathers are lying, "Swear, oh swear.
In this moment who hesitates, barters The rights which his forefathers won He forfeits all claims to the charters Transmitted from sire to son.
KNEEL, KNEEL at the graves of our martyrs And swear on your sword and your gun, Lay up our great oath on an altar
As huge and as strong as Stone Henge
And then with the sword, fire and halter Sweep down to the fields of revenge. Swear ! And hark the deep voices replying From the graves where your fathers are lying, "Swear, oh swear."
By the tombs of your sires and your brothers, The host which the traitors have slain, By the tears of your sisters and mothers, In secret concealing their pain,
291
The grief which the heroine smothers Consuming the heart and the brain,- By the sigh of the penniless widow, By the sob of her orphans despair, Where they sit in their sorrowful shadow
KNEEL, KNEEL every feeman and swear: Swear !
And hark the deep voices replying
From graves where your ancestors are lying, "Swear, oh swear."
On mounds which are wet with weeping Where a Nation has bowed to the sod, Where the noblest of martyrs are sleeping,
Let the winds bear your vengeance abroad,
And your firm oaths be held in the keeping Of your patriotic hearts and your God Over Ellsworth, for whom the first tear rose,
While to Baker and Lyon you look-
By Winthrop, a star among heroes,
By the blood of our murdered McCook. Swear !
And hark the deep voices replying From graves where your ancestors are lying, "Swear, oh swear.
It was the most impressive reading to which I have ever listened and at its conclusion one could not help but feel that he had renewed his allegience to the government and had in fact taken the oath anew. I distinctly remember a part of the speech of Andrew Johnson; a part which I did not then nor have I since admired. He was speaking in most vindictive terms of the South and what they would lose by the Rebellion. He said many of the leaders had lost their "niggers" and that he had lost his "niggers"too, but had not lost as much as they had for he was not related to his "niggers." Other parts of his speech were coarse and seemed to me unsuited to so great an occasion.
In April, 1865, while I was still a member of the State Senate, President Lincoln was murdered. That night I had been up until nearly midnight for the purpose of accompanying a visiting friend to the railroad station to catch a train west. On returning to my room about midnight I met a newspaper friend on the corner of State and Broadway Streets in Albany, and he inquired why I was up so late and I told him and then inquired whether there was any news from the war. He told me that there was nothing except that an hour or two before a telegram had been received saying that President Lincoln had been murdered that evening in Ford's Theater in Washington but that soon after another dispatch came contradicting the first. I went to my room thinking what would be the condition of the country in case it should prove true. I slept but little during the remainder of the night, arose early and went upon the street, where I found the newsboys already selling the newspapers announcing the assassination of the President. Soon after the streets were crowded with men, women and children, many of them weeping as though they had lost their last friend. It was determined on the meeting of the Senate that day or soon after that a committee should be appointed on the part of the Senate to receive the President's remains as it was understood that they were to be brought to Albany on their way to the West. I was appointed as one of this committee on the part of the Senate. The committees
292
from the Senate and Assembly crossed the ferry to East Albany to receive the remains which were in charge of General Dix and a military escort. We accompanied them across the river, through Broadway and up State street to the Capitol. It was late in the evening when we arrived. The bells of the city were tolling. Minute guns were being fired and a great concourse of people were in the streets witnessing the solemn pageant. The body was taken to the Capitol and I remained there until nearly morning. Looking out of the windows you might have seen all night long thousands upon thousands of people waiting to look for the last time upon the form of the dead President. The building was opened for the people to enter at about two in the morning and without any cessation, except for a few minutes that day when the Govenor and State officers visited the Capitol, two continuous streams of people were passing by to look upon the dead form of the President. At about two in the afternoon it was to be removed to the funeral car on its journey to the west. A procession was formed at the Capitol headed by a body of soldiers to open the way through the crowd of people who filled the streets. The body was placed upon a car drawn by horses beside of which our committees walked. The weeping mourning of the people as we passed through the streets was a scene I never can forget. One incident I remember, which greatly impressed me at the time. Standing as close to the car as she could get was a colored woman plainly but neatly dressed, holding up her little boy and said to him as the car passed : "Look child, look child, he died for you, he died for you, look, child, look!" For nearly four miles the procession passed through the streets of the city until the train was reached which bore his body to the west.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.