History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 130

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 130

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The Journal, on the 17th of May, 1861, put at the head of its columns the following card, which it kept up till the November of the following year, as an ex- plicit statement of its position in the contest. It was as follows :

" THE TRUE SENTIMENT.

" Mr. Lincoln is not the I'nited States government. The government is OURS and we our allegiance to it. Mr. Lincoln is not ours, and we do not owe allegiance to him. Mr. Lincoln's term of office is brief and fleeting : the government, wr hope, will last forever."

The leader, in the first paper in which this "true sentiment " is put forth, is au argument to prove that, when the war is over, the Fugitive Slave Law should at once be enforced. On the 21st of May, the editor, in answer to a Republican paper just started-the Morrisa- nia Journal-explains the "true sentiment " at length ; accuses the Republicans of carrying on the war for party purposes, simply, and ends with the assertion : " the Republicans stand by their administration ; the Democrats by our government." From this time to the battle of Bull Run, the fight is carried on with the Morrisania Journal. The paper is full of sneers at " Abolitionists," and teems with assertions that " the volunteers in the field are in the proportion of three Democrats to one Republican," with the further as- sertion that " all Abolitionists are cowards." In July the paper drops polities ou the first page, and begins to put in serial stories, paying much attention to local items, and ignoring the war as much as pos- sible. It is full of a Fourth of July local celebration ; and the only iudication of the old feeling crops out in a paragraph, "No abolitionism. The border Slave States might be conciliated, if a promise was given them that their slaves should be retained." The editor hopes that " Horace Greeley will be thrown overboard," and that "Democrats will be ealled to advise Mr. Lincoln."

The news of Bull Run brings a marked approval of the " peace resolution," introduced by Mr. Benja- min Wood in Congress, and laid on the table by Mr. Washburn, of Illinois. The editor asks, " When will the war end ?" and says that " another administration must come in before peace is likely to be restored to the country." In August the editor indignantly re- pudiates the assertion that " the anti-slavery feeling is spreading at the North," but admits the " apostasy " of several Congressman, who are voting with the ad- ministration to prosecute the war. It glories in the fact that Mr. Haight, the member from the home dis- trict, is still opposed to the prosecution of the war. It further glories in the fact that the Democratic State Convention has refused to join the Republicans in nominating a " Union State Ticket " of both par- ties, united only in prosecuting the war.

498

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

This refusal is justified by the radical difference on the subject of slavery. August 16th begins the bitter controversy on the suspension of the habeas corpus, when the sheriff of Kings County tried to get out of Fort Lafayette the Baltimore police commissioners, confined there under an order of General Banks, for treasonable action in Maryland. From this time it seems that the Republican papers, recently estab- lished in the county, are beginning to "strike back," for the editor is very indignant at being classed with the Yonkers Herald and Highland Democrat as " three penny-whistle, traitor sheets." He indignantly asks, "if all the men opposed to the Mexican War and that of 1812 were traitors ?" and answers :

"No, we are not traitors. We admit that the secessionists forced the war on us. . . . . But we hate Abraham Lincoln's principles. .. We have exposed corruption wherever we have found it. If this he treason, make the most of it. If hatred of the Chicago platform be treason, we are traitors. So are three-fourths of our soldiers, and they would refuse to march a step if they thought that their loyalty was to he measured by such a standard.

Next week the White Plains paper, with the High- land Democrat and Yonkers Herald, were formally pre- sented by the grand jury in the following terms :

THE PRESENTMENT.

" The Grand Jury of the county of Westchester, recognizing the ex- istence of the war in which the country is now engaged, with an armed rehellion in a portion of the confederacy ; aud the necessity for its vigo- rous prosecution, until an honorable peace is conquered ; and desirous of having public opinion so fixed, and individual action so shaped, in the hitherto loyal county of Westchester, in regard to the war, as to prevent hreaches of the peace ; feel it a duty to call the attention of all loyal citizens and the magistracy of the county to the importance of every one within its horders coutributing every honorable effort to the sustaining of the Federal arm, in maintaining the supremacy of the laws of the land and in crushing out the rebellion of the southern traitors. They therefore admonish all citizens of the fact that in a state of war, inter- national as well as local law declares the giving of aid and comfort to the encmies of a government, either hy overt acts, in assisting its enemies, or by WRITINGS or PUBLICATIONS, tending to give such aid and comfort, the crime of misprision of treason, to he punished, on conviction, by imprisonment.

" The Grand Inquest of the county, having had brought to their at- tention sundry articles, which have appeared in newspapers, published within this county, denying the justice of the war in which we are engaged, treating it as a party war, and not involving in its issucs the government itself and our national existence, and therein sympathizing with the traitors to the Republic, deem it proper, in conservation of the peace of the county, that the proprietors and editors of these papers should be by them publicly admonished of the great moral, if not legal, crime, in which, from partizan motives, they have heen indulging, to the danger of the pcace and quiet of the people, And, lest injustice should be done to loyal newspapers, the following journals are particularly designated as disseminators of doctrines which, in the existing state of things, tend to give aid and comfort to the enemies of the government, and to prevent a vigorous prosecution of the war, hy which alone the supremacy of the government is to he maintained, and national peace and prosperity wit- nessed in the land.

"The Yonkers Herald, Highland Democrat and Eastern State Journal have, from the time of the issue of the President's Proclamation, imme- diately after the firing on Fort Sumter, steadily treated the war which has followed, in the extracts and articles they have published, as an un- holy and partizan war, unjustly commenced and prosecuted by the adminis- trution. In so doing, it has evidently been their purpose to consolidate a party, hy the aid of whose opposition and influence they might prevent enlistments and retard the successful prosecution of the war.

TTwo New York City papersare further mentioned as circulating in the county, with similar doctrines and the presentment proceeds :]

" The Grand Jurors, therefore, invoke the attention of the District At- torney of this county to the prosecution of the editors and proprietors named, if hereafter, after this public notice of their evil course, they should persist in thus coutinning to give aid and comfort to the cnemies of the government, and they request him to certify and transmit a copy of this presentment to the United States District Attorney of the South- ern District of New York, with a view to his commencing such proceed- ings thereon as the nature of the circumstances requires.

"STEPHEN LYON, Foreman. "W. SWINBURNE, Clerk."

This document naturally produced quite an excite- ment in the office of the Eastern State Journal, and the editor, being a White Plains man, living within a stone's throw of the court-house, and personally known to all the members of the grand jury, exerted himself to the utmost to get rid of the stain it pro- duced on his reputation. He managed to get a letter from the foreman of the grand jury, which he pub- lished in his next week's paper, stating that he (the foreman) had voted against putting the Eastern State Journal on the list of papers presented, but that he had been outvoted and therefore had signed the pre- sentment. Mr. Lyon, in thus letting out the secrets of the grand jury room, did what he could to save a neighbor by further saying that he was "one of nine" who voted to strike the Journal off the list. Next week the indefatigable editor managed to get two more men who were on the grand jury to say that they voted against the presentment, and as soon as this consummation was reached he burst out into in- dignant denunciation of the men who voted for it, as a " corrupt and debauched clique ; " " curs who have snarled and snapped at our heels for years," who need"" a sound kicking " for "besliming and befoul- ing all, they touch," while " their putrid breath so corrupts the air" that the editor can hardly draw his breath.

The presentment, however, had a marked effect on the tone of the paper for some weeks, for the next edi- torial conclusion on "what patriotism demands of party organization " in the crisis is that the Demo- crats should, in future, "stick together on local issues " and let the administration carry on the war without interference.

Next week the editor speaks of the "determined and loyal course of the President." After that he explains his motto in a different spirit; prints Union letters and speeches, in one of which a War Democrat declares "compromise impracticable;" and so the paper swims quietly along until the State election, at which Democrats are exhorted to "Stick to your party," "Vote the Democratic State Ticket," "Stand by the old party," "Don't be humbugged by the cry of no-partyism," "It is an old dodge," etc., etc. The result of the election-for Secretary of State and other officers, in the off year-giving the Republicans a ma- jority of all they wished, with the first appearance of Judge Robertson in the capacity of State Senator, the editor finds comfort in the removal of Fremont- effected about the same time-which he assumes as a

499

THE CIVIL WAR, 1860-65.

mark of "proper respect to the sentiments of the Democracy of the North."

It would take us far beyond the limits of such a chapter as this to follow the course of political opin- ion at the county capital with any minuteness; but the tone of the Eastern State Journal grows stronger and stronger in opposition to the prosecution of the war during the year 1862, though the obnoxious " true sentiment" is dropped. There are no more articles openly abusing " Abolitionists ; " but the paper sticks to the doctrine, as late as April 20, 1862, that "the general government has, even in war, no more power" to coerce a rebellious State "than the Consti- tution gives it," and therefore none to confiscate slaves or set them free. The abuse of "Abolitionists" is changed, as the summer goes on, to philippics on "lazy, mindless negroes," and predictions of a " San Domingo massacre" if the slaves of the South are ever freed. As the autumn comes on, however, the nomination of Horatio Seymour puts the editor on his feet again, and he begins to threaten the " Aboli- tionists" more boldly every day. In December he closes the year 1862 by referring to the coincidence of the Emancipation Proclamation of Mr. Lincoln and the election of Mr. Seymour to be Governor of New York as "The Two Proclamations." The one he concludes to be mere "waste paper, impossible of en- forcement," while the other is " A proclamation that the State of New York is free once more." The lines "The Democracy Triumphant," "The Administration is not the Government," came out in every issue, and it is a noticeable fact that in this paper, as in the Yonkers Herald-Gazette, as the virulence of the tone increases, so does the pressure of the county advertis- ing increase also, showing what powerful influences were behind the papers, in the shape of the county officers.

The extracts from the Eastern State Journal have been given in full, because, as appears above, a part of the grand jury thought it not quite disloyal enough to be included in the presentment, and therefore its tone can be taken as that of the more moderate Dem- ocrats who stayed at home during the war and voted for Horatio Seymour, as they did. The figures of the election in the county are rather against the assertion of the Journal that "three-fourths of the volunteers from the county were Democrats," for the vote cast for Seymour for Governor is seven thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, a decrease from the Presiden- tial vote-given at the beginning of this section-of only two hundred and sixty votes, while the Repub- lican vote is only five thousand five hundred and fifty-six, which is a decrease of one thousand one hundred and fifteen votes from that cast for the Lin- coln electors two years before.

THE DRAFT RIOTS .- The most conspicuous inci- dent in the home history of the county during the Civil War, after the election of Mr. Seymour, was the occurrence of the draft riots, which, beginning in the

city of New York, partly spread into the county it- self.

The troubles in the city began on Monday, July 13, 1863. The New York papers of that day re- cord that the draft was begun on the previous Satur- day, in the Twenty-second Ward, at No. 677 Third Avenue, and that " all was quiet, with plenty of good- natured joking at the names of the citizens as they were drawn." They also announce that the next place to be opened would be at the corner of Broad- way and Forty-fifth Street, on Monday morning. Thus it will be seen that, as in the case of the Fort Sumter excitement, a serious action had taken place on Saturday and that the people had all Sunday to think over it. In the first case the result of the thought had been in the direction of patriotism ; this time it was to be different, owing to the difference in the character of the individuals composing the two crowds. That of 1861 was raised down-town among inen who were, for the most part, well educated and self-supporting, actuated by a sentiment in which nothing personal was contained. No matter what its object or action, the crowd which, in April, 1861, compelled the hanging out of the flag, was "a mob " to all intents and purposes. Its action, however, was marked by no single instance of violence, and it re- quired no act from the persons at whom its anger was leveled beyond the simple "hanging out of the United States flag."

The mob of July, 1863, was of a very different character, and it began its work in districts high up- town, then chiefly occupied by squatters' shanties, pigs and goats. The men composing it were animat- ed by no sentiment beyond escaping the draft in some manner, they knew not how. Their general ignorance made their action, from the first, one of unreasoning violence, quickly degenerating into murder, arson and rapine of all sorts.

Briefly catalogued, the first day's work was the burning of the provost marshal's offices, the destruc- tion of the lists (under the idea that if they were once destroyed the draft could not be enforced), tearing up railroad tracks, cutting of telegraph wires, mobbing of individual soldiers found on the streets, murder of some of them, resistance to the police accompanied by murder, burning of an orphan asylum for colored children, burning and sacking of many private houses, hanging of negroes wherever they were to be found by the mob, attack ou the counting-room of the New York Tribune, rescue of the same by a charge of police under Captain Thornc.

Second day : murder of Colonel O'Brien, of the Eleventh Regiment, when he was away from his troops, general control of the city by the mob, troops telegraphed for, fierce fighting by the police to main- tain a semblance of order.

On this day Westchester County became involved in the disturbances. Crowds visited the enrolling offices of Morrisania and West Farms, tore np the en-

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

rolling lists, destroyed the telegraph offices at Wil- liams' Bridge and Melrose, ripped up some rails on the New Haven and Harlem roads, near the Bronx River, had pickets on both roads as far as Mount Vernon to signal when a general attempt to tear up tracks might be safe, but were quieted in Morrisania and West Farms by appeals made by Supervisor Cauldwell and Mr. Pierre C. Talman. A telegraph operator on this day tried to put an instrument into a store at Hunt's Bridge, near Mount Vernon, but the proprietor was intimidated by a message from sympa- thizers with the mob, that, if the instrument was not removed, the store would be gutted. On this, the second day, there was a complete reign of terror, though no violence seems to have been committed in the county beyond the acts chronicled above.

On Wednesday evening a meeting was called in the town hall, at Tremont, which was heavily attend- ed by the people of West Farms, Morrisania and the vicinity. This was presided over by Mr. John B. Haskin, and is fully reported in the New York Herald of Friday, till which time the notes of the reporter seem to have been crowded out in the pressure of other news. It may be remarked that the Herald reports of the incidents of the week seem the best to be found, the facts being given fully, without attempt to color them in either direction. The Herald report is here used,-

" Mr. Haskin, in taking the chair, said that :

"They had inct in a crisis which required the greatest coolness and judgment on the part of the people. He hoped that the proceedings would be characterized, hereafter, as the conduct of honest and law- abiding citizens. That it was not their interest to uphold the Adminis- tration in the odious and unconstitutional Conscription Act (cheers), but there was a way to test it, in the courts. In his opinion, the act of 1792, providing for calling out the militia, was fully equal to the present emergency in the history of the Rebellion. That the men who made the Constitution passed that act, with the express object of giving power to raise the troops uecessary in emergencies. When Mr. Lincoln made his first call, it was good enough for the purpose. Then the State had a Republicau Goveruor. Now it had a Democratic governor, and the old law was worthless. The chief executive of the State was to be deprived of his power, that his duties might be transferred to government satraps, to execute the will of the irresponsible authorities at Washington (cheers). This was an insult to Mr. Seymour, and an insult to the loyal people who elected him (great cheers). If the Administration were afraid to trust the governor, afraid to trust the people of the State, it was a freshi proof of the imbecility of the men who now coutrolled the destiny of the Rc- public (cheers). He argued that the State courts must declare the act constitutional or unconstitutional, and by their decrees the Government must abide. Therefore, why this excitement ? Their rights would be protected, their privileges maintained, no matter at what hazard or what cost (cheers). He referred to the exemption clause ($300.00) as being an invidious distinction between the rich and poor (Yes, yes). It was undemocratic, un wise, and he did not wonder that they objected to it. He preferred the old law, under which all classes bore equal responsi- bility (cheers). Our recent brilliant victories made it easy for volunteers to be raised, to put down the rebellion. Let the Government abandon the conscription act and throw itself on the patriotism of the people (great cheers). There were men enough to volunteer, good men, of their own free will. Such meu would fight better, and bc an honor to the ser- vice. He went on in this strain, for some time, and then denounced the rioters for robbery, and declared the hanging of inoffensive negroes a dis- grace to the age in which we live. They ought rather to be protected, as the weak bave a right to the protection of the strong. Ile was sure that this meeting did not approve of the burning of Orphan Asyhims, be they for blacks or whites. There should be no distinction of nationalities, colors or races. Then the speaker denonuced the excesses of Know-

Nothingism bitterly, the audience applauding heartily. He alluded to General Mcclellan, who was checred enthusiastically, and General Grant's name was also greeted with cheers, the news of Vicksburg being fresh at the time.

" Mr. Pierre C. Talman followed in a similar strain, expressing his con- fidence that the meeting before him would be the last people in the world to violate the laws. He reminded them that the abolitionist fanatics, who were rapidly losing their grip ou the people, desired nothing better than to regain it, through the excesses of a mob. (Groans for the Ab- olitionists). But the workingmen of Westchester County were always ready for peace and the law (cheers). Ile animadverted on the exemp- tion clause, as an odious distinction, and reminded them that the Gov- ernor (great cheers) wanted it tested in the State courts and declared un- constitutional (cheers). Then he denounced the excesses in New York, which, he said, were all committed by thieves, who had taken advantage of the excitement to disgrace the people. Mr. Talman was much ap- plauded.

" During his speech, however, he was interrupted by a man, who asked if it was not true that Mr. Haskin had a negro in his employment and what right he had to keep one ? Hlaskins got up at once and replied that he had such a man, the same wlio hoisted the first Uniou flag ou Roanoke Island, that it was no one's business whether he kept an Irish- mau, German, Swede, Negro, or anybody else in his employment ; that he intended to keep the mau as long as lie pleased. The statement was cheered and his questioner was silenced.

" This meeting adopted a set of resolutions, condemning the draft ; expressing confidence in Horatio Seymour, in his efforts to get it declared unconstitutional ; affirmed the judgment of the people of Morrisania and West Farms, that the act was unconstitutional, and deprecated mob violence. They appointed Messrs. Talman, G. W. Caldwell, Franklin W. Gilley, Thomas E. Sutton, John B. Haskin, Johu Kirby and Terence Kennedy, a committee, ' to wait on Moses G. Sheard, Esq., Federal Pro- vost Marshal of the district,' to 'insist that the draft be stopped, till the State court could decide whether it was constitutional.'"

The proceedings of this meeting have been given in full because it was the most important occurrence in the county during the draft riots. The speakers managed the mass of ignorant and excited men, whom it was their task to quiet, with singular skill. They flattered them artfully with assurances that their opposition to the draft was all right ; appealed to their self-respect in the most ingenious way, and the appointment of the committee ended the whole matter. The county was quict thereafter, the more so that the same day, the return of the troops from Pennsylvania and the report of fierce fighting in the city, in which the mob was getting the worst of it, had a tendency to kill the idea that attempts at violence werc to be made with safety.

In other parts of the county the disturbances went no further than aimless tumults, which resulted in no actual bloodshed as far as the facts can be ascertained. Mr. Thomas J. Byrne, the county enrolling officer at White Plains, was fired at on Monday evening as he was driving home, but returned the fire with a revol- ver and got away safe. His house was visited by a mob on Wednesday evening, after dark ; the enroll- ment papers burned, the house sacked and his wife and two children forced to take refuge in the house of Mr. Edward Haight, for fear of violence. Mr. Byrne himself was away from home at the time or the con- sequences might have been more serious .- New York Herald, summary of Friday. On Wednesday the Hudson River train was stopped at Yonkers, the rails having been torn up between that place and the city, so that the Canadian mail had to be taken to New York on the boat. The citizens of Yonkers formed two

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THE CIVIL WAR, 1860-65.

companies of Home Guards to keep property and life safe, but there was no serious disturbance. The arsenal was guarded day and night.

At Tarrytown a guard was also formed, and pro- cured a cannon to overawe the mob, so that all was peaceful along the Hudson River. On the same day -Wednesday-there was very nearly being a serious disturbance in the town of East Chester, at the village of Mount Vernon, which illustrates the character of the ignorant prejudice, that culminated in such ex- cesses as were committed in New York City.

A mob of men, from the quarries at the village of Tuckahoe, actually set out from that place, gathering recruits from the villages near them, armed with sticks, stones and any rude weapon they could lay their hands on, and took up their march for the vil- lage of Mount Vernon, with the avowed object of " burning down the houses of all the Republicans in the place." These ignorant men were probably ex- cited by the accounts given in the city papers, of the way in which the same vengeance had been meted out to well-known Republicans in the city, one house having been actually burned down " because Horace Greeley once boarded there," as reported by Tribune, Herald and World. At all events, they started out, and the news reached Mount Vernon, where a Home Guard had been hastily formed of the citizens, who were much alarmed at the idea of being attacked, both from the city and the river. Volun- teers were called for to reconnoitre the enemy ; and a drummer-boy, home on sick furlough at the time, was found, who said he would go. A horse was furnished him, and he-boy-like-must needs put on his uni- form and ride off. He met, about two miles from the village, coming out of the lane from Bronxville, towards Mount Vernon, a confused crowd of men, who stopped him and asked "where he was going." He replied "To Bronxville;" and asked in turn " Where are you going?" The reply was " We are going to raise hell." With that they began to throw stones at him and yell, so that he was glad to wheel the horse and gallop away. Probably the fact of his youth and apparent innocence saved him from serious harm, for no effort was made to pursue him, and he got off safe. Returning, and trying to take a short cut across the swamp towards Mount Vernon, he got his horse mired just behind the house of Mr. John G. Satterlee, afterwards known as "the Corsou Place," and had to leave the animal and run the rest of the way to the village on foot. Preparations were made to receive the expected rioters by the Home Guards, who occupied two buildings, oue beiug a cartridge factory ou Fifth Avenue, near First Street. Towards the end of the afteruoon the rioters made their ap- pearance, but, in the mean time, they had been met by several prominent Democrats of the place, at a turn in the road, known as "Sageman's Corners," where they were induced to give up their design of actual arson, but were obstinate in their determination to

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 130

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354