Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 13

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

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"The city, during the prevalence of this dread- ful epidemic, presented a mournful aspect. Thousands of citizens were absent in the coun- try ; very many were closely confined by personal affliction or the demands of sick friends; hun- dreds were numbered among the dead; the transient floating population had entirely dis- appeared; the country people, in terror, stood aloof; business was almost wholly suspended; the tramp of hurrying feet was no longer heard on the streets; the din of the city was hushed, and every day appeared as a Sabbath. Instead, however, of the sound of church-going bells and the footsteps of happy throngs hastening to the house of God, were heard the shrieks of terror- stricken victims of the fell disease, the groans of the dying, and the voices of lamentation. For weeks funeral processions might be seen at any hour, from early morning to late at night. All classes of people were stricken down in this fearful visitation. Doctors, ministers, lawyers, merchants and mechanics, the old and the young, the temperate and the intemperate, the prudent and the imprudent, were alike victims." (Life of Bishop Morris.)

"One of the results of the cholera was a large number of orphans. The ladies of Cincinnati found an occasion for their efforts in caring for

the unfortunates. With funds placed in their hands by the Masonic lodges, and others of the city, they founded the Cincinnati Orphan Asylum. The city gave them the use of a building on the ground, now occupied for the beautiful Lincoln Park." (L'Hommedieu's Pioneer Address, Cin- cinnati Pioneer, No. III.)

THIE FORTY-FIFTHI ANNIVERSARY OF THE SETTLE- MENT.

In 1833 the 45th anniversary of the landing of the pioneers of Losantiville was celebrated by a large number of citizens. A banquet was given at the Commercial Exchange on the Public Land- ing which for convenience was determined upon as the site of the first cabin built in Losantiville. Viands of native production only were served and the wine on the table was from the vineyard of Nicholas Longworth. The piece de resistance was a roast of two fat raccoons surrounded of course by the traditional sweet potatoes. The presiding officer was Maj. - Daniel Gano and the vice-presidents were William R. Morris, Henry E. Spencer and Moses Symmes. The young orator of the occasion was Joseph Long- worth and the poets, Peyton S. Symmes and Charles D. Drake, a son of Dr. Drake (after- wards United States Senator from Missouri and chief justice of the Court of Claims). Revs. James B. Finley and William Burke acted as chaplains. On the committee of arrangements were such prominent young men as W. M. Corry, N. M. McLean, J. M. Foote, William R. Morris, George Williamson, L. M. Gwynne, James C. Hall, George W. Burnet and R. S. Whetstone. Among the speakers were James C. Ludlow the son of Col. Israel Ludlow, Gen- eral Harrison, General Findlay the Congressman, Majors Gano and Symmes, Judge Goodenow, Nicholas Longworth and Samnel J. Browne. It was at this banquet that Dr. Drake made his celebrated speech upon the "Buckeye."

WEBSTER'S VISIT.

Daniel Webster visited Cincinnati in 1833 and on June 19th he was tendered a public dinner at the Exchange Hotel. This dinner was tend- ered by a committee of citizens of which Morgan Neville was president and Bellamy Storer, secre- tary. The members of the committee were: Gen. James Findlay, Joseph Pierce, Robert Bu- chanan, Judge Torrence, Bellamy Storer, Josialı Lawrence, Robert T. Lytle, Morgan Neville, Judge William Miller, Gen. Samnel Borden,

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

James Goodloc, Jacob Resor, Allison Owen, Pey- ton S. Symmes, Archibald Irwin, Jacob Burnet, D. T. Disney, William C. Anderson, Judge Goodenow, Daniel Drake, Ebenezer Hulse, Gen. Edward King, Dr. L .. Rives, Col. Francis Carr, William Tift, William R. Foster, John H. Groes- beck, D. J. Caswell, E. S. Thomas and John P. Foote.

At the dinner the mayor presided and the toasts were numerous and eloquent. After the usual set speeches, 14 in number, the volunteers took a hand and the city, the guest and the constitui- tion were lauded to the skies by Mr .. Webster himself, General Harrison, General Findlay and others.

The return of the cholera in 1834 seemed to cap the climax of the city's misfortunes and for a time the universal depression had a serious effect upon the business of the city and its gen- eral atmosphere was one of hopelessness and despair. The town seemed lifeless and inert and property fell to very low prices. The following year however was free from the expected return of the disease and a period of extraordinary ac- tivity ensued. Enterprise and business growth rapidly increased. Many public works were pro- jected during this period, including the great Southern Railway route to Charleston, the rail- road to St. Louis, the Little Miami, the Cincin- nati, Columbus & Cleveland railway, the Mad River & Lake Erie, Covington & Lexington, and the White Water Canal. All of these enterprises though perhaps under different names were final- ly carried out.

REVIVAL OF PROSPERITY.

The year 1835 was in fact "annus mirabilis" just as 1832 had been "l'annec terrible" in the history of the city. Mr. Mansfield tells us the enormous speculations of the East were received with slight favor here where speculation was on a small scale just sufficiently large "to give a necessary and healthful excitement to the busi- ness community, which had so long been in a dull quiescent state. Certain it is," says he; writ- ing 20 years later, "that Cincinnati now owes half her growth and prosperity to plans of public work and usefulness then formed and under- taken." (Mansfield's Drake, p. 267.)

The Young Men's Mercantile Library Associa- tion was organized at a meeting held April 18, 1835, in the second story of the engine house on the north side of Fourth street east of Main. It obtained a charter on January 5, 1836. It was

first located in the second story of a building belonging to Daniel Ames on the west side of Main below Pearl. It was removed in the fall of 1835 to the second story of a building be- longing to Ross and Geyer on the north side of Fourth east of Main. By the end of 1835 the library contained 750 volumes and had on its files many leading newspapers. In the winter of 1836, B. F. Doolittle was elected librarian. Its first president was Moses Ranney.

The 47th anniversary of the settlement of Ohio was celebrated at the First Presbyterian Church where William M. Corry delivered an oration from which several quotations have been taken. The dinner was at the Commercial Ex- change. A number of warehouses were put up as well as St. Paul's Church, two banking houses and about a dozen commodious school buildings. This too was the year of the founding of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society with headquarters at Cincinnati.

THIE RAILROADS.

Mr. Thomas in his reminiscences tells us that upon the occasion of a visit to Cincinnati in 1827 the idea first struck him of a railroad from this city to Charleston. He subsequently called at Joseph Walker's on Sycamore street where he argued at length upon the subject of this proposed road. Two years later he broached the subject to Morgan Neville and others. In 1830 in- terest was again aronsed by the discussion about the Lexington & Ohio Railroad Company and Mr. Thomas attempted to get that road brought to the river at Covington. For this purpose he succeeded in obtaining a town meeting which took place in the council chamber December 7, 1830. Joseph Gest presided and Maj. William C. Anderson acted as secretary. Mr. Thomas explained the purpose of the meeting and a com- mittee of 15 consisting of Robert Buchanan, Joseph Lawrence, William Neff, Joseph Gest, George Graham, William Greene, William C. Anderson, Alex. McGrew, Wright Smith, E. S. Thomas, William Tift, Major Gwynne, William Hartshorne, John H. Groesbeck and David Grif- fin were appointed to take the matter in charge. Messrs. Thomas, Greene and Anderson were ap- pointed a committee to go to Lexington and con- fer with the railroad people. Unfortunately nothing of any consequence resulted from this movement.

The opening up of the railroads in Hamilton County begins a new chapter of Cincinnati his- tory. The first effective step in the State was

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made on, February 23, 1830, when Representa- tive William B. Hubbard, of Columbus, sub- mitted to the General Assembly an act to in- corporate the Ohio Canal and the Steubenville Railway Company. This was but the first of miany acts granting charters to roads in various parts of the State but until 1836 little was done except on paper. During this year a movement was started involving the construction of a rail- road from Cincinnati. The building of the Liver- pool & Manchester road in England and the be- ginning of the Baltimore & Ohio road in 1828 and the New York & Erie in 1835 stimulated the public interest in the subject. As usual Dr. Drake was most prominent in this as in other matters of public interest. He succeeded in in- teresting a number of others, among them E. D. Mansfield, in the matter and the latter wrote an article which was published in August, 1836, in Judge Hall's Western Monthly Magasine. This advocated a route to the South taking in Knoxville and running thence to Mobile. Long before this article was published, however, pub- lic meetings were held in which the same matter was taken up. A meeting had already been held at Paris, Kentucky, to take steps towards the construction of a railroad from Newport or Covington to that point. This was not sufficient to satisfy Dr. Drake and he succeeded in having a public meeting called at the Commercial Ex- change on the Public Landing which was hield on Monday, August 10, 1835. He offered reso- lutions providing for the appointment of a com- mittee of three to consider the practicability and advantages of an extension of the proposed rail- road from Paris into the State of South Carolina. This resolution was adopted and Dr. Drake, James W. Bakewell and John S. Williams were appointed on the committee. The meeting ad- journed to Saturday, August 15th, at which time it reassembled at the same place. The special matter of the road to Paris was presented by Mr. Williams. Dr. Drake however read an elaborate and exhaustive report discussing the extension of the road through to the sea. He discussed the questions of practicability, com- merce, profit and social advantages. After notic- ing the connections which would be made from Richmond and Knoxville through the valley and with Nashville and Augusta, Georgia, he pro- ceeded to point out that the Miami Canal running to Lake Erie, the Ohio Canal from Portsmouthi and the Mad River & Sandusky Railroad from Dayton to the lake would connect the proposed road with the entire chain of Northern lakes

from the Falls of Niagara to the Straits of Mackinac, including the west shore of Lake Michigan, Wisconsin Territory, Northern Illi- nois and Indiana, Michigan Territory and Upper Canada. The Wabash and Erie Canal and the railroad from Lawrenceburg at the mouth of the Great Miami already begun to Indianapolis would connect with Indiana, while the Ohio River would bring in the Mississippi and Mis- souri valleys. "Thus the proposed main trunk from Cincinnati to Charleston would resemble an immense horizontal tree extending its routes through and into ten States and a vast expanse of uninhabited territory in the Northern interior of the Union, while its branches would wind through half as many populous States on the Southern seaboard."

The route proposed was to the Cumberland Gap through the valley of the French Broad to Greenville, South Carolina, thence by branches to Augusta and Charleston with lateral roads in North Carolina. A railroad had already been completed from Charleston to a point opposite Augusta and the one to Paris was under way leaving but 475 miles to complete this new and most important communication between the in- terior and the seaboard of the South. It was thought that the cost of building this road at the high price of $12,500 a mile would not exceed six millions of dollars which money could easily be raised from capitalists throughout the country and in Europe. The immense pecuniary and social benefits could not be overestimated. Another speaker at the meeting was E. D. Mans- field, who subsequently published a report of the proceedings together with a map of the region through which the road was to pass. The report on motion of J. D. Garrard seconded by James Taylor was unanimously adopted and a standing committee of inquiry and correspond- ence was appointed, consisting of Gen. William Henry Harrison, Judge James Hall, Dr. Daniel Drake, Edward D. Mansfield, Gen. James Tay- lor of Newport, Dr. John W. King of Covington and George. A. Dunn of Lawrenceburg. Drake and Mansfield were appointed as a sub-commit- tee to prepare an address and a map to be dis- tributed to the people of the States concerned. Dr. Drake wrote the report and Mansfield made the map which was subsequently printed later in August of the same year. (Railroad from the Banks of the Ohio River to The Tide Waters of the Carolinas and Georgia ; Mansfield's Drake, D. 252-258; Memories, p. 296; llinkle's Cincin-

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nati Southern Railway, [1901]; Hollander's Southern Railway.)

This committee succeeded in arousing general interest throughout the South in the plan of con- necting the Ohio with the seaboard. In Febru- ary, 1836, the right of way was granted by the Kentucky Legislature which resulted in a grand illumination. This occurred on February 25th. The impromptu affair of the night of the 23rd had suggested a general illumination to be par- ticipated in by Cincinnati, Covington and New- port. These cities were splendidly illuminated from seven to ten in honor of the Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Railroad. A transpar- ency was displayed in front of the Exchange Hotel on the Public Landing which represented two trains of cars meeting on a railway over which two female figures representing the South and West were hastening to embrace each other. At Platt Evens' store on Main street, the princi- pal store in the town, was "a view of Covington and the mouth of the Licking with a splendid temple on the river bank representing we sup- pose the future capital of the United States ; also a railroad with a southern and western bound train of cars, one of the former filled with carcasses of whole hogs." Another transparency contained the motto "Cincinnati and Charleston, Railroad Office; seats may be taken within ; through in forty-eight hours." There were also portraits of Washington and Lafayette and repre- sentations of railroads innumerable. The illumi- nation was quite general and all the principal streets were brilliantly lighted while bonfires were placed on the landings and at street cross- ings. The city bells rang and cannon poured forth volleys of thunder. The illumination was heightened in its effect by the fact that it took place in a heavy snow-storm which however did not interfere with the crowding of the streets with men, women and boys many of whom carried blazing torches. The very best people of the city took part in this celebration and the whole affair was a great success and was ac- companied by no unpleasantness or disturbance. The orderly habit of the citizens of those days is perhaps explained by the statement that "by eleven o'clock our city was as quiet as a tomb." (Cincinnati Southern Railway by T. M. Hinkle.)

But a short time after this a Southwestern convention was held at Knoxville where nine States, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama were represented. The delegates from Cincinnati were Governor Vance,

Dr. Drake, Mr. Mansfield, Crafts J. Wright and Alexander McGrew. Dr. Drake took a very . conspicuous part in the proceedings of the con- vention which was much split up on the question of the termini of the proposed road. It is not hard to understand the feeling of the citizens of Cincinnati, who were trying by every means to cultivate friendly feelings and social relations with the South, towards abolitionists whom they regarded as mischief-makers at this critical time. In considering the anti-Birney riots it must be remembered that this delegation of citizens was then at Knoxville. In 1837 the Legislature authorized the city to borrow $600,000 and to use it in equal parts in subscribing for stock of the Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Rail- road Company or of any company by whatever name called for the purpose of constructing a road from Charleston to Cincinnati and for stock in the Little Miami Railroad Company and the White Water Canal. Four years later the Coun- cil passed an ordinance reciting that the expend- iture of money for the purpose of this railroad was unnecessary and devoted the money author- ized to the White Water Canal. The movement begun so auspiciously failed at the time by reason of the conditions imposed by the State of Ken- tncky. Subsequently however the idea of a Southern Railway was taken up again and has since been carried to successful completion.

Other railroad schemes at about the same time were the Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway via Lawrenceburg which had been chartered by the Ohio Legislature in 1832 ; the Cincinnati, Cohin- bus & Cleveland Railroad, chartered in 1836; the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad; Coving- ton & Lexington Railroad ; and particularly the Little Miami Railroad which was the first to make any definite progress. This railroad re- ceived its charter March 11, 1836. It was part of the general scheme of improvements ( inchid- ing those already mentioned as well as the White Water Canal) contemplated by a committee of internal improvements which had been appointed at a public meeting of citizens. This committee included among others Micajah T. Williams, John T. Williams, Dr. Daniel Drake, E. D. Mansfield, George Graham, John C. Wright. Robert Buchanan and Alexander McGrew. The proposed route lay along the valley of the Little Miami River, beginning at the eastern end of the city, passing above the main street of Fulton to Columbia and up the valley to Xenia 66 miles and finally to Springfield 85 miles away, where it was expected to meet the Mad River & Lake Erie

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Railroad which would give a continuous line to Sandusky. At the same place it intersected the National road. The work of survey was put into the hands of Ormsby .M. Mitchel, whose name stands among the first of Cincinnati's dis- tinguished citizens. He is best known of course as an astronomer, the founder of the Cincinnati Observatory, and as a patriotic general and army commander in the Civil War. He had been known at West Point for his quickness and ingenuity and was regarded by his. partner in the law busi- ness, E. D. Mansfield, as a man of genius, a characterization that is now universally accepted as just. Neither Mitchel nor Mansfield were over enthusiastic about the practice of the law and Mansfield gives a picture of the two sitting in their office: the one, Mitchel, reading Quin- tilian's work on " Oratory" (he expected to be a public teacher) ; and the other, Mansfield, writing his book on politics. Mitchel had been appointed in 1834 professor of mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy in the Cincin- nati College. When the Little Miami Railroad scheme was taken up, Mitchel threw himself into it with great energy and in conjunction with George W. Neff he forced it upon the attention of the public and particularly of the Council, securing from it a large loan of $200,000. He also went East and although it was a period of depression he enlisted much pecuniary aid there. He with others was also successful in obtaining the passage of the act of March 24, 1837, which pledged the State credit in behalf of the enter- prise to the extent of $115,000. Ile also devoted himself to the actual work of surveying which was no light task in view of the difficulties, financial and otherwise, with which he was met. "The struggle of the officers of the Little Miami Company to carry on their work, the then young civil engineers can best record. They could tell how often, when pay-day came, how many cat- tle were butchered and distributed to the labor- ers-cattle which had been received in payment of the farmers' subscriptions to capital stock. They could also tell how the men of the 'shovel and the pick' surrounded the house of honest William Lewis, the treasurer, demanding money from an empty treasury, calling him every kind of hard name, until he was forced in search of his president, in order to resign, saying, 'These men, when I tell then I have no money, call me liar and scoundrel so often and so earnestly that I begin to think that I am what they call me, and I must resign.'" (L'Hommedieu's Pioneer Ad- dress, Cincinnati Pioneer, No. III, p. 17.)

In spite of discouragements, however, the projectors of this mighty enterprise persevered and by 1843 30 miles of road were opened to traffic and in 1846 the road was completed to Springfield.

THE RACE AND ANTI-ABOLITION RIOTS OF 1836.

The year 1836 was marked by a number of outbreaks growing out of the anti-slavery agita- tion which was becoming more and more fierce. This was a question of intense interest in Cin- cinnati because of the city's peculiar location, being as it were the outpost of freedom thrust into the heart of the slave land and the first station of the "Underground Railway." In 1830, of the 7,500 negroes in Ohio, 2,200 were in Cincinnati. Most of the negroes who had reached maturity had been born in slavery and had bought their freedom for the purpose of crossing into the free land where they could raise their children without their having fas- tened upon them a lifelong bondage. They were not welcomed generally in the Buckeye State although Cincinnati as was true of other South- ern communities at that time needed their ser- vices as laborers. The expression "other South- ern communities" is not used nnadvisedly for in those days this section was regarded as being more Southern than Northern in its sympathies as well as climate.

The law of Ohio required free negroes to be registered and to give bond that they would not become public charges and any person who har- bored an unregistered free negro was liable to be fined. Negroes .of course were excluded from voting, their testimony could not be received against white persons even to support the testi- mony of white witnesses and they were not en- titled to education at the public expense althoughi they paid part of the school taxes. In addition to this, very few of them were able to obtain any employment except as common laborers as they were not permitted by public sentiment to follow a trade. (The same is true to-day to a large extent.) The state of armed hostility which existed between the two sections of the country made each of them particularly careful about affronting the other and every effort was made to keep the colored people from changing their residence from one State to another or from one part of the State to another.

The negroes themselves, however, were keen- ly alive to their debased situation and also to the public feeling against them. Many of those who had escaped were paying for their freedom

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in installments although beyond their masters' control, realizing that at any time the hand of the law might take them into its grasp and re- turn them to bondage. One instance is given of a Southern student of theology who paid for his education with the money received from an escaped slave for his own freedom. He charged on the deferred payments 12 percent interest. Another story is told of a negro child at a chari- table school in the North who explained her ab- sence from school by saying that she had been staying at home to work for the purpose of helping to buy her father.

The Directory of 1829 contains the statement of the population of the colored people as 2,258. In this year an effort was made in the city to enforce the registration law of 1807 and as a result the colored people driven to desperation sent a committee to see whether homes could be arranged for in Canada. The feeling was so intense that a mob was formed which assailed negroes wherever they were found. In the street fights which followed some of the assailants were killed and as a result of the intense feeling which was aroused more than half of the col- ored people left the city, many of them to go to Canada.

The Directory of 1834, five years later, gives the number of negroes in Cincinnati as 740, about one-third of what it had been five years be- forc. Those who remained were usually of the very poorest class such as were unable under any conditions to escape the prejudices which were as strong in Ohio as below the river. On the other hand there were many of the inhabi- tants white as well as black whose sympathies were with the down-trodden race and the. "Un- derground Railway," although then not known by that name, had been in operation since the passage of the Ordinance of 1787 which pro- vided against slavery within the Territory. Strangely enough by virtue of the fact that the prohibitive clause did not apply to slaves al- ready in the Territory there were slaves listed in the census of Ohio as late as 1840. The agitation against slavery however had been car- ried on in a small way in the State for a great many years. Benjamin Lundy became an abo- litionist about 1810 and founded the Union Humane Society at St. Clairsville in 1815. His "Genius of Universal Emancipation" appeared in 1821. Three years later the Ohio Legislature passed resolutions in favor of emancipation. Garrison had made speeches in Ohio but his in- fluence was not so strong here as elsewhere. In

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 13

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048