Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 5

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

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In 1805, by a treaty with the Indians at Fort Industry (site of Toledo), the United States acquired, for the use of the grantees of Connecticut, all that part of the western reserve which lies west of the Cuyahoga. By subsequent trea-

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ties, all the country watered by the Maumee and the Sandusky have been acquired, and the Indian title to lands in Ohio extinguished .*

In the course of the year 1805 the conspiracy of Aaron Burr began to agitate the western country. The precise scope of the conspiracy does not distinctly appear. "The immediate object, probably, was to seize on New Or- leans and invade Mexico. The ulterior purpose may have been to detach the West from the American Union. In December, 1806, in consequence of a con- fidential message from the Governor, founded on the representations of an agent of the general Government deputed to watch the motions of Burr, the legisla- ture passed an act authorizing the arrest of persons engaged in an unlawful | enterprise, and the seizure of their goods. Under this act, ten boats, with a considerable quantity of arms, ammunition and provisions, belonging to Burr's expedition, were seized. This was a fatal blow to the project."

The Indians, who since the treaty at Greenville had been at peace, about the year 1810 began to commit aggressions upon the inhabitants of the West. The celebrated Tecumseh was conspicuously active in his efforts to unite the native tribes against the Americans, and to arrest the farther extension of the settlements. His proceedings, and those of his brother, " the Prophet," soon made it evident that the West was about to suffer the calamities of another Indian war, and it was resolved to anticipate their movements. In 1811 Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, marched against the town of the " Prophet," upon the Wabash. The battle of Tippecanoe ensued, in what is now Cass county, Indiana, in which the Indians were totally defeated. This year was also distinguished by an occurrence of immense importance to the whole West. This was the voyage, from Pittsburg to New Orleans, of the first steamboat ever launched upon the western waters.

In June, 1812, the United States declared war against Great Britain. Of this war the West was a principal theatre. Defeat, disaster and disgrace marked its opening scenes ; but the latter events of the contest were a series of splendid achievements. Croghan's gallant defence of Fort Stephenson ; Perry's victory upon Lake Erie; the total defeat, by Harrison, of the allied British and sav- ages, under Proctor and Tecumseh, on the Thames; and the great closing triumph of Jackson at New Orleans, reflected the most brilliant lustre upon the American arms. In every vicissitude of this contest, the conduct of Ohio was eminently patriotic and honorable. When the necessities of the national Gov- ernment compelled Congress to resort to a direct tax, Ohio, for successive years, cheerfully assumed and promptly paid her quota out of her State treasury. Her sons volunteered with alacrity their services in the field; and no troops more patiently endured hardship or performed better service. Hardly a battle was fought in the Northwest in which some of these brave citizen soldiers did not 'seal their devotion to their country with their blood.

In 1816 the seat of the State Government was removed to Columbus, the proprietors of the town having, pursuant to an agreement entered into, in good faith, erected the State-house and other public buildings for the accommodation of the legislature and the officers of State.

" In January, 1817, the first resolution relating to a canal connecting the Ohio river with Lake Erie was introduced into the legislature. In 1819 the

* Indian Treaties .- The Western Reserve tract west of the Cuyahoga river was secured by a Ireaty formed at Fort Industry (Toledo) in 1805. The lands west of Huron and Richland counties and north of the Indian boundary line [that is, the Greenville treaty line, that treaty being the one made by Gen. Wayne in August, 1795] to the western limits of Ohio, were purchased hy the United States in 1818 by a treaty made at St. Mary's, Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, commissioners. The lands so ceded were called the " New Purchase." By the terms of this treaty certain tracts or reservations were made within the purchased tract to the Wyandots, Delawares, Senecas, etc. These reservations were subsequently ceded to the United States; the last by the Wyandots in 1842, they then being the only Indians remaining in the State. The next year they removed to Kansas, and numbered at that time about 700 souls.

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subject was again agitated. In 1820, on recommendation of Gov. Brown, an act was passed providing for the appointment of three canal commissioners, who were to employ a competent engineer and assistants, for the purpose of surveying the route of the canal. The action of the commissioners, however, was made to depend on the acceptance of Congress of a proposition on behalf of the State for a donation and sale of public lands lying upon and near the route of the proposed canal. In consequence of this restriction nothing was accomplished for two years. In 1822 the subject was referred to a committee of the House of Representatives. This committee recommended the employ- ment of an engineer, and submitted various estimates and observations to illustrate the importance and feasibility of the work. Under this act James Geddes, of New York, an experienced and skilful engineer, was employed to make the necessary examinations and surveys. Finally, after all the routes had been surveyed, and estimates made of the expense had been laid before the legisla- ture at several sessions, an act was passed in February, 1825, 'To provide for the internal improvement of the State by navigable canals,' and thereupon the State embarked in good earnest in the prosecution of the great work of in- ternal improvement."

The construction of the canals gave new life to the progress of the State. Firstly, the work of their building supplied funds to the settlers along their lines and then opened a market for the product of agriculture. These in many sections had previously next to no cash value, and this, with the large amount of sickness incident to opening up a wilderness, had occasioned the settle- ments to languish.

The total canal mileage in the State is now 788 miles, and the reservoirs cover an area of 32,100 acres, or over fifty square miles. The total cost was about sixteen millions of dollars.

Railroads soon followed. The first railroad west of New York State was the " Erie & Kalamazoo," which led from Toledo, Ohio, to Adrian, Michigan. It was opened with horse-power in the fall of 1836. A locomotive was put on in the following July, 1837, the first used in the West. The next railroad in Ohio was the Mad River & Lake Erie, which was incorporated in 1832, with a prospective route from Dayton via Springfield to Sandusky. Construction was begun in 1835, and in 1839 a portion opened sixteen miles from Sandusky to Bellvue, and the second locomotive in Ohio was used there. Ten years later, in 1848, this road, in connection with the Little Miami Railway, which was built from Cincinnati to Springfield, formed the first through line across the State. The second through line from the lake to the Ohio was opened in 1851 under the name of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Little Miami Railroad. The next year chronicled the opening of a third line from Cleveland to Pitts- burg. The railroads of Ohio had in 1887 developed to 9,849 miles of track, on which, with equipment, had been expended nearly 500 millions of dollars.

In 1835 the long dispute between Ohio and Michigan in relation to the boundary line between them culminated in what was termed the "Toledo War." Both States assembled their troops, but before any opening of hostili- ties occurred peace commissioners from the President arrived on the ground, and the next year Congress decided in favor of Ohio, Michigan receiving as compensation for the relinquishment of her claims the large peninsula bounded by the three great lakes and so rich in mineral wealth.

In the decade between 1830 and 1840 Ohio made surprising progress, owing largely to the development of her canal system. Her increase of population was 68 per cent., and she had become the third State of the Union with 1,519,- 467 inhabitants. Cincinnati, her chief city, had a population of 46,338; Co- lumbus, 6,048 ; Cleveland, 6,071, and Dayton 6,067, which were the three next in order.

Her manufacturing and commercial interests had received through that of

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her agriculture a vigorous start, and her mining began. The number of mer. employed was 620.

In 1840 occurred the famous "Hard Cider and Log Cabin Campaign," which resulted in the election of General William Henry Harrison to the Presidency by the Whig party and of Thomas Corwin as Governor by a ma- jority of 16,000 over Wilson Shannon. Two years later Corwin was defeated by Shannon, who thus became the first Governor born on the soil.

For the war with Mexico, declared in 1846, Ohio supplied four regiments of volunteers and a company over, in all 5,536 men, more than any other Northern State, of whom 57 were killed and wounded. One of the regiments, the Second, was commanded by Col. Geo. W. Morgan, of Mt. Vernon, later a brigadier-general in the war of the rebellion.

In this same year, 1846, bituminous coal was introduced into Ohio as a fur- nace fuel at Lowellville, in Mahoning county, an event of prime importance to the development of the iron industry of the State and country. Its first suc- cess was the year before in an adjoining county in Pennsylvania.

At this period the slavery question assumed such importance as to soon revolutionize the politics of the State. In the session of 1848-9 the legisla- ture was nearly equally divided between the Whigs and Democrats, with two Free Soilers, namely, Messrs. N. S. Townshend, of Lorain county, and John F. Morse, of Lake county, holding the balance of power. The repeal of the Black Laws,* which had long marred the statute books of Ohio, and their choice for a United States Senator, were the primary objects with the Free Soilers. Beside the election of a Senator, two judges were to be elected to the Supreme Bench. Mr. Morse made overtures to the Whigs, but there were some few from the southern counties who opposed the repeal of the laws and to Joshua R. Giddings, his choice for Senator, and hence he failed. Mr. Townshend was successful with the Democrats. They united with the Free Soilers, the Black Laws were repealed (in which vote most of the Whigs joined), Salmon P. Chase, the personal choice of Mr. Townshend, was elected to the Senate, and two Democratic judges to the Supreme Bench.

This legislation provided schools for colored children. They were, however, in a certain sense Black Laws, inasmuch as a distinction was thereby shown between the races. This distinction was not entirely obliterated until the session of 1886-7, when they were repealed through the eloquent efforts of Benjamin W. Arnett, D. D., member-elect from Greene county. He was the first colored man in the United States to represent a constituency where the majority were white and the first to be foreman of a jury where all the other members were white.

On May 6, 1850, the second constitutional convention, consisting of 108 members, met at Columbus to revise and change the old constitution and adapt it to the changed condition of the commonwealth. It was in actual session in all about four and a half months. The adjournment was March 10, 1851. The constitution was ratified by a majority of 16,288. William Medill, its president, was elected the first Governor under it.

On July 13, 1855, Free Soilers, Whigs, Democrats and Americans, opposed to the extension of slavery, met at the Town Street Methodist Church in Co- lunibus and held the first Republican State Convention.

They elected John Sherman chairman and announced in their platform that they would "resist the spread of slavery under whatever shape or color it may be attempted." They nominated Salmon P. Chase as their Governor. The Whig party was from thenceforth no more. Mr. Chase was elected by a ma-

* For an account of the "Black Laws," see sketch of Mr. Townshend preliminary to his article on the " History of Agriculture in Ohio," page 100.

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jority of 15,651. His opposing Democratic candidate was Gov. Medill. Ex- Governor Trimble, the candidate of the American, or Know Nothing party, re- ceived 24,276 votes. In 1857 Mr. Chase was again re-elected Governor by 1,503 majority over Henry B. Payne, the Democratic candidate.

The great measure of Mr. Chase's administration was his suggestion to the legislature to organize the militia. It seems as though his vision was pro- phetic of coming events. In 1858 a grand review was held of the newly-or- ganized military forces at Dayton, and rules and regulations governing military drills were printed and scattered among the militia, thereby creating a martial and patriotic spirit which afterwards burst out with almost uncontrollable en- thusiasm.

" Slowly the nation was approaching the crisis of its history, and Mr. Chase marched abreast of all events that led to it. In October, 1859, John Brown made his famous invasion of Virginia, and immediately after Gov. Henry A. Wise wrote to Gov. Chase, notifying him that Virginia would pursue abolition bands even into sister States to punish them. Mr. Chase dignifiedly replied that Ohio would obey the constitution and laws of the United States and dis- countenance unlawful acts, but under no circumstances could the military of other States invade Ohio territory. This was his last official declaration as Governor. In. January, 1860, his term closed, and he was a month later elected United States Senator."*

William Dennison, the first of "the War Governors," succeeded Mr. Chase, being elected over Judge Rufus P. Ranney, his Democratic competitor, by a majority of 13,331 votes. The legislature was in session when the news was received of the fall of Sumter and sent a thrill through that body. In the midst of the excitement the shrill tones of a woman's voice resounded from the gallery: "THANK GOD! It is the death of slavery." They were the screaming tones of Abbie Kelly Foster, who for years had been noted as an anti-slavery lecturer of the most fiery denunciatory type.

Ohio's response to the proclamation of President Lincoln, calling for 75,000 of the militia of the several States, was immediate. From all parts of the State came proffers of services from tens of thousands, and on the 19th of April, only four days after the issuance of the call, the First and Second Regi- ments of Ohio Volunteers had been organized at Columbus and were on their way to Washington. The legislature simultaneously voted an appropriation of a million dollars for war purposes.

Senator Garfield also offered a bill, which was passed, " to define and punish treason against the State." In his report Mr. Garfield said: " It is high time for Ohio to enact a law to meet treachery when it shall take the form of an overt act ; to provide when her soldiers shall go forth to maintain the Union there shall be no treacherous fire in the rear." His bill was passed in consequence of the efforts of the Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, who was in Columbus, and, believing that the Union could not be sustained by force of arms, was vainly endeavoring to stem the patriotic fervor which led the Democratic members of the Assembly equally with the Republican to maintain the Government.

Governor Dennison was soon enveloped " in a whirlpool of events; but he proved himself equal to the emergency." Having contributed to the safety of Washington by the despatching thither of two regiments, his next attention was given to the southern border, along which for 436 miles Ohio was bounded by the slave States Virginia and Kentucky, and liable to invasion. The atti- tude of Virginia was most alarming. Her western mountains were a natural fortification admitting of perfect defence and behind which Richmond and the

* From "A History of Ohio," inclusive of Biographical Sketches ui the Governors and the Ordinance of 1787, by Daniel J. Ryan, Secretary of State. An excellent little compend. A. H. Smythe, pub- lisher, Columbus, 1888, Izmo. Price $1.00.

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whole South was secure and from whence they could make incursions into the free States. Less than eighty miles of free territory bordered Ohio on the east. The West Virginians who were loyal called for aid. The Ohio militia in pay of the State were pushed into West Virginia, gained the first victories of the war, and drove out the rebel troops. This being after the continued disasters at the East, electrified the nation. "Thus was West Virginia the gift of Ohio, through her State militia, to the nation at the outset of the war." Gov. Den- nison had ere this written, " Ohio must lead throughout the war," and she did. Geo. B. McClellan, who had general command in West Virginia, through a prestige obtained by the celerity of action and promptness of his subordinates, mainly Gen. Wm. S. Rosecrans, was soon called to the head of the Army of the Potomac and Gov. Dennison to the Cabinet of the nation.

In 1861 David Tod, the second " War Governor," was elected by 55,000 majority over Hugh J. Jewett, the nominee of the anti-war, or regular Demo- cratic party of the State. The legislature was overwhelmingly Union Re- publican.

In September, 1862, occurred an event 'spoken of as the "Siege of Cincin- nati." Gen's. Kirby Smith and John Morgan, with united forces, entered Kentucky, with the Ohio border as the objective point. Cincinnati was de- fenceless as they approached toward it, when Gov. Tod called for volunteers from citizens, who, under the general name of "squirrel-hunters," for many brought their shotguns, flocked to the number of thousands from all parts of the State to the defence of their great and patriotic city. Major-Gen. Lewis Wallace was put in command. He proclaimed martial law over the three cities of Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport, and fortifications were thrown up on the Kentucky hills, on all the avenues of approach to the city, and full preparations made to meet the foe. The "squirrel-hunters," Home Guards of Cincinnati, with some newly-formed regiments, crossed the Ohio on a pontoon, marched out four miles, and there awaited for four days the attack of the enemy. There was some slight skirmishing of pickets, when the enemy, seeing the strength of force arrayed against them, withdrew.

The next year, 1863, Mr. Vallandigham continuing to influence public sentiment in Ohio by the eloquent and fearless presentation of his peace views, tending to the aid and comfort of those in arms against the Union, was seized, tried by court-martial, and found guilty of disobedience of military orders, and sentenced to imprisonment during the war. Mr. Lincoln changed this sentence to transportation to his friends within the lines of the Southern Confederacy. He passed through these rapidly, and reaching Wilmington, North Carolina, June 17, where, taking a blockade-runner, he reached Canada, and established himself at Windsor, opposite Detroit, communicated with his friends in Ohio, and awaited events.

This summer was made further notable by the raid of Gen. John Morgan through Ohio. With only about 2,000 horsemen he entered it on the Indiana border, passed within fourteen miles of Cincinnati, went through the entire southern part of Ohio, and, although over 50,000 men, mostly citizens, were in pursuit, he escaped capture until within a few miles of a crossing-place on the Ohio, in its southeasternmost county, on the Pennsylvania line. The object of this audacious raid was to distract attention from the movements of the Con- federates in Kentucky and Tennessee, and it accomplished it.

On the 17th of June this year the Union Republican Convention met at Columbus, and nominated John Brough, an old-line Democrat, for Governor, he being of great popularity, and of such extraordinary executive ability as well as oratorical powers as to be thought more likely to carry the State than Mr. Tod, its then executive.

The peace party nominated Mr. Vallandigham. His banishment had aroused so much sympathy for him-the " exiled hero"-that they were constrained

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to nominate him. And there on the border he counselled with his adherents, watched and directed the canvass. As it drew towards its close, when the speeches had all been made, and the issues fairly laid before the people, a few hours remained ere the depositing of the ballots, when a feeling of deep solemnity pervaded the entire commonwealth. The eyes of the whole nation were upon Ohio ; on her hung the death or salvation of the Union. If Ohio should prove recreant all was lost.

Ohio was true; she always is. John C. Brough was elected Governor by the unprecedented majority of 101,099 votes. Of this the home majority was (61,920, and the soldiers' majority 39,179. Out of 43,755 soldier votes only 2,288 were given for Vallandigham. In multitudes of cases the sons in the army voted one way, while the fathers at home on their farms, secure from war's alarms, voted the other. The soldier's vote was a signal illustration of the noble principle that those who mostly do sacrifice for a righteous cause mostly do love it.

Of the citizens who remained at home over 180,000 signified their preference for Vallandigham. Many sincerely regarded him as the subject of oppression ; they were patriotic, but despairing of success, and tired, sick at heart, of what seemed an idle effusion of blood and prolongation of suffering and misery. Still others there were, probably but a trifling number, who, in the malignancy of an evil nature, desired to see the triumph of the " slave power," that there might remain a class lower than themselves to tread and spit upon, a spirit that was illustrated by the riots at this era in New York, where an orphan asylum for colored children was given to the flames and black men shot dead in cold blood for no offence but the offence of color.

Mr. Brough, the last of Ohio's War Governors, was the man for the most trying crisis. From the opposition to the war, Mr. Lincoln was fearful that another draft upon the people would result in failure, and more troops were imperative. Seeing this, Gov. Brough called a convention of the Governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, which, with himself representing Ohio, met in convention, and on April 21, 1864, notified Mr. Lincoln that they could furnish him with 85,000 men for 100 days, without a dollar of bounty or a single draft. These were citizen volunteers, largely men advanced in years and with families, and holding responsible positions, the object of their brief services being mainly to garrison the forts, and thus relieve the veteran soldiers to reinforce Grant in Virginia, and enable him by weight of numbers of disciplined men to crush the rebellion. Of these Ohio supplied nearly half of the required number-over 30,000 men-National Guards, as they were called. The measure was most effective and their services most timely. It was a splendid contribution of the loyal West to the cause of the Union. Mr. Brough declined a renomination, and died in office.

The arms of Ohio's sons in the field were sustained by the work of Ohio's daughters at home. As Ohio's soldiers were the first to gain victories, so the women of Ohio were the first to organize aid societies. In five days after the fall of Sumter the ladies of the "Soldiers' Aid Society of Northern Ohio" organized at Cleveland, which eventually distributed food and clothing to the . amount of a million of dollars. A similar organization was started in Cincin- nati, which was alike successful, and every church and Sunday-school in the State became tributary channels through which flowed gifts to sustain the soldiers in front. When the war closed more than one-half of her able-bodied men had taken up arms for the Union, and she had shown herself to have been the most efficient of all the States, supplying, as she had, the most successful generals and the largest number of able men in the Cabinet of the President and in the councils of the nation.

This was but a natural outcome of the early history further detailed in these

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pages, and the quality of the varied people of Anglo-Saxon blood, who from the fringe of the Atlantic slope, from Virginia to New England, a hundred years ago first began to emigrate to its soil, dedicated while yet a wilderness to freedom. Unlike the emigrant to the prairie States farther West, starting earlier, they had greater difficulties to encounter from the savage and the wilderness. They grew strong by felling its vast forests and opening them to cultivation, and seeing progress year by year as they overcame obstacle after obstacle, until an entire race of men were born upon the soil, who, educated by continued success, were filled with the sentiment of invincibility that will put a people that possess it everywhere to the front-make them born leaders.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 5

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006