Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 88

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

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The springs here have long been known. Tradition states that the Indians re- sorted to them to use the waters and to kill the deer and buffalo which came here in great numbers. Before the grounds were enclosed in the early settlement of the county the domestic animals for miles around made this a favorite resort in the heats of summer, and appeared satisfied with no other water. The water is said to be similar to that of the celebrated white sulphur springs of Virginia, and equal in their mineral and medicinal qualities. The water is cooler, being as low as 53º, contains more gas, and is therefore lighter and more pleasant than that of the Virginia water. Many cures have been effected of persons afflicted with scrofulous diseases, dyspepsia, bilious derangements of the liver and stomach, want of appe- tite and digestion, cases of erysipelas when all the usual remedies had failed, and injuries inflicted by the excessive use of calomel .- Old Edition.

Aside from the long-famed spring above described this region seems to abound in mineral springs. On the outskirts of the town, in the valley of Delaware Ruu, in an area of about thirty-seven acres, is a collection of five flowing springs called " Little's Springs," consisting of as many different varieties of water-white sul- phur, black sulphur, magnetic, iron, and fresh water.

Delaware is on the Olentangy river, 24 miles north of Columbus, 131 miles from Cincinnati, 114 from Cleveland, 88 from Toledo, on the C. C. C. & I. and C. H. V. & T. railroads, very nearly in the centre of the State, 378 feet above Lake Erie, and 943 above the sea-level. County officers in 1888 : Probate Judge, Norman E. Overture ; Clerk of Court, John M. Shoemaker ; Sheriff, William J. Davis ; Prosecuting Attorney, Frank Kauffman ; Auditor, John J. Ramage ; Treasurer, N. Porter Ferguson ; Recorder, Frank E. Sprague ; Surveyor, Edmund S. Minor ; Coroner, Robert C. Wintermute; Commissioners, John L. Thurston, James C. Ryant, George W. Jones. Newspapers : two dailies-Chronicle; Gazette, Independent, A. Thomson & Son, publishers. Weeklies-Herald, Democratic, James K. Newcomer, editor and publisher ; Saturday Morning Call ; Gazette, Republican, A. Thomson & Son, publishers. Banks : First National, C. B. Paul, president, G. W. Powers, cashier ; Delaware County National, S. Moore, president, William Little, cashier ; Deposit Banking Company, S. P. Shaw, president, H. A.

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DELAWARE COUNTY.

Welch, cashier. Churches : 4 Methodist Episcopal, 1 German Methodist Epis- copal, 2 Colored Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 Colored Baptist, 2 Lutheran, and 1 Catholic.

Driven by Henry Howe we 184h.

WINTER STREET, DELAWARE.

Manufactures and Employees .- Clark & Young, builders' supplies, 15 hands ; Delaware Chair Company, 205 ; Riddle, Graff & Co., cigars, 104; J. Hessnauer,

Ulrey Bros., Photo., Delaware, 1886.

SANDUSKY STREET, DELAWARE.

cigars, 21 ; Delaware Co-operative Cigar Company, 12; M. Neville, carriages, etc .; L. Miller, carriages, etc., 15 ; Frank Moyer, carriages, ete. ; J. A. Broed- beer, cigar boxes, 12: C. C. C. & I. R. R. Shops. 150 : J. Rubrecht, carpenter

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DELAWARE COUNTY

work, 15 .- State Report for 1887. Also, brick, carpets, mineral waters, stoves, and pumps. Population in 1880, 6,894. School census in 1886, 2,621 ; J. L. Campbell, superintendent.

The great distinguishing feature of this pleasant town is as an educational point. The Ohio Wesleyan University located here is one of the largest in America under the auspices of the Methodist Church. It was founded in 1842. The Ohio

BROTT

THE OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.

Wesleyan, Female College, founded in 1853, was consolidated with the University in 1877, and the two institutions are now conducted as one, ladies being admitted to all branches of study. This part of the institution has the finest and largest of the college edifices : it is called Monnett Hall, and is about ten minutes' walk from the Male Department, in a pretty campus of about ten acres. Over 1,100 young men and women have graduated from the University, and several thousand have

MONNETT HALL.

taken a partial course; " the annual attendance has reached to 830." The Uni- versity has a very complete Conservatory of Music, a flourishing Art Department, and a Commercial Department, giving a business training.

Ou William street, one block from the post-office, in Delaware, in a house now owned and occupied by J. J. Richards, was born on October 4, 1822, RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nineteenth President of the United States. The front is of brick

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DELAWARE COUNTY.

and the rear wood. When a boy he went to a private school-that of Mrs. John Murray-on Franklin street. A brother of his was drowned while skating in the Olentangy ; a melancholy ineident, remembered by the older eitizens.

His father, Rutherford Hayes, a Vermonter, came to Delaware in 1817, and engaged in merchandising. He died in the very year of his son's birth (1822),

Ulrey & Bro., Photo., Delaware, 1886. BIRTHPLACE OF PRESIDENT HAYES.

leaving a widow and three young children, with a large, unsettled business. Sar- dis Birchard, a brother of the widow, then a youth of sixteen, emigrated with the family from Vermont. He worked with his brother-in-law in building, farming, driving, taking care of stock, and employing all his spare hours in hunting, and was enabled with his rifle to supply his own and other families with turkeys and venison. He was a handsome, jovial young man, a universal favorite, and de- voted to his sister and her little floek. In 1827, when the future President was five years of age, Mr. Birehard removed to Fremont, then Lower Sandusky, and from that date it became the home of the family.

Mr. Hayes graduated at Kenyon in 1840, then prepared in Columbus for entrance into the Harvard Law School, where he in due time also graduated. It was at this period he illustrated his regard for his native State, which all through his career has been a marked trait. The anecdote is thus related in the history of Delaware county, with which we here close, referring the reader to a more extended notice of him under the head of Sandusky county.

It was in 1844, while a law student at Cambridge, that Mr. Hayes went to Boston to witness a demonstration in honor of Henry Clay, who was a candidate for Presi- dent against James K. Polk. The campaign was an exciting one, and hotly contested from the opening to the close. Upon the occasion referred to, the Hon. Cassius M. Clay was to make a speech before the Henry Clay club, and the most extensive preparations had been made for a big day. In accordance with the customs of those times, a grand civil parade was a chief feature of the pro- ceedings. Mr.' Hayes met Mr. Aigin, from Delaware, whom he recognized, and, while

standing in front of the Tremont House, they were joined by several others, among them his uncle, Mr. Birchard. The motley- bannered procession was being highly praised when young Mr. Hayes suggested that it only lacked an "Ohio delegation " to make its success complete. It was received as a happy jest, but nothing more thought of it until Mr. Hayes, who had been hardly missed, again appeared, carrying a rude ban- ner which he had hastily constructed of a strip from the edge of a board, on either side of which, in awkward straggling letters, was painted the word "Ohio." As the proces- sion passed, Mr. Hayes, with his banner, "fell in," while the others-three in num- ber-brought up the rear. Ohio men con- tinued to drop in and swell their ranks, until, when the procession halted on Boston Com- mon, the "Ohio delegation " numbered twenty-four men, and was one of the most conspicuous in the line. The enthusiasm was great, and floral tributes were showered upon them from the balcony windows along the line of march. Among these tributes were several wreaths. These the young

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DELAWARE COUNTY.

leader carefully placed over the rude banner, and the unexpected "Ohio delegation," proudly marching under a crown of laurel leaves, was cheered and honored as Ohio had

never been honored before. This was prob- ably Mr. Hayes' first appearance as a politi- cal leader, and doubtless one of the happiest and proudest days of his life.

JOHN ANTHONY QUITMAN, a noted general of the Mexican war, and later governor of Mississippi, was a resident of Delaware for a number of years, studied law, and was admitted to the bar there. He was born in 1799, in Rhinebeck, N. Y. THOMAS CARNEY, governor of Kansas during the rebellion, was born in Kingston township, near Rosecrans' birthplace. His private secretary was John C. Vaughn, the veteran journalist of Ohio and Kansas, who, now well in the eighties, with the memories of a useful life, is passing his remaining days an inmate of the " Old Gentlemen's Home," Cincinnati. PRESTON B. PLUMB, now United States Senator from Kansas, was born on Alum creek, in Berlin township. A. P. MOREHOUSE, now governor of Missouri (born in 1835), is a native of this county. Gen. JOHN CALVIN LEE, who did efficient service in the Rebellion, and served two terms as lieutenant-governor under Hayes, is a native of Brown town- ship. Judge THOMAS W. POWELL, now deceased, resided in Delaware. He was one of Ohio's most eminent and learned jurists, and author of a historical work entitled " History of the Ancient Britons." His son, Hon. T. E. Powell, was the Democratic candidate for governor of the State in 1887 versus J. B. Foraker. Mr. Philip Phillips, the famed Christian songster, has his home in Delaware-a pleasant residence. The annals of Delaware show a bevy of authors : Rev. Drs. Payne and Merrick, Profs. McCabe, Parsons, and Grove-all of the University- in works of instruction or theology ; Prof. T. C. O'Kane, in Sunday-school song- books, and Prof. G. W. Michael, in " Michael's System of Rapid Writing."

The Delaware Grape .- This remarkable and celebrated grape was first sent forth from this county. It took its name from the town. This was about the year 1850, when it was discovered growing near the banks of the Scioto in the hands of a Mr. Heath who brought it from New Jersey years before. Its origin is doubtful, whether foreign or na- tive. Mr. Thompson, the editor of the Gazette, discovered its superior merits. Its introduction created a great furore in grape-

growing, called "the grape fever." The ability of grape propagators was taxed to the utmost to supply the demand, and Dela- ware grape-vines were sold in enormous quan- tities at prices ranging from $1 to $5 each. The wildest ideas prevailed in regard to it, and inexperienced cultivators suffered through their excess of zeal over knowledge. In soils suitable the Delaware grape maintains its original high character, but its cultivation requires great skill and care.

" The State Reform School for Girls," as it was originally called, but changed in 1872 by an act of the Legislature to the "Girls' Industrial Home," is on a beautiful site on the Scioto, ten miles southwest of Delaware, and eighteen above Columbus. The spot was long known as the "White Sulphur Springs." In early times a hole was bored here 460 feet for salt water, but, instead, was struck a spring of strong white sulphur water. In 1847 a large hotel and some cottages were put up for boarders, and the place was for a term of years quite a resort, but finally ran down.

It becoming a home for girls was the result of a petition to the Legislature by some of the benevolent citizens of the county, who, seeing the fine property going to decay, desired that it should be purchased by the State, and converted into an asylum for unprotected girls. In 1869 the State purchased it, and founded the institution " for the instruction, employment, and reformation of exposed, helpless, evil-disposed, and vicious girls," above the age of seven years and under that of sixteen. The institution at times has over 200 pupils, and is on a well-conducted foundation. Col. James M. Crawford is the superintendent.

Delaware county will be permanently rendered noted not only as the birthplace of a President but also of that of one of the most brilliant military strategists known to the art of war-that great soldier and patriot, WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS.

Whitelaw Reid writes of Rosecrans : " As a strategist he stands among the fore-

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DELAWARE COUNTY.

most, if not himself the foremost, of all our generals. . . . . His tactical ability shone as conspicuously as his strategy. He handled troops with rare facility and judgment under the stress of battle. More than all, there came upon him in the hour of conflict the inspiration of war, so that men were magnetized by his pres- ence into heroes. Stone River, under Rosecrans, and Cedar Creek, under Sheri- dan, are the sole examples in the war of defeats converted into victories by the reinforcement of a single man."

We give a sketch of his career from the pen of Mr. W. S. Furay, a native of

Drawn by Henry Howe, 1846.

THE WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.

Ross county, who was war correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, beginning with the opening campaign in Western Virginia and continuing until the close of the war. Since that period Mr. Furay has held various civil and journalistic positions, and is now on the editorial staff of the Ohio State Journal.

WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS was born in Kingston township, of Delaware county, Sept. 6, 1819. He merited in one respect the title of "the Dutch General," given him by the Confederates early in the War of the Re- bellion, for his ancestors on the father's side came from Amsterdam, although his mother traced back her descent to Timothy Hopkins, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence.

At the age of fifteen Rosecrans entered the military academy at West Point, graduating thence in the class of 1842. Entering the Engineer Corps of the Army as Second Lieu- tenant, he served the Government efficiently and well in various capacities until 1853, when he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and shortly after, to the great regret of his superior officers, resigned.

From this time until the breaking out of the rebellion, he devoted himself to civil engineering and kindred occupations, making his headquarters at Cincinnati. During all these years of his earlier career he exhibited, in the limited fields open to him, those char- acteristics of original conception, inventive genius, restless activity and tireless energy

which were ever afterwards to carry him through a career of wonderful success at the head of great armies and enroll his name amongst those of the most brilliant soldiers known to military history.

The following is a rapid outline of that career :

In the spring of 1861, W. S. Rosecrans was commissioned by the Governor of Ohio Chief Engineer of the State of Ohio, with the rank and pay of United States Colonel of Engineers. Answering his country's call, however, as a citizen volunteer aide he organ- ized the troops at Camp Dennison, Ohio, and began the organization of Camp Chase as Colonel of the 23d United States Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry.

As brigadier-general in the United States army, he went to West Virginia, fought the battle of Rich Mountain, and on the 23d or 24th of July, 1861, succeeded Mcclellan as commander of the Department of the Ohio, consisting of troops from West Virginia. Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. While in com- mand of that department he defeated the attempts of General Lee to penetrate West Virginia by Cheat Mountain and the Kanawha

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DELAWARE COUNTY.

route, and subsequently by way of Romney, and along the B. & O. road. The Legislature of West Virginia passed a unanimous vote of thanks in recognition of his services in de- fending the State, which was followed soon after by a similar vote of thanks from the Legislature of the State of Ohio.

In 1862 he submitted a plan for the cam- paign of that year auxiliary to that for the movements of the Army of the Poto- mac, which plan was highly approved by the general-in-chief and by the War Depart- ment.

Early in April, 1862, he was ordered to Washington and sent to find and conduct Blencker's Division to General Fremont.

He submitted to the War Department a plan for the application of the forces under Generals McDowell, Banks, and Fremont to occupy the Shenandoah Valley and threaten communications with the South.

In May, 1862, he was ordered to report to General Halleck, who commanded our army in front of Corinth, Mississippi. Was put in command of two divisions (Stanley's and Paine's) in front of that city, and when it was vacated by Bragg and Beauregard he led the infantry pursuit until ordered to stop.

In June, 1862, he was placed in command of the Army of the Mississippi, consisting of four divisions.

In September, 1862, with two small divis- ions he confronted General Sterling Price, and fought the battle of Iuka.

In connection with the mention of his gen- eral system of army management, it may be stated that he originated the making of photo- printing maps, and furnished his subordinate commanders with information maps of the regions of military operations ; established convalescent hospitals for the treatment or discharge of chronic cases ; organized colored men into squads of twenty-five each, and equipped and employed them as engineer troops ; employed escaped colored women in laundries and as cooks for hospitals, etc.

On October 3d and 4th, 1862, with four divisions, he fought the battle of Corinth.

By order of the President he was placed in command of the Department of the Cumber- land and Army of the Ohio, relieving General Buell, October 30, 1862. He reorganized this army, and established an Inspector-Gen- eral's system by detail from the line, also a Topographical Department by detail of Brig- ade, Division, and Corps Engineers, and a Pioneer Corps by detail of officers and men from the infantry. He also reorganized both the cavalry and artillery.

On December 31, 1862, and Jannary 1 and 2, 1863, he fought the battle of Stone River, against the Confederates under General Bragg, and drove him behind the line of Duck river.

From June 23 to July 7, 1863, he conducted the campaign of Tullahoma, by which Bragg was driven out of his intrenched camps (at Shelbyville and Tullahoma) in Middle Ten- nessee.

After the battle of Stone River he was tendered, almost simultaneously, a unanimous

vote of thanks from Congress and from the States of Ohio and Indiana.

From July 7, 1863, to August 14, 1863, he was bringing forward supplies, perfecting the organization of the army, and manœuvring for Chattanooga, giving special attention to the rebuilding of a railroad, as a necessary pre-requisite to success.

From August 14 to September 22, 1863, he made the campaign of Chattanooga, and fought the battle of Chickamauga, man. œuvring the Confederates out of the objec tive point covered by Lookont Range and the Tennessee river.

For his services at Chickamauga, he re- ceived a unanimous vote of thanks from the National House of Representatives.

After the battle of Chickamauga, he was engaged in making the preliminary arrange- ments to constitute Chattanooga a new main depot, by water and rail connections with Nashville, Louisville, and Cincinnati.

Between October, 1863, and January 27, 1864, he presided over the great Western Sanitary Fair at Cincinnati, which raised $325,000 for objects of beneficence to Union soldiers. He also presided over the Missis- sippi Valley Sanitary Fair, which raised $525,000 for the same cause.

On the 27th of January, 1864, he was placed in command of the Department of Missouri, in which capacity he succeeded in defeating all the objects and purposes of Price in Mis- souri, defeated him on the Big Blue and at Maris des Cygnes, and drove him out in a state of disorganization, from which he never recovered.

He was also successful in exposing and defeating the objects of the Order of Ameri- can Knights.

In January, 1866, he was mustered out as Major-General of Volunteers and resigned as Brigadier-General in United States Army in 1867. He was afterwards made Brevet Major-General.

Up to the time of the battle of Chicka- manga there was, neither with the govern- ment nor amongst the people, a single doubt as to the genius or ability of Rosecrans. Every step he had taken had been a suc- cessful step. Every campaign and every battle had added to his laurels and his glory. Rich Mountain had developed that penetrat- ing sagacity without which no man can ever rise to distinction as a soldier. In the subse- quent campaign in West Virginia he had with wonderful skill baffled and defeated the officer who subsequently became the renowned Commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies. At Iuka and Corinth his daring energy had blazed forth like a star, guiding the way to two shining victories. At Stone river he had assailed the rebel army under Gen. Bragg in its own chosen position, re- trieved by his personal exertions what on the first day's conflict had seemed to be dis- astrous defeat, inspired the soul of every soldier under him with his own lofty resolve to conquer or die, and with matchless vigor, energy and skill fairly compelled success to

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DELAWARE COUNTY.

alight upon the Union standards, and gained a victory which electrified the nation and the world. In the Tullahoma campaign he had exhibited a talent for strategy equal to Na- poleon in the campaign of Ulm, and without the loss of a regiment, a gun or a stand of colors, had driven Bragg from his whole line of entrenched camps, and expelled him from Middle Tennessee.

Rosecrans had been too successful. He had raised himself to too exalted a height. The fatal halo of supposed invincibility glim- mered around his head. No soldier ever was or ever will be absolutely invincible, but he who is believed to be so must maintain the reputation or fall to a lower level than what he rose from. Nay, he must not merely suc- ceed thereafter in attaining the object at which he aims ; he must attain it in the manner that public opinion marks out for him, and scarcely dare achieve less than the im possible.

'The limits of this sketch will not permit a discussion of the campaign in August and September, 1863, and only the conclusions can be set down, which, by a prolonged and con- scientious study of the whole history of that campaign, have been arrived at.

The object that Rosecrans had in view when he commenced his great movement on the 23d of August, 1863, was to relieve East Tennessee from Confederate occupation and get possession of that central key to the Con- federacy, the city of Chattanooga. The place was defended by Gen. Bragg's army, which from the first was fully equal in num- bers to that under Rosecrans and soon became greatly superior. The all-knowing soldier who commanded the Union army knew from the first that Bragg could easily be reinforced, that every effort would be made by the Con- federate government to save Chattanooga, and that his own force was inadequate to the mighty task he had before him. Hence he begged, pleaded and implored for reinforce- ments which were within easy reach, which were persistently denied him, but which when the campaign was ended came up in such numbers that had a third of them been sent to Rosecrans before he began his march across the Tennessee and the mountains to manœuvre Bragg out of Chattanooga, would have enabled him not only to get possession of that stronghold, but to utterly destroy the army opposed to him.

Chattanooga could not be obtained without a battle. To assail it directly would be simply madness. Rosecrans therefore began that splendid series of manœuvres to the south- ward of the city which carried his army into Georgia and threatened the Confederate com- munications with Atlanta. Bragg retired out of the city and marched southward, taking up such position that he could, at any time, return on shorter lines and compel Rosecrans to fight a battle for the prize. The Union general expected this, and had prepared ac- cordingly. But while he was concentrating his army, that which he had clearly foreseen oc- curred. From every quarter of the Confed-

eracy troops were hurried to Bragg's assist- ance. From Mississippi, from Mobile, from Savannah they came, and from Virginia the powerful corps of Gen. Longstreet was hur- ried to North Georgia to overwhelm the comparatively feeble army under Rosecrans. In round numbers, 40,000 Union soldiers were to contend with 75,000 Confederates, to see which would finally hold Chattanooga.

Before the Union army was fully concen- trated the Confederates assailed it, and the awful battle of Chickamauga began. The first day the assailants were repelled at all points. The second day they rushed through a gap in our lines caused by a miswording or misunderstanding of orders, and separating the right wing of our army from the centre, overwhelmed that wing. Our centre and left stood firm ; Rosecrans seeing this and that the enemy who had overwhelmed our right might push up the valley (which the right had been covering) into Chattanooga, has- tened to rally the right, to get the troops left behind in Chattanooga as guards to our stores and reserve artillery, in proper shape, and to prepare a new position for the army at Ross- ville in case the centre and left should also be compelled to retreat. It was here he showed the greatness of the true soldier who leaves nothing to chance ; it was here he specially proved his worthiness for the highest com- mand. As fast as he could do so, he urged portions of the rallied troops to the assistance of that part of the army which still held the field ; he sent word of all he was doing to the brave Thomas, who was so grandly resisting the enemy's onset, and gave new courage and confidence to that veteran by assuring him when he felt he could no longer hold his posi- tion on the field the new lines would be ready for his reception. It was this knowledge that inspired Thomas with the stern determination not to retreat in the face of the foe at all. And he did not retreat. He held his own until nightfall, suffering dreadful loss, but always inflicting more than he suffered, and when the last effort of the foe had been re- pelled, retiring leisurely to the new lines which the genius of Rosecrans had marked out for the army.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 88

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