History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 29

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 29

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" Resolved, That any men, or set of men, in Cincinnati or elsewhere, who knowingly sell or ship one ounce of flour or pound of provisions, or any arms or articles which are contraband of war, to any person or any State which has not declared its firm determination to sustain the Gov- ernment in the present crisis, is a traitor, and deserves the doom of a traitor."

So clear and unshrinking was the first voice from the great conserva- tive city of the southern border, whose prosperity was supposed to de- pend on the southern trade. They had reckoned idly, it seemed, who had counted on hesitation here. From the first day that the war was opened, the people of Cincinnati were as vehement in their determina-

tion that it should be relentlessly prosecuted to victory, as the people of Boston.

They immediately began the organization of home guards, armed and drilled vigorously, took oaths to serve the Government when they were called upon, and devoted themselves to the suppression of any contraband trade with the southern States. The steamboats were watched; the railroad depots were searched; and, wherever a suspi- cious box or bale was discovered, it was ordered back to the ware- houses.

After a time the general government undertook to prevent any ship- ments into Kentucky, save such as should be required by the normal demands of her own population. A system of shipment-permits was established under the supervision of the collector of the port, and pass- engers on the ferry-boats into Covington were even searched to see if they were carrying over pistols or other articles contraband of war; but, in spite of all efforts, Kentucky long continued to be the convenient source and medium for supplies to the Southwestern Seceded States.

The day after the Cincinnati meeting denouncing his course relative to Kentucky, Governor Dennison, stimulated perhaps by this censure, but in accordance with a policy already formed, issued orders to the presidents of all railroads in Ohio to have everything passing over their roads in the direction of Virginia or any other seceded State, whether as ordinary freight or express matter, examined, and if contraband of war, immediately stopped and reported to him. The order may not have had legal sanction; but in the excited state of the public mind it was accepted by all concerned as ample authority. The next day similar instructions were sent to all express companies.

On the other hand, Cincinnati began active efforts to supply the northern armies-not only with competent officers and brave men, but with clothing, food and munitions of war. Some of the earliest contracts for uniforms for the State regiments were taken in the city, and Miles Greenwood very soon began at his foundries the manufacture of field-guns for twelve batteries ordered by the State, as also the rifling of old muskets, convert- ing them into what became known as "the Greenwood rifle," and was in time highly esteemed by the troops.

At once upon the sounding of the tocsin at Sumter, Cincinnati began her generous offers to and sacrifices for the Union. The Guthrie Grays and the Rover Guards were among the first militia companies of the State whose services were tendered to the governor. The lat- ter, with the Zouave Guards and the Lafayette Guards, both also of Cincinnati, became, respectively, companies A, D and E, in the original organization of the Second Ohio infantry ; and the former was made the nucleus of the Sixth regiment of volunteer infantry. Colonel Lewis Wilson, who had promptly resigned the high office of chief of police in Cincinnati, to offer his services to the government, was made commandant of the Second. General Thomas L. Young, since governor of the State and member of congress, foreseeing the trouble that was coming, offered his aid to General Scott in organizing the volunteer forces, twenty-five days before the rebels fired on Sumter; and is thus claimed to have been the first volunteer from Hamilton county, and very likely from the State, unless the lamented President Andrews, of Kenyon college, is to be excepted. Other early offers from pat- riotic men in various public and private stations, were made by thousands; and the entire demand made by the Federal government upon the State of Ohio, in the first call for troops (two regiments), could have been answered in this city alone, as it was by the State at large, within twenty-four hours. Enlistments in Cincin- nati were hearty and general from all classes. The con- tingent of many thousands furnished to the Federal

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armies by Hamilton county was almost wholly Cincin- nati's contingent. The earlier Kentucky regiments, fur- nished in pursuance of Governor Dennison's noble utter- ance after the insolent and treasonable refusal of Governor Magoffin, "If Kentucky will not fill her quota, Ohio will fill it for her," were largely filled by Cincinnati men. One of the local regiments, the Thirty-ninth, furnished the largest number of re-enlisted "veterans," five hundred and thirty-four, of any Ohio regiment or other command of any arm of the service. The first Major General of the Ohio militia (McClellan), and one (Joshua H. Bates) of the three brigadiers appointed by the governor at once after the outbreak of the rebellion, were of the Queen City. A remarkable number of the most distin- guished of the Union generals were from Cincinnati- Major Generals McClellan, Rosecrans, Mitchel and Godfrey Weitzel ;* Brevet Major Generals R. B. Hayes, August Willich, Henry B. Banning, Manning F. Force and Kenner Garrard; Brigadier Generals Robert L. Mc- Cook, Willianı H. Lytle, * A. Sanders Piatt, * Eliakim P. Scammon, Nathaniel McLean, Melancthon S. Wade and John P. Slough ; and Brevet Brigadier Generals Andrew Hickenlooper, Benjamin C. Ludlow, Israel Garrard, * William H. Baldwin, Henry V. N. Boynton, Charles E. Brown,* Henry L. Burnet, Henry M. Cist,* Stephen J. McGroarty, Granville Moody, August Moor, Reuben D. Mussey, George W. Neff, Edward F. Noyes, Augustus C. Parry, Durbin Ward and Thomas L. Young. A number of the more eminent commanders of Ohio regiments, of the lamented dead of the war, were also Cincinnatians- as the young Colonel Minor Milliken, Colonels John F. Patrick, Frederick C. Jones, William G. Jones and John T. Toland. The first governor of Ohio during the rebellion, William Dennison, is a native of Cincinnati; and another of the war governors, the redoubtable John Brough, was for a time a lawyer and editor in the city. Hon. Salmon P. Chase, the great secretary of the treasury, whose ad- ministration of the National finances during the long struggle was so efficient that a leader of the rebellion said at its close : "It was not your generals that defeated us; it was your treasury" -- was long a resident of Cincinnati, and went to Washington from this city. A host of other Cincinnatians, in various civil and military capacities, served with usefulness and honor in the terrible crisis. Especially useful to the government were the medical men of Cincinnati. The first surgeon-general of the State appointed by Governor Dennison at the outbreak of the war, on the recommendation of McClellan, was Dr. George H. Shumard, of the city, though long absent from it, engaged in geological surveys and otherwise. One of the State board of examiners, before whom all candidates for appointment as surgeon or assistant surgeon in Ohio commands were compelled to pass, was Dr. John A. Murphy, of Cincinnati. More than half the entire number of "United States Volunteer Surgeons," who entered the service independently of special commands, and whose addresses are given in "Ohio in the War," were Cincinnati men. One of these, Dr. William H. Mussey, ultimately became one of the board of medical

inspectors-small in number, but important and influ- ential in their duties-who stood next to the surgeon- general and his assistant as the ranking medical officers of the army. Another, Dr. William Clendenin, became assistant medical director of the army of the Cumber- land. Another, Dr. Robert Fletcher, won much distinc- tion as medical purveyor at Nashville for the great armies operating in Tennessee and Georgia. Some of the regi- mental surgeons became scarcely less distinguished; as Dr. James, of the Fourth Ohio cavalry, who rose to be the chief medical officer of the entire cavalry of the army.

Within a time astonishingly short, after the outbreak of the war, Camp Harrison was established, upon the trotting park in the outskirts of Cumminsville, and troops began pouring in thither. General William H. Lytle, by whom it was selected, was appointed commander of the Camp. The Guthrie Grey regiment, ready by the after- noon of April 20th, and several other companies, were the first to rendezvous there. Colonel Geffroy, of the Gib- son House, set to work in town among the ladies of the East End, and soon enlisted a large number of them in the patriotic work of collecting materials and making up underwear for the soldiers in the parlors of his hotel, while the ladies of the West End were soon engaged in similar work at a private residence. The Cincinnati Aid association was organized by the citizens at large, to help support the families of soldiers in the field; and the Daughters of Temperance also organized an aid society of their own.

A general meeting of Irish citizens was held at Mozart's hall April 20th, at which many volunteered, and a reso- lution was passed to raise an Irish regiment, several wealthy men present offering to give a thousand dollars each for the purpose. It was raised, and became the Tenth Ohio infantry. Ex-Mayor R. M. Moore raised one company of it. McCook's German regiment was raised with great promptitude, elected its field officers on the night of the twenty-third, and went to camp the next day, after a triumphal march through the city. The Sto- rer Rifles were the first company to get arms. It was splendidly equipped with Sharp's rifles, the private prop- erty of the men. Many home companies were recruited for drill and organization, one or two in every ward; and by the nineteenth of April it was estimated that at least ten thousand were preparing for military service. On that day the news of the attack at Baltimore on Feder- al troops was received, and the Germans recruiting for Cook's regiment paraded the streets amid great enthusi- asm. Len Harris, afterwards a colonel and mayor of the city, recruited ninety men the first day after the war opened. The printers of the city raised a company among themselves. The Lafayette Guards, ordered to Columbus, took upon the cars two hundred and seven men, although eighty-seven men was then the maximum of a company. The loyal enthusiasm for enlistment and preparation for war was unbounded. The city authori- ties voted a quarter of a million dollars from the sinking fund for the purposes of the opening conflict, and the

* Natives of Cincinnati.

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people saw to it that the American flag was hung from every flagstaff and window where it ought to be floating, at one time compelling the officer in charge at the Cus- tom house to fling it to the breeze, and several times obliging· masters of steamers to raise aloft the banner of of beauty and of glory. After one or two vessels from above had gone by without landing, evidently with arms and munitions of war for the South, a committe of safety was appointed to see that no more such articles passed the city. Messrs. Rufus King, Miles Greenwood, William Cameron, Joseph Torrence, J. C. Butler, and Henry Handy composed the committee. Their efforts were cordially, though always judiciously, seconded by an excited populace, which was sometimes on the point of mobbing suspected steamers or recusant captains. An- other committee-Colonel A. E. Jones, C. F. Wilstach, and Frederick Meyer-was also appointed to act in con- junction with the city authorities in stopping the ship- ment of supplies to the rebels; and still another commit- tee of safety, consisting of one person from each ward and neighboring township, to act as occasion might de- mand in concert with the military and municipal author- ities. Joint meetings of Cincinnati, Newport, and Covington patriots were held-the first of them April 18th; and no pains or cost was spared to get ready for the coming conflict.

The sanitary condition of the troops sent to the field, and compelled to live under conditions widely different from those to which they had been accustomed, early at- tracted the attention of philanthropic and patriotic Cin- cinnatians, and called for organized effort. The "Cincin- nati Branch of the United States Sanitary Commission," one of the most efficient societies of the kind formed in the north, was the first of their deliberations. Its story has been simply and pleasantly told in brief in a volume narrating the "History of the Great Western Sanitary Fair," published in Cincinnati after the culmination of that success.

Soon after the surrender of Fort Sumter, the President and the Sec- retary of War were induced by certain gentlemen to issue an order au- thorizing them and their associates to co-operate with the Government in the relief of sick and wounded soldiers, and to prosecute such inqui- ries of a sanitary character as might further the same end. Under this authority these parties organized the United States Sanitary Commis- sior., and have since elected to that body a few others not originally act- ing with them. They also construed their powers as enabling them to ereate a class of associate members, several hundred in number, resid- ing respectively in almost every loyal State and territory. The duties of these associates, and the extent to which they share the power com- mitted to the original members have never been precisely defined.

Appointments were made as early as May, 1861, of several such as- sociate members, resident in Cincinnati; but no organization of a branch commission was effected until the succeeding fall.

Through the instrumentality of Dr. W. H. Mussey, the use of the United States marine hospital, an unfurnished building originally in- tended for western boatmen, was procured from Secretary Chase, a board of ladies and gentlemen organized for its management, and the house furnished by the donations of citizens, and opened for the recep- tion of sick and wounded soldiers in May, 1861. This institution was carried on without cost to the Government, all necessary services of surgeons and nurses, and all supplies, having been supplied gratuitously until August, 1861, when the success of the enterprise induced the Gov- ernment to adopt it, and it was taken charge of by the Medical Director of the Department .*

The western secretary of the Sanitary Commission having given no- tice to the associate members resident in Cincinnati of their appoint- ments, the Cincinnati branch was formally organized, at a meeting at the residence of Dr. W. H. Mussey, November 27, 1861. Robert W. Burnet was elected president, George Hoadly, vice-president, Charles R. Fosdick, corresponding secretary, and Henry Pierce, treasurer.

The body thus created was left almost wholly without instruction or specification of powers. It had no other charge than to do the best it could with what it could get. It was permitted to work out its own fate by the light of the patriotism and intelligence of its members. I any authority was claimed over it, or power to direct or limit its action, it was not known to the members for nearly two years from the date of its organization.

The steps actually taken, however, were from time to time communi- cated to the United States Sanitary Commission at Washington, and by them approved. Delegates more than once attended the sessions of that body, and were allowed to participate in its action. The Branch were requested to print, as one of the series (No. 44) of the publications of the Commission, their report of their doings to date of March I, 1862; and two thousand five hundred copies of the edition were sent to Washington for distribution from that point.

Previous to the organization of this Branch, an address had been is- sued by the United States Sanitary Commission to the loyal women of America, in which the name of Dr. Mussey was mentioned as a proper party to whom supplies might be sent. A small stock had been received by him, which was transferred to the Branch, and circulars were at once prepared and issued appealing to the means of such useful action as might seem open. A Central Ladies' Aid Society in Cincinnati, for Cincinnati and vicinity, was organized,* and the co-operation of more than forty societies of ladies in Hamilton county thus secured. This society, it is proper to add, continued its beneficial connection with the Branch in vigorous activity, furnishing large quantities of supplies of every description, for nearly two years, and until the dispiriting effect of the change hercafter to be noticed, in the relations of the branch to the work of distribution, paralyzed its efforts, and resulted finally in a practical transfer of the labors of the ladies to other fields of no less patriotic service.

The camps and hospitals near Cincinnati were subjected to inspec- tion, and all necessary relief was furnished. Concert of action was es- tablished with the Volunteer Aid Committee, appointed at a public meeting of citizens in October, 1861, of whom Messrs. C. F. Wilstach, E. C. Baldwin, and M. E, Reeves, were elected members of the Branch. Their rooms, kindly furnished free of expense by the School Board, be- came its office and depot ; and finally, in the spring of 1862, a complete transfer was made of all the stock in the hands of that committee to the Cincinnati Branch, and the former body was merged in this.

Under the stimulus of constant appeals to the public, and by wise use of the means received, the confidence of the community having been gained, large quantities of hospital and camp supplies, and some moncy, were received, and the members entered with zeal upon the duty of dis- tribution. The force which the United States Sanitary Commission then had in the West, consisted of the Western Secretary and a few in- spectors, who were engaged in travelling from camp to camp, without any fixed quarters. The body was not prepared, and did not profess to to undertake this duty.

A serious question soon presented itself to the mind of every active member of the Branch whether to prosecute the work of distribution mainly through paid agents, or by means of voluntary service. At times there had been differences of opinion upon the subject, and some of the members have had occasion, with enlarged experience, to revise their views. The result of this experience is to confirm the judgment that the use of paid agents by such an organization, in such crises, is, except to a limited extent, inexpedient. It has been clearly proved that voluntary service can be had to a sufficient extent; and such service connects the army and the people by a constantly renewing chain of gratuitous, valuable, and tender labors, which many who cannot serve in the field esteem it a privilege to be permitted to perform in the sick room and the hospital.

The members of this Branch felt at liberty to pledge publicly. in their appeals for contributions, that the work of distribution should be done under their personal supervision, subject of course to the control of the proper medical officers of the army; and, until late in the au- tumn of 1862, they faithfully kept this pledge, and were able to effect, as they all believed, a maximum of benefit with a minimum of cont- plaint. Fault-finding never ceases while the seasons change; but the

* Mrs. Cadwell became its matron. Her name is a sacred one with thousands of soldiers throughout the west.

* Of which Mrs. George Carlisle was president, and Mrs. Judge Hoadly secretary. All its members were devoted workers.

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

finding of fault with the gratuitous services of men well known in a community have no power to injure.

While their labors were prosecuted under this plan, nearly every member of the branch was brought into personal contact with the work of distribution. They were present on the battle-field of Shiloh. They were first at Perryville and Fort Donelson, at which place they inaug- urated the system of hospital steamers. They called to their aid suc- cessfully the services of the most cminent surgeons and physicians, and the first citizens of Cincinnati. They gained the confidence of the legislature of Ohio, which made them an appropriation of three thou- sand dollars; and of the city council of Cincinnati, who paid them in like manner the sum of two thousand dollars; and of the secretary of war and the quartermaster general, who placed at their control, at Government expense, a steamer, which for months navigated the western waters in the transportation of supplies and the sick and wounded. They fitted out, in whole or in part, thirty-two such steam- ers, some running under their own management, others under that of the governor of Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati, the United States sanitary commission and the war department.

The relief furnished at Fort Donelson by this Branch constituted a marked and at the same time a novel instance of their mode of manage- ment, which may properly receive more specific mention here, as it elicited high praise from the Western Secretary, and the compliment of a vote of encouragement from the United States Sanitary Commission. In this case a handsome sum was at once raised by subscription among the citizens, and the steamer Allen Collier was chartered, loaded with hospital supplies and medicines, placed under the charge of five mem- bers of the Branch, with ten volunteer surgeons and thirty-six nurses, and dispatched to the Cumberland River. At Louisville the Western Sanitary accepted an invitation to join the party. It was also found practicable to accommodate on board one delegate from the Columbus and another from the Indianapolis Branch Commission, with a farther stock of supplies from the latter. The steamer reached Donelson in ad. vance of any other relief agency. Great destitution was found to exist- on the field no chloroform at all, and but little morphia, and on the floating hospital Fanny Bullitt, occupied by three hundred wounded, only two ounces of cerate, no meat for soup, no wood for cooking, and the only bread hard bread-not a spoon or a candlestick. Sufferings corresponded. Happily the Collier bore an ample stock, and, with other parties on a like errand, who soon arrived, the surgeons' task was speedily made lighter, and his patients gained in comfort. The Collier returned after a short delay, bringing a load of wounded to occupy hos- pitals at Cincinnati, which this Branch had meanwhile, under the au- thority of General Halleck and with the aid of that efficient and noble officer, Dr. John Moore, then Post Surgeon at Cincinnati, procured and furnished.

This was but the beginning of very arduous and extensive services, personally and gratuitously rendered by members of this Branch. They traveled thousands of miles on hospital steamers, on their crrands of mercy; and spent weeks and months in laborious service on battle-fields and in camps and hospitals. They aided the Government in the estab- lishment of eight hospitals in Cincinnati and Covington, and suggested and assisted the work of preparing Camp Dennison, seventeen miles distant, as a general hospital for the reception of thousands of patients. They bought furniture, became responsible for rent and the pay of nurses, provided material for the supply-table, hired physicians, and in numberless ways secured that full and careful attention to the care and comfort of the soldiers which, from inexperience, want of means, or the fear of responsibility, would otherwise, during the first and second years of the war, have been wanting.

During the period to which allusion has been made, the United States Sanitary Commission had few resources, and those mostly em- ployed in proper service at the East, where the members principally re- side. This Branch was called on to aid that body, and, to the extent of its means, responded. At one time (early in 1862) it was supposed impossible to sustain that organization, except by a monthly contribu- tion from each of the several branches, continued for six months; and this Branch was assessed to pay to that cnd the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars per month for the time specificd, which call was met by an advance of the entire sum required, viz .: two thousand three hundred and seventy-five dollars. This sum, small as it now seems in comparison with the enormous contributions of a later date, was then considered no mean subsidy by either of the parties to it.

In May, 1862, the Soldiers' Home of the Branch was established, an institution which, since its opening, has entertained with a degree of comfort scarcely surpassed by the best hotels in the city, over eighty thousand soldiers, furnishing them threehundred and seventy-two thou-

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 29

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666