USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of Dayton, Ohio. With portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneer and prominent citizens Vol. 1 > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
WARDS.
(
Lincoln.
Douglas.
Bell.
Breck.
Total.
October.
First
248
210
10
1
469
498
Second
258
136
11
5
410
432
Third
324
188
31
8
551
578
Fourth
290
413
17
5
725
753
Fifth
397
359
13
12
781
830
Sixth
322
262
2
1
587
622
Total
1,839
1,568
84
32
3,523
3,713
280
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
There was great excitement in Dayton on the 27th of December, for on that day the news was received that Major Anderson had transferred his command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. This movement, it was supposed, was taken on the major's own responsibility, and not only were his courage and patriotism commended and admired, but the ap- prehension in the minds of the people that Major Anderson and his command would be captured, was to' a great extent relieved. Then came the news on the 29th of December, that the Southern seceders had taken possession of Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, and many thought this movement demonstrated the folly of President Buchanan in refusing to garrison the forts in Charleston Harbor with a force sufficient to resist any attack that might be made upon them. Some went still further than this, considering it a burning disgrace that such possession should have been permitted.
The Hon. C. L. Vallandigham was then a resident of Dayton. Hle had been elected to the Thirty-third Congress over his Republican com- petitor, Hon. Samuel Craighead, by eleven thousand and fifty-two votes to Mr. Craighead's ten thousand, nine hundred and eighteen. The excitement caused by the movements of the military in the vicinity of Charleston was not allayed by the fact that a short time previously Mr. Vallaudigham had said in a letter to the Cincinnati Gazette, correcting that paper as to a report that had appeared in its columns, of a speech he had made a short time before:
"And now let me add what I did say, not in Washington, not at a dinner table, not in the presence of fire-eaters, but in the city of New York, in a public assemblage of Northern men, in a publie speech at the Cooper Institute, November 2, 1860, that ' If any one or more of the States of the Union should at any time seccde, for reasons of the suf- ficiency and justice of which before God and the great tribunal of history, they alone may judge, much as I should deplore it, I never would as a representative in congress vote one dollar of money whereby one drop of American blood should be shed in a civil war,' etc.
"And I now deliberately repeat and reaffirm it, resolved, though I stand alone, though all others yield and fall away, to make it good to the last moment of my political life; no menace, no publie elamor, no taunts, nor sneers, nor foul detraction from any quarter, shall drive me from my firm purpose," etc., etc.
Mr. Vallandigham remained true to his convictions. On the 7th of January, 1861, Mr. Adrian, of New Jersey, introduced into the house of representatives the following resolution : " That we fully approve the bold and patriotic act of Major Anderson in withdrawing from Fort Moultrie
1
281
MILITARY HISTORY.
to Fort Sumter, and the determination of the president to maintain the fearless officer in his present condition; and we will support the president in all constitutional measures to enforce the laws and preserve the Union." Mr. Etheridge, of Tennessee, moved to suspend the rules for the reception of Mr. Adrian's resolution. Upon this motion Mr. Vallandigham voted " No," and afterward voted " No," with fifty-five other members of con- gress, nearly all from the South, against Mr. Adrian's resolution. At the time of casting this vote, he said, "I vote for peace and compromise. You refuse it. I vote now against force. No."
During the early part of January, 1861, there was circulated through- out the Third Congressional District for signatures, a petition urging congress to adopt the Crittenden compromise which proposed that the institution of slavery should be made legal south of latitude 36° 30' in the territories, and that slaveholders should be guaranteed the right to take their slaves through the free states to any point they might desire. This petition received but few signatures in this city. By those who were opposed to the compromise, it was said that the North could consent to no such humiliation under threats of secession, so long, at least, as the secessionists were laughing at all attempts at compromise.
On the 19th of January, 1861, there was a Democratic meeting held in Dayton for the purpose of electing delegates to a State convention. The question came up as to what was the sentiment of the meeting on the endorsement of the Crittenden compromise. The committee on resolu- tions, through their chairman, submitted a series of resolutions, a portion of which were thought by a part of the people of the city to lean rather too strongly toward the recognition of the right of a state to secede from the Union. As a matter of fact, they did savor so strongly of secession- ism that the meeting could not endorse the resolutions. In response to a demand for their publication they were published, the objectionable ones being as follows:
"Resolved, 3. That whilst we unhesitatingly avow our attachment to the Federal Union as it exists under the constitution of the United States, and whilst we are ready to express our conviction that there are no political evils now existing which justify secession as a remedy, yet we recognize the right of the people of the slave-holding States of this confederacy to form their own judgment and to act upon their own convictions in reference to a state of facts which involve not merely their political, but also their personal rights, interests, and safety.
"Resolved, 4, That secession is neither constitutional nor insurrec- tionary, but it is essentially revolutionary in its character; and when, therefore, it takes place under our form of government in such a manner 20
282
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
as to assume the magnitude of revolution, there is no power conferred by the constitution of the United States to put it down by force, and an attempt to do so by arms would be an act of usurpation and would inevitably lead to military despotism.
"Resolved, 5. That the resort to force under the circumstances would be the direct sacrifice of the very ends for which all legitimate govern- ment is instituted-the inevitable and final destruction of the Federal Union, and would present the most conclusive illustration ever furnished in the history of the world, of the incapacity of the people for self- government.
"Resolved, 6. This resolution was in favor of the adoption of the Crittenden compromise.
"Resolved, 7. That war, when waged with a foreign power, to main- tain our national honor, or the rights and liberties of the people, is righteous and justifiable; but when waged by two portions of the same people against each other, professedly to maintain a government that must necessarily perish in the conflict, would furnish a melancholy spectacle of human folly and fanaticism; that in such a war all the vin- dictive and revengeful passions of human nature would be called into exercise; its purpose would be destructive and not protective, and its inevitable issue would leave us the exhausted victims of a military dictatorship."
These resolutions are interesting in an historical sense, as showing the limit in sentiment, to which only a few of the people of Dayton, and in fact of Ohio, could persuade themselves to go. The great majority of them, without regard to past political affiliations, could entertain no sentiment inconsistent with the maintenance at any cost and at all hazards, of the Federal Union.
With the exception of the attempt to assassinate Mr. Lincoln on his way to Washington to be inaugurated president of the United States, there was, after the ripple of excitement caused by the publication of the above recited resolutions, nothing of unusual interest that transpired until the month of April .. The people simply watched the progress of events in and around Charleston, South Carolina, where the two forces were engaged in watching each other, and each waiting for the other to make the first overt act of war. The month of April was, however, an exciting one in Dayton, as elsewhere throughout the country. The great question with many at that stage of the progress of events was, "On which side shall we take our stand?" It had become clear by that time that the fate of the party which had succeeded in electing its president the fall before, was at the most but of secondary consequence. The
283
MILITARY HISTORY.
success of the administration of Mr. Lincoln, however, was necessary to the preservation of the government itself. That the administration of Mr. Lincoln must be upheld in order that it might succeed, became more and more apparent to a constantly increasing number of the people. It also became more clearly evident to all observers, that the great masses of the people were loyal to the government, even those whose choice for president had not been that of a constitutional majority. Still there was an occasional Northern man, even at that early day, who considered that the demands of the South were reasonable, and argued that the South could never be coerced back into the Union. A few thought that certain of the Northern States, as Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, should make appli- cation for admission into the Southern Confederacy. While it could not then, and cannot now, be truthfully said that many of the people of Ohio entertained such sentiments, yet to the great majority of the people, the utterance of them, even though known to be entertained by only a few, was exceedingly irritating and obnoxious. Some charged that the South was driven to secession by the success of the Republicans at the polls, and others denied this quite as vigorously as it was asserted. It was argued that the Democratic party, from 1848 down to 1854, if not later, promul- gated, as one of its fundamental doctrines, that congress had the power under the constitution to exclude slavery from the territories, the very ground upon which the Republican party had won its victory. And it was also shown that the Republican party, after the election of Mr. Lincoln, had passed enabling acts under which the slave-holders had the right to go into the territories with their slaves, which was the very doctrine that had become so notorious under the name of "Popular Sovereignty," and for which Mr. Douglas and his party had so strenuously contended. The ground for the necessity of secession seemed thus to have been completely taken from under the fect of those who contended for the right of secession.
The difficulty, however, at this juncture, seemed to be that secession, whether or not necessary or right, was almost, if not quite, an accom- plished fact. And the only course that had in it any of the possibilities of success in preventing it of absolute accomplishment, inasmuch as the seceders certainly would not be willing to forego secession unless they could be assured of the protection of slavery in the Union, appeared to some, who really loved the government of their fathers, to be to defend the institution of slavery against any and all kinds of aggressions, and this view led those who reasoned thus to defend the institution, not only as constitutional, but also divine. Others who could not go to this extreme, seemed compelled to defend the institution of slavery against
284
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
their own judgment, in order that they might consistently defend the government itself.
Again, on the other hand, while the minds of some were thus con- fused, the majority could see that after all there was no real cause for the war. Mr. Lincoln had said in his inaugural that the fugitive slave law should be enforced, and taking this in connection with the action of congress in regard to the enabling acts above referred to, it was seen that the South had really been promised all she demanded, and still she was not satisfied; and the logie of the position was that if she was not satisfied when she was granted what she asked, the case was, indeed, hopeless. Or to state the case in other words, it was clearly seen that the South was determined to be satisfied with nothing but the total disruption of the government.
The news of the attack upon Fort Sumter reached Dayton on the 13th of April, and the excitement consequent thereupon was painfully intense. Groups of excited citizens discussed the situation at all hours of the succeeding night. Every one was grieved profoundly at the outbreak of the war, but there was no sentiment apparent but the determination that the government should be sustained .. True men of all parties were united in this determination. Still there was one paper in this city that, immediately on receipt of the news of the bombardment, said:
"Civil war is upon us by the act of the Lincoln administration and as the natural result of the election of Lincoln. Having taken our position at the beginning, against the policy of coercion, we intend to stand by it to the end. Whatever others may do, we stand firm and immovable against men or money for a civil war. Let the watchword be 'Com- promise, but no coercion, no war.'"
Notwithstanding the publication of this statement, the people were animated by an enthusiastic Union sentiment. On the 15th, this sentiment found expression in the raising of a United States flag from the wigwam staff in the presence of a great crowd of people. The Regimental Band played the "Star Spangled Banner," and patriotic speeches were made by E. S. Young, S. Craighead, Mr. Egsley, and others. Thirty-four rounds were fired from the cannon in honor of the Union, the only accident being the breaking of a negro's leg by the bursting of the swivel gun.
On the same day, the services of the Dayton Light Guards were tendered to Governor Dennison, and also those of the Light Artillery Company. Captain Dister rapidly filled up the ranks of the Lafayette Yagers, afterward the Lafayette Guards, for the same patriotie purpose. The young men of the city and vicinity rapidly enrolled themselves in the different companies then forming for the service of their country.
------
285
MILITARY HISTORY.
Captain Hughes had a recruiting office at Nixon's Ilall, for the purpose of filling up the ranks of the Montgomery Guards. Captain Pease was at the Light Guards' Armory, and Captain Dister was at the corner of Jefferson and Market streets. Patriotic citizens made known their read- iness to contribute to the support of the families of volunteers from Dayton during their absence in the army. Funds were subscribed for the purchase of uniforms for the Lafayette Guards, but as the State afterward unifornied the company, these funds were devoted to the support of the families of the members of the company. At a meeting of the Zouave Rangers, held on the 16th, a resolution was unanimously adopted that the services of the company be tendered to the governor as a home guard to perform duty within the limits of the State. On the same day there came a telegram from the governor, calling for the services of two companies of seventy-five men each to report innuediately at Columbus. Captains Pease and Hughes promptly responded to the call, and Captain Dister telegraphed to Columbus that his company was ready to march. Captain Childs, of the Light Artillery, also sent the same announcement the same afternoon with reference to his company. The governor's call was received at three o'clock in the afternoon, and before night three com- panies of infantry and one of artillery were in readiness to march. They all left Dayton for Columbus on the next day.
The Light Guards were officered as follows: Captain, W. B. Pease; first lieutenant, J. II. Winder; second lieutenant, W. Woodward; ensign, W. H. Martin; sergeants, P. M. Harman, J. E. Jones, and W. L. Patter- son; corporal, S. C. Reed. There were fourteen privates and one hundred and twenty-six recruits, making an aggregate of one hundred and fifty men in the company:
Recruiting was commenced on the 18th for Company B, Dayton Light Guards, by W. Bennett, Thomas Hale, and S. Ramby. A. Kuntz, lieu- tenant, made a call upon all who were desirous of entering a company to be called the Montgomery Cavalry. On this same day Colonel E. A. King was appointed by the governor to take charge of the volunteer encampment at Columbus. A meeting was held in the Fifth Ward for the purpose of forming a company of home guards. Of this meeting Simon Snyder was the chairman and A. C. Marshall secretary. A recruiting committee of five was appointed, consisting of E. C. Ellis, T. D. Mitchell, George Lch- man, T. K. Sigman, and Ezra Thomas. Thirty-five members enrolled their names that day.
Captain Dister's company was officered as follows: First lieutenant, Lewis Kuhlman; second lieutenant, John Hand; sergeants, A. Kiessling and Anton Kuhlman.
280
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
On the 19th of April, the first and second regiments of Ohio Volun- teer Militia left Camp Jackson for Washington, D. C. The first regiment contained the following Dayton companies: Lafayette Guards, Dayton Light Guards, and Montgomery Guards. E. A. Parrott, of Dayton, was in command of the regiment as major. Captain Childs' light artillery company was converted into an infantry company, and on the 19th of April, paraded the streets of Dayton, one hundred and seventeen strong, to the tune, " The Girl I Left Behind Me," and made a brilliant appear- ance. Their departure on that day was an event of thrilling interest. The Zouave Rangers were, at about the same time, ordered to Columbus to perform guard duty. During the weck ending April 20, 1861, nearly six hundred men enlisted in Dayton to defend the flag of their country. Four companies were then on their way to Washington, and early the next week the Anderson Guards, Captain Nolan, were- ready to take the field. Of this company M. P. Nolan was captain, S. B. Smith first lieutenant, and R. Patterson second lieutenant. The company left for Columbus April 23d. Just before leaving the city, Captain Nolan made a speech to the citizens assembled to witness their departure. He said that he had opposed Mr. Lincoln's election, but he had been constitutionally elected, and was consequently the president of the country, and as such he was his president. He said that the North had been sneered at by the South as wanting in true courage, but he believed that the Anderson Guards would prove to the Southern people that all the courage and chivalry of . the country was not to be found south of Mason & Dixon's line. When this company left the city, J. H. Thomas was first sergeant and Ashley Brown second sergeant. P. H. Darcy was the first corporal.
On the 20th of April, a meeting was held in Beckel Hall for the purpose of petitioning the city council for an appropriation for the relief of the families of those of the citizens of Dayton who had volunteered, or who should volunteer, in the army. The county commissioners were also requested to make such an appropriation for the same purpose, as they might deem proper, for the families of the volunteers from the county. Two persons from each ward in the city were appointed a volunteer relief committee to take charge of whatever money might be appropriated by the council or the commissioners, and also such subscriptions as might be contributed by private citizens, and to distribute the same to the families of the volunteers. The president of this meeting was HIon. W. H. Gil- lespie, mayor of the city. He appointed as a committee to select the relief committee, the following gentlemen: B. M. Ayres, R. W. Steele, John II. Achey, Thomas Brown, B. F. Wait, and M. Burrous. The committee selected by them was as follows: First Ward, D. A. Ware-
.
287
MILITARY HISTORY.
ham and William Dickey; Second Ward, Daniel IL. Dryden and William HI. Gillespie; Third Ward, James McDaniel and H. Gebhart; Fourth Ward, Jonathan Kenney and John G. Lowe; Fifth Ward, C. F. Kneisly and Samuel Marshall; Sixth Ward, Thomas Dover and N. Viot. E. S. Young then moved that a subscription be taken up among those present, and immediately $4,553.91 was subscribed in sums of from ten dollars to one hundred dollars. Twenty of the subscriptions were for one hundred dollars each, and besides these there were two subscriptions, by Gebhart & Brother and by T. A. Phillips, each for twenty-five barrels of flour.
During all this time, when each seemed to vie with the other as to the demonstration of his readiness to serve the government in whatever capacity he could best do so, there was considerable anxiety as to the attitude of the representative in congress, Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, from the Third Congressional District. In order to set this matter at rest, Mr. Vallandigham published a letter. in the Cincinnati Enquirer, under date of April 17, 1861, in which he said:
"My position in regard to this civil war, which the Lincoln adminis- tration has inaugurated, was long since taken, is well known, and will be adhered to to the end. Let that be understood. I have added nothing to it, subtracted nothing from it, said nothing about it publicly since the war began. I know well that I am right, and that in a little while the sober, second thought of the people will dissipate the present sudden " and fleeting public madness, and will demand to know why thirty mil- lions of people are butchering each other in civil war, and will arrest it speedily. But meanwhile, should my own State be invaded or threatened with invasion, as soon it may be, then as a loyal, native-born son of Ohio, acknowledging my first allegiance to be to her, I will aid in defend- ing her to the last extremity, asking no questions. Whoever shall then refuse or hesitate, will be a traitor and a dastard. And this same rule I apply to the people of Virginia, Kentucky, or Missouri, as to any of the free States, north or west."
On the 23d of April, the city council, " as a first installment," made an appropriation of ten thousand dollars for the support of the families of the volunteers during their services in the army, providing for raising the amount by the issue of bonds of the city for that amount. Only one fourth of that sum was considered necessary to be raised at that time, but the relief committee would call for whatever portion of the amount should be needed as it was needed.
There were numerous interesting incidents during the next few months, in the nature of flag raisings. One of the first of these occurred
288
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
on the 26th of April, a beautiful national emblem being on that day thrown to the breeze from the tower of the northwestern district school-house. The flag was made by the pupils themselves. On this occasion speeches were made by S. Craighead and HI. Elliott. Another of these flag raisings occurred next day, at the intersection of East Third Street with the Xenia pike. On the 1st of May, a magnificent flag was raised over the council chamber. It was twenty by thirty-six feet in size, and the pole was fifty- six feet high. The speakers on this occasion were G. W. Houk, Hon. Robert C. Schenck; Colonel Murphy, of Bellbrook, a leading Democrat of Greene County, and the Hon. F. C. Cuppy.
An election for officers in the First Ohio Regiment was held at Har- risburg, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of April, in which the people were somewhat interested. Lieutenant A. D. McCook, of the regular army, was elected colonel; E. A. Parrott, of Dayton, lieutenant-colonel, and Captain J. G. Hughes, of Dayton, major. On April 27th, the Buckeye Guards, of Dayton, elected officers as follows: Captain, S. B. Jackson; first lieutenant, George M. Bacon; second lieutenant, George W. Sum- mers; first sergeant, Samuel L. Wilson; second sergeant, S. R. Smith. This company left Dayton for Hamilton May 1, 1861. Captain Gunckel raised a company named the Union Guards, which, by May 6th, was composed of over one hundred men. The Regimental Band was accepted as musicians for the First Ohio Regiment, and left Dayton to join the regiment May 13, 1861, having previously given a farewell concert at the ' courthouse on the 11th, in the presence of a large assemblage of people. As they left the depot, J. D. Phillips and D. E. Mead, on behalf of friends of the band, handed them a purse of one hundred dollars in gold, for contingent expenses. On May 19th, the Buckeye Guards returned to Dayton for the purpose of filling up their ranks for three years, if the war should last so long. Forty recruits were wanted. About May 20th, the Oregon Guards were organized by the election of A. C. Fenner, cap- tain; T. D. Mitchell, first lieutenant; J. Roberts, second lieutenant; E. Randall, third lieutenant, and George Lehman, ensign. At a regular meeting held that evening, they tendered their services through the gov- ernor of Ohio, to the president of the United States, "for three years or until the war shall end."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.