USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume I > Part 13
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There were no troops at the blockhouse at the time and as an attack was considered imminent, a consultation was held and it was decided to send a mes- senger to Captain Douglas, at Mt. Vernon, for assistance. But who would un- dertake the hazardous journey? It was evening, and the rays of the sunset had faded away and the stars were beginning to shine in the darkening sky, and the trip of thirty miles must be made in the night over a new cut road through a wilderness-through a forest infested with wild beasts and hostile Indians.
A volunteer was asked for and a tall, lank man said demurely : "I'll go." He was bareheaded, barefooted and was unarmed. His manner was meek and you had to look the second time into his clear, blue eyes to fully fathom the courage and determination shown in their depths. There was an expression in his coun. tenance such as limners try to portray in their pictures of saints. It is scarcely necessary to state that the volunteer was "Johnny Appleseed" for many of you have heard your fathers tell how unostentatiously "Johnny" stood as "a
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watchman on the walls of Jezreel," to guard and protect the settlers from their savage foes.
The journey to Mt. Vernon was a sort of a Paul Revere mission. Unlike Paul's, "Johnny's" was made on foot-barefooted-over a rough road, but one that in time led to fame.
"Johnny" would rap on the doors of the few cabins along the route, warn the settlers of the impending danger and advise them to flee to the blockhouse.
"Johnny" arrived safely at Mt. Vernon, aroused the garrison and informed the commandant of his mission. Surely, figuratively speaking.
"The dun-deer's hide On fleeter feet was never tied,"
for so expeditiously was the trip made that at sunrise the next morning troops from Mt. Vernon arrived at the Mansfield blockhouse, accompanied by "Johnny," who had made the round trip of sixty miles between sunset and sunrise.
About a week before Chapman's death, while at Fort Wayne, he heard that cattle had broken into his nursery in St. Joseph township and were destroying his trees, and he started on foot to look after his property. The distance was about twenty miles and the fatigue and exposure of the journey were too much for "Johnny's" physical condition, then enfeebled by age ; and at the even-tide he applied at the home of a Mr. Worth for lodging for the night. Mr. Worth was a native Buckeye and had lived in Richland county when a boy and when he learned that his oddly dressed caller was "Johnny Appleseed" gave him a cordial welcome. "Johnny" declined going to the supper table but partook of a bowl of bread and milk.
The day had been cold and raw with occasional flurries of snow, but in the evening the clouds cleared away and the sun shone warm and bright as it sank in the western sky. "Johnny" noticed this beautiful sunset, an augury of the Spring and flowers so soon to come and sat on the doorstep and gazed with wistful eyes toward the west. Perhaps this herald of the Springtime, the season in which nature is resurrected from the death of Winter, caused him to look with prophetic eyes to the future and contemplate that glorious event of which Christ is the resurrection and the life. Upon re-entering the house, "Johnny." declined the bed offered him for the night, preferring a quilt and pillow on the floor, but asked permission to hold family worship and read "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven," "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." etc.
After he had finished reading the lesson, he said prayers-prayers long re- membered by that family. He prayed for all sorts and conditions of men ; that the way of righteousness might be made clear unto them and that saving grace might be freely given to all nations. He asked that the Holy Spirit might guide and govern all who profess and call themselves Christians and that all those who were afflicted in mind, body or estate, might be comforted and relieved, and that all might at last come to the knowledge of the truth and in the world to come have happiness and everlasting life. Not only the words of the prayer, but the pathos of his voice made a deep impression upon those present.
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In the morning "Johnny" was found in a high state of fever, pneumonia hav- ing developed during the night, and the physician called said he was beyond medical aid, but inquired particularly about his religious belief, and remarked that he had never seen a dying man so perfectly calm, for upon his wan face there was an expression of happiness and upon his pale lips there was a smile of joy, as though he was communing with loved ones who had come to meet him and to soothe his weary spirit in his dying moments. And as his eyes shone with the beautiful light supernal, God touched him with his finger and beckoned him home.
Thus ended the life of the man who was not only a hero, but a benefactor as well ; and his spirit is now at rest in the Paradise of the Redeemed, and in the fullness of time, clothed again in the old body made anew, will enter into the Father's house in which there are many mansions. In the words of his own faith, his bruised feet will be healed, and he shall walk on the gold-paved streets of the New Jerusalem of which he so eloquently preached. It has been very appropriately said that although years have come and gone since his death, the memory of his good deeds live anew every Springtime in the beauty and frag- rance of the blossoms of the apple trees he loved so well.
"Johnny Appleseed's" death was in harmony with his unostentatious, blame- less life. It is often remarked, "How beautiful is the Christian's life ;" yea, but far more beautiful is the Christian's death, when "the fashion of his counte- nance is altered," as he passes from the life here to the life beyond.
What changes have taken place in the years that have intervened between the "Johnny Appleseed" period and today! It has been said that the lamp of civilization far surpasses that of Aladdin's. Westward the star of empire took its way and changed the forests into fields of grain and the waste places into gardens of flowers, and towns and cities have been built with marvelous handi- work. But in this march of progress, the struggles and hardships of the early settlers must not be forgotten. Let us not only record the history, but the legends of the pioneer period; garner its facts and its fictions ; its tales and traditions and collect even the crumbs that fall from the table of the feast.
Today, the events which stirred the souls and tried the courage of the pio- neers seem to come out of the dim past and glide as panoramic views before me. A number of the actors in those scenes were of my "kith and kin" who have long since crossed over the river in their journey to the land where Enoch and Elijah are pioneers, while I am left to exclaim :
"Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand And the sound of a voice that is still."
HOW JAY COOKE FINANCED THE CIVIL WAR.
PAPER READ BY JAY COOKE, OF PHILADELPHIA, BEFORE THE FIRELANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AT ITS MEETING IN SANDUSKY, OCTOBER 3, 1900. COPYRIGHTED 1900. PUBLISHED BY PERMISSION.
Mr. President, and Members of the Firelands Historical Society:
You must not expect from me on this occasion anything more than a truthful talk upon some subjects your President tells me you will be pleased to listen to
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as coming from one who, although not a member of your society yet, has for long years kept himself informed as to your aims and purposes and who has taken much interest in all you have done. I never delivered a speech in all my nearly eighty years of life. The largest body I have ever addressed was a male bible class of sometimes one hundred and fifty members which I have conducted each Sabbath for nearly fifty years and yet when I recalled the fact that my dear father, the Hon. Eleutheros Cooke, so frequently in the long ago met with you and addressed you and that your society has numbered and now numbers many old friends, I could not refuse the invitation to appear before you.
My preference would have been, however, to have met and talked with you at the fireside of my own home. Oh, what hours we could have spent together, chatting about the good old times, the old friends, the thousand and one incidents, old customs and experiences and again of the wondrous changes that have taken place, the rapid progress in arts and sciences and inventions in steamships and railroads, and telegraph and telephones. Why a whole year of such talks would hardly suffice to exhaust the infinite sum of the items we would recall from memory's storehouse, even a memory reaching no further backwards than three score years and ten.
My friends, I consider myself as one of you. I was born near the spot where we are now assembled. I have a perfect recollection of Sandusky when it was but just changing from an Indian village. Old Ogontz many a time has carried me on his shoulders. I named my beautiful home near Philadelphia after this old chief and now the whole country around me for miles has appropriated for their postoffice, railroad station and village the name of Ogontz.
My father, I think, built the first stone house down on Columbus avenue. The town was then called Portland, and afterwards Sandusky City and now San- dusky. My first recollection of any public worship was of a Methodist meeting held in a cooper shop on Market street, our seats rough boards placed on kegs. Shortly after this a small frame church was erected by the Methodists near where the courthouse stands. After this a stone church built by the Congregationalists, also a stone church by the Episcopalians and many other societies followed until in time this fair city has become noted as a city of churches.
The bay was at certain times covered with ducks and wild geese and swan and the water populous with all kinds of fish. I remember a joke which our rival neighbors used to perpetrate, i. e., that before the Sandusky people could dine or sup they would have to send us boys down to the docks to catch enough fish for a meal. But in fact this whole country was full of game and fish of all kinds, a perfect paradise for hunters and fishermen. Deer and squirrels and prairie chickens and wild turkey, etc., abounded.
My father never was a hunter but on one occasion he beat us all in prowess by capturing a couple of dozen of fat wild turkeys without firing a gun. He had a hundred-acre field of corn out on the prairie and had built a spacious corn house in the center. One day, riding over this field after harvest, he noticed a window was open and approaching and looking in discovered a large flock of wild turkeys within and feasting on his corn. He promptly closed the window and captured the whole flock, thus providing a feast for the good old Thanksgiving clay then near at hand.
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On this same prairie between Bloomingville and Strong's Ridge I have hunted with Judge Caldwell. It was a rare spot for deer and prairie chickens.
And now before closing these personal reminiscences 1 wish to refer to an incident which some of you will no doubt recall. It is this, at one of your meet- ings in Norwalk long ago my father, who was the orator on that occasion, took from his pocket the very first telegram that had been sent from Philadelphia to Sandusky. He reminded you of past difficulties, particularly in the earlier periods, in the matter of mails and messages from the East and how that frequently letters were days and weeks before reaching their destination and how he held in his hand a message that he had received from his son Jay from Philadelphia in just five minutes from the time his son had written it that very morning.
To realize the wondrous change that you and I have witnessed we can recall the time when postage on a letter from Sandusky to Norwalk was twelve and one-half cents and from Boston to Sandusky was twenty-five cents and if the envelope contained an enclosure beside the one sheet the postage was doubled. Why, my dear friends, 1 myself have paid seventy-five cents on a letter to my sweetheart in Kentucky just because there was so much news in Philadelphia that it required three sheets to tell it all. You and I remember when tomatoes were called "Love Apples" and were not eaten, considered poisonous. We re- member the first soda water fountains, the first daguerreotype, the first steam- ship that crossed the ocean, the first railroad charter obtained in the world and that by my own father in 1826. We all remember the beginning of the road, at first between Sandusky and Bellevue, with a thin English strap rail and cars drawn by a horse.
I was present when, about 1835, ground was broken near Foreman's rope walk and a grand celebration held. All the great men of the state were invited. "Old Tippecanoe," the first President Harrison, was there. My father delivered the oration. We had music and a cannon and we boys all marched in the procession.
At this time a few other railroad projects had been launched, a few miles of the Baltimore & Ohio, some three miles of the Germantown road, also a piece of the Albany & Schenectady road and a mile in the Quincy granite quarries. But to my father and to the Western Reserve belongs the honor of being the pioneer in railroad matters. From this small beginning hundreds of thousands of miles of railroad have been constructed, why, my friends, there are today enough finished railroads in the United States alone to reach around the world fully ten times.
I have since 1838, when I took up my residence in Philadelphia, almost con- tinually been financiering for railroads. As a member of the great firm of E. W. Clark & Co., and afterwards of the firm of Jay Cooke & Co., I have until recent years been instrumental in the building of nearly all the older railroads of the country. The last of these, the great Northern Pacific railroad, now a triumph- ant success and which has developed one of the finest portions of this country, where, in 1870, a vast territory was filled with buffalo and Indians, can now be found over six millions of intelligent and energetic farmers and miners and merchants and ranchmen, etc., and many large cities and thriving towns, hun- dreds of churches, schools and colleges and branch railroads innumerable.
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In fact whether I journey east or west, north or south, I can recall the fact that at some early date our firms financiered the bonds issued by these roads many of which were entirely in our hands at some period of their history. I have always had faith in well managed railroad property. About the only time I ever met Jay Gould was when I asked him to assist in extending the Union Pacific one hundred and seventy-five miles into southern Utah. This he agreed to do. The purpose was to reach the great Horn silver mine at Frisco and it took us just twenty minutes to close the bargain, although the railroad alone cost over two millions of which the Union Pacific subscribed for one-half. This road was completed in five months. I had, I remember, one other transaction with Mr. Gould, and I found him in each case entirely trustworthy and reliable, and my confidence in his word was so great that we did not even draw up or sign any papers. He simply said: "I will do it, go ahead, and I will do my part."
I suppose it was this association from early youth with large financial and commercial transactions that gave me a vast experience and opened my mind and widened my views as to the future of this glorious nation so that at the period of the Mexican war from 1846 to 1849, as a member of the firm of E. W. Clark & Co., I assisted in the negotiation of the government loans required from time to time to carry on that war. Corcoran & Riggs, of Washington, and E. W. Clark & Co., of Philadelphia, took all of those loans. The amount altogether did not exceed sixty or seventy millions. Robert J. Walker was secretary of the treasury at that time and author of the sub-treasury system. I was quite intimate with him, not then, but during the war of the rebellion.
I could tell you of some amusing details as to the manipulation of the Mexi- can war loans. Why our firm made more profit out of each of their shares of the ten million awards than I made during the whole period of the war of the rebellion, a period of between four and five years during which, as selling agent of this government, I negotiated all the great loans issued amounting to over two thousand millions of dollars, this sum includes the early issue of tem- porary loan certificates, loan of 1881, 5-20 bonds. 10-40 bonds, 7-30 notes, etc., etc. This last loan was for eight hundred and thirty millions and I sold it all within five months, the sales occasionally reaching ten to fifteen millions a day and one day forty-two millions. It was the closing war loan and before its marvellous sale was concluded the war had ended. I could tell you, if I had time, of how I saved the treasury one hundred millions of dollars and how the success of this loan elevated the credit of this nation to a pinnacle far above that of any nation on earth and gave the final blow to the great rebellion.
This saving of one hundred millions was acknowledged by all acquainted with the facts and was originated and carried out successfully solely by myself, the treasury department simply agreeing to my wishes and plans. It was in connection with the vast issue of quartermaster certificates and the unwise pro- vision made for their redemption which, instead of distributing the money, I poured into the treasury pro rata upon each outstanding group of certificates. paid out the bulk of it in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, leaving the hun- dreds of other quartermaster departments frequently for months without funds.
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The consequence was that whilst quartermaster certificates in Philadelphia and the East could be sold when first issued at ten to twelve per cent. discount, the discount in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, etc., was twenty-two to twenty-five per cent, other points thirty to thirty-five per cent, and at Nashville I heard of a sale at fifty per cent discount. Now all this discount together with the doubts and fears created by the want of prompt payment which greatly checked com- petition added at least one million per day to the cost of the war and discredited our bonds and gave hopes to the rebels and their sympathizers at the north and in Europe that we would break down financially. I pondered over this fear- ful situation and devised and executed at once a scheme which within thirty days gave promise of the speedy ending of the war and reduced the discount on all vouchers issued by quartermasters in all parts of the country to not over two to three per cent and in fact the money flowed so rapidly into the treasury that ere long the vouchers were cashed as soon as issued. This, my friends, is the first time I have made any public mention of my services in connection with this marvellous matter. You will wonder how it was accomplished.
It was in this way. I called to my office in Philadelphia to confer with me all the large holders of vouchers residing in the eastern cities. These men agreed unanimously and privately to accept my proposition and to keep the plan from publicity in order that the greatest good could be accomplished by its success. These men held about eighty millions of vouchers, all of which were within a few days deposited with me and for which I gave them the current issue of 7-30 notes at par ; they agreeing to use them as a basis of bank loans until I had closed out the sale of 7-30's for cash. They could borrow twenty-five per cent more on the 7-30's than on the vouchers, and as the 7-30's carried interest they got their loans practically without cost. As these treasury notes were day by day issued in exchange for the quartermaster's certificates, I was thereby able to add from three to ten millions a day to the sum of the public subscriptions which, as I knew it would, created such an increased demand for the notes by the public and even foreign purchasers that the whole eight hundred and thirty millions of this issue were all sold within five short months. All the loans I negotiated went to a large premium. The 7-30 treasury notes after a short period were all funded into long bonds or paid off. I will say here that all the bonds I negotiated for the United States were paid off in gold as advertised and many of them long before they were due and being purchased at a premium by the treasury.
I am afraid I am already trespassing upon your time with these details, but you asked me to tell you some of the plans I adopted to win so great a success. I will but hint at a few of them and simply remark that these plans, originating as they did from practical business experience and entire independence of action and freedom from red tape, were such as no official or the government itself could have planned or executed. Take for instance the following :
Newspapers and individuals got into the habit of deploring the war and its vicious expenditures. I offset this by quoting the fact that every dollar raised by the loans went right back into the hands of the people and was new and vigorous blood permeating all through the body of the nation and at that time the expense of the war had reached the vast sum of six hundred millions per
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annum. I simply, in addition to the fact as stated above, published statistics showing the importation annually for years past of the best kind of immigrants, mostly from the British Isles and the north of Europe. Such importation aver- aged over six hundred thousand per annum. The cost of rearing to the average age of those coming here was at least one thousand dollars each. This in addi- tion to the money and goods which each immigrant brought in. These foreign countries were contributing to the United States without cost to us more than we were expending upon our war besides furnishing us many times the number of those who were killed and wounded and who were ready and glad to take their places in the ranks. Thus by using the newspapers and pamphlets and circulars to disseminate these facts thoroughly and constantly all over the land I soon dispelled all gloom and brought about a more cheerful condition of public opinion. Another incident. The Quakers, so numerous in Pennsylvania and in many other states, so rich and patriotic, were, as I knew, only held back from investing millions in the United States bonds by the thought that the money was for war purposes. Their consciences could not be reconciled to helping pay for war and bloodshed. How did I manage them? In this way. I sent for a number of them whom I knew personally and held conferences with them. the result of which was that I told them that I was in full sympathy with their scruples and had taken measures at Washington to make it possible for them also to subscribe for bonds. 1 told them that millions of money was required for hospitals and sanitary purposes, the sick and wounded must be cared for, etc., and that if they subscribed, their money would by especial agreement be applied by the treasury department to thus doing good to the suffering soldiers.
My proposition was cordially accepted and was widely made known through circulars and the newspapers, telegraph, etc., and soon my Quaker friends began to pour in millions from all parts of the country. Another incident. I had to labor with a class of men who invested only in first mortgages on real estate and would not invest in bonds of the United States. I got some of these men to a conference and told them that my government bonds were far ahead of their
first mortgages ; that in fact, their first mortgages were only second or third mortgages after all. In the first place the tax gatherers of the city and state both have a prior lien. If the owner of the mortgaged property is unable to pay his taxes the holder of the mortgage must do so or see his security glide from him. But above all I made clear to them the fact of the supreme position of the national government not only in the matter of imposition of any amount of taxa- tion but even to the practical possession of every property in the land if its pos- session should be required to maintain the life of the nation. The nation's claim was first of all and universal confiscation of all property would be resorted to if needed to sustain the nation's life.
This is a solemn fact and these men understood it at once, being practical business men, and at once began to put their money into the best of all, the first lien upon all, the glorious 5-20's and other United States bonds. These true views were disseminated everywhere and greatly increased the volume of sub- scriptions.
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