USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Four > Part 11
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Legislature of Ohio when the startling news came that Fort Sumter was being fired upon.
General Jacob D. Cox at this time was a member of the Ohio Senate. His subsequent career will form an important part in these pages. He describes in his "Military Reminiscences of the Civil War" how the news was received by the body of which he was a member, and he says: "Suddenly a Senator came in from the lobby in an excited way, and catching the Chairman's eye exclaimed, 'Mr. President the telegraph announces that the secessionists are bom- barding Fort Sumter!' There was a solemn and painful hush, but it was broken in a moment by a woman's shrill voice from the spectators' seats crying 'Glory to God!' It startled every one almost as if the enemy was in their midst. But it was the voice of a radical friend of the slave, who after a lifetime of public agitation believed that only through blood could freedom be won.
"Abby Kelly Foster, who had been attending the ses- sion of the Assembly urging the passage of some measure enlarging the legal rights of married women, and sitting beyond the railing when the news came in, shouted a fierce cry of joy that oppression had sub- mitted its cause to the decision of the sword. With most of us the gloomy thoughts that Civil War had begun in our own land overshadowed everything, and seemed too great a price to pay for any good; a scourge to be borne only in preference to yielding the very groundwork of our republicanism-the right to enforce a fair interpretation of the constitution through the election of President and Congress."
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The next day the telegraph brought the news that Fort Sumter had surrendered, and on April 15 the State of Ohio was stirred to the depths over the call of the President for troops to maintain the honor, integrity and existence of the National Union.
This generation can form no conception of the condition of the public mind at that time. There was a disposition on the part of the Legislature and the patriotic people of the State to grant all the money and enlist all the men necessary to preserve the Union, but there was a hopelessness in the situation born of unpreparedness. This can best be understood from the report of the Adjutant General for the year 1861. The military condition of the State and its readiness to take part in the defense of the Union is thus described by General C. P. Buckingham in his report for that year:
"No one dreamed that a war could arise, demanding the utmost energies of the country without a sufficient note of warning to afford opportunity for at least some preparation. Resting in this fancied security, the people of Ohio lost all interest in military matters, so that they not only neglected to cultivate among themselves anything like military taste and education, but had come to consider every effort in that direction as a fit subject for ridicule. Hence, on the breaking out of the present war, the State was found to be comparatively without arms, organization or discipline to prepare her for the part it became her to take in the fearful struggle. Of the many thousand muskets received by the State from the Federal Government with which to arm and drill the militia, nearly all had
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been lost or sold for a trifle. The cannon had been used for firing salutes, and left exposed to the weather until rust and decay had rendered them and their equipments worthless.
"A few volunteer companies had been formed from time to time, and after a spasmodic existence for two or three years most of them had been disbanded or had dwindled to nothing.
"Almost the entire organization of the militia was merely nominal. Very many of the high offices were vacant, and the system, if it could be called so, had no working power. The only bright spots in this melan- choly picture were less than a dozen independent companies of volunteer infantry and seven or eight gun squads of artillery, called by law companies. Six of these, called a regiment but really comprising a single battalion, under the command of Col. James Barnett, took the field at once as then organized, and during the three months' service proved most efficient in the early part of the campaign in Western Virginia."
But the State promptly proposed to remedy all these defects, and through its Legislature took measures that placed Ohio in the very front ranks as a defender of the Union. It is worthy of observation and record that on this occasion party lines melted away under the heated patriotism, and Democrats vied with Republicans in rallying to the support of the Union and in responding to the call of President Lincoln. On April 16, in less than twenty-four hours after the President's call for troops, the State Senate passed a bill for the appropriation of one million dollars to fur- nish arms to the troops raised in Ohio and for other
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military purposes. In detail the bill provided that $500,000 be appropriated for the purpose of carrying into effect any requisition of the President to protect the National Government; $450,000 for the purchase of arms and equipment for the militia of the State and $50,000 as an extraordinary contingent fund to be used as the Governor might see fit. The com- missioners of the sinking fund were authorized to borrow this money at six per cent. interest. This bill was passed unanimously. Later on $1,500,000 additional was appropriated for use in case of invasion of the State. The General Assembly also provided by taxation for a fund to be applied to the relief of families of volunteers, which relief was to be continued one year after death of such volunteers as died in the service.
James A. Garfield was at this time the leader of the Senate. He was at the head of what was known as the "Radical Triumvirate" composed of himself, Jacob D. Cox and James Monroe; one afterward distinguished himself as General, Governor of Ohio and Secretary of the Interior, and the other served in Congress from the Oberlin district and was also sent abroad on a diplomatic mission by President Lincoln. Mr. Garfield's contribution to the war legislation of this General Assembly was a bill defining and providing punishment for the crime of treason against the State of Ohio. It declared any resident of the State who gave aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States guilty of treason against the State, to be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor for life. Mr. Garfield sustained this
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bill, which afterward passed and became a law, April 26, by a very elaborate report, submitted to the Senate April 15, 1861. It is his first written expression relating to the Civil War. It is a scholarly and judicial document on the law of treason. "It should at any time startle us," says he in this report, "that all the acts of disloyalty and treachery enumerated in this bill may be committed against the State of Ohio, and yet subject the offender to no other charge than trespass or malfeasance in office. Shall Ohio visit the extreme penalty of the law upon the murderer of a citizen and yet be powerless against him who shall plot the ruin of the State?" Again he says, "It is high time for Ohio to enact a law to meet treachery when it shall take the form of an overt act-to provide that when her soldiers go forth to maintain the Union there shall be no treacherous fire in the rear. It is time for Ohio to declare to all her citizens and to all her sister states that the prosperity of the Union is her prosperity-its friends her friends-its enemies her enemies-its honor her honor-its destiny her destiny,-and whosoever strikes a blow at its life strikes also at hers."
To this and similar legislation there was but little opposition. It received the patriotic support of the General Assembly without regard to party lines. A vigorous antagonism, however, was inaugurated against all legislation of this nature by Clement L. Vallandig- ham, the Democratic Congressman from the Dayton district; he visited Columbus at this time for the pur- pose of dissuading his party associates from giving sanction to these and other war measures. He met
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with but little success in that direction. Mr. Vallandig- ham was one of the most brilliant and picturesque characters of the Civil War period in Ohio politics. As one of the most powerful factors against the prose- cution of the war and as the leader of the peace party, as the radical element in the Democratic party called themselves, he is worthy of extended attention and study. He was born at New Lisbon, Ohio, July 29, 1820, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1845-6 he was a member of the Ohio legislature and attracted attention by his marked ability and powers of oratory.
In 1857 he was a candidate for Congress against Lewis D. Campbell, and was declared defeated but was seated on a contest. He served from May 25, 1858, until March 3, 1863. While he repeatedly asseverated that he was neither a Northern man nor a Southern man, his actions and deeds were altogether friendly to the South. In the distressful period prior to the war, when there were threats frequently made by heated Southerners as to the dissolution of the Union, and ill-tempered recriminations by excited Northerners concerning a war that would follow any attempt at secession, Mr. Vallandigham did not hesitate in his positive way to indicate what his attitude would be in that direful time. As early as November 2, 1860, he expressed himself at a meeting in Cooper Institute, New York City, declaring in a public speech that "If any one or more of the states of this Union should at any time secede, for the reasons of the sufficiency 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 Repre-
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WADE
Born in Feeding Hills, near Springfield, Massachusetts, October 27, 1800, and removed to Andover, Ashtabula county, Ohio, 1821; admitted to the bar, 1827, and was for some time in partnership with Joshua R. Giddings and later with Rufus P. Ranney; member of the State Senate, 1838-40 and 1840-42; elected by the Legislature Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, 1847, and served five years, when he resigned to become United States Senator; con- tinued in the Senate until 1869; died in Jefferson, Ashta- bula county, Ohio, March 2, 1878.
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the bar in 1842. In 1845-6 Le was a member of the Ohio legislature and attracted Direbod by ha marked ability and powers of oratory.
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Mr. Vallandigham did not one way to indicate what his attitude
re time. As early as November himself at a meeting in Cooper Amway, New York City, declaring in a public ips l " If ang one or more of the states of thi Liler ibaild at any time secede for the reasons o We hoesuy and justice of which, before God and The OUT celuiupal of history, they alone may judge. 0-9 a 1 iould deplore it. I never would, as a Repre
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sentative in the Congress of the United States, vote one dollar of money whereby one drop of American blood should be shed in a Civil War."
Mr. Vallandigham was obsessed with the idea that peace was to be desired and maintained at any cost whatever, even through a dissolution of the Union; and like many others, notably Horace Greeley, he was willing that there should be secession instead of war. At least that was his view in 1860 and 1861. He modi- fied it later. In a speech delivered in Congress February 20, 1861, which attracted great attention throughout the country and shocked the Union sentiment of the North, Mr. Vallandigham supported a proposed constitutional amendment, framed by him, which provided for dividing the Union into four sections, viz .: the North, the West, the Pacific and the South. In this constitutional amendment proposed by him he recognized the right of secession, as one of the articles provided that "No State shall secede without the consent of the Legislature of the states of the section to which the State proposing to secede belongs. The President shall have power to adjust with seceding states all questions arising by reason of their secession; but the terms of adjustment shall be submitted to the Congress for their approval before the same shall be valid."
The author of this novel proposition claimed in his speech that his purpose was to save the Union, but he had no support from the rank and file of the Demo- cratic party because it was apparent that the plan was destructive of national unity and contained the seeds of death for the American Republic. It was
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no secret at the time that Senator Garfield's bill to punish treason was aimed at Mr. Vallandigham, al- though there was no evidence of any overt act on his part against the Union.
The prompt response of the authorities of Ohio to Mr. Lincoln's call for troops and the united support of the Union men of both the Republican and Demo- cratic parties showed that Mr. Vallandigham's influence to check the rising sentiment of the State was not powerful. He communicated privately with the lead- ers of the Democratic party in a circular calling for a conference to consider the pending situation. How these circulars were received is told in "A Life of Clement L. Vallandigham" by his brother, Rev. James L. Vallandigham: "Mr. Vallandigham im- mediately issued a private circular addressed to some twenty or more prominent Democratic politicians of the State, proposing a conference at Chillicothe on the 15th of the month, to concert measures to arouse the people to a sense of the danger which was so imminent from the bold conspiracy to usurp all power in the hands of the Executive, and thus 'to rescue the Republic from an impending military despotism.' But four answers were received; three favorable and one adverse to the conference. It was not held." Thus Mr. Vallandigham failed in the preliminary stages of Ohio's preparation for the war to affect his party in the slightest degree, and it joined with its political opponents in standing for the Union. Leaving Mr. Vallandigham for the present, we shall meet him later in a more critical period and under circumstances much different from these narrated. We shall find him at
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the head of a positive public sentiment arrayed against the war for the Union and exercising powerful, malev- olent influences to that end.
When President Lincoln on April 15 made his call to the states for troops, Ohio proceeded to immediately answer the demand. How well she succeeded in sup- porting the Government during 1861 is shown in the report of the Adjutant General for that year. On December 31, 1861, the State of Ohio had furnished the following troops under various calls of the President: Infantry in the field, forty-six regiments; full in camp, eleven regiments; nearly full, eleven regiments; or- ganizing, thirteen regiments; cavalry in the field, four regiments, one squadron, four independent companies; full in camp, four regiments, one independent company; artillery in the field, twelve batteries; full in camp, eight batteries; organizing, nine batteries. In these organizations the men enlisted from Ohio were placed, and they numbered during the year 1861, 100,224.
The patriotic activity of the State was early mani- fested, for even before Fort Sumter surrendered twenty regiments were proffered Governor Dennison. Within twenty-four hours after the President's call, troops began to arrive at Columbus. The Lancaster Guards were the first to report; they were soon followed by the Dayton Light Guards. Other organizations rapidly followed one after another until, by April 18, there were enough companies to make up the First and Second Volunteer Infantry regiments. As the first offering to the Nation the list will be interesting. The First Regiment was made up by companies of the following: (A) Lancaster Guards; (B) Lafayette
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Guards (Dayton); (C) Dayton Light Guards; (D) Montgomery Guards; (E) Cleveland Grays; (F) Hi- bernian Guards (Cleveland); (G) Portsmouth Guards; (H) Zanesville Guards; (I) Mansfield Guards; (K) Jackson Guards (Hamilton). The Second Regiment was constituted as follows: (A) Rover Guards (Cin- cinnati); (B) Columbus Videttes; (C) Columbus Fen- cibles; (D) Zouave Guards (Cincinnati); (E) Lafayette Guards (Cincinnati); (F) Springfield Zouaves; (G) Pickaway Company; (H) Steubenville Company; (I) Covington Blues (Miami county); (K) Pickaway Company. As Washington was in danger the Govern- ment called for their immediate presence, and before daylight on the morning of April 19, without arms, accoutrement or uniform, Ohio's first contribution to a great war left Columbus for the defense of the capital of a divided Nation.
Of President Lincoln's call for 75,000 men, Ohio's quota was 13,000; 30,000 responded to the call. From these eleven more regiments were organized for a serv- ice of three months as volunteers of the United States army. These were later reorganized for three years' service. Ohio did not stop at furnishing the number of her quota, but in addition to the thirteen regiments the Legislature authorized ten more. Thirty companies volunteered, and the surplus had to be disbanded. Indeed, according to the Adjutant Gen- eral, sixteen days after the President's call there were offers of volunteers from Ohio sufficient to meet the full national requirement of 75,000 men.
For the command of the Ohio troops Governor Dennison commissioned as Major General, George B.
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McClellan, a regular army officer who had served creditably and won a captain's commission in the Mexican War; he was then living in Cincinnati and was the President of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. At the same time the Governor commissioned as Brig- adier Generals, Newton Schleich, a Democratic Senator, Jacob D. Cox, a Republican Senator, and Joshua H. Bates of Cincinnati. Of these, Brigadier General Cox remained in the three years' service, and General McClellan was soon afterward transferred to the regular army. General McClellan established a camp of instruction near Cincinnati, and named it Camp Dennison, after the Governor. Here the raw recruits were drilled into military shape and transformed into a manageable quantity.
The position of Ohio was one of extreme danger. The territory on the south was a standing menace to its peace and security. Virginia had seceded and Kentucky was full of disloyal sentiment. This con- dition made Governor Dennison solicitous about the southern frontier. He accordingly urged General McClellan to get his troops out of Camp Dennison into Western Virginia. It was the opinion of military experts that the Ohio River was not a practicable line of defense, but that the best way to prevent invasion and raids was to occupy Virginia and Kentucky. Gov- ernor Dennison shared in this opinion, but his vigorous position was combated in some quarters. There were weaklings who questioned the right of Ohio troops to invade another State. But the Governor said: "We can let no theory prevent the defense of Ohio.
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I will defend Ohio where it costs less and accomplishes the most. Above all I will defend Ohio beyond rather than on her own border."
As early as May 7 appeals came to the Governor from the loyal residents of Parkersburg, asking that troops be sent to occupy the town against the advancing Confederates. Governor Dennison urged McClellan to enter immediately into Western Virginia. At this early period the General displayed that tendency to "masterly inactivity" which characterized his subse- quent career as the head of the Army of the Potomac. Notwithstanding the Governor's urging, McClellan did not move until after the Confederates had advanced and seized Grafton on May 20. On the 24th, after the united efforts of Governor Dennison and the Secretary of War, the Ohio troops were started, and in a few days were pouring into Western Virginia.
Then followed the brief campaign which won for the Union the thirty-four counties of the Old Dominion and which were afterward erected into the State of West Virginia. It was the Ohio militia not yet mustered into the service of the United States that engaged in the first military operations of the Civil War against the Southern Confederacy. The move- ment was planned by the Governor of Ohio, led by a Major General appointed by him, commanding Ohio soldiers in the service of that State and paid by it. The Ohio regiments that participated in this remarkable campaign were: the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eight-
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eenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-Second Infantry; Barnett's Ohio Battery and Burdsall's Ohio Dragoons.
During all of 1861 Ohio troops were conspicuous in all the engagements with the enemy in Western Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri.
After the battle of Bull Run the President called for 500,000 volunteers for three years. As before, Ohio responded promptly. Her quota was 67,365 men. Governor Dennison pushed so energetically the work of organization that by December 31, 1861, he could report to Washington that the Ohio force enlisted for three years amounted to 77,844 men. Meanwhile, to accomplish this, the Governor had undertaken the task of subsisting and supplying these troops as recruited. It was a task of great magnitude, involving an expenditure of, for that time, a vast sum of money. Governor Dennison in his Annual Message (1862) on this subject says:
"The total actual expenditures of the State of Ohio for military purposes to January 1, 1862, are $2,089,451.21, of which $1,212,134.45 were paid by the State out of its own funds, and the balance, $877,316.76 was paid out of moneys received from the United States. From the most accurate sources of information I have been able to consult, I estimate the unpaid claims against the State for war purposes as not exceeding the sum of $250,000. Upon this estimate, the whole amount expended and the unpaid liabilities of the State incurred for war purposes to January 1, 1862, are $2,339,451."
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In the enlistment, organization and subsistence of the Ohio army prior to being mustered into the service of the United States, it was necessary to have camps throughout the State where these operations could be carried on. Camp Dennison near Cincinnati and Camp Chase near Columbus were under the control of the United States, and only used for Federal soldiers. Governor Dennison for State purposes established during his administration the following: Camp Jack- son at Columbus, Camp Harrison near Cincinnati, Camp Taylor at Cleveland, Camp Goddard at Zanes- ville, Camp Anderson at Lancaster, Camp Putnam at Marietta, Camp Wool at Athens, Camp Jefferson at Bellaire, and Camp Scott at Portland.
It was apparent in the summer of 1861 that Governor Dennison could not be reelected. He had been a faithful public official, but in the confusing crisis precipitated upon the State he was held responsible for all the mistakes of that eventful time. Ohio had raised more soldiers than the United States as a Nation had ever before put in the field; she had expended more money and made more contracts than ever before in her history; her people were wild with haste and patriotism. It was therefore natural that every antagonism that grew out of this situation should center upon the Governor. Every dissatisfaction that prevailed was charged upon him. Every disappointed place-seeker, every grafting contractor, every ambitious politician whose purposes he thwarted, helped to arouse popular discontent. It was soon seen that the opposition thus fomented was an insuperable objection to his renomination. And yet no chief executive exercised
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his great duties and met his heavy responsibilities with more purity of purpose, integrity of execution or wiser patriotism. The very honest and courageous manner in which he discharged his duties brought upon him the brutal condemnation of public opinion.
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