USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Four > Part 16
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In casting about for a candidate the Union party was attracted to John Brough. He was an old-line Demo- crat, had been out of politics for many years and at this time was a railway manager. On June 10, 1863, just a week before the Union Convention, Mr. Brough delivered a speech in favor of the war and the Adminis- tration at Marietta that electrified the Unionists of the State. Coming from a great Democrat who had long been high in his party, his sturdy support of the war and the Lincoln Administration directed every eye in the State to him. By common intuition the Union leaders saw in John Brough their candidate for Governor. Like a prairie fire this feeling spread throughout the State. Governor Tod's friends, how-
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ever, were not stampeded; with Brough's, his name was presented to the Convention. On a ballot the result was that John Brough received two hundred and sixteen votes and Governor Tod one hundred and ninety-three. In a telegram to Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, dated June 22, 1863, Governor Tod said: "You will have heard of my defeat in the Union Convention recently held in this city. It is proper that I inform you that personal considerations alone caused my defeat." With all this, he gave his oppo- nent a loyal and hearty support in the most critical and momentous campaign in the history of Ohio.
The Unionist candidate for Governor was the son of an Englishman who came to this country in 1806; the father settled at Marietta, where his son was born September 17, 1811. The death of the father soon threw the son upon his own resources, and he entered a printing office to learn his trade. While at college at Athens he pursued his course of study and at the same time worked nights and mornings at his trade. After his college life he read law but abandoned it to edit a newspaper at Petersburg, Virginia. He remained there but a short while, when he returned to his old home, Marietta, to publish the Washington County Republican. He removed to Lancaster and published the Ohio Eagle. His vigorous editorials soon attracted attention throughout the State, and in knowledge and treatment of the finances of the State they showed much more than ordinary capacity. In 1838 he was sent to the Legislature from Fairfield and Hocking counties. The next year he was elected Auditor of State by the Legislature.
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It was in his position as Auditor of State that he exhibited those traits of character that led him to the Governorship. He was a deadly foe to corruption, untiring in hunting down irregularities which for years had existed in the Auditor's office, and by his system- atic and businesslike management he placed the financial condition of the State in better shape than it had ever been in its history. His honest and fearless movements for reform were necessarily a reflection upon the party in power, and the leading politicians of his own party endeavored to thwart him at every step. As an evidence of this it may be said that Presi- dent Polk tendered him the portfolio of Secretary of the Treasury, but before Mr. Brough's answer could reach the President the proffered office was withdrawn. The political leaders whom Mr. Brough had offended had influenced the President in the meantime. When he was Auditor of State he bought a Cincinnati paper called the Phoenix and from it founded the Cincinnati Enquirer. After his political career he retired to private life to engage in railroading, and it was from this business that he was called to accept the nomination for Governor of Ohio from the hands of the Union party.
Since the days of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" there has been no such canvass as the Vallandigham campaign of 1863. It was viewed with anxiety by the forces in the field and the entire country at home. It was known that the election of Vallandigham would be a rebuke to President Lincoln and his Adminis- tration, that it would array Ohio against the war and that it would in a general sense redound to the advan-
JOHN BROUGH
From a painting by Allen Smith, after Caroline L. Ransome, in the Capitol in Columbus.
Born in Marietta, Ohio, September 17, 18II; read law, but decided to engage in journalism, and for many years was editor of various Ohio newspapers; elected to the Legislature, 1838, and in 1839 chosen State Auditor by the Legislature; afterward prominently engaged in busi- ness; elected Governor, 1863; died in Cleveland, Ohio, August 29, 1865.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
It was in his position as Auditor of State that he exhibited those traiovogalHorter that led him to the Goval onilotsO) 19tts lidtim&nollA vde gaffmisqos moricorruption. untiring in brunt .audmulo? ni lotigs? odt ni smoanst for years down irregularities wifier
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FoinO brislevel ni borb 8081 Tonisvobofoste ;adan fearless wiemente for mfor were need &JesitangyA reflection upon the party in power, and the leading politiciaun of his own party endeavored to thwart him at every step. As an evidence of this it may be said that Provi- dent Polk tendered him the portfolio of Secretary of the Treasury, but before Mr. Brough's answer could roach the President the proffered office was withdr The political leaders whom Mr. Brough had offen had influenced the President in the meantime. W he was Auditor of State be bought a Cincinnati pij called the Phoenix and from it founded the Cincine Empidr. After his political career he retired to pris life to engage in milroading, and it was from business that he was called to accept the nominanl for Governor of Chis Irout the hands of the Uel party.
Since the days of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too there has been no such canvass as the Vallandig campaign of 1863. It was viewed with anxiety the forces in the field and the entire country at ho It was known that the election of Vallandigha would be a rebuke to President Lincoln and his Adminle tration, that it would array Ohio against the war that it would in a general sense redound to the ad
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
tage of the Southern Confederacy. It meant "Peace at any price," and the "Union as it was and the Con- stitution as it is," which included the maintenance of slavery. These were not the issues contended for by the Peace Democrats, but in the logic of events they would surely follow. The great issue in their minds was Vallandigham himself. To them he was a pure and persecuted patriot. They saw in his unjust sentence the violation of the sacred rights of free speech, personal liberty and the destruction of the principles of Magna Charta. The Unionists, on the other hand, viewed the Democratic candidate as an enemy of the country, an "unhung traitor" and an aider and abettor of the rebels in arms.
The depressed condition of the Union cause added to the intensity of the situation. The Ohio election was looked upon as a deciding factor between Union and Secession. In the beginning of the campaign the Union party, not only in Ohio but throughout the country, was filled with gloom. The year 1863 had not been an encouraging one in Ohio; there had been disaffection over the military arrests, resistance to the drafts and a threatened invasion from the South. The results in the field were also discouraging. Vic- tory seemed to have flown from the Stars and Stripes. The battle of Chancellorsville was a failure; General Lee was invading Pennsylvania; General Grant was still unsuccessful before Vicksburg; and the defeats at Galveston, another southern point, gave but poor com- fort to the Union party in Ohio or elsewhere.
The Democrats entered the campaign filled with vigor and earnestness. Their meetings excelled those
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
of the Union party in numbers and enthusiasm. Their leaders, all men of great ability on the stump, deeply impressed their followers with the justice of their cause and the certainty of victory. They argued for Vallan- digham's election because of the principle involved in his arrest and banishment; they seldom referred to the great issue of the preservation of the Union. We may well imagine how a strenuous campaign led by George E. Pugh, Allen G. Thurman, George H. Pendle- ton, Samuel ("Sunset") S. Cox and Sam Medary would affect their partisans. And yet all were not for Val- landigham. There were thousands of Democrats who feared the result of his election; they preferred to follow the example of Hugh J. Jewett, Rufus P. Ranney and Henry B. Payne-all old-time Democrats and each at one time a candidate of the party for Governor, who took no part in the campaign.
The Union party was led in the canvass by John Brough himself, who was by far the most effective ora- tor of all engaged. He was a fluent and logical speaker, and at times could be ruggedly and earnestly eloquent. He was bold in his assertion that Vallandigham's election "would be an invitation to the rebels in arms to come up and take possession of our soil." George E. Pugh passionately declared that if his candidate were elected there would be fifty thousand "fully armed and equipped freemen of Ohio to receive their Governor elect at the Canadian line and escort him to the State- house to see that he takes the oath of office." Then Brough in rejoinder said Vallandigham's election would inaugurate civil war in Ohio. "For," said he, "I tell you there is a mighty mass of men in this State whose
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nerves are strung up like steel, who will never permit this dishonor to be consummated in their native State." Brough's vigorous campaigning was sustained by Governor Tod, Senators Sherman and Wade, and Governors Oliver P. Morton of Indiana and Richard P. Yates of Illinois. Both sides were also represented by hundreds of orators of lesser note, who nightly ad- dressed meetings in the country schoolhouses and on the city streets. Considering the intensity of the can- vass, there was a remarkable freedom from violence or disorder. The severest exception was the mobbing and wrecking of the Democratic newspaper, The Crisis, at Columbus. This paper was one of the ablest and most widely circulated, as well as the best hated by the Union party, of all the Democratic publica- tions in Ohio during the war period. Its editor, Samuel Medary, was, in his editorials, brilliant, aggressive and taunting against the party in power and the Govern- ment at Washington. The Crisis vigorously opposed President Lincoln at every step of his administration, denounced the war and the soldiers of the Union Army, and in every way possible obstructed the suppression of the Rebellion. Its course angered the Union soldiers, many of whom were stationed in Columbus at the time. On the night of March 5, 1863, a mob of about two hun- dred soldiers and citizens proceeded to the office of the newspaper, broke open its doors, and in the absence of the editor sacked and destroyed its contents. Notwithstanding the bitter opposition to the paper and its editor the Union authorities and the Union press, especially the Ohio State Journal, denounced and deplored the act. The commanding officer at Colum-
238 RISE AND PROGRESS OF AN AMERICAN STATE
bus, General Cooper, called it "a cowardly attack and a felonious outrage." This was the only notable violence of the campaign. There was developed, however, on both sides such bitter feeling that in innumerable instances life-long attachments and neigh- borly friendships were severed.
In the midst of this political situation there came great assistance to the Union cause by the victory of Gettysburg and by General Grant's capture of Vicks- burg. It was felt that the high tide of Confederate success had been checked and broken, and renewed encouragement and additional strength were given to the Union party in Ohio. Notwithstanding this, how- ever, the Democrats were sanguine of success, while Brough was confident that he would have about five thousand majority. Neither party seemed to be sure of a very pronounced victory.
The election proved a vast surprise to everyone. With all the enthusiasm and energy displayed in his support, Vallandigham was beaten worse than any candidate ever before offered to the people of Ohio. Brough's vote was 228,826 and Vallandigham's was 187,728, registering the former's majority as 101,098. Vallandigham carried but eighteen of the eighty- eight counties of the State. Brough made gains in both the Union and Democratic counties. There was abundant evidence of a silent vote throughout the State growing out of a fear among conservative Democrats that Vallandigham's success meant civil war at home.
CHAPTER X OHIO IN THE CIVIL WAR (CONCLUDED)
MORGAN'S RAID, CAPTURE, AND ESCAPE GOVERNOR BROUGH'S ADMINISTRATION CONSPIRACIES OF THE "SONS OF LIBERTY" OHIO'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WAR
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tion of private property. Nothing was accomplished that was of value in a military sense. No cities or military posts were attacked or captured, in fact he avoided these; no public depots of supplies were destroyed and no important railway property was burned. But country stores, private houses and well stocked stables suffered. General Basil W. Duke, who was the second in command, as well as the histo- rian, of the marauders, in his "History of Morgan's Cavalry" (Cincinnati, 1867), gives a very graphic description of the pilfering and pillaging of this raid.
"This disposition for wholesale plunder," says he, "exceeded anything that any of us had ever seen before. The men seemed actuated by a desire to 'pay off' in the 'enemy's country' all scores that the Federal Army had chalked up in the South. The great cause for apprehension, which our situation might have inspired, seemed only to make them reckless. Calico was the staple article of appropriation-each man (who could get one) tied a bolt of it to his saddle, only to throw it away and get a fresh one at the first opportunity. They did not pillage with any sort of method or reason-it seemed to be a mania, senseless and purpose- less. One man carried a bird cage, with three canaries in it, for two days. Another rode with a chafing dish, which looked like a small metallic coffin, on the pummel of his saddle, until an officer forced him to throw it away. Although the weather was intensely warm, another, still, slung seven pairs of skates around his neck, and chuckled over his acquisition. I saw very few articles of real value taken-they pillaged like boys robbing an orchard. I would not have believed
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
that such a passion could have been developed so ludicrously, among any body of civilized men. At Piketon, Ohio, some days later one man broke through the guard posted at a store, rushed in (trembling with excitement and avarice), and filled his pockets with horn buttons. They would (with few exceptions) throw away their plunder after awhile, like children, tired of their toys."
Unfortunately the plundering was not confined to the petty pilfering described by General Duke. Al- though he declares that he "saw very few articles of real value taken," the facts developed by subsequent official investigation show that the vandalism and thefts committed by the invaders were frightful. This is all demonstrated in the abstract of claims presented to and passed upon by a Commission appointed by Governor Brough. This Board was created by the Legislature March 30, 1864, to examine claims for damages and destruction of property growing out of this raid. The results of their labor is set forth in great detail in a "Report of the Commissioners of the Morgan Raid Claims to the Governor of the State of Ohio, December 15, 1864." This Commission was composed of Alfred McVeigh of Fairfield county, George W. Barker of Washington county and Henry S. Babbitt of Franklin county. The report shows that four thousand, three hundred and seventy-five claims of all kinds for damage were filed before the Commission, including the appropriation of upwards of twenty-five hundred horses, and the total amount allowed was $576,255 for damages growing out of the raid. Of this amount, $428,168 was for damages done
ke ed
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
by Morgan and his men and $148,087 for damages by Union forces in the campaign for Morgan's capture. So much for the general character of the raid; now for its history.
On June 27, 1863, General Morgan and his cavalry, or, more properly speaking, mounted infantry, were at Sparta in White county, Tennessee. From this point he commenced his foray. He started out under orders from General Bragg to raid Kentucky and if possible capture Louisville, but under no circumstances cross the Ohio River. He had not proceeded very far when he confided to his Colonel, Basil W. Duke, that he intended to disregard Bragg's orders and enter Indiana and Ohio. In anticipation of this, he sent scouts to examine the crossing places on the upper Ohio River-particularly Buffington's Island. Accord- ing to Colonel Duke, Morgan declared his intention to recross at that point and to join Lee in Pennsylvania or the army in Northern Virginia. These were Mor- gan's plans as recited by his second in command. With this in view he fought his way through Kentucky, with a loss of about fifty killed and two hundred and fifty wounded; he struck the Ohio River at Brandenburg in Meade county, Kentucky. At this point he cap- tured two steamboats and crossed the river. Now on Northern soil, he rode across Southeastern Indiana, burning public buildings and laying tribute for not burning private ones. Stables, kitchens, stores and granaries were all subject to his forced loans.
On July 13th, the Confederate raider, with his troops, crossed the Indiana line into Ohio and rendezvoused at Harrison in Hamilton county. On the day before,
PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN
Born in Albany, New York, March 6, 1831, and in infancy came with his parents to Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, where he was reared; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1853; appointed Captain of the Thirteenth Infantry, regular army, May 14, 1861; Brigadier General of volunteers, July 1, 1862; Major General of volunteers, December 31, 1862; Brigadier General of the United States army; September 20, 1864; Major General of the United States army, November 8, 1864; Lieutenant General, March 4, 1869; General, June 1, 1888; was Commander in Chief, November 1, 1883, to August 5, 1888; died in Nonquitt, Massachusetts, August 5, 1888.
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THE RISE AND PROGRE
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On July 1 yth, the Confederate raider, with his ti crossed the Indiana line into Ohio and rendezv at Harrison In Hamilton county. On the day
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
General Burnside at Cincinnati, in command of the "Department of the Ohio," declared that city under martial law and prepared for its defense. Governor Tod, also by proclamation, called out the organized militia of the southern counties of the State. He ordered the companies of Hamilton, Butler and Cler- mont counties to report at Cincinnati to General Burn- side. Those of the counties of Montgomery, Warren, Clinton, Fayette, Ross, Highland and Brown were to report to Colonel Neff, the military commander at Camp Dennison. The companies in Franklin, Clarke, Madison, Green, Pickaway and Fairfield counties were ordered to report to General Mason at Camp Chase, and those of Washington, Monroe, Noble, Meigs, Morgan, Perry, Hocking and Athens counties to Colonel Putnam at Marietta. The militia of certain counties were ordered out at their respective homes to meet any exigency that might arise. Although nearly fifty thousand men responded to the Governor's call, but comparatively few of these participated in the campaign against the raid.
While Cincinnati was under martial law, and General Burnside was preparing to receive Morgan, the Con- federate leader managed to spread the news that his point of attack would be Hamilton; and accordingly all the military and civil authorities directed their entire attention to preparations for defending that place. The proposed movement against Hamilton was a feint, and while it attracted attention Morgan and his men managed to slip past Cincinnati, through its very suburbs, without the slightest resistance. He passed through Glendale, fed his horses in sight of
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Camp Dennison, and stopped long enough to impress the first installment of Ohio horses into the service of the Confederacy from the stables of Thomas Spooner, the United States Collector of Internal Revenue for the Cincinnati district. During all this time, he was pursued by General Hobson, who had been on his trail from the raider's start in Tennessee. In addi- tion, followed forces sent by General Burnside, as well as the assembled militia. Now came the whirl- wind race of the flying squadron of the Southern Con- federacy across Ohio.
The route of the raiders was through the counties of Clermont, Warren, Clinton, Fayette, Ross, Brown, Highland, Adams, Pike, Vinton, Jackson and Gallia, concentrating finally in Meigs county, where Morgan attempted to ford the Ohio at Buffington's Island. During this portion of the chase there was daily skir- mishing and the militia were harrassing Morgan's column effectively. As he came to the Ohio River, General Hobson was closing up on the rear and General Judah had crossed at Portsmouth, having withdrawn his troops from Kentucky. At Berlin, in Jackson county, Colonel Ben P. Runkle, with a detachment of militia, forced Morgan to stand and fight, and at points in Meigs county, the militia retarded his progress toward the river; but at one o'clock, July 18th, he reached Chester in that county. He was now within a few miles of a ford which, when crossed, would place him in Jackson county, West Virginia, among friends and sympathizers. After resting an hour and a half, he reached Portland, a village on the river bank opposite Buffington's Island. Here he found earthworks and
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three hundred militia behind them. With exhausted horses and men, he decided to rest for the night and make the crossing in the morning after dispersing the militia. When daybreak came, Colonel Duke, with two regiments, attacked the breastworks, but found them abandoned. General Morgan at this time had no knowledge of the force or position of the Federals who were pursuing him, and he was ignorant of the fact that they were closing in on him from every direc- tion. But when he prepared to cross the river in the morning he was made aware of all this. General Hobson's forces attacked him in the rear, General Judah in his flank and two gunboats opened upon his front. He attempted to rally and withdraw, but his ranks were divided, and a general rout followed. In the engagement he lost one hundred and twenty killed and wounded, and seven hundred surrendered.
These prisoners were placed aboard boats and hastily taken to Cincinnati.
General Morgan and twelve hundred of his men escaped, and twenty miles above Buffington's Island he attempted to cross the river to Belleville in West Virginia. Three hundred of his men passed safely over, but the gunboats arriving, kept Morgan and the remainder on Ohio soil. Thus ended the raid; there was nothing left for Morgan but flight and an attempt to get out of the State of Ohio. He now turned to the Muskingum River, but he was met by the militia under Colonel Runkle, when he struck for Blenner- hassett's Island. Although his pursuers practically surrounded him, he escaped while they were sleeping and crossed the Muskingum at Eaglesport in Morgan
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
county. Then taking to the open country, he en- deavored to again reach the Ohio. At Salinesville in Columbiana county, he was attacked on Sunday, July 26th, by Major Way of the Ninth Michigan Cav- alry, losing thirty killed, fifty wounded and two hundred prisoners. On the same day at two o'clock in the after- noon, near New Lisbon, the county seat of Columbiana county, he was made prisoner by Major George W. Rue of the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry. With General Morgan were taken three hundred and thirty-six men and four hundred horses and guns.
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