History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 106

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559

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The largest artificial lake in the world, it is said, was built to supply water to the Miami canal. It exists yet, though the canal is not much used. It is in the eastern part of Mercer county, and is about nine miles long by two to four wide. It was formed by raising two walls of earth from ten to thirty feet high, called respectively the east and west embankments; the first of which is about two miles in length; the second, about four. These walls, with the elevation of the ground to the north and south, formed a huge basin, to retain the water. The reservoir was commenced in 1837, and finished in 1845, at an expense of several hundred thousand dollars. When first built, during the accumulation of water, much malarial disease prevailed in the surrounding country, owing to the stagnant condition of the water. The citizens, enraged at what they considered an innova-

tion of their rights, met, and during a dark night, tore out a portion of the lower wall, letting the water flow out. The damage cost thousands of dollars to repair. All who participated in the proceedings were liable to a se- vere imprisonment, but the state of feeling was such, in Mercer county, where the offence was committed, that no jury could be found that would try them, and the affair gradually died out.

The canals, so efficacious in their day, were, however, superseded by the railroads rapidly finding their way · into the west. From England, where they were early used in the collieries, the transition to America was easy.

The first railroad in the United States was built in the summer of 1826, from the granite quarry belonging to the Bunker Hill Monument association to the wharf landing, three miles distant. The road was a slight de- cline from the quarry to the wharf, hence the loaded cars were propelled by their own gravity. On their re- turn, when empty, they were drawn up by a single horse. Other roads, or tramways, quickly followed this. They were built at the Pennsylvania coal mines, in South Carolina, at New Orleans, and at Baltimore. Steam motive power was used in 1831 or 1832, first in America on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and in Charleston, on a railroad there.

To transfer these highways to the west was the ques- tion of but a few years' time. The prairies of Illinois and Indiana offered superior inducements to such enter- prises, and, early in 1835, they began to be agitated there. In 1838, the first rail was laid in Illinois, at Meredosia, a little town on the Illinois river, on what is now the Wabash railway.

"The first railroad made in Ohio" writes Caleb At- water, in his 'History of Ohio,' in 1838, "was finished in 1836 by the people of Toledo, a town some two years old then, situated near the mouth of Maumee river. The road extends westward into Michigan, and is some thirty miles in length. There is a road about to be made from Cincinnati to Springfield. This road follows the Ohio river up to the Little Miami river, and there turns northwardly up its valley to Xenia, and, passing the Yellow Springs, reaches Springfield. Its length must be about ninety miles. The State will own one-half of the road, individuals and the city of Cincinnati the other half. This road will, no doubt, be extended to Lake Erie, at Sandusky City, within a few short years."

"There is a railroad," continues Mr. Atwater, "about to be made from Painesville to the Ohio river. There are many charters for other roads, which will never be made.

Mr. Atwater notes, also, the various turnpikes as well as the famous national road from Baltimore westward, then completed only to the mountains. This latter did as much as any enterprise ever enacted in building up and populating the west. It gave a national thoroughfare, which, for many years, was the principal wagon-way from the Atlantic to the Mississippi valley.

The railroad to which Mr. Atwater refers as about to be built from Cincinnati to Springfield, was what was

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known as the Mad River railroad. It is commonly con- ceded to be the first one built in Ohio .* Its history shows that it was chartered March 11, 1836, that work began in 1837 ; that it was completed and opened for business from Cincinnati to Milford, in December, 1842; to Xenia, in August, 1845, and to Springfield, in August, 1846. It was laid with strap rails until about 1848, when the present form of rail was adopted.

One of the earliest roads in Ohio was what was known as the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad. It was chartered at first as the Monroeville & Sandusky City railroad, March 9, 1835. March 12, 1836, the Mans- field & New Haven road was chartered; the Columbus & Lake Erie, March 12, 1845, and the Huron & Oxford, February 27, 1846. At first it ran only from Sandusky to Monroeville, then from Mansfield to Huron. These two were connected and consolidated, and then ex- tended to Newark, and finally, by connections, to Co- lumbus.

It is unnecessary to follow closely the history of these improvements through the years succeeding their intro- duction. At first the State owned a share in nearly all railroads and canals, but, finally finding itself in debt about fifteen million dollars for such improvements, and learning by its own and neighbors' experiences, that such policy was detrimental to the best interests of the peo- ple, abandoned the plan, and allowed private parties entire control of all such works. After the close of the Mexican war, and the return to solid values, in 1854 or thereabouts, the increase of railroads in all parts of Ohio, as well as all parts of the west, was simply marvelous. At this date there are more than ten thousand miles of railroads in Ohio, alongside of which stretch innumera- ble lines of telegraph, a system of swift messages in- vented by Professor Morse, and adopted in the United States about 1851.

About the time railroad building began to assume a tan- gible shape, in 1840, occurred the celebrated political campaign known in history as the "hard cider campaign." The gradual encroachments of the slave power in the west, its arrogant attitude in the Congress of the United States and in several State legislatures; its forcible seiz- ure of slaves in the free States, and the enactment and attempted enforcement of the "fugitive slave" law all tended to awaken in the minds of the Northern people an antagonism, terminating only in the late war and the abolishment of that hideous system in the United States.

The Whig party strenuously urged the abridgment or confinement of slavery in the Southern States, and in the contest the party took a most active part, and elected William Henry Harrison President of the United States. As he had been one of the foremost leaders in the war of 1812, a resident of Ohio, and one of its most pop-

ular citizens, a log cabin and a barrel of cider were adopted as his exponents of popular opinion, as express- ive of the rule of the common people represented in the cabin and cider, in turn representing their primitive and simple habits of life. Though a rugged man when elected, he lived but thirty days after his inauguration, dying April 9, 1841. John Tyler, the Vice-President, succeeded him in the office.

The building of railroads; the extension of commerce; the settlement of all parts of the State; its growth in commerce, education, religion and population, are the chief events from 1841 to the Mexican war. Hard times occurred about as often as they do now, preceded by "flush" times, when speculation was rife, the people all infatuated with an insane idea that something could be had for nothing. The bubble burst as often as inflated, ruining many people, but seemingly teaching few lessons.

CHAPTER XII.

MEXICAN WAR-OHIO IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

THE Mexican war grew out of the question of the an- nexation of Texas, then a province of Mexico, whose territory extended to the Indian territory on the north, and on up to the Oregon territory on the Pacific coast. Texas had been settled largely by Americans, who saw the condition of affairs that would inevitably ensue did the country remain under Mexican rule. They first took steps to secede from Mexico, and then asked the aid of America to sustain them, and annex the country to itself.

The Whig party and many others opposed this, chiefly on the grounds of the extension of slave territory. But to no avail. The war came on, Mexico was conquered, the war lasting from April 20, 1846, to May 30, 1848. Fifty thousand volunteers were called for the war by the Congress, and ten million dollars placed at the disposal of the President, James K. Polk, to sustain the army and prosecute the war.

The part that Ohio took in the war may be briefly summed up as follows: She had five volunteer regi- ments, five companies in the fifteenth infantry, and several independent companies, with her full proportion among the regulars. When war was declared, it was something of a crusade to many; full of romance to others; hence, many more were offered than could be received. It was a campaign of romance to some, yet one of reality, ending in death, to many.

When the first call for troops came, the First, Second and Third regiments of infantry responded at once. Alexander Mitchell was made colonel of the First; John D. Weller its lieutenant colonel; and - Giddings, of Dayton, its major. Thomas Hanna, one of the ablest lawyers in Ohio, started with the First as its major, but, before the regiment left the State, he was made a briga- dier general of volunteers, and, at the battle of Monterey,

* Hon. E. D. Mansfield states, in 1873, that the "first actual piece of railroad laid in Ohio, was made on the Cincinnati & Sandusky rail- road ; but, about the same time we have the little Miami railroad, which was surveyed in 1836 and 1837." If this, the generally accepted opinion, is correct, then Mr. Atwater's statement as given, is wrong. His history is, however, generally conceded to be correct. Written in 1838, he surely ought to know whereof he was writing, as the rail- roads were then only in construction ; but few, if any, in operation.

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distinguished himself; and there contracted disease and laid down his life. The regiment's colonel, who had been wounded at Monterey, came home, removed to Minnesota, and there died. Lieutenant Colonel Weller went to California after the close of the war. He was a representative from that State in the halls of Congress, and, at last, died in New Orleans.

The Second regiment was commanded by Colonel George W. Morgan, now of Mount Vernon; Lieutenant Colonel William Irwin, of Lancaster, and Major Will- iam Wall. After the war closed, Irwin settled in Texas, and remained there till he died. Wall lived out his days in Ohio. The regiment was never in active field service, but was a credit to the State.

The officers of the Third regiment were, Colonel Sam- uel Curtis, Lieutenant Colonel G. W. McCook and Major John Love. The first two are now dead; the major lives in Connellsville.

At the close of the first year of the war, these regi- ments (First, Second and Third) were mustered out of service, as their term of enlistment had expired.

When the second year of the war began, the call for more troops on the part of the government induced the Second Ohio infantry to reorganize, and again enter the service. William Irwin, of the former organization, was chosen colonel; William Latham, of Columbus, lieuten- ant colonel, and - Link, of Circleville, major. All of them are now dead.

The regular army was increased by eight Ohio regi- ments of infantry, the Third dragoons, and the Vol- tigeurs-light-armed soldiers. In the Fifteenth regiment of the United States army, there were five Ohio compa- nies. The others were three from Michigan, and two from Wisconsin. Colonel Morgan, of the old Second, was made colonel of the Fifteenth, and John Howard, of Detroit, an old artillery officer in the regular army, lieutenant colonel. Samuel Wood, a captain in the Sixth United States infantry, was made major; but was afterward succeeded by - - Mill, of Vermont. The Fifteenth was in a number of skirmishes at first, and later in the battles of Contreras, Cherubusco and Chap- ultepec. At the battle of Cherubusco, the colonel was severely wounded, and Major Mill, with several officers, and a large number of men, killed. For gallant service at Contreras, Colonel Morgan, though only twenty-seven years old, was made a brevet brigadier general in the United States army. Since the war he has delivered a number of addresses in Ohio, on the campaigns in Mex- ico.

The survivors of the war are now few. Though sev- enty-five thousand men from the United States went into · that conflict, less than ten thousand now survive. They are now veterans, and as such delight to recount their reminiscences on the fields of Mexico. They are all in the decline of life, and ere a generation passes away, few, if any, will be left.

After the war, the continual growth of Ohio, the change in all its relations, necessitated a new organic law. The constitution of 1852 was the result. It re-affirmed the political principles of the "ordinance of 1787" and the

constitution of 1802, and made a few changes, necessi- tated by the advance made in the interim. It created the office of lieutenant governor, fixing the term of ser- vice at two years. This constitution yet stands, notwith- standing the prolonged attempt in 1873-74 to create a new one. It is now the organic law of Ohio.

From this time on to the opening of the late war, the prosperity of the State received no check. Towns and cities grew ; railroads multiplied; commerce was extended; the vacant lands were filled by settlers, and everything tending to the advancement of the people was well pros- ecuted. Banks, after much tribulation, had become in a measure somewhat secure, their only and serious draw- back being their isolation or the confinement of their circulation to their immediate localities. But signs of a mighty contest were apparent-a contest almost without a parallel in the annals of history; a contest between freedom and slavery; between wrong and right; a contest that could only end in defeat to the wrong. The Repub- lican party came into existence at the close of President Pierce's term, in 1855. Its object then was, principally, the restriction of the slave power; ultimately its extinc- tion. One of the chief exponents and supporters of this growing party in Ohio, was Salmon P. Chase-one who never faltered nor lost faith; and who was at the helm of State; in the halls of Congress; chief of one of the most important bureaus of the government, and, finally, chief justice of the United States. When war came, after the election of Abraham Lincoln by the Republican party, Ohio was one of the first to answer to the call for troops. Mr. Chase, while governor, had re-organized the militia on a sensible basis, and rescued it from the igno- miny into which it had fallen. When Mr. Lincoln asked for seventy-five thousand men, Ohio's quota was thirteen regiments. The various chaotic regiments and militia troops in the State did not exceed fifteen hundred men. The call was issued April 15, 1861; by the eighteenth, two regiments were organized in Columbus, whither these companies had gathered; before sunrise of the nineteenth the first and second regiments were on their way to Wash- ington city. The President had only asked for thirteen regiments; thirty were gathering; the government not yet fully comprehending the nature of the Rebellion, refused the surplus troops, but Governor Dennison was author- ized to put ten additional regiments in the field, as a de- fensive measure, and was also authorized to act on the defensive as well as on the offensive. The immense ex- tent of southern border made this necessary, as all the loyal people in West Virginia and Kentucky asked for help.

In the limits of this history, it is impossible to trace all the steps Ohio took in the war. One of her most talented sons, now at the head of one of the greatest newspapers of the world, says, regarding the action of the people and their legislature:

"In one part of the Nation there existed a gradual growth of sentiment against the Union, ending in open hostility against its integrity and its constitutional law; on the other side stood a resolute and determined people, though divided in minor matters, firmly united on the question of national supremacy. The people of Ohio stood squarely on this side. Before this her people had been divided up to the hour when-

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""That fierce and sudden flash across the rugged blackness broke, And, with a voice that shook the land, the guns of Sumter spoke ; . * * * And whereso'er the summons came, there rose the angry din, As when, upon a rocky coast, a stormy tide sets in.'

"All waverings then ceased among the people and in the Ohio legis- lature. The Union must be preserved. The white heat of patriotism and fealty to the flag that had been victorious in three wars, and had never met but temporary defeat then melted all parties, and dissolved all hesitation, and, April 18, 1861, by a unanimous vote of ninety-nine representatives in its favor, there was passed a bill appropriating five hundred thousand dollars to carry into effect the requisition of the President, to protect the National Government, of which sum four hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars were to purchase arms and equipments for the troops required by that requisition as the quota of Ohio, and fifty thousand dollars as an extraordinary contingent fund for the governor. The commissioners of the State sinking fund were author- ized, by the same bill, to borrow this money, on the six per cent. bonds of the State, and to issue for the same certificates, freeing such bonds from taxation. Then followed other such legislation that declared the property of volunteers free from execution for debt during their term of service; that declared any resident of the State, who gave aid and com- fort to the enemies of the Union, guilty of treason against the State, to be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for life; and, as it had become already evident that thousands of militia, beyond Ohio's quota of the President's call, would volunteer, the legislature, adopting the sagacious suggestion of Governor Dennison, resolved that all excess of volunteers should be retained and paid for service, under direction of the governor. Thereupon a bill was passed, authorizing the acceptance of volunteers to form ten regiments, and providing five hundred thousand dollars for their arms and equipments, and one million five hundred thousand dollars more to be disbursed for troops in case of an invasion of the State. Then other legislation was enacted, looking to and pro- viding against the shipment from or through the State of arms or mu- nitions of war, to States either assuming to be neutral or in open rebel- lion; organizing the whole body of the State militia; providing suitable officers for duty on the staff of the governor; requiring contracts for subsistence of volunteers to be let to the lowest bidder, and authoriz- ing the appointment of additional general officers.

"Before the adjournment of that legislature, the speaker of the house had resigned to take command of one of the regiments then about to start for Washington city; two leading senators had been ap- pointed brigadier generals, and many, in fact nearly all, of the other members of both houses had, in one capacity or another, entered the military service. It was the first war legislature ever elected in Ohio, and, under sudden pressure, nobly met the first shock, and enacted the first measures of law for war. Laboring under difficulties inseparable from a condition so unexpected, and in the performance of duties so novel, it may be historically stated that for patriotism, zeal and ability, the Ohio legislature of 1861 was the equal of any of its successors; while in that exuberance of patriotism which obliterated party lines and united all in a common effort to meet the threatened integrity of the United States as a nation, it surpassed them both.

"The war was fought, the slave power forever destroyed, and under additional amendments toher organic law, the United States wiped the stain of human slavery from her escutcheon, liberating over four million human beings, nineteen-twentieths of whom were native-born residents.

"When Lee surrendered at Appomatox Court House, Ohio had two hundred regiments of all arms in the national service. In the course of the war, she had furnished two hundred and thirty regiments, besides twenty-six independent batteries of artillery, five independent companies of cavalry, several companies of sharpshooters, large parts of five regiments credited to the West Virginia contingent, two regi- ments credited to the Kentucky contingent, two transferred to the United States colored troops, and a large proportion of the rank and file of the Fifty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Massachusetts regiments, also colored men. Of these organizations, twenty-three were infantry regiments furnished on the first call of the President, an excess of nearly one-half over the State's quota; one hundred and ninety-one were infantry regiments, furnished on subsequent calls of the President -one hundred and seventeen for three years, twenty-seven for one year, two for six months, two for three months, and forty-two for one hundred days. Thirteen were cavalry, and three artillery for three years. Of these three years' troops, over twenty thousand re-enlisted, as veterans, at the end of their long term of service, to fight till the war would end."

As original members of these organizations, Ohio fur-

nished to the national service the magnificent army of three hundred and ten thousand six hundred and fifty- four actual soldiers, omitting from the above number all those who paid commutation money, veteran enlistments, and citizens who enlisted as soldiers and sailors in other States. The count is made from the reports of the pro- vost marshal general to the war department. Pennsyl- vania gave not quite twenty-eight thousand more, while Illinois fell forty-eight thousand behind; Indiana one hundred and sixteen thousand less; Kentucky, two hun- dred and thirty-five thousand, and Massachusetts, one hundred and sixty-four thousand. Thus Ohio more than maintained, in the national army, the rank among her sisters which her population supported. Ohio fur- nished more troops than the President ever required of her; and at the end of the war, with more than a thou- sand men in the camp of the State who were never mustered into the service, she still had a credit on the rolls of the war department for four thousand three hundred and thirty-two soldiers, beyond the aggregate of all quotas ever assigned to her; and, besides all these, six thousand four hundred and seventy-nine citizens had, in lieu of personal service, paid the commutation; while Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York were all from five to one hundred thousand behind their quo- tas. So ably, through all those years of trial and death, did she keep the promise of the memorable dispatch from her first war governor: "If Kentucky refuses to fill her quota, Ohio will fill it for her."

"Of these troops eleven thousand two hundred and thirty-seven were killed or mortally wounded in action, and of these, six thousand five hundred and sixty-three were left dead on the field of battle. They fought on well-nigh every battle-field of the war. Within forty-eight hours after the first call was made for troops, two regiments were on the way to Washington. An Ohio brigade covered the retreat from the first battle of Bull Run. Ohio troops formed the bulk of the army that saved to the Union the territory afterward erected into West Virginia; the bulk of the army that kept Kentucky from seceding; a large part of the army that captured Fort Donelson and Island No. 10; a great part of the army that from Stone River and Chickamauga, and Mission Ridge and Atlanta, swept to the sea and captured Fort McAllister, and north through the Carolinas to Virginia."

When Sherman started on his famous march to the sea, some one said to President Lincoln, "they will never get through; they will be all captured and the Union will be lost." " It is impossible," replied the President; "it can- not be done. There is a mighty sight of fight in one hundred thousand western men."

"Ohio troops fought at Pea Ridge. They charged at Wagner. They helped redeem North Carolina. They were in the sieges of Vicksburgh, Charleston, Mobile, and Richmond-at Pittsburgh Landing, at Antietam, Gettysburgh, and Corinth, in the Wilderness, at Five Forks, before Nashville and Appomattox Court House ; "their bones, reposing on the fields they won and in the graves they fill, are a perpetual pledge that no flag shall ever wave over their graves but the flag they died to maintain."

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 106

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 559

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559