USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, Ohio, from the founding of Franklinton in 1797, through the World War period to the year 1920 > Part 9
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News of Sheridan's victory at Five Forks reached Columbus April 2, and revealed, "as by a sunburst, the beginning of the end." With the fall of Richmond, the next day, flags were flung out all over the city. In the evening a great crowd assembled at the west
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
front of the Capitol and listened to despatches read by Governor Brongh, who also ad- dressed the assembly, and he was followed by other prominent men.
The news of Lee's surrender to Grant on April 9, at 4:10 p. m., reached Columbus the same evening by special dispatch.
Churches gave up their congregations, hotels their occupants, and one grand, loud. continued shouting song told the people's joy. Cannon thundered, bells elanged, bonfires blazed. A monster crowd collected, and were addressed by Governor Brough, Hon. Octavius Waters and others.
A general celebration took place the following Friday, April 14, at 2 p. m. The people assembled at the east front of the Capitol, and Hon. George M. Parsons was called upon to preside; after prayer by Rev. Granville Moody, Hon. John Sherman addressed the happy concourse. In the evening the whole city was illuminated, and the Capitol glittered from
THETERRAINGIO
COLUMBUSD
Lincoln Funeral Cortege. April. 29, 1865
foundation to cupola. A large meeting was addresed by Dr. Moody, Col. Given, Rev. A. G. Byers, and Hon. E. E. White.
On the following morning, while the city was decorated with emblems of rejoicing, (Saturday, April 15), the news of President Lincoln's assassination the previous evening, in Washington, reached Columbus. A suspension of business was declared; flags were half- masted and the city draped with mourning. On Sunday evening, the largest assembly that has ever gathered in the Capitol square was drawn thither by this great sorrow, for com- mnnity religious services. Part of the assemblage consisted of soldiers from Tod Barracks, who came en masse, bearing the State and National flags, draped, and marching to slow dirge music. The people at the west terraec were addressed by Rev. A. G. Byers, and those at the east by Rev. Granville Moody.
On the 19th, the day of the funeral in Washington, business was suspended, bells were tolled, and minute guns fired. The funeral train came to Columbus via Cleveland, on the. morning of the 29th. The procession, ou its arrival, was formed in five divisions. It has
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IN CIVIL WAR TIME
been called the most impressive and imposing procession ever seen in Columbus. A funeral oration was delivered at the east front, by Hon. Job E. Stevenson; and at 6 p. m. the doors of the Capitol were closed, the bugles sounded the assembly call, and the procession returned to the depot. The catafalque remained in the rotunda for several days, until the day of the burial of the martyred President at Springfield, Illinois. Every morning until May 4, fresh flowers were placed around the dais, where the body had rested, and thousands visited it daily.
By order of April 14, 1865, further recruiting in Ohio stopped. But military arrivals and departures at Tod Barracks were almost continuous during the early months. Con- federate captives, numbering 2,200, taken by General Thomas, arrived at Camp Chase, January 1; 1,200 more from Hood's army, January 6, and 522 more from North Carolina, were received on May 5. On May 15, 108 of these took the oath of allegiance and were given transportation to their homes. The number of Confederates at Camp Chase June 1, was 3,200, but by June 28 the camp was entirely cleared of them. A great number sought and found employment in the city.
The discharge of government employes at Columbus began in May. The last of the volunteers returning from the field, arrived in 1866; the last volunteers to be discharged in Ohio were Lieutenant F. W. Robinson's detachment, from the Fourth regiment of vet- erans, August 3, 1866.
An army train of 250 wagons, each drawn by six mules, passed through the city, bound for Fort Leavenworth, September 22, 1865; it had come from Washington, over the National road; and another train of 256 wagons, for the same destination, arrived September 28, and was corralled over night in Franklinton. These traveled at the rate of 153 miles each day, The last train marched into Springfield, Ills., where the mules were sold and the wagons forwarded by rail. The volunteer army was entirely extinct on July 20-21, 1866. The prison property at Camp Chase was offered for sale at public vendue, July 11, 1865, by order of General Richardson. Camp Thomas by order dated early in October was discon- tinued. During February, 1866, all military records at Camp Chase had been removed to Columbus, and that camp ceased to exist as an army post. On May 3 the Ohio State Journal published its obituary :
It is no longer a military center, no more a living thing; the city is deserted, the giant form a skeleton. Hundreds and thousands of armed men paraded as the guardians of the living thing; a single man, unarmed, keeps watch and ward over the remains of the thing, dead, waiting for burial . The rows of barracks remain unchanged; the flowers planted by some careful housewife of some careless officer, are ready to record that "the hand of woman has been here;" the flag-staff stands without pulley, rope or flag; the chapel, with its half-change in the latter day to a theatre remains a monument of the one, a tell-tale of the other; the prison-pens frown still with barred gates, but are silent within. In one, the scaffold on which Hartrup and Oliver were executed stands firm-the grim guardian of the ghostly solitude-and with beam in place and trap half sprung seems waiting for another victim. Everywhere are the marks of the skeleton. The pump-stocks have all been withdrawn from the wells, the windows from the buildings; grass is growing in the parade ground.
Old shoes tumbled into promiscuous groupings tell which buildings have been last occupied, and the marten boxes give some signs of life. A little fruit tree in the midst of all this loneliness blossoms and puts forth leaves with all the proud defiance of nature and with a scornful fling with every wave of the wind, for the works of man perishing on every side.
A word of praise must be tendered to Ohio's "War Governors," in closing this desul- tory account. Salmon Portland Chase, the first of the list, was born in Cornish, N. H., Jan- uary 13, 1808, and died in New York City, May 7, 1883. He was governor of Ohio in 1855, and again in 1857-hence not strictly a "war governor" but of national prominence. During these four years, the Republican party was organized, and in 1860 Mr. Chase was a favorite of many Republicans for President. When President Lincoln was inaugurated, Mr. Chase became Secretary of the Treasury. At the close of the Civil War he resigned from the control of the Treasury department, and was shortly afterward appointed to the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court of the United States, and filled that office until his death.
William Dennison was born in Cincinnati, November 23, 1815, and died in Columbus, June 15, 1882. His parents were of doughty New England stock, who had settled in Cin- cinnati about 1808. He graduated at the Miami University in 1835, with honors, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1840 and remained in practice until 1859. In December, 1840, he mar-
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
ried Ann Eliza Neil, and removed to Columbus. In 1859 he was elected Governor, and when the Civil War broke out he had nine months of his term to complete.
David Tod was born at Youngstown, Ohio, February 2, 1805, and died there, November 13, 1868. His father was a native of Connecticut, who emigrated to Ohio, was a lieutenant- colonel in the war of 1812, and later a judge of the Superior Court. David Tod was educated for the law in 1838, was elected to the Ohio Senate, and in 1844 was Democratie candidate for governor. He was a "hard money" man, and was credited with the saying that rather than resort to soft money he would do as the Spartans did-make money out of pot- metal. The Whigs had pot-metal medals struck and raised the cry of "Pot Metal Tod," which stuek to him so effectively that he was defeated. He was a man of mueh humor, and on one occasion was asked why he spelled the name Tod with one "d." He replied that God spelled his name with one "d" and He was a worthy man to imitate in all things. Governor Tod was minister to Brazil for some years, and in 1860 he was vice-president of the Charleston convention, where the secession of the Southern Democrats broke up the con-
T LUM US.A.
Camp Chase Cemetery for Confederate Dead.
vention, and thereby helped pave the way for rebellion. His tenure of the office of Gov- ernor was during the most heated and passionate period of the Civil War.
John Brough, the last Governor during the eivil strife, was born at Marietta, Ohio, Sep- tember 17, 1811, and died at Cleveland, August 29, 1865, being the only governor of Ohio who died in office. His parents were pioneers of the state. He became a printer, and for some time edited the Western Republican and Marietta Advertiser; he later removed to Laneaster and purchased the Ohio Eagle. He was elected to the legislature from Fairfield county in 1838, and soon after became Auditor of State. While auditor he purchased a newspaper in Cincinnati, changed its name to the Enquirer, and was connected with it for a few years. In 1818 he practically withdrew from polities until his election as Governor in 1863. His fiery specches and attractive eloquence endeared him to the people of Ohio and earned him the nomination for Governor.
Charles Anderson, lieutenant-governor, served out Governor Brough's unexpired term. He was a brother of the famous Major Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter. He was colonel of the 93d Ohio, and was wounded at the battle of Stone River. After his brief governor- ship he lived in retirement in Kentucky, for the balance of his life. To him, Ohioans owe a deep debt of gratitude, as he was the apostle and author of the common school system of Ohio.
CHAPTER IX. LEADING EVENTS FROM 1865 TO 1900.
Rapid Growth of Population-Visit of President Andrew Johnson-Large Area, Including Franklinton, Annexed to Columbus-Military and Veteran Organizations-Memorial HIall Project- Visit of General Grant-Court House Fire-Election Frauds-National Encampment of the Grand Army and Centennial Exposition-l'isit of the Duke of T'eragua-Franklinton's Centennial-War with Spain.
After the Civil War there was in Columbus a period of prosperity and energy in public and private improvements. In the deeade from 1850 to 1860 the population had grown only about 800-from 17,822 to 18,629. But at the elose of the war there eame a new vitality with a steady growth which has never been cheeked. In 1870, the population was 31,274; in 1880, it was 51,674; in 1890, it was 88,150; in 1900, it was 125,560; in 1910, it was 181,511, and in 1918 (estimated) 230,000.
The soldiers returning from the front found street ears in the Columbus streets. The streets themselves were about as bad as they could be, but business was good and the people were prosperous and filled with a desire for better things. There was a considera- ble extension of the eity to the north, and the burning of the Insane Asylum in 1868, making advisable the removal of the institution to the hilltop on the west, opened up a new addition east.
President Andrew Johnson, accompanied by Secretaries Welles and Seward, Generals Grant, Steedman, Rousseau, MeClellan and Custer and Admiral Farragut, visited Columbus September 12, 1866. General C. C. Walentt headed a military eseort for the party; and the President, welcomed by Mayor Bull, made a speech in defense of his policies. A dinner at the Neil House, without speeches, followed. General Benjamin F. Butler made a politi- eal speech here, October & of the same year.
In 1869 the B. E. Smith mansion at Fourth and Broad streets, now the Columbus Club house, was ereeted, and the City Hall was begun. The latter was to have been completed January 1, 1871, at a cost of $124,400; but it was not completed till March, 1872, and its actual eost was $175,000. It was formally opened Mareh 28. It was intended to be a very beautiful and useful structure, but it has been neither.
By joint action of the City Council and the County Commissioners in 1870, an area of 1,052 aercs, ineluding Franklinton, the original settlement, and Middletown just east and a hamlet ealled Birmingham, west of Goodale park, was taken into the eity of Columbus. The population of Franklinton, while not great, was so considerable as to make better pro- teetion necessary. The annexation gave new life to the seetion and it soon became the progressive West Side, with many new homes as well as manufacturing establishments. Twenty years later the population was about 12,000. In 1919 with millions spent in grade erossing elimination and other millions being spent in flood protection, the population has increased and spread to the hilltop and beyond where a handsome residential seetion has been ereated.
At the close of the Civil War there continued to be a marked popular interest in military organizations. The Hayden Guards appeared in 1865; the Meade Rifles and the Coldstream Zouaves in 1866; in the same year the Columbus Vedettes were reorganized, Cap- tain G. M. Baseom, and the survivors of the State Feneibles organized a States Feneibles Association, Theodore Jones president and T. J. Janney secretary. In 1867 appeared the Sherman Guards, Henry Heinmiller eaptain; the Emmett Guards, E. T. Delaney eaptain ; the Capital City Guards, Wesley Stephens eaptain and the National Union Guards, A. T. Zeigler eaptain. Jaeob Albright was captain of the Coldstream Zonaves.
In 1874 the Columbus Cadets were organized under the supervision of General C. C. Waleutt. Wade Converse was major, William Waggoner and Martin A. Gemuender were captains, and George Hardy and Charles B. Comstock were lieutenants. This was a de- tached organization; it drilled and marehed on special oeeasions and for some years gave an annual ball.
In 1877 the Governor's Guards, another independent organization, was organized-Fred
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Phisterer captain, L. R. Doty first lieutenant and Henry Comstock second lieutenant. It also marched on special occasions and gave receptions and social entertainments. Its use- fulness having ceased, it was disbanded in 1884, the feeling then being that military com- panies not a part of the Ohio National Guard and subject to full discipline were not desirable.
The Ex-Soldiers and Sailors' Association of Franklin County was the first organiza- tion of Civil War veterans and in 1878 had about 200 members. In 1881 it bought a number of lots in Green Lawn cemetery for the burial of ex-soldiers and in 1883 inaugu- rated a movement for a suitable monument. Through its influence in 1886 the General Assembly authorized a tax levy to raise $10,000 to pay for such a monument. A sugges- tion that the monument be erected at Broad and High streets was rejected and the shaft was put up in Green Lawn in 1891.
COCER
THE - -
Iligh and Broad Streets Looking East, 1875
In 1870 the first water works system was installed, as narrated elsewhere; the State street bridge was opened for travel July 11 of the same year. The North Market House was completed in 1876.
The city was stirred socially in 1871 by the coming of Prince de Lynar of Germany and his marriage to Miss May Parsons, Rt. Rev. Bishop Mellvaine officiating.
In 1874 the State Fair was held here and has since been an annual event.
On July 22, 1877, the great railway strike that spread over a considerable portion of the country, developed in Columbus. Pan Handle firemen and brakemen met in Goodale park and resolved that no more trains should pass through Columbus till wages were restored. The police tried and failed to protect the movement of trains. On the 29th, 1000 special policemen and the Columbus Cadets were called into service and failed. Then the Governor ordered out 23 companies of the Ohio National Guard. August 1 saw order restored and the troops were sent home on the 4th.
On February 28, 1877, President-elect Hayes was tendered a farewell reception in the Senate chamber, with speaking in the hall of the House. He thanked all for kindness and
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LEADING EVENTS FROM 1865 TO 1900
courtesy to him while Governor and spoke with some uncertainty of the future. He was followed to the train the next morning and made a similar speech from the rear of the train.
On invitation from a meeting of citizens, General and Mrs. U. S. Grant, then returning from a tour of the world, visited Columbus, December 12, 1879. A committee of citizens and of the Council co-operated in the arrangements and the visit was made the occasion of a great demonstration, in which many persons from outside of the city joined. Governor R. M. Bishop made an address of welcome, and the General briefly responded. A parade, a dinner, a ball under the auspices of the Governor's Guards, a reception, a song of welcome, composed by J. A. Scarritt and sung by the school children, and fireworks display were features of the day.
J. C. McCoy Post, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized January 7, 1881 and in the same year, the Woman's Soldiers' Aid Society, an auxiliary of Wells Post, was or- ganized. Joshua M. Wells Post, G. A. R., was organized June 19, 1881, and in the follow- ing year, the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to Wells Post, was organized. Elias J. Beers Post, G. A. R., was organized July 5, 1889. In 1882, Dennison Camp, Sons of Veterans, was organized and incorporated.
The Ex-Prisoners of War Association was organized in 1882. Its first officers were: John T. Harris president, Robert Dent vice president, S. W. Gale secretary, D. S. Wilder treasurer, E. C. Beach chaplain.
The Thurman Light Guards (Co. B, 14th O. N. G.) Captain A. B. Coit, appeared in 1878, and the Walcutt Battery, Captain E. G. Donaldson, in 1882.
In 1884, the Fourteenth Regiment, O. N. G., Col. George D. Freeman, was ordered to Cincinnati to assist in quelling a riot resulting from a failure of justice in the Berner case. There was fighting in the street before the mob was subdued, and two men of the Fourteenth were killed-Leo Voglegesang and Israel S. Getz. The remains were brought home after the military service had been performed, and buried with military honors. The regiment, under Colonels George D. Freeman, A. B. Coit and John C. Speaks, has since served at various times to preserve order when mob violence was threatened and has always acquitted itself with credit. It has been one of the great mainstays of law in Ohio in peace times, and in times of war it has promptly been admitted to the national service.
In 1885, the Columbus Memorial Association was incorporated to commemorate the service of the Franklin county soldiers and sailors in the Civil War, the idea being to erect a building. The charter members were: H. M. Neil, E. C. Beach, C. C. White, George W. Smith, N. B. Abbott, John G. Mitchell, C. T. Clarke, Carl N. Bancroft, George Cunningham, James DeWolfe, John H. Grove, John Beatty, George D. Freeman, W. M. Armstrong, A. B. Coit and George K. Nash. At the election in April, 1887, the people voted to levy a tax to raise $100,000 to erect the proposed building. The amount was found to be insufficient and the enterprise was temporarily deferred. In 1904-6, the project was carried to a successful conclusion with the erection on Broad street at Sixth street, of Memorial Hall, with num- erous rooms for the use of the veteran and pioneer organizations and a great auditorium, seating 4,000 persons.
A large part of the records in the Franklin County Court House was destroyed by a mys- terious fire, December 12, 1879. This gave fresh impetus to a movement already existing for a new building which should be more secure. In the spring of 1881 the people voted for the issue of $500,000 bonds for the construction of a new Court House. George H. Maetzel was appointed to prepare the plans and Henry C. Noble was designated by the Common Pleas judges to act with the commissioners in the approval of the plans. George Bellows was superintendent of construction. Pending the erection of the new building the county courts and officers were provided with rented rooms in adjacent buildings. The cornerstone of the new building was laid July 4, 1885, and the completed structure was dedicated July 13, 1887. A new jail was also erected just east of the Court House. The cost of the latter with boiler house and equipment was $170,000. The jail cost $165,000. The total of bonds issued was $464,000.
An attempted fraud in the count of the votes cast in the city in the election in October. 1885, was the occasion of much controversy and excitement. The fraud was in altering the figures of the tally-sheet of Precinct A. Thirteenth Ward, so as to add 300 votes to the Democratic total. The forgery was accomplished by taking the returns from the safe of the County Clerk, Saturday night, changing a 2 to a 5 and replacing the returns at some
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
time before Monday morning. A similar fraud was discovered in Cineinnati, and there was the appearance of an effort by these forgeries to eleet Demoeratie members of the General Assembly and so make certain the election of a Democratie United States Senator. Many Demoerats as well as Republicans denouneed the erime, and there was a long, but fruitless effort to diseover and punish the guilty. There were several indietments, some reputations were ruined and one poor tool was sent to the Penitentiary.
The great events of 1888 were the twenty-second national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republie and the observanee of the centennial of the first settlement on Ohio soil. For the latter there was a great exposition caleulated to exhibit the life and growth of the State. The State Board of Agriculture, the Archeologieal and Historical Society and the State Horticultural Society eo-operated in the preparation. The General Assembly appropriated $20,000 for the purpose and gave the State Board of Agriculture permission to bond the grounds for $50,000 more. General Samuel H. Hurst was chosen Director- General and an elaborate program of days from September + to October 16 was adopted. Columbus undertook to raise $100,000-$25,000 for the eentennial and $75,000 for the encampment. The total of subseriptions was $80,093, of which the eentennial got $22,986.
Opening Parade of Ohio Centennial, 1888
The exposition began September 1, 1888, with a parade of the Ohio National Guard and a great gathering in the auditorium, one of the ten buildings that had been ereeted for the occasion. Governor J. B. Foraker was the orator and Coates Kinney the poet of the day, and 1,500 school children sang an ode composed by Henry T. Chittenden. Mrs. Foraker touched a button and the wheels of the exposition began to revolve. The exposition ap- pealed to many interests, brought together many thousands of people and fitly celebrated the century of progress.
The eneampment which opened on the 9th proved to be one of the greatest ever held. The arrangements which were planned at weekly meetings for months before the opening, were in charge of a general committee, of which Colonel A. G. Patton was chairman, the other members being D. S. Gray, C. D. Firestone, John G. Mitehell, A. D. Rodgers, H. C. Lonnis, C. T. Clark, M. H. Ncil, N. B. Abbott, David Lanning, Carl N. Baneroft, R. M. Rowand, G. C. Hoover, Emerson Me Millin, Theodore H. Butler, Andrew Schwarz and W. D. Briekell. C. D). Firestone was vice chairman and Alfred E. Lee secretary. The Society of the Army of West Virginia arranged to have its annual reunion at the time of the en- campment, and a committee, of which J. M. Rife was chairman, eo-operated with the larger
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LEADING EVENTS FROM 1865 TO 1900
committee. Four camps were prepared, two west of the United States Barracks, one on Nineteenth street between Broad and Long and one at Neil avenue and Goodale street. Tents were put up for 55,000 men and dining halls were built. Accommodations for women and children were arranged for at hotels and private homes. High street was illuminated with arches. The locomotive, "General," captured and used by the Andrews Raiders in 1862, was brought for exhibition. The veterans of the Civil War came on time -100,000 of them, it was estimated, with 150,000 others, wives, children and friends. They filled the camps, the hotels and most of the lodging houses. The parade was a marvel with not fewer than 50,000 men in line. It was a great encampment, a joy to the organiza- tion and a credit to the city and the members of the committee in charge. There was a deficit, of course. The camps had cost more than expected and the dining halls had yielded far less than they were planned to yield. The total cost of the encampment was $68,967.13 and the deficit at its close was $21,413.56, but this was extinguished by the gate receipts at the exposition, Columbus day, and a second solicitation of subscriptions.
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