USA > Ohio > Ohio and her Western Reserve, with a story of three states leading to the latter, from Connecticut, by way of Wyoming, its Indian wars and massacre > Part 13
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Ohio's Ascendency Analyzed
firebrand John Brown, and its political war- riors Giddings and Wade. It was to have been expected that Pennsylvania would fur- nish its Quaker abolitionists, like Achilles Pugh, and New Jersey its Benjamin Lundy, but that Virginia and Kentucky and the Carolinas should have supplied an equal, or a superior contingent, to the forefront of the fight against slavery, can only be accounted for on the ground that the "Ordinance of Freedom " was one of the most perfect work- ing and beneficently effective pieces of moral and legal machinery ever evolved from the mind of man. The New England and Penn- sylvania and New Jersey antislavery men simply "went West " on the indicated path of empire, but the Southern-born friends of freedom were diverted from the natural path of immigration, as if by a magnetic attrac- tion, and instead of becoming Kentuckians or Tennesseeans, they helped to found Ohio, and to foster, even more than the Northerners, a great colony favorable to freedom, vitally pro- gressive and aggressive, and finally victorious.
Clermont County, on the Ohio River, and its neighborhood, settled by Virginians,
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
was as strong an antislavery citadel as was the Reserve, on Lake Erie, settled by Con- necticut and Massachusetts men. Gatch and Sergent, who were its delegates to the Con- stitutional Convention of 1802, were elected " because they were Virginians, the strongest of antislavery men, and practical eman- cipators." Here, too, came the Rev. John Rankin from Tennessee, Obed Denham, of Vir- ginia, and that su- perb national lead- er of antislavery, James S. Berney James G. Birney, who was twice the candidate of the Liberty party for the Presidency of the United States, from Kentucky-all because they abhorred slavery and sought a home where it was prohibited. And here came Thomas Morris, of Massachusetts descent, to be sure, though his mother was a Vir- ginian, who, like other settlers from the
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Ohio's Ascendency Analyzed
South, had to attest a love for freedom by relinquishing the slaves she inherited ; and Morris-as one of the very first champions of freedom in the United States Senate, answer- ing Calhoun's and Clay's pleadings for the " peculiar institution," and electrifying the Senate and nation by the prediction that the negro should be free-was simply the voice of the virile sentiment of those Southern anti- slavery men in Ohio.
It was through the molding effect of the early, persistent, unremitting antislavery agi- tation, and the very fact that it had the Southerners as well as the Northerners among its foremost champions and strongest sup- porters, that there was developed that pre- ponderating and tremendously vigorous moral sentiment which penetrated the masses, and making Ohio the force that it was in the war of the rebellion, established its high prestige in the nation.
It was a full generation from the first anti- slavery agitation in pioneer Ohio to the days of the civil war in which its tremendous progress became apparent. In the meantime, the forces of the ordinance, of Gallatin's great internal-
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improvements measure, of popular education, and of public works, had been furthering the population, prosperity, and general moral as well as material well-being of the State. It had progressed from a trifle over 42,000 pop- ulation and eighteenth place in rank, at the time of its founding, to 230,760 and thirteenth place in 1810 ; to 581,295 and fifth place in 1820; to 937,903 in 1830; to 1,519,467 and third place in 1840; to 1,980,329 in 1850; and to a population of 2,339,511 in 1860- still holding third place in the sisterhood of States-and destined to hold it for thirty years more.
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CHAPTER XI
OHIO IN THE WAR AND IN CIVIL LIFE
WHEN the civil war came it would seem as if the sapience of statesmen, the labors of legislators, the forces of man, and the circum- stances of time and nature-the drift of des- tiny-had all been directed toward the sole result of building up Ohio as a fortress for the Union, at the very place where the loyal land was narrowest, between armed rebellion and British territory. There was no nobler showing of stamina and strength than hers. She resisted invasion, helped to create, raise up, and protect a loyal State upon her border, and sent into the strife enough men to consti- tute a vast army of her own, more than half of her adult population, half again larger than the greatest army Great Britain ever put in the field, and one-ninth of the entire Federal force engaged in the war-a total of 340,000
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
men, or, reduced to a three years' basis, 240,- 000 men. Her total dead (24,564) were 4,000 in excess of all losses on both sides in the Revolutionary War.
But not less indicative of Ohio's service in the war for the Union than her numbers of troops was the length of her offi- cers' list and the distinction of its personnel.
Of command- ing generals be- longing to Ohio there were, first of all, Ulysses S. Grant, born at Mount Pleasant, Clermont County, April 27, 1822; William Tecumseh Sherman, born in Lancas- ter, 1820; and Philip H. Sheridan, born in Albany, N. Y., but brought in infancy to Somerset, Perry County, Ohio. Of major- generals born in the State and entering the service from it there were thirteen-viz.,
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
Don Carlos Buell, George Crook, George A. Custer, Quincy A. Gillmore, James A. Gar- field, James B. McPherson, Irvin McDowell, Alexander McD. McCook, William S. Rose- crans (born in Kingston, Ohio, 1819), David S. Stanley, Robert C. Schenck, John Wager Swayne, and Godfrey Weitzel. Of the brig- adier-generals of Ohio birth who went from the State there were thirty - five (many of them brevetted major- generals)-viz., William T. H. Brooks, William W. Burns, Henry B. Banning, C. P. Bucking- ham, John Beatty, Joel A. Dewey, Thomas H. . I. Recruus Ewing, Hugh B. Ew- ing, James W. Forsythe, Robert S. Granger, Kenner Garrard, Charles Griffin, Rutherford B. Hayes, J. Warren Keifer, William H. Lytle, John S. Lee, John S. Mason, Robert L. McCook, Daniel McCook, John G. Mitchell, Nathaniel C. McLean, Emerson Opdycke, Benjamin F. Potts, A. Sanders Piatt, James
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
S. Robinson, Benjamin P. Runkle, J. W. Reilly, William Sooy Smith, Joshua Sill, John P. Slough, Ferdinand Van De Veer, Charles R. Woods, Willard Warner, William B. Woods, Charles C. Wolcutt, and M. S. Wade. But this by no means tells the story of all that the State is entitled to, for there should be included a num- ber, smaller than the native-born but still a con- siderable show- Atsheridan ing, of those who though born else- where were resi- dents of the State. Of such were Major- Generals Jacob D. Cox and M. D. Leggett (New York), William B. Hazen (Vermont), George B. McClellan and Jacob D. Steedman (Pennsylvania), O. M. Mitchell (Kentucky) ; and of Brigadiers Jacob Ammen, B. W. Brice, and John S. Tibball (Virginia), Samuel
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
Beatty and George W. Morgan (Pennsyl- vania), Ralph P. Buckland and Thomas Kil- bey Smith (Massachusetts), H. B. Carrington (Connecticut), George P. Este (New Hamp- shire), Manning F. Force (Washington, D.C.), John W. Fuller (England), Charles W. Hill (Vermont), August V. Kautz (Germany), E. P. Scammon (Maine), John W. Sprague and Erastus B. Tyler (New York), and August Willich (Prussia). It is obviously unfair, having fol- lowed the forego- ing basis of classifi- cation, to lay claim to the generals of Ohio birth who at the time of enter- ing the service were residents of other States, but GAbuster. if such were in- cluded, the list would be swelled by the names of Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana ; Halbert E. Paine, of Wisconsin ; Eleazar A. Paine, of the regular army ; Robert B. Mitch-
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
ell, of Kansas; and others. Ohio also made two notable contributions to the navy, Ad- miral Daniel Ammen and Rear-Admiral Joseph N. Miller.
On the civil side, both in the State and in the nation, Ohio was not a less forceful or effective factor in the subduing of rebellion than upon the military. Her "war Gover- nors "-Dennison, Tod, and Brough-were any and all worthy to stand between Morton in the West and Curtin and Dix in the East. The fact that Tod and Brough were Demo- crats, though elected on the " Union " ticket, was perhaps more indicative of the practical wholeness of Ohio's loyalism than if they had been Republicans. Brough's opponent was Clement L. Vallandigham. There was a rousing campaign, which resulted in the triumphant election of "rough, bluff John Brough " by the then unprecedented major- ity of over 100,000 votes. The issue had been distinctly "the vigorous prosecution of the war," and the position of Ohio was most emphatically declared. John Sherman is on record as pronouncing the election of Brough as an important influence in favor of the
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
Union cause, and " equal to that of any battle of the war."
Ohio in the conduct of the war at Wash- ington, however, far more than equaled Ohio at Columbus ; for there stood next to Lincoln Stanton and Chase, Wade, Sherman, and Jay Cooke.
Of the eight Ohio- ans who were colossal powers on the civil side of the service for the Union, all but two were native-born. Sal- mon P. Chase, who had been Governor of the State and Senator of the United States, was Secretary of the Treasury during nearly the whole of the war period-that is, from March, 1861, to March, 1864 ; and Benjamin F. Wade, long time Senator, became chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, in which capacity his service was invaluable. Chase was born in New Hampshire and Wade in Massachusetts, but both came to Ohio in their
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
very early years. The six others whose serv. ices were in importance fully abreast of these were Ohio-born. First of all, perhaps, was the stern, unflinching Edwin M. Stanton (born at Steubenville, 1814), who was Secretary of War from January, 1862, until August, 1867. John Sherman (born at Lancaster) was the controlling member of the Finance Commit- tee of the Senate. Jay Cooke (born at Sandus- ky) was special agent of the United States Treasury Department for the negotiation of Eduim Mr. Stanton. bonds. As to the three " war Governors," they were from three ex- treme corners of the State-William Denni- son, born at Cincinnati ; David Tod, born at Youngstown ; and John Brough, born at Marietta.
The time had come in the war for the backwoods to bourgeon, and for the seed sown and nurtured in the wilderness by the nation
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TARE MY JERER
*** 1231
"THESE ARE MY JEWELS."
" Favorite Sons " Monument in Capitol grounds at Columbus.
Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
to bear its first great fruit. No State has had more numerous or more notably useful " favorite sons," and none has been more frankly proud of them. Ohio points to the Presidents and statesmen and great generals she has reared with the conscious and con- summate pride of the Roman matron, in alluding to her sons, saying with her, " These are my Jewels"; and she has inscribed this legend upon a noble monument erected to their memory in the Capitol grounds at Columbus.
Ohio went splendidly to the front in the military service of the nation, and it has re- mained pretty solidly at the front in the con- duct of civil affairs for more than a generation. The State, which had been built by the na- tion, had proved one of the firmest fortresses of the nation in the time of its siege and as- sault, and now it began to contribute freely of its best product, its native-born sons, to the councils and the supreme control of the coun- try at large. It was a case of the child long cared for and cherished coming in maturity to be the staff and support of the sire.
The State, to be sure, had contributed a
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
President in 1840, and its first Cabinet mem- ber as early as 1814; but she now gave the country three Presidents in succession and Cabinet officers in profusion, to say nothing of hosts of lesser officials, at the same time main- taining, by the high ability and sterling char- acter of her delegates, that conspicuity which long before the war had attached to Ohio in Congress.
While Ohio was strongly in evidence at Washington nearly all the time for forty years, there were special periods when the prevalency of the Buckeye man was particu- larly noticeable and a source of pride to her people and of mingled amusement and mild irritation to the remainder of the United States. The time when Garfield came to the presidency (1881) was one of these periods of predominancy which circumstances conspired to make extra conspicuous. The men made prominent by the war had not yet reached re- tirement, and the civilians had come to keep them company. Just as Garfield was about to leave Mentor for the inauguration he re- marked tentatively to a New York politician, " I suppose Ohio has received about all she is
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
entitled to ?" to which the Eastern man an- swered sententiously, "She's got as much as the other States will stand, at any rate." The scene at the inauguration was of a nature to substantiate this view. There were gathered on the east portico of the Capitol, in a com- pact group, the principal characters of the day-the retiring President, Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio ! the President about to be in- ducted into office, James A. Garfield, of Ohio ! the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who administered the oath of office, Morrison R. Waite, of Ohio ! while close by them, as the most-honored spectators, stood the Secretary of the Treasury, John Sherman, of Ohio ! next to him the General of the Army, William T. Sherman, of Ohio ! and by his side the second in command, Lieutenant-General Sher- idan, of Ohio !
Almost any time during the subsequent decade the Ohioans were to be found in good force at the front in all branches of the Gov- ernment, and in 1886, in conformance with this general predominance of her sons, could have been observed the rather startling fact that the State had no less than ten Senators
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
in the higher house of the national Legisla- ture. There were two as her very own regu- larly elected members, and no less than eight accredited to various farther Western States, but all born in Ohio, and ready to a man to stand by her interests. The House of Rep- resentatives at the same time held some forty or fifty Ohio-born Congressmen-about half of whom went from Ohio districts, and the others from constituencies in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and various States, which it was now most pertinently made manifest Ohio had been helping to build.
But the most surprising and amusing evi- dence of the Ohio man's ubiquitousness came at the close of this same decade, when Benja- min Harrison, a citizen of Indiana, born in Ohio, assumed the duties of the presidency of March 4, 1889. The nation felt relieved when his Cabinet was announced, for instead of the Ohioans, who had been overwhelmingly predominant under most former administra- tions for thirty years, appeared such men as Windom, of Minnesota ; W. H. H. Miller, of Indiana ; John W. Noble, of Missouri ; Jere- miah M. Rusk, of Wisconsin; and (later)
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
Stephen B. Elkins, of West Virginia. But lo, this was only a most superficial pretense of avoiding the Buckeye as material for Cab- inet-making, for every man of them was born an Ohioan ! And Charles Foster, who was an undisguised Ohio man, had a place later, making this altogether the strongest Ohio Cabinet of the whole series.
Some idea of the full fruition of Ohio in a political sense during the prolific post-bellum period, and that of lesser outcome before the war, is afforded by a summary of her offerings to high officialdom, which have in- cluded six Presidents if we count William Henry Harrison (1841) born in Virginia, or five if we count only those native to the State: Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-777 ; Ruther- ford B. Hayes, 1877-'81 ; James A. Garfield, 1881 ; Benjamin Harrison, 1889-'93 ; William McKinley, 1897-1901, and 1901, March 4 to September 14. One Vice-President, Thomas A. Hendricks, 1885. Three presidents of the Senate (pro tem.), viz., Benjamin F. Wade, Allen G. Thurman, John Sherman. Seven Justices of the Supreme Court, two of them Chief Justices, viz., Salmon P. Chase (Chief
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
Justice), 1864-'73; Morrison R. Waite (Chief Justice), 1874-'87; Noah H. Swayne, 1862- '81; Edwin M. Stanton, 1869; Stanley J. Matthews, 1881-'89; William B. Woods, 1880-'87. Two Secretaries of State: John Sherman, William R. Day. Six Secretaries of the Treasury: Ewing, Corwin, Chase, Sherman, Windom, and Foster. Seven Secre- taries of War: McLean, Stanton, Grant, Sherman, Taft, Elkins, and Alger. Four Sec- retaries of the Interior : Ewing, Cox, Delano, Noble. Five Attorney-Generals : Stanberry, Taft, Stanton, Miller, and Harmon. Four Postmasters-General : Meigs, McLean, Denni- son, Hatton. And one Secretary of Agricul- ture, Rusk.
The large extent to which the Cabinets have been built of Buckeye timber is far bet- ter revealed by the following list, arranged chronologically by administrations :
Administration of James Madison, 1809- '17: Postmaster-General, Return Jonathan Meigs, March 17, 1814.
4
Administration of James Monroe, 1817- '25 : Postmaster-General, R. J. Meigs (reap- pointed) ; John McLean, June 26, 1823.
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
Administrations of William Henry Harri- son, 1841, and John Tyler, 1841-'45 : Secre- tary of the Treasury, Thomas Ewing, March 5, 1841; Secretary of War, John McLean, September 13, 1841.
Administrations of Zachary Taylor, 1849- '50, and Millard Fillmore, 1850-'53 : Secre- tary of the Treasury, Thomas Corwin, July 23, 1850; Secretary of the Interior, Thomas H. Ewing, March 8, 1849.
Administration of James Buchanan, 1857- '60: Attorney-General, Edwin M. Stanton (born in Ohio, appointed from Pennsylvania), December 20, 1860.
Administrations of Abraham Lincoln, 1861-'65, and Andrew Johnson, 1865-'69 : Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, March 5, 1861 ; Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, January 15, 1862; U. S. Grant (ad interim), August 12, 1867; Edwin M. Stan- ton (reinstated), January 14, 1868, to May 28, 1868; Attorney-General, Henry Stan- berry, July 23, 1866, to July 15, 1868 ; Post- master-General, William Dennison, Septem- ber 24, 1864, to July 25, 1866.
Administration of Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-
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Ohio and Her Western Reserve
'77 : Secretary of War, William T. Sherman, September 9, 1869, to October 25, 1869; Alphonso Taft, March 8, 1876, to May 8, 1876; Secretary of the Interior, Jacob D. Cox, March 5, 1869, to November 1, 1870; Colum- bus Delano, November 1, 1870, to October 19, 1875 ; Attorney-General, Alphonso Taft, May 22, 1876.
Administration of Rutherford B. Hayes, 1877-'81; Secretary of the Treasury, John Sherman, March 8, 1877.
Administrations of James A. Garfield, 1881, and Chester A. Arthur, 1881-'85 : Sec- retary of the Treasury, William Windom (born in Ohio, appointed from Minnesota), March 5, 1881, to October 27, 1882; Post- master-General, Frank Hatton (born in Ohio, appointed from Iowa), October 14, 1884.
Administration of Benjamin Harrison, 1889-'93: Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom (born in Ohio, appointed from Minnesota), reappointed March 7, 1889; Charles Foster, February 21, 1891 ; Secretary of War, Stephen B. Elkins (born in Ohio, ap- pointed from West Virginia), December 4, 1891, to March 6, 1893; Attorney-General,
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
W. H. H. Miller (born in Ohio, appointed from Indiana), March 7, 1889; Secretary of the Interior, John W. Noble (born in Ohio, appointed from Missouri), March 7, 1889; Secretary of Agriculture, Jeremiah M. Rusk (born in Ohio, appointed from Wisconsin), March 7, 1889.
Administration of Grover Cleveland, 1893- '97 : Attorney-General, Judson Harmon, June 7, 1895, to March 5, 1897.
Administration of William McKinley, 1897-1901, 1901: Secretary of State, John Sherman, March 5, 1897, to April 26, 1898 ; William Rufus Day (former Assistant Secre- tary), April 26, 1898, to September 30, 1898 (resigned) ; Secretary of War, Russell A. Alger (born in Ohio, appointed from Michi- gan), March 5, 1897, to August 1, 1899 (resigned).
Besides these there are, of course, a very large number of assistant secretaries and bureau chiefs ; and the State's phenomenal productivity of men fitted for public duty has been constantly attested by the presence of Ohioans in high diplomatic positions ; but the limitations of this volume preclude men-
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tion of them, and in pursuance of the original purpose of showing the character rather than the full extent of Ohio's contribution to the public service of the nation, the presentation must be confined to those only who have occupied the very highest offices."
OHIO IN THE NATION'S SENATE
Following is a list of the Ohio members of the United States Senate, preceded by the
* A certain luster, too, has been reflected upon the State by those of her citizens who have found honor far beyond her borders, as, for instance, Samuel Sullivan ("Sunset ") Cox, who successively represented Ohio and New York in Congress and the United States as Minister to Turkey ; Senators Julius Cæsar Burrows, of Michigan ; Daniel W. Voorhees, Joseph E. McDonald, David Turpie, and C. W. Fairbanks, of Indiana; William B. Allison and James F. Wilson, of Iowa ; Preston B. Plumb, of Kansas; Thomas H. Carter, of Montana ; and Will- iam M. Stewart, of Nevada.
And besides these, there can be mentioned as Ohioans who have performed important service the late General James M. Ruggles, of Illinois, one of the committee (the others being Abraham Lincoln and Ebenezer Peck) who drafted the plat- form on which the Republican party was organized, and Gen- eral James W. Denver, after whom Denver, Col., was named, afterward Governor of Kansas, as was Thomas Carney, in war times, and Lyman U. Humphrey. Later still, another Ohioan who became a Western Governor was G. P. Morehouse (Mis- souri) ; and at the same time Iowa had an Ohio man-J. H. Rothneck-as its Supreme Judge.
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
delegates under the brief second stage of Ter- ritorial government :
OHIO DELEGATES TO UNITED STATES CONGRESS
William Henry Harrison (Hamilton Coun- ty), 1799-1801.
William McMillan (Hamilton County), 1799-1801.
Paul Fearing (Washington County), 1801- 1803.
UNITED STATES SENATORS FROM OHIO
Thomas Worthington (Ross County), 1803-'09. Reelected 1809 to serve to 1815. Resigned December 8, 1810, to accept the office of Governor.
John Smith (Hamilton County), 1803. Resigned.
Edward Tiffin (Ross County), 1807-'11.
Return Jonathan Meigs (Washington County), 1807-'11 (vice Smith, resigned).
Alexander Campbell (Brown County), 1809-'13.
Stanley Griswold (Cuyahoga County), 1809-'11.
Jeremiah Morrow (Warren), 1813-'19. 21 297
Ohio and Her Western Reserve
Joseph Kerr (Ross County) (vice Wor- thington, resigned).
Benjamin Ruggles (Belmont), 1815-'33. William Trimble (Highland), 1819-'23. (Died 1822 from the effects of a wound re- ceived at battle of Fort Erie, 1812.)
Ethan A. Brown (Hamilton County), 1822-'25 (vice Trimble, deceased).
William Henry Harrison (Hamilton Coun- ty), 1825-'29. (Resigned 1828, to accept appointment as Minister to Colombia.)
Jacob Burnet (Hamilton County), 1827- '31 (vice Harrison, resigned).
Thomas Ewing (Fairfield County), 1831- '37. Reelected for term 1849-'51 (vice Cor- win, deceased).
Thomas Morris (Clermont), 1833-'39.
William Allen (Ross County), 1837-'49.
Benjamin Tappan (Jefferson County), 1839-'45.
Thomas Corwin (Warren County), 1845- '49. Died 1849, previous to convening of Thirty-first Congress, to which he was elected.
Salmon P. Chase (Hamilton), 1849-'55. Reelected 1863. (Resigned to accept ap- pointment as Secretary of the Treasury.)
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Ohio in the War and in Civil Life
Benjamin F. Wade (Ashtabula), 1851- 1869.
George E. Pugh (Hamilton), 1855-'61.
John Sherman Richland ), 1861-'77. Resigned 1877 to accept appointment as Sec- retary of United States Treasury. Reelected 1881. March, 1897.
James A. Garfield (Lake County), January 11, 1880. (Declined the office January 18, 1881, having in the meantime been elected President.)
Allen G. Thurman (Franklin County), 1869-781.
Stanley Matthews (Hamilton County), 1877-'79 (vice Sherman, resigned).
George H. Pendleton (Hamilton County), 1879-'85.
Henry B. Payne (Cuyahoga County), 1885-'91.
* John Sherman's first service, from March 23, 1861, to March 8, 1877, made 15 years, 11 months, 15 days. Entering again March 4, 1881, he had on June 16, 1894, surpassed the term of Thomas H. Benton (December 6, 1821, to March 3, 1851, 29 years, 2 months, 27 days). From that time on his service was in excess of Benton's 2 years, 8 months, and 16 days, or a total service of 31 years, 11 months, and 13 days in the United States Senate.
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