USA > Ohio > Ohio early state and local history > Part 2
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Kenyon College, at Gambier, in Knox county, the pioneer denominational school of the State, founded in 1825, by the Right Reverend Philander Chase, first bishop of Ohio in the Episcopal church, was named the Theological Seminary of the
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Early Ohio History
Protestant Episcopal church in the Diocese of Ohio. In 1861 it was changed to Kenyon College. The original fund of thirty thousand dollars raised by Bishop Chase in England, purchased eight thousand acres for a site. The village was named Gam- bier and the chief college building Kenyon, as a compliment to Lords Kenyon and Gambier, ardent friends of Bishop Chase, and supporters of the project.
Western Reserve University was located at Hudson, and was first opened in 1827. The removal to Cleveland came in 1882.
The Granville Literary and Theological Institution was opened at Granville, Licking county, December 13, 1831. In 1845 the name was changed to Granville College, and June 5, 1856, to Denison University. The institution was founded by Ohio Baptists.
Oberlin College, at Oberlin, in Lorain county, was founded in 1833, by Rev. John I. Shephard, a Presbyterian minister, and Philo P. Stewart, a missionary, who had been working among the Choctaw Indians in Mississippi. The founding was remarkable for the difficulties encountered. Over five thousand acres of land were acquired and all but five hundred sold at an advanced price, to raise money for the school. After two years of work, the founders secured funds with which to begin, clearing a site in the heart of the forest. The school was opened December 3, 1833, with eleven families, in the center of the woods, and twenty-nine young men and fifteen young women students. From its inception, Oberlin admitted colored students, and efforts to change this policy have always been successfully resisted.
Marietta College was established in 1835. It was preceded by Muskingum Academy, in 1797, believed to be the first organization for higher education in the Northwest Territory. From its organization, Marietta College has been a Christian, but non-sectarian school.
The Ohio-Michigan boundary dispute was settled in 1837, when Michigan became a State. It involved a strip of land averaging six miles in width and included the lake port of Toledo. When Michigan was a Territory, her southern boundary overlapped this strip. The first Ohio Constitution,
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Early Ohio History
contained a proviso, which was not objected to by Congress, leaving the exact location of this northern boundary for a later settlement. The matter was finally adjusted by Congress, and Ohio awarded the disputed territory.
The pioneer railroad of Ohio, the Erie and Kalamazoo, built in 1836, ran from Toledo to Adrian, Michigan, thirty- three miles. It was planned to have the cars drawn by horses, but steam power was later decided upon. However, when opened for business in the fall of 1836, horse power was used, the first locomotive being placed on the line in June, 1837. The road afterwards became a part of the Michigan Southern system.
The second railroad built in Ohio, and the first lying entirely within the confines of the State, was the Mad River and Lake Erie, from Sandusky to Dayton. The road was opened to Bellevue, sixteen miles, in 1839, and through to Dayton, in 1844. The Little Miami railroad, from Cincinnati to Spring- field, owned half by the State, and half by individuals and the City of Cincinnati, was connected with the Mad River road in 1848, forming the first line of railroad clear across the State.
The Federal census, taken in 1840, showed the rapid growth of population. Organized in 1803 with a population of 45,000, the State attained the third place in the Union by 1840, having a population of 1,519,467. William Henry Harrison, the first of the Ohio Presidents, was elected in 1840. March 23, 1849, the legislature decided to submit the question of holding a Constitutional Convention to popular vote. The people approved. Delegates were elected and the Convention met in Columbus, May 6, 1850. It completed its work March 10, 1851, and the new Constitution was ratified by vote of the people in June of the same year.
The Slavery question divided the people of Ohio into more than two parties. There was the Abolitionist, pure and simple, and Joshua R. Giddings was the leader. An Abolitionist of the early period believed it the duty of Congress to abolish slavery, by some process of law, wherever it existed. To him the in- stitution was a cursed thing, an impediment to our progress and a blight upon our civilization. There was the party which ignored the institution, and the party of compromise. The
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Early Ohio History
anti-slavery sentiment moved slowly in Ohio, although there was bitter opposition to slavery and a great body of able men, advocating the doctrines of Giddings and Wade and Chase. Harriet Beecher Stowe had written Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Levi Coffin, of Oberlin, was recognized as the President of the Underground railway, the system adopted by many humane and enlightened, as well as courageous persons in the North, for aiding fugitive slaves to escape the pursuit of those sent to reclaim them. Ohio and Pennsylvania were the chief highways for these wretched fugitives. Levi Coffin is said to have re- ceived into his home annually one hundred escaping slaves, and to have aided in their flight to liberty, for thirty-three years.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln, was elected President by the votes of the Abolitionists, and the North. Eleven of the fifteen slave states thereupon seceded. J. B. Floyd, Secretary of War, had ordered all effective munitions of war transferred to Southern arsenals. He then resigned and went South. Jefferson Davis, Chairman of the Senate Com- mittee on Military Affairs, also resigned, and in a few weeks became President of the Southern Confederacy. Many forts had been taken by the Southern States in which they were located. In February, 1861, the arsenal at Little Rock was seized, and in April, Fort Sumpter, South Carolina, was fired upon, and the greatest military struggle the world had hitherto seen, was ushered in, in the conflict known as the Civil War.
What Chin Tas Contributed to the Nation
By LIVONIA R. BUELL (MRS. JOHN W. CHAMBERLIN)
AST month we had presented to us, by Mrs. Hopley, a very comprehensive paper on the History of Ohio from its Territorial organization to the time of the Civil War. It portrayed steady progress from the wilderness to comfortable homes, the establishment of churches, schools, factories, and all the varied interests of a great State.
In 1860, Ohio ranked the third State in the Union in popu- lation and wealth. A great agricultural State, fertile soil and at least half of it under cultivation, she was able to funish double the amount of food required for the sustenance of her people. The assessed value of her taxable property was nearly a thousand million dollars.
The great things accomplished in a period of sixty years, tell in unmistakable language the character of her people and their ability to bear the strain of the great conflict coming.
By a very large majority the people of Ohio were opposed to the extension of slavery into new States and Territories. That was the prevailing sentiment of the North, but she claimed no right to interfere in the States where it already existed. At that time the number of Abolitionists was small.
But the South rebelled against the restriction of slavery as unfair to her interests. When several of the Southern States passed acts of secession, and some forts and arsenals were seized, general alarm was felt, but still the North did not believe that actual war was at hand. Some adjustment of difficulties was still hoped for, until Fort Sumpter was fired upon. Then it seemed that the whole North sprang to arms. The question was no longer "Slavery restricted or extended," but one of National life, the preservation of the Union of the States.
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
Hitherto the spirit of conciliation so universal in the North had appeared to indicate either indifference or lack of courage, but in a moment all was changed. Governor Dennison looking forward to the conflict upon which we were entering said, "Ohio must lead us in the war." This paper can only inade- quately tell how bravely, how efficiently she did lead on the battlefield and in council halls.
It is said these eight Ohio civilians did more to insure the success of the Union cause than any eight generals we sent to the field:
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War;
Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury;
John Sherman, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate.
Ben Wade, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Conduct of the War;
William Dennison, David Tod, and John Brough, Gover- nors of Ohio from 1860 to the close of the War; and Jay Cooke, Special Agent of the United States Treasury Department for the negotiation of bonds.
We entered the war with no money in the Treasury to meet the enormous demands that inevitably followed. Howe says, "To take a bankrupt treasury, sustain the credit of the Govern- ment, feed, equip, arm, pay and transport an army of a million men, and pay all the expenses of the war on such a scale was the work of Salmon P. Chase," and that "He has many and high titles to the Nation's gratitude, but none more enduring than this."
In the spring of 1861, the Government, in great need of money, called for subscription loans. Jay Cooke & Co., sent to Washington large lists of subscribers, but as increased amounts of money were needed, Mr. Chase resolved to try the experiment of a popular loan, and appointed four hundred agents, selecting the presidents and cashiers of the most promi- nent banks in the country for such agents. Of the entire sum received through them, Jay Cooke & Co., returned one-third. The plan did not fill the Treasury speedily enough. Congress authorized a five hundred million loan. Through the urgent
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
advice of Chase, Jay Cooke was made Special Agent of the United States Treasury Department for the negotiation of bonds.
In an incredibly brief time he organized a staff of traveling and special agents, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising, and in a few days money was flowing into the United States Treasury at the rate of two and one-half millions a day. In five months time the last note was sold.
There was never an uncertain word from the Chairmen of the Special Committees, John Sherman and Ben Wade. Of the latter, Whitelaw Reid says: "No words can give an idea of the value of his services as Chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War; the energy with which he helped to inspire the Government, the zeal, the courage, and the faith he strove to inspire."
No less efficient were those War Governors at home.
With what pride we may review the list of Ohio generals: Let us call the roll:
General Ulysses S. Grant;
Lieutenant General William Tecumseh Sherman;
Major Generals :- William S. Rosecrans, Philip H. Sheri- dan, James B. McPherson, Quincy A. Gilmore, Irvin McDowell, Don Carlos Buell, Robert C. Schenck, James A. Garfield, George A. Custer, Godfrey Weitzel, David S. Stanley, George Crook, Wager Swayne, Alexander McCook.
Major Generals resident in Ohio but born elsewhere :- Jacob D. Cox, William B. Hazen, Mortimer D. Leggett, George B. McClellan, O. M. Mitchell, James B. Steadman.
The names of brigade commanders, among whom we would write the name of William H. Gibson, would much extend the list.
Without narrating one single instance of the valor of those men, I ask you to imagine what the history of the war would have been, with the part they played in it left out.
Well did Ohio lead throughout the War!
But Ohio's wise men in the council and in the field were not her greatest gift to the Nation. According to the figures of the Provost Marshal General, Ohio sent into the terrible struggle for National life, three hundred and ten thousand men, more
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
than half of the adult male population of the State. They were the flower of our youth, and came from every occupation, the farm, the workshop, the centers of trade, and professors and students from the colleges. President Andrews from Kenyon College was the first man in Ohio to proffer his services to the Governor. Three months before the fall of Sumpter, forseeing the inevitable struggle near, he offered himself for use in any capacity whatever, and at the first call for troops he enlisted in the ranks.
It may be, when we review those days in which men seemed to live years in the days of a week, so rapid was the march of events, that we look too much at what leaders accomplished, and fail to see how dependent they were upon their followers. How much did Cromwell owe to the invincible courage of the Ironsides?
I want to quote the words of General John Beatty, of Co- lumbus: "There are none so obtuse as not to know that in patriotism, courage, and frequently in wealth, education and natural capacity, the private soldier of the Union Army was the full equal of those under whom he served and to whose orders he gave prompt and unquestioned obedience."
Before the bombardment of Sumpter was ended, twenty full companies proffered themselves to Governor Dennison for immediate service, and within twenty-four hours, after the President's call for troops, the Senate of Ohio had passed a bill appropriating a million dollars to place the State on a war footing. In looking back to that time now, my remembrance of it is, that there was not so much a call from leaders for the people to come up to battle as there was a rising of the people en-masse saying, We will go.
The gaiety of youth was hushed, boys yet in their teens silently changing into grave men, and leaving their sports, took up the work of men at home or in the field. I remember once, stopping in the street to hear one of those patriotic addresses that from the beginning of the war were in order at any time or place. Following the speech came a call for volunteers, and to my amazement among the names given were those of a number of boys from my own school, of whom I had never
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
thought as being near Man's estate. I saw the young faces too, so changed, so resolute, so determined; youth had vanished.
Lowell speaks tenderly of the soft young hands so soon "Hardened to touch of sabre." And well the boys in the ranks discharged the duties of the soldier in the camp, on the march, or the field of battle. All honor to those young heroes. Alas, how many never saw home again. And oh, the agony of those at home who after every battle read the lists of the wounded, the killed, and the missing. The missing! The weeks and months would go by, sick hearts at home hoping that some prison or hospital would yet surrender the darling that never came.
Only the last day can reveal how many lives went out.
The death rate of Ohio soldiers during the war exceeded that of the Revolution in both British and American armies com- bined. 6,536 were killed in battle, 4,674 were mortally wound- ed and died in hospitals, and 13,354 died of diseases contracted in the service; in all 24,564 men. And then there was a multi- tude more or less disabled; to many of these the remaining years of life were years of suffering. Years after the war it was asked of one of these martyrs whom no skill could cure, "Do you never regret that you enlisted?" "No," was the reply given in thoughtful, not boastful manner, "If I could have foreseen the result to myself personally, I hope I would have had the courage to fall into line as was my duty to my State and my Country." Over the graves of all such may be written the epitaph of Epictetus, "Dear unto the Immortals."
After the close of the war, Joseph Cook in one of his lectures spoke of his generation as a one-armed generation. Holding his right arm as if helpless, he said, "The right arm of my generation was given in defense of the Union, in the salvation of National life." It truly was, but many who did not go out to battle, "Also served."
Consider the extraordinary labors that developed on those who must stay at home. Harvests must not fail, factories must not lessen but increase their output. All the activities of life must go on with accelerated speed, to provide the sinews of war and furnish the necessaries of life for the great army of con- sumers who were no longer producers. Well was it done.
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
And woman, what offering did she make to the Nation in that day? No one has ever told the story, nor can any one do so.
She counted it not too great a sacrifice to give father, hus- band, brother, or son, those who were dearer to her than her own life, and as soon as the bitter parting was over, bravely took all the burdens she could possibly bear. Often she who had been daintily reared became a bread-winner.
Women toiled in every possible way to alleviate the horrors of war. They were on the battlefield as soon as the cannon were silenced. They worked unweariedly in the hospital, the Aid Society, and in their own homes.
In connection with woman's offering let me speak briefly of the Soldiers Aid Society of Northern Ohio. There may be some here who worked in connection with that society. It was the first general organization in the United States for the relief of soldiers in this war.
It was an informal organization, had neither constitution nor by-laws. A verbal promise to make a small monthly payment and work for the soldiers during the war, was all that was needed to hold the society together.
It had auxiliaries in eighteen counties: Cleveland was the only city of any size. Two other organizations of similar character had headquarters at Cincinnati and Columbus. The Northern Ohio Society in five years collected and dis- bursed one million one hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars.
The most efficient officers, Mrs. B. Rouse, President, Miss Mary Clark Brayton, and Miss Ellen F. Terry, Treasurer, served without relief during the war, and although they gave their time from 8 o'clock in the morning until 6 at night, they received no pay for their services but the consciousness of duty well done.
We cannot overrate the grandeur of Ohio's gift to the Nation in that awful struggle for National life. She gave manhood, she gave womanhood, she gave youth, but not one son or daughter of Ohio will say she gave too much.
The 4th day of March, 1881, was a memorable day for Ohio. On that day six men, the most prominent in the Nation, were
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
assembled on the platform of the East portico of the Capi- tol. They were Rutherford B. Hayes, the retiring President, a man faithful and true; James A. Garfield, the soldier and statesman about to take the oath of office as President of the United States; Salmon P. Chase, our great Chief Justice, to administer the oath of office to the incoming President; William Tecumseh Sherman, the man who conquered Atlanta and marched down to the Sea and was then the General Command- ing the army; Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan, the greatest cavalry general of the age; and John Sherman, that great Secretary of Finance. All were there because the country at large, recognized their fitness for the offices to which they were called. Five of that number were natives of Ohio and the sixth a life-long resident. Garfield is said to have remarked that Ohio seemed to have about all the honors. A New York man replied, "Yes, Mr. President, about all the other States can stand." A like incident had never before occurred, nor is it likely to be repeated in the history of any State.
A condensed recital like this of the part Ohio has played in National life can result in little more than calling the roll, and giving a suggestion as to what its worth has been to the Nation. Ohio has had six Presidents :- Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William Mc- Kinley, William H. Taft.
The list of cabinet officers is long, but a few names may be cited:
Ewing, Corwin, Chase, Sherman, and Windom, Secretaries of the Treasury.
McLean, Stanton, and Taft, Secretaries of War.
Ewing, Cox, and Delano, Secretaries of the Interior.
Stanberry and Taft, Attorney-Generals.
Meigs, McLean, and Dennison, Postmaster Generals.
The two great Chief Justices, Chase and Waite, and many of the Associate Justices have made Ohio proud of her illus- trious sons.
We have honored names in literature. William D. Howells, the great novelist, belongs to Ohio, though for many years he has been a resident of New York. Alice and Phoebe Cary
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
found in that city a literary atmosphere that pleased them, and they spent their last years there. Artemus Ward and Petroleum V. Nasby were Ohio humorists. There is a long list of Ohio authors who are writers of merit and have achieved fame in a greater or less degree, but they cannot be enumerated here.
Many of the great American Journalists, the men who have so much power in shaping public opinion, have been Ohio men. Notable among them, Whitelaw Reid. During the Civil War, Reid, then a young man, was the war correspondent of the Cin- cinnati Gazette. His headquarters were at Washington, and from there he went to every point where most interest centered. His letters attracted wide attention. After the conflict was ended, Reid spent two years in writing his famous book, "Ohio in the War." No other State history has been written that can compare with it. He had unusual facilities. The head sources of information were open to him. His own personal observation of the war, taught him what to accept and what to reject of the mass of material offered to him, and his facile pen has written a book of lasting value, one whose fairness and accurateness can never be questioned. After its completion, Horace Greeley called him to the political staff of the Tribune. He was leading editorial writer, and became editor-in-chief when the veteran editor retired, as he died soon after his defeat for the Presidency.
It is a singular fact that the editorial managers of all the great New York dailies were at that period Ohio men. White- law Reid, of the Tribune, John A. Cockerill, of the World, and Charles J. Chambers, of the Herald.
Mr. Reid was nominated for Vice-President in 1892, but suffered defeat with Benjamin Harrison. He has received many honors, and since 1905 has been the American Ambassa- dor to Great Britain.
Very recently the news has come to us that his long and useful life is ended. His work is done. It was well done.
What Ohio has done in Art and Science, is not within the province of this paper, but we may say that in the field of in- vention, there is but one Edison. He has given not only to the
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Ohio's Contribution to the Nation
Nation but to all the World. The Wright brothers constructed the first successful flying machine. It remains yet to be seen of what value aerial traveling will become.
It has been a great pleasure to narrate, even in an incom- plete way, the great things and the good things that have been achieved by the sons and daughters of our beloved State, but we come to an act that must fill us with regret.
In the recent election the voters of Ohio declared against equal suffrage, but we feel like placing a hand over the blot on the fair name of the State because we know that there have been extenuating causes.
First, there was a manifest shrinking back by many earnest woman from the responsibility, and the request for suffrage was not made with the urgency that it should have been.
The violence and unbecoming conduct of English suffragists have done much to retard the cause in the United States.
Recently one of the leading journals of the State tabulated certain laws of Ohio and Colorado that effect women and chil- dren. They were arranged in contrasting columns; the show- ing was very decidedly in favor of Ohio where women do not vote, while in Colorado they have voted for years. It is a fact known to most people that agitation by the women of Ohio, procured the passage of many of those laws. The jour- nal in question has only proven that women can do a great deal without a vote, but we believe that she can do more with it.
The fair minded men, and there are a host, desire that all women should have justice, so the time is not far distant when the elective franchise will be given to women, with no other restriction than that which is imposed upon men.
But it must remain with us women of Ohio a heartfelt regret, that in this act of justice, the men of Ohio did not lead.
The Mar Governors of Ohio
By MAUDE WATERHOUSE (MRS. RUSH ABBOTT)
HE War Governors of Ohio form a group conspicuous in the history of the State and Nation. Men who, without military experience or special gifts of leadership, were suddenly called upon to guide the Ship of State through the perilous period of the Civil War. That they arose nobly to the cause of duty and served their country well and faithfully, is a matter of history. Ohio owes them much.
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