USA > Ohio > Ohio in four wars, a military history > Part 7
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and they numbered during the year 1861, 100,224.
The patriotic activity of the State .was early manifested, for even before Fort Sumter sur- ichdered twenty regimitts were proffered Gov- ernor. Dennison. Within twenty-four hours after the President's call, troops began to arrive at Columbus. The Lancaster Guards were the first to report; they were soon followed by the
Dayton Light Guards. Other organizations rapidly followed one after another until, by April 18, there were enough companies to make up the First and Second Volunteer Infantry regi- ments. As the first offering to the Nation the list will be interesting. The first Regiment was made up by companies of the following: (A) Lancaster Guards; (B) Lafayette Guards (Day- ton) ; (C) Dayton Light Guards; (D) Mont- gomery Guards; (E) Cleveland Grays; (F) Hi- bernian Guards (Cleveland) ; (G) Portsmouth Guards; (H) Zanesville Guards; (I) Mansfield Guards; (K) Jackson Guards (Hamilton). The Second Regiment was constituted as follows: (A) Rover Guards (Cincinnati) ; (B) Columbus Videttes; (C) Columbus Fencibles ; (D) Zouave Guards (Cincinnati) ; (E) Lafayette Guards (Cincinnati) ; (F) Springfield Zouaves; (G) Pickaway Company; (H) Steubenville Company :
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(I) Covington Blues (Miami county ) ; (K) Pick- away Company. As Washington was in danger the Government called for their immediate pres- ence, and before daylight on the morning of April 19, without arms, accoutrement or uniform, Ohio's first contribution to a great war left Co- lumbus for the defense of the capital of a divided Nation.
Of President Lincoln's call for 75,000 men, Ohio's quota was 13,000; 30,000 responded to the call. From these eleven more regiments were organized for a service of three months as volunteers of the United States army. These were later reorganized for three years' service. Ohio did not stop at furnishing the number of her quota, but in addition to the thirteen regi- ments the Legislature authorized ten more. Thirty companies volunteered, and the surplus had to be disbanded. Indeed, according to the Adjutant General, sixteen days after the Presi- dent's call there were offers of volunteers from Ohio sufficient to meet the full national require- ment of 75,000 men.
For the command of the Ohio troops Governor Dennison commissioned as Major General, George B. McClellan, a regular army officer who had served creditably and won a captain's com- mission in the Mexican War; he was then living
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in Cincinnati and was the President of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. At the same time the Governor commissioned as Brigadier Generals, Newton Schleich, a Democratic Senator, Jacob D. Cox, a Republican Senator, and Joshua H. Bates of Cincinnati. Of these, Brigadier Gen- eral Cox remained in the three years' service, and General McClellan was soon afterward transferred to the regular army. General Mc- Clellan established a camp of instruction near Cincinnati, and named it Camp Dennison, after the Governor. Here the raw recruits were drilled into military shape and transformed into a manageable quantity.
The position of Ohio was one of extreme danger. The territory on the south was a stand- ing menace to its peace and security. Virginia had seceded and Kentucky was full of disloyal sentiment. This condition made Governor Den- nison solicitous about the southern frontier. He accordingly urged General McClellan to get his troops out of Camp Dennison into Western Vir- ginia. It was the opinion of military experts that the Ohio River was not a practicable line of defense, but that the best way to prevent inva- sion and raids was to occupy Virginia and Ken- tucky. Governor Dennison shared in this opin- ion, but his vigorous position was combatted in
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some quarters. There were weaklings who ques- tioned the right of Ohio troops to invade another State. But the Governor said: "We can let no theory prevent the defense of Ohio. I will de- fend Ohio where it costs less and accomplishes the most. Above all I will defend Ohio beyond rather than on her own border."
As early as May 7 appeals came to the Gov- ernor from the loyal residents of Parkersburg, asking that troops be sent to occupy the town against the advancing Confederates. Governor Dennison urged McClellan to enter immediately into Western Virginia. At this early period the General displayed that tendency to "masterly in- activity" which characterized his subsequent career as the head of the Army of the Potomac. Notwithstanding the Governor's urging, Mc- Clellan did not move until after the Confederates had advanced and seized Grafton on May 20. On the 24th, after the united efforts of Governor Dennison and the Secretary of War, the Ohio troops were started, and in a few days were pouring into West Virginia.
Then followed the brief campaign which won for the Union the thirty-four counties of the Old Dominion and which were afterward erected into the State of West Virginia. It was the Ohio militia not yet mustered into the service of
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the United States that engaged in the first mili- tary operations of the Civil War against the Southern Confederacy. The movement was planned by the Governor of Ohio, led by a Major General appointed by him, commanding Ohio soldiers in the service of that State and paid by it. The Ohio regiments that participated in this remarkable campaign were: the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-Second Infantry; Barnett's Ohio Battery and Burdsall's Ohio Dragoons.
During all of 1861 Ohio troops were con- spicuous in all the engagements with the enemy in Western Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri.
After the battle of Bull Run the President called for 500,000 volunteers for three years. As before, Ohio responded promptly. Her quota was 67,365 men. Governor Dennison pushed so energetically the work of organization that by December 31, 1861, he could report to Washing- ton that the Ohio force enlisted for three years amounted to 77,844 men. Meanwhile, to accom- plish this, the Governor had undertaken the task of subsisting and supplying these troops as re- cruited. It was a task of great magnitude, in- volving an expenditure of, for that time, a vast
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sum of money. Governor Dennison in his An- nual Message (1862) on this subject says:
"The total actual expenditures of the State of Ohio for military purposes to January 1, 1862, are $2,089,451.21, of which $1,212,134.45 were paid by the State out of its own funds, and the balance $877,316.76 was paid out of moneys re- ceived from the United States. From the most accurate sources of information I have been able to consult, I estimate the unpaid claims against the State for war purposes as not exceeding the sum of $250,000. Upon this estimate, the whole amount expended and the unpaid liabilities of the State incurred for war purposes to January 1, 1862, are $2,339,451."
In the enlistment, organization and subsist- ence of the Ohio army prior to being mustered into the service of the United States, it was necessary to have camps throughout the State where these operations could be carried on. Camp Dennison near Cincinnati and Camp Chase near Columbus were under the control of the United States, and only used for Federal sol- diers. Governor Dennison for State purposes established during his administration the follow- ing: Camp Jackson at Columbus, Camp Har- rison near Cincinnati, Camp Taylor at Cleve- land, Camp Goddard at Zanesville, Camp Ander-
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son at Lancaster, Camp Putnam at Marietta, Camp Wool at Athens, Camp Jefferson at Bel- laire, and Camp Scott at Portland.
It was apparent in the summer of 1861 that Governor Dennison could not be re-elected. He had been a faithful public official, but in the confusing crisis precipitated upon the State he was held responsible for all the mistakes of that eventful time. Ohio had raised more soldiers than the United States as a Nation had ever be- fore put in the field; she had expended more money and made more contracts than ever be- fore in her history; her people were wild with haste and patriotism. It was therefore natural that every antagonism that grew out of this situation should center upon the Governor. Every dissatisfaction that prevailed was charged upon him. Every disappointed place-seeker, every grafting contractor, every ambitious poli- tician whose purposes he thwarted, helped to arouse popular discontent. It was soon seen that the opposition thus fomented was an insuperable objection to his renomination. And yet no chief executive exercised his great duties and met his heavy responsibilities with more purity of pur- pose, integrity of execution or wiser patriotism. The very honest and courageous manner in
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which he discharged his duties brought upon him the brutal condemnation of public opinion.
Yet at this distance, when all the conditions can be calmly viewed, he can well be appreciated, and his administration credited as fully equal to any of the "War Governors" for sagacious abil- ity and wise accomplishments. Unlike Tod and Brough, who followed him, he had to meet condi- tions that were new and alarming both to the Government and people. He solved many a problem that made official life easier for his suc- cessors, and he met courageously new situations that he settled at once and forever. They never could arise to plague or puzzle those who came after.
During his term he organized twenty-three regiments for the three months' service, and eighty-two for three years. He so thoroughly pressed enlistments that Ohio raised 20,751 sol- diers above her quota. He controlled and dis- pensed millions of dollars without any restraint "save public duty and private honor. No reflec- tion from any source was cast upon his integrity. He supervised the vast and numerous army con- tracts of the State with success and despatch, and no suspicion ever rested upon his conduct. His plan of occupying Western Virginia and Kentucky resulted in the rescue of the one and
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DAVID TOD
(From a painting by T. C. Crawford in the Capitol, Columbus.)
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, February 21, 1805; admitted to the bar, 1827; elected to the State Senate, 1838; unsuc- cessful candidate for Governor, 1844; appointed Minister to Brazil, 1847, and served five years; Governor of Ohio, 1862-63; died November 24, 1868.
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the forced neutrality of the other. It was a bold and far-seeing case of military wisdom.
Popular disaffection was not the sole element in Governor Dennison's retirement. There was another and far more potential factor. This was the growing sentiment that the nominee for Gov- ernor should be a man who could command the support of all friends of the Union regardless of party affiliations. There was a large element in the Democratic party, numbered by tens of thou- sands, that regarded the preservation of the Union as the paramount issue, and they advo- cated rigorous war measures to that end. This element had manifested its patriotism in the Gen- eral Assembly when it gave hearty support to the war legislation. The growing strength of the rebellion against the constitutional forces of the Union called for the coalition of all patriotic parties. What was supposed at the beginning to be a holiday outing or a three months' affair, had turned out to be a death struggle for the Union. It required the support of every man in the North for its success.
On the question of all parties uniting in the support of the Union and the prosecution of the war, there was considerable discussion among party leaders and in the party press. The radical elements in both parties objected to this move-
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ment. In the Republican ranks Joshua R. Gid- dings opposed it, as did his organ, the Ashtabula Sentinel, while the Cleveland Leader gave it a strong support. The extreme Democrats, led by Vallandigham, Pugh and Samuel Medary, in the Ohio Statesman, took strong ground against party coalition. On the other hand, the Cleve- land Plaindealer urged that the Democrats di- vide their ticket with the Republicans.
The first steps toward the formation of a Union party in Ohio were taken at a meeting of the Republican State Central Committee held at Columbus, July 25. On this occasion the Com- mittee adopted a series of resolutions declaring it inexpedient to call a convention of the Repub- lican party for the nomination of officers to be elected at the coming election; they believed that all differences of political parties should be laid aside for a union in defense of the Government. They requested the Democratic State Central Committee to unite with the Republican Com- mittee in a call for a joint delegate convention for the purpose of nominating a suitable State. Ticket. It was requested that the call should be addressed "to all who are in favor of the main- tenance of the integrity of the National Govern- ment and of the vigorous and continued prosecu- tion of the war now carried on for that purpose."
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It was provided that in the event of the refusal of the Democratic Central Committee to accept this proposition for union by August 9, the Re- publican Executive Committee was directed to issue a call to the people of Ohio for a convention of delegates without regard to party to nominate a State ticket "upon the simple basis of the main- tenance of the Government and the suppression of the rebellion against it.".
This proposal was not received cordially by the radical leaders of the Democracy, and to the invitation to join in the call for a non-partisan convention no answer was given. Nevertheless, a popular call signed by representative Demo- crats and Republicans from twenty different counties and approximating one hundred names in number was issued designating September 5, 1861, as the date for a Union convention to nom- inate a Governor and other State officers. A comprehensive and non-partisan character of the convention was guaranteed by fixing the basis of representation as one delegate for each thousand of the total vote cast in each county at the last election. Thus every vestige of party organiza- tion was ignored, and the invitation, with doors wide open, was extended in the language of the call, "to all loyal citizens of Ohio who are in favor of the maintenance of the Government,
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and of a vigorous and continued prosecution of the war now carried on for the suppression of the rebellion against the Government."
Pursuant to this call the Union State conven- tion met at Columbus September 5. It was com- posed very largely of Republicans, but Demo- crats were plentiful and there were many who had not professed party affiliations for years. Former United States Senator from Ohio, Thomas Ewing, presided, saying in his opening speech: "Let all past differences among us be laid aside; our duty is to save the country. Since 1854 I have had no political home; have belonged to no party; but now I give adherence to the party of the people." There was an evident dis- position on the part of the radical Republicans to concede much to the Democratic Unionists; this was apparent in the refusal of the convention to adopt as a part of the platform resolutions in- dorsing Federal and State administrations. This abandonment of Republican principles sorely tried such leaders as Senator Wade and John A. Bingham, both of whom tried to secure the adop- tion of such provisions. In like manner it must have been from deep devotion to the Union cause that the Republican delegates from the Western Reserve consented to the renomination of Judge Scott, who had with Judge Swan held the Fugi-
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tive Slave Law Constitutional. It was the inten- tion of the Union leaders that there should be no excuse given to the friends of the war policy not to support their ticket and the suppression of the rebellion. They quoted frequently the expres- sion of the late Democratic candidate for Presi- dent, Stephen A. Douglas: "Whoever is not prepared to sacrifice party organizations and platforms on the altar of his country, does not deserve the support or confidence of honest people."
For a platform the convention adopted liter- ally the language of a resolution passed by the National House of Representatives and intro- duced by John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. July 22, 1861, supplementing it by the language of a Douglas Democrat who had served as Post- master General and Secretary of War in Presi- dent Buchanan's Cabinet. This platform, which was adopted unanimously with great enthusi- asm, was as follows:
I. That the present deplorable Civil War has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the South- ern States, now in revolt against the Constitutional Gov- ernment and in arms around the Capital.
2. That in this National emergency, banishing all feeling of mere passion or resentment, we will recollect our duty to the whole country ; that this war is not waged
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on our part in any spirit of opposition, nor for any pur- pose of conquest or subjection, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of the States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease.
3. In the language of Hon. Joseph Holt, that we are "for this Union without conditions, one and indivisible, now and forever; for its full preservation at any and every cost of blood and treasure, against all its assailants, and against any and every compromise that may be pro- posed to be made under the guns of the rebels."
The nominee for Governor was a Democrat, David Tod, of Mahoning county. He was a native of Youngstown, born February 21, 1805. He was admitted to the bar in 1827, elected to the State Senate in 1838, and was the Demo- cratic candidate for Governor in 1844 and 1846. He was defeated first by Mordecai Bartley and then by William Bebb. It was in one of these campaigns that he was dubbed "Pot-metal" Tod by his opponent. The issue was "hard" and "soft," or bullion or paper money - the Demo- crats representing the former and the Whigs the latter. In a speech the Democratic candidate said that rather than adopt paper money it would be preferable to coin our currency out of pot-
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metal. This was soon taken up by the Whigs and made a source of ridicule in the campaign; it became seriously believed through persistent misrepresentation that he was really in favor of comming money Out of pot-metal. Medallions of Mr. Tod about the size of a dollar made from pot-metal were circulated extensively by his op- ponents throughout the State. It contributed largely to his defeat. The people were in a humor to be influenced by small things, and this was an occasion when they were so affected. He served as Minister to Brazil from 1847 to 1852. He was a Douglas delegate to the Democratic convention at Charleston, and when the South- ern contingent seceded from the Baltimore con- vention taking with them the presiding officer, Caleb Cushing, David Tod became chairman. From the moment of the firing upon Fort Sum- ter Mr. Tod was among the first of the Demo- crats of Ohio to advocate unconditional pres- ervation of the Union.
By the Union convention and the nomination of David Tod the Republican party went out of existence in Ohio untily after the war. The Democratic party as an organization still main- tained itself and continued as a partisan body to oppose the war, criticise President Lincoln's ad- ministration, and assume every form of political
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negation. August 7, the Democratic convention assembled and nominated Hugh J. Jewett for Governor. There was a radical difference be- tween the candidate and the platform. He was in favor of the war to maintain the Union. He expressed this in his letter of acceptance, much to the disappointment of the rank and file of his party. At the same time the Cleveland Plain- dealer refused to support the nominee unless he should repudiate the platform.
Notwithstanding the absence of a large num- ber of the voters in the army, there was a large - vote polled, but it was considerably less than that cast at the presidential election of the preceding year. At the election David Tod received 206,- 997 votes, and Hugh J. Jewett. 151,774, Tod's majority being 55,223.
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CHAPTER V
THE CIVIL WAR (CONTINUED)
I N the rotunda of the Capitol on January 13, 1862, with more ceremony and display than ever attended a previous inauguration, Governor David Tod delivered his inaugural ad- dress. Its keynote was a demand for the vigor- ous prosecution of the war and the financial, moral and military support by Ohio of the Union cause. "In this glorious work," said he, "the people of Ohio have most nolly done their duty thus far; laying aside all party prejudices and partialities, they have more than met the calls upon them for men and money, and not content with this they are still willing and eager to meet any further demand upon their means and pa- triotism. Let us look to it, then, that in our actions we do not disappoint the expectations they entertained when, laying aside all considera- tions except a determined, vigorous and liberal support of the National Government, they com- mitted to our hands the vast responsibilities now resting upon us. Ohio must in all time to come
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be able to claim for herself her just share of the burden and glory of putting down the rebellion."
With these and other like declarations of loyalty to the Government, Governor Tod as- sumed his office, never realizing that his Admin- istration would be more tempestuous than that of any of the other "War Governors." He little anticipated the herculean task before him; nor could he foresee that his State would be strained by internal strife to the point of civil war, or that it would be invaded and terrified by the armed bands of the Southern Confederacy.
Up to this time no great battles had been fought, and the losses in the field were not such as to deeply impress the people of Ohio. The shock of Bull Run and the victorious campaign in Western Virginia only served to increase their determination and patriotic endeavors. But the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, fought on Sunday and Monday, April 6 and 7, 1862, brought war in all its sanguinary horrors to the hearthstones of Ohio. In this battle the young men of the State to the number of 14,688, or twenty-two and one-half per cent. of the Union forces, were engaged. The killed and wounded from Ohio were 1,955, or fifteen per cent. of the Union losses. The Ohio organizations that par- ticipated in the battle were as follows: Infantry
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regiments : First, Sixth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-Second, Twenty- Fourth, Forty-First, Forty-Sixth, Forty-Eighth, Forty-Ninth, Fifty-Third, Fifty-Fourth, Fifty- Sixth, Fifty Seventh, Fifty-Eighth, Fifty-Ninth, Sixty-Fourth, Sixty-Fifth, Sixty-Eighth, Seven- tieth, Seventy-First, Seventy-Second, Seventy- .Sixth,- Seventy-Seventh, Seventy-Eighth, and Eighty-First; the Fifth Cavalry; the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth independent Batteries; and Batteries A and G, First Light Artilery.
When the first news of the battle and its awful carnage reached Columbus, Governor Tod took immediate steps for the care and succor of the Ohio troops, and everything that prompt and energetic action could do was inaugurated for their relief. Steamboats were chartered and physicians with large sanitary supplies were started from Cincinnati under authority of the Governor. The Sanitary Commission at Cincin- nati also chartered steamboats to visit the battle- field with surgeons, nurses - including ten Sis- ters of Charity -- and stores. Mayor Hatch, for the city of Cincinnati, equipped another boat, and on Governor Tod being advised of his action, promptly telegraphed that the State would as- sume all expense and that he had selected thirty volunteer surgeons who would reach Cincinnati
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in time for the passage to the battle-field. The result of this action was that the wounded were · brought back to the hospitals at Camp Dennison and other points in Ohio and tenderly cared for. Tor all this work the State paid out $49,721.60, this being, as shown by the Governor's message of January 5, 1863, the expense of eleven steam- boats, surgeons, nurses and sanitary supplies.
After the battle a portion of the public press, particularly the Chicago papers, published charges of cowardice and misconduct on the part of certain Ohio regiments on the field. Other at- tacks were made on Generals Grant and Sher- man. All of these charges proved to be without foundation upon investigation. In defense of the Ohio troops Senator John Sherman offered a resolution in the United States Senate calling for copies of all the official reports from all the offi- cers in the field. On May 9, 1862, thirty days after the battle, Senator Sherman reviewed in the Senate the conduct of the Ohio troops at Shiloh. The regiments denounced by the press were the Fifty-Third, Seventy-First and Sev- enty-Seventh, commanded respectively by Col- onels Appler, Mason and De Haas. Senator Sherman in his speech critically examined all the charges and read personal letters from the com- manding Generals. He took up in detail the
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