USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 18
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The Twenty-third Ohio Regiment had some distinguished members within its ranks. Its first commander was General W. S. Rosecrans, and two future Presidents, Hayes and McKinley, were on its rolls. The later United States Senator and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Stanley Matthews, was once its Colonel, and several Members of Congress, two Lieutenant Governors of Ohio, and one United States Consul were members of the regiment. McKinley participated in all the engagements of his regi- ment. He was in the battles of Clark's Hollow, Princeton, Frederick, South Mountain, Antietam, Buffington's Ford, Cloyd's Mountain, New River Bridge, Buffalo Gap, Lexing- ton, Buchanan, Otter Creek, Lynchburg, Buford's Gap, Kerntown, Berryville, Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. At Antietam he performed a signal service. The battle began at daylight, but before that time men were in the ranks and preparing for the con- flict. Without breakfast or even coffee they went into the fight, and it continued until the sun had set. The commissary department of that brigade was under Sergant Mckinley's charge and personal supervision. From his hands every man in the regiment was served with hot coffee and warm meats, a thing that had never occurred under similar circumstances in any other army of the world. He passed under fire and delivered with his own hands this food so essential for the men. At the session of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly, in 1902, Judge John C. Royer, of the Tiffin District, introduced and had passed by both houses a bill appropriating $22,000 to mark the places where the Ohio regiments fought at Antietam and also for a monument to mark the spot where Mckinley stood while serving coffee and meat to the famished troops of the Twenty-third Regiment. For this daring Governor Tod ordered his promotion from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant. Mckinley also served on the staff of General Rutherford B. Hayes, performing hazardous duty. At Berryville his horse was shot under him. At Opequan and Fisher's Hill he was an aide on the staff of General Crook, and distinguished himself by ordering General Duval's command to the support of the Sixth Corps. For this he was breveted Major, his commission being signed "A. Lincoln." He participated in the last act of the war, the "Grand Review" at Washington, and was mustered out with his regiment.
After the war Major Mckinley began the study of law at Poland under the preceptor- ship of Judge Charles E. Glidden, of Youngstown. After a year of such study he completed his course at the law school in Albany, New York, and in March, 1871, was admitted to the bar at Warren, Ohio. Locating at Canton, he soon gained a practice, besides taking con- siderable interest in politics. Though living in a Democratic county, he was always an ardent Republican, and in the fall of 1867, made his first political speech in favor of negro suffrage, when the constitutional amendments were pending. In 1869 he accepted the nomination for Prosecuting Attorney of Stark County, and made an energetic canvass and was elected. In 1871 he was defeated for a second term by seventy-one votes. On the 25th of January, of that year, he was united in marriage to Miss Ida Saxton, daughter of James A. Saxton, a banker in Canton. Her grandparents were the founders of that city in the early part of the century. In the Gubernatorial campaign of 1875, between Hayes and "Rise-up" William Allen, at the height of the Greenback craze, McKinley's speeches in favor of honest money and the resumption of specie payment attracted attention throughout the country. In 1876 he was nominated for Congress in the old Seventeenth District, succeeding Laurin D. Woodworth, of Youngstown, on the first ballot, and in the following October was elected over Leslie L. Lanborn by 3,300 majority. He entered Congress the same day his old com- mander of the Twenty-third Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes, became President, and he was not without influence, even at that early date of his Congressional experience. He made his debut as a speaker in Congress in an elaborate attack upon the Wood tariff bill, the first of
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the measures designed to cripple the tariff system. His argument was published and attracted wide attention. In 1877, Ohio went strongly Democratic, and the Legislature gerrymandered the State, so that Mckinley found himself confronted by an adverse majority of 2,500 in a new district. The Democrats nominated General Aquila Wiley, of Wayne, who had lost a leg fighting in the Union Army, and a strong candidate, but Mckinley defeated him and was re-elected to the Forty-sixth Congress by 1,234 majority. The Legis- lature of 1880 restored his old district, and he had no difficulty in being returned to the Forty-seventh Congress, defeating Leroy D. Thoman, subsequently one of the Civil Service Commissioners of the United States, by 3.571 votes. He was chosen the Ohio member of the National Committee in 1880, and accompanied General Garfield on his campaign tour to New York. He opened the Ohio campaign that year at Portsmouth, and spoke in several other States. The Forty-seventh Congress was Republican, and acting on the suggestion of President Arthur proceeded to revise the tariff. It was then agreed to constitute a tariff commission to prepare such bills as were necessary to report at the next session.
Major Mckinley delivered an interesting speech on the subject and insisted that a pro- tective policy should never for an instant be abandoned or impaired. The elections of 1882, occurring while the commission was still holding its session, the Republicans were every- where most disastrously defeated. That year the Democrats carried Ohio, electing their State ticket, headed by James W. Newman, of Scioto, and elected thirteen of the twenty- one Congressmen. McKinley had been nominated for a fourth term, after a sharp contest, and was elected in October by the narrow plurality of twenty-eight votes over his opponent. Toward the close of the session of the Forty-eighth Congress he was unseated on a con- test by his Democratic competitor. In the meantime he had delivered a great speech in opposition to the Morrison tariff bill. In 1884 he was again a candidate for Congress, this time in a district gerrymandered by the Democratic Legislature, elected in 1883. He was again triumphant, defeating his opponent by a large majority. In that year, besides can- vassing his own district completely, he accompanied Blaine on his celebrated tour, speaking constantly with him from the car platform and after the October elections in Ohio devoting his time to the campaign in West Virginia and New York. His old district was restored in 1885, and he was again unanimously renominated in 1886, and elected. In the States cam- paigns of 1881. 1883. 1885 and 1887 he was on the stump in all parts of Ohio, two of his strongest addresses being those at Ironton, on the Ist of October, 1885, on equal suffrage, and at Dayton, on the 18th of October, 1887, on the Cleveland administration. In the Forty- ninth Congress. 1886, he made a notable speech on arbitration as the best means of settling labor disputes. The attention of the country was sharply arrested by Mr. Cleveland's third annual message, on the 6th of December, 1887, because it was largely devoted to an assault on the protective tariff laws, upon which he was previously thought to hold a conservative opinion. A bill was immediately prepared and introduced in the House by Roger Q. Mills, from Texas, embodying the President's views and policy, and the two parties were arrayed in support or in opposition to it. Then occurred the most remarkable debate, under the inspiration and encouragement of the Presidential canvass already pending, in the history of Congress. Major Mckinley was given charge of the opposition to the bill and this was the opportunity of his life, which he took complete advantage of.
He was nominated for the seventh time in 1888, defeating George P. Ikirt by more than 4.000 votes. In the State campaign of 1889, he took an active and prominent part, deliver- ing sixty speeches in half that number of counties. One of the best of these was on "Pro- tection and Revenue" before a great audience at Cleveland. At the organization of the Fifty-first Congress he was a candidate for Speaker, but, although strongly supported, was
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beaten on the third ballot by Thomas B. Reed, of Maine. He resumed his place on the Ways and Means Committee, and on the death of Judge Kelly, of Pennsylvania, became its Chairman. On the 17th of December, 1889, he introduced the first important tariff measure of the session, a bill to simplify the laws in relation to the collection of revenue. In April of the following year he introduced a general tariff measure that has since borne his name. It passed the House, but after being sent to the Senate was debated for months, having been amended by a reciprocity feature, and was passed in the following September. The bill became law on the Ist of October, 1890, subject to the approval of the President, which was given on the 6th of the same month. In the midst of the innumerable difficulties of this protracted struggle, he was renominated for Congress. His district had again been changed by what was known as the Campbell Legislature, so that he had 3,000 majority to overcome. Governor Campbell was opposed to attempting to legislate Major Mckinley out of Con- gress, for his fame at that time was of such a character that the attention of the entire Nation was upon him, the Governor saying, that if it was done the act would make McKin- ley President of the United States. Governor Campbell was an excellent prophet, but his councils did not prevail. Hardly a month elapsed from the adjournment of Congress until the election, but Mckinley accepted the nomination. The fight was a notable one, attracting almost as much attention as the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate of thirty years previous, but in the end Mckinley suffered his first defeat for Congress. The prominence of Major Mckinley at this time was so great that when the Rpublicans of Ohio began to search about for a candi- date to defeat Governor Campbell for his second term no one but Mckinley was mentioned for the honor. A convention was held in Columbus, and ex-Governor Foraker placed McKinley in nomination, and he was named for Governor without a dissenting vote. The campaign that followed was a notable one, but Campbell was defeated by a plurality of more than 21,000 votes. Two years later, the Republicans held their State convention in Columbus, and Mckinley was renominated to the same office. The Democratic ticket was headed by L. T. Neal, of Ross County, and in the ensuing election Mckinley had a plurality of over 80,000 votes. His administration of State affairs was wise and economical and the Republican voters of the Union were then looking forwards to McKinley as the man to lead them in the next National campaign. The story of the Republican National Conventions of 1888 and 1892 is one of intense interest. In Chicago, in the first named year, he might have had the nomination for President, but Ohio stood for John Sherman and William McKinley was not the man to betray his trust. In 1892, at Minneapolis, he cast the glittering prize from him, although it would only have been necessary for him to have given his consent to his friends from every State in the Union to defeat Benjamin Harrison for a second nomina- tion. On both occasions honor stood in the way, and William McKinley never faltered. He was a pronounced "opportunist," and knew that the hour for his triumph had not yet arrived. With his tremendous power of self-control he could bide his time. For a year before the National Convention met in St. Louis, in 1896, it was apparent that Mckinley was the choice of the people for the Presidency. The industries of the country had lan- guished under the operation of what was known as the Wilson tariff law, and Mckinley, the author of the protective tariff bill bearing his name, was looked upon as the natural leader to lift the people out of the commercial and financial wilderness. Marcus A. Hanna had charge of McKinley's campaign for the Presidency, and his cleverness was apparent by the result of the balloting at St. Louis. But with all of Mr. Hanna's accumen and power of organization, his efforts would have come to naught but for the fact that the sentiments of the voters were behind the Mckinley candidacy. At the convention Mckinley was nomi- nated for the Presidency by ex-Governor Foraker, seconded by John M. Thurston, of
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Nebraska. He received the nomination on the first ballot. The announcement of his nomi- nation was greeted with a great outburst of cheers amid a scene of indescribable enthusi- asm. William Jennings Bryan was named by the Democrats at Chicago, and a wonderful campaign followed, which ended triumphantly in the election of the Republican candidate. William Mckinley was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1897. In the second year of his administration war was declared between the United States and Spain, following the blowing up of the battle ship Maine in the harbor of Havana, and hostilities ended in just one hundred days, with Cuba independent, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands a part of the United States, ceded by Spain under the treaty of Paris. In the management of that war President MeKinley used consummate skill and tact, and the confidence of the people of all parties was shown when on the outbreak of hostilities Congress gave the President by an unanimous vote in both Senate and House $50,000,000 to be expended as he deemed best in the prosecution of the war. President McKinley had no desire for an open rupture with Spain, and hoped to secure an amelioration of the horrible conditions in Cuba without an open appeal to arms. But when the Maine was blown up action was quick as lightning and the results achieved again demonstrated the value of the Mckinley policy of delay until the Government was able to cope with Spain. The war was undertaken not for conquest of ter- ritory, but in behalf of freedom, and most gloriously was that beneficent end achieved. The first administration of President Mckinley was also notable for the cementing of the old ties between the sections North and South, due to the commingling of the people in a com- mon cause. When the Republican National Convention met at Philadelphia in June, 1900, there was no name but that of William Mckinley on the lips and in the hearts of the dele- gates. His nomination for a second term followed. Bryan was again nominated by the Democrats and again suffered defeat. Mckinley entered upon his second term on the 4th of March, 1901, and prospects were bright that the signal success of the first administration would be duplicated and emphasized in the second. But the American people were doomed to bitter disappointment, for six months after his inauguration the world was thrilled and horrified by the story of the third assassination of a President in the history of the American Republic. The President had spent a month of the middle summer at his old home in Can- ton, where he sought to recuperate his strength for the duties of his high office. The Pan- American Exposition was in full operation at Buffalo, and he had accepted an invitation to be present as the guest of the management, the first week in September. Never was the "Rainbow City" more radiant, attractive or beautiful than when the President and his beloved wife honored the great exposition with their presence. On the afternoon of the 6th of September, while the Presidential party was holding a reception in the Temple of Music at the exposition, a dastardly anarchistic assassin-his name be damned and forgotten- who had been taken kindly by the hand of the President, shot him. The Nation and the world were convulsed by the cowardly crime, and all that skillful surgery could do or sug- gest was invoked in behalf of the stricken Chief Executive. But skill and prayers were of no avail, and at 2:15 in the morning of the 14th of September, he died. The final obsequies took place in his old Canton home, and all Ohio was there to see him reverently placed in the vault of Greenlawn Cemetery. At the hour when the funeral took place in Canton simultaneous services were held all over the world and in the United States every wheel was stopped when the remains were being deposited in the tomb. A King could not have been more honored. yet William Mckinley was a plain American citizen. a noble, spotless man, who had been raised up like Lincoln to fill a place in destiny, who performed a mission with which he had been charged in a manner that challenged the admiration of mankind.
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OHIO'S GOVERNORS
Men Who Helped to. Build up the State
Incumbents of the Gubernatorial Chair, From Edward Tiffin to Myron T. Herrick .- Strong Men of Large Experience and Great Distinction .- Tried and Trusted Leaders of the People of Ohio.
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INCE Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State many men of National S reputation have contributed to its fame. Among them the Governors of Ohio have won distinguished recognition for statesmanship and intellectual force. In the Nation's history these men illumine the page with mighty actions. With few exceptions, they were strong men, of large experience and distinc- tion, and tried and trusted leaders. The first incumbent of the Governor's chair, was Edward Tiffin, a man of forceful character and great executive abil- ity, a strong and fearless opponent of all schemes to introduce slavery into Ohio, a bold advocate of the free navigation of the Mississippi and a courage- ous factor in stopping the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Ex-Secretary of State Daniel J. Ryan, in his history of Ohio, says of Edward Tiffin : "No man whohas ever filled the Gubernatorial chair of Ohio possessed a greater genius for the administration of public affairs than Edward Tiffin. His work in advancing and developing the State has not been equaled by that of any man in its history." Governor Tiffin was a native of England, born in Car- lisle in 1766. At the age of 18 years he came to America, in 1784, and attended Jefferson Medical College, and in due time was licensed to practice his profession. In 1789 he mar- ried a sister of Thomas Worthington, then a resident of Berkeley County, Virginia, and lived in that State until 1798, when he manumitted the slaves inherited by his wife and moved to Chillicothe. He appeared upon the scene of action in the Northwest Territory in its cre- ative period, when the work of molding the destinies of a future commonwealth was com- mitted to the care of very few men. When Tiffin came to Chillicothe he was still a physician, practicing with marked success. In the sparsely settled Scioto Valley his labors carried him over many miles of travel, and he formed the friendships that explain much of his popularity in after years. In 1799, when the people of the Northwest Territory assumed the legislative form of government and under the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, elected a Legislature, Edward Tiffin was sent as representative from Chillicothe, and upon the assembling of the first Territorial Legislature at Cincinnati, he was unanimously elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, which position he held until Ohio became a State. As President of the first Constitutional Convention he won still greater honors and estab- lished his reputation as a man of unquestioned ability. The immediate result of this was that he was elected Governor of the new State in January, 1803, without opposition. Two years later he was re-elected, without opposition, and in 1807 declined a third term, which the people were ready to confer upon him. During his second term Governor Tiffin broke up the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. In 1807 Governor Tiffin was elected to the United States Senate. While a member of this illustrious body he secured much valuable legislation for the young State. Owing to the death of his wife, Senator Tiffin resigned in March, 1809, and returned to Chillicothe, intending to spend his remaining days in peace; but, contrary to his wishes, he was immediately elected a member of the General Assembly of Ohio, in which body he served two terms, during both of which he was speaker of the house. He was afterwards appointed Commissioner of the Land Office, being the first incumbent of that office, and was in Washington in 1814, when the city was captured and burned by the British. He remained at his post of duty, when President Madison, his Cabinet and the heads of the different other departments fled like cowards, and he was the only public official who saved the complete records of his department, while the records of all other depart-
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ments were captured and destroyed by the enemy. Governor Tiffin died in Chillicothe, where he held the position cf Surveyor-General of the West, mourned by the entire people of his State, who loved and honored him.
RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, JR., of Washington County, was elected successor to Governor Tiffin, in 1807, but he did not take hold of the office, as the General Assembly decided that he had not been a resident of the State long enough to be eligible for election. The President of the Senate, Thomas Kirker, of Adams County, thereupon became active Governor. Ile was of Irish extraction, a member of the Constitutional Convention and had taken an active part in forming the new State. He also had been a representative from Adams County in both branches of the General Assembly of Ohio for many years, at times serving as presiding officer of each body.
The year following the election of Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., SAMUEL HUNTING- TON. of Trumbull County, was elected Governor. He was a native of Connecticut, being born in Norwich, in 1765: graduated from Yale in 1795, practiced law at Norwich and was sent by owners of Western Reserve lands to Ohio to examine their property. After his arrival in Ohio he decided to live here, was admitted to the bar at Marietta in 1800 and rep- resented Trumbull County in the Constitutional Convention and State Senate. At the time of his election to the office of Governor he was Judge of the Supreme Court. Governor Huntington's administration was stormy, its chief distinction being the "Sweeping resolu- tion," which was, happily, an unsuccessful attempt to subordinate the judiciary to the Leg- islature. He died in February, 1817, at Painesville, Ohio.
RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, JR., who was elected Governor of Ohio in 1809, and served two terms, enjoys the distinction of being the first war Governor of the Buckeye State. He was born in Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, a member of the first Territorial Legislature and Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territory, also of the Louisi- ana Territory and the Supreme Court of Ohio. At the time of his election as Governor of Ohio he was a member of the United States Senate, from which body he resigned to assume the duties of his new office. He was an able and active man, and during the war of 1812, when Ohio became the field of action, he rendered much valuable service to the country's cause. He subsequently resigned the Governorship to become Postmaster-General of the United States, which office he held for more than nine years. Othniel Looker, of Ham- ilton County, being Speaker of the Senate, filled out Meigs' unexpired term.
THOMAS WORTHINGTON, the next Governor, who also served two terms, came from Ross County. He was a native of the State of Virginia, and an early settler of Chilli- cothe, where he became a prominent member of the party against St. Clair and their representative in Washington. Governor Worthington also was a member of both Terri- torial Legislatures, the Constitutional Convention and one of the first two Senators sent by Ohio to Congress. As Governor, Worthington was a strong advocate of public schools and improved transportation facilities, the encouragement of manufacturies and the reform of banking. Salmon P. Chaise said of Worthington: "He was the father of inter- nal improvements, of the Great National Road and of the Erie Canal." Governor Worthington was a statesman of great ability, a scholar and a polished gentleman. His beautiful home. "Adena." which was finished in 1805, while he represented Ohio in the United States Senate, was a model of beauty and elegance. It is a substantial residence, still standing on the elevated land northwest of the city of Chillicothe, and was in its days deemed the finest mansion west of the Alleghenies.
ETHAN ALLEN BROWN. the next Governor of Ohio, was a native of Connecticut, He was an early settler of Hamilton County and a Judge of the Supreme Court at the
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time of his election. Governor Brown's administration was marked by its enthusiasm for the building of canals and the establishment of free schools, and it was troubled by the results of bad banking and unwise credits for land. Being elected to the United States Sen- ate, Governor Brown resigned in 1822, and Allen Trimble, Speaker of the Senate, became active Governor, until JEREMIAH MORROW, of Warren County, was elected to that office. He was a distinguished gentleman, who served the State of his adoption long and faithfully. Born in Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, he came to Ohio in 1796, where he took an energetic and active part in all public affairs. He was a leader of men, whose common sense, honesty, frankness and thorough knowledge of the questions coming before him commanded the implicit confidence and respect of all men. Previous to his election as Governor he was a member of the Second Territorial Assembly, and the first, and for ten years the only representative of the State in the lower house of Congress. He also served one term in the United States Senate. After the close of his two terms as Governor he served in both branches of the General Assembly, and closed his career with two terms in Congress when over seventy years of age. As Governor he was industrious in encouraging the construction of canals and other public improvements, and his administration saw the beginning of work on both the canal systems of Ohio and the National Road.
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