USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 30
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Wilberforce University
The Wilberforce University, located in Greene County, near Xenia, Ohio, can not be considered one of the State educational institutions, except that it has been receiving State assistance in establishing and maintaining an industrial department since 1887. The uni- versity is for colored youth, and affords an opportunity for extending industrial training to colored youth, such as is not found in other institutions in the State.
On the 28th of September. 1853, the Cincinnati Conference of the M. E. Church selected a committee which recommended "the establishment of a literary institution of high order for the education of colored people generally;" and in May, 1856, "Tawawa Springs," a beautiful summer resort in Greene County, Ohio, was purchased, and Wilberforce Univer- sity was organized. By concurrent action, the M. E. and the A. M. E. Conferences of Ohio entered into co-operation for the success of the university. It was incorporated August 30, 1856, and a board of twenty-four trustees selected, including Governor Salmon P. Chase, President R. S. Rust, Ashland Keith of the colored Baptist denomination, and D. A. Payne ; and the broad principle adopted that there should never be any distinction among the trustees, faculty or students, on account of race, color or creed.
The university began its work in October, 1856,, under Rev. M. P. Gaddis, as principal. He was succeeded by Professor James K. Parker, and he by Dr. Richard S. Rust, the first President. During the first epoch, which terminated with the Civil War, the number of students, largely the children of Southern planters, varied from seventy to one hundred. Commendable progress was made in literary culture. The War closed the school, and the M. E. Church withdrew from the field.
On the 10th of March, 1863, D. A. Payne purchased the property for ten thousand dollars, and associated with himself James A. Shorter and Professor John G. Mitchell, in the reorganizing of the university. It is the oldest college for negroes in this country. Congress in 1870 appropriated twenty-five thousand dollars; Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
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bequeathed ten thousand dollars; the Charles Avery estate added ten thousand dollars, and the American Unitarian Association gave for lectures six thousand dollars to the university.
On the 19th of March, 1887, the Legislature of the State of Ohio came to the aid of the university, helping in establishing a Normal and Industrial Department, and is appro. priating now seventeen thousand dollars per annum to the university. On the 9th of January, 1894, President Cleveland detailed Lieutenant John H. Alexander, a West Point graduate, to organize and instruct the Military Department of Wilberforce University, and the United States Government is still maintaining this department. At the breaking out of the Spanish- American War, Wilberforce furnished some of the best negro soldiers that went to the front, a number of whom are fighting for the flag in the Philippines to-day.
The university has received from all sources since organization more than five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. More than six thousand negro youths have attended the uni- versity, most of them coming from the South. It is the pride of the university that it has always been the aim and object to contribute her full share to the intellectual, moral, physical and industrial uplift of the negro, and thereby assist in removing the standing menace to our American institutions-the race problem.
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OHIO NATIONAL GUARD
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A Brief Synopsis of Its History
Its Re-organization after the Civil War. - Patriotism Displayed by the Volunteers .- The Citizen Soldier in Action .- Reminiscences of the Cincinnati Riot .- Other Internal Troubles. - Men of Courage and Feality.
ROM the earliest days of the first settlers in America it was found F necessary to form armed bodies of men for the protection of the people. These volunteers in Colonial Days were, in the New Eng- land States, called "Minute Men," and they, originally formed for the protection against Indian aggression, became the nucleus later of the Revolutionary Army. A similar organization, the "State Militia," was later formed in the different States, as the country developed and expanded, and in Ohio this force did yeoman service in St. Clair's and "Mad" Anthony's campaigns against the Indians then in hostile arms. After the subjugation of the Indians, and Ohio becoming populated in all directions, military bodies in the different settlements became numerous, and in the War of 1812 against England and her Indian allies, these volunteer bodies again took up arms for the protection of their homes. Again in the Civil War the military organizations, organized under the administration of Governor Chase, contributed many thousands of volunteers to the cause of the Union.
After the dispersion of the Union forces at the termination of the Civil War, for several years no active volunteer military organizations were continued, as the people were sur- feited with the display of arms, and a natural reaction occurred, in which the masses looked with disapproval on any further efforts that might be made for the continuation of armed bodies of men. Later, however, it was found necessary to organize a National military body of volunteers, fostered in a measure by the United States Government, which organizations were called "National Guards." Each State in the Union supplied one of these armed and organized bodies, and Ohio, as usual, took the lead in this, like other departures, for the public good.
The Ohio National Guard, since the early seventies, has seen active duty at many occa- sions. The prominent place Ohio has held in the last forty years in commerce and industry, has brought with it innumerable labor disputes, and not infrequently these have assumed such proportions and aspects as to constitute infractions of the laws governing public peace and property rights. These and the occasional lynchings which have occurred in the State have given the Ohio National Guard experiments in the field and under arms in actual oppo- sition to an enemy none the less obstinate and difficult to subdue than a foreign foe.
In December, 1873, the National Guard of Ohio was for the first time after its reorgani- zation called to actual service during the time of a railroad strike in Ohio, when the Harman Guards of Steubenville, Captain B. Miller, were dispatched to Dennison, and the Covington Guards were sent to Bradford. No active duty, however, followed, as the mere show of military force was sufficient to discourage violence. In June of the following year demon- strations by striking coal miners in the Hocking Valley led to the sending of the Still Guards, of Chillicothe, and the Lytle Guards, of Cincinnati, to Nelsonville. The next and possibly the most wide-spread and serious outbreak ever confronted by the National Guard occurred in the year 1877, when Charles W. Karr was Adjutant General. This was the time of the great railroad strikes, breaking out first on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at New- ark, soon spreading along that line, then to other lines, until practically the whole State was involved. On the 18th of July troops were ordered to be sent to Newark. Company A, Seventh Regiment, of Springfield; Company D, Sixth Regiment, Circleville, of which
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Charles E. Groce was Captain; the Zanesville City Guards, and the Mt. Vernon Guards were sent to the original seat of the trouble, and placed under the command of Colonel C. B. Hunt, of Cincinnati, afterwards for many years commandant of the First Regiment.
It soon became apparent that this military force would not be sufficient. Consequently four companies of the First Regiment, all of the Third Regiment and two companies of the Fourth Regiment were ordered to the scene of strife. When it appeared that the strikers were subdued, a number of the companies were ordered home, but just about that time the turmoil broke out in other places. The efforts of the police at Columbus to preserve order were fruitless. The Circleville Company, en route home from Newark, was sent immedi- ately to that city to the aid of the police. The disorder continued throughout the month, and before it was over practically the whole National Guard of the State had been called into service.
The next disturbance warranting the services of troops occurred on the 8th of May, 1880, when rioting broke out at the Silver Creek mine, in Wayne County. Company D, Eighth Regiment, Massillon, Captain F. W. Warthorst, was sent to the scene. The late Governor Nash was then Attorney General, and he accompanied Colonel S. B. Smith, Assistant Adjutant General, to the seat of trouble, the former to give legal advice.
On the 27th of August of the same year one hundred masked men surrounded a board- ing house near Coalton, in an attempt to drive away non-union miners who had taken their positions. Company A, Sixth Regiment, Captain Arthur Hamilton, and Company A, Fourth Regiment, Captain H. E. Mead, were ordered there. They were stoned and shot at by the rioters, but fortunately no one was hurt.
A report became current on the 14th of August that miners were trying to destroy the property of the Central Coal Company, at Corning. Company C, Seventeenth Regiment, and two companies of the Fourteenth Regiment, under Colonel George D. Freeman, were called for. In this riot the military shed blood for the first time since its reorganization. Upon opening fire seven rioters were wounded. The energetic manner in which the mob was attacked resulted in the dispersion of the men and the restoration of peace and order.
In June, 1882, there were riots in Cleveland. The First Light Artillery, the Cleveland Grays and the Cleveland Gun Batteries were called into service to suppress them. About this time a series of disturbances caused at the time of executions of criminals began, many of them so serious as to call for the militia. In those days executions took place at the county seats, and naturally they attracted multitudes of curious, and in some cases danger- ous, onlookers. The Sheriffs were unable to restrain the crowds that pressed in to see the gruesome performances. On the 12th of October, 1883, at Bowling Green, in connection with the execution of Charles Bach, Company C, Sixteenth Regiment, and the Toledo Cadets, under Colonel H. M. Bunker, restored order. About this time the First Regiment did service in preventing robbery during the tremendous floods in the Ohio Valley in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, and Company B, Seventeenth Regiment, did similar duty in the Muskingum Valley, near Zanesville. Companies B, C, D, E, F and G of the Eighth, B of the Second, G of the Fourteenth and D of the Seventeenth, were called on the 14th of May to suppress rioting on the day of the execution of Horn and Gribblen at Ashland. On the 29th of May, 1884, Company F of the Seventeenth Regiment, did service in preventing simi- lar lawlessness at the execution of Wesley Johnson, at Napoleon.
The most serious outbreak that the Ohio National Guard has ever been called upon to suppress was the Cincinnati riot, which followed the failure of a jury to find William Ber- ner guilty of murder in the first degree for killing William Kirk. In all probabilities a simi- lar scene has never been enacted in any large city in the United States during the history of
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MIREARMS
180 P.POWELL&SON
SCENES OF THE CINCINNATI RIOT
See" Explanatory_Notes
our country as that which occurred during that time. The outbreak began and was in a measure caused by a mass meeting held by the leading citizens of Cincinnati to protest against' the inefficiency of the judiciary of Hamilton County in their treatment of criminals guilty of murder. Many men had been tried, proven guilty, and sentenced to light punish- ment. Consequently, an epidemic of crime became prevalent and to protest against this condition and to stigmatize the Judges and juries by whose aid these criminals escaped the gallows, this meeting was called. It was not anticipated, however, that any radical move- ment would be made other than that of signifying their protests during the progress of the mass meeting. An undesirable element, however, attended the meeting, and after its conclu- sion, they, being wrought up to a frenzy of rage by the condemnatory addresses of the speakers, against the judiciary of the county, took violent action. With cries of "To the jail," the meeting, originally called for a peaceful protest, ended in a riotous outbreak. A mob formed and marched in a body to the Hamilton County jail for the purpose of forcibly taking possession of the incarcerated criminals and putting them to death by lynching. This riot began on the 28th of March, 1884, and so strong, so destructive and defiant were the rioters that before the rout of the mob every regiment in the State but one was called upon for service. The rioters were armed, and dozens of the members of the National Guard were wounded. Two were killed, one of these was a Columbus man, Israel Getz, a member of the Fourteenth Regiment; the other was Captain John L. Desmond, of Cincinnati. It was in this riot that the Hamilton County Court House was burned, and for several days the mob was in control of many of the streets of the city. During this riot forty-five people were killed and over one hundred and fifty were wounded, many of them fatally. In another part of this volume a more detailed account of this riot can be found .*
In June of the same year an outbreak of striking miners in the Hocking Valley called the militia to arms again. The trouble included the mining regions of Hocking, Perry and Athens Counties, and Companies E and F of the Sixth, H of the Fourteenth, A of the Seven- teenth and K of the Fourteenth were called into service. Two guardsmen lost their lives during this riot.
On the 15th of April, 1892, a mob attempted to lynch a man who had been arrested for assault upon the person of a seven-year-old girl at Newark. Company G, Seventeenth Regi- ment, being called out, prevented the lynching. On the 15th of November an attempted lynching at Alliance called out Company K, Eighth Regiment, and a little later Companies D and I of the Third Regiment were called out at Dayton to prevent the same kind of violence.
All the Toledo National Guard was called out in connection with a fire in that city in January, 1894, and Companies D of the Third, A of the Ninth Battalion and Battery E ren- dered similar service soon afterwards at Springfield. Company F of the Second Regiment was called to Rushsylvania to prevent a lynching. This lynching was carried out, notwith- standing the arrival of the troops.
Then came the trouble that the Guard had with the different divisions of the so-called "Industrial Army." This movement was originally formed in Oakland, California, where many unemployed men banded themselves together and determined to cross the continent and visit the seat of government at Washington, under the impression that by a show of force Congress could be induced to enact some legislation for the benefit of the unemployed. These men were organized as an army, regularly officered. Not having the funds to pay for transportation across the continent, it forcibly took possession of trains and compelled the railroads to carry the men free of charge. Naturally trouble followed all along the route, and this was also the case in Ohio. The B. & O. Railroad took a decided stand against
*See page 132.
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this and asked the State military to compel a branch of the "Army" en route to meet the main body that had taken possession of a train at Mt. Sterling to vacate. Companies A, B, C, F and L of the Fourteenth Regiment and Battery H were sent, and "General" Galvin soon surrendered without a shot being fired. At Cleveland Companies A, B, F and I of the Fifth Regiment and the Cavalry Troop were called upon to perform similar duties. On the 21st of July, at Clyde, an "Industrial Army," under command of "Count Bylakovsky," was com- pelled to vacate freight trains and march to Washington.
On the 9th of May Company E of the Eighth and Battery F were called out to stop riots at Akron. On the 30th of May Companies A, B, K and L of the Seventeenth Regiment and Battery H were ordered to Glouster, where miners were stopping coal trains, but were recalled en route, the situation being well in hand by the local civil authorities. Then came the Wheeling Creek campaign, the most general engagement of all the State troops since the Cincinnati riot. The regiments participating were the Eighth, Fourteenth, Companies
BAND OF THE EIGHTH REGIMENT AKRON, OHIO
A, C, F, G, H, K and M of the Seventeenth ; Second, Sixteenth, Fifth; Companies B. G and I of the Third; the Toledo Cadets and Batteries C, D and H, in all 3,371 officers and men. The cause of the call was the attempt of miners to prevent the shipments of coal from non- union mines. The most sanguinary encounter between the militia and rioters occurred on the 10th of October of that year at Washington Court House, when a mob attempted to take a negro who was arrested for assault on a woman from the jail and lynch him. Companies A, B, C, D, E, F and L of the Fourteenth Regiment, Company M of the Third, H of the Seventeenth and Battery B were ordered to the scene of trouble. The Fourteenth was in command of Colonel Coit. The mob was persistent, and even when the rioters knew troops were inside the courthouse, they tried to beat the door in with a battering ram. The troops were ordered to fire through the doors, and many people were killed or wounded. Unfortu- nately, some of them belonged to the "innocent spectator" class and were far away from the scene of the tumult. This experience has led to the use of the riot shell, which is just as deadly at close range as the standard cartridge, but does not carry so far.
Colonel Coit was tried for manslaughter at Circleville, as a result of the shooting, but he was acquitted.
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The murder of the City Marshal of Tiffin, on the 30th of August, 1895, led to an attempt to lynch the murderer, and Companies D and I of the Sixteenth Regiment and E, G and I of the Second were called out ; and an attempt to lynch Lyman Strong, arrested for the murder of the Stone family at Talmadge, on the 30th of March, 1896, called Company B of the Eighth Regiment and Battery F to Akron. A strike at the Brown Hoisting Works at Cleve- land called out Companies B, F, I and L of the Fifth Regiment on the 2d of July of the same year, and kept them on duty until the 11th of August. Companies D and B of the Third were called to Urbana by the lynching of Chiek Mitchell, and on the 7th of August Com- pany M of the Fifth Regiment was called to Fairport by a strike of ore handlers.
The event of the year 1898 was the calling of all the National Guard to Camp Bushnell to enter the volunteer service in the war with Spain.
On the 25th of March, 1899, an attempt to lynch the Zeltner brothers, murderers of Attorney Westenhaver, at Hoyt's Corners, Wood County, called Companies H and K of the Second Regiment to Bowling Green.
On the 23d of August, 1900, rioting in Akron, resulting in the destruction of $200,000 worth of property, called Companies A, B, C, D, E, G, H, K and L of the Fourth Regiment to that city. The regiment was encamped at Minerva Park when the call was made. Colonel J. D. Potter was in command. Companies B and F of the Eighth Regiment were also called out during this trouble.
When there came a call for troops during the Spanish-American War the National Guard of Ohio enlisted as one man. Camp Bushnell was established, and soon the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Eighth Regiments, the Ninth Battalion, the Fourteenth and Six- teenth and Seventeenth Regiments of Infantry, the Artillery, Signal and Medical Corps, and finally a Regiment of Cavalry were on the field. Part of the service was not accepted by the Government, and some of the men were not taken on account of physical disability, but this made no difference, as the places of those who could not go were soon filled by volunteers. In fact, the companies were running over and in June were at the full war strength-one hundred and six to a company. Later the Tenth Ohio was organized. In the various camps the Ohio troops drilled faithfully, the Artillery and the Cavalry soon became the best troops in the field. When the advance was made on Santiago, Cuba, all wanted to go. The Eighth Regiment was the first. Afterwards the Sixth followed and did garrison duty in Cuba. Then came the orders for General Brook to go to Porto Rico, and the gallant Fourteenth, rechristened the Fourth, was chosen. This regiment was the only one from Ohio to be under heavy fire, and at Guayama and other places served with distinction. In the spring of 1903 labor troubles at Fremont necessitated the calling out of troops, but fortunately no blood was shed. In March of the following year, at Springfield, serious riots culminated in the lynching of a negro who had assassinated a police officer of that city. The local guards were called out, but were unable to prevent the lynching. Subsequently the entire "levee," notorious negro quarters, were burned to the ground, and Governor Herrick called addi- tional troops, which suppressed any further demonstrations. In May of the same year labor troubles at Hanging Rock, near Ironton, compelled the National Guard to go to the scene of trouble. Colonel Carmi Thompson was in command, and he handled his troops so admirably that, notwithstanding considerable provocation, he dispersed the rioters and restored law and order without the loss of lives on either side.
After the war with Spain the National Guard was reorganized and became more closely allied with the Central Government. They are now regularly inspected by United States Army officers and are a part of the National Army. The strength of the Guard in Ohio is about five thousand men, divided into eight Regiments of Infantry, one Battalion of colored
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troops, two troops of Cavalry, two Battalions of Naval Reserves and four Batteries of Artil- lery. The First Brigade is made up as follows: The Sixth, Third, Second, First, Ninth Battalion, Batteries B and D and Troop A; the Second Brigade has the Eighth, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Regiments, Engineers, Batteries H and A and Troop B. The Medical Staff is assigned as it is in the regular army. Rigid inspection may lessen the number of the Guard for a time, but Ohio can any time put ten thousand men into the field in twenty-four hours, drawing on ex-members and the several military colleges. The personnel of the members of the Ohio National Guard probably ranks as high if not higher than that of any other State in the Union. The officers are all men naturally endowed with the mental attributes which go to make excellent soldiers, splendidly trained, and gifted with a thor- ough knowledge of military tactics. In the ranks will be found a majority of men who occupy leading social positions in life and who, when the occasion presents itself, are capable of filling the higher branches of military duty. Some of the Ohio Regiments have Bands of National reputation, and are led by musicians of great and acknowledged abilities. This is especially true of the First, the Fourth and the Eighth Regimental Bands. Of these Bands it can be truthfully said that they have no superiors in any military organization.
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Who is Who in and from
The State of Ohio
Sketches of Men who have made the Commonwealth Famous
"Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime And, departing leave behind us Foot-prints on the sand of time;
Foot-prints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's stormy main- A forlorn and shipwrecked brother- Seeing, shall take heart again." -Longfellow
LL that the State of Ohio has accomplished in the history of this A country-and that her position is a proud one, a perusal of these pages will prove-is due not alone to any special natural blessing, but to the men who have helped to carve her destiny. When the early voyagers faced toward the setting sun on their perilous jour- ney into a new, wild and dangerous country, to erect the founda- tions of a new empire, great men were found among them, hardy, courageous and adventurous spirits, who ably filled special positions of leadership. From that early day to the present, as necessity has required it, men have arisen among their fellows to lead in the dif- ferent enterprises of a great and glorious State.
Statesman, soldier, financier, educator, scientist, husbandman and trader-all have responded to the call of the hour. In every city, town, village and hamlet, are to be found men of character and influence, who, by their enterprise and thrift, by their activity and sagacity, their zeal in religious and political affairs, have contributed their individuality to the material prosperity of the community in which they live, and thus each adds its quota to the general welfare of the people.
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