The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 37

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081

USA > Ohio > Warren County > The History of Warren County, Ohio > Part 37

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

1814-For Governor, Thomas Worthington, Republican, 563; Othniel Looker, War Federalist, 271 ; total, 834.

1816-For Governor, Thomas Worthington, Republican, 1,340 ; James Dun-

lap, Federalist, 95 ; total, 1,435.

1818-For Governor, Ethan Allen Brown, 1,098 ; James Dunlap, 207 ; total, 1,305. 1820-For Governor, Ethan Allen Brown, 891 ; Jeremiah Morrow, 281 ; William Henry Harrison, 3; total, 1,175.

[Neither Senator Morrow nor Gen. Harrison had consented to be candidates in opposition to the re-election of Gov. Brown.]

1822-For Governor, Jeremiah Morrow, Republican, 1,105 ; Allen Trimble, Republican, 189 ; William W. Irvin, Republican, 2 ; total, 1,296.

1824-For Governor, Jeremiah Morrow, Republican, 2,376 ; Allen Trimble, Republican, 144 ; total, 2,520. For President, Andrew Jackson, 750 ; J. Q. Adams, 502 ; Henry Clay, 311 ; total, 1,563.

1826-For Governor, Allen Trimble, Republican, 1,626 ; John Bigger, Repub- lican, 517. Alexander Campbell, Republican, 23; Benjamin Tappan, Republican, 47 ; total, 2,213.

1828-For Governor, Allen Trimble, National Republican, 1,358 ; John W. Campbell, Democrat, 1,420; total, 2,778. For President, John Q. Adams, National Republican, 1,833; Andrew Jackson, Democrat, 1,796 ; total, 3,629.

1830-For Governor, Duncan McArthur, National Republican, 1,422 ; Robert Lucas, Democrat, 1,128 ; total, 2,550.

1832-For President, Henry Clay, National Republican, 2,107 ; Andrew Jack- son, Democrat, 1,735 ; William Wirt, Anti-Masonic, - ; total, 3,842.

1834-For Governor, James Findlay, Whig, 1,684 ; Robert Lucas, Democrat, 1,122 ; total, 2,806.

1836-For President, William Henry Harrison, Whig, 2,260 ; Martin Van Buren, Democrat, 1,326; total, 3,586.

1838-For Governor, Joseph Vance, Whig, 1,718; Wilson Shannon, Demo- crat, 1,019 ; total, 2,737.

1840-For Governor, Thomas Corwin, Whig, 2,752; Wilson Shannon, Demo- crat, 1,631 ; total, 4,383. Vote for President, William Henry Harrison, Whig, 2,814 ; Martin Van Buren, Democrat, 1,504 ; James G. Birney, Abolition, 6; total, 4,324.

1842-For Governor, Thomas Corwin, Whig, 2,525 ; Wilson Shannon, Demo- crat, 1,643 ; Leicester King, Abolition, 7 ; total, 4,175.

1844-For Governor, Mordecai Bartley, Whig, 2,722 ; David Tod, Democrat, 1,800 ; Leicester King, Abolition, 94; total, 4,616. For President, Henry Clay, Whig, 2,822 ; James K. Polk, Democrat, 1,795 ; James G. Birney, Abolition, 85 ; total, 4,702.

1846-For Governor, William Bebb, Whig, 2,617 ; David Tod, Democrat, 1,608 ; Samuel Lewis, Abolition, 132 ; total, 4,357.

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1848-For Governor, Seabury Ford, Whig, 2,791 ; John B. Weller, Democrat, 1,864 ; total, 4,655. For President, Zachary Taylor, Whig, 2,526 ; Lewis Cass, Democrat, 1,861 ; Martin Van Buren, Free-Soil, 402 ; total, 4,789.

1850-For Governor, William Johnston, Whig, 2,443 ; Reuben Wood, Demo- -crat, 1,548 ; Edward Smith, Abolition, 25 ; total, 4,016.

1851-For Governor (under new Constitution), Samuel F. Vinton, Whig, 2,293, Reuben Wood, Democrat, 1,540 ; Samuel Lewis, Abolition, 78; total, 3,911.

1852-For President, Winfield Scott, Whig, 2,823; Franklin Pierce, Demo- crat, 1,919; John P. Hale, Free-Soil, 223 ; total, 4,965.

1853-For Governor, Nelson Barrere, Whig, 1,612 ; William Medill, Demo- crat, 1,473; Samuel Lewis, Free-Soil, 442 ; total, 3,527.

1855-For Governor, Salmon P. Chase, Republican, 2,306 ; William Medill, Democrat, 1,461 ; Allen Trimble, American, 360 ; total, 4,127.

1856-For President, John C. Fremont, Republican, 2,688 ; James Buchanan, Democrat, 1,776 ; Millard Fillmore, American, 344 ; total, 4,808.

1857-For Governor, Salmon P. Chase, Republican, 2,473; Henry B. Payne, Democrat, 1,747 ; Phil. Van Trump, American, 72 ; total, 4,292.

1859-For Governor, William Dennison, Republican, 2,689 ; Rufus P. Ranney, Democrat, 1,605 ; total, 4,294.

1860-For President, Abraham Lincoln, Republican, 3,316 ; Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat, 2,011 ; John Bell, Unionist, 122 ; J. C. Breckinridge, Demo- crat, 21 ; total, 5,470.

1861-For Governor, David Tod, Republican, 2,882 ; Hugh J. Jewett, Demo- crat, 1,230; total, 4,112.

1863-For Governor, John Brough, Republican, 4,279 ; C. L. Vallandigham, Democrat, 1,310 ; total, 5,589.

1864-For President, Abraham Lincoln, Republican, 3,419; George B. Mc- Clellan, Democrat, 1,543 ; total, 4,962.

1865-For Governor, Jacob D. Cox, Republican, 3,229 ; George W. Morgan, Democrat, 1,489 ; total, 4,718.

1867-For Governor, R. B. Hayes, Republican, 3,638 ; A. G. Thurman, Demo- crat, 1,905 ; total, 5,545.

1868-For President, U. S. Grant, Republican, 3,917 ; Horatio Seymour, Democrat, 1,875 ; total, 5,792.

1869-For Governor, R. B. Hayes, Republican, 3,351 ; George H. Pendleton, Democrat, 1,875 ; total, 5,226.

1871-For Governor, Edward F. Noyes, Republican, '3,356 ; George W. Mc- Cook, Democrat, 1,770 ; Gideon T. Stewart, Prohibition, - ; total, 5,126.

1872-For President, U. S. Grant, Republican, 3,763; Horace Greeley, Lib- eral Republican, 2,168 ; total, 5,931.

1873-For Governor, Edward F. Noyes, Republican, 3,200 ; William Allen, Democrat, 1,665 ; Isaac Collins, Liberal, 130 ; Gideon T. Stewart, Prohibition, 20 ; total, 5,015.

1875-For Governor, R. B. Hayes, Republican, 3,688 ; William Allen, Demo- crat, 2,513 ; total, 6,201.

1876-For President, R. B. Hayes, Republican, 4,164 ; S. J. Tilden, Democrat, 2,559 ; G. Clay Smith, Prohibition, 5 ; total, 6,728.

1877-For Governor, William H. West, Republican, 3,396 ; Richard M. Bishop, Democrat, 2,087; Henry A. Thompson, Prohibition, 67; Scattering, 14; total, 5,564.

1879-For Governor, Charles Foster, Republican, 4,225 ; Thomas Ewing, Democrat, 2,449 ; Gideon T. Stewart, Prohibition, 24; A. Sanders Piatt, Green- back, 4 ; total, 6,702

1880-For President, James A. Garfield, Republican, 4,565; W. S. Hancock, Democrat, 2,564 ; Neal Dow, Prohibition, 14 ; James B. Weaver, Greenback, 5 ; total, 7,148.

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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.

CHAPTER VII. MILITARY HISTORY.

THE MILITIA MUSTER.

V ARIOUS laws have been passed in Ohio for the purpose of organizing and drilling the militia, and all of them have proved ineffective. The first law proclaimed in the territory northwest of the Ohio was "An act for regulat- ing and establishing the militia. " Up to the year 1833, twenty-two acts for this purpose had been enacted by the Territorial and State Legislatures, and all of them repealed, amended or superseded. These laws provided for dividing the State into military districts, for officering the militia, and that all persons subject to military duty should furnish themselves with arms and accouterments, and meet at specified times to be drilled in the art of war. There were to be company musters, regimental musters, battalion musters and brigade musters. Failure to attend the muster or to be properly armed subjected the offender to a fine. An old document in possession of the writer gives the proceedings of "A Regimental Court of Inquiry of the First Regiment, Second Brigade, First Division of the Ohio Militia, held on Monday, the 20th day of September, 1819, at the house of Gen. David Sutton, in Deerfield, for the assessment of fines in said regiment." Lieut. Col. William McLean was President, and thirteen Cap- tains were members of the court. Over three hundred members of the regi- ment were fined in sums varying from 50 cents to $2.50.

The whole system of militia training soon fell into general contempt. The general muster brought out a vast concourse of people; the day was a holiday for the lower classes, and the occasion of much intoxication and many brutal fights. For the purposes of a military drill it was worse than useless, and in 1844, the Legislature wisely abandoned the attempt of enforcing the perform- ance of military duty in time of peace. Nothing was left of the old muster but a long list of high-sounding military titles-Generals, Colonels, Majors and Captains.

Volunteer and independent military companies have been organized at va- rious times, but they have generally been of short life. They often started out with an energy and spirit which carried their members for a time through the whole routine of drilling but a few months produced a loss of inter- est and laxity of discipline. The independent volunteer militia companies have been of considerable expense to the State and municipal governments, but their history in the past shows that no reliance can be placed upon them as perman- ent organizations of the militia.

The ridiculous features of the old general muster were described in the famous speech of Thomas Corwin, in reply to Gen. Crary, of Michigan, deliv- ered in the House of Representatives of Congress in 1840. The materials for this description were derived from what Corwin had seen at home, and there is a tradition that the orator, before the delivery of this speech in Congress, which gave him a national reputation as a wit, had employed the same weapons of satire, had used the same images and given the same description, in the court of a Justice of the Peace at his own home, while ridiculing a prosecuting wit- ness who happened to be a pompous militia officer.

Gen. Crary had undertaken to criticise the military record of Gen. Harri- son. His own military title was obtained in the militia service. After ridicul-

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ing, in his inimitable manner, the military knowledge of Gen. Crary, derived from his law books, Corwin turned to examine his knowledge derived from militia duty in the field:

We all in fancy now see the gentleman from Michigan in that most dangerous and glo- rious event in the life of a Militia General on the peace establishment-a parade day. The day for which all the other days of his life seem to have been made. We can see the troops in motion, umbrellas, hoe and ax handles and other like deadly implements of war, when lo ! the leader of the host approaches.

"Far off his coming shines ;"

his plume, white, after the fashion of the great Bourbon, is of ample length, and reads its doleful history in the bereaved necks and bosoms of forty neighboring hen-roosts. Like the great Suwaroff, he seems somewhat careless in the forms and points of dress ; hence his epaulets may be on his shoulders, back or side, but still gleaming, gloriously gleaming, in the sun. Mounted he is, too, let it not be forgotten. Need I describe to the Colonels and Generals of this honorable House the steed which heroes bestride on such an occasion ? No; I see the memory of other days is with you. You see before you the gentleman from Mich- igan, mounted on his crop-eared, bushy-tailed mare, the singular obliquities of whose hinder limbs is described by that most expressive phrase, "Sickle-hams"-her height just fourteen hands, all told. Yes, sır; there you see his steed, that laughs at " the shaking of the spear;" that is his "war-horse, whose neck is clothed with thunder."

Mr. Speaker: We have glowing descriptions in history of Alexander the Great and his war-horse, Bucephalus, at the head of the invincible Macedonian phalanx ; but, sir, such are the improvements of modern times that every one must see that our Militia General, with his crop-eared mare, with bushy tail and sickle-ham, would literally frighten off a bat- tle-field a hundred Alexanders. But, sir, to the history of the parade day. The General, thus mounted and equipped, is in the field and ready for action. On the eve of some des- perate enterprise, such as giving an order to shoulder arms, it may be there occurs a crisis, one of the accidents of war.

A cloud rises and passes over the sun! Here an occasion occurs for the display of that greatest of all traits in the character of a commander; that tact which enables him to seize and turn to good account events unlooked for as they arise.

Now for the caution wherewith the Roman Fabius foiled the skill and courage of Hannibal. A retreat is ordered, and troops and General in a twinkling are found safely bivouacked in a neighboring grocery.

But even here the General still has room for the exhibition of heroic deeds. Hot from the field, and chafed with the untoward events of the day, your General unsheathes his trenchant blade, eighteen inches in length, as you will well remember, and with an energy and remorseless fury he slices the watermelons that lie in heaps around him, and shares them with his surviving friends!

Others of the sinews of war are not wanting here. Whisky, Mr. Speaker, that great leveler of modern times is here also, and the shells of watermelons are filled to the brim.

Here, again, Mr. Speaker, is shown how the extremes of barbarism and civilization meet. As the Scandinavian heroes of old, after the fatigues of war, drank wine from the skulls of their slaughtered enemies in Odin's Halls, so now our Militia General and his forces, from the skulls of melons thus vanquished, in copious draughts of whisky, assuage the he- roic fire of their souls after the bloody scenes of a parade day. But, alas, for this short- lived race of ours, all things will have an end, and so even is it with the glorious achieve- ments of our General. Time is on the wing, and will not stay his flight; the sun, as if frightened at the mighty events of the day, rides down the sky, and at the close of the day, when " the hamlet is still," the curtain of night drops upon the scene;

"And glory, like the phoenix in its fires, Exhales its odors, blazes, and expires."

THE WAR OF 1812.

Before the declaration of war against England, in June, 1812, the people of Southwestern Ohio were frequently alarmed with reports of Indian incursions. Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, had been laboring for years to bring about a union of the Indian tribes in a war against the whites. The battle of Tippecanoe was fought November 7, 1811. The Indians were defeated, but, until the commencement of the war with England, the Government was con- stantly engaged in negotiations with them to prevent more formidable hostili- ties. Not content with negotiations, the Government, in April, before the dec- laration of war, organized a military force at Dayton, consisting of three regi- ments of infantry, in addition to one regiment of regulars. This force was placed under the command of Gen. Hull, and was afterward surrendered to the

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British in August, 1812. The news of Gen. Hull's surrender spread gloom and alarm among the people from Cincinnati to the frontier. The whole region of the Miamis was left exposed to Indian depredations. Soon after came the rumor that the British and Indians under Tecumseh were approaching by the Maumee River, and that Fort Wayne was besieged.

During the year 1812, many councils were held at Piqua by representatives of the Government with Indian chiefs for the purpose of securing friendly rela- tions with them. While one of these was in progress, Gov. Meigs, Jeremiah Morrow and Thomas Worthington being the United States Commissioners, a rumor was spread throughout the southern part of Warren County that the In- dians had proved treacherous, had massacred the representatives of the Govern- ment, and were marching southward. Men left their plows in the furrow, seized their rifles and rushed to the defense of their homes.

Although their situation was such as to give rise to feelings of uneasiness as to the safety of their own homes, the great majority of the people of Warren County were in favor of the war with England. On the reception of the news of the formal declaration of war, the people held meetings, passed resolutions of approval, and took steps to respond to the call for troops.

Lebanon was the rendezvous of the troops raised in 1812 from the counties of Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont. In August, 1812, four companies of riflemen, commanded respectively by Capt. Joel Collins, Capt. Means, Capt. Leonard and Capt. Hinkle; a company of artillery commanded by Capt. Joseph Jenkinson; and a company of light infantry commanded by Capt. Matthias Cor- win, assembled in Lebanon, where the commissioned officers met and elected Joseph Jenkinson, Major. They took up their line of march for Urbana by way of Dayton, making, according to James McBride, quite a formidable appear- ance. Before reaching Dayton, they received the news that Gen. Hull and his army were prisoners of the enemy, and that the British and their Indian allies were marching to meet them. At Urbana, they were united with a battalion under the command of Maj. Galloway, of Xenia. The commissioned officers of the two battalions met and elected Capt. David Sutton, of Deerfield, Warren County, Colonel of the regiment. " Col. Sutton," says McBride, in his biog- raphy of Joel Collins, "had raised a company and gone out with the first army as a Captain. He had been sent into the interior, by the order of Gen. Hull, for the purpose of transacting some business connected with the army, and con- sequently was not present at the time of their capitulation. He was with Jen- kinson's battalion, on his return, when they received intelligence of Hull's sur- render. Any person alive now who was living at that time must remember the consternation that this news produced throughout the whole community. So strong a feeling of patriotism pervaded the country at that time that it appeared as if every able-bodied man who could possibly raise a horse and a gun was on the move for the frontier. In a few days, a large, promiscuous multitude were assembled in and about Urbana, but they were without leaders, and knew not what to do." William Henry Harrison, however, soon took the command, and applied his energies to the proper organization of the army on the Northwest- ern frontier.

The first Kentucky troops that arrived in Ohio after Hull's surrender were & brigade of militia under the command of Brig. Gen. John Payne. They ar- rived at Piqua September 3, 1812, and Gen. Harrison determined to send for- ward a detachment for the relief of Fort Wayne. Maj. Jenkinson, in whose battalion were riflemen from Warren and neighboring counties, was ordered to send one of his companies to act as road-cutters and open a wagon-way along Wayne's old trace from Fort Loramie to St. Mary's; another company to escort a train of wagons on their way to Fort Wayne; another to relieve a company of

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militia from Ohio, stationed at Loramie's; and the remainder of the battalion to remain at Piqua. Maj. Jenkinson permitted the Captains to decide the matter by lot as to the company which should be assigned to each particular duty. Tickets were prepared and drawn from a hat. It fell to the lot of Capt. Mat- thias Corwin's company of volunteers from Warren County to escort twenty wagon-loads of supplies, and to Capt. Joel Collins' company of Butler County volunteers to open the road. In 1840, Gen. Charles Anthony thus addressed a political meeting in Columbus, Ohio:

" When the brave Harrison and his gallant army were exposed to the dan- gers and hardships of the Northwestern frontier-separated from the interior, on which they depended for their supplies, by the brush-wood and swamps of the St. Mary's country, through which there was no road-where each wagoner had to make his way wherever he could find a passable place, leaving traces and routes which are still visible for a space of several days' journey in length- there was one team which was managed by a little, dark-complexioned, hardy looking lad, apparently about fifteen or sixteen years old, who was familiarly called TOM CORWIN."

From what has already been said, it is evident that there were stirring times in Warren County during the opening scenes of the war. Fears of the In- dians, news of Hull's surrender, calls for volunteers and upon farmers for wagon-loads of provisions; the encampment of troops at the little village of Lebanon produced an intense excitement, and animated the whole population with a determination to avert the desolation that threatened the frontiers, and to wipe out the disgrace with which American arms had been stained by the opening movement of the war. Enlistments in the county must have been rapid, but no record of their numbers, or even the names of the commanders of companies, can now be found. The files of the Western Star, the only paper then printed in the county, for that period, are lost, but in a single paper still in existence, dated August 27, 1812, the announcement of Hull's surrender is made under the head of "To Arms! To Arms! " and from the same paper it appears that a light infantry company from Lebanon and volunteers from other parts of the county left Lebanon for Piqua on the 25th of August, and on the afternoon of the same day, Thomas Ross induced twenty men to volunteer in Lebanon, after which they marched through the town, endeavoring to induce others to join them. From other newspaper accounts, it appears that on Sun- day, August 23, 1812, Capt. Caldwell, with a troop of horse from Warren County, rode through Dayton to Piqua, and Capt. Johnson, with a rifle com- pany from the same county, reported at Camp Meigs, on Mad River, near Day- ton. The following notice was published in the Lebanon Star in August, 1812:

To all those brave and patriotic young men who wish to enlist in defense of the honor and independence of their country, a bounty of $16 will be paid, and 160 acres of land and three months' extra pay at the expiration of five years' service.

DANIEL CUSHING, Capt. of Artillery, U. S. Army.

Drafts were resorted to in order to fill the quota of Ohio, and a number of citizens of Warren County were drafted. The troubles of the Shakers of Union Village on account of their refusal to perform military service began in Sep- tember, 1813, an account of which we obtain from their own journals:

June 1, 1812. Richard McNemar and Samuel Rollins go to Dayton to see the Gov- ernor respecting military matters that concern believers.

September, 1813. About the 7th and 8th, we have military troubles. Seven of the brethren are drafted to join the Northwestern army, and were required to go to Lebanon and join the detachment of Maj. Fye.

September 11. . Brethren furloughed until called upon to march.

September 16. They are called to Lebanon to march.

September 18. They are marched under guard to Dayton.

September 22. Brethren return home from Dayton; arrive after night; much joy among the people.

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October 1. Our drafted brethren are taken again to Lebanon under pretense of being deserters. October 3. They are marched off from thence to Xenia, thence to Franklinton, thence to Sandusky, etc., etc. It is supposed they will be kept in the army six months.

November 24. Our brethren arrive home from the military department, viz .: Samuel Rollins, David Spinning, Robert Baxter, William Davis, Jr., Rufus E. Davis, Adam Galla- her and Samuel McClelland, the two latter Buseron Brethren. [Buseron was a Shaker community on the Wabash, commenced about 1808.]

It is impossible to learn, at this day, the number of men from Warren County who served their country in the last war with England. A list even of the commissioned officers from the county cannot be obtained. There are on file in the Adjutant General's office at Columbus only nine of the muster rolls of the war of 1812. As the terms of service for which the men were called out were generally short, not exceeding six months, the number of persons who served at some time during the war was quite large, and the names of the com- missioned officers would form an extended list. The military system under which the war was carried on would by no means have answered the purposes of the Government in the great war of the rebellion. In many cases, the raw militiamen had scarcely learned to drill as soldiers when their terms of service expired, and they were succeeded by fresh, untrained recruits. But in every vicissitude of the conflict, the conduct of the people of the county was patriotic and honorable. They volunteered with alacrity, and endured the hardships of the campaigns in the Northwest with patience and cheerfulness.

THE MEXICAN WAR.

The war with Mexico aroused but little of the martial spirit of the people of Warren County. There was a prevalent sentiment among the people that the war was unnecessary; many believed that their Government was in the wrong. The county was strongly Whig in politics, and the majority were not enthusias- tic in their support of the war measures of a Democratic administration. There were but few men from the county in the war.

No event during the progress of the war aroused more interest among the people of every class in the county than the memorable speech of their fellow- citizen, Thomas Corwin, against the further prosecution of the war, delivered in the Senate of the United States February 11, 1847, just before Gen. Scott be- gan the last campaign, which completely broke the military power of Mexico, and after Taylor had won his most brilliant victories. Perhaps no speech ever delivered in Congress was so much talked about. On one side, its sentiments were approved; on the other, they were denounced as treasonable. The orator himself, in after years, with some rhetorical exaggeration, said the speech had caused him to be burned in effigy in every town and hamlet from Maine to Texas that had sent a soldier to fight against Mexico. The famous expression of " Welcome you with bloody hands " caused the Senator in his own county to be represented on banners carried in the processions of his political opponents with his hands and arms to the elbows painted blood red, and underneath the picture, the word " Traitor." Considering the unpopularity of the sentiments uttered, the mere politician regarded the orator as unwise. Looking at the strength and boldness of his language, some of his friends reproached him for imprudence, and his opponents denounced him as a traitor. But time has already marked it as the greatest and best speech of the eminent orator. Por- tions of it have become familiar to school-boys, and have taken their place among the most eloquent passages in the English language The memorable expressions, " bloody hands " and " hospitable graves " occur in a passage which is frequently incorrectly quoted. The exact language of Senator Corwin will be found below:

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The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 37

Author: W. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1081

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081