USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 65
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cemeteries of Spring Grove and Gettysburg ; for the preservation of the peace and order of the state ; for the speedy suppression of disloyalty and resistance to the laws; for untiring industry in the business of the state ; for deep-toned loyalty ; for the full and faithful discharge of the trust which two years ago was intrusted to him by a loyal people.
"For all this he takes with him in his retirement our thanks, our approval, and our desire for his future welfare and happiness. And when the terrible drama of this infamous rebellion shall have closed, his official discharge of duty will remain, a proud monument to his memory, and a rich legacy to his children. (Signed,) " JAMES R. HUBBEL, Speaker of the House. " CHARLES ANDERSON, President of the Senate.
January 19, 1864.
From these all-engrossing cares, Governor Tod, much worn down, retired to his peaceful and delightful home at Briar Hill. Here in the society of his beloved wife and children his wearied spirit found repose. When the Hon. Salmon P. Chase resigned his office of Secretary of the Treasury, President Lincoln tend- ered the important position to Governor Tod. But the governor needed rest ; and his private affairs, long neglected, demanded attention. He therefore felt constrained to decline the honor thus urged upon him.
In 1868, he was chosen by the Republicans, for the state at large, as one of the Electors of President of the United States. But on the 14th of November, a fortnight before the meeting of the Electoral College, he was seized with sudden sickness and died. The Electoral College, at its meeting, adopted a series of resolutions very similar to the joint resolutions of the Legislature of the state. The Hon. Samuel Galloway was appointed to pronounce an eulogy upon the life and character of the deceased.
The remains of this great and good man now repose in the family vault on the banks of the Mahoning, awaiting the summons of the Resurrection Trump.
HON. JOHN BROUGH.
[See page 643.]
In the year 1806 a ship crossed the Atlantic, bringing to our shores two young men whose subsequent careers were very different. One of these was Blenner- hassett. The tragedy of his life caused his name to be widely spread throughout England and America. The other young man was John Brough. He was the intimate friend of Blennerhassett, and for years remained in the most friendly relations with him. He had, however, sufficient sagacity to avoid being involved . in the entanglements which Aaron Burr threw around his victim.
Mr. Brough married a lady of Pennsylvania, who was distinguished for her intelligence and force of character. A family of five children, consisting of three sons and two daughters, was eventually gathered around their fireside. John Brough, the subject of this memoir, was the second child. He was born in Marietta, Ohio, on the 17th of September, 1811. When he was but eleven years of age his father died. Mrs. Brough was left with a group of little child- ren, and was mainly dependent upon her own exertions for support.
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John went into a printing office in Marietta. But anxious for an education, after the lapse of a few months, he entered the Ohio University, at Athens. Here he supported himself by working nights and mornings at his trade. And yet his mental energies were such, it is said, that he was at the head of his classes in every department of study. He was also distinguished for his skill in athletic games.
From the University he passed to the law office. Before completing his studies and entering upon the practice of the law, he went to Petersburg, Vir- ginia, and edited a newspaper in that place, Thence he moved to Marietta, Ohio. Here he published and edited a Democratic paper called the Washington County Republican. Again he removed to Lancaster, where he edited the Ohio Eagle. In each of these papers, warmly espousing the principles of the Demno- cratic party, he wrote spirited leaders, and acquired considerable local reputation. During much of this time he spent his winters in Columbus, acting as Clerk to the Upper House of the General Assembly.
His stern, uncompromising sense of justice won for him the respect of the best men of both parties. In 1839 he was chosen to the responsible post of Auditor. It was by a union of the most upright men of both Whigs and Demo- crats that he was elected. Bitter partisanship says, "Our party, right or wrong." John Brough adopted the far nobler sentiment, "Our party ; if right to be kept right ; if wrong, to be set right." Political expediency taught him that
"Right is right, as God is God, And right shall surely win ; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin."
For six years Mr. Brough filled the office of Auditor. His annual reports were esteemed very valuable. Great mismanagement, perhaps it is not too severe to say, great corruption, had crept into the administration of the finances. Mr. Brough searched out all the labyrinthine windings of fraud, and dragged all secret transactions into the light. We have not space here to enter into the detail of those reformatory measures which rendered his administration of the office conspicuous. It is sufficient to say that there was no wrong, affecting the interests of the people, which he did not seek to have redressed.
The whole financial system of the state was in a condition of apparently inextricable confusion. It had been quite impossible, from the records and reports, to obtain any correct idea of the receipts and disbursements of the treasury. Time alone could bring order from this chaos. Mr. Brough, regard- less of menaces and abuse, persevered, year after year, until the management of the finances was thoroughly changed. He secured the passage of new reve- nue laws, and established an admirable system of accountability between the several departments of government. More than a million acres of land were added to the taxable list. The state was gradually relieved from all its pecuni- ary embarrassments, and its credit became stable.
Very vigorously Mr. Brough assailed the doctrine that " a national debt is a national blessing." Admitting this sentiment to be true in monarchies, where the government needed this safeguard against the revolt of the people, he
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declared it to be emphatically false, under a government where all power and sovereignty were in the hands of the people themselves.
In the year 1840 our country owed British money-lenders two hundred mil- lion dollars. The revenue of the General Government and of the several states did not exceed seventy millions. Of this sum twelve millions were paid to capi- talists upon the other side of the ocean. The revenue of Ohio, from taxation and her public works, was but little over one million dollars. More than half of this was sent across the Atlantic to pay interest upon loans.
Such a mania for public improvements had risen, that between the years 1835 and 1843 the debt of Ohio had increased from a little over five millions to nine- teen millions. And still new schemes of public expenditure were continually urged upon the people. Earnestly and successfully Mr. Brough, in the Legisla- ture, remonstrated against this extravagance. While auditor he bought the Phoenix newspaper, in Cincinnati, changed its name to the Enquirer, and entrusted its editorship to his brother Charles. He opened a law office in Cin- cinnati, occasionally writing editorials for the paper.
Some of the leaders of the Democratic party, at that time, manifested strong pro-slavery inclinations. This utterly anti-democratic spirit disgusted Mr. Brough's stern sense of justice. He withdrew from the organization, resolving to have but little more to do with politics. He sold out one-half of the Enquirer, was chosen President of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad Company, and removed to Madison as his place of residence. Here he remained until 1853. He was remarkably successful in the management of the affairs of this com- pany. He then administered, with great ability, the affairs of the Bellefontaine line.
When the horrors of civil war were ravaging our country, Mr. Brough was called from his retirement to be the standard-bearer of the State of Ohio. This call he could not refuse to hear. Placed in the gubernatorial chair, he adminis- tered the affairs of the state in such a way as to render Ohio one of the firmest supporters of the General Government during the dreadful conflict. For three years the war raged with unabated fury. In 1864 both parties gathered all their strength for a decisive campaign. By day and by night Governor Brough consecrated all his tireless energies to the maintenance of the national flag. General Grant took command on the Potomac, and the strength of the nation was placed in his hand to bring the conflict to a close.
Governor Brough proposed to several of the western governors that they should send to General Grant an extra force of one hundred thousand men. This was agreed to. On Saturday, April 23, Governor Brough telegraphed to the Adjutant General of Ohio to call thirty thousand militia into the field, to serve for one hundred days. They were to report at their several places of rendezvous on the 2d of May. The day came with dismal gloom and storm. At half-past eight o'clock that evening thirty-eight thousand of the citizens of Ohio were in camp, eager to be led forward to aid their brethren against the foe.
They were scattered along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Some garri- soned the posts in Baltimore. Many were sent forward to meet the brunt of the battle on the bloody field. This energetic action was of unspeakable benefit to the country, and won loud expressions of gratitude from President Lincoln
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and General Grant. Governor Brough and President Lincoln cherished very warm respect for each other. The President often conferred with the governor in hours of embarrassment. The energetic Secretary of War, Stanton, and Governor Brough were truly congenial friends. In many respects they resem- bled each other.
I am indebted to an admirable sketch of the character of Governor Brough, from the pen of William Henry Smith, Esq., Secretary of State, for the most of the facts in the above account. In one of Mr. Smith's concluding paragraphs he says :
" Brough was a statesman. His views of public policy were broad and catholic, and his course was governed by what seemed to be the best interests of the people, without regard to party expediency or personal advance- ment. He was perfectly honest and incorruptible, rigidly just, and plain even to bluntness. People thought him ill-natured, rude. He was not. He was simply a plain, honest, straightforward man, devoted to business."
As a public speaker he had few equals in this country. His style was clear, fluent and logical, while at times he was impassioned and eloquent. His influ- ence on the stump has scarcely ever been excelled. Twice he was married. His first wife was. Miss Achsah P. Pruden, of Athens, Ohio. She died at the age of twenty-five, in September, 1838. After the lapse of five years he married Miss Caroline A. Nelson, of Columbus, Ohio.
"During his last sickness," writes Mr. Smith, " Governor Brough exhibited extra- ordinary patience and fortitude while suffering under intense pain. The first day he reached home he said to his wife that he had come home to die. Upon greeting his daughter, the wife of the Rev. T. M. Cunningham, of Philadelphia, he said to her : 'You have come to see your old father die.'
" It seems that through his entire sickness, while he exhibited a strong deter- mination to conquer the disease, if possible, he nevertheless was impressed with the presentiment that he should never recover.
"Though not a member of a church, nor during the last ten years an active attendant at any place of public worship, he was nevertheless a Christian. The evidence of this he repeatedly exhibited during his illness. He espoused no particular sect, but believed in the fundamental principles of Christianity. He has expressed himself freely on this subject to his family during his recent affliction, and there can be no doubt of his sincerity.
"He stated very calmly, yet with deep feeling, that he was, and had always been, a firm believer in the doctrines of Christianity ; that he had full faith and hope in Jesus Christ, and through Him he hoped for eternal life. He remarked that he had never been a demonstrative man, but his faith had nevertheless been firmly and deeply grounded. John Brough breathed his last at I o'clock on the afternoon of August 29, 1865."
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HON. CHARLES ANDERSON. [See page 663.]
Colonel Richard Clough Anderson, a gentleman of intelligence, property, and commanding character, emigrated from Virginia in the year 1783, to the wilds beyond the Alleghanies and south of the Ohio. He went in the capacity of surveyor general of the lands which Virginia had reserved to pay her revolu- tionary soldiers. Some of these lands were in the vast untrodden wilderness north of the Ohio, between the Scioto and the Little Miami Rivers. Others were south of the Ohio, in the then almost unexplored domain now called Kentucky, between the Cumberland and Green Rivers. Three years after this the Territory of Kentucky was recognized, and seven years after the state.
Colonel Anderson took up his residence at Fort Nelson, at the Falls of the Ohio, near where the flourishing City of Louisville now stands. That place, about midway between the lands, he was to survey. Around the fort there was a small hamlet of between twenty and thirty log-huts. At that time there was not a single white settler in Ohio. It is said that Colonel Anderson built the first house in Louisville which was not of logs.
The Anderson family was one of note. Mrs. Anderson was second cousin of Chief Justice Marshall. Mr. Anderson's eldest son, Richard C., attained dis- tinction for his mental ability and his social virtues. He represented his dis- trict in Congress ; was our first minister to Columbia, and commissioner to the Congress at Panama. General Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter, was another of the sons. It must be admitted that there is something in blood.
Charles Anderson, the subject of this sketch, was born at his father's resi- dence, called Soldiers' Retreat, on the first of June, 1814. In his early days he enjoyed unusual advantages of education and of culture. Under the best of teachers he prosecuted his studies both in the English branches and in the ancient classics, and in 1829 entered Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio. Here he graduated in 1833, under the presidency of the venerable Doctor Bishop. Even at this early period he was distinguished among his fellow-students for his broad national patriotism.
His brother Robert was then in command of the arsenal at St. Louis, Mis- souri. With very strong predilections for a farmer's life, Charles Anderson, still but nineteen years of age, visited his brother, and entering into partnership with him, purchased a farm of nearly a thousand acres. This farm, called Herdsdale, was on a small stream near the barracks. For these rich acres, with buildings, stock, and farming utensils, they paid seven thousand five hun- dred dollars. St. Louis then had a population of but seven thousand. He then and there made the acquaintance of Jefferson Davis, whom, he has often been heard to say, he then admired as much as he has since abhorred.
Soon after this, Major Robert Anderson was ordered far away to the com- mand of the arsenal at Augusta, Maine. Thus this enthusiastic lad, still in his teens, a young man of gentle culture, scholarly tastes and habits, totally unac- quainted with farming, was left alone to the management of this large estate. This summoned his guardian, an elder brother, to look into the state of affairs. After taking counsel of the most intelligent citizens of St. Louis, he became
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satisfied that Charles had made a very unwise purchase. One thousand dollars were paid to the former proprietor, Frederick Dent, to rescind the contract. The estate now belongs to President Grant.
Charles, thus thwarted in his favorite pursuit, and being of enthusiastic and restless turn of mind, was anxious to enter the army. But his friends so strenuously remonstrated against this course, that he relinquished the plan. He then resolved to turn trapper. His imagination was captivated by the thought of exploring the sublime solitudes of the Rocky Mountains, of paddling in the birch canoe over the crystal waters of rivers hitherto unexplored and nameless, of sharing the hospitality of the Indians in their wigwams, and of gaining wealth by the rich furs he should take, and which ever found a ready sale in the St. Louis market. But in opposition to these wild dreams of youth his judicious friends again so vigorously interposed, that he felt constrained to abandon this enterprise also.
Thus bitterly disappointed, there seemed to be no resource left for him but to study law. Eight of the sons and sons-in-law of Colonel Richard Clough Anderson were lawyers. Charles returned to Louisville and entered himself as a student in the distinguished firm of Pirtle & Anderson. He was a young man of genius, of brilliant parts, with a great command of language, and an intui- tive power of disentangling intricacies. We infer, from the whole of his career, that patient, plodding industry was not the most prominent of his virtues.
In the year 1835, having completed his law studies, he went to Dayton, and on the 16th of September was married to Miss Eliza Jane Brown, a young lady whom he met three years before, at his college commencement, and for whom he had formed a strong attachment.
Dayton was a pleasant, growing place, and Mr. Anderson decided to remain and open an office there. He had but little zeal in his profession, and was inspired with no glowing desire to become distinguished. For ten years he remained in Dayton, half lawyer and half farmer, but ever displaying a strength of moral principle, a magnanimity and calm independence of character which won for him the increasing respect of the community.
What was called the township of Dayton then comprehended not only the present Dayton, but Van Buren, Harrison and Mud River Townships. Mr. Anderson, in consequence of his earnest advocacy of popular education, was elected Town Clerk and Superintendent of the Common Schools. To carry into vigorous effect the new school law of 1836, he traversed the whole of this wide region on foot, taking a census of the entire population. Soon after he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of his county. In 1844 he became a member of the State Senate. Here the moral courage which conspicuously marked his life was displayed, in being the first man in Ohio who dared to propose and vote for the repeal of the cruel law which disqualified colored men for appearing as witnesses in legal trials.
The pro-slavery spirit was then so rampant in our land that for this act Mr. Anderson was bitterly denounced as an abolitionist and a fool. It is said that but a single one of his constituents ever expressed to him any commendation for this legislative act. Being a man of exquisite taste, by nature endowed with a remarkable love of the fine arts, especially of architecture, he was heartily
,
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ashamed of the old state house, and gave the grand jury no peace until they presented it as a nuisance, and it was replaced by the present beautiful and classical edifice. His influence undoubtedly also originated the park between Second and Third Streets, which now embellishes the city. For his distinguished services, in these respects, the citizens of Columbus presented him with two beautiful canes.
During his senatorial term Mr. Anderson's health failed from very severe attacks of asthma. As the disease baffled the efforts of our ablest physicians, he undertook a voyage to Europe, to place himself under the care of the renowned Dr. Priessnitz, the discoverer of the water-cure treatment, in Gräfen- berg, Austria-Silesia. This led him to an unusually extensive European tour.
He descended the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. Thence he took a sail vessel to Havana. At that port he embarked for Barcelona, Spain, by the way of the Azores. Fortunately he entered this interesting and beautiful city as the populace were in a state of great excitement in receiving their young Queen, Isabella, with her splendid court. The Queen and her younger sister, the Duchess of Montpensier, were then in their teens. The queen-mother was also present, It was a very brilliant display of royalty ; far different from any thing to which American eyes have been accustomed.
But Mr. Anderson was far too severe a republican to be dazzled by this display which was mainly, to his mind, indicative of the ignorance and impoverishment of the people. But he was intensely interested in the architectural splendor of this magnificent city. The old palace of the Kings of Aragon rose before him, a majestic pile of grandeur. The great cathedral, with its windows of gorgeously stained glass, presented one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture. And the celebrated promenade, the Rambla, which the wealth of ages had embellished, opened to liis view scenes which must have been surpassingly attractive to one born and bred beyond the Alleghanies. As by a step, he had passed from all the freshness of the wilderness of the new world, to all the sub- limity of the time-worn memorials of the most ancient days.
We have not space here to describe the incidents of his continued tour, every hour of which was replete with intensest interest. He passed through the beau- tiful province of Catalonia, whose early history is lost in the maze of the past. In imagination the conquering legions of Rome passed before him ; then the shaggy wolfish hordes of the Goths. They were followed by the agile Moors, with blood-dripping cimeters, as war's most horrid billows swept over the doomed land.
He crossed the Pyrenees ; visited Montpelier, Nismes, Narbonne, and Avig- non. Every city and almost every mile of the way were crowded with the most exciting historic events to a mind familiar with the past.
At Avignon he took a steamboat and descended the rapid Rhone to Mar- seilles. The boats then upon the river were very different from the floating palaces which now adorn our great streams. They were about one hundred feet long and twenty-five feet wide. In their general appointments they were scarcely equal to our canal packets. The pilot stood at the helm with the tiller in his hand. These boats could make but four miles an hour against the stream, and fourteen with its aid.
But the scenery was enchanting, unsurpassed perhaps in picturesque beauty
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by that of any other river on the globe. The stream wound its way through continued vineyards, sheltered by mountains rising from five hundred to two thousand feet. Every variety of landscape charms was presented. The emi- nences assumed every imaginable form; now rugged, now smooth. Again a space most gloomily sterile, would be succeeded by Eden-like luxuriance and bloom, as the terraced eminences were cultivated to their summits. Through the breaks in the mountains the snow-clad summits of the Alps could be seen in the distance, rising majestically to the skies. Often the river would be so enclosed by hills that one could not imagine where it escaped. There was almost an unbroken line of large towns, villages, hamlets, cottages, beautiful villas, and baronial castles, with their battlemented walls and massive towers, reaching back from the river's bank to the mountains. The valley, sometimes contracted to a mile in width, would again expand into a plain of marvelous luxuriance ten or or twelve miles broad.
We describe these scenes thus minutely, since they afford so striking a con- trast to anything which could then or even now can be seen on the Ohio, the Scioto, or the Miami. After spending ten days at Marseilles, he passed on to Genoa, the Superb, by the famous route of the Riviera ; thence on to Leghorn, Florence, Rome, Naples, Syracuse, Atna, Malta, Corfu, the Gulf of Lepanto, Athens, the Isles of Greece, Smyrna and Constantinople.
From this most wonderful city he passed through perhaps the most attractive sheet of water on the globe to the Black Sea. Then he ascended the whole course of the Danube, touching at every place of interest, until he reached Vienna. At all these places he devoted the most eager attention to the study of the fine arts. He particularly enjoyed the rich music of the highly cultivated bands and choirs of those regions.
From Vienna he explored the battle-fields of Wagram and Austerlitz ; visited Olmutz, renowned as the seat of La Fayette's five years of captivity ; and thence to Grafenberg. Here he soon found his health materially improved. After spending six weeks, subject to the water-cure treatment, he passed through Saxon-Switzerland to Prague. While descending the River Elbe in a canal- packet he made the acquaintance of the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar.
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