USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 72
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At this moment the advance brigades of General Hobson's pur- suing columns, comprising the Second and Ninth Ohio Cavalry, under Colonel, subsequently Major-General, A. V. Kautz, and the Eighth and Ninth Michigan Cavalry, and one section of the Eleventh Michigan Battery, under Colonel Saunders, attacked Morgan's forces on the right flank and in the rear, throwing the
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844
HISTORY OF OHIO.
foe into great confusion. At this moment General Judah rallied his forces and joined with Colonels Kautz and Saunders in charging the enemy.
At this time Captain John C. Grafton, of General Judah's staff, was taken prisoner. His captor, a rebel cavalryman, with the savagery which often characterized the rebels, leveled his pistol to shoot him after his captive had surrendered and dismounted. To spring upon the perfidious wretch, tear him from his horse and dispatch him with a pistol-shot, was the work of but a moment. The assassin now lay dead at his feet, and Captain Grafton was but on foot, and almost alone in the midst of the enemy. Glanc- ing around through the smoke and the tumult of battle, his prac- ticed eye spied a place where the rebel force was weak With the sword of a fallen foe in his hand he fought his way through the shattered line, reached the shore of the Ohio, and hailing the gun- boat Moose, which had come up from Portsmouth, was received on board. Then, by his knowledge of the position of the rebels, he assisted the executive officers in directing the fire of the steamer's guns, and thus aided essentially in the victory which was gained.
As soon as the news of Morgan's advance to Buffington Island had reached Portsmouth, the Moose, under Lieutenant-Com- mander Fitch, was towed up stream by the Imperial, and arrived just in time to take Captain Grafton on board, and to render its efficient aid in the brilliant victory.
At the moment when General Judah's command charged the enemy in front from the road, Lieutenant O'Neil, of the Fifth Indiana Cavalry, with only fifty men, came down by a lane behind the corn-field and gallantly charged two regiments of the enemy. On, on without a pause the heroic little band spurred their horses into the thickest ranks of the foe. Under iron hoofs they tram- pled the stars and bars of the rebel rangers. With every stroke of their sabers and every shot from their pistols death claimed a victim. Blood crimsoned the ground. Horses in the death-agony emitted their appalling shriek. The stillness of the Sabbath was broken by groans and prayers, and curses and cheers. Shell after shell came screaming into the rebel ranks, guided on their deadly mission by the cool unerring skill of Captain Grafton.
About this time the steamer Alleghany Belle arrived at the bat- tle-ground. Her single gun inflicted exemplary chastisement
845
HISTORY OF OHIO.
upon the rebels. The hero of this gun was Nathaniel Pepper, a boy only eighteen years of age, the son of Captain Pepper, of the Alice Dean. This boy, his face flushed with excitement and his lips firmly set in manly resolve, and his eyes beaming with patri- otic fire, sent death to the rebels with every shot he fired.
The battle, so fierce, and in which the rebels were entirely out- numbered, was of short duration. About eight o'clock in the morning it was all over. The raiders, completely routed, fled in utter confusion. Some, in their bewilderment, ran directly along the road where General Hobson's troops were advancing.
The rebels left all their artillery on the field, which, with the spoils of the camp, fell into the hands of the victors. Books, sta- tionery, cutlery, women's garments, hoops, hats, caps and bonnets were strewed in confusion through the rebel camp, together with many jaded, half-starved mules and horses scarcely worth cap- turing.
The patriot Colonel G. S. Wormer, of the Eighth Michigan Cavalry, in his official report says: "During the long, tedious march of five hundred and seventy-three miles, which took six- teen days, and that with short rations, they [his command] have endured it, as Michigan soldiers through this war have done, with- out complaint. With cheerfulness and alacrity have my orders been responded to by both officers and men. I was obliged to leave several along the line of march, either sick or worn out, some on account of their horses giving out, with no fresh ones to be procured at the time. Our arms, the Spencer rifle, proved, as before, a terror to the rebels. They thought us in much stronger force than we were, when each man could pour seven shots into them so rapidly. This is the first instance during the war, I think, where the proportion of killed was greater than the wounded. As far as reports come in, at least three killed to one wounded, and this fact is owing to the terrible execution of our rifles."
About one thousand privates, one hundred minor officers, and Basil Duke, were included in the number of prisoners. John Morgan, with five or six hundred of his band, escaped. After resting for a few hours to refresh the exhausted patriot troops and their horses, the pursuit was again vigorously resumed. A few moments after the feeble resistance of the rebels had disappeared, in their clattering flight, the patriot General Shackleford arrived
846
HISTORY OF OHIO.
with his command. His brigade was comparatively fresh. They therefore started immediately in pursuit of the fugitive guerrilla chief. Morgan fled rapidly from the scene of his disaster, and, unincumbered with baggage of any kind, turned his horses' heads inland, intending, so spies reported, to make a detour through Muskingum and Guernsey Counties, then back to the river, crossing at whatever point he could back into Virginia.
As the rebel band neared Athens County, the farmers grew in- tensely excited with patriotic fervor, and resolved that if they could arm but two hundred men they would fight the lawless freebooter. Every road along which the gang were to pass was obstructed as much as possible by the farmers felling trees and destroying bridges. At every impromptu barricade the rebels were stopped at least for an hour. Aged men and young boys rallied for the work. Women ministered with eager hands to the wants of the patriots. Refreshments were always ready, and no man fainted for want of food or encouragement.
Morgan rode as rapidly as possible through Morgan County, with General Shackleford close at his heels. On the 24th of July the Union forces chased Morgan fifty miles, when the guerrilla chief, finding Colonel Runkle, with the Forty-fifth Ohio Regiment on one side, and General Shackleford on the other, turned again, like the stag at bay, desperately to give fight. For one hour a fierce battle raged. The rebels, however, steadily worsted and hotly pressed, retreated to a very high bluff, near McConnellsville, on the Muskingum.
General Shackleford sent a flag of truce, demanding the uncon- ditional surrender of Morgan and his command. A personal in- terview was held between General Shackleford and the rebel Colonel Coleman. The rebels asked an hour for deliberation. General Shackleford granted them forty-five minutes. There were but three alternatives now left for the marauders. They must either fight their way through a triumphant and superior force, plunge down a precipice to meet almost inevitable disorder, rout and ruin, or surrender themselves unconditionally. Colonel Coleman surrendered the command. It was then found that the crafty Morgan had employed the forty-five minutes in stealing away, through a by-path, with about two hundred of his men. The prisoners taken by General Shackleford were sent to Zanesville, and the pursuit was instantly resumed.
847
HISTORY OF OHIO.
Quite a number of stragglers joined Morgan, and in the course of three days his retreating band reached Salineville, a small hamlet not far from Wellesville, on the extreme southern border of Columbiana County.
At Salineville news of the advance of the reckless raiders cre- ated a perfect panic. Women and children were sent into the country for protection. Houses and stores were locked and bar- red, and brave men prepared to fight. A regiment of Pennsyl- vania infantry was posted upon some rising ground which com- manded the road approaching the town, and along which road Morgan must pass. In a few moments after these arrange- ments were concluded, the rebels on their jaded horses made their appearance. They halted and gazed appalled upon the formidable preparations which had been made to receive them. Conscious of their inability to pass such a barrier, they turned their horses' heads in another direction. But suddenly, before they could advance a single step, Major Way, leading two hun- dred and fifty men, from the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, with gleam- ing sabers dashed in among them, cutting right and left.
The rebels, exhausted in all their physical energies, and with hopes discouraged by their long and unsuccessful march, in a general panic lost all presence of mind, threw down their arms and wildly cried for mercy. Morgan was in a buggy drawn by two white horses. He lashed them furiously, hoping to escape, but Major Way, on his fleet horse, overhauled him and seized the reins. Morgan sprang out of the buggy on the opposite side, and catching a riderless horse, spurred him to his utmost speed. A few of his men followed him. In the buggy were found Morgan's rations, consisting of a loaf of bread, two hard-boiled eggs and a bottle of whisky.
The desperate rebel chief meeting three citizens of Salineville on the road compelled them, with pistols at their heads, to act as guides, and continued his frantic flight toward New Lisbon. Forced service is very unreliable. One of the conscripted guides seized a favorable moment to plunge into one of the by-paths and escape. Riding back, he disclosed to General Shackleford the route the guerrillas had taken. The general made his dispo- sitions very carefully to prevent the possible escape of his foe. A few companies of militia were ordered to advance from Lisbon on the north. A small force from Wellsville guarded the roads
848
HISTORY OF OHIO.
on the east. General Shackleford with his command followed in the rear of the fugitives.
About two o'clock in the afternoon of July 26, Morgan found himself in the vicinity of West Point, a little village about half- way between New Lisbon and Wellesville. The rebels here real- ized that they were entirely surrounded. There was no possibil- ity of escape. To fight was only death for all. Under these circumstances Morgan, with the remainder of his gang, uncon- ditionally surrendered. The reckless chief seemed to regard his bloody raid, along whose path he had strewed the bodies of his lifeless men, merely in the light of a spirited joke. He seemed quite unconcerned and jovial, notwithstanding the death, disper- sion, or captivity of his whole band of two thousand five hundred men. For several days the hills and forests around were filled with armed men, searching for and picking up the fugitives. .
These poor deluded victims of the rebellion seemed very much dejected. Most of them were ragged, dirty, and in the extreme of exhaustion. They were generally attired in the citizens' gar- ments which they had stolen on their raid; but these, by hard usage, were mostly bespattered with mud and torn to shreds. General Shackleford's command had good reason to be very exult- ant over their victory. By day and by night they had followed the guerrilla band. With little rest and many hardships the pur- suit had continued from day to day till it was thus crowned, at last, with the most signal and glorious success.
Morgan and his officers, by command of General Halleck, were consigned to the Ohio Penitentiary. This was in retaliation for the cruel treatment which the rebels were inflicting upon Colonel Straight and his officers, who, on a somewhat similar raid, had been captured within the limits of the Confederacy. After about three months' imprisonment, Morgan and six of his companions made their escape by cutting through the floor of their prison with table knives. They tunneled a path into the outer yard, and scaled the walls by means of ropes made from their bed clothes. An investigation led to an official announcement that the escape was facilitated by a misunderstanding between the military authorities in Columbus and the civil authorities of the peni- tentiary.
Morgan took the night train to Cincinnati, left the cars just out- side the city, made his way across the river, and soon secured a
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
retreat within the Confederate lines. His utter discomfiture in Ohio caused him the loss of his popularity. Naturally vain and arrogant, he was involved in continual dissensions with his brother officers. Finally his inglorious life came to an end, as he was shot while fleeing through a kitchen garden, in a petty skirmish in one of the obscure villages of East Tennessee.
The following statistics of Ohio, taken from the census of 1870, the intelligent reader will peruse with interest. The state then contained a population of 2,665,260. Of these 63,213 were col- ored, and 372,493 were of foreign birth.
The state contained 11,952 schools, 10,266 teachers and 645,639 pupils. There were in the state, white and colored, 92,720 who could not read. There were expended, for educational purposes, 10,244,635 dollars annually.
There were 17,790 public libraries, containing 3,687,845 volumes.
In the state there were published 395 newspapers, with an aggregate yearly circulation of 98,548,814.
There were 6,488 organized churches, with 6,284 church edi- fices, affording sittings for 2,085,586 persons. Of these church organizations there were :
Baptists
555 : Church property valued at
$2,533,000
Christian
66
24,377
Congregational
193
1,385,585
Jewish
9I
218,770
Methodist 2,16I
66 6,540,910
Moravian
4
60
14,000
Regular Presbyterian, 628
3,580,756
Other Presbyterians_ 164
16
564,970
Roman Catholic
295
66
3,959,970
Second Advent
I
1,000
Spiritualist
4
"
4,100
Unitarian
8
60,000
Universalist
78
66
175,950
"
The state contained 6,383 paupers, and there were 1,405 in the prisons. The population amounted to nearly 67 to the square mile .. Massachusetts contains about 187 to the square mile. When Ohio shall be settled as densely as Massachusetts now is, her population will exceed eight millions.
Of the population of Ohio, 397,024 are engaged in agriculture, 168,308 are in professional services and clerks, 234,581 are en- gaged in trade, and 356,240 in mechanics and manufactures.
85 ₽
HISTORY OF OHIO.
The financial condition of the state, as reported in 1869, was very encouraging. The receipts that year were $6,176,955. The expenditures were $5,498,864 The public debt was reduced $782,826. There then remained an outstanding debt of a little more than eleven million dollars. This was rapidly disappearing under a sinking fund of $1,500,000 annually. The average rate of taxation throughout the State was $17.78 on each $1,000. The: Auditor of the Treasury in 1865 wrote :
" With a rigid adherence to economy, the proper amendment of the tax law and the steady and intelligent enforcement of a just and equal taxation, the public debt will disappear in seven years, and the state levy sink down to one mill on the dollar, Then, with the rate of interest properly adjusted, capital will flow into the state, manufactories spring up, and population and wealth augment in a ratio hitherto scarcely dreamed of."
The productions of the state have assumed an aspect of grandeur. A late report gives :
Bushels of Wheat 5,824,784
=
Rye
622,333
Oats. 21,856,564
Corn. 80,386,321
Potatoes 6,725,577
Pounds of Butter 36,344,608
Tobacco
22,188,693
Bushels of Coal mined
42,130,02I
Pounds of Maple Sugar
5,657,440
Gallons of Wine
153,159
Bushels of Buckwheat
1,292,415
Barley
1,353,956
Tons of Hay
1,839,500
Bushels of Clover Seed
62,200
Flax Seed 462,463
Pounds of Cheese
.22,197,929
There were 7,631,388 sheep; and 183,993 dogs. It is worthy of notice that these dogs, in the course of the year, killed or maimed 44,303 of these sheep. There were 680,930 horses; 1,413,935 neat cattle ; 29,930 mules, and 2,060,476 swine. The total number of miles of railroads in the state amounted to the astonishing sum of 3,892. Institutions of high order were estab- lished for the insane, for idiotic children, for the blind, and for the deaf and dumb.
.
352
HISTORY OF OHIO.
Such is the Ohio of the present day. What it is destined to become who can tell ?
I now bring this history of wild adventure and wondrous achievement to a close. There can not be found upon this globe a more attractive realm than the magnificent valley of the Beauti- ful River, of which Ohio forms so conspicuous a part. In salu- brity of clime, transparency of skies and fertility of soil, it is unsurpassed. Placed midway between the tropical and frigid zones, the summer's heat and the winter's cold are alike agreeably tempered. The State of Ohio is capable of sustaining a popula- tion of ten million souls, supplying them abundantly not only the necessaries but with the luxuries of life.
Three-quarters of a century ago the interminable forest waved here in all its gloom. Now a population of nearly two millions is at work, with no foe to interrupt their labors. Magnificent cities, beautiful villages, palatial mansions and lovely cottage homes are rising as by magic on all the wide and glorious expanse. There is no reason why another three-quarters of a century should not cause this majestic state in all of its peaceful valleys and over all its luxuriant plains to bloom like a garden, and to afford its favored people as happy homes as can be found beneath the skies.
I have dedicated this history to the young men of Ohio. It will be read by many of you long after its author has passed away to the spirit land. Will you permit me to address to you a few parting words with the freedom with which a father would bid a final adieu to his sons.
I am entering the evening of life; you are just entering upon its morning. I have seen life in all its aspects, from the wigwam of the savage to the castles of nobles and to the palaces of kings. I have seen multitudes rise from boyhood to reputation and happi- ness, to be a blessing to themselves, their families and the commu- nity, and I have seen multitudes, Oh, how many, sink into the abyss of shame, ruin and untimely death.
The only hope of our country is to be found in obedience to the precepts of Christianity. Every candid man will admit that true piety promotes industry, and industry brings the comforts which wealth can secure. A degraded family is a pest in any community. It exhales, as it were, a poisoned atmosphere, spread- ing around impoverishment and ruin.
One may rear ever so beautiful a house, and decorate its grounds
853
HISTORY OF OHIO.
with all the charms of shrubbery and flowers, but let hovels, where filth, and degradation and thieving do congregate, rise up around it, and the property is of little value. A few wretched families, with swarms of unwashed, profane and pilfering children, can sink the value of property for many acres around.
Let a drinking saloon, with its dancing hall, where ragged and bloated inebriates reel in and out, where night is rendered hid- eous by the brawls of drunken men and drunken women, rise in the heart of the most lovely village in Ohio, by the side of your happy homes, and what is that home worth? You can not live there. Who will buy it? No one but some wretch who wishes to convert it into another manufactory of crime, shame and woe.
Every community must make its choice between Christianity, with its preached gospel, its quiet Sabbaths, its Sunday school, and all those institutions, intellectual and moral, which cluster around the Church,-and irreligion, with its inebriation, its gam- bling, its brutal ignorance, and its defiance of the laws of both God and man.
The religion of Jesus Christ is the only possible remedy for the ills of this wicked world. Christianity, through the industry and frugality which it promotes, rears pleasant homes, covers them with paint, builds the tasteful fence for the front yard, deco- rates the garden, plants the rose-bush, buys the books which cheer the evenings, and rears sons and daughters intelligent and virtu- ous, who go forth, in their turn, to construct similar homes.
It is thus that Christianity is the primal element in all pros- perity. Examine the subject and you will see that it is the corner-stone upon which the welfare of every community must stand. Every man who has any property within the sound of the bell of a Christian Church is pecuniarily interested, and that, in proportion to the value of his property, to give support to that religion which recognizes God as our common Father, and all men as brothers.
And let it not be forgotten that there can be no permanent hap- piness, even in this life, without a well-grounded hope that we are prepared for our flight to the spirit land. Here, in this wilder- ness of time, in the midst of the storms by which we are driven and often shattered, no abiding repose is possible, but in the assurance that our peace is made with God. One fact is certain. There have been thousands who, on a dying bed, have mourned
854
HISTORY OF OHIO.
with anguish that they have not lived in accordance with the teachings of Christianity.
But, on the other hand, there never has been an individual found who, in that dread hour, has regretted that he has tried to live the life of the Christian. Millions, more than can be num- bered, have, on a dying bed, found all gloom dispelled, while peace and often rapturous joy have reigned in the soul. It is the Chris- tian alone who can say, while fainting in death :
" I have fought a good fight ; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."
3
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INDEX.
PAGE.
Account of a massacre, by Mr. Henry
II9
Acquittal of Mr. Blennerhassett 575
His second arrest 576
Acts of open hostility by the British 37I
Adoption. Indian ceremony of
8I
Advantage of crevices in the cabin
249
Adventures. Of Father Marquette
19
Of Col. James Smith
77
At the Salt Licks 194
442
A fearful tragedy 455
Affair at Fighting Island I33
A fruitless race
91
Alarm of the Colonists I69
Of President Jefferson. His knowledge of Burr
569
Alder, Jonathan. His account of the battle of Maumee Rapids
370
Allen, Hon. William. Sketch of
802
Alliance between the French and the Indians
109
Ambition of Tecumseh
Ambush. The English again caught in
136
Effects of Indian 182
American Colonists. The brutality of some of them 235
Amusing account of a pioneer tea party 385
Anecdotes. A singular custom among the Indians. 39
Of George Washington.
44
Of Washington at the dinner party 58
Of Tontileango 89
Of the Indian chief, Tecaughnetanego. IO3
Of Logan and Mr. Maclay 236
Of General Clarke 268, 269, 270 Of a captive white man 337
Of Davis and McArthur 346, 348
Of William Wells 356
Of Henry and Christopher Miller 357
Of Christopher Miller 359
595
Of the Brothers Edgington.
856
INDEX.
PAGE.
Anecdotes. Of Burke 377
Of Jacob Faust
404
Of Return J. Meigs 407
Of an Indian woman
Of Colonel Battelle 409
420
Of a boy, Plaskett
432
Of an Indian
439
Of Seth Doane
452
Of Blennerhassett
557
Of Benjamin Harrison
586
Of William H. Harrison
593
Of Sum-mun-de-wat 674
673
Of Rohn-yen-ness
Of John
676
Annihilation of Braddock's army
6I
Arbuckle, Governor. His infamous conduct I74
Arkansas River. Friendly Indians on the shore of. 25
Arks, or Kentucky boats. Description of the 308
Assault on the fort at Bryant's Station 262
Attractions and accomplishments of Mrs. Blennerhassett 559
Atrocious murder of Cornstalk and others
175
Atrocities of the Indians 48, 65, 128, 132, 139 Attack upon Mr. Rowan, emigrating to Green River .280, 281
Attack on Fort Recovery 35I
Attakulla, an Indian chief. 69
A well contested foot race 442
Awful silence of the forest 462
A woman's bravery 834
Badger, Rev. Joseph, his labors in Ohio 692
Baker's Station, horrible scenes at 150
Ball-playing and its treachery 118, 119
Barclay, Commodore, a British officer. His fate 665
Barlow, Joel. His representations to Parisian artisans
388
Bartley, Hon. Mordecai. Sketch of
759
Base perfidy of Governor Littleton
70
Battelle, Colonel, an associate of the Ohio Company.
419
Settles at Belprè.
420
His religious character
421
Battle between General Lewis and the Scioto Indians
I56
On the Sandusky 239
Bear's Creek. A settlement at 258 Bear hunting by Indians 86
Bebb, Hon. William. Sketch of 761
Belprè. Commencement of the settlement at 303 Society 'at 553
Bequest of Congress to the Ohio Land Company 384
INDEX.
857
PAGE. Black Hoof, his eloquence, faithfulness, and domestic probity 445
Blennerhassett, Harmon. His birth and education. 5-49
His character and manners. 554
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