USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 45
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18 The other candidates before the convention were J. K. Kelly, S. F. Chadwick, John Adair, and J. H. Reed. Or. Statesman, April 24, 1860. HIST. OR., VOL. II. 29
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POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
spoke E. D. Baker,19 a prominent politician, who came from California, where his star was not propitious, to Oregon, where he hoped to have a finger in the new politics. He made many speeches during the summer campaign, Logan being again the republican candi- date for congress, the Seward plank in their platform, however, being abandoned. Nesmith took the field against Sheil, while Kelly, who had returned to his party, Smith, and Sheil himself, advocated the prin- ciples of the southern democracy. Whatever the cause, there was a slight reaction from the congres- sional campaign of 1859, and Sheil received a major- ity over Logan of 104 votes, while the legislature was more solidly democratic than at the last election.20
The election was not long past when the final news was received of the proceedings of the Charleston and Baltimore conventions, the secession of the extreme southern states, and the nomination by them of Lane to the vice-presidency, causing a strong revulsion of feeling among all of the democratic party not strongly pro-slavery in principle.
Oregon was still less prepared to receive a scheme of government said to be entertained by the senators of the Pacific coast, which was to establish a slave- holding republic, on the plan of an aristocracy similar to the ancient republic of Venice, which, while pro- viding for an elective executive, vested all power in hereditary nobles,21 repudiating universal suffrage.
19 Born in London in 1811; came to America in 1816; learned cabinet- making, and in 1828 went to Carrollton, Ill., where he began the study of law. In 1832 he was major in the Black Hawk war. For ten years he was a member of the Ill. legislature, and in 1845 of the U. S. house of represent- atives. During that year he raised a regiment for the Mexican war and joined Taylor at the Rio Grande. In Dee. 1846 he returned, made a speech on the war in congress, after which he resigned and went back to Mexico, where he participated in the capture of San Juan de Ulúa and the battle of Cerro Gordo; taking the command in that battle after the wounding of Gen. Shields. The state of Illinois presented him with a sword. In 1849 he was again elected to congress; and in 1851 he undertook some work on the Pan- amá railway, but was driven by the fever to Cal. in 1852, where he practised law and made political speeches. Or. Argus, Jan. 4, 1862.
20 There was an increase in the poll of 1,823 since June, 1859. Or. States- man, June 26, 1860.
21 It was the common belief that Gwin of California was at the bottom of
451
PROJECTS OF LANE AND GWIN.
Labor was to be performed by a class of persons from any of the dark races, invited to California, and sub- sequently reduced to slavery. Such was the bold and unscrupulous scheme to which Lane had lent himself, the discovery of which caused mingled indignation and alarm. The alarm was not lest the plan should succeed, but lest an internecine war should be forced upon them to prevent its success. But this was not all. The war debt still remained unpaid. The next congress would be largely republican. Oregon was democratic, and with such a record-of having voted in the Charleston convention for secession-how was the payment of that debt to be secured? It was thus the people reasoned, while those whose places depended upon the will of the administration, now openly in sympathy with the scceders, were deeply troubled what course to pursue in the approaching crisis. In the mean time, the republican national convention at Chicago had nominated to the presidency Abraham Lincoln, and the keenest interest was felt throughout the union in an election which was to decide the fate of the nation. For it was well understood that if the republicans carried the country against Douglas, as the Breckenridge and Lane nomination seemed to promise, and as it was believed to be intended, the south would make that a pretext for disunion.
As soon as the full results of the Charleston, Bal- timore, and Washington conventions became known, a meeting of the state democratic central committee was held at Eugene City, which, having a majority of Lane democrats, proceeded to indorse the Breck- enridge and Lane nominations. This action alarmed
this scheme. Should the southern states succeed in withdrawing from the union and setting up a southern confederacy, and could a line of slave terri- tory be kept open from Texas to the Pacific, the Pacific coast would combine with the south. But in view of the probable wars in which the aggressive policy of the southern states was likely to involve their allies, Gwin was in favor of a separate empire or republic. The plan pointed out the means of procuring slaves, which was to invite the immigration of coolies, South Sea Islanders, and negroes, who were to be reduced to slavery on their arrival. It was the discovery of this conspiracy which gave the California senator the title of Duke Gwin. S. F. Times, in Or. Statesman, Dec. 10, 1860.
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POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
the opposite faction, which called a convention to pro- test against the indorsement, and to nominate presi- dential electors, to be held in September. The convention was fully attended, indorsed the Douglas platform, declared the Oregon democracy loyal to the union of the states, denouncing secession. Anything so earnest and unsectional had not been enunciated by the Oregon democracy in all its previous history. Comparing their new platform with that of the repub- licans, there was no essential difference.22
On the 10th of September the legislature met at Salem, and the preponderance of Lane men among the democrats caused a fusion between the Douglas democrats and the republicans, which gave the fusion- ists a majority in the house of twenty-one to fifteen.23 An attempt to organize in the senate was defeated by the difficulty of electing a president, the Douglas men having nominated Tichenor, and the Lane men Elkins, another Douglas democrat; and the vote standing seven to seven without change for the first day. On the morning of the second day it was discovered that six senators, Berry, Brown, Florence, Fitzhugh, Mon- roe, and MeIteeney, had left Salem, and were keep- ing in concealment, with the intent to defeat the election of United States senators, which in the then impending crisis was of unusual importance. The
22 See republican state platform, in Or. Argus, Aug. 25, 1860.
23 Senators: Clackamas and Wasco, J. K. Kelly; Multnomah, J. A. Will- iams; Washington, Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook, Thos R. Cornelius; Yamhill, J. R. McBride; Polk, William Taylor; Marion, J. W. Grim, E. F. Colby; Linn, Luther Elkins, H. L. Brown; Lane, A. B. Florence, James Monroe; Benton, J. S. MeIteeney; Douglas, Solomon Fitzhugh; Umpqua, Coos, and Curry, William Tichenor; Josephine, D. S. Holton; Jackson, A. M. Berry. Representatives: Wasco, Robert Mayes; Multnomah, A. C. Gibbs, B. Stark; Clatsop and Tillamook, C. J. Trenchard; Columbia and Washington, E. Conyers; Washington, Wilson Bowlby; Clackamas, A. Hol- brook, W. A. Starkweather, Wiliam Eddy; Yamhill, S. M. Gilmore, M. Crawford; Marion, B. F. Harding, S. Parker, C. P. Crandall, R. Newell; Polk, Ira F. M. Butler, C. C. Cram; Linn, B. Curl, A. A. McCally, J. P. Tate, J. Q. A. Worth; Lane, John Duval, Joseph Bailey, R. B. Cochrane; Benton, H. M. Walker, R. C. Hill; Umpqua, J. W. P. Huntington; Coos and Curry, S. E. Morton; Douglas, J. F. Gazley, R. E. Cowles; Josephine, George T. Vining; Jackson, J. B. White, G. W. Kceler, J. N. T. Miller. Or. Statesman, June 26, 1860. In the whole body the Lane men numbered 16, anti-Lane men 24, republicans 10.
453
A POLITICAL FIGHT.
Lane faction were determined, if not able to elect their favorites, to prevent any election being held. The aspirants to the senatorship were Smith and Lane, democrats, Judge Williams and J. W. Nesmith, independents, and E. D. Baker, republican. Strong influences were brought to bear by the Lane demo- crats, who besieged the lobby and had their spies at every street corner.
On the 13th the senate organized without a quorum, Elkins being chosen president. A motion was made to adjourn sine die, which was defeated, and a resolu- tion offered authorizing the president to issue war- rants for the arrest of the absconding members, which was adopted. They continued, however, to elude the sergeant and his assailants for nine days, when after an unsuccessful ballot for senators in joint convention, in which the Douglas democrats voted for Nesmith and Williams, and the republicans for Baker and Holbrook, the legislature adjourned sine die. Governor Whiteaker then made an appeal through the public prints to all the members of that body to reassemble and attend to their duty ; which they finally did on the 24th, but it was not until the 1st of Oe- tober that balloting for senators was resumed, Deady, Curry, and Drew being added to the nominees. The contest was decreed by the Lane men to be between Smith and any one of the Douglas democrats on one side, and any two of the Douglas men on the other; but the democratic party in the legislature revolted against Smith, and rejected him on any terms. With equal scorn the Lane democrats rejected Nesmith, whom they hated, but intimated that they would vote for him if Smith could be elected. The Douglas men offered if the Lane men would give two votes for Nesmith to elect Curry in place of Smith, but they refused. On the eighteenth ballot the Douglas demo- crats reluctantly gave up the hope of electing two dem- ocratie senators without accepting Smith, and elected
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POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
Nesmith and Baker, the former for the long and the latter for the short term.
As soon as practicable after the reassembling of the legislature the house passed a bill providing for the election of a representative in congress to supersede the unauthorized election of Sheil, but the measure was defeated in the senate, the Lane members voting solidly against it. The democratic state central com- mittee then called a meeting, with the intention of electing another representative in November, when the presidential election would occur, and nominated A. J. Thayer." This action caused the senate to re- consider their opposition to a legal election bill; and an act was passed authorizing the governor to issue a writ of election to fill vacancies that might occur in the office of representative to congress. The law went into effect two days after the meeting of the state central committee, and the brief interval be- tween the adjournment of the legislature and the day fixed for the presidential election was devoted to can- vassing for a congressman. Nesmith and Benjamin Hayden, one of the democratic presidential electors, took part in it, the candidates being Thayer and Sheil.
Before the 6th of November arrived, the pony ex- press began to bring stirring news of great republican victories in the northern and western states. The successes of the new party were almost too great to be believed. Even in Oregon the contagion spread until all other interests were swallowed therein. On the 6th the vote was cast. Sufficient returns were in by the 9th to make it certain that the state had gone republican. 25 Not only was there a republican plnral-
24 Born in N. Y., spent his boyhood on a farm, acquired a common Eng- lish education, and studied and practised law, cmigrating to Oregon in 1853. In 1855 he was appointed territorial auditor in place of J. A. Bennet, who had declined. His reputation as a lawyer and a man was excellent. In 1870 he was elected to the supreme bench, and as a judge was fearless and impartial. His death occurred in 1873. Or. Reports, 4, xi .- xv .; Albany Democrat, May 2, 1873; Salem Mercury, May 2, 1873.
23 Lincoln's plurality was 270. The whole vote of the state was 14,751. Lincoln, 5,344; Douglas, 4,136; Breckenridge, 5,074. Bell, of the Bell and Everett party, had 197 votes.
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LANE IN DISGRACE.
ity for president, but Sheil was defeated.26 On the 5th of December the republican presidential electors T. J. Dryer, W. H. Watkins, and B. J. Pengra met at Salem and cast the electoral vote for Lincoln, ap- pointing Dryer to carry the vote to Washington. Thus ended the political revolution of 1860 in Oregon.
Slowly, reluctantly, regretfully came home the truth to the people of Oregon that Joseph Lane was a secessionist; that he had offered his services and those of his sons to fight in battle against his govern- ment, and against his late friends in Oregon. The news of the fall of Fort Sumter did not reach Ore- gon till the 30th of April, 1861. By the same steamer that brought the thrilling intelligence of actual war came Lane back to his home in Oregon. What a pitiful home-coming! Hatred and insult greeted him from the moment he came in sight of these Pacific shores. At San Francisco it was so, and when he reached Portland, and a few personal friends wished to give a salute in his honor, they were assured that such a demonstration would not be permitted in that town. Even the owner of a cart refused to transport his luggage to the house of his son-in-law. It consisted of two or three stout boxes in which were being conveyed to southern Oregon arms for the equipment of the army of the Pacific repub- lic! But this fact was not known to the cartman, or it might have fared worse with the ex-senator. Proceeding south after a few days with these arms in a stout wagon, but unsuspected, he was met at various parts of the route by demonstrations of dis- respect. At Dallas he was hanged in effigy. A fortunate accident arrested him in the perpetration of the contemplated folly and treachery,27 and con-
26 The whole vote for congressman was a little over 4,000. Of these Lane received 5, Logan 8, Sheil 131, and Thayer the remainder.
" Jesse Applegate testifies as follows: In crossing the Calapooya Monn- tain with only hus Irish teamster, by some mischance a pistol was discharged, wounding Lane in the arm. The Irishman, frightened lest it should be
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POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
signed him to a life of retirement from which he never emerged.28
That a considerable class in Oregon were in favor of secession is undeniable. That there were some who would have fought for the extension of slavery had they been upon southern soil is undoubted. But there were few who cared enough for what they called the rights of the southern states to go to the seat of war and fight for them.29 On the other hand, there were many who fought for the union.30 Party lines were
thought that he had inflicted the wound with murderous intent, fled to the house of Applegate, at Yoncalla; and related what had occurred. Applegate at once went to Lane's relief, taking him to his house, where he remained for several weeks. During this visit Lane revealed to his friend the nature of his scheme concerning Oregon, and was dissuaded from the undertaking.
28 For many years Lane lived alone with a single servant upon a moun- tain farm. In 1878, to gratify his children, he removed to Roseburg, where, being cordially welcomed by society, the old fire was awakened, and he nominated himself for the state senate in 1880 at the age of 79 years. Being rather rudely rejected and reproved, he wept like a child. His death occurred in May 1881. Whatever errors he may have committed, whatever vanity he may have displayed concerning his own achievements, he was ever generous in his estimate of others, and the decline of his life was full of kindness and courtesy.
29 John Lane, son of Joseph Lane, became a colonel in the confederate army. Captain Thomas Jordan, for a time U. S. quartermaster at The Dalles, resigned to take service in the south. He was said to have accepted a colo- nelcy in the Culpepper cavalry. Major Garnett, for several years stationed in Oregon and Washington, also resigned, and was commissioned brigadier by Jefferson Davis. John Adair of Astoria, Oregon, son of the collector and post- master, who graduated from West Point in 1861, was commissioned lienten- ant of dragoons and ordered to join his regiment at Walla Walla, and after- ward to report at Washington, instead of which he deserted, and went to Victoria, V. I. He was dismissed the service. Or. Statesman, Aug. 25, 1862. The place left vacant by John Lane at West Point was filled by Volney Smith, son of Delazon Smith, who failed in his examination. He was ap- pointed a lieutenant in a New York cavalry regiment, but did not long remain in the service. Adolphus B. Hannah, who had been U. S. marshal in Ore- gon, offered his services to the confederacy. J. B. Sykes, Indian agent at the Siletz reservation, resigned and went east to serve in the rebel army. He was captured with a portion of Jackson's command, and sent to Columbus, Ohio. John K. Lamerick, once brigadier-general of the Oregon militia, went to Washingtou to dispose of his Indian war scrip, and joined the rebel army as a commissary. C. H. Mott, who in 1858 was sent to Oregon to examine into the Indian accounts, joined the rebel army and commanded the 19th Missis- sippi at Bull Run. He was killed in front of Hooker's division May 5, 1862.
30 Notable among whom was Captain Rufus Ingalls, who came to Fort Vancouver in 1849. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel on McClellan's staff, and placed in charge of the quartermaster's department at Yorktown. Colonel Joseph Hooker, then living at Salem, offered his ser- vices, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. The other officers who had served in Oregon and were promoted to the rank of major or brigadier- general were Grant, Sheridan, Augur, Ord, Wright, Smith, Casey, Russell,
457
THE WAR OF SECESSION.
blotted out as quickly in Oregon as in New York, and soon there was but one party that amounted to anything-the union party. By reason of lack of sympathy with the people at this juncture, Governor Whiteaker was requested to resign.
The first despatches transmitted across the conti- nent entirely by telegraph shocked the whole Pacific coast with the message that at the battle of Ball's Bluff, on the 21st of October, 1861, fell Oregon's republican senator, E. D. Baker.31 The seat in the senate left vacant by Baker was filled by the appoint- ment by Governor Whiteaker of Benjamin Stark, one of the original owners of the Portland land claim. Information was forwarded to Washington of the dis- loyal sentiments of the appointee, and for two months the senate hesitated to admit him; but he was finally, in February 1862, permitted to take the oath of office by a vote of twenty-six to nineteen, Senator Nesmith voting for his admission. But the matter was not
Reynolds, and Alvord, besides Baker and Stevens, who had received a mili- tary education, but were not in the army. Captain Hazen, who was formerly stationed at Fort Yamhill, was placed in command of a volunteer infantry regiment at Cleveland, Ohio, in the beginning of the war. Lieutenant Lor- raine, who was stationed at Fort Umpqua, was assigned to a new regiment in the field, and was wounded at Bull Run. Captain W. L. Dall of the steamship Columbia was appointed a lieutenant commanding in the U. S. navy. Roswell C. Lampson of Yamhill county, son of an immigrant of 1845, the first naval cadet from Oregon, and who graduated about this time, served in the war, and was promoted to the command of a vessel for gallant conduct at Fort Fishcr. At the close of the war he resigned, returned to Oregon, and became clerk of the U. S. courts. Portland Oregonian, April 5, 1865; Port- land Standard, April 27, 1877. James W. Lingenfelter, a native of Fonda, N. Y., but residing in Jacksonville, Oregon, was made captain of a volunteer company, and killed near Fortress Monroe, Oct. 8, 1861. John L. Boon, son of J. D. Boon, state treasurer, and a student at the Weslyan university, Dela- ware, Ohio, served in an Ohio regiment, being in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, in the division under General Lew Wallace. The major of the 68th Ohio was a former resident of Oregon, named Snooks, of the immigration of 1844. George Williams, son of Elijah Williams of Salem, was appointed 2d lieut of the 4th inf., and was in the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, losing a foot in the last named. Frank W. Thompson of Linn county was colonel of the 3d Va, volunteers in 1863, and subsequently promoted. Henry Butler of Oakland, Oregon, was a mem- ber of the 86th Ill. volunteers; and Charles Harker of Oregon was a lieut in the union army. Many more would have been in the service but for the apprehensions entertained of the designs of disunionists on the Pacific coast. 31 When war was declared Baker raised a regiment in Penn. His remains were deposited in Lone Mountain cemetery, San Francisco, and a monument erected to his memory.
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POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
allowed to rest there. A committee being appointed to examine the evidence, Stark was finally impeached, but was not expelled, his term ending with the meet- ing of the Oregon legislative assembly in September.
A similar leniency was exercised by congress towards Sheil, who contested the election of Thayer. The latter was admitted to his seat, and occupied it during most of the special term of 1861, but upon the right to it being contested, Thaddeus Stevens main- tained that since there was at the time no authority for a congressional election in Oregon, the seat was really vacant. The contestants being thus placed upon an equality as to legal rights, a preponderance was left of such right as might be in favor of the first man elected. The republicans in the house could have kept out Sheil by insisting upon the illegality of his elec- tion, had not congress taken every occasion to show such magnanimity as could be ventured upon toward men of disunion predilections in the hope of conciliat- ing the south.
With a change of administration there was a change in the official list. William L. Adams of the Argus was appointed collector of customs at Astoria. W. W. Parker32 became his deputy. B. J. Pengra sup- planted W. W. Chapman as surveyor-general; T. J. Dryer was appointed commissioner to the Hawaiian Islands; Simeon Francis, paymaster in the army, with the rank of major;33 W. T. Matlock, receiver of the land office at Oregon City; and W. K. Stark weather,
32 A native of Vt., educated at Norwich university. In 1847 he was appointed mining engineer to the Lake Superior Copper Mining Company, but hearing that the mail stcamer California was about to sail for California and Oregon iu 1848, he took passage in her for the Pacific coast. By the time the steamer arrived, the gold fever was at its height, and he engaged in miniug, at which he was successful, losing his earnings afterward by fire. He was one of the board of assistant alderman in San Francisco in 1851. In Feb. 1852 he removed to Astoria, Oregon.
33 Francis came from Springfield, III., to Oregon in. 1859. After Lincoln's campaign he took charge of the Portland Oregonian while Dryer carried the electoral vote to Washington. He afterward resided at Fort Vancouver. His death occurred at Portland in Nov. 1872, to which place military head- quarters had been removed. See Portland Oregonian, Nov. 2, 1872.
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NESMITH AND STOUT.
registrar of the same; W. H. Rector received the appointment of superintendent of Indian affairs, and A. L. Lovejoy the office of pension agent.
When Nesmith first took his seat in the senate he had some feeling in favor of the south, and spoke accordingly ; but in due time his utterances became more moderate, and when he returned to Oregon in the autumn of 1861 he was well received. Stout represented Oregon with fidelity, industry, and abil- ity. At his first session he introduced a bill to re- move the obstructions in the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, with a view to opening a line of travel across the continent. He urged the protection of immi- grants, and the restoration of the military department of Oregon, which was depleted by the call for troops, and labored for the payment of the Indian war bonds, the issuance of which was delayed by Secretary Chase until the loans necessary for the civil war had been negotiated.
After issue, they sold at about ninety cents on the dollar, when the bond amounted to five hundred dollars, without a market for the smaller bonds. Some of the scrip exchanged for these bonds had been purchased at thirty, forty, and even as low as thirteen cents on the dollar.
CHAPTER XIX.
WAR AND DEVELOPMENT. 1858-1862.
WAR DEPARTMENTS AND COMMANDERS-MILITARY ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL HARNEY - WALLEN'S ROAD EXPEDITIONS -TROUBLES WITH THE SHOSHONES-EMIGRATION ON THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ROUTES-EXPEDITIONS OF STEEN AND SMITH-CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE SHOSHONES-SNAKE RIVER MASSACRE-ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE- PROTECTION OF THE SOUTHERN ROUTE-DISCOVERY OF THE JOHN DAY AND POWDER RIVER MINES-FLOODS AND COLD OF 1861-2-PROGRESS OF EASTERN OREGON.
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