History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I, Part 54

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 818

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The powerful influence of Rev. Charles G. Fiumey, of Oberlin, was manifest in some of the early churches of Milwaukee established under his teachings. The sermons of this great "abolition evangelist" created a deep impression among the people. "It was one of the spiritual sons of the great movement in which Mr. Finney was a leader," says Davidson. "to whom the thought came to found a Congregational Church in that city." Among the reasons given for organizing a new church was the belief of some of its founders that the church previously established in Milwaukee by themselves and others of substantially the same religious views "was too conservative on the subject of slavery." In 1840 the Baptists assembled in convention at Waukesha passed the following resolution: "Resolved. that it is high time for Christians to arise and give their testimony against the soul-destroying sin of slavery. and to refuse fellowship with all slaveholders who have named the name of Christ, and those who abet their cause."

The Presbytery of Milwaukee .- There was organized in Milwaukee in 1839. the "Presbytery of Wisconsin" which soon after became the Presbytery of Milwaukee, and in the next year it was merged into the Presbyterian and Con- gregational Convention of Wisconsin. "At the formation of this convention." says Davidson, "the thought of union between the Congregational and Pres- byterian churches and ministers seems to have excluded almost everything else. That accomplished, the fathers and founders of those churches in Wis- consin expressed their anti-slavery convictions most remarkably. . Resolved."

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they said in their meeting at Beloit in October, 1841, 'that in the view of this convention American slavery is a sin, that it is a sin of such magnifude that all who practice it or knowingly promote it should be excluded from our pulpits and the fellowship of our churches; that while we deprecate all harsh language and rash measures in the destruction of this evil, we will neverthe- less avail ourselves of all suitable measures to enlighten and correct the public mind in regard to the sin of slavery.'

"The adoption of these resolutions probably followed an address on the subject by Rev. Moses Ordway who had been appointed to this service when the convention was in session the preceding June at Prairieville ( Waukesha). Even at a meeting before that the subject had been brought forward, and thuis the way made ready for some action of a significant character sneh as was most certainly the choosing of Mr. Ordway as the one to give the address. Think of this son of thunder with human slavery for a subject ! For he was one who in rebuking iniquity, as well as in doing a number of other things, did not fear the face of man."

Slave Hunting in Milwaukee .- M. M. Quaife in the Milwaukee Journal of March 26, 1922. tells of some of the incidents of slavery days as enacted in an earlier day in Milwaukee :

"So remote from the consciousness of the present day is the era of negro slavery in America, that only with difficulty can one realize the fact that less than seventy years ago terror-stricken negroes were hunted through the streets of Milwaukee by men intent on dragging them back to the slavery from which they had fled. The case of Joshua Glover in 1854 became notori- ous throughout the land, and made of Milwaukee and Wisconsin one of the leading anti-slavery eenfers of the nation. But it is not so well known that many years before the Glover ease, and while Milwaukee was hardly more than a village, southern slave holders pursued their peculiar ' property' through its streets, and unsympathetic citizens strove zealously to balk the pursner of his prey and send the poor fugitive on his way to Canada.

"The story of Caroline Quarreles illustrates as well as any the lights and shadows of man-hunting in Milwaukee. Caroline was the first passenger on the first underground railroad in Wisconsin, which had its northern term- imis at Milwaukee and Wankesha. ller history illustrates one of the most revolting aspects of the institution of slavery as practiced in America, for her father was a white man and her owner, Mrs. Hall, was her father's sister, and Caroline's own aunt.

Loathed Her Bondage .- " In other respeefs, however, Caroline's lot was relatively fortunate. She was an intelligent girl, ahnost wholly white, and probably for these reasons was brought up as a honse servant, being taught to sew and embroider and to wait upon her mistress. Her master, Charles F. Hall, was a St. Louis merchant, who had formerly lived in Kentucky. So far as known, the girl was not badly abused while in servitude, but she was in- telligent enough to loathe her bondage and energetic enough to make an early attempt to end it.

"The occasion came when her mistress in a fit of anger cut off the girl's hair. This led her to determine to run away as soon as possible. Having

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PARTICIPATION IN WAR

gained possession of $100, she asked permission of her mistress to visit a sick girl acquaintance. Instead of returning from the visit, she walked to the river and boarded a steam boat for Alton, Ill. There was then a girls' sem- inary at Alton and as Caroline both looked and conducted herself like a white girl, her real status and mission remained quite unsuspected by passengers and crew of the steamer.

A Treacherous Confidant .- "Like all slaves, Caroline knew that the land of freedom lay to the northward, but other than this she had set out with no partienlar plan or destination in mind, and it was pure chance that directed her course to Milwaukee. On leaving the stage at the Milwaukee house, she saw a negro barber, a man named Titball, and supposing he would be her friend, appealed to him for information and advice. It was an unfortunate move, for Titball although himself a former slave, proved to be a mercenary villain. At first, however, he proffered his warmest sympathy for the girl and took her at once to his home, where she remained for a week.

"The fugitive's presence in Milwaukee first became known to the public when officers arrived from St. Louis in search of her. Coming upon Titball, they inquired if her knew anything of the girl and he readily answered that she was at his home. At the same time he quickly contrived a plot to profit by the situation; before piloting the pursuers to the place, he managed to send a negro boy who was working with him with orders to take Caroline away from his house to a certain place of concealment, expecting to extort a sum of money from the lawyers as a reward for leading them to her. But the boy, who had also been a slave, suspected and outwitted this design by conducting Caroline to a different place of coneeahnent than Titball had directed.

"Meanwhile Spencer, the St. Louis lawyer, thinking the girl within his grasp, concluded to defer to northern prejudice by making the seizure strictly according to the statutes, instead of attempting to seize and return Car- oline without process. le therefore sought ,the aid of II. N. Wells, a local attorney. Wells scorned the case and declined to have anything to do with it : he did not omit, however, to repair to the office of Asahel Finch, and un- der the guise of joking about the affair, apprize him of the situation.

"Spencer, after leaving Wells' office, enlisted the aid of another attorney and together the two went with Titball to his house to make the seizure. As that worthy expected, they were disappointed; for $100, he agreed to lead them to her. On going to the place, however, the barber was in turn dis- appointed. and in addition to losing the anticipated blood money he nar- rowly escaped a beating at the hands of the irate white men, who concluded the darkey had been trifling with them.

"At this point begins the history of the underground railroad in Wiscon- sin, for while Caroline had come to Milwaukee as an ordinary stage pas- senger withont attempt at concealment, from the place where the negro boy had left her she was spirited into the country and through weeks of weary traveling conducted south around Lake Michigan and on to distant Canada.

"The first removal was in the night following the disappointment of Spen- cer and his eoadjutors, when Asahel Finch songht out the girl and conveyed

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her across the river to the West Side, then known as Kilbonrntown. There by the roadside, in front of a negro's house, stood a large sugar hogshead, and in this the girl lay concealed all the following day, being fed by the in- mates of the house. That night Deaeon Sammel Brown, a farmer living a mile or so out of town, took Caroline to his home and kept her the following day. When night eame again, he set out with her in a riekety wagon over difficult roads to Pewaukee, where in the home of Samuel Daugherty, two or three miles north of the village, the fugitive lay concealed for several weeks. "During all the time the search was going on those abolitionists who were aware of Caroline's place of concealment quietly kept their counsel until the pursuit relaxed momentarily, they removed the girl to Spring Prairie. some thirty miles south of Waukesha. A few days later Lyman Goodnow of Waukesha. one of the men who had aided in spiriting the girl away to Spring Prairie, went down and set ont with her for Canada, where he left her safely at Sandwich, across the river from Detroit.

"The story of Goodnow's ardnous and unselfish journey has been recorded, fortunately, by Mr. Goodnow himself, but it is too long to tell here. Caroline Quarrelles, Milwaukee's first fugitive slave girl, married at Sandwich and lived a long time there. By some means she learned to write, and forty years after her escape from bondage she wrote a letter to Mr. Goodnow expressing her gratitude for what he had done for her, and her wish that she might see him once more."

Sherman M. Booth .- An episode of the fugitive slave law period in Wis- consin is closely associated with the name of Sherman M. Booth. It will be remembered by those familiar with the history of the "Underground Rail- road" that certain persons throughout the state and other states adjoining it, north of Mason and Dixon's line, which marked the boundaries between the slave and free states, used every available means to assist runaway slaves from the South to reach Canada where slavery was never recognized as it was in the United States. Such persons were called "condnetors" on the Under- ground Railroad. Many instances of their activities are mentioned in the histories of the time.

As the fugitive slave law of those days protected the slave-owners of the South by allowing them to pursue their runaways into the free states, and. if they were found, to take them back to the places they escaped from, the consequence was that there were many agents from the South among us for the purpose of capturing them. To help the fugitives along the way and pro- vide for their safety and welfare was the self-appointed task of the conductors on this so-called " Underground Railroad."

In Milwaukee (which was one of the "stations" on the line). Sherman M. Booth, one of its citizens, aided in the work of assisting the poor fugitives. Some of these cases reached the eourts, and in the famous "Glover case" Mr. Booth was convicted under the fugitive slave law and sentenced to a pay a fine of $1,000, besides imprisonment for a month in the county jail. although he was discharged from the jail by the State Supreme Court on the ground of irregularities in the warrant.

The owner of the rescued slave (who had safely reached Canadian terri-

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tory) brought suit against Booth in the United States District Court for $1,000 representing the value of a negro slave as fixed by the act of Congress passed in 1850. "It is said," says Legler in his history, "that the litigation in which Booth became entangled as the result of the Glover episode ruined him financially." Public opinion in Milwaukee strongly approved of Booth's course throughout the entire affair.

Booth was the editor of a paper called the Wisconsin Free Democrat and was naturally prominent among the anti-slavery people of the time. He is remembered to this day as one of " Plutarch's men, " worthy of a place on the honor roll of the city's Valhalla.

Copperheadism .- Many of those who retain memories of the great Civil war in which we were engaged more than half a century ago can remember the intense feeling aroused in the loyal men and women of that time when- ever they saw manifestations of sympathy shown towards the enemies of our country. There was a numerous element throughout the North in those trying four years of conflict composed of men who gave aid and comfort to the enemy, often in underhanded ways, sometimes by withholding support to the Government in its times of difficulty, sometimes by sneering criticisms of its military operations, or more openly by advocating a so-called "peace policy" toward those who would dismember the Union in the interests of the slaveholders.

There were many such persons, usually found among the lower grades of society, who came to be called "copperheads," and who ridiculed or dis- paraged every effort made by the Lincoln administration to suppress the rebellion instigated by the seceding states of the South. They tried to com- bat the rising spirit of loyalty in whatever form it was shown; they attended Union meetings in order to ery down the speakers and, through such publica- tions as the Chicago Times of that day, claimed the influence of the democratic party because it had been the party of opposition in the previous campaigns. The partisans of secession cultivated every means to bring influence to bear in northern communities in order to paralyze the constantly increasing union sentiment.

John Wentworth's Reply to Vallandigham .- Speakers, like Vallandigham of Ohio, held publie meetings in many cities of the North pleading for peace. On one occasion this same peace advocate appeared in Chicago and spoke to a curious crowd from the steps of the courthouse. Ile was answered vigorously by "Long John" Wentworth, who, though he had been a democrat in the days before the war, now declared that he was for the Union and the republican party. "I am no party man, " he said. "I am chained to the partisan ear of no class, no interest, no organization : to my country, and my country alone, do I owe fealty and render homage. I love my country. It nurtured me in my youth, it honored me in my manhood, and now, when I have passed the meridian of life, I love to respond to any call to plead in her behalf." li is needless to say that the audience was heart and soul with "Long John" and he received the unstinted applause of the people.

Copperhead Propaganda in the North .- The activities of the copperheads were not confined to promoting their influence by means of a detestable

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propaganda. While in the South a strict censorship of the press and of publie utterances was maintained, the press of the North was free up to the point of treason, and the citizen could entertain his views and express them. "The copperhead disreputable portion of the press," wrote General Grant in his Memoirs, "magnified rebel successes and belittled those of the Union army. It was, with a large Following, an auxiliary to the Confederate army. The North would have been much stronger with 100,000 of these men in the Confederate ranks and the rest of their kind thoroughly subdued, as the Union sentiment was in the South, than we were as the battle was fought."

A story is told of Peter Cartwright the famous pioneer preacher of Illinois who, although himself a life-long democrat, was outspoken in his support of the Union canse. He was at one time during the war visiting the East and had been invited to a dinner by a few friends who were southern sympathizers and who had taken it for granted that the veteran preacher was of their way of thinking. But as he listened to their bitter criticism of the Lincoln administra- tion he said he began to feel "like a cat in a strange garret." His blood was hot with indignation and presently he arose to make a few remarks.

"I am an old man," he said; "the sands in the hourglass of my life have nearly finished their flow. What I can say and what I can do in this world. if accomplished at all, must be done promptly. So I wish to speak very plainly to you tonight, the last words I may ever address to you. If I had known I would meet such a nest of tories and traitors here I would never have put my legs under your boards, nor sat down and broken bread with you at this table." One can imagine the consternation that these remarks brought to the guests surrounding the table. But his blood was up and he was unsparing in his de- nunciations. He said he could see the "huge hell of jealousy and discord" that would be opened up within our country's boundaries if the secessionists succeeded in rending apart the union of our states.

"You, their sympathizers on this side of the Mason and Dixon line," he continued, "are accomplishing here today more for these secessionists against maintaining the Union by your criticisms and lack of sympathy for President Lincoln's noble labors than you could do were you down South this hour and enrolled in the ranks of JJeff Davis' Confederacy." Ilis last words as he left the table were, "There are now but two parties-patriots and traitors!"

In recalling these memories of the Civil war, dark and bitter as they may seem, we only make more distinet the triumph of right and justice. Who can now look back and wish that the slaveholders had won their "lost canse"? Who would willingly have seen a divided nation, either of whose parts would have at a later time made war upon each other. or had become a prey of some European power ? Let ns be profoundly thankInt that the Union cause at last won the day and that we are now a united people.

One prominent citizen of Wisconsin who wore a copperhead badge for over a year lived to say that it was the one action of his life of which he was heartily ashamed.

Milwaukee in the Civil War,-The breaking ont of the Civil war is commonly dated from the firing on Fort Sumter, April 12, 186]. Gov. Alex- ander W. Randall was entering upon his second term when that startling event

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occurred. Even while the bombardment of Fort Sumter was still in progress the Legislature passed an aet giving to the governor practically a free hand to take such measures as he considered necessary, "to provide for the defense of the state and to aid in enforcing the laws and maintaining the authority of the Federal government."

On the 15th of April President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 three months' volunteers, and Governor Randall followed this with a proclamation on the next day urging a prompt response on the part of the people of the state, especially by the uniformed militia companies ; and the Legislature reinforced this action by voting to double the amount of the first appropriation for use in the great emergency. The first response was from the "Madison Guard," a loeal militia company, which in the previous January, when the situation looked threatening, had tendered its services to the governor. As soon as the proclamation was signed the governor sent for the captain of this company, Capt. George E. Bryant, and accepted the tender.

"Thus this organization," says Reuben Gold Thwaites in the " American Commonwealth series," "was the first in Wisconsin to enlist; and while its members were being cheered at the meeting in the assembly chamber the telegraph brought similar offers from Milwaukee and other cities throughout the state." Ten companies were accepted, four from Milwaukee, two from Madison, and one each from Beloit, Fond du Lac, Horicon and Kenosha.

The governor then organized the First Regiment of Wisconsin volunteers which was mustered in at Milwaukee May 17th, and the war department was informed that the regiment awaited marching orders. Col. John C, Stark- weather was placed in command of the regiment which on the 9th of June proceeded to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In the following July the regiment, after taking part in the battle of Falling Waters, returned to Wisconsin where it was reorganized into a three year regiment. In the action at Falling Waters a private from Milwaukee named George Drake was killed, being not only the first Wisconsin man to give up his life in the eanse of the Union, but the first soldier to fall in the Shenandoah Valley, soon to become one of the bloodiest scenes in the great theater of war.

The reorganized "First" made a glorious record in the numerous battles participated in by the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Tennessee throughout the war. When the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin was organized it was known as "the Milwaukee regiment." The two regiments here mentioned took part in the sanguinary battle of Chicamanga where there were in all five Wisconsin regiments and three batteries, and at the battle of Missionary Ridge there were seven regiments of Wisconsin troops including those above men- tioned. The complete history of the Wisconsin troops in the Civil war of 1861- 1865 may be found in numerous publications, especially in the reports of the state historical society at Madison. The " Iron Brigade, " consisting at times of three regiments of Wisconsin troops with regiments from other states, took a glorious part in all the campaigns of the war.

In one of the photographs taken in that remarkable series known as the "Brady War Photographs" is shown a number of dead bodies on the field of Gettysburg under which appears the inseription, "Men of the Iron Brigade."

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As the men of this brigade advanced through a wood on the first day of the battle they shouted to the retreating Confederates, "We have come to stay ;" and another picture shows a group of their dead under which the historian has inseribed the words, "The men who came to stay." He also comments upon the losses suffered by the Iron Brigade, "the heaviest aggregate loss by bri- gades in the entire war l'ell to this gallant command." We cannot dwell here on the numerous thrilling episodes of which Wisconsin men were the heroes, but the history of that great war is filled with the accounts of the deeds in the campaigns of Wisconsin's brave warriors.

At the first onset of the Civil war the financial troubles of the community attracted the serions attention of the public, for it was still suffering from the effects of the "wildeat" times of the previous decades. Much improve- ment had taken place but there were still many elements of unsoundness in the general banking situation.

In the opening days of the "tremendous drama of the Civil war," the bank circulation of all the banks of the state amounted to some $4,000,000, the security for over half of which consisted of the bonds of Southern states which began to shrink in value. It was the general opinion, however, that the war would be short and public confidence would be restored in a few months, but as every day deepened the seriousness of the situation the con- servative element in the banking fraternity was aroused to the exercise of greater caution. Within two weeks after the outbreak of the war some twenty- two banks of the state had refused to redeem their bills, and the bankers at a state convention, held April 25th, discredited eighteen more week concerns.

The public was reassured by this action and confidence was revived, "but dissensions arose among the banks," says Thwaites, "the strong declining to bolster up the weak any longer." The Milwaukee bankers, at a meeting on Friday, June 21, "as a measure of self-preservation," threw ont ten banks from the list of seventy specified banks whose issues they had previously agreed to receive. This action did not become known "until after banking hours of Saturday by which time the laborers of the city had generally been paid their week's wages. The workmen found that a considerable portion of the bills they had received were the issues of the ten discredited banks."

Not understanding the cause of the action of the banks, which was un- questionably a measure of safety, the men considered themselves defranded. On the following Monday an exeited mob stormed the banks hurling showers of brieks and paving stones, thus doing many thousands of dollars' worth of damage. "Business was suspended throughout the city during the entire week," says Thwaites, "and it was a month before the stream of commerce again flowed smoothly. The hoklers of the paper of the discredited banks were eventually reimbursed ; and by the close of the year an arrangement was made between the Milwaukee financiers and the state government by which the worthless Southern bonds were sold and replaced by state bonds, and all bank bills not previously retired from circulation were once more received at par."

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History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I, Part 54

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844 Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 818