200 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY McDowell had rendered signal service and deserved national gratitude." However, the nation was not in a grateful frame of mind. Battles had been lost and a sacrifice was demanded by the press and politicians, both operating from points of personal safety. McDowell was relieved of his command. In response to a storm of baseless and senseless charges made against his conduct on the field and his character as a man, McDowell asked for a court of inquiry, which was granted. After the most searching investigation, lasting many weeks, during which all of McDowell's enemies and detractors were given the fullest opportunity to substantiate their charges, or any of them, he was completely vindicated. But the flood of opportunity had passed. The President and the people wanted generals who brought success. There was no time to make experiments in equity. McDowell was assigned to army duty on various boards and courts of inquiry until July, 1864, when he was sent to the Pacific coast in command of that department. He became a major general in the United States army in November, 1872; was in command of the division of the South, 1872 to 1876 ; and of the division of the Pacific until his retirement, October 15, 1882. He died in San Francisco, May 4, 1885. General McDowell was one of the best equipped soldiers in the war, North or South. He was the victim of circumstances that brought him to the heights too soon, before there was a real army to command and before the dear people had learned that "war is hell." He failed where there was no chance of success and he paid the penalty—but he paid it like a soldier and a gentleman. MAJOR GENERAL JOHN WAGER SWAYNE. Wager Swayne, as he was almost universally called, was the eldest son of Noah H. Swayne, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was born at Columbus, November 10, 1834 ; received his education at Yale, where he graduated in 1856 ; studied law and began the practice of his profession in Columbus. In 1861 Governor Dennison appointed him a major in the Forty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which he assisted in organizing and preparing for the field. His regiment was engaged in the battle of Iuka, after which he was promoted to a lieutenant colonelcy. At Corinth the colonel of the regiment, J. L. Kirby Smith, was killed in HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 201 action, and Swayne succeeded to the command. During the winter of 1862-3 the Forty-third was stationed at Memphis, and during nine months of military inactivity, Colonel Swayne held the office of provost marshal, which he filled with distinction. His regiment participated in the Atlanta campaign and won laurels in every engagement. At Resaca, Swayne led his regiment across a bridge in the fact of short-range fire and occupied and held a position of the greatest importance. After the capture of Atlanta he was made commander of a brigade. At the battle of Salkahatchie he was wounded so severely in the right leg that amputation was necessary. He was promoted to a full major generalship June 20, 1865, and assigned to duty at Montgomery, Alabama, as commissioner of refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands. He was mustered out of the volunteer service September 1st, 1867, but continued in his administration of civil duties until July 1st, 1870, when he retired to resume the practice of law. Throughout his military and civil services to the government he displayed abilities of the highest order. In 1880 he removed to New York City, where he immediately assumed a position of leadership at the bar and continued to deserve and win honors until his death. He was one of the founders of the Ohio Society of New York, and its president. For many years he was general counsel for the Western Union Telegraph Company, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and other large corporate interests. He died in New York December 18, 1902. BREVET MAJOR GENERAL CHARLES C. WALCUTT. General Walcutt was a grandson of William Walcutt, a soldier of the American Revolution, who took part in the battles of Stony Point and was with Washington at Valley Forge and at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. Charles C. was born in Columbus, February 12, 1838. He attended the public schools until 1854, when he was sent to the Kentucky Military Institute, in Frankfort, where he graduated in 1858. Immediately after the fall of Fort Sumpter he began the recruiting of a company and completed it in two days. Governor Dennison 202 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY appointed him inspector, with the rank of major, giving him an assignment with Brigadier General Charles W. Hill, in West Virginia. On August 8th, 1861, he was appointed major of the Forty-sixth Ohio. Before the regiment was ready for active service he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In February, 1862, he joined General Sherman at Paducah, Kentucky, and there soon began a friendship that lasted through the years. On the first day of the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, Colonel Walcutt was wounded in the left shoulder and incapacitated for sixty days. He returned to his regiment with the bullet where it had lodged. He became the colonel of his regiment September 16, 1862. Attached to Grant's army, he participated in the campaign into central Mississippi and, when his command was mounted, conducted frequent raiding expeditions in northern Mississippi. The Forty-sixth Ohio was attached to the Second Brigade, Fourth Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps, which, in September, moved to the relief of Chattanooga. At Mission Ridge, Corse's Brigade (the Second) assaulted the enemy's works on the 24th of November and again on the 25th, when General Corse was severely wounded and the command of the brigade devolved on Colonel Walcutt. His conduct on this occasion brought praise from General Sherman who reported : "The fight raged furiously about 10 A. M. when General Corse received a severe wound and was brought off the field, and the command of the brigade, and of the assault at that key point, devolved upon that fine, young, gallant officer, Colonel Walcutt, of the Forty-sixth Ohio, who filled his part manfully. He continued the contest, pressing forward at all points." In January, 1864, the period of enlistment of the men in Walcutt's regiment expired and they were all eligible to honorable retirement. Partly through his powers of persuasion, but largely because the men loved the young colonel who fought with them, not only his regiment, but the whole brigade re-enlisted in the field. Then came the Atlanta campaign with its six weeks of almost daily fighting and every day Walcutt in the midst of the worst of it. On July 22nd, before Atlanta, his regiment was desperately engaged and at one time almost surrounded by the enemy. He was ordered to retire, but the fighting was too good where he was and he dis- HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 203 obeyed orders so successfully that a few days later he was made a brigadier general. His brigade was then engaged in the pursuit of Hood into northern Alabama, but returned to Atlanta in time to join in the famous "march to the sea." Sherman's great army of seasoned and successful veterans encountered little opposition in making their way across the wasted states of the fast crumbling Confederacy. Indeed, Walcutt's brigade fought the only engagement arising to the dignity of a battle. In the course of a demonstration against Macon, Georgia, his brigade met with some resistance on the part of a remnant of Wheeler's Cavalry, but speedily routed them. About noon the same day he was attacked by a numerically large force of Georgia militia consisting of three brigades, two independent battalions and a battery of artillery. Walcutt had 1,300 infantry and two pieces of artillery. The militia, made up of old men and boys, with the spirit of warriors but without experience, organization or much of equipment, fought gallantly for their cause, already lost, but were hopelessly beaten. Their losses were placed at from fifteen hundred to two thousand, while Walcutt's casualties did not exceed seventy-five or eighty. Among the few wounded, however, was the general himself, who was struck in the leg by a piece of shell inflicting an injury so serious that he was sent home for better treatment than could be given him on the march. When he was able to rejoin General Sherman, he found himself a major general by brevet, and assigned to command of the First Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps. After participating in the final operations resulting in the surrender of Johnstone's army, and the grand review in Washington, General Walcutt took the western regiments of his division to Louisville, Kentucky, for mustering out ; and he was then transferred to the Department of Missouri. He was finally mustered out of the service January 15, 1866, after serving four years and nine months. From the day of his return to Columbus until his death May 2, 1898, General Walcutt was always a prominent figure. He was elected mayor of the city for two terms ; was for twenty-two years a member of the school board ; served as collector of internal revenue, and on every great public occasion was drafted to typify the spirit of the community. 204 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY He was a fighting man—but he fought a good fight, and he kept the faith. BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES W. FORSYTHE. James W. Forsythe, born in Lucas County, Ohio, was admitted as a cadet at West Point in 1852 and graduated in 1856. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the Ninth United States Infantry. At the beginning of the war, General H. B. Carrington was engaged in recruiting a regiment of infantry for the United States Army at Columbus, known as the Eighteenth Regulars, and young Forsythe was promoted to a captaincy and assigned to duty with this regiment. Shortly afterward he was detached for staff duty and later became an aide on the staff of General Philip H. Sheridan, with whom he served during all of his Shenandoah campaign and the final pursuit of Lee to Appomattox. At the close of hostilities Forsythe was assigned to civil administration duties in the southwest during the period of reconstruction. He was promoted to a brigadier generalship of volunteers and was breveted a brigadier general in the regular army in April, 1865. In 1867 he was married to a daughter of ex-Governor Dennison. During the remainder of his military career he held responsible commands in the West, taking an important part in quelling sundry Indian uprisings. Upon retirement he returned to Columbus and spent the last few years of his life in well-earned repose. BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN G. MITCHELL. John G. Mitchell was born November 6, 1838. He received his schooling at Kenyon College, from which he graduated in 1859. He studied law in the office of Sloan, Andrews and Noble, Columbus, and was admitted to the bar early in 1861. In June of that year he enlisted as a private in the First Battalion of Ohio Reserves ; July 29th he was appointed by Governor Dennison as lieutenant and adjutant of the Third Ohio Infantry, and with that regiment participated in the West Virginia campaign under Rosecrans. In the fall of the year his regiment was transferred to Kentucky and served in the campaign of that period in Tennessee and Alabama. On December 21st he was promoted to a captaincy and in HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 205 the summer of 1862 was ordered back to Ohio for service in recruiting the One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made lieutenant colonel. This regiment was made a part of the Army of the Cumberland and Mitchell became its colonel April 29, 1863. At the battle of Chickamauga Colonel Mitchell was in command of the Second Brigade, which, in conjunction with Whittaker's brigade, arrived on the field at the moment necessary to check the successful attack of the Confederate army on General Thomas' right wing, and enabled the Union army to retire in order. In recognition of meritorious action on this occasion, Colonel Mitchell was highly praised in official reports and recommended for promotion to the rank of brigadier general. In the Atlanta campaign, Mitchell continued to command the Second Brigade with the rank of colonel. The fighting was practically continuous and severe. Even a list of the battles is too long for inclusion in this sketch. At Kenesaw Mountain, Mitchell's old regiment, the One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio, then in his brigade, suffered the loss of 150 men during twenty minutes of furious assault. When Sherman began his march to the sea, Mitchell was with General Thomas, at Nashville, but, after participation in the battle of Nashville and the pursuit of Hood, was able to join his corps in South Carolina, where he found a commission as brigadier general awaiting him. This appointment had been made by Secretary Stanton while visiting Sherman at Savannah. He finished the campaign with Sherman, participated in the grand review at Washington and then, tendering his resignation, returned to Columbus as his place of permanent residence. BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN BEATTY. For forty years General Beatty was a familiar figure in the business world, in public affairs and on the streets of Columbus. As president of the Citizens' Savings Bank and the Central Building and Loan Association, with natural business sagacity, he was a leader in financial circles at a time when the city boasted of a dozen others of genius. Before coming to Columbus General Beatty served three terms in Congress, was a member of the electoral college that cast 206 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY the vote of Ohio for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and was an author and a recognized authority on the history and archaeology of Ohio. John Beatty was born at Sandusky in 1828 and, when a young man, was engaged in the banking business with his brother, Major Beatty, at Cardington, Ohio. When Sumpter fell, he abandoned his business and enlisted as a private soldier in a company raised at home. He was immediately and unanimously elected captain. His company was organized with the Third Ohio and Captain Beatty was elected lieutenant colonel. This regiment was raised for the three months service, but, before taking the field, was reorganized for the three years service, its officers remaining the same. The regiment was immediately engaged in the occupation of West Virginia and then transferred to Kentucky, where it was assigned to General O. M. Mitchell's Third Division of the Army of the Ohio. In the spring of 1862 Beatty was promoted to the rank of colonel and accompanied General Mitchell in his invasion of Alabama, leading his regiment in the engagements at Bridgeport and Huntsville. Returning to Louisville with General Buell in September, 1862, he joined in the pursuit of Bragg through Kentucky, and on the 8th of October won honors at the battle of Perryville. While still ranking as a colonel on the 26th of December he was placed in command of the old Seventh Brigade. At the battle of Murfreesboro on December 31st this brigade assisted in checking the historic attack of General Hardee, while Beatty, always in the hottest of the fighting, had two horses shot under him. On Saturday night, January 3rd, 1863, he personally led his brigade in a charge over the enemy's works near the Murfreesboro Turnpike and carried them with the bayonet. In recognition of these outstanding performances he was raised to the rank of brigadier general, dating from the 29th of November, 1862. After participating in the Tullahoma campaign with signal success, he was engaged in the Chattanooga campaign and at the battle of Lookout Mountain was the first to lead his command to the summit. In the battle of Chickamauga he again bore a brilliant part. His brigade began the fighting on both the 19th and 20 of September, 1863, and to his bull-dog tenacity is due much of the credit for retaining a position that preserved Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee from the enemy's possession. On November 20th General Beatty, HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 207 with Colonel Daniel McCook, overtook the Confederate General Maury at Graysville, and decisively defeated him. He then accompanied General Sherman on his march to Knoxville for the relief of General Burnside, returning to Chattanooga on the 18th of December. January 13th, 1864, General Beatty tendered his resignation from the army and retired with ample honors to himself, showered with expressions of regret from his comrades in arms of every rank. Reid's comment is : "Indeed, it did not often happen that the resignation of an officer excited more universal regret than that of General Beatty." At the ripe old age of eighty-six he died in Columbus in 1914. BRIGADIER GENERAL HENRY B. CARRINGTON. Henry B. Carrington was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, March 2, 1824; graduated from Yale in 1845, and from the law school in 1848 ; removed to Ohio the same year and began the practice of law in Columbus, first with A. F. Perry and later with William Dennison. In 1857 he was appionted adjutant general of Ohio by Governor Chase and remained in that position until after the beginning of the war when, in recognition of his services in organizing troops, he was made colonel of the Eighteenth United States Infantry. In November, 1862, he was advanced to the grade of brigadier general of volunteers and assigned to the District of Indiana, charged with the duty of providing for border defense and the destruction of disloyal secret societies having their nesting place in the Hoosier state. His administration in Indiana is described as being "wise, active, and able, and greatly endeared him to the loyal people of the state." Next to General Rosecrans he is given credit for the most intelligent and effective work in stamping out treason at home. After being mustered out of the service as a brigadier general in August, 1865, he was assigned to duty in Kentucky and later transferred to the Indian frontier. He was in command of Fort Kearney, the east sub-district of Nebraska and of the Mountain District and the Department of the Platte. He displayed ability on the building of forts and the opening up of new military routes. 208 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY General Carrington was one of the organizers of the movement that led to the formation of the Republican party. In 1869 he was made professor of military science in Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana. He was the author of a "History of the Battles of the American Revolution," and several other works in which he displayed scholarship and literary excellence. BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES M. COMLY. James M. Comly was born in Perry County March 6, 1832. He enlisted in the army in June, 1861, and on the 12th of August was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Forty-third Ohio Infantry. After spending several weeks at Camp Chase, he resigned his commission as lieutenant colonel and accepted an appointment as major in the Twenty-third Ohio, then in the field, for the sake of getting into immediate service. This was the regiment of Rosecrans, Scammon and Hayes, all speedily raised to higher ranks, leaving Comly in command of that historic fighting machine in practically all of the engagements of its long and honorable life. He was breveted brigadier general, dating from March 13th, 1865, for gallant and meritorious service in the field. After the war General Comly returned to Columbus, became editor of the Ohio State Journal, in which position he added to the prestige of "that old palladium," and exerted a wide influence in politics. He was one of the organizers of the Board of Trade (now the Chamber of Commerce) and served as its secretary and president. During the war he was married to a daughter of Surgeon-General Smith, of Columbus. BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL ISAAC MINOR KIRBY. Isaac Minor Kirby was born in Columbus in 1834. He enlisted in April, 1861, was elected captain of his company and mustered into the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served first in the invasion of West Virginia and afterward in Buell's Army of the Ohio. He participated in the battle of Pittsburg Landing where he assisted Major Warren in command of the regiment. He then resigned, returned to Ohio and raised another company for the One Hundred and First Ohio, of which he was made captain. On rejoining Buell at HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 209 Louisville, he was promoted a major. At the battle of Stone River both the colonel and lieutenant colonel of the regiment fell in action and Major Kirby succeeded in command for the remainder of the battle and won his promotion by gallantry in action. In the early part of the Atlanta campaign he was given command of the First Brigade, First Division of the Fourth Army Corps, which he led throughout that movement. He continued to command the brigade during the retreat of General Thomas' army to Nashville and the battles in that vicinity. After being cited for conspicuous service on several occasions, he was finally breveted brigadier general and continued in command of a brigade until he was mustered out at Nashville in June, 1865, after unbroken service from the beginning to the end of the war. BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL WILLIAM T. WILSON. William Tecumseh Wilson was born in Huntington County, Pennsylvania, October 6th, 1824. He enlisted as a private in the Mexican War and served throughout that conflict from Vera Cruz to the capitulation of the City of Mexico. On his return from the army he engaged in the newspaper business and in pursuit of this profession, removed to Ohio and became the editor of the Wyandotte Pioneer, at Upper Sandusky. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted and was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the 15th Ohio August 6th, 1861. September 26th, 1862, he was appointed Colonel of the One Hundred Twenty-third Ohio. This regiment was despatched by rail and boat to Marietta and then by rail to Clarksburg; and from there it made a series of forced marches to Grafton. In January 1863 it was engaged in a number of minor battles along the South Branch of the Potomac River, at Moorefield and Romney, and is credited with the construction of the fort at Petersburg, still standing. In March Colonel Wilson's regiment reached Winchester, Virginia, and was engaged in several raids up the Shenandoah Valley as far as New Market. On the 13th and 14th of June the brigade, to which the One Hundred and Thirteenth was attached, was practically surrounded by Lee's great army on its way to Pennsylvania. After being pounded for two days and suffering great losses, an attempt was made to retire along the 210 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY Martinsburg road, but being intercepted by superior forces and finding the most desperate assaults fruitless, the entire brigade was surrendered. Colonel Wilson became a prisoner of war at Libby Prison, from which he was exchanged after eleven months. The few private soldiers of the One Hundred and Thirteenth who escaped collected at Martinsburg where their comrades joined them as they were exchanged. In September 1863 the regiment was reorganized and resumed service in the Valley of Virginia, participating in the battles of New Market, Cedar Creek and the countless other engagements, big and little, that resulted from the struggles of both armies to gain or retain possession of the garden of the Old Dominion. Colonel Wilson led his regiment of Ohioans throughout the long series of adventures that make the history of the One Hundred and Thirteenth regiment read like a novel, and was mustered out with his men at Camp Chase June 12, 1865. He was brevetted brigadier general March 13, 1865. Shortly after the war General Wilson moved to Columbus to assume his duties as comptroller of the state treasury, an office since abolished. He remained in the capital city and identified himself with its subsequent activities. He was one of the founders of the Republican Glee Club and is probably best remembered here as the father of that famous organization. BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL THEODORE JONES. Theodore Jones was born in Georgetown, District of Columbia, February 4, 1832. His ancestors were Virginians. His great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and his grandfather was a lieutenant of cavalry in the War of 1812. His father moved to Columbus in 1835 and Theodore was educated in the public schools of this city. He enlisted in response to the first call for troops in 1861. On account of his training as captain of the State Fencibles he was, for a time, engaged in the organization of troops at Camp Jackson and Camp Chase. On the 2nd of August, 1861, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and succeeded Hugh Boyle Ewing as colonel of that regiment when the latter became a brigadier general November 29th, 1862. HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 211 This regiment saw early service in West Virginia. In September it received its baptism of fire with Pope's army operating in Virginia and Maryland. At the battle of Antietam, Colonel Jones, in preparing for the advance of his regiment to occupy a position held by the enemy, ventured too far ahead, was made a prisoner and sent to Libby Prison where he remained for two months, being exchanged in time to rejoin his command in West Virginia. In the meantime the regiment went into winter quarters as a part of Ewing's brigade on the Kanawha. The first of January, 1863 this brigade was transported down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Helena, Arkansas. In May it was engaged in the bloody fighting about Vicksburg, and was almost continuously in action during the remainder of the year. In 1864 it took part in the Atlanta campaign and followed Sherman through Georgia and on to the sea. Colonel Jones was brevetted brigadier general March 13, 1865. The regiment he commanded traveled 13,200 miles in its four years of service, probably the record for any military unit in the Northern army. Returning to Columbus after the war, he spent the remainder of his life here. He died in 1918. Other general officers more or less identified with the civil life of Franklin County were : BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL R. B. COWAN. Served in the Legislature before the war and after its close resided in Columbus several years while serving as Clerk of the Federal Courts. BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL AMERICUS V. RICE. Colonel of the 57th Ohio, who was United States Commissioner of Pensions for this district and lived here during his incumbency of that office. BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL GRANVILLE MOODY. Colonel of the 74th Ohio, known as the Fighting Parson, who was stationed in Columbus 1845-47 as Pastor of the Methodist Episcopal 212 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY Church and, during the early days of the war, was the commandant of Camp Chase; and BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL GEORGE M. ZIEGLER. Captain in the 47th Ohio and Colonel of the 52nd regiment U. S. Colored Troops who lived in Columbus for a number of years, serving as Superintendent of the State House. Governor Dennison gave Ohio a conspicuous place among the Northern states by the care with which Buckeye regiments were supplied with medical officers. One of his first war acts was to constitute a state board of physicians of the highest type to examine and pass on the qualifications of surgeons for duty in the field. On this board Dr. J. W. Hamilton, of Columbus served with great ability and Drs. S. M. Smith, William M. Awl and Starling Loving contributed to its prestige. Dr. William L. McMillen, of Columbus, who had become familiar with army surgery in Russian hospitals during the Crimean War, was Surgeon General during the closing months of Dennison's administration. During Governor Tod's administration Dr. S. M. Smith ably filled the office of Surgeon General. Dr. Norman Gay, of Columbus, became a Field Corps Medical Director, with the rank of major. CHAPTER XIII AN INTERLUDE OF PEACE. THE FIRST STREET RAILROAD-VISIT OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON-THE HOCKING VALLEY RAILROAD-THE CITY HALL-LOCAL MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS- EX-SOLDIERS' ASSOCIATION-WATERWORKS BEGINNINGS-THE PARSONS- LYNAR WEDDING - THIRD CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION -RAILWAY STRIKE OF 1877-FAREWELL TO GOVERNOR HAYES-LAST VISIT OF GENERAL GRANT-GRAND ARMY ORGANIZATIONS-STANDARD TIME- COURT HOUSE FIRE AND REBUILDING-14TH REGIMENT IN CINCINNATI RIOTS-VISIT OF JAMES G. BLAINE-TALLEY SHEET FORGERIES -NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC-CENTENNIAL OF OHIO'S SETTLEMENT - SCHILLER MONUMENT - THE ROLLER SKATING CRAZE. The Civil War period brought to Columbus a season of prosperity, resembling that incident to the War of 1812 in Franklinton, but on a much larger scale. At all times the city had been the temporary home of soldiers being mustered in or out, coming and going ; Camp Chase had held thousands of prisoners of war and the hotels had been filled to overflowing accommodating the streams of visitors interested in furnishing supplies, procuring contracts and transacting the varied businesses of a civil nature relating to the conduct of the war. On the whole, Columbus had made much money and its possession was reflected in new buildings, enlarged industrial plants and many beautiful homes. The population, which in 1860 had been 18,629, reached 30,000 in 1870. In 1862 a franchise was granted by the city council to The Columbus Street Railroad Company for a line on High Street, from Naughten Street to Livingstone Avenue and the first car, drawn by horses, made its initial trip on June 10th, 1863. Many returning soldiers - 213 - 214 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY beheld this evidence of metropolitan progress for the first time in Columbus, and cheerfully paid seven cents for a ride, or bought five tickets for a quarter and traveled back and forth until they were all used. President Andrew Johnson visited Columbus September 12, 1866. He was accompanied by Secretary of State William H. Seward and Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, and Generals Grant, Steedman, Rousseau, McClelland and Custer, and Admiral Farragut. They were received by a military escort, commanded by General Walcutt. Mayor Bull delivered an address of welcome, to which the President responded in a somewhat lengthy speech in defense of his administration and its policies. This was another "swing around the circle" for the repair of political fences, the array of military and naval celebrities being attached for the purpose of impressing the voters ; but the "dear people" were easily able so to arrange their emotions as to lionize the heroes of war and overlook the President who suffered by comparison. The star's support was too heavy. The Columbus & Hocking Valley railroad, a Columbus project, had its beginning in 1864, when M. M. Greene and others organized The Mineral Railroad Company, with a capital stock of $1,500,000 to build a railroad from Athens to Columbus. On December 19th, 1866 the first Board of Directors was elected, consisting of : Peter Hayden, George M. Parsons, William Dennison, B. E. Smith, William G. Deshler, Theodore Comstock, Isaac Eberly, D. Tallmadge, William Brooks, J. C. Garrett, William P. Cutler, E. H. Moore and M. M. Greene. Peter Hayden was elected President. The name was changed in 1867 to The Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad Company. The road was completed to Athens in January 1871, when B. E. Smith became its President. January 13th, 1869, when the rails had reached Lancaster, the General Assembly accepted the tender of a train of twelve coaches, loaded it with seven hundred and twenty passengers, recruited from the families of the members and state employes, and dedicated the road with its official recognition. The Columbus and Toledo Railroad Company was incorporated May 28, 1872 by M. M. Greene, P. W. Huntington, B. E. Smith, William G. Deshler, James A. Wilcox and John L. Gill. In October, 1876 the line to Marion was opened for business and January 1877, the HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 215 first train ran through to Toledo. The following year the two lines were merged. In 1881 the southern extension to Pomeroy was completed and in August of that year the entire system consolidated as The Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo Railway Company, completing the outstanding achievement of Columbus capital in the first century of local history. A new iron bridge over the Scioto River at State Street was completed and opened for traffic July 11, 1870. The construction of the City Hall in State Street (where the Ohio Theatre now stands) was begun in 1869 and completed in March, 1872, at a cost of $175,000. Studer, in his history of Columbus, published about the time the City Hall was completed, describes it as "one of the most beautiful and imposing public edifices that adorn the capital." Later historians do not display the same enthusiasm. The interior of the building never lived up to the expectations aroused by the first view of its facade. There was an incongruity the city fathers never tried to harmonize. Concerning the building architecturally, Henry Mosler, the famous artist, whose judgment was unquestioned in two continents, said, "It is the finest specimen of Gothic architecture in America." Entirely aside from its merits as a building, architecturally or otherwise, the old auditorium, occupying the entire third floor, was the stage on which much of Columbus history has been acted. For forty years it was the favorite place of both political parties for county and state conventions, and for political gatherings of general interest where speakers of National reputation "pointed with satisfaction and viewed with alarm." On election nights the Republican clans gathered here to listen to the returns as read by John R. Malloy and, after standing room had been fully occupied, the stairways crowded and the street below fairly filled, the last corners were able to understand that 129 precincts in Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburg and Philadelphia, gave a net Republican gain of 2 1/2 to the precinct, as well as the veterans in the front row. One reflex action of the Civil War was the increased interest in military organizations. The need of being prepared for eventualities had been impressed on the public mind. The prompt and prominent service rendered by local companies was not forgotten. The Hayden Guards are mentioned in 1865. The next year the Meade Rifles and 216 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY the Coldstream Zouaves, Captain Jacob Albright appeared, and the Columbus Vedettes were reorganized. The State Fencibles formed an association, with General Theodore Jones as President and J. T. Janney, Secretary. The Sherman Guards, Captain Henry Heinmiller, emerged in 1867, followed shortly by the Emmett Guards, Captain E. T. Delaney ; the Capital City Guards, Captain Wesley Stephens, and the National Union Guards, Captain A. T. Zeigler. In 1874 General C. C. Walcutt directed the organization of the Columbus Cadets, a military-social company that lent color to the scene on special occasions. Another with the same aspirations was the Governor's Guards, Fred. Phisterer, Captain, organized in 1877 and continuing until 1884, when the rejuvenation of the Ohio National Guard rather lessened the interest in independent companies. The Ex-Soldiers' and Sailors' Association of Franklin County, composed of Civil War Veterans, was organized in 1878, with two hundred members. Through its influence a special tax levy for ten thousand dollars was authorized by the General Assembly and a suitable monument, commemorating the services of the heroic dead, was erected in Green Lawn Cemetery in 1891. February 15, 1870, an ordinance was passed by the City Council providing that "A supply of water shall be provided for the city by the construction of waterworks upon the system known as the Holly Waterworks." The day of the well, with its old oaken bucket, was about to pass. The health of the. fast-growing community demanded pure water. Furthermore the experience gained in fighting fire at the burning of the Neil House in 1860 and the old Asylum for the Insane in 1868 increased the demand for more water and better pressure in emergencies. The waterworks was located by ordinance on eight acres of ground near the mouth of the Olentangy River, purchased from W. A. Neil for $8,000, and a Board of Waterworks Trustees of three members created, with salaries of $100 a year each. N. B. Kelley was engaged as the architect. The laying of pipe began while a well was being sunk in the basin of the river and a supply of water developed yielding two million gallons a day. On March 6, 1871 the water was pumped into the five miles of pipes already laid, seventy miles more being laid the next year. The plant has been consistently improved and developed ever since to keep pace with the HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 217 expansion of the city. New methods of treating water have been adopted and in every way the water supply has been developed ahead of actual needs. In 1889 a second pumping station was established on a seven-acre tract of land on Alum Creek and two Holly pumps installed, thus caring for the needs of the east side of the city. In 1898 this station was supplying six million gallons of water a day and it continued in service until the subsequent development of a larger supply of water by means of the storage dam at the end of the century rendered it unnecessary. 1871 was made memorable by the occurrence of a social event not yet forgotten by the elderly members of the Four Hundred. The Prince de Lynar, of Bavaria, came to Columbus to claim Miss May Parsons, daughter of George M. Parsons, as his bride. Miss Parsons had met her princely suitor while traveling abroad and de Lynar followed her home for the fulfillment of a promise made in Europe. The wedding ceremonies were on a scale to which Columbus was not then inured. The flutter of hearts and fans was unprecedented. Families fortunate enough to possess invitations to the wedding preserve them with something akin to religious awe—at least they did until the World War, when a scion of the house of Lynar served with the Crown Prince of Germany in the army that was stopped at Verdun. The Third Constitutional Convention of Ohio met, as provided by law, May 13, 1873, in the Hall of the House of Representatives at Columbus. Its sessions covered a period of two hundred and fifty-three days, the proposed new constitution, with three separate amendments, being submitted to a vote of the people on August 18, 1874. The proposed constitution was defeated by a vote of more than two to one and all three of the separate amendments were lost, two of them by large majorities, and the third, to provide for the licensing of the liquor traffic, by a majority of seven thousand out of a total of 351,000. The constitution, as a whole, had much of merit. It was the product of the best thought of some of Ohio's ablest men. Morrison R. Waite, of Toledo, its first President, was appointed by President Grant as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court while the convention was in session, and Rufus King, of Cincinnati, his successor, had reached such eminence in the law that office could not add to his 218 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY reputation. George Hoadley, of Cincinnati, Judge William H. West, of Logan County, General Thomas Ewing, Jr., of Lancaster, James W. Bannon, of Portsmouth and Miles Gardner, of Washington, C. H. were members of note at the time and are remembered now with great respect. In some ways the proposed constitution was supposed to be too progressive. It provided for the abolition of the fee system in county offices, for bi-ennial general elections, the veto power for the Governor, and for the eligibility of women to offices under the school laws, all of which have been adopted since. However, there were some reasonable objections and, worst of all, the constitution was too long for anybody to read and was dismissed without serious consideration on the part of the average voter. The great railway strike of 1877 developed a situation of unrest and some danger in Columbus. Pennsylvania trains, carrying United States Mails, were gotten through for a time with difficulty and finally stopped for a few days here by action of local employes. On the 29th of August one thousand special policemen and the Columbus Cadets were unable to control the strikers and twenty-three companies of the Ohio National Guard were ordered out by the Governor. This action of the governor in presenting armed authority in sufficient force to make resistance useless, saved bloodshed. Within a few days order was restored, the differences between the company and its employes were adjusted and the great strike ended. In 1876 General Rutherford B. Hayes, then serving his third term as Governor of Ohio, was nominated and elected President of the United States. The campaign was one of unusual bitterness and Columbus, being in a sense Republican National Headquarters, was the storm center. On February 28, 1877, just before leaving for Washington, the President-elect was given an official farewell in the Senate Chamber, which was adjourned to the Hall of the House in order to accommodate more people during the round of complimentary speeches and responses. The next morning the ex-Governor was escorted to his train and speeded on his way to four years as another Ohio President. After his retirement from National politics, ex-President Hayes, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio State University, was a frequent visitor to Columbus during the remainder of his life. HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 219 Soon after completing his second term as President of the United States, General U. S. Grant made his famous tour around the world. Upon his return to his home in Galena, Illinois, the people of Columbus extended to him an invitation to visit this city, which was conveyed in person by a committee, of which George W. Monypeny was chairman. The invitation was accepted and preparations on a large scale were made for the occasion. The general arrangements were under the direction of a committee of fifteen, of which Mr. Monypeny was chairman. The other members were William G. Deshler, William B. Hayden, John Short, D. W. Brooks, H. T. Chittenden, William W. Medary, Theodore Comstock, W. N. Dennison, P. W. Huntington, S. S. Rickley, C. C. Walcutt, Samuel Thompson, A. D. Rodgers and P. M. Wagenhals. The City Council added to this three of its own members for official cooperation. On the afternoon of December 12, 1879, the General, with Mrs. Grant, arrived. The city was crowded with excursionists from all Ohio. A monster civic and military parade, marshaled by General C. C. Walcutt, received and escorted the ex-president to the Capitol, while Mrs. Grant was received by the Ladies' Committee and conducted to the Neil House. In response to addresses of welcome by Mayor Collins at the railway station and by Governor Bishop at the Capitol, General Grant displayed one result of his eight years in the White House and his journey around the world by making speeches. They were not long speeches, it is true, but they were gracious and appropriate. After a formal reception and a dinner, there was a grand ball in the City Hall under the auspices of the Governor's Guards, while the State House square was the scene of the finest pyrotecnic display central Ohio had ever witnessed. Late at night the General and Mrs. Grant departed for Philadelphia. This was Grant's third and last visit to Columbus. On this occasion he was given the greatest demonstration of welcome the city ever accorded to any man. The first Grand Army organization, the J. C. McCoy post, was formed January 7, 1881; the Joshua M. Wells Post was organized June 19, 1884; the Elijah J. Beers Post, July 5, 1889. The Dennison Camp, Sons of Veterans, was organized in 1882. The same year the ex-Prisoners of War Association was formed, with John T. Harris as 220 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY President, Robert Dent, Vice-President, S. W. Gale, Secretary, Daniel S. Wilder, Treasurer and E. C. Beach, Chaplain. Standard time was adopted by the railroads in November, 1883 and the Columbus Board of Education immediately adopted it for school purposes. The experiment lasted one week when the sun was reinstated. It was several years before the city generally adopted slow time and then only after a period when High Street clocks displayed an extra hand running in harmony with the almanac. The old Court House, erected in 1840 on the southeast corner of High and Mound Streets, was the scene of a mysterious fire March 31, 1879, by which a large number of public records, particularly in the Recorder's office, were destroyed. By a singular coincidence but one firm of abstractors had been able to foresee this possibility and provide themselves with copies of vital deeds and mortgages. This fire was a serious matter so far as the loss of records was concerned, but it brought to the front the long mooted question of Franklin County's need for a larger and better public building. In the spring of 1884 the people voted a bond issue of $500,000 for the erection of a new building. The corner stone was laid on the 4th of July, 1835 and the building was completed and dedicated on July 13, 1887, at a cost of $470,000. A new jail was also built on Fulton Street, just east of the Court House, at a cost of $165,000. During the construction period, the courts and county offices were housed in near-by buildings on the west side of High Street, and one court room in the French building on the northeast corner of High and Mound Streets. George H. Maetzel was the architect of the new courthouse and George Bellows, Superintendent of Construction. During the Cincinnati riots in 1884, the Fourteenth Regiment Ohio National Guard, Colonel George D. Freeman, was ordered to the Queen City to assist in restoring order. In the performance of its duties the Fourteenth was engaged in some street fighting, in which the mob suffered severely and two members of the regiment killed—Leo Voglegesang and Israel S. Getz. In the presidential campaign of 1884, James G. Blaine, the Republican candidate, came to Columbus and spoke to the "acres of people" from the balcony of the Neil House. The Plumed Knight was the most popular American of his time and was received with HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 221 extravagant enthusiasm here as well as at all points on his itinerary. It was not then suspected that his really splendid campaign could be wrecked in the last few days before the election by the blundering of well meaning friends. The occasion was made picturesque by the last of the great political torch-light processions, preceding the candidate's speech. Marching clubs, wearing uniforms of riotous design, came from all parts of Ohio to participate. Companies and battalions of rural cavalry, recruited from the farms and villages, gave a touch of military contrast. Bands and fife and drum corps were so placed in line that every moment the column was passing was filled with music. The moving pageant was self-illuminated, each individual carrying a torch or flare or pouring fountains of varicolored fire from short-range Roman candles. Viewed from a distance it appeared that an army of fireflies were taking possession of a surrendered city. When the last torch flickered and failed, the spectacular style of political campaigning inaugurated in the days of William Henry Harrison, began its speedy decline. In connection with the October election, 1885, an attempt was made to alter the tallysheets of Precinct A of the 13th Ward so as to add 300 votes to the total cast for certain Democratic candidates through the simple expedient of changing a "2" to a "5." The returns were taken from the safe of the County Clerk Saturday night, the alterations made, and replaced sometime during Sunday. The fraud was detected, indictments were brought against some of the county officers and others, including one Algernon Granville, a short-hand reporter, who made an alleged confession and appeared as the star witness for the state in the subsequent trials. The case attracted the widest attention. The newspapers printed verbatim reports of the testimony and for many days these occupied the front page. The array of legal talent was the greatest ever gathered in the Franklin County courts in any one case. David F. Pugh occupied the bench Cyrus Huling was the Prosecuting Attorney, and he had associated with him Luther Laflin Mills, of Chicago, Allen G. Thurman, "The Old Roman," and Colonel J. T. Holmes, while the defendants were represented by John McSweeney, of Wooster, one of the greatest criminal lawyers Ohio ever boasted, Converse, Booth & Keating, and Colonel E. L. Taylor. The trial was filled with dramatic incidents. 222 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY The cross-examination of Allen O. Myers by Luther Laflin Mills, during which both rose to their feet and exchanged verbal rapier thrusts for half an hour, still lingers in the memories of the bar. The droll and artful cross-questioning of John McSweeney frequently diverted the minds of the jury from the defendants and left the impression that he was on trial himself—and certainly not guilty. At the end the jury failed to arrive at a verdict and the cases were finally dropped. The public returned its own verdict—guilty but not proven and there the matter rested. The Twenty-second National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Columbus the week of the 9th of September, 1888. It was one of the largest reunions of the veterans of the Civil War ever held. That great conflict had been fought by boys. More than three-fourths of all the soldiers mustered into the Northern army were under twenty-one years of age at the time and, in 1888, the survivors were men in the prime of life. More than a hundred thousand of them came to Columbus on this occasion, thousands of them bringing wives and children. These, with the other thousands who took advantage of the excursion rates on all the railroads to see and hear, swelled the throng of visitors to a multitude numbering more than a quarter of a million. To take care of the expected hosts, a general committee of citizens had been at work for months before the encampment. Of this committee Colonel A. G. Patton was chairman and he had associated with him D. S. Gray, C. D. Firestone, General John G. Mitchell, Major A. D. Rodgers, H. C. Lonnis, C. T. Clark, Colonel M. H. Neil, N. B. Abbott, David Lanning, Carl N. Bancroft, R. M. Rownd, G. C. Hoover, Emerson McMillan, Theodore H. Butler, Colonel Andrew Schwarz and W. D. Brickell, with Alfred E. Lee as Secretary. The Society of the Army of West Virginia, held its annual reunion in the city at the same time. Following the practice of other cities in entertaining previous grand encampments, provisions were made for sheltering and feeding a large portion of the old soldiers in camps. Two such camps were established and fully equipped with dining halls, light, water and other conveniences in a field just west of the United States Barracks, now the site of the Neil Baseball Park ; another on Nineteenth Street, HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 223 between Broad and Long and a fourth at Neil Avenue and Goodale Street. These camps provided tentage for 55,000 men. The hotels and lodging houses were filled to capacity and hundreds of private homes were made available for those not otherwise provided for. The General Committee directed plans for the entertainment of the visitors with musical and theatrical programs, the streets and public buildings were decorated, arches, bearing electric lights, were erected over High Street at intervals, and the whole city transformed into a great street fair. Among other attractions brought in for the occasion was the locomotive, "The General," captured by the Andrews Raiders in their daring but unsuccessful exploit in 1862. This was made available through the courtesy of ex-Confederates who, thus early, showed their willingness to forget what the war was all about. The feature of the encampment was the parade of Tuesday. Fifty thousand veterans, organized in eighteen divisions, formed on the streets leading into Broad Street from the North and fell into line at the appointed time with old-time precision. The line of March was west on Broad Street to Third, south to State, west to High, south to Fulton ; by countermarch north on High Street to Naughten ; by countermarch, south on High to Broad, east on Broad, passing the reviewing stand at the north entrance to the Capitol. The parade was enlivened by numerous bands and brightened by flags in profusion. The old battle flags, preserved in the State House, were taken out for once and borne in the parade by representatives of organizations to which they had formerly belonged. The column moved with rythm throughout its line of march ; it seemed a thing alive as it swept past the reviewing stand for almost four hours, a thing of potential power with iron hand merely gloved, now forgetful of all but the music and the cheers and the September sunshine. The occupants of the reviewing stand were as noteworthy as the parade itself. There were Commander-in-Chief Rea and his staff, ex-President R. B. Hayes, General William T. Sherman, Governor Joseph B. Foraker, Mrs. John A. Logan, Hon. Austin Blair, ex-Senator, Allen G. Thurman, Colonel Fred D. Grant, Hon. J. M. Rusk, then Governor of Wisconsin, Hon. John M. Thayer, Governor of Nebraska, General Thomas J. Wood, U. S. A., General B. F. Kelley, of West Virginia, General Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, General Russell A. 224 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY Alger, of Michigan, Past-commander General John S. Kountz, General J. Warren Keifer and five hundred others of but little less prominence. While the Grand Encampment was in progress, Columbus was also celebrating the Centennial of the First Settlement in Ohio by an exposition in which the State of Ohio cooperated through the State Board of Agriculture, the Archaeological and Historical Society and the State Horticultural Society. General Samuel H. Hurst was the Director General. The exposition began September 4, 1888 and continued until October 16th on the State Fair Grounds, ten new buildings having been added to the Fair equipment for this purpose. On the opening day there was a parade of the Ohio National Guard, a great gathering in the new auditorium building, an address by Governor Joseph B. Foraker, a commemorative poem by Colonel Coates Kinney, always remembered as the author of "Rain on the Roof," and an ode composed by Henry T. Chittenden and sung by fifteen hundred school children. As a fitting celebration of an historic event and as showing Ohio's industrial progress, the exposition was a great success, somewhat marred at its conclusion by the usual deficit and the failure of many individuals to reap a profit from their enterprises. The foundation of the monument to the German poet Schiller was laid in Washington Park on July 4, 1889. On this occasion there was a parade by the German societies and the ceremony in the Park included an oration by Governor Foraker and a musical program by the Mannechor and the Fourteenth Regiment Band. The monument was not completed until July 4, 1891, when it was dedicated with ceremonies on even a larger scale. This, as one of the very few pieces of statuary in Columbus, is worthy of more attention than it is usually accorded, probably on account of its location so far away from the center of civic life. The bronze statue of heroic size was modeled and cast in Munich and weighs 2640 pounds. With the base, it stands twenty-five feet in height and is a credit to the city and the German societies responsible for its erection. The United States Custom House in Columbus was established by act of Congress in January, 1888.