550 - HISTORY OF OHIO that in England there are now thirty editions on the market, and nearly a million of them sold. Such a 'run' is without parallel in the history of literature." A peculiar fact was that Mrs. Stowe was criticised, even in Ohio, some months later, when she was visiting in England, because of her close intimacy there with high people who were avowed abolitionists. She had been supposed to be in favor, not of abolition, but of colonization of the negroes. It was not until 1853, when Ohio contained more than 2,500,000 people, that any means was found for throwing water on burning buildings other than the machines pumped by the labor of squads of men, taking turns. In April, 1853, the Dayton Journal contained an article descriptive of "a new steam fire engine," just invented, which the editor had had an opportunity to see tested. "It is a wonderful machine," he wrote, "and does more execution than a dozen ordinary engines, as it throws six streams of water and never requires a change of hands to 'man the brakes.' " The inventor, when interviewed by the editor, stated that he had not developed the engine for profit, but solely to prevent waste by fires which might be more quickly extinguished by it. With the increase of traffic on the railroads came accounts of accidents on them, and these so grew in numbers and in magnitude that the newspaper editors were seriously alarmed. They published the most complete details of all these catastrophes—not only those in Ohio but those in other states as well—and inveighed against the managers and employes of the roads, whom they held largely responsible. Extracts from two of these attacks are interesting now as showing the methods of running railroads in those early days. They are typical of all. On May 12, 1853, the Hamilton Intelligencer published this, under the head "Terrific Railroad Murder :" "It must have been remarked by every reader of news that recently railroad accidents have been fearfully on the increase, both in number and extent. * * * This spring the managers of railroads seem to have become possessed of some foul spirit of destruction, and every week records a wholesale murder. People are crushed according to system, or drowned at leisure. They are pitched into pi by a collision, tumbled down a huge precipice, whirled over a draw-bridge, or run through by a cross-train. A point of etiquette, about the right of way or some such thing, seems sufficient in the mind of a railroad official to justify the murder of twenty or thirty people—and so they are duly murdered." And a week later under the caption "Conduct of Railroad Engineers" the same paper had this : "The late occurrence at Norwalk has been the cause of considerable inquiry into the disposition and conduct of a class of men upon whose sobriety and careful attention depend the lives of many thousands of persons daily. We regret to say that these examinations root out more than one 'bad egg.' For instance : We are informed by a person who is familiar with the working of railroad trains on an Ohio road that he has frequently seen an engineer put on steam to run down a cow ! And he has seen an engineer with several carloads of passengers sit quietly for ten minutes at a time with his back toward the head of the engine! Had he met with any obstacle, this foolhardy villain and all with him might have been dashed into eternity." ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR WILLIAM MEDILL FIFTY-FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY Regular Session, January 2 to May 1, 1854 Lieutenant Governor James Myers was president of the Senate. Francis C. LeBlond, of Mercer County, was chosen speaker of the 552 - HISTORY OF OHIO House. He later (1862-63) represented his district in Congress. The official canvass of votes at the recent election disclosed the following results : For Governor—William Medill, democrat, 147,663 ; Nelson Barrere, whig, 85,857 ; Samuel Lewis, abolitionist, 50,346 ; scattering, 21. Total, 283,866. For Lieutenant Governor—James Myers, 147,905 ; Isaac J. Allen, 127,282 ; Goodsel Buckingham, 31,333. For Secretary of State—William Trevitt, 151,818 ; Nelson H. Van Vorhes, 97,500 ; William Graham, 33,518. For Treasurer of State—John G. Breslin, 151,226; Henry Brack-man, 95,862 ; Wesley Chaffin, 33,934. For Attorney General—George W. McCook, 149,957; W. C. Gibson, 97,394 ; Cooper K. Watson, 35,504. The new attorney general was one of the famous "Fighting McCooks." He had served as an officer throughout the Mexican war, and was one of the first four brigadier-generals appointed by the governor of Ohio at the outbreak of the Civil war. His law studies had been pursued in the office of Edwin M. Stanton, in Steubenville, and at the time of his election as attorney general he was a partner of that noted lawyer. As attorney general he edited the first volume of the "Ohio State Reports." The term of Salmon P. Chase as United States Senator having expired, George E. Pugh was elected his successor, the democrats having a majority in both houses of the General Assembly. This Legislature passed many laws during its single session, but none of them was of great importance. A resolution was adopted favoring a railroad from some point on the Mississippi River to one on the Pacific coast. The question of building such a road, with assistance of the Federal Government, was an important one. The thousands who had first migrated to the gold regions of California had traveled on ships. "Prairie schooners" had followed, with the attendant dangers of attack by hordes of savages, and there had grown a demand for transportation by rail. An event of June 26, 1854, which created a great sensation throughout the state was a murder in Cincinnati by use of an "infernal machine" —the first case of its kind known in the West. Two deaths were caused by a terrific explosion of a small box at the Marine Hospital, corner of Western Row and Longworth Street. "Upon entering the room," said an account of it, "the attendants found the ceiling and the windows torn to pieces, and Mr. Allison and his wife horribly mangled." Then followed, for some months, many columns in all the papers of the state recounting details of the investigation, the arrest of one Arrison, his trial, conviction and sentence to be hanged. The year of 1854 was full of political excitement. The "Know-Nothing" party, or "American Party," as it called itself, came into existence, advocating "no naturalization of foreigners," "war on Romanism," "American laws and American legislation," and "death to all foreign influences, whether in places high or low." This party was very active, and, as the foreign population in some of the cities was large, clashes were frequent. A climax was reached in April, 1855, in a riot in Cincinnati. On election day for city officers, the Germans of the Eleventh and Twelfth wards took charge of the ballot boxes, and, as reported, refused to allow the "Americans" to vote. The latter formed a mob and destroyed the boxes and ballots. The Germans called out a few military companies composed exclusively of their own countrymen, took a brass cannon belonging to the Federal Government, planted it at the corner of Vine Street and the canal, barricaded the streets, and prepared for war. Many shots were fired from window and several lives were lost. The "American Reform Party" assembled at their various quarters and passed resolutions condemning "the frauds ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 553 which characterized the elections in the Eleventh and Twelfth wards, and the brutal personal assaults which were perpetrated on our American and Protestant fellow citizens by the lawless foreigners and emissaries of the Pope." Governor Medill went to Cincinnati and threatened to call the militia there; the disturbances were finally quelled. Cincinnati at that time contained almost as many foreigners as native born people. This year saw a great agitation—the most general so far in the history of the country—on the slavery question. Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had pledged the nation to no-slavery "north of 36.30." The admission of Nebraska as a slave state, if the people there should vote for it, was proposed. This set the antislavery people aflame. Political party affiliations were in large measure forgotten, and on July 13, 1854, an "anti-Nebraska" convention was held in Columbus, attended by more than a thousand delegates, made up of whigs, democrats and free soilers jointly. Resolutions were adopted against the admission of Nebraska except as a free state, and candidates were nominated for the only two offices to be filled—Joseph R. Swan for supreme judge, and Jacob Blickensderfer, Jr., for member of the Board of Public Works, the election to be upon the issue of extension of slavery proposed in the Nebraska bill. This was followed by a campaign of great intensity. At Dayton, on September 21, a meeting attended by 10,000 was addressed by Benton of Missouri, Mace of Indiana, and other prominent democratic leaders, and by Parker of Indiana, Wade, and Schenck of Ohio, and other well known whigs, all opposed to the extension of slavery. Equally notable meetings were held in all parts of the state. At the election the majority for the ticket espoused by the anti-Nebraska party was more than 80,000. Every congressman elected was on the same side of the question. Only five counties in the state gave democratic majorities. Among the congressmen elected were many who afterwards became conspicuous. The complete list was as follows : T. C. Day, J. Scott Harrison, L. D. Campbell, 1M. H. Nichols, Richard Mott, J. R. Emrie, Aaron Harlan, B. Stanton, C. K. Watson, P. F. Moore, V. B. Horton, Samuel Galloway, John Sherman, Philemon Bliss, W. R. Sapp, E. Ball, J. C. Albright, B. F. Leiter, Edward Wade, Joshua R. Giddings and John A. Bingham. In the year 1855 a matter of popular interest was a new schedule of postal rates. For the first time it was required that all postage must be prepaid. Letters of one-half ounce weight were carried 3,000 miles for 3 cents. Postage on "drop letters" (for local delivery) was 1 cent each. Letters could be registered for 5 cents extra, but the Government disclaimed all responsibility or liability for their loss. Much was made in the papers of the performance on many race tracks of "Pocahontas the Great Pacer," foaled and raised in Butler County. She was the equine wonder of the age, and easily defeated all other horses which had become famous—at Cincinnati, pacing a mile in 2 :34 ; at New Orleans, in 2 :24 1/2 ; at St. Louis, in 2 :20 1/2, and finally in New York she defeated the great "Hero" in 2 :17 1/2, "the shortest time on record," as the papers noted with wonder. The New York Express published a full account of this race, which was copied in Ohio papers. "Hero was nowhere," said the Express, "and was declared distanced. The mile was accomplished by Pocahontas in the incredibly short period of 2m, 17 1/2's, the greatest feat ever yet performed. It is the more remarkable, too, inasmuch as harness, wagon and driver weighed 265 lbs. !" The campaign of 1855, at which state officers were elected, was between democrats and republicans. John Sherman was chairman of the republican convention which met at Columbus July 13. A full republican state ticket was nominated, headed by Salmon P. Chase for governor, and a platform adopted strongly opposed to the extension 554 - HISTORY OF OHIO of slavery. The issue on this question was clearly drawn, and the republican victory was a distinct declaration of the position of the people of Ohio upon it. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR SALMON P. CHASE FIFTY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY First Session, January 7 to April 11, 1856 ; Adjourned Session, January 5 to April 7, 1857 Thomas H. Ford, lieutenant governor, presided over the Senate, and Nelson H. Van Vorhes, who had two years before been defeated as a candidate to be secretary of state, was speaker of the House of Representatives. The official vote on the various candidates for state offices was thus declared : Governor—Salmon P. Chase, 146,770 ; William Medill, 131,019 ; Allen Trimble, American, 24,276. Total, 302,065. The American party candidate was the same Allen Trimble who had been the whig governor thirty years before--1826 and 1827—and who had not been willing to take part in the fusion which brought the republican party into existence. Lieutenant Governor—Thomas H. Ford, 169,408; John Myers, 134,385. Secretary of State—James H. Barker, 168,724; William Trevitt, 133,641. Treasurer of State—William H. Gibson, 169,350 ; John G. Breslin, 132,295. Auditor of State—Francis M. Wright, 169,218 ; William D. Morgan, 134,504. Attorney General—Francis D. Kimball, 168,868 ; George W. McCook, 132,216. Attorney General Kimball resigned later in the year, and was succeeded by Charles P. Walcott. State Treasurer Gibson also re-signed, under fire, charged with irregularities, and was succeeded by A. P. Stone. Trustees were appointed for the Northern Ohio and the Dayton lunatic asylums, as those institutions were now in full operation. William T. Coggeshall was appointed state librarian. He was a well known journalist of Cincinnati, and was later sent as minister of the United States to Ecuador, where he died in 1867. Mr. Coggeshall had served as secretary to Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, during his tour through the country in 1852. This session was not without evidence of personal animosities caused by political differences. One of these culminated in an assault by Rep-resentative John P. Slough, of Cincinnati, upon Darius Caldwell, mem-ber from Ashtabula County, upon the floor of the House while in ses-sion, and Slough was expelled. The republican majority in the Assembly was very aggressive, and did not hesitate to take vigorous action against the slave interests. It was greatly opposed to the extension of slavery and it passed a joint resolution favoring the repeal of the fugitive slave law. In the adjourned session it adopted. resolutions bitterly denouncing the Dred Scott decision by Chief Justice Taney, of the United States Supreme Court, holding, in effect, that slavery was lawful in any state under the federal constitution. It was resolved by the Assembly that "The doctrine announced by the chief justice in behalf of a majority of the court, that the federal constitution regards slaves as mere property and protects the claims of masters to the slaves to the same extent and in the same manner as the right of owners in property, within 556 - HISTORY OF OHIO the limits of free states, during temporary visits or for purposes of transit, to the practical consequences of which doctrine no free state can submit with honor." Another resolution instructed Ohio's senators and representatives in Congress to secure modifications of the laws that would secure to free states their just representation in the Supreme Court. This referred to the fact that the court consisted of five judges from the slave states and only four from the free states, notwithstanding the great preponderance of the free states in population. The committee reporting these resolutions to the Assembly prefaced them by vigorous comments on the court's Dred Scott case decision : "We learn that in our own state of Ohio, instead of being in fact a free, is in effect a slave state. The mighty sin against God and the giant wrong against man contemplated by that decision, must not and shall not be consummated in Ohio. "It attempts to force upon us an institution hated, loathed and execrated by the whole civilized world, and by no portion of the earth with a deeper and more abiding detestation and abhorrence than by the people of our state." The Ohio members of Congress were asked, in a resolution of the General Assembly, to exert themselves to secure pensions for soldiers of the War of 1812, and to further the progress of the building of the Pacific Railroad. Measures were also taken to establish an institution for the care and education of the feeble minded, to penalize the killing of song birds, and to provide the painting for the rotunda in the state house of Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, which has been the admiration of visitors there for three generations since. The year 1856 was filled with political excitement. The new-born republican party, flushed in Ohio with victory in the elections of the year before, entered the contest for choice of a president to succeed Franklin Pierce with high spirits and supreme confidence. The democrats were equally aggressive, and were not less determined to win. The papers of both parties reflected the opposing passions of the times. Pursuant to a call issued at Washington, D. C., January 15, 1856, and addressed "to the Republicans of the United States," a mass convention was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, convening "at eleven o'clock on Friday morning, February 22, 1856." This was a mass convention and was largely attended. The following statement in regard to the representation of Ohio in this convention is copied from the "History of the Republican Party in Ohio" by Joseph P. Smith : "Aside from Pennsylvania, the largest attendance was from Ohio, with New York second. From Ohio there came Joshua Reed Giddings, then in Congress, and in the fullness of his fame ; Francis D. Kimball, Attorney General ; William H. Gibson, Treasurer of State ; Jacob Brinkerhoff, Supreme Judge ; William Dennison, Jr., a future Governor ; Joseph Medill, subsequently famous as the editor of the Chicago Tribune ; George H. Frey, editor of the Springfield Republic ; and Rufus P. Spalding, James M. Ashley, Charles Reemelin, James Elliott, Daniel R. Tilden, John A. Foote, Hiram E. Peck, James M. Brown, Jacob Heaton, Roeliff Brinkerhoff, Eugene Pardee, Richard D. Harrison, Cyrus Spink, Oliver White, Henry Everts, Henry Howard, Thomas Bolton, Daniel McFarland, Oliver Harmon, L. H. Hall, Richard Steadman, Dudley Baldwin, Seth Day, Henry Carter, Frederick Wadsworth, Sidney Edgerton, Dudley Seward, D. C. Coon, I. M. Benson, A. J. Page, I. H. Wilkinson, Robert Rogers, W. B. Fish, John L. Wharton, Lafayette G. Van Slyke, Alfred P. Stone, and many other prominent and active anti-slavery men of the State." This convention favored the holding of a Republican National Convention to nominate candidates for president and vice president at ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 557 Philadelphia, June 17, 1856. The basis for representation in this convention was fixed at six delegates at large for each state and three for each congressional district. A brief address to the people was adopted opposing the extension of slavery to the territories, pledging support by every lawful means to the free state people of Kansas and declaring opposition to the policy of the national administration on the question of slavery extension. On May 22, 1856, Preston S. Brooks, congressman from South Carolina, struck down Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, at his desk in the United States Senate. Instantly the North was afire with indignation. The Republican State Convention in Columbus, on May 29, adopted a resolution thanking Senator Benjamin F. Wade for his denunciation of the "brutal assault," and took similar action praising Congressman Lewis D. Campbell, of Butler County, for introducing resolutions in the House demanding the most rigid investigation into the circumstances attending the attack. The convention also expressed its condemnation of the democratic national administration and of the aggression of the slave power in Kansas and Nebraska. This convention named "senatorial delegates," or delegates at large, as they are now called, to the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia. The Ohio delegation to that convention was as follows : Senatorial Delegates—Thomas Spooner, of Hamilton ; Rufus P. Spalding, of Cuyahoga ; William Dennison, Jr., and Alfred P. Stone, of Franklin ; John Paul, of Defiance ; Ephraim R. Eckley, of Carroll. District Delegates—John K. Green, Alphonso Taft, Charles E. Cist, Medard Fels, Thomas G. Mitchell and George Hoadly, of Hamilton ; Josiah Scott, of Butler ; Lewis B. Gunckel, of Montgomery ; Felix Marsh, of Preble; John W. Defrees and Barton S. Kyle, of Miami; Edward B. Taylor, alternate for Joel Tyler, of Darke ; James M. Ashley, of Lucas ; William Sheffield, of Defiance; A. Sankey Latty, of Paulding; Joseph Parrish, of Clermont ; Chambers Baird, of Brown ; William Ellison, of Adams ; Aaron Harlan, of Greene ; Robert G. Corwin, of Warren ; Charles Phellis, of Madison ; George H. Fry, of Clark ; Lyman J. Critchfield, of Delaware; Levi Phelps, of Union ; John Carey, of Wyandot ; Conduce H. Gatch, of Hardin ; Charles T. Smeed, of Ottawa ; Rodney M. Stimson, of Lawrence ; Milton Kennedy, of Scioto ; George J. Payne, of Gallia ; Addison T. Miller, of Ross ; John T. Brazee, of Fairfield ; Thomas R. Stanley, of Vinton ; David Murch, of Perry; Valentine B. Horton, of Meigs ; Robert Neil and Noah H. Swayne, of Franklin ; Jerome Buckingham, of Licking ; Joseph C. Thompson, of Pickaway; Joseph M. Root, of Erie ; John R. Osborne, of Huron ; J. M. Talmadge, alternate for John J. Gurley, of Morrow ; Francis B. Kimball, of Medina ; Peter Risser, of Ashland ; Hiram E. Peck, of Lorain; D. W. Stanton, of Coshocton ; John C. Devin and William R. Sapp, of Knox ; H. B. Brown, of Holmes ; Austin A. Guthrie, of Muskingum ; Israel Greene, of Morgan ; George M. Woodbridge, of Washington ; Charles J. Albright, of Guernsey ; Miller Pennington, of Belmont; William Ellis, of Monroe ; Cyrus Prentiss, of Portage; Christopher P. Wolcott, of Summit ; John Saxton, of Stark ; Thomas Bolton, of Cuyahoga ; John F. Morse, of Lake ; Job S. Wright, of Geauga ; Joshua R. Giddings, of Ashtabula ; John Hutchins, of Trumbull ; William J. Young, alternate for Jesse Baldwin, Mahoning ; David Heaton, of Columbiana ; Daniel McCurdy, of Jefferson ; Richard Hatton, of Harrison. The national convention nominated Col. John C. Fremont, of South Carolina, for president, and William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, for vice president. The democrats of Ohio held their convention at Columbus, named delegates for the national convention, and adopted a platform upholding the administration of President Pierce and all the acts of the democratic 558 - HISTORY OF OHIO Congress. Their national convention, at Cincinnati, which began June 2, named James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, for president on the sixteenth ballot, over Franklin Pierce, Stephen A. Douglass and Lewis Cass. John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, was their candidate for-vice president. The contest was the most bitter since 1840. The newspapers were filled with accounts of meetings at which addresses were delivered by many eminent public men, not only in Ohio, but of other states as well. An incident which was regarded of importance was the announcement that John Brough, formerly prominent as a democratic state office holder, would support the republican ticket. He thus paved his way for becoming a republican governor of Ohio eight years later. The result of the election in Ohio was another republican victory : Fremont, 187,497 ; Buchanan, 170,874 ; Fillmore, 28,126. Ex-President Fillmore, who had affiliated with the American party, was its regularly nominated candidate for president. Buchanan's election did not daunt the republicans, who regarded that they had done well in their first attempt to gain national control. The slave states had been greatly disturbed over the possibility of success of the "Black Republicans," and there was evidence that they were much relieved when the result of the election became known. Their editors had threatened that, if Fremont were elected, it would result in a dissolution of the Union. The Ohio papers made much use of an editorial copied from the issue of November 10 of the Enquirer of Richmond, Virginia : "All danger of a dissolution of the union is over. Slavery will hereafter be, as it always should have been, the strongest bond and cement of the union. Slavery makes North and South mutually dependent ; makes the one a market for the products of the other. In its absence, trade intercourse and commerce between the two sections would cease, because the pursuits and commerce would be the same. "The extension of slavery would cheapen the comforts and necessities of life, and advance the well being of all classes at the north. * * * We write this article thus early after the election (which, of itself, is another striking evidence of the growing popularity of negro slavery) to show that negro slavery and the union must stand or fall together, and that in talking of disunion in the event of Fremont's election we were but pointing out its inevitable consequence and administering salutary warning." A public improvement, which received large notice, was a new bridge over.tover theRiver at Cincinnati. It had long been regarded as a great need. On October 2, 1856, the Cincinnati Commercial contained this item : "The work of breaking ground for the bridge over the Ohio river between Covington and Cincinnati was commenced in good earnest yesterday. A gang of about one hundred men were employed at the landing on this side removing the dirt in order to receive the foundations for the towers." This bridge, which was to carry railroad trains, ordinary vehicles, and pedestrians, was of very great importance to "The Queen City of the West." On October 24, 1856, the Columbus Gazette described the progress made on the new state house, and announced that it would be ready for the session of the General Assembly to commence the following January, although the building would not be entirely finished until the following year. On the evening of January 6, 1857, the edifice was opened formally in a "Great State House Festival." The crowd attending was so great, and the only door (on the west front) then available was so small that an alarming congestion arose. Ladies were crushed in the space between the great columns and the west wall of the building, and many fainted. Their beautiful dresses ("hoops 8 1/2 feet in circumference") were almost ruined. The formal reception occurred in ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 559 the hall of the House of Representatives, where speeches were made by Governor Chase, Hon. Alfred Kelley, and others. There was gas illumination, gay decorations, four bands of music in various parts of the building, and everything well suited to dancing, which continued until daylight. Within a few months the old state buildings remaining since the fire of 1852, and the United States courthouse, were removed. They had been so far reduced in public estimation that they were called "Rat Row." The grounds were laid out, trees planted, and a contract let to surround the ten-acre square with an iron fence at a total cost of $35,127.38. Thereafter followed a great deal in the papers about suspicion of corruption in the construction of the capitol and the 400-page report of an investigation of the subject by a committee of the Legislature, In June, 1857, the people of Ohio were surprised to learn that William Bebb, who had been governor of the state in 1847-48, but who was then living at Sewald, Illinois, had shot and killed a man and wounded another. He was described by the Rockford Republican of May 11, which paper furnished the information used by the Ohio editors, as a man of large wealth, which fact aroused the jealousy of his neighbors. His son returned home from the East with a bride, and the rough people of the neighborhood indulged in the practice of "belling" them. They made a great noise, and ex-Governor Bebb warned them to depart, which they refused to do. He then took a shot gun, crippled one leader for life by shooting his legs, and instantly killed another. "Upon this the rowdies decamped." The sensation of the year 1857 was the great defalcation of the funds in the state treasury. Treasurer William H. Gibson, elected the year before, had succeeded John G. Breslin in that office. In June it was discovered that the large amount of interest due on the state debt in July could not be met, although the treasury statements showed an ample balance of cash on hand. It developed upon investigation that when the change of administrations had occurred Breslin had not turned over to Gibson the amount of money supposed to be in his possession, and that Gibson, who was Breslin's brother-in-law, had not revealed that important fact at the time He now disclosed the condition of the funds, and stated that Breslin had agreed to make good the deficit, but had not done so. Governor Chase demanded Gibson's resignation, appointed John P. Stone, a Columbus merchant, in his stead, and asked William Dennison, Jr., and W. S. V. Prentiss, together with State Auditor Wright, to inquire into the true state of affairs. They reported that there had been a defalcation of $775,711. Gibson placed the entire responsibility upon Breslin, but assigned all his own property (said to be of value of more than $200,000) to the state. The grand jury of Franklin County indicted Breslin, who fled to Canada. He located at Hamilton, Ontario, refused to return, and could not legally be brought back. This incident was the cause of an immense amount of violent political dispute in the newspapers of the rival parties. The republican papers charged that all the previous administration, including Governor Medill, had been aware of Breslin's criminal misappropriation of the state funds at the time it occurred. They held Gibson blameless of having had any financial benefit from the great steal, but they did not shield him from censure for concealing knowledge of Breslin's peculations until circumstances compelled him to disclose them. Breslin disappeared from public view, but Gibson, who afterward rose to the rank of brigadier-general in the Civil war, was a very prominent figure in republican state politics for many years thereafter. He was one of the noted orators of his time and served as adjutant-general of Ohio under the administration of Charles Foster. 560 - HISTORY OF OHIO FIFTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY Regular Session, January 4 to April 12, 1858 ; Adjourned Session, January 2 to April 6, 1859 Lieutenant Governor Martin Walker was ex-officio president of the Senate. William R. Woods was chosen speaker of the House. The canvass of the votes at the election of 1857 showed the following result : Governor—Salmon P. Chase, 160,568; Henry B. Payne, 159,065 ; P. Van Trump, 10,272. Total, 329,905. Lieutenant Governor—Martin Walker, 162,922 ; William H. Lytle, 158,717; N. P. Nash, 10,452. Secretary of State—Addison P. Russell, 161,837; Jacob Reinhard, 159,421; C. C. Allen, 10,680. Treasurer of State—Alfred P. Stone, 160,618; James R. Morris, 158,942 ; Jonathan Harshman, 10,680. William H. Lytle, the defeated candidate for lieutenant governor, is noted as a poet, chiefly because of his authorship of those well known verses the first line of which is "I am dying, Egypt, dying." He became a general in the Civil war and was killed at the battle of Chickamauga, September 20, 1863. At this session of the General Assembly the question of female suffrage made its first appearance in the state, memorials being received by both houses asking that provision be made permitting women to vote, but it was not seriously considered and no action was taken upon it. Among the appointments made was that of William Dennison, Jr., to be a trustee of the new institution for the care of feeble minded youth. This was the first position of an official character which Dennison held, although he was a very conspicuous citizen and had been a presidential elector in 1852. Subsequently he was governor of Ohio (1860-61), and in 1864 postmaster general in President Lincoln's cabinet. He was a railroad and bank president of great prominence. Another name which in after years became noted throughout the United States appeared in the journals of this Fifty-third General Assembly. William Henry Smith, then a young man of twenty-five years, representing the Cincinnati Commercial as legislative correspondent, is shown by the records to have been expelled from the privileges of the floors of the houses because of some comments he had made upon the debates. During the war Smith took an active part in the raising of troops, was largely instrumental in bringing John Brough to the front for governor, and was his private secretary after election to the office—the first of a long line of newspaper men to hold that position. Later Mr. Smith was collector of the port of Chicago, appointed by President Hayes in 1877. His greatest title to distinction, however, was in the field of news organization. In 1883 he effected a consolidation of the New York Press and the Western Associated Press, and served as manager of the great consolidated association continuously until his death in 1896. He edited "The St. Clair Papers" and was author of "A Political History of the United States," and he made many important contributions to American history through his researches among original documents in the British Museum. Early in 1858, the people seemed to have come to a new realization of the importance of the position of Ohio in the sisterhood of states. Many historical reviews of the state were published, and articles indicative of the pride of the people in their commonwealth. According to published estimates there were in the state 2,368,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,335,000 had been born in Ohio, 640,000 in other states, and 393,000 in foreign countries. This was somewhat of an overstatement as to the total population, as proved by the federal census two years later. One appreciation of Ohio which was spread by the editors before ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 561 their readers was copied from the New York Post of April 7, 1858, from which the following extracts are copied here : "It is seventy-one years today since the emigrant party from Massachusetts landed in Marietta, Ohio. This was the first permanent settlement of white inhabitants in that territory. Among those who went to the infant colony were General Lewis Cass, Ex-Governor Woodbridge of Michigan, and Dr. Hildreth, who yet lives and enjoys a hale and vigorous old age. What a change in seventy-one years ! Ohio has now 2,500,000 people, industrious, enterprising, intelligent. She has $85,000,000 of taxable property, $3,500,000 in school houses, and an annual school tax for the education of all her children of $2,500,000 ; and more miles of canals and railroads than any state in the Union. How wonderful has been her growth and her progress in all elements of material, moral, and intellectual wealth !" On August 16, 1858, Ohioans, in common with the people of the entire nation and those in foreign lands, were thrilled at the news that messages had been transmitted from Europe to America through the Atlantic cable. When the vessel bearing the cord of union neared the shore and the enterprise was assured of success, the good news was flashed over the numerous lines of the Telegraph that span our land until the whole nation was made acquainted with the glad event. No other item of news ever found so wide a circulation in so short a time or was received with such universal pleasure. The editorials were ecstatic over the great achievement. Even with the reduced time of passage by the Atlantic steamships, old world intelligence had been two weeks old or more. News of important events of the Crimean war, which had been occupying large space in the Ohio papers prior to the peace of 1856, was several weeks old when published. All this would now be changed with the flashes coming over the cable resting on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Both the democratic and republican parties held their state conventions in Columbus, and nominated candidates for offices which were to be filled that year. The democrats, on August 29, named Thomas W. Bartley, of Richland County, for supreme judge ; Durbin Ward, of Warren, for attorney general ; Samuel W. Gilson, of Mahoning, for comptroller. The republicans nominated William V. Peck, of Scioto County, for judge of the Supreme Court ; C. P. Wolcott, of Summit, for attorney general ; William B. Thrall, of Franklin, for comptroller. The principal issue in this campaign was the same as that of the last one—extension of slavery and the attitude of the national administration toward it. The republicans were all elected by increased majorities, ranging over 20,000. They also made gains in the state's representation in Congress, fifteen seats to six held by the democrats. The twenty-one congressmen were : John A. Gurley, James M. Ashley, Thomas Corwin, Benjamin Stanton, John Carey, Charles A. Trimble, John Sherman, Cyrus Spink, William Helmick, C. B. Thompson, Thomas C. Theaker, Sidney Edgerton, Edward Wade, John Hutchins, John A. Bingham, George H. Pendleton, C. L. Vallandigham, William Allen, William Howard, Charles D. Martin and S. S. Cox. Of these, Corwin, Sherman, Bingham, Pendleton, Vallandigham, Allen and Cox were all among the prominent men in the history of the state. In the year 1859 the canals, forty years old, had begun to be a burden to the state. The railroads were superseding them and they were growing less and less useful. The people living along their course still reaped considerable benefit from them, but that large majority who did not share in these benefits were fretful because a considerable amount of the tax money they paid was used to maintain them. Many editors favored their relinquishment as a state controlled enterprise, by either sale or lease. The General Assembly passed a bill to lease them to the highest bidder for a period of five years. 562 - HISTORY OF OHIO The affair at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on October 16, 1859, in which John Brown and his followers sought to arm and liberate the slaves, was, of course, a topic of extraordinary interest to the people of Ohio. For several days the exact nature and motive of Brown's endeavors were not understood, and there were many rumors, later to be found false: "RIOT AT HARPER'S FERRY "The telegraph dispatches are wild in an account of a riot at Harper's Ferry. One dispatch says the abolitionists and negroes are in a state of insurrection, to the amount of two hundred and fifty whites and a great number of negroes. The next account says the affair is greatly exaggerated—the negroes have nothing to do with it. Another dispatch says Government has ordered out the troops to quell the insurrection. Government is always ready to fight the negroes. The mayors of Washington and Alexandria have put their respective cities under guard, ready to meet any emergency. There is, doubtless, a great disturbance, but that it is as serious as represented we do not believe. The difficulty had its origin in a government contractor at the armory, who absconded leaving some three hundred hands unpaid. These hands are determined to have redress and are playing the fool at the expense of the government, and in violence to the peace of good citizens. "LATER.—The news is not definite as to the cause of the trouble. Captain Brown, of Kansas notoriety, turns up as the leader of the gang. Some five hundred persons are implicated in the insurrection. The troops have been shooting them down without mercy. The leaders have all been killed or arrested, and the disturbance has doubtless been quelled before this time. A number of abolitionists are said to be at the bottom of the trouble, having for their object the freedom of the slaves of Maryland and Virginia." 1 The immediate reaction in the press of Ohio was an eruption of editorial controversy of a virulent character. A typical example is found in the Gazette (democratic) and the Chronicle (republican), both published at St. Claireville, in Belmont County. "The Black Republicans," said the Gazette on October 24, "are busy in behalf of their leaders, denying any complicity in the matter ; but it won't do. The eastern papers come to us filled with documents found at Old Brown's in which a great number of them have already been implicated, viz : Chase, Giddings, Seward, Hale, Lawrence, Forbes, Sanburn, Greeley, Howe, Sumner, Fletcher and others." To this the Chronicle responded : "This is an inexcusable lie, an unscrupulous falsehood without the least shadow of fact to sustain it." After a defense of the republican leaders mentioned by the Gazette, the Chronicle's long editorial closed thus : "If the editor of the Gazette has any desire to find where the responsibility for this insurrection rests we have only to refer him to that Party who repealed the Missouri Compromise, who reveled in the blood of Kansas Freemen and thereby drove Brown to mad desperation. You have his revenge." As the weeks went by, the people eagerly read the details as they developed—the unsuccessful attempt to secure Brown's release on a writ of habeas corpus, the large accumulation of soldiers and of ammunition at Harper's Ferry to quell other disturbances which were anticipated ; the panic caused by a large fire, at first supposed to be caused at Charlestown by the abolitionists, but which proved to be only the burning of a haystack ; a startling report that 250 abolitionists from Ohio had secreted themselves in the woods near by, and the arrival of Governor Wise with fresh troops to expel them—only to find that there was not a single man there ; the trial, conviction and execution of John 1 - Belmont Chronicle, October 20, 1859. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 563 Brown and several of his followers in the enterprise which failed. Then followed a description of Brown's funeral at North Elba, New York, at which the great Wendell Phillips delivered an address. Full details were published of an exchange of letters between Governors Wise and Chase. The governor of Virginia had heard that an armed body of Ohioans was forming "for the purpose of invading Virginia ;" and he asked Governor Chase to stop it. The governor of Ohio replied that he had heard nothing of this, but that should it appear that such an unlawful combination was being formed it would be his duty to break it up, "and that duty, it need not be doubted, will be promptly performed." John Brown was executed December 2, 1859. "Under a heading, "Old Brown is Dead," the Belmont Chronicle of December 8 published an editorial which was truly prophetic as to the future estimate in which he would be held : "While his specific act is punishable with death, yet the old man had a motive worthy of Washington. While the means he used were of the most reprehensible character, not to be justified by common sense, patriotism, nor by philanthropy, yet we venture the prediction that future generations will forget his crime in admiration of his bravery and his honesty of purpose. * * * He dies the victim of slavery, and while the majesty of the law demands his death, and the lovers of law everywhere yield obedience, yet, for the old man there wells up a strong sympathy in the hearts of millions, even of his enemies, and when the sober sense of, ,:after reflection takes the place of the present wild excitement and prejudice, this sympathy will even grow stronger, for future generations will spread the mantle of charity over his faults and laud his virtues." Within two years thereafter millions of men and women were singing "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, But his soul goes marching on." ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR WILLIAM DENNISON FIFTY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY Regular Session, January 2 to March 26, 1860; Adjourned Session, January 7 to May 13, 1861 During the sessions of this General Assembly Robert C. Kirk was the lieutenant governor and presided over the deliberations of the Senate. Richard C. Parsons, representative from Cuyahoga County, was speaker of the House. The president pro tem of the Senate was Richard A. Harrison, then of London but afterwards a noted lawyer of Columbus. On July 4, 1861, he succeeded Thomas Corwin in Congress, Corwin having resigned to become minister of the United States to Mexico. After the usual legislative canvass of votes cast at the election in October the results were declared as follows : Governor—William Dennison, Jr., 184,557; Rufus P. Ranney, 171,226. Total, 355,783. Lieutenant Governor—Robert C. Kirk, 185,351; William H. Safford, 170,588. Secretary of State—Addison P. Russell, 184,839; Jacob Reinhard, 170,400. Auditor of State—Robert W. Taylor, 184,567; G. Volney Dorsey, 170,587. Treasurer of State—Alfred P. Stone, 184,567 ; William Bushnell, 170,413. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 565 The Board of Equalization reported to the Assembly that the tax value of all real estate during the year 1859 had been $639,894,311. On February 2, 1860, Salmon P. Chase, who a month previous finished his second term as governor, was elected United States Senator by the Legislature, but his service in that office was brief ; he resigned March 4, 1861, to become secretary of the treasury in President Lincoln's cabinet. John Sherman succeeded him as senator. Sherman had now become one of the recognized great men of the state, although he was at that time but thirty-seven years old. His first political recognition had been election as delegate to the Whig National Convention at Philadelphia in 1848, in which assemblage he served as secretary. He had also been a delegate to the Baltimore Convention in 1852. He represented the Cleveland district in Congress from 1855 to 1861. He served in the United States Senate continuously from 1861 to 1877, when he resigned to become secretary of the treasury under President Hayes. At the expiration of his term in that position, in 1881, he was again elected to the Senate, and remained a member of the body for sixteen years, becoming President McKinley's secretary of state in 1897. He died in 1900. A new member of the State Senate at this session was James A. Garfield, then twenty-nine years old. He had held no political position prior to that time, but had been a professor in Hiram College and . later its president. He served but a single term in the Ohio Senate, but was in 1862 elected to represent his district in Congress, where he remained through eighteen years successively, until he became president in 1881, after being chosen United States Senator, but before his term in the upper house of Congress was to begin. Prior to the expiration of his term in the State Senate he enlisted in the war and became a major-general, which office he resigned to take his seat in the lower house of Congress. Final provision was made at the present session of the Assembly for the completion of the new state house. Appropriations were made for tiling the floor of the rotunda, for installing the entire system of gas piping, and for finishing the terraces of the building. It was required that all work should be finished by October 1, 1860. The final act was the sale of the locomotive which had been used for conveying stone over the streets of Columbus from the quarries to the site of the building. In January, 1860, the legislatures of Kentucky and Tennessee visited Cincinnati, and by resolution on the 25th of that month the Ohio Assembly appointed a committee to go to Cincinnati, invite them to come to Columbus, and escort them to the capital. This was an unusual event, especially at a time when the relations between North and South were so severely strained, but the newspaper correspondents 'reported that the visit, on January 26, was highly agreeable to both sides. Governor Chase made a speech which the southerners heartily applauded, and as they mingled with the Ohio law makers "the idea was very sensibly working in their minds that the old adage, as applied to Black Republicanism, was very true—`the devil is not so black as he is painted,' " according to a correspondent of the Belmont Chronicle. The penitentiary was now again found to be too small to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of convicts, and provision was made by the Legislature for another large addition, at a cost of $40,000. The committee to whom consideration of this subject was given recommended the erection of an entirely new prison, to be located at Sandusky, but its recommendation was not adopted. Street cars had come into use at Cincinnati this year, and more were contemplated. The Assembly enacted a law with reference to them, the chief provision of which was that use of streets by cars should be prohibited except with consent of owners of a majority- of abutting property. 566 - HISTORY OF OHIO The federal census of 1860 showed Ohio's population to be 2,339,511, an increase of 359,182 since 1850. The state continued to rank third in the Union—surpassed only by New York (with 3,880,735), and Pennsylvania (with 2,906,215). Illinois had more than doubled its population during the decade, and now ranked fourth, with 1,711,951. Cincinnati, with a population of 161,044, was third in the country in point of manufacturing industries in operation. Cleveland was the second city in the state, with 43,417 inhabitants ; Dayton third, with 20,081; and Columbus fourth, with 18,554. Toledo had a population of 13,768. There were in the state 2,992 miles of railroad, constructed at a cost of $111,896,351. Interest in all ordinary subjects was overshadowed in 1860 by the tense political situation and the approaching presidential election. The first candidates in the field were named early in May by the National Union Party Convention at Baltimore—John Bell, of Tennessee, for president, and the famous scholar, Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for vice president. The republicans of Ohio, in state convention at Columbus on March 1, elected four delegates at large to the convention to be held at Chicago on May 16, as follows : David K. Cartter, of Cuyahoga ; Conrad Brodbeck, of Montgomery ; Thomas Spooner, of Hamilton ; Valentine D. Horton, of Meigs. District Delegates—Benjamin Eggleston, Frederick Hassaurek, Richard Corwine and Joseph H. Barrett, of Hamilton ; William Beckett, of Butler ; Peter P. Lowe, of Montgomery ; George D. Burgess, of Miami ; John F. Cummins, of Shelby; David Taylor, of Defiance ; Elijah Graham, of Wood ; John M. Barrere, of Highland ; Reader W. Clarke, of Clermont ; Thomas Corwin, of Warren ; Abraham Hiveling, of Greens ; Levi Geiger, of Champaign ; William H. West, of Logan ; Earl Bill, of Erie ; Daniel W. Swigart, of Crawford ; John V. Robinson, of Scioto ; Milton L. Clark, of Ross; Nelson H. VanVorhes, of Athens ; Alexander C. Sands, of Vinton; Williard Warner, of Licking; Jonathan Renick, of Pickaway ; John J. Gurley, of Morrow ; Philip L. Schuyler, of Huron ; Norton S. Townshend, alternate for James Monroe, of Lorain ; George U. Harn, of Wayne ; Columbus Delano, of Knox ; Robert K. Ennis, of Holmes ; Daniel Applegate, of Muskingum; Caleb A. Williams, of Morgan ; Charles J. Albright, of Guernsey; William Wallace, of Belmont ; Horace Y. Beebe, of Portage ; Isaac Steese, of Stark ; Robert T. Paine, of Cuyahoga ; Reuben Hitchcock, of Lake ; Joshua R. Giddings, of Ashtabula ; Milton Sutliff, of Trumbull ; Samuel Stokely, of Jefferson ; David Arter, of Carroll. The state convention resolved "That while the Republicans of Ohio will give their united support to the nominee of the Chicago Convention, they would indicate as their first choice and recommend to said Convention the name of Salmon P. Chase." But notwithstanding this resolution the Ohio delegation to the convention played a most important part in bringing about the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. There were some of those delegates who were not favorable to Chase as the nominee. Shortly after Lincoln's name was presented by an Illinois delegate, and after David K. Cartter, chairman of the Ohio delegation, had named Chase, Thomas Corwin nominated Judge John McLean, of Cincinnati. Then Columbus Delano electrified the adherents of Lincoln by saying to the convention, "I rise on behalf of a portion of the delegation from Ohio to put in nomination the man who can split rails and maul democrats—Abraham Lincoln." 1 On the first ballot the vote of Ohio was : For Chase, 34; for Lincoln, 8 ; for McLean, 4. On the second ballot Chase received 29 votes, Lincoln 14 and McLean 3 of the Ohio votes. The third ballot saw a 1 - These are the words as they appear in the official report of the convention; but in the news dispatches they were somewhat different: "On the part of a large number of the people of Ohio, I desire to second the nomination of the man who can split rails and maul democrats." ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 567 large break to Lincoln, who received 29 votes from Ohio, while Chase had only 15 and McLean 2. Hundreds of men present were privately totaling the votes. as they were announced during the call of the states, and after the last had responded they knew that Lincoln had received 231 1/2 votes—within 1 1/2 of the 233 which were necessary to a choice. It was at that instant that Chairman Cartter clinched Lincoln's nomination. Before the result of the ballot could be officially declared he mounted a chair, secured attention, and shouted : "I arise, Mr. Chairman, to announce the change of four votes from Chase to Abraham Lincoln." This started a stampede from other state delegations, who changed their votes in large blocks, and when all were recorded it was officially declared that Abraham Lincoln had received 364 votes-130 more than a majority of the convention—and was the nominee. William M. Evarts, of New York, which state had consistently cast its seventy votes for William H. Seward throughout the balloting, moved to make Lincoln's nomination unanimous, which was done. The telegraphic news accounts describing the scene in the convention following Ohio's action in nominating Lincoln were quite equal to those which have come out of national conventions many Dimes since. "The delegates tore up the sticks and boards bearing the names of the several states, and waved them aloft over the heads of the vast multitude." There were twenty or thirty thousand people crowded outside the convention hall, who were instantly informed of the occurrence by people on the roof. Everybody went wild, and cannon which had been secured for use in the event of Lincoln's nomination began thundering to express the joy of the people of Illinois. Murat Halstead, of the Cincinnati Commercial, wrote :. "There was a moment's silence. The nerves of the thousands, which through the hours of suspense had been subjected to terrible tension, relaxed, and as deep breaths of relief were taken there was a noise in the Wigwam like the rush of a great wind in the van of the storm—and in another breath the storm was there. There were thousands cheering with the energy of insanity." On June 14 the republicans held their stage convention to nominate candidates for state offices, and named Frederick Hassaurek, of Hamilton County, and Joseph Root, of Erie, as electors at large. The electors of the different congressional districts were : Benjamin Eggleston, William M. Dickson, Frank McWhinney, John Riley Knox, Dresden W. H. Howard, John M. Kellum, Nelson Rush, Abraham Thomson, John F. Hinkle, Hezekiah S. Bundy, Daniel B. Stewart, Richard P. L. Baber, John Beatty, Willard Slocum, Joseph Ankeny, Edward Ball, John A. Davenport, William K. Upham, Samuel B. Philbrick, George W. Brooks and Norman K. Mackenzie. The democrats held their national convention at Baltimore, nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, for president, and Benjamin Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, for vice president. There was a division in the party; and the other faction presented John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, for president, and Gen. Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for vice president. Gerritt Smith was nominated by the abolitionist party, and thus there were five tickets to divide the votes. In Ohio only two received any considerable attention—Lincoln and Douglas. The campaign was a bitter one. Little doubt was entertained that if Lincoln should be elected the southern states would secede from the Union, and all issues other than the domination of the slave powers were forgotten. Ohio's official count of the vote was : Abraham Lincoln, 221,809 ; Stephen A. Douglas (independent democrat), 187,421 ; John Bell (constitution union), 12,193 ; John C. Breckenridge (democrat), 11,303 ; Gerritt Smith (abolitionist), 136. Total, 432,862. At the adjourned session of the General Assembly, which began January 7, 1861, it was necessary to face squarely the question of secession of the southern states. South Carolina had already declared the bonds of the Union severed and herself independent, and other 568 - HISTORY OF OHIO southern states were about to take the same action. On January 12 the Ohio General Assembly adopted a series of resolutions declaring their belief "that the preservation of the unity of the government is essential to the support of tranquillity at home, peace abroad, the safety, the prosperity, and the very liberty of the people." They declared that the people of Ohio were ardently attached to the Constitution of the United States, and that the general government could not permit the secession of any state. After the bombardment of Fort Sumter the Assembly, by an act of April 18, authorized a loan of $1,000,000 for the purpose of carrying into effect war measures to be adopted. Of this amount $500,000 was to be paid for the support of the general government, $450,000 for arms and equipment for volunteers from Ohio, and $50,000 for the use of the governor as an extraordinary contingent fund. Necessary acts were passed for mustering companies, regiments and brigades, and camps were established at various points in the state to receive, equip, drill and organize the volunteer soldiers. So vigorous was the state government in carrying out the requirements of the Government for putting down the rebellion that within a few weeks after President Lincoln's call for volunteers, a large number of Ohio's regiments were organized and ready to move. And by the end of the year Secretary of War Simon Cameron, in his first detailed report of the strength of the army, gave the number of volunteers from Ohio at 91,469, of whom 10,266 were tinder enlistment for three months and 81,203 for the period of the war. New York had enlisted 110,388, and Pennsylvania, 113,959. No other state compared with Ohio in the number of volunteers in service. These three states had provided 44 per cent of all the volunteers in the Union Army. The situation was such, in the anxiety of the year, that it was proposed to sink all political differences and form a union of all parties in the state for the purpose of electing a union ticket without opposition. This proposal, made by the republican state committee, was declined by the damocratic committee, who called a convention at Columbus for August 8, and named a full state ticket, headed by Hugh J. Jewett, of Zanesville, for governor. Under a public call signed by 164 men representative of all parties, and including many prominent democrats, a union convention was held September 5, with Thomas Ewing as chairman. David Tod, who had been the democratic candidate for governor in 1844 and 1846, but who had been untiring in furthering the Union cause since the beginning of the war, was nominated for the chief office. The result of the election was a victory of the union ticket by more than 55,000 majority. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR DAVID TOD FIFTY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY Regular Session, January 6 to May 1, 1862; Adjourned Session, January 6 to April 4, 1863 The lieutenant governor who presided over the Senate during this Assembly was Benjamin Stanton, and the speaker of the House was James R. Hubbell, of Delaware County. The canvass of the official vote at the recent state election by the Assembly showed: Governor—David Tod, 206,997 votes ; Hugh J. Jewett, 151,774 ; scattering, 109. Total, 358,880. Lieutenant Governor—Benjamin Stanton, 206,995; John G. Marshall, 151,978; scattering, 341. Secretary of State--Benjamin R. Cowan, 207,352; William W. Armstrong, 151,912 ; scattering, 181. (Secretary Cowan resigned 570 - HISTORY OF OHIO before the close of the year, and at the election of 1862 Armstrong was elected with 181,315 votes, over Wilson S. Kennon, who received 178,755.) Treasurer of State--G. Volney Dorsey, 207,437 ; George W. Holmes, 151,548; scattering, 187. No general laws of consequence were enacted, as the successful prosecution of the war was almost the only subject which occupied the minds of the assemblymen and the people. All acts necessary to.this end were promptly passed, and all reflected the intense patriotic spirit of the people's representatives, although the unionists, who were in a large majority in both houses, were harassed by a persistent democratic minority. The debates were acrimonious in the extreme, and bitter feelings between the two parties were always in evidence. Every demand of the general government was fulfilled with enthusiasm ; provision was made to pay bounties for enlistments in the war ; and liberal assistance was given the dependent of Ohio's soldiers in the field. Arrangements were made by which soldiers could vote in their camps, and, when it became necessary, laws were passed to secure by draft all soldiers required of Ohio. Governor Dennison's last message to the Legislature reviewed the splendid record the State of Ohio had made so far in the war. He also took occasion to refer to the extraordinary material advancement during the previous twenty years, citing as an example that the number of blast furnaces for the production of iron had grown to fifty-nine, with an annual output of 108,500 tons of iron, of a value of $3,171,000. This was five-fold greater than it had been in 1840. The mining of coal had increased from 3,513,400 bushels in 1840 to more than 50,000,000 bushels in 1860. It was announced in January, 1862, that Secretary of War Simon Cameron had been appointed minister to Russia, and that Edwin M. Stanton, of Steubenville, Ohio, had been appointed to the war portfolio. He assumed his duties January 20, and his name is among the famous statesmen of that period. The inaugural of Governor David Tod occurred on January 13, and was attended with unusual demonstrations. Such crowds came from all parts of the state as to tax the capacity of the streets of Columbus to hold them. There was a great military parade of regiments quartered at Camp Chase, while awaiting orders to march to war. Instead of the usual quiet function in the hall of the House of Representatives, the ceremony of taking the oath of office and delivering the inaugural address took place in the rotunda of the state house, with every part of the building filled with great throngs of people. On January 27 another high honor came to Ohio. Justice John McLean, of the United States Supreme Court, had died at his home in Cincinnati, and on the 27th of January, 1862, the papers carried the news from Washington that Noah H. Swayne, of Columbus, had been appointed by President Lincoln to fill the vacancy thus created. The determination of the amount of provision to be made for the maintenance of the dependent families of soldiers was difficult. The bill in the House of Representatives provided for a levy of one-half mill on the dollar on all property in the state, but the Senate amended it to make it three-quarters of a mill. They finally compromised on three-fifths of a mill, which yielded approximately $660,000 for the year. This was almost doubled the following year. As in the year 1861, everything in 1862 except the war sank into insignificance in the public mind. The fall of Fort Henry on February 6, and especially the taking of Fort Donelson on the 16th of the same month, saw the signal for unbounded rejoicing. In Columbus there was a great meeting in the state house on the 17th, at which joyous speeches were made by Governor Tod, Thomas Ewing, Lieutenant Governor Stanton, Columbus Delano, Senators Monroe and Fink, Judge Groes- ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 571 back, Col. Robert McCook, and Congressman Samuel Galloway. For two days and nights the streets were filled with happy people. There were bonfires, fireworks, illuminations, booming cannon and ringing bells. Similar scenes- were common throughout the state. The name of Brig.-Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the hero of these great achievements, now first became known. Little had been heard of him before, and when it was found that he was "an Ohio boy," there were expressions of the greatest pride in him by the people, as one of their own. On May 26 Governor Tod issued a proclamation concerning the war situation in Virginia. "I have the astounding intelligence," he said, "that the seat of our beloved national government is threatened by an invasion, and am called upon by the secretary of war for troops to overwhelm the ruthless invaders. * * * Rally, then, men of Ohio, and respond to this call as becomes those who appreciate our glorious government. * * * Everything is valueless to us if our government is overthrown. Lay aside, then, your ordinary duties, and help bear aloft the glorious flag unfurled by our fathers." Volunteers were instructed to report for duty at Camp Chase for service of either three months or three years, or for duty within the limits of the state. This call was not satisfactorily answered, and on July 3 another proclamation to the same effect was issued. It was now borne in upon the people that the need of immediate action was urgent. At once there was great activity. Information came that the Columbus City Council had appropriated $25,000 to aid in recruiting, that Mansfield had provided $10,000 for the same purpose, and that other cities had taken similar action. On July 14 the Columbus correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette wrote : "Letters received today by Governor Tod exhibit an earnestness and determination on the part of our leading men not equalled since the fall of Sumter. In some districts the excitement is intense. Governor Dennison, Hugh J. Jewett and Colonel Harris will take the stump immediately for recruiting. Every well soldier in the city and all who can be spared from the camps have received orders to march." On July 8 Adjt.-Gen. Charles H. Hill issued orders dividing the state into eleven military districts, with headquarters at Camps Dennison, Portsmouth, Marietta, Dayton, Chase, Zanesville, Steubenville, Lima, Toledo, Mansfield and Cleveland. Recruits were instructed to report at these camps. War meetings were held everywhere, and many leading speakers traveled through the state urging enlistments. But, with all this effort, there remained a grave doubt as to results. On August 4 Governor Tod issued a public statement expressing the hope that volunteers would come in sufficient numbers, but that if they did not, draft would be resorted to by the general government. On August 14 it was officially announced that volunteering for new regiments would cease, and that on September 1 the draft would be put into effect. The total quota demanded of Ohio was 74,000 fresh recruits. In the middle of July, 1862, there was great excitement in Cincinnati over reports of the Confederate Gen. John H. Morgan's raid into Kentucky. A mass meeting of the citizens was held in the Fifth Street Market Place on Sunday, the 13th, at which many thousand people were present. Dispatches were received from Louisville, Frankfort and Lexington stating that the guerilla chieftain was threatening all those cities and had declared that he would give Cincinnati a call also. Parts of the Eighty-fifth and Eighty-eighth regiments were sent from Camp Chase at Columbus, a part of the Fortieth was sent from Camp Dennison—these and such other forces as could be gathered were f or-warded to Lexington to meet Morgan's men. But his visit to Ohio was deferred until a year later. The people of the state were kept at a high tension by the events of 1863. The fall of Vicksburg on July 4, and the great victory on the 572 - HISTORY OF OHIO same day on the field of Gettysburg, brought relief from the gloom produced by a series of Union defeats, and throughout the state celebrations over these events were unprecedented. The raid of Gen. John Morgan through Southern Ohio the same summer created consternation and alarm, and his capture and incarceration in the Ohio penitentiary were cause of heartfelt congratulations among the people. Meanwhile, political warfare throughout the two years of Governor Tod's administration was acute. The name "Republican" all but disappeared from the references to the parties. There were only the "Union Party" and the party called "Copperhead" by the unionists. Although the preponderance of union sentiment was overwhelming, the opposition was active and the feeling against it very bitter. Clement L. Vallandigham, ex-congressman from Dayton, was regarded as a traitor for his attitude against the war, and after a long series of exciting events, including his arrest, trial and conviction by a military court, he was sent through the lines into the Confederacy. Later he took up his abode in Canada, and while there was nominated by the Ohio democrats for governor of the state. The union party named John Brough, who some years before had been a very active democratic state office holder, and an energetic campaign was entered upon. It resulted in Brough's election by more than 100,000 majority. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR JOHN BROUGH FIFTY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY Regular Session, January 4 to March 31, 1864; Adjourned Session, January 3 to April 13, 1865 Charles Anderson presided over the deliberations of the Senate by virtue of his office as lieutenant governor, and James R. Hubbell, of Delaware County, was reelected speaker of the House of Representatives. The Assembly's official canvass of the vote for state offices showed the following totals : Governor—John Brough, 288,826 ; Clement L. Vallandigham, 187,728. Total, 476,554. Lieutenant Governor—Charles Anderson, 288,492 ; George E. Pugh, 190,523. Auditor of State—James B. Goodman, 287,926 ; William Hubbard, 191,102. Treasurer of State--G. V. Dorsey, 287,988 ; H. S. Knapp, 191,102. At the adjourned session the canvass of the official vote at the election of October, 1864, showed : Secretary of State—William Henry Smith, 238,145 ; William W. Armstrong, 183,842. Attorney General--William P. Richardson, 238,104 ; Lyman Critchfield, 183,747. At the first session W. E. Davis was elected clerk of the Senate. He did not appear at the adjourned session because, as officially announced, he was a prisoner of war in the South. The Senate adopted a resolution granting him indefinite leave of absence, with full pay and allowances, and assigned Assistant Clerk S. B. Walker to perform his duties. Clerk Davis was not able to return to his duties before the close of the session. As before since the war had begun, the Assembly devoted its attention almost exclusively to measures referring to the great conflict. Only two acts of consequence were taken on other subjects. One of these required railroad companies to erect fences on both sides of their rights of way, as a necessary precaution against accidents. The other made 574 - HISTORY OF OHIO a decided increase in the salaries of state officers. Thereafter the governor was to receive $4,000 per year, the judges of the Supreme Court, $3,000 each ; the lieutenant governor, $800 ; the secretary of state, $2,000 ; the auditor and treasurer, $3,000 each, and the attorney general a total ( fees and salary) of $2,000. Pay of members of the General Assembly was raised to $5 per day during their sessions. Governor Brough was inaugurated with great military pomp, and for the first time the ceremonies occurred outdoors—on the east front of the capitol—it having been demonstrated two years before that no indoor location could provide space for the multitudes who wished to be present. Something of the loss and hardships of the people of an invaded territory, as well as the cost of repelling invasion, was made known in a message of the governor received by the Assembly on January 27, in which he submitted an itemized account of the expenses incident to Gen. John Morgan's raid of the previous summer. It had cost the state government $292,586.27 to capture his forces, and claims of people who had been damaged amounted to a total of $696,755.48—of which, they said, the damage inflicted by the rebels was $527,705.40, and that caused by the federal soldiers $169,050.08. On February 6 Governor Brough issued a proclamation concerning President Lincoln's call for 200,000 more troops, and B. R. Cowan, who was now adjutant-general of the state, issued orders for the recruiting of thirty more companies to be raised in Ohio under the new call. In due course Cowan stated officially that Ohio's quota had been filled. The progress of the common schools had not been retarded by the war, as was shown by the report of the state school commissioner. There were now 14,661 schools, attended by 725,095 pupils. The cost of maintaining the school system in 1864 had- been $2,409,613. Notwithstanding the country had now been at war more than three years, the newspapers and the people in 1864 were as much interested in the operations of the armies as they had been at any previous time. The movements of those troops which included Ohio's soldiers were naturally of chief importance to Ohioans, but every battle, and especially every decisive victory of the Union armies, was the subject of enormous interest. The march of General Sherman's army through Georgia held the closest attention of the people, as did the operations of Grant about Richmond. Before the end of the year it was evident to all that the cause of secession was to be lost. Grant's statement that the Confederacy had become "a mere hollow shell" was greeted with satisfaction, and it became, in the minds of the public, only a question of how long it would require to crush the shell. The war-weary people never lost faith and they were proud of the important work that their own men had done. The presidential campaign of 1864 was an exciting one. As early as January it began to be discussed by editors and people. No doubt was entertained that Lincoln would be renominated. The unionists of the state held their convention in Columbus on May 25, adopted strong resolutions, nominated a state, ticket and presidential electors at large to the Baltimore convention. These electors at large, or "senatorial delegates," as they were then called (because, like the United States senators, they represented, in the convention, the entire state as the "district delegates" represented the congressional districts), were all, at the time, prominent in the citizenship of the state as well as in the councils of their party. The Ohio delegation to the Republican National Convention at Baltimore was as follows : Senatorial Delegates—William Dennison, of Franklin ; David Tod, of Mahoning ; Columbus Delano, of Knox ; G. Volney Dorsey, of Miami. District Delegates—Aaron F. Perry, Moritz A. Jacobi, Samuel F. Carey and Maxwell P. Gaddis, of Hamilton ; Lurton Dunham, of Preble ; George R. Sage, of Warren ;