OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 575 But whatever the significance of the battle to present to future generations, it may not be without interest to know that for many years following the war of which it was a part, this event was known along the borders of the lake, not alone through the valiant deeds of Perry and the far reaching results of his achievements, but even more widely through the tragic fate of one who fought beside him under the broken masts and on the slippery deck of the Lawrence. To many of the citizens of Ohio in the four or five decades following the second war with Great Britain, the history of their own and other lands was largely a matter of legend and story. Exploits of personal daring and courageous sacrifice to an untimely and relentless fate, related through the medium of rhyme and song, appealed to their sympathetic nature and their untutored poetic fancy. Many of them knew of the battle of Lake Erie only through the ballad of "James Bird." Corn huskings, apple cuttings, log-rollings and even quilting bees of the long ago not infrequently closed with the rendition of the quaint, pathetic old song. The author of the ballad for almost a century was not publicly known. Doubts were sometimes expressed as to its historic basis. The statement was sometimes even made that it was wholly imaginary. About ten years ago the authorship was established beyond a doubt and its substantial historic accuracy was fully verified. The ballad was written by Charles Miner 1 of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, journalist, early anti-slavery advocate, congressman and author. It was while he was editing The Gleaner that he wrote the ballad. A descendant of the author prefaces it with the following note : James Bird, a boy from Exeter, just across the river from Wilkes-Barre, was a volunteer in the War of 1812 ; fought bravely on the Lawrence, in Commodore Perry's battle of Lake Erie ; was severely wounded, but refused to leave the deck, and was promoted for gallantry to be orderly sergeant of marines. When Perry was ordered to the seaboard, Bird deserted his post, not his country, in order to rejoin his loved commander, and was arrested at Pittsburg, court marshalled, refused time to appeal to Perry, convicted and shot. Here is the story as told by Mr. Miner and wept over by generations of readers : THE BALLAD OF JAMES BIRD Son of freedom, listen to me, And ye daughters, too, give ear, You a sad and mournful story As was ever told shall hear. Hull, you know, his troops surrendered, And defenceless left the west ; Then our forces quick assembled, The invaders to resist. Amongst the troops that marched to war 2 Were the Kingston volunteers, 1 - Charles Miner was born in Norwich, Connecticut, February 1, 1780. In 1797 he moved to the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, and to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1802. He was a member of the state House of Representatives, 1807-1810, and was reelected in 1812. He moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1816. He was elected as a federalist to the nineteenth and twentieth Congresses (March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1829)• He returned to Wilkes-Barre in 1834, where he lived the remainder of his life. He edited the Federalist and the Gleaner while in Wilkes-Barre; the True American in Philadelphia; the Chester and Delaware Federalist and the Village Record in West Chester. He was author of "The History of Wyoming." 2 - Other versions have improved this line to read: "Among the troops that marched to Erie" 576 - HISTORY OF OHIO Captain Thomas then commanded To protect our west frontiers. Tender were the scenes of parting, Mothers wrung their hands and cried, Maidens wept their swains in secret, Fathers strove their tears to hide. There is one among the number, Tall and graceful is his mien, Firm his step, his look undaunted, Scarce a nobler youth was seen. One sweet kiss he snatched from Mary, Craved his mother's prayer and more, Pressed his father's hand and left them For Lake Erie's distant shore. Mary tried to say "Farewell James," Waved her hand but nothing spoke, "Good-bye Bird, may heaven preserve you," From the rest a parting broke. Soon they came where noble Perry Had assembled all his fleet ; Then the gallant Bird enlisted, Hoping soon the foe to meet. Where is Bird ? The battle rages ; Is he in the strife or no ? Now the cannon roars tremendous ; Dare he meet the hostile foe ? Aye, behold him ! see him, Perry ! In the self same ship they fight ; Though his messmates fall around him Nothing can his soul affright. But behold ! a ball has struck him ; See the crimson current flow ; "Leave the deck" exclaimed brave Perry ; "No !" cried Bird, "I will not go." "Here on deck I took my station, Here will Bird his cutlass ply ; I'll stand by you gallant captain, Till we conquer or we die." Still he fought, though faint and bleeding, Till our stars and stripes arose, 3 Victory having crowned our efforts All triumphant o'er our foes. And did Bird receive a pension ? Was he to his friends restored ? No, nor ever to his bosom Clasped the maid his heart adored. 3 - It is claimed that the original read: "Till our stars and stripes waved o'er us." It is not probable, however, that with a good ear. for rhyme Miner would have written such a line. OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 577 But there came most dismal tidings From Lake Erie's distant shore ; Better far if Bird had perished Midst the battle's awful roar. "Dearest parents," said the letter, This will. bring sad news to you ; Do not mourn your first beloved, Though this brings his last adieu. "I must suffer for deserting From the brig, 'Niagara,' Read this letter, brothers, sisters, 'Tis the last you'll hear from me." Sad and gloomy was the morning, Bird was ordered out to die ; Where's the breast not dead to pity But for him would heave a sigh ? Lo ! he fought so brave at Erie Freely bled and nobly dared ; Let his courage plead for mercy, Let his precious life be spared. See him march and bear his fetters ; Hark ! they clank upon the ear ; But his step is firm and manly, For his heart ne'er harbored fear. See him kneel upon his coffin, Sure his death can do no good ; Spare him ! spare ! 0 God they shoot him ! Oh ! his bosom streams with blood. Farewell Bird, farewell forever ; Friends and home he'll see no more ; But his mangled corpse lies buried On Lake Erie's distant shore. A quotation from The Gleaner of April 28, 1815, conveys the information that at the commencement of the War of 1812 a company of men from Kingston, Pennsylvania, under the command of Captain Thomas volunteered their services to the government. After the surrender of Detroit by General Hull large reinforcements were wanted and the Kingston volunteers were called to duty. They responded with enthusiasm and remained in the service under the command of General Harrison until the close of the campaign in upper Canada. Among these volunteers was a young man by the name of James Bird, aged about twenty years ; he was born in Exeter, where his parents were living in 1815. Bird enlisted with the marines while at Erie and on September 10, 1813, served on board the Lawrence under the immediate command of Commodore Perry. There seems to be no longer room for doubt as to the character of the service rendered by Bird in this memorable battle. In The Gleaner of November 26, 1813, less than three months after the battle, a letter from Mr. Carkhuff, one of the Kingston volunteers, was published in part as follows : "James Bird, son of Mr. J. Bird, of Exeter, was on board the Lawrence with the gallant Perry on the glorious tenth of September. The battle raged—many a poor fellow fell around him—Bird did his duty like a hero. Towards the close of the engagement a canister shot 578 - HISTORY OF OHIO struck him on the shoulder as he was stooping to his gun. He was instantly covered with blood and his officer ordered him below. He ventured to disobey, preferring to do duty while he had life to abandoning his post. But the blood flowed so fast that another order was issued to go below. He ran down—got a hasty bandage on the wound, came again on deck, and although his left arm was useless, yet he handled cartridges and performed the utmost service in his power with his right, until the stars and stripes waved gloriously, victorious over the foe." There seems no reason to doubt the truth of this. The official report of the battle states that Bird was among the seriously wounded on the Lawrence. His comrade would have no motive in making a misstatement to his friends, and the friends of Bird at home. The old ballad, does not exaggerate his soldierly conduct. Learning that Bird's parents had received a letter from him in which he stated the misfortune into which he had fallen, Charles Miner called to see him. In the absence of the father the mother showed him the letter, the essential portions of which follow : "Dear Parents, "I take my pen in hand to write a few words to you which will bring bad news ; but do not lament, nor make sad moans for the loss of your first beloved and dearest son James. "Dear parents, brothers and sister, relations and friends, I do write to you a most sad and dismal letter, such as never before came from any of your beloved children. I have often sat down and wrote a few lines to you with pleasure ; but I am sorry at present to let you know my sad and deplorable situation. I am the most miserable and desolate child of the family.—Dear Parents, let my brothers and sister read this letter, for it is the last they can ever receive from my hands, for by the laws of our country I am doomed and sentenced to death for deserting from the marines on Lake Erie, and am now confined on board the United States brig, Niagra. "And O ! loving parents, my time is but short here on earth. I have but a few moments to make my peace with my maker,—I leave you only for a short time here on earth, I leave you only for a short time here in this most troublesome world ; but I hope that by constant prayer we shall meet in the world above to part no more. * * * * * * * "I remain your most affectionate and beloved son until death ; so Amen, This from me.  James Bird." November the 9th, 1814. Soon afterward an official letter was received by the parents stating that Bird was executed November 10, 1814. Such was the story of James Bird as told in the old home neighborhood where the earlier years of his life had been spent. The feelings produced here by the announcement of his execution were doubtless faithfully expressed by Mr. Miner in his paper. At the conclusion of his visit to the home of Bird he said : "If you, reader, had been there, I think you would have agreed with me that the public ought to reap great and certain benefits from a war that creates so many causes of private grief. I do not mean to complain of any officer, or of any man, but I could not help thinking that the bravery and good conduct of Bird in the battle might have pleaded for his pardon. Hull gave up a whole army, yet he was pardoned. Brack murdered poor Dixon, but Brack was not sentenced to die. Bird had performed more service than either, and his crime was much less injurious or malignant, but there was no pardon for him. It was the fortune of war. Indeed, war is a cruel monster, at least I thought so when I reflected on the death of the brave Bird and saw his mother's tears." OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 579 The story as related in Erie and Pittsburg, probably based upon the statements of those connected with the army presents Bird in a different light. Sergeant James Bird, we are told, went to Erie with a brigade of volunteers from Pennsylvania and was detailed with a squad of men to guard stores in a small blockhouse near the mouth of Cascade Creek, where Perry was building the larger vessels of his fleet. Some of the stores were carried away, and an investigation showed that it was done with the knowledge and assent of Bird. He and his men resisted arrest, but were soon subdued. Lieut. John Brooks, knowing Bird to be a man of courage, wished him to join the marines. It was very difficult to find men for the naval service; Bird and his men were told that their offenses would be overlooked if they would enlist. This they did, and Bird served gallantly through the battle on the Lawrence and was severely wounded. Afterward, when the squadron was preparing for the Mackinaw expedition Bird was again detailed to guard the government stores. His wayward nature reasserted itself, and with John Rankin, one of the guards, he deserted. A little later, Charles M. Reed, a young student on his way to school at Washington, Pennsylvania, stopped at a tavern in Butler and there saw and recognized the deserters. Resuming his journey, young Reed soon met Sailing-master Colwell, whom he knew, and reported them. They were promptly placed under arrest and taken back to Erie. While the squadron was sailing to Detroit, they, with a sailor by the name of John Davis, who had committed a similar offense, were tried by courtmartial on board the Niagara and condemned to death. It is further stated that efforts were made to have Bird's sentence commuted to imprisonment, because of his gallantry in the battle of Lake Erie, but without success. The President refused to extend clemency to Bird on the ground that, "hav- ing deserted from his post while in charge of a guard, in time of war, he must therefore suffer as an example to others." It is scarcely necessary to point out that portions of the foregoing accounts do not harmonize. It appears that the men were courtmartialed on the Niagara and executed while the vessel was on its way to Detroit. This would have left no opportunity in those days for the President of the United States to pass upon the case. Besides, the letter that Bird wrote to his parents bears the date of the day before his execution. It is not at all probable if he had been under sentence of death for any considerable time that he would have delayed writing home until the day before the limit fixed for his earthly career. The statement that he deserted his post "in order to rejoin his loved commander" is evidently traditional. There is nothing in the letter of Bird or the various versions of his story that were published soon after his execution to sustain it. In this connection we should not forget that stern measures of discipline were the order in the army in the early part of the last century. Bird for a similar offense would not today meet the same fate. He gave up his life to the spirit of the times in which he lived. The service that he performed on the flagship of Perry perpetuates his memory, and with those who have read his story will ever plead in mitigation of his offense. BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE The surrender of General Hull at Detroit inaugurated a struggle for the possession of the upper lakes, especially Lake Erie. The British and the Americans promptly began the construction of war vessels, and their small flotillas of boats gradually grew into the two fleets that were to decide which power was to be supreme in the Northwest. The British shipyard at Malden, opposite Detroit, rang with the sounds of preparation and raised the hopes of the industrious red-coats commanded by Proctor and the picturesque savages under the great Tecumseh. Far OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 581 to the east, on the opposite shore of the same lake, in the protected harbor of the little town of Erie, the Americans, under the zealous and enterprising young officer, Oliver Hazard Perry, were even surpassing the enemy in the race of building fleets. The shipyards of our time make those of 1813 seem pigmy affairs, and the "oak leviathians" of that day were frail structures compared with modern iron monsters of the deep. But the soldiers and sailors of the War of 1812 were not unlike their fellows of other times, for the martial and patriotic spirit is much the same in all generations. At the little port of Erie, were only the materials that nature afforded out of which to create a fleet—the unhewn timber, of the primeval forest. Ship-builders, sailors, naval stores, guns and ammunition were to be transported over bad roads from distant points. After months of labor at the mouth of Cascade Creek, the last of the fleet was launched and Perry found himself, July 10, in command of the following vessels and armament : The brig Lawrence, twenty guns ; brig Niagra, twenty guns ; brig Caledonia, three guns ; schooner Ariel, four guns ; schooner Scorpion, two guns and two swivels ; sloop Trippe, one gun ; schooner Tigress, one gun ; schooner Porcupine, one gun, and schooner Somers. one gun. The first of the list was the commander's flag-ship. Much difficulty was experienced in enlisting marines to man these vessels, and the consequent delay was irritating to the eager commander. "Think of my station," he wrote, "the enemy in sight, the vessels under my command more than sufficient and ready to make sail, and yet obliged to bite my fingers with vexation for want of men." The arrival of Capt. Jesse Duncan Elliott, second in command, with 100 men early in August enabled the little fleet to venture with assurance on the open waters of the lake. It reached Sandusky August 17, where General Harrison met Perry on board the Lawrence to arrange for the fall campaign. Perry then cruised leisurely about the lake on the lookout for the enemy, while General Harrison was assembling his army to be transported across to Malden. September 10, 1813, dawned peaceful and cloudless. Shortly after the mists had cleared away from the horizon the sentinel in the maintop of the Lawrence called out, "Sail ho !" and a little later in the distance off Put-in-Bay was seen by those on deck the British fleet, steadily advancing under a gently rising breeze. Perry prepared at once for action. Amid cheers from the crew he hoisted from the masthead of the Lawrence a blue banner with the words of Lawrence, the dying captain of the Chesapeake, in large white letters, "Don't give up the ship." The line of battle was formed, Perry in his ship boldly leading the advance and outsailing the other vessels in his eagerness to open the fight. At ten o'clock the wind shifted to the southeast. This gave Perry the advantage of the weather-gage and wafted his vessel directly toward the enemy. The breeze, at no time high, sank at intervals to a dead calm. Two hours elapsed before a hostile sound floated over the shimmering waters. A dead quiet pervaded the vessels, broken at times only by the word of command, the shrill call of the boatswain's whistle "or a murmuring whisper among the men as they stood in groups around their guns, with lighted matches, eagerly watching the movements of the foe." The British commander, Robert H. Barclay, who had fought and lost an arm under Nelson at Trafalgar, had drawn up' in perfect alignment and faultless battle array the vessels of his squadron ; the ship Detroit, nineteen guns, one pivot and two Howitzers ; ship Queen Charlotte, seventeen guns and one Howitzer ; brig Lady Prevost, thirteen guns and one Howitzer ; brig Hunter, ten guns ; sloop Little Belt, three guns ; schooner Chippewa, one gun and two swivels. As the vessels approached, officers and men seemed to realize that this was to be no drawn battle, that a crisis was at hand. "This is the 582 - HISTORY OF OHIO most important day of my life," said Perry to Purser Hambleton, as his ship led proudly toward the enemy. The sun had not yet reached the meridian in the peaceful September sky, with the foe a mile and a half distant, when the clear challenge of a bugle floated over the waters from the Detroit, followed by lusty cheers from the entire British fleet. A puff of smoke from the enemy's flag-ship, a roar, a splash of spray, as the ball struck short of the Lawrence ! A second shot from the same source went crashing through the ship, and before the remaining vessels could come to Perry's assistance the long guns of the British were centered with deadly effect upon his flag-ship. The shorter range of his guns made it for a time impossible for him to reply. His vessel had been struck many times before he fired a shot. At closer range the battle raged furiously until the Lawrence lay on the waters a dismantled wreck, "her rigging shot away, her spars battered into splinters," and all of her guns but one dismounted. Her decks, slippery with blood, were strewn with the dead and dying. One mast remained aloft and from it floated the stars and stripes. Perry, with the aid of a few men who were still able to assist, dragged forward the remaining gun and fired the last shot at the exulting foe. In this desperate situation he resolved to hurry to the Niagara and bring her into action. Descending into a small boat with four sturdy seamen, he was rowed swiftly through a storm of bullets and grape-shot on his dangerous way. The boat was struck, an oar was shattered and the iron rain scattered spray over the oarsmen, but in the stern Perry stood upright, carrying the pennant and inscribed banner of his flag-ship, until he stood on the deck of the Niagara and the motto, "Don't give up the ship," floated again in the freshening breeze. On the Lawrence, the fire of the enemy still wrought awful carnage, and before the despairing gaze of the dying the colors went down in token of surrender. This was greeted with a wild shout from the British as they reached eagerly forward to grasp the laurels of victory. But the American cause was not lost. Captain Elliott left the Niagara to bring into action the smaller vessels, while Perry, assuming command, bore down swiftly on the enemy's battle line, and reserving his fire for close range, poured in destructive broadsides as he passed the Detroit and the Queen Charlotte that had become entangled, while from his guns on the other side he raked the decks of the Lady Prevost and Little Belt. The other ships of his fleet, following the Niagara, completed the work of destruction. Defeat was changed to victory. The British ships struck their colors as the flag of the young republic arose again on the single mast over the shattered deck of the Lawrence, and there, beneath its folds, was realized the later day sentiment of an American poet : "Each dying wanderer of the sea Shall look at once to heaven and thee, And smile to see thy splendors fly In triumph o'er his closing eye. As soon as the battle was over, Perry went to the cabin of the Niagara and wrote to General Harrison his famous dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours : two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." The formal surrender occurred on the Lawrence. Commodore Barclay was so severely wounded that he could not be present in person to tender his sword. A subordinate officer was deputized to do this. Perry asked that the sword be returned and afterward visited the British commander on the Detroit. A life long friendship sprang up between the two men. In the battle the British lost forty-one killed and ninety-six wounded. The loss of the Americans was twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded. On the Lawrence, of 101 reported fit for duty on the morning of the battle, the loss in killed and wounded was eighty-three. OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 583 An evening calm followed the battle. The sun declined and sank from his westward running "lane of fire" across the waters ; the full moon rose to relieve the darkness with her mellow and soothing light, and over the starry flags of the silent fleet beamed the brighter stars in the arching canopy of night. On the decks of the vessels that had borne the heat of the fray, in low and solemn tones were read the burial rites, as the slain sailors, each in his hammock and winding sheet, with a cannon ball to make his final resting place secure, were consigned to the silent chambers of the deep. The following day was devoted to repairing the vessels, clearing away the wreckage of the battle, caring for the wounded and preparing for the obsequies of the dead officers. The forenoon of the 12th was clear and beautiful. The waters of Put-in-Bay had "forgotten their undulations and the leaves hung motionless" in the sombre woodland along the shore. In the peaceful light of that mild autumnal morning came the boats with their flashing oars striking time to a martial dirge as the neatly dressed sailors rode to an open space on the landing, bearing the leaders who should lead no more. On the vessels at anchor with flags at half-mast the minute-guns at intervals broke the silence and woke echoes along the rocky coast. In the little glade at the water's edge a procession of British and American officers, at peace now, walking side by side and followed by Perry with bowed head, paid the last tribute of respect as their comrades were laid in new-made graves and the farewell volley reverberated through the wild recesses of the dim old forest. On the afternoon of this mystery veiled and decisive combat, as the thunders of the guns rolled over the sunlit waters of Erie, they smote the ears of the inhabitants of the little town of Sandusky with "anxious fear and wonder." On the issue of the unseen battle hung their fate. A victory for Perry meant for them peace, security and an end to the dread alarms of war. The triumph of the foe meant desolating incursions of the British and the savage excesses of Tecumseh and his painted warriors. On the other side of the lake the roar of the conflict echoed ominously as the British General Proctor and his red allies listened in silence. A deeper silence at length told that the struggle had ended. Through the portals of a lurid sunset, day passed into twilight and darkness, but no fleet courier brought tidings of victory. Later the gloomy result was suspicioned by Tecumseh, as clearly set forth in the following passage from his speech to Proctor : "Listen, father ! Our fleet has gone out ; we know they have fought ; we have heard the great guns, but know nothing of what has happened to our father with one arm. Our ships have gone one way, and we are very much astonished to see our father tying up everything and preparing to run away the other, without letting his red children know what he means. You always told us to remain here and take care of our lands, which made our hearts glad ! Our great father, the King, is the head, and you represent him. You always told us you never could draw your foot off British ground ; but now, father, we see you drawing back without seeing the enemy. We must compare our father's conduct to a fat animal that carries his tail on his back, but when affrighted, drops it between his legs and runs off." The battle brought to the victors the results anticipated. One by one the British forts on the lakes fell into the hands of the Americans and hostile arms no longer vexed Erie's broad expanse and forest fringed borders. PERRY'S VICTORY AND INTERNATIONAL PEACE MEMORIAL This beautiful and impressive monument has been declared by some admirers "the most interesting in the world." It is certainly by far 584 - HISTORY OF OHIO the most dignified and imposing within the limits of Ohio. It was erected with funds appropriated by the national and state governments as follows : Federal Government, $240,000 ; Ohio, $126,000 ; Pennsylvania, $50,000 ; Michigan, $25,000 ; Illinois, $30,000 ; Wisconsin, $25,000 ; New York, $30,000 ; Rhode Island, $25,000 ; Kentucky, $25,000 ; and Massachusetts, $15,000. Total, $591,000. This is the contribution that went into the building of the memorial itself. Additional appropriations were made for the centennial celebration of Perry's Victory which was held at the time of the dedication of the monument. This stately structure cannot be better described than in the language of the report of the Ohio commission, which was doubtless written by its secretary, Webster P. Huntington, who was from the inception of the memorial to its conclusion the moving spirit in this patriotic enterprise : "It stands on what is virtually an isthmus connecting the two larger sections of South Bass Island, overlooking the islands of Lake Erie spread out in a beautiful panorama in all directions, and the scene of Perry's Victory off West Sister Island. A gigantic white Doric column, 350 feet high from the water's edge, 45 feet in diameter at the base, and 35 feet in diameter at the neck, with an overhanging spectators' gallery in the form of a massive square of the same dimensions as the diameter of the base, stands upon a granite plaza 67 feet square and 12 feet above the water level. It is the highest monument in the world, excepting only the Washington monument, and the highest and most massive column ever attempted by the memorial builders of any age. The spectators' gallery is surmounted by a great bronze tripod supporting an immense glass globe, which at night is illuminated with 100 incandescent lights and glows with a brilliancy visible many miles at sea. The memorial has been seen with the naked eye, in the daytime, at a distance of thirty-five miles. The spectators' gallery will comfortably accommodate two hundred visitors in the open air at one time. From this point the visitor beholds a scene of unrivalled beauty. To the north lies the mouth of the Detroit River and in the distance the shadowy mainland of Canada ; to the west the mouth of the Maumee River and the waters which were the scene of the battle of Lake Erie, and beyond the site of Toledo ; to the east a gleaming billowy expanse toward Cleveland, relieved by the presence of numerous verdant islands ; and to the south Sandusky in plain view flanked by the peninsulas of Marblehead and Cedar Point. From this eminence the islands of Put-in-Bay, Gibraltar, OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 585 Middle Bass, North Bass, Kelly's Island, and numerous others, appear to be laid out at the feet of the beholder like beautiful landscapes in miniature. At sunrise or sunset the view is beautiful beyond description. "The main approach to the Memorial is from the waters of Put-in-Bay Harbor, whence Commodore Perry went forth to meet the British foe in the Battle of Lake Erie. A flight of granite steps 67 feet wide ascends to the plaza, and entrance to the rotunda of the Memorial is obtained through four bronze doors marking the diameters of the column. The rotunda is faced with Indiana limestone and the floor is three feet below the terrace level, four short flights of steps leading down to it. The floor is of Tennessee marble with a centerpiece and border in color ; beneath it, at a spot which will be appropriately marked, repose the remains of three British and three American officers killed in the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, which for a hundred years lay buried on the shores of Put-in-Bay Island and were disinterred by the Commissioners of the Interstate Board and re-interred in the present Memorial with impressive ceremonies, on September 11, 1913. The ceiling of the rotunda takes the form of a dome. No artificial lighting is required by day. At night a bronze and alabaster light, suspended from the center of the dome, gives a beautiful radiance to the interior. On the walls are carved in stone a dedicatory tablet, and around the rotunda the names of the American vessels engaged in the historic battle which the Memorial commemorates, and the names of the killed and wounded on board each of them. * * * * * "Ascending to the second floor of the Memorial, flights of granite steps between glistening walls of white tile rise from the entrance opposite to the entrance through which the visitor enters on the harbor side. On this floor are bronze tablets containing the names of all the men engaged with the American fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie, a total of 508 names, taken from the government records of those who received prize money for participation in the battle. Thus the Commissioners of the Interstate Board have immortalized in stone and bronze all those who in any degree, by loss of life or otherwise, contributed to one of the greatest naval achievements in history. On the second floor also is the elevator which carries visitors to the spectators' gallery at the top, an ascent of some 320 feet, in one minute." This Memorial was dedicated with impressive ceremonies on September 10, 1913, the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie. Hon. James M. Cox, governor of Ohio, presided. Addresses were delivered by former President of the United States William H. Taft ; Dr. J. A. Macdonald, of Toronto, for the Dominion of Canada ; Hon. Emory A. Walling, of Erie, Pennsylvania ; Hon. R. B. Birchard, lieutenant governor of Rhode Island ; and Rev. A. J. Carey (colored), of Chicago. The Memorial was completed and opened to the public June 13, 1915. It is maintained by the Government of the United States. A fee of 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children is charged those who ascend "to the spectators' gallery of the Memorial by means of the elevator." This is sufficient to meet expenses of maintenance. CHAPTER II THE WAR WITH MEXICO To the national forces engaged in the war with Mexico in 1846-48, Ohio furnished about 7,000 officers and men, in addition to those who served in the navy. This force constituted about one-eighth of the entire land forces. In the actual test of hard campaigning through a semitropical country and in the fighting on battlefields, Ohio men won their full share of the military honors of that conflict. Unlike, however, the situation in the War of 1812, Ohio's direct interests were not involved, and there was no threat to the peace and security of her borders from Mexico. The war was fought 1,000 miles from the Ohio River. Modern historical criticism is pretty well agreed that the war of Mexico was the culmination of a period of national territorial expansion, resulting in the rounding out of what an older school of history called "The Manifest Destiny" of our country. The two popular slogans of the presidential campaign of 1844 were : "The Annexation of Texas" and "Fifty-four Forty or Fight." The democrats proposed to carry out the long delayed plan of making the Republic of Texas a state of the Union and also made some capital out of the popular but somewhat remote issue of claiming what was known as the Oregon country as far north as the latitude of 54̊, 40' against the rival claims of Great Britain. Polk was elected on this platform and accepted the policy of expansion with sincerity and determination. However, in 1846 the northwestern boundary of the United States was fixed at the 49th parallel of north latitude and Oregon Territory was organized in 1848. The incorporation of Texas into the Union was a cause close to the heart of President Tyler and in the closing hours of his administration, in March, 1845, he had the satisfaction of signing a joint resolution by Congress providing for annexation. President Polk, as a study of his private papers has disclosed, had even more extensive plans for territorial expansion. He was not only convinced of the justice of the acquisition of both Oregon and Texas, but determined to find means of adding to the United States, California, New Mexico and parts of other provinces of Northern Mexico. Thus there were preparations for the eventuality of war throughout 1845. In June of that year General Taylor was ordered to the western boundary of Texas and in the spring of 1846 he and his army were in the country just north of the Rio Grande near Matamoras. Mexico had never formally accepted the independence of its Texas province and throughout the era of the Texas republic from 1836 to 1845, repeated invasions had been made across the Rio Grande by Mexican armies. At the time there was an influential war party in Mexico quite ready to plunge the country into hostilities with the United States over the annexation of Texas. But President Polk was not less earnest in advancing war measures. He was engaged in the preparation of a special message to Congress, asking that armed measures be taken to collect the long accumulated debts from Mexico, but before the message was finished, the news arrived that a party of General Taylor's army had been attacked on the Texas side of the Rio Grande and defeated in an engagement on April 24, 1846. On the 11th of May, two days after the news arrived, President Polk communicated to Congress his famous message containing the words : "Mexico has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced and that the two nations are now at war. War exists." - 586 - OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 587 Two days later, Congress passed a formal declaration of war. The war that followed consisted of three or four phases or campaigns. General Taylor's army, after the battle of Buena Vista, subdued the Mexican provinces south of the Rio Grande. Colonel Kearny led an expedition from the Missouri River, starting in the summer of 1846, to New Mexico, and after the capture of Santa Fe went on to California. The cooperation of the naval forces with the volunteers under Fremont and Kearny quickly overcame all resistance in California. The vital campaign of the war was under the command of Gen. Winfield Scott, who built up an expeditionary force at New Orleans, crossed the gulf, landed near Vera Cruz in March, 1847, and then proceeded directly to the interior, over the unhealthy tropic lowlands. Six months later, on September 13, he assaulted the fortress of Chapultepec and the following day raised the stars and stripes over the Halls of the Montezumas. On February 2, 1848, was signed the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, as a result of which the United States acquired the territory now embraced in the states of New Mexico, Arizona and California. From a military standpoint the Mexican war was a brief and glorious achievement. However, even at the time, there were men who denounced its purpose on the basis of international morals. It has not been successfully defended by historians. For one thing, it was a partisan undertaking, chiefly favored by President Polk and the democratic party, particularly the southern democratic party. The whigs generally were opposed. The two great Ohio whigs, Corwin and Giddings, denounced the war at every turn. It is claimed that a hostile speech on the war by Corwin in 1847 (lid much to ruin the brilliant opportunities of his political career. Giddings, who was equally bold in his opposition, did not lose the favor of his constituency. Corwin's compromising attitude on the question of slavery in the years immediately preceding the Civil war perhaps did more to detract from his popularity than his attitude toward the war with Mexico. While there was much opposition to the war in this state, Ohio, as noted at the beginning of this chapter, was very staunch in furnishing its quota of armed troops and in less than two weeks after the President called for volunteers, 3,000 Ohioans were marching toward the rendezvous. This rendezvous was Camp Washington near Cincinnati. Before June, 1846, forty companies were assembled from all over the state. Many who appeared were disappointed, because the full quota of the three regiments had been filled. Altogether Ohio raised five infantry regiments, fifteen independent companies of infantry, five companies for the Fifth United States Infantry and one company of United States mounted riflemen—aggregating approximately 7,000 officers an d men, about one-eighth of the volunteer forces of the United States in the Mexican war and a like proportion of the navy. A brief resume of the service record of the principal commands from Ohio is here presented as derived from the official roster and other sources. The First Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized at Camp Washington, near Cincinnati, June 23, 1846. The companies composing the organizations were recruited as follows : Companies B and C, May 30, 1846, at Dayton ; D, June 1, 1846, at Portsmouth ; F, June 6, 1846, at Lower Sandusky. The remaining companies were recruited at Cincinnati as follows : Company A, May 30, 1846 ; E, May 27, 1846 ; G, June 5, 1846 ; H, May 30, 1846 ; I, May 30, 1846 ; K, June 4, 1846. The field officers of the regiment were : Colonel, Alexander M. Mitchell ; lieutenant-colonel, John B. Weller ; major, Thomas L. Hamer. Luther Giddings was made major of the regiment on the promotion of Hamer to brigadier-general July 1, 1846. General Hamer died at Monterey, Mexico, December 2, 1846. After its formation the regiment embarked for Mexico on the steamer New World and passed Vicksburg July 6th, on its way to New 588 - HISTORY OF OHIO Orleans. It reached Point Isabel, Texas, later and proceeded to Camargo. It commenced service under General Taylor and arrived before Monterey August 19th. It took part in the operations against that town. Colonel Mitchell and Adjutant Armstrong were wounded in the advance and Lieutenant Matthew was killed. Monterey capitulated September 21, 1846, and Brig.-Gen. Thomas L. Hamer wrote to Governor Mordecai. Bartley under date of October 12th, praising this regiment highly for its soldierly conduct in the battle of Monterey. In his letter he said among other things, "If the war goes on, we shall all be in it before long, and you who are at home need have no fear of our troops sustaining the honor of Ohio." Little did the brave and brilliant Hamer realize that he would be "out of it" before the army was far from the "Walls of Monterey." The regiment was ordered March 4, 1847, from Monterey to Camargo as a convoy to a wagon train two miles in length. One mile from Ceralbo the escort was attacked by Mexican cavalry under generals Urrea and Romero. This led to confusion in the wagon train and the capture of forty wagons, which were at once burned by the Mexicans. One of these containing ammunition exploded and killed a number of the captors. After a sharp engagement the Mexicans were driven back and the regiment proceeded with the wagon train. Two privates and fifteen teamsters were killed in this action. The regiment was mustered out of service June 11-1.5, 1847. The losses in its period of service were twenty-four killed and forty-two died of disease, a total of sixty-six men. The Second Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized at Camp Washington June 22, 1846. The companies composing this regiment were recruited as follows : Company A, June 1, 1846, at Chillicothe ; B, May 27, 1846, at Mt. Vernon ; C, June 6, 1846, at Hillsboro ; D, June 3, 1846, at Logan ; E, June 1, 1846, at Athens ; F, May 23, 1846, and K, May 26, 1846, at Columbus ; G, May 29, 1846, at Lancaster ; H, June 2, 1846, at Newark ; I, June 1, 1846, at Circleville. The field officers of the regiment were : Colonel, George W. Morgan ; lieutenant-colonel, William Irwin ; major, William Wall. The regiment left Cincinnati July 9, 1846. Upon arrival in Mexico, General Taylor ordered it to garrison Camargo, the supply depot of his army. The regiment guarded supply trains enroute to the army and did escort duty between Camargo and Monterey. During the battle of Buena Vista, General Taylor. left the battle field for Saltillio and sent a message to Colonel Morgan, at Ceralvo, to concentrate the regiment at that place and march to Monterey. On their way hither firing was heard in the direction of Marin. When they reached that town: they found it practically deserted. Later the regiment resumed the march to Monterey and met the enemy for the first time near Aqua Frio. After an "animated action" of four or five hours the enemy retreated. The Americans lost three soldiers and one friendly Mexican killed, one mortally and one slightly wounded. The regiment proceeded by way of Saltillio and established a permanent camp on the battle field of Buena Vista. It was mustered out of service at New Orleans June 21-23, 1847. Its loss while in service was six killed. two drowned and sixty died of disease. The Third Regiment of. Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized June 23, 1846, at Cincinnati. The companies composing this organization were enrolled as follows : Company A, May 27, 1846, and C, May 28, 1846, at Mansfield ; B, June 1, 1846, at Coshocton ; D, June 2, 1846, at St. Clairsville ; E, June 1, 1846, at Wooster ; F, June 3, 1846, at Tiffin ; G, May 28, 1846, at Norwalk ; H, May 29, 1846, at Zanesville ; I, May 27, 1846, at Steubenville ; K, May 30, to June 12, 1846, at Massillon. Its field officers were : Colonel, Samuel R. Curtis ; lieutenant-colonel, George W. McCook ; major, John S. Love. The regiment embarked on the steamboats Tuscaloosa and New Era OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 589 for New Orleans and arrived in that city July 10, 1846. Here they remained for. a short time at Camp Jackson, which they left on the brig Orleans, and arrived at Brazos Island, Texas, July 24th. Thence they proceeded to Matamoras, arriving on August 8th at Fort Brown, opposite that city. Two companies were left in Fort Brown as a garrison and the remainder of the regiment established Camp McCook on the opposite side of the river on Mexican soil. Under General Taylor the regiment saw active service under Ceralvo and Cadereyta. After remaining for a time in camp on the battle field of Buena Vista, it started on its homeward journey. It was mustered out of service at New Orleans June 18-24, 1847. The regimental loss during the year's service was sixty-four men killed and died of disease. The Fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized in Cincinnati June 22, 1847. The companies composing it were recruited as follows : Company A, May 1 to 19, 1847 ; F, April 29, 1847 ; H, May 15, 1847, and I, April 30, 1847, all at Cincinnati ; B, May 8, 1847, and E, May 10, 1847, at Columbus ; C, May 4, 1847, at Lower Sandusky ; D, April 26, to May 29, 1847, at Ganges ; G, May 6, 1847, at Millersburg ; K, May 4, 1847, at Dayton. Its field officers were : Colonel, Charles H. Brough ; lieutenant-colonels, Melchior Werner and Augustus Moore ; major, William P. Young. Lieut.-Col. Melchior Werner resigned September 10, 1847, and was succeeded by Capt. Augustus Moore. The regiment left Cincinnati July 1, 1847, for Mexico. It crossed the gulf on the steamer Telegraph, landed near; the mouth of the Rio Grande River, marched to Matamoras and garrisoned that town until September 4, 1847, when it proceeded to Vera Cruz, arriving there eleven days later. On October 12, 1847, the regiment entered Pueblo to rescue Colonel Childs and his command, who was besieged by the enemy. The siege was raised and the Mexicans withdrew to Atlexco. The regiment followed with other American troops and participated in the battle of Atlexco, October 19, 1847. In this engagement the Mexicans lost 219 killed and 300 wounded, while the American loss was only one killed and one wounded. The American artillery in this engagement did effective work. The regiment later returned to Pueblo, where it was on garrison duty for about eight months. The loss in its brief term of service was seventy-six men-four killed in battle, one died of wounds received and seventy-one of disease. The regiment was mustered out of service from July 15 to 24, 1848, at Cincinnati. The Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry 1was organized to take the place of the Second Regiment, which had been mustered out of the service. The companies comprising this organization were recruited as follows : Company A, July 31, 1847, and I, August 7, 1847, at Cincinnati ; B, July 15, to September 16, 1847, at Newark ; C, August 10, 1847, at Batavia ; D, July 10, 1847, to August 31, 1847, at Columbus ; E, August 27, 1847, at Somerset ; F, July 31, 1847, at Lancaster ; G, August 3, 1847, at Mount Vernon ; H, July 24, 1847, at Circleville ; K, July 16 to August 28, 1847, at Chillicothe. It was at first planned to recruit the original Second Regiment and Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin was authorized to effect the reorganization. It was soon found, however, that only a very small portion of the men would again enter the service. It was then decided to organize a new regiment. This was effected September 1, 1847, at Camp Wool, Cincinnati. The field officers were : Colonel, William Irwin ; lieutenant- colonel, William A. Latham ; major, William H. Link. On September 10th the regiment embarked for New Orleans, where it arrived two weeks later. There it embarked on three sailing vessels 1 - While it was intended that this regiment should be known as the "Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry," the records of the War Department show that it was mustered in and mustered out as the Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 590 - HISTORY OF OHIO and arrived .at Vera Cruz, Mexico, October 4, 1847. It was ordered to march into the interior with other regiments, a company of cavalry and six pieces of artillery, to guard 1,000 wagons and 2,000 pack mules, loaded with ammunition, provisions and clothing and bound for the City of Mexico. That city when it was reached was in the possession of the Americans and negotiations for peace were in progress. A portion of the regiment was ordered to Rio Frio, about twenty-five miles east of the City of Mexico, where a number of the soldiers were killed in skirmishes with guerillas in the mountain district. After peace was declared in June, 1848, the regiment returned to the United States and was mustered out of service July 24 to 26, 1848. Seventy-four men lost their lives in skirmishes with the guerillas and from disease. There were fifteen independent companies, which were each known by the name of its captain. Captain Duncan's independent company of mounted volunteers performed valuable service on the Rio Grande route, with headquarters most of the time at Ceralvo, Mexico. Captains Kenneally's and Riddle's independent companies also rendered important service in Mexico. Company B of the United States Mounted Riflemen, commanded by Capt. Winslow F. Sanderson, was recruited at Columbus, Norwalk and Wooster in May, June and July, 1846, and served in the expedition from Vera Cruz to Mexico. It was mustered out at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, August 28, 1848. The Fifteenth United States Infantry was organized by act of Congress to serve during the Mexican war. Its field officers were : Colonel. George W. Morgan ; lieutenant-colonel, Joshua Howard ; majors, Leslie H. McKenney and Frederick B. Mills. Major Mills was killed August 20, 1847, at San Antonio, Mexico. The regiment was recruited in April and May, 1847, and was mustered out at Cincinnati August 13, 1848. The following companies were recruited in Ohio : Company B, at Toledo, Lower Sandusky and Defiance ; C, Norwalk ; D, Dayton ; H, Cleveland ; I, Millersburg. This regiment served on the Vera Cruz route, participated in battles under General Scott, and lost heavily, especially at Chapultepec and in other operations against the City of Mexico. There were also a number of Ohioans in the naval operations, several of whom later in the Civil war achieved high rank, including Rear Admirals Worden, Rowan, Stembel, Schenck and Commodore Ransom. Among Ohioans who were junior officers in the Mexican war and later gained the highest fame as military commanders were Lieut. U. S. Grant, Lieut. William T. Sherman and Lieut. Don Carlos Buell. To this list might be added William H. Lytle, the poet soldier who rose to the rank of brigadier-general and fell on the field of Chickamauga, and Irvin McDowell, who became a major-general in the Civil war. The Ohioan of highest rank who lost his life in the Mexican war was Gen. Thomas L. Hamer, who died at Monterey, December 2, 1846. He had entered the army as major in the First Ohio Volunteer Infantry. As the most popular democrat of Ohio, he was the idol and ideal of his party. He served in the Legislature and in Congress and was a great lawyer and eloquent orator. At the first call of the President, he organized the first regiment raised in Ohio, and before reaching the seat of war, President Polk commissioned him a brigadier-general. He commanded a brigade at the battle of Monterey. Lieutenant Grant, who was in the same battle„ owed his West Point cadetship to Hamer, a fact that is recorded in General Grant's personal memoirs. VICTOR GILBREATH The war with Mexico, like all others, had its side-lights, its personal triumphs, privations and tragedies among the men in the ranks. Of OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 591 course, for the most part these are lost to history. Occasionally, however, through some accidental circumstance these are lifted to the public view and endured with a degree of enduring fame not usually accorded to the central figure of the story. The War of 1812 had its James Bird ; the war with Mexico had its Victor Gilbreath. The former was made famous through a ballad that became a folk song a century ago ; the latter has found an enduring place in literature through a lyric by one of the greatest of American poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Just why Longfellow chose "Victor Galbraith" as a subject worthy of his pen does not seem to be a matter of record. The poem appeared in Putnam's Monthly Magazine in 1855, without comment or explanatory note. The editor of the latest Cambridge edition of Longfellow's poems contains only this note : "Victor Galbraith was a bugler in a company of volunteer cavalry and was shot in Mexico for some breach of discipline. It is a common superstition among soldiers that no balls will kill them unless their names are written on them. The old proverb says : 'Every bullet has its billet.' " Victor Gilbreath has often been thought an imaginary character. The fact that he was a real personage and a native of Ohio is ample warrant for this sketch, especially since the site of the humble home in which he was born at Middletown, this state, is marked by a monument erected by the local lodge of one of the prominent fraternal orders of the United States. There has been issued in printed form, with a cut of Victor Gil-breath's birthplace on the front cover, a neat pamphlet containing what purports to be a true story of "Victor Galbraith." It is well written, in popular style. The opening paragraphs are an index to the entire story. The terrors of the siege had subsided, the soldiers had departed, the plains of Monterey no longer resounded with the roar of musketry, the clash of arms or the wild alarms of cruel war. The forces of General Ampudia were scattered in flight. The city had surrendered to the army of General Taylor, which now pursued its onward course to greater conquests and more glorious achievements. The land was desolate, the ravages of war having left its trail of ruin. The blackness of despair threw a shadow of gloom over city and country far and near. The birds had left their accustomed haunts and fled afar; the stillness of life cast a depressing influence over all. Monterey was indeed a stricken city. But while suffering from its wounds the proud spirit of the native, though subdued, was not broken. He would hide his scars, he would efface the marks that told of disaster, that no trace of the invader's heel should mar the environment of the Castilian in the land of the Montezumas. The substance of the story as related in the pamphlet is to the effect that "Victor Galbraith," a musician and a lover of music, because of his association with a lady minstrel of Portuguese birth, who came from the City of Monterey, with a harp to play and sing for the American soldiers, was supposed to have been a spy and that Victor Gilbreath had imparted to her army secrets which she reported to the enemy. On this false charge he was courtmartialed, found guilty of treason, and executed. This is the basis of the romantic story as related by the author of the pamphlet. The true story is somewhat different. To begin with, the central figure of this tragic event was not Victor Galbraith or Victor Gilbraith, but Victor Gilbreath—an immaterial variant, but worthy of note in this connection. He was born in Middletown, Ohio, about the year 1823. The late Governor James E. Campbell stated that his mother was a pupil in the school attended by Victor Gilbreath and that he had frequently 592 - HISTORY OF OHIO heard her speak of him ; that she said he was a harmless, good natured sort of fellow, but that she did not quite understand why the great Longfellow should write a poem about him. The Gilbreath family moved to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, in 1841. Victor was a tailor by trade and, because of his musical talent and social qualities, became a general favorite with the young people of the place. The instrument of which he was especially fond was the flute. Early in 1843 the family moved to Galena, Illinois. Here the drink habit into which he had fallen grew upon him and new associates led him to gambling. At the opening of the war with Mexico, Albion T. Crowe, of Galena, organized Company F of the First Regiment of Illinois Volunteers for service. Gilbreath wished to join the company and was urged to do so by Captain Crowe against the protests of Gilbreath's mother, who feared that his drink habit would prove his ruin in the army. Crowe, who knew his failing, promised to look carefully after him and see that no harm came to him because of his infirmity. So long as he was under Captain Crowe all went well. The company was discharged at Camargo, and Gilbreath reenlisted as bugler in Capt. 'Gaston Means' company of volunteer cavalry. And now his troubles began, which later reached a tragic culmination. Though good natured when sober, Gilbreath was violent when under the influence of drink. His new captain made no allowance for this and evidently considered him a disturbing element, which he undoubtedly was when intoxicated, rather than a real menace to the life of his captain. The result was that he was courtmartialed, found guilty of habitual drunkenness and threatening the life of his captain, and the order was issued for his execution. He did not deny the charges of which he was found guilty, but truly stated that he had committed the offenses only when he was under the influence of drink. The romantic story of the lady minstrel has little •foundation in fact. Gilbreath was not executed for "revealing army secrets" or for "treason." The execution "under the walls of Monterey" on December 27, 1847, seems to have been not only a tragic but a gruesome affair. He fell before the firing squad, we are told, and was placed in his coffin, which was left uncovered." Before the hour of burial, his comrades were horrified to see him arise with the blood streaming from his wounds and call for a drink of water. This was given him, after which he pleaded to be shot and relieved of his pain. A second volley from the firing squad was effective. Perhaps it should be added here that, sobered by his impending fate, Victor Gilbreath met death with firmness and composure. The poem by Longfellow, so far as it relaxes to the execution, is a vivid description of what actually occurred. By special permission from the publishers it is here quoted in full : VICTOR GALBRAITH Under the walls-of Monterey At daybreak the bugles began to play, Victor Galbraith ! In the midst of the morning damp and gray, These were the words they seemed to say ; "Come forth to thy death, Victor Galbraith !" Forth he came, with a martial tread ; Firm was his step, erect his head ; Victor Galbraith ! He who so well the bugle played, Could not mistake the words it said ; "Come forth to thy death, Victor Galbraith !" OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 593 He looked at the earth, he looked at the sky, He looked at the files of musketry, Victor Galbraith ! And he said, with a steady voice and eye, "Take good aim ; I am ready to die !" Thus challenges death Victor Galbraith. Twelve fiery tongues flashed straight and red, Six leaden balls on their errand sped ; Victor Galbraith Falls to the ground, but he is not dead ; His name was not stamped on those balls of lead, And they only scath Victor Galbraith. Three balls are in his breast and brain, But he rises out of the dust again, Victor Galbraith ! The water he drinks has a bloody stain ; "Oh kill me, and put me out of my pain !" In his agony prayeth Victor Galbraith. Forth dart once more those tongues of flame, And the bugler has died a death of shame, Victor Galbraith! His soul has gone back to whence it came And no one answers to the name, When the sargeant saith, "Victor Galbraith !" Under the walls of Monterey By night a bugle is heard to play, Victor Galbraith ! Through the mists of the valley damp and gray The sentinels hear the sound, and say, "That is the wraith Of Victor Galbraith !" 2 In concluding his contribution on the subject of this sketch, the writer of the pamphlet to which reference has been made says : "And now the grave has closed over all who acted a part in that eventful day, the curtain of oblivion is drawn on the scene and Victor Galbraith, whose bugle blast echoes down the passing years, through the poet's narrative of his tragic death, is held in remembrance only through the traditions that cluster around his name in the old home town. "The stone on which his name is inscribed and which marks the location of the paternal roof, is one that the government rejected in the erection of the federal building, hard by the old homestead, and it therefore becomes a fitting monument to one who had mistakenly suffered the same treatment from his native country as that of the stone erected to his memory. "His grave, unknown and unmarked in the fields of Mexico, the rejected stone mid the scenes he knew and loved stands the only monument to his memory, and the traveler on his way over the Dixie High- 2 - This poem is here printed by permission of the publisher, Houghton, Mifflin Company. 594 - HISTORY OF OHIO way, seeking places of historic interest, as he stands over the stone beside the Elks' temple in Middletown, will recall the pathetic story of Victor Galbraith, sleeping peacefully in an unknown grave on the plain of Monterey." Victor Gilbreath did not "mistakenly" suffer. He was the victim of a habit that then found little restraint in the army and he died under a discipline that was not tempered by the mercy of later times. CHAPTER III THE CIVIL WAR At the opening of the Civil war there was a difference of opinion as to its leading cause and object. Many insisted that it was brought on by the states rights theory advanced by leaders of the South, who claimed that a state had a right to secede from the Union. This "idea" had been liberally taught throughout that section. It seriously threatened the integrity of the Union in the administration of Andrew Jackson when the tariff was the cause of dissension and threats of South Carolina to withdraw from the Union. The belief that a state had such right was not confined wholly to the South. In New England, when the United States was entering upon the second war with Great Britain, intense opposition was expressed to the attitude of our government and threats of separating from the Union were heard in the shadow of Faneuil Hall. In the agitation that preceded the Civil war, a "peaceful separation" had many adherents north of Mason and Dixon's line, and the radical wing of the abolitionists adopted as their slogan "No union with slave-holders." Prior to 1860, when the states were not so interdependent commercially and socially as they are today, "states rights" was the favorite resort of those who grew restive under national laws or administrative acts that seemingly ran counter to their interests. It is not at all probable, however, that any general belief in states rights alone would have led the South to seek by force of arms to sever the Union. Some asserted that slavery was the cause of the war. It was natural, of course, for the more pronounced anti-slavery advocates to make this claim. Many of them had for years predicted this result. From the Quaker prophet, Jedediah Dicks, who early in the last century warned his followers in the South to flee from their homes to the Northwest Territory in order to escape the terrors of an internecine war over slavery, to Thomas Morris and Thomas Corwin in the United States Senate and John Brown on the scaffold, predictions of bloodshed as a result of slavery were not infrequent. In the opening days of the war Charles Sumner, in the classic eloquence of which he was moister, said : Slavery is the ruling idea of this rebellion. It is slavery that marshals these hosts and breathes into their embattled ranks its own barbarous fire. It is slavery that stamps its character alike on officers and men. It is slavery that inspires all from general to trumpeter. It is slavery that speaks in the word of command and sounds in the morning drum-beat. It is slavery that digs trenches and builds hostile forts. It is slavery that pitches its wicked tents and stations its sentries over against the national capital. It is slavery that sharpens the bayonet and runs the bullet—that points the cannon and scatters the shells, blazing, bursting with death. Wherever this rebellion shows itself, whatever form it takes, whatever thing it does, whatever it meditates is moved by slavery ; nay, the rebellion is slavery itself, incarnate, living, acting, raging, robbing, murdering according to the essential law of its being. Are these radical views warranted ? Millions did not think so at the time. Among them was the "silent man of destiny," Ulysses S. Grant. In his "Personal Memoirs" he makes very clear the opinions that he held at different times on this subject. His father evidently was an antislavery advocate, but the son did not take interest in the agitation. At West Point where anti-slavery views were not popular it is probable - 595 - OHIO IN THE WARS OF THE NATION - 597 that in common with other cadets he acquired an aversion to the agitation. Service in the Mexican war, which was denounced by anti-slavery leaders, did not materially change his views. He did not see any danger in a war to extend slave territory in the Southwest. He tells us that in the campaign of 1856, when Fremont was the candidate of the republican party that threats of southern leaders to withdraw from the Union in case of Fremont's election led him to vote for James Buchanan. This was the only presidential vote that he cast prior to the Civil war. He did not consider worthy of attention the statements made by prominent republicans to the effect that the Union could not permanently endure half slave and half free. History seemed to refute this. Had it not already endured eighty years with slavery in the South and a portion of that time with slavery in the North ? His attitude, so far as he manifested any interest in the matter, was opposed to anti-slavery agitation. It is therefore interesting to note the change that his views had undergone at the time when he was making his last brave fight with death at Mount McGregor and writing his remarkable "Memoirs." This is his final judgment : The cause of the great War of the Rebellion against the United States will have to be attributed to slavery. For some years before the war began it was a trite saying among some politicians that "a state half slave and half free cannot exist." All must become slave or all free, or the state will go down. I took no part myself in any such view of the case at the time, but since the war is over, reviewing the whole question,. I have come to the conclusion that the saying is quite true. The view of General Grant as finally expressed is now very generally accepted. If this view is correct, the part of Ohio in the antislavery controversy becomes especially important to the student of history. For this reason much space has been given in this work to the anti-slavery movement in this state. From what has already been written it is seen that the slavery question was up for consideration in some form in the Northwest Territory and the first state admitted from it almost from the date of the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787. There were periods of agitation and compromise and comparative quiet, to be followed by some new eruption that widened the breach between the contending parties. The position of Ohio between the slave states and British America—the land of freedom for the fugitive slave—made it an inviting field for the agents of the Underground Railroad. Levi Coffin, the reputed "president" of this enterprise conducted his operations chiefly from Ohio. Not only was Ohio an inviting field for slaves following the north star on their way to Canada, but it had the appeal of propinquity to which men of the South who could not live at peace with themselves in the slave states. Quakers and others conscientiously opposed to slavery came to Ohio to get away from that institution and many of them could not look on without concern while slave hunters roamed the state in pursuit of the "panting fugitive." The early attitude of Ephraim Cutler has been fully noted as has also the courageous position of Thomas Morris in the United States Senate. He was, the first representative from Ohio to boldly voice in Congress his hostility to slavery. Shortly afterward he was followed in the lower House by Joshua R. Giddings from an Ohio district, who continued the warfare in Congress against that institution. Later Chase and Wade were the spokesmen for universal liberty in the Senate of the United States. John G. Birney, though born in the South, waged his effective warfare against slavery in Ohio. Most of the men who went with John Brown to Harper's Ferry were born in Ohio. Among them was John Henri Kagi from Bristolville, Trumbull County, whose influence was more potent than is generally recognized. The warfare between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas was largely transported thither from the State of Ohio.. Kagi was there and bore 598 - HISTORY OF OHIO a prominent part in the conflict of arms that distressed that territory and attracted the attention of the whole country. Not only did he take part in the actual fighting but he exercised an influence much greater as correspondent of the New York Tribune, the New York Evening Post, the National Era and papers of the West and Middle West. This correspondence was under an assumed name and was voluminous. For a time Kagi was the real voice of "bleeding Kansas." Verily if slavery was the cause of the Civil war, Ohio had a conspicuous part in preparing the way for the universal application of the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and included in the Ordinance of 1787. When on April 12, 1861, the announcement was made in the Ohio State Senate that Fort Sumter had been fired upon. "There was," says General Jacob D. Cox, who was then a member of that body, "a solemn and painful hush but it was broken in a moment by a woman's shrill voice from the spectators' seats, crying 'Glory to God !' It startled everyone, almost as if the enemy were in the midst. But it was the voice of a radical friend of the slave, who after a lifetime of public agitation believed that only through blood could freedom be won." The General then states that the woman was Abby Kelly Foster who had long campaigned against slavery in Ohio and other states and who was quick to realize that in firing on the flag, slavery had signed its death warrant. No state could claim a greater share in the winning of the war for the Union than Ohio. In Lincoln's war cabinet, two Ohio men were ,among his most capable advisors, Chase as secretary of the treasury and Stanton as secretary of war. After repeated trials of other leaders, Lincoln finally found in two Ohio sons, Grant and Sherman, the commanders who could fight and could lead the Union army to ultimate victory. Without these four leaders of first magnitude, Ohio might still be proud of the galaxy of names which shone with greatest splendor in the events leading up to and in the course of the war. Among them were Ewing, Corwin, Giddings, Wade, John Sherman, the war governors Dennison, Tod and Brough. Of the military leaders properly credited to Ohio, either as residents of the state or as native sons, the list of generals, major-generals, brigadier-generals is an astonishingly long one, including such names as Sheridan, Buell, Custer, McPherson, McDowell, Rosecrans, Garfield and many others. Ohio was represented by every shade of opinion and conviction as well as by every diversity of talent and achievement. The great martyr of the anti-slavery movement was John Brawn, who came to Ohio when five years of age, while sixteen of his twenty children were born there. In contrast to John Brown was Vallandigham, in whom focused the leadership of the forces opposed to the vigorous prosecution of the war and whose name an entire generation of Ohio people immediately after the war would have gladly forgotten. The brilliant character of individual actors should never be allowed to obscure the tremendous value and volume of services rendered by the people of the state as a whole. In the course of the war nearly 350,000 men went from Ohio to the service of the United States. Of the troops in the field 11,237 were killed or mortally wounded and 13,354 died of disease. President Lincoln made his first call for 75,000 men for three months on April 16, 1861, and within twenty-four hours troops began to arrive at Columbus, the Lancaster guards having the distinction of being the first to report. By April 18th, there were enough companies to make up the first and second volunteer infantry regiments. Ohio's quota in the first call was 13,000 and 30,000 responded. Sixteen days after the President's call, there were offers of volunteers from Ohio, sufficient to meet the full national requirement of 75,000 men. The enlisted men from Ohio during 1861 numbered more than