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THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS
1938

PRINTED BY AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

ILLINOIS STATE LIBRARY

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CONTENTS

Foreword ix

John Wentworth: His Contributions to Chicago 1

Ann Steinbrecher Windle

Impressions of Lorado Taft 18

Trygve A. Rovelstad

The Mississippi River as an Artistic Subject 34

Lucius W . Elder

Virgin Fields of History 43

Henrietta L. Memler

congregationalists and presbyterians in the early

History of the Galesburg Churches 53

Hermann Richard Muelder

Phases of Chicago History:

I. Writing A History of Chicago 71

Bessie Louise Pierce

II. The Land Reform Movement 73

Joe L. N orris

III. The Temperance Movement, 1848-1871 82

Herbert Wiltsee

IV. The Radical Labor Movement, 1873-1895 92

Dorothy Culp

V. Summary 100

Herbert A. Kellar

v

vi papers in illinois history

The Russian Community of Chicago 102

Thomas Randolph Hall

Illinois as Lincoln Knew It: A Boston Reporter's

Record of a Trip in 1847 109

Edited by Harry E. Pratt

Campaign Lives of Abraham Lincoln, 1860: An Annotated
Bibliography of the Biographies of Abraham Lincoln

Issued During the Campaign Year 188

Ernest James Wessen

Official Proceedings, 1937:

Report of the Secretary 223

Annual Business Meeting 227

Meeting of the Board of Directors 229

Officers and Directors 230

ILLUSTRATIONS

John Wentworth 4

Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Quincy 24

The Pioneers, Elmwood 26

Black Hawk, Oregon 28

Alma Mater Group, Urbana 30

Abraham Lincoln, Urbana 32

St. Louis 42

Galena in 1856 42

Cave-in-Rock 42

Carondelet, Missouri 42

Moline 42

Quincy 42

Quincy 42

Bound Down the River 42

Loading Cotton 42

Cotton Boat 42

Fort Armstrong 42

St. Charles, Missouri, on the Missouri River 42

vii

vu1 papers in illinois history

Kaskaskia, on the Kaskaskia River 42

Nauvoo 42

Alton 42

Cairo 42

Lake Street, Chicago, about 1852 121

Buckingham's Route 129

Peoria in 1846 134

Illinois State House, Springfield 144

St. Louis Levee, 1850 160

Planters House, St. Louis, 1865 162

Mormon Temple, Nauvoo 170

Nauvoo 172

Galena Lead Mine Region 178

The Wigwam Edition 190

Lincoln's Letter Disclaiming Responsibility for a

Campaign Biography 210

Earliest State of Page 32, Scripps's Life of Lincoln 212

Second State of Page 32, Scripps's Life of Lincoln 214

FOREWORD

Since 1900 the Illinois State Historical Society has been issuing
an annual volume devoted in part to the official record of its an-
nual meeting and in part to the publication of papers relating to
various phases of Illinois history.

Without exception, these publications have been entitled Trans-
actions of the Illinois State Historical Society — a title hardly likely
to attract the attention of any appreciable number of readers.
Their appearance, moreover, has generally been no less uninviting
than their title. The combination has naturally repelled many
readers who would have been delighted with the contents of these
volumes had they had the hardihood to penetrate beyond the
official reports with which each commenced.

The present volume is an attempt to eliminate these disadvan-
tages. The title, at least in its short form, is believed to be less for-
bidding than formerly, and also more accurate as a description of
the book as a whole. Official reports have been relegated to the
last pages, where they can be found by those interested, but where
they will not discourage the casual reader. Two features of pre-
ceding volumes have been omitted — the Society's constitution, and
the annual list of acquisitions in genealogy. The former is always
available; the latter has been compiled, and will be sent to in-
quirers in mimeographed form if an appreciable number of requests
for it are received. Besides these changes, the physical appear-
ance of the book has been greatly improved.

Most of the papers published in this volume were presented at
the Society's annual meeting at Galesburg, May 13, 14 and 15,
1937. The exceptions are the articles "Illinois as Lincoln Knew
It: A Boston Reporter's Record of a Trip in 1847," edited by Harry
E. Pratt, and "Campaign Lives of Abraham Lincoln, 1860," by
Ernest J. Wessen. These are contributions to Illinois history too
long for publication in the Journal, but too important not to be
made generally available.

Paul M. Angle, Editor.

JOHN WENTWORTH

HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHICAGO

By ANN STEINBRECHER WINDLE

To outsiders, in the year 1882, Chicago boasted three major
attractions — the new three million-dollar courthouse, the Palmer
House barber shop with its silver dollar floor, and "Long John"
Wentworth. The elaborate architecture of the courthouse and the
shining splendor of the silver dollar floor, however, paled into in-
significance in the eyes of a boy visitor, when he caught his first
glimpse of the man who had dominated Chicago's landscape for
upwards of fifty years. Editor of Chicago's first successful daily
newspaper, six times congressman from Chicago, and twice-term
mayor, John Wentworth looked the part he played in the role of
a Chicago Titan. William Campbell, who was later to become his
private secretary, found Wentworth in the very center of his
domain, the rotunda of the old Sherman House. Towering head
and shoulders above the group of newspaper men who swarmed
about him, he presented a striking figure. His colossal height of
six feet, six inches, was well set off by a suit of finest broadcloth.
He wore the well-known claw hammer coat with pointed tails, the
low cut vest, showing an expansive pleated shirt bosom, a gold
watch chain several feet long suspended from his neck, and, top-
ping all, an enormous black felt hat. The massive features beneath
the hat, the sharp, penetrating gray eyes, the large, determined
mouth, and the square, smooth-shaven chin, revealed a nature,
proud and intelligent, forceful and intellectually curious.

His dignified mien and commanding presence were Long John's
birthright. His English ancestry dated back to one Reginald de

2 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Wynterwade, mentioned in the Domesday Book, in 1066, as pro-
prietor of the Wapentake of Strafford in the West Riding of York-
shire. The family was a prominent and distinguished one, count-
ing among its members Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford.
The first Wentworth to emigrate to America, the man from whom
all of the American Wentworths are descended, was William, the
Elder. Among the first settlers in Exeter, New Hampshire, he was
one of the signers of that document known as the Exeter Com-
bination, a fact which proves his arrival in America by the year
1639. Ten years later he established a permanent home in Dover,
New Hampshire. Here he acquired much land, and became a
leader in the community, frequently being chosen as one of the
selectmen. He was the ruling elder in the church. At the age of
seventy-three, he won lasting renown by a feat of which many a
younger man might boast. In 1689, an Indian raid was made on
five garrison houses. All were demolished except the one in which
Wentworth lived. Wakened by the skirmish below, he dashed
down the stairs, routed out the Indians, and lay on his back, set-
ting his feet against the door of the stockade until help came.

From the year 1717, when John Wentworth, the grandson of
William the Elder, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of New
Hampshire, on through the period of the Revolution, the name of
Wentworth signified in that state what the name of Winthrop sig-
nified in Massachusetts. Belonging to a family of statesmen and
soldiers, Long John's own grandfather, John Wentworth, Jr., was
a member of the Continental Congress and one of the signers of the
Articles of Confederation. At the same time, his maternal grand-
father, Amos Cogswell, served as a colonel in the Continental
Army under the command of General Washington. Interest in
local and national welfare, combined with an intense family pride
and feeling of superiority above the rank and file of men which ran
in all the Wentworth blood, was carried on to Long John. By an
hereditary right, John Wentworth became Chicago's greatest
"Democratic Aristocrat."

His own birthplace was an unpretentious New Hampshire farm-

JOHN WENTWORTH 6

house. His parents, Paul and Lydia (Cogswell) Wentworth owned
a farm just outside the town of Sandwich, in Strafford County, at
the foot of Mount Israel. Here young Wentworth spent the
greater part of his youth, gaining the hardihood which thrives on
the rigors of New England climate and discipline alike. News of
the Battle of New Orleans reached the Wentworth farm the day
of John's birth, March 5, 1815. In 1827, educational institutions
being as inefficient as the mail service, Wentworth went to Gilman-
ton, to attend the Academy of Asa Emerson Foster. In 1828, he
changed to the Academy at Wolfeboro, where he uttered his first
piece of oratory, declaiming Webster's eulogy on Adams and Jeffer-
son. Thus his lifelong plea for "Liberty and Economy" had its
youthful origin. He proved to be a precocious student, early be-
coming a facile reader in the classics, and he was an outstanding
leader in the debating and literary societies of every school he at-
tended. At the age of sixteen, he dropped his studies for a year to
teach in a school at New Hampton, later resuming them at the
Academy of South Berwick, Maine. Upon his graduation in the
spring of 1832, he gave the valedictory address, and in the follow-
ing autumn he entered Dartmouth College. An individual thinker
and a fighting spirit, he clashed more than once in the next four
years with those members of the faculty whose ideas were not in
accord with his. His mind was not that of the average immature
undergraduate, nor was it so considered. He was already taking
an active interest in politics, and was made a delegate to the county
convention to nominate a Democratic candidate for senator. He
was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, and
his reports were highly praised by delegates and press alike.

In October, 1836, following his graduation from Dartmouth,
this highly endowed young man set off across the Green Mountains
to make his way in the great and unknown West. He carried with
him several letters of recommendation from prominent New Hamp-
shire men, and 3100 in his wallet. From Schenectady to Utica,
Wentworth took his first ride over a railroad. Going on to Tona-
wanda by canal boat, and to Niagara Falls by stagecoach, he

* PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

traveled on a steamer from Buffalo to Detroit, where he hoped
to find a position as school teacher. Receiving no replies to his
advertisements in the Detroit Free Press, he made long walking
trips to Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. These met with the same ill
success. He returned to Detroit, put his trunk aboard the brig
Manhattan bound for Chicago, and took the stage for Michigan
City, arriving there the afternoon of October 22. The next day-
he set out on foot for Chicago. With some twenty companions
he spent the night in a shanty on the lake shore. Again continuing
his march along the sandy beach, he rested the second night in
Calumet. The following morning, October 25, 1836, John Went-
worth walked into Chicago.

The picture of this tall, rangy youth, trousers tucked in his
muddy boots, and wearing a brown hickory shirt and a great slouch
hat as he made his entry into the town he was to grow up with, is
best recreated in Wentworth's own words:

Could you have been on the sandhills between here and
Michigan City on the southern shore of Lake Michigan in
the fall of 1836 you would have seen me stretched out like
a leather shoe string tied up, just after wading a prairie
marsh — all length and no breadth — leaning over the country
at an angle of 45 degrees, with all my clothes under one arm
and a jug of whisky under the other with which to bathe
my blistered feet.

Upon his arrival, the first person he met was an old friend and
former schoolmate from Northfield, New Hampshire, Matthew S.
Maloney, of the leading mercantile house in town — Wild, Maloney
& Co. Wentworth was advised by him to take up lodgings at the
United States Hotel, on the southeast corner of Lake and Market
streets. Originally, this had been the Sauganash Hotel owned by
Mark Beaubien, but was now kept by John Murphy. On that
first day, Wentworth dined at Mrs. Murphy's table, and from that
day until his death he made it a point, whenever possible, to have
dinner with "Mother" Murphy on each anniversary of his arrival
in Chicago.

John Wentworth

JOHN WENTWORTH 5

His first step was to make arrangements to study law under
Henry Moore, one of the town's leading lawyers; but shortly after
Wentworth's arrival, Moore was forced to return east on account
of poor health. At this time, the Chicago Democrat, a weekly, was
changing hands. John Calhoun, who had established the Demo-
crat in 1833, as Chicago's first newspaper, was negotiating to sell
it to Horatio Hill of Concord, New Hampshire. Hill, who was
part owner and editor of the New Hampshire Patriot, was unable
to remain in Chicago and was looking for someone to run his paper,
when, happily, Wentworth walked into town. Within a month,
the twenty-one year old boy had assumed the editorship of the
Chicago Democrat.

He immediately set about to make it the leading paper of the
Northwest. His first job was to move the office from its original
site in the Jones, Walker & Company Building on North Water
Street to the three-story wooden building at 7 North Clark Street.
Having, usually, a shortage of hands, the physical work of printing
a paper often fell to Wentworth. Even as late as the summer of
1838 he was turning out posters for Stephen A. Douglas with his
own long arms, while the "Little Giant" inked the presses. With-
in a few months after he took over the Democrat, he had reorgan-
ized the subscription list and had increased the number of sub-
scribers by more than two hundred. In his spare hours he attended
to the literary side of the newspaper. His editorial policy, which
aimed to avoid any factional prejudices within the party, stood for
party usages, regular nominations and "pure democracy." His
scourging editorials denouncing "wildcat" currency attracted the
attention of readers all over the state.

Meanwhile, he was taking time off to attend the meetings held
in the Old Saloon Building to discuss applying to the legislature
at Vandalia for a city charter. The application was granted, and
Wentworth was given the order to print the charter, thereby mak-
ing a profit of twenty-five dollars for the Democrat, as he boasted
in a letter to Hill. He was instrumental in the election of William
B. Ogden as the first mayor of Chicago, and he was made the secre-

O PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

tary of the first political meeting ever called in the first ward. In
1837, the Council appointed him first corporation printer of the
city.

The date of John Wentworth's arrival in Chicago marked the
passing of the pioneer stage of the city's history. He came just in
time to catch the final reverberations of that romantic era. One
of Wentworth's signal contributions to the future citizens of Chi-
cago was the preservation of the spirit and legendary quality of
that day in his notes, since published in the Fergus Historical
Series. His young and active imagination was caught and held by
the fragments of that early period, on whose trail he had so closely
followed. Among his earliest recollections was one of seeing a line
of caskets protruding from the ground along the beach, vivid re-
minders of the Black Hawk War and cholera siege of 1832. The
cutting of the sand bar for the harbor had caused the lake waters to
encroach and wash away the earth in which they had been buried.
On December 29, 1836, Wentworth witnessed the final evacuation
of Fort Dearborn :

I saw the last sentinel withdrawn from the entrance, and
the last soldier march out, and I heard the last salute fired
from Fort Dearborn. For a while we missed the cannon's
discharge at sunrise and sunset. And soon sunrise and
sunset lost their significance in the measurement of Chicago
time.

Although most of the Indians had departed for their reserva-
tion at Silver Lake, Shawnee County, Kansas, a few still roamed
around the town prior to the final exodus. With the three
most renowned Indians of the Middle West then living, Went-
worth made fast friends: Billy Caldwell, known as Sauganash
(the son of an Irish officer and a Potawatomi girl), a friend of the
whites, and secretary to Tecumseh; Robinson or Chechepinqua,
chief of the United Potawatomi, Chippewa and Ottawa; and
Chamblee, the Ottawa who was at Tecumseh's side when the latter
fell in battle. Wentworth spent many a long evening with these
three before the fire in the log tavern of his hotel, listening to their

JOHN WENTWORTH I

description of battle after battle, including the massacre at Chicago
and the Battle of the Thames, and their narration of personal in-
terviews with, and characteristics of Tecumseh, General Harrison
and General Wayne.

Keenly interested in all of the unusual figures of the commu-
nity, Wentworth himself gave a heightened life and color to the
rapidly growing town. An analogy between this struggling, daunt-
less, mud village and the bold, obstinate youth, just emerging
from adolescence, was recognized by Wentworth in later life, when
he told a newspaper man: "When I came to Chicago, I was a very
small man. There was almost nothing of me. ... I have grown
with Chicago." He seemed to possess the key to the city's register.
Chicago liked him. When the crowd gathered at the post office for
the long awaited mail, Long John was frequently delegated to read
the newspapers aloud while the letters were being sorted. His
powerful voice made him a general favorite, and many a time he
was escorted to the cracker box to match his vocal cords against
the winds off Lake Michigan.

Chicago early discovered that Wentworth's mind was equal to
his voice. Early in 1838, he was appointed school inspector, the
first of his lifelong activities in connection with the Chicago School
Board. He was one of the first and most arduous proponents of
the common school system in the West. The following year, he
was made one of Governor Carlin's aides-de-camp, from which
office he derived a mingled satisfaction and embarrassment. An-
ticipating the fun his journalistic enemies would have at his ex-
pense, Wentworth stole a march on them by publishing the first
cartoon ever to appear in a Chicago newspaper. It depicted Went-
worth a gangling, beplumed warrior, astride a lean and paltry nag,
surrounded by his political foes. The "balloons," which issued
from their mouths, enclosed the same disparaging remarks they
would have been expected to make in such a situation.

Within three years Wentworth had purchased the Democrat for
32,800, and he owned it free of all indebtedness. On February 24,
1840, appeared the first issue of the Democrat as a daily paper.

8 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

That same year he began his stump speaking throughout the state,
and prepared an exhaustive article upon the relation of banks to
government and their reciprocal duties. This article created wide-
spread interest in the author.

Meanwhile, Wentworth had continued his study of law. In
the spring of 1841 he went east to attend law lectures at Cam-
bridge, with the intention of remaining a year. Hearing, however,
that there was a strong possibility of his being nominated for Con- 1
gress, he returned in the late fall of the same year. Soon after-
wards, he was admitted to the bar. Because of the failure of the
legislature to district the state, the election which should have
taken place in 1842 was postponed until the following year. In
May, 1843, Wentworth was the unanimous choice as Democratic
candidate for Congress, and in August he was elected by a large
majority.

December 4, 1843, he took his seat in the House of Representa-
tives; he was the youngest member of the congressional body, being
then only twenty-eight years old. His, the fourth district of Illi-
nois, covered an area of 250 by 100 miles, comprising all the land
from Wisconsin on the north to the Springfield district on the
south, from the Indiana state line on the east to the Rock River
Valley on the west. He was the first congressman ever to be|
elected from north of central Illinois, and the first who resided on
the shores of Lake Michigan.

Before enumerating Wentworth's specific contributions to his
community, while in Congress, it would be valuable to attempt an
estimate of the far-reaching influence he wielded. His appearance
in Washington immediately turned the spotlight of attention on
Chicago. What kind of town had elected this young giant with
such command of expression and fluency of tongue to speak for her?
Wentworth did not wait long to answer. Chicago was the City of
the Future, the gateway to the great Northwest. Prophesying that
the South would ultimately yield first place as source of the nation's
wealth, Wentworth predicted that Chicago, with its vantage point
at the foot of one of the Great Lakes, would become the distribut-

JOHN WENTWORTH V

ing center for that vast hinterland which swept from the Rocky
Mountains to the very back door of the city. The prosperity of
the United States, he pointed out, was dependent upon the facility
with which western produce could be shipped, not only to various
parts of this country, but also to foreign lands.

During his terms in Congress from 1843 to 1851 and from 1853
to 1855, Wentworth's efforts to modernize and render safe trans-
portation on the lakes and rivers of the Middle West were unceas-
ing. His first official act toward this end was almost coincidental
with his entrance into the House. On December 20, 1843, he
opened his congressional career, in behalf of Chicago, by giving
notice that he would ask leave to bring in a bill to establish a port
of entry in Chicago. From that day forward he was the chief
agitator for harbor improvements, the erection of lighthouses and
ports of entry on the Great Lakes, and the establishment of
marine hospitals.

As a result of President Polk's veto of a bill for the improve-
ment of rivers and harbors of the West and Northwest, he con-
ceived the idea of the celebrated National River and Harbor Con-
vention, which convened in Chicago, July 5, 1847. As Chairman
of the Chicago Committee, which included George Manierre, J.
Young Scammon, Isaac N. Arnold and Grant Goodrich, Went-
worth drafted an address to the people of the United States, urging
them to send delegates. In the closing paragraph he stated:

Although the construction of harbors and the improve-
ment of rivers will be the prominent subject before the Con-
vention, yet, whatever matters appertain to the prosperity of
the West, and to the development of its resources, will come
properly before it, and all plans and suggestions will be
freely entertained.

In response to Chicago's invitation, 3,000 delegates, represent-
ing eighteen of the twenty-nine states in the Union, assembled in
the huge tent which had been erected on the Courthouse Square.
The immediate effects of the convention proved of little value.
But its tremendous significance was recognized by Thurlow Weed,

10 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

who called it "undoubtedly the largest deliberative party that ever ;
assembled." The presence of such men as Abraham Lincoln, ,;
Erastus Corning, Horace Greeley and Tom Corwin, gave a sparkle
to this page of Chicago's history. A Convention City had been I
established. John Wentworth had brought the nation to Chicagol

In Washington, his absolute integrity and constant attention fl
to his congressional duties were winning him a reputation among I
the capital's leaders. Chicago could not have boasted an abler
or more striking representative on the floor. He was an ardent
champion for preemption and homestead laws, and was the first
western congressman to introduce a bill advocating the bonded I
warehouse system. He was the chief instrument in passing the I
land grant bill for the Illinois Central Railroad through the House
of Representatives. Stephen A. Douglas, continuing the work
of Sidney Breese, had put the bill through in the Senate.

Probably no other man had the opportunity to view at close
range so great a span of the nation's growth from the beginning
of the nineteenth century on through the crisis of the Civil War.
Two of the men with whom Wentworth was associated in Con-
gress— John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Tappan — were born
before the tea was thrown overboard in Boston Harbor. The
former was fond of remarking that his earliest recollection was I
that of hearing the report of the guns at the Battle of Bunker
Hill. During his six terms in Congress, Wentworth attended
sessions with two members who served in President Monroe's
cabinet, one in President J. Q. Adams', three in President Jack-
son's, one in President Van Buren's, five in President Harrison's, I
four in President Tyler's, four in President Polk's, four in President
Taylor's, seven in President Fillmore's, four in President Pierce's,
five in President Buchanan's, and six in President Lincoln's. He
served with four future presidents of the United States — James
Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, and James A.
Garfield. Four great statesmen of the period — John C. Calhoun,
Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and Thomas H. Benton — were
counted his personal friends. His sketches of these men, found

JOHN WENTWORTH 11

in his Congressional Reminiscenses, show keen observation and
analysis of character, and possess historical and literary value. He
was an eyewitness to many of the dramatic events of his day.
He was in Congress the day that John Quincy Adams fell in the
House, and he was one of the committee appointed by Speaker
Robert C. Winthrop to escort his remains to his home in Massa-
chusetts. He was a delegate to the 1844 convention in Baltimore,
which nominated James K. Polk for President, and also a delegate
to the convention of 1848 which named Gen. Lewis Cass of
Michigan as a presidential candidate. He was present at the
inauguration of several presidents of the United States, including
that of Abraham Lincoln. At Lincoln's death, he was one of the
committee to receive his remains in Chicago.

At the close of the Thirty-third Congress, in which, under the
census of 1850, Wentworth had represented a new district, the
second, Chicago could no longer induce him to run again. It was
during this term that he lost faith in the Democratic Party. In
his estimate, the idea of the formation of the Republican Party
originated in the House, when Colonel Benton made his great
speech against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in December,
1853. Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, Went-
worth, with other Democrats such as Judd, Palmer, Baker, Allen
and Koerner, left the party to join forces with those Whigs and
Abolitionists known as Anti-Nebraska men. From then on, the
Chicago Democrat sounded the Republican cause, and through its
channels Wentworth spread the antislavery creed. He supported
the senatorial campaign of Abraham Lincoln, in 1858, and his
presidential campaign in 1860.

Chicago recognized Wentworth's power and talent for leader-
ship. Having reached the prime of life, he had acquired the
characteristics this thriving, expanding, turbulent city needed.
With firsthand knowledge and understanding of local and national
issues, he was the man best suited to cope with the financial,
social and political problems that faced Chicago. Possessing the
suavity and dignity of a diplomat and the shrewdness and rough

12 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

wit of the boisterous politician, he was big enough to be fervently
admired and forcibly hated — altogether, the right man to control
and direct the actions of so mixed a population as Chicago had.
In 1857, Wentworth was nominated for mayor on a Republican
Fusion ticket, and on March 3 of that year, in a hotly contested
election, he won the office by a majority of over eleven hundred.

His first official act was to appoint a board of engineers to
establish the grade of the city. He introduced the first steam
fire engine into Chicago, appropriately named after him, the
"Long John." Illustrative of his dispatch of executive duties
was his prompt and decisive raid upon "the sands." This dilapi-
dated section fronting on the lake shore was the most notorious
part of the city. In one day Wentworth leveled it to the ground.
Advertising a dog-fight on the outskirts of the city, he attracted
most of the male inhabitants from the spot. Immediately, a
deputy sheriff, accompanied by thirty policemen, began tearing
down five of the disreputable shanties, and by four-thirty in the
afternoon a fire had razed six more of the buildings.

In 1860, Wentworth was elected to a second term as mayor.
Two more fire engines were introduced, the "Liberty" and the
"Economy," the watchwords of his career. During this term he
succeeded in rubbing off the word "deficit" from the records of
the city treasury and writing the word "surplus" in its stead.
His most spectacular act in 1860 was that of bringing the Prince
of Wales to Chicago. He made the trip to Montreal to assure
the Duke of Newcastle that if the Prince visited Chicago, he would
receive a royal welcome. Wentworth personally superintended
all the arrangements, and the visit was avowedly a tremendous
success. After the Prince's departure, Wentworth received a
letter of thanks from the Duke of Newcastle, and also a pair of
Southdown sheep for his farm in Summit. In later years, asked
by a young friend if he did not feel proud to be seated beside a
future king of England as they rode in a carriage drawn by four
horses through the streets of Chicago, his characteristic reply was:

I was not sitting beside the Prince. He sat beside me.

JOHN WENTWORTH 13

I felt no undue elation and the acclamations of the crowd
were intended for me as much as for him. You are a good
American citizen, and as such and on this principle, I should
take more pride in having you as a carriage companion than
if Queen Victoria sat by my side and the King of England
on my knee.

At the close of his second term as mayor, Wentworth felt
it was also time to bring to an end his long journalistic career.
On July 24, 1861, he published in the final issue of the Democrat
his farewell address to the patrons he had served for a quarter
of a century. With the agreement that he would not publish a
paper until after March 1, 1864, he sold to the Chicago Tribune
his subscription lists, advertising, job work, and his patronage and
good will.

Chicago, however, continued to call upon the services of
Long John. In 1861, he became a valuable member of the Board
of Education, and during the next three years strongly opposed
all extravagance, and resisted the attempts of the banks to avoid
the payment of par money for the School Board deposits. He
was the originator and staunch defender of the Dearborn School,
the first brick schoolhouse ever built in Chicago. When it became
necessary for Illinois to revise her state constitution, Wentworth
was made a delegate to the convention. In 1863, he made a
dramatic and effective police commissioner. In this capacity,
his tact and judgment averted two serious uprisings.

Aware that the speech of Clement L. Vallandigham, the
antiwar Democrat, would arouse the anger of all Union men, he
granted to him police protection; but when in turn the crowd
called for Long John on the Courthouse Square, he prevented
an interruption from the rebel sympathizers by reminding them
of the courtesy their champion had received. He then broke into
an impromptu speech, which, while adopting the sure-fire psy-
chology of a Marc Antony, nevertheless contained a ringing
challenge to the defenders of the Constitution. The following
extract contains the political philosophy of Wentworth in regard
to the Civil War:

14 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

If we want peace then, let us conquer. If the South
want peace, let them lay down their arms and cease war.
Then will I be willing to deal with them justly and generously.
Then will I try to forget the rivers of Northern blood they
have shed in their unholy struggle for slavery. . . . But while
an arm wields a sabre, while the Constitution is defied and
the laws laughed to scorn, I will uphold the authority whose
solemn oath was, that the Constitution should be preserved
and the laws maintained.

In that same year of 1864, Chicago was alarmed by the
rumored uprising of the antiwar Democrats, known as the "Sons
of Liberty." The plot to release 8,000 Confederate prisoners
from Camp Douglas and to set fire to and pillage the city was
disclosed in time, and with the assistance of Wentworth, Colonel
Sweet was able to check the intended raid.

In 1865, Wentworth defeated Cyrus H. McCormick for the
Thirty-ninth Congress. Under President Andrew Johnson, he was
Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and was an
advocate of the immediate resumption of specie payment. This,
his final term in Congress, marked the close of his active political
life, except for one year, 1880, when he was made Vice-President
of the Republican National Convention.

Retirement from public life, however, did not mean in John
Wentworth any decrease of interest in the city he had helped to
build. Impressed by such estates as Mount Vernon and the
Hermitage, and having a feeling in his own bones for the land,
he had bought 4,700 acres at Summit, in Cook County, just
fifteen miles from the Chicago Courthouse, on the banks of the
Illinois and Michigan Canal, with a view to making it a refuge
for his later years. But the activity and excitement of the city
held too great a fascination, and the great stock farm remained
unoccupied by its owner. Chicago, itself, was Wentworth's
home. He knew no other. On November 13, 1844, Wentworth
had married Roxanna Marie Loomis, the daughter of Riley
Loomis, of Troy, New York. They, however, had never owned
a home in Chicago. Always in delicate health, Mrs. Wentworth

JOHN WENTWORTH 15

died in 1870. Of their five children, Roxanna was the only one
who survived her father.

The later years of his life were spent at the Sherman House,
except for the months of July and August, when he vacationed
at Fountain Spring House at Waukesha, Wisconsin. He was
a strong advocate of hotel life, declaring that there was the only
place where the liberty bell was to be found. These were his
words :

I never was one of your bell-livers. I never did and
never will live on time. Got no use for call-bells, dinner-
bells, or alarm clocks, and I believe they do more for the
general slaying of health and killing of people than either
gluttony or intemperance. Now, my doctrine is this, eat
when you're hungry, drink when you're thirsty, sleep when
you're sleepy, and get up when you're ready.

Wentworth's manner of ordering his meals was original.
The most desirably located table in the dining room was reserved
for him. Though it had a seating capacity for five, it served
Long John alone. Planning his menu in his room, he placed a
cross before each dish that he desired, usually thirty-five to forty
of them, and when he was ready to dine, he stalked into the
dining room, expecting to find all the dishes on the table. Cold
broth and melted ice cream did not matter; he insisted on every-
thing being placed before him. If a desired dish was beyond his
reach, he whirled the table around until it came within his radius.
His favorite beverage was brandy, and his daily consumption
from a pint to a quart.

His interests and hobbies were many. In 1867, he received
a degree of Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College, and in
1882-1883 he served as president of the Dartmouth Alumni Asso-
ciation. His greatest literary work was a three-volume Wentworth
Genealogy, published in 1878. The subject closest to his heart,
however, was the work of the Chicago Historical Society. The
great sorrow of his life was his loss of manuscripts and papers,
including a complete file of the Democrat, in the Chicago fire.

16 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

He made continuous efforts to collect information and anecdotes ;
from the old settlers, in an attempt to reconstruct a picture of
early Chicago for her future citizens.

John Wentworth's devotion to Chicago was twofold; he loved
it as an actor in its development, and as a historian, evaluating
its position in time. In his address on Fort Dearborn, he said:

Chicago has ever been noted for its sensations, and that
is one of the reasons why I have never liked to leave it. You
can not find any other place that has so many of them. Why
travel about when there is so much of interest transpiring
at home?

The city quenched his thirst for drama and activity. His
fundamental nature, however, responded to something deeper
than mere excitement. A few lines from his Reminiscences of
Early Chicago prove that:

We often hear of different men who have done much for
Chicago, by their writings, their speeches, or their enter-
prise. But I have never heard of a man who has done more
for Chicago than Chicago has done for him. God made Lake
Michigan and the country to the west of it; and, when we
come to estimate who have done the most for Chicago, the
glory belongs first to the enterprising farmers who raised a
surplus of produce and sent it here for shipment; and second,
to the hardy sailors who braved the storms of our harborless
lakes to carry it to market. All other classes were the inci-
dents, and not the necessities, of our embryo city. Chicago
is but the index of the prosperity of our agricultural classes.

As his own life stretched out behind him, fifty years of which
were coeval with the first half-century of Chicago's corporate
history, Wentworth had glimmerings of what the future metropo-
lis might be. Early in the fall of 1888, his health began to fail
rapidly. The doctors could attribute the cause to nothing more
definite than the general breaking down of the once powerful
physique. Early on the morning of October 16, 1888, he died
in his room at the Sherman House, surrounded by his family — his
only daughter, Roxanna, his nephew, Moses J. Wentworth, his

JOHN WENTWORTH 17

two brothers, Joseph and Samuel, and his sister, Mrs. Mary F.
Porter.

The body lay in state at the Sherman House, where hundreds
of Chicago citizens came to pay final tribute. Following the
funeral from the Second Presbyterian Church, on October 18,
the remains were taken to Rosehill Cemetery. A granite shaft,
fifty-five feet in height, marks the final resting place of the man
whose life was so entwined with Chicago's growth — John Went-
worth, the outstanding actor in the annals of that city.

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT

By TRYGVE A. ROVELSTAD

When I was asked to speak on the subject of Lorado Taft
and his work, my mind reverted to a memorable day in the fall
of 1922, when, in the Midway Studios in Chicago, I met the
sculptor for the first time. I have often thought, since then,
that I should like to give my impressions of Taft to the public,
but in all probability I should never have done so had not the
Illinois State Historical Society invited me to appear on this
program.

Previous to my entry into the happy life of the Midway
Studios, under Lorado Taft's able guidance, I had just received
a glimmering of an idea of what sculpture was all about. This
happened in the library at Elgin, Illinois, where I usually went
during the extra moments of my lunch hour while attending
the high school. Among the volumes on the Chicago Columbian
Exposition of 1893, I found the first brilliant evidence of this
man's work. Later I was fascinated by illustrations of "The
Fountain of Time" which accompanied an article by Delia
Austrian in the International Studio Magazine for March, 1921.
Later, as I became personally interested in sculpture and ite
mysteries, my mother called my attention to an article in the
American Magazine of April, 1922, by Neil M. Clark. This
article, indirectly, gave me courage, later, to approach Mr. Taft
in his famous studios.

In the meantime, I had attempted, in a naive sort of way,
to conquer the difficulties of modeling. I recall that one of
my first attempts, in miniature form in clay, was that of a head

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 19

of Lincoln. Following this came attempts, in the medium o*
plastilina, at a rearing horse, and also a copy of a primitive man
I saw pictured in some history book. Later, happy chance sent
me, with my small collection, to the estate of Mrs. Nellie Fabyan
at Geneva, Illinois, and under her interest I attempted a larger
conception of a doughboy, with rifle and fixed bayonet in one
hand, and a torch in the other.

Just about this time I packed my suitcase and headed for
Chicago, with the idea of finding work of some sort or another
in this line. My first attempts were a failure. Unfortunately
I approached a decorative plasterer, who was very considerate,
but who had nothing for me to do. I have since recalled how
very fortunate I was to have been refused work of this kind,
for fate had a kinder surprise in store for me.

I believe it was on my third trip into Chicago that I arrived
at the Midway Studios. Conquering whatever timidity I felt,
I opened the folding doors into this interesting combination home
and studio. I had with me, of course, my suitcase, filled with
plaster pieces which I had painstakingly worked out. Mr. Taft
happened to be in one of the inner studios. I do not recall at
the moment, whether he was at work, or whether he was just
reviewing some of his work. At any rate, he was informed of
my presence by his secretary, and I was introduced to him.

I do not retain much of a first impression of the man, because
I was too frightened to do more than open my grip and take out
some of the plaster pieces. He looked them over with a twinkling
eye, and the first few words which he spoke, and which I still
remember, to the joyful recollection of my mother, were to the
effect that a nude woman which I had copied at the Fabyan estate
was a lady with a painful pose. I should like to have a picture
of this figure, but perhaps it is as well that I have not. I was
under the impression that Mr. Taft, although not impressed with
my sculpture, realized that the same had taken a certain amount
of patience. At least he went as far as to ask me if I was entering
the profession for the money end of the same. As such an inquiry

20 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

had been presented to me before, and as I was not particularly-
interested in the practical application of the art, I immediately-
answered to that effect. The result of this brief interview was
an invitation to come and visit the Midway Studios for a week,
and so to see how I should like the studio family, and how it
would like me.

It was a happy day, and I returned home joyfully to tell
my family the news, and to pack my things and return as soon as
I could, to take advantage of this kind offer. The Midway
Studios, at this time, were located on Ellis Avenue, with the main
entrance back from the street. The inner court was down four
or five steps below the level of the street. After passing through
the main portals, one descended these steps through another door
to the main court, in the center of which there was a fish pond
sunken below the surface of the concrete, and flanked on either
end by miniature copies of "The Fish Boy." This pool was of
some interest to me later, for several of the studio cats had great
sport jumping for the gold fish, sometimes successfully.

At the far end of this court was the heroic plaster model
of "The Fountain of the Great Lakes," back of which, in a unique
situation, was the studio kitchen. On either side of the court
were groups from "The Thatcher Memorial Fountain" — Courage,
Learning, and Love. On either side also were the main entrances
into the various studios and adjoining rooms. It was in this
court that I first met Lorado Taft.

One of the first figures of sculpture to impress my memory-
was in an adjoining studio, that of the heroic head of Labor,
which adorns the "Alma Mater" group on the University of
Illinois campus at Urbana. Mr. Taft caught me in the midst
of my admiration of this piece. Some years later, when the
group was being finished for bronze, I was asked to pose several
times for this head.

As I have stated, the article in the American Magazine by
Neil M. Clark gave me one of my first written impressions of
Lorado Taft and his works. Perhaps I should also add it gave

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 21

me something of the man himself in visual form, for one of the
plates or cuts photographed the sculptor beside one of the heroic
groups, "The Fountain of Time." A tall man with gray hair
and beard, wearing a long smock — he stood by this spirited
work. I recall that I pondered much over the picture. What
were those huge figures all about, and what kind of man could
he be who could create them? Lorado Taft has been something
of a mystery and an enigma to most people. He had many
friends, but I believe that there were very few who comprehended
the real depths of his imagination, from which sprang the wraith-
like figures and fantasies of "The Fountain of Time" and "The
Fountain of Creation," and the numerous other allegorical works
in bronze and in marble.

My stay in the Midway Studios lengthened from a week to
a month, and then to nearly a year. If you can imagine your-
self transformed into a place people call Heaven, that will give
you some idea of how I felt. My dream had been realized.
I was now working, not only amongst a happy group of people,
but under a famous sculptor. I recall at this time that Lorado
Taft was building up the first model for the work at Elmwood,
Illinois, his home town. This was a pioneer group.

In a very friendly manner he asked me to pose for one of
the figures in this group. Thus my acquaintance with his broad
way of working and of handling a situation developed. Later
I was asked to carve a small wooden gun for this group. Mr.
Taft was so well satisfied with my crude carving, that he asked
me later to do the enlargement for the full-sized group of the
same weapon. I can recall the very kindly way in which I was
treated at this time. There were no commands or orders. If I
desired to do a thing, I could do so of my own free will. In a
very thoughtful manner, I was later given a pay envelope, much
to my suprise, for I had saved a small amount for an emergency,
and even stood willing to pay for such an opportunity.

You can see, from this brief introduction, that my impressions
of Lorado Taft were more in spirit form than in actual physical

22

PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

contact or memory. Most of you, no doubt, are acquainted with
the early facts in Lorado Taft's life, beginning with his birth in
Elmwood, Illinois, in 1860. In 1873, the Illinois Industrial
University, now the University of Illinois, through the interest
of its president, Doctor Gregory, and the professor of geology
who was Lorado Taft's father, became interested in the subject
of art, especially sculpture. I am now giving a brief resume of
the above-mentioned article in the American Magazine entitled,
"A Wonderful Thing Happened to This Boy." Doctor Gregory
asked for a subscription for a proposed museum, for which Mr.
Taft, the father of Lorado, contributed fifty dollars a year from
his meager salary. A total of $3,000 was raised, with which
Doctor Gregory went to Europe to buy copies of famous sculpture.

When he returned with the shipment, many of the pieces
were found to be badly broken. Young Taft's son was present
at the time the boxes were opened, and watched his father and
Doctor Gregory clumsily trying to fit the parts together. Finally
he tried it himself, and did it very successfully. "I'm going to
be a sculptor," he announced to them.

Thus began the career of Lorado Taft when he was only
thirteen. In 1879, he was graduated from the Illinois Industrial
University with the best academic record ever made by a student
there up to that time. Having an insufficient amount of money to
study in Paris, where he longed to go, he stayed at the University
and studied for his master's degree. By Commencement night
in 1880, he had saved up $200, and with this and some more money
which he borrowed from his father, he set out for Paris, where he
entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts.

Many were the hardships and limitations that he had to
endure in Paris. I can hear him now, telling us how he and a
friend used to accept with considerable pleasure the invitation of
an elderly lady out for lunch. He must have cut his allowance
down to the limit, for food as well as for other necessities, because
he stated that his expenses at the end of the first year had been
only $252. He remained in Paris for three years, and then, after

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 23

a short visit at home, he went back for two more years. Return-
ing to America, he settled in Chicago, where he managed to live
by commission work and odd jobs, making numerous copies or stat-
uettes of famous sculpture, and selling them to people who could
not afford the originals. He tried competing his work, entering
numerous designs into various competitions, but failed in all
of them.

He also told us, laughingly, that he made a few soldier's
monuments, and was quite thankful afterwards that he did not
sign them. He spoke one time of building up a soldier's figure
for an old gentleman who asked him to do the commission; after
the first contact, he was never seen again, thus leaving Mr.
Taft with the work on hand and no one to pay for it. Those
were trying days for him. I recall that he told us that at this
time he hit upon the idea of making a full cast of a model, which
could be done in several hours, thus saving the many hours it
would take for the model to pose. This casting was quite con-
venient, although he was somewhat criticized for using it. In
the older Midway Studios we had many of these casts of legs
and arms and other sections of the body, hung up in a certain
part of the studio called the morgue.

For a Hallowe'en prank one night several of the boys and
myself took a cast of a leg and placed it in the entry of one of the
stores in such a manner that the leg protruded. We stepped
back from the entry, waiting to see the impression it would have
on our first victim when he sighted the grotesque object. Much
to our delight, a man who was somewhat intoxicated came along
and seeing the leg, veered out to the outer rim of the sidewalk,
until apparently he grasped the idea that it was just a joke.

This first experiment of Mr. Taft's to save money and the
patience of a model rested for many years in the basement of
the Midway Studios, where I saw it often. It was cast in a posi-
tion of despair. I believe it was the figure that he was working
on one day when he received a visit from the Director of the Art
Institute of Chicago. At this time his funds were characteris-

24 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

tically low, but he refused to give this impression to the Director
until at last he was obliged to confess that things were not going
so well.

The Director asked him if he would like to teach at the Art
Institute. He accepted, and this was a position which he held
for many years, first as an instructor and afterwards as a lecturer.
In later years he saw a great deal of the United States, as well
as Europe, while lecturing. It was my good fortune to be one
of his last assistants on the demonstrative clay talk which he
gave; he told me that he had given this lecture over a thousand
times, visiting practically every state in the Union. During the
years 1928-1929, lecturing twice a day, we gave talks before
more than forty different schools in the city of Chicago alone.

Mr. Taft's first real opportunity came with the World's
Columbian Exposition. This was in the building of two large
groups, flanking the entrance of the Horticultural Building. One
was called "The Sleep of the Flowers," and the other "The
Awakening of the Flowers." I can still remember one of the
small models as it stood in the entry of the Midway Studios
when I first arrived. Following that, contributions were made
for the exhibitions at St. Louis — two groups with outstanding
figures representing "The Mountain" and"The Prairie."

In the meantime, other works developed. One of these,
which he told us happened more or less by chance, was the heroic
group entitled "The Solitude of the Soul." This very beautiful
group, which has stood many years in the Art Institute, depicts
four figures, two male and two female, weaving their way in
and out of the central core of the marble. Groping through
eternity, they find each other's hands; thus we find, here and
there along the pathways of life, our many or few friends. The
next work was the design for "The Fountain of the Great Lakes."
The model for this group was built up by pupils of his in the Art
Institute. In fact, several years after I met Lorado Taft, I
worked for one of these men. My understanding of the event
was that each one of the best students was honored by the op-

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IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 25

portunity to do one of these figures, thus lending an application
of his studies to practical work.

One instance of heroism in this work was displayed by Lorado
Taft. Someone had built up the armature or interior structure
for the heroic figures in such a way that a certain point was
weak. With many tons of clay thrown upon the work it began
to sag, and would have fallen had not Mr. Taft stepped into
the breach, placed his shoulder under the terrible weight, and
held it up until someone, by means of a bit of engineering, released
the weight from that section of the work. Only a sculptor can
realize what it would mean, after many weeks of modeling, to
have one's work come tumbling down. But Mr. Taft saved the
day. I can imagine how the workmen who built up this struc-
ture must have felt at that moment. Later I witnessed the dis-
astrous effects of a poorly constructed armature, from which
many pounds of clay fell every other day, much to the modeler's
disgust and Taft's expense.

The design of "The Fountain of the Great Lakes" is very
beautiful. It contains the figures of five nymphs grouped on
a pyramid of rocks, and pouring water from shells. At the
summit is the nymph of Lake Superior, who pours water into
the shells of Michigan and Huron below her, who in turn send
their streams to Erie and Ontario at the base, whence the flow
goes to meet the waters of the sea.

This group was erected by the Ferguson Fund, and now
stands, in bronze, on the north side of the Art Institute. I can
recall many happy hours spent in the older Midway Studios
beneath the model of this group, where the cook, whom we teased
for pastry, or whose pantry we "poached" in the later hours of
the day, had her wee, small kitchenette. Elizabeth was a good-
matured soul, and her cooking was excellent. I have forgotten
to tell you of our noon-day lunches, in which each person in the
studios participated at one long banquet table in one of the side
studios, with Lorado Taft presiding. This was a rather painful
occasion for me the first few times, as I was rather shy and not

26 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

used to meeting so many people at once; but later, when I became
acquainted, I enjoyed these occasions very much. During the
latter part of my stay at the studios, it was my pride to take
Mr. Taft's place at the head when he was out on a lecture tour.
Sometimes there were as many as twenty-five or thirty people
at this table; some of them were visitors of note, some were
friends of the Taft family, and others our own personal ac-
quaintances.

The boys and myself, that is Mr. Taft's students and assistants,
lived across the alley from the main studio in what we called
the Monastery. The girls, or women folks, inhabited a part of
the main studio called the Nunnery. A bridge was constructed
across the alley from the Monastery to the main studio. This
formed a sort of sleeping porch, where I spent some of my time.

Following the completion of "The Fountain of the Great
Lakes," came the group of "The Blind." This group has never
been cast in permanent form, and still stands in the dark room
in the Midway Studios, in plaster form. I do hope that at some
time some individual, or group of people, will be inspired to
bring this group out into the light, in bronze or in stone, and
place it in some suitable surroundings where one can peacefully
contemplate his thought and be inspired by this work as Taft
was inspired to make it from Maeterlinck's great drama. Mr.
Taft stated:

After I had read the play, that wonderful tragedy whose
symbolism expressed the great longing of all humanity for
light in life, the group shaped itself in my dreams. It
refused to vanish, and as it exhibited the concentration of
a powerful emotion within the canons of sculptural compo-
sition, I made a small model to see how it would appear in
the clay.

In the Maeterlinck drama, a company of the blind, old and
young, men and women, sane and mad, are gathered in an asylum
upon an island, watched over by nuns and an ancient priest.
The latter takes his sightless wards to walk in the forest, and

The Pioneers, Elmwood

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 27

becoming weary (for he is very old), he seats the men on one
side and the women on the other. Placing himself near them,
he falls into eternal sleep. As the night comes on, members of
the forlorn company question one another in a trivial manner,
just as men so often deal with the problems of life. As the night
grows chill and the snow begins to fall, the blind rise, and groping
toward one another find the leader among them cold in death.
The cries of the infant in the arms of the young blind mad woman
awaken them to hope. They remember that the child cries
when it sees the light, and the young mother, whom they call
beautiful, exclaims: "It sees! It sees! It must see something,
it is crying!" And grasping the child in her arms she pushes
before the anxious ones seeking relief, and holds it aloft above
their heads, that it may give token when help is near. Mr.
Taft stated:

It does not point to the hopeless note of Maeterlinck at
the close. The hope that a little child shall lead them is one
that all gladly accept as it keeps alive the light of faith that
the race renews itself in young. It was a greatly absorbing
creation. I felt for them, I experienced the deepest emotion
while modelling the faces of the blind. The pathos of the
helpless individual in the posture of the figures, the hands
reaching upward into empty air, appealing to the great
God above for guidance.

Following the group of "The Blind," came "Governor Ogles-
by," "General Logan" (Public Library, Chicago), then the
colossal statue of "Washington" (University of Washington,
Seattle). I do hope that at some time they will raise this figure
upon an appropriate pedestal, for it is a grand conception of that
broad-minded individual. I often saw this heroic conception of
the father of our country while a student at the University of
Washington.

Mr. Taft remained in the Art Institute as an instructor and
lecturer from 1886 to 1907. He was a lecturer in the University
Extension Department of the University of Chicago from 1892
to 1902, and a non-resident professor of art at the University

28 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

of Illinois from 1919 until the time of his death. In 1903 he
published The History of American Sculpture. Of this book,
the Chicago Evening Post said: "[It is] a story of the deepest
significance to American art, and one which as told by Mr. Taft
is of fascinating interest."

The next two pieces he conceived were "The Funeral Pro-
cession" and "A Scene in the Temple." I should have stated
that according to lists of Taft's works, "Black Hawk," the colossal
concrete Indian statue for Oregon, Illinois, came after the pur-
chase of "The Solitude of the Soul" by friends of American art
in 1911. Following this, and previous to the completion in
bronze of "The Fountain of the Great Lakes," came also the
"Columbus Memorial Fountain" for Washington, D. C, in
1912.

Most of you, no doubt, are familiar with the "Black Hawk"
statue, or have heard something about it. While planning this ,
speech I received a telephone call from Mr. John Persuhn,
superintendent of the erection of the heroic fifty-foot figure in
its present location, under the direction of Lorado Taft. The
following day, April 18, we visited the site of the statue and
took some moving pictures, which I am going to show you at
the end of this talk.

When I first visited the site of the "Black Hawk" statue,
I was much impressed, not only with the majesty of the figure
but with its location, high up on the bluffs of the Rock River,
miles of beautiful Illinois scenery extending far to the west of
it. A number of years ago while Mr. Taft was watching work-
men build a reinforced concrete chimney at the Chicago Art
Institute, the thought occurred to him of the possibilities of
making a heroic statue with the same material. With this pro-
cess in mind, a subject plausible for such material presented
itself. For a number of years he had had a summer home and
studio at Eagle's Nest, Oregon, Illinois, the summer place for
the Chicago art colonies. Standing for the hundredth time at
the highest point on the cliff, he remembered that it was here

Black Hawk, Oregon

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 29

that Black Hawk was finally driven out of Illinois, so he decided
to immortalize this famous Indian chief.

One who knows the story of Black Hawk's last stand and
who has viewed from this site the vast lands of Illinois territory
which thi6 Indian chief and his tribe had to give up, can realize
the significance of Lorado Taft's heroic figure. The statue is
immensely conceived and broadly treated, with the heavy folds
of the garment surrounding the figure suggesting the anatomy
beneath it without closely following its lines. With folded arms
the Indian stands, head erect, the dignity, the stoicism, and the
bitterness of the vanquished race in his face as he gazes across the
river — a fitting memorial to a race that has passed from power.

This heroic statue was a gift of the sculptor to the people
of Illinois, the expenses for it, it has been my understanding,
having been raised by Mr. Taft through some of the first of his
illustrated lectures or clay talks, of which the American public
seemed so fond. The statue was unveiled in July, 1911.

While I was in Washington, D. C. in 1935, at work on the
passing of our Elgin Pioneer Memorial coinage issue, I saw for
the first time the "Columbus Memorial Fountain," standing
before the Union Depot of that city. It was my first trip to
Washington, and I was viewing the sights from the so-called
"rubber-neck" or excursion bus. On the occasion of this brief
glimpse of the fountain, among all of the other interesting and
beautiful features of our capital, I was much impressed. Later
I had a chance to view it more closely. Its design is charac-
teristic of the sculptor's broad treatment of stone and bronze.
As the story goes, it was one of his successful competitive pieces
in later life. An assistant of his at the time, who is now quite
a prominent sculptor at the Midway Studios, told me some-
thing of this work in its model form. She revealed to me that
Mr. Taft was much discouraged about his model for the compe-
tition, but, as it happened, she had learned through influential
sources that the committee was in favor of giving the commission
to a midwestern sculptor. Naturally, this would be Lorado

30 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Taft. So, as she stated, she kept him at the small model, working
with him on it under his instruction, late at night, until the
model was completed and ready for submission to the Wash-
ington Committee.

The design, of course, was accepted, and today we have in
the heart of our capital city this most significant fountain. The
principal feature of the fountain is a stone shaft about forty-five
feet high, surmounted by a globe of the world. It forms the
background for Columbus, who is represented as standing on the
prow of a vessel, with arms folded, in an attitude of meditation.
The figure is treated with grandiose dignity, throwing about it
a great cloak, after the fashion of the discoverer's day.

Just below the statue of Columbus is the figurehead of a
ship, a beautiful female figure of ample form and dignity, typi-
fying the spirit of discovery. Below is the basin of the fountain
with its abundant flow of water. On either side of the stone
shaft are massive figures portraying the new and old worlds.
The sculptor portrays the New World as represented by the
figure of an American Indian, reaching over his shoulder for an
arrow from a quiver. The Old World is represented by a figure
of a patriarchal Caucasian of heroic mold and thoughtful mien.
There is more to the composition of this design, but you must
go to Washington yourselves sometime to see it. I spent many
thoughtful and inspiring moments there under the two enormous
lions which occupy the ends of the palisade.

About the time that I entered the Midway Studios, the model
for "The Fountain of Time" had been standing just opposite
from where the original is now. It was about this time that the
Robert Early process of casting in concrete with a granite chip
finish was brought before the public. The matter of completing
"The Fountain of Time" in permanent form was then much under
discussion. Robert Early, I recall, had several samples of this
casting process made up for Mr. Taft and on exhibit in the
studios. I also recall that a casting or piece mold had already
been made from the plaster form of the fountain. For this

Alma Mater Group, Urbaxa

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 31

reason it was no longer necessary to allow the plaster models
to remain out on the Midway under destroying conditions of
the weather, where they had been for several years. So Mr.
Taft set three or four of us to work taking down the models —
that is cutting them up in pieces and storing them away in the
alley behind the studios, under shelter. It is interesting for me
to recall this time, as I had ample opportunity to study the
great models, even though we were more or less in the process
of the destruction of them. The opposite side of the Midway
was, of course, to hold within a few months, the duplicate in the
finished concrete, as done by Robert Early.

Most of you know the lines from which the inspiration for this
great fountain was conceived. They are from the poem by Austin
Dobson.

Time goes, you say? Ah, no!

Alas, time stays; we go!

Mr. Taft said:

These words brought before me a picture which speedily
transformed fancy into a colossal work of sculpture. I saw
the mighty crag-like figure of Time, mantled like one of
Sargent's prophets, leaning upon his staff, his chin upon his
hands, and watching with a cynical, inscrutable gaze, the
endless march of humanity — in a majestic relief in marble,
I saw it swinging in a wide circle around the form of the
one sentinel and made up of the shapes of hurrying men
and women and children in endless procession, ever impelled
by the winds of destiny in the inexorable lock-step of the
ages — theirs the fateful onward movement which has not
ceased since time began. But in that crowded concourse,
how few detach themselves from the grayness of the dusky
caravan; how few there are who even lift their heads. Here
an overtaxed body falls, and a place is vacant for a moment;
there a strong man turns to the silent shrouded reviewer,
and with lifted arms, utters the cry of the old-time gladia-
tors— "Hail Caesar! We who go to our death salute thee!"
— and presses forward.

Those of you who go to Chicago should make a point of
going out on the Midway to see for yourselves this great group.

32 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

It is my personal regret that this famous sculpture could not
have been carved into stone or cast in bronze, but as Mr. Taft
said, it would have taken many more thousands of dollars and
hard work to complete it in that material. The fountain, as it
stands today, is quite impressive. I should like to see the South
Park Board give it some night-lighting treatment. That would
make it extremely effective during the evening hours to the
thousands of motorists who are continually passing this attractive
spot in Washington Park just off the Midway. If you are by
chance driving there you will know what I mean.

The erection of the fountain was sponsored by the Ferguson
Fund of the Art Institute, which fund, I understand, was aided
materially by Lorado Taft's lectures and educational work in art.
The fountain is about 112 feet in length and contains over 100
figures. Instead of signing this fountain, as is customary, Lorado
Taft modeled among the figures in the rear, his own portrait,
marching among the throng, with his hands behind his back,
and his head bowed in thought. Behind comes Jellsomeno, his
janitor, bent beneath the burden which is borne on his back.

Lorado Taft had a beautiful dream idea for the Midway
Plaisance; this land became famous during the World's Co-
lumbian Exposition, under its landscape architect, Frederick
Law Olmstead, who so named it. This was the same Mr. Olm-
stead who designed Central Park, New York. This proposed
plan of Mr. Taft's consisted principally of three monumental
bridges across the Midway, which at one time contained a canal
running through its center. These bridges were to be ideals of
grace and beauty. One was to be the bridge of Sciences, one
of the Arts, and one of the Religions. They, as well as the walks
of the Midway, were to be decorated with statues of the world's
great idealists. I won't attempt to name them as the list is
long. The other end of the Midway was planned for an ac-
companying fountain to "The Fountain of Time." This other
fountain was to be called "The Fountain of Creation." Separate
groups of this are still in the Midway. Some of them have been

Abraham Lincoln, Urbana

IMPRESSIONS OF LORADO TAFT 33

carved in sandstone. I have been fortunate enough to record some
with my camera.

I should like to tell you more of Mr. Taft's work — of the
"Shaler Memorial Angel" for Waupun, Wisconsin, completed in
1923; of the "Foot Memorial" for Jackson, Michigan; of the
"Lincoln" for Urbana; of "The Pioneers" for Elmwood; of the
important "Alma Mater" group for the University of Illinois;
and many other examples of Mr. Taft's inspirational sculpture.
I should like to go into some detail as to the "peep shows" he
made of the famous sculptors of the past, and to tell something
of his dream museum. But my time is drawing to a close. I
should like also to tell you of the good times we had in the
Midway Studios, of the parties and plays, and the bits of pag-
eantry with which Mr. Taft delighted in entertaining his guests.

Lorado Taft died on October 30, 1936, and with his passing
the world lost one of its great men. My last visit to Lorado
Taft's studios was while he was at work on a relief of Lincoln
for Quincy, Illinois. I had brought to him, for approval, my coin
design for the Pioneer Memorial Half-Dollar. Mrs. Taft was
in the studios at the time, and I remember with joy the interest
that this great man and his wife took in my work.

My last letter from Lorado Taft was received while I was
in the East, just after the occasion of the passing of our coinage
bill and its signing by President Roosevelt. I had written to
Taft of its passage, and thanked him in turn for a letter of
introduction to one of our senators, which, no doubt, was
instrumental in its passage. Here is the message I received:

The Midway Studios
6016 Ingleside Ave.
Chicago, Illinois
June 27, 1936
Dear Trygve:

Good for you, Tryg! You do not know when you are licked!
I wish I could look back upon anything so brave in my career.

Faithfully yours,

Lorado Taft.

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AS AN
ARTISTIC SUBJECT

By LUCIUS W. ELDER

The Mississippi River is a variable experience, depending on
the manner in which it is approached. The traveler by train or by
automobile crosses it by a bridge far above the water and catches
a glimpse of only a limited expanse. The scene is complete in itself,
no doubt. But it gives no impression of the totality, no feeling of
the size and power of the river. A different experience awaits one
who stands on the bank at water level; or one who sails out upon
the current in a boat either great or small; or one who emerges
from a tributary into the wide reaches of the main stream.

The extent to which, amid these variations of contact, there
may be an experience of artistic value to the individual is a specula-
tive problem which is difficult to answer. Explorers, pioneers and
early settlers along the banks of the Mississippi may conceivably
have felt its natural beauty in a restricted view or may have been
awed by a realization of the sublimity inherent in a vast phenome-
non of Nature. The fact that beauty and awe may unconsciously
exert their proper stimuli on the emotions of men may not be over-
looked nor denied. It may not be denied that many perceptions
of beauty never come to expression. We are now, however, de-
pendent on such evidence in verse or in sketch as may be as-
sembled, to estimate the artistic value of the river for the pioneers
and early settlers in the immediate vicinity of the great river.

Any assumption that the Mississippi River should, by some
inherent power, or by like disposition of individual character, evoke
artistic expression will be upset by results in the case of verse in-

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AS AN ARTISTIC SUBJECT 35

spired by the river; and only moderately confirmed by rather more
positive results in the field of pictorial art. These two phases of
the theme must be dealt with separately, and with recognition of
the fact that those Europeans who first explored the Mississippi
were not engaged in a quest for beauty; and those who first built
towns on its banks were primarily concerned with the means for
securing mere existence.

The early explorer in the valley of the Mississippi came, un-
doubtedly, with an imagination fired by zeal in a great adventure:
his objective was ease in economic relations, political power, or im-
perialistic grandeur, or some such temporal achievement. In the
background of his mind there may have lurked memories of fairy
tales concerning talismans and lost hordes of treasure; and in some
cases we might be able to adduce the evidence. But certainly the
exercise of the creative imagination in art would be quite foreign
to his moods when engaged in exploration. There was, indeed,
some feeling for the natural conditions of the prairie and the
wooded banks of the river; some might see in the Mississippi Valley
a paradise for the unspoiled child of Nature. Others might sense
the opportunity for the metamorphic power of love and religion to
raise the native to a higher level of civilization. These, and other
great aims, depending on the times, and on the conditions whence
the explorers came, must have predisposed them to a fairly fixed
attitude toward Nature in this region.

We find an occasional adjective, in the written works of the
original explorers, used with something more than rhetorical force.
Father Marquette describes some things as grand or fine; La Salle
had the size and beauty of the river which he had not yet seen
described for him; and Hennepin refers to the Mississippi Valley
as "the delight of America" and "nothing like it in the world."
What we may infer from such references, however far extended,
must be clarified by the reasons why the scenic value of Nature
did not inspire them much further. Explorers coming from Europe
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries would understand
Nature when conventionalized; they would appreciate wild Nature

36 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

as an abstract idea but they would hardly see artistic value in the
vast, untamed reaches of river, prairie, or forest.

If the early explorer was able to see a vision of future empire in
terms of Paris ruled over by a benign emperor, we may deduce that
whatever was grand or fine in the scene had a large admixture of
civilized resources. The scene had possibilities in spite of the tribu-
lation of actual exploration; in spite of marshy stretches along the
margins; in spite of nostalgia and illness. It is perhaps for just
this reason that a legend of the West became more influential than
any perception of natural beauty could be.

Pioneer civilization in the Mississippi Valley had to combat
conditions which were recalcitrant and impervious to the artistic
imagination. Travelers from the old world to the new, and es-
pecially those who, like Mrs. Trollope, penetrated to the West,
deprecated the lack of softening and refining influences in this
region: the lack of books, music, and similar expressions of the
spiritual life. Not forgetting that Cincinnati, New Harmony, or
St. Louis had these things in limited measure, Mrs. Trollope's re-
mark about the ubiquitous newspaper had a large element of truth,
no doubt. Pioneers were more likely to read newspapers than
poetry: but that is still true. The literary development of the
West has been told by Rusk and others and need not be repeated
here. The one point that commands attention in this story of
literary development in the Mississippi Valley is that pioneer days
developed an era of oratory — an era that has faded away within
our own memory. To recognize that the pioneers lived in an age
of oratory is but to give the contemporary political structure of
life its due emphasis.

The labor of clearing the soil, like that of pioneering in general,
requires a type of mind, a physical vigor, and other qualities in
keeping. It certainly could not be true that the early settlers were
all of a rough and tumble type, both physically and mentally. At
the same time, the testimony of such a man as Peter Cartwright,
in his Autobiography , might lead one to infer that life was a battle
with the rowdy and the trouble-maker. Peter Cartwright, a

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AS AN ARTISTIC SUBJECT 37

preacher, was able to hold his own amid the lawless and turbulent
elements of pioneer society; but whether the artistic soul was
equally successful is another question. Conditions demanding a
definite type of character for successfully meeting life in general
are found in the case of boatmen and coureurs de bois. They indeed
had their songs, of which some examples have been cited by Hall.
But we know too little about this subject to speak in general terms.

Specific cases of literary production, when we can cite them,
stand out as sporadic examples. One such case is the "Chanson de
VAnnee du Coup" the famous song of Jean-Baptiste Trudeau in
the year 1780. It was written in French; and, as so often happens,
stands at the beginning of a national literature in a language other
than that which finally prevails. The story of this song belongs to
the colonial history of St. Louis; and you may take its prophetic
value for whatever it is worth. Two other omens of literary de-
velopment in the Mississippi Valley are startling but equally lack-
ing in subsequent results.

John Keats, the poet, writing to his brother George in America,
prophesied that the child of his brother, as yet unborn, would be
the bard of the western world. That prophecy may be read in the
poem beginning: " 'Tis the witching hour of night." The story of
George Keats in America has not been completely told, I think;
but it is at least correct to say that no fulfillment of the prophecy
occurred. The male issue of George Keats is extinct, and the bard
of the western world will not, perhaps, bear the name of Keats.

The second prophetic example is the proposed literary asso-
ciation of Edgar Allan Poe with E. H. N. Patterson at Oquawka.
The proposal was abortive by reason of the untimely death of the
former. This is not the place to tell that story; but the promise
that, by their projected partnership in a literary journal, Oquawka
might have become a great literary center, is a pleasant topic for
speculation. The Oquawka Spectator, under Patterson's editorship,
provides us with a fairly clear picture of what journalism could be
on the banks of the Mississippi. And because its pages contain
contributions in verse by local writers, some idea of the literary

38 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

level of the region is provided. A glance through its pages will turn
up a number of poems inspired by the river. Some candidate for
a doctor's degree might find a thesis in so doing. In the course of
a desultory search, I find a homesick cry from New Iberia, Louisi-
ana, where even the majestic steamers do not relieve the uncon-
genial shores. In the issue for March 9, 1848, the ever-flowing
river suggests pride and exaltation in freedom. On May 17,
1848, a poem appears in which Neptune asks the Mississippi
why his waters are so muddy. The answer involves Miss Missouri
and Miss Ohio in a somewhat bigamous relation; or, at best, in
a confused poetic figure. Several examples could be cited in
further illustration.

One more oddity may be noted. Charles Mead published in
Philadelphia in 1819, Mississippian Scenery; A Poem, Descriptive of
the Interior of North-America. The book called forth a notice
in the North American Review for January, 1820, in which the re-
viewer said: "[It is] a production altogether without merit. . .
which has no other claim to protection than that of insignifi-
cance." I wish he had not been so frank; or at least not so harsh.
The book has no value as poetry, it is true; but it has the value
of showing, by a modern voice, what some of the early explorers
may have dreamed. I find nothing of the author or the book
in the bibliographies and hence we must take it as it stands.

The difficulty which versifiers found in using the river as ma-
terial is a rhetorical one, in the main. No fundamental image
which brings the river as a whole to the mind of the reader is
any more real and perceptual than is the actual experience of the
object itself. Since one must acquire an idea of the object piece-
meal or by a succession of experiences, the immensity of the
Mississippi is a difficult concept. The same is pretty largely
true of any other quality. One local poet likened the river to
"some great thought Omnipotence has awakened in its depths"
and so on. Such similes are really beyond the scope of fancy.

Longfellow's solution of the difficulty facing the poet of
Nature seems to me satisfactory and final. In his Kavanagh,

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AS AN ARTISTIC SUBJECT 39

Longfellow embodies a piece of literary criticism in an interview
between Mr. Churchill and Mr. Hathaway, the latter demanding
a national literature commensurate with Niagara Falls — some-
thing stupendous. "We want a national epic," Mr. Hathaway
demands, "that . . . shall be to all other epics what Banvard's
Panorama of the Mississippi is to all other paintings." Mr.
Churchill holds his fire until the end and answers: "A man
will not necessarily be a great poet because he lives near a great
mountain. Nor, being a poet, will he necessarily write better
poems than another because he lives near Niagara." If this
principle has any merit, we may infer that the Mississippi River
would not necessarily create poets, nor inspire poets; and the
extent to which it would do either, on occasion, would depend
not so much on the direct influence of Nature on man, as on the
revelation which takes place in the spirit of man in reaction to
Nature. For, as Mr. Churchill says later: "Literature is rather
an image of the spiritual world, than of the physical."1

Relatively little can be said in words, then, of the grandeur
of Nature: verbal description fails to interpret adequately except
when employed by the highest art; and persons endowed with
the highest art certainly were not prevalent in the western world
at large. Nature can, however, be drawn with the pencil or
painted with the brush of the pictorial artist. This is exactly
what happened not only in the Mississippi Valley, but also in
other parts of the country during the first half of the nineteenth
century. The bibliography of illustrated travel books is enor-
mous; and it indicates a widespread attempt to visualize, for the
public, the glories of natural scenery and man's habitations in
the midst thereof. As towns developed along the rivers, and
steamships made travel even easy and comfortable, albeit at
times extremely dangerous, attempts to show the growth of the
country by picture developed amazingly. The human element,
man and his works, gave needed inspiration to the pictorial

1 Kavanagh, Drift-Wood {The Prose Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Ill, rev. ed., Boston, 1866), 115-16.

40 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

draughtsman; and the duplication by the lithographer and en-
graver made publication possible. Mere natural scenery of cliff
and lake, island and river, was not neglected either. The artistry
displayed is also of great range: some crude, and some of great
excellence. Some work is highly individualized and expresses the ,
interpretative power of the artist; other work, transformed by the
lithographer or engraver, tends to become conventionalized in
the technique of mechanical reproduction.

As an example of the crude but vivid illustration of the river,
I refer to Lloyd's Steamboat Directory,2 wherein wood engravings
of New Orleans, Cairo, and St. Louis will be found. The glory
of the book, however, is the series of cuts picturing explosions,
sinkings, capsizings and burnings of steamships. Explosions are I
most satisfactory and complete; but undoubtedly the lugubrious I
tone of all of them rightly interprets the horror of disaster. The I
pictorial value of the river receives kinder treatment in the litho-
graphs of Currier and Ives, several of which attempt to capture
the color, sentiment and activity of life on the main current or I
on the bank. The steamboat race gives the artist his chance ;
in dramatic force; and the views of steamboats, while not ac- i
curate in detail, express the human interest in the stately design |
of these craft. It is needless to cite examples: they must be seen. I

The work of two men, Bodmer and Lesueur, goes further in i
illustrating the Mississippi, for they are artists in their own
right. Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846) spent some years
in America between 1816 and 1837. His drawings, made during I
that time, constitute some important early documents so far as j
the history of the lower Mississippi settlements is concerned.
He was a draughtsman with the minute and accurate technique I
of the engraver, but more economical of line and more selective
of detail. Charles Bodmer accompanied Maximillian, Prince of

1 James T. Lloyd, Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western
Waters, Containing the History of the First Application of Steam, as a Motive
Power: the Lives of John Fitch and Robert Fulton, Likenesses tff Engravings of
their First Steamboats. Early Scenes on the Western Waters, from 1798 to 1812. ...
(Cincinnati, 1856).

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AS AN ARTISTIC SUBJECT 41

Wied, in the years 1832-1834 on his expedition through the
upper Missouri Valley. From the sketches made by Bodmer as
the official artist of the expedition, some eighty large engravings
were published. Little of the work of Bodmer on this expedition
is strictly pertinent to the Mississippi; but he did make a number
of drawings of Mississippi scenery (such as that of Tower Rock)
which have pictorial value. It is difficult to evaluate the work
of an artist when it can be seen only through the medium of the
engraved copy. In this respect, some of Bodmer' s work gives
the impression of being "over-exposed" to the engraver's tools.
Some of his plates, on the other hand, approach the delicacy
of Lesueur. I offer such judgments as these solely as attempts
to relate these pictorial documents to the actuality of river
scenery: they are not intended as critical dicta. I have, never-
theless, a predilection for the substantial truth of their work.
Both lived for a time at New Harmony, Indiana; and both ac-
tually saw the Mississippi as it was a hundred years ago.

The era of the panoramas followed that of the expeditionary
artists. I wish the works of Banvard, or of Lewis, if indeed
they are still extant, could be recovered. In the storeroom of
some museum, fragments of these panoramas or of some others
may yet be turned up. Since the subject has so recently been
covered by Bertha L. Heilbron in her account of motion picture
making in 1848,3 I have no need to enter into detail here. At
present the nearest we can come to a recovery of the work of
either is the series of lithographs made for Lewis: Das Illus-
trirte Mississippithal, first published in Dusseldorf (1857), and
reprinted in Leipzig-Firenze (1923).

We must conclude, then, that the Mississippi River did not
inspire the pioneers to any great literary heights, since only
scattered examples of such production can be found, but it does
seem to have been a source of inspiration to a number of artists.
Many an expedition into this great valley included among its

8 Bertha L. Heilbron, "Making a Motion Picture in 1848: Henry Lewis on
the Upper Mississippi," Minnesota History, Vol. 17, No. 2 (June, 1936), 131-49.
On Banvard's panorama, see also post, 184.

42 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

members, one who recorded the scenery of the region in pictorial
form. We know, too, that there were some great panoramas
painted of this region, portraying on vast stretches of canvas
the succession of scenes to be found along the Mississippi River.
It is to be regretted that these great panoramic works have dis-
appeared, but fortunately, due to the work of lithographer and
engraver, many of the above-mentioned sketches of the nine-
teenth century artists are available to us today.4

4 At the conclusion of the address, the Society was invited to view exhibit*
of material illustrating the pictorial art of the Mississippi River. The main
exhibit was made possible by the courtesy of Edward Caldwell of New York and
consisted of a series of engravings arranged, in part, as a panorama of the river
from Dubuque to New Orleans; the maps provided a cartographic history of the
development of Illinois; and the portfolios of engravings by Bodmer and the
drawings of Lesueur were on display in the Library of Knox College. The
Currier and Ives lithographs were drawn from the Preston Player Collection,
and the books on exhibit were from the Finley Collection founded by Edward
Caldwell.

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VIRGIN FIELDS OF HISTORY

By HENRIETTA L. MEMLER

Possibility of using the history of a small town, a small com-
munity, or a particular locality as a field for research has, until
very recently, either been overlooked or neglected by all but a
few historians. History departments of most universities and
high schools have seldom suggested such local history as a proper
field of research for the thesis or term-paper writer. The
broader fields have always seemed preferable despite the diffi-
culties and expenses involved in gathering material from sources
which are likely to be widely separated.

As a result of this tendency the student of history has found
the reference books and secondary materials of libraries his most
promising field of research, rather than the fresher and infinitely
more interesting sources which lie around and about him that
have been hitherto untouched. This condition has existed, ap-
parently, because students and teachers have failed to realize the
possibilities, advantages, and actual values which accrue from a
study of purely local history. They have been unaware of the
vast amounts of material which are available for such a study
and have failed to consider the possibility of doing valuable
and comprehensive research on a subject which is strictly limited
in its scope to one small locality or area.

Once one attempts to write the history of a locality, he dis-
covers that both a quantity and variety of sources are available
to him. The quantity is entirely sufficient to enable him to make
a complete and comprehensive history, and the variety is as
great as will be encountered in the study of a much broader

44 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

subject. These sources may be rather roughly divided into two
groups: the printed and public sources, and those which are
more personal in their aspects.

In considering first the personal sources, it is well to begin
by mentioning tradition, an extremely valuable source when
properly used. Every locality has its traditions and one can be
fairly sure that back of each tradition lies some fact. A fine
experience in using the methods of historical criticism is afforded
the student who endeavors to trace a story back through the
generations until he arrives at the fact from which the tradition
has sprung. The fact, when thus proved, oftentimes could be
found in no other source and may prove invaluable in creating
a complete history of the locality.

Together with tradition might well be mentioned the other
oral source which is available in the memories of the residents
of the community. In many communities will be found older
persons who can remember back almost to the first days of
settlement of their part of the state. So many towns in upper
Illinois are celebrating their centennials in this decade, and a
veritable treasure-house of information will be lost if the octo-
genarians and nonogenarians are allowed to slip away without
recording their very vivid recollections of the pioneer days of the
state. In many localities it is possible to find an old-timer who
has retained full use of his faculties and whose memory of early
dates and early events proves almost infallible as far as careful
checking will show. Necessarily, careful checking and re-checking
with other sources is imperative, just as in dealing with pure
tradition; but what funds of information as to political sentiments
and social habits and customs can be found in such a source I

Another personal source is that of the letters, diaries, and record
books of one sort or another which have been handed down
from generation to generation in the families of the community.
A diary is, of course, a priceless source of information on all
subjects, if the student is fortunate enough to find one in the
locality. Interesting side lights are thrown on the social, eco-

VIRGIN FIELDS OF HISTORY 45

nomic, and political development of the people which never
could be gleaned from newspapers or other public sources. Old
letters are, perhaps, more often found than diaries, and even an
isolated letter may contain valuable information; but a series
of letters, consecutive over a period of time, is indeed a find for
the local historian. Such sources are usually dependable as to
facts, although the possible prejudices of the author should be
carefully examined when dealing with controversial subjects.

Record books or household account books which have been
kept over a period of years bring many interesting facts to light.
In one instance, when using such a book, it was possible for a
student to learn what materials the ladies were using in their
dresses some seventy-five years ago, and how much they were
paying per yard; what luxuries were being served on the family
dinner table and how much they cost; the magazines to which
the family subscribed through the years; how much it cost to
go by stagecoach to the county seat; and even how much that
particular family was contributing toward the support of the local
church. By then establishing the fact that this one family was
not one of extreme wealth, nor yet one of extreme poverty, the
historian could be fairly sure what the average family of moderate
income was eating, wearing, reading, and doing during those years.

Records of the various firms and business houses which have
operated in the community at one time or another may also
prove to contain valuable materials for the local historian. For
instance, the volume of trade and business of the town would
be fairly well shown by the account book of a grocery store. A
comparison of the number of charge accounts and the amount
of cash business done by the store from year to year would be
an index to the business prosperity and growth of the community.

Many interesting details may also be found in such a source,
details which help to complete a well-rounded history of the
village. For instance, when examining the account book of a
store in a small farming community in Peoria County, a his-
torian discovered such interesting facts as the date on which

46 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

canned fruit was first handled in the local grocery, when the
first oysters were sold, and what was apparently the first ap-
pearance of commercial candy in the village.

Years ago in the same town an old mill had been operating,
and, by writing to the last surviving member of the family which
had owned the mill, it was possible to gain access to the account
book of the firm. To the modern resident the amount of business
which had been transacted there and the distance from which
people came to have their grain ground at that mill was astound-
ing. Through those records one could trace the growth of the
business until it became the leading industry of the village.
Then, with the advent of the railroad, the automobile, and im-
proved roads, a sharp decline in the volume of business was
clearly evidenced. The mill finally went into the hands of re-
ceivers and the building itself was torn down, after once having
housed the main industry of the town. The history of similar
business ventures could doubtless be duplicated in many an
Illinois farming community of today.

Occasionally for political history, but more often for social
history, the local historian can go to actual remains as sources.
Heirlooms and antiques prove valuable for period history. It
is also interesting to trace the various styles and types of archi-
tecture which have been used in the locality from year to year;
and how better could this be done than by examining the re-
mains— the homes, schools, churches, and other public buildings
which have been erected through the years? The social his-
torian might want to trace the styles in clothing, perhaps to see
how his own particular community has kept abreast of the pre-
vailing style trends through the years. How better could this
be done than by going to the remains themselves, the remains
in this case being the old wedding gowns, hats, suits, and
dresses which have been stored away in many an attic through
the long years?

Frequently the student can pick up interesting bits of infor-
mation from a visit to the local cemetery. The birthplaces of

VIRGIN FIELDS OF HISTORY 47

the residents could there be established and hence the direction
from which migration to that settlement was coming. By
comparison of dates one might discover that at one time a dread
disease struck the community and carried off a large percentage
of the population. Or, if time and effort were expended, the life
expectancy of the early pioneers might be established with
some degree of accuracy through a comparison of dates.

In listing some of the more important printed and public
sources which are available to the local historian, mention might
first be made of the histories which have been written of the
respective counties throughout the state. They are, of course,
a help in establishing primary facts, although one must be
exceedingly careful in checking for inaccuracies. Their chief
advantage to the writer of local history, however, lies in the
biographies of early residents of the county which these volumes
almost invariably contain in conjunction with the history itself.
It is here that the student is able to find the family names which
are connected with the early history of his community, and it
is only when one has such names that it is possible to start the
long and tedious search for many of the personal sources.

To find the printed sources, obviously the student should
visit a library. There it would be well to examine first of all a
general history of the state, so that the student might get a
background against which to paint the picture of his own com-
munity. The proceedings of the general assembly of the state
could be examined to good advantage. If the particular locality
which is being studied has at any time sent one of its own resi-
dents as a representative to the legislature, the student should
by all means follow closely the stand taken by him on public
questions, as his ideas would doubtless correspond to the ideas
of the majority of the people from his community. If writing
in certain areas of the state, the Military Bounty reports should
be examined and, if dealing with a war period, the student
should not overlook the Adjutant-General's reports on our
nation's wars. The census reports, those comprehensive sta-

48 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

tistics compiled periodically by our government, should afford
facts and figures not only on the growth of population, but
for social and economic history as well. Travel accounts, biog-
raphies, and all such kinds of material are available from the
printed sources in any good library, and many others will be
encountered by the local historian as his work progresses.

For unprinted public sources, it would not only be interesting
but absolutely essential for the local historian to pay a visit to
his county courthouse. There he might first go to the office of
the recorder where will be found on file the plats of the com-
munity in question. In connection with these might also be
used the plats to be found in the office of the county surveyor,
were one interested in checking as to how heavily forested the
land was originally, what land was prairie land, where the settle-
ment was made in relationship to forest and prairie, or where
the first paths and roads were laid out.

At the courthouse can also be found old wills which have
been placed on file. By using the names which have been found
to be connected with the history of the locality, it is frequently
possible to make use of the index and to locate old wills of early
settlers of the community. The value of such documents does
not appear on the surface, but these old wills may throw more
light on social customs than almost any other available source.
Many of them list the entire household equipment from the
walnut four-poster bed upstairs, to the grandfather's clock in
the sitting room and the six pewter plates in the kitchen. After
reading such a will one can almost picture the household and
its furnishings, as well as the residents themselves with their
respective likes and dislikes as indicated by the bequests of the
will. It proves to be an extremely interesting and valuable
source in constructing social history, and is one which has been
too often neglected or overlooked.

Many counties also have an index to the records of court
proceedings which are on file at the courthouse. By expending
no little time and effort, and again by use of family names, it is

VIRGIN FIELDS OF HISTORY 49

not at all improbable that the local historian may locate some
court cases which pertain to the community which he is studying.
Frequently, information regarding certain periods of social or
political development may be gathered from such a source.

It is often worth-while for the student to endeavor to locate
and examine the abstracts to the land on which his community
is situated, as interesting and important facts may sometimes
be learned from documents of that nature. For example, when
studying the abstracts to a portion of the land of a central
Illinois village, a student stumbled upon the fact that originally
a town had been platted one-half mile south of the site of the
present village. It was apparently laid out purely for the pur-
poses of speculation. Sale of the lots waxed strong for a period
of about eighteen months, some of the speculators realizing as
much as 31,500 to $2,000 in two months' time from the sale
thereof. The larger portion of the lots was sold to individuals
in New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri or Kentucky, only a few
going to actual residents of Illinois. So far as the records would
show, no buildings were ever erected in the village; it was a
"phantom" town existing only on paper in the office of the
county recorder. Yet at one time a prospectus was printed
which showed boats loading and unloading goods at the wharves
of a flourishing city on the Tiber River — the Tiber River being
a very small creek, not at all suited for the purposes of naviga-
tion! It is when the local historian stumbles upon facts such
as these that the generalizations of most histories regarding the
period of land speculation in the West become much more real
and vital.

There should also be available to the historian of most locali-
ties a type of source which would pertain solely to that particular
community. For example, if writing the history of a small
town, one should have access to the village records and ordinances.
For establishing specific facts and dates such sources are price-
less, and they also make valuable contributions to social and
economic history. When the student reads the ordinances

50 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

against dueling, ordinances closing the local saloon at 10:00
p. m., or ordinances forbidding the too rapid trotting of horses
through the streets, he can picture a day far different socially
from his own. The records of the tax levies and the lists of
delinquent taxes may be interpreted to some advantage for
economic history. There, too, it is possible to watch the coming
of modern improvements to the village. In the minutes will
be found the records of the bond issues to the various railroads
which at one time or another proposed to run through the village,
as well as the granting of charters to the first electric light and
telephone companies.

Another purely local source would be the minutes of the
various organizations which have had members in the town. It
is not at all unusual to find that such groups as the Grand Army
of the Republic, the Modern Woodmen of America or the
Knights of Pythias have kept a record of their proceedings
from the time of their organization. The minutes of the Protes-
tant churches may also be open for inspection. Such sources
give added details, all of which go to complete the picture of
the town's development.

The last to be mentioned, yet doubtless the most important,
and the source from which the larger portion of the material for
a local history will be taken, is the newspaper. Newspapers
vary considerably in their value as historical material and the
student will learn — perhaps to his sorrow — that what a newspaper
prints as news is no more reliable than the source from which
it comes. Nevertheless, it is from such a source that the frame-
work of a local history can best be erected, the other materials
being used to fill in the framework and to bolster it up at certain
essential points. Practically every word printed in the local news-
paper will prove of value to the student, if properly studied, criti-
cized, and interpreted. The editorials, the voting returns, the
social items, market reports, and even the advertisements them-
selves will yield invaluable information.

Obviously, in writing local history, national events and move-

VIRGIN FIELDS OF HISTORY 51

ments cannot be entirely ignored. The effect which such events
and movements have had upon the persons of the community
can clearly be traced through the columns of the local newspaper.
The ordinary general history would list the results of the Civil
War in the North as being rising taxes, booming prices, increased
demand for farm machinery, etc., and would overlook entirely
the personal element; but when the scope of the study is closely
limited to one small area it is possible to see how the lives of in-
dividuals themselves were affected. The student sees the sor-
rowing of some, the anxious waiting for news from the front,
the little patriotic services of those who knitted, rolled bandages,
or planted war gardens. He discovers to his surprise that what
he had always thought of as a national event was simply a part
of the everyday lives of the people in the community. From
this perspective he will see movements of great historical moment
gradually taking place entirely outside the realization of the
individuals among whom they are happening. Perhaps the local
historian will thus be better able to comprehend the issues and
movements of his own time and to acquire a more accurate
historical sense, and so to be a more constructive citizen of a
rapidly changing democracy.

The writer of local history must be extremely careful not to
become so interested in the personalities with whom he becomes
well-acquainted as his work progresses that he will cease to
write history and write only a series of biographical sketches.
Names must be used only when history is being made — but the
student will find history always in the making in his community,
small though it may be. It is from the local newspapers that
one will often see the small beginnings of movements which
have later become sectional demands or even national issues.
How better could one approach the true inception of the Grange
movement than by tracing the agitation of the farmers in some
Illinois community through the columns of the local newspaper?
There can be found the reports of their local meetings, the articles
which they submitted to the paper, the reaction of the editor to

52 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

their ideas; and there, too, can be traced their gradual alignment
with other county groups, and so on to merge with the larger
sectional movement which is so well-known. It was not the
entire group of farmers in a whole section who arose as if one
man and voiced the demands which finally came to be the rallying
point of a large political group with its hundreds of thousands
of members. On the contrary, it was a small group of farmers
in a small locality who came together to discuss their common
problems. There, in that small meeting, the program of the
Grange movement was first voiced. Doubtless many small
groups of farmers made the same demands at approximately
the same time, but it is when we can almost see the minds of those
farmers working, as we read of their local activities, that we
can reach the true beginning of the movement. All big move-
ments have small beginnings, and one of the chief values of the
study of local history is in searching out the origin of the issues
which were later to loom so large on the national horizon.

From the sources mentioned above, it should be apparent
that vast quantities and many varieties of material are available
to the student interested in local history. It should also be
increasingly obvious that strictly limiting the scope of one's
study has many valuable results. The advantage to many
students in being able to work with original sources which lie
all around him, and the consequent saving of time and expense,
is one which should not be overlooked.

To the question, "Has anything of value been accomplished
when a local history has been completed?" the answer should
unhesitatingly be "Yes" — providing, of course, that the work
has been well and carefully done. There could be no better
history of Illinois than a composite history of all the communities
which make up the state and the individuals who have made up
the communities. True history rests not upon nations or states,
but upon individuals, and the local historian, by so limiting his
study, is enabled to probe deep into the lives of individuals and
hence to approach more nearly the production of an ideal history.

CONGREGATIONALISTS AND PRESBYTERIANS

IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE

GALESBURG CHURCHES

By HERMANN RICHARD MUELDER

It is hard to think of any phase of American life during the
first half of the nineteenth century which is more complicated
than the relations of the Congregationalists and the Presby-
terians. Investigation of the intricacies of those relations,
however, amply repays research. It reveals not merely the
details of sectarian history, not only the devious distinctions of
a forgotten theology, but also the process by which Puritan
traditions were transferred to the physically and socially
hostile frontier. In the issues of church government that were
aggravated by the federation of these two denominations it
is possible to discern that spirit of Jacksonian Democracy which
not only disturbed civil institutions but troubled, as well, each
of the larger sects. Furthermore, the connections between
these Puritan bodies affected the religious sectionalism that
eventually divided North and South.

Attention to local church history is particularly necessary
in studying this problem. Congregationalism, which has never
enjoyed the well-integrated national system developed by most
of the other denominations, was, in the West, submerged in
institutions which it shared with the more highly organized and
aggressive Presbyterians, until the fourth decade of the nine-
teenth century. Its emergence as a distinct denomination, there-
fore, depended to a large extent on the action of the individual
churches. Many churches which had been organized as Pres-

54 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

byterian during the thirties had become Congregational by the
time of the Civil War.1 One of them was the church established
by the Galesburg colony in 1837.

Study of the relations of the two sects in the Galesburg
church is especially worth-while because its founders had in
the East been intimately associated with such reformers as
Charles Grandison Finney and Theodore Dwight Weld,2 and
in the West its founders at once became important figures in
the early stage of the abolitionist movement.3 Moreover, the
pastors of the church and the presidents of Knox College, with
which the church was connected, were very prominent clergymen
in the two denominations; four of them were moderators of the
New School Presbyterian Synod of Peoria, which comprised all
northern Illinois, in the seventeen years of its history before
the Civil War.4

Before analyzing the history of the Galesburg church, it is
necessary to describe briefly the connections which existed at
large between the Presbyterians and Congregationalists at the
time it was founded. Since the opening of the century, what
amounted to a religious federation had existed between the two
sects. Until the thirties, the Presbyterian General Assembly
and the Congregational associations of New England exchanged
"corresponding delegates," who were not only allowed to sit and
deliberate in the bodies to which they were admitted, but were
also allowed to vote. Similar arrangements were also made

1 G. S. F. Savage, "Reminiscences of Early Congregational Ministers and
Churches in the Fox River Valley," Illinois Society of Church History, Congre-
gational, Historical Statement and Papers, 1:67; J. E. Roy, "History of Congre-
gationalism in Illinois," ibid., 24; Alonzo M. Swan, Canton, its Pioneers and
History, a Contribution to the History of Fulton County (Canton, 1871), 38;
Prairie Mayflower (Mendon, Illinois), Nov. 17, 1883; History of the Presbytery
of Peoria and its Churches, from 1828 to 1888, by a Committee of the Presbytery
(Peoria, 1888), 27.

* Photostatic copies of letters from George Washington Gale to Finney (in
the collection of Oberlin College); Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina
Grimki Weld and Sarah Grimkt, 1822-1844, edited by Gilbert H. Barnes and
Dwight L. Dumond (New York, [1934]), passim.

' See post, 61-65.

4 Records of the Peoria Synod (MS), passim.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 55

between other Congregational associations and some of the
Presbyterian synods. One of the results of such close communi-
cation was the formation of common denominational agencies
for missions and education. Thus, the benevolent activities of
both sects were merged in the following bodies: the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; the American
Home Missionary Society; and the American Education Society.
Moreover, after 1801, there was in effect between the two denomi-
nations an important ecclesiastical treaty, the Plan of Union.
The purpose of this agreement was to facilitate the establish-
ment of Presbyterian and Congregational churches in the West
by avoiding wasteful duplications and by compromising dif-
ferences in church government. According to the Plan of Union,
Presbyterian ministers could serve Congregational churches, or
Congregational ministers could serve Presbyterian churches, yet
both parties to such an arrangement still retained their denomi-
national affiliations with all the rights and privileges that were
involved. Churches with a dual polity might also be organized,
connected with presbyteries and synods on the one hand and
with Congregational associations on the other. In some instances,
Congregationalists were even sent as delegates to the Presby-
terian General Assembly.

Nowhere was the connection between the two denominations
more complicated than it was in New York, for there a sup-
plementary Plan of Union in 1808 had resulted in the absorp-
tion by the Presbyterian tribunals of churches that remained
Congregational in all but name.5 The Galesburg colony was
projected in this region. The leader of that colony, George
Washington Gale, epitomized the confusion of the two sects.
While still a young man he was delegate to a presbytery mostly

* Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, 1808, p. 404;
'The Records of the Middle Association of Congregational Churches of the State
of New York," Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, XI:20-38, 49-68
(1921-1923); P. H. Fowler, History of Presbyterianism Within the Bounds of the
Synod of New York (Utica, 1877), 62-63; S. J. Baird, History of the New School
and of the Question Involved in the Disruption of the Presbyterian Church in 1838
(Philadelphia, 1868), 160-65.

56 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

composed of Congregational churches. His ministerial labors, as
a missionary on the New York frontier, were among what he
termed members of the "Presbyterian, or rather the Congrega-
tional Church." He was ordained by a presbytery containing
pastors of Congregational churches which still retained connec-
tions with Congregational associations, and his first regular
pastorate was of the same description. He did persuade it to
change its polity to the Presbyterian form, yet when he wanted
a young man in his charge to be licensed to preach, he took him
not to a presbytery but to a Congregational association, because
the latter would not be restricted in its action regarding a can-
didate short on formal education, by a rather rigid denominational
government. In this association Gale sat as a "corresponding
member."'

The labels of the two sects were quite independable, and
certainly were not mutually exclusive. The word Presbyterian
became especially ambiguous.7 The first church in Galesburg,
for example, had, by 1857, deliberately severed its Presbyterian
ties and formally dropped the word Presbyterian from its church
name; yet its property was held until 1869 by the "Society of
the Presbyterian Church."8

The alliance between the two denominations contributed
much to their western expansion. Without their Presbyterian
connections the Congregationalists were entirely regional in their
organization, but in union with Presbyterians they enjoyed the
aid of a well-organized and centrally directed ecclesiastical
machine as well as the assistance of the national mission and
educational enterprises which were operated in conjunction with
the Presbyterians. The latter, on the other hand, profited by
the consequent relaxation of their governmental system, the
rigidity of which had aggravated the first unfortunate experi-
ences of Presbyterians on the middle western frontier. The

* George Washington Gale, Autobiography (MS).

7 Report on Knox College, Presented to the General Association of Illinois,
May 24, 1861 (Quincy, 1861 [?D, 31.

8 Minutes of the Society of the First Presbyterian Church in Galesburg (MS).

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 57

two schisms, in Kentucky and in the Cumberland Valley, during
the decade of the Great Revival, were in large part due to the
failure of the Presbyterian polity to adjust itself to the frontier.9

Had willingness to cooperate continued, perhaps the com-
plicated connections between the two sects might have been
simplified by complete coalescence. But the spirit of compro-
mise which had generally characterized the first thirty years
of the century gave way during the next three decades to a dis-
position for controversy. The time had not yet come when
peculiarities of polity were regarded with indifference, and during
the era of Jacksonian Democracy, church governments were
especially subjected to the critical forces of democracy.10 There
were still those with sincere Congregational convictions who
would not overlook the fact that Presbyterianism, though
representative in its government, was not democratic; who
objected that its lay officers had life terms; who complained
that members of churches had only an indirect voice in the con-
duct of their affairs, legislative or judicial; and who disliked
the powerful central tribunals of Presbyterianism. Presbyterians,
on the contrary, feared the principle of independency practiced
by their critics. They declared that it tended to popular gov-
ernment by mobs, was likely to be anarchical in large bodies,
lacked means to discipline radicalism or heresy, and did not
guarantee rights of individuals and minorities.11

After about 1820, Presbyterianism contained two contending
parties, Old School and New School, differing somewhat over
nice distinctions of Calvinistic theology, but more often over
issues on polity. The chief of these last, due to the close con-
nection with Congregationalism, was the intrusion of certain

8 Hermann R. Muelder, "Jacksonian Democracy in Church Organization"
(doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1933).

" Ibid.

11 Minutes of the General Assembly, 1837, p. 460; Lew Cheeseman, Difference
Between Old and New School Presbyterians (Rochester, N. Y., 1848), 208;
G. N. Judd, History of the Division of the Presbyterian Church (New York, 1852),
passim; S. Sawyer, Presbyterianism Proved by Revelation, Providence and Reason
(Knoxville, 1852), 15, 25, 30; George Duffield, American Presbyterianism
(Philadelphia, 1854), 20.

58 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

democratic and popular practices contrary to the Presbyterian
constitution. The Old School feared that the power of the
denomination to supervise and discipline its communicants was
being weakened by decentralized or virtually independent units
that had been formed within the sect. In short, they alleged
that their denomination was being congregationalized, and they
wished, therefore, to repudiate the Plan of Union and to desert
the mission and educational agencies that had been shared with
Congregationalists. The New School, on the other side, tolerated
some of the changes that the polity was undergoing, and insisted
on maintaining the alliance with the other sect.12

In 1837, the year that the Galesburg church was established,
the Old School, having a majority of the General Assembly,
pruned away certain presbyteries and synods in New York and ;
the Western Reserve which were especially tainted with Congre-
gationalism. This action led, in 1838, to the scission of the
denomination and the formation of two separate denominations,
one Old School, the other New School. The recently published
Weld letters furnish further evidence that the slavery question,
while it certainly did not cause, did aggravate the schism. Lyman
Beecher expressed the opinion that the South was neutral in
the controversy until the antislavery activities of New School,
partisans alarmed that region, and that it then cast its strength'
with the Old School. Significantly, the tribunals of New York
and the Western Reserve, which were expelled on grounds of i
polity in 1837, were also those in which the most vigorous aboli-
tionism prevailed.18

The independent New School continued the connections with
Congregationalism. Furthermore, it decentralized its own or-
ganization by taking away the judicial powers of the General As-
sembly and by having it meet triennially instead of annually as
had been the rule before. By 1842, a New School Presbyterian
could declare that the modifications of the constitution had taken

11 Muelder, "Jacksonian Democracy."

1J Autobiography, Correspondence, etc. of Lyman Beecher, edited by Charlei
Beecher (New York, 1865), II: 427-29, 514.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 59

from Presbyterianism "some of the prominent objections which
were urged against it, and will enable the Presbyterians and Con-
gregationalists to act more efficiently together than they ever could
before."14

At this very time a movement was under way in Illinois to make
the confederation of New School Presbyterians and Congregation-
alists even closer. In 1842 the New School Synod of Illinois urged
a special Plan of Union with the Congregational Association of
Illinois.16 The Peoria Synod, set off from the Illinois Synod in
1843 to comprise Northern Illinois, continued the cordial relations
with the other denomination. Dual membership of ministers in
presbyteries and Congregational associations was specifically ap-
proved.16 When a religious paper was proposed it was suggested
that it should assume "grounds common to orthodox Congrega-
tionalists and Presbyterians."17 In 1848, it was resolved to unite
in a friendly correspondence with the Congregationalists and to
send three delegates to the General Association of Illinois, George
Washington Gale being appointed to the first delegation.18

In 1846, the presbytery of the Peoria Synod, to which the Gales-
burg church belonged, adopted a resolution revealing a strong feel-
ing for the closest possible relations with Congregationalists:

The Presbytery of Knox, having had under consideration
the importance of a greater measure of union between the
Presbyterian and Congregational churches, feel called upon
to express their conviction that the cause of religion would
be greatly promoted by a greater degree of unity among those
denominations. While we are not prepared to say that the
time has come in which a formal union may be effected, yet
we hope that, by frequent interchange of labors, by more
frequent attendance upon each other's ecclesiastical meet-
ings, and by cooperation in all good and holy efforts to pro-
mote the cause of religion, a greater measure of real union
and of brotherly love may be attained; and the time be

" New York Evangelist, I: no. 18 (May 5, 1842).

18 Ibid., no. 3 (Jan. 20, 1842).

18 Records of the Peoria Synod, Oct. 12, 1844.

» Ibid.

18 Ibid., June 10, 1848.

60 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

hastened when a union in form as well as in substance may
be consummated.19

When this resolution was adopted, forces were already forming,
however, which strained the relations of the two sects. How cor-
dial cooperation eventually gave way to conflict may be studied
through analysis of what happened in the Galesburg church. It
will help clarify the following discussion if the chief incidents in the
history of that church are first briefly sketched.

It was organized in 1837, but almost immediately had to alter
its ecclesiastical connections because of the schism of the Presby-
terian denomination in 1838. In 1845 it adopted a compromise
on church government. That same year, after the compromise,
the Rev. Jonathan Blanchard came as president of Knox College,
and from that time on the relations of the two denominations, not
only in Galesburg but throughout the state, were influenced by his
activities. In 1851 a large party left the Galesburg First Church to
form a congregation of their own with a purely Presbyterian polity.
Four years later another group left the mother church to form a
purely Congregational organization. Within a few months of the
last event the First Church itself severed the Presbyterian connec-
tions which it had maintained since its founding, retaining only the
Congregational affiliations which it had assumed at the time of the
compromise of 1845. Each of these developments will now be
analyzed in greater detail.

The first church in Galesburg, as established in the spring of
1837, was wholly Presbyterian in polity. Most of the projectors
of the colony who originally settled the village, founded Knox Col-
lege, and organized the church were Presbyterians, but in the
highly modified sense that they belonged to the New School —
which meant that they desired alliance with Congregationalists
and were not sticklers on the details of Presbyterian government.
Though George Washington Gale used his influence against those
who preferred the Congregational mode, he declared that he him-
self cared little for anything in the Presbyterian system above the

11 History of the Presbytery of Peoria, 61.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 61

presbyteries. He argued that the church had better agree to the
name Presbyterian because it was "in better odor" in the East and
would help bring aid to the college.20 The Congregationalists were
persuaded that the preference of the other sect should be heeded
because it had taken the lead in forming the colony.21 Finally, it
was unanimously resolved that it was "expedient" to organize
"fully" as Presbyterian.22

Almost at once the denominational split of 1838 was upon them.
The Galesburg church sided with the New School, left the Old
School Schuyler Presbytery23 under which it had been organized,
and joined the New School Presbytery of Knox which was con-
stituted by order of the New School Synod of Illinois, in a meeting
at Galesburg on November 7, 1838.24

At the beginning the church was agreed on an antislavery
attitude. As soon as the colony was settled, some of its leaders,
including Gale, became prominent figures in the Illinois Anti-
slavery Society, which was organized the same year as the
church.25 Antislavery principles were a condition of member-
ship in that congregation.26 It is impossible to determine the
degree to which their New School partisanship was provoked
by simple ecclesiastical liberalism, and how much of it was

10 Rights of Congregationalists in Knox College: Being the Report of a
Committee of Investigation, of the General Association of Illinois', with an
Appendix (Chicago, 1859), 66.

21 H. E. Hitchcock to George Churchill, Feb. 11, 1887, Semi-Centennial of
the First Church (Galesburg, 1887), 132.

n Records of the First Church (transcript of MS), Book A, pp. 3-4.

23 George Washington Gale, Articles of Faith and Covenant of the Presbyterian
Church in Galesburg . . . to Which is Appended a Sketch of the History of the
Church (Galesburg, 1849), 36.

2* History of the Presbytery of Peoria, 26, 33; Peoria Register and North-
western Gazetteer, Oct. 27, Nov. 17, 1838.

26 Carrie P. Kofoid, "Puritan Influences in the Formative Years of Illinois
History," Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1905
(Springfield, 1906), 303-307; Peoria Register and Northwestern Gazetteer, July 17,
1840; June 17, 1842; Norman Wright Harris, The History of Negro Servitude in
Illinois and of the Slavery Agitation in that State, 1719-1864 (Chicago, 1904), 146;
Verna Cooley, "Illinois and the Underground Railroad to Canada," Transac-
tions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1917 (Springfield, 1917), 87.

26 Galesburg Republican-Register, March 5, 1887, p. 3; Records of the First
Church, Book A, p. 11; ibid., Book B, pp. 75-76, 126.

62 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

prompted by their antislavery sentiments, but a letter received
by Gale from the Rev. John Frost throws some light on the
problem. Frost had been, with Gale, the co-founder of Oneida
Manual Labor Institute, the school attended by Theodore Dwight
Weld and many of the other "Lane Rebels" before they went to
Cincinnati. Frost, referring in this letter to the separation of
the New School from the Old School which was already under
way, expressed his joy at the prospect that the liberated New
School could now become a tremendous antislavery influence.
It is evident that he revealed this feeling to one whom he regarded
as a sympathetic correspondent.27 It is also significant that
when the Knox Presbytery was instituted at Galesburg on Novem-
ber 7, 1838, the fact that the day was the first anniversary of
Lovejoy's death was noted, and the event commemorated with
strong antislavery resolutions, including a declaration that the
denomination ought to "take speedy and decisive measures to
purify itself from this long continued and enormous evil."2*

Nothing more can be uncovered concerning the denomina-
tional relations of the local church until the middle forties.
Then dissension attended the long delayed completion of the
church building.29 The Congregationalists asserted that in view
of their large representation in the church, the polity should be
modified somewhat in their favor. What brought the issue to
a head is not clear. For a few months in 1844 a Congregational
minister had served as the pastor, and in 1845 another clergyman
of the same sect, Lucius H. Parker, became the minister.30 Such
pastoral arrangements were, however, quite common in New
School Presbyterian churches. Whether Parker stimulated the
discontent, or merely represented it, cannot be determined, but
he did identify himself with the discontented element as over

» J. Frost to G. W. Gale, June 29, 1837, Report on Knox College, Presented
to the General Association of Illinois, May 24, 1861, 47.

" Peoria Register and Northwestern Gazetteer, Feb. 2, 1839.

M Semi-Centennial of the First Church, 134; A. L. Bergen to J. P. Williston,
July 16, 1845, Report on Knox College, 38.

,0 Gale, Articles of Faith and . . . History of the Church, 19.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 63

against the Presbyterians led by Gale.31 Finally a compromise
was arranged along the lines suggested by the Plan of Union of
1801 for mixed churches. The internal organization became both
Congregational and Presbyterian, and dual denominational con-
nections were established.32

It is possible, though not at all capable of proof, that the
basic issue of church polity may have been complicated in this
compromise of 1845 by the slavery question. The Reverend
Mr. Parker was one of the "Lane Rebels" and a strong abo-
litionist. His father-in-law, William Holyoke, was the most
prominent antislavery man in the community at that time and
active in the Liberty Party. Perhaps the Congregational pre-
dilections of these men, and others like them, may have been
strengthened by the action of the Congregationalist General
Convention of Illinois, which in 1844 had made antislavery
principles a condition of membership.33 Such rather ruthless
action the New School synods of Illinois, however antislavery
their attitude, were not able to take without previous legisla-
tion by the General Assembly.

Gale seems to have expected the church to operate peacefully
under the compromise of 1845.34 Certainly if there had been
any great abhorrence of Congregational influences, Gale would
not have urged the coming of the Rev. Jonathan Blanchard as
president of Knox College. The latter, though pastor of a Pres-
byterian church in Cincinnati, had expressed his intention of
joining a Congregational church if he came to Illinois.36 In
fact, Gale expected the new president to use his influence with
Congregationalists in the East for the sake of the college, and

31 J. W. Bailey, Knox College, by Whom Founded and Endowed (Chicago,
1860), 56; J. Blanchard to G. W. Gale, Dec. 11, 1848, Report on Knox College, 49.

32 Records of the First Church, Book B, pp. 59-61.

33 T. C. Pease, The Frontier State 1818-1848 {Centennial History of Illinois,
II, Springfield, 1918), 420.

34 G. W. Gale, A Brief History of Knox College, Situated in Galesburgh,
Knox County, Illinois with Sketches of the First Settlement of the Town (Cincinnati,
1845), 4, 14; Gale, Articles of Faith and . . . History of the Church, 20.

35 Bailey, Knox College, 52-54; Galesburg Free Democrat (weekly), IV: no. 33
(Aug. 7, 1857).

64 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

hoped he would be able to "unite the Presbyterians and Con-
gregationalists in this part of the state."16

Blanchard no doubt proved to be more thoroughly Congre-
gationalist than was anticipated. It was a matter of conviction
with him that the day was at hand when there would be no
more "crushing down anarchy with the ice-bags of human
governments, and securing order by the frost work of law."
He declared that "henceforth government must wax weaker and
weaker, and truth stronger and stronger."37 He preferred the
weaker government of the Congregationalists to the firm govern-
ment of Presbyterianism with its "principles of ecclesiastical
power for the mastery of individual liberty in our churches."'8
Aside from its form of government, Blanchard approved of
Congregationalism because of the more decisive stand which it I
had taken against slavery."

In Galesburg he soon espoused the cause of Congregation-
alism so vigorously that strained relations between himself and
Gale enlarged into a partisan quarrel including college and
community. Basically, as Blanchard himself realized, the dif-
ficulty arose from Gale's conviction that his opponent was
"promoting Congregationalism to the detriment of Presbyteri-
anism," but the antagonism on that score was aggravated by
Blanchard's antislavery activities, which went so far as serving
on the Free Soil ticket in 1848 as. presidential elector.40

Blanchard also engaged in a number of agitations, beyond
the Galesburg scene, that so strained the relations of the two
denominations throughout the state as to excite attention even

" Gale to Blanchard, June 5, 1845, Report on Knox College, 36; Hiram H.
Kellogg to Blanchard, Aug. 22, 1846, ibid., 33; Gale to Blanchard, Aug. 12, 1846,
ibid., 41-42; Bailey, Knox College, 69.

" Blanchard, "A Perfect State of Society," Knoxiana, IV: no. 5 (March,
18SS).

"Jonathan Blanchard to Salmon P. Chase, June 30, 1849 (MS, Library of
Congress). Other references on his opinion of Presbyterianism: Blanchard,
"Christ Purifying his Temple," Sermons and Addresses (Chicago, 1892); Report
on Knox College, 43-44.

" A Debate on Slavery . . . October, 1845, in the City of Cincinnati, Between
Rev. J. Blanchard ...and N. L. Rice (Cincinnati. 1846), 62, 76, 422-24.

40 Blanchard to Chase, June 30, 1849 (MS, Library of Congress).

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 65

in the East.41 Shortly before he came to Galesburg, he had
affirmed the proposition that slavery was a sin; this was in a
debate with an Old School Presbyterian which was later pub-
lished and gave him national notoriety.42 After he came to
Galesburg he agitated vehemently for the principle that those
guilty of the sin of slavery must be cut off from truly Christian
churches. He earned nationwide prominence by leading the
fight, in 1847, at the annual meeting of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to get that body to refuse
to admit slaveholders into the mission churches.43 He was very
active in forwarding a national religious movement which had
as a distinguishing characteristic the disfellowshiping of slave-
holders, and in 1851 was elected president of the National
Christian Antislavery Convention which was held in Chicago.44

In 1850 discontent manifested itself, among the more radical
New School Presbyterians in the state, over the continued con-
nection of their denomination with slavery, and certain clergy?
men of that following met with Congregationalists in a state
convention to consider union. Such action, it was intended,
would "deliver those of us who are Presbyterians from our
ecclesiastical connection with slaveholders, through the General
Assembly, and enable us to withdraw Christian fellowship from
them."46 To the fore in the endorsement of this convention
were Blanchard and the Rev. Flavel Bascom, who since 1845
had been a trustee of Knox College and since January, 1850,
the pastor of the Galesburg church.

Such ruthless pursuit of antislavery principles was sure to
injure denominational cooperation, for the slavery problem was
much simpler as an ecclesiastical matter for the Congregationalists
than for their New School brothers. The former had no central
tribunal, like the New School General Assembly, which could

41 Separate Session Records of First Church (transcript of MS), 7-9.
48 This is the debate referred to, ante, n. 39, p. 64.

43 A. C. Cole, The Era of the Civil War 1848-1870 {Centennial History oj
Illinois, III, Springfield, 1919), 222.

44 Ibid., 223-24.
« Ibid., 223.

66 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

be expected to enforce the scruples of one section upon another.
Furthermore, there were virtually no Congregationalists south of
the Mason-Dixon line. The New School did have a considerable
southern membership and it had a judiciary to coerce their
communicants. Placing fellowship on an antislavery basis in
their case required expulsion of several thousand Christians
with whom they had no difference other than that over slavery.
In brief, excluding slaveholders had no effect on the Congrega-
tional organization; to the New School it meant a division of
their denomination.46

How the questions of church polity and slavery became
entangled is clearly described by a report of the American and
Foreign Anti-Slavery Society which was fostering the estab-
lishment of benevolent agencies which had no slaveholding con-
nections, and which cited an address on that need by President
Blanchard. According to the report, the problems of church
organization and abolitionism were thus combined:

Had the Northern, or New School division, even then [at
the time of the separation from the Old School in 1838] as-
sumed a strong, decided, and firm antislavery position, it
might have maintained its ground and become strong. But
it failed to do this.

The peculiar machinery of the Presbyterian polity, instead
of being wielded against the sin of slavery, was more com-
monly used to cripple and harass the opposers of slavery in
the churches. By little and little, a disgust was created
against the polity thus wielded. In large and important sec-
tions, (as in Central and Western New York, in Northern
Ohio, and in Michigan,) a gradual abandonment of Presby-
terianism for Congregationalism has been the effect, till, by
the action of the Convention at Albany, new forms of ec-
clesiastical organization and activity, displacing to a great
extent the old, have been witnessed.47

Examination of the records of the Peoria Synod shows clearly
that on the New School side, so far as that body was concerned,

48 History of the Presbytery of Peoria, 57.

47 Thirteenth Annual Report of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society,
(1852), p. 87.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 67

the antislavery sentiment was less aggressive, and the concern
for integrity of organization more apparent in the fifties than it
had been earlier.48 It is certainly true that in the case of George
Washington Gale his antislavery sentiments moderated and at the
same time his views on church polity became less broad. The
man who in 1837 had professed indifference to most of the
Presbyterian system was in 1850 publishing his conviction that
the time for being lax about matters of denominational govern-
ment was past, and that it would be better if New School Pres-
byterians stayed close to their peculiar polity and deviated neither
to left nor right.49 He also changed on slavery, the alteration
being noted by one of the early benefactors of Knox College
whose contributions to that institution had been attracted by its
antislavery stand.60 In 1848 Gale had been a member of the com-
mittee of the Peoria Synod which brought in resolutions to the
effect that it wished to take such action as would clear it "of all par-
ticipation in the sin and guilt of slavery," and therefore asked
the General Assembly to use all of its power to relieve the denomi-
nation from the just imputation of sustaining any such relation
to the practice of holding slaves as "can fairly be regarded as
implying approbation of it."81 But in 1853 he was chairman
of the committee which brought in what was decidedly the
weakest resolution on slavery that the synod ever adopted.62
The petition of 1848, if fulfilled, might have split the church;
that of 1853 was merely an expression of strong disapproval.

Like all questions of motive, the problem of what caused
the change in Gale is not demonstrable of proof. It may have
been in part his coming to old age; it may have been partly the
the influence of his third wife, whom he married in 1847. She
was an Old School Presbyterian before her marriage, and her

" Records of the Peoria Synod, June, 1849, p. 79; Oct., 1851, p. 127; Oct.,
1852, pp. 136, 141; Oct., 1853, pp. 161-62, 173.
" Galesburg News Letter, Oct. 10, 1850, p. 42.

60 J. P. Williston to Southwick Davis, July 27, 1857, Galesburg Free
Democrat (daily), Aug. 6, 1857.

61 Records of the Peoria Synod, June 10, 1848.
" Ibid., Oct., 1853, pp. 150, 157.

68 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

slavery opinions were such that she was admitted into the
Galesburg church only after a special committee headed by
Blanchard had investigated her case." Moreover, about 1850,
Gale became interested in the project of a Presbyterian theo-
logical seminary which he hoped to have connected with Knox
College. Far from being antislavery, the seminary plan antici-
pated representation of certain southern presbyteries on its
board.64

During 1849 and 1850 a definite cleavage appeared, both in
the college and church, over the alleged anti-Presbyterian activi-
ties of Blanchard. The quarrel in the college was compromised,'6
but an attempt at reconciliation between Gale and his opponent
was only partly successful, and the difficulties in the church
continued. Two of the deacons refused to sign a minute denying j
Blanchard's alleged antagonism to Presbyterianism.66 Another
member was tried by the church session (the Presbyterian unit
in the church) for certain strong charges he had made against
Blanchard, and was convicted and suspended. The session
refused, however, to pass on the truth of what had been said
against Blanchard; and the presbytery, on the ground that it
should have taken such evidence, changed the suspension to a j
rebuke.67

By that time a separation was under way within the church.
In May, 1851, certain members of the church asked for a dis-
missal to organize a church of their own.68 The request was
granted and a purely Presbyterian church, called the Second
Presbyterian Church, was established.69

After the departure of this group the mother church became
even more Congregational. Furthermore, a boom of the town,
attending the coming of the railroad, caused it to become over-

" Records of the First Church, Book B, pp. 75-76.

M Rights of Congregationalists in Knox College, 27, 81.

" Galesburg Free Democrat (weekly), Sept. 23, 30, Oct. 14. 1857.

" Separate Session Records of the First Church, 17.

■ Ibid., 33-41, 64.

" Ibid., 47.

» Bailey, Knox College, 58.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GALESBURG CHURCHES 69

crowded.60 In 1855, another daughter church moved out of it
because of this growth and organized as purely Congregational.
The separation in this case was wholly amicable, and the new
church, headed by a member of the famous Beecher family,
maintained the most cordial relations with the original church.81

By the time that this second daughter church — the First
Congregational Church as it was called — had been formed out
of the original church, the latter was also in the process of be-
coming wholly Congregational. The causing factor in this
instance was clearly slavery. Since shortly after the departure
of the more Presbyterian faction in 1851, the mother church
had been urging the Knox Presbytery to make its continued
connection with the General Assembly depend upon that tribunal's
repudiation of slavery.62 This the presbytery was slow in doing.
Finally, in 1855, the session of the First Church decided to stop
sending delegates to the presbytery while it was in union "with
a General Assembly in which slave holders are in fellowship."63
On April 11, 1856, the Knox Presbytery erased the First Church
from its rolls. The church thus ceased its dual denominational
connections, retaining only the Congregational relations, and
dropping the name Presbyterian from its title.64

Significantly, in 1856, the Knox Presbytery finally sent
what amounted to a hint that it might not retain its connections
with the General Assembly if it did not cut off slaveholders.
The author of the memorial was the pastor of the Second Pres-
byterian Church which had left the mother church in 1851. The
reasons set forth in the memorial for the need of such action
read throughout like a list of the troubles that had afflicted New
School Presbyterianism in Galesburg.66

"Galesburg Free Democrat (weekly), Feb. 1, 15, Apr. 19, June 21, 1855;
Galesburg Plain Dealer, Nov. 12, 1880.

61 Semi-Centennial of the First Church, 91; Records of the First Church,
Book B, pp. 160, 169.

" Records of the First Church, Book B, pp. 138-39, 142-43, 145-46.

•* Separate Session Records of the First Church, 77-78.

M History of the Presbytery of Peoria, 31.

•» Ibid., 57-58.

70 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

The final and bitterest phase of the contention between the
sects broke out in Knox College in 1857. Here again, Blanchard
and Gale were leaders of the factions, and here again they were
divided on denominational lines which were made the more sharp
by the slavery issue.66 The paper weapons manufactured for
this war67 were still being published when more serious war on
a broader front made this conflict much less significant, and it
eventually became obsolete. After the Civil War, the strained
relations of Congregationalists and Presbyterians, no longer
perpetuated, soon became only bitter memories.

•• Scrapbook of clippings and notes on the college controversy and other
matters, compiled by Prof. George Churchill.

87 Rights of Congregationalists in Knox College; Report on Knox College;
Bailey, Knox College.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY

I
WRITING A HISTORY OF CHICAGO

By BESSIE LOUISE PIERCE

It is my purpose to outline very briefly the plan for the writing
of a history of Chicago which has been going forward since the
autumn of 1929. Other speakers will carry forward more specif-
ically than I some of the aspects of research connected therewith.
In the few statements which I shall make I shall therefore describe
somewhat the background or history of the project which has
been promoted by the University of Chicago Social Science
Research Committee.

This Committee was organized in 1923 and received a grant
of funds to plan and direct the social science research activities
at the University. It laid out for itself a unique field for investi-
gation in that it held that with the metropolis of Chicago at hand
that area could provide an ideal scene of cooperative investigation.
It was recognized that the metropolitan area offered opportunity
for all social scientists to carry on researches in their special fields
of endeavor, and that it also provided suitable subjects for inves-
tigation which could contribute to the whole pattern of social
science. In this collaborative task the Committee felt that the
historian played an important r61e. Besides dipping into sources
which describe the backgrounds, the Committee believed the
historian could cut across and synthesize the findings of all the
other disciplines more specifically dealing with the contemporary

72 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

scene and could demonstrate that the body of knowledge of all
the social sciences is essentially the same. Because today the
bulk of our population is shifting toward the great metropolitan
centers, the importance of an understanding of the inner nature
of cities becomes especially significant.

In the autumn of 1929, research on A History of Chicago was !
started. In order to define limits and to devise some workable
scheme, it seemed desirable to set off, arbitrarily, chronological
periods for the research activites to be carried on chiefly in the ;
primary sources commonly used by the historian. Therefore,
the following periods were established: 1673 to 1848, 1848 to
1871, 1871 to 1893, and 1893 to date. The Beginning of a City, I
which is represented in Volume I, recently published, covers the
period from the early explorations of the French and the estab-
lishment of homes on the prairies by the first settlers down to
the coming of the railroad. From 1848 to 1871, the period is
representative of a growth of commercial life, until the fire laid
low the city; this is the story which will be told in Volume II.
The third period embraces the years 1871-1893, ending with
the Columbian Exposition, which outwardly symbolized the
attainment of an industrial competence. Since 1893, a fourth
period shows the march toward leadership in all avenues of life.

It is only about forty years ago that Prof. Frederick Jackson ;
Turner pointed out the significance of sections in the national '
life. Within the memory of all of us the expansion of cities has ;
gone on with such rapidity that it now seems desirable to break
sections into smaller units and set these in their national setting.
Throughout our study, the history of Chicago has not been
treated as an isolated local fact. Many factors in the develop-
ment of the city are common to the growth of all urban com-
munities. Where there are unique features these have not been
overlooked. Biographies as such have played little part in the
narrative although the leaders of community development have
not been ignored. On the other hand, the part that the common
man has played in the weaving of the fabric of community
development receives much attention.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 73

With these introductory remarks, I shall now ask three of
the assistants who have been engaged in the search for material
for the various volumes to present certain aspects of their study.
Mr. Joe L. Norris who has assisted in the project since 1930 will
discuss the land reform movement. Mr. Herbert Wiltsee will
describe his researches on temperance and the humanitarian
movement from 1841 to 1871, and Miss Dorothy Culp will set
forth her conclusions regarding radical labor movements in what
we have chosen to call our third period.

II
THE LAND REFORM MOVEMENT

By JOE L. NORRIS

The public land problem is an old one in the United States.
No sooner had the national government come into possession of
vast tracts of land than the question of their disposition arose.
As it is not my purpose here to discuss the federal land policy, it
will be sufficient to say that the system of surveying and opening
the western lands to settlement did not keep pace with the west-
ward movement of population. Many a family, at the time too
poor to buy a farm, or impelled by a restlessness to move beyond
the settled regions, squatted on unappropriated lands. In time,
of course, these areas were surveyed and put on the market, and
when such was the case the squatters began to demand preemption
rights.

This problem was more or less satisfactorily settled by a series
of preemption laws culminating in the general act of 1841. Such
legislation protected the squatter but gave no permanent relief to
those who wished to move westward, for in time the squatter had
to pay for his land and speculators could still buy vast tracts and
hold them for high prices. Even if the speculator did not own
contiguous acres, the prospective buyer was, nevertheless, often

74 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

dependent upon him for cash, since the government did not sell on
credit. William B, Ogden, Chicago capitalist and frontier entre-
preneur, often acted as agent for many easterners who had money
to loan for such transactions. His favorite plan was to buy in his
name, or that of the lender, the farm chosen by the would-be pur-
chaser. The latter would then pay for each 160 acres, JS60 a year
for three years and &260 the fourth year, after which time he would
be given the deed. Although the speculator over a period of four
years received a return of 110 per cent on his original investment,
Ogden assured him that this in no way violated the state usury
laws. The property was in the speculator's own name and as owner
he could sell on whatever terms he pleased. It was a safe invest-
ment, too, for should the buyer fail to meet his payments, the
speculator still had the land.1

Thus to circumvent these evils and enable the poor man to have
a piece of ground of his own and secure his ownership in it, there
came the demand for land reform. The cry went up for free home-
steads and land limitation. The movement gained considerable
momentum after the panic of 1837. Free land for free white
laborers was considered by many as a panacea for all the ills which
led to the panic and the hard times following. Land reform soon
became an integral part of the leading issues of the day — slavery
extension, labor and capital, economic prosperity, and banks.

From the Atlantic seaboard, where George Henry Evans first '
organized the National Reform Association, to the western terri-
tones, the principles of free and inalienable homesteads and land
limitation were adopted by portions of the Democratic, Whig, Free
Soil, and Liberty parties. In the older sections of the country, the
factory laborer and farm tenant accepted these ideas as a means of
escape from the tyranny of employer and landlord. In the West,
land reform was considered as a method whereby the newer sec-
tions could be settled by freemen, and thus bring prosperity to the
territory or state. With lands to be filled with people, the West

1 William B. Ogden to Obadiah Sands, Sept. 27, 1839, William B. Ogden
Letter Books (MSS, Chicago Historical Society), II: 212-13.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 75

was impatient with anything which checked its growth. Land
monopoly, that is the holding of large tracts by speculators, was
an evil of the most pernicious kind, said the editor of the Chicago
Democrat. It rendered population almost stationary and checked
the progress of agriculture. In fact, under its influence, the natu-
ral increase in population tended to diminish man's happiness, and
therefore, under such circumstances, celibacy could not be called
an evil.2

Not only did land monopoly hinder the growth of population,
but it and its sponsor, capitalism, were dangerous to democratic
institutions. This John Wentworth pointed out in one of his edi-
torials in the Democrat in which he said the "dominion of capital"
t ended toward the "tenant system" under which "Republicanism"
was impossible. It separated classes in society "to the annihilation
of the love of country; and to the weakening of the spirit of inde-
pendence." The tenant had "no country, no hearth, no altar, no
household god." On the other hand, the freeholder was "the natural
support of a free government." If the United States were to con-
tinue as a republic, then the public lands should pass into the
hands of the people. "Let us," he concluded, "give to those who
are unable to buy, without money and without price, that which the
fact of birth entitles them to. By this means, we strike at the last
foothold of the 'Money Monopoly'— -THE MONOPOLY OF THE
SOIL."3

At the Industrial Congress, held in Chicago in 1850, the ques-
tion of land monopoly was one of the most talked of evils, and an
address stressing its pernicious influence was finally adopted. In
substance this address said that land monopoly was the foundation
of all the wrongs which afflicted civilized society.

[It causes] over toil, and the loss of opportunities for study
and self improvement and consequent ignorance and degreda-
tion; the poverty of the masses; the unjust accumulation of
wealth and power by a privileged few; and the corruption of

2 Chicago Daily Democrat, Oct. 10, 1848.

3 Ibid., Jan. 22, 1848.

76 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

the morals of the rich by luxury, pride and sensuality. ... [It
produces! intemperance, both among rich and poor, among
the rich by conferring wealth upon them without meritorious
productive industry, and thus exciting a depraved taste for
vicious and animal pleasures; and among the poor by creating
a want for a preternatural and artificial stimulus in place of
the healthful stimulants imparted by moderate labor, and by
moral and intellectual activity, and the studies of philosophy
and natural science.

Lastly, it was the "root of the vast tree of selfishness and an-
tagonism in society" which produced "the varied branches, flowers,
and fruits of wickedness and discord and individual, domestic and |
national wars and calamities" which darkened "the world and shed
a poisonous miasm over the minds and hearts of men," and there
was no "effectual remedy for these ills of society, short of the ex-
tirpation of their great root and cause."4

Land reform, therefore, was not a farmers' movement, but was
the common man's attack on uncontrolled capitalism, or — to use a
more modern term — economic royalism. The engine of capital,
explained John Wentworth, was the product of the commercial era.
Through capitalism a privileged few of the present made possible
an order worse than feudalism. "The fear of want does now," he
said, "what the power of privilege did in former times."' Such
conditions, of course, threatened the very existence of the nation.
The tendency of money to accumulate in the hands of a few made
the mere laborer the bondslave of the employer, and in times of
stress the latter, in order to retain his profits, naturally reduced
wages. This in turn "incited the poor against the rich, and stirred
up revolutions" which threw down thrones and scepters. In Amer-
ica, however, such conditions could be avoided by enabling "every
man to secure himself a home in the unappropriated lands of the
Republic." Thus, by this means, the capitalist lost "his last
stronghold, the monopoly of the soil." The laborer was then given

4 Chicago Daily Democrat, June 17, 1850.
» Ibid., Jan. 22, 1848.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 77

a "security for the future" which would "forever place him in a
position of impregnable strength."6

One must not think, however, that the land reformers were ad-
vocates of destructive measures. They were not fire-eating radi-
cals. Rather, they thought of themselves as trying to save the old
agrarian order. Capitalism was the revolutionary movement,
because it tended to change society and institute a rule of aristoc-
racy instead of one by the people. "We labor to save, not to
destroy," wrote Wentworth. "We fully believe that the safety
and perpetuity of our institutions rest upon the equitable division
of the fruits of industry; upon the fact that labor will eventually
be rewarded in proportion to the services which it renders."7

Closely allied to the problem of capitalism was that of free labor
and slavery. To the land reformer, the slaveholder was as much
of a capitalist as the northern factory owner or great landlord. If
labor, therefore, was to receive its just share of this world's goods
and happiness, slavery must be destroyed. The extension of
slavery would tend to deprive the free laborer of his dignity.
Wentworth, writing in one of his editorials of the men who would
profit by the nonextension of slavery, said:

And last, though not least, there are the laboring men
of the North — the hardy sons of toil, who know that it is to
labor they must look for every earthly thing of value, and that,
therefore, it is their policy, and they believe it to be their duty,
to elevate labor by every means in their power. They cannot
fail to see that slavery tends to degrade their calling, and that
the more slavery is extended, the stronger will be that ten-
dency.8

To the land reformers, however, the problems of labor and
capital could be easily settled by limiting the amount of land any
one man could own and by granting free homesteads. If the wes-
tern lands would be opened on these principles, not only would the
"pauper laborer" of Europe and the American worker in the "tariff

6 Chicago Daily Democrat, March 29, 1848.

7 Ibid.

'Ibid., Apr. 11,1848.

78 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

protected" establishments of the United States come into "the
possession of their own,"9 but the whole question of slavery would
also be solved.10 But if capital persisted in its refusal to grant labor
its just dues, Wentworth prophesied a great struggle.11

Although land reform was advocated as a means of aiding
the laborer, the leaders and spokesmen of the movement them-
selves did not belong to the mechanic or tenant farmer classes.
Instead they were men of responsible position and moderate
fortune, and occasionally of great wealth. They considered
themselves, however, as a part of the common people and en-
visaged a great free West, where every field was cultivated by
its own proprietor and where every person who chose could
become the owner of his field.12 In addition to Wentworth,
whom the New York Globe hailed as one of the greatest reformers
in Congress, a a number of other Chicagoans espoused the cause
of land reform.14

9 Chicago Daily Democrat, Jan. 22, 1848.

" Ibid., Feb. 12, 1850. "We think also that the freedom of the public lands
will do more to calm the slavery agitation than any act of Congress or any constitu-
tional enactment of any kind which will not have public sentiment for its basis.
Slavery is the result of certain social organizations which must be dissolved by the
action of land reform principles."

11 Ibid., Nov. 20, 1848. "Perhaps the most prominent feature of the present
political agitation in the country is the question of the monopoly of the soil. The
Wilmot Proviso is but a modification of the great principle, that the earth was
given for the uses of man; and that, like the other essential elements to existence,
no portion of its surface should be the subject of monopoly.

"All, to a greater or lesser extent, as they have perceived the evils of the
accumulation of large landed estates, have felt the injustice of the present system
of land tenure, and expressed their convictions accordingly. But few have seen
their way clear out of the web into which the errors of civilization have cast the
world. . . .

"Still no matter to what period of time the final issue may be delayed,
from the question whether slavery shall monopolize the soil of the new States,
to the question of monopoly by slavery induced by the power of concentrated
capital, a great struggle is in prospect; and the merits or demerits of the principles
advanced on both sides, are yet to be canvassed."

" Ibid., Oct. 10, 1848.

» Ibid., May 13, 1848.

14 Dr. Carl A. Helmuth, editor of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung; James H.
Collins, lawyer; Charles V. Dyer, physician; J. K. C. Forrest, of the Chicago
Daily Democrat; Chauncy T. Gaston, printer; William B. Ogden, entrepreneur
and president of the Free Soil League of Chicago; Fernando Jones, real estate
operator and secretary of the aforementioned league; Nathan H. Bolles, real

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 79

To the reformers the problem of providing homesteads for
the landless was, of course, a simple one to solve, since there
were millions of acres of unsold public lands. In 1848 these
amounted to 1,549,322,599 acres, out of which 241,391,138 acres
were already surveyed and ready for sale.15 In Illinois there
were still 15,693,076 acres to be disposed of at the beginning of
1849— a little less than half the area of the state.16 In the Chicago
land district, there were 897,470 acres of public lands for sale on
January 1, 1848. A year later Wentworth estimated that around
700,000 acres were still left and he wondered why more land
warrants were not located there.17

By the late forties, therefore, there was considerable agita-
tion for homesteads. In the Chicago newspapers appeared nu-
merous poems on the subject, of which the following is typical:

A billion acres of unsold land

Are lying in grievous dearth;
And millions of men in the image of God,

Are starving all over the earth;
Oh ! tell me, ye sons of America,

How much men's souls are worth ?

Those millions of acres belong to man,
And his claim is, that he needs —

And his title is signed by the hand of God,
Our God, who the raven feeds:

And the starving soul of each famished man
At the throne of Justice pleads!

estate; W. B. Snowhook, dry goods merchant; John L. Scripps, publisher;
William Sampson, real estate, and one of the vice-presidents of the Industrial
Congress of 1850; and the Rev. William Barlow, pastor of the Trinity Episcopal
Church. Chicago Daily Democrat, Apr. 29, May 19, 30, Sept. 8, 1848; May 9,
June 7, 1850; Chicago Commercial Advertiser, Sept. 6, 1848.

» Chicago Daily Democrat, March 17, 1848.

" Ibid., Jan. 3, 1849.

» Ibid., Jan. 16, 1849.

80 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Ye may not heed it, ye haughty men,

Whose hearts as rocks are cold —
But the time shall come when the fiat of God

In thunder shall be told!
For the voice of the great I AM hath said,

That the land shall not be sold!18

In Congress, Wentworth and other members of the Illinois
delegation constantly presented petitions and resolutions in favor
of lands for the landless, and on December 27, 1849, Stephen A.
Douglas introduced a homestead bill.19 In fact, in March, 1849,
the Daily Democrat claimed that more petitions had been pre-
sented to Congress that session "in favor of the freedom of the
Public Lands than for any other measure save cheap postage.""
The question of homesteads and homestead exemption was even
debated in the legislature, and during the session of 1848-1849 a
bill was presented providing for exemption from "foreclosure and
forced sale for any debt contracted after March 1, 1849" forty
acres of agricultural land or a quarter of an acre of a recorded
town plat.21 The bill failed to pass the House, however, and the
Democrat remarked that the only thing to do was to "pick the
flint and try again."22

In Chicago numerous public lectures were given on land
reform, especially in the year 1848. Among the most prominent
lecturers was H. H. Van Amringe of Wisconsin.2* When the
Industrial Congress met in Chicago in 1850, provision was made
for popular lectures in the City Hall to be given during the
sessions of the Congress.24

14 Chicago Daily Democrat, Jan. 10, 1848.

» Ibid., Apr. 11, 13, 14, 1848; Feb. 7, 1849; Feb. 9, March 11, 1850; A. C.
Cole, The Era of the Civil War 1848-1870 (The Centennial History of Illinois,
III, Chicago, 1922), 90.

" Chicago Daily Democrat, March 20, 1849.

11 Ibid., Dec. 8, 18, 1848.

" Ibid., Feb. 19, 1849.

n Ibid., March 27, 1848 for example. Van Amringe was somewhat of a
professional reformer and lectured also on women's rights, the ten-hour day, and
other topics.

" Ibid., June 7, 18S0.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 81

The first attempt to organize a National Reform Association
in Chicago was in April, 1848," and the organization was com-
pleted in May, with James H. Collins as president.28 It was
disbanded, however, after the presidential election of 1848, and
was not reorganized until the time of the congressional election
of 1850.27

At the convention of the Free Soil Party in Buffalo in 1848,
the platform adopted did not satisfy many of the land reformers.
In October, the Chicago National Reformers passed a long series
of resolutions denouncing the Buffalo platform.28 They put a
ticket of their own in the contest, with Gerrit Smith for president
and Charles C. Foote for vice-president, but the party polled
only about a hundred and fifty votes in the whole state at the
fall election.29

The land reformers, of course, met with some opposition in
Chicago, chiefly from the Whigs. Alfred Dutch considered the
movement as one led by "demagogues who spread their sales to
catch every popular breeze in politics" and claimed it "hum-
bugged" thousands "by the euphonious sound of free soil."**
They were also accused of being Know-nothings, an accusation
which they promptly denied, saying, however, that they did
not intend that Sir John Murray, Louis Philippe, "and other
foreign nabobs" should "hold land in this country, to speculate
upon the same out of the hard earnings of the American la-
borer."31 The differences, however, between those who opposed
and those who advocated land reform were not over the ends to
be achieved, but over the methods. Dutch, chief of the oppo-

» Chicago Daily Democrat, Apr. IS, 1848.

»• Ibid., May 19, 1848. C. A. Helmuth was vice-president, Charles V. Dyer,
treasurer; J. K. C. Forrest, corresponding secretary; and C. T. Gaston, recording
secretary.

" Ibid., Dec. 12, 1848; May 9, 18S0. The officers of the second association
were: N. H. Bolles, president; C. T. Gaston, vice-president; William B. Snow-
hook, treasurer; and John L. Scripps, secretary.

" Ibid., Oct. 2, 1848.

" Ibid., Oct. 9, Nov. 3, 27, 1848.

30 Chicago Commercial Advertiser, Sept. 6, 1848.

» Chicago Daily Democrat, March 31, 1848.

82 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

sition, said the "attempt to get land, without an equivalent, by
political management," and by the same process, limit the amount
oi land others could hold, was "a much more difficult task, than
to earn a sum to purchase it."82 A better way to break the
money monopoly, or capitalism, he held, would be to pass a
sound banking law which would "augment" the "circulating
medium, and create so much rivalry that the producing classes"
would not "be compelled to pay all their earnings and profits
for the use of a little paper money" which they themselves
furnished "the means to keep in circulation."83

The last great burst of enthusiasm for land reform in Chicago
was in 1850 at the Industrial Congress. Here were considered
the questions of land limitation, homesteads, the ten-hour day,
and equal rights for women (social as well as political and legal).84
After the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act,
northern and western fear of usurpation of power by the slave-
holding oligarchy of the South tended to push land limitation
and homesteads into the background and bring sectional issues
to the fore. Although land reform principles were not forgotten
from 1850 to 1862, it was not until the United States was engaged
in the Civil War that the West was finally able to get its cherished
homesteads.

Ill

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT, 1848-1871
By HERBERT WILTSEE

In the 1830's and 1840's, the great Religious Awakening with
which the names of Charles G. Finney and Theodore Weld are
so closely associated, loosened the hold of orthodox predesti-
narianism on the Calvinistic churches and substituted a spirit
of humanitarian benevolence in its stead. The resultant impulse

M Chicago Commercial Advertiser, March 1, 1848.

" Ibid., Sept. 26, Oct. 3, 1849.

** Chicago Daily Democrat, June 8, 10, 1850.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 83

for social reform was directed in succeeding years primarily
toward Negro emancipation, but the spirit of reform overflowed
and made all social ills seem easily curable. Foreign and home
missions, Bible and tract societies, conversion of sailors, and
temperance reform were only a few of the movements taken up
under the influence of the Great Awakening.

It is of importance to note that these reforms not only
emanated from the churches, but that they were nurtured by
and got their membership from the church element. And so
close had become the intimate connection of temperance with
revivals that the downfall of liquor and the conversion of the
nation were a single object.1 It was characteristic of the early
temperance movement that its appeal was to earnest young
people who were naturally predisposed towards high personal
standards. Conversion for them involved a change of attitude
rather than a change of life patterns, but the cause justified its
existence in the eyes of its leaders "when it moved temperate
people to denounce intemperance."2

In Chicago, during its first year of corporate existence, a
movement was undertaken to control the sale of liquor. Growth
in the number and strength of the evangelical denominations
during the following years added the sanction which large num-
bers can give. By 1848, for instance, at least two hotels, the
Lake Street House, and the City Hotel, were advertised as
temperance houses where "men of principle . . . [can find] company
and comforts of the right kind."3 The United States Hotel at
the corner of Canal and Randolph streets, in 1851, was also a
temperance hostelry.4 And almost twenty-five years before the
Hillsboro, and Washington Court House, Ohio, ladies — founders

1 Gilbert Hobbs Barnes, The Antislavery Impulse 1830-1844 (New York
1933), 18.

1 Ibid., 25.

8 Watchman of the Prairies, J an. 2, 1849.

* Ibid., Apr. 22, Aug. 26, 1851. This hotel, run by D. L. Roberts, observed
the popular religious prejudice against breaking the Sabbath by announcing:
"Omnibuses always in attendance (Sundays excepted) to convey persons to and
from the house free of charge."

84 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

of the Women's Christian Temperance Union — conducted their
prayerful picketing of local saloons and drugstores, certain of
Chicago's druggists were advertising brandies and wines "Ex-
pressly for Medical Purposes" or for communion services only.6
These, then, are but a few of the ways in which the growing
temperance sentiment had forced a degree of conformity upon
business as early as the beginning of the fifties.

In their attack on liquor, the churches did not hesitate to
stigmatize drinking as sinful. This, again, was characteristic of
that humanitarian-evangelical movement for social reform which
regarded compliance with the high ends toward which it strove
as "right" and failure to act in this manner as "wrong."
Tippling was condemned again and again as a sin which led in
due course to death "or an even worse fate." Hence it was that
the term "temperance" as used by most of the advocates of this
reform was really a misnomer, for in reality total abstinence was
their goal.8 The so-called Temperance Committee of the Chicago
Presbytery of the Presbyterian church, reporting in 1849, advo-
cated continual weekly pulpit exhortation as the most effective
means of obtaining total abstinence on the part of the youth and
adults. They declared that the first "social glass" was merely
the inviting entrance to the downward path toward the "drunk-
ard's grave," and stated unequivocally: "No drunkard can
inherit the Kingdom of God."1 Calling on the clergy to stress
the effect of liquor on the soul rather than upon the body, the
editor of the local Baptist organ, who wielded a trenchant pen
in the interests of antislavery, temperance, and other contempo-
rary reforms, held that it was the welfare of the spirit that was
placed in jeopardy by the use of liquor.8 It was not long until
advocates of the reform were attributing all forms of social

1 Watchman of the Prairies, Jan. 8, 1850.

• In his Lectures on Revivals of Religion (New York, 1835), 413, Charles G.
Finney drew an analogy between "backsliding" after revival, and intemperance:
"Nine-tenths of those who become drunkards, are led on from small beginnings
The only security is in adopting the principle of TOTAL ABSTINENCE."

T Watchman of the Prairies, Oct. 30, 1849.

» Ibid., Feb. 12, 1850.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY

35

unrest to the liquor traffic, fortified as it was "by law, and strongly
entrenched ... in the indifference of . . . our citizens."9 To the
student of the more recent developments in temperance reform,
cries that the depreciation of property values, the corruption of
youth, depravity of public morals, and increase of taxation were
the results of the liquor traffic, are singularly familiar. The
extent to which the use of alcoholic beverages had become a
moral issue can, perhaps, be best illustrated by quoting an
editorial which appeared in a Methodist paper, admonishing
housewives not to put brandy in their mince pies:

It may revive the appetite for the poison in some one who
is trying to get rid of it, or may form a taste for it in some one
now innocent. . . . And who knows but that if one should eat
your brandy pie he might be suspected of drinking brandy
instead of eating it. Don't put the brandy in.10

To those who subscribed to the various temperance programs
the liquor traffic had become "illicit" or "illegitimate," and the
the use of spirits as a beverage had become a moral wrong.

The churches of Chicago, in conducting their attack upon
drinking, used a wide variety of expedients. In addition to the
regular sermons from the pulpit, temperance meetings were held,
more often than not in the church buildings. Those for mariners,
for instance, took place in the Bethel Mission Church under the
auspices of the Marine Temperance Society.11 Among the tech-
niques most commonly employed at such meetings was the use
of testimony of reformed inebriates. Particularly at outdoor
meetings and for street-preaching were these men featured,
since it was felt that as erstwhile drunkards they would be able
to appeal to the unchurched and unreformed. The summer of
1848 saw a series of such sermons delivered on Chicago's main
thoroughfares, and while it was believed "that much good was

• Northwestern Christian Advocate, Feb. 16, 1853.

" Ibid., March 23, 1853.

11 Watchman of the Prairies, Jan. 4, 1848. Among those who spoke in favor
of temperance at one time or another was P. T. Barnum, "the greatest showman
•n the world." Northwestern Christian Advocate, Oct. 5, 1853.

86 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

done, as access was had to the very class of men the temperance
reform [was] designed to benefit," it is impossible to determine
to what extent success attended their efforts.12

The periodic meetings of 1849 were similar to those of the
year before, although the cholera epidemic of the later year
excited many to try to obtain real curtailment of the liquor
traffic. The spread of intemperance as evidenced by police court
indictments, and the fact that the majority of dispensers were
of foreign birth led many Protestants to despair of obtaining
real results unless the Catholic church would undertake a tem-
perance movement, or unless the Common Council could be
prevailed upon to pass restrictive ordinances. Agitation for the
accomplishment of both was undertaken.13 It was with con-
siderable regret, therefore, that toward the end of 1849, it was
seen that in spite of "all the warnings which God has given to
the intemperate during the past season by the cholera, this vice
abounds here more than ever."14 The failure of the temperance
forces to obtain greater success during this epidemic year seems
to have convinced them that legal restriction was the most effica-
cious means of accomplishing their ends, moral suasion having
been tried and found wanting. Thereafter greater emphasis was
placed, both in temperance literature and on the platform, on
the power of the ballot as the means by which the evils of the
liquor traffic might be legislated out of existence. The meetings
of the temperance groups, which began in the City Hall in April,
1850, took the lead from the Rev. L. Raymond and advocated
legal restriction on the sale of spirits.16

The passage of the first such restrictive law by the Illinois
legislature in early 1851, a law which set a minimum sale of one
quart of hard liquor, and allowed no sale to minors under eighteen
years of age, was highly approved by the temperance forces. They
regretted, however, that a more stringent law had not been passed,

a Watchman of the Prairies, June 20, 1848.
» Ibid., Jan. 2, 1849.
" Ibid., Sept. 18, 1849.
» Ibid. f Apr. 23, 1850.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 87

such as that of Wisconsin which made liquor retailers responsible
for injuries resulting to purchasers.16

The great event of 1851, to temperance groups the country
over, was the enactment in Maine of a law which wholly pro-
hibited the sale of liquor. When, at the end of the first year
that this law had been in force, it was seen that the results in
decrease of crime and pauperism, as well as in the sale of liquor
itself, were all that could be desired, groups in Chicago became
highly ecstatic over the possibility of passing a similar law in
Illinois.17 When the Supreme Court of the United States upheld
the Maine Law, and put an end to fears as to its constitutionality,
real efforts began in Chicago.18 Among the "hints" which one
denominational newspaper of Chicago published to guide the
arguments of the individual proselytizer was the following, of
particular significance since a short two years before it had
used the same reasoning to decry moral suasion and to defend
restrictive legislation such as minimum liquor sales, or closing
hours of saloons: "Raise no subordinate question, and be turned
aside to no collateral issue. . . . Insist that under past legislation
for partial restraint of the traffic in intoxicating drinks as a bev-
erage, the evil has grown worse."19 A similar stand was taken
by the organ of the Congregational church when it first appeared
in April, 1853.20

Up to and including 1853, the national temperance organiza-
tion which had directed the reform activities, distributed litera-
ture, and sent speakers around the Union was the Sons of Tem-
perance, famed in the song and verse of the day along with the
Washingtonian total abstinence pledge. Originally an organi-
zation which sought to establish temperance through appeal to
the individual and his conversion, climaxing in the signing of the
"pledge," the Sons of Temperance, latterly, had been advocating

16 Watchman of the Prairies, Feb. 18, 1851.
« Ibid., Feb. iO, 1852.

18 Ibid., March 16, 1852.

19 Ibid., March 23, 1852; also issue of March 16, 1852.
" Congregational Herald, Apr. 7, 1853.

88 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

the wholesale methods of the Maine Law. When the National
Division of the Sons, representing more than 300,000 members
in the United States and Canada, met in Chicago in June, 1853,
the Hon. Neal Dow, author of the Maine Law, dominated the
entire proceedings. So completely had the Sons been won over
that the many lectures which their representatives delivered in
all parts of Chicago were categorically referred to as "Maine
Law speeches."21 During this assembly, Chicago had been
thoroughly lectured on the fundamentals of the Maine Law,
and meetings following the convention kept the subject before
the people. It was Chicago, therefore, which took the lead in
calling an interdenominational convention "of the friends of a
prohibitory liquor law in the State of Illinois" to be held in the
Clark Street Methodist Episcopal Church on December 7 and 8
of the same year. Some two hundred and forty delegates, of whom
more than two hundred were clergymen, from twenty-four
counties, attended, and following lengthy discussions adopted a
set of resolutions and set up the Illinois Maine Law Alliance
which pledged its members never to vote for a candidate who
was "not unequivocally pledged to the Maine Law." In addi-
tion to adopting as their purpose "the entire suppression of the
traffic in intoxicating drinks (as beverages) by efficient legal
enactments," the Alliance set up a highly developed plan of
organization for towns, counties, and the state.22 A month later
the local Cook County Maine Law Alliance was organized, the
Chicago members taking the lead in the nomination of a
temperance candidate for mayor in the forthcoming municipal
elections. Their nominee, Amos Gaylord Throop, was badly
defeated because of the concerted opposition (as a sympathetic
Methodist paper explained) of the Catholic priests, the rum-sellers,
Irish whiskey-drinkers, and German beer-drinkers.23 To advertise

11 Northwestern Christian Advocate, June IS, 1853; also Congregational
Herald, June 18, 1853. A Cherokee Indian delegate was in attendance as the
first representative of his race to attend a temperance convention.

" Northwestern Christian Advocate, Dec. 14, 1853.

" New Covenant, Feb. 13 (?), 1853; Northwestern Christian Advocate, Feb. 15,
March 15, 1854.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 89

their activities, the state Maine Law Alliance began the publica-
tion of a weekly newspaper, bearing the same name as the society,
but this ill-starred venture, after several changes of management,
was given up for want of subscribers.24

The political activity of the Alliance did not cease with its
initial defeat, however, and with the election of Levi D. Boone
as mayor on the antiforeign Know-nothing ticket in 1855, the
city had an opportunity of witnessing the effect of enforcement
of liquor restrictions. Sunday-closing laws and licensing or-
dinances, affecting the German population of the city, caused
the "Lager Beer Riots" of April 21, during the course of which
one man was killed and several wounded.25 The Alliance at
the time was preparing for an appeal to the people on a referendum
for a state law similar to the Maine Law, the voting to take
place on June 4. The state organization sent a number of elo-
quent speakers who addressed the citizens at weekly or daily
meetings. With the hope of success near at hand, it is interest-
ing to notice the extent to which the leadership of such meetings
passed into secular hands. The clergy still appeared as speakers
and were probably very important behind the scenes, but
businessmen, editors, and politicians were selected as chairmen,
secretaries, and other officers. Except for the participation of
juvenile temperance societies, and their convention on June 2
in Dearborn Park, these meetings differed in no wise from the
ordinary political rallies and mass meetings. In the voting on
the proposed law, the prohibition forces were defeated by a wide
margin in Chicago and by a somewhat smaller one in the rest
of Cook County.26 With this defeat, the Maine Law Alliance,
as a political force in Chicago, seems to have disappeared

« Ibid., June 7, 1854; also Christian Times, Sept. 6, 1854.
** Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem, edited by Ernest H.
Cherrington (Westerville, Ohio, 1925), II: 570.

*• Daily Democratic Press, various numbers from April 27 to June 8, 1855.
The issue of the last date gives the vote of June 4 as follows:

In Chicago In Cook County
For prohibition law 2,785 3,807

Against prohibition law 3,964 5,182

I

90 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

except for a union temperance movement which it sponsored at
the time of the great revival of 1858 when practically every
religious interest flourished.27 That the friends of temperance
had not given up hope of eventual victory is clear, however, for
they continued their agitation until the eve of the war. In 1859,
the Universalist organ, spokesman for the liberal element of
Protestantism, demanded the embodiment in civil law of the
responsibility of the liquor purveyor for all the damages oc-
casioned through his "wicked traffic."28

While the Civil War diverted the attention of the entire
country from customary concerns, it is certainly not true that the
cause of temperance was deserted or that the moral censure of
insobriety gave way to broad-minded tolerance while it was
being waged.29 Regular meetings of the societies such as those
of the Chicago Temperance Legion continued to take place;
new societies were set up, such as that at Bridgeport which had
some two hundred members at its first anniversary in 1862;
a number of Chicago churches cooperated with others in the state
to hire the services of a famous lecturer and physiologist for
temperance education; and when the Reverend Dr. Tiffany of
Clark Street Methodist Episcopal Church got drunk while
serving on Governor Yates's Sanitary Commission delegation
after the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, the censorious cry which
went up from the state and local secular press, to say nothing
of the religious press, bespoke an aggrieved public opinion which
was still highly sensitive to moral issues.30 Relative to the high

27 Christian Times, May 12, 1858.

28 New Covenant, Feb. 5, 1859.

29 Chicago Tribune, June 29, 1861. A movement was started at this time
to solicit funds for distributing among the Illinois troops, copies of the Illinois
Temperance Journal which were specially priced for this purpose by the editors
at twenty dollars per hundred annual subscriptions.

80 Bloomington [111.] Pantagraph, May 15, 1862; Chicago Tribune, May 17, 22,
1862. Immediately after returning to Chicago, Dr. Tiffany resigned his pastorate
and his position as secretary of the Chicago Sanitary Commission, and also gave
up his membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, requesting to be put on
probation. The Pantagraph revealed his reasons in a highly caustic article and
made the whole affair a public scandal. The Tribune took the position that
Tiffany had suffered enough already and should not be persecuted. Subsequently
he was readmitted to full membership and reinstated in the ministry.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 91

pitch reached before 1860, however, interest in temperance
waned after that year, and did not regain its old strength until
several years after Appomattox.

In 1869, a temperance mass meeting was held in Farwell
Hall, concerning which meeting it was said that "the friends of
temperance are waking, and issues, dropped on account of the
war, are again to be vigorously pressed."31 At this meeting,
the Reverend Dr. Hatfield prophetically declared that the
political parties were due for a surprise on the temperance
question, suggesting that reentry into politics, and on a national
scale, must come.32 The temperance interest, awakened this year,
continued to grow as the old methods of revivalistic presentation
were reintroduced. Saloon-preaching, for instance, came back
into use when preachers invaded these places and prayed and
preached for the besotted patrons.33 In 1870, the perennial
nonenforcement of ordinances restricting the hours and Sunday-
opening of saloons, became a temporary focus point of which
the temperance "host" availed itself.34 When the mayor refused
to close the saloons in accordance with the laws, and in spite of
the petitions with 22,000 names which the temperance groups
submitted, the salutary opposition which gave renewed vigor
to the temperance movement appeared. The total abstinence
i pledges which obliged the signers to "touch not, taste not, handle
I not," were circulated in ever increasing numbers. Programs of
: child education in the Sunday schools were undertaken,35 and
: temperance tract distribution went forward with a new impetus.
Public meetings, such as those held each week in Farwell Hall,
became the order of the day, and temperance "bars" where
coffee and soup were available came into existence.36 The

» The Advance, Nov. 28, 1867.

31 Chicago Tribune, Nov. 22, 1867. The Tribune, on April 14, 1867, warned
the prohibitionists that they would go down in defeat if they tried to erect a
political party on the Maine Law experiment.

»» The Advance, March 19, 1868.

M Ibid., Jan. 6, 1870; also The Interior, March 17, 1870.

» Ibid., March 31, 1870.

" Chicago Tribune, March 30, July 17, 1871.

92 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Washingtonian Home, founded in 1863, expanded its work of
curing drunkards of their taste for liquor, its income from the
sale of liquor licenses guaranteeing its existence.37

By 1870 or 1871, therefore, the temperance campaign was
again well under way in Chicago. The fire of the latter year
did not put a stop to this activity, for the "Fire-Proof" ticket
on which Joseph Medill was elected mayor was pledged to enforce
the laws restricting liquor selling. This was the last important
political success of the temperance groups in the line of municipal
regulation of the traffic in spirits, however, for the victory of
the foreign groups, and particularly the Germans, in 1873, put
an end to the effective enforcement of the restrictive ordinances.
While the temperance movement grew in numbers and strength
from then on, political developments did not reflect this growth
until the turn of the twentieth century.38

IV
THE RADICAL LABOR MOVEMENT, 1873-1895

By DOROTHY CULP

Chicago, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, was
the scene of a radical labor movement interesting not only from
the local point of view, but also from the national, which it
epitomized. Against the dramatic background of a city rising,
in fifty years, from a frontier town to the center of a great
commercial empire, the problems of the working men were
brought into sharp relief. It was no accident that the three
great crises of the labor history of the late nineteenth century
centered in Chicago — the railroad riots of 1877, the Haymarket
riot of 1886, and the Pullman strike of 1894.

What was this Chicago which was to be the scene of a move-
ment which attracted national attention? In 1871 much of the

37 Chicago Tribune, Jan. 14, 1868.

38 Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem, II: 572.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 93

city had been destroyed by fire, and many people believed that
the day of Chicago had passed, that some other middle western
city would become the capital of the great prairie section which
had looked to Chicago for leadership.1 But the fire, terrible
catastrophe though it was, proved but an impetus to a develop-
ment even more spectacular than the previous twenty years
had witnessed. In size Chicago grew, in the years between the
fire and the World's Fair of 1893, from thirty-five to over two
hundred square miles. Her population increased, in these two
decades, from a little under three hundred thousand to more than
a million people.2 Such an increase would in itself have caused
vexatious problems, but other factors made the situation even
more serious. To a certain extent the growth in population was
due to natural increase; a part resulted from expansion from
more established communities of the United States; but a large
part resulted from immigration into the United States. During
the twenty years under consideration, the two main strains of
the immigrant influx into Chicago were German and Irish, and
these two racial groups alone accounted for over half of the
city's population.

Under any circumstances the adjustment of the immigrants to
the new society would have been difficult, but the situation in
Chicago only added to the complexity of the problem. Chicago
had become by 1871 the commercial capital of the Middle West
and was beginning to establish factories which were to make her a
manufacturing center of equal importance. In this maelstrom of
commercial and industrial activity, the immigrants found it diffi-
cult to adjust to the ethics and basic idealism of the dominant
middle class, whose will for power and quest for profit set the tone
for urban American civilization. In spite of the difficulties in-

1 A. L. S., John B. Carson to Elihu Washburne, Nov. 8, 1871, Elihu Wash-
burne Papers (MSS, Library of Congress), Vol. 76.

2 G. H. Gaston, The History and Government of Chicago: Its Expansion by
Annexations (Reprint from the Educational Bi-Monthly, June, 1914), 10; Ninth
Census, Vol. I, The Statistics of the Population of the United States (Washington,
1872), 599; Eleventh Census, 1890, Part II: Vital Statistics (House Misc. Docs.,
52 Cong., 1 Sess., 1891-92, Vol. 50, pt. 18, Washington, 1896), 364.

94 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

volved, the vast majority of the newcomers soon accepted the
ideology of nineteenth century America — believing that within
their reach or that of their children lay the possibility of attaining
the comfort, security and power of the middle class.

There were those, however, who could not accept the "great
American dream," who could find no hope for themselves or their
kind in the system they found in America. These men, largely
German, espoused various of the anticapitalist theories current at
the time and attempted to spread the teachings of these various
schools of thought. There had been a socialist movement in Chi-
cago even before the fire, but it remained for the panic of 1873 and
the terrible distress which lasted for several years afterwards and
found violent outlet in the railroad riots of 1877 to give the move-
ment a degree of cohesion and the powerful motivating force of
what Mr. Louis Adamic, with characteristic lack of delicacy but
amazing aptness, calls "an underdog, belly-hunger movement."*

The first organization of anticapitalist thinkers among Chicago
workingmen was that of the Universal German Workingmen's
Association, whose members, affiliated with the International,
were followers of the doctrines of Lassalle. In 1874 another or-
ganization of Lassalleans was begun under the name of the Labor
Party of Illinois. Both of these organizations emphasized political
action with but little success, and in 1875, discouraged by their
failure to gain converts, they joined forces and turned their ener-
gies to trade union action. Meanwhile, another organization was
growing up which, after several vicissitudes typical of radical or-
ganizations, emerged as the Socialistic Labor Party, and adopted
a program of political action which had as its goal "to place the
means of labor into the hands of the whole people, and thus es-
tablish a system of cooperative industry, by abolishing the present
wage system."4 By 1880, two diverse factions had grown up in-
side the Socialistic Labor Party, and the following year the trade

3 Louis Adamic, Dynamite, the Story of Class Violence in America (New York,
1931), 44.

4 Report of the Special Committee on Labor, 39 Gen. Assembly 111. (Springfield,
1879), 39.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 95

union faction split off from the political socialists. The new party
formed by the trade union group came to be known as the Inter-
national Workingmen's Association, and was thus described: "For
a year and a half the character of this movement was very vague.
There was loose talk of violence, dynamite, and assassination, but
the party as a whole dangled self-consciously between Marxism
and Nihilism, between theory and action."6 The Chicago members
of the group scoffed at the possibility of reorganizing society by
political action, but they were perfectly willing to use this means
of propagandizing their faith.

At the same time that a small but vehement group in Chicago
was becoming convinced that anarchism was the ideal system to
replace the capitalistic chaos, another more widespread change was
making itself felt. It seems characteristic of the American labor
movement that there be periodic swings from a belief in the efficacy
of political action to a dependence upon direct action. Such a
change was visible in the Chicago labor movement in the eighties.
It was partly due to the fiery criticism of political action by the
anarchist leaders, August Spies, Albert Parsons and others, for
there were many who, although they were unwilling to accept the
anarchist system, were still ready to believe with the anarchist that
the vote offered no solution to their problems. And the anarchists
could in this case back their criticism with facts. It had for years
been apparent that the working classes could hope for little from
either of the major parties. Nor had the attempts to form special
workers' parties been particularly successful. Their greatest
strength came in 1879 when they cast over 10,000 votes in the
Chicago mayoralty election/ Generally they were unable to com-

'Adamic, Dynamite, 45. The national convention of the International
Workingmen's Association in 1883 announced its belief in the destruction of
class rule by "energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action, the
establishment of a free society based upon cooperative organization of productions
without commerce and profit mongery; the organization of education on a popular,
scientific and equal basis for both sexes; equal rights for all without distinction
of sex or race, and the regulation of public affairs by free contracts between autono-
mous communes and associations resting on a federalistic basis." Nathan J.
Ware, The Labor Movement in the Unittd States (New York, 1929), 308.

1 Lucy Parsons, Life of Albert R. Parsons (Chicago, 1903), xxvii.

96 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

pete with the older established parties for important offices, and
were successful only in securing the election of one or two aldermen,
who found themselves impotent against the organized party ma-
chines. The climax came, to the discontent of the radical workers
for political action, with a particularly blatant action by which the
Democratic machine in 1880 was able to prevent the socialist mem-
ber of the council from taking his place in that body for almost the
entire term for which he had been elected. After this time the
number of votes cast for socialist candidates in Chicago steadily
dwindled, until in 1884 they polled only some six or seven hundred
votes.7 This falling off was, of course, partly caused by the disgust
of certain socialist groups with the possibility of attaining their
goal by political action, and was partly due to the fact that with
the return of comparative prosperity many workers who had previ-
ously voted socialist as a protest and not as a means of indicating
their belief in the constructive program of that group, now returned
to their old-line affiliations.

By 1885, anticapitalist thought in Chicago's labor circles was
fairly well-advanced and divided into two schools: the old-line
socialist and the anarchist. The Socialistic Labor Party and the
Amalgamated Trades and Labor Assembly represented the former,
and the International Workingmen's Association, the Progressive
Central Labor Union and the Lehr and Wehr Verein, which were
armed German drill organizations, represented the latter.

Already, however, just as the anarchist faction was establish-
ing itself and gaining strength, the movement was beginning
which was to result in the complete silencing of the anarchist move-
ment in Chicago. It is a curious anomaly that the eight-hour
movement, which resulted in the Haymarket incident and the
ruthless suppression of the anarchists, was adopted only after
hesitation by the anarchist leaders. Late in 1885 the Central
Labor Union, organization of the anarchist faction, adopted the
program of agitation for the eight-hour day. An eight-hour league

7 Report of the Senate Committee upon Relations Between Capital and Labor,
48 Cong. (Washington, 1885), I: 585.

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 97

was formed in which this Union cooperated with the Socialistic
Labor Party and the Knights of Labor. Agitation was carried on
by means of mass meetings and May 1, 1886 was set for the in-
auguration of the campaign. May day passed without serious
trouble, much to the surprise of the worthies of the city who felt
sure that revolution and murder were imminent. But on May 3,
after a meeting near the McCormick Reaper works, where the
men were out on strike, there was a serious encounter with the
police, in which six men were killed. Angered by what they con-
sidered an unjustified assault upon a workers' meeting, the anar-
chist leaders determined to hold a large meeting in the Haymarket
which was to be at once a protest meeting against the McCormick
outrage and a demonstration in favor of the eight-hour day. Of
the events of that tragic evening, but little need be said. Parsons,
Fielden and Spies addressed the crowd, giving speeches not unlike
those that they had been giving for the past several years, advocat-
ing the overthrow of capitalism and the achievement. of social jus-
tice. As the crowd was beginning to disperse, overzealous police-
men appeared on the scene and ordered the meeting to disperse.
Immediately after the order was given, a bomb was thrown into
the ranks of the police, killing several and wounding many others.
Within the next few weeks, August Spies, Michael Schwab, Samuel
Fielden, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Oscar Neebe, Louis Lingg
and Albert Parsons were arrested and charged with the murder
of Matthias Degan, one of the policemen who had been almost
instantly killed by the explosion. In an atmosphere of animosity
which was almost hysterical, the trial of these men took place.8
One commentator expressed it: "There is not a shred of evidence
to connect these men with the Haymarket bomb throwing. They
were anarchists and had talked wildly of violence and revolution
at one time or another, and on these grounds they were found
guilty. It was a case of Society against Anarchy with revenge as
the motive."9 Viewed as a murder trial the case was a tragic

8 Official Record of the Haymarket Trial (MS, Chicago Historical Society).

9 Ware, Labor Movement, 315.

98 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

travesty upon justice. It emerges as a more understandable event
when we realize that in the eyes of middle-class America the anar-
chists had — whether by deed or word is unimportant — destroyed
the symbol of authority upon which their civilization rested. It
was not to be expected that with the defense attorneys men of
little experience, with both judge and jury at least predisposed in
favor of guilt and with the added force of a hysterical public opin-
ion, these men would be acquitted. Finally they were found guilty,
one being sentenced to life imprisonment and the others to death.
The sentences of Fielden and Schwab were commuted to life, and
that of Oscar Neebe to fifteen years; Louis Lingg committed sui-
cide in prison and the others were hanged.

The hysteria which the Haymarket incident caused among
substantial citizens did not soon die away. Prominent business-
men of the city raised a fund of several hundred thousand dollars
to convict the anarchists and to wipe out whatever survived of the
anarchist movement. When Governor Altgeld pardoned the three
surviving defendants, a storm of protest was unleashed against
him, equalled only by the applause that came from those whom
time had permitted to see the affair more objectively.

The incident had several important effects. It did undoubtedly
silence the anarchists. Their great leaders, the ones who had be-
lieved sincerely in the constructive theory of anarchism, were im-
prisoned or hanged. But it would be a mistake to think that the
labor movement as a whole was so affected. On the contrary it
emerged from the 1886 hysteria in many respects stronger than it
had been before that time. The diverse elements of labor, and the
different organizations and nationalities were all drawn together
by the realization that their common cause was more important
than factional differences and theoretical disagreements among
themselves. Furthermore, the labor movement really gained in
practical strength with the removal of the radical intellectuals.

It was not until 1894 that labor in Chicago was faced with
another such crisis as the one of 1886 which had been climaxed by
the throwing of the Haymarket bomb. By this time the panic of

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 99

1893 had caused a serious amount of unemployment, wage cuts
were being made and whole industrial plants were being shut down.
The trouble this time centered about the Pullman Palace Car Com-
pany works. The paternalist system of Mr. Pullman's town, ex-
cellent though it may have been in theory, caused great dissatis-
faction among his workers. Consequently, they welcomed the
opportunity to join the American Railway Union which had been
organized in Chicago in 1893 under the leadership of Eugene V.
Debs. Dissatisfaction caused by the refusal of the company to
recognize the union came to a climax in May, 1894, when the
company announced a wage cut. The men walked out, and
the company retaliated by closing the plant — a step it was not at
all averse to taking, since conditions made operation at a profit
difficult. It is unnecessary to discuss the details of the Pullman
strike, already so familiar to modern American historians. Eugene
V. Debs emerged as the leader of the labor forces, and directed the
strike until the employer groups made use of the formidable weapon
of the injunction, and Debs and his lieutenants were arrested and
the strike broken.

These, then, are the highlights of the radical labor movement
in Chicago in the years from 1873 to 1894. The period was one in
which the organization of labor went forward at a rapid rate, when
trade unions were increasing in numbers as well as in strength. At
the same time a numerically small but vocal group was espousing
anticapitalist theories, and in this group too, there was a period of
organization and of definition. The course of the development is
indicated by the mention of the great names of the labor move-
ment of this period in the city — Parsons and Spies at the begin-
ning and Debs at the end. As epitomized by these men, the so-
cialist labor movement had changed from a thing of eloquent
theorizing and idealism impossible of realization to the idea of
evolutionary revolutionary socialism which Debs represented.

100 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

V
SUMMARY

By HERBERT A. KELLAR

The story of the development of Chicago may be told in
many ways. It can be regarded as the growing center of a great
inland empire, the activities of whose citizens have reached,
and continue to reach, intimately into the lives of the people of
half a dozen surrounding states and beyond, and are in turn
influenced by these individuals, and others, dwelling outside
the boundaries of the city. Again it might be revealed in the
record of the achievements and failures of its leaders in many
lines of endeavor, portrayed against the background of the
destinies of the remainder of the population. In another sense
it forms an Exhibit A of the long struggle of labor for rights
and privileges, as opposed to the functioning of unrestrained
laissez-faire capitalism. Still another is the changing relation of
the English speaking and the foreign language groups. Here
may be noted such phases as the initial economic, political and
social dominance of the latter by the former; the gradual
political emancipation of the foreign language groups brought
about by cooperation and the ballot box; the use of political
control as a means of challenging the remaining economic and
social prerogatives of their opponents; and lastly the partial
amalgamation of the two groups with the gradual emergence of
a social viewpoint on the part of both.

Suggestive is the fact that practically from the beginning of
Chicago as an organized entity, three types of interest have been
predominant, namely economic enterprise, intellectual activity
along cultural and social lines, and concern with spiritual matters.
Out of these has come at times a fourth phenomenon, the "I
will" spirit, which has done so much to give Chicago her
distinctive place among the great cities of her time. Tracing
the individual growth and the relationship of these factors is

PHASES OF CHICAGO HISTORY 101

fundamental to the understanding of the story of Chicago, past
and present. So varied are the possibilities for analyzing and
depicting the history of this great city that imagination con-
tinues to suggest others, but the above will suffice to illustrate.

The plan outlined by Dr. Pierce offers a further method of
attack. Chronological division into periods and selection of
topics within the period has obvious advantages, provided good
judgment and imagination, as undoubtedly will be in evidence
in this instance, enter into the choice of topics. In view of the
emphasis placed upon the r61e of the common man, it would
not be amiss to point out that impartial treatment would of
course require that the mutual dependence upon each other of
both leaders and the mass, should be duly shown.

Mr. Norris, Mr. Wiltsee, and Miss Culp have each in turn
indicated the interesting and important data that they are
uncovering in their research. Judging from the types of sources
which they have cited (and this thought should also be held in
mind for the history of Chicago as a whole), newspapers, periodi-
cals and books should be liberally supplemented with manu-
scripts and other varieties of original material.

The project in which Dr. Pierce and her associates are engaged
is both intriguing and important for American and world history.
May their product in finality, equal in quality the zeal and
enthusiasm which they are giving to their chosen task.

THE RUSSIAN COMMUNITY OF CHICAGO

By THOMAS RANDOLPH HALL

"The time has not yet come when the history of Slavic immi-
gration can be written with any thoroughness. The preliminary
work must be done by local antiquarian societies, state historical
associations, writers of monographs, and mainly by members of
the various nationalities themselves. Meanwhile, unless the
work of collecting material is vigorously and systematically
carried on, much will be irrevocably lost."1 Little has been
done in the period of some thirty years since Emily Balch made
this appeal to the historical consciousness of American and Slav.
The author, of course, could not foresee later developments, the
prosecution of research projects on a large scale with public
money, with the resulting preservation of sources too long for-
gotten.2

Until the W. P. A. Foreign Language Project began its work,
Chicago's Russian colony remained neglected by the student.
There had been no attempt to set forth in any connected form
the life of the second largest Russian community in America.
A few, greatly interested in the life of their people, had stored
away handbills, letters, and copies of newspapers. It was to
trace down these sources that the Russian section of the Foreign
Language Project was organized, sending its investigators into
damp basements and dusty attics, only to find with heartbreak-

1 Emily G. Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York, 1910), 205.

i This paper is an attempt to give a general summary of the Russian colony
as it appears from source material thus far collected by the W.P.A. Foreign
Language Project of Chicago. It does not pretend to completeness, and is
intended only to give students an idea of the problems which arise in connection
with such a study.

THE RUSSIAN COMMUNITY OF CHICAGO 103

ing frequency that the junkman had been there before them, or
that carelessness, aided by fire and dampness, had destroyed
records which could not be replaced. When some stray file of
papers was found, its possessor often had to be persuaded that
his material would not be used against him, that it was not the
police who wanted it. However, it must be placed to the credit
of the Russians, that, almost without exception, they have
appreciated the necessity of such researches if their history is
to be preserved in written form.

The early records of this Russian community are lost. The
English language press informs us that a "Russian Mutual Aid
Society" presented an address of welcome to President Cleveland
upon the occasion of his visit to Chicago in 1887; there is to be
found in the same source a reference to a Russian Literary So-
ciety, Organized in 1890.3 Beyond these there is little trace of
the organized secular life of the Russians between 1871 and 1908.
The Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, founded in 1893, remains
the oldest living Russian organization in the city.

The heavy immigration of the first decade of the twentieth
century gave Chicago, for the first time, a semblance of Russian
community life. Hull House was the early center, but new
organizations soon began to rent and furnish their own quarters.
In the period, 1905-1916, the first Russian paper, The Russian
in America, a weekly, was established, existing about one and a
half years.4 Other efforts were made by liberal and socialist
groups to publish small magazines; without exception, all expired
after a few issues.6

In this same period there came a great growth of benefit
societies. Immigrants working in factories for low wages, and
suspicious of the life around them, began to band together to
protect their families and their future. Organizations devoted
to revolutionary, artistic or intellectual aims made provision to

3 Chicago Daily News (morning issues), Oct. 5, 1887; Nov. 21, 1890.

4 Russkii v Amerike.

5 The Foreign Language Project has records to date of nineteen newspapers
and eleven magazines published in Russian in Chicago since 1891.

104 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

pay their members sick and death benefits or to lend them small
sums. The largest local society of this type, the Russian Inde-
pendent Mutual Aid, was founded in 1912, following a quarrel
among the parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.*
Around this society there has developed a church and a school.
The Independent Church has become an intellectual center
among the Russians of Chicago, vying with the Orthodox Church
for leadership, and spreading its influence far beyond the city.

Intellectual ferment was the product of the war and its after-
math. Revolution in Russia was reflected in Chicago. Many
saw their dreams come true and returned home to help build a
new nation; those remaining behind in Chicago organized to give
the Revolution moral and material support. The press grew
rapidly. Several papers sprang up to debate the new Russia
and the proper attitude of the colony toward it. There de-
veloped during this time the schism which has hamstrung the
colony ever since. A growing distrust of the extreme policy of
the Soviet government, together with an influx of refugee immi-
grants from the homeland, caused a majority of the community
to cease their support of the new course of Revolution. Since
1921, the anticommunist sentiment of the colony has grown,
and unceasing warfare with the more radical minority has become
more bitter.

It is fitting that we draw the curtain with the year 1924.
Events too recent cannot be seen in their proper perspective; we
cannot yet correctly evaluate the effects of a decade of inter-
necine strife. Clear it is, however, that the Russians of Chicago
are erecting a new foundation for their community existence.
Russians are entering the regular American parties in an effort
to gain a foothold in the politics of city and state. At the same
time an effort is being made to preserve the old traditions and
transmit to the youth the language of their fathers. There is a
lively consciousness, even among the more radical elements, of

• Russkii Narodnyi Kalendar na 1929 god ("Russian National Almanac,
1929"), edited by J. J. Voronko (Chicago, 1929), 78-81.

THE RUSSIAN COMMUNITY OF CHICAGO 105

the need for schools to give this training.7 Among the young
people there has arisen a movement to replace with English the
Russian of the Orthodox Church service. In a word, the Russians
are much nearer assimilation, though let us hope that they will
be able to synthesize the traditions of two great nations.

Sources of information for the more recent years, which are
available to the Project, are much more abundant than for the
early part of the century, although the newspaper files preserved
are incomplete. The dozens of societies which flourished have
left their record in handbills, announcements and resolutions
which throw light on the reactions of the colony to events
abroad and at home.

The Russian press has been the Project's most difficult prob-
lem. Russian journalism has never been highly successful in
Chicago; lack of adequate finances, poor equipment, and un-
trained personnel have been the greatest restraining influences.
The Russian-American newspaperman is often a drifter who
has been unsuccessful in other professions. Three types of
paper have appeared in Chicago — the independent, the "front"
or newspaper published to furnish prestige to its editor in
politics, and that supported wholly or in part by an organi-
zation. The latter has been most successful. The Independent
Society financed the publication of Free Russia in 1917 and has
supported, at least in part, every important paper which has
appeared since that date. Despite this, it is obvious that the
quality of Russian journalism is declining. Too often the printed
page becomes the scene of obscure intellectual battles; the edi-
tor's chief tool is a pair of shears, with which he acquires his
daily budget of news from the local English language press.

Journalism and every other civic activity has obtained its in-
spiration from the "intellectual," and from the educated working-
man. Semi-illiterate masses have been forced to look to this
minority to conduct them through the maze of difficulties arising

7 Novyi Mir ("New World"), Apr. 4, 1936. This newspaper is published
in New York.

106 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

from American urban life, for which the old ways furnish no
precedent. The intellectual is usually a professional man, a
physician, lawyer, editor, or engineer, occasionally a writer,
more rarely a business man. Though his professional training
may be, and, in fact, often has been obtained in America, the
learned man generally enjoys a Russian university education.
Many of the Russian intellectuals of Chicago fled to America
for political reasons. Before the war they were the heart of the
numerous revolutionary circles and bands, of every political hue,
which flourished in the colony. The intellectual in those far-off
days kept his eyes on the tsarist state and worked feverishly to
convert his backward peasant countrymen to the doctrines of
social change.

Revolutionary reality greatly changed all this. Many, it is
true, hurried home to join in the new life. Among them was
Michael Berg who for almost a decade had been striving to
educate the unlettered of his community. The world now knows
him as Michael Borodin, adviser to Sun Yat-Sen, and mighty
forger of revolution in China. He is the most famous of the
scores who left Chicago to take an active part in the Revolution.
The course of events and old political differences produced
numerous quarrels among the leaders, the more conservative
wing being strengthened by the influx of refugees between 1920
and 1924. Since that time there has arisen an interest in purely
American politics; Russians, under the influence of their leaders,
are taking their place in American public life.

All of the intellectual's talents have not been devoted to
politics, however. No movement for the betterment of condi-
tions among his people has failed to find him at the helm. Popu-
lar lectures on hygiene, art, music and literature have engaged
the attention of the best forces of the colony for over three dec-
ades. Russian physicians conducted a campaign of education
against venereal disease and quackery among their countrymen
twenty years before these subjects became fashionable in the
metropolitan press of Chicago. The Russian People's Uni- i

THE RUSSIAN COMMUNITY OF CHICAGO 107

versity of Chicago, founded in 1918, during its life of two years
was a vital force in the intellectual and economic life of the
entire community.8

It is tragic that these unselfish efforts have not been more
successful. Unfortunately for the welfare of the colony, the
Russian workingman's distrust of the learned has been much in
evidence, and not entirely without justification. The tendency
toward sectarian differences, personal quarrels and pettifogging
has been prominent in Chicago. Many promising schemes have
been ruined and the colony as a whole retarded by this suspicion
of the well-educated. Until the level of the community as a
whole is raised, no permanent solution of such serious problems
as poverty and quackery can be attempted.

The study of the Russian colony is not yet sufficiently ad-
vanced to enable us to make any very definite pronouncements.
The records available are so scanty that inevitably great gaps
will appear in the complete story, particularly for the early
periods. The years from 1924 to the present, however, will be
well covered, and it will be possible to trace the recent history
of the Russian settlement in full detail.

Chicago's Russians are making a valiant fight to maintain
their individuality. The cessation of immigration will result
eventually in their complete assimilation; meanwhile those who
knew the homeland are struggling to inculcate in their children
a love for its language and culture. It is very difficult to awaken
the poorly educated to the great traditions of the old home.
Among the masses, living on a low scale, the daily problems of
food and shelter appear all-important.

Their failures in organization and community life are fully
' recognized by the Russians. Other peoples, more numerous or

* lxoestiya Russkago Narodnago Universiuta v Chikago ("News of the Russian
People's University of Chicago"), No. 1, Chicago, 1919. This volume furnishes
complete information as to the scope and influence of this institution. The Krasnow
Scrapbooks, Vols. I and IX, owned by Dr. Henry R. Krasnow, 4601 N. Broadway,
Chicago, 111., contain newspaper clippings, handbills, and other materials covering
the past thirty years of the Russian colony.

108 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

less torn by internal quarrels, have made a greater impression
upon the city. So the Russians, unable to compete in numbers or
in wealth, have been content to occupy an honorable place
among the many nationalities that have had so large a part in
the building of Chicago.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT

A BOSTON REPORTER'S RECORD OF A TRIP IN 1847

Edited by HARRY E. PRATT

INTRODUCTION

J. H. Buckingham, son of the founder and publisher of the
Boston Courier, came to Chicago in July, 1847, as a delegate to the
River and Harbor Convention and as a reporter for his father's
paper. That Convention, which Horace Greeley said was the
largest meeting ever held in America up to that time, convened
on July 5 and adjourned two days later. Its purpose was to reg-
ister a protest against President Polk's veto of a bill making appro-
priations for river and harbor improvement, and to strengthen the
general cause of internal improvements by federal action. Chi-
cago was an appropriate meeting place, because Polk's veto had
deprived it of an anticipated 38,000 for the harbor improvement
which had been in progress since 1833.

One of the Illinois delegates to the Convention was Abraham
Lincoln, who had been elected to the national House of Repre-
sentatives the preceding year but had not yet taken his seat. So
far as is known, this was Lincoln's first visit to the Illinois metrop-
olis. Buckingham made no mention of Lincoln's short speech be-
fore the Convention, but when they became fellow passengers on
the stage between Peoria and Springfield a few days later, he was
greatly amused by the Whig Congressman and described his antics
in several of the most interesting passages of this narrative.

Buckingham was fascinated by Chicago and the West, and
decided to proceed to St. Louis. His route took him by stage and
steamer through Peru, Peoria, Springfield, Jacksonville and Alton.

110 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Returning, he traveled up the Mississippi to Galena, stopping
for a day at Nauvoo. His description of the famous Mormon Tem-
ple is one of the most detailed on record. From Galena, he followed
the lower route through Dixon to Chicago.

Buckingham's letters to the Courier, which appeared at inter-
vals in July and August, 1847, are first-rate travel literature. But
they have a broader interest than most travel literature, for the
state which they describe so accurately and vividly was the Illinois
of Lincoln's time. Here are the towns as he saw them, the inns in
which he slept, the people whom he knew — and, for good measure,
a pencil sketch of Lincoln himself.

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE COURIER

Chicago
July 5, 1847

This city, with a permanent population of nearly twenty
thousand inhabitants, is, to-day, occupied by at least forty
thousand. It is a beautiful place, the most beautiful, at first
sight, of any I have seen since I left New-England. Its streets
are broad and long, and all lined with trees. It is bordered by
the Chicago or Skunk River and Lake Michigan, and by a ten-
mile prairie. The prevalent winds are from the North, blowing
over the lake, and they keep everything healthy.

To-day, the great, long-talked of, and very important River
and Harbor Convention, met in this place, and this fact, with
the additional fact that the day was set apart for the celebration
of our National Independence, has caused a great crowd. All
the hotels, — and Western towns and cities, are famous for the
number, — if not for the excellence of their hotels and taverns,
have been full to overflowing for more than a week. I arrived
here yesterday morning, in five days from Buffalo, in the steamer
Baltic,1 with two hundred and fifty passengers, but no hotel

1 The Baltic, Capt. A. T. Kingman in charge, had left Buffalo, New York, for
Chicago on June 29, 1847; it remained there until July 8. It was an 825 ton steamer,
launched in Buffalo earlier in the same year. It was 221 feet in length, and had a
30 foot beam, with a 12 foot depth of hull.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 111

accommodations could be had that were comfortable, and we
all, men, women and children, remain on board the boat, by
invitation of Captain Kingman, who keeps temporarily a hotel
for our accommodation. Five other large steamers are lying in
the river with their passengers also on board, and in the same
situation. The citizens have been very liberal, and have put
themselves to great expense and inconvenience to accommodate
strangers; — every private house where there is a spare bed, has
been freely offered to the strangers who are here, and I under-
stand that all the houses are full. I have just declined an invi-
tation to a spare mattress on the floor of the office of a lawyer
in Lake street, because I am well accommodated on board the
Baltic, and have no doubt some stray stranger will be glad of
it before bedtime.

- At early dawn to-day, or rather at early dark last evening,
crackers, and squibs, and guns "begun to be fired," and they
have been "being fired" for at least twenty-four hours. I miss
the merry sound of the bells which are used to usher in our sun-
rise, noon and sunset, on such occasions in Boston; but in other
respects the celebration of the day has been much as such cele-
brations are wont to be all the world over.

The procession was formed at nine o'clock, and escorted by
a company of Light Artillery. Our Boston boys would have
laughed to see the guns, which were longer and heavier than a
majority of the volunteer militia of Massachusetts would be able
to handle if they should try. But they looked as if made for ser-
vice, and the men who carried them looked as if they were capable
of doing service with them; there were no boys in this company,
or if there were, they were boys with beards, and hard heads,
and hard frames.

Next followed the Fire Department, and a more tasteful,
and in fact a handsomer show was never got up in the Eastern
country. The Chief Engineer is a Boston Boy, and he has
Boston tastes, much improved, and with views enlarged to suit
the boundaries of this noble Western World. He got up the

112 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

procession, or his part of it, in a manner that would do credit
to any body. The engines were mounted on cars and drawn by
six and eight horses; the members of the different companies
were dressed in appropriate costume, and a band of music ac-
companied each. The wheels and the brakes were garlanded
with flowers, and while one was covered with a bower, another
was covered with an open tent, and all had some appropriate
decoration.

Next followed the Illinoisans, marching by counties, with
banners, — Long John Wentworth, seven feet in height, being in
the front rank.2 The Massachusetts delegation was formed at
the head of the column of foreign delegates, and were twenty-
eight in number. Then came the delegates from other states.
After marching some distance, the escort opened to the right and
left, and the foreign delegates passed into a large pavilion, fol-
lowed by the rest of the procession, so far as was practicable.
This pavilion was said to be calculated to seat three thousand
people, and half the number of persons who were in the pro-
cession could not get seats. The Mayor3 of the city, in a brief
address, gave us a welcome; and the Executive Committee,
who have had the arrangement, the getting up of the Convention,
then came forward and proposed Col. Barton of Buffalo as
President pro tem.y and two gentlemen from the farther West
as Secretaries. This being agreed to, we had prayer, and then
the Committee proposed a plan of proceeding that was calcu-
lated to facilitate the operations of the Convention. After some
preliminary discussion as to the details of business, the Conven-
tion adjourned until afternoon.

1 John Wentworth, 1815-1888. He was born in New Hampshire, and was a
graduate of Dartmouth College; he came to Chicago in 1836 and within a month
had become editor of the Chicago Democrat. From 1839 to 1861, he was its sole
owner, editor and publisher. He was admitted to the bar in 1841; member of Con-
gress from 1843 to 1851, 1853 to 1855 and 1865 to 1867; and mayor of Chicago from
1857 to 1863. In public, as in private life, his motto was "Liberty and Economy."
He was influential in bringing the River and Harbor Convention to Chicago. Went-
worth was a striking figure, being six feet, seven inches in height, and weighing some
three hundred pounds.

1 James Curtiss, a Democrat, was elected mayor on March 2, 1847.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 113

Among the arrangements of the morning was one, that in
disputed votes, each delegation should be entitled to vote in
states, and each delegation should choose a person to cast the
votes. Another was, that each delegation should elect a person
to act for it, and that the persons so elected should compose a
committee to nominate officers for the Convention, and to make
rules and orders and other arrangements to be observed. We
chose B. B. Mussey of Boston as chairman, and authorized him
to vote for the Massachusetts delegation. We chose Artemas
Lee of Templeton as member of the nominating committee, and
also elected a Secretary.

The Convention then adjourned until four o'clock. This
afternoon the nominating committee are in session, and at the
time I am writing, six o'clock, have not agreed upon their re-
port. In the mean time, the Convention itself is in session under
its temporary organization, and speeches have been made by
several gentlemen. I was not able, without too much trouble,
to penetrate the mass, and so have not heard the talk of this
afternoon; but I heard enough from Mr. Corwin of Ohio to be
satisfied that he is for political action, and disposed to make
political capital out of this Convention.

People are here from all parties, but I cannot disguise the
fact that the majority appear to be Whigs. They talk Whig,
and they don't pretend to be any thing else than Whigs. What
will be the effect, time will tell; but the West is aroused and will
assert its right to a share of the public plunder — will have appro-
priations for the improvement of its lakes and rivers, let who
will be President.

P. S. Since the foregoing was written, the committee has
reported a list of officers, Judge Bates of Missouri being Presi-
dent,4 and each state having a Vice-President; William T. Eustis
of Boston is one of the latter. When the report was made, a

* Edward Bates, 1793-1869, was born in Virginia; he moved to St. Louis in
1814. He was a Representative in the Twentieth Congress and presided over the
National Whig Convention in 1856; a leading candidate for presidential nomina-
tion in 1860; Attorney General of the United States, 1861-1864.

114 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

member of the committee stated that the minority of the same
was in favor of Thomas Corwin of Ohio for President of the
Convention, and proposed his name in opposition to the name
reported; but Mr. Corwin declined, and the Convention, as I
think they would have done without his declination, voted down
the proposition at once.

The mail is about to close, and I will write you more for
to-morrow.

Chicago
July 6, 1847

In my hurried letter of yesterday, I could not give you one
hundredth of the actual information with which I am burthened
respecting this place, and the convention which is now in session.
For particulars of the latter, I must refer to the newspapers,
for without taking a reporter's desk on the platform, and working
all the time, it would be impossible to give any thing like even
a sketch of what is doing.

There are men here who have come to make party capital,
and there are men here who have come with a single eye to the
professed objects of the gathering. But the majority is of the
latter class, and the politicians find themselves trammeled, or if
not trammeled, find that the leading sentiment is in opposition
to all the professed Democratic doctrines of Mr. President Polk
and his predecessors. The consequence is that while Whiggery,
if I may use such a word, is predominant, the Locofocos feel a
little uneasy, talk of their disgust at the "management," which
they see so clearly, and try to mar where they cannot make.

Clergymen, of all other classes of men, are the most unfit to
be sent on political missions, and if they have not discretion
enough to stay at home of their own accord, their friends and
neighbors ought not to make other people suffer by sending them
into conventions, where they are entirely out of place. New-
England stands high in the estimation of the Western people,
but yesterday she was rendered ridiculous, if not contemptible,
by the intrusion of a clergyman, before the thousands of people

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 115

assembled, with a written speech of adulation and praise for the
Puritan fathers and their descendants. I am ready to render all
due credit to the gentleman who placed New-England, and in
particular the Massachusetts delegation, in such a mortifying
position, for his honesty of purpose, and for his good intentions,
but I cannot but regret, in common with others, that he did not
keep his sermon for ears that could better tolerate self-glorifica-
tion. When he concluded, Mr. Corwin of Ohio was called for,
and the withering sarcasm with which that gentleman politely
agreed to all the fulsome twaddle of the Rev. Mr. Allen, was
enough to have killed any one not wrapped up [in] self-conceit as
with a coat of mail.

The greater part of the afternoon, yesterday, was spent in
discussing some trifling matters of proceeding, and resulted in
following the recommendations of the business committee. It
was Mr. Charles King of the New- York Courier and Enquirer,
who proposed to make Mr. Corwin the President of the Conven-
tion, and his movement was one injurious to any desire that he
may have to increase his political or personal influence. Mr.
Corwin's friends were much disappointed, and in proportion to
their disappointment is their tone of complaint. They even
talk of ill-usage, and intimate that Mr. Corwin expected the
situation, in consequence of promises held out to him in advance.
Mr. Corwin made an able speech yesterday afternoon, and was
listened to with great attention.

To-day a committee of two from each state was appointed to
draw up resolutions for consideration, and at half-past four
o'clock they reported a long series, and much to the astonishment
of every body the chairman stated that they had been agreed to
unanimously. They are very strong, and were received with
marks of favor, and were much applauded. When I left the
tent, at five o'clock, Mr. J. C. Spencer of New- York was on the
stand, explaining and advocating their passage. I see no reason
| now, why the convention should not close its deliberations to-
morrow forenoon.

116 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

If I appear enthusiastic in my notices of the new world which
has been opened to me, not only here, but in New- York state,
I can offer no excuse, for I am rilled with the wonders and the
capacities of the West. A person living in Boston, and having
experience of our hard soil, and the hard work which the people
of Massachusetts have to undergo to produce even moderate
crops knows nothing of what is to be opened to us by the exten-
sion of our railroad communications, without coming to see for
himself. I consider that the Ogdensburg6 Railroad is but joining
us on to the string of western lakes, for it must be apparent to
every one who looks at things as they are, that Boston is the
natural market, on the Atlantic shore, for the whole country.
New- York can never compete with us for this trade, to our in-
jury, and while there must always be enough for both, we must,
by force of natural circumstances, take the lion's share. It is
incredible to me that we should so long have delayed building
the road through Northern New- York, and it would be incred-
ible to all our readers if I should show them what I know must
be the immediate result of its being built at this present time.
People are absolutely suffering for want of the accommoda-
tions which we are about to offer them by that line, and when
we can say that the cars are in running order, we shall wonder
how they have lived so long without it.

I saw to-day in the street casks of nails manufactured at
Plattsburg, N. Y., which, on inquiry, I ascertained had arrived
at this place after a long voyage down Lake Champlain, to
Whitehall and Troy, thence through the Erie Canal to Buffalo,
and then through the lakes to Chicago. Look at the map, and
see how much of transportation would have been saved, if these
nails could have come by railroad from Lake Champlain to
Ogdensburg. As the newspapers say — comment is unnecessary.

Chicago is destined, some day hence, and no very far-off day
neither, to be one of the largest cities in the Union; and the

s Ogdensburg, New York, located on the St. Lawrence River, is the termina'
of deep water navigation on the Great Lakes.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 117

wisdom of its projectors, in laying out its wide streets, is every-
where apparent. The streets are all lined with trees, and the
Acacia and Maple and Elm are abundant; the Acacia, in par-
ticular, grows very thrifty and beautiful. The soil, even in its
worst places, after you go a few yards from the shore of the
lake, is nothing but the richest garden earth to the depth of
many feet, and its capacity for yielding produce is unfathomable.

The latitude of Chicago is about the same as that of Boston
and the climate, as regards heat and cold, is about the same.
The prevalent breezes are from the North, and blowing over the
pure fresh water of Lake Michigan, are very healthy and invig-
orating.

To-day I stood in what is called the Old Fort, a spot occupied
by barracks, with a square in the centre, the whole occupying
not more space than the Common on Fort Hill, in Boston; and
in that spot, in 1832, Gen. Scott collected for safety, and to
protect them from the Indians, every inhabitant that lived within
a circuit of thirty miles. In the space of that thirty miles, are
now living nearly fifty thousand people! Twelve years ago, one
hundred and fifty inhabitants was a large estimate for the census
of Chicago, and to-day the residents are estimated at twenty
thousand!6

A large proportion of the people of this city are of eastern
origin, mostly from New-England, and one would hardly be aware
in the intercourse with the town's people that he was not in
a New-England village. But the persons who come into town
from the country, and from other States, are strongly marked
with the characteristics of the West. The procession of yesterday
exhibited these hardy countenances and sturdy frames to great
advantage, and if nothing else results from the Convention but
a knowledge, by personal inspection, of the traits of character
existing in each and all of the different classes of the East and the
West, the North and the South, who are here assembled, enough

1 Chicago had a population of approximately thirty in 1829; in 1835 the census
figure was 3,265, and by 1847 it had increased to 16,859.

118 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

will have been accomplished to pay for all the cost and labor of
individuals, and of this community.

The weather is intensely hot, and the roads are dusty. Chi-
cago has no stone, and consequently the streets are not paved.
Every street, however, to the end of its settlement — for some of
them run out for miles into the prairie, beyond where there are
houses, — is accommodated with a wide wooden sidewalk, which
is pleasant to walk on. The crossings, too, are generally accom-
modated with a plank foot path, which is very fortunate, as some
times one might run the risk of getting lost by sinking into the
rich and fruitful looking earth. The dust is not sand, and the
mud is not clay, but it looks more like the soil of a hot-house
garden bed, than like any thing else.

Chicago
July 7, 1847
The Convention has adjourned, sine die, after passing the
resolutions reported by the committee, voting thanks to the
citizens of Chicago, and to the President, and listening to a long
and eloquent speech from the President in reply. Judge Bates
has acquitted himself during his term of office with great ability,
and earned the respect of the thousands who have been in
attendance. His speech this morning was singularly appropriate,
modest, Christian and patriotic, and the three times three cheers
with which he was saluted on concluding were well deserved.
I must refer you to the Chicago papers for particulars of the
proceedings, with the single remark that every thing has gone
off harmoniously, and every body is now satisfied and pleased.
The disaffections and the quibblings of a few Locofocos, to
which I have before referred, appear to have been but the
effervescence of a soda bottle, and better counsels, calmer judg-
ment, soon settled all bickerings. I believe that now every body
thinks that the Convention has done good, and I am satisfied,
as I said yesterday, that the mere collection of so many people
together, in this place, will be a national good, even if nothing
results from our deliberations.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 119

After the Convention adjourned, the mass went into commit-
tee of the whole, and we were entertained with speeches from
different gentlemen from different places. You never saw so
happy a multitude, nor so uproariously orderly and determinedly
happy a set of men. They called for one after another of the
prominent men known to be present, and would take no excuse;
Western men wanted speeches, and speeches they would have at
any rate. Among the rest, our friend Burlingame7 was loudly
called for, and the Badgers of Wisconsin, and the Wolverines of
Illinois, would not be put off. He tried to turn them over to
another gentleman of the Massachusetts delegation, but they
would not be turned over to any body. They told him he must
speak first, and they would hear his friend afterwards. He
spoke for a few minutes in his usual eloquent manner, and his
speech was received with great attention and most loudly
applauded. He then introduced E. H. Allen of Boston, who
made a short speech, which was well received, although it did
not attract the attention it deserved. It is always unfortunate
for a stranger to follow a known and popular speaker, and
Burlingame is so well known to the boys of the West, that they
were not attentive to any one else for some time.

All day, forenoon and afternoon, the tent has been full, and
one after another has been made to mount the stage and air his
vocabulary for a while. The day winds up with a bright sky, a
burning heat, and lots of fun of all kinds. An old-fashioned
country muster never exhibited any thing to be compared to the
scenes of the last three days, and nowhere else could such an
occasion pass off so well and so noisily, so rowdyish and so good-
naturedly, as here in the West.

The more I see of Chicago, the more I am impressed with the
value of its increasing trade with Boston, — for Boston is the
Atlantic sea-port of this great country. Everywhere one meets
with something new to astonish and delight him, and the only

7 Anson Burlingame of Boston, who later became the celebrated American
minister to China.

120 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

wonder soon gets to be, that we have not sooner made efforts
to secure it all to ourselves. To-day I have had a ride on the prairie,
and although new to me, I was coolly told that I had seen nothing
at all. The flowers growing wildly beautiful, the roads running
through miles and miles of unfenced grounds rich with soft black
loam, the young trees growing thriftily and luxuriantly, the tall
grass, — all, I am told, are nothing. Well, we shall see in a few days,
for I am off, to-morrow, for the interior of the state, where I am to
find "something" worth looking at.

I could write columns about Chicago, and give statistics upon
statistics, to show that it is the greatest place of its age, and is
destined to be still greater; but cut bonol You would not believe
half I should tell you, and instead of writing notes from a plain
diary, I should be set down as a romancer. This is a great place
for the pork trade, in which article it is destined to rival Cincin-
nati, and its beef is said to be the finest in the world. Our steamer
is now taking on board, as freight, two hundred casks — hogsheads
of hams, which are to go through the lakes and the Erie Canal to
Troy, and perhaps to Boston. Hundreds of barrels of beef and
pork are also going on board, all bound East. Even at this season
of the year the store-houses are filled with produce, and I this
morning went into one where there were stored twenty-eight thou-
sand barrels of wheat.

On one side of the river is the Lake House,8 which was built in
the "times of expansion," as they are called, of 1836 or 1837, for a
public house. It is well kept, well furnished, and very comfortable.
In its vicinity and for some distance around, are scattered numbers
of elegant private dwellings, surrounded by gardens, and the
streets are all wide and regularly laid out. One street on this side
skirts the river shore, and has on it a few warehouses, and a large
number of retail shops, mostly occupied by foreigners, — Dutch and
Irish. On the other side of the river is now the principal business,
and Lake-street is filled with retail stores of as much beauty of

8 The construction of the Lake House was begun in 1835 and completed during
the following year.

122 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

arrangement, and with as valuable stocks of goods, as can be found
in any city in America. In fact, Chicago is now, with its present
population, as much of a business place as I know of, after our own
city. Hundreds upon hundreds of wagons are in its streets, drawn
by the finest horses in the world, and laden with every sort of com-
modity. In the fall of the year they have their wheat brought into
the city from the country in immense wagons, called prairie schoon-
ers, which hold two hundred bushels at a time, and these may be
seen stringing out through the roads for miles and miles.

This is a great place for the lumber trade, although no lumber
grows in this neighborhood. The boards, &c, are brought from the
Sault St. Marie and Lake Superior, in different kinds of vessels,
and stored in the lumber yards, to be transported by wagons into
the country. A canal is about being built which will soon afford
great facilities for internal transportation.

One of the principal features in the procession of Monday, was
the appearance of the fire department, and I have made many in-
quiries concerning its composition. It consists of four hundred
men, all volunteers, and they all pay their own expenses and the
expense of their machines and decorations. The chief engineer is
Mr. Gale,9 a gentleman who served his apprenticeship with Hil-
liard, Gray & Co. in Boston. There are four engines, to which are
attached sixty men each, and a hook and ladder, and a hose com-
pany. The department is limited in number, and none but the
best and finest young men in the city are admitted into its ranks.

The military escort for Monday's procession was a company
of volunteer flying artillery, who came from Cleveland, Ohio, bring-
ing their horses, cannons, &c, — a hardy set of men, who certainly
must have felt much patriotism and great interest in the objects of
the Convention, to come so far and at such an expense of time and
money. To-day I saw them manoeuvre, going through the dif-
ferent evolutions as practised by Bragg's and Ringgold's troops,

9 Stephen F. Gale served as chief of the fire department from 1844 to 1847. He
was the first president of the Fireman's Benevolent Association, and a member of
the first Board of Directors of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 123

which we have all heard so much of. They certainly went through
with their exercises with a rapidity that was astonishing.

The drays used here are the short drays in the New York style,
but they are drawn by good horses. In fact I have not seen a poor-
looking horse in the place. The pleasure carriages, of which there
are an extra number for a place of this size, are of the most ap-
proved Eastern city style, and drawn invariably by such horses as
would make envious our gentlemen and ladies of taste in Boston,
where we generally have better carriage horses than they have in
other places.

The city is beginning to grow thinner, and the steamboats that
left last night and to-day have gone crowded with passengers. But
even in its desolation from the mob, it is a populous place, and the
streets are filled with people who go about for pleasure and busi-
ness.

Chicago
July.

History tells that many years ago, I believe in 1812, serious
fears being entertained that the Indians would destroy the small
party then resident at this place, the commanding officer con-
cluded to move away, and join a larger party at Fort Wayne.
Previous to going he destroyed all the stores on hand that he could
not carry, and particularly all the spirit. The Indians were very
much incensed, after his departure, that they could not find the
rum, and took to drinking the water of the river, into which the
rum had been poured, pronouncing it to be "very good grog."
They could see for themselves that the waters of the river, and the
lake into which it empties, do not amalgamate at once, and they
may have thought that the rum remained. However that may be,
it is very apparent that the waters remain of different color and of
different taste, to this day. Chicago is so low that there is no good
| water for drinking, except that which is brought from the lake,
and the latter is very pure and wholesome; it is easily procured, and
furnishes the drink for the inhabitants; the former, which is brown
and muddy, is extensively used for washing, and for other ordinary
domestic purposes.

124 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Our friend Degrand some years ago called the Worcester depot
in Boston the end of "Worcester Longwharf." I know no reason
why I should not christen the Fitchburg depot the "Chicago Long
wharf," for by whatever channel of communication the trade from
Ogdensburg reaches Boston, — whether by the Vermont Central
or the Rutland route — it must all go to Boston, or most of it by
the way of Fitchburg. The directors are in duty bound to make
me and my family free passengers for the rest of our lives, for giving
them so good and appropriate a name. Any one who looks at the
map, and every one who comes out here and sees the business that
is transacted on the lakes and in this part of the Western country,
must be convinced that all this trade must go to Boston. A gentle-
man who is extensively engaged on the Fox river, thirty miles from
this place, tells me that now, round-about as it is, he sends all his
supplies, even his New-Orleans sugar and molasses, from Boston, —
now it comes through the Erie Canal; but when Ogdensburg Rail-
road is completed, it will come more directly, and at a saving of
some hundreds of miles of transportation. Perhaps I have men-
tioned this latter circumstance before; but I write at great disad-
vantage, with no opportunity to revise and correct, and as the
printers are by this time satisfied, with no conveniences for sta-
tionery. All I aim to do is to state facts, and if time and oppor-
tunity were given me, I could multiply my record of facts almost
innumerably. Never yet did Yankee go out from home with a
more inquisitive disposition than myself, and I never saw but one
man, and he was an esteemed member of the original party with
which I left Boston, that asked so many questions. I shall be very
happy if I ever become half as valuable a member of society, and
retain but half as much statistical knowledge, as he is noted for.

When our Massachusetts delegation assembled, on Monday
morning, on board the steamboat Louisiana, for organization,
there was a general feeling of regret as well as disappointment, that
we had not one distinguished man among us, no capitalist, and no
one whose name was known to the world. It was apparent that the
Western people had expected to see some great man, and that

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 125

Massachusetts was looked to particularly for something that we
could not supply. But we put up with the disappointment as best
we could, and determined to do our duty. The selection of Messrs.
Eustis, Lee and Hobart, for prominent candidates for the offices we
might be called upon to fill, was well and judiciously made, and
gave satisfaction. Now that the Convention is over, and we have
mingled with the thousands of strangers assembled here, I am not
only disposed to give up my regret at the absence of those to whom
we had a right to look for countenance on this occasion, but also
to be rather glad of the result. As I said before, much was ex-
pected of Massachusetts, and I doubt whether any delegation,
from any part of the country, met with more consideration and
respect than we did. Gentlemen were continually claiming intro-
ductions, and continually offering their hospitality, and proffering
their services to make known to us what we most wanted to know,
to show what we most wanted to see. If we had had with us a
prominent man, he would have absorbed a great part, if not the
whole, of the attention which was now disseminated among the
twenty-eight members of the delegation; and although the state
might have been more distinguished, I have strong doubt whether
as much good would have been effected. We had with us men of
sound sense, men of business, and men with dispositions to en-
courage and increase the general desire for greater intercourse ber
tween the East and the West. We shall find hereafter that the
association of intelligent men from different sections of the country
is of quite as much advantage as the notoriety of a political or very
rich delegation.

The mass of strangers is now about separating, and although
the hopes and the expectations of some may have been disap-
pointed, there is the best feeling prevailing, the utmost satisfac-
tion expressed by every body. Politics have been dropped, after
an ineffectual attempt on the part of a few unquiet and ambitious
aspirants to do something — they did not themselves know what;
the resolutions adopted, which are mostly from the pen of Mr.
John C. Spencer of New-York, if they are not as strong and as

126 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

startling as some people expected, are expressive of sentiments in
which all parties agree. The closing speech of Judge Bates, the
President, is spoken of on all sides with great and undisguised ad-
miration, and the subsequent speeches in the informal mass meet-
ing, of which Horace Greeley was chairman, served to let off the
gas with which many gentlemen were filled, as well as afforded an
opportunity to the curious to hear the eloquence of those who,
from circumstances, were not able to mingle prominently in the
doings of the Convention.

This place is the terminus of the Illinois and Michigan canal,
of which so much has been said for the last twenty years. It was
first surveyed in 1821, and in 1827 Congress appropriated a large
quantity of the public lands in aid of its construction. Of its late
history, the failure to complete it, its pecuniary troubles, &c, the
capitalists of the country are well advised. Its fortunes have been
chequered, and at times its fate has been doubtful.10 But better
days have come, and now there is a reasonable prospect of its
speedy completion. It will not be long before the resources of the
Illinois will be doubled by its means of easier transportation, and
another link will be added to the chain which extends to the At-
lantic market in Boston harbor.

I could spend much time here, in learning the sources of wealth
which are to be opened to our New-England people, and in enjoy-
ing the hospitality of the inhabitants who are so closely connected
with us by ties of the nearest kind. The business men are nearly
all from our section of the country, and have brought with them
and retained their New-England affections. The feelings and the

10 In January, 1836, the legislature authorized the Governor to borrow $500,000
on the credit of the state, to begin the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Ground was
broken July 4, 1836. Loan after loan was authorized as the work progressed, but
the money did not come in fast enough and work ceased. In 1845, three trustees
representing the state and the bondholders were chosen, loans were secured, and the
work advanced rapidly. On April 23, 1848, the General Thornton passed through the
entire length of the canal.

The state debt in July, 1847 was over $14,000,000. This amount was divided
into Internal Improvement Debt, $8,000,000 and Canal Debt, $6,000,000. Be-
tween the opening of the canal in 1848 and October, 1870, the receipts were
$4,360,419, and the expenses $1,828,790.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 127

habits tend to connect them still with the places from which they
emigrated, and Boston, as the head-quarters of business, must, by
and by, be the recipient of most of their trade.

I believe that there is not a single bank in Illinois now in ex-
istence. There was a State Bank, located at the seat of govern-
ment in Springfield, but it has shared the fate of many others, and
now only lives to wind up its affairs. The money in circulation is
of all sorts, including New- York, Canada, Wisconsin, and New-
England bills; but there is money enough, and much more of the
business is transacted for cash than would, under the circum-
stances, be supposed. There are agents or brokers here, who draw
on New- York and Boston when wanted, who are in good standing,
and are quite able to supply cash drafts at all times. How far
business would be facilitated by the establishment of local banks
with small capitals, as in Massachusetts, I am not prepared to say,
and that is a serious question, which is now undergoing consider-
ation at a State Convention to revise the Constitution, which is
now in session at Springfield.

Springfield, Illinois
[July 9, 1847]

If any one had asked me, six weeks ago, to take a journey into
the interior of Illinois, I should have hesitated, and should have
been appalled at the task. Yet here I am, having been almost ir-
resistibly led along from point to point, through states and lakes
and rivers, and with a promise on my hands to go still further. A
few hours, only, before the time appointed for leaving Chicago, on
my way home, I was induced to join a party to this place, to in-
spect the interior of the country, to see the Illinois canal, and to
learn from personal observation whether the extravagant asser-
tions,— for they appear extravagant to a stranger, — which are
made by the people of the West, are borne out by facts. Accor-
dingly, as the Baltic started to go in one direction, I started in a
stage-coach to go in another. Our party was composed of nine
persons inside, three of whom were ladies. Three only were ac-
quainted— that is to say, two only were known to me, and they

128 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

were strangers less than a week ago, and they knew no one else of
the company. We get acquainted strangely on such occasions, and
in this western country, quite readily. One lady was from Ver-
mont, and lived at Dresden, in this state. She was traveling alone,
fifty-six miles, to her present home. One man was a Bostonian,
now residing in Wisconsin, who came away to seek his fortune with
his young wife, eighteen years ago. His wife and her sister, both
natives of Bangor, Me., were with him, having been on a pleasure
tour to the lakes. They have neither of them been in New-Eng-
land for more than five years. One was from Connecticut, one
from New-Hampshire, and two from Massachusetts. All were
from New-England, and I was the only one who had seen his native
state for years. These facts came out in the course of the day.

We left Chicago at nine o'clock in the morning, and took our
way across the prairies. At first the road was uneven, dusty and
uninteresting, exhibiting some cultivated farms, and but little
wooded country. Soon we came upon the line of the canal, which
we followed, at a short distance, through its whole extent. I have
not time, nor inclination, to give a description of the few places we
stopped at on the first day, nor to tell of the gross deception, and
swindling actions, and gross impertinences of the stage-drivers, of
which I could, if so disposed, fill a column or two, and then not tell
half. The public houses were worse than the worst taverns ever
seen in New-England, — dirty, and ill-found in every respect. An
old lady furnished, at short notice, a dinner of boiled eggs, fresh
fried pork, and tolerable coffee, which was much more palatable in
the participation than in the appearance.

The prairie, where not cultivated, and in many places where it
is, remains without fences, for wood is scarce for many miles after
we leave Chicago, and the few houses to be met with are sadly
lacking in many of the necessary boards and timbers. Corn and
wheat grow luxuriantly, and large droves of cattle are to be found
grazing at different places. Hogs are numerous, and I can easily
conceive that Chicago may, by and by, become a great pork mar-

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT

129

WlSCDH5m

Buckingham's Route

130 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

ket.u When at Chicago, I learned that the beef of this country was
very superior, and I had opportunities of testing its good quality.
The cattle are large, and grow fat on the prairie grass, at little or no
expense, except of the time which it takes to raise them to the
proper age to be driven to market. At a small place, called by
some name which I have now forgotten, we stopped to examine a
boiling spring, the water of which is as bad to the taste, and as
much filled with sulphur, as the most enthusiastic lover of water-
ing-places could desire. At several places in the neighborhood the
water bubbles up through white sand, and the pool into which it
comes looks more like a boiling cauldron than any thing else; but
the water is neither warm nor cold. The driver gave it freely to
his horses, and the people of the house in the neighborhood use it
altogether for all purposes. The driver said it operated upon his
horses as a sort of gentle cathartic, and made them healthy.

We came to no village until we arrived at Lockport, a place that
is not laid down on any map that I have seen, where there are a
number of stores and two or three taverns. Here is to be a large
basin on the canal, and we had a fine opportunity to observe the
construction of the great work, on which so many hundreds of
thousands of dollars have been, and so many more are to be, ex-
pended. The canal as far as this place is nearly level, and is, for a
greater part of the way, already finished; it is faced on the inside
with a yellowish stone, which is found at different points, and
which appears to be a combination of lime and sand-stone; it is
easy to work, and lies in the quarries in layers of unequal thickness,
but none of it more than a foot or a foot and a half thick. The
canal is not, however, built up of stone throughout its whole extent,
although it is for the most of the route. At Lockport the canal
must be about two hundred or two hundred and fifty feet in width
at the bottom, and the locks and abutments are laid in smooth,
handsome masonry, that would do no discredit to any part of our
country; there are seven locks in this place, in a distance of a few
miles.

u The exports of the port of Chicago in 1845 were: wheat 956,860 bushels,
flour 13,752 barrels, beef 6,199 barrels and pork 7,099 barrels.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT

131

We then passed over to a town called Joliet, which was named
after an old Frenchman who originally settled here and owned a
great part of the land. By some mistake it was originally called
Juliet,12 but the name was changed by act of the legislature a year
or two ago, to conform to the proper title of the old original settler.
Here are several blocks of stone stores, evidently built with a view
to a large trade, which is to come at some future day. The village
is laid out on a plain, and on the side of a hill, with a handsome
stone bridge crossing the canal; and here, too, is a large, broad
basin. The projectors of this canal, and the original directors and
engineers, appear to have had in view the immense business which
it will take and which it will create, or they must have been very
extravagant in their notions. It is probable that they knew what
they were doing, what the future was to accomplish; but they were
then, in a manner, before the age; they spent too much money, and
by their financiering, their want of prudence, involved themselves
and others in difficulties from which better counsels are now re-
lieving the state. Now it is certain that the canal will be finished,
the bonds will be paid, and nothing that I can imagine, not even
another revulsion in the financial condition of the country, can
prevent the stock from being a paying investment, except some
mismanagement take place before the work is finished. The pro-
duce raised in the interior of the state is incalculable, and the pro-
ducers must consume other articles in their turn, both of which,
the exports and the imports, will, until a railroad is built side by
side with it, pass through the canal to Chicago.

From Joliet to Dresden13 we had an interesting ride, and at the
latter place we took supper, our Yankee landlady serving us up
codfish as a luxury, and hashed potatoes. At a small place called
Morris, at half past eleven o'clock, we again stopped to change
horses, and remained an hour in the most uncomfortable place you

12 The plat for "Juliet" was recorded in June, 1834, the name being that of the
founder's daughter, Juliet Campbell; this name the town bore until 1845, when it
was changed to Joliet by act of the legislature.

13 "A town site near the junction of the Des Plaines and Kankakee, and on
the line of the canal." J. M. Peck, A Gazetteer of Illinois (2nd ed.; Philadelphia,
1837), 191.

132 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

can conceive of; the tavern-keeper and all his people were in bed,
but we succeeded, after some difficulty, in getting into the house,
and had the luxury of two tallow candles, and a little water, which
was warm, and not very palatable. On the opposite side of the
road was another still smaller tavern, from which proceeded the
sound of a violin. We walked over, and found about twenty per-
sons assembled in a room on the lower floor, trying to learn to
dance cotillions; the room was lighted by a solitary dip-candle; the
teacher, who was also the musician, was in his shirt sleeves, and
wore a shocking bad straw hat; the ladies were two little girls, two
old women, and two or three fat, coarse-looking girls, about
twenty; one of the male dancers wore a straw hat, two or three
were without coats, and the one who was evidently the dandy of
the place — for village it could hardly be called — wore a nankin-
colored frock coat, and had his blue pantaloons strapped down so
tight that he could scarcely move about. We amused ourselves
for some time in witnessing the troubles and disasters which befell
the instructor in his attempts to make the company go through
correctly with the difficult figures of right and left, cross over, and
promenade.

The rest of our ride during the night was as uncomfortable as
any enemy, if we had one, could desire. We made progress at the
rate of less than three miles an hour; the weather was intensely hot,
and not a breath of air was stirring; the horses and carriage raised
any quantity of dust, which, of course, rose only high enough to
fill the carriage; and we were nine inside passengers, a new one
having been taken in to replace the lady we had left at Dresden —
[illegible]. We arrived at Ottawa about six o'clock in the morning,
having seen nothing of the country for many miles, but bearing
about as indisputable evidence that the road had led through the
same soft and fertile soil that we had had during the whole day be-
fore. Ottawa is a considerable village, and has a large court-house,
pleasantly situated in a square surrounded with thriving acacia,
or locust trees, and a number of stores, besides some half dozen
bar-rooms, independent of four taverns.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 133

I have spoken of the want of wood on the prairies. The acacia
is easily cultivated, and grows very rapidly wherever it is planted;
some people are beginning to appreciate its advantage, and when
we come to any considerable settlement, we find that they have
commenced setting out trees on the borders of the lots; in some
places, large groves have been planted, which will, in a few years,
be very valuable. Of bridges, we saw few during yesterday, being
obliged to ford most of the streams; as we entered Lockport we
forded the river Des Plaines, which is an eighth of a mile wide,
although there is a ricketty bridge over it. The whole road from
Chicago lies through a tract of country which is a sort of valley —
if you can call that a valley where there are no hills on either side —
which was once evidently the bed of a river. The prairie is in
many places undulating, or rolling, and the waters of Lake Mich-
igan once undoubtedly flowed uninterruptedly through to the
Illinois river; the stones and rock formations show this, and the
course of the former current is distinctly marked on the whole line.
We forded a number of inconsiderable streams, which I am in-
formed are sometimes — at the season of the year when the lakes
and rivers are at the highest — almost impassable, and the greater
part of the wood-land is on the borders of these streams.

After breakfast we took up our line of march, for it could hardly
be called anything else, at the rate of two or three miles an hour,
on the borders of the Illinois river, and passing by the village of
La Salle, arrived at the terminus of the Canal at Peru, about
twelve o'clock. Peru is next to Lisbon, in St. Lawrence county,
New- York, the most uninviting place I ever saw. It is destined to
become a great and growing village, the head and centre of a great
trade. It is at the head of the navigation of the river, and already
there are a number of stores, grog-shops, a barber's shop, and two
taverns. In the early days in the history of the Canal, it was built
up with log huts and mud cabins, to accommodate the Irish mud-
diggers, and they remain in all their primitive ugliness, and with
increased nastiness, the larger part of the village — certainly the
most peopled, if we count the dirty children and the independent

134 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

hogs. I ought to state, however, that a little distance from the :
bank of the river, on the high bluffs, are some good farms, and
several nice dwellings; as I had little time to go into the interior
from the main village, my remarks must be considered as applying
to the terminus of the canal. Mr. Webster once owned a farm in
this vicinity, where Mr. Fletcher Webster was a resident for some
year or more, but I believe it has been sold to some one else.14

Springfield, Illinois
[July 11, 1847]
After waiting three hours at Peru, in the hope of finding a
better conveyance, we embarked on board a small steamboat
called the Dial, to come down the Illinois river. We were
loaded with freight and crowded with passengers. The engine
was out-doors, on the lower deck, and altogether the prospect
of comfort was very small. The captain, however, did his best
for the accommodation of every body, and the steward served
up a very good dinner. A company of about fifty raw volunteer
recruits for the Mexican army were desirous of coming on board,
but the captain refused to take them, and thereby deserves our
gratitude; for they were excessively noisy and very drunk. We
stopped at several small places on the river, to take in more freight,
particularly at Hennepin and at Lacon. At this latter place,
our friends J. & N. Fisher of Boston, own considerable property,
and carry on a large business in packing pork, &c. It is rather
a pretty place, and will, like all other places of the kind, share
the fate of all in this Western country, and be a place of great
trade. We remained at Lacon for nearly three hours, and took
on board two hundred barrels of flour and provisions, two hun-
dred bags of wheat, and some wool. We started again after
dark, and arrived at Peoria about two o'clock in the morning.

14 Fletcher Webster, 1813-1862, was the son of the renowned Daniel Webster.
He was graduated from Harvard in 1833. After studying law with his father, he j
moved to Peru, Illinois in 1837, where he practiced for three years. He was his
father's private secretary during part of the latter's services as Secretary of State;
a member of the Massachusetts legislature in 1847; and surveyor of the port of
Boston, 1850-1861. He was killed in battle in 1862.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 135

I have heard of flies, and mosquitoes, and bed bugs, and fleas,
and sundry other nuisances that are said to infest the Western
waters. I have heard of the same kind of troublesome vermin
being rather numerous in Mexico, but I never could be brought
to believe one half of what I experienced on board the Dial.
The boat actually swarmed with them after dark. The heat of
the weather and the heat of the boat, and the lights, brought
them about us, and I should think that they were, in variety,
countless as they were in number. The lady who lately so in-
dustriously counted the seeds in a fig, and published the results
of her labor in the newspapers, would here have been absolutely
foiled. They came and they staid; they were brushed off and fell
upon the deck, but their places were immediately supplied by
an additional increased number. The seeds in a fig would not
grow or increase during the process of counting, but the insects
were multiplying from dark until daylight. The floors, the
state-room partitions, the mast of the boat, the ceiling, the
freight, the baggage, and the passengers, were literally covered.
We had mosquito nets to our berths, but shutting out the winged
insects seemed but to serve as a better chance to allow the creep-
ing things to luxuriate. Some people slept! Happy immobility!
I tried segar smoke on the upper deck, and it had a partial effect;
but the enemy was invulnerable, and as soon as possible I took
my baggage in hand and went ashore at Peoria, and laid down
on the steps of the hotel at the top of the hill, to wait for
daylight.16

Peoria is a beautifully situated town on the right bank of
the river, and is already the seat of a great business. It com-
mands one of the most grand and interesting views in the world,
and is built or laid out something in the New-England style. It
has a large extent of back country to supply, and has increased

15 It is a river trip of sixty-seven miles from Peru to Peoria. The hotel in Peoria
was either the Clinton House at the corner of Fulton and Adams, or the Planter*
House at Hamilton and Adams streets. These hotels were only two blocks from the
Illinois River. In 1847, the city did not extend much, if any, above Adams Street,
so either may have been at the "top of the hill."

136 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

within a few years almost beyond what it would be considered
reasonable for me to state. In the little time I remained here,
I had little opportunity to see its beauties or to learn of its trade
and capacities; but as daylight came gradually on, I saw how it
was situated, and soon took a walk around the more settled and
business portion of the town. But everybody was asleep. The
stores were shut, the night lamps were out or burnt dim, and the
early morning dawn only exposed the silent beauties of a land-
scape without showing vitality. It was a picture of still-life,
which any painter might copy, and which, if copied, would be
purchased and appreciated by the man of taste, as the richest
of his collection.

At four o'clock we took a stage coach for the interior, six
inside, in a carriage built to carry but four, and drawn by horses
that evidently knew their driver to be bent on making work
easy and pay profitable. We crossed the river in a ferry-boat,1*
and then all got out and walked up a long hill, turning every
now and then to admire the beautiful scenery, which included
the town of Peoria, the river and other objects of interest in the
distance.

Our party was again changed. We had two members of
Congress from the state of Illinois, one Whig and one Locofoco,17
and persons of other professions. Query, — Is a member of Con-
gress a professional man or not? We started in a grumbling
humor, but our Whig congressman was determined to be good
natured, and to keep all the rest so if he could; he told stories,
and badgered his opponent, who it appeared was an old personal
friend, until we all laughed, in spite of the dismal circumstances
in which we were placed. The character of the Western people
is in every respect different from ours. Our Locofoco friend is
a regular canvasser; he says that he has a way in his district

M The ferry was owned by William L. May, a member of Congress from 1834
to 1838.

17 The Whig Congressman was Abraham Lincoln, and the Locofoco was Robert
Smith of Alton, Illinois. Smith was a member of Congress from 1843 to 1849 and
1857 to 1859.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 137

of bowing to everybody, of kissing every man's child, and making
love to every man's wife and daughter; he regretted that he did
not ask "Long John," as everybody calls Mr. Wentworth, how
he should behave in Wentworth's district, because the force of
habit is so great with him, he feared he might exceed the bounds
of propriety — it may be that the fashion with Long John is more
abrupt, and in that case he might be going contrary to estab-
lished usage. For some miles we were in Wentworth's district,
and a tolerably poor district it appeared to be.18

We breakfasted at Tremont, a very pretty village on a prairie,
but the propriety of the name did not make itself manifest, as
there were no three hills any where in the neighborhood; — all
was level country. Tremont was about twelve years ago an
uninhabited prairie, and a gentleman of our party stated that a
friend of his, one winter, since 1835, entrusted his wife to his
care to go to a town some miles further south. That friend had
purchased largely of lands in the present town of Tremont, and had
had a lithographic map prepared, exhibiting the squares, and the
buildings, and the trees which might thereafter be erected and
set out. The wife saw the map and wished very much to go
through her husband's town; but when she arrived there she was
of course disappointed, as no houses, no squares, no trees, no
any thing, was to be seen, but a level and uninteresting prairie.

Now there are houses; trees have been planted, and as every
thing that is planted in this soil grows very rapidly, the squares
and the streets are sufficiently marked; there is a meeting-house,
and a tavern, lots of good farms, and a number of stores, and
several mechanic shops, and a saw-mill worked by horse-power.

After breakfast we were fairly launched on one of the great
prairies of the state, and I must acknowledge that I did not see
a prairie in the neighborhood of Chicago — that is, comparatively
speaking. For miles and miles we saw nothing but a vast ex-
panse of what I can compare to nothing else but the ocean itself.

lt Buckingham was in error; the western boundary of Wentworth's district in
1847 lay some miles to the east of the stage route from Peoria to Springfield.

138 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

The tall grass, interspersed occasionally with fields of corn,
looked like the deep sea; it seemed as if we were out of sight of
land, for no house, no barn, no tree was visible, and the horizon
presented the rolling of the waves in the far-off distance. There
were all sorts of flowers in the neighborhood of the road, which,
by the way, did not appear to be a road, and all the colors of the
rainbow were exhibited on all sides, — before, behind, east, west,
north and south, — as if the sun were shining upon the gay and
dancing waters. We saw the white-weed of our New-England,
the wild indigo, the yellow mustard, the mullen, the clover, red
and white, the purple nettle, the various colored phlox, numer-
ous yellow, pink and crimson flowers, and almost everything
else that is beautiful, that we have ever heard of. Occasionally
we passed a cultivated spot, where some person had purchased
land from the government, and had made a farm, — cattle, too,
are numerous, in herds, and horses in large droves, and swine
uncountable. In the distance, we saw at intervals, groves of
trees, which looked like islands in the ocean, and we learned
that they were planted for the purpose of raising timber. Every-
thing will grow in this state, and the soil is everlasting, never,
wearing out, and never needing manure.

Again we came to a settlement, or village, called Delavari,
where there was a post-office and a tavern. We changed horses
and ordered dinner. Two doctors had offices directly opposite
each other, and each kept a sort of apothecary shop; but such
shops I never saw before. I went into one of them, and found
in one corner a bed, the sheets of which appeared as if they had
never been washed. On one side of the room was a case of shelves,,
on which were paraded half a dozen books, probably comprising
the whole library of the worthy practitioner, and twice that num-
ber of bottles, labeled — mirabile dictul — with understandable
names, and two or three gallipots. In one corner was a pair
of saddle-bags, and in another corner a saddle; but the doctor
was off at a distance to visit a patient. I think I should be
patient for some time before I should send for such a son of

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 139

Esculapius — and yet he may be a patient, pains-taking, learned,
and very charitable member of his profession. Appearances are
often very deceitful, as has been remarked many hundred times
before.

We dined. And such a dinner! The table was set in a bed-
room, which was neither plastered nor boarded up, the open air,
if there had been any, coming through in all directions. If we
had had a rain storm to encounter, we should hardly have been pro-
tected from it, and for mid-winter there was nothing to keep out
the snow. But the landlord was civil, his wife and daughter bare-
footed and dirty, and he could only keep off the flies by waving
continually over the table a bough which he had cut from one
of his locust trees. The table-cloth was stained with the grease
of many former meals, if with nothing worse, and his meat, which
he called beef, was swimming in fat. The only things palatable
were some fried eggs and some hashed potatoes, with some
tolerable bread. However, we satisfied our craving appetites,
and started in good spirits, with the hope of doing better next
time.

How we speed on our journey for the rest of the day, it is
unnecessary to relate. It is sufficient to say that we came, in
the course of the afternoon, to a more wooded tract of land,
forded several streams, and saw more beautiful flowers, several
groves of acacias, and in the distance, what appeared to be hills
of trees or islands of forests. Towards Springfield the cultivated
farms were more numerous, and we passed through miles and
miles of tall corn, the bright and beautiful green of which was
almost dazzling in the sunlight; some acres of wheat, tall as an
ordinary man; and many fields of oats, with some of barley — all
of which appeared ready for the sickle.

We were now in the district represented by our Whig Congress-
man, and he knew, or appeared to know, every body we met,
the name of the tenant of every farm-house, and the owner of
every plat of ground. Such a shaking of hands — such a how-
d'ye-do — such a greeting of different kinds, as we saw, was never

140 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

seen before; it seemed as if he knew every thing, and he had a
kind word, a smile and a bow for every body on the road, even
to the horses, and the cattle, and the swine. His labor appeared
to be so great, that we recommended to our Locofoco friend to
sit on the other side of the coach and assist in the ceremonies;
but he thought that that would be an interference with the vested
rights of his friend and opponent, and so he declined, although
he was evidently much disposed to play the amiable to several
rather pretty girls that we fell in with at one of our stopping
places. It seems that as there is honor among thieves, so there
is etiquette among Western Congressmen.

On the road, during the afternoon, we met three large wagons
loaded with wool, and drawn by three yokes of oxen each, on
their way to Chicago, the wool being destined for the Boston
market. Think of that. Look at the map. See what an extent
of country that wool is to pass over, what will be the distance
it is to be carried by water through the lakes, round over the
northern part of Michigan, through the lake St. Clair, lake
Erie, and thence by the Erie canal to Albany, and then by water
down the Hudson and over Long Island Sound, or over our
Western Railroad, and judge for yourself if the Ogdensburg
Railroad would not, if it were now open, save something in
time, if not in money, to the owner of that wool.

I have spoken somewhere of the cheapness of butter and cheese
and eggs and poultry, in Northern New- York. On our road to
Springfield, we saw a first rate roasting piece of beef — the first
cut of the rib — weighing sixteen pounds, which was sold to a
tavern-keeper for jour cents a pound, and that was said to be a
good price in this neighborhood. Think of that, ye housekeepers
in Boston! Of vegetables we are now in the enjoyment of all
the luxuries of the season, such as green peas, cucumbers, string
and other beans, and new potatoes. Cherries and strawberries
are among the things that were.

We arrived at Springfield early in the evening, after the most
fatiguing day's ride that, in all my traveling, I ever experienced.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 141

We were all tired and dirty, covered with dust and perspiration,
and not in much better humor than we were when we started
in the morning. The strangers in Buffalo complained of the
impositions, the lies, and the impudence of certain steamboat
captains, but I will put an Illinois stage agent or driver against
any thing that ever I saw before, in Europe or America, and bet
odds upon him for impudence and imposition.

[Springfield], Illinois
[July 12, 1847]

Why should I date from Springfield, or from any other town
or city, when what I have to say in this chapter of my Diary
relates to every thing and every where? Last evening, after a
ride of ten miles and back again, through a most excellent
country, lined with corn-fields, and oat-fields, and hemp-fields, I
was taken vi et artnis to the house of a new acquaintance, all
dusty as I was, to supper. Remonstrance was useless, for he
said that Western life and Western customs would excuse every
thing. I am very much in the habit of accommodating myself
to circumstances, and on this occasion I found little difficulty in
making apologies for my personal appearance. The lady was,
as she styled herself, a "Western girl," and she was not at all
discommoded by her husband bringing home a stranger. We had
a hearty meal, and after a long conversation separated for the
night.

The ride I have alluded to was through a wooded part of
the country, up hill and down dale — but yet it could not be
called woods as we talk of woods in New-England and as for
hills, we actually rode over none that would compare with the
ascent from Congress-street to Washington-street through Water-
street. In this neighborhood there is to be found considerable
bituminous coal, but it is not used much — in fact, it is not used
at all in families, because it makes so much smoke. As far as
I can learn, it is about equal in quality to the common sort of
Sidney coal, which we use in Boston.

142 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

About five miles from the city of Springfield, our old ac-
quaintance, J. Vincent Brown, has established himself as a
manufacturer of hemp. We passed by his place, but did not
stop, as he was not at home. He has a contract to furnish hemp
for the United States government, but his principal building was
burnt a few weeks ago, and has not yet been entirely rebuilt.
It is said that the hemp manufactured at his establishment is
the best, and is packed handsomer than any that is sent from
this part of the country.19

I have rode again on the prairies some ten miles and back,
to the south-east, and have been where there are no roads, riding
over the grass, and seeing the hemp, and the corn, and the wheat,
and the oats, all of which grow without any cultivation, except
that of sowing. With us, corn has to be hoed — but here on the
prairies, the ground is ploughed up, the seed deposited, and when
it comes up the plough is once more run through the field, and the
corn ripens as it stands. Dry weather does not affect it injuri-
ously, as there is moisture enough in the earth to sustain it, and
with the least attention that can be bestowed upon it, the yield
is from thirty to fifty bushels to the acre; on old farms, fifty
bushels is a fair average crop.

I said but little, nothing at all, if I recollect right, about
the Illinois river. It is a narrow stream, presenting many pretty
views, but nothing very striking, and little variety. The shore
is well wooded, and the different towns or landing places which
we passed, coming down to Peoria, were built high up on hills,
having levees or slopes of land running down to the water-side,
with no wharves; in every case where we stopped for freight or
passengers, the boat was run bow on to the shore and a plough

19 J. Vincent Brown had a three-year contract with the United States Navy
for hemp. Having an aversion to sjave labor, Brown came to Sangamon County
in 1846 and contracted with the farmers to raise 2,500 acres of hemp. He set up
four steam rolling and breaking mills at a cost of S60,000. The building which
burned was on Prairie Creek near the Beardstown Road, eight miles northwest of
Springfield. Citizens of Springfield and farmers of the vicinity contributed liberally
to the rebuilding of the structure. According to naval tests, hemp grown in Sanga-
mon County in 1847 was the finest in the world, but the costs of production were
too high for a profit-producing crop.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 143

run out, and when we started again the boat was pushed off by
main force into the channel. This is said to be the worst season
to see the prairies for the lover of flowers, but I have gathered
many that were beautiful. We are now between the spring and
autumn, when many of the most brilliant of the plants are
generally in the perfection of splendor. I don't know what
would become of my enthusiasm if I should be here at those
periods, for I am all but enchanted now.

To-day I visited the State House, to listen to the debates of
the [Constitutional] Convention.20 The President is not worth
much as a presiding officer, for he understands, or at any rate
practises, little of the etiquette necessary for parliamentary
government; he seldom rises, never announces the names of the
speakers, allows two of them to speak at once, and puts the
questions in such a tone of voice that he can scarcely be under-
stood. The chief clerk,21 who has a tolerably clear intonation,
stated the question when I was there this morning, and if it
had not been for his assistance, I do not see how the members
could have understood what they were voting for. A motion
was made and carried, for the Convention to go into committee
of the whole, and I expected something better from the new
chairman,22 but he seemed to know but little, if any thing more
than the President, and was not any better than that officer in
his manner of conducting business. The members of the Conven-
tion are to appearance a much more intellectual body of men

20 The Constitution of 1818 was sadly outgrown; in the election of 1846, both
parties favored a revision by large majorities. One hundred and sixty-two delegates
began the task on June 7, 1847, and adjourned on August 31. The new Constitu-
tion, a series of compromises not too happily received by the leaders of either party,
was ratified by a large majority at the polls in March, 1848.

Buckingham's views on Newton Cloud, the presiding officer, were not those of
the Illinois State Register, Springfield's Democratic newspaper. Commenting on
his election it said: "Newton Cloud was the Speaker of the last House of Repre-
sentatives, and distinguished himself for impartiality, rapid dispatch of business
and thorough acquaintance with parliamentary rules and usages. A better pre-
siding officer could not have been chosen."

a Henry W. Moore of Gallatin County, the secretary or chief clerk, was Secre-
tary of the Illinois Senate, 1846-1848.

22 He refers to John Crain of Nashville, Illinois, who had served for ten years in
the Illinois Senate and House.

144 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

than the members of our House of Representatives; they have
generally marked features, and much character. As for dis-
cipline and etiquette, I cannot say much for them. Every
member who spoke, rose and put one foot in his chair, and one
hand in his breeches pocket, and more than half of the whole
sat with their feet on the desks before them, tilting up in their
chairs. They looked like sensible men, but they want training,
from the President down.

The State-House is at present an unfinished building, of
stone, and intended to be well-arranged; but the architect has
set it too low on the ground, so that it will never be any ornament
to the place.23 It has a cupola built of wood, and stands in the
centre of a large public square. By and by it will have a portico,
with several large columns, but the columns are to be laid in
blocks like the pillars before St. Paul's Church in Boston and will
never present an appearance corresponding to the design of the
architect. The interior, even, is not finished, and we ascend to
the Representatives' hall, where the Convention assembles, by a
flight of temporary stairs. The halls of the two houses will be
very pretty when they are finished, but I doubt whether they
will not want much remodeling before they will give satisfaction,
either to members or to the sovereign people, who wish to listen
to the debates of their servants.

Near the State-House is a much handsomer building, which
was erected some years ago by the State Bank of Illinois: it has
columns, and a porch in front, and looks quite classical. The
business of the place is done in stores, which are arranged round
and in the neighborhood of the square, and it is even now very
considerable. A railroad is to be built from Springfield to
Alton,24 which will enable the farmers in the interior of the state
to send their produce to a market; at present the only means

" The State House, now the Courthouse of Sangamon County, was raised a
story in 1901. Begun in 1837, the building was not completed until the early fifties.

24 The first train on the Alton & Sangamon Railroad arrived in Springfield on
September 9, 18S2. On July 30, 1854, the connection was made with Chicago.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 145

of transportation is by wagons, and this summer it has cost
seventy-five cents to a dollar a barrel to send flour to Alton on
the Mississippi, on its way to New-Orleans. Wheat cannot be
sent, at present, at any price, as the cost of freight would absorb
all its value, — the only way it can be sent to market, is in its
manufactured state.

The fields of corn — the miles and miles of corn to be seen
here — would strike a Massachusetts farmer with astonishment.
A farmer in this neighborhood thinks nothing of raising one
hundred acres of corn in one lot, and it grows of itself without
any assistance. There are large lots of hemp also raised here,
as I have before stated, and its greenness at this season, while
not so dazzling as the corn, is equally deep and beautiful. As
may be supposed, this is a great country for raising cattle, and
I am almost afraid to tell you that I saw yesterday, in one drove,
eleven hundred head of cattle, besides several hundred horses,
and some mules, which were on the way to the East for sale; —
they were going by the way of Indiana and Ohio to New- York
state, and probably some of them may be found at Brighton
before they are slaughtered. Hogs, of course, are plenty, and
it is for the purpose of fattening these that so much corn is raised.
When I said that Chicago might one day rival Cincinnati as a
pork market, I may have been thought extravagant, but the
thought is not so very absurd after all, if you will look at the
means of raising the material. The animals are marked and
turned out into the open prairie, and they come home at night,
like the cattle, of their own accord, to be fed with "something
warm and comfortable," — something that they cannot get in
their daily wanderings.

In the neighborhood of Springfield, and in the city itself,
for I believe it is a city, there are many beautiful residences,
and one can hardly believe that fifteen years ago, the place con-
tained but two houses, one of which was a common drover's
tavern, — that there was, as lately as 1835, but one mail a week
brought here from the South, and but one a fortnight from the

146 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

North, — yet such is the fact.26

Jacksonville, Illinois
[July 14, 1847]

The weather has been so hot and dry, the crowd has been
so intense, and the bustle so great, that I have not as yet gone
out of the house to-day. The crowds of people — men, women
and children — which have been moving into this town since five
o'clock last evening, I cannot pretend to estimate. I am favored
with a room fronting on the public square, and can see every
thing that is going on. The numbers increase rather than di-
minish, and the people are coming from every direction, and in
all sorts of conveyances. Stage coaches are scarce, but large
wagons are plenty. Women ride on horses and on mules.
Whole families come in on large wagons, the travelers being seated
on straw-bottomed country chairs. The females are dressed in
all the colors of the rainbow; but white, or what was white when
the dresses were clean, predominates. Parasols are as plenty as
blackberries, and are only outnumbered by cotton umbrellas, —
every other man, whether on foot or on horseback, and every old
woman, of whom there are not a few, carrying one of the latter
articles.

This day is devoted to the solemn duty of depositing in the
grave the remains of Colonel Hardin, which have been brought
from Mexico for that purpose.26 The state Convention has
adjourned, and came here from Springfield, for the purpose of
honoring the dead with the presence of its members, who may
be seen in the crowd with extravagant badges of black crape on
the left arm of each. But it is in fact a gala day. There is no
solemnity. A country muster in New England, in old times,

" Buckingham overstated the rapidity of Springfield's growth, for more than
twenty-five years, instead of fifteen, had elapsed since its founding. Springfield had
perhaps thirty families in 1823, when the land was put on sale. The 1835 census
listed 1,419 inhabitants, and this figure had increased to 3,900 by 1848.

18 Col. John J. Hardin commanded the First Regiment of Illinois Foot Volun-
teers. He was killed in battle at Buena Vista on February 23, 1847. The news-
papers estimated that the crowd in attendance at his funeral numbered over 15,000.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 147

was as nothing to it. This is a temperance town, and no liquor
is allowed to be sold in its precincts, but yet drunken men and
boys are abundant, and noisy. Last night, a military company
marched into town from Springfield, and to-day it has marched
off to the strains of gay music, towards the former residence of
the dead, to take up and escort the procession. The engine
company is out with its banner. The masons are in full regalia.
The Convention has assembled in a body, with black crape and
blue scarfs. The square is over-run with mounted marshals,
dressed with enormous white sashes, who are curvetting and
galloping about in every direction, apparently with no other
object in view than to show themselves off, and defeating that
very object in a great measure, by raising such a quantity of
dust, that it is difficult to see, sometimes, who kicks it up.

After an absence of two hours the people have all returned
from the residence of the deceased, in the neighborhood of
which — in fact, in sight of its very windows — an oration was
delivered and a sermon preached, and other ceremonies per-
formed. At the head of the procession rode the chief marshal,
on a very gay horse, into whose sides we could see the rider,
every minute or two, sticking his spurs, in order to make the
animal still more gay. The marshal was dressed in white panta-
loons, having a black stripe down the legs, and a sheet tied
round his body, and he rode with his hat in his hand, bowing to the
multitude like a victorious general making a triumphal entry
into the city. The infantry company followed, the band playing
Pleyel's Hymn in quick time. After the masons and others,
came the black hearse bearing the corpse, and then the horse
of Col. Hardin, dressed in mourning. But what was all this to
what followed? Next came the family coach, containing the be-
reaved widow and orphans! I would not cast a word of censure
upon any one who really sorrowed. And it is not for any of us
to say who sorrows in this world, where the countenance and
the actions so often belie the real sentiments; but what a mockery
does this seem to be of grief, to parade it before thousands of

148 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

strangers — to follow in a gorgeous pageant the decorated hearse,
in a march of some miles, through dust and noise, and sur-
rounded with mounted marshals and racing cavalcade!

After marching all round the public square, the procession
went to the burying-ground, where the body was deposited.
After some recess, the multitude again assembled in a grove
near Colonel Hardin's house, where a collation was served up to
the public, and at which, after the manner of festive occasions,
several speeches were made. Those of the returned volunteers
who served under the deceased, and who belonged to the town,
were treated to a collation at the house, by invitation of the
widow!

And this is one scene connected with the Mexican war. It
has been got up to gratify a spirit of military ardor, which is
quite prevalent in this state, and it can result in nothing but
the most incalculable mischief. More volunteers are called for,
and regiments are now forming in Illinois. The fruit of to-day's
pageant will be the enlistment of at least a thousand new victims
to the insatiate ambition of our wicked and unprincipled gov-
ernment. The streets are filled with the fathers and the mothers,
the brothers and the sisters of volunteers, and yet the whole
seem to be afflicted with the military mania.

It is not in Jacksonville alone that this spirit prevails, but I
see it in every town and village south of Chicago, and it is more
apparent the further I penetrate into the interior of the state.
It does not appear to be patriotism, but a sort of ambition to
be some thing. I learn, that unlike the volunteers of Massachu-
setts and some other states, those from Illinois, with some few ex-
ceptions, have been from some of the most respectable families in
the state. Those who first enlisted who have not died in Mexico,
are now returning; but they express, at present, very little or no
opinion at all as to their feelings — they have generally gone
quietly to their homes, being for the present apparently satisfied
with the glory they have achieved.

Yesterday I met Lieut. Col. Weatherford, and a queerer

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 149

specimen of a sucker never yet was seen; a daguerrian picture
of him would have made a sketch that no one would believe
could have been taken from nature. On him devolved the
command of the regiment after Col. Hardin's death.27 He is now
a thin, tall man, very much emaciated by sickness, and darker
colored than most Indians. He had on a coarse blue checked
cotton shirt, with no collar, and no neck-cloth. He wore a
dirty colored linen frock, which has seen much service, and was
open in front like a common frock coat. His pantaloons were
of the common cheap blue cotton, and were worn through in
holes about where his legs probably touched the saddle in riding.
He had on shoes nearly worn out, with large spurs strapped on
around the instep. We have had descriptions of the uncouth
appearance of the Mexican officers, but no description I have
ever seen gave me any idea of such a poverty-stricken and
miserable specimen of a commander as did the actual appearance
of the Lieutenant Colonel of the first regiment of Illinois Volun-
teers, on this his return from a successful and honorable (!) career
in the present war. This is no fancy sketch, and it is not in the
least exaggerated.

The Lieutenant Colonel talked of the war, and of his deeds
in arms, but withal was rather modest. He claimed great credit
for his regiment, and expressed great admiration of the character
of Col. Hardin. But it is plainly to be perceived, that he is a
broken-down man, unfit for further service, and without much
hope for the future. He will probably, with scores of others
in similar situations, become, if he is not already, a violent poli-
tician, an office-seeker and a demagogue.

Whitehall, Illinois
[July 15, 1847]
After the festivities of yesterday were closed at Jacksonville,
our party started, in an overloaded coach, for the Mississippi
River. The country begins to lose that level appearance that it

" William Weatherford was elected colonel at Buena Vista, February 26, 1847,
to succeed Colonel Hardin.

150 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

has exhibited before, and, as we proceed to the south, is more
wooded, with more up-hill and down-hill. There is, however,
still much prairie land to pass over, and the soil is, if possible,
richer than it is farther north. Everything will grow here, and
the settlers have taken some pains to plant trees, particularly
the locust and the rock or sugar maple. In the valleys and on
the hill-sides we find oak, and walnut, and the hazel-nut. On
the hills are the blackberry and other bushes known in New-
England — the mustard, the mullen, the whiteweed, &c. We are
now in a part of the country that is "fenced in," and we behold
on every side the most luxurious farms, good houses and large
barns. As we proceed south, the corn grows, or has grown,
taller and taller, with ears, in the silk, higher up in the air than
a tolerably tall man can reach. The wheat is harvested, and the
oats are about ready. We have seen some beautiful fields of ,
rye, and thick tall grass of the various descriptions. As we pass
through a more generally settled district, we find the prairie
grass is nearly run out, and in its place is the timothy, and the
red-top, and the clover. This is surely a great country, and this
is a glorious season for the farmer.

We have stopped for the night at a very pleasant village*
situated on a prairie, and at a tavern that would do honor to
any good housewife in New-England. Every thing is neat and !
clean, every body is attentive, the supper has been well got up,
and abundant in variety, as well as excellent in quality. The
name of the landlord is Tracy, and he and his wife deserve to j
be remembered, and to be made known to the traveling com-
munity. May they become as rich as they wish, and be able
to return to their native New-England, well rewarded for their
toil and privations.

Late in the evening a stage-coach from Alton arrived, con-
taining several returned volunteers, who were met by about fifty
personal friends, who were in waiting. Of course there was much
boisterous gladness exhibited on both sides; but the volunteers
did not exhibit marks of much prosperity, nor of much elas-

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 151

ticity of spirit. They have "seen the elephant," and have very
little to say about him. The war is a sorry subject to most of
those who have been engaged in it.

I think that it is a sort of duty that a traveler owes to his
friends and acquaintances, to point out to them not only the
best, but the worst, places on the route. It is not probable that
many of my readers will ever find themselves in Jacksonville, as
it is not on a direct route to any where that Boston people are
likely to seek. But I must warn them to avoid the town until
it has a good tavern. It has a hotel, which is not fit for a
decently-dressed man to set his foot in, and a house, where he
can find nothing comfortable. Although the town was full of
people yesterday, both landlords left their boarders or guests to
take care of themselves, and officiated all day as marshals to the
procession. At the hotel we were overrun with women and
children; the breakfast was absolutely nasty, so that I could not
be prevailed upon to go to the table at dinner, which proved, I
was informed, still more disgustingly dirty.

It seems as if I were doomed to be a victim to the Mexican
war, in one shape or another. I was sick of it in Boston, and
glad to be absent from all discussions on the subject for several
weeks. But now I have again got into a current, and every day,
every hour, I hear something about it. We have been bored
almost beyond endurance, for one whole afternoon, by a returned
volunteer lieutenant, who has described over and over again the
battles of which he was a spectator, and sickened with his non-
sense about patriotism, and disgusted by his avowed principles.
He says he had a brother and a brother-in-law killed by the
Mexicans, and he considers it a duty, as well as a pleasure, to
kill as many Mexicans as he can. The scoundrel talks, too, of
religion, and claims that the present war is favored by the
Almighty, because it will be the means of eradicating Papacy,
and extending the benefits of Protestantism. I doubt whether he
has any more Christianity than knowledge, and his whole talk
proves him a fool and a liar.

152 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

I give you a short letter to-night, for heat and dust, and the
fatigue of incessant travel, have rendered me more fit for the bed
than for my usual gossip.

Alton, Illinois
[July 16, 1847]

We came into this place at a snail's pace, although the road
was down hill. The hill was so steep that it would have been
dangerous for all of us if the wheels of the coach had not been
locked hard enough to oblige the horses to draw. On the top of
the last hill I had my first glimpse of the Mississippi river — ap-
parently a calm, sluggish stream, as smooth as plate glass, with
a bright polish which reflected the rays of the burning sun with
dazzling splendor — it was painful to look at it. I found after-
wards, that it was not so sluggish, but that it ran at the rate of
about four or five miles an hour. When one is on its banks, it
is a much more attractive sheet of water, and although differing
from the St. Lawrence in its whole character, is, perhaps, quite
as interesting to contemplate. Opposite to the city is a large
island which prevents a view of the Missouri shore, but on the
bluffs one can see over the low land and its trees, and have an
uninterrupted sight of the hills of the neighbor-state.

This place is somewhat celebrated for the abolition riots which
occurred here some years ago,28 and my general impression was,
that it was rather a rowdy city. But I find the people of an
entirely different character. It is situated much like our New-
England towns, and instead of having all the residences collected
together near the centre of business, they are scattered all round
among the hills, and over an extent of country embracing many
miles. The principal portion of the inhabitants are New-England
people, and many were originally from Boston — men who came

28 On the night of November 7, 1837, the abolitionist editor, Elijah P. Lovejoy,
was killed in attempting, with his friends, to prevent the seizure by a mob of his
printing press, stored in the warehouse of Godfrey, Gilman & Company. The in-
cident was broadcast by the press over the United States, many editors condemning
the affair as an assault on the freedom of the press and speech even while they con-
demned abolition.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 153

out to this country some twelve or fifteen years ago, and have,
under all the fluctuations of trade, all the changes from rich to
poor, and poor to rich, maintained their integrity, and are now,
although Alton is not the thriving place it once was, doing good
business, and are mostly well off in this world's goods. As a
friend remarked a few days ago, Illinois, of all the states in the
Union, is the poor man's country. Its resources are unbounded,
and wherever an industrious man plants his foot, or digs the soil,
he is sure to be remunerated for his trouble. The prairies once
presented a vast expanse of waste land, covered with grass, and
flowers of all the colors of the rainbow. Only a few years have
been devoted to their cultivation, and now they are covered with
corn and wheat, and oats, potatoes, hemp, and trees. Time was
when there were no trees, except on the borders of the streams —
now the locust is to be seen every where, and the farmers have
planted that and many other descriptions of trees on the borders
of their lots, in groves, and before their dwellings. There are a
number of Dutch farmers settled in this neighborhood, and they
have profited by the facility which the ground affords to become
rich. As we approached Alton, the crops were more advanced
than we had seen them in other places, and the large and sub-
stantial barns, are getting to be well filled. The Yankee, how-
ever, is the thriving man, all the world over, and where he is,
there you see evidences of care and neatness, and plenty and
prosperity; he may be laughed at, he may be scorned, he may be
abused in various, or in all ways, but Jonathan is the man on
whom the people, his neighbors, rely for every thing that is
stable, every thing that brings or continues civilization, good
government, good order, and lasting prosperity.

The state of Illinois, some years ago, and not many years
ago neither, was infatuated with a sense of its own natural ad-
vantages, its own unbounded resources, and launched forth into
the wildest scheme of internal improvement.29 It projected rail-

*• The Internal Improvement Bill became a law on February 27, 1837. Ap-
proximately 310,000,000 was voted for river improvement and railroad building.
Many enterprises were begun, but none of them finished. Within three years the

154 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

roads and canals in every direction. It borrowed money that it
could not pay. It commenced works that it could not finish. It
employed engineers to lay out routes, who knew only in theory
what the people wished to have constructed by practical men.
The consequences are known to the world, and canals and rail-
roads, half or quarter completed, some graded, some half built,
are to be met with in different parts of the state. A better day
is now dawning, and those who once thought the time for such
gigantic operations had not then arrived — the men of reflec-
tion— are now moving to accomplish the task which others too
soon under took — are destined to reap the benefits which early
cupidity came near losing.

A railroad is now to be built from Alton to Springfield, which
cannot fail to be an investment of great profit to the stockholders.
The company has a very favorable charter, and the state gives
its aid in the shape of a free grant, of such portions of a formerly
graded road as they may need or can use to advantage. The
road will have for its terminus the capital of the state, and will
open to the towns and the farms of the interior a means of com-
munication with the seaboard, or rather with navigation, which
must be immensely profitable. All along on the line, and I have
been over the whole of it, there is a country capable of producing,
which does now produce enormous crops of every thing, almost,
that will grow in any soil. Alton is so situated that boats of the
largest class can come up to its levee and load at all seasons of
the year; it is the head of navigation for freighting vessels, and
the completion of this railroad will be the means of increasing its
trade to an almost incalculable amount. The railroad as at
present is intended to be built, will be eighty-eight miles in
length; the engineers will undoubtedly shorten it about ten miles.
It runs through a country very favorable for construction, and
on almost a level grade for the greater part of the line. The

craze had run its course, and the state faced a debt of about 315,000,000, with re-
pudiation not an impossibility. No interest was paid on this debt from July 1, 1841
to July 1, 1846. Measures enacted during the administration of Gov. Thomas Ford,
1842-1846, looked toward the ultimate extinction of the debt.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 155

state has a road graded for ten miles at one end, and fifteen at
the other, which will be taken by the company, and can be put
in order at once for the rails at a trifling expense.

I have, in a former letter, spoken of the Illinois and Michigan
canal, which runs from Chicago to Peru. I am not as competent
as some others to give an opinion, and it may be great imper-
tinence in me to express one; but I think that every practical
New-England man, who makes a personal examination of the
route, will agree with me in wondering that the commissioners,
who came out here for the English bond-holders, and induced
them to advance more money for its completion, did not recom-
mend turning it into a railroad. Since we have established it
as a "fixed fact" in New-England, that transportation can be had
cheaper on a railroad than on a canal, the expense of lockage
and delay are things to be avoided if possible. It will not be
many years before a railroad will be built on that route, that will
be worth to the public more than fifty canals.

Alton has, in its immediate vicinity, five extensive flour
mills, and a large number of stores. The steamboats from the
lower part of the Upper Mississippi are continually passing, and
last night the snorting and belching of the engines, the ringing of
the bells of the boats, was to be heard every four minutes. The
ware-houses are built of stone and brick. There is an abundance
of lime stone to be found in the town, close down to the edge of
the river. The state penitentiary30 stands on a high bluff over-
looking the town, the river, and the neighboring part of the state
of Missouri; the prisoners are employed now in manufacturing
hemp, — they used to be engaged in all sorts of mechanical labor,
but on a remonstrance to the Legislature, setting forth that they
underworked the regular mechanics, a law was passed obliging
the overseers to put them to a kind of work that would not in-
terfere with the industry of more honest people.

30 The penitentiary at Alton, authorized by the legislature in 1827, was com-
pleted in the early thirties. It was used until 1860, when the prisoners were trans-
ferred to the new prison at Joliet.

156 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Gen. Semple,31 the author of the famous post-office report, of
which the readers of the Courier have heard something before,
lives at Alton, but I understand that he is disgusted with politics,
and is now devoting his time and talents to the construction of a
steam car, that he expects will travel over the prairies with or
without the aid of roads.32 I lost an opportunity to see this new
machine a few days ago, in consequence of the forgetfulness of a
friend; but I am informed that it is almost as visionary a thing as
the report to which I have before alluded. It will probably be
able to carry the mails through the Pacific Ocean, as soon as it
is ready to carry passengers across the continent of America.
The General hates President Polk and the whole administration,
and is not by any means chary in his comments upon their want
of foresight, in not appreciating his transcendant abilities suf-
ficiently to give him either a high military or civil appointment.

I rode out a few miles in the neighborhood, this afternoon,
with a friend, to see the country. The continued dry and hot
weather has made the roads very dusty, and every thing now
appears to less advantage than usual; but the sites for dwellings,
the houses and farms are improved, and the indications of pros-
perous industry every where apparent, give one a favorable idea
of what the citizens may become in a short time. North Alton
is at a short distance, and besides being a place of considerable
farming, is the residence of a great number of coopers, who make

41 Gen. James Semple, 1798-1866, was born in Green County, Kentucky; he
studied law in Louisville; moved to Edwardsville, Illinois in 1818 where he stayed
only a short time, returning there again in 1828; Brigadier General in the Black
Hawk War. Semple served several terms in the legislature and was twice elected
Speaker of the House; he was Charge d'Affaires to New Granada, 1837-1842, and
United States Senator, 1843-1847. He was enthusiastic over the acquisition of
Oregon, and in the spring of 1846 brought in two reports to the Senate calling for
the establishment of a mail route to Oregon. His second report detailed the possi-
bilities of a route by way of the Isthmus of Panama.

31 General Semple secured patents in 1845 on what he called a "prairie car."
The car was very similar to the old-fashioned locomotive in appearance, but differed
materially in its mechanical construction, having a broad wheel to enable it to run
over the prairies. The car worked successfully, but General Semple did not have
sufficient funds to continue experimentation. Forced to abandon the project, he
left the car standing out in the prairie near Springfield, where it gradually fell to
pieces and was pointed out to passers-by as "Semple's Folly."

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 157

a large quantity of barrels for flour and provisions. It has two
churches, which look rather out of character, for want of paint.
In this village, on a pretty spot, is situated the college, which was
endowed by the late Dr. ShurtlefF of Boston, and which bears his
name.33 It is a large brick building, but is not at present very
prosperous, in consequence of the want of sufficient funds to pro-
cure professors and teachers of the highest talent.

Another regiment of volunteers for Mexico is quartered in
camp in this village, — it is not quite full, but another company
is daily expected, and as soon as it arrives the election of officers
will take place. The most prominent candidate for Colonel is
Mr. [Joseph B.] Wells, now Lieutenant-Governor of the state.
Col. Baker, formerly member of Congress, who has already
served with distinction, was a candidate, but he peremptorily
declines, as he thinks he is entitled to a higher rank, and is now
an applicant for appointment as Brigadier General.

Yesterday, the packet-boat from St. Louis brought up the
bodies of three Lieutenants belonging to this place, who were
killed in battle in Mexico, and they were received with some cere-
mony. Guns were fired by way of salute, the bells tolled, and
a speech was made on the levee, to which nobody made any
reply. A procession was then formed, and the bodies were carried
to one of the churches, where they will lie in state for several
days, after which there will be a celebration on a small scale,
after the fashion of that which I saw at Jacksonville. Discharged
volunteers, who have served their year in Mexico, are daily re-
turning by the way of St. Louis, and on the arrival of every boat
they are saluted by the firing of cannon, and other demonstra-
tions of respect. A few nights ago, it was rumored that a number
were on board one of the packets, — the guns were fired as usual,
the crowd collected to see them land, and the chairman or spokes-
man of the committee of reception mounted a woodpile and made
a patriotic speech. But lo and behold! there was no volunteer

33 In recognition of Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff's gift of 310,000 in 1835, the name
of Alton College was changed to ShurtlefF College in 1836.

158 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

on board, except a drunken Irishman, who was astonished, as
well he might be, at the eloquence which had been so lavishly-
thrown away upon him, and he exclaimed, with a hiccup, that
it was "very affecting — it almost made me cry."

St. Louis, Missouri
[July 17, 1847]

We took passage, at eight o'clock, on board the steamboat
Luella, but did not get away from the levee until nearly nine.
These levees are the banks of the river graded to a convenient
slope, sometimes paved and sometimes left in their natural state,
and are either dusty or muddy, according to the weather.
Wharves there are none, in this part of the country — or rather
there are very few. At Alton, as at other places that I have
seen on the Mississippi and on the Illinois rivers, the boats pass-
ing down always turn round and come to the levee with the
bow upstream; this is done for the sake of convenience, and
because there would be much trouble in stopping head-way if
they attempted to come to with the force of the current in the
same direction in which they are running.

Our passage down the river was very pleasant, for there was
a slight breeze blowing from the south. The scenery was beauti-
ful. A short distance from Alton we came to the low land called
the American Bottom — which at times, when the river is highest,
is generally overflowed; it is rich soil, richer than any other in
the world. This bottom-land extends on both sides of the river
for nearly a hundred miles, and has proved to be inexhaustible —
it never wears out. Other lands will yield large produce, but it
is necessary to change the seed from year to year, from corn to
wheat and from wheat to oats, &c. &c; but on the American,
or as some people more appropriately call it, the Mississippi
bottom, it has been proved that the same kind of crops can be
produced every year; and at one place farther south, it is said
that corn has been raised every year in succession for one hundred
and fifty years.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 159

A few miles from Alton, I believe only three, is the mouth of
the Missouri, a yellow-colored water, which empties into the
Mississippi, but does not mix with it for miles and miles in its
course. The difference in the two streams is marked so strongly,
that while one is on the clearer waters of the latter, the waters
of the other, running only a few feet distance from the boat,
look like a sand-bar extended along the side. After we proceed
some miles, the two become united; but after all it is like the
amalgamation of milk and molasses, with a streak of light and
a streak of dark. The Mississippi, however, never again becomes
the clear, bright water that it is in the regions above. The bot-
tomlands are well wooded, and the foliage of the trees is the
most dense I have ever seen. I believe that oaks and elms, and
maple and locust, and walnut, are the most abundant, although
other varieties are interspersed. Occasionally you will see a
lombardy poplar, but it is where somebody has planted it — it is
not natural to the soil. There are no chestnuts and no pines.

At eleven o'clock, we arrived at St. Louis.34 We have heard
of a "forest of masts," but here, without seeing a mast, we were
at once in the midst of a forest of chimneys or smoke-pipes.
There may be sailing vessels on this river, but the commerce is
carried on by means of steamboats. Like the people of every
other place, the people here say we can see nothing now, — it is
not the season, there is no business doing, and there are few
boats here. But I see enough to surprise my unsophisticated
Yankeeism. The number now, dull as the season may be, may
very properly be named legion.

The levee is high, with a very steep slope, and is paved with
blocks of lime-stone. It is covered with all sorts of produce, and
is lined on its upper side with immense warehouses; on its lower,
with steamboats. The boats lie in regular order, close together,
with their bows run on to the shore, as compactly as they can be
placed, and discharge or take in freight and passengers from the
bow. I believe there was not a boat lying broad-side to the lev

34 The population of St. Louis in 1847 was estimated at 55,000.

160 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

when we arrived, and we were obliged to come to along side of the
stern of another steamer, and the passengers crossed her decks
the whole length, in order to get on shore.

When we landed, the sun was apparently doing his utmost to
burn up all the life and energy that remained, after a week's sum-
mer weather, in man and beast. The lime-stone, of which the
pavements are composed, and the lime-stone soil of the unpaved
streets, is light colored, almost white, and the reflection of the sun
upon it is dazzling to the eyes. We have hotter weather in Bos-
ton, occasionally, than they have had at St. Louis this summer,
but it is only for a few days, and is even then occasionally relieved
by intervals of east wind. But here, the heat comes on grad-
ually, and is regular, affording no stopping places, so to speak,
although the mercury in the thermometer may not be more than
ninety or ninety-four, it is the same from morning to night and
night to morning, day to day, burning on and baking the people
as by a slow fire. I thought that the heat at Alton was tolerably
severe, but at St. Louis I find it intolerable.

The first thing that struck my attention, after the steam-
boats, was the business-like character of the place. I am writing
my first impressions, recollect, and therefore I may say something
by and by, or hereafter, that will not correspond with what I
say now. As Rochester, a small place, was more bustling to me
than Boston, and Buffalo appeared larger and more of a business
place than Rochester, so St. Louis, with only about fifty thousand
inhabitants, would seem at first glance to do more business than
New-York or Liverpool. On the levee were all sorts of goods,
and in all sorts of packages. The warehouses are of great height,
situated not only on the levee, but in the street above, or in the
cross streets which run down to the river, and they all appear to
be filled with goods of all descriptions. The drays are numerous,
and the draymen, black and white, keep up a constant yelling
and shouting that would stun a quiet man.

Hot as it was, a friend induced me in the middle of the day
to jump into his buggy and ride around the city, in order to obtain

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 161

a sort of outside view of its magnitude and its character. We
did not go off from the paved streets into the suburbs, but we
rode round through the principal and some of the minor thorough-
fares. The retail trade is extended over the whole city. Large
blocks of many storied brick dwelling-houses are in all the streets.
Churches and other public buildings are numerous. Hotels are
all but uncountable, and bar-rooms are quite so. The sidewalks
are paved with brick, and are wide and comfortable. The streets
in the upper part of the city are wide and run at right angles,
many of them being shaded with trees, which are planted on each
side!

Dinner time brought us to the Planters' House, where I have
concluded to rest for a day, before I take up my line of march
for a new and somewhat unknown region on the Upper Missis-
sippi.

St. Louis, Missouri
My notes of St. Louis are meagre, for the heat of the weather,
and the fatigue of the last week, rendered it necessary that I
should remain in the house nearly all the time I have been
here. The Planters' House, at which I am staying, is built after
the plan of the Astor House, and is nearly as large. It is kept
by Stickney & Scollay, both of whom, I believe, are Yankees.
Its situation is the best and pleasantest of any public house in
the city, and by favor of good friends, I was enabled to secure
an upper room, with a southern aspect, which gave me all the
comfort of breeze and freedom from mosquitoes that any one can
obtain in St. Louis. The street in front is broad, and appears
to be the Broadway of the city. An evening stroll on Saturday
night was very pleasant, exhibiting the different retail shops, con-
fectioneries, &c. to good advantage. The majority of the business
streets are narrow and much cumbered with goods and people.
Even in the day-time, and under a broiling sun, it appeared as
if the people were all in the streets in the part of the city devoted
to traffic. Taverns and grog-shops are abundant, and, like the
boot and shoe shops of Montreal, appear to be a very large per

162 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

centage of the whole number of places devoted to business in
some particular neighborhoods. The streets devoted to wholesale
trade, exhibit more bustle and activity than those of New- York or
Boston, even at this dull season of the year, and one is irresistibly
led to the belief that the trade of St. Louis is not only most
flourishing, but must be increasing. A gentleman informs me
that he has seen five hundred large steam-boats discharging and
taking in cargoes at the levee at the same time. There is one
cotton factory in the city, which was established and is kept in
operation by a German house.

There are several foundries and machine shops, which turn
out the very best of work; it is said that some of the machinery
manufactured in St. Louis is equal, if not superior, to any that
has ever been made at the East. Within a few years, there have
been some splendid boats built in this city or its neighborhood,
and the improvements which are constantly made, in the strength,
speed, capacity, and light draught of those which hail from this
port, will, ere long, make this the place in the West for ship-
building.

On the square, next to the Planters' House, is the Court House,
a most uncouth looking building at present; they tell me it is to
be altered and improved.35 It is built in the shape of a square
cross, or a square building with four wings. The front of each
wing is built as high as the top of the second story, of white
limestone; the rest is of brick, including all the space above the
second story window caps. It has the air in part of falling to
decay, and in part of being unfinished. Good and substantial
stone steps lead to the entrances, and an iron fence has been
erected partly round the building. When seated in my chamber
this morning, I heard the stentorian voice of somebody making
a speech, for so long a time that I concluded that I would go
down and see what it all meant. Following the direction of the
sound, I soon found myself in the Criminal Court. Twelve
jurors, most of them with their coats off, one apparently asleep,

36 Little work was done on the courthouse in 1847.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 163

and all seated in such way as could make them most comfortable,
were supposed to be listening to a one-eyed, shaggy-headed law-
yer, who was arguing for the defence. The Judge was quite a
young man, not more than thirty years of age, and the most
gentlemanly looking of all in the room.36 Three other persons
were seated at the tables appropriated to counsel, and they were
too much amazed, evidently, with the queer arguments of the
person speaking, to talk or write. There were half a dozen spec-
tators, and the whole number of persons present, judge, jury,
counsel, prisoners, and spectators, did not amount to twenty-five.
It was astonishing to see how a man could work so hard, and talk
so loud, and chew so much tobacco, with the thermometer at
ninety-six, and not a breath of air stirring. The gentlemen —
for all lawyers are gentlemen, — appeared to be trying to make
out a case of somnambulism in one of the witnesses, and told
us of his having experienced dreadful sensations on several
occasions, in consequence of suddenly waking at night, and
fancying he saw sights which he did not see; he told how easy it
was to be deceived by appearances, and to be frightened at noth-
ing; and he put it to the Jury to say for themselves, whether they
had not often made mistakes as to objects which they looked at
in the dark. From all his arguments he deduced that the prin-
cipal witness was half asleep when she saw what she had testified
to, and was not half certain of that which she did see — therefore,
he claimed an acquittal. Before he concluded I came away.

There are many handsome public buildings in St. Louis, and
many blocks of handsome and substantial private houses. But
I am astonished to see that, with fifty thousand inhabitants, the
streets are not lighted at night.37 I regretted that I could not
see the interior of some of the churches, and still more that I
was unable to accept of several invitations of private hospitality,
all of which must be deferred till circumstances, as strange as
those which brought me unexpectedly here now, shall send me
here again.

36 Alonzo W. Manning was judge of the Criminal Court in 1847.

37 The streets of the business section were first lighted by gas on Nov. 6, 1847.

164 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

This is the first hotel I have seen, since I left home, where I
could enjoy a breakfast. I have eaten breakfasts every day, but
they have only been in the performance of a regular duty. But
here, at the Planters' House, a man can come to the table and
enjoy an hour in the morning, in comfort. So few people in this
busy world know how to live, that half of those who do live only
exist. Now men will tell us that every thing depends upon din-
ner, for which they want "time;" therefore they are up early in
the morning, swallow a cup of tea or coffee, bolt half a pound of
beef steak or other meat, not properly cooked, a few hot cakes,
and off they run to business; before noon, they are half starved,
and while the stuff they put into their stomachs in the morning
is still undigested, they take a hearty luncheon, that ought to
serve a moderate man for his dinner, if it were fit for anybody
to eat, and away they run again to business; before they have
digested either the breakfast or the lunch, they go to dinner,
and "take time for it" — that is, they perhaps sit half or three
quarters of an hour at table, without any appetite, very dainty,
and pretend to enjoy luxuries which their cooks know not how
to prepare for the table, and which they are not in a fit state to
appreciate. And yet such men live and grow rich, and before
they are sixty, die of apoplexy or of indigestion. If a man would
have a good constitution, and be in a proper state of body or
mind to do business and enjoy a good dinner, he should spend
an hour in the early morning, at his breakfast table, with his
family and friends — not in eating and drinking, but taking his
food in moderation, and sitting with his newspaper or his con-
versation, or both, until his food begins to digest; he will then be
fit for business or pleasure all the rest of the day. Let him avoid
a lunch, for he will need none, and he will enjoy his dinner again,
as his breakfast, and it will do him good, however humbly it may
be served, however scanty or coarse, or devoid of luxuries and
variety. Let no one say he has no time in the morning to waste
at the breakfast table, for if business requires him to be early
about, he can get up early enough to take all the time he wants.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 165

At the Planters', as at the Astor House, you can get a good break-
fast, and take all the time you wish for. Of course, I recommend
it to travelers coming this way, as a place where they will not
be hustled out by hurrying servants, before they are half finished,
nor entirely deserted by company.

Mississippi River
And this is the "mighty father of rivers'" He is like "linked
sweetness, long drawn out," but he is a small father, after all,
at this end, not being over a mile and a half to a mile and three
quarters wide above St. Louis. Of course I know nothing of his
rotundity below. From here upwards, he is slim and shallow.
About twenty miles above St. Louis, the Missouri river empties
in him, as I have already stated, and as the Missouri is the bigger,
if not the better stream, it seems rather a mistake that it should
lose its identity — it would be more appropriate to give the name
Missouri to the whole river below, and to lose the Mississippi.
But this is no affair of mine.

We left St. Louis about half past seven o'clock in the evening,
that is to say, we backed out from the levee at that time, but
we stopped to take some passengers off from a boat just arrived
from Ohio, and to take in some salt from another boat, and the
consequence was that we actually did not get away until nine
o'clock. The Western people are a queer people in some respects,
and the delays and the stoppages that one meets with in traveling
in their country are rather annoying to our more regular Yankee
travelers. For instance — three steamboats were advertised to
leave St. Louis on Saturday for Galena, and one on Monday.
On Monday, neither of them had gone, and all were for taking
in freight. By the advice of those who knew, I concluded to
take passage in the Kentucky. The captain said he should start
at noon, but, if he did not, he should certainly go at three, p. m.,
and he would send word to the hotel. Three o'clock came, and no
message was sent. At half past four I went on board with my
baggage, and, wishing to spend a short time with a friend, asked
if the boat would be ready before the expiration of an hour; I

166 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

was told that she certainly would. However, I went off and
took an hour and a half, and came back and was obliged to wait,
as I have said above, until seven and nine o'clock. Neither of
the other boats were ready to leave as soon as we did, and the
boat advertised to sail certainly on Monday, a "regular packet,"
we met about a hundred miles up the river on Tuesday, coming
down.

We stopped at Alton during the night, and took in two pas-
sengers, but until morning there was not much to be seen, although
the twilight was long, and I had my usual luck of traveling by
moonlight. The bottom lands which lie along the river for nearly
a hundred miles, are not interesting in the matter of scenery, as
there is much sameness in them; after they are once seen, they
only appear beautiful for their richness of soil and their beautiful
supply of produce. The shore is generally bold — sufficiently so
for the light draught boats to run up where it pleases the cap-
tains, for any purpose whatever, whether it be to shake hands
with a friend, to call on a sweetheart, to take in wood, or land
or receive passengers, for all of which purposes many captains
frequently stop.

We have been five nights and nearly five days on the river
between St. Louis and Galena. At the mouth of the Des Moines
river, which enters into the Mississippi near a little village called
Clarksville, on the Missouri side, we left some freight, and left
also the shore of the state of Missouri. We now had on one side
Iowa, and on the other Illinois, and I could not help thinking
that there was a great difference between the appearance of every
thing, — the houses, the barns, and the fields in the free states,
and similar objects in the slave states. It may be all imagina-
tion; but I have less philanthropy and less pretension than some ;
other people, and yet I think that I have seen more frugality,
more attention to the interest of the proprietors of the land by
the laborers employed, more economy and more industry dis-
played by all parties, — the men, the women, the children, the
hired, the hirer, the owner, and the tenant — in free states, than

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 167

I have ever seen in slave states. The Western people are not as
frugal as their Eastern friends, of either time or money. Every-
thing in this country grows so fast that a farmer can afford to
idle away many hours that a Massachusetts man, or any New-
England man, would be obliged to spend in toil and labor — the
consequence is that he grows indolent. The Yankee who comes
out to the West with the best principles and the most industri-
ous habits, in a short time becomes rather careless of many of
the niceties which he would have insisted upon at home. Still,
you can always tell the farm of a Yankee settler. You can see
that there is a difference between the thriftiness, and the care of
buildings of a New-England emigrant, and those of a family who
came into this country from the South, particularly from a slave
state.

At Keokuk, the next stopping place above Clarksville, we were
obliged to discharge all our freight into lighters, as the waters of
the Mississippi are falling, and it is rather difficult for any boat
to pass over the rapids, which extend from this place to Montrose,
a distance of about twelve miles. We staid at Keokuk about
fifteen hours, and then, drawing only thirty-three and a half
inches, the Kentucky had hard work to get over the rapids. She
struck and struggled and rubbed on the rocks, her engines were
put to their hardest work, the passengers and the crew were
obliged to go from side to side every few minutes, in order, by
their weight, to up her one way or the other. Finally, she pressed
herself along, the steam belching and bellowing, snorting and
wheezing, as nothing in this world except the steam of a high-
pressure engine can do, and we were again safe in deeper water.
While we lay at Keokuk, I took some trouble to see what sort
of a place it is, but I was not much gratified. It must be eventually
a great place, as it is at the foot of the rapids, and will be the
headquarters of all the Southern produce which is to come up the
river. It is now rather below par, as there is some dispute as to
fhe title to lands, the Indians having sold out their rights to
several companies, and squatters having come in and made use

168 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

of lands that belong of right to other people. Pettifogging law-
yers and greedy speculators serve to keep up the impression that
no good titles can be obtained, and the consequence is that many
persons, who might otherwise be disposed to purchase and settle
at Keokuk, are deterred from doing so.

A circus company was performing here this afternoon; and for
the purpose of seeing the people of the country, I went to their
tent, at the expense of fifty cents. There were about six hundred
people present, of all ages, sizes and descriptions, mostly women
and children, with a slight sprinkling of a country dandy or so,
and it was amusing to witness their expressions of feeling at the
performances. So far as the circus company was concerned, the
performances were the poorest I ever saw, and the horses and the
band appeared to be about equally stupid; but the audience was
not only a delighted, but a delightful one — every body was happy,
and every body was astonished; the clown could not make too
stupid a joke, and the man who turned three summersets was
pronounced the wonder of the age. How easy and how cheap it
is to make people happy!

I forgot to mention, in its proper place in my narrative, that
we arrived at Quincy, in the state of Illinois, a town of much
importance, at night, after all reasonable people had gone to bed.
It was quite a disappointment to me, as I wished to see Quincy,
and learn more of its trade and capabilities than I can learn with-
out some personal examination. Soon after we again started;
about two miles from the levee, the boat ran upon a sand-bar,
and it took two hours of hard work, much scolding and consid-
erable straining of the engines, to get us off. We did float, how-
ever, and sailed along up river for about two miles further,
when we were obliged to come to a stand still, in consequence of
the pumps being choked with sand, so that they would not feed
the boilers. This was in consequence of the wheels having
stirred up the bottom of the river while we were on the bar, so
as to make the water all muddy and thick. Another delay of
five or six hours then took place, after which we started again
and arrived safely at Keokuk.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 169

Nauvoo, Illinois
The Holy City of the Mormons has always possessed a certain
kind of interest in my mind, and I have had much curiosity to
know something about it. But I never expected to spend a
whole day in it. Newspaper accounts are generally unsatisfac-
tory, and the events of the last two years have raised up a strong
party in opposition to the Mormons, so that it has been almost
impossible to learn any thing as to the past or present situation
of Nauvoo.88 The city is situated on the left bank of the Mis-
sissippi, in the state of Illinois, on a lot of land gently and grad-
ually sloping down to the water, but extending back over a
prairie some two or three or more miles. It has had eighteen
thousand inhabitants; it now has eighteen hundred, or at most,
two thousand. It appears to have been laid out by somebody,
originally, into streets running in squares, and each house is
built with regard to the original plan. The families have erected
each one their house on their own lot, and of course the dwellings
are not compact, but are scattered over a large extent of ground.
There is but one block of dwellings, or stores, in the whole city,
and that appears to have been left unfinished. Most of them are
of brick, two stories and a half high, and square, with a gable
roof. There are, however, a number of buildings of wood, and
some of them three stories high. Time was, and that not two
years and a half ago, when every house was full, and every farm
under good cultivation. Now, every thing looks forlorn and deso-
late. Not half the buildings are occupied, and of these not half
are half full. The stores are closed. The farms are running
to waste. The streets are overgrown with grass. The inhabitants

"The Mormons founded Nauvoo in 1838. In 1840, they voted the Whig
ticket, in recognition of which the Whig legislature granted Nauvoo a charter of un-
limited power. Opposition to the Mormons' political power, their practice of poly-
gamy, the arrogance of their leaders, culminating in the destruction of the Expositor,
an anti-Mormon newspaper in Nauvoo, brought the imprisonment of Joseph and
Hyrum Smith in the jail at Carthage, Illinois. Here the brothers were murdered.
Brigham Young then became the leader of the church. In January, 1845, the char-
ter was repealed, and in February, 1846, the great trek of the Mormons to Utah
began.

170 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

look like any thing but an industrious people, and every thing
tells of ruin instead of prosperity.

Our first object, of course, was the far-famed Mormon tem-
ple,39 which stands upon the top of the hill, and can be seen for
some miles up and down the river. The first sight we had of it
gave us a pang of disappointment, for it looked more like a white
Yankee meeting-house, with its steeple on one end, than a mag-
nificent structure which had cost, all uncompleted as it is, seven
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But as we approached
nearer, it proved to be something worth seeing. It is nearly a
mile from the landing, the most conspicuous, in fact the only
conspicuous object in the city. It is built of white limestone.
The front is ornamented with sunken square columns of no par-
ticular style of architecture, having capitals representing half a
a man's head — the upper half — showing the forehead, eyes and
the top of the nose, and crowned with thorns, or perhaps what
was intended for the points of stars. Over the head are two
bugles or horns, with their largest ends outwards, and the handles,
on the upper side, forming a sort of festoon protection. On all
sides of the temple are similar columns with similar capitals; the
base of each column is heavy, but in good proportion and of a
fanciful design, which it would be difficult to describe. There is
a basement with small windows. Ten steps lead to the front and
only entrance to the main building. Three arches enable you to
enter into a sort of vestibule, from which, by. doors, you enter
the grand hall, and at the sides are the entries to the staircases,
to ascend to the upper apartments.

The front of the temple is apparently three stories high, and
is surmounted by an octagonal tower or steeple, which itself is
three stories, with a dome, and having on four sides a clock next
below the dome. There is a line of circular windows over the
arched entrance, ornamented with carved work between each, and

39 The cornerstone of the Temple was laid on April 6, 1841, in the presence of
10,000 people. The Temple was destroyed by fire of unknown origin in November,
1848.

p* Q

O "

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 171

over that again a line of square windows. In this upper row is
a large square entablature, on which is cut the following inscrip-
tion:—

THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

built by

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

OF LATTER DAY SAINTS,

Commenced April 6th, 1841.

HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

A similar entablature is on the front [illegible] vestibule, over
the doors of entrance, with the same inscription. The letters on
each are gilt.

The man in attendance demanded twenty-five cents each as
fee for showing us the Temple, and asked every one to subscribe
a visitor's book. I looked over this book, and saw but two names
of persons hailing from Boston for the last six months, neither of
which was familiar to me. We were then taken to the very top
of the building, and enjoyed there, for some time, a view of the
surrounding country, which, of itself, well paid for the trouble of
ascending, as the whole valley of the Mississippi for miles and
miles lay exposed to view on the north and south, while the
prairie lands of Illinois, and Iowa, and Missouri, were to be seen
at the east and west, overlooking the few hills lying near to the
shore in the latter state, and showing the tortuous course of the
Des Moines river for some distance.

Coming down, we were ushered into the Council Chamber,
which is a large low room, lighted by one large half circular
window at the end, and several small sky-lights in the roof. On
each side are six small ante-chambers, said to have been intended
for the twelve priests, councillors, or elders, or whatever they
may have been called. The chamber itself is devoid of ornament,
and I was unable to ascertain whether it was intended to have
any, if it should have been completed.

In the entry, on each side of the door to the Council Chamber,
is a room called the wardrobe, where the priests were to keep

172 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

their dresses. On one side was a room intended for a pantry,
showing that the priests did not mean to go supperless to bed.
Under the Council Chamber was another large hall, with seven
windows on each side, and four at the further end.

On the lower floor was the grand hall for the assemblage and
worship of the people. Over the windows at the end, was in-
scribed in gilded capital letters— "THE LORD HAS BEHELD
OUR SACRIFICE: COME AFTER US." This was in a circular
line, corresponding to the circle of the ceiling. Seats are pro-
vided in this hall for the accommodation at one time of thirty-
five hundred people, and they are arranged with backs, which
are fitted like the backs to seats in a modern railroad car, so as
to allow the spectator to sit and look in either direction, east or
west. At the east and west ends are raised platforms, composed
of series of pulpits, on steps one above the other. The fronts of
these pulpits were semi-circular, and are inscribed, in gilded letters,
on the west side, P A P, P P Q, P T Q, P D Q, meaning, as the
guide informed us, the uppermost one, President of Aronic Priest-
hood; the second, President of the Priests' Quorum; the third,
President of the Teachers' Quorum; and the fourth and lowest,
President of the Deacons' Quorum. On the east side, the pulpits
were marked P H P, P S Z, P H Q, and P E Q, and the knowledge
of the guide was no better than ours as to what these symbolical
letters were intended for. Like the rooms above, this was devoid
of any but architectural ornaments.

We next descended to the basement, where is the far-cele-
brated font. It is in fact the cellar of the building. The font
is of white lime-stone, of an oval shape, twelve by sixteen feet in
size on the inside, and about four and a half feet to five feet
deep. It is very plain, and rests on the backs of twelve stone
oxen or cows, which stand immersed to their knees in the earth.
It has two flights of steps, with iron banisters, by which you
enter and go out of the font, one at the east end, and the other
at the west end. The oxen have tin horns and tin ears, but are
otherwise of stone, and a stone drapery hangs like a curtain

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 173

down from the font, so as to prevent the exposure of all back
of the four legs of the beasts. In consequence of what I had
heard of this font, I was disappointed; for it was neither vast nor
gorgeous; every thing about it was quite simple and unostenta-
tious. The basement is unpaved, and on each side and at the
ends are small alcoves, intended for robing rooms for the faithful.

I don't know as I have been able to give an intelligent descrip-
tion of this far-famed temple of the Mormons, but it is correct
as far as it goes. The whole is quite unfinished, and one can
imagine what it might have been in the course of time, if Joe
Smith had been allowed to pursue his career in prosperity.

After wandering about Nauvoo for some time, a small party
concluded we would call on the widow of Joe Smith, the prophet,
and dine with her — she now keeps a public house, at the sign of
the "Nauvoo Mansion." We found her at home, and had con-
siderable conversation with her. She is an intelligent woman,
apparently about fifty years of age, rather large, and very good
looking, with a bright sparkling eye, but a countenance of sadness
when she is not talking; she must have been a handsome woman
when some years younger. She answered all our questions as we
sat at dinner, although perhaps some of them might have been
rather impertinent under a strict construction of the rules of eti-
quette, with great readiness and great willingness. Our dinner
consisted of fresh fried fish and stewed mutton, with vegetables
and pastry, to all of which we did full justice, for it was well
cooked and cleanly served. After obtaining considerable infor-
mation, and fully gratifying a not altogether useless curiosity, we
separated, highly pleased with our visit.

If any body should wish to go [to] Nauvoo, after this, we advise
the taking of a skiff or a row-boat, from a steamboat, and crossing
the river from Montrose, which is on the Iowa side directly oppo-
site, rather than put up with the delays, the impudence, and the
imposition, which are sure to be encountered by the fellow that
manages the regular ferry boat. We advise, also, all strangers
to walk over the city, rather than accept of any of the different

174 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

conveyances for riding, that may be offered on landing. If the
drivers or the ferryman insult you, let them know that you are
at once able and ready to chastise their insolence on the spot,
for if they think you are too tame, they will not cease their im-
pertinences otherwise, from the time you start from the Iowa
territory until you get back again.

The history of the rise and progress of the Mormon delusion,
of the causes of their downfall, and the means of their extermi-
nation— for they are now as a race exterminated — will be, if it
should ever be written, a romance of thrilling interest. No one
can visit Nauvoo, and come away without a conviction that what-
ever of rascality and crime there may have been among them,
the body of the Mormons were an industrious, hard-working,
and frugal people. In the history of the world there cannot be
found such another instance of so rapid a rise of a city out of a
wilderness — a city so well built, a territory so well cultivated.
That they had bad men and bad women among them, is not to
be doubted nor denied; but if the authorities of Illinois had acted
in good faith, — if Governor Ford had had firmness and moral
courage enough to do his duty and sustain the laws, which he
pretended, and, I believe, intended to sustain, the race would not
have been driven away by mobs to die of starvation, and di-
sease, and of grief. A few are left at Nauvoo, and those are too
poor to live honestly, too broken-hearted to work earnestly.

Joe Smith, the prophet-leader, was, although an uneducated
man, a man of great powers, and a man who could conceive great
projects. One of his errors was the meddling in the politics of
the state and country, and by alternately throwing the weight of
the Mormon vote in favor of first one political party and then
of another, he raised up enemies, who afterwards became embit-
tered towards him, and when he was suspected of moral crimes,
such as tampering with justice, projecting robberies, assisting at
burglaries, &c. &c, he not only had no friends left out of his
own sect, but became a sort of outlaw, against whom it was ap-
parently a virtue for every man to raise his hand; for whom,

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 175

when he died the death of a dog, by downright murder, no one
had pity, and whose cause no one dared avenge.

Galena, Illinois
We made very good progress after we left Montrose, which is
a town of not much importance, on the Iowa side of the river,
opposite Nauvoo. The captains of the steamboats seem to think
that the inhabitants of Iowa, in this section of the state, are not
worth much, and they give Keokuk and Montrose a bad name
for thievery and all other sorts of rascality; they are obliged,
when the river is low, to spend much time at both places. We
discharged all our freight at Keokuk into lighters, which were
drawn up, for thirteen miles, over the rapids, by horse-power.
There is no tow-path, but the water is so shallow that the horses
wade along on the Iowa side, sometimes up to their bellies in
the water, and occasionally on the shore, where there is a clear
path along the beach, finding a dry passage. Our master of the
Kentucky entrusted his freight to two lighters, but he put his
first clerk on board of one and a trusty man on board the other,
to protect the property from thieves, with whom it was possible
the lightermen might be in connection, either directly or indirectly.
The scenery on the river is pretty, but it is not particularly
striking, and we occasionally met with large rafts of timber, &c,
floating down. These rafts are very large, and have crews of
from five to twenty men, according to their size; — they have four
or six large sculls put out at each end, for the purpose of steering
or warping them over to the different sides of the river, according
to circumstances and the course of the channel. Sometimes they
get hard and fast, while going over the rapids or over the sand-
bars, and as they have no means of getting off again, they pull
their rafts in pieces, and, wading in the water, form them again
into new rafts, on the lower side of the shoals where they have
run aground. We stopped during the next night after we left the
rapids, to take in wood, and the scene was one of the most pic-
turesque I ever saw. Large pine knots were stuck up on end on
board the boat and on shore, and lighted so as to make torches.

176 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

As no pine is to be had in this part of the country, these torches
are manufactured for the purpose, by binding together several
sticks of long wood, which the steamboat people obtain at St.
Louis from the boats which arrive at that place from New-Orleans
and other directions. At the spot where we stopped to wood this
night, the lights and the dark shade of the trees, the half savage
appearance of the woodmen, and the glare of light on the placid
water of the Mississippi, made every thing appear quite romantic.

About daylight, we arrived at Burlington, which is a pretty
place of some importance and considerable trade. I regretted
that for the two hours we were there, I could not meet with some
friends who had expected to show me some of the advantages of
the town, but it would have been cruel to call upon them at so
early an hour in the morning. Every thing wore the appearance,
in the early twilight, of peace and comfort, and the store-houses
and shops evinced a prosperity which it is to be hoped will be in-
creased with the increase of time, — the progress of civilization.
Only eighteen years ago, this place was but a wilderness, and now
it is a thriving, industrious and growing place of business.

The most beautiful, — not the most grand and romantic, but
the most strikingly pretty — scenery, is still further up the river,
where are situated on the opposite sides, the towns of Davenport
in Iowa, and Stephenson in Illinois.40 We landed freight and
passengers at both places, and I don't know which to describe
as the most pleasant. Both are generally built of good substantial
brick and wooden houses and stores. The situation of Davenport
appears the prettiest as you look up the river upon it, and that
of Stephenson the prettiest as you go up stream and look down
river to it. Davenport, however, is the place of most business at
present. Between the two towns is the island called Rock Island,
where is a fort which was the scene of a hard contested battle
with the British, in the war of 1812,41 and where Colonel Daven-

i0 The name Stephenson was officially changed to Rock Island in March, 1841.
41 Fort Armstrong was established at the lower end of Rock Island after the
close of the War of 1812. Its garrison was withdrawn in 1836.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 177

port was murdered a few years ago by a parcel of horse-thieves,
for the sake of his money. The fort is deserted at present, and
the public works are not in good preservation. The farm and
farm-house of Col. Davenport on the island exhibit evidences of
care, and are in good order. It will be recollected by some readers
of the newspapers that Col. Davenport was alone in his house on
one 4th of July, and he was attacked, murdered, and robbed of
about two thousand dollars by several men, three or four of whom
were afterwards caught and hung for the crime.42 He was a
singular man in his character, and was divorced from his wife;
he afterwards married his wife's daughter, and the two wives or
widows now live on the estate together.

We arrived at Galena about eleven o'clock in the forenoon on
Saturday, and found it a much larger, much more of a business
place than we expected. The principal street runs along the bank
of the river up into a valley, and houses are scattered along on the
banks of the hills for some miles. This town is situated about seven
miles from the Mississippi, on a shallow winding stream, called
Fever River. The river runs in all sorts of directions, and is very
crooked, — sometimes to the south, sometimes to the east, some-
times west, and sometimes almost north again. At some seasons
of the year it is not navigable, except for rafts or very light flat-
boats, and about a mile from the village it is fordable at almost all
seasons by cattle and persons on foot. Two ferries are maintained
by the town, and the village is situated in a valley on both sides of
the river.

Our general impression of Galena is, that it is a rough mining
town, with hardly any civilization, and no business, except that
which naturally grows out of the wants of the miners. But it is a
place of much trade, and the centre of what will by and by be a
great agricultural country. The hills and fields are favorable for
the growth of wheat, and the raising of cattle. A few years ago it

42 Col. George Davenport, born in England, came to America and entered into
trade with the Indians. He had lived on Rock Island for some thirty years, ac-
quiring a fortune and a reputation among Indians and whites for his fairness, gen-
erosity and kindness to all.

178 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

was in reality a wilderness, but now it has a large number of stores,
and several meeting-houses, good, substantial, fashionable looking
dwelling-houses, and about a dozen good taverns, besides a dozen
dashing-looking bar-rooms. The progress of civilization and the
great increase of travel has induced farmers to settle in the town,
and turn their attention to raising vegetables, fruit and poultry for
market, for which they get good prices.

As this is the lead region of the United States, from which so
much wealth has already been accumulated, I was anxious to
visit the mines. On the levee were piled up large piles of lead in
pigs, which Were going on board several steamers, or waiting for
opportunities for shipment to St. Louis. Procuring a guide, I
started, after dinner, for the "diggings" and the furnaces. The
country is composed of small hills and valleys, and on almost every
mound we saw the yellow earth turned up in piles, showing where
the miners had been at work. Being Saturday afternoon, few per-
sons were engaged in the operation of digging, but I saw several
holes where the men were hoisting with a common windlass the
ore and earth from little wells. The land in this neighborhood has
all been entered and become private property. The owners have
no objection to any one coming on their land and digging for lead.
If the operators succeed in striking a vein, they make a bargain
with the owner to get out as much as they can, giving him a certain
portion — the lion's share, of course — and receiving the rest for
their own labor; if they are not successful, they abandon the work,
and commence in another part of the lot, no harm having been
done, except their own loss of time and money. Some laborers
make a great deal by this operation, while others only get about
enough to pay them their outfit and day's wages, while the owner
is sure to become rich by their labor.

Lead is a cash article, and is worth money the moment it is
brought to the surface of the earth. There is no credit system
allowed, for it sells for cash, and although not so valuable in market
as silver or gold, is quite as readily turned into those commodities,
or into bank bills. There are in the neighborhood several smelting

LEAD MEGIOSU

^scoxt*

firttf ham's

Madflen's) •:
7'*

%umtth ■'.&..■*;-. *f(l)jJl
, Houfntireesi. ''~ '-'< *• v ' ,:'-" .

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~ JjXlifc.kfp's ~ I'/ufjrftsRjirtn

Vtv/fHi

Galena Lead Mine Region
From a map published by H. S. Tanner in 1841.

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 179

houses or furnaces. The ore is so pure that it requires little work-
ing to make it into pigs. In the furnaces there is no puddling, as
there is with iron. The fire is built of charcoal, or wood, or both,
and the earth thrown into the furnace; as it melts, the ore runs out
as pure as silver itself, from the mouth, into a pot in front, from
which it is scooped up in its liquid state and poured into moulds,
from which it is taken as soon as it becomes cool or hardened, and
thrown into wagons, to be transported to the river side. It ap-
pears to be the most easy and the most rapidly transformed metal
in the world. A large lot of dark blue earth, sometimes in large
lumps and sometimes apparently nothing but sand, is shoveled
into the fire, and it runs out pure lead, in a moment. There is a
considerable quantity of dross taken out of the furnaces, from time
to time, but it is not thrown away, — for that, in its turn, is again
subjected to the heat in a differently constructed furnace, and
yields, although not so plentifully, not so rapidly, a large quantity
of the precious metal. At one furnace I saw ore, or earth, as I
should call it, which yielded ninety-five per cent of pure lead, and
dross which, it was said, would yield twenty to twenty-five per
cent more after going through the second process.

Chicago, Illinois
Back again! This may be called the first mile-stone on my
road home. When I left Boston, I had no intention of coming
to Chicago; and when I came to Chicago, I had no expectation
or intention of going any further West or South; but every day's
experience proves that all human calculations are in vain, as has
been said and proved millions of times before; and I am sure that
it is best for us not to know "what a day may bring forth." I
have seen a much larger portion of the state of Illinois than
travelers for mere business or pleasure would be likely to see in
a hundred journeys, as my wanderings have not been confined to
the regular stage routes, nor to the direct roads from far-off points
to far-off points. I have walked, and I have sailed, and I have
rode, over farms, and prairies, and rivers, and on lakes; — I have
not only met with all sorts of people, made acquaintance with

180 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

all sorts of men, women and children, but I have fallen in with
all sorts of relations. I traveled seven days with a gentleman
who helped me to ravel out a tangled string of genealogy, and we
found at last that we were actually relations; — it was in this wise:
His wife was the daughter of a second cousin to my father's grand-
mother, on the mother's side, and as her maiden name was the
same as one of my three names, it must be that we were, in this
extensive country, quite near relations; besides this, and to make
the connection still more intimate, one of her nephews is a clergy-
man in Boston, of whose church many of my relatives are members.
Par consequence, as they say in France, we became quite intimate.
Unfortunately, although my far-off relative is reputed to be rich,
he has children to inherit his property, and there are so many
between him and me, that I have no chance of gaining any pe-
cuniary advantage by the discovery.

Again, I was agreeably surprised, at a town where I had no
acquaintances, by a gentleman who introduced himself, after seeing
my name on the books at the hotel, as the brother-in-law to the
brother-in-law of one of my connections, and I was not only
pleased to make his acquaintance, but I received much benefit
from the circumstance. Who would not have relations? And yet
some men I have met with, are continually complaining that they
have too many, because they cannot, in consequence of their
relations, be as independent as they please.

A party of seven contracted at Galena for a stage coach with
nine seats to take us to Chicago, with the understanding that no
one else was to enter or to ride on the coach. We traveled by
what is called the lower route, through Dixon, Mount Carroll,
across the Winnebago Swamp, the Big Rock, the Little Rock, the
Fox River, &c, a distance of about one hundred and seventy-five
miles. The country is not as interesting as that of the more
Southern part of the state, because the prairies are not so exten-
sively cultivated — there is more waste land; and because the crops,
it being in a higher latitude, are not so far advanced. For the
first ten miles from Galena we passed hills where there had been

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 181

hundreds of "diggings," as they are called, for lead, many of which
have been successful. Mount Carroll is a thriving village, with
considerable water power, and a number of mills. At Dixon,
which is a town of considerable pretension, as well as a county
site, with a courthouse, we had a miserable breakfast, after a
long and tedious night's ride; the place seems to be prolific in
nothing but grocery stores and lawyer's offices.

The prettiest town we passed through was Aurora, on the Fox
River, and I was disappointed that we arrived too late in the eve-
ning to make a more thorough examination into its resources and
its advantages. Only nine years ago the country around this vil-
lage was almost unsettled. At La Fox, as it was then called —
now Geneva — were a few families, and within the circuit of per-
haps fifteen miles there only lived about twenty families in the
whole; now, in that same circuit there are six villages, with an
average population of sixteen hundred inhabitants in each! The
water-power on the Fox River is great, particularly for the Western
country, and every day is adding to the wealth of those who set-
tled in its valley a few short years ago.

After a ride of two days and two nights we arrived at Chicago.
We had fared better than I have fared on some other routes,
and we ought to have done so, for the expense was higher; but
the journey was a very tedious one, and I was glad to find myself
once more in a comfortable bed, and undressed. There is nothing
rests a man so much as undressing and getting between a pair of
sheets, no matter if it be only for half an hour. Those who have
travelled much, — and, as they say in the West, I have travelled
some during the last twenty years, — know this, and always act
on their knowledge when they can get an opportunity.

We found Chicago the same interesting, busy, bustling place
it was some weeks ago. The Convention and the traces of the
Convention are gone, but there is nothing, it would seem, can
deprive the city of its prosperity, its increase, its enterprise.
Boats arrive and depart, produce comes in, and goods from the
East are imported. The people are industrious, and the people

182 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

multiply almost beyond belief, and the people must thrive. A
gentleman told me to-day that only about ten years ago he had :
on his hands a lot of Eastern land, which, during the times of
speculation, he had taken up as other men did at that time, with
the expectation of making a fortune out of it; of course it fell in
value, and he considered it almost valueless. One day a stranger ;
entered his office in Boston, and offered, nay entreated, to swap ,
a few lots on the Skunk River in Chicago, for his Eastern land.
My friend asked, in his ignorance, where Chicago was, and had
to look for some time on the map before he could find it. Finally I
he contemptuously rejected the idea of throwing away even !
worthless lands in Maine for these lots in the West. He has I
since sold his Eastern land for less than five hundred dollars, I
and now that he has moved out to Chicago, finds that the despised I
lots which he was offered in exchange for them are almost in the i
centre of business, and cannot be purchased of the present owners
for twenty thousand dollars.

Chicago is the capital or shire town of Cook county. An arti-
ficial harbor has been made by building out into the lake two
long piers from the mouth of the river, but even now a dredging
machine is needed to keep the entrance open sufficiently to allow
heavy loaded vessels to enter at all times, and all seasons, andll
all weathers. This will be remedied in time. Every thing cannot I
be done in a day, although it appears as if every thing would i
grow in a day in this country. Sand bars will grow, and so will 'I
trees, and wheat, and corn, and pigs, and cattle, and babies, but I
it appears that some things grow faster than they can be stunted. I

Chicago, Illinois
Before I leave this place for the East, I must put down a few
matters relating to the great West, that I believe have escaped
notice in other pages of my diary. The Great West is a term
that I use in reference to that part of it which I have seen, but
they tell me I have as yet seen nothing at all of it. Travelers
who return from a voyage to any place whatever, whether it be
in America or Europe, the East or West Indies, are always sure

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 183

to be asked, on their return, if they have visited such or such a
spot — have been to such or such a city. If the reply is in the neg-
ative, they are sure to be told by some one that has, by accident,
seen something that they have not seen, that they "ought to have
gone there-" and the superior advantage of the traveled gentleman
who has, by accident, been thrown in the way of some hitherto
unknown curiosity, or unexplored section, is, in his own estima-
tion at least, raised almost immeasurably. I have experienced
this many times before, and expect to experience it again on my
return, receiving the commiserating looks, if not the more directly
expressed pity, of those who have preceded me in their visits to
this part of the country.

Before I left St. Louis, a gentleman advised me not to re-
turn to Boston without visiting the Westl I told him that I
was as far West as I thought proper to go at the present time.
But he turned up his eyes in wonder at my ignorance, and said,
with all the seriousness imaginable, that I had not yet commenced
my travels to the West! On considering all the circumstances,
I am inclined to think that he was more than half right. If this
country goes on increasing in wealth and population a few years
longer, the city of St. Louis will be nearly the centre, and we shall
have to speak of New-England as the far off great East, in the
same way that it is customary now all over the country, to speak
of Missouri and Iowa, and other now almost unexplored regions,
as the great West. One becomes lost in wonder in speculating on
this subject, and cannot even imagine to what an extent of great-
ness we may arrive before the expiration of another fifty years.
Now the wealth and the power are on the sea-board — the Atlantic
sea-board — and the cities of Boston, New-York, Philadelphia and
Baltimore on that coast are metropolitan cities; but in that time
they are destined to become provincial cities. The one great
metropolis of the country, the centre of the wealth and the popu-
lation and the power of the country, will be on the west bank of
the Mississippi river, if not even further off than that. Arguing
on these premises, I have not, as my friend said, yet commenced
my travels to the West.

184 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

I forgot what or how much I have said of the Mississippi
river, but I was reminded today, on seeing Banvard's advertise-
ment in a Boston paper, of his "three mile picture," of the wonder
with which I listened to his description of its tortuosity.43 He
told us what we all knew before of its crooked channel — we could
see by the map that it was crooked, — and I believe he told us
of the number of times a boat was often obliged, in the course of
a few miles, to cross directly from one point to another. I thought
at the time that he might be telling rather an extravagant story,
which might be excusable in one who was publicly exhibiting a
picture on which he had expended so much time and labor. But
now I am satisfied that he did not tell one half of what he might
have told. What the navigation may be below St. Louis, I am
not able to testify to, but I am sure that no vessel in head wind
ever sailed more miles to beat up one, than I sailed in the
steamer Kentucky, a few days ago, to get half a mile up stream.
At times, we shot across to the left bank to within a few feet,
hardly leaving us room to turn, and then went directly back
again to within a few feet of the bank on the opposite side.
Sometimes, by this crossing and re-crossing, we gained a little,
and once, I believe, the channel was so twisted, that when we
were on the right we were actually lower down the river than we
were a short time before when over on the left. This was owing
to the shallowness of the river and the sand-bars.

The sand-bars in the Mississippi are continually shifting, and
a pilot who does not constantly travel over the route is very apt
to become unfitted for his business, and not by any fault of his
own. Once we ran upon a sand-bar, which the captain said did
not exist when he came down on his last trip. While the mate and
engineer were getting the steamer off, the Captain and Pilot took
a small boat and went out to take soundings, and find the channel;
having found it, they planted buoys for the benefit of whoever
might come after them, but without much hope that they would

43 Banvard's panorama was a "magnificent unwinding depicting of the Father
of Waters with the scenery along the banks from New Orleans to St. Louis, with all
the accompanying incidents of trade and navigation."

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 185

be of service for many days. This fact shows the necessity for
some action of the national government respecting the Western
waters. It is supposed that with a comparatively trifling expense,
a clear channel might be kept open all the season, that would
allow of much more rapid and safer communication than we now
have.

Travelers in the Western country — that is, the West of to-
day, do not experience all the inconveniences nor meet with all
the amusing incidents that were to be met with some years ago.
The country is not so wild, nor are the people so unsophisticated
as they were only as lately as 1832; there has been so much
immigration that a certain degree of civilization has been attained
in the country towns, and to a certain extent some luxuries may
be found every where. But the whole people in the interior of
Illinois are in a sort of transition state — between rude unsophis-
ticated life and civilized comfort. Almost every where, I found
the people had a plenty of ice, which is a luxury to every body,
and a necessary article to those of us who have always been
accustomed to it. I believe I have already spoken of the want
of good taverns on the stage roads, but I have said nothing of
the funny incidents which used to take place at log houses, where
people slept all in one room, some on beds, some in blankets on
the floor, and some on buffalo skins; because no such things came
under my notice. But I have seen taverns, first rate taverns too,
they were called, where there were four or five beds in the one
solitary bed-room, — all double beds, as a single bed would be a
luxury not dreamed of at present in those regions — where men,
and women, and children are obliged, even at this day, to be all
accommodated at once.

The nearest approach to any thing like trouble that I met
with, was at a tavern in quite a considerable town in this state,
where, after I had got comfortably into bed, one night, the land-
lord insisted upon my taking in as a companion, a stranger, to
sleep with me. I refused, and he said it must be so. I told him
I never yet had slept in the same bed with another man, and I
never would. The man, too, was determined to come to bed,

186 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

and mine was the only one in the house that had not two persons
in it. So, rather than have a quarrel, I got up, and taking my
great coat, laid down on the floor in the corner of the room, with
my carpet bag for a pillow, and slept comfortably for the rest of.
the night, while the landlord accommodated the stranger on my
abdicated straw bed; both probably laughing at and despising my
fastidiousness.

I had the impertinence, — I suppose some people will call it
so, — to doubt, in a former chapter of my diary, the wisdom of
those who advised the spending of a large sum of money to com-
plete the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Further examination has
convinced me that those who had the direction of that matter,
would have done far better to have turned the Canal into a Rail-
road. It is said now, that although the Canal is almost finished,
it will not hold water after it is filled; for the work is so finished,
and the soil is so porous, that the water will leech through. If
this is the case, the money is thrown away, and a railroad will
have to be built, on the same route, in order to accommodate
the trade from the interior to Chicago. The projected railroad
from Alton to Springfield will be built in the course of two or
three years, and our Eastern people will not be long in seeing
the advantages of connecting that link of communication with |
Chicago and the lakes, thus securing to New-England the com-
merce of all Mississippi north of St. Louis, and consequently all
the northern trade of the state of Missouri. A canal cannot do
the business, and a railroad could.

The trade of upper Missouri, all of Wisconsin, nearly all of
Illinois, as well as the northern part of Indiana, must, by and by,
come through the lakes, and at the present time the people have
all their sympathies and all their plans connected with the East,
and in a great measure with New-England, of which Boston is
the great head. Chicago is destined to be a place of great export
for all the products of the states named, as soon as our facilities
of communication are opened, as they will be, by the completion
of the Ogdensburg Railroad. It will also be a place of much im-

ILLINOIS AS LINCOLN KNEW IT 187

portance as the port of reception for much of the merchandise,
the manufactured and foreign goods which are to be consumed
in the West. I may be thought by some persons a little — perhaps
a great deal — in advance of the times, in this my speculation, but
as a certain noted politician says, "We shall see."

I leave this place to-morrow for Buffalo, to go again through
the lakes.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
1860

AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BIOGRAPHIES

OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN ISSUED DURING THE

CAMPAIGN YEAR

By ERNEST JAMES WESSEN

The biographies of Abraham Lincoln which were issued as
campaign documents in 1860, form the cornerstone of one of the
largest branches of American bibliography. Those drab little
books played an important part in the election of Lincoln to the
presidency. It is to them that we must turn if we are to read the
first published life of the greatest American.

The publication of the campaign lives was not, per se, indic-
ative of the obscurity of the candidate, as has so often been
suggested. Neither in the number published, nor in the sparsity
of their content was there anything unusual about them. In their
preparation a simple and time-honored formula was followed:
The brief sketch of the life of the candidate served as a vehicle
to carry the speeches which had won him recognition.

This type of campaign literature saw its heyday in that colorful
"Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign of 1840, when over thirty
different lives of William Henry Harrison had been published.
Campaign lives were issued in all subsequent presidential cam-
paigns, and by 1860 had become an established quadrennial
source of income for enterprising publishers, and their hack
writers.

Certainly 100,000 and possibly as many as 200,000 copies of
Lincoln's biographies were distributed during the campaign of
1860. Some were substantially bound in cloth, and are now
quite common. By far the greater number were bound in paper

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 189

wrappers — if bound at all — and comparatively few of these have
been preserved.

Advertised by the publishers as "Cheap Campaign" editions,
these unimpressive little pamphlets and paper-bound books became
so much campaign debris following the election, and were de-
stroyed accordingly. For half a century, dealers and collectors
have sought for and combed promising hiding places; yet, at this
late date, several of the lives are known only because unique
copies have turned up. The scanty supply of the more common
ones is thinly spread out among a large number of private and
public collections and no public or private library has ever con-
tained a complete set.

Hence, this bibliographical check list of the campaign lives of
Abraham Lincoln could not have been prepared without the gen-
erous cooperation of librarians and private collectors. I am
deeply indebted to Mr. Paul M. Angle of the Illinois State His-
torical Library, Miss Esther C. Cushman of the Brown University
Library, Dr. Harry E. Pratt of the Abraham Lincoln Association,
and last but not least Dr. Louis A. Warren of the Lincoln National
Life Foundation. Judge James W. Bollinger of Davenport, Iowa,
Mr. R. D. Packard of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. H. M. Povenmire
of Ada, Ohio have also given most welcome aid.

There is much to be said in favor of an alphabetical arrange-
ment of the check list. On the other hand, dyed-in-the-wool
Lincolnians will ask: "Which was the first of the campaign lives
to be issued?" No discussion of these books would be complete
without the introduction of that most controversial subject. I
have spent considerable time in exploring available evidence bear-
ing on the matter, and have succeeded in learning the actual dates
upon which a number of the lives were published. By intercala-
tion it is possible to place the others with a fair degree of accuracy.
Accordingly, I have arranged the citations in the chronological
order in which the first editions probably appeared.

190 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

THE WIGWAM EDITION

The "Wigwam Edition." / [Rule] / The / Life, Speeches and
Public Services / of / Abram Lincoln, / Together with a Sketch
of the Life of / Hannibal Hamlin, / Republican Candidates for
the Offices of President and Vice- / President of the United
States. / [Publisher's device] / New York: / Rudd & Carleton,
130 Grand Street / (Brooks Building, Cor. of Broadway).
/ M DCCC LX. [1]

Collation: [1], blank; [2], portrait; [3], title-page; [4], copyright notice; [5]-117,
text; [118], blank; i-ii, advertising matter.

Variant:

(A) A copy has been noted in Brown University Library with advertising
matter on the verso of page 117. This, I believe, is a late issue.

Binding: Paper wrappers. Noted in shades ranging from bright salmon to
brown. Printed in black: "The Wigwam Edition" / Price] [25 cts. / The / Life,
Speeches, and Public Services / of / Abram Lincoln. / [Portrait of Lincoln] / New
York: / Rudd & Carleton, 130 Grand Street. / M DCCC LX. Spine printed:
Life of Abram Lincoln. Advertising matter on verso of front wrapper, and on
both sides of back wrapper.

Page size: 7% by 4% inches.

Variants:
Upon the front wrappers of some copies the following additional imprints have
been noted. The location of the associate publisher, followed by the name, is in
a single line set immediately below the regular imprint of Rudd & Carleton:

(B) Portland, Maine. Bailey & Noyes.

(C) Boston. A. Williams & Co.

(D) Chicago. McNally & Co.

(E) Providence, R. I. D. Kimball.
Publication Date: June 2, 1860.

Rudd & Carleton were one of a half-dozen publishing concerns who announced,
on May 19, the day after the nomination, that they had lives of Lincoln "in press."
Among the firms making that claim were two who, we now know, had not so much
as engaged their authors. Nevertheless, within a week every one of them was ad-
vertising a life of Lincoln as "now ready" — misleading, but typical preliminary
advertising of the period, designed not to sell books which did not exist, but to
build up staffs of selling agents. In determining date of publication, little weight
can be assigned to advance notices of this character.

THE WIGWAM EDITION."

Price] . [25cte.

THE

LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC- SERVICES

ABRAM LINCOLN.

NEW YORK: . -

RUBD & CABXETOU, 130 GRAND STREET.

The Wigwam Edition
The first campaign life of Lincoln.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 191

On June 2, Rudd & Carleton changed their tune. No longer did their adver-
tisement read "now ready." In the New York Tribune of that date appeared
their advertisement, reading: "Published this morning, The Wigwam Edition
Life, Speeches, and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln . . . first in the field. . . ."
In seeking evidence bearing upon this matter, a really intensive search has been
made. Contemporary newspapers of Boston, New York, Chicago, and a number
of other cities have been carefully examined. Everything which I have found
lends support to the claim that the Wigwam Edition was indeed the "first in the
field."

Source: The author drew his material for the biography from an article
which appeared in the Chicago Press and Tribune on May 19. There is every
reason to believe that that article had been prepared well in advance of the nomi-
nation, and sent out to Republican editors in much the same manner as the present
day "political handout" is handled. On the same day, May 19, the article was
printed in a number of eastern metropolitan dailies, and usually under one of the
following captions: "Honest Old Abe," "The People's Candidate for President,"
"Rails and Flatboats," "Log Cabins and Hard Cider Come Again," "Biographical
Sketch of Abraham Lincoln." Obviously the author spared no pains in his attempt
to paint his subject as a true son of democracy.

I believe that a variant of that release went out from Chicago — a version in
which other catchwords, slogans, and diminutives were included, with the hope
that they might catch on, and become popular. In the Chicago Press and Tribune
version, as well as that which appeared in the New York Tribune, the Christian
name "Abraham" was used throughout. On the other hand, in the articles printed
in the newspapers of Detroit, Cleveland, and Columbus, there is a significant
uniformity in the occasional substitution of "Abram" for "Abraham." These
articles were published under the credit line of the Chicago Press and Tribune,
and, identical in content, they show no evidence of local editing. The disgruntled
Bennett published a highly condensed version in his New York Herald, and used the
name "Abram" throughout.

When writing his biography, the unknown author of the Wigwam Edition
obviously had before him one of the versions in which both "Abram" and "Abra-
ham" appeared. The publisher was pressing him for copy. He had to make a
choice, and he chose the wrong name. The error has provided at least three
Lincoln bibliographers with a little amusement. It does not seem to have occurred
to them that the blunder in itself might have some bibliographical significance.

On May 19, the firm of Derby & Jackson advertised the forthcoming Bart-
lett life, and that announcement read "Abram" Lincoln. By Monday, May 21,
they had learned the candidate's correct name, and changed their advertising
copy accordingly. Consequently, Bartlett's life appeared with the correct name.

Rudd & Carleton were top flight publishers. Surely they would not have
permitted their book to appear with this glaring error had they learned of it before

192 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

the book was "in press." The error is, per se, evidence of the hasty preparation
and printing of the book. The publishers enjoyed the impetus given to the sale
of the book, by reason of its having been "the first in the field." Within a week
after its appearance 12,000 copies had been sold. And, despite the error, it en-
joyed a brisk sale throughout the campaign.

Undoubtedly the Wigwam Edition was the most popular life issued during
the campaign. To this day it retains its popularity among Lincoln collectors,
and is rightfully the keystone to any collection of Lincolniana.

BARTLETT, DAVID VANDEWATER GOLDEN

The / Life and Public Services / of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln, /
by D. W. Bartlett, / Washington Correspondent of the New- York
Independent and Evening Post / and Author of "Lives of Modern
Agitators" Life of "Lady / Jane Grey," "Joan of Arc," etc. /
[Rule] I New-York: / H. Dayton, Publisher, / No. 36 Howard-
Street. / [Rule] I 1860. [2]

Variant:
(A) The book also appears with the imprint of Derby & Jackson, 498 Broad-
way. Priority has not been established, and probably never will be. On the
morning of May 19, 1860, both publishers announced their intentions of publish-
ing a life of "Abram" Lincoln, to be written by the veteran political writer, D. W.
Bartlett, and to be issued "in a neat duodecimo in cloth for one dollar." I am
inclined to believe that they had engaged Bartlett, and arrived at a preconvention
agreement to publish jointly the life of the Republican nominee, whoever that
nominee might be. Dayton applied for the copyright.

Collation: [i], title page; [ii], copyright notice; [iii], preface dated June 1,
1860; [iv], blank; v-vi, contents; [15]-150, text.

Binding: Paper wrappers, noted in the following colors: pale blue, buff, tan
and light brown. Printed in black: Price Twenty-five Cents. / Life and Public
Services / of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln / [Portrait of Lincoln] / by D. W. Bart-
lett, / Washington Correspondent of the N. Y. Evening Post, and N. Y. Inde-
pendent. / [Rule] I New- York: / H. Dayton, Publisher, / 36 Howard-Street.
Advertising matter on verso of front wrapper, and upon both sides of back wrapper.
Spine printed: Life of Hon. Abraham Lincoln.

Page Size: 1% by *% inches.

Variant:
In the above-mentioned variant (A), published by Derby & Jackson, the
imprint on the wrapper is as follows: New- York: / Derby & Jackson, / 498 Broad-
way. The text of the advertising matter is different, covering, naturally, their

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 193

own regular publications. The printing on the spine reads: Life and Public
Services of Abraham Lincoln.

Publication Date: June 4, 1860.

In the columns of Harper's Weekly for June 9, 1860, Derby & Jackson ran
a conspicuous advertisement under the caption, "first in the field." Naturally
the copy for that advertisement had been placed ten or fifteen days prior to June
9, and it so happened that the book they described as "one handsome 12mo,
Gilt Back, Price 31.00" had not yet reached the market. Up to this time, neither
publisher had mentioned an edition in paper wrappings.

On June 4, both publishers were advertising the "neat duodecimo bound in
cloth." Dayton promised it for delivery on June 11, and his associates, Derby
& Jackson, announced that it would be ready on June 12. This was in the columns
of the New York Tribune, and other metropolitan dailies. Strangely enough, on
the same day, June 4, several selling agents were advertising Bartlett's campaign
life as "on hand," and for sale at twenty-five cents.

All of the several publishers who issued clothbound campaign lives suffered
disappointing delays in getting their books on the market. With the Wigwam
Edition enjoying a brisk demand, and with two other cheap campaign editions in
the immediate offing, I believe that Bartlett's publishers issued this book in short
form and in this format, in order to meet competition — if not to keep their agents
appeased until the 31-00 edition was ready. Hence, I believe that the present
book was in the hands of the agents on June 4. Three days later it was on sale
in the midwest, according to an advertisement in the Cleveland Leader.

The usual chapter on Hamlin was not included in this short-form issue; hence
the book cannot be deprived of the distinction of being the first book devoted
exclusively to Abraham Lincoln.

Sources: Bartlett, like the unknown author of the Wigwam Edition, drew
heavily upon the Chicago Press and Tribune article. The author of that article
was, no doubt, John Locke Scripps. He had taken the so-called Fell autobiog-
raphy of December 20, 1859, and added such anecdotes as would lend color to
the biography. Among the anecdotes was the story of the loss of Lincoln's sur-
veying instruments through a sheriff's sale. It has an important bearing upon
the identification of at least two first editions; hence the excerpt below is quoted
from the columns of the Press and Tribune: "He learned the art of surveying,
and prosecuted that profession until the financial crash of 1837 destroyed the
value of real estate and ruined the business — the result of which was that young
Lincoln's surveying apparatus was sold on execution by the sheriff."

In the Wigwam Edition the incident was covered as follows: "At this time
he was a land surveyor, but so poor that in 1837 his instruments were sold under
execution." Nothing particularly offensive in that. But, abjectly enough, Bart-
lett copied the story from the Press and Tribune release, word for word. Hence,
in this book appears the unadorned statement that Lincoln had once defaulted,

194 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

and lost his property through sheriff's sale — the sort of thing which might prove
to be loaded with political dynamite.

Obviously some jittery politician must have felt that way about it; for the
presses were stopped, stereotype plates changed, and the book was reissued with
that story deleted. Bearing in mind that the publication of this book was a pri-
vate venture, it would seem that powerful pressure must have been brought to
bear upon the publishers or a valuable consideration offered, to induce them to
make such a change in the midst of the campaign.

It is interesting to note that about the time we believe the change was made,
Horace Greeley took this book under his wing, and frequently listed it in his New
York Tribune as an "authentic Republican campaign document." Further, it
should be noted that the revised edition of the book bore the notation, "Authorized
Edition."

Note: Comparatively few copies of this book could have been issued before
the revision was made, for that edition is quite rare.

SECOND (REVISED) EDITION

[Authorized Edition.] / [Rule] / The / Life and Public Services /
of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln, / by D. W. Bartlett, / Washington
Correspondent of the New- York Independent and Evening Post /
and Author of "Lives of Modern Agitators" Life of "Lady /
Jane Grey," "Joan of Arc," etc. / [Rule] / New-York: / H. Day-
ton, Publisher, / No. 36 Howard-Street. / [Rule] / 1860.

Note: It also appeared under the imprint of Derby & Jackson.

Collation: Two white flyleaves; title page with copyright notice on verso;
[15]-150, text.

Note: The dated preface is not present in this edition.

Binding: On copies bearing the Derby & Jackson imprint, the top line of
the printed matter on the front wrapper reads: Price] Authorized Edition. [25
Cents. In all other respects the binding is the same as that of the first edition.

Page Size: 7 ]/i by 4 % inches.

Publication Date: About June 15, 1860.

Source: In revising the book, Bartlett had before him the third-person
autobiography said to have been given to Scripps, by Lincoln, early in June. From
page [15] to page 26, the text has been completely revised. The reference to Lin-
coln's experience as a surveyor now appears as follows: "The surveyor of Sanga-
mon offered to depute to Lincoln that portion of his work which was in his part
of the county. He accepted, procured a compass and chain, studied Flint and
Gibson a little, and went to it. This procured bread, and kept soul and body
together."

See No. 7.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 195

THAYER & ELDRIDGE

The / Life and Public Services / of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln, /
of Illinois, / and / Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, / of Maine. / [Rule] /
Boston: / Thayer & Eldridge, / 114 and 116 Washington Street.
/ 1860. [3]

Collation: Frontispiece; [1], title page; [2], copyright notice; [3]-5, table of
contents; [6], blank; [7]-12, introductory; [13J-102, text; [103], second title page:
Life and Public Services / of / Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, / of Maine.; [104], por-
trait of Hamlin; [105]-106, introductory; [107]-128, text.

Note: This, the first edition, is distinguished by running heads and page
numbers at the tops of the pages.

Binding: Green paper wrappers. Printed in black: Price 25 Cents. /
Life and Public Services / of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln / of Illinois. / [Portrait
of Lincoln] / and / Hon. Hannibal Hamlin / of Maine. / [Rule] / Boston: / Thayer
& Eldridge, / 114 and 116 Washington Street. Advertising matter on verso of
front wrapper, and on both sides of back wrapper.

Page Size: 7 Y% by 4 % inches.

Publication Date: June 7, 1860, or later.

The nomination of Lincoln found this enterprising firm in no position to create
production records in publishing his campaign life. They gambled heavily on the
nomination of Seward — and lost. Their campaign life of Seward was so far ad-
vanced in production that they could not abandon it. It was published, and ap-
peared on the market before their Lincoln volume was ready.

On May 28, 1860, Thayer & Eldridge announced, in the New York Tribune,
that this campaign life of Lincoln was "now ready." I am afraid they were
drawing a long bow, in their efforts to attract agents. The anonymous author
quoted, on page 18, from an article in the Cleveland Leader, which did not appear
in that paper until May 22. It is extremely doubtful if that article was in our
author's hands before May 24. He was rather more leisurely than other authors
in compiling his life of Lincoln. He quoted from a number of newspaper articles,
and indulged in at least some original research. I do not believe that all of this
author's copy was in the hands of his printer before May 28.

A Boston agent advertised this book as "on hand" on June 7, 1860. Ap-
parently an agent in Worcester, Massachusetts, and several in New York City,
had the book in stock on June 9. If, as I believe, the book was actually pub-
lished on June 7, then the production record was a creditable one.

Parenthetically it may be noted that one writer1 has held that the book was pub-
lished on May 28, 1860, because that was the date upon which it was registered

1 William E. Barton, "The Lincoln of the Biographers," Transactions of the
Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1929 (Springfield, 1929), 62.

196 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

for copyright. Unfortunately, available copyright data has shed no light upon
our problem. May 28 was the day upon which the publisher filed the title page
of his projected work. Thus he was protected while the book was in the process
of production. Under the then-existing law, that publisher still had ninety days
in which to complete the copyright, and file the completed book. Obviously, the
relation of the filing date to the date of publication depended upon the whim of
the individual publisher. He not only could, but often did register a title page
before the author had completed his work. On the other hand, the copyright
was sometimes completed in a single operation by filing the completed book with
the original application.

Source: Here, again, was an author who had drawn heavily upon the Chi-
cago Press and Tribune article. With the exception of a word or two, the story
of the sheriffs sale was lifted without alteration. This author delved into old
newspaper files, and he drew also from that mighty campaign arsenal, the Lin-
coln-Douglas Debates. As a result of this research his book contained several
passages which may have appeared dangerous to the captious politician. How-
ever, as to the political impropriety of one passage there could be no doubt.

On page 33, the resolutions which, our author tells us, were adopted at a
mass convention in Springfield in October, 18S4, appear in full. Douglas had
made the same error in the Ottawa debate. In that debate and some of those
which followed, Lincoln had found the matter a bothersome one. It is well known
that these radical resolutions had been adopted at a Republican meeting in Kane
County, and were in no sense the resolutions of the Illinois Republican State Con-
vention of October, 1854. They had no place in a campaign document issued
in the interests of Abraham Lincoln.

Once more came that pressure from a now unknown source, and this time
the biographical section of the book was literally emasculated. The sketch of
Lincoln's life was reduced to a pitifully scanty affair, requiring barely eight pages,
and speeches were inserted to compensate for the deleted material.

SECOND (EMASCULATED) EDITION

The / Life and Public Services / of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln, /
of Illinois, / and / Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, / of Maine. / [Rule] /
Boston: / Thayer & Eldridge, / 114 and 116 Washington Street.
/ 1860.

Collation: Frontispiece; [1], title page; [21, copyright notice; [3j-4, table of
contents; [5]-8, introductory; [9]-101, text; [1021, portrait; [1031, second title page;
Life and Public Services / of / Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, / of Maine.; [104], blank;
[1051-106, introductory; [107J-128, text.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 197

Note: In this edition there are no running heads, the page numerals being
in the top-center of the pages.

Page Size: Same as first edition.

Publication Date: Probably late in July. It is somewhat scarcer than the
first edition.

Source: See note under first edition.

See No. 8.

WASHBURNE, HON. E. B.

Caption Title: Abraham Lincoln, / His Personal History and
Public Record. / [Rule] / Speech / of / Hon. E. B. Washburne,
of Illinois. / [Rule] / Delivered in the U. S. House of Represen-
tatives, May 29th, 1860. / [Rule]. In the lower margin of the
first page appears the following: Published by the Republican
Committee. Price 50 cents per Hundred. [4]

Collation: [l]-8, text.

Binding: Unbound.

Page Size: In uncut state approximately 9 % by 6 )/% inches.

Publication Date: Undetermined. The writer is in possession of a copy
bearing an inscription dated: "Philadelphia, June 11th, 1860." It probably
appeared at an earlier date. Washington printers were well-equipped, and were
experienced in getting out pamphlets of this character upon short notice.

Source: This, in subject matter the most meritorious of the campaign lives
of 1860, was drawn partly from the Chicago Press and Tribune article, but prin-
cipally from the author's own intimate knowledge of Lincoln's career.

A warm friend of Lincoln, and a shrewd politician and seasoned political
orator, Washburne saw no danger of political repercussions in the story of the
sheriffs sale; so he wrote that Lincoln "was compelled to surrender up his mathe-
matical and surveying instruments to the sheriff, to be sold on execution."

Note: During the preparation of this work there arose the question as to
whether this pamphlet could properly be considered a campaign life. Biographical
in character, and sold as a campaign document, it is most certainly a campaign
life of Abraham Lincoln.

CODDING, ICHABOD

A / Republican Manual / for / the Campaign. / [Rule] / Facts /
for / the People: / [Rule] / The / Whole Argument / in / One
Book. / By I. Codding. / [Rule] / Princeton, Illinois: / Printed
at the "Republican" Book and Job Printing Office. / [Rule] /
1860. [5]

198 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Collation: [1], title page; [2], blank; [3], preface; [4], blank; [5]-94, text;
95-96, index.

Binding: Olive green paper wrappers, printed in black: A / Republican
Manual / for / the Campaign. / [Rule] / Facts / for / the People: / [Rule] / The /
Whole Argument / in / one Book. / By I. Codding. / [Rule] / Princeton, Illinois:
/ Printed at the "Republican" Book and Job Printing Office. / [Rule] / 1860.

Page Size: 8% by 5 inches.

Publication Date: Undetermined. I am led by the text, however, to believe
that this pamphlet appeared not later than the week of June 11.

Source: The Chicago Press and Tribune article is reprinted in its entirety,
and appears on the first six pages of the text.

Note: Of extraordinary scarcity, a copy in the Illinois State Historical
Library and another in my possession are all that I have been able to locate.
Physically, a well-made, substantial pamphlet, it is difficult to account for its
rarity. It cannot be dismissed as an ephemeral pamphlet issued for local con-
sumption. On the contrary, the text clearly demonstrates that the author, a
radical abolitionist, prepared this pamphlet for the purpose of attracting fellow
radicals to the banner of Abraham Lincoln. He apologizes for Lincoln's stand on
the subject of racial equality and presents a thorough treatise in support of abo-
lition. Codding was one of the founders of the Republican Party in Illinois.

I am inclined to believe that this work was suppressed. Is it not probable
that fellow Republicans went to him and, pointing out that his radical views
might be misunderstood and might alienate the votes of many who were inclined
to support Lincoln, prevailed upon him to withdraw the book from circulation?

VOSE, REUBEN

Cover Title: The Life / and / Speeches / of / Abraham Lincoln,
/ and / Hannibal Hamlin, / [Rule] / Edited and Published by /
Reuben Vose, / No. 45 Maiden Lane, / New York. / [Rule] /
Hilton, Gallagher & Co., Printers, / 24 & 25 Ann St., N. Y. [6]

Collation: iii-li, text — at this point the publisher changed from Roman to
Arabic numerals, and erroneously numbered the next page "42;" 42-71^2, text;
blank page, not included in pagination; 72-118, text; four pages of advertising
matter on same stock as the wrappers, and lettered A to D.

Binding: Tan paper wrappers. Verso of front wrapper bears copyright
notice. Advertising matter on both sides of back wrapper.

Page Size: 4 Y% by 2 ^ inches.

Publication Date: Week of June 11, 1860.

On May 26, L. Shear's "Lightning News Express" advertised in the New
York Tribune that Vose's life of Lincoln at fifteen cents would "be ready on May

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 199

30th." (Ready within four days, although he had not yet determined the number
of pages the book would contain!)

In his efforts to attract agents, Vose advertised, on May 31, that 10,000
copies were "now ready," and further, that the book would contain 128 pages,
and sell at fifteen cents; and finally, that the "Irrepressible Edition" would "be
ready June 5th, or 6th, at 20c." The "Irrepressible Edition" was also to contain
128 pages, and one wonders what it had to offer for that extra five cents. We
will probably never know, for no copy is known; in fact I do not believe it was
ever published.

Instead of increasing his publicity with the alleged appearance of the pam-
phlet— as one would expect him to do — Vose does not seem to have advertised
again until June 11, and then inserted only one or two brief notices. I believe
that the few copies that were published appeared with the resumption of adver-
tising, during the week of June 11.

Source: Probably the Chicago Press and Tribune release.

Note: Long the despair of the collector, this little book possesses nothing
to commend it, aside from its great rarity. Copies are in the Lincoln National
Life Foundation, and the Henry E. Huntington Library. A third copy is owned
by a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous.

BARTLETT, DAVID VANDEWATER GOLDEN

The / Life and Public Services / of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln, /
with a Portrait on Steel. / To Which is Added A Biographical
Sketch of / Hon. Hannibal Hamlin. / By D. W. Bartlett, / Wash-
ington Correspondent of the New- York Independent and Evening
Post, / and Author of "Lives of Modern Agitators," Life of "Lady
/ Jane Grey," "Joan of Arc," etc. / [Rule] / New-York: / H. Day-
ton, Publisher, / No. 36 Howard-Street. / 1860. [7]
Note: It also appeared under the imprint of Derby & Jackson.

Variant:
(A) A copy has been noted bearing, on the title page, the following imprint
beneath that of H. Dayton: Indianapolis: Asher & Company.

Collation: Yellow end paper; two white flyleaves; frontispiece; [i], title page;
pi], copyright notice; [Hi], preface, dated June 1, 1860; [iv], blank; v-vi, contents;
[15J-354, text; two white flyleaves; one yellow end paper.

Binding: Cloth. Noted in the following colors: Black, olive green, and
brown. Some copies have a blind-stamped conventional design on front and back
covers.

200 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Page Size: 1XA by &A inches.

Publication Date: June 12, 1860.

Source: The section devoted to Lincoln's biography was printed from the
same plates as were used in producing Bartlett's campaign life in wrappers (the
first edition of No. 2 above). Accordingly, it was subject to the same criticism
as that book and was rewritten.

SECOND (REVISED) EDITION

[Authorized Edition.] / [Rule] / The / Life and Public Services /
of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln, / with a Portrait on Steel. / To
Which is Added a Biographical Sketch of / Hon. Hannibal Ham-
lin. / By D. W. Bartlett, / Washington Correspondent of the
New- York Independent and Evening Post, / and Author of
"Lives of Modern Agitators," Life of "Lady / Jane Gray,"
"Joan of Arc," etc. / [Rule] / New- York: / H. Dayton, Pub-
lisher, / No. 36 Howard-Street. / [Rule] / 1860.

Note: It also appeared under the imprint of Derby & Jackson.

Variants:
Copies have been noted with the following single imprints:

(A) New York: / A. B. Burdick, / No. 115 Nassau-Street.

(B) Cincinnati: / Broaders & Company, / 51 Fourth Street, Cor. of Walnut.

(C) Philadelphia: / J. W. Bradley. (Note: I have not seen this issue;
hence I am not certain that the imprint as recorded above is complete).

(D) Indianapolis: Asher & Company.

Collation: Yellow end paper; two white flyleaves; inserted frontispiece; title
page; copyright notice; [v]-vii, contents; [viii], blank; [15J-354, text; one white
flyleaf; yellow end paper.

Variant:

(E) A copy containing 357 pages has been noted. The letters of notifica-
tion and acceptance appear upon the added pages. I have not seen this issue,
but am reliably informed that no other change in collation is involved. It ha8
been noted with the Dayton imprint only. There seems to be no reasonable
ground for Fish's contention that this was "an earlier edition."

Binding: Cloth. Noted in the following colors: black, blue, green, brown,
tan, and maroon. Spine lettered in gilt: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Vari-
ous conventional designs are blind-stamped on front and back covers.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 201

Variant:

(F) Copies have been noted with a varying number of pages of advertising
matter following page 354, the end of the text. They have most interesting
bindings, noted in the following colors: maroon, green, and brown pebbled cloth.
The front and back covers are blind-stamped in a rustic design. On the spine,
in gilt, appears: [Rule] / Honest Old Abe / [Rule] / Bartlett / [Rule] / [An axe] /
[Portrait of Lincoln surrounded by a wreath] / Derby & Jackson. / [Rule].

Note: This variant has not been noted with the Dayton imprint.

Page Size: Same as first edition.

Publication Date: Probably early in July.

Source: The section devoted to Lincoln's biography was printed from the
same plates as were used in producing the second (revised) edition of Bartlett's
campaign life, in wrappers.

WIDE-AWAKE EDITION

Wide-Awake Edition. / [Rule] / The / Life and Public Services /
of / Hon. Abraham Lincoln, / of Illinois, / and / Hon. Hannibal
Hamlin, / of Maine. / [Rule] / Boston: / Thayer & Eldridge, /
114 and 116 Washington Street. / 1860. [8]

Collation: Yellow end paper; white flyleaf; frontispiece; engraving on stee
by Buttre (portrait of Lincoln); [1], title page; [2], copyright notice and printer's
imprint; [3]-5, table of contents; [6], blank; [7]-12, introductory; [13]-102, text;
engraving on steel by Buttre (portrait of Hamlin); [103], second title page: Life
and Public Services / of / Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, / of Maine.; [104], portrait;
1105]-106, introductory; [1071-128, text; [129], third title page: Speeches / of /
Hon. Abraham Lincoln, / of Illinois.; [130], blank; [131J-320, text; white flyleaf;
yellow end paper.

Binding: Cloth. Noted in black, brown, green, and plum colors. Spine
lettered in gold: Lives / and / Speeches / of / Lincoln / and / Hamlin / [Rule] /
Wide Awake / Edition. / Followed by four blind-stamped, broad rules. Blind-
stamped on the front and back covers is the publisher's device, "T and E" within
a chamfered square.

Page Size: 7 % by 4 % inches.

Publication Date: June 25, 1860. On June 16, the publishers announced
this book as "nearly ready." I find the advertisements of sales agents, announcing
the book on hand, dated June 25, 1860.

Source: The first 128 pages of this book are identical with those of the
campaign life in wrappers, issued by these publishers (No. 3 above). Internal
evidence indicates that, while the first edition of the life in wrappers was being

202 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

run off from the original type forms, stereotype plates had been prepared from
which the pages referred to were being printed. The book contains, of course, all
of the objectionable matter found in the first little edition in wrappers.

The original matter was padded with the addition of 200 pages of speeches.
Steel engravings of both Lincoln and Hamlin were added, and the woodcut of
Hamlin was permitted to remain on the verso of the second title page. This with
the incongruous result that two portraits of the vice-presidential candidate were
provided, and but one of Lincoln.

Note: It is possible that the publishers revised the text as in the case of their
campaign life in wrappers, and issued a second edition of this book. I have been
unable to locate a copy of such an edition.

Though not uncommon, the book is considerably scarcer than the clothbound
books by either Bartlett, Barrett, or Howells. This fact leads to the conclusion
that the book did not enjoy the popularity of the works by those authors. For
this reason the publishers may have felt that they were not justified in issuing an
emasculated second edition.

HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN

Lives and Speeches / of / Abraham Lincoln /and / Hannibal
Hamlin. / [Rule] / Columbus, O: / Follett, Foster & Co. / 1860.

[9]

Collation: [1], half title page; [2], blank; [3], title page; [4], copyright notice,
printer's and stereotyper's imprints; [5], list of illustrations; [6], blank; [7], index;
[81, blank; [9], subtitle page: Life / of / Abraham Lincoln. / By / W. D. Howells.
/ 2; [10], blank; [xi]-xii, preface; [xiii]-xv, contents; [xvi], blank; [17]-94, text;
[95], blank; [96], woodcut of the Republican Wigwam at Chicago; [97], subtitle:
Memorabilia / of the / Chicago Convention. / 9; [98], blank; [991-111, text; [112],
blank; [113], subtitle: Speeches. / 10; [114], blank; [115]-153, text; [154], blank;
[157J-170, text (Life of Hannibal Hamlin).

Note: Though portraits of the candidates are listed, they were not issued
in this edition. Pages 155-56 were omitted in all copies examined; however it is
quite possible that copies will be found with a subtitle page at this point.

Binding: Light buff-colored paper wrappers, printed in black: Life of /
[Woodcut portrait of Lincoln] / Abraham Lincoln. / [Rule] / Columbus: / Follett,
Foster & Co. / 1860. Advertising matter on verso of front wrapper, reading in
part: 20, 416 Sold! The Debates in Illinois between Stephen A. Douglas, and
Abraham Lincoln.

Variant:

(A) We have been unable to locate a copy of this book reported to bear,
upon the front wrapper, the imprint, Cincinnati, Rickey, Mallory & Co., I860.,
in lieu of the above described imprint.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 203

Page Size: 7% by \% inches.

Publication Date: June 25, 1860.

Follett, Foster & Company published the Lincoln-Douglas Debates before the
nomination. Indeed, on May 21, 1860, their advertisements announced that this
book was then in its fourth edition. Certainly it was destined to become the
"best-seller" of 1860.

The demand for the Debates literally swamped the publisher's printing plant
and bindery within a few days after the nomination. On May 23, they announced
in the columns of the Ohio State Journal the acquisition of two new "Williamson"
presses, and in the same paper they advertised for "feeders." Before the end of
that week they had announced the preparation of two new sets of stereotypes.

The Debates were advertised for sale in two formats: clothbound at fifty cents,
and "stitched" at thirty-five cents. Today the "stitched" copies of the Debates
are exceedingly rare, while the issues bound in cloth are very common — mute testi-
mony to the willingness of their public to pay the additional fifteen cents for the
cloth binding. And therein lay a production problem of major proportions.

In every instance, there was a lag between the early announcements of publi-
cation dates of clothbound campaign lives and the actual appearance of the books,
amounting to anywhere from ten to thirty days. Seemingly the demand for cloth-
bound campaign material was greater than the nation's binders were prepared to
meet. Conditions were especially critical in the active publishing centers of Cin-
cinnati and Columbus, Ohio. The many variant bindings of the Debates attest the
fact that Follett, Foster & Company must have farmed out the work to all available
binders. I believe it will be shown, beyond reasonable doubt, that this condition
was responsible for the very existence of the edition of Howells' campaign life of
Lincoln, now under consideration.

The publishers were among those who, on May 19, advertised a campaign life
of Lincoln as "in press." Specifically naming Howells as the author, on May 28
his book was announced as "in press will soon appear." The book was described
as being "bound in cloth. Price $1.00," and, in small letters, "campaign edition
in paper at 25c."

Generous buyers of advertising space in newspapers, probably their best avail-
able medium was the use of advertising inserts in the rapidly selling Debates, and
the enterprising publishers were not long in taking advantage of this. All but
the very early issues and editions of the Debates have several pages of advertising
matter bound in at the front of the books. One of these pages was always devoted
to advertising Howells' volume. The earliest appearance of this advertisement
read, in part: "Will have ready June 12th," and, towards the bottom of the
page: "Also, a Campaign Edition, without the Speeches. Paper cover. 25 Cents."

Shortly after this appearance of the Debates, the advertising matter in news-
papers underwent an interesting change in the copy. No mention was now made
of the cheap edition in paper. In the next issue of the Debates, the advertisement

204 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

of Howells was changed to read: "Will have ready June 20th." But, of greater
significance, the announcement near the foot of the page now read: "Also, a Cam-
paign Edition of the Lives of Lincoln and Hamlin, entirely distinct from above.
Paper Cover. Price 25 Cents."

Apparently the idea of issuing Howells' volume in wrappers had been aban-
doned. What had happened ? At this stage, the newspapers were announcing 9,000
copies of Howells' book as being "already sold," although it had not yet emerged
from the press room — or, at least, the bindery. Of course, the reference was to
advance orders. With heavy advance orders for the 31.00 edition, the publishers,
feeling that the sale of the cheap campaign edition would substantially reduce the
demand for the more profitable $1.00 edition, abandoned the former. However,
competition cried aloud for the publication of a "cheap, campaign edition."

Close at hand was a young man vastly impressed with his own ability, one
James Quay Howard, who had aided Howells in gathering his material. From
what little I have been able to learn about Howard I am quite certain that he
would be one to resent the use of his material by another. Though but a young law
student, he felt quite competent to write his own campaign life of Lincoln, and under
the circumstances experienced little, if any, difficulty in persuading Follett, Foster
& Company to publish it. This is the life which I believe the publishers had in
mind when they advertised in the Debates, the "Campaign Edition of the Lives of
Lincoln and Ha mlin, entirely distinct from above," for these same publishers issued
Howard's book — see No. 13 below.

In the interim, newspaper advertisements continued to announce that the
Howells life would be ready on June 20, but that day rolled around, and the adver-
tising copy was again changed; this time it read, "will be ready, June 25th." In
the meantime, various eastern publications were finding their way into the local
markets. In the neighboring city of Cincinnati, the harassed publishers of Barrett's !
life were sparing no effort in trying to get their book on the market ahead of
Howells'. The various selling agents for the Debates, who had enthusiastically
signed up for the Howells volume must, by this time, have been clamoring for their
books. Howard was nowhere near ready. His prefatory note is dated June 26, and
bis book did not appear until weeks later. It is quite possible that there existed
contractual obligations with some of the selling agents, which had to be met.

Yielding to the attendant pressure, Follett, Foster & Company probably issued
this edition of Howells' to meet a very real emergency. Although this book carries a
stereotyper's imprint, it was not printed from plates. On the contrary, it was
printed directly from the type from which the plates for the complete edition were
made. In the copy before me the impression is so heavy as to puncture the paper at
places.

The complete Howells edition contains over 400 pages, while, as we have noted,
the present book consists of but 170 pages. Nor is this the cheap campaign issue
described by the publishers, in their early advertisements, as being "without the
speeches," for a substantial part of this book is devoted to speeches. The pub-

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 205

lishers removed as much material as was practicable from the original forms, reset
the new pagination, and issued the book in great haste — unannounced.

In the advertisements inserted by the publishers in the Ohio State Journal,
mention was made of the number of copies of the Debates sold to that date. On
June 25, the number sold was 20,416 copies, coinciding with the number given in
the advertisement on the verso of the front wrapper of this book.

However, of greater evidential value is the advertisement of Rickey, Mallory
& Company, which appeared in the Cincinnati Daily Press on June 25, 1860, for the
first time, announcing that they had "now on sale" a supply of Howells' life of Lin-
coln, in paper, at twenty-five cents.

See No. 11.

BARRETT, JOSEPH HARTWELL

Barrett's Authentic Edition. / [Rule] / Life / of / Abraham
Lincoln, / (of Illinois). / With a Condensed View of His Most /
Important Speeches; / Also / a Sketch of the Life of / Hannibal
Hamlin / (of Maine). /By J. H. Barrett. / [Rule] / Cincinnati: /
Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co. / 25 West Fourth Street, / 1860.

[10]

Collation: Yellow, or pink end paper; one white flyleaf (end paper and flyleaf
not present in issue bound in wrappers); frontispiece; [i], title page; [ii], copyright
notice; [iii], preface; [ivj, blank; [v]-viii, contents; 9-193, text; 194, caption: Sketch
/ of the / Life of Hannibal Hamlin.; plate (lithographed portrait of Hamlin); 195-
216, text; one white flyleaf; yellow or pink end paper (flyleaf and end paper are not
present in issue bound in wrappers).

Note: The lithographed portrait of Lincoln appears in its earliest state in
those issues of this book which were bound in wrappers. In the first state, the im-
print on the portrait reads: Middleton, Strobridge & Co. Lith Cin. O. In the
second state, as issued in copies of the book bound in cloth, the imprint reads:
Middleton, Strobridge & Co. In clothbound copies, intermediate states of the
frontispiece are occasionally noted, in which evidence of the erasure of "Lith Cin.
O." from the stone is visible to the naked eye. (The portrait of Hamlin appears
only in its earliest state in the paper-bound issues of this book, while it appears in
both states in the clothbound copies).

Binding (wrappers): The earliest appearance of this book was in salmon-
colored paper wrappers, printed in black: Life / of / Abraham Lincoln, / (of
Illinois). / With a Condensed View of his Most Important Speeches; / Also, / a
Sketch of the Life of / Hannibal Hamlin, / (of Maine). / By J. H. Barrett. / [Rule]
I Cincinnati: / Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co. / 25 West Fourth Street / 1860. The
spine is printed: Barrett's Authentic Edition. Advertising matter appears on
verso of front wrapper, and on both sides of back wrapper.

206

PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Binding (cloth) : Various shades and textures of cloth. Blind-stamped orna-
ments within triple-ruled border on front and back covers. Spine lettered in gilt:
[Three parallel rules] / Life / of / A. Lincoln / [Rule] / Sketch of / H. Hamlin /
[Rule] I Barrett / [Three parallel rules].

Variant:

(A) A copy of the clothbound book has been noted with the following imprint
on'its title page: Indianapolis: / Asher & Company . / Cincinnati: / Moore, Wil-
stach, Keys & Co. / 1860.

Page Size: In wrappers: 7% by 4% inches. In cloth: 7% by 4J^ inches.

Publication Dates: In wrappers, probably June 27, 1860. In cloth, probably
July 2, 1860.

The publishers were among those who, on May 19, 1860, announced a forth-
coming campaign life of Lincoln. On May 24, 1860, they advertised in the New York
Tribune that they had a life of Lincoln "in active preparation." It so happened that
on that very day their author, Barrett, and a photographer were engaged in obtain-
ing a portrait of Lincoln. On May 31, 1860, the publishers promised that this life
would "be ready in a few days." On June 8, they announced in the New York Trib-
une that the book would be ready "next week." And, on June 12, the advertisement
again read : "ready next week." All of this was publicity, designed to attract agents.
For, if we are to accept the date on the preface of the book, the author did not com-
plete his work until June 18, 1860.

From the first the book had been announced to. sell: "In cloth, 50c. In paper,
25c." It was advertised in the Cleveland Leader as on sale "at 25c" on June 27,
1860. On the next day, the twenty-five cent book was being offered in Columbus
and Cincinnati. No earlier offerings have been found, and I believe June 27 to be
the day upon which the issue in wrappers was placed on sale. In Pittsburgh, one
James McMillen offered the clothbound book on July 5, 1860. The earliest an-
nouncement of the clothbound book by an Ohio retailer, which I have been able to
find, was dated July 10. Copies of the book bound in wrappers are excessively rare.

Source: Barrett had been a delegate to the Chicago convention, and seems to
have been closely associated with Lincoln for several days after its adjournment.
Years later he wrote: "He [Lincoln] readily gave such facts as my inquiries invited
or suggested."2

Nor was Barrett content with the material which he obtained directly from
Lincoln. He sought to provide an accurate background, and to this end turned to
Filson's history of Kentucky, Judge Scott's gazetteer of Indiana, and to other
source books. The result was a commendable work, the first of a long series which
was to issue from the pen of this author.

1 Joseph H. Barrett, Abraham Lincoln and his Presidency (New York, 1904),

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 207

HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN

Complete Edition

Lives and Speeches / of / Abraham Lincoln / and / Hannibal
Hamlin. / [Rule] / Columbus, O: / Follett, Foster & Co. / 1860.

[11]

Collation: Pink end paper; white flyleaf; [1], half title; [2], blank; frontispiece
not included in pagination; [3], title page; [4], copyright notice, and imprints of
printer and stereotyper; [5], list of illustrations; [6], blank; [7], index; [8], blank;
[9], subtitle: Life / of / Abraham Lincoln. / By / W. D. Howells.; [10], blank; [xi]-
xii, preface; [xiii]-xv, list of contents; [xvi], blank; [17] -94, text; [95], blank; [96],
woodcut (the Republican Wigwam at Chicago); [97], subtitle: Memorabilia / of
the / Chicago Convention; [98], blank; [99]-lll, text; [112], blank; [113], subtitle:
Speeches; [114], blank; [115]-304, text; frontispiece to Hamlin section, not included
in pagination; [305], subtitle: Life and Speeches / of / Hannibal Hamlin. / By /
John L. Hayes.; [306], blank; [307]-406, text; two white flyleaves; pink end paper.

Variants:
Copies bearing the following imprints on the title page below that of Follett,
Foster & Company have been noted. (In the case of these multiple imprints a
minor correction has been made on the title page, a period being added to the abbre-
viation for Ohio, thus: Columbus, O.):

(A) Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.

(B) Boston: Brown and Taggard.

(C) Chicago: S- C. Griggs & Co. Pittsburgh: Hunt and Miner. Cleveland:
Ingham & Bragg.

(D) Detroit: Putnam, Smith & Co.

(E) Boston: Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co.

(F) New York: M. Doolady.

Binding: Pebbled cloth of various textures, and in a wide range of colors.
Among the colors noted are: black, red, several shades of brown, plum, green, blue,
maroon, and tan. Lettered in gilt on the spine: [Four parallel rules] / Lives of /
Lincoln / and / Hamlin / [Broken rule] / Howells & Hayes / Follett, Foster & Co. /
[Four parallel rules].

In our discussion of the short-form edition of Howells' life3 of Lincoln, we
pointed to congested bindery facilities in Ohio. I believe that, because of this con-
dition, books printed in that state were sent in sheets to W. A. Townsend of New
York, and bound in that city.

Variant:

(G) Imprint: New York: / W. A. Townsend & Co., / Columbus: Follett,
Foster & Co. / 1860. In this issue the end papers are lemon yellow, and the en-

3 See ante, 202-205.

208 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

graved portraits of the two candidates are gathered and bound between the front
flyleaf and page [1], the half title. Lettered in gilt on the spine: [Rule] / The Lives
/ and / Speeches / of / Lincoln / and / Hamlin / [Rule] / Illustrated. / W. A. Town-
send & Co. / [Double rule].

Priority of Imprints: Undetermined. A copy with the single imprint of
Follett, Foster & Company, and bearing an inscription dated July 8, 1860, is in the
writer's possession. The Sam Parks copy4 which, beyond reasonable doubt, was in
Lincoln's hands in July, 1860, had the single imprint. It is probable that copies
bearing the single imprint were issued locally, and also sent out to prominent Re-
publicans, before those with multiple imprints were sent on to associate publishers.

Copies are distinguished by certain typographical variants; however these are
without evidential value. We know that the publisher worked from two sets of
stereotype plates, and no one is qualified to say from which set of plates the earliest
copies were printed. Uncorrected typographical defects simply demonstrate which
was the earliest plate to be cast.

For instance, the letter "i" is missing from the word "importance" in the last
line of the text on page 46, in all copies bearing the single imprint. In copies bear-
ing the multiple imprints, that letter "i" has been restored from another font of
type of slightly bolder face. But, in the last edition of the book to be published,
and under the single imprint of Follett, Foster & Company, that letter "i" is still
missing, although textual corrections have been made. Obviously, the mat from
which the plates were cast, and which, in turn, was used in the printing of the issues
with the single imprint, was made before the absence of the letter was noticed. The
letter was then missed and an "i" inserted by the founders and another mat drawn
off, from which another set of plates was cast. All of which has nothing whatever to
do with the vicissitudes of the sheets in the hands of the printers and the binders.

Page Size: 7% by 4% inches.

Publication Date: Published on July 5, 1860, and reviewed the following day
in the editorial columns of Howells' own paper, the Ohio Slate Journal.

Source: Among the letters of William Dean Howells, we find the author's own
story :

"It was the expectation that I would go to Springfield, Illinois, and gather the
material for the work from Lincoln himself, and from his friends and neighbors.
But this part of the project was distasteful to me, was impossible; I would not go,
and I missed the greatest chance of my life in its kind, though I am not sure I was
wholly wrong, for I might not have been equal to that chance; I might not have
seemed to the man I would not go to see, the person to report him to the world in a
campaign life. What we did was to commission a young law-student of those I
knew, to go to Springfield and get the material for me. When he brought it back,
I felt the charm of the material; the wild poetry of its reality was not unknown to
me: I was at home with it, for I had known the belated backwoods of a certain re-

See post, 210.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 209

gion of Ohio; I had almost lived the pioneer; and I wrote the little book with none
of the reluctance I felt from studying its sources."6

That "young law-student" was James Quay Howard. Whether the material
that he brought back from Springfield was too scanty, or whether Howells felt that
it was a bit drab, does not appear at this late date. But of one thing we are sure:
Howells did not stick closely to the material supplied Howard by Lincoln. On the
contrary, he drew from previously published biographies; and, as we shall see, one
story lifted from the Thayer & Eldridge life (see No. 3 above) got him and his pub-
lishers into hot water.

On June 8, 1860, Follett, Foster & Company advertised Howells' life of Lin-
coln in the Ohio State Journal, under the caption: "Authorized by Mr. Lincoln."
I have been unable to locate other advertisements carrying that claim; hence do
not know how widely it was disseminated. If true it would mean a luscious plum
for the publishers. Possibly Barrett's publishers, in Cincinnati, instituted some in-
quiries; or maybe Republicans wondered if this personally authorized biography
was to be adopted by them as official; in any event, the announcement seems to
have created something of a stir in Columbus political circles.

On June 15, Samuel Galloway, a prominent member of the Ohio Republican
State Central Committee, wrote Lincoln, who replied on June 19, 1860. Because
it provides us with an illuminating picture of Lincoln's attitude towards campaign
biographies in general, the letter is quoted in full:

Springfield, Illinois, June 19, 1860.

My dear Sir: Your very kind letter of the 15th is received. Messrs. Follet,
Foster & Co.'s Life of me is not by my authority; and I have scarcely been so much
astounded by anything, as their public announcement that it is authorized by me.
They have fallen into some strange misunderstanding. I certainly knew they con-
templated publishing a biography, and I certainly did not object to their doing so,
upon their own responsibility. I even took pains to facilitate them. But, at the
same time, I made myself tiresome, if not hoarse, with repeating to Mr. Howard,
their only agent seen by me, my protest that I authorized nothing — would be respon-
sible/or nothing. How they could so misunderstand me, passes comprehension. As
a matter, wholly my own, I would authorize no biography, without time and oppor-
tunity to carefully examine and consider every word of it; and, in this case, in the
nature of things, I can have no such time and opportunity. But, in my present
position, when, by the lessons of the past, and the united voice of all discreet friends,
I can neither write nor speak a word for the public, how dare I to send forth,
by my authority, a volume of hundreds of pages, for adversaries to make points
upon without end? Were I to do so, the Convention would have a right to re-
assemble, and substitute another name for mine.

8 Life in Letters of William Dean Howells, edited by Mildred Howells (Garden
City, N'. Y., 1928), I: 36-37.

210 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

For these reasons, I would not look at the proof sheets. I am determined to
maintain the position of truly saying 1 never saw the proof sheets, or any part of
their work, before its publication.

Now, do not mistake me. I feel great kindness for Messrs. F., F. & Co. — do
not think they have intentionally done wrong. There may be nothing wrong in
their proposed book. I sincerely hope there will not. I barely suggest that you,
or any of the friends there, on the party account, look it over, and exclude what
you may think would embarrass the party, bearing in mind, at all times, that I
authorize nothing — will be responsible for nothing.

Your friend as ever, A. Lincoln.*

Upon receipt of this letter, the publishers immediately changed the offending
caption to read "accurate and reliable." It does not appear that Galloway followed
Lincoln's suggestion to look it over and exclude embarrassing matter, for, from a
political standpoint, a most serious blunder had been committed by Howells, and
was allowed to appear in the early issues of the book.

Thus forcibly brought to his attention, we may be sure that Lincoln carefully
conned the first available copy. What must have been his feelings when, after
noting several minor errors, he turned to page 74, and found that his emphatic re-
fusal to sponsor the book had been fully justified ! For there appeared the same
error, with reference to the Ottawa debate, which the unknown author of the
Thayer & Eldridge life had made — an error out of which Douglas had made forensic
capital, time and again, during the debates. "It is true," wrote Howells, "that a
Mass State Convention, with a view to forming a permanent organization, had
been held at Springfield, in October; but many anti-Nebraska men, who still ad-
hered to old names, had not taken part in it. The following resolutions were adopted

at this Convention " A bulletin of the Abraham Lincoln Association is devoted

to a discussion of that priceless and most desirable of all campaign biographies, the
copy of Howells' life which Lincoln corrected in his own handwriting, and gave to
his friend, Mr. Samuel C. Parks. On the flyleaf of that copy, Mr. Parks wrote:
"This life of Lincoln was corrected by him for me, at my request, in the summer of
1860, by notes in his handwriting, in pencil in the margin."7

We cannot read the Galloway letter, and believe that Lincoln took it upon
himself to correct a campaign life (it is his own unmistakable handwriting), and pass
it on to an acquaintance as a mere gesture of friendship. I believe that Lincoln
made those corrections, and turned the corrected book over to Parks — a trusted and
prominent Republican worker — with the sole idea that the matter would be brought
to the attention of the publishers, and the necessary corrections made.

With a single exception — previously noted — none of the errors were of any

8 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by John G. Nicolay and John Hay
(Gettysburg ed.; New York, 1905), VI: 40-42.

7 Benjamin P. Thomas, "A Unique Biography of Lincoln," Bulletin of the Abra-
ham Lincoln Association, No. 35: p. 4 (June, 1934).

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CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 211

political importance. The publishers took immediate steps to correct that error,
but not until thousands of copies of the book had been distributed.

Issue With The Errata Slip

Title page, collation, binding, and page size: No changes.

An errata slip is inserted at page 74, reading:

'The resolutions said to have been passed at a Convention at Springfield, and
found on page 74, were not passed. They were a political trick, intended by the
Democrats, to defeat Yates, candidate for Congress. See Douglas and Lincoln
Debates, pages 90, 97, 98, 182, 189, 195, 199, 200. The error, in the hurry of going
to press, crept in. On page 75, it will be seen, Mr. Lincoln is shown to have had no
connection with the resolutions."

But two copies of this issue are known: one is in the collection of Gov. Henry
Horner, Springfield, Illinois, and the other in the writer's possession.

Note: Both of the known copies are of the issue bearing the single imprint of
Follett, Foster & Company.

SECOND (COMPLETE) EDITION

Title Page: Variant B — Boston; Brown and Taggard.

Collation: No change down to page 406; from there on the collation is: one
white flyleaf; eight pages of advertising matter; white flyleaf; pink end paper.

Binding: Brown cloth.

Textual Change: The text at page 74, beginning with line 3, has been changed
to read: "It was charged by Douglas that a Republican Convention met at Spring-
field and passed the resolutions found below. This was an error. No Convention
was held at Springfield, but the resolutions were offered at a small meeting in Kane
County of which Lincoln knew nothing."

The only known copy of this edition is in the collection of Gov. Henry Horner,
Springfield, Illinois.

See No. 9.

SCRIPPS, JOHN LOCKE

Caption Title: Life / of / Abraham Lincoln. In the lower mar-
gin of page [1], appears the following: Entered according to Act
of Congress, in the year 1860, by the Chicago Press and Tribune
Co., in the Clerk's / Office of the District Court for the Northern
District of Illinois. [12]

Collation: [l]-32, text, in double columns. The lower two-thirds of page 32 is
devoted to advertising matter.

212 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Binding: Stitched, without wrappers.

Page Size: %Y% by Wi inches.

Publication Date: About July 15, 1860. A notice in the Illinois State Journal,
July 24, 1860, reads: "We are in receipt of a copy of the Campaign Life of Lincoln
written by Mr. Scripps and issued at the Chicago Press and Tribune. It is one of
the best campaign documents we have yet seen."

Advertising Matter: In the first edition of this life, the advertising matter, on
page 32, is set in two columns, from the same agate type as is used in the text, with
the exception of the captions; the latter are set in the usual display faces, then in
vogue in newspaper composing rooms. The text of this advertising matter begins:
"The Press and Tribune office is prepared to furnish to Republican Clubs and in-
dividuals, the following important documents at the low rates annexed. . . ." At
the end is the following: "Money in registered letters may be sent at our risk.
Address: Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois."

Typographical Errors: The last word in column 2, line 23, page 32, reads,
"thel" and the last word in the following line reads, "wil." The terminal letter of
line 24 had slipped up into the preceding line. It so appears in all editions of this
work, thus proving that all were printed from stereotypes cast from the same type
form.

Source: Early in June, 1860, Scripps was given new biographical material by
Lincoln. This, the so-called third person autobiography, is printed in full, in the
Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Nicolay and Hay, under the head-
ing: "Short autobiography written at the request of a friend to use in preparing a
popular campaign biography in the election of I860."8 The actual date of this
autobiography is unknown. Nicolay and Hay approximate its date as June 1; they
are probably correct. Howard returned to Columbus, Ohio on June 7, and he either
brought with him a copy of that autobiography, or notes drawn directly from a
copy. Both Scripps's and Howard's principal, Howells, used a quaint phrase drawn
from the autobiography: the store "winked out." So unusual was the expression
that Howells felt called upon to explain it was the "idiom of the region."

NEW YORK EDITION

Caption Title: Tribune Tracts. — No. 6 / [Rule] / Life / of /
Abraham Lincoln. In the lower margin of page [1] appears the
following: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year
1860, by Horace Greeley & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the / Dis-
trict Court of the United States for the Southern District of New
York.

8 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by John G. Nicolay and John Hay
(Gettysburg ed.), VI: 24.

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Earliest state of page 32, Scripps's Liff? 0/ Lincoli
First Edition.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 213

Collation: [1J-32, text in double columns. The lower two-thirds of page 32 is
devoted to advertising matter.

Binding: Stitched, without wrappers.

Page Size: %% by 5% inches.

Typographical Errors: Same as in first edition, thus proving that these two
editions were printed from plates cast from the same type forms. It seems a safe
assumption that the advertising matter and Chicago copyright notice were removed
from the forms, a mat was then made and sent on to New York where the new ad-
vertising matter and copyright notice were patched in, and the plates for this edi-
tion cast.

Advertising Matter: This matter, on page 32, is set in a single column — full-
page spread — under the caption: "The New York Tribune." Two captions, "The
New York Semi-Weekly Tribune," and "The New York Weekly Tribune" are set
in boldface, sans-serif, display type; this seems to have been a favorite in the com-
posing room of the New York Tribune, for we find it frequently used in the advertis-
ing columns of that newspaper during the year 1860.

SECOND CHICAGO EDITION

Title, Binding and Collation: The same as in the first edition.

Page Size: Approximately the same as the first edition.

Typographical Errors: The same errors persist in this edition, proving that
this edition was also printed from plates cast from the original type forms.

Advertising Matter: Here we find a radical difference between the two edi-
tions bearing the Chicago imprints. In this edition, the advertising matter on page
32 is set in a single column — full-page spread — and under the caption: "The Chi-
cago Press and Tribune." The general layout closely follows that of the New York
(second) edition; so closely, in fact, that I am quite convinced that both were prod-
ucts of the composing room of the New York Tribune.

More conclusive, however, is the character of the display type used in one of
the captions. All of the type used in the captions of the advertising matter in this
edition was characteristic of the New York Tribune, rather than the Chicago Press
and Tribune. However, the type used in the lowest caption, "The Chicago Press
and Tribune," was the same boldface, sans-serif, display type, which was noted in
the two captions in the New York (second) edition.

While this type — as has been pointed out — was used frequently in the adver-
tising columns of the New York Tribune during the year 1860, not once during that
period did it appear in the columns of the Chicago Press and Tribune. The Chicago
composing room possessed an equivalent face, but the letters "S," "P," "R," etc.,
were slightly chamfered9 while the same letters in the New York font were smooth-
I ly rounded. All of this points to the inevitable conclusion that this edition, al-

' See the name "S. W. Ripley" in the Chicago Press and Tribune, May 19,
1860, editorial page, col. 9.

214 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

though bearing a Chicago imprint, was printed in the plant of the New York
Tribune.

Experienced typographers who have examined the copy of the first edition,
now laying before me, are of the opinion that it was printed direct from type. Not
all are in agreement on this point, however. If they are correct in their belief, then
it would seem that the first edition was hurriedly printed from the type in Chicago,
mats made and rushed to New York, and subsequent Chicago requirements supplied
by the New York Tribune.

HOWARD, JAMES QUAY

The Life / of / Abraham Lincoln: / With / Extracts from his
Speeches. / [Rule] / By J. Q. Howard. / [Rule] / Columbus: /
Follett, Foster and Company. / 1860. 113]

Collation: [1], title page; [2], copyright notice; [3]-102, text; one white flyleaf;
eight pages of advertisements.

Binding: Light buff, paper wrappers, printed in black: The Life / of / Abra-
ham Lincoln: / With / Extracts from his Speeches. / [Rule] / By J. Q. Howard. /
[Rule] I Cincinnati: / Anderson, Gates and Wright. / 1860. Advertising matter on
verso of front wrapper, and upon recto of the back wrapper. On the verso of the
back wrapper appears the woodcut of the Republican Wigwam at Chicago, which
was used in Howells' life.

Variants:

(A) Persistent reports of copies bearing the imprint of Follett, Foster and
Company, on the front wrapper, have been received, but I have been unable to
locate such a copy.

(B) The book was also issued with a portrait of Lincoln on the front wrapper.
I have not seen this variant. Howard wrote a letter to McLellan which read, in
part: "I have examined several copies of the book printed with and without the
Cincinnati pictorial cover, and both seemed to me to be genuine." This letter it
now in Brown University Library.

Page Size: lh/% by 4% inches.

Publication Date: Its appearance was first announced in the columns of the
Ohio State Journal on July 26, 1860, to sell at ten cents. The late appearance of this
life may have been due to the fact that Howard had incorporated in his copy some
of the errors which he had passed op to Howells, and was required to rewrite the
book. However, the preface is dated June 26, and thirty days was not a bad pro-
duction record for his harassed and overloaded publishers.

Discovery: The discovery of this life was one of the most colorful episodes in
the history of Lincolniana. That genial and lovable veteran bookman, Charles P.
Everitt, was operating a bookstore on Twenty-third Street, New York City, in the

iaa.4.;iiiit«i.n 15ik«jfc««fc»r.VSr«1 *~b ii..<«.«r»wi.MblMt^

WS^WtlM IKHlTS^ «fcfc U» »KMH»m«r Ml<c: M'"»-^"»'«Wt-.<V»>,»..i.l.....il
kllt«h«n«^faUn,H^«>lk*«>«IU. UTMSr. - m • »U« laa./<UUi kto!.M> » •

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to. U» miu

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THE CHICAGO PRESS A\D TRIBI KE.

CAMPAIGN OF lS6f>
6r**t tsdacemf-ni, !o Clab*. K. c Tar • :. I *

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l nuscn ■ ..<v»?«' •• — J '-"-TwVTf nil i.«iv ■»■'■■.■■ LeT

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»»r«». Irtemybc Mn 1 1 ln.ft»i^ni«>mk.fc. ««.Y.to3r,i«fr<fc*> wfek tk* U><)
UB nhah / r-i mil iiiwrntj k>tir«i Trllwi

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. . . . 4 «■ [ t«

THE CAMPAIGN PRESS AND TRIBUNE.

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re,,tor ll .tJMM «U« «X »» Afcut ttuntri iftk. », .kfcwn «— ... bir4«l.»><..|naK«*n.
it***, » «tt to mb. to <Mto, «m fchrtot «at£ tto «to~ «t A. caatofca. «t *.bi«rt|P«ii,n«-rf.*.
for tW tMjMfB W«*Jjr.-r»«. «tut, — »«*««,■£•»-. m. mte, «*. ••<««, $jiw, «bv.

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Ik. (Hntiai tin II Mat to •*» »<ari

"** • PBXSS 4 TEIBUWE, Cl.ic*ff3> DL

Second state of page 32, Scripps's Lz/(? 0/ Lincoln.
Second Edition.

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 215

fall of 1901. During his absence one day, an unidentified man dropped into the
store, and told the boy who had been left in charge that he would ship Mr. Everitt
a box of books, providing that Everitt would pay the express charges. Such an
agreement was made. From here on the story i9 best related in Mr. Everitt's own
words:

"A few days later I came in and found that the books had arrived and were un-
packed. They were utterly worthless. I picked up the cover of a pamphlet,
Howard's Life of Lincoln, and asked the boy what that was. That was the packing
used to keep the books tight,' he replied, 'I threw the rest of them into the base-
ment.' I told him to throw the books into the basement, and bring the packing
upstairs. There were twenty-eight copies, two different imprints, and one copy in
German. This latter was bought by Colonel McLellan, and is now in Brown Uni-
versity."

Up until that time the book had been unknown. Howard certainly owed
Everitt a debt of gratitude for dragging him out of obscurity. After considerable
effort, Everitt located Howard working in the Library of Congress, and promptly
wrote him inquiring as to the origin of the book. Howard replied: "I suppose you
want my autograph, if so send two dollars." The still small voice of gratitude!

Source: See No. 9.

COMPOSITE WORKS

The campaign lives of various candidates, such as those we
have described, were sold largely in metropolitan centers, by book
agents, and from newsstands. Composite works, impartially set-
ting forth the platforms of all parties and providing the biogra-
phies of the different candidates, were prepared for distribution
[ in thinly settled rural sections. They were, in brief, shotgun
campaign documents, aimed to hit readers of every political faith.
All such were published late in the campaign; in one instance a
speech made as late as July 8, 1860 was quoted.

WELLS, J. G.

Part I

Wells' / Illustrated National / Campaign Hand-Book / for 1860.

/ [Rule] I Part First. / [Rule] / Embracing the / Lives of all the

Candidates for President and / Vice-President: / Including /

i John Bell and Edward Everett, / Candidates of the National

216 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Union Party. / Abraham Lincoln and Hanibal Hamlin, / Can-
didates of the National Republican Party. / Steph. A. Douglas
and Herschel V. Johnson / Candidates of the National Demo-
cratic Party. / John C. Breckinridge and Joseph Lane, / Can-
didates of the National Democratic Party. / Sam Houston, /
Independent Candidate for the Presidency. / With / Portraits of
Each, / Engraved Expressly for this Work from Ambrotypes /
Taken from Life. / [Rule] / 57 Illustrations. / [Rule] / New York:
/ J. G. Wells, Cor. Park-Row and Beekman Street. / Cincinnati,
Ohio: / Mack R. Barnitz, 38 and 40 West Fourth Street. / 1860.

Part II

Wells' / Illustrated National / Campaign Hand-Book / for 1860.
/ [Rule] I Part Second. / [Rule] / Embracing a / Complete Com-
pendium / of the / Political History of the United States. / From
the / Original Formation of the Government / to the Present
Time. / [Rule] / New York: / J. G. Wells, Cor. Park-Row and
Beekman Street. / Cincinnati, Ohio: / Mack R. Barnitz, 38 and
40 West Fourth Street. / 1860. [14]

Collation (Part I): Yellow end paper; two white flyleaves; [3], pre-title; [4j,
frontispiece; [5], title page; [6], copyright notice and printer's imprint; [7], table of
contents; (8], blank; [9], list of portraits; [10], blank; [11], portrait; [12], blank; [13]-
199, text; [200], blank.

(Part II): [3], blank; [4], frontispiece to part II; [5], title page to part II; [6],
blank; [7]-[8], contents; [9]-159, text; [160], blank; two white flyleaves; yellow end
paper. Twenty-six plates.

Binding: Black cloth. Spine lettered in gilt: Wells' / Campaign / Hand /
Book / [Rule] / 1860.

Page Size: 7% by i%.

[ANONYMOUS]

The Lives / of the Present / Candidates / for / President and
Vice-President / of the United States, / Containing a Condensed
and Impartial History of the Lives, / Public Acts, and Political
Views of the Present Candidates, / with the Platforms of the
Parties they Represent, Their / Portraits from Life, Their Letters

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 217

of Acceptance, etc. / [Rule] / Cincinnati, — H. M. Rulison, /
Queen City Publishing House, 141 Main Street. / Philadelphia,
— D. Rulison, / Quaker City Publishing House, 33 South Third
Street. / St. Louis — C. Drew & Co., / No. 125 Locust Street. /
Geneva, N. Y. — J. Whitley, Jr., / Davis' Block, Water Street.

[15]

Variant:
(A) In Brown University Library is a copy with the following imprint: 1860 /
Published by Mack R. Barnitz, / Book, Map and Chart Publisher, / 38 and 40
West Fourth St. / Cincinnati. / Agents wanted.

Collation: [i], title page; [ii], copyright notice; [3]-139, text; [140], blank; two
pages of advertising matter, numbered [1] and [2].

Binding: Buff paper wrappers, printed in black like title page, but with a
different border. Coats of arms of thirty-three states are on inside front cover, and
on both sides of back cover.

Page Size: 8% by i% inches.

[ANONYMOUS]

Portraits / and / Sketches of the Lives / of / All the Candidates
/ for the / Presidency and Vice-Presidency, / for 1860. / Compris-
ing / Eight Portraits Engraved on Steel, Facts in the Life of Each,
/ the Four Platforms, the Cincinnati Platform, / and / the Consti-
tution of the United States. / [Rule] / New- York: / J. C. Buttre, 48
Franklin Street. / [Rule] / 1860. [16]

Collation: [1], title page; [2], blank; plate (portrait of Lincoln); [3J-4, text;
plate (portrait of Hamlin); [5]-8, text; plate (portrait of Bell); [9]-10, text; plate
(portrait of Everett); [llj-13, text; [14], blank; plate (portrait of Douglas); [15]-16,
text; plate (portrait of Johnson); [17]-19, text; [20], blank; plate (portrait of
Breckinridge); [21]-22, text; plate (portrait of Lane); [23]-25, text; [26], blank;
15-32, 10 text; two leaves of advertising matter.

Binding: Buff paper wrappers. Printed in black: Price Fifty Cents. / Por-
traits / and / Sketches of the Lives / of / All the Candidates / for the / Presidency
and Vice-Presidency, / for 1860. / omprising [sic] / Eight Portraits Engraved on
Steel, Facts in the Life of Each, / the Four Platforms, the Cincinnati Platform, /
and / the Constitution of the United States. / [Rule] / New- York: / J. C. Buttre,

10 The erroneous pagination at this point seems to have escaped the attention
of bibliographers, for the book is usually described as having but thirty-two pages.

218 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

48 Franklin Street. / [Rule] / 1860. Verso of front wrapper blank. Advertising
matter on both sides of back wrapper.

Page Size: V/% by 5% inches.

Note: On June 8, 1860, Buttre had the effrontery to advertise this book in the
New York Tribune as "now on sale at all news-stands," although several of the can-
didates had not then been nominated. This beautiful pamphlet was issued late in
July.

Buttre engraved the portraits for the Wide Awake Edition, and yet another
set of plates was engraved and supplied to Follett, Foster & Company for HowelU'
life of Lincoln.

CAMPAIGN LIVES IN WELSH AND GERMAN

As a group, these are the rarest of all Lincolniana. So widely-
distributed are the few surviving copies it has been impossible
to make firsthand examinations of most of these rarities. The
citations which follow are provided through the kind cooperation
of the few fortunate owners.

[ANONYMOUS]

Das Leben / von / Abraham Lincoln, / nebst einer kurzen Skizze
des Lebens von / Hannibal Hamlin. / Republikanische Candi-
daten fur President und Vice-Prasident der Vereinigten Staaten. /
[Printer's device] / Die Constitution der Ver. Staaten, Unab-
hangigkeits-Erklarung, / und die / Platformen / der / verschei-
denen politischen Parteien & c. / [Rule] / Chicago, 111. / Druck
von Hoffgen und Schneider. / 1860. [17]

Translation: The life of Abraham Lincoln, with a short
sketch of the life of Hannibal Hamlin, Republican candidates for
president and vice-president of the United States. The Consti-
tution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and
the platforms of the various political parties.

Collation: Title page, verso blank; printed page, unnumbered, verso blank;
4-108, text.

Binding: The only known copy is in the Illinois State Historical Library. This
copy is bound in mottled boards, with cloth backstrip and corners. The front wrap-
per has been preserved; hence it is safe to assume that it originally appeared in paper
wrappers. Printed in black: Das Leben / von / Abraham Lincoln / [Portrait of
Lincoln] / nebst einer kurzen Skizze des Lebens von / Hannibal Hamlin. / Chicago,

CAMPAIGN LIVES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1860 219

1860, / Druck der "Illinois Staats-Zeitung." Verso: quotation from Lincoln.
Page Size: 6% by 4j^ inches.

HOWARD, JAMES QUAY
Das Leben / von / Abraham Lincoln, / nebst / Auszugen aus
seinen Reden. / [Rule] / Aus dem Englischen von J. Q. Howard, /
Uebersezt druch / Professor Wilhelm Grauert. / [Rule] / Colum-
I bus: / Follett, Foster und Compagnie. / 1860. [18]

Translation: The life of Abraham Lincoln, with extracts
from his speeches. From the English by J. Q. Howard, trans-
lated by Professor Wilhelm Grauert.

Collation: [2], 57.

Binding: Printed wrappers.

Page Size : 7 by 4 % inches.

Publication Date: First announced in the Ohio State Journal on July 26, 1860.
There exists not a shred of evidence with which to support the contention that this
was "the first Lincoln biography printed in any foreign language." Bartlett's life —
see No. 19 below — was being offered for sale two weeks earlier.

Note : But two copies are known : one is in the collection of Gov. Henry Horner,
and the other in Brown University Library.

BARTLETT, D. W.
VOSE, REUBEN
Leben, Wirken und Reden / des / Republikanischen / Praesi-
dentschafts-Candidaten / Abraham Lincoln. / Nach den besten
amerikanischen Quellen: D. W. Bartlett, / Reuben Vose u. A.
deutsch bearbeitet. / New- York, 1860. / Bei Friedrich Gerhard.

[19]
Translation: Life, works and speeches of the Republican
presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln. From the best Ameri-
can authorities. D. W. Bartlett and Reuben Vose. Translated
into German. Rev.

Collation: Pp. 106.
Binding: Printed wrappers.
Page Size: iy% by 4^i inches.

Publication Date: On July 16, 1860, it was first advertised in various New
York City newspapers, as being "on sale."

220 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

[ANONYMOUS] WELSH (UTICA IMPRINT)
Hanes Bywyd / Abraham Lincoln, / o Illinois, a / Hannibal
Hamlin, / o Maine, / yr ymgeiswyr gwerinol am yr arlywyd-
diaeth a'r islywyddiaeth; / yn nghyd a'r / araeth draddododd
Mr. Lincoln yn Cooper's Institute, N. Y., / ar y 27 o Chwefror,
1860. Hefyd, / yr esgynlawr gwerinol, yn nghyd a chan etho-
liadol. / [Double Rule] / Utica, N. Y.: / David C. Davies,
Argraffydd a Chyhoeddydd. / 1860. [20]

Translation: Life history of Abraham Lincoln of Illinois and
Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, the Republican candidates for the
presidency and vice-presidency; together with the speech Mr.
Lincoln delivered in Cooper's Institute, N. Y., on the 27th of
February, 1860. Also the Republican platform with the election
song.

Collation: [1], title page; [2], song and music; [3]-16, text. A cut of Lincoln ap-
pears at the beginning of the text on page [3J.

Binding: Unbound, stitched.

Page Size: 9% by S*/i inches.

Note: The only known copy is in the Library of Congress.

See No. 21 for Pottsville, Pennsylvania imprint.

[ANONYMOUS] WELSH (POTTSVILLE, PA. IMPRINT)
Hanes Bywyd / Abraham Lincoln, o Illinois, / a / Hannibal Ham-
lin, o Maine; / yr / ymgeisyddion gwerinaidd am arlywydd ac
islywydd yr Unol Dalaethau, / Erbyn yr Etholiad yn tachwedd,
1860; / yn nghyd a / Golydiadau ac egwyddorion y gwerinwyr,
&c. / [Portrait of Lincoln] / [Rule] / [Quotation] J [Rule] / Potts-
ville, Pa.: / Argraffwyd gan B. Bannan, swyddfa y "Miners'
Journal," / 1860. [21]

Literal Translation: Life History of Abraham Lincoln of
Illinois and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, the Republican candidates
for president and vice-president of the United States, for the elec-
tion of November, 1860; together with the views and principles
of the Republicans, etc. [Portrait and quotation].

Collation: [1], title page; [2]-16, text.
Binding: Unbound, stitched.
Page Size: %% by SY2 inches.

OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS

1937

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

To the Directors of the Illinois State Historical Society:

Gentlemen:

I present herewith a summary of the activities of the Illinois
State Historical Society since the last annual meeting, May 15,
1936.

The Society held its usual Illinois Day meeting in Springfield
on December 3, 1936, with James A. James presiding. The
speaker of the occasion was Dr. Joseph Schafer, Superintendent
of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, who took for his
subject, "Was the Frontier a Safety Valve for Labor?" After
the address, a reception was held in the Illinois State Historical
Library.

A year ago I reported that the membership of the Society had
dropped to the lowest point in many years — 697. I take pleasure
in reporting the admission of fifty-three new members during the
past year. After deducting losses by deaths and resignations,
our membership shows a net increase, the first gain to be recorded
in recent years.

However, all indications are that we have barely begun to
attract to the Society those who are potential members. In
recent months the membership committee has been actively at
work, and is planning to send out several thousand invitations
during the coming fall. Directors and members of the Society
can contribute to this end by furnishing the names of persons
likely to be interested in membership. The committee believes a
membership of 1,000 to be a goal which can be attained in the
near future. The advantages which will accrue to the Society
from an interested and growing membership are obvious.

During the past year nine historical markers have been erected
by the Society. This is a smaller number than was reported a
year ago, but other demands upon the Secretary's time have been

224 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

heavier, and besides, suitable sites for markers are no longer as
numerous as they were at the beginning of this undertaking. If
the experience of the past year is indicative of the future, little
can be done on the Society's historical marker program unless
one or two qualified persons are added to our permanent staff.

The committee on popular publications, appointed at the last
annual meeting, has made an investigation of the subject and has
decided tentatively upon a list of titles, but two factors have
prevented any further accomplishment. The first has been the
difficulty of obtaining persons qualified to write both popularly
and authoritatively, and inducing them to undertake to produce
manuscripts for inadequate compensation; the other is the neces-
sity of securing the approval of the Trustees of the Illinois State
Historical Library, since funds for publication must come from
this source. No difficulty is anticipated in this respect, but as yet
there has been no opportunity to present the proposal to the
Trustees. As to the merits of the plan, daily experience supports
my conviction that almost nothing the Society could do would
serve a better purpose or attract more favorable attention. Ex-
perience, however, also indicates that to be successful these pub-
lications must not be too restricted in scope; that in a word they
must be truly "popular."

You will remember that in 1932 the format of the Society's
Journal was radically changed. The format adopted at that time
has proved to be greatly superior to that which it superseded,
but experience has shown that it also possesses disadvantages.
A blue cover, for example, has a tendency to fade. Moreover,
sometimes it has been impossible to obtain identical cover stock,
with the result that we have used four different cover stocks in
the past five years. In addition, there has been frequent criticism
of the extended feature of the cover. The initial appearance is
good, but it is easily defaced, and difficult to stand upright on
book shelves.

These disadvantages could be eliminated simply by substi-
tuting a stock cover of a different shade, and trimming the edges

OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS, 1937 225

flush with the text, but in my opinion, more substantial changes
are desirable. In content as well as appearance I think the
Journal could be changed with profit. At present it is a dignified,
and sometimes dull, historical magazine of the traditional type,
but I believe firmly that it can be made more sprightly and more
interesting without lowering in the least the standard of scholar-
ship which must characterize it.

The publication of a state historical society should not be
edited solely for the benefit of the academic historian; it should
also be directed towards the person to whom the history of the
commonwealth in which he lives is an avocation. This means
that articles accepted for publication should deal with subjects
having a fairly broad appeal, and should deal with them in an
interesting manner. It means the inclusion of more illustrations,
and perhaps the addition of one or two departments designed to
catch the interest of a reader rather than to make a negligible
"contribution" to an obscure point. The demands which such a
publication make upon an editor are relatively heavy, and can
be met only through the cooperation of a group of highly com-
petent contributors, but the effort is worth making.

The present format of the Journal hardly lends itself to the
departures which I am recommending. Like every well-designed
publication, its appearance fits its content perfectly, and if the
content is changed, a certain lack of harmony will be immediately
perceptible. I recommend that provision be made for redesigning
the Journal, both to eliminate the practical disadvantages which
I have outlined and to make it a more suitable vehicle for more
varied and interesting content.

I regret exceedingly the necessity of announcing the death,
on January 15, 1937, of Paul Steinbrecher, one of our most faithful
and active Directors. In addition to his connection with this
Society, Mr. Steinbrecher was one of the Trustees of the Illinois
State Historical Library, a leader in civic and cultural activities
both in Chicago and the state, a discriminating collector of Ameri-
cana, and an indefatigable student of history and literature. His

226 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

death has meant a heavy loss to the Society and a personal be-
reavement to many of its members.

In the general membership of the Society, the following deaths
have occurred during the past twelve months:

Joseph B. Bacon Macomb

John S. Felmley Griggsville

O. A. Harker Urbana

Sidney Kuh Chicago

Tracy W. McGregor Washington, D. C.

J. G. Mulcaster Hines

Clifford R. Myers Charleston, W. Va.

Louis Seidel Chicago

W. E. Shastid Pittsfield

Tryggve A. Siqueland Chicago

William T. Vandeveer Taylorville

L. 0. Williams Clinton

Respectfully submitted,

Paul M. Angle.

ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING

ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

GALESBURG, ILLINOIS, MAY 14, 1937

The annual business meeting of the Illinois State Historical
Society was held at the Henry M. Seymour Library, Knox Col-
lege, Galesburg, on May 14, 1937.

A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order by
President James A. James.

The Secretary read the minutes of the last meeting, which
were approved as read.

Dr. James notified the Society that the terms of five Direc-
tors— Paul M. Angle, Carl E. Black, George C. Dixon, Theodore
C. Pease, and Clint Clay Tilton — had expired. On the motion
of Mr. East, seconded by Mr. Townley, these Directors were re-
elected for three-year terms by acclamation.

On the motion of Clint Clay Tilton, seconded by Mrs. English,
Jewell F. Stevens of Chicago was elected a Director for the balance
of the unexpired term of Paul Steinbrecher, deceased.

Mr. East, from the committee on publicity and membership,
reported that the committee had decided upon the form of a
membership invitation to be sent to several thousand prospective
members, but that in view of the fact that the invitations could
not be ready for mailing before summer, it had been decided to
defer further action until the fall. Various members present
promised to supply lists of persons likely to be interested in join-
ing the Society.

Dr. Pease, from the committee on popular publications, re-
ported that the committee had decided tentatively upon a list
of titles, but that definite plans must await the decision of the
Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, by whom funds
for printing would have to be made available.

228 PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Mr. Angle proposed that the format of the Journal of the
Illinois State Historical Society be changed to eliminate a number
of objections, and that certain changes be made in the content
in an effort to make it of greater general interest. After discus-
sion, the subject was referred to the committee on publicity and
membership with power to act.

On behalf of the McLean County Historical Society, Mr.
Townley invited the Society to hold its next annual meeting in
Bloomington. The invitation was accepted, subject to unforeseen
contingencies which might make a different location advisable.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

GALESBURG, ILLINOIS, MAY 14, 1937

Present: James A. James, Paul M. Angle, Ernest E. East,
Mrs. Henry English, John H. Hauberg, Henry J. Patten,
Theodore C. Pease, Clint Clay Tilton, and Wayne C. Townley.

By unanimous vote the Directors elected the following officers:
President, James A. James; Vice-Presidents, Evarts B. Greene,
New York City; John H. Hauberg, Rock Island; Frank O. Low-
den, Oregon; Theodore C. Pease, Urbana; George W. Smith, Car-
bondale; Frank E. Stevens, Springfield; Secretary-Treasurer, Paul
M. Angle.

The Directors adopted a budget for the next fiscal year, and
then adjourned.

229

THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OFFICERS, 1937-1938

James A. James, George W. Smith,

President Vice-President

Theodore C. Pease, Frank O. Lowden,

Vice-President Vice-President

Evarts Boutell Greene Frank E. Stevens,

Vice-President Vice-President

John H. Hauberg, Paul M. Angle,

Vice-President Secretary- Treasurer

DIRECTORS

James A. James, Evanston Paul M. Angle, Springfield

Laurence M. Larson,* Urbana Clint Clay Til ton, Danville
Theodore C. Pease, Urbana Carl E. Black, Jacksonville

Henry J. Patten,* Chicago Jewell F. Stevens, Chicago

Logan Hay, Springfield John H. Hauberg, Rock Island

George C. Dixon, Dixon Wayne C. Townley, Bloomington

Cornelius J. Doyle,* Springfield Ernest E. East, Peoria
Mrs. Henry English, Jacksonville

•Deceased.

230

INDEX

Abolition riots (Alton) 152

Abraham Lincoln Association 210

Adamic, Louis 94

Adams, John Quincy 10, 1 1

Adjutant-general's reports

source of local, history 47

Allen, E. H 119

Allen, George T 11

Allen, William 115

"Alma Mater" 20, 33

Altgeld, John P 98

Alton, 111.

described 152-53,155

levee 154, 158

mentioned 109, 160

Alton College 157n.

Alton & Sangamon Railroad

144,154-55,186

Amalgamated Trades and Labor

Assembly 96

American Board of Commissioners

for Foreign Missions 55

"American Bottom"

described 158

American Education Society 55

American and Foreign Anti-
Slavery Society 66

American Home Missionary

Society 55

American Magazine 18, 20, 22

American Railway Union 99

Anarchists 95-98

Anderson, Gates and Wright 214

Angle, Paul M.

annual report, Illinois State

Historical Society 223-26

mentioned 189, 227, 229, 230

Anticapitalists 94-97, 99

Antiques

source of local history 46

Antislavery movement. . .61-62, 63-65

Arnold, Isaac N 9

Art Institute (Chicago) 24, 27

Asher & Company 200, 206

Aurora, 111.

described 181

Austrian, Delia 18

"Awakening of the Flowers, The". . 24

Bacon, Joseph B 22 6

Bailey & Noyes 190

Baker, E. D 157

Baker, Henry S 11

Balch, Emily 102

Baltic (steamer) 110, 111, 127

Baltimore, Md 183

Bannan, B 220

Banvard, John 39, 41, 184

Barlow, William 79n.

Barnitz, Mack R 216, 217

Barnum, P. T 85n.

Barrett, Joseph Hartwell

life of Lincoln

202,204,205-206,209

Bartlett, David Vandewater Golden

life of Lincoln

. . . 191, 192-94, 199-201, 202, 219

Barton, James L 112

Bascom, Flavel 65

Bates, Edward

biographical note 113n.

mentioned 118, 126

Beaubien, Mark 4

Beecher, Lyman 58

Beecher family 69

Beginning of a City, The 72

Bell, John

life of 215-16,217-18

Benton, Thomas H : . 10, 11

Berg, Michael 106

Big Rock 180

Biographies

source of local history 48

Black, Carl E 227,230

Black Hawk 29

"Black Hawk"

statue by Taft 28, 29

Blanchard, Jonathan

antislavery activities 64-65, 66

leads church faction 68, 70

president Knox College 60, 63

"Blind, The" 26,27

Bodmer, Charles 40, 41, 42n.

Bolles, Nathan H 78n., 81n.

Bollinger, James W 189

Bond issues

source of local history 50

232

PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Boone, Levi D 89

Borodin, Michael 106

Boston, Mass.

trade 116, 119, 124, 126-27

mentioned 117, 160,162,183

Boston Courier 109

Bradley, J. W 200

Bragg, 122

Bragg, Ingham & 207

Breckinridge, John C.

life of 215-16,217-18

Breese, Sidney 10

Broaders & Company 200

Brown, J. Vincent 142

Brown and Taggard 207, 211

Brown University Library

214,215,217,219

Buchanan, James 10

Buckingham, J. H.

delegate River and Harbor

Convention 109-27

tours middle west 127-87

Buckingham, Joseph T 109

Burdick, A. B 200

Burlingame, Anson 119

Burlington, Iowa

described 176

Buttre,J.C 201,217

Caldwell, Billy (Sauganash) 6

Caldwell, Edward 42n.

Calhoun, John 5

Calhoun, John C 10

Campaign Hand-Book for I860,
Embracing the Lives of all the

Candidates, by Wells 215-16

"Campaign Lives of Abraham

Lincoln, 1860" 188-220

Campbell, Juliet 131n.

Campbell, William 1

Capitalism 75, 76-77, 82

Carleton, see Rudd & Carleton

Carlin, Thomas 7

Carthage, 111 169n.

Cartwright, Peter 36

Cass, Lewis 11

Cemeteries

source of local history 46-47

Census reports

source of local history 47-48

Chamblee 6

"Chanson de l'Annee du Coup" 37

Charters

source of local history 50

Chechepinqua (Robinson) 6

Chicago, 111.

anarchists 95-98

described 116-17, 118, 123

fire department 111-12, 122

harbor 182

Illinois and Michigan Canal

terminus 155

Industrial Congress in.. . .75, 80, 82

labor movement in 92-99

National Reform Association in 81

nationalities in 93-94

periods in history 72

phases of development 100-101

population 117

River and Harbor Convention

in 9-10, 109, 110-18

socialists in ...94-97,99

temperance movement in 82-92

trade center 119, 120, 122,

126-27, 128, 131, 145, 181-82, 186-87

Wentworth in 1, 4-17

Chicago Democrat

Wentworth edits 5, 7, 11, 75

Wentworth sells to Tribune 13

mentioned 15, 80

Chicago Press and Tribune Co.

211,212,213

Chicago River HO

"Chicago, Russian Community of

...102-108

Chicago Sanitary Commission.. . .90n.

Chicago Temperance Legion 90

Chicago Tribune 13

Chippewa Indians 6

Churchill, 39

City Hotel (Chicago) 83

Clark, Neil M 18,20

Clarksville, Mo 166, 167

Clay, Henry 10

Cleveland, Grover 103

Clinton House (Peoria) 135n.

Cloud, Newton 143n.

Codding, Ichabod

life of Lincoln 197-98

Cogswell, Amos 2

Cogswell, Lydia (Mrs. Paul

Wentworth) 3.

Collins, James H 78n., 81

Columbus, Christopher 30

233

"Columbus Memorial

Fountain" 28, 29-30

Community plats

source of local history 48

Complete Works of Abraham

Lincoln 212

Compromise of 1850 82

Congregational Church, First

(Galesburg) 69

"Congregationalists and Presby-
terians in the Early History of
the Galesburg Churches". . . 53-70

Congressional Reminiscences 11

Constitutional Convention

(111., 1847) . . 127, 143-44, 146, 147

Cook County, 111 .....182

Cook County Maine Law Alliance 88

Corning, Erastus 10

Corwin, Thomas. . .10, 113, 114, 115
Cotillion

described 132

County histories

source of local history 47

Court proceedings

source of local history 48-49

Crain, John 143n.

Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co 207

Culp, Dorothy

article by 92-99

mentioned 73, 101

Currier, Nathaniel 40, 42n.

Curtiss, James 112n.

Cushman, Esther C 189

Das Illustrirte Mississippithal. ... 41
Das Leben von Abraham Lincoln

[Anonymous] 218

Das Leben von Abraham Lincoln,

by Howard 219

Davenport, George 176-77

Davenport, Mrs. George 177

, Davenport, Iowa

described 176

Davies, David C 220

Dayton, H 192, 194, 199, 200

Debs, Eugene V 99

> Degan, Matthias 97

' Degrand, 124

i Delavan, 111.

I described 138

[ Democratic Party 74

Derby & Jackson

life of Lincoln

191,192, 193, 199,200,201

Detroit Free Press 4

Dial (steamer) 134, 135

Diaries

source of local history 44-45

Dixon, George C 227, 230

Dixon, 111.. . .. 110, 180, 181

Dobson, Austin 31

Domesday Book 2

Doolady, M 207

Douglas, Stephen A.

biography of 215-16, 217-18

debate with Lincoln 1%, 210

homestead bill 80

Illinois Central Railroad bill. ... 10

mentioned 5, 211

Dow, Neal 88

Doyle, Cornelius J 230

Dresden, 111 131, 132

Drew, C, & Co 217

Dutch, Alfred 81

Dyer, Charles V 78n., 81n

Early, Robert 30, 31

East, Ernest E 227, 229, 230

Elder, Lucius W.

article by 34-42

Eldridge, see Thayer & Eldridge

Engel, George 97

English, Mrs. Henry. . . . 227, 229, 230

Eustis, William T 113, 125

Evans, George Henry 74

Everett, Edward

life of 215-16,217-18

Everitt, Charles P 214, 215

Exeter Combination 2

Expositor 169n.

Fabyan, Mrs. Nellie 19

Fell, Jesse W 193

Felmley, John S 226

Fever River

described 177

Fielden, Samuel 97, 98

Fillmore, Millard 10

Filson, John 206

Finney, Charles G 54, 82, 84n.

Fischer, Adolph 97

Fish, Daniel 200

'Fish Boy, The" 20

Fisher, J 134

Fisher, N 134

Follett, Foster & Company

234

PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

publish life of Lincoln

. . .202, 203, 207, 208, 209, 210, 214

"Foot Memorial" 33

Foote, Charles C 81

Ford, Thomas 154n.

Foreign Language Project. . . . 102, 105

Forrest, J. K. C 78n., 81n.

Fort Armstrong 176-77

Fort Dearborn 6

Foster, Asa Emerson 3

Foster, see Follett, Foster &
Company

"Fountain of Creation, The". . . .21, 32

"Fountain of the Great Lakes, The"
20,24,25,26,28

"Fountain of Time, The" 18, 21, 30-32

Fox River 180

Free Russia 105

Free Soil League (Chicago) 78n.

Free Soil Party 74, 81

Frost, John 62

"Funeral Procession, The" 28

Gale, George Washington

antislavery leader 61, 67

desires theological seminary. ... 68
founds Oneida Manual Labor

Institute 62

leads Galesburg colony 55

leads Knox College faction 70

leads Presbyterians 60, 63, 64

mentioned 56, 59

Gale, Mrs. George Washington.. 67-68

Gale, Stephen F 122

Galena, 111.

described 177-78

lead industry 178-79, 180-81

mentioned 110, 175

Galesburg, 111.
first church in 54, 56, 58, 60, 65, 69

Gale leads colony 55

Illinois State Historical Society

meets in 227

railroad enters 68

Galloway, Samuel 209-10

Garfield, James A 10

Gaston, Chauncy T 78n., 81n.

General assembly proceedings

source of local history 47

"General Logan" 27

General Thornton (ship) 126n.

Geneva, 111 181

Gerhard, Friedrich 219

Godfrey, Gilman & Company. . . 152n.

Goodrich, Grant 9

"Governor Oglesby" 27

Grauert, Wilhelm 219

Greeley, Horace 10, 109, 126, 194

Greeley, Horace, & Company 212

Greene, Evarts B 229, 230

Gregory, John Milton 22

Griggs, S. C, &Co 207

Hall, James 37

Hall, Thomas Randolph

article by. 102-108

Hamlin, Hannibal

biographies of

190-92, 195-97, 198-99, 199-201,
201-202, 202-205, 205-206, 207-
11, 215-16, 217-18, 218-19, 220

mentioned 193

Hants Bywyd Abraham Lincoln a

Hannibal Hamlin 220 '

Harbor Improvement Convention,

National River and 9-10

Hardin, John J.

funeral 146-48

Weatherford succeeds 149

Hardin, Mrs. John J 147

Harker, O. A 226

Harrison, William Henry. . .7, 10, 188

Hatfield, Robert M 91

Hathaway, 39

Hauberg, John H 229, 230

Hay, John 212

Hay, Logan 230

Hayes, John L.

life of Hamlin 207-11

Hayes, Rutherford B 10

Haymarket riot (Chicago)

92,96,97,98

Heilbron, Bertha L 41

Heirlooms

source of local history 46

Helmuth, Carl A 78n., 81n.

Hemp manufacture 142

Hennepin, Louis 35

Hennepin, 111 134

Hill, Horatio 5

Hilliard, Gray & Co 122

Hilton, Gallagher & Co 198

History, local, sources of

adjutant-general's reports 47

antiques 46

biographies 48

bond issues SO

cemeteries 46-47

census reports 47-48

charters 50

community plats 48

county histories 47

court proceedings 48-49

diaries 44-45

general assembly proceedings. . . 47

heirlooms 46

household account books 45

land abstracts 49

letters 44-45

military bounty reports 47

newspapers 50-52

organization minutes 50

recollections 44

record books 45-46

state histories 47

tax levies 50

tax lists, delinquent 50

tradition 44

travel accounts 48

village ordinances 49-50

wills 48

'History, Virgin Fields of" 43-52

History of American Sculpture, The 28

History of Chicago, A 72

Hobart, Aaron 125

Homesteads 74, 77, 79, 82

Horner, Henry 211,219

Household account books

source of local history 45

Houston, Sam

life of 215-16

Howard, James Quay

aidsHowells 204,209,212

life of Lincoln 214-15,219

Howells, William Dean

letter of 208-209

life of Lincoln

202-205,207-11,212,214

Hull House (Chicago) 103

Hunt and Miner 207

Huntington Library, Henry E. . . . 199

Illinois

internal improvements 153-54

products 131, 140, 141, 142n.,

145, 150, 153, 154, 158, 178-79

travel experiences in

128, 132, 134, 135, 136, 141, 158,
165-66, 167, 168, 175-76, 184-86

235

Illinois Antislavery Society 61

'Illinois as Lincoln Knew It". .109-87
Illinois Maine Law Alliance. . . .88, 89
Illinois and Michigan Canal
comments on 127, 130, 131, 155, 186

history 126n.

Illinois River

described 142-43

Illinois Staats-Zeitung 219

Illinois State Historical Library

rare books in 198, 218

Trustees 224,225,227

Illinois State Historical Society

annual business meeting 227-28

Directors 229, 230

Journal 224-25,228

Secretary's annual report. . . . 223-26
'Impressions of Lorado Taft" . . .18-33
Industrial Congress (Chicago) ....

75, 79n., 80, 82

Ingham & Bragg 207

Internal improvements (111.). . .153-54

International, The 94

International Studio Magazine. ... 18
International Workingmen's

Association 95, 96

Ives, James Merritt 40, 42n.

Jackson, Andrew 10

Jackson, see Derby & Jackson

Jacksonville, 111.

described 151

Hardin funeral at 146-48, 157

mentioned 109

James, James A.. . .223, 227, 229, 230

'John Wentworth: His Contribu-
tions to Chicago" 1-17

Johnson, Andrew 14

Johnson, Herschel V.

life of 215-16,217-18

Joliet, 111.

described 131

penitentiary 155n.

Jones, Fernando 78n.

Judd, Norman B 11

Juliet, 111 131

Kane County, 111 211

Kansas-Nebraska Act 82

Kavanaih, by Longfellow 38-39

Keats, George 37

Keats, John 37

Kellar, Herbert A.

236

PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

article by 100-101

Kentucky (steamer) 165, 167, 175, 184
Keokuk, Iowa

described 167-68

mentioned 175

Keys, see Moore, Wilstach, Keys
&Co.

Kimball, D 190

King, Charles 115

Kingman, A. T 110n., Ill

Knights of Labor 97

Know-nothing Party 81, 89

Knox College

antislavery stand 67

founders 60

presidents 54

quarrel among sects 70

mentioned 65, 68

Koerner, Gustave 11

Krasnow, Henry R 107n.

Kuh, Sidney 226

Labor 76-78

•Labor Movement, 1873-1895,

The Radical" 92-99

Labor Party of Illinois 94

Lacon, 111 134

La Fox (Geneva), 111 181

'Lager Beer Riots" 89

Lake House (Chicago)

described 120

Lake Michigan 110

Lake Street House (Chicago) 83

Land abstracts

source of local history 49

'Land Reform Movement, The" 73-82
Lane, Joseph

life of 215-16,217-18

'Lane Rebels" 62,63

Larson, Laurence M 230

LaSalle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de 35

La Salle, III 133

Lassalle, Ferdinand 94

Lead industry (Galena) 178-79

Leben, JVirken und Reden des

Lincoln, by Bartlett and Vose 219

Lee, Artemas 113, 125

Lehr und Went Verein 96

Lesueur, Charles Alexandre

40, 41,42n.

Letters

source of local history 44-45

Lewis, Henry 41

Liberty Party 74

Library of Congress 220

Life of Lincoln, by Howard. . . .214-15

Life of Lincoln, by Scripps 211-14

Life of Lincoln; Also a Sketch

of the Life of Hamlin,

by Barrett. 205-206

Life and Public Services of

Lincoln,

by Bartlett 192-94, 199-201

Life and Public Services of

Lincoln and Hamlin 195-97

Life and Speeches of Lincoln and

Hamlin, by Vose 198-99

'Lincoln"

statue by Taft 33

Lincoln, Abraham

Buckingham comments on

110, 136, 139-40

debates with Douglas 196, 210

at River and Harbor

Convention 10, 109

surveyor 193, 194, 197

Wentworth supports 11

'Lincoln, Campaign Lives of'.. 188-220
Lincoln-Douglas Debates. . 196, 203-205
Lincoln National Life Foundation 199
Lincoln, His Personal History and

Public Record

by Washburne 197

Lingg, Louis 97,98

Little Rock 180

Lives of Candidates for President

and Vice-President of the

United States 216-17

Lives and Speeches of Lincoln and

Hamlin, by Howells

202-205,207-11

Lloyd's Steamboat Directory 40

Lockport, 111 130, 133

Locofocos 114, 118

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 38, 39

Loomis, Riley 14

Loomis, Roxanna Marie (Mrs.

John Wentworth) 14

Louisiana (steamer) 124

Lovejoy, Elijah P 62, 152n.

Lowden, Frank 0 229, 230

Luella (steamer) 158

McCormick, Cyrus H 14

McCormick Reaper Works 97

McGregor, Tracy W 226

237

McLean County Historical

Society 228

McLellan, Charles W 214, 215

McMillen, James 206

McNally & Co 190

Maeterlinck, Maurice 26, 27

Maine Law 87,88,89

Mallory, Rickey & Company

202,205,207

Maloney, Matthew S 4

Manhattan (brig) 4

Manierre, George 9

Manning, Alonzo W 163

Marine Temperance Society 85

Marquette, Father Jacques 35

Massachusetts

delegates to River and Harbor
Convention 112, 113, 115, 124-25
Maximillian, Prince of Wied. . . .40-41

May, William L 136n.

Mead, Charles 38

Medill, Joseph 92

Memler, Henrietta L.

article by 43-52

Mexican War 148, 149, 151, 157

Middleton, Strobridge & Co 205

Midway Studios

Rovelstad at

..18,19,20,21,23,25,26,30,33

mentioned 29

Military bounty reports

source of local history 47

Miner, Hunt and 207

Mississippi River

described

152, 158, 159, 165, 166, 175, 183-85
"Mississippi River as an Artistic

Subject, The" 34-42

Mississippi Valley

artistic development in 39-42

literary development in 37-39

oratory in 36

pioneer life in 35-36

Mississippian Scenery; A Poem. . . 38
Missouri River

described 159,165

Monroe, James 10

Montrose, Iowa 167, 173, 175

Moore, Henry 5

Moore, Henry W 143n.

Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co 205

Mormons

comments on 174

history 169n.

Temple at Nauvoo described 170-73
Morris, 111.

described 131-32

Mount Carroll, 111 180, 181

'Mountain, The" 24

Muelder, Hermann Richard

article by 53-70

Mulcaster, J. G 226

Murphy, John 4

Murphy, Mrs. John 4

Murray, Sir John 81

Mussey, B. B 113

Myers, Clifford R 226

National Christian Antislavery

Convention 65

National Reform Association. . . 74, 81

Nauvoo, 111.

described 169-74

mentioned 110

'Nauvoo Mansion" 173

Neebe, Oscar. 97, 98

New Hampshire Patriot 5

New School Presbyterians

antislavery views 62, 63, 65

and Congregationalists . . .57-58, 60
mentioned 61, 66, 69

New York City, N. Y.. . 116, 162, 183

New York Globe 78

Newspapers

source of local history 50-52

Nicolay, John G 212

Norris, Joe L.

article by 73-82

mentioned 101

North Alton, 111.

described 156-57

Noyes, Bailey & 190

Ogden, William B 5, 74, 78n.

Ogdensburg Railroad

116, 124, 140, 186

Old Fort (Chicago) 117

Old School Presbyterians. . .57, 58, 61

Olmstead, Frederick Law. 32

Oneida Manual Labor Institute. . . 62

Oquawka Spectator 37

Organization minutes

source of local history 50

Ottawa, 111.

described 132

Lincoln-Douglas debate at 196

238

PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Ottawa Indians 6

Packard, R. D 189

Palmer, John M 11

Panic of 1873 94

Panic of 1893 98-99

Parker, Lucius H 62, 63

Parks, Samuel C 208, 210

Parsons, Albert 95, 97, 99

Patten, Henry J 229, 230

Patterson, E.H.N 37

Pease, Theodore C 227, 229, 230

Penitentiary

Alton 155

Joliet 155n.

Peoria, 111.

described 135-36

mentioned 109, 134

Persuhn, John 28

Peru, 111.

described 133-34

mentioned 109, 155

'Phases of Chicago History".. . .71-101

Philadelphia, Pa 183

Philippe, Louis 81

Pierce, Bessie Louise

article by 71-73

mentioned 101

Pierce, Franklin 10

'Pioneers, The" 21, 33

'Plan of Union" 55, 58, 59, 63

Planters House (Peoria) 135n.

Planters House (St. Louis)

161,162, 164,165

'Pleyel's Hymn" 147

Poe, Edgar Allan 37

Polk, James K.

cabinet 10

nominated for president 11

vetoes harbor improvement bill

9,109

mentioned 114, 156

Porter, Mrs. Mary F 17

Portraits and Lives of Candidates
for the Presidency and Vice-
Presidency 217-18

Potawatomi Indians 6

Povenmire, H. M 189

'Prairie, The" 24

'Prairie car" 156n.

Prairies

described 120, 128,

133, 137-38, 142-43, 150, 153, 180

Pratt, Harry E.

article edited by 109-87

mentioned 189

Presbyterian Church, First (Gales-
burg)

antislavery views 61

Bascom pastor of 65

drops Presbyterianism. . . .56,68,69

founded 54,60

Presbyterian Church, Second

(Galesburg) ...68,69

'Presbyterians in the Early History
of the Galesburg Churches,
Congregationalists and" . . . 53-70
Progressive Central Labor Union. . 96

Pullman, George A 99

Pullman Palace Car Co 92, 99

Putnam, Smith & Co 207

Quaker City Publishing House 217

Queen City Publishing House. . . . 217
Quincy, 111 168

'Radical Labor Movement, 1873-
1895, The" 92-99

Railroad riots (1877) 92,94

Raymond, L 86

Recollections
source of local history 44

Record books
source of local history 45-46

Reminiscences of Early Chicago 16

'Republican" Book and Job Print-
ing Office 197

Republican Manual for the Cam-
paign, by Codding 197-98

Republicans

Illinois 196,198,211

Ohio 209

Rickey, Mallory & Company

202,205,207

Ringgold, 122

River and Harbor Convention

assembles 110

delegates 109

officers 113-14

parade 111-12, 117, 122

politics in 114,118,125

resolutions 115, 125-26

significance 9-10

speeches 114-15,119

River travel
described 134-35, 158,

239

165-66, 167, 168, 175-76, 184-85

Roberts, D. L 83n.

Robinson (Chechepinqua) 6

Rock Island, 111. . . 176n.

Roosevelt, Franklin D 33

Rovelstad, Trygve A.

article by 18-33

Rudd & Carleton 190, 191

Rulison, D 217

Rulison, H. M 217

Rusk, Ralph Leslie 36

Russian in America, The 103

'Russian Community of Chicago,

The" 102-108

[Russian] Independent Church. . . . 104
Russian Independent Mutual Aid 104

Russian Literary Society 103

Russian Mutual Aid Society 103

Russian Orthodox Cathedral

(Chicago) ....103, 104

Russian People's University of

Chicago 106-107

St. Louis, Mo.

commercial center 160, 161-62

court and courthouse 162-63

levee 159-60

Planters House 161, 164, 165

mentioned 109, 158

Sampson, William 79n.

Sauganash (Billy Caldwell) 6

Sauganash Hotel (Chicago) 4

Scammon, J. Young 9

'Scene in the Temple, A" 28

Schafer, Joseph 223

Schneider, 218

Schwab, Michael 97, 98

Scolly [Scollay], Leonard 161

Scott, John 206

Scott, Winfield 117

Scripps, John Locke

gets Lincoln autobiography. . . . 194

life of Lincoln 211-14

Lincoln article by 193

mentioned 79n., 81n.

Seidel, Louis 226

Semple, James

biographical note 156n.

Seward, William H.

life of 195

'Shaler Memorial Angel" 33

Shastid,W. E 226

Shear, L 198

Sherman House (Chicago)

1, 15,16, 17

Shurtleff, Benjamin 157

Shurtleff College

described 157

Siqueland, Trygve A 226

Skunk River 110, 182

"Sleep of the Flowers, The" 24

Smith, George W 229, 230

Smith, Gerrit 81

Smith, Hyrum 169n.

Smith, Joseph 169n., 173, 174

Smith, Mrs. Joseph 173

Smith, Robert 136,140

Snowhook, William B 79n., 81n.

Socialism 94-97,99

Socialistic Labor Party 94, 96, 97

"Solitude of the Soul, The" 24, 28

Sons of Temperance 87, 88

Soviets 104

Spencer, J. C 115,125

Spies, August 95,97,99

Springfield, 111.

Constitutional Convention

127,143,146

described 1^5

population 146n.

railroad to Alton 144-45, 154

region described 139, 141, 145

State House 143, 144

mentioned 109, 140, 142, 147

Stagecoach travel

described 128, 132, 136,141

State Bank (Springfield) 127, 144

State histories

source of local history 47

State House (Springfield)

Constitutional Convention in. . . 143

described 1"

Steamboats, see Baltic, Dial, Ken-
tucky, Louisiana and Luella

Steinbrecher, Paul 225, 227

Stephenson, 111.

described i76

Stevens, Frank E 229, 230

Stevens, Jewell F 227, 230

Stickney, Benjamin I61

Strafford, Earl of (Thomas

Wentworth) 2

Strobridge, Middleton, & Co 205

SunYat-Sen.. 106

Sweet, Benjamin J «

240

PAPERS IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Taft, Don Carlos 22

Taft, Lorado

death 33

education 22-23

lectures at Art Institute 24

makes casts of models 23

Rovelstad visits 19

statues:

"Alma Mater" 20, 33

"The Awakening of the

Flowers" 24

"Black Hawk" 28-29

"The Blind" 26,27

"Columbus Memorial

Fountain" 28, 29-30

"The Fish Boy" 20

"Foot Memorial" 33

"The Fountain of

Creation" 21, 32

"The Fountain of the Great

Lakes" 20,24,25,26,28

"The Fountain of Time"

18,21,30,32

"The Funeral Procession" 28

"General Logan" 27

"Governor Oglesby" 27

"Lincoln" 33

"The Mountain" 24

"The Pioneers" 21,33

"The Prairie" 24

"A Scene in the Temple" .... 28

"Shaler Memorial Angel" 33

'The Sleep of the Flowers"... 24
"The Solitude of the Soul" . 24, 28
"The Thatcher Memorial

Fountain" 20

"Washington" 27

Taft, Mrs. Lorado 33

Taft, Impressions of" 18-33

Taggard, Brown and 207, 211

Tappan, Benjamin 10

Tax levies

source of local history 50

Tax lists, delinquent

source of local history 50

Taylor, Zachary 10

Tecumseh 6, 7

Temperance Committee of the

Chicago Presbytery 84

Temperance Movement,

1848-1871, The" 82-92

Thatcher Memorial Fountain,

The" 20

Thayer & Eld ridge

life of Lincoln

195, 196,201,209,210

Throop, Amos Gaylord 88

Tiffany, O. H 90

Tilton, Clint Clay 227, 229, 230

Townley, Wayne C 228, 229, 230

Townsend, W. A., & Co 207, 208

Tracy, ISO

Tracy, Mrs. 150

Tradition

source of local history 44

Transportation

comments on 116,

124, 126, 140, 144-45, 155, 186
Travel accounts

source of local history 48

Tremont, 111.

described 137

Trinity Episcopal Church

(Chicago) 79n.

Trollope, Mrs. Frances (Milton). . . 36

Trudeau, Jean-Baptiste 37

Turner, Frederick Jackson 72

Tyler, John 10

United States Hotel (Chicago) ... 4, 83
Universal German Workingmen's

Association 94

University of Chicago 27, 71

University of Illinois 27-28

Utah 169n.

Vallandigham, Clement L 13

Van Amringe, H. H 80

Van Buren, Martin 10

Vandalia, 111 5

Vandeveer, William T 226

Village ordinances

source of local history 49-50

"Virgin Fields of History" 43-52

Von Hoffgen, 218 '

Voronko, J. J 104n.

Vose, Reuben

life of Lincoln 198-99,219 |

Wales, Prince of 12-13 j

Warren, Louis A 189 I

Washburne, E. B.

life of Lincoln 197 j

Washington, George 2

'Washington"

statue by Taft 27

241

Wayne, Anthony 7

Weatherford, William
described 148-49

Webster, Daniel 10, 134n.

Webster, Fletcher

biographical note 134n.

Weed, Thurlow 9

Weld, Theodore Dwight 54, 58, 62, 82

Wells, J. G.

life of Lincoln 215-16

Wells, Joseph B 157

Wentworth, John

ancestry 1-2

associates 10-1 1

biographical note 112n.

characterized 11-12

Chicago Democrat edited by 5, 7, 75

in Congress 8-9, 10, 14,80

death 16

described 1,4

early life 3

farm 14

hotel life preferred by 15

mayor of Chicago 12

monument to 17

politics of 11

River and Harbor Convention. .

9, 10

trip to Chicago 3-4

views on capital and labor. . . . 76-78
mentioned 6, 13, 14, 79, 137

Wentworth, Mrs. John

(Roxanna Marie Loomis) .... 14

Wentworth, John, Jr 2

Wentworth, Joseph 17

Wentworth, Moses J 16

Wentworth, Paul 3

Wentworth, Mrs. Paul (Lydia

Cogswell) 3

Wentworth, Roxanna 15, 16

Wentworth, Samuel 17

Wentworth, Thomas (Earl of

Strafford) 2

Wentworth, William 2

'Wentworth: His Contributions to

Chicago" 1-17

Wentworth Genealogy 15

Wessen, Ernest James

article by 188-220

Whigs 74,81, 113, 114

Whitehall, 111 149,150

Whitley, J., Jr 217

Wide-Awake Edition. Life and

Public Services of Lincoln

201-202,218

'Wigwam Edition." The Life of

Lincoln 190-92, 193

Wild, Maloney & Co 4

Williams, A., & Co 190

Williams, L. 0 226

Wills

source of local history 48

Wilstach, see Moore, Wilstach,

Keys & Co.
Wiltsee, Herbert

article by 82-92

mentioned 73, 101

Windle, Ann Steinbrecher

article by 1-17

Winnebago Swamp 180

Winthrop, Robert C 11

Women's Christian Temperance

Union 84

W. P. A., see Foreign Language

Project
'Writing a History of Chicago". .71-73
Wynterwade, Reginald de 1-2

Yates, Richard 90,211

Young, Brigham 169n.